Soldexus: Partial Guide, with video walkthrough!

[Sebby19]

Gamemaker 6 games don't run on Vista, or 7, so Mark Overmars himself made a tool to get them to run:

The game: http://gamemakergames.com/archive/soldexus
The tool: http://www.mfgg.net/index.php?act=resdb ... 6&id=12637

You just simply drag and drop the game onto the tool's icon. It was made for Vista, but I can confirm it works on 7 as well, which I have.
You'll then have two copies of Soldexus, the original (with a slight filename change), and the new one you want.

[Willhart]

The tool: http://www.mfgg.net/index.php?act=resdb ... 6&id=12637

That is actually the same tool I linked previously. I'm still getting this error on my windows 7 though. I may be missing directx 8 things or something, but I have no idea of how to install that on top of directx 11.

The error.

Failed to initialize drawing surfaces. Please check that your graphics card meets the minimum requirements, and that your drivers are up-to-date. If your graphics card has little memory, try switching to a lower resolution.

[Leet]

ok this game looks pretty awesome

[Telamon]

Gamemaker 6 games don't run on Vista, or 7, so Mark Overmars himself made a tool to get them to run:

Thanks, that worked!

Honestly, though, having played a bit past where raocow got today, I don't think I have the fortitude for this level of difficulty. I'll be watching to see how he does, though.

[Sebby19]

And now for the large chunk, the monsters you encounter. I'll discuss their basic movement, any actions that assist movement, and attacks they possess. Their names I made up. While I'll mention approx. health of the early ones, I have no idea how damage is calculated, or the exact health of everybody, as we'll see with the Mage and Knight.

Enemies:

Waddling Head
Movement: Walk forward, turns on edges
Actions: Hop
These multicolour guys are the basic grunts, dying in 1 hit from anything. They randomly hop at times, high enough for a basic sword swipe to miss them, if you're unlucky. They don't normally fall off ledges, unless they hop at just the right time.


Green Zombie
Movement: Walk towards you
Actions: Jump
Your other common grunt, these are much beefier, taking 7 sword swipes, or 3 Charge Slashes, to down. They will chase you down, occasionally jumping over obstacles to get to you. They have the annoying habit of jumping when you try to jump over them, which sucks when they corner you.


Wisp
Movement: Float forward, bounces off surfaces/sword
Other: Seems to resist Charge Slashes
These spirits float around the room, paying no mind to you. They will get in your way in tight spaces. I've noticed that while their bounces are predictable, corners of blocks may make it change trajectory, as does your sword. 3 attacks will finish it off at the start


Mage
Movement: Float toward, horizontally
Attacks: Shoot Energy Sphere (Tell: pause, creates portal)
+Energy Sphere: Flies straight at your location. Solid, destructible.
First enemy with an actual attack, the mage can only float left and right. Takes 10 sword swipes, or 4 Charge Slashes. The red energy sphere cannot go through walls, or your sword.


Saber Lance Knight
Movement: Float toward
Attacks: Slash (Tell: pause, then Slash)
With total free movement, he will chase you down. When he pauses, get out of there before he brings the lance down on your head. Takes 10 sword swipes like the Mage, but 5 Charges Slashes to kill. Or, 4 Charges and 1 swipe.


So that's all the enemies so far. Now I want to discuss why I don't get the damage. With attack=0, here's what it takes to kill the Mage and Knight:
Mage:
-10 slice
-1 charge, 8 slice
-2 charge, 5 slice
-3 charge, 3 slice
-4 charge

Knight:
-10 slices
-1 charge, 8 slice
-2 charge, 6 slice
-3 charge, 3 slice
-4 charge, 1 slice
-5 charge

So the Knight has slightly more health than the mage, even though they both die to the same number of basic minimum attacks. Huh? For future reference, I will not talk about how many hits enemies can take, since I don't know how much more damage Charge Slashes do, not to mention some resist the Charge Slash. And raocow's attack stat may go up soon, throwing everything out the window.

[Sebby19]

That's like asking me to do drugs. Or swear.

Also, never heard of it.

I'm more interested in contacting Patrick Ching II, which I'll do when Rao get's a new ability.

[Leet]

you heard it here first folks: hacking a video game is DOING DRUGS

[ano0maly]

Soul Gem? Is Death Kyubey?

[Willhart]

I've actually cheated in some games to make them more fun to play. I wonder if there should be a separate thread for talking about it though.

[jayScribble]

So that's all the enemies so far. Now I want to discuss why I don't get the damage. With attack=0, here's what it takes to kill the Mage and Knight:
Mage:
-10 slice
-1 charge, 8 slice
-2 charge, 5 slice
-3 charge, 3 slice
-4 charge

Knight:
-10 slices
-1 charge, 8 slice
-2 charge, 6 slice
-3 charge, 3 slice
-4 charge, 1 slice
-5 charge

I tried doing some math to find the exact values of their health, but I was just getting so close without having a factor too large, such as an extra slice ruining it. So yeah, the damage model is weird.

[Dog In Da Grass]

Mage
Movement: Float toward, horizontally
Attacks: Shoot Energy Sphere (Tell: pause, creates portal)
+Energy Sphere: Flies straight at your location. Solid, destructible.
First enemy with an actual attack, the mage can only float left and right. Takes 10 sword swipes, or 4 Charge Slashes. The red energy sphere cannot go through walls, or your sword.

The mage looks like Little Mac's ghost

[Willhart]

The game might be leading the player to a specific direction. It's good to see that there are actual secrets and traps in it too.

[Alice]

I tried doing some math to find the exact values of their health, but I was just getting so close without having a factor too large, such as an extra slice ruining it. So yeah, the damage model is weird.

I wonder if it might handle it in some weird way kind of like how Charlies are handled in SMW.

[Voltgloss]

Anyone know if this works in Windows 8.1?

[Sebby19]

You are doing okay, raocow. Those Shadowmen are mean.
Most enemies drop money or health orbs when they die. Money is Blue, Health is red (I'll get images later). Tougher enemies give bigger orbs. The money you get from one enemy varies slightly, so this will be another enemy stat I will not record. These orbs home in on you, and are very fast, so you may not see them unless you kill from a distance. Enemies don't drop health when you're full, so try not to get hurt so you can make more money.
I encourage you to kill all enemies, especially at full health. That Hint Ring is invaluable, and is the most expensive item you will ever buy.



Shadowman
Movement: Slowly walks toward, stops at egdes
Attacks:
-Shadow Wave (Tell: Pause, blink)=Consecutive dark eruptions toward your location, ends at ledges
-Punch (Tell: Pause, blink)
First enemy with two attacks, this lean and tall guy is quite intimidating, and has the most health out of enemies for a while. He favors the Shadow Wave Attack, but will take a punch at you if you're in range. That punch is VERY FAST. You CAN crouch underneath the punch and continue slashing, just be careful, because he can still do the Shadow Wave.


Blue Aura Skull
Movement: Sine wave forwards, intangible, spawns off screen
Here's our lovely Medusa head replacement. The frequency they spawn varies from room to room. Dies from one attack. Infinite spawn enemies don't drop money or health.

[Dragon Fogel]

I tried doing some math to find the exact values of their health, but I was just getting so close without having a factor too large, such as an extra slice ruining it. So yeah, the damage model is weird.

If Slice does 2 damage and Charge does 5, then the mage has 20 health and the knight has 21.

I'm not saying that's how it works, but the numbers fit if it does work that way... except I forgot about it taking ten slices for both with no charge attacks, that is weird. Maybe Sebby miscounted? It's easy to lose track with that many attacks.

[Ivy]

Anyone know if this works in Windows 8.1?

If it can be made to work with 7, it's almost a guarantee that you can do the same with 8

[raocow]

you just gotta use the conversion tool linked in the thread

[Nathan the Talkmaus]

Mage
Movement: Float toward, horizontally
Attacks: Shoot Energy Sphere (Tell: pause, creates portal)
+Energy Sphere: Flies straight at your location. Solid, destructible.
First enemy with an actual attack, the mage can only float left and right. Takes 10 sword swipes, or 4 Charge Slashes. The red energy sphere cannot go through walls, or your sword.

The mage looks like Little Mac's ghost

To me he looks more like Sniggerbobble.

[Sebby19]

Item Orbs
Enemies sometimes drop these, which then fly and home in at you at high speed. You may not even see them if you're close to the monster, but you'll hear the sound of collecting one. Blue orbs are money, and Red orbs are health (there is also a mysterious green one). The amount you collect from an orb is from a range (say 5-15), that range changing from monster to monster. Tougher enemies drop larger orbs, which obviously give more stuff. If you're at full health, Red orbs do not drop, allowing you to collect more money.

[Imipolex G]

So I went and played through this whole game myself, so that I can yell at the screen whenever raocow misses something or messes up.

It might not be the most gorgeous-looking game, but it's definitely a solid Metroidvania. Some of the bosses are brutal, though

[Willhart]

raocow got hit like 4 times in a row there. I prefer this type of challenge compared to SOTN where the player had a lot more health, but was in way less danger for most of the time. The platforming is also picking up with the new area.

[jayScribble]

It's these kind of games that you have to be not careless to get through it without dying, especially with the enemies that can still kill you in a few hits: sort of like the Souls games (Demon Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne(even though it's technically not one)), but this game is easier to manage(and also predates it).

Like you can be aggressive to common enemies at full health, but when you're at around half health less, you need to be preservative and careful, and only taking potshots at the weak enemies and only facing the stronger ones whenever needed. It's leads players to use a playstyle that the game wants them to do, with enough leeway to try other ones.

It's also the satisfaction of beating the game this hard and with the odds initially against you that drives the type of gamer that plays them.

Don't know why I went on like that, but after watching raocow play in this video, I'm just inspired to post that (even though it would be obvious to people). I could also be wrong.

[Alice]

Considering how raocow tends to play games like this you'd think by now he might have learned not to just choose the most difficult settings. There was an option in the settings to make the game easier for a reason after all.

[Sebby19]

Items missed: 1

The 'Easier' option only boosts your attack and defense by 1. This means the Green Zombies take 6 hits instead of 7 at the start. I'm not sure how it effects collecting Attack + Defense Ups. Maybe the first ones don't count? Other than that, there is Normal and Hard Mode.

My recommended way of fighting enemies is to start with an Charge slash, normal Swipe, and then retreat. Charge up your sword, and repeat.

Moves:

Jump
Max Height: Just shy of 2.5 block. Which mean you can't hop onto a wall that high


Double Jump
Max Height: 4.5 blocks, and only barely.
You can only double jump again once Ian's feet touches the ground. This includes the Wall Run.


Wall Run
(left/right + special) OR (left/right + up + jump); configure in Options
Max Height: 3 block run, 1 block jump?
Greatly increases Ian's mobility, you can now move around like a parkour artist. Ian runs up to 3 blocks before automatically jumping off. He also jumps off at ledges. Press the special button again to jump early. Refreshes the Double Jump.


I love the Wall Run. Use it for a quick escape over your enemies if your cornered (as raocow demonstrated), combine with Double Jumps to infinitely scale a wall, and I just find its faster to move around, compared to double jumping alone. You should try it on single tile blocks, it's fun!