Or maybe I should say "Finished, but not done yet"?

I had already made my own set of "cheats" - printouts of each figure with post-it's labeled with the bits of dialogue from the first Dream, so I could move them around and plan my solution. But I gave up and went to Coelho Buda's walkthrough and just mechanically followed the steps to complete both the final Dream puzzles. It just wasn't worth it to me to spend the time mixing and matching, rotating and dropping off icons until I got it all done right.

I haven't really finished the game, however. I still have to go back to a saved game and go experience the first Dream and [ugh] Curtains again. Then I have to replay the game twice - only to the point that my Spirit Guide is assigned - just for the fun of delivering pollen puffs and fire drops instead of bubbles. Only then will I consider myself truly finished with Revelation.

*sniff* It's been dragged out for two years now (with a hiatus of a year and a half) . . . I'll miss it.

The first Dream is easier. However, there are no walkthrough for it. Only hints, tips and suggestions.

Achenar's character has come a long way since Myst... but Sirrus is just as smarmy as ever.

Never trusted him then, didn't trust him now.

Whereas the actor who played Achenar managed to voice just the right sense of anguish over the discovery that the Mangrees had given him a name and were calling him to play their game with them . . . I *knew* he had changed.

I can't believe I still haven't gone back to tidy up all my loose ends.

Now that the excitement of exploring new territory is gone, my motivation to continue has really dissipated. Or maybe it's just that after neglecting everything else around here for 3 1/2 months, it's time to catch up.

Lyn,

You could always go back and try to get the Mangree to poison the Camodille again (without the walkthrough). That should be good for another 3 months or so... I know it would be for me.

I did that one without a walkthrough anyway.

I wouldn't propose that anyone else follow my method. Because I mistakenly concluded that the Mangrees could not move counterclockwise, my solution involved more moves than either of the walkthroughs I read - but it worked in the end, so that's what counts.

Then I spent quite a bit more time just playing around with the system, "exploring" all the different expressions, both vocal and facial, that had been designed in for each Mangree depending on which nest he was in at the time I called, and whether or not the Camodile was below at the moment. I have a whole gallery of Mangree pictures now.

Lyn,

My problem was not with the procedure (I used a walkthrough), but with the logistics. "Short" and "long" tones had been described differently by different sources, some using time, some using fractions of a rotation of the knobs; I experimented with everything I could think of, but it was only luck that finally allowed the Mangree to throw the fruit; I still have no idea how.

That's how I felt about the first Mangree puzzle. But I re-did that one enough times that I then had a "feel" for the timing of "shorts" and "longs." So I was OK with that.