Catacombs

Games for Spectrum, C64, Amstrad, Amiga, Apple ][ and the rest of the 8-bit and 16-bit platforms. Pleas for help, puzzles, bug reports etc.

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Strident
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Re: Catacombs

#91 Post by Strident » Tue Nov 23, 2021 10:23 am

Uka wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 9:28 am
But this topic used to be named "Catacombs/Cornucopia"?
It did. I've changed it. It'd be less confusing to have a separate thread for Cornucopia; this one is already a bit of a mammoth read. :)

I'm really impressed with how much of Catacombs has been solved. If the original PET game was as interesting as the remake then it's even more of a shame that it has been lost, and largely forgotten for so long.

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Alex
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#92 Post by Alex » Tue Nov 23, 2021 10:39 am

Uka wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:56 am
so if we can't even solve the fourth one, is it worth to try out the fifth? :)
Sure, why not. Let's crack it :lol: For now I'm playing another game but soon I'll will have some time.

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Alex
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Re: Catacombs

#93 Post by Alex » Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:41 am

Apart from the few problems that remain unsolved. Catacombs wasn't that hard and was actually quite fun to play. It reminded me of playing Horror Hotel (PC) also a long and complex, but solvable game.

If you really want to play a hard game you should try Demoniak (Amiga/Atari/PC) or The Galleon (c64).

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Strident
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#94 Post by Strident » Tue Nov 23, 2021 2:16 pm

Uka wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:56 am
Although I've heard that in 1991 Supersoft has re-published at least "Witch Hunt" with bugs cleaned and digitized sounds added - but that could be just a press-review version that was not released commercially.
Yeah, that's an odd one.

Sue Medley was reviewing the whole Classic Quests series, first in Syntax and then later in Red Herring, having paid over £20 for each of the games... which was definitely a rip-off in 1991 for what were, at the time, "ancient" adventures. She didn't think much of Goblin Towers and Forestland.

Witch Hunt, reviewed on page 29 of Red Herring issue 2, faired slightly better but the first two "PC" copies Sue had were bugged. It was only with the third copy that things started working. That was the "1991" version with added speech and sound effects.

I think the whole experience must've put her off the series for good as she never went on to cover Cornucopia or Catacombs.

Canalboy
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Re: Catacombs

#95 Post by Canalboy » Tue Nov 23, 2021 8:53 pm

Strident wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 8:23 am
Uka wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:56 am
Infocom games did have some clear endings, but that's not the case with all the others. Especially early games created by a single author, like all the five Classic Quests.
No, that isn't quite true. The Brian Cotton games *are* fairly unusual in not having at least some ending text. Canalboy is an expert on the very early mainframe adventures.

It's worth reading Jason Dyer's blog if you want to get an idea what other adventures at the time that Catacombs originally came out, were like: https://bluerenga.blog/all-the-adventures/.

(If people do start playing Cornucopia, it would be worth making a new thread for that.)
O
Slightly off topic but Jason, Russell Karlberg and myself spent many a happy and frustrating week on Warp which I managed to get from Dan Hallock in the States and put up on IFDB. Likewise John Laird's Hauntis worth a look. He is still around on email too.

Alastair
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Re: Catacombs

#96 Post by Alastair » Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:40 am

Alex, taken from your post in the Cornucopia thread.
These verbs are only in Catacombs:
defile
stamp
swim
wake
This would suggest that these verbs are important in Catacombs. Stamp and swim we know about but what of the other two?

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Alex
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Re: Catacombs

#97 Post by Alex » Wed Nov 24, 2021 8:21 am

I did make a small error there :oops: . Awake in Cornucopia isn't Awake, but wake. So there are only three verbs unique for Catacombs.

Yes, I had the same idea for the remaining three verbs. I didn't use defile yet.

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Uka
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Re: Catacombs

#98 Post by Uka » Wed Nov 24, 2021 10:21 am

Alastair wrote:
Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:40 am
Stamp and swim we know about but what of the other two?
I am not sure that "defile" is important. Yes, you can defile the altar, but that would only mean getting to hell = death. The good book warns us not to defile the holy altar, so could that be something you have to do? I doubt that. Maybe only a way to call the rider?..

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Alex
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Re: Catacombs

#99 Post by Alex » Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:28 pm

Well could be that the verb only has been added to have another way to die.

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