xanadu cottage
Moderator: Alastair
xanadu cottage
This is an Alligata-published game. BBC - available at Stairway to hell.
It reminds me of another game some of us had played by the name escapes me. Maybe someone remembers. Maybe we never finished it...It had all these mazes... Everytime you returned there was a shortened description of the location.
Anyway this one is challenging. The mapping is time-consuming. The first part takes place around a cottage/forest/chasm. There are three objects to be found here. I found a use for two of them, but not the third.
Money (5 coins) is needed to get into the cave, but first you need a light source. Which I have not yet found.
Money is also needed once you are past a wall (broken bit). It this area there are lots of objects. Many can be used to map. Several objects are valuable, though, I have yet to understand the purpose of the game.
Money (1 coin) can get you into the dome.
Anyone wish to play along?
It reminds me of another game some of us had played by the name escapes me. Maybe someone remembers. Maybe we never finished it...It had all these mazes... Everytime you returned there was a shortened description of the location.
Anyway this one is challenging. The mapping is time-consuming. The first part takes place around a cottage/forest/chasm. There are three objects to be found here. I found a use for two of them, but not the third.
Money (5 coins) is needed to get into the cave, but first you need a light source. Which I have not yet found.
Money is also needed once you are past a wall (broken bit). It this area there are lots of objects. Many can be used to map. Several objects are valuable, though, I have yet to understand the purpose of the game.
Money (1 coin) can get you into the dome.
Anyone wish to play along?
Re: xanadu cottage
I gave it a fast look because unfortunately I don't have much time right now. Appears to be rather big with many mazes.
I assume you have to collect the valuable objects and store them in the cottage with the empty shelves at the start. You get 1 point for finding a valuable object and 4 more when you drop it inside the cottage. Can't imagine you have to collect 50 treasures though. Supppose you get some more points for other actions as well but didn't have the time to verify.
It's not that difficult. Enter the cave and read carefully what is said about a lamp.terri wrote:but first you need a light source. Which I have not yet found
I assume you have to collect the valuable objects and store them in the cottage with the empty shelves at the start. You get 1 point for finding a valuable object and 4 more when you drop it inside the cottage. Can't imagine you have to collect 50 treasures though. Supppose you get some more points for other actions as well but didn't have the time to verify.
Re: xanadu cottage
Sometimes I can go south past the wall but sometimes I get the message a wall blocks your way. Any idea?terri wrote:once you are past a wall (broken bit).
Re: xanadu cottage
Alex wrote:Sometimes I can go south past the wall but sometimes I get the message a wall blocks your way. Any idea?
Just figured this out myself.
Re: xanadu cottage
I'm stuck inside the cave. Seems the game is bugged. When you put a lot of objects into one location (at one point you have to) the game freezes because it can't display all the text at once. Or do you have to press some button I didn't find to scroll the text? I did make it to the other side of the ocean but couldn't take all the objects needed because of this.
Re: xanadu cottage
I did not have the problem with the wall that you had. Once it's been breached, it stays that way
The "frozen" screen happened to me as well, but it was after I crossed the ocean. Try hitting the right Shift key.
Don't worry if you need to drop everything but the one thing you need.
I am stuck on the other side, despite dealing with the sea sickness and having a way out.
The "frozen" screen happened to me as well, but it was after I crossed the ocean. Try hitting the right Shift key.
Don't worry if you need to drop everything but the one thing you need.
I am stuck on the other side, despite dealing with the sea sickness and having a way out.
Re: xanadu cottage
Thanks, now I can go on.terri wrote:Try hitting the right Shift key
I still have to find some of the treasures, but the biggest problem seems to return them all to the cottage because you can only visit some locations once and can take only a few things with you. I also don't know yet how to return to the cottage after I went across the ocean. Will keep trying.
Re: xanadu cottage
Just solved this.alex wrote:don't know yet how to return to the cottage after I went across the ocean
Last edited by Alex on Sat May 28, 2011 8:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: xanadu cottage
Did you find some way to carry more objects?
For instance from the dome you have to take the symphony, reel, pencil with notepad, dinghy, skates, aqualung, ticket and bracelet. I can't carry them all at once (I allready carry the bag) but I only have enough coins to enter the dome once. You can't leave something behind because you need all of this in other locations.
The 8 coins from the bag are needed for:
5 to enter the cave
1 to buy the drumstick
1 to buy the pills
1 to enter the dome
When I try to gamble in the dome I loose all my coins
Did you find some use for the rod?
For instance from the dome you have to take the symphony, reel, pencil with notepad, dinghy, skates, aqualung, ticket and bracelet. I can't carry them all at once (I allready carry the bag) but I only have enough coins to enter the dome once. You can't leave something behind because you need all of this in other locations.
The 8 coins from the bag are needed for:
5 to enter the cave
1 to buy the drumstick
1 to buy the pills
1 to enter the dome
When I try to gamble in the dome I loose all my coins
Did you find some use for the rod?
Re: xanadu cottage
Just solved this.Alex wrote:Did you find some use for the rod?
Re: xanadu cottage
I''l have to go now. Will try again tonight.
I found 16 treasures which are to be taken to the cottage. My problem is I can't manage to take them all there because you can only carry a few of them at once and a lot of places you can only visit once because you run out of money.
Seems I have to find one more treasure (When I add all the points I get for the treasures I've found I've 223 points). I suppose I need the detector to find this one somewhere but did't find the right spot (just have to try all 86 rooms I suppose
). Unfortunately after 5 turns the battery goes flat and you can't use the detector any longer.
I found 16 treasures which are to be taken to the cottage. My problem is I can't manage to take them all there because you can only carry a few of them at once and a lot of places you can only visit once because you run out of money.
Seems I have to find one more treasure (When I add all the points I get for the treasures I've found I've 223 points). I suppose I need the detector to find this one somewhere but did't find the right spot (just have to try all 86 rooms I suppose
Re: xanadu cottage
The "frozen" screen is part of the BBC OS, some thing that can be set known as "paged mode", activated by pressing CTRL+N (and deactivated with CTRL+O). If it's active press either shift key to scroll the screen.Alex wrote:I'm stuck inside the cave. Seems the game is bugged. When you put a lot of objects into one location (at one point you have to) the game freezes because it can't display all the text at once. Or do you have to press some button I didn't find to scroll the text? I did make it to the other side of the ocean but couldn't take all the objects needed because of this.
Re: xanadu cottage
Alex wrote:The "frozen" screen is part of the BBC OS, some thing that can be set known as "paged mode", activated by pressing CTRL+N (and deactivated with CTRL+O). If it's active press either shift key to scroll the screen.
Thanks for your explanation. I'm not very familiar with the bbc.
Re: xanadu cottage
You are far ahead of me.
I retrieved the same things from the dome that you did.
What did you do at the gong? I tried the drumstick, but that didn't work. Also the rod.
By now you have noticed that whatever you leave behind in the dome, gets returned to you when you leave.
Then I dropped what I had in the cottage - the phonograph, the bracelet, the film, the trumpet, the compass.
What did you take with you into the river?
And how did you use the dinghy? I have the pills.
Can you get me up to this point please, esp if you cannot go back.
I retrieved the same things from the dome that you did.
What did you do at the gong? I tried the drumstick, but that didn't work. Also the rod.
By now you have noticed that whatever you leave behind in the dome, gets returned to you when you leave.
Then I dropped what I had in the cottage - the phonograph, the bracelet, the film, the trumpet, the compass.
What did you take with you into the river?
And how did you use the dinghy? I have the pills.
Can you get me up to this point please, esp if you cannot go back.
Re: xanadu cottage
Actually I didn't know this. For some reason I never dropped something in the dome. Thanks, this helped me a bit further.Alex wrote:By now you have noticed that whatever you leave behind in the dome, gets returned to you when you leave.
You need the drumstick, but before you can use the gong you have to get it out of there. You need the notepad to do this. Because of the noise you can't say commands, but you can write them down.terri wrote:What did you do at the gong?
Did you solve the formula on the notepad? You''ll need the value of x later on
The dinghy, the symphony, the skates, the ticket, the pills and the ball. (I wanted to take the gong and the drumstick also but I couldn't because my hands were full)Alex wrote:What did you take with you into the river?
You have to eat the pills and wait one turn before you enter the sea else the pills won't work. You can use this turn to take the mahjong and then go east untill you reach the other shore.Alex wrote:And how did you use the dinghy? I have the pills.
I'm stuck now. I'm inside the banqueting hall. There is a huge table here. With me are:
mahjong
diamond
cake
banknote
ball
book
candlestick
detector
dulcimer
lamp
watch
painting
Somehow I need to get all of these things back to the forest. The first problem is I can't take all of the objects with me at once and besides this I don't know how to leave this place. I can do it with the gong and the drumstick but beacause of all the other objects I had to take with me I could not take them inside the cave. I hope you find a solution to this.
Maybe you have to use the word krieg somewhere you hear inside the cave. The game also knows the command change but I didn't find a use for it.
The only thing I can do for now is find out where to use the detector.
I did find an e-mail of the author. If we really get stuck I always can try asking him. Allthough he wrote it when he was 16 years old back in 1984 maybe he will remember.