From: aces@mcode.amdahl.com (Jeffrey D. Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.games
Subject: Re: finally finished CSB
Keywords: CSB DM Dungeon Master Chaos Strikes Back
Date: 7 Apr 92 14:28:22 GMT
Reply-To: jds30@amail.amdahl.com
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale Ca.

In article <robtu.702621835@mexia>, robtu@itx.isc.com (Rob Tulloh) writes:
> Well, not that I couldn't have done it sooner, but I finally sat down
> and plodded through the last 2 corbums of CSB. I had to use the Oracle
> on startup to figure out that the last time I played weeks ago, I had
> not found the emerald key to open ROS. The Dain corbum was too easy
> to finish. The ROS ranks as one of my most frustrating mapping experiences
> ever.
> 
> Now that I am done....
> 
> 1. Did anyone ever pick a fight with Chaos? Did you win? I tried this -
>    actually I had to get into it by force - once and finally gave up and
>    ran away. I hacked away, used magic, did the 2-step for a good hour
>    and never even slowed him down.
I was able to lure chaos into the path of the WrathOfGod and "watch"
him (thieve's eye spell) from behind a wall.  It didn't bother him
at all.  (Chaos and zytax don't appear on the magic map scroll.)  He
can't be killed.

> 
> 2. Did anyone else get bored with this game after you completed all the
>    lower paths? I kept saving up items thinking I would need them. I should
>    have used them more liberally. At the end of the game, I had so many
>    unused magic items! The only time I really used them was in the Demon
>    Chamber my first time there. I loved playing shooting gallery with
>    the demons from 30 paces back :-) Unfortunately, I found that later
>    in the game, I could always count on magic to blast my way out of
>    a pickle. I would loved to have needed to use my range weapons more.
>    Actually, bored is a strong word. I should say things were just a bit
>    easier and kind of redundant after a while though.
Sounds like you cut some corners on level 1 (top).  Were you able
to activate the WrathOfGod?  That's the scariest subquest for me,
because there are monster generating squares and few places to hide.
You have to find enough keys and gold coins to open the walls and
activate the spinner mists.

The ROS way had a puzzle of negotiating pits and stairs.  Once I
figured out how to freeze the map on the lower level and drop a
zokathra down the pits, it became very easy to get through it.

> 
> 3. How do you get into Death Row? What's in there?
Death Row is a penalty for falling through trap pit.  There is
a stone golem guarding the exit.  

> 
> I was a bit saddened at the end. Here, I had procrastinated finishing
> and now there are no more DM/CSB sessions waiting for me to finish.
FTL is working on something for summer release, but they won't say
whether it is a DM sequel or something completely different.

> I see that Black Crypt is the latest thing on this group for dungeon
> stuff, perhaps I'll buy that one to keep me going.
At $33US mail order, BC is definitely worth it.  BUY IT.  Have
yourself a romp, but remember that many of the monsters can open
doors...ya snooze, ya lose.

>  
> Neatest thing about CSB? Map scroll maybe? Lots of Dragons (I liked the
> Dragon Den, what a challenge :-)? I can't find anything that really
> stood out as a winner... Worst part? All that mapping and not knowing
> where you were until you played 3 paths. That has to be the biggest
> bummer. I sure wish they could come up with a dungeon game that had
> a mapping system so that you didn't have to keep looking at a piece
> of paper. I think you should have to work at it, but somehow it should
> not detract from gameplay so much.
The map scroll is crucial for lazy slobs like me who hate to use
graph paper.  Besides that, the CSB dungeon actually changes depending
on which "way" you're travelling.  Graph paper ain't that smart.

The dragons were great...lots of steaks.  Some dragons in ROS way
were too easy.  Just 3 MON poison shots each and they're history.

The Oracle was probably the best feature of CSB.  It's like having
a cheat book, but not being able to look ahead.  You can only get
hints for your current party location.  I also liked the character
picture editor.