Eye of the Beholder II: Won!

That would be a good title for a different game.

            

The rest of Eye of the Beholder II was almost entirely about monster difficulty, not puzzle difficulty. The bit I relayed last time with the pressure plates, teleporters, and glass walls was the last challenging puzzle. In replacement, the game severely increased the deadliness of enemies in its final stages.

It began on the fourth level of the tower that started with the "mark of Darkmoon." Aerial servants attacked as I entered. These are tough enemies, hard to hit, who do a lot of damage. From this point on, I had "Haste" active almost continually, and I was a lot more liberal with my spells. As a consequence, I also rested a lot more, which the game thankfully did not limit.
       

Philosophical inquiries later, San-Raal.

       

The level was a huge maze populated by medusae. I'm going to type it that way because the Blogger spellcheck is cool with it, but not "medusas." To even enter, I had to prove that I possessed six mirrored shields by hanging them up in an entry hall. I didn't actually have six shields when I first arrived--I only had four--so I had to spend a little time returning to earlier levels to grab the last two shields, which I had discarded for redundancy.
       

Accurate maps made this not as annoying as it could have been.

       

The shields were not the perfect protection that I hoped. Medusae repeatedly petrified my characters, and as I didn't have Level 6 spells yet, only the half dozen pouches of "magic dust" found early in the game were able to cure my characters. The creatures spawned and respawned like mad, often hitting us from multiple angles. Meanwhile, since I had to hold shields in my off hands, my lead characters had to return to single-weapon combat, which really sucked after I had gotten used to the speed of dual-wielding.
       

De-stoning a character during combat.

      

There was one fun puzzle area, reminiscent of a similar area in Chaos Strikes Back, where I had to lead four medusae onto four pressure plates, then close the doors on either side of the plates so they would remain in the area, weighing them down. They were too fast to do it normally, but I soon found that "Hold Person" actually holds medusae. That was a surprise. With the help of the spell, I was able to get them all in place and move forward.

The level culminated in an area so choked with aerial servants, who respawned so fast, that I couldn't even get through them. If I charged as far as I could, I would find myself in unwinnable combat with packs of them on at least three sides. I eventually won by running as far as I could and then throwing "Wall of Force" behind me so I'd only have to deal with one pack of enemies. Even then, it was hard. Manual dexterity mattered a lot more towards the end, especially with "Haste" always active and thus no reason to take a couple seconds' break between attacks. Whoever decided that right-clicking on the character's name, which is mere pixels from his primary weapon, should initiate the "move position" process, ought to be banned from ever working on a game again.

Eventually, I made my way to a area where glass walls came crashing down around me and an image of Dran Draggore appeared to gloat for capturing us. He then transported us to prison.

The "prison" was a small level full of frost giants. I gather they were also Dran's prisoners, but I don't know why. The graphics showed how cramped they were in a dungeon not designed for their size. My pity only lasted a short while, however, as the frost giants repeatedly punched us into oblivion. Two punches ensured that at least one party member died; three was often enough to kill the entire party.
          

I'd be angry if I was that cramped, too.

         

The short corridors of the level, which offered almost no open spaces, made it difficult to employ the usual tricks. Areas with blinking (appearing and disappearing) pit traps also made it tough to retreat. Making everything worse, the immediate presence of more than one frost giant slowed down the game and screwed up the careful timing I'd spend the previous 30 hours unconsciously calibrating. Still, the level was small, and there were some areas that the frost giants refused to pass by, so except for a couple of corridors, I was generally able to find safe spaces. I assume my characters were repeatedly thanking the creators of this universe that enemies disappear when slain. Otherwise, the corridors would have been choked to the point of impassibility with frost giant corpses.

The level ended in an encounter with the frost giant king, who recited a badly-metered poem saying that Dran had trapped them. It didn't say why. At the end of his poem, he turned to dust for some reason. Behind him was a teleportation door, and fortunately I'd found a stone dagger to use on it at some point.

I was back on the second floor of the temple, near the main entrance. A crimson key found at some point during my journey opened up the final locked path on the second level. I reached a wall (I forgot to take a screenshot) with impressions that required me to place an eye, blade, and hilt "of Talon," which not only opened the way but came together to create a +4 long sword. A stairway soon led upward.

        

           
(Side note: what if I hadn't found all of the Talon artifacts in the previous levels? Would I have been able to repeat my journey, get captured again, end up in the halls with the frost giants again, etc.? I should have tested it.)

The final area consisted of multiple small levels with a crimson theme and intricate wall and carpet patterns. The area started with a bunch of teleporters and levers that turned them on and off. There were a lot of small areas connected by stairways and a couple of places where I had to put crimson rings on the wall to teleport forward. Enemies were wizards, and I learned to dart around corners to avoid their spells. Honestly, the puzzles in this area were minor and not really worth relating, and I'm writing this days after winning, not having taken clear notes on them all.
       

The final area had a starker color and more intricate graphics than anything so far.

       
Towards the end of the level, we were attacked by hellhounds, one of the few enemies from the manual not yet encountered. They died in about two hits, and there were only about four of them. A pathetic appearance from an underpowered enemy.

A hole in the ceiling brought us to the final level. It consisted of a large central area with openings to the west and east that led to networks of corridors and rooms. Salamanders swarmed the area and did a lot of damage if I couldn't avoid them; fortunately, they were susceptible to the side-stepping trick.
          

A welcoming party on the last level.

        
The western opening led to rooms occupied by mind flayers. I have no idea what treasures there were to find within those rooms because I gave up after about an hour. The mind flayers have an invisible ranged attack that paralyzes one or more characters. I could barely approach them. I tried to lead them out of the area one at a time and dance them to death, but one screw-up could paralyze half my party. I soon ran out of "Remove Paralysis" spells, and there was a lot of reloading. Eventually, it became clear that the mind flayers were re-spawning and I wasn't making any progress. I moved on to the eastern exit.
        

These guys are real bastards.

        
To get through a door, I had to cast "Dispel Magic" on two alcoves, one of which had an Amulet of Life and one of which had an Amulet of Death. I assumed they were plot items, but I never ended up using either.
            

        
Beyond the door was a single special encounter with one of Dran's servants, but then no more battles or encounters until I found Dran. When I reached him, he was working on some kind of spell, but he sensed our approach. In his subsequent villain's exposition, he related that he had ordered the Drow to build Darkmoon "long, long ago" but "the fools destroyed themselves and I was greatly injured in the cataclysm." When he recovered a long time later (presumably recently), he began reconstructing the temple and allied with Xanathar, the beholder from the first game, to take over Waterdeep.
          

The thinnest thread ties the games together.

           
He finished by saying that a new skeleton army--of which we had destroyed "one legion" back towards the beginning of the game--was preparing to march on Waterdeep and "destroy Khelben."

We had come upon Dran unaware, and thus un-buffed by spells, so my heart wasn't in the first attempt at defeating him. After a reload, with "Bless," "Prayer," "Protection from Evil," "Haste," "Aid," and a few others active, we tried again. Dran flung spells most rounds, so again we resorted to dodging to avoid them. We couldn't really do a "waltz" or "side-step" with him because he varied his pattern of movement, sometimes stepping forward, sometimes strafing, sometimes just wandering off down a corridor. But with patience, we whittled him down and defeated him.

Or so we thought. After he collapsed, he boasted that our "pain will be legendary, [our] agony exquisite!" He rose again and revealed himself as a red dragon. (I guess "Draggore" should have given it away.)
          

         
After his little speech, when combat resumed, the dragon blasted us with a breath or spell that immediately killed Starling and put almost everyone else into the single digits, hit point wise. I had to reload and defeat the human Dran all over again. This time, I was able to side-step in time to avoid his opening blast. When I did, rather than risk losing any more progress, I ran out of the room, down a long corridor, and into another 3 x 2 room before quickly saving the game.
      

Our first (unsuccessful) combat against the dragon.

       
That was the pattern for the rest of the combat, really. The dragon was so deadly that if I let my guard down for even one attack, a few of my party members would be killed. I settled into a process of hitting him a few times with a mixture of weapons and spells, then running down the corridor to save. He'd follow, I'd hit him a few more times, then run back down the corridor into the other room and save. A little pathetic, I guess, but when you have an enemy so over-powered, the fun is mostly gone anyway. I was just looking to survive and get to the end.
      

My party is brutal. We didn't just kill him; we tore out his heart and sacrificed his body on his own altar.

      
Of course, we defeated him in the end, prompting the endgame screens and text:
    

Finally, Dran has been defeated. Suddenly, your friend Khelben appears. "Greetings, my victorious friends. You have defeated Dran! I did not know Dran was a dragon. He must have been over 300 years old! His power is gone. But Darkmoon is still a source of great evil. And many of his minions remain. Now we must leave this place so my forces can destroy it once and for all. Follow me."

Powerful mages stand ready for the final assault on Darkmoon. The temple's evil is very strong. It must not be allowed to survive!

                 

What are they casting? Is there a Level 9 spell called "Destroy Building" that I don't have for some reason?

            
This is accompanied by a cinematic of a bunch of spellcasters blasting the temple with lightning. Eventually, it disappears and the dark skies turn bright blue. Khelben pops his head in the frame one last time to say, "Thank you. You have earned my deepest respect. We will remember you always." And the "The End" followed by the screen at the top of the entry.
       

Any chance I've also "earned" something more tangible?

         
There's no final save of the game, so I guess characters imported to Eye of the Beholder III don't get the experience from defeating Dran Draggore. [Edit: I was wrong. I just missed it. The game automatically creates a "FINAL.SAV" file.]

Some notes and thoughts on the final session and ending:
    

• The mapping of the click areas is off for the character in the sixth position. Right clicking on roughly the top fifth of the left-hand object activates the right-hand object. San-Raal was constantly throwing daggers when I meant for him to cast a spell.

• At some point, I found a stone cross for the teleportation door, but I don't think there was any way for me to get back to the teleportation door (at more than one point, the final areas become one-way). Maybe that's what the mind flayers were guarding?

• It's funny that the chief bad guy of both games attacked alone, without a supporting party.

• It's left open-ended why Dran Draggore wants to rule Waterdeep so bad. Why do evil creatures always want to "rule"? Don't they understand what a headache that is? If I was an evil boss, I'd just be trying to make enough money that I could buy a house on a beach, play video games all day, and fly first class to New Orleans once a month.

• I was in the midst of writing a paragraph challenging anyone who thinks it's possible to win the game without dodging to show me a video of someone doing it, because I doubt you can survive against the dragon or the mind flayers without some level of dodging. To verify that someone hadn't already posted such a video, I checked out YouTube for endgame videos. In the videos I watched, the players absolutely dodge (or try to), but they also repeatedly use the "Starfire" scepter to cast a "mystic defense" spell that I guess helps against some of Draggore's spells and the dragon's breath. I completely forgot about that scepter.

• Other items that are a bit of a mystery: several leftover keys (copper, Darkmoon, skull, crystal), the Amulets of Life and Death, "Jhonas's Cloak," "Brahma's Boots," and two extra crimson rings.

• I guess the different sections of tower levels make sense when you look at it from the outside. There are multiple towers extending from the central keep, offering multiple ways up and down. It even makes sense that some of the top levels are bigger than some of the lower ones.

• The endgame credits confirm that San-Raal is a Drow. It would have been nice to have a little backstory there. In general, it's too bad that the NPCs didn't get more story. I never encountered the thief Insal again (or got my stolen items back), Khelben didn't seem too bothered that I never resurrected Amber, and I suspect that Calandra never re-unites with her sister.

• My final experience point total was 578085. Starling the paladin ended at Level 9 and only gained one level the entire game. Bugsy the fighter/thief ended at levels 9 and 11 having gained 2 fighter levels and 3 priest levels. Marina the mage ended at Level 11 having gained 2 levels. Gaston the ranger/cleric ended at levels 9 and 10 having gained 2 ranger levels and 3 cleric levels. According to the manual, the game supports experience points up to 1.5 million, so there's room for some serious grinding. In my case, Starling was only 22,000 experience points away from hitting Level 10, but everyone else would have required at least a couple hundred thousand.

       
I look forward to browsing a cluebook before the GIMLET, particularly seeing what I missed on the other side of those mind flayers. In the end, I think I liked it better than the first Eye of the Beholder, but not by a lot. I expect it to score higher in "encounters" for offering more special encounters with basic role-playing options, and in "magic and combat" for enhancing the importance of spells. We'll soon see.

****

We've had a bit of a massacre on the "upcoming" list.

DC Game (1988) is actually a construction kit that goes by about 17 different names. On its title screen alone, it is called "Graphics Adventure Game System," "Graphics Adventure Game Builder," and "Generic Adventure Game System." Most of its documentation refers to it by the executable names: DC-GAME or DC-PLAY, with the hyphen sometimes there, sometimes not, and the text sometimes in all caps and sometimes in proper case.

We already saw the output of the builder in The Rescue of Lorri in Lorrintron (1991). I was going to play the sample adventure that comes with the builder, except that a) its graphics and features are limited until you pay the shareware fee, which of course you can no longer do; b) it's not much of a game. (General rule: any game in which you must play a character named "John Doe" is probably not worth playing.) Even the 1988 date is suspect. Most of the documentation offers "1988-1991" or "1989-1991" for the copyright dates, but I can't find a version older than 1991, and that seems to be the date of the sample game. Since we already saw the kit at work in Lorri, I don't see any need to mess around with this.
        

The kit limits you to CGA graphics unless you pay.

       
The game called Demon's Maze at MobyGames is just called Demon on its own title screen. It's a senseless little variant of The Wizard's Castle (1980) in which you don't even have a real map, just a "concept map," and all action is controlled abstractly from a kind-of control panel. There's no documentation with it, including no developer's name and no real proof of the 1988 date. I'm rejecting it based on the notability guidelines in Rule #4. I'm not going to play everything that someone whipped together in two hours just because someone else bothered to preserve it.
          

Demon makes playing an RPG as fun as filing taxes.

       
Escape (1988), a roguelike for the Atari ST, seems to have existed at some point, as there are screen shots on MobyGames, but I can't seem to find it. It doesn't help that there are a bunch of other games with the same title or the word "Escape" in them.

Fountain of the Gods (1988) is another title in the DND line that stretches back to the earliest PLATO games. This one was directly inspired by Telengard (1982). It's certainly notable enough to play--one of the few titles released solely for the Atari 800. Unfortunately, either it's severely bugged or something is amiss with the emulator. I can only explore about 15% of the game before the game freezes on a gray screen every time I try to exit a room. It also has persistent problems by which I exit one room via a hallway and find myself embedded in the middle of a wall on the other side. I'm working with the developer to see we can solve the issues, but until then I can't really offer a full entry on it.

               

Fighting a demon in Fountain of the Gods.

       

Moving on, Gold of the Realm (1988) is a console-like action/adventure. Only GameFAQs thought it was an RPG, and they're almost always wrong when they go up against MobyGames or Wikipedia. Last Armageddon (1988), a Japanese game, was mistakenly on the list because it has an English translation for the NES, but not for any PC platform.

That jumps us all the way to The Legend of Blacksilver for the next 1988 title pending a discovery of Escape or getting Fountain of the Gods to work.