Krull FAQ(version 1.0.0) by Andrew Schultz schultza@earthlink.net copyright 2003 or something Please do not reproduce this FAQ for profit without my prior consent. However, if you write a polite e-mail to me referring to me(and this FAQ) by name, then I will probably say OK. But if I ignore you that means no--and I am bad about answering e-mail. Sorry. ================================ ****OUTLINE**** 1. INTRODUCTION: THE GAME. THE MOVIE. THE PARTIAL EXPLANATION. 2. CONTROLS 2-1. IN-GAME 2-2. DIP SWITCHES 3. SCORING 4. SCENE 1 5. SCENE 2 6. SCENE 3 7. SCENE 4 8. SCENE 5 9. VERSIONS 10. CREDITS ================================ 1. INTRODUCTION: THE GAME. THE MOVIE. THE PARTIAL EXPLANATION. I'm probably not the best person to write a Krull Arcade FAQ, but no- one else probably will, and despite really being too weird, Krull is overall pretty fun to play, even if it sure seems unfair to me. It re- cycles five waves over and over again, and although the variety is interesting they fluctuate violently in difficulty and diverge completely from the movie. Well, it occurs to me that although I call my stuff 'FAQs,' I've never really written up anything in standard FAQ form except Archon II which I rewrote. But here I have the perfect foil: Colwyn! He speaks a bit haltingly in the movie, which makes him an ideal candidate to ask rapid fire questions. So I'll have him ask them. Ynyr, the wise man who shows him what's what in the movie, will answer his questions. I'll supply details about what happens in later levels and maybe even snarkily get it into the dialog. A good appraisal of the movie can be found here: http://www.badmovies.org/movies/krull/ Yes, Krull has many qualities of a bad movie, but it's quite good and creative all the same. The game only vaguely follows the movie and in fact the third and fourth levels are quite a loss as to plot. Slayers are more or less invincible except against Colwyn's glaive he must find by climbing this cliff and avoiding tumbling rocks. The glaive is five pointed in the movie, hence five pieces. Colwyn also assembles a group of mercenaries to go in for the final fight. Quite a few get killed. This parallels the game action where they die in the swamp in scene 2(also a big dramatic scene in the movie) although they're a bit braver in the movie than in scene 5(everyone pops out once it's won.) The big beast in the video game parallels the final fight really well although the chronology is reversed--Lyssa's a lot more passive in the game. The movie is also less overtly orange than the game, which was made by Gottlieb. They also made Q*Bert. Which was better, but Krull is still a fun challenge. 2. CONTROLS 2-1. IN-GAME The original had two joysticks. If you are playing on MAME, then you will need to use the default keys ESDF(move: U/L/D/R) and IJKL(fire:U/L/D/R.) Sort of like Robotron at Shockwave. Also you'll note that diagonal movement(hold 2 keys although that can restrict diagonal shooting due to input limitations) is quicker than walking. Because when you travel diagonally, you cover the same distance vertically or horizontally as you'd cover in the four standard directions. This is useful for getting out of the way of diagonal arrows--which travel faster for a certain reason. Arrows shot at your head tend to miss you. Those shot at your feet tend to be more lethal. 2-2. DIP SWITCHES Thanks to mame.net for allowing me to pull up the data in their handy GUI. Y: The DIP SWITCHES control mightily the universe, aye, how hard thou wilt find it to defeat the Beast. C: I know of DIP SWITCHES! I have heard hints I was one! And with a Glaive I would be more powerful! Y: Nay, thou art thinking(and here one but postulates thou art) of dip STICKS. Of course if you have MAME you can always go for infinite lives but here's what else you can do: DEMO SOUNDS on[default]/off DIFFICULTY normal[def]/hard [starts you on level 2 of normal] LIVES 3[default]/5 COINS 1 play/2 coins, 1 play/1 coin[default], 2 plays/1 coin, free play HEXAGON [default]roving/stationary[MUCH harder, 2 things to track down in scene 4] 3. SCORING scene 1: --10 points for each VERY small fraction of a second you are just below a boulder. It all equates to about 700 points per second. This can actually add up more quickly than the... --1000 points for each glaive piece scenes 2-4: --100 points for each slayer you shoot --1000 points for each good guy rescued or reconnoitered/brought back to the hexagon --100 points for each slayer left behind in 3-4 --1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 points for each band of the hexagon. scene 5: --100 points for each fireball you shoot --100 points for each time you hit the beast --1000 points for each survivor that pops out I find I can pull 50000 on the first wave of five scenes, but this decreases with subsequent ones as I can't pick off extra points(i.e. with boulders or getting all my army)--I just need to survive. Still it's about 40000 per after that. The bonuses from slayers left behind doesn't quite make up for what you lose in rescue points. Note the 'glink' noise for an extra guy. In terms of difficulty you will probably find: level 3 > level 5 > level 2 > level 4 > level 1 There's a daily and all-time high score list, too. 4. SCENE 1 Y: Thou must first learn to avoid rocks. C: Why can I not start scoring points now? Why can I not do so indefinitely and obtain this 'extra guy' you speak of? Y: Too long and a 'smart rock' will come after thee and cause thee to spin around and say that annoying 'Oww-oww-oww.' C: I will find slow rocks to avoid! Y: Nay, for thou art not a jerk just for personality. So is thy movement jerky, and so are the slow rocks. (Thou art also slow.) Thou would do best to let a rock of equal speed follow you to the bottom and cut off at the last minute so thou dost not get trapped. C: Tis cowardly! Y: If thou had thought of it thou would brag. But thou would probably not have seen how faster boulders can come from behind and wipe thee out. In general when thou seest a couple of boulders faster than thee on the screen, hasten to the rest of the glaive parts. C: Thy advice is useless. 'Tis easy enough to figure out. Why dost thou it not thyself? Y: I have earned the right to complain about my creaking bones. And thou art no wise man, merely a wise guy. Listen thou up! The glaive parts are distributed randomly and you'll probably want to go in a downward facing arc from the right to left. The stuff at the top is of course toughest to get because rocks can ambush you more easily there. Also the rocks spread out as the terrain does. Bigger but fewer rocks seem to fall to the left, and it's hard to cross over the center as rocks start to infest the area, so start on one side and work your way over. You may have to step between slow rocks. Rocks tend to move away from the center, as if shot linearly from a vanishing point two screens above. But the smaller ones can veer wickedly and catch you, too. Boulder-running technique: for those as fast as you, you can stay a few steps ahead. Just copy how they move--left or right but still always combined with down--to be sure you still get the points. A few steps below the bottom, veer sharply diagonally out of the way. I can get about 15000 on the first wave then 10000 before I get bored/get worried about a fast rock. 5. SCENE 2 'Thou hast much to learn about the swamp.' 'I will learn through experience! Thou hast taught me all thou can...err...enough.' Y: Do not rave. C: But I have the glaive! Y: Thou art still a knave. C: But I am brave! Y: Lo, things ARE grave. Harken: thou must take leave of any rudimentary knowledges of physics and ethics. Tis hard but thou may have a fit of trying to understand things when thou should be shooting. Thou may wish to use they army cohorts as shields. Thou should stay at the edges. Thou should not waste shots. Thou should be aware a 'super-warrior' may run extra fast at thee. Thou hast not finished the level til the last one collapsed. Thou should move left and right only to avoid shots. And thou should try to use cactuses too. Thou should note slayers get faster as more appear. And if things take too long, thou should grab the last comrade so slayers no longer pop up from the swamp. C: And THOU should hand me such rhetoric on ten stone slabs! At the start of the scene eight friends will be placed in eight cardinal directions from the center. They'll try to run at you(they get distracted on later levels,) but slayers may shoot them. They can sometimes kill the slayers hand to hand(100 points to you, yay) but two hits and they collapse. The object is first, and ostensibly always, to rescue all your guys and then destroy the remaining slayers. It's not practical after the first level. You can use your pals as a bunker(heck, they were ex-criminals in the movie anyway and it's an honor to sacrifice thyself for the king or something.) Although this cuts down the maximum potential score in the next scene it also can make it quicker and less chancy. Still if you stand against the bottom edge and fire up you can get a lot of guys-- your shots curve back(left, D/R) after hitting something. If you die then there are always at least two slayers who reappear(note: you can die in the split second after killing the final one, and you'll still have to get the last two.) Otherwise slayers, undiminished in number, will give you distance on restart, and whoever's left of your side will be restored. Winning against two foes isn't as easy as it sounds, as fewer monsters means faster monsters. However, you can just shift to the left or right to avoid any barrages. Then you can fire, and the bad guys will run into that. Also note how a successful shot bounces off to the side and can take out more bad guys. So if there's a clump above, go to the right and fire and your glaive can do double or triple duty. Fortunately the slayers aren't too smart. They move in to one of the eight cardinal directions from you(usually the four major ones) then at you. I prefer to stay at the bottom because vertical bolts are easier to judge than horizontal ones(sometimes the 'strike zone' does seem to waver.) lvl 1--monsters take a while to appear lvl 2--a few monsters are around lvl 3--a good deal of monsters around 6. SCENE 3 Y: Thou wilt do well to listen up here. 'Tis a sign of true evil that the enemy reverts to unfair advantages. Thy army is confused and does not run to thee this time. Thou must find thy comrades and enter the hexagon. On later levels thou may be frustrated by that final sheep. 'Tis a pity they found a way to be invulnerable and not clueless. Thy path would be much easier. C: Then I shall let them all sacrifice their lives for a noble cause in scene 2! Y: Nay, one is dropped right on top of thee. C: Wherefore do they go? Y: Thy grammar is atrocious. Scribe thou not any heroism thou art lucky to achieve. Y: (to self) Haha! I slay me! C: I will run straight at my comrades! Y: They will run away. And diagonally. Thou wouldst do well to learn the art of running diagonally--and firing. Often will thy shots rebound when they seem not to, and often will slayers pop up and get a free shot before thou can--or after thou hast killed them. C: 'Tis not fair! Y: Did thou expect a handshake before the fight from entities so evil? This is a tricky level and you may find it to be an immense bottleneck. Although it's interesting strategy to learn how to use diagonal shooting, one dunderhead running the wrong direction can goof it all up, and it's possible to lose a guy without any progress at all. Also you'll note that as many warriors show up as you rescued in the second wave, although two might be right on top of each other before they split, making things more confusing. It's best to zigzag around the edge of the center when crossing from one diagonal chamber to another. Wasting shots is a bad idea and you'll want to look both ways before crossing a diagonal zone--if you can do so diagonally, firing at a right angle, so much the better. Obviously you want to enter the chamber with the most of your guys-- the hexagon will usually be able to follow you. It pops up in the quarter-area where you are and in fact if you are in trouble it might be best to go for the hexagon and resign yourself to probable loss of life. If you get a comrade and die without getting to the hexagon, he'll still be lost. What's worst about all this is how slayers pop up and are able to shoot you before they're all the way out and you can take them out, and they even can shoot you as they spin around and die. Once you see them, getting them right away is tough to time though your reflexes usually kick in for the worst. There's also a problem with your shots bouncing back and I find you really have to hit dead center. The best way to delete a diagonal column is to run past it and fire four times. Here you're not really running out of shots because only one will go through. But don't stand and shoot through a column--either you'll use your bullets or the effort will be useless. In the inner chamber linking the diagonal ones, you can do some straight shooting on the edges. But learning diagonal movement and firing/retreating to take out slayers in a sort of guerilla tactic is best. Monsters also get faster as the scene goes on, so if someone's stuck or just being uncooperative, that's even more trouble for you. But they do slow down and give distance when you restart after death. To pin your friends down just pick the closest one and try to move perpendicular to him if possible. Parallel is also OK but your friends don't seem to turn until they hit a junction. lvl 1--monsters wait to come up lvl 2--monsters already there lvl 3--monsters heavy 7. SCENE 4 Y: Thou wilt find hexagons come in six colors: red, white, yellow, green, blue and purple and in varying shades of darkness. Thou may also intuit that orange would clash with the background scenery. And lo, I foresee that thou may not even have slayers in thy way. Should thou lose a life the hexagon carving process will not revert. C: Why wasteth thou breath on such rubbish? 'Tis too easy! Y: Yea, mayhap a rash fool like thee will get overconfident. And another fool in a much more demanding alternate universe if found in likewise happenstance would do well to keep outside the hexagon proper, firing up only when the next layer to zap turns black. Thou must zap four such layers. On later levels before commencing 'tis wise to fire diagonal shots up. Thou can also take out many slayers on the rebound from a successful shot. You shouldn't need evasive action to shoot down bad guys even if trapped into the spot where you carved out the hexagon. The hexagon acts as a natural bunker and as long as you use down and diagonal down shots to take out slayers appearing below you, the whole thing will be more of an adrenaline rush than a pressing challenge. In later scenes you can move up a bit and fire diagonally just to kill the first bad guy and in fact you can hold a few off that way. Just watch closely for anyone coming from the ground around you, move away, and fire quickly. The slayers seem pretty dumb here and congregate on the hexagon sides and just stay there--or line up to be blasted with the glaive en masse. You die if you touch the hexagon front but not the sides. When you regenerate the walls you nailed are taken away but the hexagon changes color. lvl 1--possible to get through without seeing monsters lvl 2--they come out more quickly lvl 3--they appear before the level starts SCENE 5 Y: Finally thou must face the Beast. 'Tis best to run at him, then loop around, and head to the top for Lyssa, staggering like thou art drunk. Thou must fire only when assured of hitting him. Thy friends will follow after combat... C: Cowards! Y: They may still be ticked from thy using them as shields in level two. Or out of commission from said mishap. C: Can they not provide distraction? Y: Nay, the beast flings missiles in random directions anyway. C: But why must I fight alone? Y: Because thou art special. C: Thou hast taken the long road to the truth, old man. Y: But thou should still save shots when the missiles rebound. Here the beast will always lumber towards you, and his shots will rebound off walls. It's not a bad idea, actually, to wait back and then move forward. There can only be so many missiles on the screen at one time(I believe) and if they are bouncing off the side walls you can keep moving up. You can also run up, left, up(blasting the Beast as you go by to freeze him,) and run around. Don't cut back right until you're close or you need to duck a bit. Giving away your position will make the missiles--which rebound off walls searching for where you are--more effective. With a spare glaive shot of your own you can probably shoot anything that comes close unless there are too many. Don't pump the beast full of bullets as you may have rebounding missiles to deal with. Missiles can get trapped near Lyssa's throne or just outside it. The second works to your advantage. For the first just remember to save something to shoot up as you enter Lyssa's area or you'll get killed. Also you may want to swerve to the side as you enter as you can get killed in the small tunnel leading up. But never run in a straight line for long unless it's clearly safe. On later levels you'll need to circle around the beast a bit more. He chucks missiles out unexpectedly. But you can still pause him with a lot of shots. The impulse to fire everything at him, though, can be fatal. If you die once the next try doesn't seem any easier. lvl 1--2 shots right away lvl 2--3-4 shots lvl 3--5 shots end of FAQ proper ================================ 9. VERSIONS 1.0.0 submitted to GameFAQs 6/28/2003. Some stuff to recheck for better strategies but the meat is all there. 10. CREDITS bloomer, for getting me to watch Krull in the first place, give the game a second chance, and brush up my review. Thanks to bloomer, daremo, falsehead, OhioState862, RetroFreak, Snow Dragon, etc. and others I like to talk to on AIM. Thanks to someone on eBay for selling me the movie cheap. Thanks to mame.net for allowing users to see dip switches.