No place left in "Deja Vu" (Mac Game)

[Jinx]

Any Mac users out there? There was a game for the Mac where you are accused of a murder, but you don't recall a thing. You have to prove you are innocent. I have covered every square inch of the game. I have written extensive notes to myself. I have collected every clue there is to find. I have gone into every place the game allows. I have even eaten whatever the game will allow you to eat! And you know what? There seems to be no solution. And, even if there is, how do I tell the game I've solved the mystery?

Two buddies of mine playing independently ran into the same roadblocks. We compared notes and everything agrees with no info to share. We even think we've solved the mystery, but we don't know how to tell the PC! Was this game just meant to drive the players nuts, or what?

I just had to give up, but it was such a good game!
- Jinx

[BraheSilver]

You may try Gamefaqs, though Mac games tend to get the short stick. Although....

If it's old enough, it may have been a port of the NES Deja Vu, in which case there probably is a walkthrough on that site. Is it about a detective? And something about a woman locked in a car trunk?

[Mr. A. Nemo]

The game first came out of the Commodore 64 if I recall correctly. I played it extensively. I never finished it on the C-64 because I think the game was buggy and it kept crashing in certain parts, plus I didn't do things fast enough and have punching out the mugger several times he just ended up shooting me.

Anyhow, I also played it on the NES, well, I played it on NESticle the NES emulator. Again, I never finished it because I ran into too many dead-ends, or was simply too stupid to figure it out.

In any event, Jinx, if you think you have solved the mystery and can accuse the person who framed you etc, you go to the Police Station. This is how you finish the game. When you have all the clues you go to the police station and instead of them arresting you like normal you finish the game.

BTW, for the sake of my sanity, how do you get into the PI Office's? The one with the silouette of someone in the window. I could never get in.. I always just shot the guy through the window and said "screw it".

[Miller]

Here's a complete walkthrough. At this point, though, I'm guessing you've got everything you need to win the game: you should have all the evidence you need to prove who really committed the crime, plus all the phony evidence that frames you for the crime. Go into the sewers, find the big, open pool, and throw all the evidence against you into the pool. Then go to the police station with the evidence against the actual murderer, and voila! The game is won.

Now find a copy of Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas, and start all over. It's available on most abandonware cites, although I don't think we're allowed to link to them from the SDMB because of copyright concerns. Still, a little Googling should turn it up.

[Jinx]

Originally posted by Mr. A. Nemo
...if you think you have solved the mystery and can accuse the person who framed you etc, you go to the Police Station. This is how you finish the game. When you have all the clues you go to the police station and instead of them arresting you like normal you finish the game...

BTW, for the sake of my sanity, how do you get into the PI Office's? The one with the silouette of someone in the window. I could never get in.. I always just shot the guy through the window and said "screw it".

It's been awhile since I've played. From your words, I WAG I didn't have all the clues. I just reached a point where there was no where left to go. I do recall the game either bombing out on me, or the game making me black-out too many times. After exploring everywhere, I think I just gave up in frustration.

I'm not even sure where my notes are, so I don't think I can answer your question. I recall there are a few sets of keys in the game. One was in the safe, IIRC. Also, there's a set in the desk -both items are in the Manager's Office of the Pool Hall (IIRC) from where you start (passed out in the bathroom). IIRC, one set eventually can start a car you find later, but I think the car is booby-trapped to explode upon starting. Maybe one set of the keys opened the door? IIRC, you do have to shoot the guy in the window.

I was just curious to know if the game CAN EVEN be solved! - Jinx

[AHunter3]

I had that one for awhile but then I got a corrupt sector on one of the 400K floppies.

Are you playing it on vMac?

[Fern Forest]

In addition to Miller's site check this one out.

I never finished it for the Mac either. I just never figured out that I was supposed to go to the cops. Of course I was 12 and much more addicted to Crystal Quest.

I love how it was neatened up for the NES. Instead of filling a syringe with fluid from a vial you fill a pill with powder from a bottle. I can't exactly see how that's better but I got a lot of laughs off of it.

[Monstre]

Yep -- I had that one, jinx, and solved it (with no help from cheat sites or anything). It's definitely solvable. The key is not only gathering the evidence you need (evidence of the frame), but also ditching the evidence against you (like the gun).

There were two other games that were done by the same people, with similar screen layout, that I never did solve. I think one of them was Shadowgate, and the other... I've forgotten the name of it for the moment. It was a haunted house kind of story.

[Badtz Maru]

I had this game on the NES. I never beat it, I figured I did the killing so I just hid all the evidence I did it so the murder went unsolved, and assumed I won.

[Fern Forest]

I solved "Shadowgate." I liked that one a lot. Took me forever to figure out some of the riddles but others I got.

That's right, that's why I never beat "Deja Vu." I never ditched the evidence against me and everytime I went to the cops I got the chair.


Man I miss my Mac. Why oh why did my mom have to donate it to charity. So many great games. "Dungeon of Doom", "Dark Castle" 1 & 2, "Crystal Quest." Oh wow, Shadowgate had a sequel. Sigh.

[Monstre]

Originally posted by Osiris
Man I miss my Mac. Why oh why did my mom have to donate it to charity. So many great games. "Dungeon of Doom", "Dark Castle" 1 & 2, "Crystal Quest." Oh wow, Shadowgate had a sequel. Sigh.

Osiris, you could probably find an older Mac pretty cheap now. In addition to my Mac G4 and my Pentium 4, I've kept a couple of my earlier Macs -- the Mac IIsi is nice for running old System 6 games (and there's a web site I have a link to somewhere that is devoted to System 6 software -- lots of downloads available).

I just remembered the name of the other game that looked like Shadowgate and Deja Vu (on the Mac) -- I think it was called "Uninvited". And BTW, the Dark Castle games were great -- they were favorites of mine back on my first Mac.

Drat, now you've got me wanting to go back and take another stab at Shadowgate again...

[Miller]

I just remembered the name of the other game that looked like Shadowgate and Deja Vu (on the Mac) -- I think it was called "Uninvited".

Uninvited! One of the worst, most arbitrarily fatal games ever made! The only way to get through the game was to literally save after every action you did, because you never knew when something was going to randomly kill you. "Hmm. What's behind this door? Instant death! Okay, reload... Now, let's see what happens if I open this book. Instant death again! Reload... I wonder if there's anything special about this picture. Ah, it kills me instantly! Shoulda seen that coming." A excellent example of how not to design a computer game.

[Monstre]

Originally posted by Miller
Uninvited! One of the worst, most arbitrarily fatal games ever made! The only way to get through the game was to literally save after every action you did, because you never knew when something was going to randomly kill you. "Hmm. What's behind this door? Instant death! Okay, reload... Now, let's see what happens if I open this book. Instant death again! Reload... I wonder if there's anything special about this picture. Ah, it kills me instantly! Shoulda seen that coming." A excellent example of how not to design a computer game.

Hmmm.. maybe that explains why I didn't get too far into it.

Although, out of the three I mentioned (Deja Vu, Shadowgate, Uninvited), that was probably the least interesting one to me.

[TitoBenito]

I spent a couple of hours last year playing it on my dreamcast NES emulator did everything i was supposed to but it wouldn't let me drop the inciminating evidense down the drain for some stupid reason. Stupid game.

[jeevmon]

Originally posted by Jinx
It's been awhile since I've played. From your words, I WAG I didn't have all the clues. I just reached a point where there was no where left to go. I do recall the game either bombing out on me, or the game making me black-out too many times. After exploring everywhere, I think I just gave up in frustration.

I'm not even sure where my notes are, so I don't think I can answer your question. I recall there are a few sets of keys in the game. One was in the safe, IIRC. Also, there's a set in the desk -both items are in the Manager's Office of the Pool Hall (IIRC) from where you start (passed out in the bathroom). IIRC, one set eventually can start a car you find later, but I think the car is booby-trapped to explode upon starting. Maybe one set of the keys opened the door? IIRC, you do have to shoot the guy in the window.

I was just curious to know if the game CAN EVEN be solved! - Jinx

Oh man, does this take me back. Well, here are some tips through the haze of memory:

The blackout thing is solvable. There is an antidote somewhere in the game to the stuff you were given. Taking this improves your joie de vie.

The key, as others have said, is to gather all of the evidence that clears you and going to the police. You also have to get rid of the evidence that incriminates you. There is a place to do this in the game.