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Dungeon Master II: The Legend of Skullkeep

Cybergoth

Entry posted by Cybergoth

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Hi there!

 

Interplaying Dungeon Master II: The Legend of Skullkeep (1994):

 

dungeonmasterii.gif

 

It sounds like a joke: Almost a full decade after Dungeon Master revolutionized computer RPGs forever, its developer "Faster Than Light" :ponder: almost released its sequel. Well, they did release a couple of versions for obscure japanese computers, but it was Interplay who finally brought it to western PCs.

 

More than that actually, since Interplay also completely updated all graphics from 16 to 256 colors and added new music for the PC port. Other than those cosmetic enhancements nothing much has changed from the old days. Apart from a few minor engine updates it basically plays the same as Dungeon Master. I didn't need to consult the manual so far, even the few magic spells I remembered from Dungeon Master still work.

 

I never played Dungeon Master II before. In the late 80's I'd have immediately bought it, but it was released in 1994 - after the Eye of the Beholder Trilogy and after Ultima Underworld I & II :roll:

 

Yet another 15 years later now I was really looking forward to finally try it though. Dungeon Master is in my opinon still one of the greatest games ever made, so it was about time to finally fill that gap in my personal gaming history.

 

I had a very tough start with the game tonight. The difficulty level is insanely high, it almost seems to start where Chaos Strikes Back ended :o, but I'm biting through it so far, doing a good job of leveling up my party. BTW: I choose the characters by their looks only, in case you're wondering about my picks ;)

 

I made it through a first few areas and spent the last two hours mostly with killing those dinosaur type monsters you see in the screenshot above. I think I probably should check a walkthrough wether they respawn infinitly... :ponder:

 

Version Played: Abandonware, from "Abandonia".

How to Run: DOSBox. Had no SFX with Soundblaster, but selecting "ARIA Chipset" worked.

IP Status: FTL is defunct, so Dungeon Master should be owned now by Wayne Holder I think.

 

Greetings,

Manuel

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Albert

I played the original Dungeon Master on the ST, but I don't believe I ever played "Chaos Strikes Back". And I most certainly have never played Dungeon Master II. You do have me quite curious, though, and it would be fun to try this. However, I'd really need to start from square one and play Dungeon Master again, and then Chaos Strikes Back.

 

I actually fired up Dungeon Master on one of my Atari ST systems two years go. Was cool seeing that FTL logo come up again. :ponder:

 

What's the best way of playing Dungeon Master now? I'd rather play on a modern PC rather than using an ST..

 

..Al

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Cybergoth
What's the best way of playing Dungeon Master now? I'd rather play on a modern PC rather than using an ST..

 

I did actually beat the original PC version of Dungeon Master 2-3 years ago. Unfortunately Chaos Strikes Back was never released for PCs, so that route would be a dead end though.

 

I was researching things a bit back then and found a project called Return to Chaos that is advertised to run all three games, so maybe that's your best option :ponder:

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Albert
What's the best way of playing Dungeon Master now? I'd rather play on a modern PC rather than using an ST..

 

I did actually beat the original PC version of Dungeon Master 2-3 years ago. Unfortunately Chaos Strikes Back was never released for PCs, so that route would be a dead end though.

 

I was researching things a bit back then and found a project called Return to Chaos that is advertised to run all three games, so maybe that's your best option :ponder:

That looks good, I'll have to download that shortly and give it a shot. I'm sure it'll run fine inside VMware's Fusion. I love how it requires DirectX 3.0+! That's pretty ancient. :)

 

I need to install a new version of the Blog software that lets you subscribe to individual blog entries so you can be notified of new posts.

 

..Al

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Cybergoth
That looks good, I'll have to download that shortly and give it a shot.

 

BTW: There's two more Dungeon Master games, "Therons Quest" for the Turbo-Grafx and the Japan only "Dungeon Master Nexus" for the Saturn. You can find information about them in the Dungeon Master Encyclopaedia :ponder:

 

===========

 

I made some good progress tonight, finding already 2/4 parts for the entry key to Castle Skullkeep. Considering that it's already midnight, I assume the old Dungeon Master fever broke out once again :)

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Albert

BTW: There's two more Dungeon Master games, "Therons Quest" for the Turbo-Grafx and the Japan only "Dungeon Master Nexus" for the Saturn. You can find information about them in the Dungeon Master Encyclopaedia :)

Yeah, I spent some time on that site yesterday. :D Looks like Therons Quest is a subset of the original Dungeon Master. Nexus looks quite interesting, though, since it uses a real 3D engine. However, it's all in Japanese, so that probably wouldn't be very much fun to play. I'd be happy playing DM, Chaos Strikes Back and DM2. :D

 

I made some good progress tonight, finding already 2/4 parts for the entry key to Castle Skullkeep. Considering that it's already midnight, I assume the old Dungeon Master fever broke out once again :thumbsdown:

Finish it yet? :ponder:

 

..Al

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Cybergoth
I'd be happy playing DM, Chaos Strikes Back and DM2. :)

 

I think Therons Quest has been recreated by fans as RTC module, so you could play that as well.

 

Finish it yet? :D

 

Not that fast :D

 

At least I'm done assembling the key for the castle, so I can actually enter the dungeon tomorrow :ponder:

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Cybergoth

Whoa, when I thought the combat was hard in DM2, I didn't see much of the riddles! :ponder:

 

Tonight I didn't even make it through the first level of the castle. I probably could've progressed a lot faster with a walkthrough, but I'm really trying to figure it all out on my own :)

 

I also learned some new tricks about the Ninja class. While I always found it totally tedious to train them with ranged weapons or throwing stuff (You have to manually collect up every single arrow you shoot...), they're getting pretty good in bare hand combat after a while. And I found out that you can also use the "Slash" attack of the Sabre, that'll also add to Ninja experience :D

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Cybergoth

I sank another two hours into it this evening, but somehow it's been running out of fun... :)

 

I think the game is pretty unbalanced for the long development time it had and the difficulty level is beyond good and evil, which was already stopping me from really enjoying Chaos Strikes Back during my Amiga days.

 

The original Dungeon Master was just perfect in this regard, it almost seems as if everything they added to the later games actually subtracted from the experience :ponder:

 

For a final tweak of the main article I provided a better screenshot. Those Tiger Worms I liked :D

 

Watch this space for "Stonekeep", the next game I'll be Interplaying!

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