From David_Reevely@magic-bbs.corp.apple.com Mon Dec 6 21:40:08 1993 Path: news.itd.umich.edu!destroyer!ncar!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!library.ucla.edu!news.mic.ucla.edu!kaleida.com!apple!mumbo.apple.com!David_Reevely@magic-bbs.corp.apple.com Message-ID: <1993Dec05.213049.1852312@magic-bbs.corp.apple.com> Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games From: David_Reevely@magic-bbs.corp.apple.com Distribution: na Organization: M A G I C X-Attachments: Binhex Files Attached Date: Sun, 05 Dec 1993 21:30:49 EST Subject: [FAQ] Pathways into Darkness Lines: 997 What follows is my own production of a FAQ/Walkthru for PiD. Maybe now we won't see any more of those "How do I kill those black things?" questions. Pathways into Darkness FAQ Sheet/Walkthrough This is by no means intended as a complete FAQ list. These are questions I've seen in comp.sys.mac.games and other places online and that probably belong here to avoid being asked repeatedly. There are undoubtedly lots of things I've left out. Send me suggestions at david_reevely@magic-bbs.corp.apple.com, and they'll be included in a more complete version, should it be warranted. These follow a rough chronological order within the game. Of course, because there are several different ways of working your way through, some might not apply to you or may be out of order. This list is packed with spoilers, which is, after all, the point. Read it at your own risk. 1. The manual talks about talking to dead people. Why can't I talk to the German soldier? You don't have the yellow crystal yet. It's behind a locked door on the level above, "Never Stop Firing." When you find it, double-click on it to activate it, then press TAB while standing on the body. 2. What's the point of that blue rune? Why can't I open the doors at each side of the hall? You need to play the Alien Pipes while standing on the blue rune in order for the doors to open. The Alien Pipes are found on the Ascension level. 3. What do the chains do? They open doors in other parts of the pyramid. Pull each chain you run across once, then forget about them. Check the map of the level you're on before and after you pull it, paying special attention to the doors that are closed before you pull. 4. The manual makes such a big deal about conserving ammunition, but I haven't had any problems. Why should I pay attention to that? In the earlier levels, you're fighting the easiest monsters in the game. Use the survival knife whenever you're dealing with two or fewer zombies or headlesses. It'll force you into learning some battle tactics that will prove useful when you move up in weaponry. Furthermore, there's a very limited supply of Walther ammuntion, and there are two occasions when you'll need a lot of it; on the Ascension level, fighting your way to the Alien Pipes; and after you've used the Pipes on the ground floor and monsters are revealed beyond the doors. 5. I keep getting killed on that level where I come down the ladder and am immediately surrounded by zombies. What's the best way to get past them? Once you've killed one zombie, start moving. Get out of the starting chamber as soon as you can, and move down into one of the corners of the hallway surrounding that room, so you've got walls on two sides. The zombies can only come after you two at a time and from one-fourth of your viewing area, instead of four at a time from all sides. Use the Walther here, picking your shots carefully. 6. How do I kill those black spirits that don't seem to get damaged by weapons? Use the blue crystal, in the same way you'd use the yellow crystal. 7. Where's the blue crystal? There's a two-square hidden chamber just to the south of one of the dead German soldiers on They May be Slow. He'll direct you to it, if you question him closely enough. Enter the chamber by walking south from the soldier's body and through the wall. Pick up the blue crystal by stepping on it, just like any other item. 8. After I've used the crystal a few times, it recharges more and more slowly. How come? All crystals but the yellow one will run out of power eventually. After you've used them a few times, they'll slow down. Eventually, they shatter. There is no way of preventing this, besides not using the crystal unless you absolutely have to. Don't use the blue crystal on regular creatures, if you can possibly help it. 9. Can I do anything useful with the silver bowl? No. Its only purpose is as treasure. There are several such items in the game, and they should all be kept, since they increase your point totals at the end of the game. They're heavy, but they don't affect your performance in any significant way, besides cluttering your inventory. 10. What's the best way of dealing with the roomfuls of monsters on Ascension? Tackle them one room at a time. Use the knife whenever possible, and try to keep headlesses and zombies in rows so they can only attack you one at a time. Another neat aspect of this strategy is that the headlesses with fire their goo at you but will hit one another in the back instead, causing damage to one another. Have the blue crystal ready when you enter the northwestern room; there's a banshee that's going to come after you. 11. What do I do with the Alien Pipes? Use them on the first level while standing on the blue rune. The doors to the east and west will open, releasing some monsters. You'll want the Walther for this one. 12. How do I best deal with the grey things? They're ghouls. If there are only one or two of them and your vitality is relatively high, you can attack with the survival knife. It will take about five hits, but the blows will keep the ghouls off-balance and unable to retaliate. 13. Which ladder down should I take - the one to the west or the one to the east? It doesn't *really* matter. The western ladder will take you down to Wrong Way, which it isn't. The entry chamber in that level is packed with ghouls, but nothing more serious than that. The eastern ladder will take you down to Feel the Power, which is filled with marauding packs of three oozes, which are nasty. With your firepower, you're probably better off taking the western ladder, since ghouls are much easier to deal with than oozes. Come back to Feel the Power later, when your weaponry is more impressive. 14. How should I deal with all the ghouls in Wrong Way? It'll probably take a few tries to get past them. Use similar tactics to those given in question #5, and never stop moving, except to shoot. 15. Why can't I get those doors to open? They're locked. You need the Silver Key, found on the level below, Welcome Tasty Primate. It's near the northeast corner of that level. 16. What can the orange crystal do? It's basically a more powerful version of the blue crystal. It takes only one blast from the orange crystal to kill a banshee, instead of two. Of course, the same use limitations apply - use it too often, and it'll shatter. That is definitely something to avoid. 17. Where should I go from here? It would probably be a good idea to go back up to the Ground Floor and then take the other ladder down. Fight your way past the oozes up to the northwest corner, then take the ladder down to A Plague of Demons. 18. What keeps hitting me? There are invisible wraiths that will do you damage, if only slightly. The major danger here is when more than two set upon you, and you have trouble finding one or more of them. Regular weapons are effective against them. Around the north-center section of the level, you'll find a dead American soldier. A search will reveal a pair of infra-red goggles. Put them on and you'll be able to see the wraiths just fine. Don't forget to turn off your flashlight to conserve the batteries. 19. What's the point of this level? In the southeastern section, there's a silver door (you have to pass another door that will open to reveal a small horde of creatures, so make sure you're fully rested). Beyond the door, there's a cedar box, the inside of which is "slightly warm to the touch." 20. What does the cedar box do? It will duplicate any ammunition you put into it. It will work once per minute, assuming you remember to remove the second clip or magazine. It is probably the most useful item in the game. 21. Now what? Go back up through the Ground Floor and down through Welcome Tasty Primate. Take a ladder down from near the north center to We Can See in the Dark, Can You? Turn out your flashlight to make the bugs go away. Use your infra-red goggles to see well. Find your way down to Happy Happy Carnage Carnage. 22. What do I do on Happy Happy Carnage Carnage? Use your Walther and all the ammunition you've generate using the cedar box to fight your way up to either the northeast or northwest corners. Go through the door just to the east or the west, depending on which corner you're in. You've found the remains of the German expedition. 23. How do I deal with all the monsters? Maneuver yourself so that you're facing parallel to the wall with the three doors, with your back to the rune. Back over it and go until your back hits the wall. Never stop shooting once the monsters start to come through. Use the red potion to speed yourself up so you can dodge missile attacks, and a blue potion if you need one. Be prepared to try this level a few times. 24. What does the Red Cloak do? It slows down your metabolism. The world around you passes more quickly than your body moves, so wearing the red cloak *except at particular moments* is something to be avoided. 25. What does the brown potion do? It's a poison. Don't discard it - you'll need it later. 26. Why can't I open the gold door on Beware of Low-Flying Nightmares? You don't have the gold key. You won't run across it for several levels, so don't worry about it now. 27. How can I navigate the Labyrinth? Although its exact layout changes every time you enter it, the essential features remain the same. There is a ladder in each corner. The one in the northwest corner leads up to Happy Happy Carnage Carnage, the northeast corner leads up to Beware of Low-Flying Nightmares, the southwest corner leads to Need a Light, and the southeast corner leads to Lasciate Ogne Speranza, Voi Ch'Intrate, which isn't a typo. Most importantly, there's a violet crystal in the approximate center of the maze, which you absolutely *must* get. Take the ladder in the southwest corner to Need a Light. 28. What was it that killed all those soldiers? A very nasty flamethrowing monster. Have the orange crystal and a lot of ammunition ready, because it'll start moving towards you as soon as the door shuts behind you. Fire at it continuously with your machine gun, and when it gets ready to fire, run around a corner so that its missile attack hits a wall instead of you. As always, be ready to try this level several times. Make sure you question all of the soldiers about the bomb and search them. 29. Why can't I get past the little cross-legged guys? They're generating force fields that prevent you from passing or firing through them. You need to use the green crystal (located a level below, on Watch Your Steps) to quake down their barriers. 30. What are the jumping lizards? Just what they seem - unshootable annoyances. If you walk over enough exploding purple pods, you'll kill them all. 31. How do I get out of the chamber that locks me in? Put on the red cloak and wait for three hours until the doors open again. As long as you're there, make sure you use the cedar box to mass-produce munitions of all kinds. 32. How can I get past the green oozes? They'll leave you alone if you're already poisoned, which is where that brown potion comes in. Make sure you use it in a place where they won't be trapping you when they stop moving - they won't move, but you can't walk through them. 33. How do I kill the purple monster? You can't. Put on the gas mask and it can't hurt you, but it will block your path. You just have to maneuver around it. 34. Why don't my shots harm the blue greater nightmares? They're resistant to regular ammunition, including HE (High Explosive). Use armour-piercing (SABOT) rounds for the AK-47 (ideal) or projectile grenades (wasteful and inefficient due to the long reloading time). 35. How do I get through all those teleporters on Don't Get Poisoned, Please Excuse Our Dust and But Wait! - That's Not All! Patience. On Don't Get Poisoned, take the south teleporter in the first room, the east teleporter in the following room, and then the teleporter in the southern section of that area to get to Please Excuse Our Dust. On PEOD, take the south-center teleporter in the first room, then the northernmost teleporter you find there, then the easternmost teleporter, then a teleporter in the southwest corner to move onto BW-TNA. On this level, you have to use every teleporter before you can move on. 36. What about the teleporter rooms on Where Only Fools Dare Tread? You have to use every single teleporter in those rooms before you get teleported out, and you should wear the red robe while you do it, but don't forget to take it off when you get teleported out. It's a very good idea to mark the teleporters you've used by dropping debris that you've accumulated along the way such as Colt magazines, surplus AK-47s, bent M-16s and dead soldiers' dead flashlights just before you walk through. You'll get very used to this maze before you finish the game. 37. Is there any quick way of getting rid of all those monsters? No. Shoot them, fire grenades at them...generally deal with them like any regular monsters. On the up side, this is the last army of monsters of any consequence you have to fight, so you can deplete your entire arsenal, if you feel the need. Crystals may be used indiscriminately once you've eliminated the banshees (the violet crystal is especially good for this, since it has an area effect). Save a few clips of ammunition, since you'll have to work your way back up to ground level and will undoubtedly face a few monsters in the process. There are also some ghasts to get past just before you leave. 38. What's that red floating thing in the middle of the room? A manifestation of the alien god. You can't get rid of any of them until you've faced the roomful of Greater Nightmares, at which point a couple of MP-41 shots will do in the last one. This is the place to deposit the nuclear device. 39. How do I stop the Alien Gemstone from hurting me? Put it in the lead box from Warning:Earthquake Zone. It's radioactive, and the box will shield you from its effects. You need it to escape the pyramid. 40. Anything else I should know? That should about cover it. Don't forget to revisit the gold door on Beware of Low-Flying Nightmares to retrieve the gold ingots, now that you have the key. A great deal of credit for this walkthrough/FAQ sheet belongs to whoever is behind the e-mail address of st2c9@jetson.uh.edu at the University of Houston, the author of a more basic "PiD Survival Guide" that helped me get through PiD myself and provided a little of the source material, though all errors are, of course, entirely mine. Also useful is "Pathways into Cheating," a little app written by Alain Roy that lets you modify your character considerably. Both files are available via anonymous FTP >from mac.archive.umich.edu, in the game utilities subdirectory of the Mac section. Best of luck!