Blackland

[Optimus]

After I have finished Orion Prime I decide to go back into an older masterpiece from scene members.
Well, it's the third time so far. In the first time I stuck somewhere at the city. In the second time I stuck in the labyrinth. In the third time I almost got stuck there and I was to abandon the game.


The reason? The game is enormous and sometimes very hard and could lead someone to frustration. The labyrinth is a big dungeon with more than 300 rooms where if you get inside the door closes behind you. If you haven't taken enough torches with you then you are busted. I had taken 16 torches for each player and was around 50-70% of the level and maybe I was a bit wasteful with them (I shouldn't have them lit on outside, the labyrinth sees daylight except when you climb down in some holes). Everything was dark and it was impossible to go on (battles are too hard even without darkness, doh). I loaded an old savestate.


So, here is the fun. I loaded that old save state just before going into the labyrinth. And I said "I am not gonna fall for this now. I will buy something like 100 torches and 100 food and 50 potions so that I won't play this again". I don't remember the ammount I bought from the city but then I go outside of the city, the world map is loaded and I see this message "Error log 22: something about carrying too much". Doh!!! I drop a lot of stuff in the floor, trying not to drop my torches. Again. I drop more. Again. Doh! Then it works. But I get another message "Error log 5: something about too many goods on the floor". Aarggghhhh!!!


Anyway,. I reloaded back before buying those many things. I bought a bit less torches. Maybe 40 torches. It worked. Phew!!!


I did something else that created problems. In the game you can dismiss a character. That's so cool. The game is enormous, a monster of complexity. Because I could dismiss Goromon and leave him in the town. And the other two characters could get into the labyrinth which closed behind them. If I realize that I am stuck again with not enough torches or food, then I could send Goromon from the town inside the labyrinth to bring more goods. If you control the two heroes who are in the labyrinth and then click on Goromon who is in town, you get the message "do you want to switch to this character? Another level will be loaded." So, you could leave a character in entirely different areas in this enormous world too. That's massive.


I got this horrible bug though. I finished the labyrinth with the two characters but Goromon was still in the city. Then when you go back, the characters are not anywhere to control. They are invisible and blocked. Goromon also can't pass through some passages in the city, like there was a wall. It's over. I was about to abandoned but then I discovered, you have to simply take Goromon to the labyrinth, reuinte with the rest of the team and then finish the labyrinth. Aaargh!!! Hopefully it was this and not some strange memory leak that can't be avoided (too many things still). I went back in town and sold most stuff, this game is gonna explode


One more bug I found. Important. You talk to some heads that put riddles on you. At first I wrote some random letter, "R" for example and it worked. Why? Then I discovered. If the real answer to the riddle is "Fres" then if you type "S" or "ES" or "RES" or "FRES" then they all work. Horrible bug but doesn't destroy the game progress at least. So, if you get stuck in a riddle, you can try letters. If you still wonder about the real answer, you can try letters, you found "R"? Then you load and you try two letters, all with R, then you find "ER" and try "*ER" and so on. At the middle point you might guess, ahhh that was it?


Anyway,. the real reason for opening this thread is too ask who of you have played Blackland and which dungeon did you go so far? If I have just finished the labyrinth, then how much percentage of the game remains?


As I see the game being so enormous, a real huge RPG with great elements, but could annoy someone without patience, I wondered how many people have actually finished the game? I for example, really want to finish it because I really adore it and I love RPGs, but even me haven't finished and quit for at least two times in the past. Now I am determined to continue with save states on an emul (ohh,. also turbo speed on Winape, it's not only that the dungeons are enormous but the pace is very slow in big rooms, so it makes it even more needing too much patience to complete).


I don't see any gameplay videos or walkthroughs too. What are your experiences with Blackland?

[TFM]

Well, it's a wonderful, great game. Probably the biggest ever done for the CPC. And I can tell you that people have finished it

[Optimus]

I am very curious how big a long play would be. It takes hours even for one dungeon and sometimes I have to save/load state a lot. Too hard at some battles.


I have also just discovered the magic system. Wow. You can even select the effect (single person / whole party), strength and duration of the spell and according to that it takes more magic points. What an elaborate system! Btw,. I have not used it much in the past, because to make spells you had to either press on inventory for the mage while on battle, or select the mage info and press on the magic points outside the battle, it was tricky to find at first so I ignored that I had a mage with actual spells for a long time.


Maybe I should capture some incidents of the game. There is nothing on youtube of the main gameplay. But a long play? Too long. Maybe I would capture some battles and special stuff. I will see.. maybe when I finish it first.

[TFM]

I am very curious how big a long play would be. It takes hours even for one dungeon and sometimes I have to save/load state a lot. Too hard at some battles.

Oh, just use a memory expansion and you will have no loading time delays any longer.

If you have no RAM expansion, then you can connect a second CPC as RAM expansion using the Virtual Net 96 (VN96) from the Wizcats.

[Optimus]

Heeeeeelp!!!


Sometimes the bugs are so unpredictable that you don't know if you have to load several levels before and play again. I mean,. maybe something makes it impossible to continue, maybe not.


I will ask first if this is a matter of a riddle in the game and not a bug. When you come in the dwarfs place with the train (you use a material you bought from a shop to fix the train). I finish the level, then go to the caves from there, where I do everything and get the gem. When I go back and try to use the train to take me out, i get the message that something is missing from the train. This is the message you got before fixing the train. So, now what happened? Was the state of the gameplay reset?


Why am I saying that? Because in when I finish the caves, something happens and the rooms visited is reset back to 0. I can visit the rooms again, without enemies, but the map is like new. Something has gone wrong here.


The thing is, is the message that I cannot use the train correct? Maybe it's a part of the gameplay (so that it makes me use the gem or another way to escape) but maybe I am stuck because of a horrible bug. The problem is that I don't know. If there was a walkthrough for this huge game, maybe I could answer to that. I am about to use debug to skip that section. I don't know what's wrong.