The definitive...
### ### ########### ############ ############
### ### ### ### ### ### ####
### ### ### ### ### ### ###
### ### ### ### ### ### ###
### ### ### ### ### ### ###
###### ########### ### ### ###
### ### ### ### ### ### ###
### ### ### ### ### ### ###
### ### ### ### ### ### ###
### ### ### ### ### ### ####
### ### ### ### ############ ###############
### ###
### ######################################################### FAQ
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Allen's definitive Kroz FAQ (v1.01)
Contents
I) About this FAQ
II) Basic Information about Kroz
III) How to get Kroz working on your system
IV) Gameplay
V) Object list
VI) Walkthroughs for individual games
A) Caverns
B) Dungeons
C) Kingdom I
D) Return (a.k.a. Shrine, a.k.a. Castle)
E) Temple (a.k.a. Valley)
F) Final Crusade
G) Lost Adventures
H) Kingdom II
VII) Interesting factoids
VIII) Other Kroz-styled games
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I) About this FAQ
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This FAQ is copyright (c) 2011 Christopher Allen. You may distribute this FAQ,
but please give me credit for any original information you publish elsewhere.
I decided to write this FAQ because it seems there isn't a good Kroz FAQ out
there. There are many different "FAQs" covering the history and game listing,
but none that cover the actual games themselves in depth.
This FAQ is game-focused. For the most part, the information that does not
relate to the actual Kroz games is not covered here.
Since there are many games in the Kroz series, I figured it would be better just
to cover the entire series at once, instead of writing individual FAQs, one for
each game. This FAQ will be a 100-page monster as a result, but given the
similarities across each episode, it helps just to have everything that needs
to be said in one place.
My contact info:
chris@chriskallen.com
http://www.chriskallen.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
II) Basic Information about Kroz
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Kroz games were created by Scott Miller, and developed by Apogee between the
years 1987 and 1991. That's all I'm going to say for now. If you want more
info on the background, look it up online. This FAQ covers the games.
Everything in Kroz is represented as an IBM-PC extended ASCII character. All
sound effects are monotone, PC speaker bleeps. The graphics and sound might
be primitive, but these features are actually some of the things that give the
Kroz series its characteristic charm.
It appears the original CREATION order of the Kroz games was this:
Caverns I
Dungeons I
Kingdom I
Return (a.k.a. Shrine, a.k.a. Castle)
Temple (a.k.a. Valley)
Final Crusade
Lost Adventures
Kingdom II, Caverns II, and Dungeons II
However, the SERIES order was later described as this:
(ORIGINAL TRILOGY)
Kingdom
Caverns
Dungeons
(SUPER KROZ TRILOGY)
Return (a.k.a. Shrine, a.k.a. Castle)
Temple (a.k.a. Valley)
Final Crusade
(LOST ADVENTURES)
Lost Adventures
If the ordering seems confusing, it's because it is. Don't beat yourself up
too much over the details. That's my job.
The Kroz games were built to run in 80-column CRT text mode for 8086-based
machines. This means that back in the early days of the IBM PC and clone
computers, you'd be hard-pressed to find a PC that didn't run Kroz.
BUT...
The timing!
Oh boy, the timing sucked. The game was written in such a way that the clock
did not throttle the frame rate. Even though Kroz is a real-time game (not
turn-based), it was implemented with the most primitive timing mechanism
imaginable, which is to say, your FOR...NEXT style loop. See the next section
for how to get Kroz working on your system.
Kroz is a keyboard-only game. No other peripherals are necessary.
You can download the entire Kroz series from a number of locations. The best
location is the 2009 Freeware release from 3dRealms, formerly Apogee:
http://www.3drealms.com/downloads.html
The organization has released all the Kroz games, plus the entire source code,
free of charge. The directory structure is a bit convoluted, given that they
figured it was easier just to zip up the whole tree and dump it on the public
than carefully catalog every file in every directory. So I'll make life a bit
easier and identify how to locate specific programs in the krozfree.zip file:
Original program distributables can be found here:
PATH CONTENTS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
readme.txt 3dRealms' comments
\1987 - Kingdom Of Kroz\* Kingdom of Kroz I
\1988 - Caverns of Kroz\* Caverns of Kroz I
\1989 - Castle of Kroz\* Castle of Kroz (Return)
\1988 - Dungeons of Kroz\* Dungeons of Kroz I
\1990 - Caverns of Kroz 2\* Caverns of Kroz 2
\1990 - Dungeons of Kroz 2\* Dungeons of Kroz 2
\1990 - Kingdom of Kroz 2\* Kingdom of Kroz 2
\1989 - Shrine of Kroz\* Shrine of Kroz (Return)
\1990 - Super Kroz Trilogy\1990 - Return to Kroz\* Return to Kroz
\1990 - Super Kroz Trilogy\1990 - Temple of Kroz\* Temple of Kroz
\1990 - Super Kroz Trilogy\1990 - The Final Crusade of Kroz\*
Final Crusade of Kroz
\1990 - The Lost Adventures of Kroz\lost.exe Lost Adventures of Kroz
\1990 - The Lost Adventures of Kroz\lostdemo.exe Lost Adventures DEMO
The differences between Kingdom I and Kingdom II are substantial, enough for
me to treat them as two separate episodes, but the differences across the
revisions of Caverns and Dungeons are not. This FAQ will discuss the games
Dungeons II and Caverns II; Dungeons I and Caverns I are not different enough
from their "II" variants to warrant more than a few notes.
Note that some versions of the programs, especially the 1990 ones and beyond,
would use code obfuscation. Many Apogee titles would utilize obfuscation.
I wouldn't recommend reverse-engineering these, especially since the source
is available!
The Pascal source tree is a bit harder to understand because backups and
revisions were often made. I'm not going to discuss every source file, but I
will pair up folders with the corresponding game.
PATH CONTENTS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
source\ADVKROZ\* Lost Adventures of Kroz with various
revisions, including the delay screen
introduced for the demo.
source\LOSTKROZ\* Lost Adventures of Kroz, full version.
MASTER2 is the most recent.
source\KROZTRLI\BACKUP\CAVERNS Caverns I, full version.
source\KROZTRLI\BACKUP\DUNGEONS Dungeons I, full version.
source\KROZTRLI\BACKUP\KINGDOM I Kingdom I, full version.
source\KROZTRLI\CAVERNS Caverns II, full version.
source\KROZTRLI\CAVERNST Caverns II, full version (dup).
source\KROZTRLI\SHAREWAR\DUNGEON Caverns II, shareware.
source\KROZTRLI\DUNGEON Dungeon II, full version.
source\KROZTRLI\DUNGEONT Dungeon II, full version (dup).
source\KROZTRLI\SHAREWAR\DUNGEON Dungeon II, shareware.
source\KROZTRLI\KINGDOM Kingdom II, full version.
source\KROZTRLI\KINGDOMT Kingdom II, full version (dup).
source\KROZTRLI\SHAREWAR\DUNGEON Kingdom II, shareware.
source\SUPERKZ\FINAL Final Crusade, full version.
source\SUPERKZ\FINAL1 Final Crusade, full version (dup).
source\SUPERKZ\RETURN Return to Kroz, full version.
source\SUPERKZ\RETURN1 Return to Kroz, full version (dup).
source\SUPERKZ\TEMPLE Temple of Kroz, full version.
source\SUPERKZ\TEMPLE1 Temple of Kroz, full version (dup).
This is good a place to say it as any: Thanks very much for releasing this,
3dRealms!
While there are a number of development tools in the source tree, nothing seems
to resemble plans or level designs for the cancelled project that was originally
planned by Apogee, known as "The Underground Empire of Kroz." Oh well.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
III) How to get Kroz working on your system
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please pay attention to this section!
A person's first impression of Kroz largely depends on the speed at which the
person originally tried to run Kroz. That means younger gamers more or less
will hate Kroz if they don't know what to expect. Please read carefully!
If you want, you can see if your operating system gives you the option to run
the 16-bit application in its own emulator. But the only way to do Kroz justice
is to run it from DosBox.
Before running Kroz, you should slow DosBox down to the desired number of
cycles. I can't tell you for sure what the ideal number of cycles is, for two
reasons:
1) CPU base speeds will vary. Ctrl+F11 and Ctrl+F12 modify the cycles, and you
should find the best speed for your computer.
2) It's difficult to know for sure what speed is ideal for Kroz. Unless you
have an actual XT or PCjr around somewhere, the run speed is subjective.
I suggest slowing the speed WAY down using Ctrl+F11. If you have thousands of
cycles showing in the DosBox title bar, you need to aim much lower, like in the
hundreds.
How do you know which is the right speed? There are three ways to tell...
1) Sound effects. If sounds are washed-out, too high-pitched or completely
inaudible, the game is running too fast. But if they are drawn-out and
time-consuming, it isn't necessarily wrong--this is an 8086 application we're
talking about here!
2) Monster movement rate. If the monsters move a million times faster when
you're standing still as opposed to when you're moving, the game is running
too fast. If the standing-still rate is comparable to the moving rate,
the game is running normally.
3) Patience. People had a lot more patience back in the day, so they allowed
games to run slower. You might not like waiting, so a faster speed might be
something you want.
It is a common misconception that Kroz games are supposed to be horribly
difficult because you have no time to make decisions when standing still.
This was not originally the idea behind Kroz, especially when considering
how much it was designed to resemble Rogue, which was turn-based.
Any slowdowns that do occur during the game happen for two reasons:
1) Updating screen data takes time on older computers, which throttles the
overall speed.
2) Sound effects are played in foreground. While sound is playing, nothing
else can occur. On a slow computer, this also throttles the overall speed.
Also: the fast/slow CPU setting present in many of the Kroz games does NOT
make as big a difference as slowing down the emulation speed. The fast/slow
setting only modifies a few internal counters. Fine for an 80286; crap for
every computer beyond that.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV) Gameplay
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction
The first thing you see when you run a Kroz game is typically a request for
color/monochrome monitor selection (only color makes sense), a speed selection
request (you probably want to select the fast computer setting), and a
difficulty level selection request (Novice, Experienced, or Advanced). After
you make your selections, you proceed to the main menu.
Depending on the episode, you might be able to invoke a "SECRET" difficulty
selection, which will be either "X" or "!" instead of "N," "E,", or "A." This
cheat might be helpful if you only want to tour Kroz and not actually play it
like a hardcore gamer would.
Difficulty settings affect only a handful of measurements. Chest contents,
gem pouch contents, reveal gem scroll contents, and starting inventory items
are the usual spectrum of quantities impacted.
The only menu option you probably care about is the first one, which begins your
adventure into Kroz. If you want to load a saved game, you must first begin
a new adventure, then use the in-game restore command to load your game.
Note that earlier games had fewer options. Before you had Kingdom II, Caverns
II, and Dungeons II, which were the revised games of the original trilogy, you
didn't have a speed control setting. Only one savegame slot, too.
Most episodes throw you into the thick of things right away. Items, monsters,
and dangers everywhere. The earlier episodes didn't have automatic pause on
level start, too, so watch out if you're playing Kingdom I.
Controls
You move by using the arrow keys. Like many other Apogee titles, you can move
diagonally with the Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys. It is important
to note that Kroz is a game for which you MUST be able to move diagonally!
Most episodes cannot be finished unless you do.
For people using laptops, a PCjr keyboard, or any other type of interface that
lacks a standard numpad/arrow pad conducive to 8-directional arrow key
configuration, Kroz offers an alternate key configuration. This is as follows:
U: Up-left
I: Up
O: Up-right
J: Left
L: Right
N: Down-left
M: Down
,: Down-right
During the game, there are two non-movement action keys:
W: Whip
T: Teleport
Both of these actions use up one unit of inventory (a whip or a teleport
scroll). If you run out of one of these, that's it. You can't whip or
teleport. We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused.
Incidentally, it is pretty inconvenient not to be able to attack if you run
out of whips or escape from traps if you run out of teleports. One major part
of Kroz games is keeping a budget of inventory: use whips and teleports only
when you have to, and find the most optimal way to collect them without taking
too much damage or wasting too many to get to the destination.
There are other commands you can invoke in the game:
P: Pause game (any other key unpauses)
S: Save game
R: Restore game
Q: Quit game
Esc: Quit game
+: Reset found-item text descriptions
-: Inhibit found-item text descriptions
(: Spawn level-skip stairs (Only if SECRET mode selected)
): Give extra items (Only if SECRET mode selected)
Savegames
Note that the revised trilogy, as well as Lost Adventures, gives you a choice
of three savegame slots when you try to save or restore (A, B, or C). For
the rest, you have only one.
Unfortunately, Kroz is one of those games where savegames are very, very
important. It is impossible to know in many cases if you've accumulated enough
in your inventory to play the next level. This means your savegame might
mean nothing if you had saved the game with a poor inventory. Use all 3 slots
if you have them, and be wary about saving if you only have 1 slot.
It is possible to "savescum" in Kroz. There is no penalty for saving and
reloading a level; the score and inventory always reset to the level start
values upon a restore. This means you can restore progress to maximize your
"profits" out of any one level, provided your patience has no limit.
Gems and Monsters
You use gems to keep yourself alive. S3JasonU had quite correctly criticized
the fact that "gems are health" in his YouTube video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHwlNAFXpIw
Indeed, you need to collect as many gems as possible, because almost everything
in Kroz wants to take them away. If you lose all your gems, you die. In some
far-off world, I'm sure it makes perfect sense.
There are three ways to get gems:
1) Single units (diamond-shape characters)
2) Chests (between 2 and 9; shaped like red/gold C characters)
3) Gem pouches (between 11 and 25 depending on episode; these are disguised
as question marks "?")
There are many ways to lose gems:
1) Enemy contact (red=1 gem, green=2 gems, blue=3 gems)
2) Lava contact (10 gems)
3) High voltage electric wall contact (1 gem; do not confuse with border walls)
4) Collect gem eraser (3 gems)
5) Let statues bleed you dry (continuous)
The enemies come in 3 varieties: red, green, and blue. On occasion they
will appear as different characters, but their behavior is fairly consistent
across episodes: they track you using simple rectilinear/45-diagalinear
transitions, and don't try to maneuver around anything in their way.
The gems you lose also reflects the kill point value for the enemy. Think of
gems as a multiplier of sorts: red is worth 10, green is worth 20, and blue
is worth 30.
You get points for killing an enemy directly, like a whip strike (doesn't hurt)
or by walking into the enemy (does hurt). In episodes that have boulders, you
can also push boulders to kill enemies and get points. Bombs and spears can
also be used to eliminate enemies.
Most episodes give these points if the enemy crashes into a breakable wall.
Breakable-wall kills are a very important part of Kroz, since you don't need
to expend inventory items to kill enemies this way. In some episodes, you
don't get points for breakable-wall kills.
If an enemy moves into you, you get no points (just lost gems).
Because the enemies in Kroz games are so numerous, you won't be able to fight
them all off. Your strategy must reflect your limited means. Whips should
only be used to break walls or tight clusters of enemies, and you should try
to circumvent enemies whenever possible.
Teleporting
Teleports can help to get to otherwise inaccessible places. Since teleport
scrolls are rare, use them wisely. They tend to be most useful when you are
trapped.
There are also teleport traps, which may or may not be visible on the floor.
If you touch one, it acts like a teleport scroll, but takes 50 points away.
Some levels don't allow you to teleport ahead. It is rare for the later Kroz
games in the series to allow you to skip complex puzzles by teleporting.
Progress
The objective of any level in Kroz is to go down the stairs to the next lower
level, a staple for most dungeon-crawlers.
Some doors are locked and require you to locate keys before proceeding.
You can save keys from earlier in the game to help bypass difficult parts
of later levels in some episodes.
There are many different types of objects in the game. Kroz games let you
know what an object does if you've never touched it before during the game,
so the function of nonsensical characters is always made apparent.
Each Kroz episode has a quest artifact. You will need to travel to the very
bottom floor of the episode to reach it. Along the way, there are occasionally
other artifacts, and most of them are decoys. The -REAL- artifacts are always
very difficult to get to.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
V) Object list
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are a LOT of object and terrain types in Kroz games. As the series
progressed, more were implemented. This section discusses the objects in the
order they were introduced in the series.
Kroz games like to randomly disguise some objects as question marks. Some items
will be disguised based on a certain probability, while others will ALWAYS be
disguised. This will complicate your ability to decide if an item is worth
getting or not.
OBJECT: The player
METADATA: P (usually)
APPEARANCE: Yellow smiley face (yellow wireframe on red BG in earlier episodes)
This is you. Great graphical representation, huh? You can move, whip,
teleport, and hopefully do all that without dying.
OBJECT: Red enemy
APPEARANCE: Red "A" with umlaut; various other appearances
METADATA: 1
POINT VALUE: 10
The level-1 enemy is the slowest in the game, and takes off one gem on contact
with you.
OBJECT: Green enemy
APPEARANCE: Green "O" with umlaut; various other appearances
METADATA: 2
POINT VALUE: 20
The level-2 enemy moves at medium speed, and takes off two gems on contact
with you.
OBJECT: Blue enemy
APPEARANCE: Blue omega; various other appearances
METADATA: 3
POINT VALUE: 30
The level-3 enemy moves fast, and takes off three gems on contact with you.
OBJECT: Breakable wall
APPEARANCE: Brown porous block
METADATA: X
POINT VALUE: -20 on contact
Breakable walls can be destroyed by whips, bombs, or enemies that ram into
them.
OBJECT: Whip
APPEARANCE: White hook
METADATA: W
POINT VALUE: 10
Whips can be picked up and used to destroy enemies, breakable blocks,
boulders, and various other items.
It only takes one whip to destroy most objects. For breakable blocks, ease
of destruction depends on how many power rings you have picked up. For
boulders and statues, it normally takes many whip swings, although power rings
can help.
Once a whip is expended, it can't be re-used.
Enemies destroy whips if they walk over them!
OBJECT: Stairs
APPEARANCE: Gray box with three flashing black lines
METADATA: L
POINT VALUE: Varies by episode; either 50 * Level Number or 10 * Level Number
This is the destination of a typical level. There might be one or more stairs
where you can descend to the next level, but they all lead to the same place,
one level down.
Earlier Kroz episodes made enemies climb down (or fall down?) stairs if they
came across them. For the later episodes, they just ignore stairs.
OBJECT: Chest
APPEARANCE: Red box with gold "C"
METADATA: C
POINT VALUE: Varies by episode; either 500 (earlier) or 50 (later)
A chest gives gems, whips, and teleports. Only the earlier Kroz episodes
had teleports inside the chests, and you never got more than 1 or 2 in such
cases. The revised original trilogy removed them from chests.
You always get 2-3 whips from a chest.
The scheme for awarding gems upon contact with a chest depends on difficulty
level. For Novice, the range is 2-9 gems. For Experienced, it's 2-6. For
Advanced, it's 2-3. If you use the cheat code, it's actually 2-10.
This is a good time as any to address how Kroz handles difficulty in a
mathematical sense. Think of each difficulty level having a specific value
for which calculations are performed, as follows:
Cheat code: Diff=9
Novice: Diff=8
Experienced: Diff=5
Advanced: Diff=2
Enemies destroy chests if they walk over them!
OBJECT: Slow time spell
APPEARANCE: Light blue hourglass
METADATA: S
POINT VALUE: 10
When picked up, enemies will drastically reduce their movement rate for a
brief period. Note that the duration of the period depends on both the Kroz
episode and the fast/slow CPU setting.
If you want to, you can whip these out of the way.
The spell slows all enemies down to the same rate equally. However, the
spell does not take effect right away. The counters for bulk enemy movement
are simply reset to longer durations after the next movement event occurs.
Enemies destroy spells if they walk over them!
OBJECT: Gem
APPEARANCE: Diamond, various colors
METADATA: +
POINT VALUE: 10
Not much to say. A gem is a gem.
Enemies destroy gems if they walk over them!
OBJECT: Blindness potion / Invisibility Ring
APPEARANCE: Green upside-down exclamation point or circle
METADATA: I
POINT VALUE: Varies by episode; either 250 (earlier) or 100 (later)
When picked up, a potion/ring turns the player invisible. This doesn't
adversely affect the player, but it will make navigation harder. If you are
around lots of enemies, lava, or pits, it might be dangerous if you can't
see yourself. If you need to, you can whip these out of the way.
The duration of the invisibility period depends on both the Kroz episode and
the fast/slow CPU setting.
Enemies can still find you if you are invisible.
Enemies destroy potions/rings if they walk over them!
OBJECT: Teleport scroll
APPEARANCE: Purple arrow pointing up
METADATA: T
POINT VALUE: varies by episode; either 20 (earlier) or 10 (later).
Teleport scrolls can be picked up and used to transport the player to a random
location in the level. You can only teleport to an empty space. Many levels
will only let you teleport to spaces that you have traversed using some other
means than teleportation.
Despite their convenience, teleports should be saved at all costs. Use when
trapped or when you're in some similarly desperate situation.
Enemies destroy teleports if they walk over them!
OBJECT: Key
APPEARANCE: Red lowercase "I" with caret
METADATA: K
POINT VALUE: 0
Keys can be used to open doors. This makes them probably the most important
inventory item you'll ever come across. Once a key is used on a door, it
disappears from inventory and can't be used again.
Enemies destroy keys if they walk over them, and this proves to be a serious
problem when it comes to beating some levels. In many cases, you will need
to carefully plan your movements in such a manner that monsters will not
overrun keys before you can pick them up.
OBJECT: Door
APPEARANCE: Purple block with small hole
METADATA: D
POINT VALUE: 20
Doors are pretty straightforward. You can pass through a door only if you
have a key, and monsters can't pass through them at all.
Bombs destroy doors. Keep an eye out for bombs that might be able to blast
a passage open. This is an important key-saving tactic.
OBJECT: Solid wall
APPEARANCE: Brown solid block
METADATA: #
POINT VALUE: -20
Solid walls block everything: you, enemies, etc.
OBJECT: Speed time spell
APPEARANCE: Light blue theta
METADATA: F
POINT VALUE: varies by episode; either 50 (earlier) or 20 (later).
When picked up, enemies will drastically increase their movement rate for a
brief period. Note that the duration of the period depends on both the Kroz
episode and the fast/slow CPU setting. If you need to, you can whip these
out of the way.
The spell speeds up all enemies to the same rate equally. However, the spell
does not take effect right away. The counters for bulk enemy movement are
simply reset to shorter durations after the next movement event occurs.
Enemies destroy spells if they walk over them!
OBJECT: Teleport trap
APPEARANCE: Gray dot
METADATA: .
POINT VALUE: -50
A teleport trap has the same effect as a teleport scroll: you will be
transported to a random location in the level. Once a trap has been activated,
it disappears from the level. If you need to, you can whip these out of the
way.
Enemies destroy traps if they walk over them. This can be useful at times,
because expending whips (or just walking into each trap) can be exhausting if
you don't use enemies to help you "clear" the traps away.
OBJECT: River (water)
APPEARANCE: Blue block with similarity symbol
METADATA: R
POINT VALUE: -20
Water is a barrier, much like a solid wall. Some item effects are not stopped
by water, like spears.
OBJECT: Power ring
APPEARANCE: White ring or blue smiley face
METADATA: Q
POINT VALUE: 50 or 20
A power ring increases the player's whip power for the rest of the game.
Multiple rings gradually build up the whip to increased handiness.
The whip starts out with a virtual power of 2. Each power ring increases the
power by 1. The probability-to-destroy calculations for breakable objects
will change based on this power:
To destroy breakable walls: WhipPower / 7
To destroy boulders: WhipPower / 25
To destroy statues: WhipPower / 50
To destroy everything else: 1 / 1
This means that 5 collected rings will make the whip a 100%-destruction
machine for breakable walls. For the harder objects, though, the returns
diminish for additional rings collected.
Enemies destroy rings if they walk over them--you might need to hurry to get
the rings before the enemies do!
OBJECT: Forest
APPEARANCE: Light green block
METADATA: /
POINT VALUE: -20
Forest terrain is like a super-weak breakable wall. In most Kroz episodes,
it can be destroyed with a single whip strike. In earlier Kroz episodes,
forest terrain is not weaker--it has the same strength as breakable walls.
Enemies do not suicide into forest terrain--it merely stops their progress.
OBJECT: Tree
APPEARANCE: Green and brown club symbol or yellow-green hatched pattern
METADATA: \
POINT VALUE: -20
A tree is functionally similar to a breakable wall, with two exceptions:
1) Enemies do not suicide into trees; they merely stop.
2) Bombs do not destroy trees.
OBJECT: Magic Bomb
APPEARANCE: White yen symbol
METADATA: B
POINT VALUE: 0
Bombs are very useful in Kroz. They eliminate a squared-off region of enemies
and certain types of terrains 9 spaces wide and 9 spaces down, centered about
the bomb. For enemies killed this way, the standard point value of the enemy
is given.
A bomb blast does not radiate outward in a fashion that solid walls block the
blast from damaging things beyond the wall. The blast simply carves out a
rectangular region, ignoring things it can't destroy, and destroying the
things it can.
What the bomb destroys, exactly, will vary depending on episode. However,
there are a few consistent items:
Breakable walls
Forest terrain
Doors
Enemies
Moving walls (no points given)
Teleport traps
Blindness potions
Speed/Slow/Freeze time spells
Power rings
Bonus letters
Obviously, care must be exercised not to destroy some items in the level that
the player wants to pick up. It is often worthwhile to measure how far the
blast would reach before activating a bomb.
OBJECT: Lava
APPEARANCE: Red glowing block, sometimes flashing
METADATA: V
POINT VALUE: varies by episode; either 1,000 (earlier) or 250 (later).
Lava acts as a barrier to you and enemies, although not an insurmountable one.
Lava is frequently your worst enemy in Kroz games. Contact with it gives you
lots of points, but it takes 10 gems away.
Despite this profoundly negative consequence, it is often beneficial to cross
lava. Some passages can only be reached by doing so, and some secret items can
be obtained as well.
OBJECT: Bottomless Pit
APPEARANCE: Dark gray hatched pattern
METADATA: =
POINT VALUE: Village idiot award
If lava is your worst enemy, a bottomless pit is your super-worst. Touch it
and you die. It's that simple.
Earlier Kroz games had a simple animation where the player shrinks to a small
dot before getting dashed to pieces at the bottom (the pit isn't really
bottomless, despite the message).
Later Kroz games featured an improved, hilarious animation that shows a
sideways profile of the player falling down into the pit, gradually accelerating
until the impact flattens the poor wretch to the height of an underscore.
This animation sequence is one of the most memorable humor points in the Kroz
series. Sadly, many of the online ports of Kroz games did not include this
sequence. Cheap and silly as it is, it has staying power.
OBJECT: Quest artifact
APPEARANCE: Varies depending on episode
METADATA: A
POINT VALUE: Varies depending on episode (generally between 20,000 and 50,000)
Collect it and you win. Actually, you will need to go into a special green
passage after collecting the quest artifact, which will end the game.
The quest artifacts are as follows:
Kingdom I / Kingdom II / Caverns: Amulet of Kroz
Dungeons: Staff of Kroz
Return: Crown of Kroz
Temple: Holy Grail of Kroz
Final Crusade: Fountain of Youth
Lost Adventures: Sacred Tome of Kroz
In some episodes, additional decoy quest artifact objects will appear on
levels above the real one.
OBJECT: Electrified border fence
APPEARANCE: Colorful hatched pattern around the level perimeter
METADATA: None
POINT VALUE: -int(level number / 2) * 10
There is not much to say about the border fence, except that it keeps everything
enclosed within the level, including you. If you touch it, it deducts from your
score. However, unlike ordinary wall collisions, the point loss is much higher
as you descend further underground.
OBJECT: Text
APPEARANCE: Text
METADATA: Lowercase characters (usually)
POINT VALUE: -20
When a Kroz game generates a level, metadata that doesn't map to anything else
is treated as text. Text acts like a wall.
Some episodes let you destroy text with your whip. If text is destroyable,
it is easy to destroy: one whip strike.
You can whip text in Return, Temple, and Final Crusade. In many cases,
puzzles are laid out in such a fashion that you must use your whip on text.
The metadata used for text restricts what can be displayed as text. Lowercase
characters are converted into uppercase characters, meaning only uppercase
characters can be shown in a level.
As for punctuation, it was clear that Apogee was running out of characters to
use as metadata. The encodings for symbols like periods, exclamation
points, and commas did not at all resemble the actual ASCII characters
themselves, as they had already been taken for use with other objects. This
would have been one of the more tedious level design tasks for episodes like
Lost Adventures, which made heavy use of punctuation in the diary entries.
Other game-unmapped extended ASCII characters can be used as text, too.
^ CAVERNS limited to above objects ^
------------------------------------
v DUNGEONS has additional objects v
OBJECT: Tunnel
APPEARANCE: White upside-down "U"
METADATA: U
A tunnel acts as a teleporter with a specific set of possible destinations.
A tunnel blocks enemies; only you can use them.
If there are two tunnels on the level, the player always transports between
tunnels. If there are more than two tunnels on the level, the player will
transport randomly between every other tunnel on the level.
The exact square chosen by the game for the player's destination is also
random. This can get somewhat frustrating at times, because simply exiting
from the correct tunnel is not enough: you must also exit from the correct
side.
One curious property of tunnels is that it is not possible to exit the same
tunnel entered, while at the same time picking a different square to exit.
If all the other tunnels are blocked, the exit spot for the tunnel will always
be the entrance square, not any other square.
This means that some levels require the player to open the space surrounding
another tunnel, which then allows transport between tunnels, which then
(presumably) lets the player exit from the original tunnel on the other side.
There are only a few levels in the entire series that require this, but it
is absolutely necessary to do so in order to finish these levels.
Somewhat inconsistent across episodes is the selection of non-visible types
that block tunnel traversal. Activator and closeable wall types, for example,
may or may not block tunnel traversal. Empty spaces and stop spaces never
block tunnel traversal.
OBJECT: Freeze time spell
APPEARANCE: Light blue f
METADATA: Z
POINT VALUE: 20 or 10
When picked up, enemies will stop their movement rate for a brief period.
Note that the duration of the period depends on both the Kroz episode and the
fast/slow CPU setting.
If you want to, you can whip these out of the way.
Enemies destroy spells if they walk over them!
OBJECT: Golden nugget / Ancient artifact
APPEARANCE: Asterisk, various colors
METADATA: *
POINT VALUE: varies by episode; either 1,000 (earlier) or 500 (later).
This object just gives points and nothing else. They were named artifacts in
earlier episodes and golden nuggets in later episodes.
Enemies destroy nuggets if they walk over them!
OBJECT: Quake trap
APPEARANCE: Invisible
METADATA: E
A quake trap dumps at most 50 rubble pieces on the grid. Enemies and
collectable items can get crushed by the rubble. You, thankfully, cannot be.
The type of rubble depends on the episode. Most episodes dump breakable
walls, but later episodes dump boulders.
Kingdom of Kroz I is interesting in that there is a level that allows quake
traps to dump breakables over SOLID walls. This offers a rare opportunity
to use a quake trap in a beneficial way, as it can open passages to areas
that might have been otherwise difficult to get to.
Enemies will not traverse quake traps. This fact can be used to your
advantage, since an enemy can effectively "locate" a trap for you.
OBJECT: Invisible terrains
APPEARANCE: Invisible until touched
METADATA: ';' (breakable wall), ':' (solid wall), '`' (door)
POINT VALUE: 0
Invisible walls and doors can be some of the more frustrating components of
Kroz games, as they are invisible until touched. Touching them will reveal
the terrain, but this does not take points away unless the newly uncovered
terrain is touched again.
Bombs destroy invisible terrains. This is intuitive for doors and breakable
walls. In fact, invisible solids are destroyed too! This can be useful
at times, such as with "Invisimaze" in Dungeons.
Spears behave in a similarly strange fashion around invisible terrains.
If the terrain is invisible, the spear passes through, although it won't
remove the terrain entirely. But if the terrain is uncovered, the spear
stops. "Mystery Ramp" in Lost Adventures allows you to use this property
to your advantage.
Enemies will not cross invisible terrains, which can help to reveal them.
Ever the pinnacle of intelligence, an enemy will not suicide into an
invisible breakable wall, but it will PROMPTLY suicide the moment you
uncover the wall.
OBJECT: Stop space
APPEARANCE: Nothing to see (empty)
METADATA: -
This is just a special type of empty space. The player traverses it with
no trouble, but enemies cannot cross it unless you have already crossed it
or whipped it.
There are two uses of stop spaces:
1) Scripted enemy pursuits; enemies stay put until the player gets close.
2) Teleportation inhibitor; teleports will not go to these spaces unless
the player has traversed the space using some other means.
I have noted that these spaces have been laid out in a devious manner in
some sideways levels. This means there is an excellent probability that
a teleport early in the level will dump the player into a lava pit.
^ DUNGEONS limited to above objects ^
-------------------------------------
v KINGDOM I has additional objects v
OBJECT: Activator
APPEARANCE: Nothing to see (empty)
METADATA: various; "@" is most common
This type of empty space serves a similar function as a stop space. The space,
when the player traverses it, removes every other space of the same type in
the entire level.
This allows for many interesting scripting possibilities. Some levels have
monsters that chase the player based on the player entering a certain area.
Other levels have a remote-activated type of chase, with monsters that start
moving only when the player reaches a different area, far away. Additional
teleportation destinations can also be opened up this way.
As of Lost Adventures, there are a total of 12 activator types, representing
12 possible activations that could occur at various locations in the level.
Kingdom I only implemented one type.
^ KINGDOM I limited to above objects ^
--------------------------------------
v RETURN has additional objects v
OBJECT: Creature zap spell
APPEARANCE: Red filled arrow
METADATA: %
POINT VALUE: formula based on number of enemies killed (150 max)
This handy spell decimates the enemies on the level, selecting them randomly.
As many as 40 enemies are killed with a single spell.
Enemies destroy spells if they walk over them!
OBJECT: Creature creation trap
APPEARANCE: Yellow filled arrow, question mark, or invisible
METADATA: ]
POINT VALUE: Level number * 20
A bad spell, usually. It spawns as many as 45 red enemies at random locations
in the level. On the other hand, it gives a lot of points, especially at
higher levels.
Kroz games impose an upper spawn limit for red enemies. No more than 945 can
exist on a level via creation traps.
Enemies will not traverse creation traps. This fact can be used to your
advantage, since an enemy can effectively "locate" a trap for you.
It is possible to reveal a creation trap with your whip. Unfortunately, you
can't destroy them this way. If a creation trap blocks your path, you have
no choice but to step on it.
OBJECT: Creature generator
APPEARANCE: Yellow flashing spade
METADATA: G
POINT VALUE: 500
A creature generator operates in a passive fashion. For fast CPU setting,
each game tick iteration will spawn a new red enemy at a random location
given a 1/28 probability. For slow CPU setting, the probability is 1/17
every iteration.
Generators are worth a lot of points; a single whip strike destroys them.
However, they only stop generating once EVERY generator in the level is
destroyed. The generation rate is not affected by the number remaining
in the level.
OBJECT: Additional activator types
APPEARANCE: Nothing to see (empty)
METADATA: various, including "(" and ")"
Return to Kroz introduced two new activator types.
OBJECT: Moving wall
APPEARANCE: Brown porous block
METADATA: M
POINT VALUE: 10 (whipped); -20 (collision)
Moving walls are just as fast as green enemies, but they don't attack the
player. Instead, they just try to trap the player. Once they get near
the player, they simply stop.
In all other respects, a moving wall is functionally equivalent to an
ordinary breakable wall, except you get points for whipping it.
A moving wall is just as difficult to destroy as a breakable wall. Some
levels will require you to coax moving walls out of a passage that you
need to get through. Since monsters can suicide into moving walls, you
can engineer strategies to get these two disparate types to meet each
other. The enemy of my enemy is my friend!
OBJECT: Reveal gem scroll
APPEARANCE: Invisible
METADATA: &
This is a great find, if you can find one. This spawns gems at random
locations around the level. The number of gems spawned will depend on
the difficulty level. Generally, the maximum is 21 for Novice, 15 for
Experienced, and 9 for Advanced.
Kroz games tend to be first-class @$!holes about where these scrolls are
placed. It is common to find them blocked by quake traps or creation traps,
or just before you reach the exit stairs.
OBJECT: Tablet
APPEARANCE: Blue rectangle
METADATA: !
POINT VALUE: varies by episode; 1,000 or 2,500
Most of the time, a tablet contains just a message. However, Lost Adventures
allows tablets to perform a variety of magical change events over the entirety
of the level. Most tablets contain useful tips even if they don't contain
spells, so they are normally worth your while to read.
Enemies can step on tablets and crush them. Even boulders can crush them, if
you're not careful with how you push boulders.
OBJECT: Explodable wall
APPEARANCE: Brown porous block
METADATA: O
POINT VALUE: 10 (whipped); -20 (collision)
This is just a variant of a breakable wall. Once an exploding wall spell is
triggered, all of these walls disappear from the level. This is normally done
as a way to reveal secret areas.
Interestingly enough, this wall gives points when whipped.
OBJECT: Exploding wall spell
APPEARANCE: Invisible
METADATA: H
This spell triggers exploding walls (see above object). A level normally has
some sort of clue as to where such a spell is located, since you cannot see
these spells. In some cases, you just need to be a good guesser.
OBJECT: Pouch of gems
APPEARANCE: Question mark
METADATA: ?
POINT VALUE: 1,000
A pouch full of gems is a great find, even better than a reveal gem scroll,
because you get the gems right away.
In most episodes, you get 25 gems. In Lost Adventures, you will get fewer:
Novice skill gives 13-20, Experienced, 13-17, and Advanced, 13-14.
Many levels in Kroz make a kind of "Russian Roulette" game out of these objects
by placing a handful of these around a whole bunch of creature creation traps,
which look identical. Of course, it's the brave type of Russian Roulette,
because most of the cylinders have rounds in them. Lots of enemies is often
the price to pay for a pouch full of gems.
Whipping won't help much in discerning a pouch from a trap: the whip destroys
the pouch!
OBJECT: Statue
APPEARANCE: White flashing smiley face
METADATA: >
POINT VALUE: 100 (??!)
This object is a five-star @$!hole. There will never be more than one
statue in a level, but that one causes trouble beyond comprehension.
A statue operates in a passive manner, like a generator, but instead of
spawning enemies, it simply takes your gems away. Like that. Doesn't need to
be close. No limit on number. As long as it's there, it robs you.
Specifically, there is a probability of 1/18 that a statue will steal a gem
from you on any game tick iteration. You should be very motivated to either
leave the level pronto, or destroy that thing ASAP!
Statues are the toughest objects in Kroz. Unless you have powered up your
whip with rings, don't even bother fighting them. It takes a LOT of swings to
kill them, and there is no guarantee that you will have enough whips. To make
matters more insulting, killing them does not give that many points, either.
If you see a statue, be afraid. Be very afraid.
OBJECT: Wall vanish trap
APPEARANCE: Invisible
METADATA: N
Another annoying trap, although somewhat rare. If you step on it, as many
as 75 sections of the walls are made invisible. This makes it difficult to
navigate parts of the level, especially if the level layout is random.
These traps affect only brown solid walls and unmoving, non-exploding brown
breakable walls.
OBJECT: KROZ bonus letters
APPEARANCE: Gold letters K, R, O, and Z
METADATA: '<', '[', '|', '"'
POINT VALUE: 10,000 if collected in order
Many Apogee titles would yield bonuses from letters collected in order,
such as the first two Duke Nukem games. For Kroz games, take a wild guess
what word you must spell to get the bonus.
Bonus letters are destroyed shockingly easily. Watch where you bomb, launch
a spear, push a boulder, or let an enemy walk, because once the letters are
gone, they're gone.
You only get the bonus if the letters are collected in order. However, there
is a bug that lets you collect multiple bonuses on the same level. If you
have collected the bonus once, you need only collect the 'Z' letter again to
collect another bonus!
OBJECT: Openable walls and open spells
APPEARANCE: Solid walls; light blue pentagons
METADATA: '4', '5' and '6' (walls); 0xF1, 0xF2, and 0xF3 (spells)
Special solid walls can be scripted to open when a specific pentagon spell is
collected. As many as three separate open-wall events can be scripted in a
level. The first two openable wall types are brown; the third is gray.
Sometimes, just for color variety, the third openable wall type is placed
without any way to open it.
The pentagon spells themselves are normally visible, although they can be
hidden. In this respect, an open-wall event can be either good or bad:
it can let you access the stairs, or it could release monsters to attack.
Be careful where you push boulders; they can crush these spell.
OBJECT: Closeable walls and close spells
APPEARANCE: Invisible
METADATA: '7', '8' and '9' (walls); 0xF4, 0xF5, and 0xF6 (spells)
These walls and spells represent the open-wall system in reverse. When a
spell is activated, solid walls appear. As many as three separate close-wall
events can be scripted in a level.
The close-wall spells are always invisible. 99.9% of the time, they form traps,
which seal the player into certain areas. It is this context where teleport
scrolls come in very handy!
Close-wall spells can actually be useful in sideways levels, since they can
form walkways.
The closeable-wall tiles, before getting triggered, serve a number of
miscellaneous purposes, such as the following:
1) Blocking monsters permanently (no dissolve after player traversal)
2) Inhibiting teleportation permanently
3) Preventing tunnel traversal to certain spaces
4) Acting as a possible toggle point for blinking electrified walls
5) Acting as a change type for tablet-based effects
6) Preventing surround-spawn triggers from spawning objects in certain locations
Not all the closeable-wall types act in the same way. There are notable
differences across episodes what sort of miscellaneous functions each type of
closeable wall can perform.
OBJECT: Gray breakable wall
APPEARANCE: Gray porous block
METADATA: Y
POINT VALUE: 10 (whipped); -20 (collision)
This is a variant of a breakable wall, colored differently. Spells that affect
brown breakables don't always affect gray breakables.
Interestingly enough, this wall gives points when whipped.
----------------------------------------------
- TEMPLE has no new objects -
----------------------------------------------
^ RETURN and TEMPLE limited to above objects ^
----------------------------------------------
v FINAL CRUSADE has additional objects v
OBJECT: Boulder
APPEARANCE: Gray "O"
METADATA: 0 (zero)
POINT VALUE: 1,000
What puzzle game is complete without a pushable object? These boulders can be
moved by the player in 8 directions. They can destroy items and enemies
without endangering the player, and allow for many new strategic possibilities
to be used when playing Kroz.
A boulder is designed to be tough, but not indestructible. It takes many whip
swings to destroy a boulder, and most of the time, destroying them is not
necessary.
You can destroy boulders more easily if needed:
1) Push boulder into a bottomless pit.
2) Push boulder down the stairs.
3) Push boulder into a high-voltage electrified wall, which destroys both.
On some levels, boulders must be used to minimize damage from enemies, seal in
growing lava, or even form walkways.
Important note: pushing a boulder increases the movement rate of enemies by a
huge factor. Assuming it takes a long time to set a boulder into motion, that
makes sense: enemies will sneak up on you while you are occupied.
OBJECT: High-voltage electrified wall
APPEARANCE: Glowing red "X"
METADATA: ~
An electrified wall blocks the player and enemies. If the player touches one,
the player loses one gem. Contrast this to the border fence, which takes off
points instead.
It is possible to destroy these walls, unlike the border fence. By pushing a
boulder into the wall, the boulder is vaporized and the wall shorts out,
allowing passage. Some puzzle solutions depend on saving boulders until they
can be used to open a passage through electrified walls.
Counterintuitive as it seems, an electrified wall will NOT shock you into
oblivion if you stand on it in a sideways level. As long as you don't walk
directly INTO it, you're safe.
OBJECT: Additional activator type
APPEARANCE: Nothing to see (empty)
METADATA: $
Final Crusade of Kroz introduced a new activator type.
^ FINAL CRUSADE limited to above objects ^
------------------------------------------
v LOST ADVENTURES has additional objects v
OBJECT: Gem eraser
APPEARANCE: Yellow filled arrow, question mark, or invisible
METADATA: ]
This is the same object as a creature creation trap. Yes, the SAME object.
If you touch it, it takes 3 gems away unless your gem count is already below
10. It sucks, but there are worse things that happen to you in Kroz games.
The only way to encounter this object is to touch it in a sideways level.
Kroz games interpret creation traps as gem erasers when the level is sideways.
OBJECT: Surround-spawn trigger
APPEARANCE: Invisible
METADATA: ASCII 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, and 151
Surround-spawn triggers liven up the later Kroz games significantly. They
can act as item bonuses, traps, or puzzle-solving devices.
When a trigger is stepped on, as many as 8 of the spawned type will surround
the player. This nearly always comes as a surprise; expect the unexpected.
There are seven types of triggers, based on the type of item spawned:
Breakable blocks
Boulders
Gems
Blindness potions
Whips
Golden nuggets
Trees
Enemies destroy triggers if they walk over them. The spawned items from a
trigger also erase surrounding triggers, if they are nearby.
OBJECT: Rope
APPEARANCE: Long gray vertical line
METADATA: ASCII 179
Ropes allow you to move up in sideways levels. A sideways level imposes a
special gravity effect, which limits the player to the following movement:
1) Non-rope movement: sideways, downward, or diagonally downward only.
2) From-rope movement: any direction.
3) To-rope movement: any direction.
4) To-drop-rope movement: any direction.
5) The player gradually slides down if there is nothing solid underneath,
and if the player is not currently hanging on a rope.
Monsters cannot use ropes, and their movement is restricted in sideways
levels. They can only move left or right; they cannot move up or down.
OBJECT: Drop-rope chord
APPEARANCE: Gray arrow pointing down
METADATA: ASCII 185, 186, 187, 188, and 189
Drop-rope chords cause ropes to fall from other drop-rope chords of the
same type in the same level. Note that this doesn't apply to the chord
the player just pulled, which means the player must select the correct
chord to complete the level (usually the lowest one).
Drop-rope chords limit their drop range based on certain blocking types.
Normally this means walls, but other types like activators and closeable
wall types can also limit the range. You should take care to remove any
obstacles that might limit the drop range before pulling the chord, as the
puzzle solution might hinge on keeping the rope as long as possible.
OBJECT: Amulet of Yendor
APPEARANCE: Female symbol
METADATA: ASCII 131
POINT VALUE: 25,000
This artifact was put into level 26 of Lost Adventures as a joke. The
level in which it is found is a tribute to Rogue, which inspired Kroz.
OBJECT: Magic spear
APPEARANCE: Gray arrows pointing left or right
METADATA: ASCII 175 (right facing); ASCII 174 (left facing)
Magic spears fly in a straight line horizontally, eliminating many things
in their way. It is a good way to get rid of long lines of enemies, but it
risks destroying items as well.
Spears can pass through some types of terrains normally not traversable:
water, pits, and invisible walls.
Spears do not give points for enemies killed.
A spear leaves a dead-zone behind, consisting of stop spaces. I suppose it
makes sense that enemies would be scared to cross it after what had just
happened to their comrades!
OBJECT: Additional activator types
APPEARANCE: Nothing to see (empty)
METADATA: ASCII 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, and 231
Lost Adventures of Kroz introduced a whopping 8 new activator types.
Random level layouts do not support these additional types. This is not
necessary, of course, considering that a random level layout rarely needs
many, if any, activators.
OBJECT: Secret Message Tree
APPEARANCE: Same as ordinary tree
METADATA: ASCII 252
Lost Adventures of Kroz advertised a secret message. At various locations
in the game, you can touch the secret message tree and receive the message.
You can also destroy the tree and proceed no more enlightened than before.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VI) Walkthroughs for individual games
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you tally the levels found in the games discussed here, that works out to
40 + 30 + 25 + 25 + 20 + 20 + 25 + 75 = 260 levels!
For this reason, the FAQ will not cover every corner of every level, but rather
the highlights of each one and any subtleties worth a mention.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A) Caverns
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first Kroz adventure. And the hardest. If the emulation speed is too fast,
there is no way you'll ever beat Caverns. And even if it's set to a reasonable
speed, Caverns still manages to be a very, very difficult game.
If you actually have a mind to play Caverns I, chests play a much more important
role than in Caverns II: they can contain teleport scrolls. There are some
levels that are absurdly random in Caverns, especially level 14, because they
rely upon a series of lucky teleport destinations for you to finish.
If you are new to Kroz, you might want to consider skipping Caverns and moving
on to the next game in the series. Caverns is tough, ugly, and brutal.
ENEMY COMPACTION STRATEGY: A common strategy to use when large volumes of
monsters appear on the screen. In most cases, random level layouts with lots
of enemies will leave little room for you to maneuver without taking damage.
But if you skirt around the perimeter, enemies will gradually start packing
closer together, allowing you to outrun them (as long as you stick to the edges
of the screen). Since enemies are less likely to destroy items on the edges of
the screen, you can normally pick up goodies with minimal damage.
If the exit stairs are in the middle of the screen, though, enemy compaction
does not work to your benefit. You will have to dive straight through them
when it is time to exit the level.
If enemies have completely closed in, a teleport scroll is useful. With the
enemies packed in so tight, the teleport will normally take you to a place far
behind them, since teleports only go to empty spaces.
ZERO-SUM STRATEGY: Employ this when deciding if it's worth it to expend whips
to get items. There is a 2/7 probability that an unimproved whip will destroy
a breakable wall. However, if you need only destroy one of three adjacent
walls to proceed, the chance of a whip swing allowing you to progress is 3
times that: 6/7. If the direction of your progress will net you 1 whip or
more for every 1 whip expended, it's a good direction to go in. Otherwise,
it's more sensible to avoid blocked items.
WHIP-VERSUS-GEM STRATEGY: Should you use a whip or just take the damage from
enemies? When presented with this dilemma, take into account the following:
For narrow corridor of unavoidable enemies: red enemies take only one gem,
making it better to run through them. Green and blue enemies are better when
whipped, since they take more gems in one fell swoop than you would be able
to restock. But if you can restock with a comparable number of gems right
away, it might be worth running through solitary green or blue enemies.
For clusters of enemies: if there are 4 or more surrounding enemies, it's
usually better to whip them. The damage you take from 4 or more surrounding
enemies can be nasty. In the case of blue enemies, it's downright hideous.
------------
Starting out
------------
1) Collect items; dodge enemies; advance.
2) Whip IMMEDIATELY. Use your judgment about collecting the speed time spells;
you don't want to waste whips this early. Use the breakables as much as
possible to get rid of enemies and open routes to the teleport scrolls on the
right. Try to whip in such a way that you can get to the chest and whips on
the left with as few swings as possible.
3) Collect items; dodge enemies; advance.
4) Don't bother with the chests to your right. Go down and spiral towards the
middle of the level, running as much as possible. Don't waste whips on enemies.
Don't waste whips getting the chests in the middle of the level.
5) Don't stick around too long. Use the enemy compaction strategy.
6) Use the zero-sum strategy.
-------------
Into the turf
-------------
7) "Run for your life" sounds like a great idea. Grab the slow time spell and
do your best to ram the blue enemies into the breakable walls. For the blue
enemies at the bottom, stand at the very bottom of the screen to draw them out,
then ram them into the breakables. This gives access to the two chests at the
sides of the screen.
A lucky teleport can net you three chests in the enclosed area, but this is
very lucky indeed. Do not attempt.
8) Use the enemy compaction strategy. Do not whip the potions, because the
enemy movements will tell you where you are.
9) Use the same strategies as level 7. In this case, you will need to be a bit
more inventive when figuring out how to ram enemies into breakables.
The items in the lower right quadrant and upper left quadrant are worth
collecting. The treasure in the upper right quadrant may or may not be worth
it, depending on whether you want to expend a key. The treasure in the lower
left quadrant is definitely not worth getting. The power ring in the same
quadrant is a big risk to get, since you must expend a lot of whips. I do not
recommend getting it.
10) Kick back and enjoy the fireworks. Leave.
11) Let the blue enemies suicide while you manipulate the red ones. To do this,
wait for exactly one movement to the left by these red enemies, and then move
diagonally in a switchbacked fashion. If you pause at a bottom switchback,
the red enemies can't pursue you aligned as they are. Collect the items and
the key.
Teleport away, get the rest of the items in the level, and go through the bottom
locked door to leave the level.
------------
Pain central
------------
12) Get the items in the "island," moving as fast as possible. Teleport away.
Keep teleporting (preferably using the traps) to the right side of the screen.
Get the key. Advisable not to open the nearby door, but if you have a spare
key, go below the room to make the red enemies open a passage for you through
the breakables.
Teleport to the left side of the screen. Draw out the blue enemies from the
corner, then unlock the door and leave.
13) Use enemy compaction strategy. If you are very lucky, you can pick up an
extra key.
14) Save your game! Luck makes a big difference on this level. Use teleport
traps (and teleport scrolls, once you run out of traps) to teleport to the
right side of the screen. Get both keys, then teleport to the top part of the
screen if you haven't already. Get the top-of-the-screen key.
Teleport back to the entrance room. Collect the slow time spell, then move
through the red enemies (no whipping) to get the items and the door. For the
green enemies, use a combination of whips and movement depending on your
inventory. For blue enemies, use whips and waiting to snake around them to
get the stairs.
15) You can pick up a few items here, but it's easiest just to move or teleport
towards the stairs and exit as quickly as possible.
16) Beware, indeed. First, go left. Grab as many items as possible without
expending too many whips. Grab the speed time spell, and cluster the blue
enemies at the bottom of the screen towards the breakables. Grab the slow
time spell, rush past the blue enemies, and grab all the keys and items as you
can as fast as possible. Try to run the columns of blue and green enemies
above you downwards, such that they hit breakables and teleport traps. Teleport
away.
The next part of the level is open-ended. I suggest getting the leftmost key,
but not the 9 whips in the same region. Get the gems if you need them; you can
zero-sum your key count if you go to the corridor left of the gems.
Finally, get the key to the northeast of the "BEWARE" message, then circumvent
the long line of blue enemies in a clockwise fashion. There is no way to avoid
the green enemies, but they do less damage to you than the blue enemies. Whip
through the walls, unlock the doors, and leave. Good riddance!
17) Not much room. Teleport until you get to stairs, then leave.
18) Level of peril? I'll say. If possible, teleport ahead, beyond the bulk
of the enemies found in the lower right quadrant. This allows you to collect
some if not all keys without getting torn up too much. Use the traps at the
top of the screen to escape.
The key in the lower right is worth getting, but the key that requires lots of
breakables to reach is not, unless you have a lot of whips.
You can lure some enemies into the lower left quadrant to make it easier to get
to the items, but this has limited effectiveness. It's best just to hurry.
The exit passage requires 3 keys but has a free power ring. If you have
enough keys already, you might want to consider skipping the bulk of the level.
---------------------
They just keep coming
---------------------
19) Enemy compaction strategy.
20) When you get a speed time spell, consider hanging back and letting the spell
run out before proceeding. Rush through the level, using whips as little as
possible. The power ring on this level is not worth getting.
To get the 5 chests at the top-middle of the screen, draw out the blue enemies
for 3 squares once you get on their right. This prevents them from moving into
chests. Crash several into the breakables, then use the same switchbacked
strategy as in level 11.
21) Use speed time spells, strategy, and patience. Let a large portion of the
red enemies pursue you across the bridge, then crash them into the breakables
on the left side. The gems at the top might not be worth getting. After you've
eliminated a lot of the red enemies, you can do one of two things: make a run
for it, or try a teleport (there is a good chance you will go to the right side
of the screen).
Use the bombs to even the score on the right side, collect the gems in the
corner, and maneuver the rest of the enemies into position that allows you to
sneak around them to the stairs.
22) Enemy compaction strategy. Easy to teleport around enemies.
---------
Hot times
---------
23) Collect the key and slow time spell, then teleport. The first part of the
level is best ignored. If you can teleport to the top or right sides of the
level, collect all the keys you can manage without unlocking any doors. You can
then easily travel to the bottom of the level; run as fast as possible to avoid
losing too many gems.
24) Just find the exit as fast as possible. Bombs can help. Green enemies
are bad, but lava is worse. Avoid touching.
25) Draw out the blue enemies, collect the key, collect the remaining items,
and teleport away.
By this point, you've gotten an idea of how to play Kroz, so I won't spoon-feed
you every strategy. Use the bombs to destroy as many packs of enemies as
possible.
26) Enemy compaction strategy. Avoid the speed time spells!
27) Looks can be deceiving. You will lose more gems snaking around the blue
enemies than you will charging straight across the lava. You don't even need
to pick up any keys on this level, although I recommend picking up at least a
few.
28) Enemy compaction strategy.
---------------
Just plain mean
---------------
29) Stock up on whips. Grab the keys. The best path to take is through enemies
and forest; you will expend more whips going through trees.
30) It's actually possible to kill every foe on this level, if bombs are used
intelligently.
31) Nasty level with a decoy amulet (which you don't need). Try to teleport
to the lower left, upper left, and upper middle screen portions to get the keys
in these areas. If you can teleport to the right of the lava, though, forget
all this and just exit the level.
If you can get to the upper middle screen portion, observe carefully: you can
get within one door's distance from the stairs if you are willing to whip some
walls and traverse only two lava squares. The power ring requires that you
traverse only one lava square.
32) Step carefully. Collect as many teleports as economical and find the
stairs.
33) Let the red circle close in first. Teleport, if you want, to the outside of
the ring, and collect a few keys.
I prefer not even to try to exit the water circle. Crossing the lava is more
economical, since you can get keys and items without opening doors, and losing
a comparable amount of gems as you would getting past the outer ring of red
enemies. You can get two power rings on this level, too, which can make your
whip a formidable weapon.
34) Use the bombs.
---------
Final run
---------
35) Whip, whip, and whip again. Get the key.
By now, you've probably collected many excess keys. Decide which ones to
collect on this level; some are far easier than others. There are many ways
to play this level.
36) Same strategy as level 30.
37) Grab the key, gems, and teleport away. This level is open-ended; figure out
the best way to ram enemies into walls, use bombs to destroy doors, and minimize
inventory losses.
38) Enemy compaction strategy.
39) This level is best if skipped. With your stock of keys and gems, I find it
better just to use keys and take the lava damage, since a comparable amount of
damage would be taken through the level itself. Only play through the level if
you have no keys.
40) This is it! Ram the top enemies into the walls, grab the slow time spells,
and collect as many of the easy keys as possible. By now, your gem stock is
probably suffering, so easier said than done. Use the whip-versus-gem strategy.
You can get two keys easily by crossing lava around the left and right sides
of the screen. Teleports can make it easier to get around the vast numbers of
blue enemies.
You need a total of seven keys to enter the temple, and you are screwed if you
run out of whips before then. Once you have enough supplies, proceed to the
bottom of the level, then work your way to the amulet. Cross the lava, collect
the amulet, and you win!
Note: If you are playing Caverns II, you get the typical award for gems,
whips, teleports, and keys remaining:
100 x Gem
100 x Whip
200 x Teleport
10,000 x Key
For Caverns I, the quest artifact bonus is all you get.
One of the reasons to hoard keys is the huge bonus you get for them at the end
of the game. For Caverns, though, I'd say hoarding keys makes a lot more sense
for survival than anything else.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B) Dungeons
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apart from Lost Adventures, I'd say that Dungeons is one of my favorites of the
series. This is because it seems like you have a lot more options in this
episode. It's a major step up in quality from Caverns, and definitely a lot
easier, if not quite as long.
There are many more opportunities in Dungeons to save inventory items for later.
I found that intelligent use of gems, whips, teleports, and keys lets you finish
the game with an impressive stock.
The biggest difference in strategy from Caverns is that many of the levels do
not let you skip parts via teleporting, so you must persevere by walking most
of the time. This is due to the introduction of stop spaces. These stop spaces
are discussed in the object list section.
------------
Starting out
------------
1) Not much to say. Let enemies smash into walls, collect items, leave.
2) Again, not much to say.
3) This level is surprisingly tricky. Carefully observe how monsters will move
before deciding where to go. You can manage to collect every key on this level,
plus a nice helping of treasure, but only if you pay attention!
4) Enemy compaction strategy.
5) Bomb the red enemies, collect the key, collect the whips, and use the key to
open the door to the tunnel. What door is that, you ask? It's invisible. Too
bad. The top part of the level is fairly straightforward.
6) Enemy compaction strategy.
----------
Going down
----------
7) This level is kind of like a whack-a-mole game, where you are the mole.
Enter the tunnels repeatedly until you reach the leftmost tunnel. Decide if you
really want to get the power ring: there are LOTS of quake traps along the way!
8) Zero-sum strategy.
9) Use the freeze time spells before trying to get the keys. It is actually
worth it to get the gems in the center of the ring; you need only cross two lava
squares. If you are making a high-score run, try to approach the stairs from
this ring--you'll take even more lava damage, but you'll save two keys.
10) Enemy compaction strategy. The quake traps on this level are actually
quite useful--they will eliminate the enemies for you.
11) Tricky. Get the freeze spell, get the gems and keys in the second "enemy
column," then use the suicide-after-invisible technique to eliminate the first
"enemy column" so you can pick up even more gems. Approach each subsequent
"enemy column" in left-to-right order, since you don't want the enemies to
destroy any keys! The top right compartment is not worth it--an invisible door
blocks it, and this is for a reduced value of treasure. The bottom right
compartment requires three keys to open (the doors are invisible).
12) Enemy compaction strategy. Get the key if you can.
-------------
Shaky grounds
-------------
13) Whip IMMEDIATELY. Get all the keys on this level. It is most economical
if you cross the lava, without unlocking any doors. Watch out for the top left
quadrant, which has many quake traps.
14) Enemy compaction strategy. Tunnels can help.
15) Tough level! There are many ways to play this, but the best strategies are
at the start. Use the topmost blue enemy to remove the teleport traps, ram the
rest of the blue enemies into breakable walls, and do your best to bomb the
green enemies. The power ring is worth it to get, but you need a lot of skill
to get it without taking too much damage or losing too much inventory.
For the giant pit on the right side, tread carefully. Invisible walls are
present; you shouldn't be too hasty about movement. Whip the blindness potion.
Teleport after you get the key.
16) Not much here. Leave ASAP.
17) This water level is one that really requires you to observe how monsters
will move before getting started. You don't want to remain in any location too
long that will let a monster creep up and destroy a key. Furthermore, quake
traps protect much of the treasure on this level, so you're better off avoiding
some of it.
18) Somewhat annoying level; all the walls are invisible. You can use the
suicide-after-invisible technique to avoid taking damage from enemies. Get as
many items as possible.
-------------------
Bridges to oblivion
-------------------
19) Get the two keys in the area where you start. The second key in this area
can be reached by whipping the middle-left part of the forest line. Teleport
away.
Collect all the items you can. An invisible line of breakables can be used to
get rid of some enemies (just southeast of the pond). Get the two chests near
the bottom of the screen--you will trigger a quake trap, but this is a good
thing!
By triggering the trap, you will eliminate many of the red enemies, which will
give you more space to move around when you cross the bridge. Don't forget to
get the key in the center of the pond before leaving!
20) Kick back and enjoy the fireworks. Get the key if possible. Leave.
21) Need help? Here's some. Teleport, get a freeze time spell, grab as many
gold nuggets as possible, grab the other freeze time spell, grab the rest of the
nuggets. Run right, grab the keys, teleport away, run left, grab the key, and
leave.
Warning: quake traps are at the left and right "T" intersections; move
diagonally through them.
Also, crossing some lava might be worth it if you want to pick up additional
treasure. You can even cross lava to skip the doors.
22) Enemy compaction strategy.
23) There are a number of ways to beat this level. There are only two points
that aren't very intuitive: the blue enemy gauntlet, and the tunnel traversal.
The blue enemy gauntlet should be navigated by going through the EXACT CENTER
of the corridor made by them. If you get near the enemies, they'll attack.
There is an invisible breakable close to the middle of the bottom row of
invisible solids. Whip this, move down, and the green enemies will suicide
into the wall.
The reason you must do this is because it's the only way to give yourself an
opening to that tunnel. If you remember the tunnel properties in the object
list, you can only reach the left side of the tunnel in the top left corner of
the level if you first go to this second tunnel, then go back to the first
tunnel on the opposite side. You can't reach the stairs any other way!
24) Surprisingly, the enemy compaction strategy doesn't work that well, because
these guys are patient. Just snake around them to the stairs.
--------------------
That glow ain't hope
--------------------
25) What's this? A lava pit level BEFORE the sideways level lava pit that is
much more well-known? Indeed, it's here. Get the three keys using the tunnels,
teleport away, collect massive amounts of treasure, and cross two lava squares
to return to the exit.
26) Step carefully. You can pick up some useful items, but it's best just to
find the stairs as quickly as possible.
27) There are many ways to play this level. Try to get the topmost keys first,
and hook around left through the path through the lava. Cross the lava if you
want to make shortcuts. The important strategy is not to allow enemies to walk
over and destroy keys.
The final "door city" portion of this level lets you take two possible routes
through. Both routes use up the same number of keys and yield the same number
of items, so it doesn't matter which path you take.
28) Enemy compaction strategy.
29) Invisimaze, one of the more frustrating levels in ASCII-character-game-based
history. It's on par with Epic's "The Room of Extreme Annoyance" in Town of
ZZT. I'll only cover a few notes:
a) The bomb at the start can remove a lot of invisible solids.
b) The freeze time spells are placed strategically, such that you can run past a
pack of enemies.
c) Get the five whips at the bottom of the level, but don't go any further! A
quake trap is there.
d) You need at least 5 keys to unlock the invisible doors blocking the stairs.
30) At last, the lowest level! Get the freeze time spell, grab the nearest
keys, and use whatever strategies you see fit to finish the level. Watch out
in the lower left part of the level, because ALL the empty spaces are quake
traps!
You can use the quake traps to your advantage. They eliminate enemies, which
can make it easier to get past them. The chamber just before the staff can't
be reached unless you use quake traps to open a spot next to the tunnel, or else
go the lower right or upper right parts of the screen to ram the blue enemies
into the breakables.
You need a total of 9 keys to collect the staff, which is accessible by taking
the middle tunnel to the antechamber. Get past the remaining blue enemies,
unlock the final door, collect the staff, and you win!
Note: If you are playing Dungeons II, you get the typical award for gems,
whips, teleports, and keys remaining:
100 x Gem
100 x Whip
200 x Teleport
10,000 x Key
For Dungeons I, the quest artifact bonus is all you get.
It's much easier to finish Dungeons with a robust inventory and supply of spare
keys than it is for Caverns. Provided, of course, that you play smart.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C) Kingdom I
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kingdom of Kroz I. Here we go. Engine-wise, it's almost identical to Dungeons.
There are many levels in Kingdom I that have been lost to time, because the
remake, Kingdom of Kroz II, replaced them with others. But this is not to say
that they lack quality. The ORIGINAL "Crazy Cubicals" level is present in
Kingdom I.
One criticism of Kingdom I is that it copies many of the designs, in whole or
part, from Caverns. This is not a terrible thing in itself, especially when
taking into account that numerous improvements were made in the Kingdom I
versions of each level.
But Kingdom I stands on its own as a good adventure. It's hard, for sure, but
not notably harder than Dungeons.
------------
Starting out
------------
1) The trademark first level of Kingdom places you in the center of an arena,
with enemies, items, and breakable walls. Since the breakable-wall physics are
self-explanatory, not much in the way of strategy needs to be explained. You
should collect as many items as possible, trying to prevent monsters from
destroying too many of them in the process.
2) Enemy compaction strategy. Collect as many items as possible.
3) Wait for the green enemies to open an exit to the breakable wall "container."
Run to get as many gems as possible before the blue enemy destroys too many.
Get the slow time spell, run past the leftmost green enemies, get the key, whip
the teleport trap, and leave.
4) Enemy compaction strategy.
5) This seems to be borrowed from the design of the "Run for your life" Caverns
level, although it is not exactly the same. There are more items to collect,
and the level seems "upside-down" compared to the similar one found in Caverns.
Ram enemies into breakables, and stay at the top of the screen to draw out the
enemies on the topmost row.
6) Use zero-sum strategy.
---------------
Trouble brewing
---------------
7) Big trouble? Yep. The level seems to resemble the Caverns "Beware" level
in some ways, but there are enough differences to call them different designs.
Grab the key, teleport out (you must have a teleport scroll!) and handle each
part of the level in a different way.
The bottom right part should be handled first. Grab the freeze time spell,
race past the blue enemies, get the key, double back to the teleport scrolls,
get them, and step on the trap.
The upper left part should be handled next. Use the blue enemy to crush the
long line of teleport traps, kill it, and get the key it was guarding. It is
then safe to get the key just below it and to the right.
You can get a power ring on this level, but be wary of the green enemies
guarding it. DO NOT rush past them immediately after grabbing the speed time
spell! Instead, grab it and follow it with the slow-time spell. Then it is
okay to run past them (although not entirely safe). Go through the tunnel to
reach the power ring.
Grab the rightmost middle key quickly before the blue enemy crushes it. Then,
whip to let out the green enemies blocking the stairs. Yes, that's right, let
them out. Lure them over to the breakables, and then move down to erase the
lot of them.
Depending on how well you've done so far in getting the other keys, you might
want to skip the key in the upper right. Enemies guard it in force, and there
are FOUR invisible breakables blocking the path, to say nothing of the trees in
your way.
You'll notice a lot of the treasure in this level is not worth getting. You
should focus on getting the keys and the power ring, and then leave when you
are ready.
8) This level is surprisingly fun. Let the lone blue enemy chase you, carving
a path through the traps. When it gets close, step on a trap and move away.
Repeat as much as necessary. You can get a large amount of points by
collecting the potions.
9) This resembles the bridge level in Caverns, with a similar strategy involved.
But this time, you must hurry, at least at the beginning. Grab the freeze time
spell and RACE to the key--there is an invisible breakable blocking it--before
the horde starts across the bridge.
There are multiple ways of playing this level. You could decide to brave the
red enemies right away by using bombs and quick maneuvering. You could also
Ram enemies into the breakables, then try to teleport behind them. In any case,
you should try to collect every key before proceeding.
10) Enemy compaction strategy.
11) This level resembles level 37 from Caverns. The strategies are similar,
but this version doesn't let you teleport outside! You must brave the pack of
green enemies; there is no way to avoid them.
12) Enemy compaction strategy.
--------------------
Trouble boileth over
--------------------
13) This is an annoying level. A lot of the items can't be gotten. The upper
key can only be reached by crossing the lava. The stairs can only be reached by
teleportation. The freeze time spell can be very useful when collecting the
gems close to the long line of enemies along the chasm lip, but it's only a
matter of time before the spell wears off and the enemies come after you.
14) Kick back and enjoy the fireworks. Leave.
15) The original Crazy Cubicals! It's crazy all right, because it's tricky.
Hmmm...shouldn't the word be written "cubicle?" Well, it's hard to say how
standardized the term "cubicle" was back in 1987. At the very least, some
poetic license should be granted.
First, get the freeze time spell, then race back (without getting the gems) to
the starting point. Then run all way down to the ring, grab it, and hightail
it. If you waste any time, the blue enemies will crush the ring.
You must make a decision how to play the rest of the level. The ungotten gems
and key near the starting point should definitely be collected, but to go south
of the tunnel in the same area, you have two options: crossing the lava
to get to the second tunnel, or destroying the invisible breakable at the lower
right, moving down, making the blue enemies suicide near the second tunnel, and
navigating back and forth between tunnels to go south of the first tunnel.
The key tucked away in the upper right quadrant might not be worth collecting.
Many of the items in the cubicles before that point, however, are worth getting.
You need at least two keys to exit the level.
16) Avoid the lava, avoid the enemies, and leave as quickly as possible.
17) Whip IMMEDIATELY. Grab as much treasure as you can, but the perimeter foes
will close in the moment you try to get it. Get all four keys and leave. Note
that quake traps surround the stairs. If you're in the mood for revenge,
you can intentionally step on these traps and make all the monsters suicide.
18) This "door city" level is frustrating because it eats up your spare keys
if you aren't careful. It's best just to teleport until you get near the
stairs, then run through enemies and leave.
--------------
Here they come
--------------
19) Think before you act! If you have enough whips, just wait for each green
enemy to come to the starting position, then whip each quartet until all of
them are killed. Then, you can get all the chests that had been blocked
and restock your inventory. You will need to move towards at least one enemy
in order to get them to chase you.
Next, collect the items in the passages above and below. Next, proceed left
and collect the nuggets and items reachable via tunnels.
If you are feeling lucky, proceed to the upper right part of the level, grab
the freeze time spell, and get as much treasure as you can.
You need five keys to reach the stairs (4 doors are invisible).
20) Watch your step; hurry to the stairs as fast as you can manage.
21) This is almost identical to level 39 of Caverns, and just as hard. If you
have enough keys and/or gems, skip the level entirely. If you don't, observe
carefully how the monsters will move before trying to get past them.
22) You can pick up a few items here. Bombs can help you navigate.
23) Repeatedly traverse the tunnels until you come out the right-hand side.
You can also teleport out, but there is a risk that you'll cause the monsters to
turn and eat up valuable keys that you desperately need.
You'll really need to use your head when you get close to the freeze time spell.
It should be gotten as a way to prevent the blue enemies from destroying the key
they are just next to. Collect the guarded key, let the spell wear off, then
let the entire pack chase you down the corridor. Once they've almost exited it,
hook around the opposite side. The blue enemies will now be trapped in the
corridor!
Collect the 5 keys behind the original pack of blue enemies, but don't go too
far to the right, or the solitary blue enemy in the upper right will crush the
key it guards. You should get the second freeze time spell next, and use this
period to race up to the blue enemy and snatch the key. An invisible breakable
blocks you, so think and act fast.
Next, collect the remaining keys. As for the big supply of treasure chests and
gold nuggets, you will want to get them, despite the fact that TWO LAYERS of
quake traps block the way.
Here's why: the quake traps on this level can replace solid walls with
breakable walls. This means you can open a quick path to the power ring and
chests that would have otherwise been blocked by a long line of teleport traps.
The downside to triggering the quake traps is that the top row, which you must
traverse, now requires you to expend more whips. In addition to that, you will
need 15 keys to reach the stairs!
24) Enemy compaction strategy. Of course, the enemies here are so numerous that
they can't possibly compact all that much. Good luck.
25) Your goal is in sight! The end is at the beginning, for a change. If you
have six keys at the start, you've already won. If not, you will need to enter
the tunnel and pick up as many keys as necessary. This level is tricky in
many different subtle ways, but if you've come this far, you'll figure it out.
Get the amulet, and you win!
No bonus for inventory items! Don't bother holding on to spare keys.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D) Return (a.k.a. Shrine, a.k.a. Castle)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the original trilogy, what comes next? A sequel? Of course!
Well, it's kind of flaky how to best describe the name. Although the project
directory and main executable are titled RETURN, various other versions exist
that named the episode things like SHRINE or CASTLE.
The name is not the only different characteristic. Although I'm not entirely
sure, it seems that there were a few bugs and quirks in some of these alternate
executables. For example, in one version, there is a problem with reaching a
lava-filled random level with no exit stairs. Another might have savegame
corruption. It's hard to reproduce or isolate these errors, quirks, and small
differences, so I won't try.
The program covered in this FAQ is called RETURN.EXE. If there are slight
differences in the Return-based game you're playing, I apologize.
Return to Kroz introduced most of the "modern Kroz" object types. This had the
effect of making Kroz levels a lot more interesting. Unfortunately, it also let
the designer put in traps, which randomly spring and ruin your chances of
finishing a level despite a lot of hard work. If you're willing to deal with
these annoyances, go ahead and fire up Return to Kroz.
------------
Starting out
------------
1) The first level is an arena setting, much like that for Kingdom, but it lacks
the symmetry. There are a number of ways to play this level, but you should be
warned about certain trap points: the crook of the "L" which seals off keys
(you can't win in that case), and next to the key in the center of the "L"
(which is less of a big deal because you get a free teleport out). On the other
hand, there are TWO reveal gems scrolls in this level.
2) Collect treasure; dodge enemies.
3) This and the first level mark a turning point for Kroz games, because they
are far more about secrets than before. Let the red enemies open your way, then
ram the green foe on your left into the gray breakables. Hook around the left
side, but DO NOT get the chest or the Z, not yet. Instead, get the teleport
scroll and step once further to explode the perimeter breakables!
Now, you can play the level using more traditional Kroz strategies. Be sure to
get the power ring before leaving. The bonus letters require doubling back a
few times, so get them only if you are doing a high score run. You can leave
the level with an extra key if you circle the north and east perimeter walls
to the exit!
4) Enemy compaction strategy, although the enemies are a bit reluctant to chase
you at first.
5) Kroz now introduces a new feature. With this level, the lava grows! It
doesn't grow over you where you stand, but it pretty much eats everything else
that isn't solid, including enemies and items. You must hurry!
Get as many items near the lava as you can before it seals everything off. You
might want to consider getting them even if the lava has blocked them, since
you could take only 10 gems of damage. Note that the 25-gem pouch actually IS
worth getting, because you lose 20 gems to get it, yielding a profit of 5 gems.
There are other treasures on this level, including two reveal gem scrolls, a
second 25-gem pouch, and numerous other chests and nuggets. But the dangers are
many: not only the lava but also an entire legion of green enemies bears down
on you if you get close. Getting all the keys is the most important goal in
beating this level, because you'll need all three.
By the way, if you are so scared of the lava that you absolutely must seal it
off, there is a hidden spell located off to the right, up twice from the
starting position.
-----------------
Better off broken
-----------------
6) Use the zero-sum strategy. Note that you NEED the two keys on this level,
so don't leave without them!
7) What's this? Doesn't look too hard? You'll be eating those words.
Kroz games can set starting delays for certain enemy types. In this case, you
get only a few seconds before the enemies on this level close in. Which enemies
are those, you might ask?
Answer: moving walls! The entire level is filled with them! Stop spaces
prevent them from closing in until you walk down a stretch of the path, but
once you've walked it, it disappears forever.
The power ring and K are most easily accessed by grabbing the exploding wall
spell in the upper left. But the walls will chase you a moment later, so you
need to be quick.
The rest of the level pretty much requires you to stay on the path. If you get
sidetracked by items off the path, you'll find the walls will close in, forcing
you to waste whips. There is only one location where this is absolutely
necessary, which is the key in the lower right.
You do have some recourse against the moving walls. There is a bomb at one
point, and several green enemies, both which remove sections of the walls.
If you've used up the entire path, you'll be faced with a nice big blob of
moving walls. What now? Well, the enemy compaction strategy works with moving
walls just as well as other enemies. Use your teleports in a smart way, and you
won't have to do the impossible and whip through the entire pack.
8) The enemy compaction strategy helps, but there are so many that they can't
compact much. It's better to try to grab freeze time spells, which let you
pick a path through the enemies that nets the most items and minimizes losses.
9) I like to call this level "Creation Science" because it's filled with lots
and lots of creature creation traps. The vast majority of the question marks
represent creation traps. There are gem pouches, but they are few and far
between, and both are blocked by traps in narrow corridors (one vertical, one
horizontal).
The first task on this level is to coax the green enemies down the corridor,
trapping them. Then, teleport away (don't get the question marks!) and proceed
to the upper left corner where there is growing lava. Grab the key, the chest,
and the exploding wall spell (it's in the upper right corner of the lava-filled
area), and get out of there fast.
You'll want to collect the remaining keys now. If the one guarded by the huge
blob of green enemies seems daunting, note the creature zap spells located in
the thick of the forest. These will cull the herd nicely!
Despite the large number of creation traps, there is quite a lot of treasure on
this level. There are THREE reveal gem scrolls, bonus letters (which are really
challenging to get in order), and the corner chests that the exploding wall
spell had opened earlier. But no matter how much success you have in collecting
all this, chances are good that the whole level will be filled wall-to-wall with
red enemies by the time you leave. Remember: question marks nearly always have
serious consequences!
10) Kick back and enjoy the fireworks. Leave.
--------------------------
Enough to drive one insane
--------------------------
11) This is the sequel to the Kingdom I "Crazy Cubicals" level. It's easier,
but there are unique challenges that set it apart from the original.
First things first: go up and get the freeze time spell. DIRECTLY up. DO NOT
get the gems. Then run all the way to the left, grab the power ring, and get
any chests that you can before the spell wears off.
Now that that's out of the way, enter the cubes. Most of the cubes are just
careful navigation challenges, but things harder as you go. You'll need to whip
a lot to get through the trees. The slow time spell (or the freeze time spell)
should be gotten before getting the key on the bottom row, for obvious reasons.
The level is somewhat odd in that the green enemies sleep for a long time before
finally coming after you. All the better for you, I guess.
An exploding wall spell can help you open the passage before you get the final
three keys. But that pack of blue enemies is just mean--use your whips on them.
The bonus letters are hard to get in order, since you probably want to teleport
out instead of getting torn up by all the enemies you've bypassed. It's your
judgment call.
Before you leave the level, get the column of gems you ignored at the beginning.
Now you see why I had you wait? You can goad the blue enemies into killing
themselves on the wall to their left!
The exit requires four keys to open, and there are many traps along the way.
There is a reveal gem scroll at one point, but now the level is so ruined with
enemies that few if any gems are worth getting.
12) Enemy compaction strategy, although the enemies are a bit reluctant to chase
you at first.
13) Oh boy, this level. There are many ways to play it, and there are lots of
traps. Good luck.
This is one of those levels that you should scan carefully before starting,
since your movements will determine which treasure the enemies will try to
crush. At the beginning, be sure to step diagonally through the openings,
because you will trigger traps if you don't.
A new object is in this level: a creature generator. In the interest of
preventing the whole level from getting filled with enemies, you should play
the western parts of the level before taking on the eastern parts. Getting the
key closest to the starting point opens the path to the generator. Another
reason to play the west regions first is because of the lava: it grows, and
will eat up items if you don't hurry.
The very last key you should try to get before heading towards the exit is the
one by the freeze time spell. This is because quake traps block the path to
the key, and if you try to get this key too early, the narrow passages
everywhere else in the level become blocked.
Once you have all the keys, proceed to the stairs. Good thing you got them,
right? There are six invisible doors.
14) Another fun level that lets you make paths through the traps by allowing the
blue enemies to chase you down wherever you are. Note that there are a few
new factors here, such as quake traps and moving walls, which the enemies can
suicide into if you're not careful.
15) This level is just evil. It marks the debut of statues. If you've gotten
some power rings (I assume you have), your first point of business should be to
destroy the statue. Once that's out of the way, you can hear yourself think.
Assuming you want the bonus letters, follow these instructions precisely. Go
get the open spell (crossing the lava), then get the K, go through the tunnel,
get the R, go BACK through the tunnel (nowhere else), and get the O. But the
way to get the O is very specific: you must approach from the bottom row,
without straying upwards at all despite the teleport traps. If any part of this
process is screwed up, the letters are sealed away. Now that's annoying.
Now you can proceed back through the tunnel and play the rest of the level. The
creature zap spells are very useful on this level. You will minimize losses if
you ram the top row of enemies into the breakables.
Use the bomb on the rest of the enemies, then collect the keys and Z out in the
open. The exploding wall spell located next to the row of gems may or may not
be useful. On one hand, it lets you get one of the keys more easily. On the
other hand, it removes a great deal of the breakables that the enemies could
have suicided into. Decide which one works for you.
Get the power ring and the key in the bottom right. Yes, you will be trapped.
By now you should expect crap like this. Teleport out.
The remaining open spells should be gotten next, and both cause even more traps
to be sprung. Note that you will sacrifice a key getting the top open spell
unless you move diagonally into the corridor.
You're almost to the stairs. The level has the audacity to deliver a final egg
in your face with moving walls and quake traps. Leave, and never come back.
---------------
Sinking feeling
---------------
16) This level is just crazy. There are traps, treasure, a statue, terrain-
changing spells, generators, and pits, all thrown into a blender. Do what you
can and find the stairs.
17) The "Chamber of Horror" is misnamed, I think. There are plenty of chambers
in Kroz games that are worse than this one.
First, get the scrolls and step on traps until you reach the compartment to the
south. Get everything in there and teleport back. Go down, get everything
there, and teleport back. Go up, get everything there, and teleport back.
Now you can play the level. I suggest making your way to the zap spells before
you do anything else. The bubble creatures will not chase you unless you wait
for a long, long time, but they still take off gems if you touch them. To
minimize losses, whip/take damage until you reach the zap spells, and then
watch the fireworks.
The advantage from doing this is now obvious. You've made some makeshift,
broken paths between the bubble creatures. Collect the keys, open spell, and
bonus letters, and then work your way to the lower left. There are actually
more zap spells near the exit, but these are somewhat pointless now, although
they increase your score a bit.
18) A rare level where creature zap spells and generators are actually good.
There is a surprisingly large quantity of reveal gem scrolls here. Get the most
out of this level that you can, then leave.
19) This is indeed a water labyrinth, similar to level 17 from Dungeons.
Observe carefully where monsters would move before moving yourself. You don't
want them to destroy keys. The worst one is the green one on the top row; you
need to be very careful with that one. Deploy the freeze time spell before
triggering the bomb that destroys the blocking doors, so that this green enemy
can't creep up while you get there.
The rest of the level gets easier, but not much easier. Quake traps will make
it harder to get around due to the breakables dumped in your path. Try not to
skip some branches, because monsters are configured in such a way that
backtracking is difficult.
The bonus letters can be gotten. Text is whippable in Return to Kroz. It takes
a lot of whips, but you can get this bonus, and even a gem pouch, if you
persevere.
Seven keys to open the exit...can you manage that?
20) The final level! And hard as $#!+. You will get a reveal gem scroll at
the very start, for a change. Teleport out, and now the fun begins.
There are many ways to play this level. I suggest handling the key by the K
letter first, followed by the horizontal corridors just above it. This will
open access to much of the rest of the level.
So many traps on this level! The ones to watch out for the most, surprisingly,
are the wall vanish traps. There is one just below the starting position, one
tucked in the lower left corner with the gem pouch, and one 4 paces right of the
gem column on the left side of the level. The reason these are bad is because
they can make the upper right breakables invisible, which ruins your chances of
finishing the level.
How, you might ask? Here's how. After you get the easier keys, you'll want to
grab the key in the lower right corner. But this is hard to get to, because you
must unblock the upper-right tunnel first--and you can't ram the green enemies
into the nearby breakables if the walls are invisible. After doing this you
must use the tunnel-and-back strategy to go below the rightmost tunnel (there
is no other way to go below this tunnel).
Granted, you can also kill these enemies with the zap spell above the crown, but
if you've reached that point, you've already won, so why bother? By the way,
two reveal gem scrolls flank the zap spell, which are more worth getting.
The bonus letters can be gotten, but they aren't worth it unless you want some
sort of bragging rights. I'm serious.
After getting 5 keys and opening all the solid walls, you can enter the chamber
of the crown. If you have only two keys at any one point, you can actually
enter early and explode the leftmost column of breakables. Get the crown, and
you win!
You get the typical award for gems, whips, teleports, and keys remaining:
100 x Gem
100 x Whip
200 x Teleport
10,000 x Key
Return to Kroz is fun, but my goodness, it's a freaking trap-the-player party.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E) Temple (a.k.a. Valley)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next game in the Super Kroz Trilogy, Temple of Kroz, is just another
20-level adventure with the same object types as Return to Kroz.
I'd say it's about as fun as Return to Kroz. The puzzles, of course, tend to be
harder to figure out. This is mainly because you can't hoard keys as easily as
in the other episodes. Shortcuts? What shortcuts?
------------
Starting out
------------
1) Yet another arena. Remarkably empty. Hold that thought, because the level
will fill up fast with more foes. Basically, this is a minefield with creature
creation traps strewn all about. You'll avoid most of the traps if you stick
to the outside walls, but there are traps on the east and west perimeter walls.
The four corners also have many traps surrounding them. The lower left corner
has nothing BUT traps surrounding it!
The order you should visit the corners is this: upper left, lower right, upper
right, lower left. There are two reveal gem scrolls that can augment your gem
stock: in the upper left corner surrounded by invisible breakables, and just
to the right of the stairs.
2) Forest level with lots of items. Use the zero-sum strategy. Heed the
tablet's advice and get the ring and as many supplies as possible.
3) Legions upon legions of foes! But they don't come after you right away. The
ones closest to you can be rammed into the breakables below, but you need to
get near them (or go below the breakables) to make them chase you. Try to get
all the items in the middle narrow corridors before you take on the rest of the
level.
You can get the gems and teleports at the bottom of the level, but the red
enemies are very reluctant to chase you. You'll have to trick each one, rather
than goad the entire pack at once, into chasing you away from the items so you
can grab them.
The keys and final bonus letters have, not surprisingly, activation events that
are triggered when you get the key or move too close to the enemies. On the
bright side, the creature zap spells will make navigation through the pack much
easier on your way out.
4) Kick back and enjoy the fireworks. Leave.
5) This level is fun. It's also an @$!hole level at the very beginning. You
should first get the teleport scroll, the whips, and the key to the southwest.
Yes, you will be trapped, but you can teleport out. If you don't do all this at
the start, the game will seal off the key anyway!
Use the freeze time spell and bomb the red enemy pack. Collect the items (not
necessarily the gem pouch past the breakables, not yet at least), and run past
the green enemies. Note that it is possible, with creative movement, to coax
the green enemies into the gray breakables in such a manner that you can help
yourself to the gold nuggets without wasting a single whip!
As you get the tablet, the blue enemies will be released. Let them suicide into
the gray breakables and run past them. Now you're in a forest area, where you
can pick an optimal path to the tunnel without wasting too many whips.
The tunnel has two destinations. Ideally, you will want to get the zap spell
first, which makes it easier to get past the remaining enemies. Then, head to
the upper left tunnel, freeze the enemies, and run past them. Whip past the
annoying invisible walls, and let the rest of the green enemies carve out the
teleport traps before you go down. Note that you should have two keys, and
you can exchange them for four here. If you "dare go below the chest," you
will open the path to the gem pouch!
Depending on how far you want to backtrack, you could get the pouch, or you
could just proceed directly to the stairs. The wall in front of the doors will
dissolve as you get near.
----------------
Lost that vision
----------------
6) A random level filled with invisible walls, and a real pain in the @$$. It's
even worse than you think--wall vanish traps erase your knowledge of the maze as
you progress! There are two good things about this level, though: there are
tons of useful items, and nothing steals your gems.
7) I call this level "Rings of Doom." Whip IMMEDIATELY. Get the chests on the
left, get the key on the right, and then pick up the nuggets. Then go to the
doors, but DO NOT open them. You'll see why: the gray walls disappear, leaving
only the doors intact! Strange world where the doors are walls and the walls
are doors, huh?
The non-blue enemies hang back for a long time before chasing you. Seize the
opportunity to get the perimeter keys and bonus letters, and be quick--you don't
have a lot of time. You will need to save ALL 5 KEYS before leaving the level.
8) Lots of fireworks on this level! The red enemies and moving walls will kill
each other, clearing out nearly all the space. A few items and quake traps will
help you out; pick up as many as possible before heading towards the stairs.
9) Hope you saved your whips! You'll need many of them. All the text in this
level is destroyable with a single whip strike. You'll need to find the optimal
way through this level. And you'll need all the keys. Yes, ALL of them. Watch
out for the empty space next to the top line of whips--it's a trap!
The final area at the left has a huge number of traps. Brave them and exit the
level. Or...you could decide to get a gem pouch, too, but there are even more
traps, including one that requires you to teleport far away and brave the rubble
and enemies you've dumped into the level along the way.
10) Tons of items, and growing lava. Decide what works best for you.
-----------
Eye of doom
-----------
11) Get the items, teleport out, and proceed to the middle horizontal position
of the level. This will let out the ring of red enemies, but it also lets you
grab the keys (which you'll need pronto), and if you're willing to brave the
growing lava, a few gems and chests. The stairs are opened by hidden spells
at the left and right perimeter walls, near the middle line vertically.
That's all you'll really need to do in this level. But there is a lot of
treasure, so if you want to get that, by all means, do so. The bonus letters
make the green enemies attack you. DO NOT approach the green enemies--traps
will seal off items encased in the brown eye "lashes." If you get the tablet,
the same seal-off event happens, too.
The exit is blocked by a creation trap, but it also yields THREE reveal gem
scrolls. By now, the level is filled with foes and lava, so it's your call as
to whether all these gems are worth it.
12) Lots of teleport traps. Creature generators are actually useful, because
the spawned monsters will carve paths through the traps. It's time-consuming
to do anything at all on this level, especially when getting the bonus letters,
but you will persevere.
13) Time for Black Thirteen. The lava grows, which isn't that surprising. What
is surprising is that it grows FAST. The first thing you should do is grab the
freeze spell (and a reveal gem scroll--nifty!) at the start, then teleport to
a spot that will hopefully get you close to keys. Get the three keys; don't
waste time on anything else. Traps surround all the keys. Just deal.
How many keys is that? It should be five left over from Rings of Doom, plus
three you picked up here. You'll need all eight. Proceed to the stairs, by
teleport if the lava is blocking you, and unlock all the doors. Not seven--
eight. One is invisible.
The level entices you to collect a bit more treasure near the end. There are
3 reveal gem scrolls near the stairs, plus an open-wall spell, which exposes two
chests and a gem pouch...on the other side. If you're feeling lucky, try to
teleport to the upper left and pick up this treasure. Walking there is no
longer an option!
14) This is like level 18 from Return, with many creation traps that are useful
in carving paths for you. But now there is a statue, so that it makes less
sense to stick around and collect items unless you can get near the statue and
destroy it.
15) The level looks nasty but isn't that bad. First, get the open spells at the
bottom of the level. This releases the blue enemy pack, but this isn't your
biggest problem. The problem is getting to the four corners, blocked by lots
of red enemies.
Let the blue enemies chase you to the sides of the level, then use bombs to
decimate them. Bombs destroy doors, of course, and will release even more blue
enemies, but they also expose more bombs that you will need to trigger to open
gaps among the red enemies. By opening such gaps, you will create spaces where
you can reach the corner tunnels by way of the top tunnel.
You have four freeze-time spells. You should use one before diving into a
tunnel, and leverage the time to rush past the red enemies in a corner without
taking too much damage. Grab a key and escape, four times. Note the bonus
letters can also be gotten in the same areas, but you have no control over which
tunnel the game will send you towards first, making successful collection of the
bonus a challenging task.
The final tunnel leads to four doors, which you can now unlock. Just before you
leave the level, you get an unexpected bonus: a reveal gem scroll, and a free
opening to the chests behind the stairs. Then again, the red enemies are now
free to attack. Every rose has its thorns.
---------------------------
I never plan that far ahead
---------------------------
16) A cluster of traps, pits, enemies, items, and trouble. Get what you can,
but don't stick around too long. There is a statue on this level!
17) Time for a gang war! But you're right in the middle of it. The moment you
pick a fight with either side, the blue enemies and moving walls will charge.
Let them get close, then teleport away. The place you want to try to reach is
the upper right corner, where the open-wall spell removes the gray barrier
between the two sides. Once you do this...mayhem at its finest!
Now that the legions have been reduced to a skeleton crew, you'll find that this
level is surprisingly easy. Step through diagonally to get the bonus letters,
per the tablet?s suggestion. I hope I won't need to explain why. You'll need
all the keys on this level, but you must do some accounting to see which door
will turn a "key profit" before deciding where to go next.
18) Tons of enemies. But you have an ace in the hole: bombs. You can kill
every enemy on the level. Freeze time spells will make the job a lot easier.
19) Yes, you will succeed. If you don't screw up. The tablet gets destroyed
right away, but you won't need it. Let the blue enemies chase you down the
corridor. There is a hidden open-wall spell blocking the enemies; get it and
let them chase you out of the corridor. Now ram them into the breakables.
Now you can play the rest of the level. Get the top chest (if you had gotten
it too soon, the breakables explode--drat!), get the keys and other treasure,
and save the freeze time spell for just before you dive into the tunnel.
This tunnel gauntlet sucks. The moment you find out where you're going, grab
what you can and dive back inside. Rinse and repeat. Especially repeat. You
will need every key!
Eventually, you'll be transported to the tunnel at the lower left. This part
of the level is a minefield of creature creation traps, even worse than the
Temple opener. But you can minimize how many you'll trigger if you stick to the
golden nuggets, moving diagonally up when there is a gap in the nuggets.
Finally, you'll reach the end. There are two reveal gem scrolls here, but what
is the point? The level is now filled with enemies.
20) You made it! Prepare for more torture. Get the bonus letters and key next
to them first, doing the typically annoying tunnel-hopping exercise. Now you
have a number of options. I suggest going up past the lava before doing
anything else. That is, IGNORE spells near the starting point.
Open the breakables with the hidden exploding wall spell, then grab the two keys
immediately available to your right. Once you've collected them, trigger the
open-wall spell that exposes the statue (as well as two squads of green
enemies). Run back to the statue, destroy it, grab the nearby key, and check
just above the area where the statue used to be. Cool!
Next, you must do three things, but these can be done in any order. There is
the key (and gem pouch protected by a trap) past the blue enemies, which you can
eliminate by ramming them into moving walls. There are two keys below that,
one on a rickety trail over a bottomless pit and the other one amidst several
green enemies (the lower pack can be drawn out to become blocked in the
corridor). Finally, there is a lone blue enemy, all the way to the right,
that you must trick into destroying teleportation traps.
Now it's time to approach the Holy Grail. Get the freeze time and open spells
near the starting position. You did save them, right? Rush past the green
enemies. If you are mean-spirited like me, you will let the spell wear off and
crash the enemies into the gray breakable walls.
Now trick the solo blue enemy into moving down, destroying more teleport traps,
and finally, make it move right, destroying the rest. Whip it to show your
gratitude.
Get the final open-wall spell, get the key in the same area (invisible
breakables block it), and head towards the Grail's chamber. It doesn't matter
which path you take when it forks, except that one corridor has a quake trap and
the other one has a creation trap. Get the final key, open the remaining doors,
and here you are. The gems opposite the chamber might not be worth getting--a
creation trap protects them.
You can end the game right now by collecting the Holy Grail, or you can pick up
even more treasure by touching reveal gem scrolls positioned 45-degrees off the
Grail itself. There is the eye-popping count of SEVEN reveal gem scrolls in
this chamber, but there are traps in the squares not exactly 45-degrees offset
from the Grail. Chances are, after all the crap you've gone through, you'll
just want to get the Grail and win.
You get the typical award for gems, whips, teleports, and keys remaining:
100 x Gem
100 x Whip
200 x Teleport
10,000 x Key
Temple is a rewarding, puzzle-intensive Kroz game. But it doesn't tolerate any
mistakes. Spare keys are almost unheard-of in this episode, and many of the
puzzles have only one possible solution. I wonder how Indiana Jones would do?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
F) Final Crusade
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The final game in the Super Kroz Trilogy, the Final Crusade of Kroz, is NOT the
final game in the series, although it was intended to be.
This is not just a level pack for Return to Kroz; Final Crusade throws you a
number of curve balls. It introduces pushable boulders, electrified walls,
and some unique puzzles. The quality of the puzzles definitely improves with
this game over the previous episodes.
Final Crusade still has annoying moments, like unexpected progress-stopping
traps. But it has a great final-run gauntlet in the last 5 levels, and all in
all, it's a fun episode to play.
------------
Starting out
------------
1) This level is composed of a series of cells. It throws you to a random
location the moment you try to move, too. Damnable invisible teleport traps.
You can play through this level in a number of different ways, but the best
route to take is to get the K letter first, explode the breakable walls (the
spell is in the same room as the K), get the R letter, trigger the three reveal
gem scrolls in the room close to the R, and then proceed to get the remaining
letters. Note that if you're going for maximum points, there is no way to avoid
touching two creature creation traps without some lucky teleporting.
2) A good place to stock up on items. The game introduces an important new
object: boulders. You can use the boulders to kill enemies without wasting
whips. But boulders won't be effective at minimizing damage to you if you push
them into a broad pack of enemies; they are best for killing long lines of them.
3) This level is easy, provided you play smart. Start by collecting the items
in the lava area. The lava grows slowly, but you can duck in and out without
any danger. Note that you can use a boulder to effectively "cap" the lava from
spreading outside this room--lava does not grow diagonally.
Get the tablet and teleports next. Moving walls? Well, deal with them.
Next, ram the green enemies into the gray breakables, collect the gems they were
guarding, and collect the open-wall spell in the same area. The remaining
enemies in this area are now free to attack; get out fast.
Go all the way to the right. The walls blocking the power ring explode! Now
you can collect the ring easily. But the slow time spell is best saved for the
room to the right, where you can minimize losses while getting the bonus
letters. The opening to the letters is on the left. Unfortunately, the enemies
all bear down on you quickly the moment you collect the bonus!
Now proceed all the way to the left. Use the green enemy to destroy the
teleport traps, then head down. Get the freeze time spell, sneak past the red
enemies, get the key, and push the boulder back left as fast as you can manage.
Note that the spell will wear off as you are extracting the boulder, causing the
green enemy to your right to start destroying some teleports. Just hurry and
push the boulder down.
Now for a bloodbath. Destroy this ENTIRE line of red enemies with your boulder.
Go back up to the area where the lone green enemy is. Get the nearby slow time
spell, then race the enemy to the teleports. The only item you really want is
the first question mark--it's a gem pouch!
Now you just need to unlock the exit. You can get the final green enemies to
chase you and open the gray breakables to get some more gems.
4) Tons of moving walls. Enemy compaction strategy works not so well, because
there are so many walls. The zero-sum strategy is better.
5) Another level that requires lucky teleporting, although to a far lesser
extent than in Caverns. Get the items in the area (save the bonus letter), then
teleport to the area by the "FIND THE HIDDEN SPELL" message. Get the key and
look for the exploding wall spell in the right corner of the area. If you try
the lower left corner, you get trapped. Actually, not really, since you can
whip out the text to escape.
Visit each of the rooms below in turn. Bombs will help to even the score
against enemies and breakable walls. A free gem pouch awaits just before the
tunnel.
If you go through the tunnel, you get one of the most unwelcome clues in the
game: that some enemies are invisible. There are not many in this area, but
enough invisible red enemies are here to aggravate you. Race to the key,
then to the exit. Your whips will work on enemies even if they are invisible,
so if you can anticipate their movements, you can minimize damage.
Do you actually want to collect the bonus letters on this level? It's possible,
but it takes both luck and skill. The K must be gotten in the invisible-enemy
region. The R will expose you to attacks by the green enemies. The O requires
much backtracking, and the Z just requires you to waste teleports until you
get lucky. Ask yourself if it's worth it.
6) A level with some treasure, and a new feature: electrified walls. The
perimeter fence takes off points, but these red walls are serious business:
they take off gems. If you're lucky, you will encounter a quake trap, which now
dumps boulders instead of breakables. The boulders can be used to short out the
electrified walls, making navigation much easier.
Oh, did I mention a statue is in this level? It really sucks to encounter a
statue this early in the game. You can get a power ring to help you out, but
trying to destroy a statue with an underpowered whip might not be worth it.
7) Interesting puzzle. Nine cells to navigate, and you're going to become an
expert at boulder usage by the time you're done. First, get a slow time spell,
grab the key to the left, and hurry back. As it turns out, the moving walls
lining the cell were invisible! They become visible the moment they move.
Now go activate the bomb to your right. This will open the cell above you, too.
Pick up another slow time spell, then activate the second bomb. With the red
enemies having such reduced numbers, you can reach the open-wall spell easily.
If it seems like there are still too many enemies for you to deal with easily,
remember that you have three recourses: two zap spells in the cell above, the
boulders in the middle, and the moving walls to your left.
The zap spells and treasure should be saved until later, since some of the
enemies you do not want to kill right away. Go through the tunnel and visit
each area except for the upper right. The upper-left corner has many "crystal
clear" gems; be sure to comb the entire room for them. After getting the key
in the lower right and getting the open-wall spell in the lower left, you can
reach the upper-right room. Crash the blue enemies into the breakables, then
zap the remaining ones with the zap spells. Now you can reach the upper-right
key, since the tunnel system now has openings there.
Head to the bottom cell. To get the treasure in this boulder field, you
must whip at least one boulder. But most of the time, you will only need to
push them in a strategic fashion. Unlock the doors and discover that the level
decides to entice you with yet more treasure: a reveal gem scroll, plus a gem
pouch, can now be gotten. If you want to backtrack through the results of the
traps you just triggered.
8) Now for a level that does not allow you to see anything. Yes, that's right,
you can see nothing. There is a lot of treasure on this level, but there are
some electrified walls, too. Stumble through until you eventually find the
stairs.
9) I HATE THIS LEVEL. You will too. Here's why. You see that tablet? You see
how it looks important to get? Well, if you go anywhere near it, it ruins your
chances of completing the level, and not in a fashion that is obvious. Avoid
the tablet. It says you fell for an obvious trap if you get it...but I didn't
think the trap was all that obvious!
In any case, you don't want to play that part of the level first. Instead, turn
your attention elsewhere. A huge blob of invisible moving walls fills the
entire lower part of the level. You will need to sneak around them and collect
every key and every open-wall spell. Bombs will help. The power ring will
help. The invisible traps in this area will not.
After you've collected everything, go back to the area with the boulders, but
stay far away from the tablet. You must use every boulder to cut a way through
the electrified walls. Next, you must whip a large number of trees, breakables,
and enemies out of your way. That big empty space is not empty--more moving
walls, of course.
Just beyond the tunnels, a maze of doors awaits you. You must take a diagonal
path through the doors such that you minimize the number of keys you must use.
You don't want to waste even one key.
10) Forest with lots of treasure, most of it worth getting. You can even pick
up a gem pouch.
11) The Chasm of Fate is a massive electrified-wall-and-boulder puzzle. There
are many ways to play it, but certain choices you can make will cause the
enemies to destroy items, a possibility which you don't want.
I suggest first heading left. Go down and collect the power ring and other
treasure. The blue enemies will be released, but remember, those boulders can
turn the tables on them!
Speaking of boulders, you should use them. The two boulders are best moved into
the area just above the nearby key, the one just next to the tunnel. This gives
you immediate access to two locations in the game that would have been hard to
reach otherwise. Get the key and tablet, destroy the generator, and follow the
long stretch of potions to another key.
The boulder by this last key could be used in a number of ways. The best choice
is to push it into the smaller red enemy room and make a hole that gives access
to six additional boulders. You can push these boulders back through the hole
and open paths to nearby rooms. If you're smart, you can get a good number of
keys without ever entering a tunnel.
The treasure below the blue enemies must be handled carefully--not surprisingly,
they will charge if you try to take it.
The rest of the level requires you to tunnel-hop. The chasm itself has some
treasure along the edge. The only two places you are required to visit are the
upper right corner, which has a key, and the lower right corner, which leads to
the exit.
One note of interest: Apogee seriously screwed up when they placed the bonus
letters in this level. R, O, Z...anybody seen a K? They forgot the K. You're
probably thinking, are you kidding me? Nope. That was the way the game was
released. Note that the "Cruz" Flash port fixes this flaw.
The path to the exit has a freeze time spell. But if you're shrewd, you'll use
this spell in a creative way. Most people will just want to use it to rush past
the blue enemies. But it's also possible to use the boulders to make a wider
hole to the left side of the narrow opening that leads to the stairs. You will
want to do this because a hidden close-wall spell forces you to expend four keys
if you walk across it. But if you make your own entrance, bypassing the close-
wall spell, you can save four keys, with no need to unlock ANY door!
12) A random door-filled maze. Bombs will help navigate this maze. But this
level is rotten because a good number of the doors are invisible. If you are
precisely trying to pick your way across the level, an unexpected door in your
path will force you into a wrong decision, making you waste keys. Why did these
doors need to be invisible?
For this reason, most of the treasure is not worth getting on this level. Just
find the stairs.
13) Triskaidekaphobia means "fear of the number 13." You don't have that much
to fear from this level, though. Good decisions will carry the day.
The most annoying aspects of the level are the invisible blue enemies. They
lurk in four places: a six-pack just above the starting point (you can crush
them with boulders), a loner next to the nuggets at the bottom of the screen, a
group of seven to the left of the two chests, and a loner to the left of the
three chests. You can dodge and/or eliminate them with some creative whipping
and boulder pushing.
Hurry and get the key below you, then push boulders to stop the lava flow. It
will be much harder to stop if you don't hurry. Pick up various treasures along
the way. The freeze time spell is best used to get rid of the first den of
green enemies: use a boulder to force your way in, then bomb them.
It's a creative challenge to deal with the green enemies guarding the highest
key. Using a series of diagonal boulder pushes, you can crush the green enemies
without ever putting yourself in danger. Think before you push!
The rest of the keys are pretty easy to get. Because of all the boulders in
this level, you have a surprisingly strong advantage over all the enemies. The
odds are in your favor. You will not have to whip boulders more than a time or
two, if you make good decisions.
If you want the bonus letters, the level becomes more challenging. Most of them
are at risk for easy destruction from enemies or boulders. Plan carefully.
You'll need five keys to unlock the invisible doors blocking the stairs. But
doesn't the level only have four? Well, if you remember from the Chasm of Fate,
there was an extra key as you exited the level. If you didn't use the
key-saving trick I suggested for level 11, level 12 tolerates no mistakes!
14) Big boulder-and-electric-wall maze. Cut your way through and get some
treasure.
15) Another Crazy Cubicals sequel. Well, these cubes have fuzzy edges, and a
gray finish. The puzzles here are very different than in earlier episodes, due
to the presence of boulders.
The key at the start can't be gotten yet; you will need to circle. Proceed to
the power ring, grab it, and enter the cubes. Extract one of the boulders from
the third room to reach the key in the second room. Bomb the three doors open
(no need to waste a key), whip past the invisible moving walls beyond the door,
whip past the teleport traps, let the green enemies suicide on the breakables,
and now you're about halfway done.
The question marks will spawn lots of enemies. You don't want to risk touching
even one of these, for reasons that will be made clear later. Only the
rightmost one is a gem pouch.
Check above the three teleports in the next room. A passage is opened to the
very first key that you couldn't reach earlier. Backtrack, collect it, then
proceed to the pit-filled room. Get the freeze time spell, hurry forward and
collect the next key, then whip out the trees in the following room. An
exploding wall spell is hidden beyond the trees.
At the very top row, you should let the blue enemy destroy the teleport traps,
never mind the chest it will also destroy. Now get the key and zap spell. Note
that if you had filled the level with too many enemies, the zap spell might not
kill the red enemy to the left of the tunnel, which will prevent you from
completing the level, despite having gotten so close to the exit. If that
happens, you will rip out at least half the hair on your head.
Unlock the four doors, push the boulders, and decide how best to proceed. You
will sacrifice three chests if you keep pushing, but you'll waste lots of whips
if you want to keep the chests. Take your pick.
16) Kick back and enjoy the fireworks. Leave.
17) Now everything is about secrets. Fortunately, the secrets are not all that
difficult to guess. The first thing to do is collect the reveal gem scroll just
left of the column of rightmost blue enemies. Next, move down to the bottom
row, whipping the invisible breakables, so that you will open an area by the
lower-left tunnel when the blue enemies suicide. Use the tunnel-and-back
strategy to reach the bonus letters.
Down to business. Even the boulders on this level are invisible, at least,
until they are pushed. Enter the central area, whip your way into the outer
"arms" of the area, and collect the open-wall spells. Note that each spell will
dump more monsters in the level. But now you can reach the upper part of the
level.
A long line of invisible boulders can be used to open the electrified wall
barrier. Use the bombs to eliminate the legion of green enemies. A line of
hidden moving walls is lurking at the very top, too. Provided you didn't kill
all the green enemies, these walls can be used to decimate the green enemies
even further. Collect the two keys and final open-wall spell.
Head towards the exit. The teleport scrolls are not worth getting--traps
block them.
18) Stock up on whips, but don't stick around. A statue is on this level. Go
down whenever you feel like it (preferably not by dropping into a pit).
19) Another vanishing-path level with lots of moving walls. You will need the
seven keys, which means, leaving the trail and wasting whips. Use the same
strategy as the one you needed for level 7 of Return. But unlike that level,
nothing here lets you eliminate the walls en masse. Your whip is all you get.
20) The final chamber! You are surrounded by blue enemies, which charge. And
there are invisible teleport traps strewn throughout the level. You must grab
all four keys, plus the open-wall spell, to reach the quest artifact. A freeze
time spell and zap spell can help. But don't mess with the statue--it's
COMPLETELY surrounded by a solid barrier! That means it will steal your gems
with absolute impunity. It also means you should run like you've never run
before.
Now that you have the keys, proceed to the right side of the screen. The bonus
letters require a lava bath. Just before the boulders and doors, a line of
invisible teleport traps blocks you (you might want to preemptively whip to
avoid getting sent back into the main fray). Once through the doors, though,
you're home free.
A reveal gem scroll, some chests, a gem pouch, and even some hidden gems all
decoarate this area, lava bath required for some of it. You must sacrifice at
least 20 gems just to reach the Fountain of Youth.
BUT...
Son of a @!+#$!!! It's a decoy. I guess you probably thought that since the
other Super Kroz games had 20 levels, this one would, too. Nope. Five more to
go.
21) This endgame run is suspenseful. Another untouchable statue. You can
teleport at the very beginning to reach a hidden gem pouch, but good luck
getting back out. The rest of the path has traps galore, growing lava, that
abominable statue, and a curious message from the author.
No. You cannot teleport ahead. No shortcuts.
22) Now for a water level. A few more traps, but you can teleport ahead this
time. The exit has tons of traps, but it also has four reveal gem scrolls just
before the stairs. But are the gems worth it? The path is pretty cluttered.
23) Now for an invisible electrified wall level. Head directly down, and a
quake trap will reveal the outline of the path you must take. If you stick to
the lower wall when moving rightwards, you will encounter a hidden set of
bonus letters!
24) It figures. A growing-lava level. No shortcuts. There is a gem pouch out
in the open, which helps, but the lava eats most other treasure before you can
make use of it. A quake trap gives you much-needed help to cross the electric
walls: it's either push a boulder through them, or brave the lava.
25) This is the REAL final chamber! And the fountain is even harder to get to
than the level-20 decoy.
First things first: whip the slow-time spell, move down twice, and let the blue
enemies approach left. Move them beyond the key they guard. Now you can play
the top part of the level. But take heed: the corner to your right and the
area around the pond have traps.
Destroy the generators. Whip your way into past the teleport traps and reach
the open-wall spell. But DO NOT move left right away--let the blue enemies
suicide into the breakable walls. If you had moved too early, these walls
explode, leaving you with more foes to deal with. Push the boulder left, and
open your way to the gems and chest on the left.
Hook around the bottom of the electrified walls, destroy the statue, and collect
the chests and key. Now head left, drawing out the invisible moving walls from
the area by the trees. Get the open-wall spell beyond the trees.
Now collect the key just below that open-wall spell, and grab the nuggets in
the room to the left. More invisible moving walls...naturally. Get the bonus
letters, then collect all the treasure in this area, including the key and the
two hidden reveal gem scrolls on the far left. Don't forget another key now
accessible, all the way to the right.
There are two more keys you will need: one just above the fountain, and one
that requires tunnel-hopping. Collect these, and head to the lower left part of
the screen. The boulders won't block you--they can be pushed into the pit.
Unlock six doors to open the final barrier to the fountain. Even though there
are eight doors, you will need only six keys...ain't diagonal movement great?
The lava rapidly expands the moment the fountain is exposed. Hurry over there,
cross the lava, touch the fountain, and you win! There is a reveal gem scroll
below the fountain. Honestly, do you care?
You get the typical award for gems, whips, teleports, and keys remaining:
100 x Gem
100 x Whip
200 x Teleport
10,000 x Key
Quite a fascinating adventure. If you are willing to tolerate lost sleep, lost
hair, and lost pride, Final Crusade is very entertaining.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G) Lost Adventures
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enough with the sprints. Time for the marathon. Lost Adventures is a marathon:
75 levels, and nearly twice as large as Caverns.
Lost Adventures is, in my opinion, the best of the series. It introduces a huge
new angle with sideways levels, it has a more adventure-style, less arcade-style
look and feel to it, it supports more savegames, and it rewards judgment more
than luck to a greater extent than any other Kroz adventure.
The game is challenging, but very fun. As Kroz episodes go, this is the one to
play.
------------
Starting out
------------
1) Lost Adventures does NOT start you in an arena. Instead, you start at your
dwelling before setting off on your journey. This gives the user a rare
opportunity to try out movement and inventory before getting thrown in with
dangerous monsters. Note that the secret message is here, in the lower right
corner. The certificate it refers to is no longer available. Too bad.
2) Now you get to use your whips for real. There is a reveal gem scroll in the
upper left blocked passage. Don't fall in the pit. Don't. I said, DON'T!!
Oh all right, go ahead. It's fun to watch.
3) Not much here. Just a basic intro to enemies, breakables, and a few traps.
Surround-spawn triggers make their debut here.
4) What's this, a town? Sort of. You should get the whips first, then the
hidden gems inside the shop, then the spells. The "spell shop" has most of the
spells in the game, but the two that you'll want the most are the teleport
scrolls and the open-wall spell that cranks open the passage to the right.
The "lair" should only be entered after getting a teleport scroll--you'll see
why soon. There is an exploding wall spell below the teleport traps, which
opens the shop doors and a path to the tablet, which gives you a clue to a
reveal gem scroll.
5) Kick back and enjoy the fireworks. Get as many items as possible and leave.
6) What's this, something new? Lost Adventures mixes up the gameplay with these
"diary entry" levels, which give you a kind of mini-level to play while the rest
of the level is text. The text doesn't mean much to you and can be ignored
completely. What you want to focus on is getting the power ring. Also,
dropping down into final "trench" seals you in; watch out.
You will notice a strange effect on this level, something I call "partial
gravity." The level is NOT sideways, but it still has a gravity effect. This
just means that you will get tugged towards the bottom of the screen, but other
than that, nothing has changed. The rate of falling is much lower compared with
the falling rate in sideways levels.
----------------
Sideways stories
----------------
7) Use the zero-sum strategy. Bombs destroy the bonus letters, so be careful if
you want the bonus.
8) This is a sideways level! It changes pretty much everything you've learned
about movement up to this point. See the object list section, under "rope," to
see how sideways levels and gravity work. You will fall reasonably fast in
sideways levels. You can't jump, so ropes are your only way up.
The main challenge is figuring out how to get all the items now that you can't
just simply walk over to them anymore. Coordinated leaps from cliffs are
required to land on strategic spots, teleports are more necessary to escape from
blocked areas, and whipping must be done more carefully, since you can destroy
your own walkways now. Also note that boulders are NOT affected by gravity--
they hang in mid-air, and can even support you.
Some of the ropes must be dropped by touching special drop-rope chords. You
must activate two of them: one near the top of the level, and one just up and
right of the O letter.
If you get all the bonus letters, you'll find some extra bonuses directly below
you!
9) Okay, school is over. Time to enter the workforce. This next sideways level
doesn't screw around. "The Lava Pit" is probably the best-known level in the
entire Kroz franchise, and it's a tough one.
You start at the right side. As you ascend the scaffold, there are numerous
traps and items. Note that you should AVOID the open-wall spell for the time
being. Once you've reached the bridge over the lava pit, grab the whips and
nuggets on the left side. The tunnel at the left side warps you back to the
starting point. Note that you can whip through the revealed invisible breakable
walls to make backtracking easier.
It is also possible to get the nuggets on the right side of the pit, but there
is no way out of there without a teleport. But if you teleport, there's a good
chance you will get sent below the lava pit, without enough keys. Try again if
you reach the wrong location, or just skip those nuggets entirely.
Once you've gotten as much as you need from the area around the pit itself, go
ahead and trigger the open-wall spell. This allows you to proceed past the lava
pit, BUT it also removes the bridge over it! The lava will now start to boil
over, meaning you must hurry across via the ropes.
Fall down the funnel, touch the drop-rope chord, then get the open-wall spell
(which removes the floor you're standing on). Push one of the boulders down
until it squashes one of the enemies. Move to the left of the boulder, and now
you can crush the entire line of red enemies, no whips or gems lost!
The remaining drop-rope chord lets you climb up the funnel again so you can get
the key in the upper left corner. Do so and proceed to the stairs.
Can you jump over the gap to the nuggets? As it turns out, you won't need to,
since a surround-spawn trigger makes a bridge for you! Climb back up and cross
this bridge to reach the stairs.
10) Forest with LOTS of items. Lost Adventures throws something new at you yet
again: the forest grows! This dilutes the value of all the whips you'll find,
since you'll become trapped after a short while. You can get a power ring on
this level; it's a good idea to collect it.
11) Back to classic Kroz puzzles. There are a number of ways to play the level.
I suggest using the blue enemies to clear out the teleportation-trap-strewn
corridors (speed time spells can help), and then get the exploding wall spell
that was guarded by the lower-corridor blue enemy. Now you can get the
lower-left key easily!
You won't need to unlock any of the doors in the upper left; use the bomb. You
will need to whip one of the boulders to reach the bomb--don't push, or the
boulder will crush the bomb!
Go right. Cross the lava if you think it's worth it. Circle the green enemies,
get the key to their right, and go down to the electric-wall spiral. Boulders
will spawn, which lets you create a shortcut into the spiral. Get the key in
the center of the spiral. Now another boulder spawns, which gives you another
shortcut out of the spiral!
The remainder of the level is pretty easy. Remember: you'll need all the keys!
12) More electric walls and boulders. It's almost like a party. Get treasure,
avoid enemies and/or crush them, and create new paths in the maze using
boulders.
------------------
Heading for a fall
------------------
13) Another diary entry, and more partial gravity. Easy bonus letters, if you
are willing to take the lava damage. The power ring is gettable, if you search
around for the exploding wall spell. Be sure to collect the key before you
leave.
14) Ha ha, sucks to be you. Fall the best you can and miss the lava.
15) Now it sucks even more to be you. Land on the gray platform, move to the
center, and whip out the floor. Fall on the drop-rope chord, which provides
your escape route. Teleport if you are in danger of taking a lava bath.
You might think getting the bonus letters is suicide, since you'll destroy the
walkway, right? Wrong. A trigger restores the walkway. A teleport is still
necessary to escape, though.
16) Enemy compaction strategy.
17) Not much to do on this level. Get what items you can, and watch out for the
generator-spawned enemies.
18) Cute; it's Scott Miller's initials. Teleport out of your corridor and start
to collect the bonus letters. This means, of course, switching sides of the
screen repeatedly, but you can manage it through teleportation or by simply
walking.
The open-wall spells allow access to the four keys at the corners of the level.
But watch out--to the side of each gem leading to them is a tree trigger. The
trees on this level grow, so it's best not to let them get started.
There are some nice goodies in the pockets of the "M." Get them, but watch out
for invisible moving walls and creature creation traps.
19) Enemy compaction strategy, although there are many walls that make it less
effective. Slow the green enemies down as much as you can, grab any items you
see fit, and leave.
20) You're surrounded again! But the gray barrier saves your butt. Use freeze
time spells to collect the items without fear. After that, however, it's a
running game.
When you've reached the stairs, an unexpected present shows up: you can snatch
the items on the other side of the stairs. Nice!
---------------
Hold everything
---------------
Note: the original demo only let you play the first 20 levels before plastering
a much hated "delay screen" on your monitor. This screen forces you to look at
ordering info for about a minute before letting you play the next level. And
it shows up again for EACH SUBSEQUENT LEVEL. Is that a nag or is that a nag?
The Freeware release has the registered version, without the delay screen. You
should not encounter the delay screen in this day and age. If you do, get a
good copy of Lost Adventures!
21) Kick back and watch the fireworks. Leave.
22) This is another vanishing-path level with lots of moving walls. But now,
you'll need to abandon the path several times to collect all the keys. Have
enough whips handy, I hope? Good.
A bomb, green enemies, and a creature creation trap will help you counter the
moving walls. After you've used up the entire path, apply the enemy compaction
strategy to reach the stairs.
23) Random boulder maze; not difficult. The zap spells make the level a cinch.
24) Another sideways level with a lava pit. I think this one is a bit easier
than "The Lava Pit," but you still need to make good decisions, not to mention
hurry.
The most counterintuitive part of the level is the faith leap. Do that any
other place in the game (or the level), and you're literally toast. You'll know
to do it near the beginning, though, because you're out of options.
You should not have too much trouble with the rest of the level. But if you
want the chests at the lower right, remember that this level is devious about
where it places you if you try to teleport--it's more than likely that you will
get dumped into a lava pit.
25) This level seems too empty. It's not. There are triggers all over the
floor. Most of them just slow you down, but you can actually comb the grid and
turn a profit on inventory items.
26) It's a tribute to Rogue! The room configuration resembles most Rogue-like
games, although the rooms are not random in this case. When you try to go
right, the path disappears...but if you remember where it was, you'll know to
go south to the spell-filled room. The tablet restores visibility to the level
once more.
Other than a few hidden gem compartments, there is little else to say about this
level. Beyond the stairs, you will find a spell that reveals the Amulet of
Yendor. This gives you lots of points, but it is not THE quest artifact of the
game.
27) Another teleport-trap festival. Let the blue enemies cut a path through the
items. You can rack up a lot of points on this level by collecting the potions.
-------------
Where to now?
-------------
28) Third diary entry. In this case, the author decided to slam Rogue in a
subtle way, even though a tribute had already been paid with level 26. The
reason? Rogue is ridiculously hard, randomly hard. You could spend "countless
hours" at that game, as the diary entry alludes, and you might never reach
success despite your best efforts.
As for this level, it's pretty counterintuitive what you must do. Take the
dead-end shaft, and it turns out to be the right direction. Then, be sure to
whip the breakable BEFORE you pull the drop-rope chord. That's all you need to
know.
29) Curious level with more staircases than anything else. The only reason to
play this level through is to collect treasure. Touch one set of stairs, and
it's over.
30) The "Locksmith Shoppe" is not much of a shop. You can only remove one key
from the shop, located on the far right of the display. DO NOT get the nearby
chests, at least not this early. Visit the lower left corner of the open area.
Next, cross the bridge; that path opens for you. Collect the open-wall spell
to expose the area far to the left. Let the enemies come after you, move past
them, and get the key in this area. Note that there are moving walls blocking
the key, and you can use the enemies to help you destroy them. Don't check to
the sides of the key--you'll be sorry!
You need three keys to reach the tablet. If you have a spare key, avoid the
last key and just unlock the doors from the top side (not the left side, dummy!)
to get to the destination. But before grabbing the tablet itself, get the
freeze time spell, THEN go down and pick up the tablet. You will be sealed in,
but the tablet itself contains a mantra that changes all the water to gold
nuggets!
Teleport out and use the remaining freeze-time cycles to collect as much gold
as possible. Pick up the remaining key if you haven't already, then head to
the now-accessible stairs.
31) Another growing forest level. This time, with no enemies, and with a few
tunnels and bombs. Stock up on supplies.
32) Yes, you do dare go down. But not right away. First, get the key to your
right. The chests below the key are not easily accessed, despite the apparent
pit--there is no pit, just a long column of invisibles. Next on your agenda is
the tablet. Whip down to it, and it will explode some walls for you.
Your destination is now the trench opened up by the spell. You might want to
make two runs (one after teleporting) of the items in this area. The rest of
the items on the level are not worth getting.
--------------------
Twisting and turning
--------------------
33) The tunnels are fraught with annoyances. You should teleport right away--
no walking anywhere first--to get to the secret area with the two chests. If
you fidget around in this area, a passage opens back to the main tunnel. Now
proceed down the tunnel normally. The key from the last level is required.
As you go further, the walls start to disappear. As long as you remember the
general layout, this isn't that big a handicap. Go to the area denoted "MAGIC"
and check along the top row. Enter and exit this area diagonally, though: the
bottom row of this area is lined with unhelpful triggers.
You can zap the creatures if you check the corridor around the zap spell itself,
but this doesn't help too much, since red enemies take so little gems anyway.
Exit the corridor out the left.
34) Okay, another corridor. But this one is invisible! Keep going left, and
you will trigger a quake trap. This trap is actually good, because it reveals
the rough outline of the corridor you must travel. If you don't stick to the
corridor...you get zapped.
There are whips scattered all along the perimeter of the corridor. But the real
treat is the set of bonus letters, all in a line. You can't see them, but they
are there: after the second turn left, you will need to turn right again. By
sticking to the outer wall (counter-clockwise from the bottom starting corridor
wall), you will collect the bonus!
Further down the corridor, there are more quake traps. Ho hum.
35) Okay, ANOTHER corridor! And this one has growing lava. You must hurry, of
course. The supplies are worth getting, but only the last question mark is
worth getting, which is a gem pouch.
36) You can't see, and you'll really wish you could. Lots of blue enemies, and
all the electrified walls are invisible. Get to the stairs as fast as possible.
37) Another sideways level. This one is not so much a lava-dodging cliffhanger
as much as a genuine puzzle. First, drop down left and whip out the breakables.
Next, go right and push the boulder right into the electrified wall. Yes, you
should destroy the chest in its path. Go down the rope, hook left, and pull
the drop-rope chord to give you access to the rest of the level.
This will have the effect of provoking the green enemy to your right. Don't
deal with it right away, though. Instead, climb the rope you've just dropped,
go right, down, and left, and get the teleport scroll. Now a walkway forms,
letting you get the chest guarded by the green enemy pack!
Now go back down and deal with the lone green enemy, getting the key it guarded.
Head back to the starting point, collect the treasure on the right side of the
rope, and proceed up and right to deal with the rest of the level.
Of the areas you must go to next, only one is absolutely necessary: The
corridor with the open-wall spell on the left. The tablet in the corridors
below it is not necessary to pick up, but it is quite useful: it changes all
the boulders on the level into gems.
Climb down the enemy-infested rope, get the ring, and blow up the six doors.
Climb back up, drop between the green enemies, get the two keys on the left,
and go into the tunnel. A bridge now forms over the hole you had just entered.
Before going any further, get the open-wall spell all the way to your right.
Trick the moving walls into chasing you left, then slip behind them. The way
down from here is not that obvious--an invisible platform blocks you, with only
one opening, at the far left. Whip it, go through the tortuous tunnels below
it, and collect the final key before dropping into your exit tunnel.
Now you can go all the way right and up the rope. Work your way left, until you
reach the top row of blue enemies. There are many ways around them or through
them, but there are two things you should never do: go into the passage
directly underneath them, or whip out the platform that you'll need to get to
the stairs. This is an easy set of bonus letters to get, but it might be a
painful one.
You need 5 keys to reach the stairs. Four doors...wait, five. Damn.
---------------------
Throwing away the key
---------------------
38) Use zero-sum strategy. You'll need both the keys on this level--don't leave
without them!
39) Carefully pick your way through this level. You don't want to waste a hard-
earned key on a stray movement, do you? Thankfully, there are no invisible
doors on this level.
40) A boulder maze. Unless you are stupid, you will always have a place to push
a boulder, except at the very end of the level. The bonus letters DO require
you to whip the boulders, but hey, it's a bonus.
You will need 3 keys. You didn't waste any on level 39, I hope. That would be
horrible. Unexpectedly, when you get near the stairs, the entire frame around
them collapses. Check behind the stairs for some free gems.
41) Another boulder-and-electric-wall maze. Get all the items you can, using
the boulders tactfully to create an optimal path.
42) Yet another sequel to Crazy Cubicals! There is really no need to backtrack
on this level, which makes it easier than the others of the same type. Getting
the keys and bonus letters is actually pretty easy. The opening to the cubes
is located at the far left.
There are a few surprises. Reading the nearby tablet opens the waterlogged
area, and you will need to go west of the growing forest in order to
access one of the open-wall spells (which is buried among tons of traps).
Four keys needed to leave the level. Krazy, indeed.
43) Want what you can't have? Typical. The foes on this level steal the gems,
leaving you with almost nothing. Find the exit as quickly as possible.
-------------
Mantra tantra
-------------
44) A brief sideways level with a diary entry. Most of the drop-rope chords do
nothing, but the last one lets you proceed. You'll need to whip one of the
boulders beyond the pit. Move diagonally to get the second key, then make an
opening in the electric wall by pushing the boulder right. Next, you must form
walkways with the boulder: push the last one down twice, get two keys, push
down twice again, get two more keys, and push down twice again to get to the
stairs. You'll need all six keys.
45) The level is filled with treasure! Great! And growing lava. Not so great.
Get as much as you can before the level fills up with lava and quake rubble.
46) This level should be pretty easy to figure out: visit the sections in the
suggested order. Don't forget keys--you won't have a second chance to collect
them after visiting the next area. There are two reveal gem scrolls near the
stairs...but you can't get most of the gems! Argh...
47) Another random invisible maze with enemies. You can pick up a lot of items
here. It's easy to kill the enemies by revealing breakables directly in front
of them.
48) "The Swamp" is a tricky level. Note the statue; you must hurry in order
to save on gems. Start off by grabbing the speed time spell, drawing the blue
enemies down the corridor, and then getting the slow time spell for moving
around the other side of them. Race over to the statue, move just beyond it
(the passage will open), and destroy that piece of $#!!
Now collect the open-wall spell to your right, being mindful not to crush it
with a boulder. Go left, get some more treasure, and get the key tucked inside
the trees. Note that many trees on this level bear the secret message.
The path through the swamp forks several times. A seemingly empty branch off
to the left has hidden gems. A path with several blue enemies (which can
destroy a nearby key if you move up--watch out) allows you to draw the enemies
into the dead-end if you get close to them (get the key after they have bunched
together).
The remaining corridors have spells to manipulate time. The speed time spell
should be whipped. The freeze time spell should be used to get the key under
the nose of the lone blue enemy. The slow time spell should be used to sneak
past the red enemies.
The path that leads to the upper right corner with forest terrain is worth
approaching. After entering the tunnel, you will find that the tablet rewards
you with a huge gem bonus!
Finally, head towards the stairs. The gem bonus really comes in handy, because
you must sacrifice a staggering 40 gems just to reach the stupid doors. Leave,
and never come back.
49) Zero-sum strategy, right? Well, there's a curve ball. These are moving
walls, the types that don't pursue you until you've gotten near them. This
means you can go forward fine, but you can't backtrack because more and more
walls end up closing in on your trail.
50) Russian Roulette with one gem pouch and lots of creature creation traps.
----------
Entrapment
----------
51) A room with random breakables and several generators. Get what you can and
leave.
52) This level is pretty straightforward at first: follow the breadcrumbs. If
you don't, all sorts of nasty traps await you. While there are some useful item
bonuses off the trail, it's not worth trying to get them unless you know where
each one is, info I refuse to find out as a matter of general principle (I'm
lazy). Just stay on the trail, already.
At the lower part of the level, it gets easier. Pick up the key at the left,
get the reveal gem scroll (the tablet tells you where), and proceed to the exit.
Of course, it can never be too simple, because a huge blob of invisible moving
walls is waiting for you, guarding the last key. Whip through them and/or draw
them out, then head for the stairs.
53) A sideways level with many walkways you can destroy accidentally. But some
of these walkways you actually DO want to destroy. Here's what to do at the
start: go all the way to the right, destroy the platform directly above you,
then go all the way to the left and pull the drop-rope chord. Back to the right
for some climbing.
Do not approach the corridor with the chest just yet. Instead, climb to the top
and get all but the bottommost whips. You won't fall, see? Now go left and
down, snatching the chest you ignored earlier. Proceed right, which will spawn
boulders. Push the boulder to your left all the way, then find away to circle
back around to the top of this boulder. Pushing it down, you'll create a type
of "downward descending elevator" that can stop at any floor. The open-wall
spell lets you access more "floors." Visit them all.
Now you can go all the way to the left and climb the leftmost rope. Drop down
to the right, pull the drop-rope chord just above the blue enemies, and climb
up to the tunnel. Collect the items as you fall, including the open-wall spell,
and don't worry about the lava pit. You can't fall in it!
Once again, the blue enemies are no danger, although who would have guessed it.
When you reach yet another drop-rope chord, check the empty space below before
pulling it. Another free chest!
Proceed left, climb the rope as fast as possible to minimize damage from the
green enemies, and snake through the long corridors at the top of the level.
You can use the bomb to eliminate some of the moving walls in your way. Note
that the "Z" letter forces you to teleport out and backtrack.
Which drop-rope chord to pull now? The bottom one. Collect the last key, and
now head towards the stairs. Of course...they're not easily reached. You will
need three keys to reach the stairs.
54) Another sideways level. Hurry, running downward, to avoid getting "trash-
compacted" by the moving wall columns. Get the key and dive into the tunnel.
These corridors have a number of interesting item bonuses and triggers. The
only one you absolutely must trigger is the breakable platform trigger located
off to the right of the blindness potion trigger. This platform allows you to
collect a key later.
The shallow lava pit is trickier to navigate than you might think. Columns of
invisible solids alternate with ropes. Try to find the highest opening you can
manage as you move left. At the very end, though, there is an opening at the
BOTTOM of the column of invisible doors. You do not need to waste a key here!
Unlock the trapdoor, then trigger a rather strange rope configuration. Here,
you must rapidly move diagonally, although the pattern is not consistent, to
avoid taking too much damage from the red enemies. After this, it's up, up, up.
You must pick up another open-wall spell to your left, plus the key whose
platform you triggered earlier (you did remember, right?). The bonus letters in
this area come with a caveat: you must whip a boulder out of the way.
Head down to the bottom right corner of the level. DO NOT grab the drop-rope
chord yet. Instead, climb up and use the boulder to increase the drop range on
the rope. Now you can climb it!
By the way, the letter-puzzle is solved by collecting the "K." The tablet
reveals this fact, but you will need to restart the whole level if you try to
read this tablet. There is no excuse for this level design to have such a
stupid backtracking requirement, but that's just the way things are, apparently.
After unlocking all the doors, you should be able to restock your k--hey, that's
not fair! You fall against your will into the next level.
55) Third sideways level in a row! And another diary entry. You won't fall
quite as fast in this level. Some goodies are hidden on the way down into the
slanted pit. With coordination, you should reach the base without being singed.
56) There's MORE to the pit? Yep...take the tunnel and be sure to touch the
drop-rope chord on your way down. Climb up and read the tablet. Don't crush
the tablet--you'll need what's written on it! It opens a gap in the lava to
the next level.
-------------
Tight squeeze
-------------
57) Lots of whips, most of which you can't get. Use enemy compaction strategy.
58) How about a level with no empty spaces at all? Yes, you'll need to whip
your way all the way to the stairs. No teleporting.
59) Now for an arena that features lots of creation traps, fast-growing lava,
and invisible moving walls. Collect the keys in the order of lower left, upper
left, lower right, and then finish with the upper right corner. I don't need
to tell you to hurry. The zap spells can help, but most people will just want
to get out of this place.
60) A bunch of boulders, treasure, and enemies. Fortunately, you don't have to
waste whips or gems on this level, because there are few enough enemies that you
can strategically beat them all with boulders.
61) Chamber of Horror again, not to be confused with the level from Return. Get
the K letter, hook around the bottom, and head toward the top of the room you
are in now. What you are trying to do is ram the blue enemies into the
breakables to their left.
Now get the zap spell. You won't need to whip either boulder. Now pick up the
tablet. There is an exploding wall spell that clears out any walls not
destroyed by the blue enemies earlier. The tablet clears the way to the giant
pit.
There are a few bonus items in the "notches" in the next room, but there are
also surround-spawn breakables as well. Get past the remaining blue enemies and
proceed to the walkway over the giant pit.
This pit is from hell. One misstep and you're dead. Carefully pick your way
along, not forgetting anything like the open-wall spell. At one point,
blindness potions will spring up. Whip them!
At last, you're near the end. Tunnel-hop until you visit every bomb location.
After triggering each bomb, the green enemies below are decimated, making your
life a lot easier. Proceed into the next area, dodge the remaining enemies,
open the final wall, and escape.
------------------------
Survival of the luckiest
------------------------
62) Much like level 49, except you can't see the moving walls until they move.
This level is annoying, but you can pick up some useful items.
63) Mishmash of enemies, items, lava, and electric walls. Get whatever items
you need and find the stairs.
64) This level looks intimidating, but it's not that bad. Destroy the statue,
then go left. You'll want to get the tablet, since it gives you a huge golden
nugget bonus. Yes, you must teleport out.
Go to the bottom corridor and get the key in this area. Note that boulders will
spawn. You must whip the top boulder, but SAVE the bottom boulder. Push this
boulder down, then right, and you will explode half the walls above you!
Proceed to the tunnel. When you come out, the blue legion will charge towards
the huge "KROZ" word. Try to collect as many gems as possible before the
enemies take them away. Note that you can get a bit of a head start by grabbing
the slow time spell near the starting point, then diving into the tunnel.
Get the key beyond the huge "KROZ" word (mind the spawning boulders), then go
back to the starting point, where you must unlock the doors. Collect a king's
ransom worth of gold, then go to the upper right corner and get the open-wall
spell. You might want to consider whipping the speed time spells.
One more challenge. Head towards the now-opened exit. But a whole army of
blue enemies is released the moment you enter! Avoid the speed time spells,
avoid the blindness potions, and find a way to get to the exit without taking
too much damage. There is a reveal gem scroll in one corner, but it is not
just next to the stairs like in many levels.
65) Very frustrating level. Almost no empty space. Bombs can help out. Wall
vanish traps will do the opposite of help.
66) Another sideways level tribute, this time of the game "Jumpman." For those
who don't know, Jumpman was a C64 title whose game properties make the random
cruelties of Kroz look like a walk in the park on a sunny day. Jumpman, in the
"Figurit" levels, would cause certain parts of the level to appear or disappear
based on the order in which the gems were collected. Which is the right order?
Well, you won't know until you collect them. And if you guess wrong, you lose
a life. Makes you really want to play Jumpman, doesn't it?
The first thing to do is get the bonus letters. Yes, whip the boulders. Yes,
take the lava damage. You can escape.
Collect the first drop-rope chord, climb up, and then drop into the tunnel.
Drop down to the right side of the level, climb the nearby rope, and push the
boulder out of the way--once. Now touch the nearest drop-rope chord and climb
up further.
Pulling the chord above you now is the wrong choice--ignore it. Instead, go
right, collect the key and open-wall spell, and climb back up to get the
now-reachable open-wall spell. This lets you re-enter the tunnel, although you
don't want to go there yet.
What you should do is walk left of the drop-rope chord you ignored earlier.
The platform extends itself. Get the key, then fall off the platform to reach
the drop-rope chord just below. This will extend a nice long platform, making
the whips easy to get. Get the whips and final gem, and now a platform forms
under the gems, too! Life can be good sometimes. The drop-rope chord near the
whips will let you access the tablet and the tunnel, which is useful in reaching
the gems.
You will need both keys to reach the stairs...and 20 gems for the blocking lava.
-----------------
When will it stop
-----------------
67) More forest. Not the growing kind, though. The numerous zap spells can be
used to even the score nicely. And one more thing--this level is TEEMING with
treasure. You can't see most of it, but it's there. Knock yourself out.
68) Another challenging sideways level. Ignore the title. So many important
parts are invisible, and this level is very fault-intolerant, so bear with me.
Also, it might be pointless to mention it this far into the game, but DO NOT
WHIP WHILE YOU ARE STANDING ON A BREAKABLE WALKWAY UNLESS YOU REALLY MEAN IT!!
Go right and "whip" your way up the ropes to the drop-rope chords. That
question mark is a gem eraser, so don't bother getting it. Fall into the narrow
gap beyond the ropes, and a walkway will form to your left. Climb this walkway,
and as you cross, more platforms form to your right, which you will need later.
For now, go right and whip your way downward to get to the drop-rope chord.
You are not trapped, despite appearances; the exit to this area is on the right
side.
Now climb the rope to your right, crossing the top of the two newly created
platforms. Push the boulder down, then left to remove the electric wall. Get
the chests, whip out the gray breakable, and fall down to circle back left.
Despite appearances, that gap in the floor is just imaginary.
Climb back up and push the remaining boulder all the way right, then squeeze
past it and climb the rope to your right. Whip away the teleport traps and open
a hole in the ceiling. Circle around and approach the boulder from the top.
See what to do now? Push down until you make a hole in the electric floor. The
drop-rope chord will shoot through the hole in the ceiling, letting you access
the rest of the level!
Climb up, go right and drop into the tunnel. Yes, there is a hidden walkway.
Go left, climb the rope, drop into the narrow gap to the right, which will yield
a boulder. Push the boulder left, destroy the electric wall, and collect the
drop-rope chord. Climb up, move over, and touch the open-wall spell directly
above the tunnel. Go back through the tunnel.
The spell opened another key and drop-rope chord back at the lower part of the
level. Go back down there, collect both, and climb back to the upper part of
the level once more.
This next part is not necessary, but it will net you another key if you need it.
Push the boulder on the gray walkway. Yes, you will destroy the nuggets. Too
bad. Once you're over a solid portion of the walkway (it's invisible), you can
safely whip this boulder now. Now go all the way left, get the tablet and key,
and climb the rope to your left. Actions have consequences, of course: the
previously dormant lava now starts to rise! It will even destroy the walkways.
Climb up, collecting the bonus letters is you're willing to expend enough whips.
Whip downward through the breakables to collect the final key. This will also
form the final walkway you'll need to cross to reach the stairs. Head to the
stairs; don't get the question mark, but do get the chest to your left. Climb
up to the doors. Three keys are needed to exit.
69) More blue enemies, but there is some hidden treasure. Use enemy compaction
strategy.
70) Not that hard a level, unless for whatever reason you're out of whips. Go
down and left, collect the key, and destroy the statue. You probably want to
teleport back.
Goody! A new item. This is a magic spear, which, when triggered, eliminates
enemies in the line of the spear. In this case, it's an entire squad of the
green enemies to your left. Whip to uncover it, then let'em have it!
Collect the K, then ram the other line of green enemies into the breakables
located above them. Go left, get another key, and get the teleport in the
corner. This is worth it, because a path is opened to the south.
Go through this path, never mind the annoying invisible walls. Now for a fun
time. There is a gem pouch on the far left, but all the other question marks
on the level are traps. Only get the pouch and any keys you come across. All
the breakables are actually moving walls, all along the south wall. Good
heavens.
Walk to the bridge on the right, whip through the trees, and enter the tunnel.
The power ring is not worth getting this late in the game. Just find the exit.
There is some treasure behind the stairs, if you want it badly enough.
----------------
Maximum pressure
----------------
71) Nothing but enemies...and invisible walls, which for whatever reason don't
show up as visible even if you touch them. If you can, get the tablet, which
will make everything visible. It will also have the effect of getting rid of
most of the enemies.
72) Last sideways level, and it's hard. Really hard. Fall down, get the items
on your way down, then push the leftmost boulder down as far as it will go.
Whip out the gray breakables, push the boulder into the electric wall, and
launch the spear. It will destroy a chest along with the enemies, but it's
more worth it to launch the spear.
Oh, wait. I almost forgot: there is yet another new feature introduced! The
electrified walls on this level blink on and off randomly. It looks kind of
cool, but the puzzles are not very deterministic as a result of them. Mostly,
they're just annoying. It means that at any one place where there is a blinking
wall, it might be impassible, or it might be no problem to cross. There is no
set pattern.
Climb up, drop the adjacent rope, and push the boulder all the way to the right,
but stop before crushing the key. Whip the boulder first. DO NOT launch any of
the spears--they will also destroy the key.
The configuration of the electrified walls just above you would lead one to
think that you could time your movements across to get the gem pouch at the end.
But since the pattern is random, I don't even think that's possible. Great
design, isn't it?
The corridors below all have treasure in them. Decide which paths to take.
Only the bottom corridor must be traversed. Your goal is the open-wall spell,
which grants access to the right side of the level.
It doesn't get easier. Whip out the ceiling, then drop the rope. Climb up and
pick up some teleports. Go below the "mystery ramp" to get some hidden
treasure, then teleport out.
Since by now you should have a key, unlock the door further below the "mystery
ramp" and fall through the lava. Yes, I know, the truth hurts. So does the
lava. The tablet has an interesting message on it. Too bad there was no sequel
that made anything of it!
Get the whips and chest, then whip out the gray breakable below the ropes. Now
launch the spear. Great; you just iced ten green enemies! But if you try to
go into that corridor yourself, you'll find an invisible solid was there all
along, blocking you. (Twilight Zone theme)
Go right along the bottom of the screen. I suggest pushing the boulder at an
angle, then rolling it over all the green enemies, but you could also whip out
the breakables next to it and use the spear. It's not worth going over them--
a half-dozen surround-spawn triggers are on the walkway!
Get the whips, climb to the nearest corridor, and head left. Several boulders
will spawn in your way; whip them. There is also the chance that a blinking
electric wall will block your way to the key. Use the boulder to neutralize it,
if your whip didn't destroy it. If your whip DID destroy it and the wall is
still up, you'll just have to wait a really long time. Don't you love this
level?
Climb the rightmost rope ALL the way up this time. You can get the bonus
letters easily, as long as you coordinate your falling. Each drop-rope chord
will save your from the lava pit, extending a rope just above you. Eventually,
go along the "mystery ramp." When a boulder spawns, whip it. DO NOT push it.
You will trigger a platform that lets you get the final key. Note that if you
failed to get the key below it, this key is now permanently sealed off. My
respect for this level's design just grows every time I play it...
Now you can go to the exit. You will need all the keys in the level to reach
it unless you have some spares. Fortunately, the last blinking electric wall
can be destroyed much more reliably, since a boulder spawns as you approach it.
73) It's a last stand by the blue bad guys. Get as much treasure as you can,
then leave.
74) The heat is certainly on now. Get the open-wall spell up and to the left,
and immediately rush down to the lower right to whip the statue. Of course, an
invisible barrier protects the statue, with the only opening at the bottom.
Figures. Use the tunnels to pick up a super Kroz bonus.
Now go open the next-nearest open-wall spell. Lots of invisibles and spawning
boulders will hamper your progress. Now you can access the lower left part of
the level. All these green enemies might look daunting, but if you go lower,
you will attract the attention of some invisible moving walls, which reduce the
number of enemies significantly. Collect all the keys in this area (moving
diagonally through the passages), and get the power ring. This ring is actually
easy to get.
The bottom row of enemies can be handled one of two ways: launching the spear,
or drawing them out, wasting whips and gems, and getting ANOTHER set of bonus
letters. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
Unlock the doors, get the last open-wall spell (watching out for the boulder
trap), and collect an important tablet. This tablet starts to boil away the
water, giving you access to the stairs! Unfortunately, it also gives the horde
of green enemies blocking the exit access to you.
Travel to the northwest corner of the level. There are many nugget spawners
below the pit. There are also two solid-surrounding traps near the middle of
the "HEAT WAVE" area. It's best to stick to the edges of this area.
Push the boulders out of the way of the spears. You can dump them into the pit
itself, which is convenient. See what you're going to do now? Let the water
evaporate for a while, let the enemies approach the pit in a long line...and
then it's bye-bye.
Now it should be easier to get to the stairs. Not easy, but easier. A hidden
door blocks the stairs, but you should have gotten all the keys you need.
75) Could the marathon finally be over? It's the sacred chamber. Finally.
It's not necessary to collect any treasure on this level. The most
non-intuitive treasures are the reveal gem scrolls that dot either side of the
"SACRED CHAMBER OF KROZ" message. There are also many hidden traps at various
locations in the arena, which will dilute your earnings. Finally, there are the
bonus letters, which can only be reached by whipping a lot of boulders.
What to do, what to do. Good question. There's a lot of stuff you are going
to have to do. First, visit the upper left and upper right corners, which have
open-wall spells you'll need in order to complete the level. Of course, each
area seals you inside, requiring you to teleport out.
You must enter both small rooms on the left and right sides, blocked by a single
door each. The left yields one key profit; the right opens a critical barrier
to the quest artifact.
There are two more keys, located at the bottom two corners. The left one is
protected by a blinking electric wall maze, and the right one just has layer
upon layer of breakables. An exploding wall spell near the breakables will cut
down on the amount of whips you'll need. The nearby enemies can help out, too.
You'll need to use one key to reach the bottom tablet. DON'T try to go to the
sides of the tablet. The tablet removes the trench surrounding the chamber.
Are your eyes "widening with anticipation" yet?
The chamber itself is blocked by a door, a generator, a boulder (which you
should whip, for reasons you'll see next), and a ring of lava. Get the tome,
and you've won the marathon that is Lost Adventures of Kroz!
You get the typical award for gems, whips, teleports, and keys remaining:
100 x Gem
100 x Whip
200 x Teleport
10,000 x Key
The ending to Lost Adventures of Kroz is worth a mention, unlike the more
generic endings accompanying the other episodes. Basically, the next Kroz
adventure in the series, called "The Underground Empire of Kroz," is advertised
here, with a backstory of Lord Dullwit, an evil wizard, and a trapped
civilization. Sadly, this is the last you'll hear of these characters, because
no sequel to Lost Adventures was forthcoming.
Wait, that was one tough slog, and really annoying. Oh, boo hoo.
Well, anyway, if you've come this far, you probably liked Lost Adventures of
Kroz. Apart from its numerous annoyances, it's the longest game and the
highlight of the entire series.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
H) Kingdom II
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kingdom of Kroz II is a remixed version of Kingdom of Kroz I. It uses the
engine from Lost Adventures, and replaces several levels with the best from
Temple, Final Crusade, and Lost Adventures. Numerous tweaks have also been
applied to the retained Kingdom levels.
What Kingdom of Kroz II lacks in originality, it makes up for in overall
experience. Although no longer than the original Kingdom adventure (25 levels),
there is enough variety that the game ends up being more stimulating, and less
monotonous, than most of the other Kroz games.
It's perhaps for this last reason that Kingdom II is more likely to be ported
online than any other episode. Kingdom II is Kroz in a nutshell.
The walkthrough for Kingdom II will be short. There is no point rehashing the
strategies for levels already discussed in this FAQ. However, there are
certain noteworthy modifications to the levels from their equivalents in
different adventures. These I will discuss.
1) Same as Kingdom I opener, with a few differences at the bottom of the screen.
A message occupies some of the space that used to be empty, and a magic spear is
now present, which you can use on the enemies (and the chest at the far right if
you're not careful).
2) Same as Kingdom I level 3. A new boulder trigger is in the upper left, and
a new breakable trigger is located just above the gems.
3) Not much to say; enemies and breakables. There are a few breakable triggers.
4) Same as Kingdom I level 7. A door no longer blocks the gems at the left,
monsters don't destroy items as easily, there are less invisible breakables near
the forest area, a spear can be used against the green enemies, and a breakable
trigger blocks the path to the power ring.
5) Enemies and breakables; not much to say. Use zero-sum strategy.
6) Same as level 5 of Temple. There is one major difference: the gray wall
holding the blue enemies can no longer be opened. You will get very hurt as you
try to rush past them.
7) Similar to level 7 of Lost Adventures. Use zero-sum strategy.
8) Same as level 9 of Lost Adventures. The tablet message is different, and a
message at the lower left makes the lower-left room a bit tighter, but these
changes are not significant.
9) Same as level 10 of Lost Adventures.
10) Same as level 7 of Final Crusade.
11) Electrified-wall-and-boulder maze, with lots of treasure.
12) Same as level 13 of Final Crusade. The open-wall spells and blue enemies
are visible, this time. Some of the keys have been moved, and all five keys
needed to finish the level are present. Since this is no longer level 13, the
title was changed to "Boulderville" which is fitting enough.
13) Lots of enemies, treasure, and generators. Use enemy compaction strategy.
14) Same as level 46 of Lost Adventures.
15) Same as level 45 of Lost Adventures.
16) Same as level 33 of Lost Adventures. The arrangement of traps, doors, and
enemies is a bit different. The creature zap spell now traps the player,
requiring a teleport. There is also a new power ring, with an exploding wall
spell in the upper right corner of the final twist in the passage that allows
access to the ring.
17) Same as level 50 of Lost Adventures.
18) Same as level 42 of Lost Adventures.
19) Kick back and enjoy the fireworks. Leave.
20) Same as level 22 of Lost Adventures.
21) Same as level 23 of Lost Adventures.
22) Same as level 30 of Lost Adventures.
23) A mostly-empty level with lots of triggers on the floor. You can comb the
level and pick up a decent amount of treasure if you want.
24) Same as level 24 of Lost Adventures.
25) Same as Kingdom I level 25, with significant modifications. There are a lot
of surround-spawn triggers of boulders and breakables at various locations. A
statue and some generators have been added. The top row of gems and power ring
have been replaced by fewer gems and two spears. There are bonus letters
that can be gotten, and the right blue-enemy gallery has been replaced with a
blinking electric wall puzzle.
Six doors to reach the amulet, as before. You get the typical award for gems,
whips, teleports, and keys remaining:
100 x Gem
100 x Whip
200 x Teleport
10,000 x Key
It's hard to say which one is easier: Kingdom I or Kingdom II. There is
definitely a lot more going on, with more variety, in Kingdom II, but when it
comes to applying strategies, each episode requires a slightly different
emphasis. What works well for one might not work so well for the other.
If you only want to play one Kroz game in the series, and you don't want to
waste time getting all the way through Lost Adventures, I highly suggest
Kingdom of Kroz II.
-------------
In conclusion
-------------
The Kroz series had a short but productive lifespan. But people had the gall to
upgrade their computers to the point where not one of the games would run well
on a modern platform. The puzzles are very innovative and rewarding, not like
any other game since. That people don't want to bend over backwards to play
older games today is unfortunate, but that's called progress: people demand
quality and simplicity with every form of entertainment they come across
nowadays.
But the real killer of the Kroz series' once-great popularity was the fact that
the games were not easily moddable. The source code was available at one time,
for a steep price, but no modding community sprang up like it did for similar
titles, such as Epic's ZZT. It would be decades before anyone would try to
create new content for Kroz, and in that time, the eight original episodes were
all that anyone had to play.
The two principal efforts to create new content are The Hidden Caves of Kroz
(John Wilson) and Cruz (Christopher Allen); more info about these games can be
found at the bottom of this FAQ. Likely there will be more, since the source
code for Kroz was released for free in 2009. Who knows where Kroz will strike
next?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VII) Interesting factoids
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These factoids are observations I made during the building of the Kroz reboot
Flash application, called "Cruz." While cataloging the Kroz engine features, I
wrote an article that covered them in detail. Many of the following paragraphs
are reprinted from that article.
-----
Sound
-----
The original sound in Kroz was generated using PC speaker effects. This usually
meant programming the single-tone speaker to a specific frequency and using
time-delayed loops to manipulate the pitch and duration. However, in some
cases, a limited form of pulse-wave modulation was used to generate sound,
which involves turning on the speaker for a small fraction of a second in order
to generate more complex waveforms (monster movement, moving wall movement).
Kroz sound effects are played in foreground. While sound is being programmed,
nothing else can occur. The illusion of sound effects happening while visual
effects are also happening is based upon the fact that in many instances, the
PC speaker would be left on at a particular frequency while visual effects were
manipulated as interstitial operations between sound programming. In this
respect, the sound programming actually helped time the visual aspects of the
game and even the gameplay itself.
A lot of Kroz effects can sound substantially different depending on the
emulated computer speed used during gameplay. What is normal at one speed
might be annoying or inaudible at another speed.
------
Timing
------
Kroz did not utilize any directly taken-over timer routines, which means that
timing relies on the Pascal "delay" function, waiting loops with constant
counters, and actual computer speed.
A confounding factor to determining the speed at which Kroz should "really" run
is its fast/slow CPU setting at the start of many of the episodes. Far from
determining a simple delay counter, this choice in fact modifies many different
timing nuances in diverse ways.
The crux of the timing issues in Kroz is how its main gameplay iteration
proceeds. The following is a brief summary of a main gameplay iteration:
. After pausing for a set amount of time, an iteration takes place, which
controls bulk monster movement, terrain multiply/toggle/evaporate, generator
spawn, statue gem steal, and player's falling movement in levels that have
gravity.
. If player had moved, whipped, or teleported, the delay that normally would
have caused the pause before a main gameplay iteration is erased, causing it
to occur immediately after the move.
There are other timing nuances concerning monster movement:
. Every "nth" main gameplay iteration, monsters move in bulk. The value of n
will depend on the following: type of enemy, fast/slow cpu setting, and
various other gameplay-oriented speed-up and slow-down effects.
. When the player pushes a boulder, the program drastically reduces the value of
n for all enemy types. This seems to imply that it takes a while to persuade
a boulder into motion, allowing enemies to sneak up on you very rapidly.
. Slow-time, speed-time, and freeze-time items alter the number of n iterations
for monsters. However, the extent of the alterations depends on the fast/slow
CPU setting.
In a similar vein to monster movement requiring bulk servicing every n
iterations, other events also require servicing, including blindness potion time
left, slow-time time left, speed-time time left, and freeze-time time left.
These also depend on fast/slow CPU setting.
Regardless of how fast Kroz "should" run at, one thing is definite: if the
player moves, the gameplay cycles one turn by default regardless of CPU speed.
Therefore, running won't let you sneak past monsters more easily at ANY emulated
speed.
Kroz confounds bulk monster movement timing with a rather odd algorithm: every
time a monster moves, there is a probability (varies depending on episode and
type of monster) that the player can execute an interstitial move before the
bulk movement is complete.
--------
Gameplay
--------
Kroz uses a relatively inefficient system for random level generation:
picking random spots to place a specific type, and rejecting coordinates already
taken in favor of other coordinates. This means level generation with few or no
"spare" spaces could take a long time to generate.
Kroz has two records of moving objects: the grid types themselves (identifying
enemies, items, walls, empty space, etc.), and an array to store the positions
of each moving object. This means that enemies do not necessarily iterate in a
predictable order; rather they iterate in their spawn order.
The spawn order depends on three factors:
. If ordered level: At the start, enemies will move in the order from left to
right, then proceeding down each row.
. If random level: Arbitrary order, since enemies have positions selected
randomly initially.
. If mid-play spawn: Order is after every other object already spawned.
Iteration, of course, still depends on how many ticks are remaining for the
monster type. Blue enemies have the smallest tick reset value, while red
enemies have the largest tick reset value. Gaps will inevitably appear between
diverse monster clusters as a result of these out-of-sync counters.
There are two problems with the Kroz implementation of monster storage and
movement:
. Depending on spawn order, gaps might appear between monsters of the SAME type
if the player is located to the right of a long row of monsters, making it
impossible to coax them to one side as a solid pack. For this reason, most
of the times you will need to move them like this, you will be on their left.
. Destroying some monsters (using whips or bombs) causes existing monster data
to be moved into the array-of-monster-positions gap made by the ones just
destroyed. This is bad because the game does not veto the movement right
away for monsters that had already taken a turn--they might get two or more
moves per iteration, erasing any veneer of safety you might have gotten from
whipping the closest monsters!
Sideways levels in Kroz do not automatically stop monsters from moving off the
edges of cliffs. The reason monsters normally don't move like this in the game
is because closeable wall types line the cliff edges, which stop monsters and
moving walls.
--------
Metadata
--------
The complete characterization of game data in Kroz is fairly straightforward,
although the storage for every nuance of gameplay is not necessarily co-located.
A Kroz level's layout is typically characterized by either a "PF" ordered level
array or a "DF" random spawn count list. Terrain modification info,
hide-item-type flags, gravity info, start delays, and item-specific appearance
modifications tend to be characterized by assignment statements at or near the
body of the Pascal procedure that set up the level.
The file names and extensions for the Pascal level data tend to be identified
by "LEV."
Tablet messages and effects are stored in a completely separate source file.
Character encodings for ordered levels are very simple to understand: one
character equals one object. The metadata associated with each object has been
identified in the object list section.
The random spawn count metadata is somewhat harder to understand. A random
layout simply dumps a set quantity of each object type into the grid at random
spots, so the level data is composed of just a vector of spawn counts.
However, in the interest of readability (?), the counts were placed as TEXT
STRINGS in the source, one after another, with each count occupying exactly
three digits, plus a space to separate them. When the game needs the vector
of spawn counts, it generates it by interpreting the string content and parsing
it for values (each value is a number between 0 and 999).
Since there are no characteristics in the string that identify which count goes
with which object type, the order of the object types itself is what is used.
Special "comment legends" were placed near the strings to align symbols in the
comment with their corresponding spawn counts, to act as a "table header row"
of sorts. It still manages to be quite hard to read.
FYI: The full article can be viewed here:
http://www.chriskallen.com/cruz/differences.html#differences
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VIII) Other Kroz-styled games
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this section, I discuss several of the Kroz-influenced games that you can
find online, either downloadable or playable in a browser.
-------------------------------
Kingdom of Kroz II online ports
-------------------------------
There are two ports of interest for the game Kingdom of Kroz II:
1) A Java-based browser emulation of the DOS game (Classic DOS Games).
2) A Flash port by Talon-Designs, Inc. (various locations).
--------------------
The Java emulation of Kroz, and others like it, will have varying levels of
quality based on the computer used to emulate it, the version of Java, etc.
You can play it here:
http://www.classicdosgames.com/online/1kroz.html
While this version of the game -IS- Kingdom of Kroz II, there is no way to
manipulate speed (which is too fast) or control the type of sound output
(which has quality issues). While the ability to play in a browser is nice,
you're better off running it in a native DosBox emulator.
--------------------
There are many hosting locations for the Talon-Designs Flash game. One such
location is http://www.quickflashgames.com/games/kingdom-of-kroz/.
Although this one claims to be built "as closely as possible" to the original,
that claim has no basis in fact. Many of the sound effects are completely
wrong, and several bloopers were made in level design, such as with invisible
walls.
I know this because I've played through the entire series repeatedly, and I've
looked at the metadata in the 2009 source code release.
The game is playable, but it runs fast. Good luck.
It appears that ports of the other episodes are advertised as "coming soon"
within the body of the Flash application. They aren't. To my knowledge, only
Kingdom of Kroz II was released by Talon-Designs.
--------------------
Hidden Caves of Kroz
--------------------
This Flash game was designed by John Wilson:
http://www.kingdomofkroz.com
The official information for this game is that it has 18 new levels. It also
has its own PDF FAQ, so there is no point in covering the details of that game
here.
"The Hidden Caves of Kroz" looks like Kroz and smells like Kroz, but it isn't
Kroz. I would consider this to be a stand-alone game more than anything else.
The production quality for the game is a lot higher than any of the Kingdom II
ports, even though the main character and the monsters in the game still have
an "ASCII-noir" appearance.
While some of the properties are the same for this game as for the original
Kroz games, you will have to learn completely new strategies in order to play
it to completion. Many properties are not unlike those for DRoD.
If you don't know anything about Kroz, "Hidden Caves of Kroz" will likely just
confuse and mystify you. It is not for beginners to the series, given its
difficulty, and it makes references that only diehard Kroz fans would get.
If you are well acquainted with Kroz and looking for a challenge, try it out.
--------------------
Cruz - Kroz rebooted
--------------------
Of course I have to plug my own Flash port!
Cruz is a project which aims to reboot the entire Kroz series, with a single
Flash application that can "play" any of the original episodes, plus any new
episodes others come up with. It even aims to make an unofficial sequel to
Lost Adventures.
With Cruz, you can play online ALL the original Kroz games. The game is
available at the following locations:
http://www.chriskallen.com/cruz
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/569388
As of this writing, Cruz is still under development. However, the demo
version can play all the original episodes in their entirety, Lost
Adventures included.
Cruz offers graphical and sound enhancements to Kroz, such as actual sprite
models, better animation, refined DOS sound effects, and a musical score.
There is also a "retro mode" that displays everything in the original ASCII
characters.
The level editor, CruzEditor, is planned for release to the public sometime
in 2011. This editor will make Kroz into something it never was before:
moddable.
----------------------------
DRoD (Deadly Rooms of Death)
----------------------------
This game hardly resembles Kroz at all, but it's clear that Kroz played a big
influence in the making of this game. The roach monsters seem to move in
a fashion similar to Kroz enemies. The screen-at-once gameplay resembles
Kroz, as does the need to move diagonally and break blocks.
The production quality is VERY high for DRoD. For a 2-D dungeon crawler, the
rendering is pretty sophisticated. It features advanced graphics, advanced
AI, and voice-overs.
Caravel Games is responsible for the DRoD series of games, which can be tried
out at http://www.caravelgames.com.
-----
(END)
-----
My name is Christopher Allen (a.k.a. Appetite4Deduction)
and I approve this message.
