Melvelous the Magnificent and the Malicious Maze

Question: is there are reliable path to victory? I managed to defeat the challenge, but only because I rolled successfully for Defensive, and was fortunate that the guard standing next to me didn't attack for more damage and kill me. That seems like way too much luck to depend on for a test that's sold as totally based on logic. This was after about a dozen attempts over a couple of hours, so by that point I was just happy to be done with it, but I suspect I didn't find the "real" solution.

 

It is possible to get lucky with Defensiveness, I suppose, but there is a reliable path to victory along which you never have to make that roll.

 

Glad to hear it. Maybe some other time I'll give it another look and see if I can figure out the foolproof way.

 

If after a bunch of attempts you still can't get it, here is the solution:

Spoiler

Save up your moves, then block the lower guard's respawn point with your body.

 

I'm just grateful the puzzly module is the first of the three in MM#5. When I did MM#1 and got to the Sneak Thief, which was the last adventure, it took me a few tries to figure out the trick to it. I'm glad this time I don't have to go through a bunch of other fights before I can try a new solution to the puzzle.

 

Yay! That's definitely the way I'm trying to design MM modules these days.

 

Yes and no...well, really yes, but I had briefly considered no. After struggling with the first puzzle quite a bit and getting kind of frustrated, I was disappointed that I wouldn't get to try any of the other encounters until I finally figured out the first one. I was wishing the really hard one was last instead. But then I thought about it some more and realized that would have been even more frustrating at the end - as you say, you'd either have to play through the whole thing over and over or pay gold to keep attempting the tough one. So I guess this is better, but still not ideal.

Of course, all of this also assumed that the first one was actually the hard one. I also had to wonder if I was just missing something obvious.

 

I've rushed in, saved cards, killed a dude, rush rush - cant make it to the bloody end no matter what i do V_V
help.

 

Don't click if you want to solve the puzzle yourself.

Spoiler: Solution 1

Round 1
Move southeast toward the bottom man. Stone Spikes the bottom man. Pass. Save Run after discard.

Round 2
Pass until the men move. Stone Spikes the top man. Pass. Save both Runs after discard.

Round 3
Use 2 Powerful Sparks on the bottom man. Use the last Powerful Spark on the other man. Move southeast. Move down to the southeastern border to where the wall ends. Pass. You should be 2 squares away from the troll with a Run in hand.

Round 4
Arcing Spark the man. Pass. Save both Runs.

Round 5
Teleport Other the troll to the starting area. Use the 3 Runs to reach the victory points in the top left corner.

Spoiler: Solution 2

Round 1
Move east towards the top man. If the man hits you use Energize on the troll. If the men haven't moved use a second Energize on the troll. Stone Spikes the bottom man. Pass.

Round 2
Use Stone Spike to face southeast making sure you don't cover a spot along your pathway. If a man hits you and you change facing use another Stone Spikes to face southeast. If the men still haven't moved use the last Stone Spikes but keep facing southeast. Pass.

Round 3
Use 2 Powerful Sparks on the bottom man. Use the last Powerful Spark on the other man. Use 2 Runs to move down to the southeastern border to where the wall ends. Pass. You should be 2 squares away from the troll with a Run in hand.

Round 4
Use 2 Arcing Spark on the man. Pass.

Round 5
Use Arcing Spark to kill the low hp man. Teleport Other the troll to the starting area. Use the 3 Runs to reach the victory points in the top left corner.

 

>mfw I dropped a life on the second level

 

Thanks peonprop. One thing I discovered while trying Solution 1: in round 2, the men may pass without moving, even though one of them is standing on spikes. (Evidently somebody has clued him in about the resurrection thing.) So, it's a good idea to spam Energize and/or spikes until they do move, as you suggest at a couple points in Solution 2.

One time they didn't move even after I'd played everything but my Runs, and they were BOTH on spikes. I didn't recover from that, though it might still be possible...will be interesting to see if it happens again.

 

Yes, that seems to be Karen's winning strategy. Luckily, it seems to happen rarely.

 

Sneak Thief is pretty simple if you read the text before hand. Although granted I did auto lose the first time I played it.

I beat MtMatMM through the Defensive roll. I'll probably try to actually figure it out one of these days though.

EDIT: Ah, I decided to read the spoiler and it is what I was doing except I didn't see the use of Energize. Makes sense with the way the game is coded.

 

If anyone is still wanting hints for Melvelous, I made some walkthrough maps.

Spoiler: Kalin's Standard Solution

If Karen moves the Men first:


---------
If Karen doesn't move the Men first:

Spoiler: Peonprop's Total Domination

 

One suggested improvement I'd like to see would be having the respawn points marked with a doodad.

Spoiler

The way people can know which square they need to block.

 

Well that somehow worked, but how do you survive on the second map?

 

Run away! And when you can't, embrace the noblest of pirate traditions.

 

I like to use my body to bottleneck the entrance as long as possible only moving back one space at a time to minimize the mobs' movement. If you can kill the skeletons with Chops do it while they don't have immunity. Save Staggering Chops for later when you might need it to get rid of Only Bones. Try to keep the orcs severely wounded for as long as possible while making the slow retreat. The further you kill them from the spawn point the more moves they will need later to get back to you. Then just run around and try not to get cornered. Unless there's some easy trick I've been missing all along, this one requires a ton of luck.

 

Nope, that's pretty much how I play it (and I made it), though I have no doubt that someone could come up with a genius plan better than my own. My only addition is that at some point towards the end I usually end up heading out the back door. Ideally you wait for the mummy to take a swing at a door, run up and kill it and then try to get onto its spawn point the same turn, but that definitely takes some luck (and not getting taunted the moment you run up to it!).

 

What I ended up doing was having to pay rope-a-dope. Bottle up the front as long as you can, and then I maneuvered through the dining room on the right and slowly back, then out the back door when I had a chance. Sometimes the monsters will switch targeting between you and the doors, that can help delay them too.