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Any fans of Dragonstomper?


shadow460

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Well, I just beat it for the 134th time tonight. I dunno if there's a FAQ out there or not, but some of these games require a player to take notes each time he/she goes through.

 

The thing is, this time I left the dragon alive. I thought about killing the bridge guard, but what's the point of that if I'm trying to save the life of my enemy? I've learned a lot about this game. I beat it when I was, like, ten or something on a regular basis by killing the dragon. I took about every trap on the chin, since I didn't know how to get around 'em and I thought the flashing effects from the spells were worthless.

 

It seems like about half the SC titles are arcade style and somewhat brainless. Fun, yes, but brainless fun. I mean, it doesn't take much thought to blast through space killin' stuff or to guide a frog or a rabbit from place to place. It takes only a few more brain cells to jump a line of hurdles or toss the virtual discus. But a few of the titles, like Dragonstomer, beg the inquiring mind to pick them apart, to learn just what everything does and how it affects the game.

Interestingly, I didn't get much into Dragonstomper or Escape when my daddt first bought them. It wasn't until after I'd watched their previews on other tapes that I became interested in the higher levels.

 

How many other people have played and beaten Dragonstomper? What are some of the tricks you used to win?

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Back in the day, I only had borrowed my friends Supercharger for one weekend and played a lot of MindMaster and Dragonstomper. I was able to beat MindMaster fairly often, but Dragonstomper . . . once. I did it by killing the dragon. I was a firm believer, and still am, in not mapping the cave, (my character hasn't got a map, so I shouldn't make one) so it took many times and by the time I'd done it once, it was time to return the borrowed merchandise. I haven't played it more than a couple of times since then. I've been trying to play the games from that era in chronological order and I try not to cheat too much (as I have recently with MindMaster) so I'm "saving" Dragonstomper for when I get to it. :)

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It's cool for a 2600 RPG, but sucks balls compared to other RPGs as a whole.

 

Hmm, so you'd rather watch three under dressed w- w- women prance about like hyperactive female teenagers on caffeine?

No time for sphere hunting, my friend. I've got real work to do--smashing amulets and saving dragons' lives. Move over, Ebelsem, unless you're going to jump into this pit ahead of me.

 

Dragonstomper takes one to two hours to beat once you're familiar with how to do it. Until then, plan an afternoon to beat it the first few times. You have to do it in one sitting on real hardware.

 

@Mezrabad: Aside from the Reset/continue trick, how does one cheat at MindMaster anyway? Recently I've been using pen and paper on the third test, and I did draw maps of the mazes, but I find that they slow me down more than anything. I can usually beat the third test without notes, but writing notes down for the last four sequences ensures I don't goof up a perfect game by making a stupid mistake.

 

@Foxsolo: You should have a cassette for Dragonstomper. You can do like I did: Hook a cassette player to your computer's audio input, and use any recording program to capture the sound. From there, you hook the SC and a stereo to mono adapter into the PC, then play the sound file.

Edited by shadow460
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Better yet, get the .bin and use PlayBin to make a .wav file.

 

You can then burn it to CD or load it from a laptop or iPod

 

True, but he does have his own copy of it, which he may want to use. I used to use .bin files I downloaded, but since I got the tapes back, I decided I'd rather use what was on them. PlayBin does replicate the actual audio files anyway. The sounds are different, and it spits audio out to both channels, where the original tapes are recorded on the left channel only.

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Better yet, get the .bin and use PlayBin to make a .wav file.

 

You can then burn it to CD or load it from a laptop or iPod

 

True, but he does have his own copy of it, which he may want to use. I used to use .bin files I downloaded, but since I got the tapes back, I decided I'd rather use what was on them. PlayBin does replicate the actual audio files anyway. The sounds are different, and it spits audio out to both channels, where the original tapes are recorded on the left channel only.

 

Thanks Shadow, I should have thought of that. I will attempt it when I get a spare moment ;)

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Ok, next question. Are there "max levels"?

I remember getting to the town, not having enough money to buy very much for the journey, and then getting to the cave and dying almost immediately (after playing for linke 15-20m).

 

So, is there a "max level" for certain things?

 

And I still don't understand how you can beat the game without killing the dragon-- isn't that the point? Does it give a different ending? Is there an ending, or does it just loop?

 

Want to make sure it's worth it if I'm gonna invest the time.

 

-John

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Max strength is 50. Your maximum will start at 23 and will usually increase when you heal with an item or in the churches. Donate 200 gold to the church for full healing. The healing items are chosen at random, though.

 

Max dexterity is 52. Using items in the countryside can increase dexterity up to 49. Once again, the item you want is random. Elixir can be bought from the village to increase dexterity to 52.

 

Here's a quick list:

Chest--contains gold and treasure (need a key to open)

Handaxe--multiple use weapon, enemies don't drop items as much when you use it. Also used to open doors.

Key--opens doors and chests

Paper/ID--allows you to cross the bridge, worthless after that

Shield--accesses easter egg

Magical items: Cross, Staff, Potion, Charm, Ring. These have one of five uses:

Increase maximum strength and heal to max

Decrease current and maximum strength

Increase dexterity

Decrease dexterity

Reveal traps

 

Their use is random each time you load the game.

 

Items in the village:

Warriors: These guys fight the dragon. Up to two can fight at once, and you send the third in when one dies. Do NOT enlist them with gold--see below.

Lantern: Lights up poison darts within the cave

Rope/chain: Used to descend into the pit without falling

Ruby/sapphire: Used to bribe the warriors into helping you out. Cheaper than paying them gold.

Longbow: Multi use long range weapon

 

Elixir: Increase dexterity

Medicine: Prevents fever, heals poison.

Vitamins: Restores lost strength

 

Flash: Lights cave for one second, shows trap locations

Vision: Reveals trap locations

Blast: Attack spell

Protect: Causes enemy attacks to miss

Stun: Stuns enemies

Unlock: Removes magical barriers

 

OK, now for some countryside tips:

First, move northeast to the church. Inside you'll get a cross. move north until you see the castle, then use the cross. See what effect it has (it may reveal traps, that's why we got close to the castle).

Near the church is a hut. If you aren't too weak, you can fight a warrior inside for a handaxe. This will open most doors in the countryside.

Move east, past the pit, and the south when you see the castle. Nearby is a pair of Temples. Hack into one of them with your axe and you'll get a charm. Get close to the yellow castle and use the charm. Same deal as above. Next stop is the church south of here. On the way, you might spot a small castle. Don't worry, there are no traps around it. If you see it, chop the door down and hope there's a potion inside. If there isn't, you'll have a potion soon enough.

Get to the church and hack it open. Donate 200 if you're hurt bad, pray if you aren't. Now go northwest to the flashing castle. Good news, there are no traps around this one. Bad news, your handaxe can't cut through the door. You need to use a key. Inside are two maniacs. Defeat them for a wad of gold and a worthless paper.

Now head all the way east. Once you see the bridge, start heading south. The big temple has a shield, and it's unlocked. Grab that shield, and traipse through the lakes, grass, and swamps nearby until you find a snake or a slime. The Snake usually carries Rings, and the very rare Slime carries the even rarer Staves. You know the drill by now, get near a castle and use the item. By now, you will know what does what. Use the healing and dexterity items, and save the rest. Head up to the first hut you visited and fight the warrior again. Once you're done, you should recieve another axe. Quicky pull up the use menu and use a shield. If you did it right, from that point until you cross the bridge, the easter egg will appear in the message box periodically.

From here, it's a matter of leveling up and getting rich. Good places to go are the castles and later on the scorpion pit. Check the trees for monkeys--they usually carry potions. You can get a number of keys from bugs, beetles, and spiders. You will need those to open the odd chest you recieve. Don't miss the huts on the southwest corner of the map, either.

When you're done, heal up and go to the bridge. Strength does not replenish while you're in the village, and besides, you'll need to start fresh to defeat the guard. When he asks for ID, show him your handaxe instead. Trade blows until you get down to about 10 strength, then heal up again and keep showing him that "identification". Repeat this process until he dies, which won't take long.

Alternately, if you're feeling like a wimp, show him the paper up front.

 

Use a healing item as soon as you get to the village.

Most items you get in the countryside sell for 30 gold here in the village. Handaxes sell for 20, and keys sell for 5. ID is worthless.

You one each of these: Chain, longbow, lantern, elixir, and the Unlock. If your dexterity is lower than 49, you'll need more elixir.

If you stink at Frogger, then you need Medicine, too. I'm serious. You also need all six vitamin bottles, no matter how good you are at Frogger.

You need all six Vision spells, and the Unlock and all three Stuns to avoid killing the dragon.

Finally, you need all three warriors.

I also recommend buying out the magic shop completely. You don't have to have all of it, but it sure does help.

 

What this means is that you need to be worth at least 2500 gold pieces (that's gold on hand plus the value of your items) when you cross the bridge. I recommend that you have 4,000 gold, that way you don't have to sell anything. Occasionally the game will still let you use items you got in the countryside while you're in the dragon's cave. The one exception to this is the handaxe, which seems to work anywhere. Be sure to save one of them when you're selling stuff off.

While we're talking about the bridge, I recommend that you fight the guard. You'll need a couple of healing items, as well as max strength and dexterity (well, 49 anyway). He goes down without too much of a fight by today's standards, and he'll drop 50 gold pieces plus a shield.

 

In the cave, the traps all have invisible trigger areas. Step into the trigger and you get spanked. Walk around it, though, and you're safe. There are two sets of poison darts. Without the lantern you won't be able to see them, IIRC. You dance between them much the same way you dodge cars and hop logs in Frogger. If you get hit by one, you take damage, and you'll have a few seconds to use medicine before you get a fever and take even more damage.

 

After the seond set of darts, you'll see the pit pretty soon. If you've got either a rope or a chain, you will descend safely. Without 'em, whoopsie! You'll take damage, but you'll live. Use the warriors first, then decide if you want to kill or bypass the dragon. Remember your goal is to smash the amulet, not necessarily to kill the dragon. A barrier guards the amulet. It will open if the dragon dies.

If you're going to kill the dragon, unload the Blast spells and follow them up with stuns. Be sure to attack after each stun spell, don't use 'em all without attacking between. After those are gone, use your longbow on him until he gets close (you will miss a lot), then fillet him with the handaxe. Once he's dead, move up and touch the amulet.

If you're going to save the dragon, draw him toward the right side and move as far up as you can. Dispatch the warriors when you can't move any further, then use the stuns and go around the dragon. Once you're between the dragon and the barrier, you are home free. Approach the barrier, then when you can touch it, use the Unlock. If that fails, you'll have to kill the dragon, but if it works, go touch the amulet and victory will be yours.

 

Hope the mini FAQ answers some questions.

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@Mezrabad: Aside from the Reset/continue trick, how does one cheat at MindMaster anyway?

 

Sorry, I was unclear. I started as talking about "cheating" in Dragonstomper (by mapping the traps) and then jumped to a different topic and used the same term in a different context. I wasn't referring to cheating in MindMaster. I was saying that I was cheating at "chronogaming" (see my blog for the whole ugly truth) by playing MindMaster outside of my intended chronology.

 

Chronogaming is playing a predefined set of games in chronological order (I'm sorry if you know this already). That set can be "all the games from year X to year Y released for system Z" (example: All SNES games released from 1993 to 1995) or it can be "all the games in series N" (example: playing every title in the Ultima series by order of release date). So, anyway, I'm chronogaming every game I can find or, if necessary, emulate, that was ever released in the US for a home videogame system. I started in 1972 with the (original) Odyssey and I'm up to games released for the Odyssey^2 in 1979. So, by playing Mindmaster ahead of time in my chronology, I'm kinda-sorta cheating. (This isn't the first time I've done so. I had to jump ahead a little bit while I was playing RCA Studio II games, just to remind myself that there was still good in the world.)

 

Other than the reset/continue trick (which is only good way to cheat if you want to practice the later levels) there's nothing I would consider cheating in MindMaster as in my mind this is a series of mazes which the in-game character is forced to endure countless times. So, I consider maps "okay", especially of the last level (and I need to make one soon, if I'm going to make it up to 600+ again.)

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I know I've got some competition from you. I did just rack up a 638 score, and that was after goofing at least one attempt on the fifth test. My test scores were a tad low on 4 and 5, a tad high on 1, and average on 2 and 3. Thing is, I absolutely ripped through mazes 4 and 5, getting 75 points in maze 4 and 80 in maze 5. I think I got hung up in the last maze, too, 'cause my map was flipped over.

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I dunno, it's strange, but I find 2600 games like et, raiders and dragon stomper to be more true to the idea of a real rpg than modern rpgs bar far. I feel like some degree of actual role-playing on the part of the player is required to really 'get' the games, to enjoy them and to beat them. modern 'rpgs' are no more than glorified 'choose your own adventures' and even then most of em dont have multiple choices (tho some do,)! (yes there are exceptions, but even today most people don't cosider games like system shock or deus x rpgs.)

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I dunno, it's strange, but I find 2600 games like et, raiders and dragon stomper to be more true to the idea of a real rpg than modern rpgs bar far. I feel like some degree of actual role-playing on the part of the player is required to really 'get' the games, to enjoy them and to beat them. modern 'rpgs' are no more than glorified 'choose your own adventures' and even then most of em dont have multiple choices (tho some do,)! (yes there are exceptions, but even today most people don't cosider games like system shock or deus x rpgs.)

I think I see what you mean . . . to play the old games you really had to participate in the adventure, where now you pretty much just wander around fighting random battles, defeating a boss and sitting through the next cut scene to watch the story advance. I don't think that's true for all the games coming out, but certainly true most of the time.

 

System Shock and Deus Ex are two of my all time favorites FP-RPGs. In fact, I just got Deus Ex for the PS2. I haven't played it on there yet. I wonder how it stands as a port of a PC game.

 

Oh, and Shadow640, you haven't got any competition from me yet. I still can't beat my recent high.

 

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Edited by Mezrabad
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Wow, mind if I use some of that info on my DS page? I haven't played it enough to know all the fine details like you do. Have you ever played Excalibur (the DS proto)? I'd be curious as to the differences you see in them, like I said I probably missed a few because I'm not all that familiar with DS.

 

Tempest

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If it's my post you're referring to, Tempest, be my guest! I still need to double check the lantern's fuction--I'll do that through Stella when I get time. Use whatever info you need, though. That goes for anything I've posted about any game (as long as what I posted is true :ponder: )

Also, I think the Flash's illumination time is closer to 1/4 of a second. It's pretty fast, but you can see the traps.

 

I haven't played Excalibur 39 much. It's balance is a little on the difficult side...

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If it's my post you're referring to, Tempest, be my guest! I still need to double check the lantern's fuction--I'll do that through Stella when I get time. Use whatever info you need, though. That goes for anything I've posted about any game (as long as what I posted is true :ponder: )

Also, I think the Flash's illumination time is closer to 1/4 of a second. It's pretty fast, but you can see the traps.

 

I haven't played Excalibur 39 much. It's balance is a little on the difficult side...

 

 

Wow....I need to dig this out and check the lantern function as well....from what I recall the lantern didn't do a damn thing!

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If it's my post you're referring to, Tempest, be my guest! I still need to double check the lantern's fuction--I'll do that through Stella when I get time. Use whatever info you need, though. That goes for anything I've posted about any game (as long as what I posted is true :ponder: )

Also, I think the Flash's illumination time is closer to 1/4 of a second. It's pretty fast, but you can see the traps.

 

I haven't played Excalibur 39 much. It's balance is a little on the difficult side...

 

Ok I changed Flash. I'd appreciate any info you can dig up on Excalibur since it requires a direct comparison to the inner workings of DS and I don't know it as well as you do. You can see what I've put up on my DS page if you want.

 

I was told that the lantern didn't do anything either, but I can't believe that there's a useless item in the game.

 

Oh and if someone can get me a screenshot of the dragon, I love you long time...

 

Tempest

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  • 8 months later...

A few comments on Shadow460's Walkthrough:

 

The handaxe actually does NOT work on the temple. You'll have to get in the "old-fashioned way".

There has been at least one occasion where the shield has been in the small temples and the large one is locked, with a charm inside.

 

Unless you spend an ungodly long time playing the game (not recommended, by the way), it is virtually impossible to defeat the guard if the healing item is the Ring or, even more so, the Staff, since you only get the Ring from the Snake and the Staff from the Slime. Even then, these creatures don't always drop their respective items when you kill them (I've noticed that it's even less often that the Slime gives up the Staff. I always like it when the Potion is the healing Item and either the Charm or the Cross is the one that raises your Dexterity. I have gotten that game quite often, with the Ring and the Staff being the "bad magic items."

 

So you finally found out what the Lantern does? I never knew that it revealed the Poison Darts. I must have always taken a Lantern to the Dragon Cave, since in every game I've played, the Poison Darts were always visible.

 

Getting 4,000 Gold before crossing the bridge is overkill, even if you plan to buy out all three Shops and not sell any items. I've calculated all the items together and it is less than 3500 Gold. And you don't even need that much, since you only need one Longbow, one Lantern, and one Rope or Chain. And you only need three gems (Rubies or Sapphires) to bribe the Warriors. I always buy out the Medical Center and the Magic Shop, since you never know how your fight with the dragon will go. Even in the worst case scenario, buying everything from these places should help you win the game. Anyway, 2500 Gold should be more than enough - you'd have to sell some of your items, which is recommended anyway, since the Magic items (Crosses, Potions) never work in the Dragon's Cave - the Dragon's Magic always cancels them out.

 

I once went for the amulet without killing the Dragon, hoping for a different ending. Unfortunately, that was not to be.

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It takes 4,000 gold to buy out the village if you don't plan on selling or trading anything. I recommended it since a new player won't know which magic spells are good and which are junk. Also, the more gold you have, the more the warriors want.

 

I'll load it up and see if I can hack into a temple with a handaxe. I've opened other structures that way before, but I don't know about a Temple.

 

I didn't see Temepst's post above. Are you looking for the Dragon from Excalibur? I can get you a shot of the dragon from Dragonstomper with little difficulty.

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Wow, I didn't know Dragonstomper had an end. I just would run around the world collecting randome stuff, and then go to the valley and promptly get my ass kicked. En...Maybe I should have read the book, but it's been packed away into the dungeon of storage rooms for years now...

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I was a firm believer, and still am, in not mapping the cave, (my character hasn't got a map, so I shouldn't make one)

Now that just doesn't make any sense. I'm quite sure your mapless character, if real, would have mapped his way as he went. Who wouldn't under such circumstances. Even Hansel and Gretel left a trail of bread crumbs to follow.

 

It's just not normal to want to aimlessly wander around a maze. :P

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