Yay! Finished Surgical Strike! ***SPOILERS***

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PadTheMad
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Yay! Finished Surgical Strike! ***SPOILERS***

Post by PadTheMad »

Finally, after an arduous adventure involving a restart and myself not getting a really obvious riddle, I've finally finished Sophia's Surgical Strike!!!

This dungeon is fantastic, tricky in parts either from the very imaginative puzzles or the sheer number of monsters - knowing where the monsters generate both kind of frustrated me and kept me on my toes. Frustrated me in the fact that I knew I would be facing a number of the same monsters and knowing exactly where they were, but also kept me on my toes by not actually knowing where they were going to generate...

The puzzles I found to be quite clever were the 'Way to go nowhere', 'Alchemy Room', 'Corbamite Mines', the 'Altar of Pain', the 'Corbamite Energising Facility' and the puzzles in the tower. I would also like to say the 'Altar of Time' however I somehow broke this puzzle - I never used a magic box up to that point in the dungeon but somehow, later when I returned to the puzzle, it was solved. There was a very clever (in my opinion, anyway) mechanic behind it but it somehow fell over.

Some things still puzzle me in the dungeon, however. I never found any of the Turquoise Keys, the Skeleton Key for 'Project Venom' and the other 'Members Only' item for the imfamous riddle puzzle... I wonder what treasure lies beyond these....

I also wonder if I did the 'Venom Corridoor' puzzle correctly - I just made sure all my paty members were on full heath, full stamina and not weighted down by anything. I then cast a Spellshield and just ran down the corridoor! Maybe that was the correct way to do it, I don't know.

Overall it was a fantastic dungeon I liked the new monsters, except that EVIL Gigagiggler, (Just kidding - it was a fantastic idea ;)) and I especially liked the attention to detail with the Elite Deth Knights (Golden Armour and swords!) and the windows in the tower were a nice touch (is the background ripped from Doom at all?)

Well done Sophia for giving us another fantastic dungeon to play and keeping me occupied (not to mention frustrated, confused and just plain upset at times!) for hours. But most importantly, I enjoyed every minute of playing your dungeon.

Thankyou,

Pad
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Sophia
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Post by Sophia »

Thank you for the kind words. :D

I will probably tone down the monster generation a bit, so if you (or anyone) is thinking of giving it another shot to try to find some more of the secrets, it might be better to wait a little... :wink:

Reactor was criticized as being too easy, especially regarding its monsters, so I turned up the dial on this one, and I guess I overdid it a bit. :D

Finally, just to twist the knife a little more, you have gotten one ending... there are three. :lol:

Oh, I forgot to comment on the venom corridor-- the "proper" solution was that you were not supposed to have any ven potions in your possession, as that was what tripped off the launchers. Your way works just as well. :twisted:
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PadTheMad
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Post by PadTheMad »

3?!?!?! :shock: :shock: :shock:

Oh dear - more of my life taken up it would seem...! Are the other two quite hidden and are they logical (silly question actually as your dungeon was so well put together anyway)

I suppose that makes sense about the Venom Corridor - I was just rushing to get to the end so I missed that one :)

I can't remember how easy Reactor was for me, I don't remember struggling too much though... Maybe I should play through that again too!
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Post by Sophia »

Logical, well, by a twisted sort of logic, anyway.

They're all found very near the end of the game-- doors late in the game that you never unlocked and yet weren't necessary should provide hints as to where the second ending can be found. An item that seemed to only bring horrors and peril will cause an epic final confrontation that will lead to the third ending.

I'm assuming you defeated Lord Chaos. That's the best ending; the others are more to "reward" experimentation.... :twisted:
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PadTheMad
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Post by PadTheMad »

Yes, I "killed" Chaos beyond the Winged Key door.

Ooooooh now you've got me thinking again... Horrors and peril... Epic confrontation? Hmmm...

And now I need to search for those blasted keys too ;)
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Post by Sophia »

*** MORE SPOILERS ***





Did you find the way you killed Chaos too strange? Or was it just right? More to the point, did you like it? I was trying for a bit of variety rather than just the normal "fuse" ending, I hope I succeeded.

I'm curious about your thoughts going into a confrontation with Chaos lacking the Firestaff. :)

Anyway, "epic confrontation" might be a bit much, let's just say it's a rather nasty ending. :twisted:
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PadTheMad
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Post by PadTheMad »

I didn't find it strange as such, more a bit easy. It was quite an interesting and clever way of doing it and it did add a bit of a variety although I thought that it could be doing with being a little more difficult, although I'm not sure how you would actually go about that. Overall, I liked the final battle and the ending :)

I liked the story too but Chaos actually took me by surprise - I really wasn't excpecting him at the top of the tower, not in a bad way of course!
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Post by linflas »

Yeepee ! i've completed Surgical Strike yesterday evening :)
I thought i could never beat Chaos on the final fight until i found the evidence...
So, this was a greaaaaat dungeon, I must say "Chapeau bas, Madame" for your dungeon designing skills, especially puzzles and triggers : 'ejection seat', 'tower lift', 'energizing facility', 'do something stupid', 'altar of pain' were the most original things i've ever seen in custom dungeons.
So, what next ? :)
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Post by Sophia »

I'm glad you liked it :)

What next? Did you find the secrets? Get all three endings? :D

Either that or it's time for us all to go back to the drawing board. :wink:
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Post by Zyx »

I'm still trying to find the secrets. With no success so far... Maybe I'll have another try tonight...
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