I'm taking on Deadly Towers the hard way!

[Graham Mitchell]

Because it's "spring" break for me, and because I really don't like myself, I've pulled out Deadly Towers and printed out some maps, and I'm going in alone. (You have to have maps. It's impossible without them; 9 dungeons with invisible entrances and exits that have 250 identical-looking rooms each? No way.) I totally don't have any time to actually do this, and I'm sure that by the time the mental anguish of finals week and boards comes up in a few months, I'll bump this thread back up saying "after being pushed out doors and off ledges one too many times, I threw Deadly Towers out the window of a train", but I'm giving it a shot. It'll probably take me until 2006.

It's not too bad, actually...making sense of what the hell you're looking at is the hard part. I've already got a few items of interest.

Not that any of you actually care, mind you. But wish me luck. After this maybe I'll hunt down a copy of Ultima Exodus with no manual or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom to test my threshold for frustrating crap even further!

Cheers!!! :D


PS--I know everybody hates this game, but bear in mind: any game made in 1986 that indicates a necessity for a 36-page faq can't be all that bad.

[kainemaxwell]

Not that any of you actually care, mind you. But wish me luck. After this maybe I'll hunt down a copy of Ultima Exodus with no manual or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom to test my threshold for frustrating crap even further!
I did that as a kid with Ultima..was confused as hell.

[Dimitri]

On a related note, I still need to go finish Legacy of the Wizard sometime. Even using a guide I still had no clue what to do half the time. x_x

Good luck, man. I should pick this one up myself and see if I can stand it any more than Hydlide. :D

[Xantan the Foul]

NES games were just damn hard compared to most games nowadays.

I still need to tackle Deadly Towers and Legacy of the Wizard.

Good luck! ^_^

[Graham Mitchell]

I've come very close to finishing Legacy of the Wizard without that cheat code, actually. I couldn't get through Xemn (Dad)'s area. That game comes down to finding the one block, out of about 3000, that will disintegrate when you touch it and open a path. That games so great though, it's fun to just play around with even though you're stuck.

Has anybody actually made it through the Fangback's Building in Golgo 13?

[davidbrit2]

Deadly Towers is a much better game than most people realize. It's just got a couple of weak points that can be a big turn-off. You get knocked off of ledges much too easily in some areas, and those damned hidden dungeons are annoying. But you start remembering where not to step after a while. ;-)

[o2william]

[Grumpy Old Man]

Gamers today have no character! Back in the day, I beat Deadly Towers and Legacy of the Wizard without cheat codes or maps! Back before this fancy In-ter-Net thing came along, you had to be tough! You had to make your own maps! You had to spend hours earning Ludder to buy Red Drinks! You had to stumble around every square inch of every tower looking for hidden Parallel Zones! You had to use the daughter even in the mother's and father's areas because she could jump the highest! Now everybody's looking for the quick fix -- the easy way out. I tell ya, you wouldn't have survived in the NES era, when even simple platform games were harder than the stones in my kidneys! Play those games like a man, boy, they'll put hair on your chest!

[/Grumpy Old Man]

Sorry about that. Anyway, DT is a bit daunting, but it's not impossible. Just proceed carefully and always have plenty of health potions. Legacy of the Wizard, IMO, is the harder of the two. I played through it only once. I recall using the daughter almost the entire game because she could jump so high, she made it easier to get through certain areas (her attack boots were another reason). After finally getting through the game, I had no desire to play through it again because really, it was just painful. DT is actually somewhat fun.

So many NES games were little more than punishment, I can understand why you want some help. :)

[Graham Mitchell]

I played all these games when they were released, and I was content to just run around and do stuff in them, regardless of accomplishing anything because it was just pleasing to play them (I remember the first game I beat was Goonies II, and I had no idea what was coming. I just went in the door, opened the big cage, and blammo! The game's done. I was seriously just dinking around with the game for months before that.). Now that those games are becoming 20 years old, I'd like to see what's at the end of them.

The problem is that, like o2william said, some of them are daunting. I'm all for making your own maps and doing the Ultima thing (God knows there are zero games that give you the opportunity to do it this way today), but I just don't have time.

Believe me, I'd LOVE to grow the nads to do DT without maps, or Ultima Exodus without the gold-stealing trick. Maybe during my third year of school...

I love these rediculously tough games, though; they're like a skill that you have to spend literally years perfecting. Ahh, the good ol' days!

[rbudrick]

On a related note, I still need to go finish Legacy of the Wizard sometime. Even using a guide I still had no clue what to do half the time

I finally did this a couple years back...I was so damn happy I did, because once you know what to do, the game is soooo awesome!

Golgo 13? That's the last maze, right? Yeah, I made it through, but I believe there's a map in the instruction book. I used to hate this game until I made it past stage 2 or 3...then it really started to pick up..then I loved the game!

-Rob

[rbudrick]

Oh, and for a challenge, try beating part one of Dragon slayer (Legacy of the Wizard is part 4). It originally came out on various PCs in Japan back in the day, but the version I beat is on the Gameboy (original). Tough game with 2 nasty quests. Impossible on the original GB, in my opinion, unless you use an AC adapter, becuse your batteries would run out longe before you came remotely close to the end.

Part 2 and 3 (Xanadu and Romancia) seem to also be great games, but I've never seen English translations of them, so I've never really been able to give them a fair shot.

-Rob

[rbudrick]

Crap, double post...sorry.

-Rob

[Graham Mitchell]

Oh, and for a challenge, try beating part one of Dragon slayer (Legacy of the Wizard is part 4). It originally came out on various PCs in Japan back in the day, but the version I beat is on the Gameboy (original). Tough game with 2 nasty quests. Impossible on the original GB, in my opinion, unless you use an AC adapter, becuse your batteries would run out longe before you came remotely close to the end.

Part 2 and 3 (Xanadu and Romancia) seem to also be great games, but I've never seen English translations of them, so I've never really been able to give them a fair shot.

-Rob

We got Faxanadu over here, Nintendo published it. Isn't that the same game as Xanadu?

[rbudrick]

It's a different game, related, but different. What that relation is, I haven't quite figured out yet. It basically stands for "Famicom Xanadu" though. Those Japanese folk and their abbreviations. :-)

-Rob

[Blackjax]

After this maybe I'll hunt down a copy of Ultima Exodus with no manual

Personally, I'd think twice before starting up that game. I liked the game and all, but with all the hours and hours you have to put into it in order to finish the game, I just feel I have to warn you about this game having one of the WORST ENDINGS IN THE HISTORY OF VIDEOGAMES, especially when you think about the time invested. It was one thing when Karnov flashed the engrish-ly spelled "CONGRADUATIONS" on the screen for an ending, but it didn't take that long to finsh that one...

Lord British must have been smoking some o' the good stuff when he forgot that little detail in what otherwise would have been a great game...

Try Ultima IV - Quest of the Avatar instead... just remember - never EVER use Mondain's Skull LOL

[Graham Mitchell]

After this maybe I'll hunt down a copy of Ultima Exodus with no manual

Personally, I'd think twice before starting up that game. I liked the game and all, but with all the hours and hours you have to put into it in order to finish the game, I just feel I have to warn you about this game having one of the WORST ENDINGS IN THE HISTORY OF VIDEOGAMES, especially when you think about the time invested. It was one thing when Karnov flashed the engrish-ly spelled "CONGRADUATIONS" on the screen for an ending, but it didn't take that long to finsh that one...

Lord British must have been smoking some o' the good stuff when he forgot that little detail in what otherwise would have been a great game...

Try Ultima IV - Quest of the Avatar instead... just remember - never EVER use Mondain's Skull LOL

That's what I have always found so fascinating about that game; it's the Japanese interpretation of Ultima! From what I can tell, Origin had almost nothing to do with it; it was developed by Ponycanyon. As difficult as it is, I love the game for it's wierdness, complexity, and somewhat 4ad-ish depressing musical score.

But you're right, man. Not while I'm in medical school.

I tend to like setting these impossible gaming goals for myself. Last year I picked up Starflight on the Genesis. I got pretty far in it during my stress-induced insomnia periods, but I've gotten to a point where there's nothing obvious for me to try, and planets are starting to flare all over the place. I probably have to start over, and I'm dreading that.