http://www.wurb.com/stack A completist plays old games Tue, 16 Mar 2010 06:44:30 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Nearly all of the spells in Secret of the Silver Blades can be divided into three categories: offense, healing, and buffs. All three categories are directly related into combat: offensive spells are for waging combat, healing is for recovering from combat, and buffs are for preparing for combat. ... http://www.wurb.com/stack/archives/737 Okay, I know I said that I was only going to give Secret of the Silver Blades one more day, but I'm giving it an extension. I've been making very rapid progress, and have reason to believe that I'm on the verge of getting all the way through the ... http://www.wurb.com/stack/archives/736 I'm almost ready to wrap up Secret of the Silver Blades for the time being. I don't expect to finish the game this weekend, though. Judging by the number of teleport gates I've liberated, I'm still a bit less than half done with the game. That might ... http://www.wurb.com/stack/archives/735 I've finally made it through the mines to what I assume to be the start of the game's real dungeon. Secret of the Silver Blades is definitely a lot more dungeon-heavy than the previous two games, and I hope I've been clear by now that this isn't a compliment. ... http://www.wurb.com/stack/archives/734 I've been encountering a lot of Umber Hulks lately -- there aren't a lot of different monster types in the mines, so what types there are, I've been seeing a lot. Umber Hulks have a gaze attack that produces effects equivalent to the Confusion spell. It seems to ... http://www.wurb.com/stack/archives/733 Hunting for these staff pieces is getting tedious. There's not a lot of variety in the mines, or a lot of challenge either. Pretty much the only thing that can stop me now is a series of cheap KO's from monsters with save-or-die abilities, like basilisks or wyverns. ... http://www.wurb.com/stack/archives/732 The area around the Well of Wisdom forms the hub of Secret of the Silver Blades. There are sixteen two-way teleport gates there, leading to significant places throughout the game, but they need to be activated from the opposite side before they can be used. It's a reasonable ... http://www.wurb.com/stack/archives/731 The Well of Wisdom is essentially Secret of the Silver Blades' version of Pool of Radiance's council clerk, giving you leads on what you should be doing next. Except it doesn't do it for free. You have to feed it gems in large quantities. There's thus a ... http://www.wurb.com/stack/archives/730 Another day of little play. Lacking much new to write about, I'll correct something I said earlier. I said that the larger-than-16x16 regions were unimportant, and that they didn't have events attached to fixed locations like the important areas do. While I maintain that this is true ... http://www.wurb.com/stack/archives/729 Just a brief note today, corresponding to a brief play session. My time has mostly been spoken for the last few days. This will end soon, but I can't help but feel like I'm dragging my heels again, like when I was just starting Pool of Radiance -- ... http://www.wurb.com/stack/archives/728