In "Laura Bow 1," all you have to do to beat the game is find one body in act 8, get the gun and bullet from that body, go where the game tells you to go, and then make a 50-50 guess and if you guess wrong just restore and do the other option. And the 50-50 guess is made even easier by assuming they won't give anything away in the title of the game, which is a reasonable assumption.

So you can sit around and do nothing for 7 acts, and then all you have to do is pick up 2 items and do a grand total of one action with those items combined, and Voila! You've beaten the game with the best ending. Yeah your score will suck, but on my first playthrough of a game I don't care about points (or Sleuth-o-meters or any equivalent to points).

Don't care which ending you get? I don't blame you, since the bad ending isn't all that bad. Most people in the game will die anyway, so what's one more death? Especially when the Colonel is a guy who you just met and who isn't nice to you. Not to mention the main killer gets brought to justice anyway. So anyway, when you take all this into consideration, beating the game will be easier. All you have to do is.....


NOTHING! NOTHING AT ALL!

Just sit around, leave the game open for a few hours, don't die, and VOILA! You'll have beaten the game.

I think "Laura Bow 1" is overrated. "Laura Bow 2" is a lot better. At least that game has some puzzle and you actually have to do stuff. Not to mention in that game, it actually does make a huge difference which ending you get.

The notion that one can "beat" a game without playing it is a bit baffling :)

I have to disagree that the game is overrated. I always considered it one of Roberta Williams' more compelling plots, with interesting little mysteries to unravel and no convoluted solutions to puzzles (that immediately spring to mind). Best of all, I can't think of any ways to put the game into an unwinnable state.

I also think you're overlooking the fact that you're technically not getting the true "best ending" unless you have solved the subplot involving a certain hidden treasure.

You may be right that from a purely mechanical standpoint, one can reach the game's end without doing anything. But doing so means missing so much content. Speaking for myself, I like to get the most out of the games I play -- not the least.

Well, maybe not convoluted puzzles, but certainly some hard ones. How would you find any of the secret passages without a walkthrough? The game points out the scuff marks, but then I type "Look scuff marks" and every command I could think of to try and learn more about the scuff marks. All I ever get is "The game does not understand 'scuff.'" How anybody could figure out on your own that you can "Move armoire" or "Move clock" is beyond me. Also, I was able to find the key in the cannon, but how anybody figures out what to do with it AND figures out the exact commands that you are supposed to type is beyond me. But if you don't think to do these things, you're going to miss an awful lot.

There are a lot of things in that game where, the first time I watched a "Let's Play" (after having given up on trying to get a good Sleuth meter rating on my own), I thought "How were you supposed to figure that out?" Well yes, but that's because you don't have to do anything to get to the ending.

If you are talking about reaching the best ending, than actually I think there ARE ways to make that impossible. If you enter the attic in act 8 without having picked up the gun and the bullet, you can't get a good ending. And I think if you make it to act 8 without having solved that subplot that you mentioned (I had forgotten about that), then the best ending is out of the question. And even if it is possible to do that during act 8, it certainly isn't possible to do it once you've entered the attic and witnessed the scuffle

Yes, technically walking away and letting the time go - you can beat the game.

If you mean, finishing.

I have news for you - if you play LSL1 EGA (might even be in VGA, but I doubt it) - open it and just sit there. Watch what happens when it "runs out of time."

Sierra did this with both of these games - but the point is to try and find out what's happening - interacting at specific times with Laura and where/how you do it - creates a different experience.

Colonel's Bequest is one of my favorites from back in the day.

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