TGDB.net - Game news, cheats, solutions, walkthroughs, trainers, saved games and much more!

Anachronox Walkthrough/FAQ
Version 1.0
June 1, 2003

Copyright 2003 Jason Merrill
jason at apocalypseorg

Legalese
--------
This walkthrough is subject to the GNU Free Documentation License, version
1.2 or later. See

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html

for details. Basically, feel free to make changes and use bits of info in
your own documents, so long as you let other people do the same and give me
credit.

BREAKING NEWS
-------------
The second patch has finally been released! You can find it at

http://www.matrixzero.com/anoxpatch/

This walkthrough was written using the 1.01 patch, so please let me know if
any of the bugs I mention are fixed in 1.02. I'll probably play through
again soon, but I wanted to post this now.

Technical Issues
----------------
Anachronox works fine on XP. Well, as fine as it runs anywhere.

Resist the temptation to turn on EAX. It will crash your game constantly.
It's disabled in 1.02.

Any Radeon or GeForce card should be able to run Anachronox in high-res
(1280x960), but it will only work in full screen mode if you can set your
desktop to 1280x960. If you don't have that as an option, you can run it
in a window or use PowerStrip to add the mode. I find that the game
crashes less when run in a window. YMMV.

When you quit, sometimes the process doesn't actually exit. You can close
it yourself from the Task Manager.

After the return from Sunder, my game started crashing frequently in map
transitions. I don't know what to do about this except save just before
you change maps and try again if it crashes. This may be fixed in 1.02.

I suggest playing on Way Too Hard, which adjusts damage by 20%, but
changing the Save At option to allow you to save anywhere so the above
bug isn't as much of a problem.

Turn up the Gamma a bit.

Get used to pressing a direction key when you start moving, rather than
moving the mouse first.

There are a few places in the game where you may want to cheat to work
around bugs in the game. All of the cheats start by turning on debug mode
with Alt-Shift-F10 and bringing down the console window with ~.

One use of the console is to get more savegame slots; if you want to make
an archival save, bring down the console and type "savegame XXXX" where
XXXX is a number between 1000 and 9999. To load one of these games, use
"loadgame XXXX". 1.02 changes the savegame interface, so this probably
isn't necessary anymore.

You can mostly use the keyboard in fights; use the number keys to select an
action, and space to activate it. There are some bugs with this, though:
sometimes it lets you do things that you aren't supposed to be able to do
(such as use Beat weapons on the Hive Queen). Also, trying to do this to
select between multiple functions of a multiple-function Elementor host
will crash the game.

Other Notes
-----------
I'm not going to tell you about conversations that don't advance the plot.
I still recommend talking to everyone repeatedly; there's a lot of funny
stuff out there. IMO, the best thing about this game is the writing.

There's really no need to do the sort of levelling that you do in, say, a
Final Fantasy game; if the game thinks your characters are too low a level
for a certain point in the game, it levels them up automatically.

Beginning
---------
Bricks
======
Shops: Zordo's, Plib (MysTech Museum)

* Rowdy's

Welcome to Anachronox! What a sad little man you are, Boots.

QUEST: Fatima has some chores for you before you can leave the bar.

Turn around and go upstairs to your office. Grab the camera off your desk.
Click on the broadband scanner for a clue you'll use later.

Pick the lock to your back room, by holding down CTRL as you click on it.
Always, always use the keyboard when picking locks. For each tumbler, hit
space once. If the tumbler doesn't drop immediately, look at the meter on
the lockpick, which tells you how far off you are, on a scale of 1-5. Hit
up or down that many times, and hit SPACE again. If it still misses, you
went the wrong way. You can always get it right on the third try; you are
always either 2 or 4 spaces away from the right spot.

In your back room, there is Some Dough ($20), your APE game console (which
has no games now, but you can find some later), and a chest which you can't
pick yet. Grab the Dough and head back downstairs.

Marina and Mardoman, the folks at the table near the stairs, are with the
Resistance. Talk to Marina.

If you like, play a game of OX on the game table opposite the bar. I can't
do better than a tie.

QUEST: Talk to Valesta, the woman at the bar. She gives you a lead on a job.

Dim Jose, the guy at the table, wants to know if he should keep or sell his
slag of MysTech. I don't know if the answer has any significance.

Save at the TimeMinder by the exit, and you've completed your first quest!
Woohoo.

* Fountain Spiral

QUEST: As you pass, K'jagra Khk tells you to visit his cousin.

Walk forward, and get beat down. Not having a good day.
QUEST: Fatima suggests you visit Whackmaster Jack's.

Continue along, grabbing the HealGrease Plus that Fatima points out. Don't
use it now, but remember about pressing F5.

You can't take the path down right now; head up to the Fountain Spiral.
When you get there, turn around, look up, and take a photo (F11) of the
Anachronox symbol above the sign for the MysTech Museum.

Now head up the Spiral to:

* Whackmaster Jack's

Jack is the guy in red by the ring upstairs. Talk to him for a combat
tutorial. He'll also give you:

Old Vistin Pistol (Boots, bad, ranged)
LifeCursor Shield Upgrade (FatimaScreen, Boots' L1 skill)
2 HealGrease Plus
2 Bindlebags

Talk to Stang, the guy with the bag on the ground, for a Glodent. Also
photograph the two Brebulans (the aliens to the right of the door). Be
sure to fit their whole bodies in the frame.

When you're done, head back to the Spiral.

* Fountain Spiral

Head up the Spiral to the next exit, with a sign for Frank's Flophouse.
Get ready for your first real fight, with the same guy who beat you down
before. You can't win this without using an item. The easy way is to use
a Bindlebag; hit 3 3 SPACE as soon as it's your turn. Or you can start
with FatimaScreen, and use a HealGrease Plus when you're about to die. If
you're lucky, you can get the shield up before he hits you the first time.

Notice the green bug mound in the corner. It'll be interesting later.

Take the gravpath to Casinox.

* Casinox Area

Take the lift down. Talk to Maria Black, standing by the TimeMinder. You
don't get a quest note, but you can help her out.

Go through the door and meet K'Conrad Khk, the cousin mentioned before.

Down the next lift, a NoxGuard asks if you've seen Marina. Tell him no.
Continuing on, you can't go towards the Platform Area, but if you wait you
can watch a guy running around on fire. Take a photo of the Anachronox
symbol. Continue on.

* Junkyard Area

Go straight ahead and get the $50 from the chest. Then go through the door
next to the TimeMinder. Head around to the left, and buy some HealGrease
from Ghalla. Continue around to the back to find your first TACO.

Continue on and fight off a couple of Alley Goons. Photograph the
Brebulans and the Anachronox symbol over the sign for the Tenements, and
continue on to:

* Tenements Area

When you enter, turn around and photograph the Anachronox symbol. Head to
the right and photograph the Brebulan. If you head all the way down the
stairs, there's a HealGrease at the bottom. Go back along the railing and
look out along the wall. See the red thing? That's a Red Bipidri. Take
its picture, too.

Sometimes photos fail to register with the game, for some reason; the photo
of this Red Bipidri is particularly problematic. To make sure it worked,
save your game, pull up C:\Anachronox\anoxdata\SAVE\\photos and
select the directory for this save (the autosave is #0; the normal saves
are ordered from top to bottom). If the .dat file for the photo has size
0, it didn't work, and you need to try again. Try moving a little left or
right (hold down Shift to walk slowly).

Head back up and take the elevator down. Head into:

* Frank's Flophouse

If you're injured, take a room for $5; otherwise walk down the stairs to
the room. Either way, grab the TACO.

Go back upstairs and pick all the locks you can. Room contents:
A - Deanamo, Valesta's Bracelet (Speed +1, prot. Nuts)
QUEST: Visit Grumpos Matavastros in Building 5
B - can't pick yet
D - HealGrease
E - just a guy

Head back out to the tenements, over and down to

* Building 5

Note the directory on the wall to your right. Browse the SenderNet station
if you want, and head into Section C.

Interesting rooms:
Level 2, Room 5: Simon Black. You can tell him that Maria is coming to
kill him for $25. Ask for any more, and you won't get it.
Level 2, Room 7: Healgrease
Level 3, Room 11: Healgrease Plus
Level 3, Room 14: Healgrease Plus
Level 4, Room 19: Grumpos
QUEST: Find a size 5 NoxGuard helmet

After the cutscene, grab the TACO to your right. Go back down to Grumpos'
apartment, grab the blue keycard from his counter, and you're done with
Building 5.

Remember the message on the scanner in your office? Time to head for the
Platform area; go back where you came from and follow the signs. Now you
can go where the burning man was running around before.

Beat up the Alley Goon, notice another bug mound, and continue on to:

* Platform Area