What do you get when you mix DDR, Wizardry, and about 100 other games?

[Tentacle Monster]

You get Tendrils: The Role-Playing Remix (http://members.cox.net/swt2/Tendrils/) .

This game is awesome on so many levels. Firstly, it runs on any OS. Secondly, it's an RPG, with Dance Dance Revolution style fighting. Thirdly, it has music and sprites from a ton of old console and computer games. Finally, it's free.

I suggest you go and get it before any one of the dozens of copyright holders gets wind of it.

[Tabby_Cat]

Okay, this thing DESPERATELY needs an automap function. I mean, really. :mad:

[Amp]

That's my only complain. Everything looks the same so I don't know where I'm going or where I've been. Other than that it is pretty cool. Anyone rescue the kitten yet?

[Tabby_Cat]

Yeah, I got the kitten after a lot of random wandering around...

[Eonwe]

This is AWESOME! The opening dungeon map is the beginning map from Wizardry as well, or at least it starts out that way. I am in love with this game.

[Tabby_Cat]

Yeah, well, the second level is pac man. You think the first level is bad without a map, well, the second is worse. FAR worse.

[Tabby_Cat]

Okay, you owe me 10 hours of my life back :mad:

This stuff is addictive! And the save shrines are so far inbetween! And the lack of an automap is PISSING ME OFF!! *pant pant pant*

Now, if only the minigames weren't so darn amusing.. So many pretty puzzles, and so many awesome games! There's even a first person sokoban (and it's every bit as annoying as it sounds)!

Now, if only I could learn a "magic map" spell.. I've got compass, but it's not helping very much. :(

[Tentacle Monster]

Unfortunately, I checked around and the author doesn't plan to add an automap. Part of keeping the old Wizardry feel. I'm going to have to get some graph paper.

[Telperien]

I played it a little and I kept going around in circles. I plan to try again this evening, since I'm not quite so tired as I was on the first play.

[Tabby_Cat]

Okay, I'm stuck at the translucent icy wall, level 6, and the durn Eskimo that keeps saying "There's nothing here". It's some kind of in-joke, right? How the heck am I supposed to get past that thing?! I'm guessing I need a bard, but the nearest inn (I think, unless I haven't found it yet) is on level 4. :(

Anyway, I've wandered around so much that I've basically memorised the map in some areas. It's really that annoying.

[chaoticbear]

Love the fighting engine, and the fact that you can import your own songs.

Hate the fact that there's nowhere to f@#$!ing go on level 2. :(

[Tabby_Cat]

Hey, that's me, too. Bloody annoying. If you've helped rescue the kitten, you get the dumasomething spell, which gives your your coordinates and facing for 1 mana, which is a pretty good deal. You can try to map out the place that way, or just wander around until you hit something.

You have to enter the ghost house. The destination is 18N 12E.

[CBCD]

Sorry to be dense. How do I set this game up to play once I have downloaded it? I've never used Python before.

What directory should I unzip it to? And then how do I set up the script to run? Say, if I unzip to a directory called Tendril in Program Files, what would the entry look like in the script file?

Thanks

[lno]

Automap? Pfah! Automaps are for the weak!

Well, in a non-grid-based map, such as Wizardry 8, or the Baldur's Gate series of games, I can see having an automap. It's hard to sketch that out on graph paper...

But if I had to suffer through drawing and erasing and annotating maps on graph paper for Wizardry 1 so many decades ago, then you punk kids have to do it today. (I never quite got away with claiming that Wiz1 was "educational" because it "taught me valuable mapping skills," though.)

[RancidYakButterTeaParty]

Where's that damn cat at? Thanks for wasting hours of my life Tentacle Monster!

[CBCD]

Automap? Pfah! Automaps are for the weak!

But if I had to suffer through drawing and erasing and annotating maps on graph paper for Wizardry 1 so many decades ago, then you punk kids have to do it today. (I never quite got away with claiming that Wiz1 was "educational" because it "taught me valuable mapping skills," though.)

I agree - you youngsters don't know how good you have it! In the late 70s I drew a color-coded map of the text game Adventure, leading one friend to ask 'Just how much time do you spend on this game?'

[Tabby_Cat]

Where's that damn cat at? Thanks for wasting hours of my life Tentacle Monster!
Not to be rude or anything, but if you can't find the cat in a few hours, maybe you shouldn't play this game until someone comes up with a map.

Of course, the fact that you spent several hours wandering around fighting random encounters also means that you qualify for OCD, and have the necessary mental attributes to deal with the later stages. :D

[RancidYakButterTeaParty]

Not to be rude or anything, but if you can't find the cat in a few hours, maybe you shouldn't play this game until someone comes up with a map.

Of course, the fact that you spent several hours wandering around fighting random encounters also means that you qualify for OCD, and have the necessary mental attributes to deal with the later stages. :D

Well, I played a total of about 1.5 hours. I spent a lot of this learning the game play, as I have never played a game like this at all. I'm really good at the timing thing, but I'm having a hard time understanding the game play with all the spells and the such. The only game I have ever played that is remotely close would be Legend of Zelda!

I did, on the other hand, spend most of my actual gaming time wandering around fighting random encounters, so I'm psyched about the compliment.

[lno]

I agree - you youngsters don't know how good you have it! In the late 70s I drew a color-coded map of the text game Adventure, leading one friend to ask 'Just how much time do you spend on this game?'Aye! In my day, we were lucky to have text describing a room, let alone a crude wireframe depiction of the corridor in front of you! Oh, but it was good, even though it was difficult...

[chaoticbear]

Hey, that's me, too. Bloody annoying. If you've helped rescue the kitten, you get the dumasomething spell, which gives your your coordinates and facing for 1 mana, which is a pretty good deal. You can try to map out the place that way, or just wander around until you hit something.

You have to enter the ghost house. The destination is 18N 12E.

What the hell does the spoilered text mean? I'm going to wander around when I get home and hope to find it.

[CBCD]

Sorry to be dense. How do I set this game up to play once I have downloaded it? I've never used Python before.

What directory should I unzip it to? And then how do I set up the script to run? Say, if I unzip to a directory called Tendril in Program Files, what would the entry look like in the script file?

Thanks

Hola! Thought I'd ask again. WTF do I do do get it to run, once I've downloaded it?

Thanks

[Tabby_Cat]

What the hell does the spoilered text mean? I'm going to wander around when I get home and hope to find it.
When you cast the spell Dumapic (you get this spell for saving the kitten), you get your location in coordinates, and your facing as well. Those are the coordinates which you need to get to.. hope that helps. :)

[chaoticbear]

Oh. I have Dumapic, but I hadn't tried casting it. :)

[Chronos]

Automap? Pfah! Automaps are for the weak!

Well, in a non-grid-based map, such as Wizardry 8, or the Baldur's Gate series of games, I can see having an automap. It's hard to sketch that out on graph paper...

But if I had to suffer through drawing and erasing and annotating maps on graph paper for Wizardry 1 so many decades ago, then you punk kids have to do it today. (I never quite got away with claiming that Wiz1 was "educational" because it "taught me valuable mapping skills," though.)Hey, if I can draw a map for Zork then any game with trivial topology and uniform metric should be a cinch!

I'll be playing this as soon as I get a chance, but right now, I really don't need another excuse to not do work.

[Tabby_Cat]

Yeah, well, there's a section with non-linear space. And level 9 is nothing but teleporters. It's a REAL PAIN.

The mini games are still cute, though the trap chests and getting a bit annoying. Especially since some of them now instantly kill one member. Not as bad as the one that randomly silences and poisons and stones your party, though.

[RancidYakButterTeaParty]

Emergency help needed!!!!

I finally found the damn cat, and have made my way to level three.

I need to quit now, but found out that you can only save at the Shrines.

Where do I find one on this level?

Please don't tell me I have to go back to the first floor!!!

I would really appreciate any help.

RYBTP

[lno]

Hey, if I can draw a map for Zork then any game with trivial topology and uniform metric should be a cinch!Oh, you'd think so, but wait until you hit the spinners, teleporters, and other such nasties when you have no way to mark your location in the dungeon! Mapping the maze of twisty little passages, all alike, was trivial when you can unique-ify each room with a different object...

But kids these days. You try to tell them how it was, and they won't believe you.

[RancidYakButterTeaParty]

Disregard my above post, as I decoded the secret message in the library, which led to a secret portal door between levels one and three.

Thank You.

[Sir Dirx]

Could you perchance post the contents of that decoded message (in a spoiler, of course)? I've never been able to solve those things... (Not like I really need the portal anymore; I can navigate the first three levels by heart now anyway..)

[RancidYakButterTeaParty]

Here you go.



Dear Reader, There is a secret door nearby. Go east twice, north twice, and west thrice. The north wall open, revealing a portal to the surface. Please close the door when you go through. If you head (don't know this word) discovered that his priests were sneaking off to get drunk we would be very angry.[/QUOTE]

[chaoticbear]

Wow. I didn't even find that and I made it to the 4th floor (although I'm now going insane.)

I demand a map. :/

[Tabby_Cat]

Tip for the day - the Cleric spell "Escrima" (or something like that) is used to cure status, like Paralysed or Stoned.

This game really needs better spell descriptions.

[RancidYakButterTeaParty]

Do I need to open the vault on level three? Anyone want to share the combo? I can't spend any more time trying to figure it out. I made it to level 4, but I can't get past the lava, so I'm assuming that it has something to do with that vault.

[Tabby_Cat]

I didn't do the vault, either. There's a code that you can break, something about symbols replacing numerals, but I couldn't break the code.

It's got nothing to do with the lava, either. You have to run through the first patch of lava, just take the damage. After that, you can get the "mark of fire" That's got to do with the green key.

[robertliguori]

A hint for people stuck on the vault: You see that same symbol repeated in the ones and the tens column? Go through what that symbol can and can't be, given that each digit is only used once.

Also, I found one solution that seemed to work on paper, but didn't in the vault. Another solution did work, though.

[Tabby_Cat]

Egads, you managed it? What was the loot?

[Sir Dirx]

There was a Pyros cape (don't remember what it does), 2000 zenny, and something else that I don't remember. The code I used (got through partly guess and check) was: 84564

As for anyone who wants maps, I've been making them in MS Paint as I go along. They're not perfect, and probably have some errors, but they can help you get around if you want them. I've only got the first three levels so far, though; I just started level 4 last night.

[Chronos]

Oh, you'd think so, but wait until you hit the spinners, teleporters, and other such nasties when you have no way to mark your location in the dungeon! Mapping the maze of twisty little passages, all alike, was trivial when you can unique-ify each room with a different object...

But kids these days. You try to tell them how it was, and they won't believe you.I had a hunch I wasn't the first one to do that. Did you carry around all of your spare unique-ifying objects in the boat, too? You could pile a ton of stuff (except, of course, for the pump or anything sharp) in the boat, deflate it, and it'd only count as "pile of plastic" for your encumberance. Re-inflate it, and all the stuff is still inside.

[Tabby_Cat]

WHEW! Finally, I have defeated mother brain!

:D

[robertliguori]

There was a Pyros cape (don't remember what it does), 2000 zenny, and something else that I don't remember. The code I used (got through partly guess and check) was: 84564

As for anyone who wants maps, I've been making them in MS Paint as I go along. They're not perfect, and probably have some errors, but they can help you get around if you want them. I've only got the first three levels so far, though; I just started level 4 last night.

Ooh! Me wants! Me wants!

Me also has a few megs of publically accessable webspace, if you want to give them to me and let me make them available for download.

[dotchan]

Wandering in circles on level three...where's the cookies that I have to give the jerk who's blocking my way? And is there any significance to the sign "long march"?

[Tabby_Cat]

You have to get to a baker somewhere on the level.

Long march is simply a loop. You keep going round and round. Turn off!

[NE Texan]

it's an RPG, with Dance Dance Revolution style fighting.
Forgive me for being hopelessly "not hip", but wtf is "Dance Dance Revolution style fighting"?

[RancidYakButterTeaParty]

Reviving this thread because I am forever lost on level 10. I have no idea what the goal is on this level, or how to get around very well. I already beat the fish at the end of the glass maze, and have found many of the secret passages, but I can't seem to get anything going.

Specifically, there is a door in one of the rooms that I can't open, and gives me no message on how to do so, or what the door is for.

[Tabby_Cat]

Ignore the door. I never managed to get it open, either. You need to go to the door near 18N 9E (ish), it will open to a room with a mana drain trap. Try not to get hit by it more than once, you'll have to go all the way up to get refilled.

There are a series of secret doors, but what you need to do is to go into the room with the mana drain, turn left(west), keep moving forwards, triggering secret doors to the direct front of you, until you get to a large hall. Turn right and at the end there should be a set of "double doors", and follow the right wall. Turn in and keep to the right. (that means, you should be spiraling towards the middle of the map)

At the middle, you will come to the outside of a square room, with a pit on one tile. The secret entrance to the square room is on that tile (sneaky, huh).

[RancidYakButterTeaParty]

Ignore the door. I never managed to get it open, either. You need to go to the door near 18N 9E (ish), it will open to a room with a mana drain trap. Try not to get hit by it more than once, you'll have to go all the way up to get refilled.

There are a series of secret doors, but what you need to do is to go into the room with the mana drain, turn left(west), keep moving forwards, triggering secret doors to the direct front of you, until you get to a large hall. Turn right and at the end there should be a set of "double doors", and follow the right wall. Turn in and keep to the right. (that means, you should be spiraling towards the middle of the map)

At the middle, you will come to the outside of a square room, with a pit on one tile. The secret entrance to the square room is on that tile (sneaky, huh).

Thanks so much Tabby, I have been past that room a hundred times already, but never checked it for a secret passage.

[RancidYakButterTeaParty]

Alright, apparently I didn't understand your instructions, Tabby. I have been through the mana and the secret doors and into the hall with double doors. I have to go through the doors, right? This might be asking too much, but is there anyway you could post the coordinates? If you don't feel like it, don't bother, I will just have to take a hiatus from the game for a couple of days!

Thanks for your help so far.

[Tabby_Cat]

Okay, stay on the RIGHT wall as soon as you go through the double doors. 14E 16N is the door you want. After you go in, turn right and follow the right wall. The next door you need to go though is 15E 5N. The pit (and the secret entrance) is at 14E 12N.

Whew. :p I stll can remember the map layout!

[RancidYakButterTeaParty]

Okay, stay on the RIGHT wall as soon as you go through the double doors. 14E 16N is the door you want. After you go in, turn right and follow the right wall. The next door you need to go though is 15E 5N. The pit (and the secret entrance) is at 14E 12N.

Whew. :p I stll can remember the map layout!

You're incredible!

Thanks.

[Chronos]

Forgive me for being hopelessly "not hip", but wtf is "Dance Dance Revolution style fighting"?In Dance Dance Revolution, there are a bunch of arrows which start at the bottom of the screen and scroll up to the top. When an arrow reaches the top, you have to step on the corresponding button on a gamepad on the floor at the same time. The combat in this game seems to follow the same pattern, except that you're (presumably) using the arrow keys on your keyboard instead of a floor pad.

[NE Texan]

Thank you for the explanation, Chronos, I appreciate it.

I have to say, though: Barf! On the one hand, it makes it an action game, which I'm not to fond of in the first place; on the other hand, it seems to take the reflex thing and actually remove the relationship to what is actually happens on the screen. Sounds like a lose-lose situation, to me.

But then again, I'm all for turn-based games, which I can't really find these days. I can only assume from how bad the system sounds to me that it must be immensely popular.

[Tabby_Cat]

Well... it sorta kinda does corespond, the arrow keys are the position of your members. The sword represents an attack, and shield defence. So if you miss a sword, you miss you attack, and if you miss a shield, you fail your dodge.

[dotchan]

Finally got past level 3, now wandering levels 5 and 6.

Has anyone found Captain Blood's treasure? Is there really any clue on his tombstone, or are you just supposed to dig randomly?

[Sir Dirx]

Hey, I completely forgot about this thread. I've been doing Free Play mostly now (anyone get a triple-A on "In the Hall of the Mountain King" on Master level yet? I'm so close..), so I haven't ventured any further than the very beginning of level 7. As for Cap'n Blood's treasure, I have no idea if there was a clue on his tombstone; I never found one. But I can give you directions to the treasure, because diligent me eventually found it (what's the name AAA uses for people like that? that's me, whatever it is).


Not sure if I have my directions correct, but in my map I'm assuming that you approach his tombstone from the south, so that the maze is east of you. Here it is, try not to get lost:

Starting on the tombstone square: E, E, N, E, -- S, E, S, E, -- E, E, E, N, -- W, N, E, N, -- E, E, S, E, -- E, E, E, E, -- E, E, S, E, -- E, N, E, S, -- E, S.

Dig here, and get some booty! (I broke it up in little chunks like that in an attempt to make it easier to follow; if you still need help, let me know).


Oh, and robertliguori, I'm sorry I didn't see your post before. If you still want my maps, you're welcome to them. Just be warned that I've only completed up through level 6, and they're probably very hard to follow.