Towers Of Chaos review

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Froud
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Towers Of Chaos review

Post by Froud »

Towers Of Chaos review by Alan Froud

I recently completed Towers Of Chaos by PaulH and hope a short review will be helpful to anyone considering playing this game.

I had previously completed Black Flame also by Paul and enjoyed it very much. My review gave it 9/10. This has restricted me a bit in giving an overall mark for this game as I consider it to be even better! Anyway here we go

GAMEPLAY 9/10 - A much bigger game than Black Flame and more consistent with DM and CSB in terms of graphics, monster design and the overall objective of the game. Quite linear in construction but sometimes confusing and I got stuck a couple of times. The answers to the problems of continuing on were pretty tricky and I did need a couple of hints. To be fair, as often is the case the answers seemed blindingly obvious once known! and usually the clues were there to be found. I would be interested to know how other players have coped with the more tricky aspects. But these were isolated occurrences in quite a large game, (see puzzle section below) and I was generally constantly impressed with the thought and imagination that had gone into creating the dungeon.

PUZZLES 9/10. Extremely impressive variety and amount of ingenious puzzles,. Mostly set at just the right level of difficulty. On many occasions I decided I could go no further and then would have a flash of inspiration as to the answer. The degree of difficulty of the puzzles I would say is about the same as DM and again I was really impressed with the imagination and attention to detail that gone into the puzzle design. The only bugbears were a room containing numerous transporters and requiring 5 keys to be found to be able to proceed. This is clearly based on a similar puzzle on level 5 in DM but is MUCH harder! I finally got through it but wasn’t quite sure how :) I hear better players than me have been reduced to despair at this point and it could maybe do with simplifying a bit. The following room with numerous pits was also a little irritating. It could be worked out by intensive mapping but required endless saving to avoid being returned to the start if one false move was made.

SIZE 9/10 As previously said a bigger game than Black Flame, I would guess about the size of DM. Very well paced with no dull or empty areas but enough suitable spots to regroup and let the team have a nap from time to time ! I had no problems with food or water supplies, which I see has been a problem in the past. I assume the game has been revised following the concerns of previous players. I do tend to err on the side of caution about carrying enough nourishment but can’t see this issue causing problems for any player in the current version.

ATMOSPHERE 9/10 The mix of old and new monsters is spot on and they are well positioned to provide a shock when least expected. The degree of difficulty here is just right. I died quite a few times, QUITE a few times! and had to adjust my tactics according to each situation, this is just as it should be.


OVERALL 9/10

Not much more to say other than above. An excellent game and well worth the attention of any DM fan. I very much look forward to his next dungeon.
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PaulH
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Post by PaulH »

Thankyou! Shouldn't be long now...

BTW, there is a scroll in the Library that maps the way where you kept getting teleported back to the start of the puzzle. Yeah, maybe I should retire the other teleporter puzzle hehe.
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Froud
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Post by Froud »

Yes, I remember the scroll now. Sorry! Its been a couple of weeks since I completed the game.

If only there was a scroll for the transporter room! Keep that in BTW its a great puzzle, just maybe tone it down just a little abit !
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PaulH
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Post by PaulH »

Actually, I never playtested that puzzle! It annoyed my so much, my version had a nice route round the outside hehe
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Froud
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Post by Froud »

WHAT ! You have taken years off mine and Trantors lives and even Beo I hear and you didn't do it yourself......Oh well apparently there won't be enough funds for a pension when the time comes so you may have done us a favour !
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PaulH
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Post by PaulH »

Ha! And most of the time I was wondering around with a guy with Archmaster everything, the firestaff and a Lightsaber... I'll have to put a few Gor coins aside for the future I reckon.
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Trantor
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Post by Trantor »

I sure hope you didn't mean me with a "better player" Froud, because I am certainly not. The teleporter puzzle indeed is very frustrating, but I think it can be done, so I'd say keep it in. Still, an evil puzzle indeed, but I had more problems with the place where you are surrounded by four grates, as the hint was just too subtle for me. ;)

All in all, great review for a great game! I hope others will be inspired to play ToC and write a review of their own.
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beowuuf
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Post by beowuuf »

I think with the teleporter puzzle I suddenly twigged it was basically the DM one and solved it ok after that. I think the wild wood got me, and literally it was one of those facicious let's poke this stupid item in that hole because I am so bored walkign around wait a second why's that opened hey wait this is the bloody area i've been looking for, i thought the wild wood was throug hthe teleporter kinda moments
Also, I thought the chaos bridge was broken as I thought you oculd do it from either side!
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PaulH
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Post by PaulH »

The Chaos bridge was exactly that, you had to approach it from both sides. 'basically the DM one', yes. it was... therefore you have the solution..
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