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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Alex
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#16 Post by Alex » Tue Oct 26, 2021 4:12 pm

243 points now. Aside from the gardener and manure problem (which is also connected to the purple sphere and the furry ball I think) there are two more problems I need to solve:

-How to get rid of the web. I think you need the flamethrower, but it's too hot and melts.
-How to remove the plug at the bottom of the lake. I think you might be able to do this with poker, but I couldn't.

If someone manages to solve these two problems please let me know.

Apart from the above I think I have solved all other puzzles. Strange is the zombie which doesn't do anything. And also why bother taking the stake from Dracula if you don't have to use it.

Anyway a very good game. Too bad it's bugged.

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#17 Post by Alex » Tue Oct 26, 2021 5:58 pm

I've uploaded my map. It isn't finished 100% because I don't know in which location you should obtain the manure, the purple cube (I guess that is the object the gardener gives you) and the second furry ball.

Will try to solve the above mentioned two problems (spiderweb and plug), but I'm out of ideas at the moment. I will also write some hints on how to solve the other puzzles.

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#18 Post by Alex » Tue Oct 26, 2021 7:01 pm

I've uploaded the hints of the puzzles I've solved.

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#19 Post by Alastair » Tue Oct 26, 2021 11:12 pm

Oddly enough I wasn't on this site at half-past-three in the morning (my time) so I've only just approved Uka's post. Alex and Strident, you may wish to go back and read that post.

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#20 Post by Strident » Tue Oct 26, 2021 11:56 pm

Alastair wrote:
Tue Oct 26, 2021 11:12 pm
Oddly enough I wasn't on this site at half-past-three in the morning (my time) so I've only just approved Uka's post.
Sleep is for the weak. ;) Thanks for sorting that out.

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#21 Post by Alex » Wed Oct 27, 2021 11:02 am

Uka wrote:
Tue Oct 26, 2021 4:32 am
Hi guys!
I am the person who reviewed "Catacombs" for Old-Games.ru, but was stuck with the spider, Dracula and the geyser :)
I have also half-mapped it, getting only 73 points out of 250. I attach my map, if it could be of any use for Alex to create the full one!

I also have a small fragment of walkthrough from Dorothy, but I am not sure it would be of much use. Still, she was able to get into the catacombs by ringing the bell several times, while I got there via the North Shore.

Alex, it would be great to see you walkthrough :)
And I would try to fix that bug then - there was a bug in "Witch Hunt" by the same author that was fixed by my friend from Total DOS Collection. However, that was a common programmer's error that prevented objects from fitting into the cauldron - it could be more difficult here if it would turn out there is a portion of code missing or something.
Hi,

As mentioned I have uploaded my map as well which contains all locations. Well I did not include location 64 (Hell) where you go when you are killed and location 1 and 3 are not used.

In the hints I've uploaded you can read what to do with Dracula and the geyser, but I'm still stuck on the spider. I think you need to use the flamethrower somehow.

Do you know how to remove the plug? I have some more ideas and will test them later this day.

The bug seems more complex but if it is too difficult to make the horse rider appear then maybe it is possible to just put the manure in some location. I don't know if the walkthrough by Dorothy indicates where in the catacombs the manure should be found exactly?

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#22 Post by Alex » Wed Oct 27, 2021 11:04 am

Alastair wrote:
Tue Oct 26, 2021 11:12 pm
Oddly enough I wasn't on this site at half-past-three in the morning (my time) so I've only just approved Uka's post.
It's a matter of setting the right priorities :lol: didn't you read the small printing at the bottom of your CASA contract ?

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#23 Post by Alex » Wed Oct 27, 2021 11:08 am

Uka wrote:
Tue Oct 26, 2021 4:32 am
Alex, it would be great to see you walkthrough :)
Apart from the hints, I did write a walkthrough if you like I can share it as well.

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#24 Post by Alex » Wed Oct 27, 2021 11:22 am

Uka wrote:
Tue Oct 26, 2021 4:32 am

I have also half-mapped it,
I looked a bit closer at your map and noticed you only mapped the catacombs once but it are two different mazes. One containing the ruby and the carafe and the other the exit to the palace. To travel between the mazes you need to understand the hint given in the engraving in the ancient room (see my hints). Also I noticed you didnt visit the castle yet (Swim at the shore to enter the lake and go east).

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#25 Post by Alex » Wed Oct 27, 2021 12:37 pm

Another strange thing. The game knows the "verb" xerqvt, maybe it is a magic word or something written on the stone slab, but I did not find any use for it.

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#26 Post by Uka » Wed Oct 27, 2021 1:56 pm

Alex wrote:
Wed Oct 27, 2021 11:02 am
As mentioned I have uploaded my map as well which contains all locations. Well I did not include location 64 (Hell) where you go when you are killed and location 1 and 3 are not used.
Yes, thanks! As you can see, I have posted my message before you were done with your map and hints.
I will now try to follow it and to get to all the other places - let's see if we would be able to figure out the way to get rid of the spider web and to locate the horse...

I did not visit the 'other' catacombs as the first thing I did was removing the rope, so I did not have the carafe and could not get rid of Dracula.
I have not been to the castle yet, and I have spent the coin to get across the Styx river... You said that we can get there the other way, but you have not yet removed that plug, right?

I also have some suspicions about the crystal wand - is it just the treasure, or maybe it could be used for something? That's what we did in "Forestland": the wand was one of the treasures there, but before putting it down we had to use it to create some magic, you know.

Dorothy's walkthrough is very short, she did not get to the castle etc. Here it is attached!
Attachments
Dorothy.zip
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#27 Post by Alex » Wed Oct 27, 2021 2:43 pm

Uka wrote:
Wed Oct 27, 2021 1:56 pm
You said that we can get there the other way, but you have not yet removed that plug, right?
No I have not been able to remove the plug, but I made the map before I started to play the game. To do this I hacked the DOSBox save states. That's why I also visited the "dried up lake" and the "throne room" and managed to solve the puzzles there. Problem is my old DOSBOX version (2012) stopped working yesterday. I can't save any longer the states (a reinstall didn't help). I'm afraid it has something to do with windows protections or something like that. I did install the latest version of DOSBox but unforunately the save state files have changed and they use a coded format now therefore you no longer can access the actual memory dump :( .
Uka wrote:
Wed Oct 27, 2021 1:56 pm
I also have some suspicions about the crystal wand - is it just the treasure, or maybe it could be used for something?
Coul be. Did you try it on the spiderweb?
Uka wrote:
Wed Oct 27, 2021 1:56 pm
Dorothy's walkthrough is very short, she did not get to the castle etc. Here it is attached!
I learned something there, I hadn't thought of taking the furry ball. The mother of the ball bites of your head if you kill the ball. Question is why should one bother to take away the furry ball?

Another question were can you use the stake? Why bother killing Dracula if you can't use it anywhere?

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#28 Post by Uka » Wed Oct 27, 2021 3:24 pm

Alex wrote:
Wed Oct 27, 2021 2:43 pm
Coul be. Did you try it on the spiderweb?
Yes, but it was of no use there. Still I think that there should be a way to ignite the web with the (no longer spent?) match somehow...
Alex wrote:
Wed Oct 27, 2021 2:43 pm
I learned something there, I hadn't thought of taking the furry ball. The mother of the ball bites of your head if you kill the ball. Question is why should one bother to take away the furry ball?
Well, I always took the furry ball, it is so cute :)
Although it does not let me take anything else after that, so getting rid of it is another riddle. As well as the use for the stake, yes (I could not take it so I have not tried it yet).

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#29 Post by Alex » Wed Oct 27, 2021 6:11 pm

I wanted to take the furry ball to the castle, but you can't swim while holding it. But you can CHUCK BALL over the railings to get rid of it.

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#30 Post by Uka » Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:02 pm

Alex wrote:
Wed Oct 27, 2021 11:08 am
Apart from the hints, I did write a walkthrough if you like I can share it as well.
OK, I have followed your map, thanks again :)
But I do not think there could be a real walkthrough yet, as we do not know how to get to Heaven, Geyser etc. without losing the coin - and how to get back from the Palace?

The game is indeed very complex as there are so many one-way passages! Like flooding the Crystal grotto, paying Charon etc.
So, the biggest riddles are:

1) Removing the plug. I tried sword, scissors, wand, poker, thumbscrews... Still, the game clearly says that maybe you would be able to pull the plug... Should I become stronger? Like eating something healthy, maybe vegetables from the garden??? The matchbox says there is a vacancy for the gardener's mate, but I did not find a way to talk with the gardener.

2) Removing the web. Yes, flamethrower indeed seems to be suitable just for that task, but how to use it? I tried many things, but could it be just finding a specific verb? Or maybe the flamethrower is not ready yet, and something else should be done with it besides clearing the nozzle?..

3) The horse rider bug (?). Alex, do you see something about that in your DOSBox memory save states, or do we know about it only from Dorothy? You see, in order to fix this bug, we have to know where, when and how the horse should appear... Maybe we have to feed it, for example?

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