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[the fall guy]

Originally Posted by Talkie

Are all the other levels as long as level 8? I'm starting to doubt
I will make it. Maybe cheat on the time if I must, or restart level
8 and try to do it without mistakes.

18 minutes could barely be enough if you save at the beginning of every level and reload once you found a fast way to the exit. I'd say the remaining levels aren't too difficult except for some jumps in level 12 (I fell to death at least 100 times on my 1st attempts there...).

If you run out of time try the teleport-bug I mentioned in the previous post. (hope they didn't remove it in V1.4)

[Talkie]

Yikes !

I'm on level 12, but only 4 minutes left. I doubt I'll make it,
unless I cheat. very upsetting.

You were right, the other levels weren't so hard, but level 9 is at least as long as level 8. I got worried, but was happy to find out the next two levels were shorter after you learned to evitate the unnecessary paths.

I've been playing non-stop for hours, really got addicted.
Time for a break.

Cheers,

Talkie

[Talkie]

Well, turns out I couldn't sleep and had to finish this thing!

And it worked !

What happened is that I had 30 seconds left when meeting Jaffar,
but at the end nothing happened, the game just went on. The screen flashed and said "time has expired" at the bottom but it didn't kill me
and I could finish the game. So I guess all you have to do is meet
Jaffar in time.

I knew about what to do with the shadow by having it read by mistake
reading this forum. As for the ... don't want to give any spoilers here....
but I just jumped around like crazy looking for loose slabs, and things unfolded from there. Of course I had to replay this level more than 20 times. The hardest part for me was figuring what to do at the top of the tower under a floor of loose slabs. The 3 close jumps in a row weren't that tough to master, but this is also something that was mentioned on this forum so I had expectations, otherwise this part would have probably drove me nuts.

I've been playing this for about 6 days but for easily 8 hours a day (learning the tricks in the first levels is harder than when you start to get the hang). So the average player (2-4 hours a day) can have 2 to 3 weeks of fun with this.

Of course you can do it right through in an hour, but that either means you're an expert or you've played it tons of times. This was my first time,
and the early levels are hard because that's where you learn the tricks
that gets repeated later on. The mirror on level 4 drove me mad mad mad.
I almost gave up. Level 8 and 11 are the hardest I find, Level 9 the longest (quite tough too but once you know it more you evitate some of the problems, you almost need to draw yourself a path). Level 12 I guess is better played when all relaxed, when you have 20 minutes left to finish it. Than you just do each step carefully and it's not as tough as a level with guards and cutters.

This game is definitely a classic. There is a cinematic appeal to it that announces Out Of This World and the cd-rom era that would come soon after. You really feel like you're part of a story, however minimalist.

I had a great time.

Talkie

[Talkie]

Ok,

I just redid Level 12 and won at 0.10 seconds, and can confirm that the timing ends at the moment you kill Jaffar. All the part after doesn't seem to count in the score (which is calculated exclusively by the timing, no bonus if you found this or that number of potions).

I think that if you reach Act 2 of Level 12 you are ok even if you reach 0.00 min. I'm only babbling this for those desparate like me who reached near the end with no time. I got pretty stressed. I think if you start level 12 with 3 minutes left you're fine if you don't do mistake and go fast. Going faster must mean you're an expert.

Cheers,

Talkie

(by the way, in previous post I said Level 11 was hard, that's cos there is some stuff to figure out that took me a while, chances to take, and a guard that's pretty close to a jump you have to make. That one made me fall very often, and there is no issue even when you hang to that ledge. But obviously Level 9 you won't beat in one course. It's less about how hard it is that how it requires study of what went wrong in the first couple courses where you'll make a LOT of crazy detours. So maybe it's equal to 8 and 11 in difficulty. Level 12 is the most vertiginous, and perhaps the most fun. Depends if you enjoy guards or not. They just annoy me. I love the high jumps.)

[Talkie]

Well welll well, here I am many days later, and I have finished this game
at 18.00 (meaning there was 18 minutes left).

I found the mac version somewhere (macintosh garden) which is at the same time way more beautiful and more boring (the prison walls are always gray).

This game functions like an adventure game in the sense that you can take weeks to do it the first time (without or with very little help), and then afterward you can do it pretty fast because you know where lie the dangers and you have learned a good rhythm for movements. By then I find that replay value is in playing it the fastest possible, without saving.
But the first time is really about exploring and saving. You won't be able to do it without saving if you are new to this (you can only save from Level 3). Also, my suggestion to the beginner is after you saved a level, keep a copy of the save file (Prince.sav) in another folder, and try redo the same level faster. Or reload the save after you died too many times, you really need to keep up with pace.


Cheers,

Talkie


PS: Oops, the version here (DOS 1.0) might also have all the prison walls gray. I was playing version 1.4. Prison walls colors are important in the way they make you feel you are in another part of the palace.

[gregor]

there are some shortcuts in previous levels - like going through ceeling and running most of the whole level. and in that way avoid all the jumping and fighting. add a few jumps to running to make it even faster... and you can finish certain levels in less than a minute.

some shortcuts mean you don't get potions for extra energy. but if you are good at fighting you don't need it anyway...