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Virtual Villagers - The Secret City
Embark on a journey with a group of adventurous villagers in their quest to populate a new part of the mysterious island of Isola! Land on the hidden shores of the northern side of the island and explore what was once a secret city. Find new sources of food to nourish your villagers and help them rebuild the remains of this long lost city. Who lived here before? Where have they gone? What is the secret of Isola? Lead your tribe to the answers in Virtual Villagers - The Secret City!
There's no shame in being a Virtual Villagers addict, and for those of us who are addicted to any kind of game, whenever there's a sequel out you get an initial 'wahooo!' followed by several crossed fingers and toes that it won't have changed too much but will challenge you more!
So what are the new additions? Weather is a new thing here (in that it affects your game). The introdution of a chief is also new and a great idea because your chief can summon varying amounts of food for you every 24hrs which is a big sigh of relief since most of us have had famine issues in the other games, much less likely now. They can also lecture and perform other helpful things, be kids or be either sex and have babies if female which is good because they don't 'work'. The potions list is also now much more extensive than before and it can be very amusing just trying and testing things. The other big addition is that your tribes can now select a 'type', either magic or nature, which affects what you can do and means you also want to play at least twice all the way through! Enough of all that, on to...
Gameplay Much the same as before graphics/movement-wise, no major changes here but to be honest i'm quite glad, we like it! The tasks, challenges etc are more varied and just as likely to make you have to scour a walkthrough in places, so also great. It does feel like there's more to do and you do find yourself discovering new things big and small fairly regularly through the game.
In conclusion it's clear that I loved it, it hasn't changed in any major ways and that's a good thing (to me anyway). You still get a whole lot of gameplay for your money, and it's still one of the best real time strategy games out there of the type. I bought without demo because with any Virtual Villagers game, you won't get much done in an hour anyway, but all I can say is that it was 100% worth it and i'll be doing the same when Virtual Villagers 4 comes out - BIG thumbs up!
This review has an average score of 4.4 - Based on 49 ratings Login to rate this review
ZokiPhantom's Review - June 18, 2008
Full Version (PC)
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Lucky Third Time
Did you like the first two Virtual Villagers games? Then don't hesitate and buy this one right away, 'cause it's even better that the first and second part.
There are quite a lot changes that you can only see if you try very hard, 'cause you'll get so addicted to it that you won't even see the bad stuff, which actually isn't much...
I first downloaded the trial/demo version, but i couldn't do much in that one hour play so i made my brother buy it for me, 'cause even that i didn't do much in that one hour play i was taken by it's magic, by the graphics and the sounds, but mostly by the plot/storyline, 'cause even though the first two parts were great, they aren't as good as this part... believe me you won't make a mistake if you buy it, or at least try it with the trail/demo version, 'cause the new puzzles are the most interesting so far if you ask me, and although they are a bit harder(well some of them), you'll surely love discovering the three diamond keys...
This review has an average score of 4.1 - Based on 27 ratings Login to rate this review
kello420's Review - May 29, 2008
Demo Version (PC)
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Virtual Villagers 3
I was excited to see the third edition out of virtual villagers. This version, is much like the first. You need researchers/scientists, builders, healers, farmers, parents.. to make your village thrive.
A new addition to this game is the tribal chief! You have your villagers try on a strange robe on the island, and one of them is destined to be the leader. This villager is not a worker, they rather help the workers. If one villager doesn't fit the robe - try another. It can be any one of them!
There are exciting puzzles to figure out, and a nice storyline. If you liked the other two virtual villager games, you'll love this one as well :)
This review has an average score of 3.9 - Based on 44 ratings Login to rate this review
The villagers must push the statue up the path towards thYou will need Level 3 Restoration, Level 3 Leadership, a tribal chief, a Master Builder, and a completed bath (solved Puzzle 8). Drop the Master Builder on the chalkboard (which will be blank after the bath is completed), and he/she will draw up plans for the statue. Drag an adult villager (not a nursing mom) up the path to the door until he/she "Sees a good place to anchor the statue" -- this villager is more likely to be successful if he/she has some building skill. That villager will then build scaffolding to help anchor the statue. Your chief must direct work on the statue, so drop him/her on the statue to begin this process - if the chief stops directing work, then progress will halt until the chief returns to his/her duties. Once the chief is directing, you can then drop builders on the statue to help "pushing the statue". e door - this will take several hours (you can click on the statue to bring up a timer in the status bar that will help you determine how long is left - but this time depends on how many builders you have working on the project and may increase if builders leave the project). Your builders may occasionally complain that "there is no more room to help out" - only a limited number of builders can work on the statue at any given time.
Tips:
1. If your chief is a female & she has a baby, she's won't direct work or Lecture!
2. Exercising can help boost Building skills and can give some a longer life.
the next 2 can possibly be spoilers
3. Faster Tech Points
TECH Points Faster:Have 3 kids pick up the same shroom or object by: 1.Pause 2.Drop 1 kid near enough to say they are picking it up. 3.Grab another kid & HOLD it above the item 4. QUICKLY Unpause, Drop kid & Pause. 5. Grab final kid & do the same as 2nd kid, unpause & continue. (Even on pause items still appear & disappear)
...click to reveal spoiler...
4.Master Parenting Quickly
Use any 18+ male & females 55+ (when they stop having babies). Pause game & Repeatedly, Grab & drop the one you wish to max onto the other til they kiss (this can take a bit)
...click to reveal spoiler...
5. Potions that make Villagers sick can help your healers out! Just set them aside (or not since the sick can heal as well) and have everyone else drink it and let your healers go to work. P.S. Kids can heal too, becoming apprentice doctors.
6.For the potions that take health and not make villagers sick, you just need to make a potion that gives you health.
7.Look for the potion that says "You feel better" once drank when you have a villager with a weakened status (which are caused by bad potions and lab mishaps). These will give you healthy status again and will slowly refill the health meter (or just make a potion that gives health afterwords to fill it quicker)
8. Kids can gather your ingredients for potions. They are much faster.
9. Without saying too much the best way to get all the limited food source crisis done with is to get the following asap:
3 adept builders (to me the most important skill to have all villagers learn/master)
the lift fixed
the research lab fixed
level 2 in the faction you chose (nature or magic)
the right potion to make your problems disappear :)
Hope this helped :)
Puzzle 12 - Aromatherapy. You will need to have completed Puzzle 8, have Level 3 Medicine, and a Master Doctor. Drop your Master Doctor in the completed bath. He/she will fill the bowls around the bath with Lotus plants ("doing aromatherapy"). Then drop a Master Doctor on the fire to light the burners and finish the puzzle.
And now a question : why the award of the "Legendary Chief" is not activted even if my chief started this "job" at 10 years and now he is 62???
Train 1 of your villager to an adept scientist and picked up the 5 alchemy items over the village. Once all the items are retrieved, the alchemy would be available for use to research on potion.
...click to reveal spoiler...
The broken machine puzzle...
Improve restoration to level 2.
Get at least 3 villager who has adept builder and above skills level to repair the lift.
...click to reveal spoiler...
The orchard puzzle ...
Get 1 of the villager to stand on the primitive lift when it starts to rain. when the bucket on the other end is filled with the rain water, the stand will rise and the villager on it will be able to pick the fruit on the tree on top and after the fruit drop to the ground, get the villager to pick it up and plant it in the orchard. Get 3 plants in the orchard to mature and the puzzle would be complete.
...click to reveal spoiler...
The Giant Bath...
After the alchemy lab is restored, get a master builder to draw on the chalkboard. After that, drag any villager with skill of adept builder or higher to repair the bath.
...click to reveal spoiler...
Rooster of Death puzzle...
Clear away the leaves in front of the stone tablet and it will gives you the rooster of death. Clearing away the leaves will improve the skill of building.
fix the machine as mentioned, and when it starts to rain put a villager on the right side. the rain fills the bucket with water thus lifting the villager who will be able to reach for a fruit/seed. Plant the seed and you'll get a tree. to complete the puzzle you need to have 3 trees.
You will need Level 2 Leadership, a tribal
chief, and 3 Adept Farmers. First, drop the chief on your lit fire.
He/she will begin weather dancing. Then drop the farmers on the fire,
and they will join in. You will know they are successful when sparkles
appear over their heads and under their feet.
...click to reveal spoiler...
Puzzle 6 - The Lift.
You will need 3 Adept Builders and Level 2 Restoration.
Once you have purchased the tech, drop your 3 builders on the "strange
machine" in the orchard. Make sure their action line reads "repairing
the lift". If you have done this correctly, the lift will be repaired.
...click to reveal spoiler...
Puzzle 7 - The Rubble.
You will need Level 2 Restoration. Drop a villager
(preferably a builder) on the pile of rocks at the bottom of the map.
He/she will clear away the rocks, gaining building skill (builders will
accomplish this task faster).
...click to reveal spoiler...
Puzzle 8 - The Ancient Bath.
You will need to have completed Puzzle 3
and have a Master Builder. Drop your builder on the "chalkboard" in the
alchemy lab (he/she will "see" it if you fly them over the lab) - he/she
will create the the plans for the bath. Drop your builders on the bath
to complete the project.
After you repair the lift, make one of your villagers stand on the lift during the rain. after a while the villager can reach the tree and then a seed will drop. Drag your villager onto the seed to plant it.Make the whole thing twice and wait for fruits to grow up. (Actually orchard contains three trees but one seed is already on the ground- i strongly suggest planting it at the beginning of the game because honey stock is very limited... )
Puzzle 1 The First Chief. Drop all your villagers on the robes in the amphitheater: any villager except nursing moms can become chief. If you can't find your chief right away, wait until moms no longer have babies and drop them on the robe. (you will need to repeat this process each time the chief dies)
Puzzle 2 The Bee Hive First, light the fire (collect wood and dry grass in the fire pit, then light the fire). Then drop an adult villager on the burned out torches near the hive. He/she will return the touch to the hive and calm the bees so you can collect honey.
Puzzle 3 The Alchemy Lad. You will need and Adept Scientist (or more than one). Scattered around the village are 2 colored pots (red and yellow with white stripes) a brown pot, a gray bowl and spoons, and a short spear (orange-brown handle with gray blade). Drop your scientist(s) on each item and they will return it to the lab.
Puzzle 4 The Roster of the Dead. At the far right on the map is a grassy area at the upper right of this area is a big leafy bush. Have your villagers remove these leaves which uncovers the roster of the dead (they will gain building skill; trained builders can accomplish this faster).
You will need to have solved Puzzle 9 (The Statue), a Master Builder, a Master Scientist, and a Tribal Chief. Once the statue is completed, a rough pearl will appear near the statue's feet. Have a Master Builder pick up the pearl - he/she will take it to the waterfall to be shaped. After the builder drops the pearl, drop a Master Scientist on the pearl to take it to the research lab to be finished. Then have the tribal chief pick up the finished blue pearl: the chief will use the pearl to get the key from the giant clam and will then put the key in the door. (As with the other key puzzles, the pearl will return to the last place it was located if a villager drops it before reaching their destination - they will have to pick it up again to complete the task).
...click to reveal spoiler...
Puzzle 16 - The Sun Dial.
You will need to have solved Puzzles 13, 14, and 15. Once all three keys are in the door, the sun dial room will be revealed. Wait for the weather to become sunny - a beam of sunlight will appear in the room. Drop a villager on the sun dial until it reaches the position at the furthest left, directly under the sun beam (there are three locations for the sun dial). When the sunlight hits the sun dial, ghostly figures will appear in the room - the puzzle should be solved at this point (if it is not, have a villager move the sun dial around until it reaches the spot again)(there are three locations for the sun dial). When the sunlight hits the sun dial, ghostly figures will appear in the room - the puzzle should be solved at this point (if it is not, have a villager move the sun dial around) Drop a villager on those ghosts and the mystery of the secret city will be revealed!
The hive puzzle -except mushrooms. To solve the puzzle you have to set up the fire first. Then pick up a burnt-torch near the hive and light it. your villager will do the rest...
Later in the game (after at least 60 hours of fire burn time), you will notice sparkles coming from the fire. Drop an adult villager on the rightmost of the two waterfalls (where they go to drink and do laundry) to help put the fire out (you will have to do this 3-4 times); you can also let the fire go out on its own. A diamond will appear in the ashes. The diamond will be too hot to pick up initially (it was in a fire, don't forget). To cool the key, drop adult villagers on the waterfall. They will gather water and drop it on the key. They will need to do this more than once (5 or 6 times) to make the diamond cool enough to touch - your villagers won't repeat this task on their own, so you will have to make them do it by dropping them on the waterfall. When the villagers no longer bring water to the fire (they'll revert to drinking from the waterfall when you drop them on it), drop a villager on the key - they will take it to the door and solve the puzzle. You will need to repeat this step if they drop the key before reaching the door.
Once you have a Tribal Chief, they can't do any work anymore. But...
My Tribal Chief is a woman and I've found out that you can still get her to have a baby, so she can be used for expanding the population, which leaves you with more villagers to do other things
Just so that everyone knows. You DO NOT choose who will wear the robe. That is random. I have even had a child who wears the robe. That is probably the best one to do in my opinion, since they can't work. :)
Spoiler**
Your person with the robe, the chief of the village, can help you with food if it is short once every 24hrs. This can be helpful while you wait for your stats to raise :)
I was kind of confused at first on getting food for my villagers, but figured out the honey is your first source. Make sure your firewood and dry grass is gathered and started before attempting.
Spoiler:
The next step as to getting food is repairing the lift, located next to the fruit tree by the water. You need to advance your restoration one level in the tech department. So be sure to have at least one or two villagers in researching to earn those tech points. After advancing one restoration level, you need three builders at once, to fix the lift. After it is fixed, when it rains, quickly drag a villager onto the flat end of the lift to stand on it while it rains. It will lift them up and they will knock down a fruit seed, in which you can plant another fruit tree. You can have 3 total fruit trees. Good luck! :)
one of the secret powers from the village chief is: poofing up food ......
you always get when done the tutorial 300 food of a big bunch of honeycombs
the adept scientist he can make the lab usable
collect all the items you can by using childs
the only flower you can use is a black lotus .... the other plants ar very good hidden ( for me )
you get a plant every so much hours with food ( wich i dont remember )the village chief can let your poeple work anny better and earn better experience
i got on one of my tribes a child from the barrel so i got 1 child whitout parenting him
always pause the game unless your really sure the villagers can survive without you
You will need to have completed Puzzle 3 and have at least Level 2 in your chosen faction, Nature or Magic.
For NATURE: collect the following herbs for a potion: 2 X Black Orchid, 1 x Pitcher Plant.
For MAGIC: collect the following herbs for a potion: 2 X Rose, 1 x Berry.
Have an adult villager (not a nursing mother) drink the potion. He/she will take a vial to the ocean.
You will need to have solved Puzzle 3. Collect the following herbs for a potion: Cactus, Rose, Lotus. Make the potion and have villager (other than a nursing mom) drink it. That villager should feel "light and springy!". Drop them near the pink diamond (the hanging thing) just above the Rose plant - their status line should read "trying to reach the key". They will jump up, collect the key, and place it in the door. If they drop the key before reaching the door, you will have to resolve this puzzle.
I have played all 3 of the games and they are great. Just a few herbal tips...
Rose Rose Rose Romantic/Embrace
Rose Rose Black Orchid Feels Lonely
Rose Rose Cactus Fertile
Rose Rose Lotus Dances
Rose Rose Tiger Lily Stinky Breath/Villager Burps Green Cloud
For a health potion, use 2 lotus flowers and 1 cactus. If your person is very low on health you have to make the potion again. The villagers are only able to use the potion once per pot.
THESE ARE MY TIPS, ASSUMING VIEWERS ALREADY HAVE GENERAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE GAME
1. The 1st puzzle is the finding of the chief, my advice is (through personal experience) DO NOT allow anyone to try on that wretched robe! Even a child! Directing work my foot, that's not as good as actually doing work. You can always do this later when you have to do weather dancing and what not.
2. The 1st thing u want 2 do is put a person to start building a house, not because you want to support a larger population, but because you want to build skill (luckily I had a runner, and if the person is a trainee already, all the better). One person should be collecting the honey (the seed should already be planted). The rest of people should be researching. After one scientist (who has some skill in building) reaches adept level, put him to start building to build up his skill level. You don't have to drain the honey all at once so, put the farmer to research when you are satisfied with the amount of food (you'll pick back up when the food goes down) In the meantime, get the children to collect collectibles and mushrooms.
3.When the woman who was pregnant becomes available put her to clear the bushes (You may put all training builders to clear bushes). You are doing this because you need 3 adept builders (along with Restoration Level 2) to make the machine work.
4. So by now, your honey would have finished, and you should be harvesting fruit from your first tree. Hopefully you have enough tech pts to buy Restoration Level 2, and you should have 3 adept builders (one might be master), so buy Rest. L.2 and then place the 3 adept builders on machine and it will be repaired.
5. You don't have to leave a villager stupidly standing on the machine waiting for rain to fall. As soon as you start to see rain falling, place one. The bucket on the other end will fill and the villager goes up. A seed (in the form of the actual fruit) would fall, and you'll plant that. You may take the villager
(cont'd) off the machine before rain is finished falling and the lever goes down. When rain falls again, you do the same to get the last fruit.
6. So, with that over, and a lot of fruit in the future, so you don't have to worry, you can now concentrate on making 55,000 tech pts to get rid of the sharks. You may also, finish clearing bushes (to reveal the Roster of the Dead), and Repair the bath, and clear rubble. Note: I, still haven't robed by chief!
7. When the youngest child is about 11, and all the others have more or less grown up, you can let a woman get pregnant.
Personally, right now I've got 6 scientists (4 of which are mastered, and 1 Esteemed) trying to make up my 55,000 to banish sharks; 2 builders clearing the rubble (the bath is already repaired), no one farming, because I think I have enough food (over 1000) and besides the trees are almost depleted! 2 children running around. I started playing today, after a failed try! And I'm confident I can finish successfully. I think, the key to my success, is not picking a leader. When I'm reading to do the weather dance or when I'm out of food, I'll allow my villagers to try on the robe (hope it's a child) Anyway, I hope this helps many people. I know other people's inputs helped me alot in coming up with this idea.
the tribal chief can do more then what most ppl are saying..he/she can gather fire wood & dry grass. he/she can make potions. and he/she can stand on the lift and plant the seeds and can heal and every 24 hrs can food
You can make magic food with the help of CHIEF.Just place him over the food bin and he will start making.But he can only make this magical food once every 24 hours(real 24 hours).
your chief can make magic food every 24 hours if your low on food you can use this.
also in pause this 24 hours will pass if you pause your game and then skip some time with your computer you can let your chief make a lot of food without any worries
There are only 6 herbs that you can use on the island: Cactus, Black Orchid, Rose, Lotus, Tiger Lily and Berries (if you have chosen the Magic faction) or Pitcher Plant (if you have chosen the Nature faction). The sixth herb will appear to the left of the alchemy lab, where the kids go when nature calls, after you have purchased Level 2 in your chosen faction. You won't be able to have both the Pitcher Plant AND the Berries, so if you have already unlocked one of these, you have found your last herb.
The chief job is kinda like the golden child from previous games. Since you can get this job from almost the very beginning the abilities are limited (based on population) but still useful. I suggest dropping the 2 starter kids on the robe in the amptitheatre at the very beginning and starting over until you've got 1 of the kids as a chief.
Turn the computer clock back 10 hours, to have the trees in your orchard instantly have 1000 food if you've let the trees mature to full growth. This trick will also max the honey in the hive to 3000.
Turn the clock back a little when you've just planted a tree, this will instantly grow your tree and max it at 1000. Handy at the beginning of the game.
Rewinding the clock is useful for getting food but not teck points, but you won't loose tech points either.
Second is repair the lift, when it rains drop a vilager onto lift( there is allready seed on the ground)...
...click to reveal spoiler...
LAst resourse is fishing... Get level 2 faction and Nature : picure plant + 2 black orhid
Magic : berry + 2 rose
This are resorses in game.
Chief can do much more than enybody says !
He can : gader herbs, plant seds , take keys , Most inportant direckt work. When direckting work work is ethier : bosted ( done faster ) or on lab points are gained faster.
Although it's not THE time critical game is, I like to use the hotkeys ingame. The hotkeys are equal to the previouse versions:
M - Map
D - Details
P - Puzzles
C - Collections
T - Tech
Space - Un-/Pause
1-9 - jump to map section (ordered as on the num pad)
ESC - Mainmenu, abort detail screen
I hope this helps you.
Most actions a villigaer can take are splitt in two parts.
For example "Cleaning the rubble": 1st step is picking up an stone, which teaches building skill. 2nd is to dispose of the stone, which enhances the cleaning process.
In order to build up a skill simple keep dragging the villager back to work after (s)he picked up a stone.
Same goes for parenting. You may drag a couple onto each other until the woman is pregnent without having them go indoors.
The bottom left of the map is that there a piles of rock, you need to get a Master Builder or Master Researcher (Upgrade all of the techs up to Level 3 just incase) to mine the rocks and then there will be a hole. Inside will be secrets about the Island of Isola. Maybe this will work.
use you clock on the icon tray. Make sure you don't go past midnight. When you get the points and food that you need pause the game and set the clock back to the original time and you won't lose any villagers or points or food.
When someone of your tribe dresses the robe, that's in the amphitheatre, that person cannot work anymore. He/she can be a healer an has special power (don't know them yet), but cannot work like a builder or scientist or farmer. So for a tribal chief choose someone, that u need less.
It seems the order you put the plants into the alchemy pot makes a difference. The list compiled by MIWHALKI is great except that the order for ingredients is in some cases wrong. When the order is wrong the person doing the alchemy loses health
EDIT: this only seems to be the case when your alchemy is at level 1 and 2. Once your alchemy is fully upgraded the order doesn't seem to matter.