DM solo run with a reincarnated Wu Tse

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zhagsten
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DM solo run with a reincarnated Wu Tse

Post by zhagsten »

Greetings,

As mentioned in another thread, I started a DM game with only one character. I started it with PC version, so I can't give you any CSBwin recording of it. Still as some people here like stories and anecdotes, I'll write a bit about it and its progress. Yes progress, because I'm not one of these mad guys finishing the game during just the TV ads. :D

So first of all I decided not to take a pile of HP as a character but an old love : Wu Tse. I reincarnated her so she's not even a ninja, just an ordinary girl dragging her shoes on the floor and picking her nose. With a nice wisdom stat. A great potential, like all our beloved teenagers. Yeah, we wish they'd use it.


Level 1

Not particular difficulty. I used shurikens and falchion to kill monsters, ful spells to enlighten my path and made a few vi potions. The mummies require to be more careful as they hit harder, but killing one or two of them often suffice to make them flee. The screamer slices dropping from the first kills can be thrown in the face of the others for additional fun. Here's your buddy, vlam!
I voluntary ignored the boots and clothes and kept the supple ninja robe of better look +1.

My stats at the end of the 1st level :

Image


Level 2

I still know this level by heart and I zoomed through it. Blue monsters are easy kills, they don't like receiving their own clubs in the face. I turned around rockpiles throwing them stuff over and over again, swang my falchion a bit too. Their poison made me prepare vi bro potions. I took the Guardian, the Vault, the Matrix and the Cavern of Monsters.

While food really isn't a problem with only one character, the room in the inventory is previous. I had to sort things, putting coins and keys for later in a chest, some food in others. I left the mirror and the compass there.

My stats at the end of the 2nd level :

Image


Level 3

Ah ha ha ha... ha. The worm hell. I think it's dreadful even for speed runners because of their special ability to annoyingly stand in your way and call friends to corner you. The first worms made me seriously rethink my tactics because it took forever to throw shurikens and axes at them, while needing to make vi bro potions constantly. So I started to be more serious at the turnaround dance to dodge and throw the same shurikens again and again, to be faster and to avoid being poisoned.

After I found the rapier, I tried to jab worms, but it was like paper-cut until I earned another level of fighter and was able to thrust them. Suddenly everything was a lot easier. I was turning around them, thrusting them with my rapier. I was near the end, killing one of the last couple of worms after bashing the last door, when a couple of worms arrived from where I came. Nooooooo! Cornered by those two couples of worms, my rapier wasn't fast enough and I didn't have enough vi potions. My first death. :(

Monsters respawning behind are very dangerous. The second time I went faster and had no respawning worms. I grabbed the flask and the horn and went down the stairs. I'm not sure if the horn as any use at all, but it was in case of a stupid riddle. Note that I took the armour parts too.

My stats at the end of the 3rd level :

Image


Level 4

Nothing worth mentioning. I have the feeling I missed something, but I didn't look at the maps or solution so we'll see. Just grabbed the items necessary for the Riddle Room and processed to the next level without taking any class level myself. As I've left the bow behind (I prefer shurikens, a feeling of RP I assume), I used the other mirror, a coin and a gem. It's funny when you don't remember the solution and find out again by yourself. :wink:


Level 5

I'm pretty sure I missed a fake wall or something of the kind, but I went through the whole "riddle me this, riddle me that" theme at fast pace. The beholders are funny creatures to fight. It's trickier to lure them under a door, but it's funny to do. Rapier's thrust is deadly to them, and their spells are not very effective. Particularly when they use the zo spell on you. Man, really? That's not how you talk to a girl!

For the second time, I found myself cornered because of monsters respawning behind me. Two squads of skeletons. Fortunately at this point my priest level was high enough to make good vi potions and I had enough flasks to prepare quite a bunch of them. I was brought to a pixel line but survived. I love to throw skeletons' shields and falchions at their own faces. I think it's becoming a theme.

My stats at the end of the 5th level :

Image


Level 6

I used a Ra key and put down some food chests to feel lighter.


Level 7

The Ghost Love Score. Unfortunately for them, I found the vorpal sword in the previous levels, and for the first time I actually used it. In my previous games, I used to cast des ev. When I clicked on disrupt and saw the ghost "killed" in one hit, my eyes broadened. Ooooooh youuuuu! So I happily walked around the level with my weapon of mass disruption, killing gigglers with ful ir.

I knew this level more so I immediately went around clicking all the buttons to loot the treasures, and I recalled to take the elusive grey key in the middle of the room on the grey floor. It's crazy how the more twisted it is, the better I remember. So I found Delta and opened the first skeleton lock. Today I checked the stats and I'm definitely keeping Delta and throwing away the rapier.

My stats at the end of the 7th level :

Image


This is where I am ATW. I read somewhere else that the Gem of Ages gives +1 level to everything so I'm going to come back to take it where I tossed it. Fortunately it's not far.

To be continued...
zhagsten
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Re: DM solo run with a reincarnated Wu Tse

Post by zhagsten »

I went back to take the Gem of Ages and lost myself a bit, so I found the Mithril Akaton too.

Level 8

The first encounter with those small magicians was a bit rough. The second it appeared in front of me I received a strong fireball of welcome. It took me more than half of my HP so I immediately stepped back and healed before coming back to thrust it. On the other hand rats weren't hard at all.

I went quite fast through this level, but I enjoyed the possibility to dodge the fireballs from the wall trap. The downside of going too fast is I don't get the skeleton keys, and that can be annoying if I need to come back for rat drumsticks for example.

My stats at the end of the 8th level :

Image


Level 9

After a few tries, I remembered that you had to take the longest path to go through the first room. But in front of the two doors, I found myself stupid as I didn't have any key. I knew I would have to choose only one of the door, but where was the key? I brightly decided to come back to level 8 and explore it deeper, because I certainly had missed the key. After a dozen minutes sniffing every corner, I came back to the three doors. Note that this time when I went through the trap with the fireball spitting walls, I didn't pay attention at all and took three fireballs in the face while running. Not that tough.

Back at the three doors, I suddenly realized there's something on the floor. Oh a key! Doh! I took a door and continued my adventure. Nothing much to mention, besides that the scorpions took a bit more time to kill. I found myself cornered by two groups of beholders but only half of them could hit me with their spells so it wasn't a problem.

My stats at the end of the 9th level :

Image



Level 10

I turned around the the first puzzle in all the possible directions including the mentioned "Clockwise", and finally I managed to open the exit. I took Fury "in case of," like the Stormring. I don't know if I'll ever use them. I don't take the ful bombs. I don't think they're worth the room in the inventory. The Diamond Edge was piece of cake to get. I hit the walls, hit the door, took the day to push the button and still went out alive. I now must have more HP than expected by the level designer.

I first chose the middle door with the cross lock in order to make wrong the theories about exploration by the left. In the room with coin slots, I got more copper coins and another cross key. I chose the right door, but I was a bit too confident and got myself stuck between wasps with no mana. They were dealing a lot of damage and after chugging most of my potions and still not progressing toward a decisive victory, I called it a death and reloaded. You can consider that as my 2nd death. I then took the left door and the blue trolls were a lot more fun. I laughed a lot while throwing clubs at them and chasing them through the corridors.

My stats at the end of the 10th level :

Image


After that, I picked up the boots of speed near, put down my chests and ran back in the previous levels to refill food and water. The cruise speed of boots of speed is great to avoid respawns. I went back to rats, took drumsticks and put them in another chest, refilled water, lost myself again, found some Lyte armor parts and then came back, ready for level 11.

To be continued. (You can comment)
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beowuuf
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Re: DM solo run with a reincarnated Wu Tse

Post by beowuuf »

The combats are spread out well enough in level 12 it shouldn't be a problem until the end, assuming you're going for the cowards area. Pretty good stats, ninja levels are sometimes overlooked even though they are basically free stats for dealing with rock monsters, etc far faster :)
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Jan
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Re: DM solo run with a reincarnated Wu Tse

Post by Jan »

zhagsten wrote:(You can comment)
Cool. I enjoyed reading your posts but didn't want to add anything to spoil the story. Interesting and well written! :D

Just a couple of random comments:

48 / 56 KG. Oh dear! :wink: Poor old Wu Tse! I never bother wearing armour if I have a weaker character, so I'd take just leather things and Elven Boots or Boots of Speed. Only if my character is strong enough I take the Mithral things but still keep the Boots (Elven / Speed). I don't like - I mean I DO hate - being overloaded so I always try to carry as few things as possible. Although it's not easy because accumulating stuff is my usual habit. :roll:

I also never bother to carry so many flasks with various potions around. I usually have one empty flask in my hand plus one antidote potion in my inventory; sometimes I cast one spare health or stamina potion if I know I'll be needing it.

I always open the Central Stairway with the Skeleton Key on the Rat level (well, the key is not easy to find here) because it's a good point for coming back for training, water and food (fountain and rat regenerating area close to the stairs).

I'm looking forward to the rest of the story! :P
Finally playing and immensely enjoying the awesome Thimbleweed Park-a-reno!
zhagsten
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Re: DM solo run with a reincarnated Wu Tse

Post by zhagsten »

As it's the first time I'm trying to solo DM, I'm still not totally confident with what to keep and what to toss. I often find myself in the yellow zone for weight, so I regularly let some chest in the central stairway. Currently I'm under the limit of overweight and with boots of speed, but I use armour because I happen to go in contact quite a lot, and I'm not very confident in my ability to take too much hits.

Concerning the potions, it's very useful to have a lot of vi potions. The zo bro ra potions for mana aren't that useful I admit, but the bunch of prepared vi potions allows me to undergo more attacks without having to recreate potions. I really don't want to have to make a potion in the middle of a fight. And honestly, it allows me to survive some of my mistakes. I forgot to tell, but once I blocked myself in a 1x1 tile with 3 walls while fighting a giant scorpion. While I was jabbing it madly, it hit me hard and those vi potions proved themselves vital. I would advise any soloer to prepare extra vi potion (mon vi asap) if you're planning to go melee. Also the vi bro potions are very useful to immediately remove the poison.

I sincerely prefer to drink a potion and progress further in the dungeon rather than sleeping after each encounter.

About skeleton keys : as I'm not looking at the maps, I don't find them all. I'd like to find one for the rat level too. We'll see! ;)
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beowuuf
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Re: DM solo run with a reincarnated Wu Tse

Post by beowuuf »

I think I only ever keep a couple of anti-venom potions and the rest are VI potions. Agreed, prepared potions are vital for wackyte-to-toe fighting, even if you aren't soloing. Mana regeneration tends to get such that aside from really brutal fights, you can potion up your health and staimina with LO and UM potions and keep reasonably healthy.

There are actually one less skeleton kesy than there are locks. But you should have found a skeketon key on the rat level, you maybe missed a dead end somewhere (now I can't recall where that darn key is!)
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Jan
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Re: DM solo run with a reincarnated Wu Tse

Post by Jan »

beowuuf wrote:(now I can't recall where that darn key is!)
Spoiler
A vexirk has it, he's in a secret chamber to the left from the fireball hall.
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zhagsten
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Re: DM solo run with a reincarnated Wu Tse

Post by zhagsten »

And the last chapter...

Level 11

I've thrown away heavy stuff to be under the limit of weight and fully benefit from the boots of speed. What to say? It wasn't hard. The ethereal vines didn't need much vorpal disruptions. Spiders were a lot less impressive than what I used to remember. Maybe because the jab step dance with the diamond edge is more efficient than emptying the mana with fireballs when there's a whole army of them getting out of the room with three doors opening themselves automatically.

I let myself blocked between a spider and ethereal vines because the latter passed through a door and I didn't remember they could do that. The vorpal blade worked great and finally it wasn't that dangerous. Knights of course are far easier with the diamond edge than the fireballs! So basically, piece of cake. Or rather cheese.

I found all the pieces of the Darc armour, but they were too heavy so I didn't keep them.

My stats at the end of the 11th level :

Image


Level 6

Back to the 6th level to get the infamous poke stick. I chose a random emerald door and it was the bolt blade and flamebain one, so a really good guess. I took down two guardians with jab, lightning charges, shurikens, fireballs and aggressive doors. I avoided the others. I had to check the wiki to find the last Ra key and the Winged key because I poorly missed the buttons. Shame on me.

I waved the poke stick and rushed back in the stairs.

My stats at the end of the 6th level (bis) :

Image


Level 13

I prepared magical boxes and ven bombs in a chest and I started to bash the big lizard with the Inquisitor. During the berserker step dance, I was thinking "I should stop and take my magical boxes to poison cloud it" but eventually it fell into steaks. I feel a bit guilty. I took the tiara for the fun, opened the door for the vi altar for the form. With the iridescent poke stick I took the stairs to the 12th level.

My stats at the end of 13th level (and at the end) :

Image


Level 12

There was a demon in the way. I tried to kill it, but it seems to have a nice amount of HP and Lord Slippy kept coming to stick his nose in our business. So I decided to let the demon and I surrounded Lord Slippy with 3 walls of sparkles and a regular stone one. Then I poked him for salvation.

The end!


Conclusion :
It's been a pleasure to play with only one character. You always have to be careful not to be cornered by meanies, but as your character has to fight all the monsters by her(him)self, s/he's rather high level in every class by the end of the dungeon. Of course if I knew the game better, I would avoid a lot more fights and my character wouldn't have leveled that much, but if you take your time to play, that's what happens. In the end, it becomes a lot easier and you don't need as much vi potions. But it stays really achieving.
Thank you Wu Tse for following me through all this! ;)
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beowuuf
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Re: DM solo run with a reincarnated Wu Tse

Post by beowuuf »

Woohoo! Success! Congratulations!
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Re: DM solo run with a reincarnated Wu Tse

Post by Ameena »

Hey cool, gratz :D. Nice one on apaprently ganking everythins so easily :). Now try that in CSB :twisted:.
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beowuuf
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Re: DM solo run with a reincarnated Wu Tse

Post by beowuuf »

Easy! I went solo on my first CSB run :)
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Jan
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Re: DM solo run with a reincarnated Wu Tse

Post by Jan »

Congratulations, Zhagsten, and thank you for the LOL moments like:
zhagsten wrote:I waved the poke stick
or
zhagsten wrote:Lord Slippy kept coming to stick his nose in our business
And now for CSB! :twisted:
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Re: DM solo run with a reincarnated Wu Tse

Post by Gambit37 »

This was a great little read, and as Jan noted, some very funny comments in there too. Nice job, @zhagsten :D
Then I poked him for salvation
Just brilliant! :-)
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oh_brother
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Re: DM solo run with a reincarnated Wu Tse

Post by oh_brother »

Great story! Loved it.

As Jan mentioned, I am looking forward to the sequel : "Wu Tse's adventures in CSB". Though that would be a hard and disjointed tale to tell.
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Jan
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Re: DM solo run with a reincarnated Wu Tse

Post by Jan »

oh_brother wrote:"Wu Tse's multiple death and overall confusion in CSB"
I fixed your post. :wink:
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Re: DM solo run with a reincarnated Wu Tse

Post by oh_brother »

Yes, multiple death and overall confusion is right. And crying. Don't forget about the crying.
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