🚀 go-pugleaf

Twenty-two years later, I can tell you, after having made that same mistake, that you need to go back to the room where you fought the false Tyranthraxis and try to walk through one of the walls.  This will bring you to the interior of a tower.  You work your way up the tower (keep your eyes open for the medusa) and you'll figure it out.

cdwh...@gmail.com
energizeeducation.org

On Monday, February 15, 2016 at 5:46:11 PM UTC-8, cdw...@gmail.com wrote:
> Twenty-two years later, I can tell you, after having made that same mistake, that you need to go back to the room where you fought the false Tyranthraxis and try to walk through one of the walls.  This will bring you to the interior of a tower.  You work your way up the tower (keep your eyes open for the medusa) and you'll figure it out.

So you knew you were replying to a 22 year old question on a 28 year 
old game?  

I've tried replaying it, I think last year, but didn't get anywhere near
the end.  I quit after running into the wights, I guess level drain 
really does suck.

- Justisaur

On Tue, 16 Feb 2016 08:29:41 -0800 (PST), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

>I've tried replaying it, I think last year, but didn't get anywhere near
>the end.  I quit after running into the wights, I guess level drain 
>really does suck.
>
>- Justisaur

Heh. :)

 Level drain always means immediately reload to me. It did in Pool of
Radiance and it did this year when I played Wizardry 5. I hate level
drain. But your post reminded me of something. 

I am pretty sure the game was Might and Magic III: The Isles of Terra,
but don't hold me to that.  I remember some of my party members were
dying a lot. I didn't notice at first, but when I did, I took a closer
look at their stats and noticed that they had very few hit points! I
realized soon that it was due to having very little vitality. What
happened to their vitality?!? Oh.... ok..... that's what happened.....

**Casting Resurrection will permanently remove one point of vitality
with each use of this spell.**. Well, it would have been nice to know
that 40 resurrections ago!

So what was happening was I cast resurrection on my dead character.
They come back to life with fewer hit points as loss in vitality will
do that.  So they will die even faster now of course. When they do, I
resurrect them again. They come back to life with even fewer hit
points so now they die even faster. When they do die, I resurrect
again........

I have never ever once in my gaming career cast a resurrection spell
on a party member in an old school RPG ever again. Death of a single
party member is treated the same way level drain is to me... which is
to immediately reload the game.

Justisaur, at least you knew you were being level drained and could do
something about it immediately (in your case, quit the game). But
imagine slowly gimping your own characters through your own actions
and not realizing it until it was far too late to do anything about it
short of going to a much earlier save which I wasn't about to do.

Level drain sucks but permanent loss of stats on your characters sucks
worse.

On Tue, 16 Feb 2016 08:29:41 -0800 (PST), in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,
Justisaur wrote: 

>On Monday, February 15, 2016 at 5:46:11 PM UTC-8, cdw...@gmail.com wrote:
>> Twenty-two years later, I can tell you, after having made that same mistake, that you need to go back to the room where you fought the false Tyranthraxis and try to walk through one of the walls.  This will bring you to the interior of a tower.  You work your way up the tower (keep your eyes open for the medusa) and you'll figure it out.
>
>So you knew you were replying to a 22 year old question on a 28 year 
>old game?  
>
>I've tried replaying it, I think last year, but didn't get anywhere near
>the end.  I quit after running into the wights, I guess level drain 
>really does suck.
>
I see what you did there.

I fire up Pool of Radiance every once in a while, and it really is a
tour-de-force of an RPG. All the other Gold Box games, however, fail to
have the same depth and variety in their adventures.

I wouldn't dream of playing it without Gold Box Companion these days,
though.

http://personal.inet.fi/koti/jhirvonen/gbc/

-- 
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

On Tue, 16 Feb 2016 13:13:43 -0600, Zaghadka <zagh...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>I see what you did there.
>
>I fire up Pool of Radiance every once in a while, and it really is a
>tour-de-force of an RPG. All the other Gold Box games, however, fail to
>have the same depth and variety in their adventures.
>
>I wouldn't dream of playing it without Gold Box Companion these days,
>though.
>
>http://personal.inet.fi/koti/jhirvonen/gbc/

I think Pool of Radiance was the first RPG I ever finished. I really
enjoyed it. It isn't my favorite RPG ever, but it is the one I have
the most fond memories of today. 

Check out this guy's love for the game. I feel the same way. -->
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHXGJtdBeH0

On Tue, 16 Feb 2016 13:13:43 -0600, Zaghadka <zagh...@hotmail.com>
wrote:


>I wouldn't dream of playing it without Gold Box Companion these days,
>though.
>http://personal.inet.fi/koti/jhirvonen/gbc/

Why has nobody told me of this program before?!?

The old Gold box games were classics of their time, but these days
they are so crufty and limited it is hard to get into them. This
program might be enough to get me to play these titles once again.
Just the auto-map on the side is probably enough (although the
character editor is tempting too: 18/00 for Strength! :)

On Wed, 17 Feb 2016 09:39:49 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallsh...@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Tue, 16 Feb 2016 13:13:43 -0600, Zaghadka <zagh...@hotmail.com>
>wrote:
>
>
>>I wouldn't dream of playing it without Gold Box Companion these days,
>>though.
>>http://personal.inet.fi/koti/jhirvonen/gbc/
>
>Why has nobody told me of this program before?!?
>
>The old Gold box games were classics of their time, but these days
>they are so crufty and limited it is hard to get into them. This
>program might be enough to get me to play these titles once again.
>Just the auto-map on the side is probably enough (although the
>character editor is tempting too: 18/00 for Strength! :)

You can just modify your characters when you create them to have 18/00
strength... the fighters at least. Maybe the editor lets you give all
your characters 18/00 strength though.

On Wednesday, February 17, 2016 at 6:39:57 AM UTC-8, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Tue, 16 Feb 2016 13:13:43 -0600, Zaghadka <zagh...@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
> 
> >I wouldn't dream of playing it without Gold Box Companion these days,
> >though.
> >http://personal.inet.fi/koti/jhirvonen/gbc/
> 
> Why has nobody told me of this program before?!?
> 
> The old Gold box games were classics of their time, but these days
> they are so crufty and limited it is hard to get into them. This
> program might be enough to get me to play these titles once again.
> Just the auto-map on the side is probably enough (although the
> character editor is tempting too: 18/00 for Strength! :)

I haven't really looked at the companion, but you can give all your 
characters 18s in everything with the base program.  

I will say I found the speeding time option in dos box very nice though 
(I think shift f12, shift f11 to slow back down), as you can cut loading times
down to nothing and long battles with tons of mooks take little time. 

I liked Curse of the Azure Bonds better, a bit more open and you can get your characters to a reasonable level, as well as more character options like Rangers & Paladins.  I haven't replayed that since my C-64 days though.

- justisaur

On Wed, 17 Feb 2016 08:47:11 -0800 (PST), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

>I liked Curse of the Azure Bonds better, a bit more open and you can get your characters to a reasonable level, as well as more character options like Rangers & Paladins.  I haven't replayed that since my C-64 days though.


Like most here, I played the shit out of the Gold Box games. Pool was
remarkable in how innovative it felt, and in the purity of its
gameplay: it was just a rambling D&D adventure where your PCs went on
mostly unrelated adventures for the gold and glory. Curse was more
story-driven and epic, but it lacked the rambunctious freedom of the
first. It did leave a more memorable impression though (who can forget
the Fire Knives ambush near Tilverton, or fighting off Moander in
Yulash, or the drow beneath Shadowdale?)

I'd be hard pressed to say which one I liked more. Definitely I
remember Curse better, but given the opportunity to play only the one
or the other, I'd probably go with Pool.


 

Mike S.  <Mik...@nowhere.com> wrote:
>I am pretty sure the game was Might and Magic III: The Isles of Terra,
>but don't hold me to that.  I remember some of my party members were
>dying a lot. I didn't notice at first, but when I did, I took a closer
>look at their stats and noticed that they had very few hit points! I
>realized soon that it was due to having very little vitality. What
>happened to their vitality?!? Oh.... ok..... that's what happened.....
>
>**Casting Resurrection will permanently remove one point of vitality
>with each use of this spell.**. Well, it would have been nice to know
>that 40 resurrections ago!
>
>So what was happening was I cast resurrection on my dead character.
>They come back to life with fewer hit points as loss in vitality will
>do that.  So they will die even faster now of course. When they do, I
>resurrect them again. They come back to life with even fewer hit
>points so now they die even faster. When they do die, I resurrect
>again........
>
>I have never ever once in my gaming career cast a resurrection spell
>on a party member in an old school RPG ever again. Death of a single
>party member is treated the same way level drain is to me... which is
>to immediately reload the game.

Yah, that penalty for resurrection spells led me to do same thing, never
use it and just reload the game.  Fortunately, when I played Might and
Magic III I didn't have learn that the hard way, I read it in the spell
description in manual.  It helped that D&D had the same disadvantage,
so I knew to look for it.

What burned me in M&M3 were these crystal things (I think) in one of
the dungeons that permantly decrease your stats without telling you.
I got screwed over by them during two separate playthroughs, both times
only discovering what happend long after I had overwriten my save.

					Ross Ridge

-- 
 l/  //	  Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo]  rri...@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/  http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~rridge/ 
 db  //	  

Mike S. <Mik...@nowhere.com> looked up from reading the entrails of the
porn spammer to utter  "The Augury is good, the signs say:

>On Tue, 16 Feb 2016 08:29:41 -0800 (PST), Justisaur
><just...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>I've tried replaying it, I think last year, but didn't get anywhere near
>>the end.  I quit after running into the wights, I guess level drain 
>>really does suck.
>>
>>- Justisaur
>
>Heh. :)
>
> Level drain always means immediately reload to me. It did in Pool of
>Radiance and it did this year when I played Wizardry 5. I hate level
>drain. But your post reminded me of something. 
>
>I am pretty sure the game was Might and Magic III: The Isles of Terra,
>but don't hold me to that.  I remember some of my party members were
>dying a lot. I didn't notice at first, but when I did, I took a closer
>look at their stats and noticed that they had very few hit points! I
>realized soon that it was due to having very little vitality. What
>happened to their vitality?!? Oh.... ok..... that's what happened.....
>
>**Casting Resurrection will permanently remove one point of vitality
>with each use of this spell.**. Well, it would have been nice to know
>that 40 resurrections ago!
>
>So what was happening was I cast resurrection on my dead character.
>They come back to life with fewer hit points as loss in vitality will
>do that.  So they will die even faster now of course. When they do, I
>resurrect them again. They come back to life with even fewer hit
>points so now they die even faster. When they do die, I resurrect
>again........
>
>I have never ever once in my gaming career cast a resurrection spell
>on a party member in an old school RPG ever again. Death of a single
>party member is treated the same way level drain is to me... which is
>to immediately reload the game.
>
>Justisaur, at least you knew you were being level drained and could do
>something about it immediately (in your case, quit the game). But
>imagine slowly gimping your own characters through your own actions
>and not realizing it until it was far too late to do anything about it
>short of going to a much earlier save which I wasn't about to do.
>worse.

Back in the day games actually came with manuals, and you damn well did
read the whole damn thing before playing to find out what fiendish
things the devs had planned to fuck you over if you didn't.

While I don't like how shallow games have become, (focusing entirely on
better graphics,) I really don't miss that part of the old gaming
experience at all.

Xocyll
-- 

I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of 
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably, 
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So 
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr 

Mike S. wrote:
> On Tue, 16 Feb 2016 08:29:41 -0800 (PST), Justisaur
> <just...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I've tried replaying it, I think last year, but didn't get anywhere near
>> the end.  I quit after running into the wights, I guess level drain
>> really does suck.
>>
>> - Justisaur
>
> Heh. :)
>
>   Level drain always means immediately reload to me. It did in Pool of
> Radiance and it did this year when I played Wizardry 5. I hate level
> drain. But your post reminded me of something.

I was trying to play iron man - no reloading (except for bugs).  I 
probably should have just avoided the area after that first level drain, 
just like the trolls until strong enough to take them out.

> Level drain sucks but permanent loss of stats on your characters sucks
> worse.

True, that's always been my argument for the tabletop D&D for those who 
change vampires to permanently drain Constitution.  You can always gain 
more experience, Con, not so much.

- Justisaur

On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 08:34:00 -0500, Xocyll <Xoc...@gmx.com> wrote:

>Back in the day games actually came with manuals, and you damn well did
>read the whole damn thing before playing to find out what fiendish
>things the devs had planned to fuck you over if you didn't.

Yeah, like changing how to walk through doors in Wizardry 5....

But seriously, Might and Magic III's manual is like 15 pages or so.
There are no spell descriptions in it. The manual would not have
helped me in that instance. 

Mike S.  <Mik...@nowhere.com> wrote:
>But seriously, Might and Magic III's manual is like 15 pages or so.
>There are no spell descriptions in it. The manual would not have
>helped me in that instance. 

Hmm... you're right.  I checked my copy of the manuals and there's no
spell descriptions.  I must just tested it in game to find out what
penalty the ressurection spell had.

					Ross Ridge

-- 
 l/  //	  Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo]  rri...@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/  http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~rridge/ 
 db  //	  

Mike S. <Mik...@nowhere.com> looked up from reading the entrails of the
porn spammer to utter  "The Augury is good, the signs say:

>On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 08:34:00 -0500, Xocyll <Xoc...@gmx.com> wrote:
>
>>Back in the day games actually came with manuals, and you damn well did
>>read the whole damn thing before playing to find out what fiendish
>>things the devs had planned to fuck you over if you didn't.
>
>Yeah, like changing how to walk through doors in Wizardry 5....
>
>But seriously, Might and Magic III's manual is like 15 pages or so.
>There are no spell descriptions in it. The manual would not have
>helped me in that instance. 

But did you have spell descriptions in game?

You had to pay attention to everything back in the day, manuals for some
things, in game info for others, since the devs were actively trying to
fuck over the players.

I don't miss it one bit, but it's gone too far the other way with zero
penalties of any kind and/or instant reloads.

Kids don't get spanked anymore and the games don't teach them about
consequences - where are they supposed to learn it?

No wonder there's so many shitheads around who think they can get away
with anything - cause they always have.

Xocyll
-- 

I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of 
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably, 
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So 
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr 

On Sun, 21 Feb 2016 13:53:32 -0500, Xocyll <Xoc...@gmx.com> wrote:

>But did you have spell descriptions in game?

It is  possible there were spell descriptions in the magic guilds at
the various towns, I don't really remember now. I can't think of
anywhere else in the game the descriptions would be.