So, tell us about yourself...

[beowuuf]

Welcome to the forums Stewart /tzoneman!

As you can see, DM grabbed us pretty hard when we all encountered it, and we've kept coming back to it all these years later even when better graphically or more complex games have come along. Part of it will be it was the firts game we saw like that. But really it did many things so well - the large screen and off to the side interface that games like EOTB ignored, the mysterious objects and charatcers that even now we have to fight with source code to explicitly figure out what was happening with them. As you say, there was something about that big screen where you could just pick something up and throw it - and get immersed, of course!

To one of your questions, if you reincarnate your characters instead of ressurecting them, they start off without their levels, but you can rename them. For DM it is the bett5er option as you can levle up fast and get more stats. For CSB, the rules are different (you also stats too) and..well, and as you know, there are evil worms waiting. Just because they aren't purple doens't make them any less evil!

If you do have any tales of anything connected to FTL, then Gambit and Christophe love to hear that sort of thing! Ok, we all do

Sadly, some advanced fan clones have started to update the DM engine, but none have come close yet. Happily, the fan made clones that are like the DM engine but expanded are going strong with either development still going, or simply very functional and with lots of good custom dungeons to explore.

Anyway, sleep well and hope you enjoy looking around the forums!

[tzoneman]

if you play the RTC version of DM you are forced into character knowledge for spells as you can only cast the runes you have read. So it's more important to find the scrolls in this case in order to college magic runes and cast them into the book. It was a way to keep the experts honest.. since many of us know all the spells by heart and are too easily tempted to use them when we start.

Though, sounds as if you have trouble remembering them anyway

Yeah, I forgot almost everything about making the spells, so I'm having to relearn and experience it all over again, which is fun. This is so cool playing this on my laptop and in Windows, crazy man, crazy. I have the game in a box, and my Amiga in a box, and could have always dug them out, but finding you good folks and the downloads has made it all so easy and very adaptable. Thanks for the good welcome!

[tzoneman]

Welcome to the forums Stewart /tzoneman!

To one of your questions, if you reincarnate your characters instead of ressurecting them, they start off without their levels, but you can rename them. For DM it is the bett5er option as you can levle up fast and get more stats. For CSB, the rules are different (you also stats too) and..well, and as you know, there are evil worms waiting. Just because they aren't purple doens't make them any less evil!

If you do have any tales of anything connected to FTL, then Gambit and Christophe love to hear that sort of thing! Ok, we all do

Thanks for the warm welcome, Beowuuf. When I started DM last night, I chose the first option, which I think was ressurect(?), but I couldn't rename them... of course, I was so excited just to play, I really wasn't paying all that much attention, so I probably goofed on the option to name my characters. I am enjoying starting my characters off as brand stankin' new and inexperienced. Oh, yeah, the CSB 'golden-brown' worms are just as pesky as the pinky ones in DM, I tried it... and that beginning is a doozy, even now with all of my years of gaming experience these old games are still challenging, in their own way.

Well, unfortunately, the only quicky story I had to tell about FTL was the one I already had for ya... sorry... I just remember sitting in Marisa Ong's office, talking about the upcoming manual for Star Trek Generations, and telling her my all-time favorite game was DM - to which she replied, "Oh, I worked for FTL. I remember they put me in a special in-house version of the game. In the hall of champions, they put a cartoon version of my face in a portrait, and named her after me and everything. It was pretty cool." And I was like dumbfounded, I think I said, "No waaaayyy... oh man, that's awesome!" Ah good times, I sure miss my Microprose days... we were like a family. Ah, I digress.

Anyways, I am already stuck on a measly little switch and pad timing running gatethingy on level four, what a lameass. HA. WHERE'S THE WALKTHROUGH IN THIS FORUM?!!! HAHAHAH!!! Actually, I found my original DM maps and they are no help, no note on how to run through that closing gate... ha! Well, back to it.
Talk more later,
Thanks again for the warm welcome. Good to be here.
tzoneman

[beowuuf]

This question gets asked every so often on the forums - may sure none of your champions are in the yellow due to load, and make sure none of your champions have injuries so they have red outlines around their limbs.

If you follow the DM Encyclopaeda link in the pull-down above, you will find all ou could ever want to know about DM and the related games!

[Ameena]

Also, if you don't use the kebaord for movement (and the mouse for everything else), I recommend doing so, at least for that puzzle. Then as Wuffy said, it's just a matter of making sure no-one's in the yellow. I normally make it through with one donk on the head.

[MasterWuuf]

Quoted from Tzoneman:

Then, said, "Well, it's just after midnight, I should probably crash. Dang, this brings back some good memories..."
Went off to bed.

You guessed it... couldn't sleep... visions of poisonous worms and mummies were filling my consciousness and I had total insomnia over it... sooooo, got up at 1am and played til 3am. HA!

Ah. A man after my own heart.

Been there. Done that. I used to intentionally save three of the game slots in DM for certain areas.
I'd revisit them from time to time, never 'saving over' the three starting points in the game.

You know, I never used one of those slots to save a game at the room beneath the scorpions (can't say the name of it now, duhh).
That one never made sense to me. I always bungled around until I finally got through it.

I remember getting DM for the PC. The ending was more interesting (Main character tossing the staff into the fire).

[Jan]

the room beneath the scorpions (can't say the name of it now, duhh).
That one never made sense to me. I always bungled around until I finally got through it.

You mean the clockwise / anti-clockwise horror? I also always started it "properly" according to the clockwise / anti-clockwise logic, as a good boy, with good intentions and everything, but always ended up running frantically around in an absolute chaos, and finding the way out only randomly...

[tzoneman]

Also, if you don't use the kebaord for movement (and the mouse for everything else), I recommend doing so, at least for that puzzle. Then as Wuffy said, it's just a matter of making sure no-one's in the yellow. I normally make it through with one donk on the head.

Actually, I ended up reading through the post on this specific gate, and went ahead and altered my config file to adapt to my laptop 'keypad-less' keyboard... works fine now... and I've also gotten use to using the keys at times (helpful suggestion;)

Now, I'm on level 6, with those darned Beholders... man, I soooo forgot about them... my party keeps dying, since it appears you can only harm them when their eye opens, and only a millisecond before 'kablammo'. hahahah... i forgot how terrifying the parties scream was when they die... gosh, now I remember, being up at wee hours in the midnight/morning, playing, then having something comes out of the woodworks like a beholder and instantly killing my party, while I might have been looking away for a second tidying up my map(s)... man, that scream sure wakes you up! HA! This game, crazy fun... totally brings back memories.

So, I heard back from my friend, Scott, that played the game also back then... he was totally impressed with the fact that you good folks have carried the torch! As am I

[Jan]

Yeah, the scream of dying party is really horrible! But I don't remember having any particular problems with the beholders in DM, I just always killed them. I even didn't know they can be killed only with their eyes open. Well - you learn something new every day, boy!

Regarding the keyboard - I bought an external numerical keyboard for my laptop (for my work originally, not for DM) and it's great to use it in DM!

[Ameena]

I don't think Beholders are vulnerable at any particular point. They just open their big eye when they attack. The open-eye thing is certainly not a theory I've come across, anyway. But they are bastards, though .

[beowuuf]

Indeed, you should be able to kill the wizard eye thingies normally. Much later on though, there is a nasty critter with behavior as you have described...

[tzoneman]

I don't think Beholders are vulnerable at any particular point. They just open their big eye when they attack. The open-eye thing is certainly not a theory I've come across, anyway. But they are bastards, though .

I think you guys are right... it just seemed that my hits with melee weapons did more damage when the beholder's eye was open... but eh, since then, i've messed with several ways of battling them and i found the poison spell works really well. man, the first level that they appear, there were a whole bunch of them... frickin' threw me for a loop for a while, but i got through them

then, onto the giant rats, good, because my party was in need of food... dang, wish there were audio signals like gauntlet's 'blue wizard needs food badly...'... heheh... but those pesky armadillo thingies, dang, they rust your armor... how dare they! ha!

great fun... sure brings bad fun and scary memories. only thing though, i remember when i originally played the game, it took a little while and i had no idea how long of a game it was. playing it now, without even using my maps, i find that after only three nights of playing it, i'm already on level ten. but, still, it is such a classic!!! and playing it now, well, it sure is something to enjoy, and remember the days before we were all spoiled by the super eye-candy of today's games, where the average 1 player shooter gives 'maybe' 15 hours of gameplay. geez, i rented the new terminator game - total waste of time. it was only 6.5 hours of gameplay and felt like a game from 5 years ago. disappointing. but, oblivion was something else, as was fallout 3 - i REALLY dig the engine for those two bethesda games, and the artwork is incredible.

anyways, back to DM!

[Trantor]

While DM isn't especially large, many of today's games aren't that much larger anyway. And if you ask me, DM has a lot more replay value, heart and soul. The only game in the past 5 years that really managed to totally captivate me was Portal, and it's certainly not because of the graphics.

Oh, and welcome to the forums!

[Ameena]

Oblivion is cool, but on balance I think I prefer Morrowind (the third Elder Scrolls game - Oblivion is the fourth). It's bigger and there's more you can do and stuff. You can join/complete more guilds, and there's more you can do with Enchanting to make yourself stupidly, unkillably uber .
Oblivion has some gorgeous scenery though.

[linflas]

have you played Oblivion extensions : Shivering Isles and Knight of the Nine ? you can join a new guild in the second one.

[Ameena]

Yep, I have the GotY edition of both Morrowind and Oblivion. Shivering Isles was pretty cool...I love the butterfly thing when you first enter Sheogorath's realm, just after you meet Haskill for the first time. And the final battle in the Oblivion main quest was pretty cool too.
I stil prefer Morrowind, though .

[tzoneman]

Yep, I have the GotY edition of both Morrowind and Oblivion. Shivering Isles was pretty cool...I love the butterfly thing when you first enter Sheogorath's realm, just after you meet Haskill for the first time. And the final battle in the Oblivion main quest was pretty cool too.
I stil prefer Morrowind, though .

yeah, i hear, morrowind was pretty cool. i got a lot of gameplay out of it, but sometimes, it felt... well, a bit clunky for me. perhaps, it was because my memories of the first two were so buggy and terrible to play, that when it came to morrowind, i had preconceived ideas that i likely wouldn't like it. i did play the heck out of it though, and dug 'some' of it.

but then, when oblivion came out, i basically bought a 360 to be able to play it. i was totally enthralled with it just because it was so much graphically better than... well, ANY other game out there. the caves and such have incredibly great lighting effects, and when it comes down to it, lighting is what can really shine a 3d game like these. i played both expansions, and just played the heck out of it, i basically finished every quest, joined every faction, did everything possible... and clocked in 340+ hours of gameplay. INCREDIBLE! i'm not sure why it's taking them so long to do the next elder scrolls game, because oblivion sold soooo well.

then, fallout 3 came out, and i was so thrilled that they used they exact same engine, and the graphics really rock. problem is, it isn't open-ended like oblivion, and i only clocked in like 125+ hours or so, and that's with finishing everything in the game.

anyways, then there's DUNGEON MASTER, the master of them all. i am a huge fan of oblivion, and can't wait til something new by bethesday comes out in the elder scrolls license. but deep in my heart, there's a warm place for the greatest memories of dplaying DM for the first time, some 22 years ago. damn, i'm old... heheh.

[Ameena]

I found there was more to do in Morrowind than Oblivion. You can join and complete more guilds with less repercussions. In Oblivion you have to worry about imfamy as well as fame, and if you have even one infamy point, you can't complete some quest or other (think it's part of the Knights of the Nine quest), and have to do a whole other quest to reset your Infamy to zero or something. The security skill got messed up in Oblivion too - all you need to do is get the Skeleton Key and your skill becomes entirely redundant as the pick never breaks. So I wasted a skill slot by giving myself Security as a major skill like I do in Morrowind, only to find it wasn't actually necessary. And you can't kill half the NPCs 'cause they're part of the Main Quest. Not that I would anyway, but I think I'd prefer the "You just killed an essential NPC - reload or you're fooked" message to just making them invulnerable. That's cheating .
I do agree that the graphics in Oblivion are fantastic, and i like the way bodies fall off cliffs and stuff...and blowing up skellies is fun when you're a much higher level than the skelly - their bones go flying everywhere and it's fantastic. But we all know that graphics don't make a game, don't we, or we wouldn't be here .

[tzoneman]

I found there was more to do in Morrowind than Oblivion. You can join and complete more guilds with less repercussions. In Oblivion you have to worry about imfamy as well as fame, and if you have even one infamy point, you can't complete some quest or other (think it's part of the Knights of the Nine quest), and have to do a whole other quest to reset your Infamy to zero or something. The security skill got messed up in Oblivion too - all you need to do is get the Skeleton Key and your skill becomes entirely redundant as the pick never breaks. So I wasted a skill slot by giving myself Security as a major skill like I do in Morrowind, only to find it wasn't actually necessary. And you can't kill half the NPCs 'cause they're part of the Main Quest. Not that I would anyway, but I think I'd prefer the "You just killed an essential NPC - reload or you're fooked" message to just making them invulnerable. That's cheating .
I do agree that the graphics in Oblivion are fantastic, and i like the way bodies fall off cliffs and stuff...and blowing up skellies is fun when you're a much higher level than the skelly - their bones go flying everywhere and it's fantastic. But we all know that graphics don't make a game, don't we, or we wouldn't be here .

Hey Ameena, all very good points, and I agree with you on the skeleton key, it sure made lock picking way too easy... but you can always lock-pick manually as well (I think;). And yeah, it's the Knights of the Nine quest that can get messed up if you're infamy is compromised. Some of the quest were pretty simple too, but I still really dug Oblivion. Being an artist myself though, I tend to allow my expectations for better artwork guide my interest a little more than I probably should; I should likely judge a game more by it's content and amount of possibilities, not just the eye-candy. HOWEVER;) when I first booted up Oblivion, I was like "Now THIS is a game!!! My first time in a crypt, I actually had gooseflesh and felt creeped out late at night with the lights out playing it. I played both expansions, and I sure wish they were get off their arshes and get onto the next one, or the next Elder Scrolls chapter.

Did you good folks play Fallout 3? Like it? Hate it? Wanna bake it? I totally dug it. I can remember screaming at some point when the zombie dudes had me by surprise in some crumbling building... man, total creeps ! HAHAHAH!!!!

[Ameena]

No, I've never played Fallout 3 (or indeed either of the other two...presumably the "3" in the title means there are two others preceding it anyway ), so I can't comment on that.
Ooh, have you ever played any of the Thief games? Now there's something with atmosphere to it. I didn't quite finish the second one but the other two I have. I actually played the third one first, on the XBox, then found the first two as a two-pack for a fiver somewhere so yoinked that . It's been described as an FPS, but in this case the "S" stands for "Sneaker" rather than "Shooter" - the idea is to creep around and take enemies out by stealth, not go charging in with weapons blazing. You have to sneak up behind them in the shadows and whack 'em with the blackjack and stuff. And there is one place in the third game that was bloody scary...I was reluctant to even enter it the second time I played, because I knew what was coming!

[Jan]

Did you good folks play Fallout 3?

I didn't (never liked the idea of 3D Fallout... always been a conservative guy), but my brother did and was rather disappointed. He said the graphics and gameplay and atmosphere and everything were great but the game was too short - actually, he finished it in a few days (whereas we spent months in F1 and 2).

[tzoneman]

I played Fallout 3 two times; the first, I played every single thing in the game, when I found areas to explore I totally explored them instead of marking them down for future exploration, I saved most of the main story for last, and dealt with NPC's etc like I was like Jesus, helping everyone in need, and gaining the top level of good karma - in this game, I clocked in something like 140+- hours. The Second time I played it, I explored only a few side missions, played it totally evil, killing merchants and everyone I could, finished the main story more directly - in this game, I clocked in something like 15 hours of gameplay. So, it depends on how you play it. But yeah, it's way shorter than Oblivion, however, but the first time I played it, I was totally engrossed (but then again, I dig the Oblivion engine, and FO3 uses the exact same one, cleaned up and improved of course). The story in FO3 is a full one, but, I never played the first two (which I hear are not 1st person perspective), so I have no way to compare. Like most games, it can get repetitive, and FO3 did at that, as well as Oblivion (in some respects), but it was well worth the 60 bucks - whereas, the majority of the games I play I rent, because, most games aren't worth 60 bucks.

ANYWHOM, cups of tea.. but granted, you are right when you say FO3 is too short; it just depends on HOW you play it. Still, I clocked in at 340+ hours with Oblivion (with both expansions), AND, most importantly, Oblivion was open-ended, which FO3 was not; that was a major bummer.

[Jan]

I'm changing my Avatar. I hope you'll like it.

Now, I should change my nickname. Is that possible? "Jan" doesn't sound much like a pirate name!

[Trantor]

Every Monkey Island after the first one didn't quite connect with me, so I'd say change your avatar to MI1-Guybrush.
I think changing the name is somehow possible - Joramun used to be Joramund. But only an admin will be able to tell you for sure, just PM Sophia or Beo or Gambit.

[Jan]

I like both MI1 and 2. I think I'll remain MI2 Guybrush for a while in order not to confuse things more than I already have. But thanks for your suggestion, I'll keep it in mind.

[Ameena]

Yeah, I liked the first MI better than the second one. I haven't played the third one but the fourth was okay...I liked Monkey Kombat. But it'll never beat the good old Insult Swordfighting .

[cowsmanaut]

Not sure I see why you need to change your name as that is most likley going to cause confusion more than a change of avatar which people do far more often...

[Jan]

OK, ignore me. I was just thinking that it doesn't sound like a pirate name... Moreover, some people (like Masterwuuf) think it's a girl's name (doh!). But forget it... at least for now.

[cowsmanaut]

that happens a lot with several users. Depending on the local naming convention. Jan in north america is commonly short for Janis, or Janet.. sometimes even January as some people like naming little girls after months (may, june, april, etc) These being girls names here.. Janne I've seen as a guys name from iceland, but it's also the name of Janne D'arc aka Joan of Arc. Just as Micheal is pronounced like Michelle in french. Michelle is a girls name in english. Heck, we even have the issue in DM. Wu Tse.. Son of heaven.. looks like a chick, but Son of heaven? cross dressing man? unisex title? bull dyke? and speaking of bulls.. Cows are female, yet I use it as part of my username. Cowsmanaut.. despite the MAN in the title.. people have still called me "her" too.

Point is, you never know until you ask, or otherwise observe through reading their posts if a user is male or female, and this can take a few mistakes to learn.

[Gambit37]

No disrespect to the ladies, but I assume everyone here is male until proven otherwise. This is based purely on the fact that this is a geek site and the ratio of girl geeks to guy geeks is very, very low.

As for Wu Tse:

The Empress of China from 624 to 705. Referred to as “Son of Heaven” because women were not officially recognised for the position of emperor at the time