Alastair wrote:Returning to the remastered BBC version; for the most part I've explored Part 2 Section A, in doing so I have discovered a bug. When taking the mountain pass, going east from the "slippery path among deep snow drifts" (where the avalanche occurs) should take you to the "pathway onto a grassy slope" (at least that's what it's called in the C64 version) instead I find that I return to "the foot of the cruel mountain Caradhras," in other words, the beginning rather than the end of the pass.
OK, we've finally had some time to make further progress. We've finished and mapped 2A now, and found the difference at the end of the pass over Caradhras that you mentioned. It's not a bug, though - as I speculated earlier, it's due to the splitting of part 2 into 2A & 2B. The pass loops back to the start because there is no way to reach the Dimrill Dale in part 2A of the BBC Micro version. The problem is if they had ended the part there then when you start part 2B it wouldn't make sense that you were starting in Moria and not the Dimrill Day, so instead the designers have restricted the first part so that you must finish by entering Moria. They made the same decision at the end of part 1A, cutting out the option to allow you to follow the highway all the way from the Shire to Bree and instead forcing you through Merry's house and under the hedge. Part 1B then starts in the old forest on the other side of the hedge.
We had a devil of a time starting in Moria in part 2B though, because of our current lack of save game functionality. In the end, we were forced to play as Frodo, as if you start it with another character there seems to be no way to get Frodo to light a match, as any commands are met with the response that it is too dark - even talking to other characters in the same location.
Without being able to load Gandalf in though, we've had to get past the Balrog by simply sneaking behind his back. Not quite as exciting as Tolkien's original version.
Sam.