Dead Tomb Reservations (Phoenix Exclusive)

[Ikrananka]

4 hours ago, digress said:

753 is my best

 

runningman is the code

1 to try again

2 to quit

Very nice score.  I doubt I'll ever come close to that but I'll not give up trying ?

 

Could you answer a question I have about the background music in Dead Tomb?  If I press 0 on the keypad it seems to mute the music.  If I press it again the music starts but it sounds like a completely different piece of music to what was playing before.  Are there two different pieces of background music in the game (other than the Running Man background music which I guess could make it three)?

[digress]

I don't remember exactly. its been more than a year.

 

according to my doc it has 12 distinct music tracks in game depending upon area or what happened + the runningman familiar tune so 13. 

[Ikrananka]

12 minutes ago, digress said:

according to my doc it has 12 distinct music tracks in game depending upon area or what happened + the runningman familiar tune so 13. 

Wow - I need to listen more closely!!!!!

[Ikrananka]

@digress Can you confirm if Dead Tomb is compatible or not with an F18A enhanced ColecoVision?  Thanks

[digress]

On 1/11/2021 at 4:54 PM, Ikrananka said:

@digress Can you confirm if Dead Tomb is compatible or not with an F18A enhanced ColecoVision?  Thanks

Dead Tomb Reservations (Phoenix Exclusive). It was designed for the phoenix specifically and exclusively. 

 

A standard colecovision graphics/dual f18a version might be a possibilty in the future but I don't know.

[Ikrananka]

The reason I asked was that in first post of this thread J-F had said "Dead Tomb is an adventure game which will only works on a Phoenix game console or a modded ColecoVision with F18A"

 

Not a problem, I just wanted to be sure if that was the case or not.

[phattyboombatty]

On 1/11/2021 at 3:16 PM, Ikrananka said:

The reason I asked was that in first post of this thread J-F had said "Dead Tomb is an adventure game which will only works on a Phoenix game console or a modded ColecoVision with F18A"

 

Not a problem, I just wanted to be sure if that was the case or not.

I am really glad that you persistently asked this because I have an F18A enhancement in my ColecoVision, but no Phoenix. That’s a bummer to find out. Wonder what changed in the coding?

[+Sargon]

Has the ColecoVision version of this game shipped?  Should I have received mine already if I pre-ordered?

[+wongojack]

Hey, I'm getting into the game. I'm not sure I understand how to use items in my inventory.  Do I stand near an item with a '?' then press 1 to enter the inventory, then select the item and a verb?  Should this cause something to happen?

[+wongojack]

Ok regarding my above comment - I have now completed Dead Tomb, so I can clarify what I meant in case it helps anyone else.

 

Basically I was wrong, you CANNOT do what I was suggesting.  Instead, when you have the correct items in your inventory, Dead Tomb will present new ways to interact with the environment/objects. 

 

Fictional Example  - There is a "Purple Dinosaur" in the corner.  When you first encounter it, you can only look at it.  The verb "Throw" does nothing when used with "Purple Dinosaur." but after you find a "Basketball," you can now "Throw Basketball at Purple Dinosaur."  THIS IS NOT IN THE GAME JUST AN EXAMPLE.

 

Later in the game, you will be able to do some things in the inventory screen, but I was wasting A LOT of time walking around with one of the early objects and trying to "Use" it on everything by opening the inventory and accomplishing nothing.  You've now been warned not to do this.

[Swami]

We should have a separate spoilers thread for stuff like this.

[+wongojack]

As for my thoughts on the game.  It is beautiful, and I really enjoyed the music A LOT.  It is clear that some hard work went into the presentation of this game, and it must have been fun to recreate something seemingly lost to time such as this game from the Videoway platform.  The box and manual are also stunning.  Congrats to Akklaim and CollectorVision for bringing it back.

 

That being said, the actual in-game text and how that text reaches the player leaves A LOT to be desired.  As @Ikrananka mentioned there are a lot of little oddities with the text and descriptions here and there.  There are moments when text should appear and does not (like trying to use some verbs on items in inventory).  There is at least one incorrect item description, and many examples of awkward English.   Note this did NOT stop me from completing the game, but text is a VERY important element in a game like this.

 

Regarding core gameplay, I never got into a situation where the game crashed or something prevented me from advancing.  There doesn't appear to be any no-win situations in Dead Tomb which is nice.  I also appreciated how quickly you were back in the game after your character dies.  Also, navigating around allows for a version of "fast travel" that was welcome.   On the negative side, flipping between the inventory and the main game screen was slow.  I frequently wanted a single button to function as a "back" button.  And there are some menu selections that you can't back out of at all.  It would save time for the player if pressing a single button could back out of any menu choice anywhere.  A hint system might have been a good addition, and while the passwords are nice to have, they don't function like any save system or password that I've ever seen before and can even spoil some of the solution for the player.

 

Perhaps the biggest missed opportunity for Dead Tomb is that there is a noticeable lack of descriptions in the various rooms.  This gives the game a very flat or empty feel.  It would have been nice to have had some additional walls to read or other artifacts to find.  Perhaps there could have been some items to collect to teach the player about Egypt and in reading these, the player could have also learned more about the game's protagonist.  It also wouldn't have hurt to put some sort of blague/joke or something to get a laugh from the player here and there.  There's one laugh involving a skeleton near the beginning, but that's it.

 

Finally - the hidden game.  I honestly doubt I would have found this if @Ikrananka hadn't mentioned it.  I personally did NOT find the item that triggers it in my playthrough of the game.  The fact that a password will restore you with items you didn't actually collect allowed me to find it (and of course this thread shared a direct password for the hidden game).  It would have been a shame if I hadn't found Running Man buried in here because it is A LOT of fun and a welcome addition to what is currently the only CollectorVision Phoenix exclusive game.

 

I played Dead Tomb for about 320 minutes and that included time with the hidden game and backtracking after I had already solved it the first time to try and find all the items.  Honestly, It felt a little too easy once I got into it, and I would have appreciated a bit more challenge.  Most great point and click games had at least one puzzle that gave you a real sense of accomplishment after it was completed.  I'm not sure Dead Tomb has that.

 

If I were to score it tonight after just finishing it, I think it would be something like

 

Graphics 5/5 <- excellent these have the be the best on the Phoenix

Sound & Music 5/5 <- superb; Phoenix > NES?

Core Game Features 2/5 <- it never broke on me

Story and World 2/5 <- could have been so much more

Puzzles and Design 2/5 <- needed more of a challenge

 

 

 

Passwords

 

 

 

 

• Jpvb57rqtr
• A36qrnm63d
• 7vcqrylx9y
• runningman

 

 

 

 

[+wongojack]

8 minutes ago, Swami said:

We should have a separate spoilers thread for stuff like this.

Sorry, I was trying very hard not to spoil anything.  I was approaching that example of how to use the inventory as something that I would have appreciated seeing in the manual before even starting to play.