third xanadu game

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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terri
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third xanadu game

#1 Post by terri » Thu Jun 02, 2011 11:21 pm

Also a BBC game.

This one is different. You start off needing to choose which objects to buy.

I'm stuck at the very beginning. Bought some things just to map the forest. Which I am having some difficulty doing.

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Re: third xanadu game

#2 Post by Alastair » Fri Jun 03, 2011 11:01 pm

Is this http://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C20 ... nture.html the game? (There's no solution this time so don't get your hopes up, I'm just trying to identify the right game.)

terri
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Re: third xanadu game

#3 Post by terri » Sat Jun 04, 2011 1:44 am

Yes, it is the Hopesoft game. Sorry. I should have mentioned that.

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Alex
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Re: third xanadu game

#4 Post by Alex » Sat Jun 04, 2011 5:41 am

I'm playing another game right now, but gave it a quick look. Apart from the locations of the objects being random unfortunately the exits in the mazes also are random. Did you find the pagoda in the clearing of the forest where you have to leave the treasures? You have to enter the caves below. I managed to find it but walking the same route afterwards didn't work. In the forest I only found an empty bottle which can be filled with water, a ring and some times silk and a silver bar but the locations where I found them changed every time. Don't like it very much because of the exits being random.

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Re: third xanadu game

#5 Post by terri » Sun Jun 05, 2011 4:26 am

Yes, the exits from the maze are random. Random is bad enough, but in a maze?

Yes, I got to the pagoda. I need to go DOWN there?

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Alex
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Re: third xanadu game

#6 Post by Alex » Sun Jun 05, 2011 9:41 pm

terri wrote:I got to the pagoda. I need to go DOWN there?
Yes, enter it and climb down into the caves below with your torch. You encounter a dragon and a lot more treasures. I didn't look any further from there on. I almost finished the game I'm playing. If you'll get stuck further on I'll try to give it another look, but this week unfortunately I don't have much time to play.

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Re: third xanadu game

#7 Post by terri » Wed Jun 08, 2011 2:23 am

While there are some random elements in the maze around the rill, the mazes inside and below the pagoda do not seem to be. At least most of the time.

A way can be found to unlock the grating (from below). That is one way to get out, but I managed to return via the cave.

When the dwarf appears, getting rid of the dwarf, is also randomly determined. Don't play the dulcimer.

Can't determine where to plant the bean. Beanstalks to me mean giants, so maybe the axe is good for something?

Saying what you found on the paper in the glade transfers the treasures to the magic room and vice versa. I suppose the purpose of this will be discovered later.

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Re: third xanadu game

#8 Post by terri » Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:50 pm

A little more progress.

Found where to plant the bean. Before you continue, you need to get oil.

Don't know if you can use the drawbridge, but there is another way into the castle.

You can deal with the giant with music.

You find a vampire bat, for which you probably need a clove of garlic, but I haven't found it.

Can't get past the rockfall, though I don't know if I have to.

When you get one spell, leave and return and you get another one.

The magician's room allows you to use the "transport" spell you alread have and transport treasures to (in this case) the glade. But probably not wise to do this until one first deals with the bat and the cockroach.

POISON seems to be a viable verb, but where is it? Maybe the mould?

Can't get past the cockroach to get the brooch. But if you kill it, you lose one of your one-time spells. You can kill the spider but I don't know what to do at the volcano.

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Re: third xanadu game

#9 Post by rsa » Mon Feb 04, 2013 1:26 pm

sounds like this game needs some more investigation. I have just added a screenshot will see how far i got with it last time i played it.

Mark

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Re: third xanadu game

#10 Post by rsa » Sat Jan 25, 2014 11:14 am

Hi, I have posted some (incomplete) maps to Gunness to add to the archive. Here are some excerpts. Has anyone completed this game ? The random factors are a bit annoying in this game. I have mapped the mazes, am hoping those maps make sense.

Image

Beneath the Pagoda:

Image

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Re: third xanadu game

#11 Post by ahope1 » Sun Jun 08, 2014 9:51 pm

Hi, all. I've been playing this one a bit, recently. It's tough! I've attached the map of all the locations I've found so far, but I don't know how to finish this game!
terri wrote:Yes, the exits from the maze are random. Random is bad enough, but in a maze?
It's not quite as bad as it seems. There are only four different locations in the Dense Forest maze, and you can usually find your way out by repeatedly going in the same direction.
terri wrote:When the dwarf appears, getting rid of the dwarf, is also randomly determined.
You can always kill the dwarf if you THROW AXE (assuming you've bought one!).
terri wrote:You find a vampire bat, for which you probably need a clove of garlic, but I haven't found it.
The clove of garlic is in the Dimly Lit Passage in the giant's castle (see map below) -- or at least it was last time I played. The clove may be one of those objects that are randomly distributed across the map each time you start a new game.
terri wrote:Can't get past the rockfall, though I don't know if I have to.
Me neither! No idea.
terri wrote:POISON seems to be a viable verb, but where is it? Maybe the mould?
The phial of poison is in the Witch's Kitchen, but I can't get it because as soon as I try to, the witch arrives and opens a trapdoor which always smashes the poison phial but drops you into the Crushing Walls room with the transporter phial intact, which, when you drink its contents, takes you to the Long Corridor. See attached map.
terri wrote:I don't know what to do at the volcano.
Nor do I! (But in ADVENT (a.k.a. Colossal Cave, a.k.a. Adventure) by Crowther and Woods, from which Xanadu draws a lot of inspiration, there is a similar room which is there just for scenery! Maybe the same applies to the Volcano room in Xanadu??!)

Another couple of questions:

1. What is the "bivalve opener" for? Presumably somewhere there is an oyster, as in ADVENT, but where??

2. Is it possible to get past the troll without paying him a treasure?

Here's my incomplete map: [EDIT: deleted. See updated map below.]
Last edited by ahope1 on Wed Jun 11, 2014 10:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: third xanadu game

#12 Post by ahope1 » Wed Jun 11, 2014 10:37 pm

Good news, Xanadu Adventure fans! I've been in touch with the author and the playtesters of this game, and although their memory of many of the details had understandably faded over time, they were still able to give me some useful hints -- e.g. the oyster that the bivalve tool opens is in the castle cellar, and the troll can be placated with postcards.

But bad news, Xanadu Adventure fans! I still can't finish the game. :(

There may be something wrong with the tape image of Xanadu that I'm using. (I got the tape image from the StairwayToHell archive.) Or there may actually be a bug in the game itself:
  • One time, I was sure I'd found and deposited all the treasures, and yet the game didn't move into the endgame phase (which I've never seen) -- it just left me wandering about aimlessly!
  • Another time, I couldn't find the bean that you need in order to grow the beanstalk and reach the giant's castle. The bean is one of those objects that seem to be randomly distributed across the map every time you start a new game, and on this occasion it might have been plonked down in a location that you can't get to without having acquired the bean first -- thus rendering the game unfinishable!
Of course, it's also possible that my map isn't quite right and that there are some really cunningly hidden locations I haven't found yet. (I wonder which explanation is most likely? :wink: )

I did also try to play the game in two-player ally-mode by myself (to try to overpower the random dragons that keep popping up), but the inventory management became utterly confusing. Plus, I ran out of torch batteries and couldn't buy any more because I hadn't yet found the extra money (another randomly distributed object), and so I fell in the dark and broke both my necks!

I hereby admit defeat. Xanadu has vanquished me. :cry:

I leave you with my updated map in case it helps a bolder and more persistent or methodical adventurer than I to complete their quest:

[EDIT: Xanadu Adventure has now been solved! See latest map and solution on the Xanadu Adventure page.]
Last edited by ahope1 on Mon Feb 02, 2015 5:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: third xanadu game

#13 Post by ahope1 » Fri Dec 12, 2014 8:09 pm

Astounding news, Xanadu Adventure fans!

XANADU HAS FALLEN!

Yes, I have managed to finish this unbelievably torturous game! All hail me!

Ahem.

I won't go on about it, er, but if you want some gory detail, have a look at the following thread on the Stardot forum, where I, posting as lurkio, managed to achieve victory with the essential help of user duikkie, whose hacking* skills must now surely pass into legend.

http://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/viewto ... 00#p100900

A walkthrough is on its way!

[EDIT: See latest map and solution on the Xanadu Adventure page.]

* I solved an unaltered copy of the game. The hacking was just to reveal a list of room descriptions, which revealed that before today I hadn't discovered four rooms in the main maze. Ruddy mazes.
Last edited by ahope1 on Mon Feb 02, 2015 5:45 pm, edited 4 times in total.

terri
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Re: third xanadu game

#14 Post by terri » Fri Dec 12, 2014 8:56 pm

Bravo!!! However you did it!!

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Re: third xanadu game

#15 Post by Gunness » Sat Dec 13, 2014 11:51 am

Kudos!

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