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Halfway through the game, this monolith appears in town, dampening spirits in the realm. Win the game by destroying the monolith
Tactics to Live By
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. More than a cliché, this phrase should be your mantra as you proceed through Darkstone's 32 levels and 4 outdoor regions. To minimize repetition, remember to save early and save often. Save every few minutes of general adventuring. Save after winning battles, great and small. Save after a repair and refit at Gunther's. And when something unexpected occurs, (especially when beginning the decisive action in any given dungeon), create a new save so you can go back to the point before setting a string of events in motion if need be. Computer role-playing 101 to be sure, but it bears special repeating.

Some of the most dangerous moments of Darkstone occur when battling large groups of creatures. Characters succumb quickly when being attacked at all sides by a number of enemies, while they themselves can only effectively attack one. The obvious solution, easier said than done, is to restrict the flow of enemies that must be dealt with at any given time. Doorways are ideal in this regard, camp your fighter in front of the door before opening, hacking the creatures to bits as they march through single file. When doorways aren't available, activate your missile-bearing character and backpedal, shooting at the nearest enemy, allowing the other character to run interference when necessary. Monsters are often activated by proximity, and will move toward the player's party if a route exists and the characters are in the activation radius.

Clever use of spells will make your job much easier. Here, two Magic Door spells are cast to avoid teleporting into a room of spectres. Use Isolde's Magic Door on the left to go to town, and then return using Tristan's Magic Door on the right, past the teleportation tile
Far better, of course, is to do unto the creatures before they even have a chance to do unto you. The number of adversaries is fixed when the game is generated, and creatures do not spawn unpredictably. This means that when you've cleared a region, the monsters say dead. See the rat people on the island? Shoot them dead before fixing the bridge. See those slathering goblins through the barred windows? Shoot them dead before opening the door. While some rooms appear empty until a door is opened, others have fully visible creatures and can be depopulated without ever running the risk of chipping a nail. Finally, a not-entirely-ethical tactic (which is nonetheless brutally effective) is to pass the mouse over darkened rooms that don't necessarily have a line-of-sight to the interior. See those red "life" bars popping up all over the place? Target them with a Magic Bomb spell, repeat until all the red bars are gone. Make sure you are packing plenty of mana potions.

Nyaa, nyaa! You can't touch me! Pick off the Damned Spectres safely from the other side of the gate
Speaking of potions, red, blue and green potions should be placed in the function key inventory slots. Your primary spell caster should have an abundance of blue mana potions, the fighter red healing potions. Both should have a few poison antidotes. It is also imperative that both characters have the ability to resurrect the other should one become dead in the course of fighting a battle you do not wish to repeat. The spell caster will probably acquire the spell, the fighter should at least be equipped with a scroll. Both characters should endeavor to learn the healing spell. In some cases, having the ability to cast Magic Door with both characters can prove invaluable.

Spoiler Alert!
Darkstone is a very linear game. Complete each level in numerical order and save often; rarely does the game keep the player in the dark with regards to what the next action should be. What's obvious to some may be obtuse to others, so the following clues should set you back on the path should you stray or miss something.

Each game of Darkstone contains eight four-level dungeons, the first seven randomly selected from a pool of three when the game is first generated. There are also a number of errand-quests, most given by the townspeople. To complete the errand quests, click on the quest item in your inventory, then again on the person who assigned the quest. Each is worth around 10,000 gold.

Levels 1-4
The Sun Cross—Never trust anyone named Gondoor. Don't worry about killing prisoners while spiders infest the place. Especially don't trust anyone named Drakus. Linguistically, it's just too similar to a well-known malevolent dragon.

Dead men DO tell tales. In Darkstone, frisking corpses is part of everyday adventuring
Mika the Witch—A cursed mirror makes beautiful people appear ugly and ugly people appear _______.

The Horn of Plenty—The Cloak of Clouds doesn't exactly give you the ability to walk through a certain solid wall. More precisely, it's as if the wall isn't even there, and don't think the wizard Zoram won't notice.

Levels 5-8
The Padlocked Unicorn—Have-fairy-will-travel. Think of it as your own, personal skeleton key.

Fairy of the Lake—What's with the fairies? Ardyl seems infested with them. Snakes too. The reed's song will keep them under control, unfortunately, it plays shorter than a top-40 hit. Prepare your escape route before venturing into the serpents lair.

Genna's Malaise—Think "Jerry Springer" and look for a family member to blame it on. Get him to confess and trot him out to Ger the Sorcerer. (Ger-ry! Ger-ry!)

Levels 9-12
Killer Queen—A village is enslaved by a race of evil wasps. Quick, someone call Clint Howard! While waiting for the king of B-movies to arrive, get Armor of Fear and Sword Elron and go on a bug hunt.

Brother Jean—The dungeon is only a portion of this quest, and a rather easy one at that. Do it first, get the magnifying glass so you don't blow yourself up getting to the chest on the island. Take the blank bible from the chest to the altar, then beware of ambush.

Lucy's Baby—It's easy to become overmatched in this dungeon, sometimes discretion indeed is the better part of valor. Invisibility helps when snatching sacrificial babies from the grasp of their captors.

Use the pointer to highlight active hotspots even in areas you can't see. A related tactic allows spell casters to place Magic Bombs to kill unseen opponents
Levels 13-16
Horgan the Hermit—Kill Korgan (the orc chieftain, not the Smashing Pumpkin). Enter the dungeon, kill the first two guardians, receiving decent swords. These swords need to be sacrificed at the end of level 16, if they are your best weapon, consider coming back later.

Lizard's Nest—Celestial Pac Man symbol begets celestial sword begets celestial dagger. Another quest that spends quality time outside of the dungeon.

Fun with Poison—Not only do green potions make you feel better when you have that queasy poisoned feeling, but they detoxify certain poison puddles as well. Eraldus and Angelique will have to be done in if you want one awesome sword that you can't use yet.

Levels 17-20
Princess Jasmine—Summon and defeat Roland, the not-so-eternal Champion, and take his land-mine-spotting helmet. Leave the non-equipped character outside, grab the crystal and run like hell. The statues that come to life will squish you like a bug.

Fountains of Immortality—Never trust anyone named Langolin. Be ready to act when Langolin shows his true self.

Kolos' Tomb—Kolos is a spectre who says he's here to help you. Of course he is, if you can't trust the undead, who can you trust? That festering corpse of his that was left behind might be good for something.

Save time and aimless wandering. Click anywhere on the automap and your character will travel to that spot. Great for spotting those unexplored areas
Levels 21-24
The Flowers of Shade—Unlike the incident with Langolin's spectres, this dungeon has teleportation tiles you actually want to use.

The Demon's Gems—Remember what was said earlier about killing critters beyond locked doors. This dungeon also makes use of such spells as Teleport.

Guardian of the Damned—What did we say about listening to undead? Good, now use the key (and some liberal Teleport casting) to get the crosses and slay the Damned.

Levels 25-28
Vampire Slayer—Luxorius the Vampire wants you to find and return his scepter. If you've been paying attention, you can pretty much expect that the undead will not say "thank you very much, here is your crystal, sir." Luxorius is a nasty, teleporting son-of-a-succubus; save before entering his lair and be prepared for a massive battle.

The Druids—Sniper tactics and the Holy Bow will win the day. Shoot the statues, not the druids.

The Holy Number—You really don't think the real crystal would be on level 25, 26, or 27, do you? And the number is…is…do we need to move the mouse for you too? Oh, hell, find the demon statute and punch up 540 on the giant odometer.

Endgame (Levels 29-32)
Fact: Draak has 3500 life points. Fact: Draak regenerates when he takes 50 0amage. Fact: The Reflection spell can be effective against lethal dragon breath. Fact: The Time Orb might just stop time long enough to deliver, say, 1750 points of damage. Use this knowledge wisely.

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Page Updated Mon Feb 28, 2000 8:25pm EST