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I think I figured out the fireberry breadcrumbs trick when I was messing around with the endlessly replacing berries and dropping excess ones on the ground when I had no room for them. When I noticed they weren't burning out, I then tested if they can permanently light cavern rooms. That Cavern of Twighlight (room with coin and stone) was the reason this game seemingly became unwinable when I was a kid without me even realizing. I somehow was able to always notice the coin, but the rock was always ignored because of how easily it blended in with the background. And I would only find the 4 other rocks and thought I was screwed over by Brandon's idiocy. Though aside from overlooking a single stone, the cave is fairly self contained, and the player can't reach an unwinable state by leaving anything important behind the gate before locking themselves inside. The only important items they could forget or leave behind before this point are the apple, the scroll, the tulip, and all the gemstones. Though the scroll is only important for this section of the game (I honestly don't remember if it's used later or not), the key which is beyond the lava river is not necessary for leaving the cave either direction and won't be used until much later. Because game design. But that doesn't mean the game in entirety can't reach an unwinable state since some items can be disposed of, either by dropping them down holes or burning them if possible, or used up ignorantly like the apple. Especially that apple, and if you were stupid enough to eat the first one, the game's nice enough to provide you with the one just outside the exit of the cave, but that one's your last chance.
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Aug 16, 2014 10:56
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On my first playthrough, I think I somehow managed to miss the Iron Key in the maze. I figured, "I got all the rocks, that's all I needed." I actually did find it hilarious that you lose one of the rocks by showboating. I hope you remembered to take a fireberry with you across the cavern and drop it in the last room, because if you ever want/need to return to Timbermist and you walk into the cave, it's an instant game over to the monsters.
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Aug 16, 2014 16:02
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:I hope you remembered to take a fireberry with you across the cavern and drop it in the last room, because if you ever want/need to return to Timbermist and you walk into the cave, it's an instant game over to the monsters. Or you can just activate the Will-o-wisp spell before entering the cave.
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Aug 16, 2014 16:08
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You do need to use the spell to get across the chasm anyway. Though, forgetting to use the spell early and dying because of it would be frustrating. I bet that last room was placed there just to troll the players much like many other decisions that went into this game.
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Aug 17, 2014 13:58
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I was luckier than most with this game. It was my aunts. She helped me, somewhat with it. So it wasn't as much of a nightmare when I was a kid.
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Aug 17, 2014 15:03
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Man, these early puzzles can be real dicks. But hey! At least we can fly now?
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Aug 17, 2014 15:43
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You can fly now but do you really think the designers wouldn't find ways to make even that useless?
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Aug 17, 2014 21:22
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Dude, spoilers.
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Aug 18, 2014 18:22
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Deathwind posted:You can fly now but do you really think the designers wouldn't find ways to make even that useless? I had the exact same thought.
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Aug 18, 2014 18:33
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Pierzak posted:Dude, spoilers. That's not a spoiler, how often do you solve a puzzle to get something that is only used once?
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Aug 19, 2014 04:09
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I'm wondering if anything has been spoiled as well. Deathwind hardly mentioned anything. Also, Piezak's post isn't at all specific and could have at least quoted the supposedly spoiler comment. I know I mentioned that the apple is important, but I believe that was already hinted at by Hyper Crab Tank in the second update when he reloaded a save after demonstrating that you could eat it. If it wasn't, what was the point of that. And I didn't even say what it was for. If anything, that was just advice for other players up to this point especially concerning important and losable items. I have also noticed quite a few posters in this thread with "Big Idiot Bad Post" avatars now, myself included. Some warning or constructive criticism would be appreciated. ShichiNoBushi fucked around with this message at 14:06 on Aug 19, 2014 |
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Aug 19, 2014 13:38
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Is that a "Stupid Newbie" avatar replacement or what?
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Aug 19, 2014 16:05
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Xander77 posted:Is that a "Stupid Newbie" avatar replacement or what? Seems so since I can't see that old one around at least in this thread. But I don't understand why that would be changed to this one which is significantly more offensive. I could deal with the old one which was somewhat accurate considering my experience on this forum. But this one makes me and anyone else seem retarded for no adequately explainable reason. I am aware of other avatars that seem to be punishments for certain things like "forum's cancer" or something like that, but that's the case with this "Big Idiot Bad Post" avatar, I don't know what I did to deserve it. Edit: Okay, I checked around (which I probably should have earlier), and it seems to be the case that this new avatar replaced the "Stupid Newbie" one from earlier. Which actually makes it a bit more frustrating since as I just mentioned makes it significantly less appropriate and hits pretty much anyone who doesn't want to pay for a custom avatar. But I also realize this discussion is a little off topic. Carry on with Kyrandia. ShichiNoBushi fucked around with this message at 16:25 on Aug 19, 2014 |
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Aug 19, 2014 16:16
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You're earning the hell out of it right now if it's any consolation.Deathwind posted:That's not a spoiler, how often do you solve a puzzle to get something that is only used once? I played this game as a child and I don't remember a single use of any of the amulet spells, so that should tell you how useful or exciting being able to fly is going to be.
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Aug 19, 2014 16:27
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HMS Boromir posted:I played this game as a child and I don't remember a single use of any of the amulet spells, so that should tell you how useful or exciting being able to fly is going to be. I completely forgot what the first three even were.
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Aug 19, 2014 16:35
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Fedule posted:I completely forgot what the first three even were. It doesn't help that the third one is essentially unguessable, due to the circumstances in which you get it being entirely unhelpful. This impacts a few later puzzles, too... but we're seriously getting ahead of ourselves here. Let's just say this game does expect you to remember helpful things you used at earlier points in the game (and I may be playing as if I know less about the game than I do, for humorous effect  ), but as to whether any particular item is useful in any particular situation is entirely up to the game's own brand of moon logic...
Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Aug 19, 2014 |
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Aug 19, 2014 16:53
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If this exemplar of masochistic gaming has intrigued you, you can buy all three Kyrandia games on sale at GOG for about $7! http://www.gog.com/promo/ea_weekend_promo_220814
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Aug 22, 2014 16:11
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OAquinas posted:If this exemplar of masochistic gaming has intrigued you, you can buy all three Kyrandia games on sale at GOG for about $7! The second game is a lot better than the first one, and if memory serves it has approximately 100% less bullshit.
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Aug 22, 2014 17:24
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inflatablefish posted:The second game is a lot better than the first one, and if memory serves it has approximately 100% less bullshit. EDIT: Really, I even kind of enjoyed the first one for what it was, bullshit puzzles and all, but I'll never get back the time I wasted playing (and finishing) the third one. That game is so unbelievably bad I can hardly believe they had the guts to even publish it. PrBacterio fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Aug 22, 2014 |
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Aug 22, 2014 18:20
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I dunno the second one had the Inverted tower of Hanoi
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Aug 22, 2014 19:06
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:I dunno the second one had the Inverted tower of Hanoi Even that was just a tired old stock puzzle though, not the sort of randomised-solution poo poo we've seen with the gems. Or the blind leap of faith in the caves, with a one in three chance of survival. Was the third one really that bad? I don't really remember much of it.
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Aug 22, 2014 23:59
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:I dunno the second one had the Inverted tower of Hanoi
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Aug 23, 2014 01:18
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inflatablefish posted:Was the third one really that bad? I don't really remember much of it. The third one had a couple of really, really obscure puzzles, including a few where you could mess them up so badly that it was impossible to solve them. Fortunately, there were multiple solutions to almost all of the puzzles, which was probably the best part of the game. It really wanted to be funny, so much so that it included a "laugh track" option that would provide canned laughter after half of the lines, whether or not they were jokes. (I'm not making this up.) I thought most of it was okay, but almost every part of the game had one very, very tedious thing that you had to do, like a random event you had to trigger over and over to get the result you wanted, IF you even recognized that it was possible. I remember one with a long cutscene and a 50/50 chance of giving you the outcome you wanted, but I got the wrong outcome five times in a row and finally looked at a walkthrough that told me to keep doing it. The story rather ceases to be a surprise after the beginning as well - the opening of the game, and its very premise, more or less tell you what the ending will have to be.
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Aug 23, 2014 02:42
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Chapter 6: Wherein Brandon Consorts with a Witch Music: Faeriewood (Tindeck) Last time, we made it through the dark and horrible hellhole known as the Serpent's Grotto Labyrinth, and we've arrived in the Faeriewood. Personally I'm just happy we'll never have to set foot in there again. Note the apple sitting on the ground. If we missed out on the first one, or ate it, we can get a second one here, but this is the last one we'll ever find. Lose out on both, and you're boned.  The scenery is actually quite nice here. That's a big moon, though. Before I forget, let's see if Brandon has anything new to say now that we've entered a brand new area.   How am I supposed to know what to do!? Who would notice if I just went home?Brandon has reached peak whine. On the other hand, he is just saying what we're all thinking. There's nothing else on this screen that interests us, other than the very dithered background, and there's only one way to go. Hmm... if there's a merchant near here, I'll get new socks.Brandon provides some spontaneous thoughts when you enter this screen for some reason. Par for the course, they're kind of unrelated to anything that's actually going on. Moving on...  Ow geez what the heck, game. Rather than killing Brandon (as you might halfway suspect it would at this point in the game), the branch just knocks him out cold and the screen fades to black. When we wake up, we're somewhere else entirely, in the company of probably the only person in the game with any brains.  Video: Zanthia (Youtube) Music: Zanthia (Tindeck) Oh, my head! What am I doing here? Did you transport me magically? You got hit on the head, and I dragged you in here. Who are you? I am Zanthia. You must be Brandon. Zanthia is actually the youngest of the mystics, and probably not much older than Brandon, who is about eighteen at this time. Brandon quickly changes the subject before the the topic of who changed whose diapers has a chance to come up. So what's in the cauldron? A potion for time travel? Oh!The game emphasizes the awkwardness of the conversation by putting a long pause here. Did Darm and Brynn at least get all the gems activated on your amulet?Oh, hey, about that... I have two. Two!? Y-- no...  They said they didn't have much magic left. Nobody has much magic left! Can you help me? Fine with me. I'll go, but how will I get there? Oh! Didn't Darm do anything? He recommended I come see you. Okay, I'll give you what I can, but I don't care if you are the Prince, I'm not giving up my wardrobe spell or my enchanted aquarium! The Prince? Who's a Prince?Oh, that's right...  geez calm down I can't believe they would do this! Listen Brandon, we're in trouble. Go to the Enchanted Fountain and fill a flask for me. I'll get things set up for your potions.Now that the conversation is finally over, Zanthia gives us an empty flask (which just appears attached to our cursor, ready to be put into the inventory) and sends us off on another fetch quest. Before we do, let's poke around her house.  Wasn't that her laundry? I guess Zanthia smells like a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Are you a donkey? Go get the magic water!Geez, all right, we'll go. There's nothing else in here we can look at right now anyway.  Music: Faeriewood (Tindeck) Apparently Zanthia lives in a swamp. We were at a scenic hilly landscape before. How far did she drag us? A prince? Prince of what?Gee, I don't know which among the myriad things we've heard of you could be the prince of, Brandon. Let's just focus on finding that enchanted fountain Zanthia was talking about. I'm not sure what we need a potion for, but Zanthia's the alchemist here, so we'll trust her. By the way, did you notice there are two little eyes poking out of the water? Let's give them a closer look.    Oh, okay.  This one is not even related to a puzzle. It's just a giant swamp frog thing that eats you if you click on it. All you have to do to avoid gruesome froggy death is... not click on it. Click anything else on the screen, including either exit, and you can continue unscathed. It's just there to... punish you for exploring, I guess? Speaking of which, let's go left and start exploring this swamp Zanthia evidently lives in.  ... oh. I guess it was another identical forest area all along? Great. You can't leave any other direction from Zanthia's hut, either, and this screen only has one other exit, to the left. We're forced to draw the conclusion that it's just the area immediately surrounding her house that looks like a swamp, possibly due to illegal dumping of alchemical waste. Moving on.  Nuts. On the upside, finding the Enchanted Fountain was easier than we thought! On the downside, Malcolm's back to torment us some more. Video: Malcolm at the Enchanted Fountain (Youtube) Music: Malcolm Encounter, Variant (Tindeck)  How goes your quest? I have a few tricks up my sleeve.Yeah, like a flute! Wait, we dropped that... Are you ready now? Shall we joust?We can turn into a ball of glitter. Would that help? At this moment I only seek water from the fountain.There's no need to tell the homicidal nutcase wielding ultimate magical power what we're after, Brandon. What a shame! ... and I MUST have some fun. Perhaps some hide and seek will amuse us both.Another fetch quest?  Just please don't throw that thing into the labyrinth. If you need water, you'll have to fix the fountain first. I cannot tell you where to look. For that is neither fair nor fun!This isn't fun either.   Well, that went pretty poorly. Malcolm has sabotaged the fountain, and all the magic water is gone. We have no clue what Malcolm did with that crystal ball, but we probably need it back. We'll start with what Brandon does best: complain to Zanthia about this turn of events.  Malcolm was there. Let me explain, Brandon. Without magic water, none of my potions are possible. Actually, now that you mention it, we can already fly, so maybe if you could just point us in the right direction we could give that a go and skip the whole magic water rigamarole. But you need the water, right? I'll find some. Maybe some splashed out... or I can wring some out of the moss.If only it were that simple.  Bring the magic water from the fountain first, and then we'll talk.Nothing for it but to play Malcolm's stupid hide-and-seek game. By the way, another empty flask has mysteriously appeared in Zanthia's hovel. It's not really clear that we need more than one bottle, but Brandon's rampant kleptomania makes it a moot point. Yoink. Better start looking for that orb. On the way, another look at the fountain provokes more whining from Brandon.  Going up from the fountain eventually takes us back to the area where a tree tried to murder us.  To the south is a strange little door.  Finally, somebody has a front door.There's nothing else we can do with the door right now. We're far too big to fit in there, anyways. Let's try west from here.  That's different. Doesn't look like the orb we're after, though... What's the Royal Chalice doing here?Wait, you instantly recognize the Kyrandian regalia on sight, but you're too thick to figure out the whole prince thing? Whatever, let's just steal the drat thing.  It's stuck. That's spooky! What holds it there?Thwarted again.  Most of the Faeriewood is just more nondescript forest. The amount of useless filler in this game actually gets pretty annoying after a while, and we haven't seen the worst of it yet.  Our aimless wandering eventually takes us to this place, somewhere off to the west of where the chalice is. Is that bush supposed to be on fire? With how messed up the Kyrandian flora is, I'm not actually sure. I thought I smelled something burning!Let's examine it for good measure. Ow! That's hot!Or just jam your hand into it, Brandon, I'm sure that works too. Rats! And me with no hot-dogs.This is actually a puzzle we have to solve to progress. We don't have any real reason to put the fire out other than general do-goodery, but we must. We don't have any water or anything like that with which to put it out, but it wouldn't matter if we did. The solution is something we already have on hand.  I did it! I made the flames go out!Hey, it's that orb. This puzzle is pretty strange. There's no real reason to think "I bet this spontaneous woodland fire is where Malcolm hid the thing we want", but I suppose banking on your average adventure gamer compulsively attempting to solve every puzzle he comes across isn't an altogether bad strategy. Also note that this is the first time we've had to re-use something we used for another previous puzzle. If you discarded the scroll of winter after using it to clear the lava flow in the Labyrinth, you'd have to trek all the way back there to pick it up again. This was the sole reason we hung onto the scroll, so now we can actually drop it with good conscience and replace it with the orb.  Now I have the Crystal Ball!Uh... sure. Let's just fix that fountain.   ... speak for yourself, Brandon. But hey, on the upside, we got that magic water Zanthia wanted!  You are a Prince. THE Prince, actually. Your parents were King William and Queen Katherine... did you know Malcolm murdered them and seized the Kyragem? This is Brandon's entire reaction to learning of his true lineage. He doesn't even say anything here, just  out for a brief instant. We had him locked in the castle. But now he's loose. Malcolm! That old jester?Actually, this entire conversation is weird. Brandon knows who Malcolm is. He's referred to him by name several times now. Why is he suddenly confused?  Will it give me powers? It will be difficult. I'm sure the vestments have been lost. Malcolm probably wears the crown.What is Zanthia even talking about? This is approaching Twin Peaks level nonsense. You'll need luck, if nothing else. Are you Mystics powerless? Can't you free the Kyragem?I would say that Brandon is just being whiny as usual, but when you think about it, this entire incident happened because the Mystics sat on their hands for the past eighteen years and did nothing while the seal on the castle waned. Only you can do it now. The pact requires royal blood.That sounds ominous. What should I do? Let's mix a potion. Go get some blueberries.So there we go. Royal heritage revealed. Brandon has his eyes set on revenge, Zanthia has hers set on making  ... you get what looks like another fourth wall breaking moment, but it's probably accidental; Zanthia says the same thing regardless of whether you're trying to give her anything or if your hand is empty. We need to go find some blueberries. There is one spot on the western side of the map, near where the fire was, that we haven't visited yet.  Pretty! That bush looks relevant to our quest. Blueberries.Awesome. Let's trek all the way back to give these to Zanthia so we can finally get this alchemy ball rolling.  Oh, god drat it. You might be wondering what happens if you pick up some blueberries before Zanthia sends you out to pick some, to pre-empt her little vanishing act. The simple answer is it doesn't work, and you'll be forced to go all the way back to the rainbow pond again to trigger the event:  Next time, we'll get lost in the forest some more, and try our hand at delicate, magically volatile chemical experiments. What could possibly go wrong?
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Aug 23, 2014 12:15
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This was the scene I paid homage to in the finale of the Gobliins 2 LP I did ages ago - miraculously, most of the videos are still online somehow. It's here if anyone wants to check it out, but it probably loses a considerable amount of the humor if you're not familiar with Gobliins 2. More so because I still had no idea how to edit videos. I never even thought of going back to talk to Zanthia after the fountain was broken - I just played Malcolm's game, found the crystal in what seemed to me to be the most obvious spot, and did the things Zanthia told me to do without asking why. It made the rest of this part of the game considerably more confusing, because I missed some useful clues. I still figured it all out myself, though, and only needed one hint from this point until the end of the game. It's probably the very next thing you're going to do. (It helped that I'd already played through a significant portion of the third game, where some of the same mechanics are used.)
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Aug 23, 2014 13:04
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At least that seemed considerably less bullshit than the rest of the game so far! And the backgrounds continue to look nice.
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Aug 23, 2014 13:30
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PurpleXVI posted:At least that seemed considerably less bullshit than the rest of the game so far! Oh, the game is just rearing up for the next bout of upcoming horseshit, believe you me. 
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Aug 23, 2014 17:16
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PurpleXVI posted:At least that seemed considerably less bullshit than the rest of the game so far! And the backgrounds continue to look nice. To be honest the 'maze of dark twisting passages, all alike' is one of the bigger gently caress yous in the game but it still has some big ones to come.
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Aug 24, 2014 01:18
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Hyper Crab Tank posted:
 quote:Wait, you instantly recognize the Kyrandian regalia on sight, but you're too thick to figure out the whole prince thing? Whatever, let's just steal the drat thing. quote:Brandon has his eyes set on revenge, Zanthia has hers set on making
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Aug 24, 2014 02:05
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Pierzak posted:Blueberry muffin potions, to be exact. The real magic is what allows you to take them out without breaking the bottle. In most games I'd expect this to play out fairly whimsically. In this one I expect it to be liquid in the flask, and stays such until you drink it. It then returns to muffin shape as you do, lodged in your throat.
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Aug 24, 2014 02:51
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Mr. Locke posted:In most games I'd expect this to play out fairly whimsically. I was referring to sandwich potions in Hand of Fate.
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Aug 24, 2014 13:21
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Mr. Locke posted:In most games I'd expect this to play out fairly whimsically. Duh, you're supposed to pour it into a glass first. Honestly though, I think that Hypercrab Tank is overselling the difficulty of the next section. It's not really difficult. If you're complaining about the puzzle to get back the fountain piece, you really aren't qualified to play adventure games. It's not a hard thing to figure out if you've been paying the slightest bit of attention. I'm not saying there isn't a bullshit move coming up eventually, because there is (and it did get me the first time), but it's not like the cave or the birthstone puzzle.
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Aug 24, 2014 13:33
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Pierzak posted:I was referring to sandwich potions in Hand of Fate.
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Aug 24, 2014 13:55
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Honestly though, I think that Hypercrab Tank is overselling the difficulty of the next section. It's not really difficult. It's not that it's difficult, it's that there are no hints in the game for how to beat it. The solution is not random in the sense the birthstone puzzle is, but it might as well be for first-time players for all the game tells you, and once again you either have to savescum or spend ages tracking down replacements for the things you destroy in the process.
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Aug 24, 2014 14:12
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Seriously? She suddenly vanished without even a cutaway to Malcolm villainously capering?
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Aug 26, 2014 02:27
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Hyper Crab Tank posted:
 and how Zanthia deals with it. "Sometimes I have to be strict" 
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Aug 26, 2014 12:44
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Chapter 7: Wherein Alchemy is Performed for Fun and Profit Last time, we helped Zanthia procure magic water and blueberries for her potion, a task which involved playing another of Malcolm's annoying little games. Unfortunately, once we collected everything Zanthia needed, she went missing and now we're left to figure the rest out on our own. We start off by snagging the stray bottle that has appeared on her floor again. You can get an infinite supply of bottles here if you so wish, but there's not really much need for more than a few. Now, we don't know the first thing about alchemy. All we know is that Zanthia needed blueberries to make a potion for us. So... let's toss some blueberries into that pot and see what happens.  The brew turned a sickly shade of blue. Interesting. Well, we have an abundance of bottles, so let's scoop some out...  Rats. Something has to be missing from the recipe. But what? Zanthia didn't leave any instructions. Maybe that tulip?  Well, the concoction is yellow now, but we still can't pick it up. Apple?  No luck. The apple didn't do anything to the potion at all. Iron key?  Wait... poo poo. We needed that. This is one of the few places in the game where you can permanently lose almost any item in the game. That key is gone now, and though we haven't found a lock that fits it yet, you can be sure we're going to need it sooner or later. We also have made no progress with our alchemical pursuits. For now let's just reload a game and try something else. Maybe we can find a recipe book somewhere. Say, wasn't that carpet a little neater before?  Hey, it's a secret trapdoor! What's this? A cellar?Only one way to find out!   Hello, hello? Zanthia?It turns out to be a secret path leading to the other half of Faeriewood.  There are a lot of empty forest areas here.  Like, a lot.  All in all this side of the forest contains almost 50 locations, arranged in two overlapping five-by-five squares. Most of those locations are near-identical patches of forest with absolutely nothing of any value in them. The sheer amount of pointless filler in this game is a pretty severe strike against it, actually. Fortunately, the series got better as it went along, and Hand of Fate has practically no filler at all.  Walking along the northern edge of the forest, we unexpectedly come across a tropical beach. There's some kind of podium with a magic circle on it, flanked by winged horses. Solid gold! Somebody's rich.There's an island off in the distance... Is that where the castle is?You know what? We've got this. We don't need no fancy potions. We can fly straight across with the will-o-wisp spell.  ... was that... a whale? It's like the game is taunting us now, acknowledging that just using the will-o-wisp spell to fly across makes perfect sense - it's just not the answer the game wants out of us, so it throws in a diabolus ex machina to keep us from getting anywhere that way. Alas, we can't do anything interesting in this room yet, so we're forced to look elsewhere. Before we leave, we'll pick some of the red flowers growing off to the side there.  A rare, exotic flower.How exotic can it be when it literally grows like ten feet from the perfectly ordinary forest that looks identical to the one you live in? The last interesting location in this part of the forest is in the southern half.  Hey! This must be one of Zanthia's toys.I don't know, it looks pretty important to me. There are two flask-shaped depressions in the gigantic crystals, but right now, we can't do anything with them. We can try to put one our empty flasks in there, but... I don't think an empty vial will work here.We've seen everything there is to see on this side of the forest, and we're no closer to figuring out how to cook up any kind of potion, let alone a helpful one. All we got for our troubles is an orchid. As far as I can tell, there are no more clues to be had about alchemy nor about anything else. Yes, the game has once more landed us in the middle of a puzzle (several puzzles, actually) with no indication what we need to do to progress. We can try plunging everything we've got into Zanthia's cauldron, but none of the items we are currently carrying produce any interesting effects except the orchid, which turns the contents of the cauldron a pale red, much like the blueberries and tulip.  So far, we've identified three ingredients that can go into a potion. Combining blueberries and tulips or orchids in the same potion doesn't work; the color just gets overridden with the second thing you throw in there. Something is missing. The only other living person we know of who might know anything at all about this stuff is Darm, and he's all the way back in Timbermist. Oh well, it's worth a shot, right? Going north from the fountain takes us back to the cave we came out of, and we can just go backwards through the western part of the labyrinth to get back to Timbermist.  Oh, right. I forgot to put a fireberry down in the last room between the chasm and the exit. Fortunately, our wisp form lights up dark rooms, so we can just turn it on before we enter the cave and make it through safely. We trek all the way back through the cave, into Timbermist, and...  Welcome back, Branson. Hello again, Darm. Gee, thanks. Very helpful. Brandywine can't be interacted with, so it looks like we came all the way back here for nothing. Or did we?  Remember this pile of junk? There is something we need from it. Three things, in fact. The first two are the topaz and sapphire, which we can just pick up. The third is kind of locked up at the moment, though; we need a garnet, and we used the one we had on the birthstone puzzle.  Some random wandering in the forest takes care of that. I'm going to toss one of our flasks to make room for it. We can always get more flasks from Zanthia's hut, which also happens to be our next destination.  It's time to get cooking. We need to mix three kinds of potions and collect two batches of each. The order doesn't matter. Each potion consists of a vegetable and a gemstone. How exactly you'd figure this out, other than trial-and-error, is beyond me. At least the ingredients aren't randomized.  Tulip and topaz creates a yellow potion.  Orchid and garnet results in a red potion.  And finally, blueberry and sapphire gives you a blue potion. Exiting and entering Zanthia's hovel respawns the flask on the floor, and you can fill any number of flasks with potion once you've mixed it up, so we're up to the six we need in no time. All right, so Zanthia seemed to think the blue potion would be helpful to us, so let's give it a try.  *Hiccup* *Hiccup* *Hiccup* ... I think they're gone... *Hiccup*Okay, that one was a dud. Should we try the other potions?  Yum! It's warm and spicy!That would be the salsa potion, then.  Yecch! Tastes like furniture polish!Brandon being familiar with the taste of furniture polish does explain a thing or two about his mental capacities. All right, so none of the potions actually did anything. As it turns out, we're not done mixing.  Those conspicuous slots in the Crystals of Alchemy look like they might fit our new potion flasks.  That seemed to do something.Cool. Putting the blue potion in one of the slots drained it and left the flask itself stuck in the slot. We put a red potion into the other slot, and...  ... we've got ourselves a purple potion! The other potions can be mixed in the same manner, resulting in a green potion and an orange potion.  Let's give these ones a whirl. I've got a good feeling about the green potion.   Oh no! Not again! The poison... I can't breathe... We don't even get a chance to use the healing spell to counteract it this time. The green potion just kills you. We reload, and try the other potions.  That was fun!Perhaps, but it's not very useful to us. All right, how about the orange one?  Tastes like alfalfa, but I like it!Right, so these potions are useless too. The green one kills you, the purple one shrinks you, and the orange one doesn't seem to do anything at all. None of the new bottles fit in the Crystals of Alchemy either, so we can't mix them any further. But wait... alfalfa? That's a forage crop typically fed to horses. Where have we seen a horse?  They've got wings, but they're still practically horses. Worth a shot, right? Let's try this. Here goes... I feel kind of strange...  Oh! That was wild!It certainly was! Whale is no match for pegasus, and so we've finally arrived at the island on which Castle Kyrandia is located. This place looks kind of grim, but hey, we made it! And we didn't even need to pick up that Chalice or anything! Next time, we'll discover we've made several crucial mistakes and that the game is now unwinnable. Doesn't that sound fun?
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Aug 30, 2014 14:36
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I was baffled as to why I couldn't remember this puzzle, since it seems so clearly madness-inducing. I realize now that this must have been when I was just using my printed walkthrough full-time to enjoy the pretty pictures and not engage with the puzzles at all. No wonder I remember this game so fondly!
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Aug 30, 2014 15:39
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How How are you supposed to know you have to try that? Beyond phoning the hint line or other assorted out-of-game knowledge sources, that is.
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Aug 30, 2014 15:40
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Omobono posted:How Back in '93, gamers used to try things and experiment, and saving and loading was expected. This seemed perfectly normal at the time. You can also make potions from two red, yellow, and blue flasks, but those don't do anything helpful either. I will admit that the first time I played, I was someone who got stuck here in an unwinnable state. I didn't find the volcano tunnel or the key, and By the way, the stump on the far side of Zanthia's tunnel has an special item. You can do something with that item to get another item, but that second item is useless. It seems that was for a cut puzzle.
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Aug 30, 2014 16:55
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