The Dink Network

A certain someone sent in a complaint the other day about the lack of a Lyna's Story walkthrough. Since there wasn't really anything I could do about the absence of a Lyna's Story walkthrough short of writing one myself - something I don't feel like doing currently - I looked over the complaint and went about my business.

This mysterious fellow submitted a second complaint about the matter today. Mysterious Fellow, this post is dedicated to you.

Though the likelihood of this producing anything in a timely manner seems slim, I implore you, Great Dink Community, to assist me with this matter of life and death, sanity and insanity. Basically: Write some walkthroughs. (And flog Dukie repeatedly so he'll rise from his slumber and post them to the Dink Solutions.)

There are two walkthroughs I can think of offhand that people have asked for: Lyna's Story and Cloud Castle 2. Should you wish to cover something else, though, I'm sure there are a few other D-Mods out there with plenty of questions asked about them - hunt them down, play them thoroughly, write an indepth and grammatically sufficient walkthrough.

(One last note: Mysterious Fellow, don't be afraid to come out and ask for help on the board. We won't bite.)

If I'm lucky, I will finish the CC2 walkthrough within three weeks, as well as (maybe) the TGVIMH walkthrough. I'm currently very busy with my homework, but I'll be on vacation in a week. Oh, and I may also finish the über-complicated walkthrough I had in mind for Initiation, with a map for every level (don't hold your breath for this one, though).
As for Lyna's story... I can't imagine why anybody would need a walkthrough for this dmod, except maybe for the riddle and a few places that can be hard to find; but then, maybe a few hints would be enough, rather than a full walkthrough.

I will probably create walkthroughs for the Dmods I make from now on, and put them in the game directory or something. Other Dmodders should do the same thing.

Authors creating the walkthrough would be nice, but I'm against putting them in the game directory. The temptation would be too big for a lot of players.

Ditto.

First I make a DMOD and then I'm expected to write a walkthrough too?

That's too much work for me, though I might make a walkthrough when I feel like doing so, maybe once every... 3 years?

Well, you could make the walkthrough during the creation of the game...

Speaking of Dukie updating the Dink Solutions, I don't know if Ducklord is still pestering him about this, but it'd be really great to see Ducklord's Cloud Castle walkthrough put up there.

http://www.dinknetwork.com/forum.cgi?MID=40813&Posts=4

I agree that flogging and pestering me may have have some favorable results.

He's alive?
Where'd you go Dukie, I thought you'd disappeared for good?

I was going to make a site for DinkSolutions for Dukie some months ago, but I was too lazy to make it

I'm guessing that authors should become well acquainted with the story of the original scenario, prior to writing their own quests and puzzles.

Perhaps someone should write a Seth Inspired Dink Bible, that spells out the way puzzles should be clued for the player.

As a comparison: In the original story, we have to pay 100g to cross the bridge. At some point in the game we run out of things to do, other than waiting for the re-spawn to happen and leveling up. Then we realize that if it costs so much to cross the bridge, there must be something there.

In the Scourger, which is an awesome scenario, it is unclear that we would need the light sword to break into the basement near the wizard house. If I had not played several mods and read all the many hints in the forum, I'd still be leveling up and not completing the game.

I personally find it annoying when the puzzles clues are blatantly obvious, almost as much as I dislike having to find some secret to complete the game at all. Secrets such as better weapons should make it easier to complete the scenario but not prevent the player from continuing.

Hence, where the clues are actually the answer, there would be no need for a walk-through, save to explain that we need to talk to specific NPC's in a specific order for puzzle completion.

I remember Broderbund setting up a hint line to provide puzzle hints for C-64 games and actually charged a fee for a single puzzle hint. Here we are asking an unpaid author to provide a full walk-through of the entire game?

IMHO, the puzzles should be solvable with some thought, and the NPC's should offer viable but not entirely obvious clues. Thus a walk through could be devised to offer hints on specific problem areas, rather than spelling out the entire scenario.

Maybe an interactive system that would require the player to actually work at getting these more precise clues is an idea. OR, don't compress the scripts. Then if they really want to cheat, they can use the included editor, find the script, get their answer, and learn a little about writing a decent mod in the process, if they are so inclined.

I have played several amazing scenarios but none, have yet given me the same satisfaction as completing Seth's original. Compare this to the many mods with amazing images and breakthrough scripting.

Seth admits to having released this with some areas not completed or included, such as Charlie's House. Still, you don't feel ripped off until he tells you it was actually left out of the game, and not simply a blind alley.

I've ranted and babbled enough but I think it is ludicrous to expect a scenario to ship with a walk-through included or even in the works. Scenarios should be written by the first players to assist others, and not the responsibility of the Authors.

mm.

No, I haven't been 'pestering' Dukie recently about the Cloud Castle walkthrough . When I finish my current walkthroughs and send them to him, however, I will remind him of that... again (if necessary).

EDIT : Oh, and it's nice to see you again, Dukie.

Well, there you go. I wrote a walkthrough for Lyna's Story and posted it in the 'Lyna's Story' forum. I will send it to Dukie soon.

is cc2 done yet i could realy use the answer of the well riddle thanks from Tina

If I remember, you need to hit the dragon statues (on screens adjacent to the fountain) in this order...

Furthest left, furthest right, north-left, north right. After this, go back to the fountain, and you should hopefully be able to continue.

Well, it would seem I got unlucky. I got very sick for a week (lungs/throat problem), and I wasn't able to finish the CC2 walkthrough within three weeks (especially since I wrote the walkthrough for Lyna's story). I'll try to finish it as soon as possible.

Oh, and since I plan to write hints for the minigames, it would make my job easier if SabreTrout and Arik would fix the bug that gives the Scarab Man 1600 HP instead of 600 HP in Boss Mode. Argh . See this thread for more information.

EDIT : I've just sent the walkthroughs for Lyna's story and Cloud Castle to Dukie. I hope he will put them up.

Well, I sent the walkthrough for Lyna's story, the walkthrough for Cloud Castle, and the walkthrough for Anarchy Halloween Party to Dukie, and he said that he was going to put them up! He also says, unfortunately, that he's feeling really bad right now (he didn't say why, though), so wish him luck everyone.

Oh, and this may sound silly, but since I forgot to ask him, is Dukie aware that he has a new host at http://solutions.dinknetwork.com/ ?

"Yay! The half man half amazing Mr redink has donated some space, so the The Dinks Smallwood Solutions are back once more! I think this location is a keeper!"

I guess so, since everything.dinknetwork.com is "owned" by redink1.

Thanks magicman, I've just received an e-mail from Dukie, and he linked to solutions.dinknetwork.com, so it seems you were right.

Also, here's what I plan to do for the CC2 walkthrough :

-I need to fully replay the game once, especially since a new version has been released.

-I will write the walkthrough and probably play the game at the same time. I might not need to fully play the game this time, and I may use savegames to speed up work on the walkthrough.

-Although I started working on this walkthrough a freakin' long time ago (back when v0.97 was released, I think), I may need to update it after it's released (I might forget a few things, and SabreTrout and Arik will probably release another version).

-Here's how the walkthrough will most likely look like:

1. Introduction
2. General Hints
3. Map
4. Weapons List
5. Spells List
6. Miscellaneous Items list
7. Monsters list
8. Power-up locations
9. Main walkthrough
a. Arrival in Salamak
b. Water Caves
c. Churnblade's Dungeon
d. Pencilhead's Dungeon
e. Goblin Village
f. The Time Portal
g. The Cult of Cthilmor
h. The Tomb
i. The Prison of Cthilmor
j. Scarab Man's Dungeon
10. Temple of the Ancients walkthrough
11. Subquests walkthroughs
12. Boss Mode
13. Stampede Forever
14. Demolition Dink
15. A Final Word

Estimated release date : within two months, probably within one.

I haven't really changed anything in terms of content, just fixing obvious bugs.

In fact, I think the only major content change I did was to make it so there was a point getting the dink and dragon dolls.

So don't go replaying it on account of new releases. If you want any info on changes, just check the update list. Or ask me

Thanks Arik.

I think I'll need to replay it anyway, so I have everything in mind when I write the walkthrough. Also, reading the update list is different from playing the game. Some of the bug fixes are in my opinion a bit, well, obscure. Like that 'TOA Level 2 bug fix'.

Also, thanks for making new events about the dolls. I've just found out what happens if you either buy the Dirk or the Dragon figure. I'll add that to my subquests list.

With regards to hitting the dragon statues in cc2... there's a scripting error... I can't remember it now, but I fixed it while I was playing... maybe someone with more idea than me should take a look?

Which version were you playing? There was a horrendous bug in 0.98 and before, but I think I fixed it in 0.99.

<responding to Sharp>
I'll never disappear for good, but it did take me more than a month to write this reply and that's kinda bad.

Dramatic life changes are awaiting me though, so these kinda things shouldn't happen again. µ

More good news, Beuc and I are back in touch again. He's converting the DS Solutions to SPIP, which will make the site look much better and make it easier to update. Right now I'm adding walkthroughs to the database.

When will the updated site be up? Soon, I say. Soon!

Yay! Thank you very much Dukie.

Oh, and for several reasons, I won't be lurking/posting on the forums anymore until next month (unless something unexpected happens). Hopefully this will speed up work on the CC2 walkthrough.
And by the way Arik, while I was replaying CC2, I found out that the Scarab Man bug in Boss Mode may not be the only bug left. I even found graphic glitches in the Temple of the Ancients . I will send you the bug list when it's done.
Also, since I most likely won't be here anymore until next month, don't bother replying to this post or PMing me. Should anyone want to contact me for whatever reason, just e-mail me. I will try to check my 'e-mail box' every two or three days.

Till next month,

Ducklord.

Dukie and Beuc have put up the walkthroughs! Yay!

I hope the CC2 walkthrough will be ready next week or so. Sections 1;2;3;4;5 of the walkthrough are complete, although I will probably add a few more things to them before releasing the walkthrough...

Great! Nice one, Ducklord.

Thanks Sabre!

As a teaser, here are the weapons list and the spells list.
You may notice that I refer to subquests without a number. That's because the subquests walkthroughs aren't ready yet. Also, all the information on how to get the ancient scroll is likely to get replaced with detailed walkthroughs in the subquests section.

4. Weapons List

Fist
Location : Unsurprisingly, you start the game with your fists.
Comments : Your fist is pretty much the only melee weapon you have until you fix the water problem in town.

Homing Crystal
Location : You start the game with it. When you throw it, it's gone from your inventory, but it will respawn when you enter a screen that has a savebot.
Comments : The only throwing weapon in the game. It is very useful at the beginning, especially against the Bane Boncas that attack the hunting group. As I said in the General Hints section; the stronger you are, the more damage it will do. It's pretty much useless at the end of the game, though.

Sword
Location : Can be bought at Toothrot's shop for 400 gold once you've fixed the water problem.
Comments : This sword adds 4 to your strength. It could be useful in Churnblade's dungeon, but I personally never buy this sword. Instead, I keep 'Bonca-betting' and 'monster-killing' after solving the water problem until I have enough money to buy the Claw Sword.

Claw Sword
Location : Can be bought at Toothrot's shop for 800 gold once you've fixed the water problem.
Comments : This sword adds 7 to your strength. It's the best weapon you've got for a while.

Bombs
Location : Can be bought at Toothrot's shop for 50 gold once you've fixed the water problem. Can also be found on a dead body in the Water Caves.
Comments : Technically, bombs are weapons, but I mostly use them to destroy rocks. They can be useful against enemies with a weak defense and during the first battle against Pencilhead.

Herb Boots
Location : Can be bought at Marta's Emporium for 2000 gold (500 gold if you have killed her Bane Bonca).
Comments : Speeds you up. Very, very useful for travelling long distances, avoiding enemies, killing weak enemies, or killing Jameil (you need to be strong enough if you want to use them against Jameil, though).

Nightmare Sword (aka Holy Avenger)
Location : Temple of the Ancients treasure room, in a chest.
Comments : You need to kill Jameil to get this sword. It adds 12 to your strength and speeds you up. It is, without a doubt, the best weapon in the game (although the Light Sword technically does more damage).

Light Sword
Location : Kurt's body in the Prison of Cthilmor.
Comments : This sword adds 15 to your strength. It is also the only 'light source' item in the game, which means you need it to explore the Scarab Man's dungeon or the secret passage in the town library. As a weapon, it can be useful if you don't have the Nightmare Sword. When you have the Nightmare Sword, though, use the Nightmare Sword instead of the Light Sword, as the Nightmare Sword's bonus to speed makes it far more useful than the Light Sword.

5. Spells List

Fireball
Location : Can be bought at Marta's Emporium for 5000 gold (2000 gold if you have killed her Bane Bonca). However, there is a way to get the fireball spell without having to pay Marta : Enter Marta's Emporium, then go one screen north. You'll see a scroll, but it's out of reach; so leave Marta's Emporium and go to the Bonca Cave. Go 2 screens north and 2 screens west. In the southwest corner of the screen is a narrow path. Follow this path until you find yourself on the top of a cliff. Go one screen west and one screen south, then keep going west; you may meet a suicidal man. Read the walkthrough for subquest # if you want to know how you can save him. When you've taken care of him, continue going west until you find a house. Enter it. Open the chests and look at the bookshelf if you wish, then go downstairs. You'll find yourself in Marta's Emporium, this time on the other side of the gate. Pick up the scroll to learn the fireball spell.
Comments : This spell is mostly useful for burning trees and cacti. It could be useful against some weak enemies, though.

Acid Rain
Location : The Acid Rain scroll is on a table in Churnblade's Dungeon, on the same screen where the Sahib is held captive (just look at the table, and choose to look at the scroll).
Comments : You need this spell to put out fires. It can also be very powerful against enemies with a weak defense.

Fissure
Location : After you've completed both Churnblade's dungeon and Pencilhead's dungeon, speak with the Shaman and ask him if he can teach you magic; he will teach you the Fissure spell.
Comments : Does more damage than Acid Rain, but doesn't last nearly as long. I personally think it can be quite useful against the first Cultists of Cthilmor you encounter (if you meet an enemy who seems to be very resistant or invulnerable to the Acid Rain spell, you can try using this spell; but you should use a more powerful spell than Fissure against the strongest enemies).

Ancient Scroll
Location : The Ancient Scroll appears in your inventory once you've gotten at least one scroll fragment, but you need all three scroll fragments before you can use it. You can get the first fragment from Anbar after you complete his second subquest. If you opened Anbar's package, tell Anbar that you opened his package, then go downstairs (if this is the first time you go downstairs, the guy behind the counter will stop you. Speak with him and buy a ticket for 50 gold) and speak with he man who sells Berserk Potions. You will be able to buy the scroll fragment for 100 gold. You can get the second fragment from either Samantha's mother or Samantha after solving Samantha's subquest (if you either kill Fred or tell Samantha's mother that Samantha is dead, you get the scroll fragment from Samantha's mother. If you kill Samantha's mother, you get the scroll fragment from Samantha). To get the third scroll fragment, go to the cannibals' cave and rescue the girl there. Then enter the house west of the cannibals' cave entrance and speak with the girl you rescued, she will give you the scroll fragment.
Comments : If you want to complete the 'Temple of the Ancients' quest before freeing Cthilmor, you need this item to unmask the entrance to the Temple of the Ancients. Go to area 14 on the map (the screen where there are weird stones that make this place look like Stonehenge), and use the scroll. A glowing hole will appear, go down it to enter the Temple.

Bleeding Magic (aka Rupture)
Location : Can be bought at Marta's Emporium for 20000 gold (5000 gold if you have killed her Bane Bonca). You probably won't be able to buy this spell if you don't kill Marta's Bane Bonca, unless you don't mind doing a LOT of monster-killing and/or bonca race betting.
Comments : A very powerful single-target spell. When you use it against a target, it will create a blood explosion that will damage it slightly (it actually ruptures a blood vessel, yuck). Then, after a few seconds, it will create another blood explosion that will damage it a lot more. And if you're lucky there might be a third explosion, then a fourth, and so on. This spell can be a big help in the Temple of the Ancients. The Scarab Man can cast a different version of this spell (the spell will hit you instantly, and there will only be one blood explosion, at least until the Scarab Man casts the spell again).

Hellfire
Location : Young Dink's body in The Tomb.
Comments : A powerful spell which can be very useful against a single target or against several targets. It usually is best used against several targets, though; unless you're fighting a boss.

Multi-Hellfire magic
Location : Temple of the Ancients treasure room.
Comments : You need to kill Jameil to get this spell. This very powerful spell creates 3 'Hellfireballs' which will greatly harm any enemies they touch. This spell is best used when there are a lot of enemies on the screen, or when you're fighting Kurt.

EDIT : One more thing, the information on how to kill Marta's Bane Bonca will be in the subquests walkthroughs.

That's quite a preview
Looking good too!

Looks fantastic. Could be a great walkthrough - If you e-mail it to myself of Arik before you publicly release it, we can check if you've missed anything.

Thank you so much SabreTrout! I'll do that.

I wrote a walkthrough for The Green Voice in my Head - Part I - Hangover and Agony, today. It is hardly:

"... an indepth and grammatically sufficient walkthrough"

But still a walkthrough. Should I upload it or, dows anyone else want to write a better one?

Or you could post it and allow someone else to edit it to make it grammatically sufficient. I do however think that it's needed for such a walkthrough to be indepth from the start...

I'd be more than happy if you'd upload it to the DS Solutions, or if you would just send it to me. We'll do the grammatical thing then, if necessary

Welcome back, Raven.

I started a walkthrough for TGVIMH a while ago, but it probably won't be finished anytime soon. So it might be better to upload your walkthrough, especially since a lot of people seem to get stuck in this dmod.

Ok. I have sent it to you now.

Thanks again, it's up now!

A quick update about the CC2 walkthrough... Each time I think I'm about to finish it, a brick falls on my head (figuratively speaking, of course. Last weekend the 'brick' appeared in the shape of a lot of homework, and of exhaustion ).

I'm currently working on sections 6 (soon to be finished); 7; 8 (this one is tough, grr ); and 11.

Exhaustion. Pfbbbbt. I'll give you exhaustion.

I work a lot more than you seem to think. And by the way, that wasn't very nice.

Section 10 has been updated (EDIT : among other things, of course), the secrets/power-ups in the Temple of the Ancients have been included.

Eh, no offence was intended. It's just that I'm pretty sure that I've been pulling longer hours than you have. I sleep 4 nights a week, for about 6 or 7 hours at a time. I have lab writeups due every other day, and I'm studying physics. SO yeah. Just the facts.

/there's a betting pool among my friends to see how long I'll go before I crash, and become too insane to be allowed out in public.

//lastly, did you know that after 2 days up, you see halucinations? After 3 your clinicly insane? And after 4 the halucination start too seem corporal?

1)Chrispy... your lack of sleep isn't something to boast about! Get some zzz's!! But, just to annoy you, I spent the last 2 years having 3-4 hours sleep 5-6 nights a week... and still went full time to school, studied an instrument at diploma-level, worked 2 jobs, did extension courses, travelled for 3 hours every day and still had a life! So I win... still (she says, slightly ironically) nothing to boast about.

2)Ducklord, don't fret (that's not meant to sound condescending)... people who have little sleep often lack sympathy, empathy and much humanity.

3)That had absolutely nothing to do with the thread's topic... dang hey?!

Chrispy : Believe me, I know about not sleeping. I do sleep more than you do, but due to health problems which should soon be over (I hope), I also think I need to sleep longer than you usually do.

IceDomina : Thanks.

Health problems? I hope you're ok!

I study Physics, and bike to university, in winter.

P.S.

Basically, I have a neurosis which started back in 2003 and caused me to have serious mental and physical problems in 2004 (that's the main reason why I didn't post much in 2004).
It's almost over now, though I still need to sleep quite a lot at times.

Any updates on the CC2 walk-through? I'm stuck and can't seem to get past the bonca stampede.

There isn't much to say about the Bonca stampede other than you have to stay alive. Just keep dodging and it will eventually end.

Nah, no updates until I can play CC2 again. Very few games work properly on my computer right now, and Dink Smallwood isn't one of them. Sorry.
You've probably gotten past the stampede by now, but just so you know, healing potions can help a lot.

did you ever make the walkthrough for cloud castle 2?

Okay, I think it's time to end this madness once and for all. I did still plan to complete this walkthrough. But :

1) It was so detailed and complicated that I had to replay CC2 a lot. A *lot*. And after playing it so much, even I, and I am a big CC2 fan mind you, wanted to take a break. But spitting out little Jameil bits for the 52th time isn't necessarily the only problem. And so-

2)Real-life kicked in, as well as some other projects for other communities out there.

3)I still work on this walkthrough from time to time, so unless something really bad happens to me it will be released one day. However, I am being a real slug and you shouldn't get your hopes up.

4)And so, I am hereby declaring this wakthrough dead. Who knows? Maybe I'll end the CC2 curse this way.

That said, I think I now know everything there is to know about the game (special thanks to Arik, by the way); so anyone who's stuck can e-mail me if they want to.

5)It's probably best to e-mail me if you wish to contact me. I'll probably be back sooner or later, but not right now. I'm just a very occasional lurker and I hardly check my inbox any more.

Maybe you could send it to Sabre/Arik or a willing, trustworthy community member to polish it up a bit for release?

Thanks for the suggestion, Tal. Tell ya what, if I haven't made any -significant- progress by January 8, 2007 (my Christmas vacation ends on January 8th); I'll do that.

uh-oh ...

did the CC2 walkthrough ever get handed off? ... please?

keep getting stuck in a "goblins forever war"; would appreciate however much of that "official" walkthrough got finished.

hope things are going better for you, ducklord.

I doesn't look like Ducklord ever finished his walkthrough. If he ever feels like forwarding his work in progress to me, I guess I could finish it off.

A LOT of people seem to get stuck in CC2. The idiots.

Again, thanks for the offer. See my reply to Arik in the "A few comments" thread for I, Kara Gu - we'll see. I'd really like to finish it, but I don't want it to end up like Crosslink or even Necromancer.

(Yes, I know those D-Mods may still be finished, but they're being delayed more than a bit).