In yet another first for me, I've beaten Oscon, (mostly) mapped his fortress, and solved the fifth death snare. It only took 20 years--that's not too bad!
This is the most valuable segment of the wand yet, though I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't found it yet.
The first level is extremely evil. See below.
The second level proves that traps are quite effective in this version o BT2. There's a large anti-magic darkness zone with some unavoidable traps, and they often kicked my butt when I walked on them.
This is another case where the puzzle snare is virtually self contained. There's only one hint that I found in the entire tower that pertains to the snare.
The first three levels all have in common that you have to solve a puzzle to make the stairs appear. I don't like it. It really sucks to have to wander around a map all over again just to find the stairs once they appear. At least on levels two and three it's fairly easy to find the stairs quickly if you've got your sorcerer spell up. Moreover, on level one there's absolutely no hint that stairs might have appeared when they finally do.
Level three is an interesting case. In the north-east quarter it's very strange, with multiple portals leading up and down, one-way walls, and an inescapable, linked series of teleporters. The portals up actually work--you can use them instead of solving the puzzle and finding the stairs. That doesn't feel right. In the south-east quadrant, there's a large rectangular area that I never figure out how to enter. It contains at least one special that I detected, but I never found the way into the area. Perhaps that's where the stupid Zen master is hiding. I'll have to go back and do my damndest to get in there. Judging from my map, there's got to be a teleporter hidden somewhere on this level that leads into that area.
The final level, level four, is quite simple and doesn't take long to map. That's a nice relief from all the other levels in this dungeon. Oscon is lurking in his chamber behind a huge series of spell-point suckers, hoping that your spell-caster will be unable to kick his butt. To no avail. The game hilariously claims, "This will be the toughest battle of your lives." MEME. STTO. Done. Oscon is not only a total puss, he's also the keeper of an extremely valuable item.
The snare was fairly enjoyable, except for one requirement that's not actually clued or spelled out. Read the next paragraph for a spoiler skip it if you want to be mystified.
The three must line up in a specific order for the solution to work. In my case, I had to brute-force the solution by trying all combinations. The correct order looks like it might be possible to guess, though.
It's possible for this snare to be completely unsolvable and a total mystery if you haven't got experience with a certain child's game. It doesn't seem wise to make such assumptions as a puzzle designer. It reminds me of the baseball diamond puzzle in Zork II (although I've always felt the non-baseball-playing cultures whinged just a bit too much about it--I find the baseball diamond puzzle bizarre and senseless, and I used to play in Little League.)
The Grey Crypt is next. Sort of. I'm going to try one more time to finish mapping level three.
Ocson's Fortress no longer.
Ocson's Fortress no longer.
Death and drek? WTF?
Well, that was disappointing.
There was a door in the darkness leading into this zone that I had missed. It turned out to contain an annoying complex of one-way walls. The special was only a teleport out.
Incidentally, there's a bug in how this version of BT2 draws the dungeon display. Ahead and to the the player's left, it draws the walls/doors leading into the rooms your looking at, instead of the ones leading out. In this way, you see the wrong side of one-way walls when they appear on your left and in front of you.
I guess the stupid Zen master is elsewhere.
There was a door in the darkness leading into this zone that I had missed. It turned out to contain an annoying complex of one-way walls. The special was only a teleport out.
Incidentally, there's a bug in how this version of BT2 draws the dungeon display. Ahead and to the the player's left, it draws the walls/doors leading into the rooms your looking at, instead of the ones leading out. In this way, you see the wrong side of one-way walls when they appear on your left and in front of you.
I guess the stupid Zen master is elsewhere.
Death and drek? WTF?
