3 decades of dungeon crawling: Let's play the Eye of the Beholder series

An archival space for the threads that made it.
Image

The Eye of the Beholder series is a trilogy of first-person dungeon crawler RPGs, in the vein of 1987's Dungeon Master. They're officially liscenced AD&D games published by Strategic Simulations, Inc (SSI) using 2nd edition rules. The first two games were first released in 1991, with the third coming in 1993. All three were released for DOS and PC-98. The first two have Amiga versions, and the original has console versions by Capcom for SNES and Sega CD. That latter version adds more cutscenes to the game, complete with voice acting. I will be playing the DOS versions that are buyable from GOG. After this LP got to the third game, they also became available on Steam.

The first task of each game is to make a party of four characters. The sequels also allow importing from the previous game and come with quick start save files. Each game also has recruitable NPCs and a maximum party size of 6. You can even have those NPCs replace your own characters, which is what I plan to do in this LP. It'll work like this:
1. As soon as I can get four new recruits in a game, drop any remaining members of the previous party.
2. Finish each game with a certain NPC party.
No particular rules about what happens before/between then. This won't result in the most powerful parties, but they'll be adequate to finish the games.

Spoiler Policy
There's not really a whole lot to spoil in these games. My only request will be to not discuss enemies that aren't listed in the manuals. Any outside Forgotten Realms lore is fine with me.

Something Awful crosspost

Table of Contents

Image Eye of the Beholder
EOTB Intro
Character Generation Station
EOTB 1: Rocks Fall, Nobody Dies
EOTB 2: Sewer of the Dead
EOTB 3: Curated Fishman Ass
EOTB 4: Walking Through Webs
EOTB 5: Dwarf Plot Dump
EOTB 6: Putting All Our Eggs in One Basket
EOTB 7: Ate Nine
EOTB 8: Magic Stones, Swords, and Darts
EOTB 9: Moss, Mantis Men, Meetings, Mind Flayers
EOTB 10: End of the Beholder
Bonus Update

Image Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon
TLOD Intro
TLOD 1: Pilgrimage
TLOD 2: Cata-Cata-Cata-Comb
TLOD 3: Assembling a New Party
TLOD 4: Nightmarish
TLOD 5: Burglary and Vandalism
TLOD 6: Tour of Insect Nests
TLOD 7: Mouths to Feed
TLOD 8: Hand-Eye Coordination
TLOD 9: Bulette Buffet
TLOD 10: Dozens of Daemons
TLOD 11: Mirrors, Mirrors, on the Walls
TLOD 12: Imprisoned Giants
TLOD 13: Fire Breath and Dran's Death

Image Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor
AOMD Intro
AOMD 1: Boning Down in the Cemetery
AOMD 2: Draining, Training, Trailing
AOMD 3: Out on the Town
AOMD 4: Pages by the Mages from Those Ages
AOMD 5: Acwelemental
AOMD 6: A Temple in Shambles
AOMD 7: The Dark Fraud
Last edited by Alpha3KV on Wed May 25, 2022 5:56 am, edited 37 times in total.


Eye of the Beholder
Image

The first game was also one of the very first RPGs I played at a young age.

Image

As an aside, the SNES version used different box art from the others. I bet you'll never guess what kind of monster the final boss is!

You can watch the voice-acted Sega CD version of the intro here

Image
Image

The plot is very basic.

Image
Image

It seems that their meeting is being... beheld. :rimshot:

Image
Image

The party, which may or may not resemble the one you create, is given this letter to read in the manual:

Image

Time to gear up.

Image
Image
Image
Image

I'm kind of amused by the cleric praying rather than getting any type of equipment.

Image
Image
Image

That's right, we're starting with a sewer level, baby!

Image

Uh oh, looks like the heroes are about to be the victims of some major orb shit.

Image

The only way out is through now.

Last edited by Alpha3KV on Wed May 25, 2022 4:56 am, edited 4 times in total.


Character Generation Station
I intend to have the final party be made of recruitable NPCs. In this case the ones who can be revived from their bones found throughout the game. You can get an early peek at them here.
Before that, we'll need to create an initial party to get through the first quarter of the game before anybody else can be recruited. That's where you all come in.

Dwarf
Stat adjustments: CHA -2, CON +1, DEX -1
Image
Notes: Can read dwarven writing, though you can recruit a dwarf the very instant you enter the part where that's relevant.

Elf
Stat adjustments: CON -1, DEX +1
Image
Notes: Supposedly have a hit bonus with bows and one-handed swords. Cannot be revived after death. They can also read Drow writing found in the third quarter of the game, at exactly one spot.

Gnome
Stat adjustments: INT +1, WIS -1
Image
Notes: Limited to level 9 cleric. They also get a bonus to hit kobolds and can read kobold runes, both of which only appear in the first level.

Half-Elf
Stat adjustments: None
Image
Notes: Unlike full elves, I'm fairly sure they can't read Drow writing.

Halfling
Stat adjustments: DEX +1, STR -1, WIS -1
Image
Notes: Have a hit bonus with slings, if the manual is accurate (it may well not be). Limited to fighter 9 and cleric 8, which is the lowest racial level limit.

Human
Stat adjustments: None
Image
Notes: No dual-classing in this series.

Gender affects portrait selection and nothing else.

Image

Image

Image

Those last 3 faces are usable by both genders. Different characters cannot use the same portrait.

As with all of SSI's AD&D games, there is nothing preventing you from doing this with every character:

Image

Alignment
Thieves cannot be lawful good.
Rangers can only have good alignments.
Paladins must be lawful good, and are mutually exclusive with evil characters. That's the only real effect alignment has.

Names have a limit of 10 characters.

What I need:
Elf
Cleric
Single-class warrior who is not an elf.

Last edited by Alpha3KV on Wed May 25, 2022 5:02 am, edited 5 times in total.

User avatar
Site Admin
Well, then I humbly submit Fuckin' Garry

Garry has 18 in all stats, even 18/00 (ah, I miss that from ADnD. Little else though), and he is insufferable about it. He claims to be the ultimate human being. Which is strange, considering he is a Dwarf. Still, as a Warrior he is infallible, even if strange spirits keep telling him that he is a "filthy lucker" and "used dirty dice to make their character."

Beyond this, he is strangely bland for his 16 Charisma.

(Yes, I'm being silly here. But let's face it, somebody had to make the "All 18s" guy, and I decided to make him an insufferable asshole)

JamieTheD wrote:
Mon Jul 05, 2021 12:17 am
Well, then I humbly submit Fuckin' Garry

Garry has 18 in all stats, even 18/00 (ah, I miss that from ADnD. Little else though), and he is insufferable about it. He claims to be the ultimate human being. Which is strange, considering he is a Dwarf. Still, as a Warrior he is infallible, even if strange spirits keep telling him that he is a "filthy lucker" and "used dirty dice to make their character."

Beyond this, he is strangely bland for his 16 Charisma.

(Yes, I'm being silly here. But let's face it, somebody had to make the "All 18s" guy, and I decided to make him an insufferable asshole)
I was actually planning on just pumping up the initial characters anyway. I edited in the fact that names can only be 10 characters. A dwarf fighter is also a suggestion I got on my SA crosspost, so I will definitely give this consideration.

User avatar
Site Admin
It does save time on many levels, although it does mean you somewhat miss out on guessing the increasing die rolls for certain actions, but yes, a dwarven fighter is the most stereotypical, minmaxing choice, very befitting of "Fuckin' Garry."

And I will repeat what I said in the discord:

My condolences in advance for Eye of the Beholder 3. If you need someone to talk about bits of DnD/Forgotten Realms lore, tidbits like Xanathar, the DC/Dark Horse comics (reasonably sure I have the whole bunch), and my speculation on why the "creative differences" that led to Westwood pulling up stakes and half-assing Lands of Lore, while SSI half-assed EoB3, hit me up.

Last edited by Alpha3KV on Fri May 20, 2022 11:29 pm, edited 5 times in total.

User avatar
Site Admin
To be fair, the manual's actually pretty good, with a little bit extra to that commission, iirc.

Also, iirc, although the proc rate is hilariously low, the leeches can inflict a status effect. I forget which one, but I do remember it was no joke, and I raged when it happened. Which likely makes it poison.

And yeah... Kobolds and leeches. A great introduction honestly. The kobolds are relatively quick, but they don't do a whole lot of damage. Meanwhile, the leeches are slow, but more damaging. But doing the clockwork shuffle is pretty easy as a result, because enemies have to turn to face you, and the slow speed of the leeches makes that pretty easy.

Oh, yeah, before I forget... LOREPOST.

Why are the sewers such a threat? Why are kobolds in a populated city?

Ahahaha... The short answer is "Because Waterdeep is built on a dungeon."

But that doesn't do the poor decision making of keeping Waterdeep where it is justice.

Waterdeep is built over a big dungeon. A dungeon which created some of the most powerful and infamous wizards in the Realms (such as Halaster, the Mad Mage, who, by the way, founded Waterdeep.) Undermountain.

If you've played Forgotten Realms, you may well have encountered Undermountain. And said pretty unmentionable things in a loud voice, because the modules that I remember dealing directly with Undermountain are oldschool, filled with dickishness and encounters to make you tear your hair out (The 3.5 one, for example, has a goblin group... Not bad, eh? Now add in their pet, the Metalmaster Slug. It controls metal, and this ambush happens as you're leaving the first level to recuperate.) There are drow. There are entire ecosystems. There are, in some portions, Aboleths. And somewhere in the upper levels, there's a sea, which pirates use to smuggle shit, having made deals.

Undermountain has several entrances, including an inn run by one of the Masked Lords of Waterdeep. Guess what one of them is.

So yes... There is a massive, dangerous dungeon underneath Waterdeep, the City That Gets Attacked On An Almost Monthly Basis For Plot Reasons. Also The City Whose Town Planners Need To Be Hung For Crimes Against Common Sense.

...yeah that part about Waterdeep being a crime against urban planning seems like something I vaguely recall. Less so the bit about one of the entrances being someone's inn.

Also oh god this series, something I touched as a kid but never got very far into because it was too obtuse for me back then. Like what even alludes to the dagger thing there?

User avatar
Site Admin
I vaguely recall there's a shrine somewhere in the dungeon that hints at most of them. Notice I said most, reasonably sure one or two of the hints just don't exist.

But mostly, the answer is "Haha, fuck you, buy the hintbook."

Don't read the hintbook while watching this LP, by the way. There's a lot of stuff you don't want to be spoiled on.

Okay, there's some stuff you want to be spoiled on while playing, so you don't scream and throw your keyboard and mouse at a wall... But this isn't the place for that.

As to the Inn, it's mentioned in some sourcebooks, but the most recent mention of it is in the 3.5 Undermountain book I referenced. Oh god, that fucking encounter. I ran that module once, and I seriously had to fudge that one.

User avatar
I used to rent the SNES one with my brother and we eventually saved up for the Sega CD version. We got nowhere in either but loved attempting not to bash our heads into the walls. I'm looking forward to how this plays out.

JamieTheD wrote:
Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:27 am
To be fair, the manual's actually pretty good, with a little bit extra to that commission, iirc.
This gave me the idea to put in the manual's version of the commission instead. It has the exact same text in a better-looking format. I also added Khelben's letter from the page before it to the post on the intro sequence.

The manual also has a section on Waterdeep's history. It doesn't mention the things from your lorepost, but that's fine since it doesn't really make a difference. I won't consider any outside FR lore as spoilers since I know very little about that and the games are pretty much independent anyway.

User avatar
Site Admin
Alpha3KV wrote:
Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:30 pm
The manual also has a section on Waterdeep's history. It doesn't mention the things from your lorepost, but that's fine since it doesn't really make a difference. I won't consider any outside FR lore as spoilers since I know very little about that and the games are pretty much independent anyway.
Ah, but I kinda happen to know that it does contain spoilers for certain things (and the DC comics definitely do), so I've deliberately restrained myself.

Suffice to say, I'll be talking about the particularly spoilery thing when we come to it, and no sooner.

But thanks for reminding me to talk about that grumpy salt'n'pepper bastard next time.

I made further edits to that update since I didn't pay enough attention to the starting spell list for mages. I also talked a little about what the spells on those scrolls do.
Alpha3KV wrote: One of those kobolds had a mage scroll. Detect Magic is a spell Dave had from the start which gives magical items a blue glow.

...

Armor is the first spell that we could have Dave learn. It sets the caster's armor class to 6, but does nothing that mage already has an AC of 6 or lower. If you're not familiar with 2E AD&D rules, lower is better in this case. Since it's useless to him and he's temporary anyway, I won't bother teaching Dave this spell.
I have the images for the second level and will likely have another update ready in the next couple days.


EOTB 2: Sewer of the Dead
Image

At the start of level 2, we find our first key along with our first locked doors. There are doors to the north, east and south. We can use this key on any of them or try picking the locks since we have thieves. I go north first.

Image

First thing to find is a message, which is easy to miss but nothing particularly important anyway.

Image

Pressing a button only opens this door partway. It must be forced, by clicking on the door, to get it up the rest of the way.

Image

Further on we find a skeleton behind a grated door. Skeletons take half damage from sharp weapons, and attack quickly when they get into melee range. This one won't do that, since the grated doors allow projectile weapons through them. Not magic missiles though. On that note, since I haven't talked about it yet, only characters in the front (top) row can hit with melee weapons. Projectiles can be used from any position, and are retrievable as long as they land on a walkable tile. This grate must also be forced to enter the room behind it, which contains an unidentified green potion.

Image

Another grate with a button right behind it. We can't just force this one. We could throw an item through the grate to hit the button, but I'll show another way.

Image

Just before it is this dagger-shaped carving. We have several daggers dropped from kobolds, so we put one in and open the grate. There are three more of these carvings throughout the level, which make up the special quest. Unlike the previous one, this is actually intuitive since doing it at least once can help you progress. The button removes the wall behind it, and we find another button to remove another wall.

Image

We encounter the other enemy of this level, a zombie. Zombies don't have the speed or damage resistance of skeletons, making them less dangerous. We also see Maskmaiden using her ability to turn undead, which makes the zombie walk away and avoid attacking. The highest-level cleric will automatically attempt this when undead get into melee range if their holy symbol is in hand.

Image

Past the zombie is a shelf with rations, a potion of giant strength, and another key. That last one is only there since I used the first key to open the door at the beginning. If I picked the lock instead, it wouldn't be there.

Image

I take the south door next. A sling, which makes rocks do more damage, is on the ground ahead. But the tile right in front of it will rotate you 90 degrees clockwise every time you step on it. In this case it points me west, where I find this:

Image

This indicates an illusionary wall. AFAIK no particular race is necessary to translate these runes. Behind it is a mage scroll of Shield, another spell Dave started with that blocks magic missiles and improves AC against projectiles. Another illusory wall to the south leads to a room with two zombies and another dagger carving.

Image

At the end of the south path we seemingly get closed in, and turned to this carving. When we put a dagger into it:

Image

The wall created was fake the whole time, though it is not marked with an orc rune.

On the eastern path there is a room with hidden teleporters that also turn your party around:

Image

Behind the key shelf, there are runed illusionary walls that lead to two arrows (still no bow) and rations. Other runed walls in the middle are needed to exit this room.

Image

The east door brings us to our first pit. Walking into it causes fall damage and takes you into a subsection of this level. To the left is a ladder that goes in and out of that area, where a potion of healing can be found. To the right is a switch that closes the pit.

Image

After getting past that pit we find another one. This one is closed by the floor plate behind it, so you need to throw an item across. This leads to a room with more pits closed by various buttons and switches, making a path to another key shelf. On the way back, taking the item off this plate will reopen the pit in front. You will have to leave something behind or take damage.

Image

Taking items from the shelves removed walls from the north path, opening up a new hallway.

Image

What looked like a normal dagger on the ground was actually this, which will be important when I get out of the sewers. I do not have Detect Magic active, that blue outline is always there.

Image

I find the last dagger carving. Inserting the dagger completes the special quest, which drops rations at each carving.

Image
Image

This teleporter is a shortcut to the end of the level. We still need something before we can leave.

Image

Near that teleporter is a small room with nothing but a button and some text on the wall.

Image

It's an elevator. Closing the door and pressing the button will take you between the main level and two sublevels.

Image

The correction facility has several rooms each occupied by a pair of skeletons. To prepare for the battles, I used a couple of second-level cleric spells. Aid gives one character the hit bonus of Bless and 1-8 temporary HP, which can go above their max. There is a very helpful bug with this spell: when it expires, that character's HP will return to whatever they were before it was cast on them, even if they're now lower. So a character with max HP who has Aid cast on them can get a full heal at the end. Leo also cast Flame Blade, which does full damage to skeletons. Only one at a time is allowed. There is a bow in this room, allowing us to finally use the arrows we have. Another has a mage scroll of Invisibility. Monsters will mostly ignore characters under its effect, which is broken by attacking or casting. They are less likely to hit an invisible character if they do attack.

Image

The second sublevel is this very normal part of a sewer.

Image

Despite the ominous name, it's far less deadly than the correction facility. Only three zombies behind a grate, though they have room to move away from it.

Image

The zombies guarded a gold key, needed to reach the third level.

Image

The northern half of this level is pretty much entirely filler. These skeletons guard a button that moves some walls around, and a switch that opens a nearby room with zombies and a healing potion. There's nothing really special up here and you can skip it all with the teleporter.

Image

The northeast corner has the gold key door leading to the level 3 entrance.

Last edited by Alpha3KV on Wed May 25, 2022 5:00 am, edited 5 times in total.

User avatar
Site Admin
And this level introduces a simple, yet important adage: Keep rocks. A fair few rocks. They don't do much damage, but you can huck them pretty quickly, and, more importantly, you're not leaving something decent behind if you do... Although in RPGs like this, it isn't always the case that a rock (or up to... 16 rocks, I think it is? It's a multiple of 4, anyway) will do.

Anyway, yes, zombies are slower, but they hit harder. Which you'll almost never see, because you can dance around them with the greatest of ease, shuffling tiles and walloping them, shuffling tiles and walloping them, shuffling tiles and... Look, unless there are multiple enemy spawns or a small corridor, moving from one tile to another, waiting for them to move, then juking again, hitting them once your weapons are charged... Will flummox enemies for a while in this game.

But alas, not forever. We'll get to that when we get to it. In the meantime...

A (brief) loredump: Khelben Blackstaff, Protector of Waterdeep, And Generally An Asshole.

So yes, Khelben Blackstaff is one of the biggest Wizards in the Realms that is currently active, alongside Elminster, Elminster's Hot Elf Girlfriend, Elminster's Goddess Girlfriend, Khelben's Nephew, Khelben's Nephew's Mate's Family, and Khelben's Girlfriend... I'm using general names here, but most of the most powerful mages in the Realms are related in some fashion to either Halaster, Khelben, or Elminster. Blackstaff is actually a nickname, and his real surname is Arunsen.

Yes, he did indeed have a dad called Arun, a half-elf.

Anyway, he's a grumpy as hell git, grim as all get out, although he has a very good reason: He's one of the Thirteen Masked Lords of Waterdeep (At this point in the meta-story, anyway.) Except, like Lord Piergieron (the guy on the throne you saw in the beginning), he's not really anonymous like most of the rest. And, as such, he's seen Waterdeep invaded several times, by evil wizards, by invading armies of demons, and even a miniature war between the deities of the Realms, banished to the Realms as mostly humans as a sort of moral lesson by That Highest of Gods Who Only Appears Once In The Fiction As Far As I Know. So... Yes, add in the general buttload of tragedies that come with living a long life in a fantasy world where doom seems to visit every six months (at most), and you have a man who's very devoted to his job, and really, really dislikes visitors.

But yes, he has family. Most of them aren't alive at this point (with the exception of Danilo Thann, his nephew), but he has them. Also he is, naturally, friends with Elminster. He also ran with The Harpers for a while (an organisation of magic using do-gooders wot do good), but decided he wasn't being treated well, and made his own called The Moonstars, which he presides over with an iron fist.

They are also seemingly unmentioned outside of once or twice. Let's just assume after this game we're part of his Moonstars, because he's much friendlier to us than he is with the vast majority of people in Waterdeep, and indeed, the Realms in general.

Good ol' rock, nothing beats that. Until the enemies that need magic weapons to hit show up but hey.

Nice of the game to have an auto-turn undead feature, at least.

Also Khelben's Girlfriend, who is also the sister of one of Elminster's Girlfriends because Mystra (the first one) decided what Faerun needed was entirely too many Wizard Jesuses (which Khelben also is along with Elminster and his girlfriend(s) because of course he is) because ??? and IIRC pulled an immaculate conception.

I made an edit noting that you don't actually need to put any daggers into carvings. I also replaced the two big images showing a hidden teleport with a single smaller GIF.

Last edited by Alpha3KV on Fri May 20, 2022 11:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.

...I think this might be the only D&D-based computer game that acknowledged flinds were even a thing unless I'm badly misremembering something. I'd question why they're in a sewer but it's probably just Undermountain things.

I also forgot about the whole kuo-toa throwing lightning thing.

User avatar
Site Admin
Errr, no, I don't think you're misremembering, Kesaran. Also, fun fact about that lightning. Normally a Lightning Bolt would only be normal if it were a Kuo-Toa Mage, or two or more Kuo-Toa Priests holding hands.

I suspect each Kuo-Toa we meet is actually two priests in a trenchcoat. And yes, Waterdeep's sewers are one entrance to Undermountain. Anyway, yes, now we've gotten spoilered about the spiders... This is where dual/multi-classing can screw you over. Because you might not get the XP to get the Cleric of your party to the right level (5th/20, iirc) to get 4th level spell slots.

Which is where Neutralise Poison is. And even then, you get one slot of it until later levels.

Basically? Fuck the 4th level... EDIT: So if you are going to fall into these pits, pick the right one to fall down (Unless I'm misremembering and all the pits that drop you to L4 go to the same place.) I'll explain that a bit better once Level 4's shenanigans come around.

There ARE flinds in the first Baldur's Gate. They're a type of gnoll and appear as a gray palette swap. That's an interesting note about the Kuo-Toa, but they're clearly not wearing trenchcoats here. Didn't you see the lovingly rendered butt I named the update for? :v:

User avatar
Site Admin
Alpha3KV wrote:
Wed Jul 21, 2021 4:13 pm
That's an interesting note about the Kuo-Toa, but they're clearly not wearing trenchcoats here. Didn't you see the lovingly rendered butt I named the update for? :v:
Clearly, one is poking their hands and head out, and the other is an exhibitionist showing their entire ass to the world.

Ohgod, we're going to end up talking about spiderbutts, aren't we? :kimchi:

I'd rather talk about mantis butts, mmmm, mmmm, mmmm


EOTB 4: Walking Through Webs
Image

Entering the second quarter of the game means some new surroundings. After one step forward:

Image

First, I choose talk:

Image

You can still tend his wounds after that:

Image

If we refuse his offer:

Image

I accept him into the party since even just the extra inventory space is useful.

Image
Image

Taghor is the very first NPC who can join you. He starts severely injured and near starvation, but you should be more than capable of aiding him at this point. He comes equipped with chainmail and an axe.

Image

Just north of where we met Taghor, there is a rectangular hallway with moving walls that will follow you in a counter-clockwise direction. Just past the northwest corner of the hallway is a dwarven key. I take another lap around so that the walls are arranged this way:

Image

Note that this level has a north-south wraparound in the east corners. The party's current location is here:

Image

Pulling on this chain keeps the moving walls in their current positions, and solves the Special Quest when they are as above.
There will be some HP discrepancies in the following shots since I didn't do things in the order I decided to present.

Image

Northwest from there is a hallway with three pits which would drop us into level 5. Just before it is some text referring to this gargoyle with a raised hand. There are two more like it in rooms to the south and east, and each one closes a single pit.

Image

South from there is a room with three doors. The east one leads to another gargoyle lever, and the west one has another key. I go to the locked middle room first.

Image

If you go there while the other two doors are closed, there will be an opening to this nook with a +3 axe and a chain that removes a wall to the west.

Image

With that, you can bypass the pit puzzle. Three other carvings around this room describe Kruen as "The Holder of Wisdom", "King Under the Mountain", and "Destroyer of the Ancient One."

Image

Going south down that hall, there is a very sneaky button that opens a room to the southeast.

Image

It has another one of those pits that opens up right in front of you. It will toggle every time you step on this tile. On the other side are a dwarven helmet and shield, which use different graphics but are functionally identical to their normal counterparts.

Image

I go up to the northernmost hall of the level. In the center room I have my first encounter with this level's only enemy type, the giant spider. As you can see, it's also my first experience with poison. Poison causes damage in intervals, though those don't seem to be consistent. Resting is a death sentence to any poisoned character. I cast Slow Poison on Garry to delay the effects.

Image

The room with the spider also has the portal carving Taghor mentions if you reject him, with that text appearing next to it. These are activated by stone items like the dagger found on level 2. We don't have the item to activate this one yet.

Image

The next room has four of these potions. Since nobody can cast Neutralize Poison yet, they are the only way to actually remove the poison effect right now. There is a limited number of them so don't use one until you know that you're done fighting spiders for a while, or the character(s) might just get poisoned again.

Image

In the room after that we find a shelf with this text next to it. If you place an Orb of Power into it, all your items will be identified. However, it will be a little while before we get one of those.

Image

Going back all the way west, we find a room with one tile surrounded by four doors. There's a spider in there guarding a key. When a door is opened while the other three are closed, there will be a healing potion on the floor. You can repeat this for each side to get four potions. The spider and key appear only once.

Image

We could go down to level 5 at this point, and could even have done that as soon as we got access to the west hallway without ever encountering spiders. I bypass the stairs down to go into the area the south entrance from level 3 leads to. That plate will close the door behind you.

Image

These webs can be hacked down with any melee weapon, including bare hands. A good way to deal with them is to unequip a shield, take them down with the offhand, then quickly re-equip it. It's important to be ready to attack since there are often spiders directly behind these webs. Both of those will periodically respawn in this area.

Image

Among the items here are two rings. One of them does nothing while the other is a Ring of Protection +3.

Image

There is also another stone portal key, though not for the one on this level.

Image

After collecting those items along with more arrows and such, we finally cure Garry's poison and go down to the next level.

Last edited by Alpha3KV on Wed May 25, 2022 5:04 am, edited 3 times in total.

User avatar
Site Admin
Yup. Fuck spiders, because this is basically going to be your experience. Thankfully, because spiders are Large enemies in this game, only one can hit you at a time... From a single cardinal dimension.

I have only been attacked by spiders from all sides once (suffice to say, I was extremely not-smart that one time), but being attacked from the front and the side or back is common in this area, and being multi-poisoned before you earn Cure Poison is a death sentence. Save in this level, and save often. Anyway, it's important to remember (while it works) that most enemies can only hit one side of your formation at a time. However, just like polearms will let middle rank characters in your party attack, polearms in a monster's hands will be able to attack your middle rank. Or, in the case of attacking you from the side, your entire party.

God, I can't wait for one of EoB2's large enemies. They're so god-damn ridiculous.

I'm pretty sure that polearms are only usable from the middle row in the third game, and the only enemies in the series that have them don't appear there. Those enemies move quickly and often appear in numbers, so there's a fairly high probability of getting flanked by them.

User avatar
Site Admin
Alpha3KV wrote:
Sun Jul 25, 2021 4:48 pm
I'm pretty sure that polearms are only usable from the middle row in the third game, and the only enemies in the series that have them don't appear there. Those enemies move quickly and often appear in numbers, so there's a fairly high probability of getting flanked by them.
I'll have to replay to double check, but, weirdly, I'm reasonably sure they can be used by first or second rank.

But maybe it's because I've never had any earthly reason to equip polearms in the front row that I'm thinking this.

And yes, I can't wait for those enemies. I'm sure PurpleXIV on the SA thread is also eagerly awaiting them. My favourite bug-baes... And my less favourite status effect.

Ah, yes. I do remember seeing those enemies in EoB2 and young me being very confused about them being there.

Poisonous enemies before having Neutralize Poison is a pretty big dick move, and considering that's a 4th level spell that seems like it'll be a while off yet.


EOTB 5: Dwarf Plot Dump
Image

Entering the heart of dwarf territory, we immediately come upon this. Like the orc runes in level 2, these signify illusory walls. This is the only way to the rest of this level, but I'm getting some things here first.

Image

Scale mail is not as good as chainmail, but still superior to leather armor.

Image

There is a set of three locked doors all leading to the same room. This marks the only instance that there is not a key for every locked door, even ignoring the redundancy of these. I pick all three locks to use the key elsewhere, and go west.

Image

The enemies of this level are more spiders. Behind a removable wall is a mage scroll of Dispel Magic, which there's no real reason to cast in this game since no enemies cast debuffs.

Image

I go east past some stairs to level 6 and find this message. It is next to a lever that resets a puzzle to the south.

Image

When you enter this area, pits to level 6 will open behind you after every step. Items on the ground can distract you from an optimal path, shown on this portion of the map from the GameBanshee guide:

Image

7 represents useless items, boots and two -3 weapons that luckily aren't cursed to be stuck in the character's hand. C is a teleporter to the reset lever, and 8 is for keys of a type exclusive to this area.

Image

9 is this Ring of Feather Fall, whose wearer takes no damage from pits.

Image

At 10 we find the best armor type and a spell to make the entire party invisible. A lock will remove this wall, revealing teleporter D to a new part of the level.

Image

After killing some more spiders, I pass through some unmarked illusory walls to get a Wand of Frost. It casts Cone of Cold, one of the best spells in this series which causes major damage to everything in front of you. The visible path to it is blocked off by hidden teleporters, so you have to find the fake walls to get it.

Image

North from there is a teleporter puzzle that ultimately leads to another way to level 6. Those items on the ground are unobtainable due to the teleporters.

Image

Backing up, this plate opens up a permanent pit on the tile to its north. Southwest of it is a button that opens up a wall into the room I unlocked earlier.

Image

The special quest for this level is putting 5 normal rations into the pantry shelf to upgrade them to iron rations. This potion will poison whoever drinks it. Things like it and the weapons from the greed puzzle have minor use as weights or for puzzles calling for certain item types.

Image

The west side of the room has a door that must be forced.

Image

We make our way to these stairs, which lead to a part of level 4 disconnected from the rest. I use the key from the start there to get a healing potion and a couple of scrolls. Incidentally, the transitions between levels 3 and 4 are ladders going into these stairs.

Image

The east door of the pantry room leads us to where the dwarves actually are. Prepare for :words:, which you can listen to in a silly voice here along with some extra visuals.

Image

We agree to find the missing prince.

Image

We also get another companion.

Image

In addition to all that plot, Armun also dumped some rations on the floor. Dorhum also carries two more along with a potion of healing. Like Taghor, he comes equipped with chainmail and an axe, but unlike him is the only recruit to start in perfect health. This stone medallion activates the portal in level 4. Speaking of portals we can use now:

Image

The north wall of the pantry room has this gargoyle. They are common decorations on level 4, but this is the only one on level 5 that is not a lock. This particular one is a sneakier version of the earlier runes, marking an illusory wall.

Image

Behind it is this portal, whose key is in a shelf to its east. This leads to a closed-off hub of these portals in level 7, next to the dagger portal to level 9. It is possible to reach the end pretty quickly when you know these shortcuts and level layouts. I'll go over things like that and more in a bonus update after the end of this game.

Image

Several dwarf guards stand around this room. It is possible to attack them and make them hostile, but that's not a good idea right now.

Image

The northeast corner of this room has the priest who can revive the bones we've been carrying from the sewers. On that note, the dwarves don't seem to mind much that there are three floors of excrement on top of their old civilization now.

Image

Anya's revival is the first in-game mention of our villain. In the Sega CD version her hair is changed to black. Resurrected characters start with empty inventories. On a related subject, since we're at maximum party size, characters removed from the party will leave all their items on the ground at the spot you did that. I still prepared for this by putting things into more organized piles in the pantry room.

Image

You can't revive multiple characters in a row. You have to leave level 5 or rest before it can be done again.

Image

Armun will greet you every time you return, except in the Sega CD version. In that version the above two lines are replaced by cutscenes of the characters silently staring at you.

Image

Tod Uphill's revival. He has a really dorky voice in the Sega CD version. None of these characters have anything further to say when accepted into the party, though they do have lines for rejection. Anya and Tod have theirs presented with their stats below.

Image

Last edited by Alpha3KV on Wed May 25, 2022 5:06 am, edited 5 times in total.

User avatar
Site Admin
The items you can't get are apparently eh anyway, according to the hintbook. It's nice that they tell you what they are, though.

And ohhhh, boy... This is where the level skipping begins. And new friends, and utter assholes appear. Although it opens up a little more, becomes slightly less linear from this point on.

-3 weapons that aren't cursed? Kinder than I thought the game would be.

User avatar
Site Admin
RandomKesaranPasaran wrote:
Sat Jul 31, 2021 4:34 pm
-3 weapons that aren't cursed? Kinder than I thought the game would be.
Ahahaha, hahahahahahaha... Hahaha... Haaaaaaa...

Ohhhh, it's saving those dick moves for later. I would be shocked if this LP didn't have savescumming (behind the scenes or otherwise) at some point.

I ultimately decided to go through both ways, making my poll rather pointless in the end. I thought it would make more sense to go with the linear all-NPC playthrough first, so I'll be doing that. I rewrote the end of that update, starting from meeting Armun, to reflect that and added the revival scenes and stats for Anya and Tod Uphill.


EOTB 6: Putting All Our Eggs in One Basket
Image

New level, new party. The south entrance to level 6 goes right into a door that can only be opened from the other side. We'll need to go through the teleporter puzzle in level 5 for the north entrance.

Image

There, we come across this door with pressure plates on each side. You must place a weapon on each one to open the door. Bows and slings won't work for this. After that, it stays open permanently, so you can take the weapons back.

Image

The main enemy of this level is kenku. They have noticeably more HP than previous enemies, an can cast Magic Missile. Due to an error, they are worth a LOT more experience than they should be. Each character in this party of four gets over 1000 XP for killing one.

Image

One of the chambers in the northeast corner has this kenku egg. It can be eaten to restore a small amount of the hunger meter, but it's needed for other purposes.

Image

The way into the central portion of the level has a lock of the same type seen in the greed puzzle (I didn't have a shot of them there).

At a corner of two short hallways, we meet this nerd with delusions of grandeur. Listen to his voice crack here.

Image
Image

This is the game's mid-boss. His threats are not completely empty, since he can cast spells that damage the entire party.

Image

The scattered blue pixels indicate that this was a Cone of Cold, thankfully a weak one. What you want to do is lure him to one of the open areas to the west or north. I back down the corridor, firing projectiles at him along the way. Enemies with spells or other ranged attacks will not use them unless they're within your sight range, so you can use that to your advantage even in a narrow hallway. Once he's in the open, I do the classic melee square dance, which no enemy is able to counter. He drops a wand and a Potion of Extra Healing.

Image

There are two 3x3 rooms in this level with pressure plates in the middle and walls that look like this on both sides. Stepping on the plate will cause a total of four darts to be fired toward the middle. You can quickly step back to dodge them, making them land in front of the opposite walls. I collect them for later.

Image

The key to the central area of the level is right in front of the door to the south stairs up to level 5.

Image
Image

These things can be found there. The portal's key is technically in this level, but in an isolated portion that can only be accessed from level 7.

Image

In the north there are four rooms each containing multiple kenku. They are connected by a long hallway, so I use the same strategy as for the mage by firing projectiles to soften them up before getting them into the open. It's actually a bit riskier than with him since they could potentially attack from multiple sides.

Image

Those rooms also have eggs in them. There are a total of ten throughout the level.

Image

Getting them all into the nest is this level's fairly intuitive special quest. Doing so removes the walls surrounding that tile.

Image

The prize is this, our first +5 weapon.

Image

It doesn't have longer reach than any other melee weapon, until the third game makes polearms usable from the middle row.

Image

To get to level 7, wee need some keys. They can only be obtained by going down pits to a subsection of this level.

Image

Tod is wearing the Ring of Feather Fall and thus doesn't take damage. The keys are in small rooms that can only be opened from the pit side.

Image

The southwest has a series of corridors with dart launchers. Each one can fire two or three times. When you pick up the darts from the northernmost one, it will reload when you step on a certain tile. This can provide an unlimited dart supply, right before a place you need a lot of darts:

Image

A room full of shelf walls. Placing a dart or dagger on each shelf will remove the wall behind it, along with the item you used.

Image

This shield is +1. I left the normal one that looks like it behind so they don't get confused.

Image

Here is the only magical weapon that starts out identified. There is also a small button here that opens the east wall, making a shortcut to other parts of the level.

Image

The way to level 7 is barred by locks that move walls. This dwarven key will fit even though it's not the gargoyle lock they were used for previously.

Image

Another copy protection checkpoint. The password is "wizard" here but the GOG version makes that irrelevant.

Last edited by Alpha3KV on Wed May 25, 2022 5:08 am, edited 4 times in total.

User avatar
Site Admin
Ah yes, it's about time to mention that Eye of the Beholder was rather rushed. A lot of the TSR/SSI/Westwood games of this period were, and, if you go into the data, you'll see signs of at least one area that was never used in the game, because they wanted to make the game bigger than it actually was. But they didn't, and it had a few bugs, like the Kenku bug.

Nowhere near as bad as the two Dark Sun games, however, the second of which was (and is) extremely crash happy, and the first of which would soft-lock the game if you didn't follow precisely the right route (which is also the good end route.)

By the way, what do you think is the difference between a soft and a hard lock in a DOS system?

None at fucking all.

Anyway, wizard asshole has no name, and I'm reasonably sure he doesn't in the Dark Horse comic that retells this particular tale. I'll go check, just in case.

Well, fuck me sideways. He's an Alhoon called Ilserv. Although I don't believe Alhoon were a concept at this point in AD&D, so he's just "Ilserv of the Illithids"

Turns out he was extremely overconfident. Anyway, here's our arrogant tentacleboi. And a fun typo. And a minor spoiler. But like I've said before, we'll get to the DnD comic in time.

Image

LOL I can't even parse that word bubble after "actions"

User avatar
Site Admin
Alpha3KV wrote:
Sat Aug 07, 2021 9:02 pm
LOL I can't even parse that word bubble after "actions"
I'm reasonably certain that was meant to be "From the Paladinson [...]", which basically means "We're hiding our plans from Piergieron (who, both in game and in comic, already knows) and Blackstaff (Who is likely the one to have spotted this first, and indeed set up the adventurers to explore the dungeon on a random pretext knowing damn well what was down there, because Blackstaff Is An Asshole.)"

JamieTheD wrote:
Sat Aug 07, 2021 7:32 pm
Nowhere near as bad as the two Dark Sun games, however, the second of which was (and is) extremely crash happy, and the first of which would soft-lock the game if you didn't follow precisely the right route (which is also the good end route.)
I think the second game also softlocked me as well in some room because I did things wrong, because Wake of the Ravager was an extremely well made game that used an engine that was not at all a complete jankfest. Enemies having the wrong exp value is practically quaint by comparison to those games.

Also that is a word bubble to be sure.

User avatar
Site Admin
I mean, at least it wasn't Al Qadim, whose copy protection of soft-locking would activate even on legit copies? XP

But yes, a lot of the later SSI games were janky to the point of stupidity.

We do not talk about Menzoberranzan or the two Ravenloft games, thank you.

Seriously, Strahd, you can't even leave the door of your bedroom, allowing you to be easily destroyed by the Holy McGuffin gotten by collecting every single fucking gypsy coin in that fucking maze dungeon I swear to god I will fucking murder you game!

The next update should probably be ready sometime tomorrow. Before that, I went back and made some edits to the sewer level updates. I re-titled the first level update and added notes about starting spells. I made additional notes about spells in the second and third level updates, which will have relevance in the next one:
Aid gives one character the hit bonus of Bless and 1-8 temporary HP, which can go above their max. There is a very helpful bug with this spell: when it expires, that character's HP will return to whatever they were before it was cast on them, even if they're now lower. So a character with max HP who has Aid cast on them can get a full heal at the end.
On the way into the southwest portion of this level, I find a mage scroll of Fireball. This causes damage to everything in a single tile. It's not quite the weapon of mass destruction it is in other games, but still useful against groups and less likely to burn your own characters. I go ahead and teach Dave this spell since there's another scroll for it later, but he's almost certainly not going to reach a high enough level to cast it.
There is also an edit to the level 6 update pointing out that you can get infinite darts from one of the launchers.

Locked