Sorry for taking a long time to reply. There is a potion shop in the Underground City. I've taken another look the code (it's been a long time since I wrote it!) to make sure that drinking the Potion of Fire is indeed safe:
https://github.com/btco/so12l/blob/master/xl/potion.xl#L132
The logic is: if the character is NOT frozen, they take 30 points of damage; if they are frozen, they defrost and take no damage.
Thank you for your reply. And no need to apologize! I found the apothecary in Pinnacle and mastered the ice maze. Interesting detail about the potion of fire, I never tried to drink one without being frozen.
Now I'm in the end game section, Ignis. I tried it four times but was always annihilated sooner or later. These darn fire mages do so much damage and knock my second row out and the fire elementals make my front fighters dizzy and missing in their attacks the whole time. While the rest of the game was very pleasant to play - some fights were challenging but never unfair - I have to admit I find the final part too punishingly hard. If I see it correctly there is no way to save the game in the last section and I really don't know how to beat it.
Hey! Yes, the final map is a bit hard, I tuned it such that I could finish it (still with some difficulty) after getting all the special items in the game. Here are some hopefully useful hints:
1. Do you have the Amulet of Steadiness? You can buy it from the Amulet shop in the Frostlands.
2. Did you visit the Lost Library (you need the Spectacles to find it). In it you will get some useful bonuses.
3. You can buy a bunch of scrolls. Even non-spellcasters can use scrolls, and they can do so even while stunned, so you can keep a few attack scrolls in the inventory so your front row can use them while they are stunned.
Thanks for playing the game! I hope you make it to the end -- and I hope you make the right decisions in the end sequence in order to save the world hehe :-)
Hey,
Wow, the Amulet of Steadiness is extremely useful! With that and some lightning-scrolls I had no trouble to reach the end. But what a clever ending... I almost succumbed to the... new found powers. ;)
Anyway, that was a fantastic experience! I never thought it would last so long, but it entertained me for weeks. I especially liked the different design and themes of the cities and the different climates. It really feels like a world exploration and there is just so much to discover. The most memorable city for me is Pinnacle, you almost feel the height when you climb up to the top. My favourite region has to be the west plains, that's the place I would settle down. ;) My favourite dungeon was the one tomb in Sand Haven. The most annoying enemy were the ice golems for me. The most elevating moment was the restoration of Indigo and The Marshes to their former beauty. The most useful spells for me were Stun and Tempest. The most useful item was the Speed Ring in my case (and in the end the Amulet of Steadiness...). One feature I never used was the temple services. My favourite gameplay mechanic was the leapstone and I really like how the map develops with time. Overall I encountered two or three crashes while saving but the savegame was always intact. Other than that I had not a single bug. The only thing that could use some improvement is the inventory management and in the spell departement I would have wished for one or two classic summon spells. Other than that I have really nothing at all to complain about, it was a fantastic journey and I'm sure I'll play it again some time.
Thank you very much for that exquisite and pleasurable experience! It really helped me to find some calmness during these strange times. :)
It makes me really happy to read your comments! I'm glad the game was a pleasant experience and that the exploration/adventure aspect of it came through. Yes, inventory management and spells could definitely use some improvement but by the end I was pretty much running against the size limitations of the platform (to the point that I was designing spells based on what bits of assembly code I could reuse to keep the game size small!), which I guess is part of the fun :-)
Thanks for playing!
Terribly sorry to bother you again - but now, three years later - I'd like to replay SotTR. To my horror I found out that I must have had the files on another HD, so I'm collecting again all about the game. While I have everything to start playing, I'd love to re-read that development article that was on medium.com - alas I'm unable to find it. Can you give me a hand here? Thank you!
