However, We At C.A.I. Believe in Second Chances - Let's Play Miss Management!

[Taiyo]

Good to see you're back!

Ashley just... doesn't want to work anymore with her +9 moodifer, huh? Is that supposed to be the highest in the game so far?

Also, yikes, if Ashley leaves it would have to fall onto Mahavir to do art tasks... poor guy. (Granted Winston and Brooke would probably do them, but their moodifiers with art tasks would probably be too much to handle this late in the game)

[Robindaybird]

yeah, Ashley is in full checked out mode, while realistic especially with the hell this team's been through, but frustrating.

[LPFinale]

Episode 28: Story Update

Video:


How fitting that we're approaching the end of this Let's Play around the same time the story began in-universe, near the end of the holidays. We've still got a few more Episodes to go through, but... it's coming. And soon.



So anyway we're about to dive headfirst into an Episode that stumped me as a small child. I can sort of see why I was bad at it when I was young and not very experienced in the ways of breaking this game in half over my knee with items, but now...



...well, we'll see.



Like I said, no big Outro or anything. Pretty abrupt, but considering her state at the end of last Episode...



Anyways,

No, no. That's why I needed to talk to you. That's exactly the problem!
Um... what?



I respect everyone's abilities here, but this is sensitive high-level executive work!



I bet some of you think she's kidding. Hahahaha... haaaa... hoooh...

But... didn't you say you wanted to delegate?
I can only delegate when it's appropriate to delegate!



I don't think I've ever seen a CEO who was so hands-on that they burned their brains to a crisp under the stress of others doing the high-level work. ...well, while simultaneously being competent at it, anyway, if you catch my drift.

Phew, sorry. I'm a little bit stressed out.
You don't say.



It's hard for me to let go of some of this stuff, you know?



Three guesses and the first two don't counttttttttttttttttt

What, you don't want anyone else to work?
Augh, you people! Isn't it enough that I pay you?





Hm, slightly less Stress from the common stressors as a consolation, maybe?

Hahahahaha, GOD no

Oh... okay, I guess!
Thanks! I better get back to work.

And of course, as she heads over to the Treadmill to prep for the day...



Much as I hate to admit it, she's right.

Yeahhhhh, Nadine's tendencies to be territorial with her work are at least a bit justified here.



Or the technical tasks. I shudder to think...

WE'RE GOIN' FOR THE HIGH SCORE OF NEW STRESSORS HERE, PEOPLE

But guys... she really is pretty good at all of that.
A jack of all trades and a master of none, is what you mean!

No, that's Mahavir. ...well, okay, we DID establish that her Stress efficiency is about on par with him, actually...



It is pretty typical 'CEO Syndrome.'

I'm not sure whether this is all that common to be named that, Winston, but Nadine's got a point; everyone has their own style of organizing files, writing code... you can leave comments to help with navigation, sure, but who can guarantee that the two employees' systems will be able to mesh and keep things running smoothly?

OK, OK... I'll see what we can do! Just give me at least a day...

You've always been quick to find compromise, Denise, and miraculously, you make it work. With tensions running this high (with the CEO no less), we can only hope that compromise will be able to carry us to the end of this ordeal.



Working.
Wow... you really are!

W- Wait, what? He's really doing it for once???



Wait a second... art tasks?

Who are you and what have you done with the couch potato

What's wrong?



Alas, that was the old Mahavir. I've finally run out!
Run out? Of what?
Of lovely ladies to bestow the gift of my mellifluous words upon!



Oh yeah... you DID get shut down so hard by Nadine and Brooke that it was the laughingstock of the office, huh. Ashley, uh, "taking pity on you" probably didn't help matters.

And so the futile journey of Mahavir... comes to an end.



wait wat

Denise, exactly how much sleep have you been getting throughout all of this? Because this is probably shocking Mahavir as much as it is everyone reading this.

Really? You said you weren't here to flirt with me...
That's not a rejection, silly! I just want to make sure we get work done...

Uhhh... huh. Hmmm...?



Meet me at the water cooler, cutie!



...ah. So then... she likes seeing him all energetic and happy, with all his mannerisms and florid prose. And on top of that, she apparently doesn't mind his flirting when it's with her, either?

I'll admit that it's not the soundest of foundations for a bit of a relationship twist like this, not by a long shot, especially considering the road getting here, but the part where she seems to really like seeing him all bubbly... I find that cute, at least.



Well then. Here's hoping this is a lot healthier than his other, more misguided attempts at this, eh?

Next time, we'll be tackling the kind of mission that's a bit of a brick wall until you refine your management skills to a certain point. See you then~

[DKII]

Oh boy, with that kind of setup I can't wait to see what we get here.

[Kacie]

While it's true that everyone has their own system of doing things, I believe what Nadine is getting at is that the business has a system in place that all employees have to follow in order to ensure tasks can be handed off smoothly, and that Brooke isn't following that system, she's doing it her own way. Basically "rules are important, but not for me". In that case, Brooke is actually making more work because she's not following company policies.

[Quackles]

Welp, this is going to be... interesting.

[LPFinale]

Episode 28: Gameplay Update, "Down with Delegation!"

Video:


Are you prepared for what they're about to throw at us? Because I don't think you are, unless you've played this game up to this point before.





Sooooooo... in review:

• Feed the Ultimate Stress Sink Employee everything in spite of expert coworkers getting pissed
• Satiate both of said expert coworkers despite another surprise you may or may not see coming
• Fulfill a Denise Water Cooler Goal with a One Day Rush limit somewhere in the middle of all that

Fun times all around, it seems! Definitely not excruciating pain!



Starting positions. Strap in for a wild ride.



As per usual with Denise Water Cooler Goals, we need to get as much time on them done as we can before the Tasks start rolling in.



Like so. Now, to get rid of all this quickly...



...we'll make very good use of that extra cash we started with today~



...aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-

So, uh, anyway, Brooke's new stressor is people working on Tasks. Any Task. Of any Task Type. As long as she's not the one working on it.



This is permanent, by the way. It will always be present to some degree from here on out. This Episode, it's worth a +2 Moodifier per different Task Type being worked on by anyone else, meaning having three different Task Types being worked on immediately brings Brooke to a total of +5 after the -1 Idle Bonus, reaching the Stress State Threshold. And yes, that DOES mean you could have two different employees working on the same Task Type and have the stressor proccing only 1 stack of it. It's weird like that, but it's not gonna be that easy since Nadine and Winston won't even allow each other to do the Financial and Technical Tasks, respectively (though they aren't stressed by it; it's just the Goals causing this bit of it).



Upon realizing we'll need the AC to avoid several people burning out before the end of the Day, I have Nadine go turn it on. Probably would've been better to have Brooke do it, but oh well, we stick with the panic choices.



Gotta say, I didn't expect to get this far with the Water Cooler Goal when I first set out to practice. I guess it's made a lot easier by becoming more familiar with the office's limits. Hmm.



Well, it's that time again.



Like magic. Really, really bitter-tasting magic.



It's really that simple, somehow. Granted, it's made a bit harder thanks to Nadine getting more stressed by the Treadmill than normal this Episode (+3 Moodifier instead of +2), but we can deal with that. ...somehow.



And just like that, we've completed the Goal that kept me from advancing for several IRL days when I first played this game as a child. ...yeah, I dunno what the big deal was, maybe I was just always grabbing the Tasks as they appeared and not paying attention to the excruciating amount of time that takes when you're not using a Diet Soda???



I don't even need to tell you anything about that Goal, other than the fact that it has One Day Rush applied to it so we won't be making today any harder on ourselves.



Yeah, today is pretty simple once the Water Cooler is over and done with.



These two were the least challenging part of today, though it did force us to deal with Brooke every once in a while, and Nadine's just ALWAYS a problem by her very nature. Do keep in mind that these Goals also forbid you from letting anyone Burn Out, though.



Welcome to Reason #1 there's no physically possible way we're doing this in 3 Days. Bleeeeegh.

The other Goal is self-explaining, to be honest.



...although I see it's finally at an amount of time where we'll actually have to TRY to complete it. Whew.



Starting up, let's address the other elephant in the room right away.



In order to finish this Day without letting anyone besides Brooke complete any Tasks, we're gonna need to get some supplies, despite our petty cash not meeting the Goal yet. Trying to pass around the Tasks like we used to would be a headache and a half, and not very worth it considering Brooke gets stressed from others working now.



We're gonna need full Snack Packs to deal with this. We'll have plenty of time to reach the Goal later, we need to deal with this Goal immediately for reasons we'll see later.



This is gonna be my whole Day, honestly



So yeah, this is a lot less manageable than yesterday, but it still needs to be done. I'm not sure this is even physically possible without using items in this way, even without Mahavir on the Couch.

Oh yeah, by the way:



Winston is now rather annoyed with Brooke mucking up the systems, getting a hefty +10 Moodifier from her working Technical Tasks (and Nadine is even more annoyed with her own types, getting +6 from Brooke working them instead of +5). That's a total +9 Moodifier after the Idle Bonus is taken into consideration, and keep in mind that the amount of Stress here was after a mere TWO Technical Tasks WITH a Choco-Cafficino boost. This wouldn't work very well without those boosts.



Heck, it's not working very well WITH them.



Yeaaah, this time the Cinnabuns aren't for Brooke, they're for Nadine. I could just let her Burn Out, but eh



That's not to say Brooke will never have any of them, of course; sometimes we really just need to speed up the process way faster than the Treadmill can, especially when Mahavir isn't making this any easier on us.



Today is one of the game's most precarious juggling acts, to be sure. Every little bit helps keep things calm here.



Especially when Nadine and Brooke are both teetering at the edges of a Burn Out most of the day.



A Morale Boost would be super nice right now, Mahavir, so if you could maybe get that over and done with...?



Yyyyyyup, just about there, hnnnnngh



Right on time, too, I was worried I'd have to get a Cinnabun at the last second.



Ahhhhhh, there we go... finally done with that.



...only to be introduced to Reason #2 we're not finishing this in any reasonable amount of time.



So yeah, uh... welcome to Episode 28's cleanup. It's really long, and there's not much to say about it.



If you thought other Days were repetitive, may I present to you,



"Sort By Colors," the Game

Brooke gets orange and blue, Nadine gets green and purple. Splash in some Treadmill time throughout the process, and it's really that simple.



We'll still need some items to get through this in a timely manner, but that's about it. The AC stays on, as well.



That extra point of Stress from the Treadmill for this Episode is making itself known, by the way.



I am once again Sorting By Colors



So, uhhh... how's your New Year's Day going? Decent? Meh?



One down, I suppose. Oh right, where was I...



How's mine going? Alright, I guess. Being left alone, typing. Not much going on.



Wish I was out of here already, but all the hoops to jump through to get anywhere these days mean I won't be out until the middle of January.



So I'm mostly just wishing I was elsewhere already, but hey, 2 weeks isn't much. Let's move on, shall we?



33 Tasks in a Day, so we're not getting this done until Day 5. Woooo. Maybe this could've been Day 4 if we did Brooke's Goal first, but I really don't wanna think about a world in which I try to finish her Goal with nothing resembling a budget of petty cash.



Still not much to talk about.



This part was about as fun to record as it is for you to see it, I assure you.







Free me from this prison, clock. ...god, it really is like work at this point, huh. Ooof.



Nearly there...









We're



almost



done



here!







Blaaaaaaagh. God, this mission changes from frustrating to tedious when you're able to handle the engaging parts that early, huh. Ouch.

Anyways... next time, we get an Outro for once! See you then~

Goal Writeup

Time Per Day: 140 Seconds

Task Types

• Art Tasks: 25%
• Financial Tasks: 25%
• Technical Tasks: 25%
• Writing Tasks: 25%

Task Bursts

• 1-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 5-6 Seconds: 50%
• 2-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 7-9 Seconds: 25%
• 3-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 8-11 Seconds: 25%

Task Sizes

• 4-Bar Tasks: 100%

Required Goals

• "Earn $115 to meet budget goals. ($115 Current Petty Cash)"
• "Have no one else do any work for one day. (No Completed Tasks)" Unlocks Optional Goal #1
• "Do all the technical tasks for one day, without anyone stressing out. (No Completed Technical Tasks, No Burnout)" Unlocks Optional Goal #3
• "Do all the financial tasks for one day, without anyone stressing out. (No Completed Financial Tasks, No Burnout)" Unlocks Optional Goal #4
• "Take the opportunity to finally chat Denise up at the water cooler, in one day. (60 Seconds, One Day Rush)" Unlocks Optional Goal #2

Optional Goals

• "Get fifty tasks done. (50 Tasks)"
• "Take a long nap on the couch, within a single day. (120 Seconds, One Day Rush)"
• "Get forty tasks done. (40 Tasks)"
• "Complete uber-iron marathon routine on the treadmill. (200 Seconds)"

[DKII]

Wow. Just wow.

[Quackles]

That was hell in a bucket. Congratulations.

[LPFinale]

Episode 28: Outro Update

Video:


Well then... if not even Ashley got an Outro, I wonder what all this could be?



...ah. A follow-up to this little matter.

Almost ready to go?
What are you still doing here?



Eh, nah. My plans fell through.

I'm sure they did.

But hey...
Yeah?



There it is.

Hah, is this what I get for chatting with you at the water cooler earlier?



And here I thought you were all talk!
What? No no, it's not necessarily a date. I mean, um...





Well all right then, why don't we try something a little more simple. You know I don't drink coffee though!
One diet soda it is! Actually, though...



Oh...?

Bad news?



I know it's really hectic, I'm sorry!

Do you remember the last time we had three Employees? I do. It was all the way back in Episode 4. This is very, very bad.

Oh, no!
The timing couldn't be worse! We're losing people like crazy! Does it have to be now?
Afraid so.



...oh.

She was a famous lawyer. All the cousins are squabbling over her inheritance, but her will says she wants to donate it all to some civil rights fund!

Yeah, uh... funerals have a way of bringing up that sort of argument. Oogh.

Mahavir, I don't know what to say.
I'm sorry, my family drama is the last thing you need to worry about, huh?

I hope it ends well over there, at least.

I'm sure we'll manage somehow.
You definitely will.







I wanted it to be a surprise but I don't want you to be worried either...
What, you managed to hire someone?

Considering the sheer number of forms it would probably take for a regular Employee to get someone hired compared to you, the Office Manager, I'm gonna guess no. ...well, that, and we've already met all ten Employees on the title screen, so...

Just temporarily, and more like re-hired...

Yyyyyyyup, here we go...!



Ashley's coming back?! But she's on her honeymoon!
No, silly! Think further back. Oh, never mind... you'll see.

I think we will indeed, big guy.

Ohhhh! I think I know who you mean.



You bet it will!

Hey, let's go get that soda. Or heck, maybe I'll have a choco-cafficino for a change!





So yeah... we'll be down Mahavir, but it looks like we'll have some Top 3 Employee material to work with while he's gone! Granted, the Whiteboard's not up here, but I'm sure we can make it work.

Next time, we get reacquainted with an old friend who left early on. See you then~

[yamiaainferno]

Mahavir dropping the ego act and being a person is actually pretty nice. And TARA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Talow]

Welcome back Tara.

[DKII]

Didn't see that one coming. Hope the whiteboard replaces the couch or something though. Wasn't she another stress sink? Seems like we have enough of those already...

[Quackles]

Next we'll have Timothy back for the finale.

The LP Finale.

[Taiyo]

Next we'll have Timothy back for the finale.

The LP Finale.

Boy, can't wait to see if he has gotten any better with art tasks!

[LPFinale]

Episode 29: Story Update

No video for now, just got so excited to get this up that I've forgone the process of uploading for now; it'll be up soon though, don't worry!



6 Days for a 3-Star again, it seems. I'll be looking forward to shattering that with our new recruit, I think~



Let's get ready for their arrival, shall we?



...in a slightly more condensed image style, just to make things special for them.

And you say that annual report has to be designed?
Yep, same time every year. Lots of art tasks !

Ooooh, lucky us, then! We've got the perfect person coming in to handle that kind of workload, albeit with a likely tradeoff somewhere; this is Episode 29, after all.

Lots of every kind of task, but lots and lots of art tasks !

And no, I don't know why the exclamation points are disjointed a bit. Probably something to do with how the color tags are coded.

Last year I did it all by myself, I'm pretty handy with Photoshop! Look, you can just give all these tasks to me if you want! I can definitely handle it!

Tempting as that may be since it's the last Task Type you can do without anyone else getting peeved, we've got better options available to us this Episode.



What was I thinking, coming to work in the same room with her?

Something along the lines of "This company's screwed to the point where the CEO's looking for backup plans and she's my sister, I should probably see where this plan is actually going" if I had to guess.

This is just like when I was a kid. Do you know why I got so into computers?



Well yeah, but it was also the only thing that she didn't insist on being the best at!

These two still never fail to disappoint.

And now even that's been taken away from me!
Winston! Don't worry, it's not the end of the world.



Denise, please quickly remind yourself of what Mahavir told you yesterday. ...or was the coffee that nice, that some things are a bit of an afterthought?

Although, Mahavir did say a replacement was coming for him! An artist, and I think I know who she is!



...and?

And what...?







...aaaaaAAAAAAA



AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA



AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I think there was a mix-up.

Denise! Winston, my main man!

Yes, that really is just an expression that happens between screenshots, there is no dialogue for it, yes it was worth it



THE PROPHECY OF DOOMSDAY APPROACHES, THE GREAT FORETELLING OF ART TASK DOOOOOOOM

I'm not your main man, dude.
Whatever! I'm here to save the day, I got the request this morning.

BROTHER TIMOTHY, HE WHO FORETOLD ITS COMING, SHALL THROW HIMSELF UPON THE TASKS' SPEARS TO SAVE US ALL

And you know, I'm just chilling these days, so I thought I'd come over and help out.
Timothy, I...



What was that?!



Is now really the time, Nadine? Is it really?

Oh dear...
Or the technical tasks ! Heck, I bet I can do more than Winston around here.
Oh come on, am I supposed to believe this nonsense? Stay out of my servers!

Just in case you thought THAT wasn't gonna be a thing anymore



Perhaps we can share professional know-how on the networking thinga-majingy.

On the one hand, incredible, unbelievable suffering. On the other hand, this dialogue.

Keep your stroganoff-smelling "know-how" to yourself, "bro". I don't have the time today.



Oh right, there's no microwave in here either, huh. I guess Brooke doesn't reheat anything?

The list of suffering just keeps growing...

He was joking about the art tasks, right Denise?





Well... next time, we have our work cut out for us. And you better believe we'll be doing exactly what you think we're gonna be doing. See you then...










...oh right, and here's the screenshot you might've thought was missing on accident,



...the video of the Intro that I'd already uploaded and I lied,

Video:


...and also, ya know when I said this a long, long time ago? Specifically, July 18th or so, time zones excepting?

Not listed in Timothy's dossier is the fact that he Likes the Radio and Dislikes the AC. It's an interesting little tidbit, though it's likely not mentioned due to being irrelevant.

[clearcardinal]

LMAO

[Talow]

uhh... uhhhhhh..... Well... Timothy, I hope you like art tasks.

[EMN]

You know what? I'm entirely unsurprised. Of course it'd be him.

[Kacie]

Oh Mahavir. So close, yet so far.

[yamiaainferno]

We're doomed.

[Quackles]

Holy shit! I mean, I called it, but I wasn't even guessing! I was joking!

[Robindaybird]

Figures it'd do that, we're in endgame, so giving us the best Art task worker would've been too easy.

[DKII]

Uhh well good luck with all those art tasks

[Taiyo]

Boy, hopefully Timmy is ready for tons of art tasks!

[Blastinus]

I remember back when we were making Timothy suffer for our amusement. Those were good times.

[Talisriel]

Bloody Hell. "Hasta la Fuego". Mixing stroganoff and chill pills turns you into an oracle.

At the same time, Bro-Timothy is clearly determined to retroactively justify all the stress Workaholic-Timothy went through.

[LPFinale]

Episode 29: Gameplay Update, "A Very Special Guest"

Video:


(The video's a bit desynced with the audio and so was the Intro for this Episode, but ah well, it's hopefully not too bad)

As someone in the thread has rightly pointed out, "Hasta la fuego."



Soooooo yeah. Timothy needs to do Art Tasks. Which he's tied for the absolute highest Moodifier in the game for at +7.

Also Nadine wants to talk with us, Brooke is being Brooke but without Tasks for now, and the game is teaching us that Timothy actually likes the Radio since they don't mention it in his dossier. This is... this could be worse, I guess, but not by much, huh.



Let's just get it over with.



As with any Denise Water Cooler Goal, we wanna milk the start of the 1st Day for all it's worth since it's the one Day where we aren't immediately presented with a Task Burst.

The Radio goes on as well, since Nadine will be getting a nice negative Moodifier of -2 on top of the Water Cooler's normal Moodifier thanks to talking with Denise this Episode, and Timothy... well, Timothy needs all the help he can get, let's be real here.



I'd like you to keep in mind that this is currently a +5 Moodifier instead of +7 thanks to the Radio. You know, the Moodifier he normally does all of his Financial and Technical work at and we just didn't notice that much because it was Season 1.

Oh right, and you might remember this from his overview we did, but that Neutral rating for Writing is an absolute lie. He's only 1 point of Work Rate faster at them than Art Tasks and gains just as heavy of a Moodifier from them. No, I don't know why, but honestly Winston and Nadine are more than enough to handle those, anyway, and it's nice to have someone to hand off the Financial work to besides Winston when Nadine's losing her mind over Brooke Behaviour #437: Improperly Sorting Excel Columns.



Anyways, time to deal with the Tasks that piled up while we were waiting. On the bright side, about 75% of the time, we'll only get 1 Task, albeit with its delay not being very long until the next one. ...the other 25% of the time, you ask?



Someone decides there's a major revision that needs to be done to the annual report and just dumps 4 dictionary-thick Tasks in the office.



We're just lucky that whole pile was Technical Tasks, or we'd have had to come up with a more desperate solution than "Shove everything on Winston's desk."



So anyway it's not even lunch break yet and Timothy's doing just swell, found some nice stock clip art for the report featuring bags of money and smiley faces giving a thumbs up



Anyway a new flood of Tasks came in and we're gonna need some heavy gear for this in the form of a Diet Soda and Choco-Cafficino, Timothy's not gonna be able to handle multiple Art Tasks while he's already stressed out.



I urge you to keep in mind that he just took about a third of the amount of Stress he would've without that caffeine injection. That's what we're dealing with here.



Honestly, Nadine wanting to talk with Denise is probably the best thing that could've happened to us since she goes utterly ballistic when the Radio is on, and we desperately need that thing for this Episode. Needing Denise to calm her down is a bit restrictive, but at least it's better than turning on the AC when our substitute artist gets pretty worked up over that thing.



Heck, just by trying to keep Nadine calm, we've already gotten through most of the Goal. Wow.



Although, uh, those Tasks DID need to be taken care of at some point, so might as well add a few to the tally and the budget.



Oh yeah, and we kept the Radio on basically all day today. Nice.



Aaaaand the inverse has just been unlocked. That's gonna be a doozy considering the things we need to get done in this office right now.



Not a half-bad result for Day 1. Hopefully we can get those Art Tasks out of the way for good now that we have some funds to spend on Manuals and Choco-Cafficinos.



And of course she wants it as long as Timothy did with the Radio. At least we can spread that out more, considering the massive amount of stuff left for us to do this Episode.



Let's get to it... I'm sure Timothy wants this over with as quickly as possible.



Tried to cap off the Water Cooler Goal, but some Tasks came in. Might as well go get the supplies now, at this rate.



Aw yeah. You know what time it is.



Preparations must be made, after all. As nice as the clip art smilies are, he'd probably appreciate knowing how to insert them faster.



And with this capped off, it's time to take part in something more interesting...



...after Brooke puts in a request for even more work. Because of course she would.



Here, we witness the final preparations before Timothy begins the annual report in earnest. Probably just got the outline and intro done yesterday, though that was probably more grueling than it sounds, considering... the entire company, honestly.



Okay, so he might've just nearly popped a blood vessel, but we can work with that pace as long as we can stop the AC from being on so often just to complete a Goal we don't need to address this early.



Okay so MAYBE the office is about to explode, no biggie.



It'd be nice to be able to give these Tasks to Brooke (besides Art), but hey, we've got a few Days before we could reasonably do all the Goals, this'll be fine.



There we go, he's calm again. ...and you know what that means.



At least I remembered to turn the AC off this time.



And Brooke finished up her workout, so we could throw another Art Task on the pile if we get lucky soon.

Oh, and if you look closely, Denise met the budget Goal, so we're free to buy whatever we might need from now on.



Unfortunately, it was Financial, so that's not happening. Anyway, Winston wants game time, you know the drill.



Gee it sure would've been nice to be able to do those before the clock hit 0, person responsible for delivering those.



So we've got our work cut out for us, just some Task Goals left and the AC and Arcade.





Oh right, so remember when Timothy OD-ed on chill pills and his stressors got reduced to his global ones, basically? Well, turns out the Arcade Machine is one of those. Thankfully, it's just a +1, but that's gonna make today a bit harder than it would've been otherwise.



Some minor prep, and...



Well, we were almost done, at least. Then we can just give all of them to Brooke.

And yes, she's probably gonna just redo at least half of the report from scratch, knowing her. Ah well.



Timothy has finally conquered his worst fear. ...that doesn't mean he's gotten any better at them, but still.



So anyway, Timothy now has another timed Goal, but he's already listened to the Radio. We won't be doing this until tomorrow, so how about we wait and see until then?



...after ignoring this message, of course.



Engaging Snack Pack Protocol



So anyway yeah, we're now in a routine. Time to just send Winston over to the Arcade while cranking the AC.



I don't think I need to be the one to say that because the Treadmill exists, these Cinnabuns aren't for Brooke except in outright emergencies.



Of course, since the AC Goal is nearly done anyway, might as well turn it off so we don't have to micromanage Timothy's Stress anymore. Brooke's giving us plenty to deal with already on that front.



Yup, looks like progress to me. There should be more than enough Tasks tomorrow, at least.



Everything is fine



So anyway, cleanup day. The one Goal we haven't worked on is Timothy wanting to talk with Winston at the Water Cooler for 60 Seconds in a Day, which is pretty easy even with the +4 Moodifier Winston gets from it. He's just super easy to keep calm with the AC and stuff.





We still need to restock on supplies, of course.



AC running, Cafficino ingested, ready to go



There's one out of the way, at least. Timothy should wrap up his gossip session before this becomes an issue to leave off, anyway.



Granted, Brooke and Nadine still need to have their Stress carefully managed while this is going on.



There's another, now for the Arcade.



And the Tasks at roughly the same time, it seems!



One more!



And there we have it, 4 Days.



Not half bad for a 6-Day requirement. No Outro for this one though, so...

Next time, we get the Intro to our final challenge. One that is probably going to take forever and a day to do the update for, but at least the Intro should be quick. See you then~

Goal Writeup

Time Per Day: 140 Seconds

Task Types

• Art Tasks: 50%
• Financial Tasks: 16.7%
• Technical Tasks: 16.7%
• Writing Tasks: 16.7%

Task Bursts

• 1-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 6-9 Seconds: 75%
• 4-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 10-14 Seconds: 25%

Task Sizes

• 4-Bar Tasks: 100%

Required Goals

• "Make $100 to meet budget goals. ($100 Current Petty Cash)"
• "Crank up the radio. (120 Seconds)" Unlocks Optional Goal #1
• "Complete a high-impact cardio routine on the treadmill. (150 Seconds)" Unlocks Optional Goal #3
• "There's no way out... do twenty-five of the dreaded art tasks. (25 Art Tasks)" Unlocks Optional Goal #4
• "Talk to Denise at the water cooler about employee qualifications. (90 Seconds)" Unlocks Optional Goal #2

Optional Goals

• "Chill the office with the AC. (120 Seconds)"
• "Do forty tasks. (40 Tasks)"
• "Zone out on the arcade. (120 Seconds)"
• "Hear all the latest company gossip from Winston at the water cooler, in one day. (60 Seconds, One Day Rush)"

[Quackles]

Well...

it can't get much worse.

Right?

[DKII]

Well that was some pretty slick stress management. Poor Timothy.

[LPFinale]

Episode 30: Story Update

Video:


Okay... okay. Okay! We've come this far. There's only one Episode left. Things have to wrap up somehow. And frankly, there's a number of ways it could go with this crew on board.



Really pushing that finality thing here, too. Also, uhhhhhhhhhh

There appears to be a "Play Epilogue" button in the bottom right. I have no idea why it's here now. Based on the 3-Star symbol on it, I think it was originally meant to be gated off by 3-Star Ratings, but I've never seen the game end without its segment, soooooo



Let's just chalk that up to a coding oopsie, yeah?



We have to reach these budget goals, while also keeping my sister from getting fired for bad management practices.

That's kind of it, but what about-



...yeah, okay, there it is. Like, seriously, how much of a toll do you think the constant up and down of her Stress meter has taken?

Wow, no wonder you guys aren't in party mode.
I don't DO party mode.





A calypso band is playing my temples like a pair of steel drums!!!

The caffeine and sugar probably aren't helping here, Brooke.

Oh, um... well maybe we can...
On the other hand...



Say what?
Over?



Yep. It's about time, too... I really need to take a break!

Whoawhoawhoawhoa what is happening, Brooke

WHAT DID YOU DO

But... there's still a lot of work to do! And um... the budget targets...
The budget? Oh, whatever. Don't worry about that stuff.





Not at all! I'm finally right back in my mind, where I belong.
But... but...!
Hey, calm down, little bro! I plan on trying to relax for a bit.

i'm so confused

Cleanse my system, center myself, achieve stillness...



Those guys? Hah, what are you worrying about them for?

Everything



We Are All Getting the Pink Slip

Well, she certainly seems carefree about all of this.
I don't get it! What happened?

Beats me, she's pulled a near-180.

Maybe she's having a nervous breakdown, like with Mr. Stroganoff over here.
Hey, step off the stroganoff, "little bro!"



... and that means all of us will be fired too.





Well, there's a silver lining to all this walking up right behind us, I suppose.

Come on, there's still a lot of work to do. We're going to have to make up for Brooke's... um... short sabbatical.
Hah! Short sabbatical, that's rich.



Oh, Mahavir...
And I, Mahavir, swear that I'll actually work for a change, until we're out of this fix!



I do wish he got some kind of buff but I don't think the code can support that, oopsie

Well, I guess miracles do happen... but it might not be enough this time. Denise, we're going to need to develop a contingency plan.

Yeah, I didn't think we'd be able to avoid the obligatory Denise Water Cooler Goal Every Episode of Season 5, either.

Seriously, go check if you don't believe me. Every single one.



Oh, and Winston, remind me to tell you about this weird e-mail I got from the board, too...



Oh okay, guess there's another issue for the Disaster Pile

Wow, they sure are acting serious lately...
Maybe because they actually managed to make it through puberty, unlike some people?



Disaster Pile +1

Damn. This place is no fun anymore.
I know just how you feel. I wonder how it's all going to turn out?

You're telling me.

You know what I do when everything seems bleak?





Well then... next time... the gauntlet to end all gauntlets. Trial by fire, trial by endurance. See you then.

[Quackles]

As long as it's not trial by fired!

Maybe that's what happens if you game over.

[Taiyo]

So this is it, huh? The grand finale.

Should be interesting to see how you will juggle all of the tasks in time.

[LPFinale]

Thought I should give people an update, getting the last episode's gameplay up should be feasible in the coming week. I've basically been digging myself out of being behind on assignments most of this time, but after this last one I'm on that's due very soon, the next due dates are in a few weeks and there's even a break week.

So yeah, looking forward to that. Hopefully I can get most of the rest of the LP done, it's gotta feel weird to be hanging here on only a few parts left.

[LPFinale]

Slight delay coming in the form of having to redo basically all the levels up to the final one. Twice. I got my laptop repaired and a new solid-state drive installed, but while I can access my old drive easily, Big Fish doesn't play nice with accessing stuff across drives so I can't find a way to access my saves. As such, I need to play through the game to get to the point I was at, both on a practice file and on an official file.

This will take a lot less time than most games, but it's still gonna be a time sink.

[Junpei]

Just wanted to let you know I have bought this game and am going through the final Season right now thanks to this LP!

[LPFinale]

Just wanted to let you know I have bought this game and am going through the final Season right now thanks to this LP!

Oh wow, I'll be looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it when we get there! School's been a killer recently as the semester nears its end, but at the very least, everything's recorded and ready to get screenshots of when I finally get a break from schoolwork.

[Junpei]

I just finished Ashley's last episode. I was getting 3-stars consistently up until Season 3, but I still managed a few intermittently. I'm planning on finishing the game first before I go back and sweep up the three-stars.

[LPFinale]

Episode 30: Gameplay Update, "Her Real Plan"

Video:


Well then... it's been a long time coming. I hope everyone's suitably prepared for the ultimate challenge the game has to offer if you wanna shave days down.



Do note that these goals indicate that Brooke can use the Couch this Episode. I'm sure that won't set the office on fire.

Here we go. First thing to note: Those last three goals are standing in a death triangle that keeps any of them from being done simultaneously. We absolutely, under any circumstances, CANNOT pull off doing more than one of those at once.

This is the first test... getting your priorities straight. Set up a plan and execute it, and do it within the time limit to demonstrate your mastery of this game's macro.



With all that said... let's begin. And of course Brooke starts with nearly half a Stress meter each day this Episode. Because why not.



Now, I know this looks insane. I KNOW this. But we're going to do it anyway.

Brooke's goal to never use ANY major Stress reduction tools should be clear in what it wants to test you on: how well can you manage the most irritable Stress Sink Employee in the game? If you were to dedicate an entire day to just work while having her at the Water Cooler, that would work, but I think we can do better.



You see, there's a way we can do both of these things today, albeit in a very tight way. By keeping the AC and Radio on and having Brooke camp out at the Water Cooler, her Moodifier zeroes out. However, she of course gets a +1 Moodifier for each Task Type being worked on. Therefore, the easiest solution would be to have only one person do all of the work, and have them do it as fast as possible. Guess who meets all of these criteria?



Winston.



Of course, since we need to have him doing actual work as little as possible to keep Brooke calm (notice how it's already climbing), we need to bounce him between his desk and the Arcade Machine while he doesn't have a Cafficino.



Ah, right, and Nadine's gonna need a quick snack at some point before this is over since she's sitting at a constant +1 Moodifier, so might as well grab a Donut for her early.



With proper management and squeeeeeeeeezing every point of Stress that Brooke can manage, this first day becomes a simple matter.



And there we have it. Everyone got to the end just fine, and with a little Morale Boost to reset their Stress. On top of that, might as well get a little extra progress elsewhere since there's still 1/4 of a day left...



...but not before we distribute these Tasks and mention that this Winston Goal is here now. We'll be taking care of it tomorrow, both because Required Goals are more important to making swift progress and because this one... is yet another One Day Rush. Greaaaaat.



Oh right, and you better believe that Brooke is yet again going to throw a fit over Winston and Denise continuing to meddle in what she's already wrapped up, if her words from the intro are to be believed. What she has up her sleeve will have to wait until we beat this Episode, though!



Perfect. No casualties.



And successfully got this taken care of, so we never have to worry about holding back with Brooke's stress reduction ever again.



It's a Mahavir goal after he's mellowed out with Denise, you know exactly what it is and it's a One Day Rush on top of that to keep you on your toes.



We won't be making too much milestone progress today, but then again, it's kind of hard to when a goal asks 200 Seconds of you.



Welcome to the positions the gang will be in for the rest of the day. Winston will be over at the Arcade, so that means Timothy gets to be relevant for once.

Unfortunately for Timothy, being in a position where we need him to be relevant is not a good thing.



First things first, supplies. Timothy's gonna need a Manual to make this more consistent, as well as a bunch of other supplies for both him and the two camping out at the Water Cooler. We most certainly will not be making progress on the budget goal today; all the earnings from yesterday are going into pure caffeine and sugar.



On top of that, since Timothy gets mildly annoyed by the Arcade and we can't really turn on the Radio for Nadine's sake, he'll be completely unable to calm down without snacks. Prepare to feast, Timothy... you'll need it.



And remember when I said some of these supplies were for the Water Cooler buddies? Mahavir's already half-full. Both of them gain a +3 Moodifier from Brooke's meditating this Episode, so with the Water Cooler's overall -2 Moodifier, they're still gonna be at +1, and +2 while they're walking to and from their desks for snacks.



Welcome to your first major micro test: keeping Timothy from melting down completely while several kettles are slowly boiling over at the Water Cooler. Lose focus on any of them for more than a couple seconds at the wrong time, and the whole thing goes straight to hell.



We needed more supplies to keep this up since Winston's still got half of his goal to go, and Mahavir's nearly ready to chow down or melt down, whichever comes first.



Scratch that, we need EVEN MORE SUPPLIES. I burned through all of them keeping Timothy from self-combusting with that last rush of Tasks.



Thankfully, I manage to get this Cinnabun to his desk in time, and Winston's nearly done over there. Just one more rush...



And not a single Art Task in the lot, so that's nice. Then again, after that Manual, Writing Tasks are tied in all aspects with Art, so... eh, at least there's a bunch of Technical and Financial ones. Should make this go more smoothly.



I got goddamn lucky here, noticing just in time and pulling Mahavir off of the Water Cooler so Nadine could reach her desk. Any later and this'd be a redo.



And with that said and done, Winston's gonna be doing a bunch of the work so we don't have to micro Timothy to hell and back anymore. Congrats, Timothy, that was your entire contribution to the final Episode.



That being said, Timothy can still get a Financial Task or two done, even with the AC on.



Well, that went well. Another trial day done. There'll be more to come.



Had to turn on the Radio for what felt like an emergency at the end. At least we made it.



We got about as much time on the Couch as we could manage for Brooke. Now we just need to finish it off today, and then some.



Same positions as yesterday, except Winston'll be doing everything this time.



Basically imagine this for 50 seconds.



And also Mahavir nearly blowing a gasket.



And with that, all but one of the Required Goals are out of the way. Now for the classic, the Goal that's appeared in literally every single Season 5 Episode... the Denise Water Cooler Goal.

...I'm serious, by the way. Every single one. First Nadine, then Winston, then Ashley, then Mahavir, then we repeat with Nadine and now Winston. It's like they know it's a rough kind of goal or something.



Also, this menace of a goal shows up. It's going to be personally responsible for the final micro-based challenge of the Episode, with some macro thrown in just to make it feasible.



Mahavir did resign himself to working until we get out of this mess, so we might as well take advantage of that fact.







Okay we're just gonna move past the fact that this office nearly burned to the ground, okay? Okay.



Day 4's gonna be pretty calm, with two main objectives: finish up the last Required Goal, then make as much progress on the Nadine goal as possible, as well as another when that's infeasible. Believe it or not, Nadine essentially treating Brooke like a file cabinet full of the company's inner workings is pretty stressful! Who'd have guessed?!



Ready, set, go. Upon taking care of the initial Tasks, this is what's gonna be done until this Goal's done.



A few Tasks will do nothing to dissuade this conversation from happening. It NEEDS to happen as soon as possible, or we're screwed.



Alright, now Brooke needs to stay GLUED to that Water Cooler or we forfeit the high score we've been working towards.



Because surprise, Brooke has a Water Cooler Goal as well! Except this one requires her to be alone. As in, not talking to Nadine. Or anyone, for that matter. And it's not short, either!



I tell ya, Winston is sometimes the only thing standing between us and certain doom. It's like he's this overpowered because he HAS to be for these strats to work.



Anyways, you might notice it's been like 9 seconds between this pic and the previous one, and Brooke's already ready to throw in the towel. That's because talking to Nadine has her at a total Moodifier of... I think +3? +4 while Winston's doing work. It's kind of insane, regardless.



So much so that she can only take about 22 seconds of that before she needs to just focus on literally anything else. We'll need to clock some more time on that, but at the end of the day.



Of course, finally finishing the budget goal helps a TON here. I hadn't thought about it, but its Morale Boost staying unprocced until now helps this strategy a LOT. Might be the only reason Day 5 isn't even more of a living nightmare of micro.



WE CAME THIS FAR, GAME, WE'LL NOT BE GIVING UP NOW



Anyways, preemptively buying supplies for tomorrow since we no longer have a care in the world regarding our budget. We'll need this and so, SO much more.



About half of the Nadine Goal done. That's the best we can hope for here, honestly, and Day 5 is still gonna be the roughest its ever been.



SO.

You might notice that two of the Goals we have to do today involve Nadine and Brooke.

You might also notice that the Mahavir Goal has been saved for this day as well. The one where the Couch stresses out both Brooke and Nadine. And Brooke's already super fragile here.

Welcome to the show, audience, where you get to see suffering in the form of clicking, particularly if you're watching the video.



Behold, our state of being for nearly half the day today. How fast is Brooke gaining Stress? Well...



I'm gonna saaaaaaay a +5, maybe a +6 Moodifier while Winston's dealing with the deluge of Tasks. Oooooogh.



And we can't turn on the Radio or AC either for this, so Winston'll need a Cinnabun or two at some point as well! Ohhhhh, the places Day 5 goes!



And remember, the Water Cooler needs to be used for a total of 210 Seconds for these two Optional Goals. We started Brooke on using this thing at around 90 Seconds left yesterday, meaning we have 230 to work with. That means only 20 seconds of Brooke being away from the Water Cooler getting a Cinnabun.

What I'm trying to say is that it's utterly IMPERATIVE you get as much of this Nadine Goal out of the way as possible before today, or you'll have to do this micro for even longer, and doing it for too long will lock you out of victory. ...well, not an overall 3-Star victory, but the victory I'm aiming for? Most assuredly.



I can't begin to describe how many of my attempts had issues at this part. Brooke's taken her true role as a walking stress bomb, and you'll need to get preemptive with your Cinnabun delivery all while keeping Winston working so Denise doesn't cause the day to reset.

Plates. Spinning plates everywhere.



Of course, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel, should you reach it.

Welcome to smooth sailing~



This is it. We're all out of threats. All that's left is to watch the last two Goals complete just in time at the end of the day.



...while Winston does all the work, of course.



We've come such a long way. Remember when Writing Tasks didn't exist? I remember. A simpler time, that was.



And with that...



...congratulations. We've seen all that the gameplay has to offer, 3 Days under the time limit, and with only 5 Seconds to spare to meet that extra goal I set for myself.



I hope I've made clear how much I think this final Episode is a true test of everything we've learned up until now. I already thought it was pretty brutal before, but now that I've been meticulously analyzing the design and challenges of Miss Management for this LP, I've come to appreciate this final gauntlet immensely. I can only hope that the video demonstrates what I mean clearly.

Well, then... Brooke's real plan awaits... next time~

Goal Writeup

Time Per Day: 140 Seconds

Task Types

• Art Tasks: 25%
• Financial Tasks: 25%
• Technical Tasks: 25%
• Writing Tasks: 25%

Task Bursts

• 1-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 6-9 Seconds: 50%
• 2-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 8-11 Seconds: 25%
• 4-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 9-12 Seconds: 25%

Task Sizes

• 4-Bar Tasks: 100%

Required Goals

• "Earn $125 to meet budget goals. ($125 Current Petty Cash)"
• "Take a cleansing fast: don't use the treadmill or couch and don't eat or drink anything for one day. (No Treadmill, No Couch, No OfficeTown Snacks)" Unlocks Optional Goal #1
• "Meditate on the couch and find inner peace. (200 Seconds)" Unlocks Optional Goal #4
• "Discuss a backup plan with Denise at the water cooler. (90 Seconds)" Unlocks Optional Goal #3
• "Keep the AC and Radio on for a while during one day, without anyone stressing out. (100 Seconds, One Day Rush, No Burnout)"

Optional Goals

• "Take a long nap on the couch, within a single day. (120 Seconds, One Day Rush)"
• "Play a marathon session on the arcade machine, in one day. (90 Seconds, One Day Rush)"
• "Contemplate the future, alone at the water cooler. (120 Seconds)"
• "Fish for information about the company by talking to Brooke at the water cooler. (90 Seconds)"

[DKII]

Wow. That was an amazingly difficult set of tasks, and you threaded every needle perfectly with so little margin. Well done!