Finally did it!

[oh_brother]

So, almost 20 years after I first got my hands on Chaos Strikes Back I finally finished it. I am sure that the young me who had so much trouble with it would be happy.

Even though I had to use a guide in a couple of places, I avoided that if at all possible. And now that I have finished, and finally understand the dungeon layout a bit, I am even more impressed with the game than I was as a child. I even get the DDD now, it was just random before. It really is a director. Also it is diabolical and has demons, so it is well named.

My very, very short summary:

Brilliant dungeon, much better than the DM dungeon.

Awful ending. They did not even give it an ending of the same level as the DM one. Come on, more than just a hug from the Grey Lord and one sentence!
(Although my electricity company conspired to give me a more exciting ending: a few seconds after I had thrown the last corbum into the pit and got the ending screen the lights in my house started to flick on and off. It did add an element of tension to the finale, but the next day when I was sitting in my flat with intermittent power and internet connectivity I had to wonder if it was worth it).

So thanks to Paul Stevens for making it possible, and congratulations to Gothmog, Sonja, Azzizi and Alex for defeating Lord Chaos’s plans twice in the space of two months!

[beowuuf]

Woohoo! Well done! CSB is indeed insane and yet very clever. Still prefer DM personally, but only because CSB still scares me a little. Now try conflux!

...the next day when I was sitting in my flat with intermittent power and internet connectivity I had to wonder if it was worth it).

[Gambit37]

CSB had an ending animation in the Amiga version

Well done though!

[ian_scho]

Well done chap. The grey lord will thank thee accordingly.

Loved the story.

[Jan]

Congratulations, Brother! Well done!

[oh_brother]

Thanks guys!

I saw Conflux mentioned a lot in these threads, I must check it out.

And I heard that there was an animated ending for the amiga version, I even checked on youtube on the off-chance that it was up there, but no luck.

[beowuuf]

Should be on the DME under CSB

[oh_brother]

Got it, thanks!

[Duckman]

Excellent! next up: DM II

[Jan]

Hmm... I'd rather suggest Conflux, as someone else metioned. I've never liked DM2 actually - I don't know why, but maybe because the graphics looked weird to me.

[Trantor]

Cool, congratulations! I'm with Jan, just skip DM2, it's just not that great. It's not terrible, but certainly not up to CM or CSB. Try some of the custom dungeons; here are some recommendations:

Imprisoned Again (for DM-PC/CSBWin: rather classic gameplay with lots of cool fights)
Towers of Chaos (for CSBWin: DM-like, great puzzles; the beginning is a bit hard)
Surgical Strike (for RTC v0.37 or so: very CSB-like, huge, confusing, frustrating and brilliant)
Sukumvit's Labyrinth (for RTC: very packed and intense, and very hard to navigate around; very good atmosphere and gameplay)
Dark Portal (for RTC v0.43 or so: a puzzle-dungeon that plays totally different from normal dungeons; hard, frustrating, highly innovative and very different)
Conflux III (for CSBWin: the largest, hardest, meanest dungeon out there, you will need months to explore it; only play if you are masochistic! CSB is a walk in the park compared to this!)

These are probably the best ones I've played so far. There are several other good ones, like The Two Lovers; just browse the Custom Dungeons forum and always use my reviews as guides.

[zoom]

I would nevertheless suggest to play or at least try dm2. To see the outside world and the shops and the miniboss monster in the cave. All cool spots.
Mind you, there are 2 graphic versions around. One looks cartoonish the other more (amiga) dm-like = pixelated

Then again, the custom dungeons are a superb address, too! Be prepared for an enhancement to your dm - world ...custom dungeons explode the barriers quite a bit of what can be done etc.

[Duckman]

After all I would advise you try both of DMII and custom dungeons: DMII has EXCELLENT graphics, very interesting monster behaviour and it's after all story sequel to CSB. But custom dungeons are interesting too: I recommend you start with Gem of ra, Reactor, or Vexirk catacomb, they are very familiar in terms of layout and gameplay and not too hard, and íf you want great and intensive stuff there are Surgical strike, Conflux, and I have heard Black flame and Tower of chaos Very good too.
If you want to try something different, then I recommend Xarokstaxes or Black gate (be careful with the latter, it has dead-ends! if you like it you could also try Dark abyss, it's very similar). Also one dungeon which certainly is worth a try is Alandale's DMjava. Both the game egine and the dungeon are fan-made, and it is tied to the storyline of original and CSB, it's events happen long after the time of Theron, but far before birth of Torham.

[oh_brother]

Thanks for the advice everyone! Seems I am spoiled for choice.

I bought DM2 years ago for the PC, but it turned out that it was the Amiga version (stupid HMV put it on the wrong shelf!), so I have seen the box and the manual....it would be nice to finally play it. I think I will give it a go, although with low expectations.

But maybe one custom dungeon first, from what I have read I will go for Imprisioned Again or Tower of Chaos. Nothing too hard as an introduction. Later on I can focus on Conflux!

[Jan]

I suggest playing Imprisoned Again first - it's more traditional and DM-like, I think, and I would say easier than ToC (moreover, I'm playing it right now once again ). And then go for ToC. Both these dungeon are fantastic and extremely well made!

[Frenchie]

I've played CSB Atari ST as an adult when it came out, but I can't remember if I finished it. Now I'm playing the LoG mod CSB remake on Mac OSX, but I haven't found a single corbum yet after exploring all levels. I'm using the maps of http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=taxonomy/term/22,42 and they don't mention the corbum or the ful ya pit. I'm getting really frustrated and I'm about to hand in the towel. I don't know whether my problems are mod bugs.

On level 5 in the northern hall (looks like upside x-mas tree) with the magic fields there are 2 gates to the east. The northern one should be destructable. I can't break it nor can I direct a fireball to it. The teleporters next and west of it make a spell go back and forth. The second gate behind a hidden wall in southeast corner I can't unlock nor does the lockpick work. I have tons of keys but not the Onyx key I need I used all already.

On level 7 I already visited all the rune areas from the crossroads and now invisible teleporters prevent me from traveling to them fustrating me as hell. I really hate them that send you to a different level. It makes planning a route extremely difficult. I could use help or LoG savegames, but my super easy level 13 party already has already maxed all statts. Basically they are almost immortal. Or perhaps a live (voice) chat to get me to all the corbum.

Update: I used LoG console commands to teleport beyond closed doors and got further into the game. I've found the cobrum and the pit, but I mainly visit the dungeon to explore the map further. A weird thing happened: earlier I could re-use the sekeleton key, but one of the lock didn't give ot back.

[Seriously Unserious]

A weird thing happened: earlier I could re-use the sekeleton key, but one of the lock didn't give ot back.

One of the Skeleton Key locks did swallow the key up in the original CSB as well. You have to be careful where you put that key, once it's gone, it's gone.

[oh_brother]

I'm using the maps of http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=taxonomy/term/22,42 and they don't mention the corbum or the ful ya pit.

The ful ya pit is on level 00, and the corbums are on level 01.

I suspect some of the problems may be to do with the mod. CSB is not too tough with the maps (at least I can say this now that I finally finsihed it! )