Meanwhile...DOTT triggers

[FaNaTiC]

I've been wondering for ages but never really asked.

 

Does anyone know what exactly triggers all the "Meanwhile"s ("Meanwhilst"s; newspapers) in DOTT? There are a few that I've been able to pinpoint, but some I never seemed to manage to grasp. 

 

Also, anyone have a full list of them all? I've been noticing some that I remember from my original CD-ROM version not showing up in my playthroughs of the remastered version, and I'm really curious about it. Tried looking through archives but couldn't see anything on this topic - apologies if this is already done-to-death. 

[ATMachine]

It might actually be as simple as enough time passing while playing in-game. I know that I've never had all of the newspaper headlines in the present trigger, for instance.

[FaNaTiC]

Well, guess I found myself a project. I started working on this the other day and have managed to get more cutscenes than ever before somehow.

 

I'm thinking at this point it's a combination of time related to actions and switching between characters. Staying on a single individual in a time period or waiting around doesn't seem to result in anything. There are also a handful of lines that will trigger one. 

 

I still didn't manage to trigger the one I was looking for though, I'm starting to think I might have made it up. I could have sworn that there is at least one of the moustached tentacle arriving to find Laverne in the tree. (Not the one where she gets down from the tree).

 

Did get to see my favourite newspaper headline though - which I've rarely seen. For sake of records, this is paper 6 out of 7 I've managed to find. 

 

[ATMachine]

Purple Tentacle channeling Al Haig there. Nice.

[FaNaTiC]

Yes! They're full of very specific political references. 

 

Jesse Helms being "miffed" re: Reagan choosing Bush for a running mate in 1980. (Newspaper 5/7)

 

I think the Mayor is supposed to be Abraham Beame (Mayor of NYC '74- '77) This photo is what sold me on it. (Newspaper 3/7)

 

But the last one I've been trying to figure out is: Is that Rush Limbaugh? If so, why? (Newspaper 7/7)

 

 

 

[Benny]

There's 7 possible headlines according to the game script. I've attached an animation of them:

1. "Rash of Cow Tipping Baffles Police" ..."Triangular Man Spotted at Scene"
2. "Froofroo Emerald Stolen!"..."Circular Prints Left Behind"
3. "Tentacle Rescues, Returns Emerald"..."Mayor Congratulates Purple Hero"
4. "Purple Tentacle is Man of the Year"..."Tentacle Visits White House"
5. "Tentacle to Run as GOP VP"..."Helms `Miffed`"
6. "President Ailing-- Tentacle Steps In"..."`I'm in Charge Here`"
7. "Tentacle Amends Constitution"..."Humans Now Slaves"

I dont see the Rush Limbaugh text unless its changed in the remastered version, I'm looking in the classic cd one here.

[FaNaTiC]

Thanks, @Bennyboy! Very glad to know I caught them all this go through. 

 

The Rush reference isn't in the text it's the visual of the man in the "Humans Now Slaves" paper. 

I'm very curious as to why it would be him featured here.   

[ThunderPeel2001]

Is it definitely Rush Limbaugh? I can see the writing and it seems to say Rish Ride? (Or do I need my glasses?)

[FaNaTiC]

I'm not 100% that it's Rush, but there are a few things that made me think it could be:

- He was already nationally popular by the early '90s

- He's often been characterized with small facial features on a larger head (esp if you look up photos of him circa 1990)

- The writing definitely says "RUSH" but the second part is throwing me. It could be RID4 or BID4...It could even be RIDE... or it could be nothing?  I thought at first maybe it was supposed to read "BUSH" for HW, but he was never a big guy so I crossed that off my list.

 

[Benny]

The way the script in that room works is: when its run is is passed an integer if its >7 it stops, otherwise it displays one of the 7 different scenes depending on the integer.

 

Can you remember what line triggers one of them? We might be able to see what triggers the others but we need to track down the script number first and that's easier if I can search for a particular bit of dialog. 

[FaNaTiC]

There's an automatic trigger of the newspapers:

 

One always appears when speaking with Dr. Fred in the lab:
Bernard: "We HAVE to do something!"
Fred: "What do you suggest College boy?... "

Bernard: "How about catching Purple Tentacle?"

Fred: "He's long gone, probably taking over the world as we speak. "

<Newspaper appears>

Fred: "Soon we'll all be speaking - well, English I guess."

I assumed this was written directly into that part of the dialogue. 

 

I have hit and miss luck with the others, I've been playing with to see if they trigger, but this time they seemed not to work at all.  So I thought they might be the trigger but only after a certain amount of  progress and/or the passage of time.

 

I regularly seemed to have been able to trigger a newspaper when speaking with Green Tentacle in his room, but only after having the following conversation about Purple:

 

Bernard: What do you suppose purple's up to now?

Green responds something about how Purple wants to take over the world. So I figure he's up to something devious.

Bernard: (Three Options : cryogenic experiments on lab animals, designing a miniaturization ray, pushing old ladies down the stairs)

Green: I wouldn't doubt it but I was thinking more along the lines of Politics!

Bernard: Wanna help me save the world?

Green: I'm afraid to leave the room, in fact I don't think I can move from this spot. Purple scares the daylights out of me.

 

I also have previously triggered a newspaper after speaking with Dead Cousin Ted in the front yard:

Bernard: "Purple Tentacle's probably taking over the planet by now."

 

EDIT:

 

Just tried the Green conversation again, it worked when I reversed the order and ended the conversation immediately after Green indicated POLITICS. Then left room and newspaper came up. 

Edited August 13, 2020 by FaNaTiC
New information.

[Jenni]

2 hours ago, FaNaTiC said:

But the last one I've been trying to figure out is: Is that Rush Limbaugh? If so, why? (Newspaper 7/7)

 

It likely has to do with the fact that Rush Limbaugh ridiculed peace protesters during the Gulf War, so it would be ironic that his campaigning against peace would lead to him becoming a slave under Purple Tentacle's authoritarian rule.