[SPOILERS] The Lost Caves of Kroz Hint Thread

[+intvsteve]

Stuck on a puzzle in The Lost Caves of Kroz!

 

Want to chime in to help someone out?

 

You've come to the right place!

[+intvsteve]

Level 7 : Columns of II is one of the tougher puzzles in the entire game, and it comes at you pretty early.

 

Sometimes it helps to have both the clue in the manual and the in-game text near each other:

 

Manual: Columns of II: As the statues are placed above, so should they be placed below. Reflect upon the two rows exclusively, or the answer in row three will be impossible to see!

Game: The bottom row of sentinel statues cannot stand alone.

 

Along the northern wall of the room, you see some immovable statues, a red group, a blue group, and a tan group. Along the southern wall, you see some more statues, also red, blue and tan and standing resolute. There's a pattern here, and the title of the room itself is also somewhat of a hint.

 

The extra challenge here is that these statues change color as you move them, so you need to plan ahead as you move them.

 

Think of each of the groups as three "squads" - each of a single color. Those assembled along the northern wall (above) face the "center" of aisle of the room. The squads stand in a formation three rows deep, with row one having their backs against the wall. The groups have formed up according to the rule that no man stands alone.

 

Along the southern wall (below) you can see that there are also three squads of sentinels, but they aren't yet fully in formation. In fact, the troops (statues) that aren't in formation yet can't even decide which squad they're in (i.e. they change color as they move). The movable statues are the ones you need to nudge into the proper formation.

 

So, remember:

• Columns of II
• No man stands alone
• Squads must be of one color

There's another clue cleverly packed in the manual's hint that someone might pick up on if they're versed in the ways of Boole.

[Eric7100]

Where to begin... where to begin...

[+intvsteve]

Where to begin... where to begin...

Give us a clue about where you need a hand!

[intvnut]

Manual: Columns of II: As the statues are placed above, so should they be placed below.

 

Is it weird that that reminds me of a song lyric from a Mr. Bungle song? (Specifically, "Merry Go Bye Bye" on Disco Volante.)

 

 

Here to paradise they go

Brighter made is their woe

As above, so below

 

 

I listen to weird music.

[JoeM_Intellivision]

Just wanted to say my copy arrived today - thanks so much. Hopefully I can start playing soon and brush up on my curse words:-)

[IntellivisionDude]

I need a hint (not a full spoiler for room 30 (Standing Guard III). So far i've tried mirroring them on top of the Green Eagle and also on top of the other statues and so far no dice. But then again i am bad at trying to figure out what is exactly mirrored. But i did try organizing them in quite a few different way in both those positions. So either my mirror is wrong or where i'm placing them is wrong.

[IntellivisionDude]

Wait a minute, don't say anything yet. Something just popped in my head.

[IntellivisionDude]

I got it. Now on to room 31

[IntellivisionDude]

Okay here is my video from yesterday of me beating Kroz. The last 21 minutes of the game. Also just today i wanted to see how long it would take me to beat it in one sitting. And would you believe i had already forgotten the solution to some of the puzzles. I will upload that video either tonight or tomorrow. It's almost 4 hours long. It was on Thief difficulty again but i figured the video would be too insanely long if i did it on a harder difficulty.

 

 

[IntellivisionDude]

I would like discuss a few complaints i have. Before i do that i will say i think the game is a masterpiece and may be my new favorite Intellivision game.

 

1. I think the hints for most of the bosses were not necessary and pretty much gave away what you have to do. Especially Elmor. I think it was really obvious on what you had to do even without the hint. Even if his waist was not a different color just the fact it was so skinny looked like his weak spot. Blubba was a pushover as well. But then again with how difficult the puzzles were maybe the bosses did not need to be super difficult. I was in awe of them. Just to see how awesome they looked was enough. They are no means a walk in the park but some of puzzles and mid bosses (fire ant) were more difficult. And my honest opinion the first boss was the toughest.

 

2. While i never did figure out level 7. I think the clue in the manual was misleading. It says "As the statues are placed above, so should they be placed below". I took that to mean that i had to put statues at the top of the screen and bottom. So no matter what i tried i made sure statues were placed at the top of the screen with every solution. But in the solution you don't put any up there. I see now there is another way to read that statement. I can see a lot of other people reading that clue the same way. With how cryptic that room is and with how obvious some other clues were, maybe it needed a better clue.

 

3. There may be a small glitch with the Timed Slider Maze Level 28. On the right side of the sliding pieces if you get underneath one of the pieces you can move up and if that piece touches the ceiling it will be stuck there even after the timer resets. i am not sure if it's a glitch but i can make it impossible to get back out without resetting the room. It is definitely not game breaking what so ever. I can make a video of it if you want me to. Just ask. Is it suppose to do that?

 

4. I'm really not complaining about this masterpiece. Just discussing.

[IntellivisionDude]

This will be probably be my last video on this game, at least for now. But this game is so awesome i'm so obsessed with it.

 

Like i said in the other thread i'm ready to take on a tougher difficulty next time i play.

 

I made this video for a few reasons.

 

1. Could help some people out who are stuck.

 

2. Just wanted to see how long it would take to play through after knowing all the puzzles. (But you will see in the video i had actually forgotten some of them. There is even a few times you will see that the answer was right in front me and it still took me a while to remember it. I bet i could do better than that. I only had to cut out 6 mins of the video for bathroom breaks.

 

3. Would like to know if the solutions i chose for the puzzles is the actual solutions or did other people do them differently. I think most puzzles in this game only have one solution but a seen a small handful where it looks like there could be more that one way to solve.

 

 

 

[IntellivisionDude]

Even though i said i thought most of the bosses were easy i'll admit i had more trouble with the Frost Wizard on my second playthrough than my first. I guess i got lucky my first time around.

[IntellivisionDude]

So since i just beat the game i went to go watch the preview and demo videos again. I see some stuff before it got changed like the harder version of level 7. I also seen something i'm curious about. I seen what looked like the ability to stun the ghosts. Was that something taken out or is that something you can still do but i just hadn't figured it out?

[+grips03]

So since i just beat the game i went to go watch the preview and demo videos again. I see some stuff before it got changed like the harder version of level 7. I also seen something i'm curious about. I seen what looked like the ability to stun the ghosts. Was that something taken out or is that something you can still do but i just hadn't figured it out?

 

can't stun ghosts

[First Spear]

I pre-ordered this game waaay back and still don't have it. If I see you guys having much more fun, I'm going to be ill.

[IntellivisionDude]

[+intvsteve]

So since i just beat the game i went to go watch the preview and demo videos again. I see some stuff before it got changed like the harder version of level 7. I also seen something i'm curious about. I seen what looked like the ability to stun the ghosts. Was that something taken out or is that something you can still do but i just hadn't figured it out?

During testing there were some modes that have since been removed. The final round of testing was done w/o any "cheats" to be certain that some of the bugs were really actually killed dead.

[IntellivisionDude]

During testing there were some modes that have since been removed. The final round of testing was done w/o any "cheats" to be certain that some of the bugs were really actually killed dead.

 

I'm still wondering if that is a glitch in room 28 or not. If you fast forward to about 2:46:00 of my Playthrough video i posted above and watch for a minute you see what i'm talking about. Was just wondering if it's suppose to that. I find it quite fascinating. lol

Edited December 7, 2014 by IntellivisionDude

[IntellivisionDude]

I pre-ordered this game waaay back and still don't have it. If I see you guys having much more fun, I'm going to be ill.

 

What are you doing in the spoiler thread if you haven't gotten the game yet.

[+intvsteve]

 

I'm still wondering if that is a glitch in room 28 or not. If you fast forward to about 2:46:00 of my Playthrough video i posted above and watch for a minute you see what i'm talking about. Was just wondering if it's suppose to that. I find it quite fascinating. lol

Hmm... Well, there is an alternative way to do that puzzle that eliminates a bunch of those pipes -- but -- the pieces reappear after a timer expires. I got used to using that alternate method, since I gave up on trying to solve it with all the pipes there, I'm not sure if the resetting of the pipes is a bug or a feature.

 

To try it out, explore the caves off the southeast corner of that room.

[IntellivisionDude]

Hmm... Well, there is an alternative way to do that puzzle that eliminates a bunch of those pipes -- but -- the pieces reappear after a timer expires. I got used to using that alternate method, since I gave up on trying to solve it with all the pipes there, I'm not sure if the resetting of the pipes is a bug or a feature.

 

To try it out, explore the caves off the southeast corner of that room.

 

After some memorizing i found an easy way to get through the pipes and to the crown real fast. I was just wondering about the pipe connecting to the ceiling.

 

And i'm proud to announce i have beaten Kroz on Assassin Difficulty. Boy was that tough. For a while i was thinking i was not seeing any ghosts speeding up. But that was until i hit room 18. My god. Both ways to solve it are insanely difficult. And i almost got close to not using up all my hearts and having to reload. But that was until i hit room 30. Maybe the most difficult room in the game on Assassin. I also had to reload 1 more time with a combination of the Volcano and Fire Ants. I also learned the only reason i thought the final boss was easy and a push over was only because i got lucky the first 2 times i played it. There is specific timing with him and this time around it took me a while to get it.

 

One last thing, i may have found another glitch in the game but once again i don't know if it was intentional to make the game harder. On the level Transporter Hell (Assassin Difficulty). In the very top left corner of the screen if you warp in the wrong direction you will land right in the middle of the timer and die. Or i should say the empty space of the timer since it has counted down some. You can also just walk right into the space as well if are in the top left square. If the timer was full it will block you but when the red bar goes down it creates an empty space you can walk right into. You will die and it will say the timer has expired even though the timer hasn't reach zero. If you play on Thief you will not have this issue since the timer does not run on this level. It's not the biggest of deals. You just have to be more careful when warping there.

 

YAYYYY I Beat Assassin. It was damn tough. My nerves were shot by the end.

Edited December 7, 2014 by IntellivisionDude

[IntellivisionDude]

Here is a tip that really isn't a spoiler. I found on levels that have mazes and ghosts chasing you, that it is better to tap the disc instead of spinning. Usually in let's say Pac-Man or Burgertime i tend to spin the disc when going around corners but i feel that doesn't work as well in Kroz. It works sometimes but not others. But just tapping worked better. tap Left, Tap Right, Tap Up etc.

[IntellivisionDude]

I'm thinking of doing some room specific videos. Would anybody be against that? I won't do every one unless requested. But there a few i'd like to do. The one i want to do the most is Level 28 Timed Slider Maze. I want to show the quick solution i came up with, plus i want to experiment.

There are still some things i never did figure out like getting the key and getting back out.

 

And also on Level 21 i never figured out how to extend the timer. I was just lucky and solved it with barely a few seconds on the clock.

[+intvsteve]

On level 21, if I'm remembering correctly, there's a reset coil you can use in the northwest area where you need to manipulate the switches to direct the cannon fire.