🚀 go-pugleaf

Desslock wrote:
> 
> Mark Asher wrote:
> >
> > Wow -- I can't believe they said that. It almost sounds like a proofreading
> > error -- the opposite intent made it into print. FWIW, in Nightmare and
> > Hell settings, the Butcher often seems to be resistant or immune to flame.
> > Scared the hell out of me when he walked through my firewall. CGW and PC
> > Gamer seem to be in a race these days to get stuff into print first. "First
> > Red Alert review!" "First Diablo Strategy Guide!"
> >
> > Mark Asher
> >
> > Adam Musch <jug...@elwood.probe.net> wrote in article
> > <330330...@elwood.probe.net>...
> > > I perused the Diablo Strategy Guide published in the new CGW.  For
> > > some time, I've passed it by on the news stand, considering that the
> > > signal/noise ratio in the magazine has plummetted.  However, their
> > > "strategy guide" for Diablo is the most egregious example of their
> > > newfound lack of content.
> > >
> > > Funny, I don't recall the Butcher being immune to flame, considering
> > > that I've beaten him with the combination of two spells -- telekinesis
> > > to open the door, and fire wall to barbeque him.
> > >
> > > And since when is King Leoric immune to Holy Bolt?  I've killed him
> > > using nothing but!
> 
> snip
> 
> Actually I think that the Butcher is resistant to fire, even on normal
> mode - at least it's my best guess.  He is "resistant" to some form of
> magic, and he goes up pretty easy from Flash (magic), or lightning, so
> even though Firewall is one of the best ways of killing him, I think he
> might be resistant (certainly not immune) to fire.  But I wasn't
> confident enough to state that in my FAQ (in which I indicated the
> immunities/resistances of most of the Unique monsters).
> 
> Pretty embarrassing for CGW (skeleton king immune to Holy Bolt,
> sheesh...) They should have hired some of the regulars on this newsgroup
> to draft the damn guide.
> 
> Desslock

-- 
I finally received my copy of Computer Gaming World today and had a
chance to read their Diablo "guide".  I have been reading Computer
Gaming World for many, many years now (since their 5th issue or so), and
I have greatly enjoyed doing so.  I think that Computer Gaming World has
always been, and continues to be (notwithstanding some other excellent
magazines currently available), the very best "print" computer gaming
magazine available.  I admire CGW's commitment to reviewing only the
actual commercially released versions of games, resulting generally in
more accurate reviews.  CGW's hardware and technology articles are also
unsurpassed for a gaming magazine, even better in some incidences than
their affiliated "hardware" magazines. And I think Scorpia is fantastic
in her honest, occasionally hard cutting, crpg reviews.

Unfortunately, however, the Diablo guide which Computer Gaming World
published with its March, 1997 issue was just embarrassing.  To really
emphasize how inaccurate and misleading it was, I have compiled a list
of errors:

[The Butcher Quest]:

1.  "The Butcher is immune to 'fireballs', 'firebolts'"... wrong.
2.  "The Butcher is immune to 'charged bolts', 'lightning'"...wrong.
3.  "The only offensive spell that harms him is the flash
spell"....wrong.  In addition to the ones mentioned above, inferno,
firewall (of course, since most people kill him using one!), elemental,
flame wave, chain lightning, guardian, golem, nova, bone spirit, blood
star, apocalypse and stone curse (o.k., maybe stone curse and golem
aren't "offensive" spells, but they are certainly effective against the
Butcher).  In fact, the Butcher has NO immunities, although holy bolt
doesn't work on him because he is not "undead".
4. "Unless you have the flash spell, you can only defeat the Butcher in
hand to hand combat"...wrong.  All of the spells listed above work. 
Stone curse, golem and firewall are particularly effective. 
5. "Bows or magic won't cut it against this fiend"....wrong. see above. 

And how did CGW miss one of the most popular strategies - i.e. fleeing
to behind a door next to a "grated" wall - since the Butcher can't go
through doors, he is a sitting duck to arrows and spells once he is
trapped on the other side of such a wall.

[Poisoned Water Quest]

6.  "In the Poisoned water supply [sic], you will find many Devil Kin,
Carvers and Goat Demons.  Carvers have 4-8 hit points"...wrong.  The
carvers you encounter in this quest are armed with spears and have 2-4
hit points.
7. "..Devin Kin have 16-24 hit points"...wrong.  The Devil Kin in this
quest are armed with swords and have 8-12 hit points.  

The Computer Gaming World reviewer also apparently didn't realize that
there are 2 types of "fallen one" monsters  (some are armed with spears,
others with swords), and the ones with spears generally have fewer hit
points (i.e. a Devil Kin armed with a spear will have fewer hit points
than a Devil Kin armed with a sword).  The Computer Gaming World
reviewer also apparently didn't realize that monsters have different hit
points in the single player version of the game (which the reviewer is
describing, since only the single player version of the game has this
quest) compared to their counterparts in the multiplayer game (which
only has 4 quests, and in which the monsters generally have more hit
points than their counterparts in the single player game).

8.  "There are different 'clans' of Goat Demons, and these are Flesh
Clan[sic]"...correct, but the CGW reviewer failed to notice that there
are also distinctions between the two types of goatmen in each clan
(archers and footmen) - the archers generally have less hit points than
the footmen.
9.  "They have from 30-45 hit points"....wrong.  The flesh clan armed
with maces have 15-22 hit points, while the archers have 10-17.  Both
types are present in the poison water quest (1 archer, 3-4 footmen).
10.  "each do 50-10 points of damage"...wrong.  Again, because there are
different types,  damage inflicted depends upon the weapon  used.  The
CGW reviewer made the same error when referring to the damage inflicted
by Devil Kin and Carvers, since they also use different weapons.
11.  "guarded by imps"... presumably "imps" is a reference to Carvers
and Devil Kin.  A misleading reference.

[Sidebar, page 215]

12.  Skeleton "immunities: magic (means nothing)"....er, wrong, and
perhaps the most embarrassing error in the article.  It means that
skeletons are immune to spells which do "magical" damage, such as Flash
and Blood Star.  The CGW reviewer made the same embarrassing error in
describing the immunities of Skeleton Captains and Zombies.
13.  Skeleton hit point 2-4...wrong, 1-2
14.  Skeleton Captain hit points  3-6...wrong 1-3
15.  Zombie hit points  4-7...wrong 2-3.
16.  Fallen Ones hit points 2-5...wrong 1-2 (and again, the CGW reviewer
failed to mention that there are two types of Fallen Ones).
17.  Scavengers hit points 3-6...wrong 1-3

The hit points listed above may be accurate for the multiplayer version
of Diablo, but the whole focus on the strategy guide is upon the single
player version of the game - the single player version is the only
version which has all of the quests which the reviewer describes in the
article.  The reviewer's description of the Skeleton King quest is also
clearly referring to the single player version of the quest.  

[Skeleton King Quest]

18. "The Skeleton King is not affected by fire bases spells"...wrong
19. "or Holy bolt"...er, wrong, wrong, wrong.  The skeleton king is, of
course, undead and one of the best ways to kill any undead is using holy
bolt.
20. Other embarrasing omissions - failing to mention that the Skeleton
King is capable of raising other skeletons from the dead, potentially
undoing all of your work, and failing to mention that the four "crosses"
in the room (one in each corner) should be attacked in order to open a
secret door to more treasure.  Sheesh.

Overall, a very poor attempt by an otherwise excellent magazine to
respond in a timely manner to one of the most popular games currently
available.  I can only conclude that Computer Gaming World either had an
early beta version of the program which it used to compile the strategy
guide (contrary to their policy of using only "off the shelf" versions
of games), or the reviewer spent virtually no time trying to ensure the
accuracy of the information in the guide. 

Desslock