So what do you animal kingdom experts think? What is most likely for Peru, Mexico and the Congo?
I was also interested in the Guardian of the Sphynx thing, if this Guardian was based on some real legend in Egypt or if it’s just an exclusive idea of the game.
Well, I´ve actually been to the Sphinx and it obviously doesn´t have an interior.
The only legend associated with the Gizeh Sphinx that I´m aware is from a time when heavy sandstorms almost had buried it completly so only the head looked out of the sand.
This meant that you could reach the mouth farily easy and it was said that you could ask the Sphinx questions and you could hear the answer when you listened close enough to the lips.
Oh! Seeing all of that in context, makes me think you’re reading into things way too much.
It literally says a) it’s an animal. - Not a creature/monster/alien/… (myself I always thought it was a UFO)
b) you won’t ever see it - so don’t waste your time looking for it
c) at least least not in this game… - surely there are more games that feature pumas and lions. Doesn’t need to be LA/LFL. I read the sentence as "well… at least not in THIS game, but you might elsewhere- the zoo, on TV, in the wild if you’re lucky…
In real life (or rather in real life legends), the sphinx is a guardian him/herself.
You tried all combinations?
Purely based on range
Mexico: Puma concolor
Peru: Panthera onca
Congo: Panthera pardus
Although… assuming the place in Mexico is Chichen Itza, it is perhaps more likely to run into an ocelot (Leopardus pardalis)because cougars are very shy.
And since the place in Peru is probably Marcahuasi, you won’t run into jaguars or cougars there either… but again ocelots are.
So my semi-educated guess:
Mexico: cougar
Peru: ocelot
Zaire: leopard
Bonus: at The stone face of Amarakarei you could run into a jaguar.
That is a good question actually, since I´m not quite sure about a few places in Zak.
I´ve been under the assumption that Mexico was based on Teotihuacan but your guess seems to be as good (or even better) as mine.
I had no idea with Peru but I have read several suggestions. Again that seems good.
For Kathmandu I am pretty sure that Ashram and police station are supposed to be somewhere on Durbar Square which sadly has been largly destroyed in the 2015 earthquake.
That leaves us with what tribe the congolese Shaman could be from. Most likely being Bantu, Kongo, Mongo or Luba…
One thing we know for sure from London is that the places Zak visits don’t need to be anywhere close to the airport.
Then again, there’s more not quite accurate stuff going on in the game, so I wouldn’t worry too much about any of it!
That Mayan pyramid I posted sure resembles the one in Zak more than just around the eyes! I am pretty sure that one was used as reference for the art.
That is true. For Nepal there is also a long dusty Yak ride mentioned and I think one can assume there were Taxi rides, too.
With Cairo the only place I have been to myself I can confirm that at least the way the relation of where the big pyramid as well as the sphinx are standing seem reversed. Same goes from the direction that Zak approaches from.
Yeah, it certainly is quite a long way from the Mexico City Airport (but there is also more jungle invovled) but looks a lot more like the one in the game than the Pyramid of the Sun does.
Of course with the team being located on the west coast and having been to San Francisco and Mt Rainier themselves before you could assume they had some real life referenes for the street where Zak lives as well for the cave in Seattle. But I suspect those to be completly made up, too.
Chichen Itza is definitely a long trip from the airport but I guess it’s more fun if we imagine Zak trudging through miles of jungle instead of just taking the nearest tourist bus.
I think the Mayan animal is a balam (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/13299761379715375/#details?amp_client_id=CLIENT_ID(_)&mweb_unauth_id=2750f681366b40fca5c4b19a76e9d06d)… at least that’s what I imagined after seeing Apocalypto.
That image makes me wanna get drunk.
Oh that could be a good point, but written like that it really sounded like it was another can of gas thing, you don’t need it, at least not in this game
The sphinx is almost always female in every depiction.
No yellow crayons and far too many other tourists/post card merchants.
The Mexico site is supposed to be the Kukulkan temple at Chichen Itza, where if you step up the stairs you hear the rain drop noise, and if you clap your hands you hear the mythological Mayan bird sing, The Quetzal, these places are really weird indeed.
The Lima part is based on the Nazca lines in the Peruvian desert, the one we see in the game is the astronaut drawing, the only difference is that in reality it’s just a drawing in the desert, in the game it’s a carving in a sort of cave by the water https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g304044-d2145604-i188982803-Mystery_Peru-Nazca_Ica_Region.html
1988: David Fox puts shades on the Sphinx
1989: Kiss put shades on the Sphinx
Coincidence? Yes!
I resumed my replay of Zak tonight and got to The King for the first time in 30 years.
Only one with tranpsparent gloves crystal left to find … but it’ll have to wait for another night because I can’t bear another maze right now.
That looks ominous.
I really should play The Cave again.