Sunday, March 21, 2021

Clouds of Xeen: Well-Trod Ground

The "entire Elf kingdom" would be what, exactly? You're the only elf I've met since the game began.
            
I began this session by working on some of the "to do" items in my backpath:
   
  • Pulling the plug in the Cave of Illusions released a bunch of magical floating skulls called "Guardians." It made a few treasure chests real, but it made all the traps real, too. I used "Teleport" to avoid what traps I could, but ultimately I ended up making several trips in and out of the cave for healing and spell point replenishing.
  • The Stone of a Thousand Terrors opened the way into the Tomb of a Thousand Terrors in B4. It was a dungeon full of undead and traps (bladed pendulums and chopping meat cleavers were popular) that all seemed capable of making my characters insane. However, it also had several King's Mega Credits and potions that permanently improved my statistics. Afterwards, the uncursing and healing cost almost 5,000 gold.
     
Note that everyone here is cursed and insane.
      
  • I returned to the Witches' Tower to explore the clouds above. This time, I could read the plaque on the statue: "Golem, Terror, and Yak, it's told / Have credits for king to hold." Urrrr. Anyway, I've already cleared two of those, so that's not news. Another said, "The clerics of Yak you must outwit / Taxman then must have his bit." This tradition of putting the solution to the game on statues goes back to the first one, but it's always been a bit weird. Who is creating these statues? Where does he get his awful sense of scansion? Anyway, there were gems to pick up and harpies to kill. The clouds extended for a while. I had assumed that the cloud area was an extra "layer" on top of the lower world, but no matter how far I went, the map was titled "Witch Clouds," so I guess they're just tied to the specific towers.
         
Part of the witch cloud level.
      
  • I noticed a cloud "island" off to the southwest of the Witch Clouds and teleported there. A statue dubbed us "Super Explorers" and gave us all 1 level. I probably should have saved that for later.
       
How a statue dubs anyone anything is unexplained.
    
  • The scrolls in Castle Basenji, which I could now read, provided +10 boosts in resistances in exchange for doing horrible things to you, like confusion and depression.
       
This doesn't seem like a good trade.
       
  • The dungeon of the Northern Sphinx had a bunch of hieroglyphics indicating that the sphinx's name was GOLUX. This password got me to the third floor, where there were thrones that conferred 500,000 experience points to each character; the "Starburst" and "Divine Intervention" spells; and piles of gems.
       
I sat down in a comfortable chair. Alert the chroniclers.
      
  • On a return trip to Castle Burlock, I paid five more King's Mega Credits to build a keep on my land. Newcastle is now a wall with a moat inside and a keep inside the moat. The new keep offers a training facility, a store, a temple, a bedroom, barrels that fill my food inventory, and various notes that have the syllables BO, LO, RA, and RY. Unfortunately, there is no magic mirror, so I can't use the place as my main adventuring hub. 
      
Could a statue in our honor be maybe less grotesque?
    
  • The king's engineers gave me the Golem Stone of Admittance, which they found while building the keep. The stone opened the way to the Golem Dungeon in B4. The place was full of wood, iron, stone, and diamond golems. The latter were the toughest creatures I've faced so far, capable of devastating a character with a single punch, and breaking our weapons besides. To defeat them, I had to load up on every fountain buff I've found so far, and even then I had to warp out to heal and restore spell points in the middle of the dungeon. The reward was about 10 King's Mega Credits, a chest with 3,000 gems, and a statue that dubbed us "Golem Masters" and gave us an experience level.
         
You'd think these guys would be worth a fortune once you killed them.
     
  • The only thing left for our castle is a basement, and the king's engineer won't build us that until we get a permit. I don't know where we get that, but it's not anywhere in the castle as far as I can tell, so we finally hit the road and continued our exploration of the surface.
   
D2, where Castle Burlock is, finished up with more jousters and a redundant Well of (temporary) Might. In C2, we met the Autumn Druid, who wanted the Last Flower of Summer before he could give us the Last Fallen Leaf of Autumn. This is the third druid I've met who wanted something before he'd give us something else, and I still don't know why I'd want any of them. There were more jousters and ogres and a couple of barbarians in the northwest. In a tent, we met Carlawna the Cleric, who thanked us for recovering her scarab (I don't remember exactly where we did that) and taught us "Moon Ray." 
    
I think we meet him again.
    
A guy named Captain Nystar asked us to kill all the ogres in the area so that they'd stop tossing boulders at ships, ruining the shipping trade. This is again one of those areas where it's simply impossible to suspend disbelief and imagine this tiny lake in the middle of the game map supports a robust maritime trade business. Anyway, we did it and got 20,000 gold and 40,000 experience. Falagar the Wizard (isn't that the name of the guy who rescues the party at the beginning of Might and Magic VI?), brother of Carlawna, needs us to find his Crystals of Piezoelectricity.
    
In the center-north of C2 was the city of Asp, the only city we hadn't yet explored. It was swarming with snake men and guardian asps, both easy enough to defeat without running around getting buffed. It turns out that the snake men were hapless residents, turned into snakes by a machine in the northwest corner of the city. (Two of the residents who tell you about the problem are "Adam" and "Eve." Ho-ho-ho.) A couple pieces of doggerel told me that to destroy the machine, which can repel people who get near it, I would have to alternate colors of balls on the pedestals around the town well. I followed the instructions, destroyed the machine, and got experience for saving the town. The town otherwise had no services except a guild, where I finally got "Town Portal." The machine had been powered by Falagar's crystals, and he rewarded us with the "Megavolts" spell. 
      
These are some seriously scientifically-advanced snakes.
     
All Might and Magic games have an arena, but they differ whether the arena is discoverable through regular exploration. Sometimes it occupies a null space to which you have to travel via a portal or coach. In this case, you can wander right up to it in B2. Inside, you speak to the arena master, and you can fight 1-20 creatures of levels 1-20. When you win, the arena master warps you back to Vertigo. I fought a host of Level 2 creatures but put off any more arena battles until later.
      
I don't think I even got anything for winning.
        
Most of the rest of B2 was desert landscape, with associated creatures, continuing what we had already experienced in A1 and B1. But I at last found the Summer Druid, who gave us the Last Flower of Summer to take to the Autumn Druid and thus "bring summer to an end." I'm not sure why I want to do that, but I had no choice but to take the flower.
   
B3 transitioned unreasonably quickly to snow. We fought ninjas in this area and discovered the Wells of (temporary) Accuracy, Intellect, and Personality. The Well of Accuracy is close enough to the Cave of Illusions that I can probably use the latter as a waypoint for the mirrors, thus allowing me to save "Lloyd's Beacon" locations for more faraway places. More on that in a bit. As we moved east, we met "evil archers," capable of a lightning-based attack. A talking tree called Thickbark the Civilized rewarded us for previously destroying trolls. Halon the Efficient rewarded us for bringing him the lava rock we'd discovered ages ago. We found a tower for which we did not have a key.
         
The most normal-looking foe in the game.
     
C3, being in roughly the center of the map, was a mélange of themes from the maps around it. We faced ogres in the northwest, evil rangers in the southwest, killer sprite in the southeast, and the lake with its monsters in the northeast. Tito the Elf Priest rewarded us for recovering the Book of Elvenkind, and Danulf the Faery King for recovering the Wand of Faery Magic. (We're like Santa Claus this trip, just running around handing out things we'd already recovered.) C3 offered a shrine that increased magic resistance by +50 and a fountain that increased might, endurance, speed, and accuracy by +10. That sounds useful, but if I really need the buffs, I'm probably still going to have to run around to the individual +50 fountains.
   
D3 was the last outdoor map to explore. I took this one carefully because I knew I would encounter water dragons to the north. I started with the southern rows. I kept encountering killer sprites there, which can curse you, and I didn't want to have to pay for uncursing multiple times. 
      
I did this with glee.
   
Once the lakeshore came into view, before starting to take on the water dragons, I decided to try to work out the optimal maximum buffing path. As I've noted before, all your buffs vanish at 05:00 every morning no matter when you acquired them. Indoors, time passes at a rate of only 1 minute per action, so it's worth buffing almost anytime, but outdoors it passes at a rate of 10 minutes per action. (Curiously, the "cloud" parts of towers cost only 1 minute per action despite being ostensibly outdoors.) With optimal timing, you could explore just about half a game map before your buffs disappear.
  
Optimal involves using "Town Portal," "Lloyd's Beacon," (I have two characters capable of it, and each can set his own return point), the mirrors, and maybe even "Teleport" to minimize walking, especially outdoors. You want to be rested and at full health and at your first fountain at exactly 05:00. After looking at my notes and maps, I think this is the ideal situation for a "normal" buff:
    
  • Cast one "Lloyd's Beacon" at the map point closest to where you're going to need the buffs; cast the other in front of any magic mirror.
  • At 05:00, be in Nightshadow at the fountain that gives you +10 levels. That takes you to 05:06, because each character using is an action.
  • Walk to Nightshadow's magic mirror and use it to get to Vertigo (05:16). Walk to Vertigo's fountain and get everyone's health to maximum (05:39). This is because the Fountain of Health gives you +250 health when you're at or below your maximum.
  • Walk to Vertigo's temple and donate until you get their buffs (05:53), unless you want to spend the points on "Day of Protection" and "Day of Sorcery" on your own. Those cost a lot of magic and gems.
  • Walk to Vertigo's magic mirror (06:16) and take it to Winterkill. Walk to the Fountain of Might and use it for all characters (06:26).
  • Walk to Winterkill's exit (06:32). Outside, take one step west, face south, and cast "Teleport" twice for 9 squares each, then walk forward two squares (07:22). This puts you at the Waters of Great Magic. Use it on your spellcasting characters. For me, that's only three (07:52). 
  • "Lloyd's Beacon" back to your magic mirror and use it to go to CASTLE BASENJI. Go one step north and one step west, then use the Fountain of Health on all characters (09:22).
  • "Lloyd's Beacon" back to your magic mirror. Use it to go to CAVE OF ILLUSIONS. Walk three steps north and two steps west and use the Fountain of Accuracy for everyone (11:02). 
  • Finally, cast "Lloyd's Beacon" to return to the original location (11:12). From there, you have about 18 hours of exploration time.
   
This method doesn't include any fountains that increase personality, endurance, speed, intelligence, or armor class, nor any shrines that increase resistances. That would take longer to figure out. I'm aware I can save more time with "Town Portal" (but that costs a lot in points and gems) and magic items that allow you to set additional "Lloyd's Beacon" spells. I also didn't maximize the use of "Teleport" or "Jump" here, but that level of micromanaging is tough to swallow. Of all of the things above, I think the +10 levels in Nightshadow is most important. You could do a lesser round that included that, the +50 might fountain in Winterkill, and maybe the Fountain of Health and be prepared enough for most situations. 
     
Shrines like this would be necessary for a maximal buff.
  
This method was enough to let me finish D4 and destroy the water dragons around Darzog's Tower, then make it into Darzog's Tower and set a "Lloyd's Beacon" in case I need to teleport out and do another round of buffing to complete the location.
    
The first level of Darzog's Tower was full of floating "carnage hands." A square near the entrance completely wiped out all our spell points, which was a problem when we reached the second floor and found an unavoidable square that teleported us back to the first floor. I had a "Horn of Jumping" that allowed us to avoid it. The entire floor was full of these teleportation squares, making it a kind of puzzle where we had to figure out the optimal way to "Jump" to get around. My horn soon ran out, and I had to use a Wand of Town Portals to get us back to Rivercity and restore our spell points. There were books that offered +20 permanent increases to attributes for one character, so that took the edge off the annoyance of the puzzle.
      
Floating heads, floating hands, floating feet . . . What's next? Floating . . . you know what? Never mind.
     
The third level brought me face-to-face with several "Darzog Clones" and then Darzog himself. The clones weren't hard, but Darzog was capable of turning us to stone. After dying to him once, I coupled my standard buffs with a visit to the Shrine of Magic Resistance, plus spent the spell points and gems on a proper "Day of Sorcery" and "Day of Protection." When we returned to Darzog's Tower, we saw him across a table, cast "Jump" to put us in his square, and killed him with a single blow. 
   
Darzog is tough if you let his anti-magic squares cancel your buffs.
    
The same level had a secret area. I guess you're supposed to access it from a rope ladder on Level 4, but I got there by teleporting. The secret area was Crodo's prison chamber. I freed him for 1 million experience points. He alluded to some other "adventurers" working on a sword in Newcastle's dungeon that would defeat Lord Xeen. Xeen's tower is apparently in the clouds above Darzog's Tower, and Xeen is planning to conquer the world with an army from the Darkside.
        
One million experience points sounds like a lot, but it's basically just one level.
      
I climbed up to the cloud level and explored it. It was the largest of the areas, full of combats with rocs and cloud golems, as well as statues and treasure. Many of the treasures were on far away platforms of clouds that I had to detect with "Wizard Eye" and access with "Teleport." I explored as much as I could, set a "Lloyd's Beacon" in front of Xeen's Tower, and returned to Newcastle to level up. Suss the ninja maxed her level at 20. The others are at 19.
       
A shield offering on an isolated cloud platform.
     
Before wrapping up, I decided to figure out the druid quests. It turns out that you just take items around the four druids, allowing the year to "renew," which cures your magical aging and gives you 150,000 experience points.
      
Well, isn't that cute.
    
It feels like I should be able to wrap this up next time. I'll probably try exploring the volcanic area to see if I can recover the Sixth Mirror before taking on Xeen. There's also one dungeon, one tower, and the southern sphinx for which I never found the keys.
   
Time so far: 32 hours

71 comments:

  1. Having to collect fountain buffs every in-game morning sounds really annoying. I don't think I'll be trying the Might and Magic series any time soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The fountain buffs are very much not necessary. You only need to bother with them (especially the massive set shown in this article) if you're deciding to tackle something way outside your normal power level.

      I rarely bother with them myself unless I happen to be near one.

      Delete
    2. If I remember correctly I just used the two "Day" spells for buffs and that was all that was necessary to beat both games

      Delete
    3. Yeah, I was just going to say - Chet found MC3's logistical aspects annoying, but to me these buffing sequences are much worse.

      Delete
    4. Yeah, I didn't meant to suggest it was completely NECESSARY to get all the buffs, just that if you wanted to face an encounter with as many advantages as possible, that's what you'd do. Don't a minor buffing run--the well of +10 levels and the +250 hit points, say--just takes a couple of spells and less than a minute.

      Delete
    5. My routine (for particularly difficult fights) tends to be just Nightshade(levels)-->Asp(HP)-->Lloyd's to the +250 SP fountain then back to whatever dungeon or boss I was trying to tackle. Plus the two 'Day of' spells. Their gem/sp costs are pretty minor really.

      Delete
    6. Yeah I only ever used the HP fountains because they lower the rate of equipment breakage.

      Delete
    7. I finished Clouds twice and never went out of my way to buff. I only ever used the fountains if they were on my way.

      Delete
    8. Jesus Christ. Forgive me for enjoying it when enemies die in two hits instead of seven.

      Delete
    9. Having a MM and MC game simultaneously really makes it stand out how similar of a role fountains and mushrooms play in these games. They can make a lot of encounters non-challenging but also can serve to get through a lot of the tedium quicker.

      Delete
    10. The fountains are entirely optional. They are very powerful, but also a little tedious to discourage abuse, and they function as a good safety net, or an Easy mode, or a satisfying tactical option for a player that wants to accomplish something early.

      If I run into something too hard I generally just go tackle something else and then come back when I'm stronger.

      Delete
    11. Seems to me the fountains, for a certain type of person, become a fun tactical challenge.

      Delete
    12. Yeah, that. Character optimization is a fun task in RPGs that allow it. In some RPGs, this takes the form of skill trees and picking feats and whatnot; in this one, it takes the form of fountain planning.

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In terms of your to-do list, all three erdhver tbvat gb gur qnexfvqr svefg. However, it sounded like you may have forgotten to fully explore the cloud layer above the Tower of High Magic like you did above the Witch Tower, and didn't figure out what the drums do. A minor thing, though.

      Delete
    2. What I wonder is whether in the original game, there was an explicit message about not being able to enter those locations until the sequel. If not, I would have driven myself crazy running around trying to find the keys.

      Delete
    3. I would hope there was! Otherwise it's a bit of a despair trap for Type-A personalities.

      Delete
    4. I think Scorpia talked about those and confirmed it. Probably from an official source

      Delete
  3. Crystals of Piezoelectricity, huh. Does he need to start up his BBQ grill?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I mean, is everything in this game a bad joke? Seriously, all the quests and dialogue in the game look like they were written by a teenager.

      Delete
    2. Bad jokes have been a tradition since MM I. The Addict's even complained about it.

      And in one of the games I guessed a numerical password from a TV show the makers liked.

      Delete
  4. "and various notes that have the syllables BO, LO, RA, and RY"

    -You might have misread at least one of them, and possibly missed another one. You can either go back to verify, or wait and eventually the secret will be revealed to you normally through adventuring.

    "the king's engineer won't build us that until we get a permit. I don't know where we get that"

    -There are other NPC's in Castle Burlock besides the engineer

    Besides that you're coming along just swimmingly. Be sure to visit the third tavern in Clouds to reveal all remaining 'secrets' (I won't reveal where the third town is and posters pls do NOT reveal where the hidden town is, what its name is or how to get there) Also, you definitely should fully explore the volcanic area before heading back to Darzog's Tower.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've actually already won and scheduled the final entry, and I forgot to explore the volcanic area. I have no idea what you mean by the "hidden town." I'll try to do some clean-up items before heading off to the Darkside, but I didn't want you to see the next entry and think I'd ignored this.

      Delete
    2. There's a town you can only access through the teleport mirrors. You might be able to guess it if you're familiar with real-world hidden/lost/mythical cities.

      Delete
    3. Whoops, I misremembered. You CAN find it through exploring, so you might still stumble upon it later.

      Delete
    4. The syllables sound like they ought to combine to LABORATORY (with TO, and LA instead of LO). I haven't played the game, though, so that's just a guess, and I don't know what it would refer to.

      Delete
    5. I honestly feel like the volcanic area is 'extra credit' as far as Clouds is concerned. No reason you need to do it before you've already started exploring Darkside.

      Delete
    6. I don't know if anyone warned you yet but don't throw away your Xeen Slayer Sword after killing Lord Xeen. It has other uses later.

      Delete
    7. I put off the lava area until I gained more levels on Darkside. And I left a Lloyd's beacon in the Diamond Golem area and came back later for that as well.

      Delete
    8. That lava area can be explored with relative ease after getting fire resistance bonuses for the whole party from Ellinger's Tower and Temple of Bark. A few levels and stat bonuses will be usefull too, of course.

      Delete
  5. I know you already mentioned it in an earlier post, but the lack of metre to the poetry in this game is physically painful. I feel like you're protecting us from the worst of it. There's some real Vogon-level stuff in here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah well you've not seen nuthin' yet, Darkside far worse is a good bet. Northern tower a definite must see, you'll wish for anyplace else to be.

      Delete
    2. The lack of metre doesn't bother those of us who don't care for poetry.

      Delete
    3. I never really got poetry,
      So it doesn't bother me.

      Delete
    4. 'Vogon-level stuff here'

      I got that reference!

      Delete
    5. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    6. Children's books are often painfully bad at this as well. Didn't they try to say it out loud after they wrote it?

      Delete
    7. Good children books have very good meter because it's more memorable; for instance, Dr. Seuss.

      Ironically, the Vogon poetry shown by Douglas Adams has BETTER meter (i.e. it's fully dactylic) than the doggerel in Might and Magic.

      Delete
    8. I should point out that rhyme and meter aren't the only ways to make a couple of lines poetic. There are various types of alliteration for example. If the line about the Taxman had recommended that you "Axe the Yaks and jack their artifacts; then ask the tracker of taxes about construction contracts," I might have found something noble about it.

      Delete
  6. I think you've got most of the spells in the game already, and a lot of top-tier gear by now... I wonder how much room there is to grow in Darkside, except by level numbers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. While levels (and equipment) in this game have a huge impact on characters' prowess, the lack of room for progress in other areas (spell/skills) is a definite issue in Darkside.

      Delete
    2. Darkside offers a number of permanent bonuses to stats and elemental resistances. They contribute nicely to the party growth in power and serve as a very satisfactory rewards for completing certain areas.

      Delete
    3. I mentioned this in a past thread, but I wished I had created new characters when I started Darkside, handed over the equipment and quest items, and retired my original party to the tavern. Not only has most of Darkside seemed a little easy for my original party, I miss having to gradually accumulate the spells and skills.

      Delete
  7. In Darzog's tower, is there a reason why you can't recover your spell points just by resting?

    Considering Lord Xeen is literally invulnerable, I'm not sure why he needs an army to conquer anything. If he'd get off his throne and assault Castle Burlock, I don't see how anyone could stop that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Only that you lose all your buffs, have to re-cast all your spells, etc.

      Delete
  8. So Falagar is a shaman in Heroes of Might and Magic 6 and an NPC in Might and Magic X Legacy, I always assumed that the Wizard who saves you at the start of Might and Magic 6 was Klavis Verge the same Wizard from the Manuel but now I'm not so sure.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, it's definitely Falagar. One of the PCs even says it in the introductory video.

      Delete
    2. Wow I didn’t realize this, really cool how you keep seeing these characters through these games.

      Delete
  9. I used only buffs from the towns. +10 levels, +50 Might and extra HP/SP from Asp and Rivercity. And, of course, Day of Protection/Sorcery if needed. The only time I used anything else is the fight against Lord Xeen, where I added +50 Speed to all that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are a few places where you need to pass high Might or Intellect checks where the right attribute buff makes sense. Are Might and Intellect the only ones?

      Delete
    2. No, in fact. The carnival you have to visit to win the doll that lets you enter Xeen's castle (no, really) requires a bunch of attribute checks.

      Delete
    3. There is a cave where you have to pay gems to traverse through it unless one in your party has the title of 'taxman emeritus' which requires 250 intellect, of which can also be obtained in the cave.

      The buffs improve dramatically on Darkside, and some dungeons are difficult to complete without them (but not impossible). Primarily from failure to hit against highly armored enemies on Darkside, so high accuracy at a minimum is needed.

      Speed buffs also help to go first in turn order against casters before they can one-shot you with death spells or disintegrate you, which is more common on Darkside.

      Delete
    4. I hope the addict has already finished the game, otherwise these are quite spoilery

      Delete
  10. "Floating heads, floating hands, floating feet . . . What's next? "
    Floating elbows, floating knees, floating necks, floating bellybuttons ???

    ReplyDelete
  11. I liked how the heroes all slept in the same bedroom in Newcastle.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The Golem Dungeon and the Labyrinth in the volcanic area should be done at the end of Clouds, or if you play both at once, possibly wait until the endgame of Darkside. In Clouds the level limit is 20 otherwise as there are no trainers for higher levels, so any additional level cn be very helpful here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you wait until the endgame of Darkside, you'll be around level 80 or 120, and both golem dungeon and labyrinth will be trivial.

      Delete
    2. They will be trivial, but by that point, the levels will be more valuable considering how expensive they get by that point naq gung gur zbarl jvyy eha bhg whfg sebz gelvat gb yriry hc ab znggre ubj gvtug gur jnyyrg jnf hagvy gung cbvag, fb trggvat serr yriryf ng gung cbvag jvyy or n jnl gb uvture gur rssrpgvir yriry pnc.

      Granted, by that point, there's not much anymore that's really a big challenge (apart from aging and some special enemies), but still a viable option imo

      Delete
    3. I went back after completing about 20 to 25 percent of Darkside, and that worked out pretty well, though maybe it was a bit too easy by then.

      Delete
    4. I remember back when I only had Clouds, and I used to hold off on claiming the stuff that gave a permanent +1 level. IIRC, you can hit 23 or 24 that way. Of course, it's not necessary, and once I had the full World of Xeen, totally unneeded.

      Delete
    5. Actually.. I remember someone on the internets did a walkthrough (of course) on the most efficient method to level by holding off on all +1 levels, +5 levels etc.

      So yes if you want to reach the maximum level of 250 then you hold off on all those until the very end. Would probably still cost in excess of 150 million gold, but saving them until the end will save the most on gold leveling costs.

      Delete
  13. I defer to your experience and painstaking research on this.

    Are there earlier examples of games where you can acquire a stronghold (as you seem able to do so here), or is this a first?

    It's certainly something I feel I've rarely encountered (BGII the example that springs to mind)...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's a roguelike called Omega (1988) in which you could purchase a home, but that ends the game, so it's not quite the same thing. Lots of other games offer home bases in terms of guild halls and dedicated rooms and whatnot, and there are games where you can purchase ships that serve as functional "homes." But in the sense of a) being allowed to purchase; b) a fixed location; c) which you then spend time fixing up, I think this might be the first.

      Delete
  14. I'm probably jumping the gun a bit here, but now that you've said that your gameplaying is well ahead of your blogging, I want to say this before you get to it.

    (This isn't a spoiler by the way, it's more the opposite)

    I've been playing this too, and I've just got to the "Dungeon of Death" - when you get here, don't look at the statue at the entrance of the 1st level unless you need to. It spoils what I think is the best puzzle of this game - I realised quickly enough what was happening to avoid some spoilers, but I'd rather have not seen it at all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll try to remember this when I get to the Darkside.

      Delete
  15. For some reason, the idea of "cloud golems" deeply amuses me. I guess there should be a lot of them, considering how easy the materials are to get.

    And now I want to see advanced versions of cloud golems, which are made by chemically splitting water to make oxygen and hydrogen golems.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Since beholders are basically eyes with mouths, I have to wonder if the "carnage" enemies were a satire of them.

    Are gems a limited resource? Kind of makes any spells that use them unattractive if so...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are a limited resource, but on a regular playthrough you don't need to worry about them as there are so many. I finished my recent playtrough with 64K of them (just checked), and I never cared about them like a resource. I *always* had day of protection and day of sorcery active, used the big spells without checking their gems usage, etc.

      Delete
    2. I was a bit conservative with them because I knew they were a limited resource. I'll try to be more liberal with their usage in the next game.

      Delete
    3. Oh yeah okay that's fine then. I know age is a finite resource too, but one that nobody ever worries about, so I guess gems are like that.

      Delete
    4. Actually.. they are an unlimited resource, under certain conditions.

      -There is cave system where you can mine an unlimited amount of them (along with other stuff) You must periodically pay gold to do it though.

      -A certain enemy in a certain city will always fight you every time you talk to it, until certain conditions are met. This nets you 100 gems each victory. You can do this an unlimited amount of times.

      -If you're playing Ludwig's mod obviously everything is unlimited due to global respawning.

      Delete

I welcome all comments about the material in this blog, and I generally do not censor them. However, please follow these rules:

1. DO NOT COMMENT ANONYMOUSLY. If you do not want to log in or cannot log in with a Google Account, choose the "Name/URL" option and type a name (you can leave the URL blank). If that doesn't work, use the "Anonymous" option but put your name of choice at the top of the entry.

2. Do not link to any commercial entities, including Kickstarter campaigns, unless they're directly relevant to the material in the associated blog posting. (For instance, that GOG is selling the particular game I'm playing is relevant; that Steam is having a sale this week on other games is not.) This also includes user names that link to advertising.

3. Please avoid profanity and vulgar language. I don't want my blog flagged by too many filters. I will delete comments containing profanity on a case-by-case basis.

4. I appreciate if you use ROT13 for explicit spoilers for the current game and upcoming games. Please at least mention "ROT13" in the comment so we don't get a lot of replies saying "what is that gibberish?"

5. Comments on my blog are not a place for slurs against any race, sex, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or mental or physical disability. I will delete these on a case-by-case basis depending on my interpretation of what constitutes a "slur."

Blogger has a way of "eating" comments, so I highly recommend that you copy your words to the clipboard before submitting, just in case.

I read all comments, no matter how old the entry. So do many of my subscribers. Reader comments on "old" games continue to supplement our understanding of them. As such, all comment threads on this blog are live and active unless I specifically turn them off. There is no such thing as "necro-posting" on this blog, and thus no need to use that term.

I will delete any comments that simply point out typos. If you want to use the commenting system to alert me to them, great, I appreciate it, but there's no reason to leave such comments preserved for posterity.

I'm sorry for any difficulty commenting. I turn moderation on and off and "word verification" on and off frequently depending on the volume of spam I'm receiving. I only use either when spam gets out of control, so I appreciate your patience with both moderation tools.