The Eye of the Beholder Thread

[Taghor]

I'd just leave Jon in your party, especially as you've had him scribe some of your scrolls.

BTW you don't need a Thief in EotB3 after the Mausoleum.

That's an advice as well disguised as it is good, thanks!

 

[Dorateen]

I remember taking along Rex, the saurial cleric. It was a nice callback to Dragonbait from Curse of the Azure Bonds.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

The sad bit about the exotic NPCs of EotB3 (Rex and Bug) is that they don't bring anything special to the table, stat-wise they're just Humans.

 

[Dorateen]

What about Delmar Rallyhorn, the weretiger? I recall the first time he transformed in combat it was... quite a surprise.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Hmmm....
EOB1 NPC LIST

Sad no other display lists like that. That was done pretty nice.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

What about Delmar Rallyhorn, the weretiger? I recall the first time he transformed in combat it was... quite a surprise.

It is, but not as surprising to learn that his paws don't count as magical weapons, so he effectively disarmed himself against a majority of the monsters.

 

[Sceptic]

What about Delmar Rallyhorn, the weretiger? I recall the first time he transformed in combat it was... quite a surprise.

It is, but not as surprising to learn that his paws don't count as magical weapons, so he effectively disarmed himself against a majority of the monsters.

IIRC Delmar is useful in the mausoleum because his claws do a lot of damage against the big undead beasts, more than any other weapon you have at the time, but he's not that useful afterwards and his transformation is irritating because he drops what he's carrying when he changes. And of course the mausoleum is completely optional anyway because what you get out of it is the amulet that helps you go through the forest, except you don't need it because the torch you can pick up in said forest will do exactly the same thing.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Any of you try the EOB for GameBoy Advance? Man, that is uh.. something different esp in 3e rules. It is tactical combat like Goldbox of sorts. I should try to finish it one day. I barely got started just messing around with it a few years ago.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I haven't, I'm looking forward to trying it, precisely of the reasons you said: It's a half-way point between the Black Box-title that it was, and the Gold Box-titles that it wasn't.

:Unsettled Emotions:

 

[mindx2]

Any of you try the EOB for GameBoy Advance? Man, that is uh.. something different esp in 3e rules. It is tactical combat like Goldbox of sorts. I should try to finish it one day. I barely got started just messing around with it a few years ago.

It was a guilty pleasure for sure. Its "tactical" part is quite fun and the dungeon crawling part mimics the PC version really well. It certainly felt like the EotB game and the combat was fun if simplistic.

 

[Radiane]

Just recently finished EotB 3 again, with a party imported through the series, and i believe that the last game has a somewhat unjustified bad reputation.

The game may be not as strong as the second one but really who cares, it's still a very gripping dungeon romp.
I liked the athmosphere in the dungeons, it's fittingly grim, especially in the final dungeon. Puzzles are relatively easy, but that's fine, appropriate for the game. The monster ambience sounds add to the somewhat gloomy feeling, i liked the hag laughter. Also the NPCs are interesting and fit into the setting i guess. Being able to attack with melee from the middle ranks is a nice addition.

Myth Drannor proper is kind of lackluster, but that may be intentional, they could have just called those the ruins of anything and nearly nothing would have changed, just some ruins with random monsters. The starting area also isn't the greatest example of good level design, it's a huge place where you can hardly tell where you have to go, and the wilderness level with its labyrinth like mazes... i dunno. Fortunately they aren't too large. Then there are quite a few rooms in the dungeons with nothing really in them, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing, you could say it adds to the realism. The loot you can find was a bit strange sometimes, in one place there are like 4 +1 darts like seemingly just for the sake of it, then somewhere else 4 ordinary rocks and again somewhere else 4 non-magical shields and such (probably placed in those places to be used for pressure plate puzzles nearby, but why when your party carries so much useless stuff around anyway...), and then there are all the +(5-x) weapons you find but you know you won't use...

Overall, quite nice game, would theoretically play this again with a different party, but there are a ton of other older games i haven't tried yet, so i probably won't touch this anytime soon again.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I think pople would have loved a construction set of these games back in the day. Dungeon Hack was fine but only now do i have a color laser printer. And they turn out pretty nice via my method (not in game print ehich doesn't seem to work on my modern computer).

 

[Glop_dweller]

https://dosbox-x.com/wiki/Guide:Setting-up-printing-in-DOSBox‐X

 

[weirwood]

I am still pondering on which NPC i should leave behind to make Bugenius (level 2 mage tower) join the party. Firing Isharn would strip me of the only thief and i don't know if i need one later on. Father Jon i have let scribe many scrolls into his spellbook already and i overall like the char and class combination. What would you do?

Easy answer. Anything you need a thief/thieves' tools for in EOB3 can be handled by forcing the lock/lever with giant strength, and you conveniently have gauntlets for that.

 

[Taghor]

I remember taking along Rex, the saurial cleric. It was a nice callback to Dragonbait from Curse of the Azure Bonds.

While i am not so much into playing reptile species, the addition of such a char is a nice idea that was new back in the day. BTW, fully replacing the core party with NPCs you found along the journey is great roleplaying on your part! Respect!

Just recently finished EotB 3 again, with a party imported through the series, and i believe that the last game has a somewhat unjustified bad reputation.

The game may be not as strong as the second one but really who cares, it's still a very gripping dungeon romp.
I liked the athmosphere in the dungeons, it's fittingly grim, especially in the final dungeon. Puzzles are relatively easy, but that's fine, appropriate for the game. The monster ambience sounds add to the somewhat gloomy feeling, i liked the hag laughter. Also the NPCs are interesting and fit into the setting i guess. Being able to attack with melee from the middle ranks is a nice addition.

Myth Drannor proper is kind of lackluster, but that may be intentional, they could have just called those the ruins of anything and nearly nothing would have changed, just some ruins with random monsters. The starting area also isn't the greatest example of good level design, it's a huge place where you can hardly tell where you have to go, and the wilderness level with its labyrinth like mazes... i dunno. Fortunately they aren't too large. Then there are quite a few rooms in the dungeons with nothing really in them, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing, you could say it adds to the realism. The loot you can find was a bit strange sometimes, in one place there are like 4 +1 darts like seemingly just for the sake of it, then somewhere else 4 ordinary rocks and again somewhere else 4 non-magical shields and such (probably placed in those places to be used for pressure plate puzzles nearby, but why when your party carries so much useless stuff around anyway...), and then there are all the +(5-x) weapons you find but you know you won't use...

Overall, quite nice game, would theoretically play this again with a different party, but there are a ton of other older games i haven't tried yet, so i probably won't touch this anytime soon again.

I do entirely agree. After being drawn to the plane called 'reality' for quite a while i continued playing, closing in to the final level. Part three is full of new ideas that enrich the playing experience. Except for the Mausoleum and the underwater level (which both have their own merit but just were not to my taste) i think that the level design in general is well thought and the choice of monsters and their special abilities make for an interesting challenge.

The playing experience might be a lot different when playing with a fresh party. Quite a few items of the preceeding parts stay unmatched (+5 long sword, +5 halberd, 8 x +5 darts to name just a few) what makes the later loot feel a bit redundant and the inventory stays full all time long, though. Still, the trowing hammers, second row attack, all attack option and some of the new spells offer something that the predecessors did not have.

A straight playthrough of all three games in a row leads to some tireness and maybe my involuntary break refreshed both the will to continue and the immersion into what's actually going on there. Therefore i think the game is highly recommendable overall.

I think pople would have loved a construction set of these games back in the day. Dungeon Hack was fine but only now do i have a color laser printer. And they turn out pretty nice via my method (not in game print ehich doesn't seem to work on my modern computer).

Oh yes! Contructing levels and maybe even full campaigns in EoB style EoB with some easy-to-use tools would be great.

Dungeon Hack will be the next title to play after i will have finished EoB III. Already bought it to that end.

 

[Taghor]

I am still pondering on which NPC i should leave behind to make Bugenius (level 2 mage tower) join the party. Firing Isharn would strip me of the only thief and i don't know if i need one later on. Father Jon i have let scribe many scrolls into his spellbook already and i overall like the char and class combination. What would you do?

Easy answer. Anything you need a thief/thieves' tools for in EOB3 can be handled by forcing the lock/lever with giant strength, and you conveniently have gauntlets for that.

Thanks for the heads up! While it is a bit sad that thieves have been neglected as a class in all three games, not being screwed by this (ingame) underpowered class saves us from restarts of the whole campaign. The potions of giant strength would have saved a playthrough, too.

Leaving behind Isharn was a tough decision as Bugenius really did not appeal to me. If it weren't for the ring of wiardry i would not have picked him up at all. Now that Tabitha has joined us i could get rid of him.

Next time i play the game(s), i will definitely have a multi-class thief in the party so the decisions won't be that hard and i can play through more speedily.

 

[Dorateen]

BTW, fully replacing the core party with NPCs you found along the journey is great roleplaying on your part! Respect!

That was just a screenshot I pulled from the Internet. I would never replace the beloved characters I ran through all the Gold Box games, Eye of the Beholder series, and Dark Sun.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

The idea is still good, though, if only to see how the NPC-portraits look like in EotB3.

 

[Alex]

What about Delmar Rallyhorn, the weretiger? I recall the first time he transformed in combat it was... quite a surprise.

It is, but not as surprising to learn that his paws don't count as magical weapons, so he effectively disarmed himself against a majority of the monsters.

I haven't played that game yet. But monsters (and were-creatures certainly count) should be able to hit creatures that require magical weapons depending on their HD. In particular, a 10HD+4 monster (and thus any monster of level 11+) should be able to hit anything except creatures that are really immune to physical damage (not even sure there were any in AD&D 2e).

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Maybe molds, virus, certain slimes etc. I'd have to do a full examination. Living Muck and Black puddings SUCK! Flame blade and spiritual hammer save the day. (And Mord's Sword). Er wait... was Mord's Sword a spell you could get EOB3 +DH?

I think Legends of Grimlock has a construction set; still construction sets within a certain engine are cool (EOB, goldbox, wizardry classic, bard's tale, Ultima, Wasteland, dungeon master, etc etc ... if they have one that is.)

Hmmm..... Anvil of Dawn, Stonekeep, Questron-Legend of Blacksilver, Lands of Lore construction sets would be interesting.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Yes, Mordenkainen's Sword is available as a spell in EotB3.

 

[Taghor]

Maybe molds, virus, certain slimes etc. I'd have to do a full examination. Living Muck and Black puddings SUCK! Flame blade and spiritual hammer save the day. (And Mord's Sword). Er wait... was Mord's Sword a spell you could get EOB3 +DH?

I think Legends of Grimlock has a construction set; still construction sets within a certain engine are cool (EOB, goldbox, wizardry classic, bard's tale, Ultima, Wasteland, dungeon master, etc etc ... if they have one that is.)

Hmmm..... Anvil of Dawn, Stonekeep, Questron-Legend of Blacksilver, Lands of Lore construction sets would be interesting.

Yeah, the Living Mucks were a nasty surprise... My workaround was as simple as follows: I backtracked to the piles of equipment i had carefully set up at the city's entrance. Picked up +1 clubs, +4 leather armors (2 each) and equipped the frontliners with them. Together with the Black throwing hammer +3 and a +5 halberd for the second row chars i could fire four non-spell attacks at once without having to worry about stuff being consumed or picked up after a bout. Interestingly the halberd from second row was not affected by the acid. Before leaving the named level i left the non metal equipment at the stairs so i could backtrack through the level later again (enemies do respawn there).

Mordenkainen's sword is a spell i have not yet tried but will certainly do after your and Unkillable Cat 's advice.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Yeah, I discovered through experimentation that 'Severious' (+5 Longsword) and 'Chieftain's Halberd' (+5 Halberd) (both from EotB1) were unaffected by the Living Muck.

I killed them via long-range attacks and magic. They're not protected against cold attacks and death magic, so start with that.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Hmmmm.... I wonder what the code says. I can't recall if in Dungeon Hack I'd hurl Maul of the titans down corridors. Had one guy find 3 of them.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]