mjl@ut-emx.UUCP (mjl) (03/22/89)
I wrote this about a month ago. Since then, I've transferred Moria to a
floppy and put it where I can't get to it. Now perhaps I can get some
work done! :-) Amiga Moria 3.0 recently went out over comp.binaries.amiga,
and is due out on a Fish disk, so should be reasonably easy to get now
(note old comp.binaries.amiga postings available by anonymous ftp from
swan.ulowell.edu). Here are my comments on the game:
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'Mage King' Gumby (gnome, of course :-) of Amiga Moria 3.0 finally
performed the pas de deux with the Balrog. It was pretty easy actually,
but then my char was unbelievably decked by the time I got around to it.
I'm not sure, but maybe the Amiga version is too forgiving in this regard.
Then again, it may have been unbelievable beginners luck (I found the most
powerful weapon in the game, but I'll get to that...).
Make note that I have never played Moria on any other system. However, I
feel qualified to make some comparisons to the standard version based on
my readings of rec.games.moria (feel free to correct me on any points in
which I am in error).
The graphics in the game are superb. Monsters/weapons/armor/etc. are
represented as font-type graphics similar to such games as Hack, Rogue, or
Larn on the Amiga, but are much better done. It's really amazing how good
it looks. Each weapon class can be told apart (i.e. those of a glave |
hammer | flail | dagger | short-sword | long-sword | two-handed-sword,
short bows | long bows | light crossbows | heavy crossbows, pebbles |
arrows | bolts, I may be missing one or two) as can each armor class
(shields: light | medium | heavy, leather | metal, body armor: leather |
chain | plate, foot coverings: shoes | boots, head coverings: cap |
helm, leather | metal), and more. Different monsters of the same class
can often be told apart (such as dragons, by their color). Mature
Multi-hued dragons must be one of the most beautiful creatures in the game
(they really look the part). Unfortunately the different color Jellys can
*not* be told apart by look (oh well). This version supports 'identify'
('/') with a mouse-click on whatever you want identified.
Speed: Text updates much faster than 2.0. Graphics may be faster also.
Bugs: You might want to set your default stack to larger than the 30K
recommended. I experimented with 30K, 40K, and 50K, finally settling on
50K. Another strange thing I noticed when cloning YMHD's for treasure:
occasionally the screen would clear (when a *lot* of junk treasure [oxymoron!]
had accumulated), some treasure would be missing after the clear. Perhaps
a data structure had run out of space? Anyway, I noticed some strange
behavior after that occasionally. Also, if you ever are in a situation where
a monster just "disappears" after you "touch" it, you may be in imminent crash
territory. Going to a new level or saving the game seems to resolve the
problem.
Some of the obvious differences from other Moria's:
o A character can advance to level 50 (where I was when I finished the
big B).
o Character attributes (saving throw, stealth, etc.) have a maximum
of 'godly' (that I saw), which is one step above 'excellent', two
steps above 'superb'.
The amiga version boasts some other changes over the standard game. The
docs mention two new weapons, and I reproduce their descriptions here:
9. Holy Defender - A Holy Defender is weapon combining the attributes of
a Defender, and a Holy Avenger. In the hands of any
character, especially those of a Paladin, it provides
near god like abilities.
10. Godly Might - Rumor has it that in a long ago time, far, far down in
the dungeons beneath your little village, the gods
created the most fearsome of all weapons to aid the
hardest adventures in their noble quest. While these
weapons were incredibly rare, perhaps found only once in
every million weapons, they were capable of making the
wielderinto a demi-god. A power so great, that even the
Balrog feared them. But much time has passed since the
gods saw fit to walk among men... and the Balrog shares
his memories with no one... no one alive, at least.
I found one Holy Defender in the intermediate stages of my game, and it
came in very handy. Unfortunately it was only a Cutlass, so once I had an
amulet of the Magi and some (R) armor, I abandoned it in favor of a heavier
(HA) weapon when I had the chance.
And as you can guess, I also found a 'Godly Might' at one point (late in
the game), and here's what I found out about it:
Warning!! Spoiler material ahead!
The 'Godly Might' I found was a (+10,+10) [+8] Two Handed Great Flail.
Totally awesome, you say, but then what does it do? Well, unfortunately
it was cursed (how???). I removed the curse, and then I could wield it
normally. I have no idea of the multiplying factors it gave me, but it
seemed to do a lot of damage (maybe at least as much as an HA). The two
most noticeable properties: (1) a large increase in speed. Either
something like +3 or +4, or double your current speed. I never quite
figured it out, I just know that I was originally at speed 4 (two rings
of speed and boots of speed) and I was suddenly at speed 7 or 8 when I
wielded this. Made me use up tremendous amounts of food, I may add. So I
didn't use it as my main weapon (I used an HA), I just switched to it when
up against something worthwhile (for my char). Partly because of the food
thing and also because...(2) it had an 'aggravate monster' attribute built
in. Part of the curse, or a feature? I'm tempted to think it was a
feature, because some monsters actually RAN AWAY. Possible scenario?:
All was still in the dark, damp room. Suddenly, a chill ran
through the evil, undead creatures -- somehow they knew an enemy
of great power was approaching. Many ran in terror. The stupid
ones turned to face the danger, and were soon no more.
BTW, thanks to all who suggested cloning monsters for artifacts, it worked
great! I got lots of good stuff around 1250-1600 feet from cloning
Gelatonaceous Cubes, and at lower levels mostly from cloning YMHD's.
There are some new monsters in Amiga Moria. Am I correct that there
are no Lavender Leprechauns in standard Moria? These seem to fill the
place of Evil Iggy (who I didn't see). The Little Lavender Leprechaun
first makes his appearance somewhere around 5-600 feet (?); he mostly
just steals gold, and can be killed fairly easily (single fire bolt).
The Large Lavender Leprechauns are real sons-of-a-bitches, as they are
much harder to kill (note: all of the Leprechauns are at least speed
4, possibly more for the higher level ones). I was able to wipe the
Large ones with a char of really good stealth, and by creeping up next
to them and then polymorphing them. They (LargeLL's) can also
paralyze you by spitting on you. Finally, there is at least one
other, the Greedy Lavender Leprechaun. Good luck! I only killed one
twice -- once I was weilding my 'Godly Might' (unfair advantage), and
the other time read a 'Rune of Protection', so that he couldn't touch me.
Ah, and how about those Knights? Are they standard? You find out below
1000 ft (?) that the Black Knight is an enemy to be reckoned with. A
little farther is the Balrog Death Knight, which is hard as hell to kill and
summons undead. There are *three* more, the last is incredibly mean (you can
find out which yourself :-). Suffice it to say I went into battle against the
most powerful one (not knowing what to expect) as a level 40 mage, with a ring
of speed and hasted, wands of drain life, cold balls, and acid balls, staff of
curing, (hint: I needed them all!) and damn near got my *ss kicked. I
couldn't even genocide him, he didn't appear on the "list". You just never
know what to expect. Against the Balrog, at least you're prepared.
Me, I'm quitting the game, this thing's worse than drugs.. :-).
Maurice LeBrun | "So then I says to Borg, `You know,
Institute for Fusion Studies | as long as we're under siege, one of us
University of Texas at Austin | oughta moon these Saxon dogs.'"
Internet: |
mjl@fusion.ph.utexas.edu | (Far Side)jjfeiler@tybalt.caltech.edu (John J. Feiler) (03/28/89)
I also managed to kill the Big "B" in amigaMoria just last week. Surprisingly easy, but I suspect it was due to a bug. I found a ring of Slaying, which inexplicable appeared to work like a ring of speed +7. I found it at about 1600 ft, and after I found It, I just charged down as deep as I could. After I found a Holy Defender Dagger , which I had 5 attacks/round with, I could deal with just about anything. I don't think that the game was challenging at all after I found the ring. I killed several Greedy Lavender Leprechauns, Ancient MultiHued Dragons, etc. without any trouble. I later found several other rings of slaying, and while wearing two, I had ten turns for every one the Balrog had, and with the HD Dagger, that's 50 attacks for every one the Balrog could mount. Other than this, The port is really well done. There are a few other bugs, such as not saving the random number seeds correctly, so the town constantly rearranges and the woods, metals, and colors of wands, etc. change, and I did manage to get the game to hang once or twice (I think it was my fault), but still very nicely done. Now I can get back to work..... ============== John Feiler "Life's like a jigsaw, you get the 709 Locust #7 straight bits, but there's something Pasadena, CA 91101 missing in the middle..." jjfeiler@tybalt.caltech.edu -- XTC What's the difference between a duck? ==============