DUNGEONS OF THE UNFORGIVEN
System: PC
An FAQ by the Yuka Takeuchi Fan
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS:
Phase 1: Versions
Phase 2: Story behind the author
Phase 3: Story behind the FAQ
Phase 4: Storyline of the game
Phase 5: Keyboard controls
Phase 6: The basics
Phase 7: Hints and Tips
Phase 8: Closing
Phase 9: End
Phase 10: Really the end this time (basically me being a wiseass)
(As stated in my old Highway Hunter FAQ, again, I know the word 'Phase'
may be a weird one to use for this purpose, but you can easily jump
between sections that way- I don't recall using the word 'Phase' for
any other reason... well, except HERE anyway...)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Phase 1:
VERSIONS
1.0 (July 4, 2007):
The first edition of this guide to be submitted to GameFAQs. It leads
about halfway through Module III, but since I didn't think to record
certain things due to not having the idea to write this FAQ for a
while, there's quite a bit of missing info. Also, if I include a spell
list for this game, I will be doing so in a separate FAQ.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Phase 2:
STORY BEHIND THE AUTHOR
Hunt down last thing I wrote, copy, paste...
I'm the Yuka Takeuchi Fan. To be blunt, I'm a sarcastic dumbass. If
you're not already aware of it, or are NOT only reading this because
you're a fan of my website (Yuka Takeuchi Fan's Severe Waste of Time),
I run... wait, I already gave away what I do. Well, no matter. I'm an
anime freak that loves video games. There's really not much else I can
think of to say, so feel free to just head on to the next section.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Phase 3:
STORY BEHIND THE FAQ
Part of the story involving how I have the website I currently
possess goes through a site called "Zeroes Unlimited". On that site was
a strange review of the game you're reading a FAQ for, and it probably
wouldn't have caught my eye any more than most games of its type would
have had it not been for the fact that I'd heard the name "Moraff"
before. Indeed, some cursory glances through one of those CDs that have
about 1000 shareware games on it that I used to buy all the time
revealed that name more than a few times.
Eventually, boredom and curiosity combined to drive me to search for
the game, which I indeed eventually found.
I'm gonna be upfront about this. Aesthetically, this game is an ugly
freaking nightmare. The monsters look awful, scale bizarrely, and a
number of them are pulled from the previous game in the series
(Moraff's World) with NO attempt to update the sprites being taken
whatsoever. The dungeons look mostly quite bad with bizarre coloration
in many areas. The sound is nothing more than bleeps and blips, with no
music at all. Even for 1993's standards, the graphics and sound are
almost inexcuseably bad.
The good news is that the gameplay pulls it out of the hole that
everything else digs for it. Even though it can get tedious and the
prices of the useful items get pretty out of whack, I nonetheless
declare five years after hearing about it first that Dungeons of the
Unforgiven is really quite a good game with a quirky but enjoyable
sense of humor about itself.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Phase 4:
STORYLINE OF THE GAME
The game itself tells you that there's basically no plot. It's more
an exercise to see how far you can get and how much money/power you can
grab. There is no definitive ending.
Nonetheless, I suppose the closest thing to a plot I can give is that
your character, whoever you decide it is, has genocidal urges that can
only be suppressed without police intervention by going into the
dungeon and murdering everything he/she sees. Apparently, the 'shadow
monsters' in each section of the dungeons will give you items to make
your homicidal rampage that much easier on you.
Poor, poor monsters.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Phase 5:
KEYBOARD CONTROLS
None of these controls are remappable, and I'm just going to tell you
the basics here... There's too many controls for me to TRY going
through them all here, and a tap of F1 in-game will tell you the
others.
Up arrow:
Moves you one square forward. Counts as a move.
Left/right arrows:
Turns you 90 degrees in the stated direction. Does not count as a
move.
Down arrow:
Turns you 180 degrees. Does not count as a move.
F:
Attacks the monster in front of you. Monsters standing next to you
will generally strike back once this happens, although nobody will
actually move. This does not count as a move for poison/disease
purposes, either. You CAN hit Ctrl+F to slug it out until either you or
your enemy dies, but with permadeath being a rule in this game, this is
not a smart idea unless you know you're gonna win (although you can hit
any key to cancel the endless slugfest).
W:
Lets you change your weapons.
A:
Lets you change your armor.
P:
Lets you check your inventory.
M:
Lets you check your Culture Stock, Magic Crystals, American Dollars,
Rubles, Children Helped, and whatever's in the bank. Oddly enough, your
age is also listed here.
V:
Checks your stats, including the amount of weight you're carrying and
any body armor you may possess. Also alerts you how many moves you have
before poison and disease take their toll.
X:
Checks your entire map. You're the flashing blip you can barely see.
C:
Allows you to either cast spells, or check on what spells do.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Phase 6:
THE BASICS
I should first mention that the game's... really quite extensive help
file, as well as the hints and tips it gives you itself, are likely to
take you quite far, but nonetheless, I'd like to go over a few things
that could stand some elaboration.
- PERMADEATH -
I am putting this before absolutely everything else for a damn good
reason. If you've ever played a Roguelike (technically, this game is
one), one thread seems to be the norm and it's a thread that stays
tightly woven in this game.
DEATH IS PERMANENT.
The moment your character drops below 0 HP (yes, you CAN live if you
have 0 HP, but DAMN, get healed IMMEDIATELY!!), that's it. Your save
file for that character will be instantly erased (and you have NO means
of preventing this in-game), no matter how far into the game you are,
and you will never see that character again. This said, your M.O.
should be very simple- don't play recklessly and pay close attention to
the kind of damage you're getting dealt. If it's too high, find a way
to get the hell out of the area as close to 'now' as you can manage.
Don't worry TOO much about dying- most of the difficulty comes in at
the start of the game, when you don't have ANYTHING useful to your
cause and too few spell points to do anything useful magic-wise. Don't
get complacent, though- you never know when monsters are going to start
tearing noticeable percentages of your HP with every successful strike.
By the way, if you are an incredible sissy and/or have far more
awareness of what files contain character data than I, you COULD always
circumvent this by making a backup of your character data and keeping
it FAR from the folder you're running DotU from.
- Starting a new game -
Select one of the empty slots on the Player Select screen to start up
a new character. If all ten slots are full, you'll have to get one of
the existing players killed to do this. See above.
Next is the difficulty select. Your options are "Normal" and "I can
handle anything" (ICHA).
Differences I've noticed between settings:
-Normal will start you off with more money than ICHA.
-Normal seems to yield better drops from slain foes, and if a monster
drops American Dollars, it drops FAR more of it than it will tend to in
ICHA.
-Normal blocks your access to the fifth and final module of the game.
-Normal gives you a noticeably reduced EXP curve to follow between
levels (which, strangely enough, won't be much of a help as you go
along further, and I'll explain why later)
This is your call, but for an easier time of it, start by playing
"Normal". Yeah, you won't get to see the fifth module, but at least
you'll survive to see the end of the FIRST as you go along.
Anyway, next, you get to create your character. You now have eight
different races of characters to choose from, each with varying average
stats. Personally, I tend to always pick 'humanoid', but that's just
me...
Time to 'roll' your character. Words of advice- don't roll anything
but your sex (and yeah, you won't see it, but it'll make name-gender
disconnects look less silly). The game gives you the option to place
points yourself, which is an option I really quite suggest you take,
after you roll your preferred sex.
Tips for this part:
-The game poses a very good point earlier on; high strength IS going
to take you far in the earlier parts of the dungeons, where you're not
going to have good enough magic or spell points to get the job done
through that means and thus will have little choice but to slug things
out with the monsters you'll encounter. 20 to 22 is probably gonna do
the trick.
-Balance everything else, for the most part (the game is more than a
little vague about what some of these stats actually DO), with slight
emphasis on Intelligence and Wisdom. In due time, my friend. (Psst,
also, you're going to come across all kinds of things that'll allow you
to adjust your stats later. So don't fret too much.)
-Dexterity, which I will use interchangeably with the phrase
"Agility" for the remainder of this FAQ (most references to speed in
this game as Agility anyway) will start to come in handy as you start
going into the game, when monsters may start getting double attacks on
you, and when you'd prefer to not have to run away from stat-draining
Puffballs (more on THIS later). For the start though, my point holds;
don't bother putting much emphasis on it.
-If you're curious as to what 'height' does, it adjusts the
perspective from which you see the dungeons. Shorter characters will be
clearly standing closer to the floor, whereas taller ones will be
looking down on everything. This is tied to the race you selected,
though, and can't be changed through any means.
-Age can be re-rolled to a slight extent, but for the most part, it's
only important once you actually start screwing around in the dungeons.
And I'll explain why in a bit.
That out of the way, type in the name you want to use, and now you
get to choose your class (why this is done AFTER rolling your stats
strikes me as... odd, but such is).
Tips:
-The game tells you ITS-BLOODY-SELF that selecting a Fighter is NOT
in any way a path to success once you access the help files. Heed that
advice. Seriously, not possessing magic is an extreme, extreme, extreme
impediment to your progress.
-Sage is also out. Most of those special characteristics don't
actually apply in-game. Also, you don't get many spell points as a
Sage, which is a bit of a double-whammy, as trust me, you will need a
lot of spell points once you hop on into the dungeon, and also makes
the ability to use all spells lose a LOT of its luster in a hurry.
-Monk you can also leave. Not being able to use weapons or armor is a
bit of a pain in the ass as it stands (and although I have not
personally played one yet, that "can't hold ANY items" does sound like
it can prove to be a bit of a bother (scrolls, wands, potions, papers,
special magic items, and so forth...)), but like the Sage, you don't
have many spell points to start with. In addition, starting with every
spell in the game isn't as useful as it sounds- most of the time,
you'll be getting what you need as you need it anyway. Ask yourself
this, is a level 10 spell REALLY going to prove THAT necessary three
floors into the first dungeon?
-This leaves your last option out of four more classes- Worshipper,
Priest, Wizard, and Mage. Since, as far as I'm concerned, these magic-
users are your only four VIABLE options for getting anywhere in this
game, I will further elaborate on their respective strengths.
Magic User tips:
-Obviously, Worshippers and Priests get access to the Priestly battle
spells, whereas Wizards and Mages get access to the Wizardly battle
spells. Don't worry too much; there are a LOT of overlaps between these
spell lists (including the surprising fact that not only does the
Priestly set get AUTOKILL, it's also one point cheaper to use that
way), so you won't be left too far out in the cold either way. Both
sets have full access to ALL Permanent and Preparation spells.
-Mages and Priests have access to better armor than their skin, and
access to better weapons than knives. Worshippers and Wizards just had
their best options listed. And nobody from these four classes gets to
use a Great Sword. In exchange, I believe that Worshippers and Wizards
get more spell points to play with then their more combative
counterparts.
Pick the class you want to use, that said. Personally, I find the
Priest Battle spell set to be overall better than its Wizardly
counterpart (despite a large lack of offensive skills for a large
amount of the spell list), so I personally tend to go with "Priest".
You'll be given notice about the amount of Health Points (HP) and Spell
Points (SP) you start with, and you will immediately be thrown into the
first level of the dungeon (may I suggest you quickly go up a ladder to
enter town?) as a level 0 character with no experience to your name.
- Game flow -
There are four or five "modules" available to you upon starting a
game of DotU. It's four if you picked "Normal" during the difficulty
select, and five if you picked "I can handle anything" during the same.
Within each module, or at least the modules I have thus visited (I and
II), there are four distinct 'sections' to the dungeon that each are
broken into. Within each section are a set of five also distinct
monster types that inhabit it, which can be viewed through the "SECTION
INFO" option available to you. In the five slots you'll see, "A" will
always be the boss of the section, "E" will always be a palette-swap of
that boss that you'll see as a normal enemy, and "D" will always be the
level drainer du jour. "B" and "C" are additional enemies. Your main
goal in each section is to wax the boss and take the special item it
carries, but you'll have to cut your way through its many lackeys to
both get to it and ensure you're powerful enough to actually, you know,
kill it.
- Goodie Gathering -
With the exception of a VERY few items (Culture stock, Magic
crystals, and a few weapons and armors), EVERYTHING you will be using
throughout the dungeons MUST be obtained through the wanton destruction
of monsters. New spells to use? Wax a few monsters. Special items? Kill
things. That weapon or armor set you can't buy in stores? Genocidal
rampage. Money? Come ON, it's an RPG, surely you know the answer.
- Towns -
At the very top of every module's dungeon is a town. There are a LOT
of special colored squares you'll see on the map, but they all lead to
one of four places...
-BROWN square:
Leads to a bank. Monsters don't drop immediately-usable money in the
form of "Rubles", rather, they'll drop "Greater American Dollars" that
you MUST exchange here to get usable money (for the exchange rate of
$100 = 1 Ruble). You can deposit/withdraw money here, but there's no
real benefit to doing so that I can discern. You're also given an
option to 'rob the bank' that doesn't actually do so (and gives a joke
relating to the previous game in the Moraff dungeon series).
-YELLOW square:
Leads to a temple. You have six options available to you here.
-Heal wounds (10 rubles):
Restores a VERY small amount of HP (4~10, I think). Not worth it
unless you're early in the game and REALLY don't feel like using your
admittedly few and valuable spell points.
-Heal serious wounds (100 rubles):
Restores ~100 HP. This'll probably see the most use of the three HP
restorers as it IS possible to lose this many HP close to the top of
most dungeons before you get Rings of Regeneration.
-Heal all wounds (500 rubles):
By the time you have 500+ HP, you'll have other means to restore your
HP (to full, even), especially given that the only monsters really
dangerous enough to necessitate this tend to be really low in the
dungeons, thus making it a world-class bitch to make your way to the
top simply to obtain this. Nice, but hardly necessary.
-Cure poison (300 rubles):
HOPEFULLY this will not be necessary given that the only other means
to do this is a NINTH-TIER Preparation spell and you REALLY should be
smart enough to fire off a respective Battle spell to ensure this
doesn't happen. Still, if you aren't prepared, or you simply get
unlucky when fighting a poisoned monster regardless...
-Cure disease (500 rubles):
Copy, paste, cut...
HOPEFULLY this will not be necessary given that the only other means
to do this is a TENTH-TIER Preparation spell and you REALLY should be
smart enough to fire off a respective Battle spell to ensure this
doesn't happen. Still, if you aren't prepared (or in the case of
Wizardly types, you can't prepare at the drop of a hat), or you simply
get unlucky when fighting a diseased monster regardless...
-Help a child (100 rubles):
This has more benefit than you might realize, although it IS worth
mentioning that doing so enough will eventually cause it to lose its
purpose. Helping children will knock a percentage of the cost of
Culture Stock and Magic Crystals (albeit applied AFTER you buy them)
off, to an apparent maximum of a 50% discount. Trust me. This will
quickly become significant as you continue to shoot up in levels. It
ALSO provides a slight cut to the cost of staying at an inn, but it's
NOT percentage-based, and it's such a small cut as to be simply
imperceptible.
-BLUE square:
Leads to a store. You have four options available to you here, and
no, nothing you find in the dungeons can be sold.
-Weapons:
Seriously, start by buying a knife, and call it good here. There's
nothing else here that you won't find cheaper once you start gettin'
lucky in the dungeons (can we say "Random Five-Finger Discount"?).
-Armor:
Similarly, you really don't have a reason to buy much here. Just
leave this particular shop be; you'll find enough armor in the dungeons
(and to let you know, if you buy 'robes', they don't even show up in
your inventory- the game tells you they're useless, just listen to
them, why don'cha?) to get you by.
-Culture Stock:
Prevents negative effects from aging as you sleep in the inns (which
I'll be getting to in a moment), and in fact, prevents you from aging
entirely once used in this fashion. Despite what the game says at inns,
it's your level SQUARED that the game requires to do this. The price
increases exponentially as you go up in levels (and so does the amount
you need per level!) so try to get as much as you can as EARLY as you
can.
-Magic Crystals:
Ah, finally I get a chance to explain why having a high SP maximum is
important... You can ONLY restore your SP by sleeping in an inn (or by
getting lucky and finding a 'shimmering ball of thought' from a slain
enemy, which gives you ONE SP, but don't pretend this is any more
reliable than it sounds). And these are consumed to do so at a flat
rate of one per SP you've burned through. Everything I said about the
price of Culture Stock applies to Magic Crystals; the same rules apply.
Stock 'em while they're cheap.
-GREEN square:
Leads to an inn. Simply put, you're going to get gouged for an
opportunity to restore your MP and gain whatever levels your EXP total
dictates you can earn. And yes, staying at an inn is the ONLY way you
can actually gain the levels coming to you. The exhorbitant prices of
Culture Stock, Magic Crystals, and Inns all combine to make sure that
you're probably going to gain far more than a few levels at a time when
the time comes (which is why I said the easier EXP curve on Normal
isn't as helpful as it looks in this regard).
Might I remind, at least as far as Magic Crystals and levels go- you
have no choice.
- Module Hopping -
You'll be seeing a bad rainbow color cycling effect on a pretty much
repeated basis throughout the game. One particular place where it's
actually IMPORTANT are the teleporters you'll be seeing throughout the
game; alongside the walls will be squares of this color cycling effect
with notices above such as "STEP INSIDE THIS TELEPORTER" and "ENTER
THIS TO ENTER MODULE TWO" (although oddly enough this seems to function
like any other teleporter, including in Module II itself). If you walk
into one, you will either be prompted if you want to switch modules (if
you're on Module II or above) or will be automatically thrown into
Module II/IV (II if you entered one on Module I; most likely you'll
automatically be thrown into IV if you enter one on Module V (haven't
tried yet)).
Each successive module you enter contains increasingly powerful
monsters, increasingly deep dungeons, and its own town that you will
start out in after the module dash.
Hmm, did I just say that stepping into a teleporter automatically
dumps you into a town? Sounds like a strategy in progress if you think
you'll need to get into a town somehow, and FAST, in desperate
circumstances (or if you're just done futzing around in the dungeon).
Certainly better than having to slowly make your way up tens of dungeon
levels...
So you know, there is ALWAYS a teleporter in town somewhere, often in
multiple locations. Haven't found one? Look harder. Trust me, you'll
find it eventually.
By the way. Just because a teleporter will take you into a town does
not mean it's going to drop you into an area of town with a teleporter.
You might get unlucky and find yourself in an isolated part of the town
that has nothin' but a ladder. It's a minor risk, but if you're module-
hopping irresponsibly or getting WAY too brave with 'wanting to see
what's ahead' (or you simply have really bad luck with a teleporter-
based escape), you may have monsters on the first floor of a shiny new
module doing the Macarena on your corpse without your consent.
- Ladders and Chutes -
Ladders:
These will be the main way to move between dungeon levels. There are
ladders leading both up and down all over the place in the dungeons.
Simply get in the square containing one and press either "U" or "D" to
use.
Chutes:
Totally invisible, obviously only lead you down floors, and there's
no way to tell where they are until you've found yourself on the floor
below (at which point they'll be marked off with a blue star at the
point you fell), these things are a royal pain in the ass. There is no
way to detect them save for a Stone of Seeing, and there's no going
over them- only around. This said, I wish there were more advice I can
give you than "suck it up", but sadly there is not. Just know they're
there (...somewhere) and what they do. They don't seem to show up very
often once it becomes impossible to tunnel or anything of the sort, if
at ALL on REALLY deep floors.
BOTH will not necessarily take you up or down only one floor. They
might take you up or down MANY floors. Watch out, and be ESPECIALLY
alert if one causes the wall and floor palettes to change, as that
means you've found yourself in a whole-new section you may not be
prepared for.
- Tunnel Digging -
If you get totally stuck, none of the walls around you house secret
passages to lead you elsewhere, and there's no other way to go up or
down (by the way, good luck with the 'up' option here), you can choose
to dig a tunnel (press 'T') to drop you down to the next floor with an
open spot below you. It's basically an impromptu chute. This takes
time, however, and if there's monsters around, they'll come after you
if they notice you. I'll be talking about an alternative to this later
(the Floor Slosher). Do keep in mind- if you're deep enough into a
dungeon, this option will become useless (the floor will be confirmed
to be 'solid rock' and you won't be able to dig), and at that point,
well... time to bust out one of your floor-hopping spells.
- Dropping items -
Your agility will slowly drop as you pick up more stuff (and money
doesn't count). If it's getting to the point where even slow monsters
seem to be getting multiple attacks on you, hit 'L' and drop some
useless weapons or armor. You really don't need more than one weapon,
but the game alludes to there being monsters that can burn through your
armor and destroy it, so an extra suit or two may be useful for later
modules. You can also cast "Feather" in some form to SEVERELY reduce
your weight for fighting purposes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Phase 6:
HINTS AND TIPS
- Earning Money (and Experience)-
Seriously, earning money will forever be a bigger concern than
gaining EXP will be due to the exponential nature of certain prices
being tied to your level. And the only way you can get money is to slay
monsters (okay, you have to take the American Dollars they drop to a
bank, but work with me on this). This should be ten pounds of "DERRR"
in a one-ounce thimble to say, but money is dropped in greater amounts
the deeper you go into dungeons. What's not so duh-worthy is the fact
that it's dropped on a HIGHLY exaggerated exponential curve the deeper
you go. Speaking only from limited experience in "Normal", thirty
floors has spelled the difference between earning MAYBE $2,000 from a
dead foe to regularly earning $10,000,000 from a dead foe.
By the way, if you'd like to hear something relating to experience,
take what I just said, make the numbers lower, and replace all
references to money with experience- EXP will also be coming to you on
an exponential curve the deeper you go. Just remind yourself that
poisoned, diseased, or drainer monsters will seemingly have a
multiplier added to their experience drops compared to their less
unclean counterparts, though.
Also interesting is how "Drain Monster" works in this regard.
Draining monsters doesn't reduce the amount of money they seem to drop
(granted, you might still get a low amount but that may be the case
even if you don't drain it), leading me to believe that money drops are
tied to the DUNGEON level, and not the monster's. You'll still get any
other drops you might have coming to you, as well. What it WILL do is
drain the amount of experience you get for killing the monster,
alllllllll the way down to ZERO if you use this spell to kill it
through overdraining. Keep that in mind if you have plans on using this
spell as a poor man's Autokill.
- 'Barrier' Monsters -
Two such monsters fit into this category, and I'm quite afraid to say
that you will constantly be running into these nuisances (even the game
itself calls one of these an annoying monster, if that's an
indication). These are the Giant Garbage Cans and the Giant Balls.
Neither poses much of a threat from a pure offensive standpoint. The
problem is that they possess OBSCENE amounts of HP that you have to
cleave through sloooooowly before they finally drop dead. It is
possible for these things to possess anywhere from 5 to 20 times the HP
of anything else in a given section; probably more. It is VERY
possible, this said, for them to cause a fairly good amount of damage
to you simply through the battle of attrition you'll have to go through
to destroy one, not to mention how they may well block off any escape
route you may have from something you were once running away from (if
you are unfortunate enough to have your pursuer in the space
immediately behind you when these jerks get in your way, you will be
attacked by both enemies the moment you launch an attack- seriously, in
these cases, just ice your pursuer, THEN turn your attention to the
barrier monster if you plan on attacking it; better to take, say, three
hits from both sides than 90).
The good news is that there ARE ways to make the going a little
easier on yourself should you decide to just beat these freaks of
nature down. I'll list a few.
-Use a "Power Weapon" spell of any level. It will drastically reduce
the amount of hacking and slashing you'll need to perform to destroy
these monsters by VASTLY increasing your damage. As a bonus, you'll
generally still have the spell active by the time you're done, which
gives you a prime opportunity to score easy kills on anything nearby.
-"Autokill". It is a costly skill, which is undeniable, and sometimes
it fails, which is equally undeniable. However, if you're not getting
cocky with how deep you're going into the dungeons, it will generally
work most of the time. And if it does, wham, no more barrier in front
of you, and you may take its stuff.
-"Relocate" will get you out of the barrier's way, although you can't
predict where it'll take you. "Pass Wall" does about the same except
with a more predictable effect (especially if you've mapped the area
you're about to warp to).
-"Go away" will basically do the same thing as Autokill for less SP,
but you won't get any EXP or drops. Still not a terrible option,
though.
-Don't bother using most other magic skills on these enemies. Direct
damage spells won't put but a dent in the things, and most methods of
preventing it from attacking while you hack away stop having any effect
whatsoever after a while. If it's come down to it, just start hacking
away. You'll probably win; it's just going to take a while and probably
leave you with a slight mark.
- Poisoned and Diseased Monsters -
There's a small set of monsters- Flasks, Bombs, Waste Cans, and
Druggies- that are ALSO able to show up in every section of the
dungeons. They have the ability to either poison you (they're black) or
inflict disease (they're green) with EVERY successful hit. You want
neither of these things to happen. Upon getting poisoned or diseased,
you have a couple hundred steps you can move (which you can get the
exact number of if you check your stats with the "V" button) before you
either permanently lose a strength point (from poisoning) or
constitution point (from disease).
These ARE curable things. The thing is that early on, you're not
going to have the means to do such a thing. Curing poison costs 300
rubles ($30,000 pre-exchange) and curing disease costs 500 rubles
($50,000 pre-exchange) and these are NOT amounts you will make anytime
soon in the early levels of the dungeons, ESPECIALLY on ICHA level.
Respective spells that do the same thing are likewise earned REALLY
late (level 9 and 10 Prep spells, respectively) and thus cost an
assload of SP to use.
Simply put, in order to cure either, you have to either visit a
temple (not a fun trip back to the surface if you're REALLY deep in a
dungeon) or burn a relatively large stack of SP.
That's where two other spells come in... And you're not going to like
the sound of this next statement if you only have access to Wizard
Battle spells. "Resist Poison" is a Level 2 Priest Battle spell and a
Level 5 Wizard Battle spell, which shuts out any poison-causing hit 95%
of the time (and in practice, I have yet to see such a hit slip through
and inflict its poison). "Resist Disease" is a Level 3 Priest Battle
spell that does the same thing, except for disease. The fact that I
didn't provide a corresponding spell for the Wizard Battle set is NOT
an oversight- Wizard types do not have a means of preventing disease.
If you don't possess the Priest Battle skillset through SOME means,
tread lightly around diseased monsters, and in fact consider treating
them as you would a level drainer- details of such sorts are below.
Aside from that, AS LONG AS YOU HAVE THE APPROPRIATE DEFENSE
ACTIVATED once you come across such a monster, you should be okay. Just
slug it out and it's very unlikely you'll succumb to anything. It's
actually generally quite worth it; poisoned or diseased monsters tend
to cough up more experience than most regular opponents. However,
unless you're well-prepared to deal with the foes in question, don't
engage them. Just get the hell out of Dodge.
Do watch out... Section VII (in Module II) introduces you to a
section where EVERY monster is capable of inflicting either poison or
disease (or of course, a level drain). Tread lightly in such areas, and
in the case of not having the appropriate defenses ready, kill the boss
and don't stay any longer than you have to.
- Dealing with Level Drainers -
Do. Not. Trifle. With. Level. Drainers. You'll know them when you see
them; they, as stated, will ALWAYS appear in slot "D" (how appropriate)
in the section info for any given area, and tend to show up with less
frequency than the other monsters. Usually reference is made to the
fact that they're undead. The one you'll fight in Section I, the
"Sustrontima", is basically a warmup to their concept.
The concept is simple. If a level drainer is allowed to score a hit,
it will drain your experience. Section I gives you a SLIGHT breather;
it houses the only level drainer that will erase no more than 30 EXP
from your total.
Sections II to the end do not have level drainers that play so nice.
Getting popped by a level drainer, at that point, will erase ENTIRE
LEVELS from your character. This sounds bad enough, and oh HELL yes is
it a bad thing in and of itself. But not only will it erase your
levels, IT WILL DROP YOUR EXPERIENCE TO THE MINIMUM REQUIRED TO REACH
THE LEVEL IT DROPPED YOU TO. Had enough experience to jump fifty levels
and take a slap in the face from a level drainer? Now you don't have
enough to even THINK about moving up ONE.
The only reason I can think of for REMOTELY desiring this would
involve wanting to send the cost of Culture Stock/Magic Crystals down,
since they're based on your level, and theoretically you could totally
clean up since it's not like they'll steal your money... But that would
be a HUGE stretch, and in most situations, it's a VERY undesireable
thing to lose levels.
The thing is, they're pretty lucrative targets... They give more EXP
than most monsters, they drop Magic Potions that you can use to
raise/lower your stats (or in the case of having two opposing potions,
raise both) drastically (more on these later), and they drop keys that
can be used to access the trapdoors (more on THESE later) if you're
close to the appropriate floor. And you can't realistically expect to
evade every single one. So what to do to kill them?
Okay, think about this. They only drain your precious levels if they
HIT you, right? I think the answer to this is a simple one. Let them
come to you (remember, hitting 'enter' allows you to stay put while
monsters make their move). Then, you want very much to make sure you
TAKE THEM OUT IN ONE SHOT. How to do so?
- Ways to Deal With Level Drainers, from Most Desirable to Least
Desirable -
(You may want to consider having "Resist Level Drain" in place before
fighting these things; realistically you can get away with just about
anything with that the case... but mind the 10% chance of the drain
coming through anyway!)
-Kill it in one hit from a fixed-damage-causing magic attack. (ex.,
Shock, Magic Zap (assuming your level allows it or a similar spell to
pull it off) and its ilk), or by draining its OWN level below zero with
the likes of "Drain Monster" (preferably in one major drain, although
simply reducing it to the point where it stands almost no chance of
hitting you is also viable). This is by FAR the best of your options-
I've NEVER seen these spells fail to work. Just remember you won't get
as much of an experience reward if you decide to use "Drain Monster".
-ATTEMPT to kill it in one hit through the likes of Autokill. (This
may not be a hot option if the level drainer's level surpasses yours,
and/or your stats are low. If you have a Nuclear Hand Grenade that's
burnin' a hole in your inventory, it should ALWAYS work, but you may
want to save these for even more dangerous encounters...)
-Slug it out WITH "RESIST LEVEL DRAIN" in place. The odds are low that
both a hit will slip through AND do its true damage by the time it
dies, although it may still find its way through.
-Cast "Go Away" to make the level drainer split. As the game states
itself, though, if your level is less than half the drainer's, it's not
a guaranteed play, and you're not going to earn anything this way...
but you WILL ensure you don't take a drainer.
-Change floors by any means, be they magical (Ascend, Descend and its
ilk), item-based (Floor Slosher, or if you're REALLY desperate/the
time's come to return to the surface anyway, a Stone of Teleportation),
or simply hitting the nearest ladder (which is hopefully very close).
-Escape either through running away, using "Pass Wall" or "Relocate",
or similar methods, keeping in mind you may find yourself in greater
trouble after the movement is done (or in the case of running, finding
yourself surrounded by other enemies with the level drainer still hot
on your tail!).
-As an absolute last resort, if none of these options appear viable
for whatever reason, stand and fight. This is, however, amazingly
stupid and/or desperate and will most likely result in much lost
experience.
- Permanent Spells -
Permanent spells are interesting. They can only be used in town (They
"take a month to cast"- you'd think if ANYTHING made your age
increase...), and have a variety of effects. Something to consider VERY
carefully, though, is that once used, a Permanent spell will not only
consume the typical amount of SP, it will also PERMANENTLY reduce your
MAXIMUM SP by that same amount.
Sometimes you find them on scrolls and the like. Personally? This is
the way you probably should use them. This way, you suffer no SP loss,
won't deal with the MAX SP reduction, and realistically speaking, none
of the Permanent spells are so amazingly compelling that you can't live
without them, when it comes right down to it (although I must admit to
having pretty much fired off "Permanent Invisibility" and "Permanent
Feather" pretty much the moment they're available REGARDLESS of the
means, and "Youth" could be useful if you gave up trying to keep up on
culture stock). Trust me, losing 9 SP off your max to earn 25 extra MAX
HP isn't really that worth it. Now getting 25 extra MAX HP for the low,
low cost of a scroll or the like...
- Preparation Spells -
Preparation spells do a small variety of things. In here are healing
spells of various strengths, a few movement spells, a couple of
enchantment spells, and a few things I can really only describe as
"miscellaneous". The only time you cannot use these is if a monster is
in a square next to you- if monsters are two or more squares away from
you, you can fire away (for your amusement: "Preparation spells take
three minutes to cast." The game itself says each square of the dungeon
is ten feet by ten feet. Conclusion? You are up against monsters with
walking speeds matched only by the comatose.).
Some advice about a few skills in this set.
-Don't bother with any of the 'Descend' skills, for the most part.
They do nothing that a Floor Slosher or a tunnel digging can't, save
for wasting SP (unless you're REALLY deep in the dungeon, to the point
where your Floor Slosher ceases to work and the floor's too hard to dig
through, and really, if you're THAT deep in, dude, use a ladder and
save your SP for an "ASCEND" of some sort).
-Enchantment spells (including Strength, Agility, Feather and its
ilk) remain active from the point they're cast to the next stay at the
inn you undergo. As such, just activate 'em all the moment you've slept
at an inn once SP permits it for maximum effect.
-"Detect Level" is somewhat useful, but not really. Generally, the
level of the monsters you're fighting will provide all the insight you
need on such matters. Still, not all chutes and ladders are created
equal- some WILL take you down or up multiple levels with little
indication that such was the case (and the boundaries get increasingly
fuzzy as you go into later modules). Might not hurt to know. "Detect
Position" is entirely useless. Yes, I know that the singular blinking
pixel is a bitch to find on the map to a floor you know nothing about,
but a little bit of eyeball work is worth the 5 SP.
- Boss Battling -
The game sees to it that you are given fair warning that you're on a
boss's turf. You will obtain no less than a message that the boss is on
the floor (this doesn't happen if you fell through the floor through
whatever means to get to the floor in question), and a new indicator on
your expanded map, which points out the location of your enemy through
"Go _____" (If you suspect that you're on a floor containing a boss
after falling through the floor somehow, simply check your expanded
map- if you see that indicator, your suspicion's founded in fact). If
you notice that the indicator seems to be changing words a lot, you're
probably pretty close to the boss. It may have caught wind of your
appearance and could be either moving about aimlessly, or is chasing
you (and given their palette-swap nature, it is more than possible to
confuse these for normal enemies).
It's around this point that you'll probably want to do what the
game's help file suggests and prepare accordingly. Bosses tend to have
a lot of HP, so a "Power Weapon" spell will help- especially given that
bosses tend to hit much harder than anything else in their section. You
really don't want to be stuck slugging it out with these guys any
longer than you have to. If the palette-swap of the boss had any
special effects, cast whatever defensive measures you need to in order
to deal with those, as well.
Oh yeah, and they're immune to not only Autokill, but also any
Nuclear Hand Grenades you may possess (luckily, for who-knows-why,
they're nice enough to stick the pin back in and hand it back to you if
you try the latter, thus not wasting your item).
That all said, you'll know these guys when you see them. They're
palette-swaps of whatever was in the "E" slot in your section info,
with transparent body parts abound. Just watch your health and you'll
probably win if all protective measures are in place.
...did I mention that you really don't want to fight these guys
unless you have "Power Weapon"? Seriously, activate it.
- Trap Doors -
The system of trapdoors available in the dungeons give you an
opportunity to jump down or up (yeah, 'up' doesn't really make sense to
me either given the typical description of a trap door) several levels
at a time, provided you have the appropriate keys to do so. As stated
before, unfortunately, it's the level drainers that possess these keys
(and a bit annoyingly, you both don't get a running track of which keys
you've found, nor are you told what trap doors lead where until you
step on them (they're the yellow "X"s on your minimap). Trap doors, at
least from what I've seen on Modules I and II, exist to take you to
dungeon levels divisible by 5, so it's for the best to search for the
level drainers that carry them (no indication; it's random luck if you
score the key or not) EXACTLY ON THE LEVEL YOU WANT THE KEY FOR. Once
you get a handle on what leads where, and where to find them, these
will probably help you get around much easier, especially in later
dungeons, which look to go deeper than the Pacific.
Good news, though, the trap door keys work across modules. If you
find a key for Floor 5 in Module I, it'll work for the other modules!
Fair warning, though- trap doors are one-way. Don't get too cocky; if
you decide to visit, say, forty levels deep into Module III when you're
fresh out of II, you may find yourself taking a huge beating that
you're going to suffer like hell to escape- and probably die trying.
- Stat Adjustment, including Puffballs -
The good news is that your lame starting stat array IS adjustable,
the bad news is that it's adjustable in both directions. It's already
been stated what poisoning will do to your strength (lowers it one
point after a few hundred moves), and disease to your constitution
(lowers it one point after a few hundred moves).
That's not the only way your stats can be adjusted, that said. Let's
look at a few other ways you can have your stats adjusted.
-Puffballs.
These strange fuzzball creatures inhabit every section of every
dungeon you'll encounter, but not in huge numbers. They come in twelve
varieties and not a one in the bunch causes any direct damage to you
whatsoever. Instead, a Puffball will approach you like any other enemy
that's caught on to your appearance, and once it's in front of you, you
have anywhere from one move to a small amount of moves (remember, hit
'enter' to let everything that's not you take a turn, and if the fancy
strikes you, attacking counts as a move for this particular enemy)
before it suddenly raises or lowers a stat by one point (the game will
inform you as to which) and immediately commits suicide, giving you
whatever it was carrying. They all look the same save for ONE detail- a
single large ring of color close to its center, and this one detail
will tell you exactly what a Puffball will lower or raise.
Helpful Puffballs raise...:
White: Dexterity
Yellow: Constitution
Light Blue: Strength
Light Red: Intelligence
Light Green: Wisdom
Gray: Luck
Harmful Puffballs drop...:
Black: Dexterity
Brown: Constitution
Sky Blue (DARK blue): Strength
Dark Red: Intelligence
Dark Green: Wisdom
Dark Gray: Luck
If you don't want to waste time and effort running away from a
harmful Puffball, you CAN attempt to kill it, but your agility will
have to be fairly high to ensure you hit it before it drops your stat,
and preferably, you'll want to do it all in one hit (and Puffballs are
generally so weak that you will likely do just that). You can also kill
helpful Puffballs, but then you might be an idiot. I want to believe
you're not, so let's go on to the next way to adjust your stats.
-Magic Potions.
Dropped by level drainers (sometimes) upon their defeat, drinking one
down will raise a single stat by six points, but will also lower a
corresponding stat by three points.
I do hope you noticed the discrepancy here, because through this
discrepancy, you can end up with TWO boosted stats with the right
potions. Simply put, you want to take a magic potion, then its
corresponding opposite so that you end up with two stats boosted by
three points overall. To wit...
ORANGE raises Strength by 6 points, but drops Luck by 3 points.
YELLOW raises Luck by 6 points, but drops Strength by 3 points.
Taking one of both raises both stats by 3 points.
RED raises Constitution by 6 points, but drops Wisdom by 3 points.
BLUE raises Wisdom by 6 points, but drops Constitution by 3 points.
Taking one of both raises both stats by 3 points.
WHITE raises Dexterity by 6 points, but drops Intelligence by 3
points.
GREEN raises Intelligence by 6 points, but drops Dexterity by 3
points.
Taking one of both raises both stats by 3 points.
So Orange-Yellow, Red-Blue, and White-Green. You keep that in mind
now! But there's one more way to boost your stats, and this is the one
and only method that has no downside whatsoever.
-Getting lucky and finding "Books of ______" on slain foes.
Occasionally, you'll notice that upon killing an enemy, you MIGHT see
the screen display "You find..." in the bottom-right, then pause
dramatically. In such cases, you found either a Magic Item (more on
these in just a moment), Nothing (and the game just decided to be a
bitch and get your hopes up), or one of these "Books". Books will
automatically and immediately raise whatever stat the game says they do
by two points, no questions asked. ANY enemy can drop these, and you'll
definitely find a few randomly throughout your adventures. Aren't you
lucky!
- Magic Items -
As stated not long ago, every so often the game will randomly decide
to display "You find..." in the bottom-right of the screen after
killing something. The other option, besides the Books anyway, that
actually benefits you in some form are Magic Items. I have seen the
following drop, and no, I don't know how to see to it that you get more
of these things. Most of 'em are listed pretty well in the help
documentation, but what's it gonna hurt to elaborate a bit?
Nuclear Hand Grenades:
-As the game succintly puts it, "Instantly kills monster. Period.
Usually." If I'm not mistaken, the 'usually' alludes to bosses'
immunity to these, and nobody else's. I have not actually been brave </pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
enough to try this, but if you're REALLY itchin' to gain some levels, I
suppose that perhaps going to the latest module you can access, then
pitching one of these babies at the first monster you see (and for the
sake of whatever deity you happen to believe in, DO NOT stray far from
the ladder up) can cause your EXP total to SKYROCKET. These aren't to
be wasted- use them only when you really, really want a non-boss cut
down where they stand.
Stones of Teleportation:
-If you're getting sick of tooling around in the dungeons (probably
because you're ready to gain some levels), this will take you back to
town immediately. Probably best saved for REALLY deep dungeons where
multiple "Ascend"-type spells are just going to burn through your SP
like wildfire, and obviously when you're WAY down in those things. Also
useful as a last-ditch escape route if you're hurt, surrounded, and
fear that death is imminent.
Stones of Seeing:
-Instantly maps the floor you're on in its entirety- any and all
hidden rooms will show themselves (as useless as it is given nothing's
going to be in them, treasure-wise), and all chutes will appear on your
map. I would save these for boss floors where you simply cannot find
the bastards- if nothing else, it'll give you an instant read on where
to fire off a good "Pass Wall".
Floor Sloshers:
-Simply put, the moment you find one of these, the "Dig Tunnel"
option becomes obsolete (you can actually find more than one, but it'll
be useless- even the game states one's enough, and it's right- these
things never get used up). Simply put, just like digging a tunnel, it
will cause the floor to give way and drop you down a floor (or possibly
more than one, depending on where you use it, so do watch out), and
just like a tunnel, if you're too deep into a dungeon, it won't work.
Unlike tunnels, however, you can use this anytime, even if a monster's
right in your face, and it will IMMEDIATELY take effect. As such, it's
a workable escape tool if you're, say, surrounded by level drainers or
you're in a situation you can't handle (say, surrounded by different
kinds of monsters with backups on their way). Just try not to drop into
an even worse situation.
Potion of Healing:
-By the time you start finding these, you will probably have other
(and more reliably found) means of healing yourself to the max, but
nonetheless, these CAN be useful. Basically, they're "Fast Heal" (level
10 Priest Battle spell) in a flask- it restores ALL of your HP and can
be used in absolutely any situation.
Ring of Regeneration:
-Simply put, these things are a godsend. With every step you take
from the moment you find one until permadeath raises its dirty little
head, you will regain (number of RoR's X 1) HP. If you're lucky and
don't run into a lot of monsters, it is feasible to find yourself fully
healed for pretty much every encounter you take on (and if you aren't,
hey, at least it's a few healing spells you won't have to cast). When
it comes down to it, having these things makes cures at the temple
pretty much obsolete- just do a little legwork... Seriously, 1 HP per
step doesn't sound like much, but it will save more SP and bacon more
than you might guess.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Phase 7:
THE DUNGEONS
Okay, I'm gonna level with you on this one; I have no idea what most
of this game holds yet. Still, I WOULD like to give you some
information on what's what in what I've seen, for what little it's
worth.
- MODULE I -
All new characters will start on Floor 1 of this module. Stay put in
this module until you've cleared out all the bosses (or unless you're
abusing the teleporters); at that point you'll definitely be ready to
get crackin' on Module II. This dungeon is 24 levels deep, with a boss
on the 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th floors. There's no need to go deeper
than the 20th unless you want to take on a few extra monsters at
boosted money/EXP drop rates.
- Section I -
In-game description: "You've reached the Gargonian portion of this
dungeon... This area is dominated by tough, evil, part human, part
beast monsters that will try to defeat you!"
NOTE!!: If you just started out, keep in mind that you are currently
very much a wuss. Most of your hits won't connect and all it'll take to
kill you are a small battery of well-placed enemy attacks. DO NOT go
down any deeper than a floor or two until you've gotten away from level
0.
Boss: Shadow Gargalon
Okay, really, beyond this point I'm not going to say much about
bosses, but it does bear repeating that you are still new to the
dungeons at this point, with low stats. If you aren't careful, this
thing will kill you in only a few hits. Do not make any attempt to
search for or attack this thing until you have "Power Weapon".
Special item from killing boss: (I've got to go back and check.)
Level drainer: Sustrontima
This is the most easygoing of the level drainers, as stated earlier.
Taking a hit from this thing drops your EXP by 30 points, and nothing
else (I suppose it'll drop your level if your EXP goes below the
minimum needed to gain that level, but I don't have the patience
necessary to test this).
- Section II -
In-game description: "You are entering Elemental Section. The monsters
in this area are related to the old planet Eart. They were born from
the Eart, wind, water and fire."
Boss: Shadow Elemental
Special item from killing boss: (I've got to go back and check.)
Level drainer: Water Elemental
From this point forward, level drainers drain entire levels (and most
likely a huge load of experience you once intended on using to shoot up
a few levels; read back to Phase 6 for a reminder). The Water Elemental
will drain 1 level each time it hits you.
- Section III -
In-game description: "Welcome to Section III of Dungeons of the
Unforgiven! This area is inhabited by evil flying creatures which hope
to carve you up and dispose of you!"
Boss: Shadow Vulture
This might get a double-attack on you here and there. Nothing too
dangerous, though.
Special item from killing boss: (I've got to go back and check.)
Level drainer: Were-Bat-Rat
Drains one level each time it hits you.
- Section IV -
In-game description: "Section IV was flooded many ages ago. Since that
time, creatures have evolved to thrive in the watery corridors. Be
ready to do some wading and swimming!"
Boss: Shadow Demon Queen
For being the final boss in this module, she's a wimp. Kick her ass
easily.
Special item from killing boss: (I've got to go back and check.)
Level drainer: Water Trogladyte
Drains 1 level with each hit it lands. Given that I'm PRETTY sure
that they aren't undead, I have no clue how the hell they drain levels.
- MODULE II -
I have yet to determine how deep this dungeon is (although I believe
it's 44 floors), but bosses make their presence known on the 10th,
20th, 30th, and 40th floors.
- Section V -
In-game description: "Section V is controlled by lizard-like people who
once were peace-loving nice folks, just enjoying civilization. Then
they met the Eartlings."
Boss: Shadow Troggisher
Special item from killing boss: (I've got to go back and check.)
Level drainer: Crorder
A Crorder drains 1 level if it hits you.
- Section VI -
In-game description: "Section VI is littered with squishy and slimy
critters, who often slurp up nice people like you! Note the body parts
protruding from their squishy figures."
Boss: Shadow Giant Worm
Special item from killing boss: (I've got to go back and check.)
Level drainer: Shape Shifter
Shape Shifters drain 1 level each time they hit you.
- Section VII -
In-game description: "Section VII is populated by huge insect creatures
from planet Eart. As hard as the Humanoids tried to destroy all the
insects, now they have their own land!"
NOTE!!: This particular section is like nothing you've been in so far,
and I'm not just talking about the sharp, sudden drop in the quality of
monster appearances (not a joke- they're ripped straight from the 16-
color predecessor to this game, "Moraff's World", and this won't be the
last time you see these throwbacks, and yes, the disconnect is even
more noticeable if non-World enemies are in the area with them). No...
This dungeon introduces you to a bestiary where EVERYTHING (short of
the typical Barrier monsters or Puffballs, or of course, the level
drainer) has the capability of either poisoning you (Giant Rat, Giant
Bat) or inflicting disease (Giant Scorpian, Giant Spider, probably the
boss)- they ain't black or green for nothing. The good news is that
this means pretty much everything will give you a good bonus in EXP
(moreso than in the early parts of the next section, to tell you the
truth). The bad news is that you'll pretty much have to put a Resist
spell of some sort in place the moment you see ANYTHING, and since TWO
of the indigenous monsters here can inflict disease, those without the
Priest Battle skillset are going to find this section to be a royal
bitch.
Boss: Shadow Scorpian (Yeah, it's spelled as the game spells it, and
same goes for the regular "Scorpian")
I have not confirmed this, but I assume that since "Scorpians" can
inflict disease, so can this guy, in all likelihood.
Special item from killing boss: (I've got to go back and check.)
Level drainer: Giant Bat
Giant Bats drain 1 level if their hits connect. They also poison you
upon hitting you, just to make them even MORE of a bitch.
- Section VIII -
In-game description (complete with spelling mistakes): "Section VIII is
another flooded section of the dungoen. It's inabitants have learned to
use the water to its fullest potential."
NOTE!!: Enemies seem to get a rather large jump in power from the last
section here (I've seen NORMAL ENEMIES hit for over 100 points of
damage REGULARLY near the very bottom), and in addition, two enemies-
the Hydra and the Water Dragon- introduce you to Breath attacks here,
which account for most of that power jump. Breath attacks hurt, a lot
(if I had to guess, I'd say they're defense-piercing), and
automatically hit if a monster decides it wants to use it. The only
means of blocking the damage (and only halfway at that) involves using
"Anti-(appropriate element)" before you're hit. The damage they do
seems to be based on their levels. Oh, and do watch out- the Water
Dragon blends in with the floor VERY well due to its low stature, not
to mention how it's not too much lighter in color than the water, so
watch carefully.
Boss: Shadow Skeeter
This guy can attack you twice in one turn if he wants to. Given the
powerful nature of enemies this deep in the dungeon, you'll want to
watch your HP.
Special item from killing boss: "Great Orb of Weapon Enhancement"-
turns any one of your weapons into a +25 attack weapon the moment you
grab it. Slap it on the best weapon you possess.
Level drainer: Animated Waterling
Drains 1 level upon hitting you.
- MODULE III -
This dungeon is most likely a little over 60 levels deep, with bosses
on the 15th, 30th, 45th, and 60th floors.
- Section IX -
In-game description: "Section IX is populated by strong body-builder
types, who tend to look alike. They are all searching for a head for
their leader. Hmm, what about yours?"
Note: Compared to what you just got through dealing with, this section
is a complete joke; I've yet to see an enemy deal anything above 15 or
so damage (okay, so ONE bout of me being a dumbass brought in a 36 HP
hit that instantly killed my level 1 Priest). Also, note they're back
to using old sprites.
Boss: Shadow Head Hunter
Special item from killing boss: "Rabbit's Foot"- Instantly increases
your Luck by 10.
Level Drainer: Wraith
Drains 1 level upon landing a hit.
- Section X -
In-game description (verbatim): "Section X is populated by more
psuedohunamoid mutants. They are purely evil, and they are always
looking for more adventurers to kill."
Note: "Pseudo" indeed. I can't even tell what the Komon-ass these
things are supposed to BE. The "Flaming Idiot" (appropriate, by the
way, but their words and not mine) brings Fire Breath attacks back.
They're about the only threat you have in this section, because given
that those monster levels are startin' to climb again, those Fire
Breath attacks WILL leave a mark. Aside from that, experience drops are
around the level of Section VIII right about now, and FAR less taxing
to obtain with your life intact. Worth noting. Just mind the Flaming
Idiots.
Boss: Shadow Khagistoll
Can attack you twice in one turn.
Special item from killing boss: A book- "Secrets of Vegetarian Health".
Instantly increases your Constitution by 10 points.
Level Drainer: Mummy
Drains one level each time it hits you. By the way, at this point I
feel compelled to mention that I am deliberately getting hit by these
things to see just how many levels they drain when they hit me. Don't
share my pain and heed that advice I gave you earlier.
- More to come in this section as I slowly, slowly advance; I've got
to go allllll the way through on ICHA difficulty if I want to say
anything about Module V anyway. -
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Phase 8:
CLOSING
That's about all I can say for now. I hope this guide was either
useful or a good read. If it was both, 615,334 rubles (should get you
one stay at an inn) for everybody. Let's also hope that despite its
incredible age, you've enjoyed "Dungeons of the Unforgiven" as well.
Feel free to take a look at other wiseassery I've made at
http://yukatakeuchifan.kiwibonga.com, although I'll warn you now, if
you don't much care for busty anime girls, you're really not going to
care for the place that much. Whatever it is you plan on doing after
closing this off, enjoy it, eh?
You can contact me about this guide at:
yukatakeuchifan (at) gmail (dot) com .
I have better things to do than read flames, so if you either have a
beef with my guide or you're just a snot-nosed jackass that doesn't
like me, you can, in this order-
You have a problem with my guide: Please tell me what the problems
with my guide are and how I might be able to fix them. I'll consider
them and act as I feel is appropriate.
You simply feel like making trouble: Go get the sharpest knife you
possess out of your kitchen, stick it in the side of your neck about
one inch deep, then run it through until you reach the other side. I
assume no responsibility if you are enough of a fricking idiot to
actually do this.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Phase 9:
END
This game guide for Dungeons of the Unforgiven was written by me,
Yuka Takeuchi Fan (also known as Andy Kurland). I'll be frank- I
honestly don't give a damn if this is posted anywhere else, but please
at least be fair and tell me if you'd like to do so, and leave my name
in there. My pathetic ego needs the stroking. Really, I'd tell you to
not sell this guide for money, but seriously, if you have friends or
enemies dumb enough to buy guides for ancient games lost to the ages
that have entries on GameFAQs anyway, you are proving the wonders of
capitalism to the world at large, and I congratulate you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Phase 10:
REALLY THE END THIS TIME
You're still reading this. Congratulations, you officially have an
attention span trumping that of a Shaolin monk. Pat yourself on the
back and for the sake of Mikan balloons, go do something else.