Cassandra's Journey 2: The Fifth Sun of Nostradamus, like the first game in the series, puts you in the role of Cassandra, a clairvoyant who solves cases with the aid of a mysterious ring and training from her mentor Nostradamus. Conveniently, she solves her cases by spotting hidden objects in various settings. Cassandra attempts to divine the location of her missing boyfriend but gets overwhelmed by a malevolent, evil presence and knocked out. While she sleeps, Nostradamus visits and tells her that she must find and destroy this evil presence to save the world.
You'll spend the majority of your time looking for hidden objects. At the bottom of the screen is a list of the objects that you're trying to find; at first it'll just be a simple list, but as you progress you'll have to decipher riddles and outlines of the objects you need instead. Then, all you have to do is find them within the room and click them with your mouse.
Like with any hidden object game, this sounds simple but it can end up being quite challenging. While typically the objects are in places you'd expect, sometimes they're in improbably (and sometimes physically impossible) places. You'll get stuck more than once, especially with the picture clues in the late game that are often reversed or upside down compared to the object you're looking for.
Fortunately, Cassandra's a fortune-teller, and you have the option of casting spells to show you where objects are. She knows five spells, with increasingly specific hints, and require an increasing amount of power as well. You start each level with a full hint meter, but if you click randomly or cast hint spells, it can quickly shrink. To refill it, either wait or find more objects. It's a system that's elegant in its simplicity, and keeps you from getting frustrated or stuck.
It's a system that you'll appreciate, especially when you enter one of the game's many minigames. In the course of her adventure, Cassandra will find clues that she must reassemble or puzzles she must solve in order to progress the plot. For the most part, these minigames are a fun diversion, introducing a jigsaw puzzle or some light Wheel of Fortune-style decoding into what would otherwise be a pretty bland game. It's nice to have variety. However, sometimes the puzzles might prove too challenging for you, or maybe you're just not in the mood. In that case, there's a convenient 'skip puzzle' option, which activates after a set amount of time fiddling with the puzzle. When you just can't see the solution, it's nice to be able to just move on with the game.
Analysis: Cassandra's Journey 2: The Fifth Sun of Nostradamus is a surprisingly pretty game. Every scenario is well-done, and the quality of the art is so high that I found myself wondering if the characters and settings were photographs retouched to look painted, or if they were just excellently-done paintings. Every object is gorgeously rendered, and unlike other hidden object games I've played, I always knew what I was looking at.
The story, however, is sadly lacking. Although Cassandra's Journey 2 is just a hidden object game, and is just as fun to play without the story, so much effort is put into the gorgeous plot sequences that take place between levels that it seems a shame that they make so little sense. Without spoiling anything, part of the plot revolves around Cassandra's divination to tell the two where to go next, but it's accomplished with ordinary playing cards and a form of Solitaire. Cassandra explains that the last four cards left on the table are "numbers that fate has chosen," but I had a hard time suspending my disbelief when they immediately went to an address which included a K and an A. Still, no matter how you feel about fortune-telling and clairvoyance, the core gameplay is entertaining.
Overall, Cassandra's Journey is a gorgeously presented hidden-object game with solid core gameplay. If you ever enjoyed I Spy as a kid, you'll love this game.
Windows:
Download the demo
Get the full version
Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Get the full version
Walkthrough Guide
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Cassandra's Journey 2: The Fifth Sun of Nostradamus Walkthrough
Overview
There are three menus at the bottom of the screen: Items, Inventory, and Objectives. Items are the objects you have to find in the scene. Inventory items are objects you have to use in the scenes to advance. You can always check your Objectives to confirm what you need to do to complete a scene.
On the left you see five Spells you can use as hints. Each Spell costs you some of your magical power shown by the blue liquid below the Spells. The liquid refills slowly over time.
1st Spell: Costs 90% - Shows the location of a single object
2nd Spell: Costs 80% - Crystal ball shows if you're hot or cold to an object
3rd Spell: Costs 70% - Shows exactly how the object appears on the screen
4th Spell: Costs 60% - Shows a slide show of the objects on your list
5th Spell: Costs 50% - Shows a square in which an object can be found
Cassandra's House
Pick up the Key. Use Key to open chest in the back. Pick up the crystal ball. Put crystal ball on the stand on the table
Find the Candles, Books and Objects
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Put books on the shelf in back and put the Candles in the 10 holders
Light fireplace with the Matches, then light the 10 candles.
Close the curtains by pulling the rope on the left of the window
Now, clear the Crystal Ball with your hand
Magic Trick: Pick an Item beneath one of the pillows. The objects will be mixed. Again pick the pillow above your object. Do that once more.
Make Lunch:
Find all the objects
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Wash Potatoes by turning on sink then putting Potatoes in
Make Salad in gray bowl by combining: Lettuce, Shrimp, Tomatoes, Cheese and Spring Onions
Make Pizza on pizza dish by combining: Flour, Sauce, Mushrooms, Sausage and Peppers. Then place in oven.
Make Soup in pot on stove by combining: Pumpkin, Washed Potatoes, and Onion
Play Fairway Divination Game: Follow the simple rules. You only have to clear four stacks. If you can, focus on four stacks.
Michael's Apartment
Find the pieces of the Note, Discs and Pictures
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Put the not back together
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Clean up the Basement: You have to find pairs of objects. In the Screenshot, match objects of the same shape and color
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Open the Cabinet in the back to find the wooden box. Open the Wooden Box to find the Old Quatrain
In the Screenshot: First find the highlighted words. Then the Quatrain will change. Then, look for the red underlined words.
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Play Mahjong Divination Game: Play just like Mahjong to clear the board
Find all the Mayan Symbols
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Move the phone booth to find the symbol
Move the Car and do the puzzle to find the symbol
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Move the Bus and do the puzzle to find the symbol
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Match 3 Game: Try and get more coins than the Old Man. If you get four or more in a single move, you get an extra turn. When in doubt always take the coins if you can.
The Museum
Find the objects by solving the rhyming clues
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Find the book pages
Move the Chair, the Red Box, the File Boxes and the Bottle Rack on the shelf
You'll need to figure out the box combo to find last books
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Figure out the combo: Clean off the dials with the Feather Brush. Answer:
X=5 and Y=3
Use Feather Brush to clean up cobwebs to find last two Books
Museum Auction
Each item falls into one or more categories. You have to buy at least 3 of each of the 6 categories but stay under budget. There are only 3 musical items so buy the Viola, Victrola and Horn first. I got more than I needed with my money. See if you can do better!
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Find all the symbols. Note: The order of the pages changes so the Screenshot is a composite of all the pages
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Find all the objects with the riddle hints
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Play the 2 x 2 Divination Game: Reeeeally simple... Match cards of the same suit. Draw cards from the bottom if you need another suit.
Mrs. Cutsworth's House
Disable the alarm: Connect the green power line to the green light on the right. Make sure not to connect any of the red lines. Note: It's easiest to start from the light and go left.
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Find the objects and open the safe
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To open the Safe, use the keys one by one until the Safe opens. Only one Key works
Inside the safe you'll find a Clay Tablet and a Sun Image
Click on the Alarm to rearm it
Fix the Tablet: Reassemble the pieces
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Nostradamus' Printing press: Find 15 differences
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Reprint the Quatrain: The letters are in printer block form so they run right to left and backwards. It's easiest to do a test print to see what you're shooting for.
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At Cassandra's and Michael's
Find the Tarot Cards
Move Violin to find last die
Move Plant and Skull to find last Tarot Cards
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Light lamp on table with Matches
Add 5 Herbs, Frog Leg, Bat Wing and Mantis Leg into Jar on front table
Put jar on the lamp then pick up Elixir
Play Fairway Divination Game Again
Find the Symbols: Use the lens to find the Symbols. Note: The Screenshot shows where the Symbols are though you'll need to use the lens to see them
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See the Face: You will be shown an image with a red dot in the center. Stare at the dot until the image disappears. It helps if your lights are low. After the image disappears you will see a white screen. Blink quickly and remember the face: the eyes, hair, nose, mouth and ears
Turn on the projector
Pick up the slides and put them in the projector. Pick out the parts which match the image you saw
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Clean the Apartment: Find 13 pairs of objects
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Finish the Map: You have to find the patterns in the contours of the map. Note: there will be 9 parts of the map. The Screenshot shows them all together
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Help Michael Pack
Use Soap then Water on the Jeans to wash them before you can pick them up
Use Net to get the Boxes from above the closet
Find the Helmet behind the Boxes
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Journey to Peru
Peruvian Market
Feed the Parrot the Grapes to get the Bank Card
Put the Bank Card into the ATM in the back to get 20 coins
Move the Mortar and Pestle to find the Purse
You have to get the final objects by purchasing them. Place the proper number of Coins on the object to pick them up
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Out in the Forest: You have to find the objects in pairs. Note: Match the color and shape of the outlines in the Screenshot
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Play Mayan Mahjong: Play three rounds of mahjong... What the Maya are doing in Peru, I don't know.
Load the Backpacks:
Find the Scissors, Medical Tape and Notes in the Suitcase in the van
Find the Batteries, Camera, Radio, Opener and CD Player in the Suitcase on the road
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Fix the GPS: Follow the plans to fix the GPS
Here are where to find all the parts and where they go:
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Here is what the finished GPS should look like:
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Find the 27 Parrots and 3 fruits: Three of the parrots need to be fed the fruit to be able to be picked up
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Magic Parrot Divination: Pick one Parrot and follow it through three mixes to find the Ring
Find Keys, Fruit + Veggies and Coins: Find Machete and use it to cut bushes on both sides of the stairs
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Assemble the Machine to open the door
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Make your way through the Labyrinth: Just follow the maze. You may make some wrong turns but you can always go back. As you see more of the maze, you will fill out the map on the top left
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Find 17 traps then 13 torches
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Let there be Light: The torches give off three different sizes of light: Small, Medium and Large. Arrange the torches so that each crystal gets hit by the light of at least two torches
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Previous Travelers: Find the objects
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Open the Portal: First, you must swap the tiles to rebuild the Portal. Then, you must touch each colored panel in the correct order to open the Portal.
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Special thanks to Walzar for this fabulous walkthrough!
Posted by: grinnyp
|
April 26, 2010 3:38 AM