Bard's Tale 3(Commodore 64) FAQ/Walkthrough
version 1.0.1 by Andrew Schultz
[email protected]
Please do not reproduce for profit without my consent. You won't be getting
much profit anyway, but that's not the point. This took time and effort, and
I just wanted to save a memory of an old game and the odd solutions any way I
could. Please send me an email referring to me and this guide by name if
you'd like to post it on your site.
This guide is accompanied by maps you can find on GameFAQs.com. You can put
it, the maps and the window for this game on your desktop so you can see all
at once. This should make things easier for you. The maps have been
proofread/resubmitted for accuracy so I'm pretty confident they have all the
details you'll need.
================================
OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION
1-1. THE GAME AND THE FAQ
1-2. COMMODORE EMULATION
1-3. CODE WHEELS AND OTHER EXTERNAL INFO
2. CONTROLS
3. CHARACTER CREATION
4. GENERAL STRATEGIES
4-1. INDIVIDUAL FIGHTS
4-2. TIMING
5. WALKTHROUGH
5-0. SKARA BRAE
5-0-1. STARTING OUT
5-0-2. TARJAN'S
5-0-3. CHAOS
5-1. ARBORIA
5-1-1. CRYSTAL PALACE
5-1-2. VALARIAN'S TOWER
5-1-3. FESTERING PIT
5-1-4. SACRED GROVE
5-2. GELIDIA
5-2-1. GREY TOWER
5-2-2. WHITE TOWER
5-2-3. BLACK TOWER
5-2-4. ICE DUNGEON
5-3. LUCENCIA
5-3-1. DRAGON MOUNTAIN
5-3-2. CYANIS AND ALLIRIA
5-4. KINESTIA
5-4-1. FEROFIST'S
5-4-2. URMECH'S
5-5. TENEBROSIA
5-5-1. TAR PITS, COPSE, CANYON
5-5-2. SCEADU'S
5-6. TARMITIA
5-6-1. SHORT SOLUTION
5-6-2. LONG SOLUTION
5-7. MALEFIA
5-7-1. THE MAZE
5-7-2. THE FIGHTS
6. CHEATING
7. VERSIONS
8. CREDITS
================================
1. INTRODUCTION
1-1. THE GAME AND THE FAQ
If you're reading this FAQ you probably know what Bard's Tale III(BT3) was
about. That fellow Tarjan from BT1 is back and he's screwing with alternate
universes you'll have to visit now. Win one universe, get kicked to another.
Smash Tarjan at the end. There's a bit more drama in this story as opposed to
atmosphere from BT2. Plus there are more items and better graphics.
This FAQ is about how to win from scratch--you can win with cheated
characters or, as I did when I played on the Apple, those transferred from
BT2. It is not so bad to win with new characters. You just have to be smart
with spells.
This only describes walkthroughs in depth, not monsters or items. Use Andy
Yu's excellent in-depth item guide for that. Also, where a map suffices, I
cut down the detail in writing, and I used a lot of shorthand. And I include
a lot of leveling up which people who transferred characters over can
probably ignore.
BT3 was a lot of fun but I thought, wow, it'd be a pain to have to level up
all the way through this. Still, I tried it, and with minimal shortcuts(such
as knowing the solution to a puzzle in advance--not that the puzzles are too
tricky) it seems it would not take too long. Fortunately there's a big bump
for each quest solved.
1-2. COMMODORE EMULATION
Though it doesn't have the INWO cheat, I like Commodore emulation for several
reasons.
1. Apple emulation didn't work for me(it crashed on Kinestia)
2. You can warp through the slow bits or just set default speed at 500%
3. Save states are easy to futz with and helped me make my maps--and ignore
the code wheel too.
4. You can save an emulator state in the middle of a fight, but you can't
save a game there in the PC version. Yes, it's not cricket and destroys the
point a bit, but some things can be dreadfully random especially late on. I
call it "being extra creative with magic." Besides, this guide is about
building a party from scratch, not 100% honestly.
5. VICE's interface is very nice.
6. It makes me feel all technically proficient, even though I usually play
games to put off technical stuff I should be doing or learning.
To download Bt3 go to ftp.arnold.org.
VICE is at www.viceteam.org.
Just remember to set "True Drive Emulation" and off you go.
I don't know how playing the uncracked version of BT3 without the codewheel
on DosBox works but I assume it's similar.
1-3. CODE WHEELS AND OTHER EXTERNAL INFO
I made a code wheel that may or may not work and it is at:
www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762/projects/bt3code.htm
But there is an ascii version I used more often:
www.apple2.org.za/gswv/a2zine/Docs/BardsTale3code.txt
And someone wrote an executable I've never tried, but I might as well pump
the site:
http://bardstale.brotherhood.de/talefiles/3/hacks/index.html
PS these sites are also fun:
http://www.bardstaleonline.com/
http://www.geocities.com/thebardstale/
http://www.cheek.org/bard
2. CONTROLS
Arrows can move you around but J-K-L(turn left, go forward, right) is more
efficient. Press a player number and then space for his items.
For combat if you goof you need to type stuff back in starting from the
beginning. You also can't advance if you fight by mistake.
The things you need to get used to are pooling gold to your first player.
There is little need for it outside of buying spells, bard songs and maybe
resurretion. You also want to be able to check the item list and for that the
up and left arrow keys move up, down and right down. APAR works much the same
way.
For saving a game it is tedious to swap disks but swapping save states
accomplishes the same thing.
3. CHARACTER CREATION
For starters I think the following characters are a given:
Human Paladin(great fighter, convert to Geomancer later)
Human Monk(AC bunker)
Half Orc Rogue(needed to win and for critical hit)
Human Bard(needed for song 3)
Gnome Conjurer
Gnome Magician
Races aren't terribly important but you want to maximize
dexterity/constitution for the fighters and IQ/Dexterity(17/14) for the
mages, becaue on defeating the first big bad guy your mages' stats are pumped
up to 20--but not down.
But what to do with the final slot? You really do need all the magic you can
get for some critical fights, and NPCs are relatively useless. The candidates
seem to be paladin(to convert to geomancer later,) conjurer and magician. I
prefer magician over conjurer, because the former lets you fire off better
group spells. It makes no difference in the long term, but early on it is
nice to be able to blast as many spells as you can.
It would be nice to have two geomancers, too, but they start with relatively
few spell points and the class-specific spells they use are relatively cheap
for them anyway. Usually the spells you need in the big fights are the ones
all mages can use e.g. NUKE and DIVA. It would take a lot of building up a
geomancer to cast even one of these spells, while an archmage with a
Conjurstaff would be able to cast 4 DIVAs at the very least by the game's
end.
I also recommend converting only one archmage to a chronomancer--you only
need one of those guys to cast spells for world transport. Having two guys
who can cast FAFO helps greatly in the final battle.
So, GNOME MAGICIAN for the final spot.
4. GENERAL STRATEGIES
4-1. INDIVIDUAL FIGHTS
Basic principles to remember for combat:
* Lots of easy enemies = good. You get a lot of experience and usually just
need a big spell.
* 1 enemy = good. You seem to have the same chance of getting items versus
one or many.
* Look for combat squares on the accompanying maps at GameFAQs. You can turn
around on them to get a fight. They recharge if you shift levels.
* You can stay on a square and not worry about getting into a fight.
* Harmonic gems, which recharge spell points, are plentiful. Use your
favorite spells to rake your enemies.
* Bard's Songs are easily rechargeable and expendable. If you play one during
combat, you get double the effect.
* go up and down a level to recharge monster squares.
* waiting around and recharging spell points does not attract monsters.
Turning in place does.
* playing bard song 3 or 7(lower armor class) during combat is cumulative,
unless you cast DIVA in the meantime. I think this is a bug, but it's a nice
one to exploit to avoid getting hit.
* If you have even one tough or draining enemy, run. Then throw everything
you have at him. You should be able to flee the second time.
* Remember to see what spells you can cast before using a harmonic gem--get
the most out of its use. Also, feel free to spray spells after completing a
world and backtracking to the worn spot. The elder recharges you anyway.
You can't play the summon/illusion trick for Bard's Tale 3 as you did in
Bard's Tale 2. Summoned creatures are worth about 100 EXP each, illusory or
not. Not much.
You do however get experience for other enemies summoned in to join a group.
Some items that aren't useful til the final fight(s) are best put in the
storage room eg shrill flute(casts FAFO--save a couple if you can) and wand
of force(casts FOTA without sacrificing spell points).
4-2. TIMING
The main problem is knowing when to level up and when to move on. You'll find
some pretty nice items in the course of levelling up, and Andy Yu's document
can describe what you find, where. At the beginning of the game, some
creative organization can save a lot of level building time. Then getting
your levels up with safe fights is the next bit. You'll always have enough
harmonic gems if you remember to keep item slots open, and that is really the
main concern.
Because near the end of the game you just cast DIVA and attack or cast NUKE
later. The last few fights are critical--you need to have accumulated several
harmonic gems per spellcaster, and a Conjurstaff can mean more than double
your spells. For instance, with it NUKE costs 75 points and without it, 150.
Unlike BT2 you can cast NUKE when you have 80 points left with a conjurstaff,
so if you have 400 spell points to start, you can now cas NUKE five times and
not two. Better than double!
In general you will need to watch out for these milestones too as a good time
to say you'll go ahead with the final fights. They are the ones you should be
concerned with--while leveling up to 100 helps, the right spells to start and
continue can help level 50s outperform level 100s.
Many times for a critical fight it is more important to have the right spells
than the right items. For instance, if you are fighting spellcasters, it
would be nice to have tungsten plate but not critical. Having enough points
for ZZGO would be more relevant.
5. WALKTHROUGH
This walkthrough will assume you have the maps I provided open in another
browser or MS Paint. There should be room for windows on the screen to view
this FAQ in wordpad, VICE and the images. See section 6, first bit, for how
to move between worlds without a code wheel.
5-0. SKARA BRAE
The leveling up bit can be skipped if you imported winning characters from
Bard's Tale II. Basically, you need to defeat a fellow named Brilhasti Ap
Tarj. Once you do,
1) fighter characters get to level 35
2) mages go to level 13 archmage, get level 7 in all spell classes up to
archmage, and get 375 HP/350 SP
So if you are able to win with a relatively weak party you can escape some of
the more painful leveling up. It turns out the wizard spells you would get
are pretty weak, so you can finagle a win once you have promoted your
conjurer and magicians to sorcerer and gotten them level seven spells in both
classes. This should win, at least after a few tries.
You should never get lost on th efirst level since it is all auto-mapped, and
the second is a bit trickier, but you should be able to find the information
you need.
5-0-1. STARTING OUT
For the first few levels you don't need to do much. I just went 2S of the
Review Board and kicked in doors going back and forth. This got me to L2
before my bard song ran out, and then after that, I was able to get roughly a
level per bard song until I didn't need the song's protection. Also, don't
visit the review board until your party's spells are drained or very close.
You get a free recharge the first time!
Outside and in Skara Brae, no monsters are particularly tricky, except Pumas
and other cats can do nasty damage. Gnomes etc. at 30' are rather easy as
they don't hit you, and when you get WAST they go down quickly too. You only
fight one set of monsters at a time, too.
Be sure to cast heal if anyone's HP go below 15. Note with two magicians
you'll find it harder to run out of this defense. One thing you can do to
recharge is just stand and wait--if you are on the Commodore emulator X64
then Alt-W to warp and you get spell points back quickly. This beats using
harmonic gems, which become more valuable as the game goes on, since they
recharge your spell points. You can find them every 5-10 fights(a wild guess)
no matter where you are, which means you can and should use your best magic
spells pretty recklessly.
At levels 1-2 you don't have much choice, but at level 5(spell level 3) you
get WAST, which is handy at the starter dungeons. Still, to be perfectly safe
I'd hold off visiting the starter dungeons until you get 20000 experience for
everyone. That places you at level 7, or spell level 4. You should cast MYSH
when you can, and your bard song will take 2 from your armor class. You
should also be picking up random cool items too, such as helms and gauntlets
and a halberd for your paladin. Extra leather gloves can go to your mages.
Drop your monk's short sword and be sure to balance your armor class across
the board, so that the gold rolls in.
Gold in general should not be a problem as long as you don't get anyone
killed or you use harmonic gems/the sun to recharge spell points to heal your
guys. If you do, then you need to resurrect your fighters first. While your
ultimate goal is to get your conjurer and mage to level 7, they make terrible
fighters and they'll get killed soon enough. If you don't have spell points
or gold, wait for day to arrive before visiting the temple and you can get
free SP's.
If you must choose between your conjurer and mages, go with the conjurer. The
mages are stronger in combat but they do not have TRZP, which is handy in
dungeons. You'll go crazy fighting outside all the time.
But in general if your guys have <1/3 of their hit points, use an emergency
gem if you must. I also encourage you to fill the storehouse with Harmonic
Gems when you can. You don't really need any other items.
You want to be at level 7 before visiting the dungeons because if someone is
poisoned or turned insane, you want to be able to cast FLRE on him. FLRE is
fractionally less efficient spell point wise than WOHL but it'll drive you
nuts casting WOHL all the time.
5-0-2. TARJAN'S
As the man at the review board said, TARJAN is the mad god mentioned for the
first dungeon.
This is the first dungeon and while, technically you can skip it, it's a good
idea to be able to walk through it just to get the answer. If you want a
fight, see where the (!)s are on my map and just spin around. Get used to
using DRBR on two groups of monsters. You can probably get a few fights for
1000+ experience. Cover the SW then, as you gain more confidence, the SE, the
NE and the NW. Note the hit point tunnel you can sit in if you get stuck. Go
down and up the stairs to recharge the monster squares. You should be able to
win most fights although I recommend running from Zephyrmages when starting
out--the wolves they summon are nasty. Blood Acolytes are annoying too since
they push the party back making it nearly impossible to win.
The main things to notice are anti-magic squares and when your bard songs and
MYSH spells run out. You can get beaten up in a hurry. Make sure all your
spellcasters have a magic gem or, at least, a bunch of spell points. You can
always retreat and beat up some easy enemies to stock up on Harmonic Gems.
E* 3N 4E 3N 2W N W N* W N W* gets you down to level 2. Of course you can stop
and spin on the fight squares along the way.
Level 2 has the same monsters as level 1, but it's easier to get lost in, and
you have a lot more traps, including spinners. Many are blocked by doors all
around so you can't see which way you go. If you are lucky enough to find a
nospin ring, which doesn't seem to be the case from Andy Yu's FAQ this early,
then no problem. But if you don't, then you can't see which direction you're
facing, and things get to be a mess. So avoid spinners unless you are able to
ascertain which direction they point you in.
Level 2 2N W 2S W leads to the word, then 2E back. You just lose all your
spells. You can also gravitate east:
N 2E 2N 2E S E N E S 3E S E N 4E(dark) 2S 2E N E N 2E S E S (message) 2E. If
you are having trouble reading the map, try to follow through and see how
this gets you where you want to be. You can hook around N W S but that can
lose a lot more HP to start. I leave it as an exercise.
If you can make it through the gauntlet fighting all fights that come your
way, you're fully ready to explore Chaos. Well, you probably are even at
level 7.
5-0-3. CHAOS
Levels 1 and 2 have the same monsters and you must remember--AVOID
GOREDROOLERS! They breathe at you. Still, you can probably bag fights at
1000exp+ a pop, leaving you pretty comfortable for getting a level per
extended trip. As you gain levels, you can cast more efficient spells such as
MALE, FLAN, GRRE and YMCA. The indefinite protection pays dividends and helps
you use fewer harmonic gems. Through this all you'll probably find cool
mithril items and such. You'll also notice HP traps are not a big deal since
FLAN/REST can undo the damage and harmonic gems regenerate spell points.
You only need 230000 experience, which should not be so bad--just a few
trips--to get your guys to the next spellcasting class. From then, keep
working levels 1/2 of Chaos. Once you get Mangar's Mind Blade(90000
experience,) you can fight trickier monsters on level 3 with security, but
you shouldn't have to push level 4.
Keep winning fights til your mages have 400000 experience each. Don't change
classes if you want to fight Brilhasti now, as being level 13 helps repel a
few more spells than being level 1.
Now you have a choice here--if you can take a bit more drudgery of fighting,
get your three mages so they have level 7 spells in
conjurer/sorcerer/magician. That is just another 230000 experience.
I would run from all level 4 fights. This is tricky to navigate, but you can
just keep the walls on the left hand side if you didn't see the clue of how
to get through the spinner room.
NENEESSEEEENNWNNWWN. Then N E*(or W*) N and back to the center. Run from
fights. 2n 3W N* W N and cast protective spells and use harmonic gems. The
fight with Brilhasti is a big one and a lot can be left to chance if you
don't watch it. Brilhasti summons Greater Demons, which are annoying, and his
guards are tough customers. But you can take him out early on as follows:
1. ex-conjurer casts PREC
2. ex-mages cast DEST
You may not hit any guards, but you will at worst break even. The guards
advance and Brilhasti is useless.
For fighters have the thief hide and attack from the shadows and attack to
try for a critical hit. If you are on your third spell class, one REST and
two DEST should wrap the enemies up pretty well. Otherwise your conjurer is a
bit useless(RIME seems cool but is blunted,) until there are just two guards
left. Then you don't need to cast REST and can just cast FLRE for whatever
breathe damage the guards do. The other two guys can cast DEST. It may be a
close thing, and a few guys die, but don't worry. You just need your thief
alive to win this thing.
After DESTing the guards, have your thief advance to 20' away from Brilhasti.
Have him hide in the shadows. Attack and hope for a critical hit. Brilhasti
doesn't do much melee damage. Generally the first DEST or two is the
trickiest to get, but then things get easier later.
With 2 spell classes you may need a few times, but with 3 you can win the
fight, which resurrects everyone. You are teleported back to by the review
board where you can load up on fighter experience and make a chronomancer.
You'll have a nuisance getting to the next level as you start with zero
experience as an archmage, but you won't need to do much besides pay for your
future chronomancer to get to level 3(first) and non-chronomancers to get to
level 7 archmage spells(if you don't have the cash, get it in Arboria.) I say
leave two archmages. This will help you get out of a mess early with heal
spells, and later you won't need two chronomancers.
5-1. ARBORIA
The main non-game task here is to get a conjurstaff for all spellcasters
including your future geomancer. You also may want to get a nospin ring if
you can find it--makes the rest of the game easier, but I will assume you
don't get one. Mage staffs are good stand-ins for conjurstaff(recharge as
fast as sunlight and can combine with that bonus--1 point per round too) but
long-term you will want a conjurstaff before Malefia for the final fight. If
you get mage staffs, save them too, as they can help you regenerate. This is
nice in later places where your magic drained for several squares in a row.
You can also come back here after completing Tarmitia and you can NUKE
everyone if you still need one more Conjurstaff. Just have the guys who've
already got one cast the spell.
And now a word about Chronomancers. They will get to level 13 just by bonuses
for completing the worlds(5*600000) so you will get all the spells
eventually, and you'll be ahead of the curve for the transport spells. Still,
you'll want to get the second spell level at 140K before heading to the
dungeons, so your chronomancer is not useless. He can cast WIFI a bunch and
that is good enough for a while.
Chronomancers get levels at the following marks:
70k 140k 240k 340k 540k 740k 1mil 1.4mil 1.8mil 2.2mil 2.6mil 3mil
You can get to level 13 in Arboria, though it takes a bit of time. Valarian's
Tower has a lot of combats packed in with lots of monsters, or you can just
kick doors in Cierra Brannia.
I kicked around Cierra Brannia for a while, south of a temple, hitting K a
bunch. Don't reheal your characters if they get old, or at least not until
you enter a dungeon. That's not worth it. Just use a REST or, if you really
need help, HEAL.
Monster summary: Ixtl guys poison you and you probably won't have the armor
to avoid their strikes even with a bard song playing. Shade dogs are rather
easy. Vampire snakes in the grove should be avoided--or, worst case, you
should pus your guys to level 36 before entering the grove. When in doubt,
MAMA. I found you could just run around hot squares in the Festering Pit to
pile up good fights and items.
** EXPERIENCE CHEAT **
You can also fight Tslotha continuously if you attack him without the
Nightspear, but this is tricky. He can breathe for a lot of damage so you
need to have REST and HEAL ready. Each time he bounces back, you can fight
him again. But he gives some pretty good items. Sadly you can't turn around
and lose the nightspear later to get this fight again, so beat him up while
you can. You can run pretty easily, though, so save after every cool new
item. He gives good experience at 7143 per fight and that is 28 fights per
warrior level.
The only problem here is that unless you cheat up your archmages with byte
editing, they won't get the full advantage of him. This is where fights in
the sacred grove are useful. Because of the bug on the Commodore that gives
your archmages 0 experience, you can and should arrange your party as
follows:
archmage
archmage
paladin
monk
Give your paladin all your best stuff, Ali's Carpet, shield ring, etc. He'll
have the lowest armor class. Have your bard play a song and let the vampire
snakes hit your archmages, who should un-equip everything. Pick off any other
monster groups and, if you're forced into a fight before this, MAMA away.
Then go to the temple and heal them. Pow, +3400000 experience. Your guys are
back to normal again. Obviously they'll lose the experience they should've
gotten for Arboria. But if you get the sacred grove done early and then just
win fights after, you'll do pretty well.
5-1-1. CRYSTAL PALACE
This is a pretty easy in-and-out trip. Be sure you have a canteen. Be sure to
have gotten GILL from the fisherman's hut 1N of the pool the palace is in.
W5-1 4N 5W(note the first stuck trap you can't avoid. Well, you can, but you
hit the darkness otherwise) 3S W N. Use the canteen a few times. Exit as you
came. Fights feature some neat monsters but nothing too tricky.
Now get the acorn before heading to Valarian's. S 3E 6S acorn N 3W.
5-1-2. VALARIAN'S TOWER
While small this place is confusing without a nospin ring. S E N E and there
is a spinner here. Go forward when you see a trap. If your hit points drain,
go forward, trigger the trap and turn around and go back, then look for
another trap as you spin. E S E 3N W S.
Level 2: E N 2W 2S and there's no good way to tell which direction is better,
so see if you are still in darkness after going two forward. If not, cast
light and 2W N E N W.
Level 3: 1E use acorn, use water, 1E. There are fights in the east where you
can flip levels, win and return. There's also a magic recharge in the NE. But
the spinners guarding them may be a nuisance.
Level 4: N E S E 2S(heal, explosions ahead) 3W N W 2N E N 2E. Get the
nightspear and go down. It's a good weapon for your thief.
5-1-3. FESTERING PIT
Tslotha goes out to a critical hit or to your monk pretty easily. So he is
not a problem. It's getting to him that can be a nuisance.
4N 5E 5N E N 3E N 2E 2S(spinner here--keep the door on the left) E 2N E 2N W
N 2E D.
Level 2: cast APAR and go 9W. Fight Tslotha and take his head and heart.
5-1-4. SACRED GROVE
You will want to avoid vampire snakes here as mentioned above but everything
else is fair game.
Return Tslotha's Head to the King in Cierra Brannia. E 3S 2W to the grove.
The grove has some tough fights and in fact Valarian's Bow is the only
special item you return to the Elder that is not really useful later on. But
it's not a big area. E 2S W and get the wall on the left before moving ahead.
3S 2E N 2E 2S. Use the heart and then the water of life. You can drop the
water of life now. In fact, you can get rid of the nightspear. If you linger
too long on this square a flash of light injures you, so E S 2W S 4E S 2E,
then retreat back up.
You can head back to the elder now or keep pumping your chronomancer up. The
minimum I'd say is halfway above level 7, when you can cast WHAT(probably not
useful for long as your thief is probably near 100% item ID) and OLAY in
Gelidia and beyond--remember you will get a bonus of 600000 when you return
with the Bow and the Arrows of Life. To avoid going back and forth later, get
your chronomancer to level 13, which can be a pain, but your chronomancer can
then cast the big spell to ensure a victory.
Later, FOTA will be useful for level-drain monsters, and SHSH will be great
for increased safety, but you don't need them for Gelidia. After which you
they will be more useful. And you can always come back with your shiny new
spells.
5-2. GELIDIA
Gelidia may have some good items, but I prefer just to plow through it. There
are three fights here that are nice challenges, and pumping your levels up
seems to do little good. Monster spells can bite you, and you would need to
double your HP to be assured of a win. However, it may be useful to get your
thief's critical hit to 99% if you have trouble with the white mage fight.
Be sure your guys have either at least 1/2 of max spell points, or have them
use a harmonic gem to spare before each mage fight. If you have to retreat
and get more gems to continue, do so.
E N* leads to the keep. Alendar's is also 2S 4W of the entry, but you don't
really need to bone up on his diary.
By the way, if you're stuck outside at night, you can find Alendar's or just
stay in place til morning(warp on the emulator) to avoid losing hit points.
But that shouldn't really matter.
5-2-1. GREY TOWER
N* 2W from the entrance. Cast INWO then WIHE FOFO INVI in that order. If you
mess up, just sit around to recharge.
4W 4N 2E S W 2S E N U.
Level 2: 4S 2W N W U.
Level 3: 4W 4S.
Level 4: APAR 2E, heal up, use gems and go 2S for the big fight.
Grey mage fight:
I've tried MEME(to bring enemies in,) MAMA and other spells. Nothing worked.
You have to win with fighting skills.
If you want to take a calculated not-really-a-risk, advance to start. If your
party survives, great! Hiding in shadows takes one move less per enemy.
Have both your mages cast HEAL. You'll be doing this a lot as you have your
thief jump into the shadows, then do so again til the mages are in range,
then kill a mage. Nobody else can do much. When there are just four wizards
left, you can afford to advance, heal, advance, heal.
A last resort here is to have your thief advance in the shadows and let
everyone else die as he cuts down the mages, then kill him.
Going back down isn't the reverse of going up. APAR 2N 2W, D.
Level 3: E 2N E N 2E N D.
Level 2: W 2N W D.
Level 1: 2S 2W 4N 4E 4S D.
5-2-2. WHITE TOWER
Go to the NE corner. Cast LEVI ANMA PHDO in that order.
4E N W N E N W and at this spinner, you have to just guess when you see a
door. If you turn right after and sense stairs, go up. IF not, return.
You have an express elevator up the next few stairs. Look carefully to say if
they ask if you want to go up/down and say yes/no based on that. There's
nothing really on levels 2-3 anyway.
On level 4 S 3W S 2E 2S E for the big fight. The whites are poor-sisters of
the greys. Your thief needs to hide in the shadows once, then kill them. Now
go back down.
5-2-3. BLACK TOWER
Go to the SE corner. Cast GRRE SHSP FEAR SUEL SPBI in that order.
Level 1: N W 2N avoids darkness and spinners.
Level 2: W 4N 2E N U. You hit anti-magic but avoid the dark.
Level 3: 2N 4E 4S 4W N 3E 2N U. You can feel your way around the dark for the
first bit.
Level 4: W 3S, heal, E for the big fight.
Black mage fight:
These guys are nasty. Cast HEAL with both archmages and, when a character is
turned to stone, STON. FAFI is big for this although if you have a bunch of
holy handgrenades or if you can advance, that will do the trick too. Make
sure your chronomancer has a harmonic gem.
5-2-4. ICE DUNGEON
From the start, 2E 2N 2E N* and you can use the three lenses you ripped off
from the mages you trashed. That leads to level 1.
W S E 3S and cast the light. Without the nospin ring, go forward with the
wall on your right.
S 2E S 4E N* D. 4S 2E 3N (light if no spin, keep wall on right) E E. Now
apparently the answer should be HAWKSLAYER but no matter what you say you can
face south and go through the wall. W S E S and get the treasure. Retreat.
5-3. LUCENCIA
Lucencia doesn't have great fighting for experience, but it may be the most
satisfying puzzle world in the game.
You can pick four roses off the bat:
4N, W* S, N E 4N 2W S W, E N 2E 4N W.
Give them all to your monk. Then go to Celaria Bree. E 4S E* and go along the
north row and south to the bard hall and listen to all the songs. Note which
rose stands for what. Get a canteen from the tavern to the west if you need
it. Then go to the 2nd-bottom row and north to the wizards' guild. Get DIVA
for everyone who can. Off to Dragon Mountain. 4W 3N 3W N.
5-3-1. DRAGON MOUNTAIN
Here just keep your bard song and GRRE on. You'll trip light and anti magic
squares. Run from fights just because they aren't really worth it.
Level 1: N*(teleport flash) N(dark) 2E 2N 2E(by anti magic) 2S W 2S 2W
S(magic recharge) 4E 3S W S 2W 2S W 4N W 2N(anti magic again) W U.
Level 2: 4E 2S E N E 2S W S W S 2W(anti magic) N W N W 2S E S E S E N E(dark)
S 2E(silence) N E (magic recharge) S E 2N E S and with a wall near-left go
right. You may want to cast BASP here to know to go forward when there is
silence.
E 2S W*-1(through dark) 2S and heal up for the dragon 4E. DIVA should do for
him. Get the crystal key and use the canteen to get his blood. Retreat and S
3E 3S 3E 3N W. Use the canteen with the blood for the rainbow rose.
5-3-2. CYANIS AND ALLIRIA
Now you have the roses needed for Alliria's Tomb. First you need to visit
Cyanis for one more item.
Level 1: E 4S 3W 3S. N, use crystal key. N* E* (teleport) W* N* E*(now just
GRRE) S* W* wait to recharge N* E* S* W*(lots of anti magic ahead) N U.
Level 2: S W 2N W 3S and csat BASP and REST now as you recharge. S W N* 2E N
E S U.
Level 3: N 3W S E S W S E 3S E* N* wait to recharge if you want(there is no
fight ahead) 2W S E S*(heal HP if you want) 2W N. Cyanis is here. Cast REST,
but if he attacks right away, flee and use FAFO if he gets close, then REST.
I think you still get his triangle if you kill him, and I don't know if the
old man says anything differently. He gives you a triangle.
Go back to L1 where N on the outside leads to a teleport. Go 2S after to
leave. Alliria's Tomb is 5N 3W. Run through it.
Level 1: 2E 3N(silence, don't sweat it) 2E 2N W N* E 2S E S E 2N. Use the
triangle. N D.
Level 2: 4E. Give white rose. E 2N W N W N W(magic regeneration here--cast
BASP if you want) N W N W S. Give blue rose. S E S E S E S 2W N W N(teleport)
6W. Give red rose. 4W. S S-E-etc. E and give the yellow rose. 2E N* 7W 2S E-
S-E-S-etc, E* N* 3W 2S E S E N and give the rainbow rose. N W and get
Alliria's stuff and retreat. DIVA monsters outside or at Cyanis's for fun til
your spell points run down, then return to Skara Brae.
5-4. KINESTIA
You'll want to take a quick trip through Kinestia, but on the way out you can
just DIVA opponents to get experience for your new Chronomancer. You can even
seek them out. There isn't much puzzle work in Kinestia, really. Though I did
get confused by the abstractly worded puzzle--I'm not sure why now.
5-4-1. FEROFIST'S
2E 2N ("Iceberg," but I prefer to ignore Hawkslayer--he turns hostile here a
lot for some reason) E* S* to the barracks.
3S 4W 2N 5W 2S W 2S E* S* 2E 2S W S E* N* for a key. Retreat to the palace.
6N(last move, into open space) E* N5-1 E* to the private quarters.
E*(go east when there is a trap ahead) N(door to your right) 2E or the other
key. Now you can go 2W 3N W* N 2E to meet Ferofist and get the clue. W S 2E
4S and W when you see "awfully quiet ahead." W*.
2W N 4W N 2E N* to the Workshop.
2N 2W S 2W N to avoid spinners. Use right key, 18, use left key, 15.
5-4-2. URMECH'S
In Urmech's, S E5-1 N E N* 7W. Be careful here as you get stuck a lot. On the
second pit, don't bash enter or you may run into the other pit. 2W 2S E 3S E
3S 2W S and spin til you enter the door. 2S D.
Cast GILL. S W N 2W S E S 2W 2N 3W 4S 3E S W* S 2E 2S W N W S D.
N5-1 6W 4S. Tell Urmech yes, or you will be unable to make a geomancer. S*.
Paladin to geomancer. N E for the relics. Retreat back to SW of the palace.
You may want to run into fights on the way back. The center cross in Urmech's
works well as does the workshop, where you can go down and up the portal to
recharge fights. There is potential for a lot of fights with multiple
enemies, and that means DIVA should work well. You can come back here with
NUKE after completing Tenebrosia, too.
5-5. TENEBROSIA
Tenebrosia's puzzles are not difficult, but you have quite a few nasty
dungeon fights you can't run from. The town has some good fights where you
can drop a DIVA and then trash opponents after that, and Harmonic Gems seem
more plentiful than ever. You can even get tungsten armor and shields and
work up to the next level. The only drawback is that there are a lot of
vampire style monsters that can drain levels. So you do want to save and
advance when you can, and you'll want to play a bard song/cast DIVA when you
can't run.
So basically you want to save in Black Scar when you do something right. The
first thing to do is to buy the new bard song, then the NUKE/Gotterdammerung
spell. It's a pain to navigate to the center of Black Scar but well worth the
trip. Now you can cut multiple long-range enemies down with more than one
spell, and in Malefia, some of them will have 5000 or more hit points.
One other point about Tenebrosia is that you will need your Geomancer to cast
WAWA twice. So it is best to protect him from losing speell points, or at the
very least you need to know how and where to regenerate him. He probably
doesn't have many spell points, and there are places where he will get stuck
in tar and get his magic drained. You can waste a harmonic gem, or you can
avoid the traps. Also, you may want to give him a conjurstaff and/or mage
staff as a last resort. Then you can sit around and recharge him, equipping
either one as need be.
Here is a list of monsters that look like they may drain you:
Lestat drains
Vlad ok
York ?
Barlow ?
5-5-1. TAR PITS, COPSE, CANYON
The tar pits are a nasty little one-way maze where there are squares that
stick you, drain your magic, cancel your spells, and fire a trap. Bring a
spare canteen from a Black Scar tavern if need be, and don't feel chicken if
you save in the middle of this run.
When you are three squares away from these bad squares, you'll see messages.
Forward twice and turn to the edge. The pattern through is
W S E 2S W 2S E N 2W 3S 2W 3N W S E N W
Use the canteen at the tar pits. You only need one dose of tar.
Save often if you want. You can also cut through with W S and when you see
the warning, E til you see the wall. This drains your magic, but you don't
really need it. Since you already took your medicine, you might as well leave
the same way, too.
The copse is pretty easy. It's a mapping puzzle where you can't access one
square behind the trees. W 4S when outside, then W 4N E and you should face
north to use the canteen. A tree will catch fire. You can walk to the tree to
get the shadow door.
The canyon is another mapping puzzle. There's an expanse of walls that blocks
about thirty or so squares. You can cast WAWA around the edges, either
restarting instead of saving or giving your Geomancer a mage staff, or you
can just listen to this FAQ. You need to go to an indentation in the map. If
you have a nospin ring, 3S 2W S* E(this is a magic recharge square) 3S(keep
wall on right) E S E* N E and cast WAWA to the right. It will be a secret
door as you leave, and to get the Shadow Lock you need only go 3E 2S 2E and
retreat.
There are other shorter ways to get to the square e.g. E N* W 2N E 3N(you may
get stuck in an anti magic spot on the way) E* N E or 2S E* S*-1(1 anti-magic
square) E*. But the original above is the most reliable. You can leave the
short way as you can just regenerate spell points outside or in Sceadu's.
5-5-2. SCEADU'S
A weird twisty dungeon but you should make short work of it with a ma. N W
6N(silence, but oh well) W and wait here to recharge your Geomancer, then 2W
S(more recharge) S 2W D.
N* 7E and you may wish to save your game if you lost count here of how far
east you went. Or cast SCSI. Face north and cast WAWA. If it fizzles, move to
the side and try again. 2N 3W N E. Sceadu is not hard--just cast DIVA for the
attack bonuses and then have your thief sneak up while your other guys
defend. He should take out Sceadu at 90' and then you can take Sceadu's items
and retreat.
The map I wrote shows a 1-way trip to level 2 but actually the game lets you
go east if you return from level 2. So leaving from that is okay. E 4S 5E S
U.
5-6. TARMITIA
Tarmitia has a lot of tough fights but plenty of treasure. It's worth piling
up before moving on. You can move between dungeons easily, recharging fight
squares, and if you know the puzzle answers already you can just plow
through.
Tarmitia consists of nine dungeons: the final one, Tarmitia, and eight others
of wars from various time periods on Earth. Each dungeon has a disembodied
voice telling you who they are and another one asking. The chain of voices
leads back to Berlin, where you get another question after that. Answering
correctly leads to Tarmitia proper and a fight with Werra for his shield.
5-6-1. SHORT SOLUTION
From SW Berlin, 3E 3N 4E(magic replenishment here--keep the wall open at the
far end on your left) N(another spinner, wall only on left) and answer TYR
and WERRA.
In Tarmitia proper, you can take a shortcut through an anti-magic square to
get to Werra more quickly. But the other way is 2E S 3E S W S 5W 2S E 2S E S
W S E 2S W (fight) N for the shield.
Werra is pretty easy to beat with a thief advancing. You may wish to cast
PREC to stop him summoning enemies, too. But then the Black Slayers come. For
this, cast DIVA and LUCK and NUKE. You'll be leaving soon, so throw the
kitchen sink.
The quick way out is S E 2N W N W 2N W 2N E N E* N E N E* N 2E. That zaps
magic protection but you can just re-cast BASP and SHSH if you need to.
Even though the old man at the guild tells you time is short, you can still
return to Malefia for general punch-ups. Experiment with your favorite war
zones. It's hard to get REALLY lost as you will quickly find your way back to
the first dungeon or one that links to it. It's a very creative area in terms
of enemies, but the puzzle is a bit pedestrian. Don't worry--Malefia will
make up for it.
5-6-2. LONG SOLUTION
The loop of teleports of voices below is as follows:
Kun Wang > Wasteland > Hiroshima > Troy > Nottingham > Stalingrad > Rome
Names to say are
Yen-Lo-Wang/sdiabm/susa-no-o / ares / St. George / Svarizic / Mars
??where do you find each name? Who whispers what?
5-7. MALEFIA
While you don't want to level up forever, being level 56 at the very least is
probably the safest bet for winning. That gets the maximum AC bonus from the
bard song, and it should allow you to withstand just enough damage from the
30-big-monster hordes near the end.
Here you will want four conjurstaffs and a mage staff, or at the very least,
three conjurstaffs and a mage staff. You can give the mage staff to whoever
needs extra spell point regeneration--probably your paladin/geomancer after
hitting magic drains. You can go back to Arboria and zap enemies--or you can
even go to Gelidia if you are feeling brave. Some traps here can kill even
level 50 characters, so be prepared to HEAL. I would also bring a canteen,
too, as your bard gets an item called the Strifespear right away when you go
2N. It has critical hit capability. Your rogue can hide in the shadows for
that, your monk can do 4000 damage with DIVA, nd your geomancer can cast
spells, so the bard can replace the bardsword/song axe by default.
If you don't have enough harmonic gems, the Chaos dungeon level 3 is a good
safe place to pick up more if you don't want the excitement of Tarmitia,
which is also gem-rich. Malefia has some very good items, but for the big
fights, the right spells are more important to kill a group of 30 monsters
than an item that allows critical hit or drops armor class some more. So get
the relics from the storage area(E as you enter Skara Brae) and then drop all
other extraneous items you can to fill up on Harmonic Gems.
Also, if you picked up a Shrill Flute along the way, that should be the
bard's instrument. Now is the time to use FAFO capability.
As in Tarmitia, use DIVA and NUKE to get out of a tight spot, but you
probably don't want/need to level up here, especially since the last fights
seem to require a harmonic gem each. Fortunately my maps show that automatic
combats are nonexistent on levels 2-3, so you won't have much to run from
there. But many monsters have critical hit or even party-freeze ability, so
be careful.
5-7-1. THE MAZE
Hawkslayer has the Strifespear after you enter here. A good path through
without significant backtracking is below. When you see the statue of X, get
a character who can use X's item to use it. Thieves need to use Sceadu's
cloak, and mages should use Lanatir's sphere, but the Geomancer can use
everything else. Using all six X's items opens a door to the center of level
3 and, eventually, Tarjan's.
Do equip your party with the magic items, as they survive being used on the
statues. Save after finding each statue as it is possible to get lost even
with a guide.
N* (note: 5N and wait here recharges lost magic points) W*(portal) W 2S 2W
(2N W S 2W Sceadu, 2E N W N 2E N 2E S E(portal) 2N W N 3W N 2E D N 3W 2S 2E S
E Ferofist, retreat)
U N 3W N 3W (U SE-ish D 3N W N 2W Valarian) S 2W N U SE-ish SW-ish 2N E N 2W
S W N W D 2D E Lanatir
N 5E N* W* U W 2U W U 3E D W* 5S 2E N 2E S W Alliria E N W D 2W 3S E 3S W 4S
3E S 2E S 5E S D S E N Werra
S W N* for fight
(be fully recharged, use DIVA, then FAFO and NUKE, let theif hide, repeat
with other fights)
WAWA N of Tarjan to win.
5-7-2. THE FIGHTS
There are four fights, in three waves, after you use Werra's shield to open
the door to the north. For the final square, you must win two fights in a
row--no fleeing--so it is important to win the first in a knockout.
For any of these fights, make sure your FAFO/SAST works in the first round or
it will upset your player order, which makes things tougher in the future.
You want to keep melee enemies from attacking you. The worst case scenario is
if you have two archmages casting HEAL and they both cast it too soon and the
enemies whomp you after the second.
Give your Geomancer maximum SP(he should already be close) for this next
part. You shouldn't need to use more than a gem on him for the first bit, if
that.
The first fight is right behind the door. Cast two DIVAs and a
NUKE(chronomancer,) and have your Geomancer cast SAST on the Black Paladins.
Have your bard sing song #7 in combat to reduce damage. Then nuke away. If
you want you can have the chronomancer cast FOTA to save the Geomancer's
spell points. You shouldn't need to use your rogue to sneak up on anyone, but
you may want the practice for later. NUKE away.
The next fight is at the center of level 3 behind the door. It's worth using
harmonic gems for, and it is tougher because the melee enemies are nasty.
Again, song 7 from your bard and SAST from your Geomancer. DIVA HEAL NUKE.
Now you need only cast HEAL HEAL(or NUKE if everyone in your party is 60%+
healthy) NUKE unless the Tarjan Warriors get close. If they do(even to 40',)
FAFO and SAST them and have someone else HEAL if necessary. But they should
not for too often. Concentrate melee attacks on the Vortexes, putting your
thief in the shadows and out. You can't handle all the Tarjan Warriors at
once, so put them off. If you want, use the cumulative bardsong cheat but
remember to keep track of your HP. Make sure your SP aren't too low, either.
You don't want everyone running out at once.
The dragons should be next. Use your thief to hide and take them out, then do
the same for Redbeard.
Go east through the portal and loop around. N* E* S* and now just wait a
bunch. You'll recharge. It's worth waiting to save a harmonic gem. Especially
if you Alt-W with an emulator--you can do the garbage or something and come
back and, pow. On the real thing maybe you can read a Henry James novel or
something.
Loop inwards towards the spiral and cast REST. Have your geomancer cast WAWA
to the south and then give him the mage staff if you want. Save the game,
then go south. Look! It's Tarjan! Wait, he's just giving his pals target
practice.
You have to be ready here to restart--it's possible to get frozen. But the
plan is to attack the high priestesses with your monk and thief(hide in the
shadows,) have the bard play song 7, have the paladin and chronomancer blow
the enemies back, then cast DIVA and HEAL with your archmages to start(or
replace HEAL with NUKE if you want to gamble.) Then have the thief hide to
kill Lorini. Don't advance your party, and be sure before your thief kills
Lorini to win the fight that you use harmonic gems for everyone. That way
you're fully charged for Tarjan. You shouldn't need too many nukes to win,
but waste 'em if you got 'em.
For the next fight, your big priority is to kick the Rock Demons back. The
other guys are less of a problem, but they stone your players and HEAL/DIVA
won't kill them. The Vampire Lords are a nuisance too, so FOTA/SAST them as
well. Let your thief hide right away to sneak up on Tarjan. Bard song 7 is
also good. The spells should be:
SAST(on Rock Demons--this seems more likely to be sucessful)
FAFOs(on Vampire Lords--can be cumulative, which is great)
FOTA(on Rock Demons--cumulative effect is not so great but you want these
guys pushed back at all costs)
Round 2, attackers can't do much. If the enemies are far enough back, then
you can cast DIVA and PREC from your archmages. DIVA from the Chronomancer
for good measure as you want that bonus ASAP. You need to get in PREC before
trying other stuff, because Tarjan summons 10 black slayers at the start of
each round. You want to turn that spigot off, as they will fill the void
opened by the dead rock demons/vampire lords. FAFO from a bard with a shrill
flute is a nice bonus, too.
Round 3, if you have enough spell points from your Geomancer, try for a NUKE
from him. If not, have him SAST and make sure everyone's far enough back and
you can probably get two NUKEs out of your mages. The third can cast HEAL
unless it's unnecessary. DIVA isn't as much of a bonus the second time around
and just wastes spell points, since bonuses aren't cumulative.
From then on juggle SAST, NUKE and HEAL as needed until only Tarjan is left.
Your thief may already be able to attack 90' away. Do so. NUKE mercilessly,
stopping only to use Harmonic Gems.
6. CHEATING
Save your state after casting a dimension teleport and then go to 0xaa6a to
find the number to type. Sometimes a few extraneous leading zeroes are there,
e.g. 000437 could be 437, 0437, 00437 or 000437. Start without the leading
zeroes then tack them on one at a time.
To change a character, type his name in ASCII then add 0x80 to the bytes to
search for them in a hex editor. Character data slots are 0x80 bytes long. So
if your thief was Purdue Pete, you would search for, not 50 75 72 64 (case
sensitivity is important) but d0 f5 f2 e4. Multi byte values are low byte
first.
Name = 0x00-0x0f, 0xff terminated
STR INT DEX CON LUC = 0x10-0x14
EXP = 0x15-0x18
GOLD = 0x19-0x1c
LVL/ACTUAL = 0x1d-1e and 0x1f-20
HP-ACT = 0x21-0x22 HP-MAX = 0x23-0x24
SP and SP MAX 25-26, 27-28
You can use Andy Yu's FAQ to map the hex values of your current items to
values in memory--there are only 80 possible values and you can probably pick
a few numbers from your current items and see where they fall and guess from
there. This'll help you get a conjurstaff or whatever.
End of FAQ Proper
================================
7. VERSIONS
1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs 9/14/2007, complete
1.0.1: sent to GameFAQs 10/5/2007, fixed minor stuff as I sent in new maps
8. CREDITS
ftp.apple.asimov.net for having the Apple disk image of this old fun game.
ftp.arnold.org for having the C64 image.
The AppleWin and VICE emulation teams.
Andy Yu for the item list found at GameFAQs. Lots of stuff I'd always
wondered about. Great work. Saved me effort and I hope that helps save you
effort.
odino for the chats that led to this FAQ and patience as I put off Sokoban
for this.
Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang, current and emeritus. They know who they
are, and you should, too, because they get/got some SERIOUS writing done.
Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow
Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, War Doc, Brian Sulpher, AdamL, odino, JDog,
honestgamer and others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not-yet-
banned message board incarnation. I am not part of his gang, but I want him
to be part of mine.
Thanks to the folks who helped me with the code wheel when I loaned it and
got lost, Rajan and Jordan.
