HELP - Cendrics Quest

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GoreSamuel
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HELP - Cendrics Quest

Post by GoreSamuel »

So I played this game around 18 years ago. I couldn't complete it, I was not even close tho. Now I'm trying to play it again but I get stuck in the stairways on flames. Also, I don't know what to do with the rock and I don't know where to find the key to get the gold box. Any help?
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MrFlibble
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HELP - Cendrics Quest

Post by MrFlibble »

Moved the topic to Game Help, Tips & Tricks.

I know the game you're talking about, but I never played it so I cannot give you a hint. From my experience with SerpentHead, there must be some clues left around to help solve the puzzles, maybe look in the rooms that you've already visited for something you might have missed or not tried yet?
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Rwolf
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HELP - Cendrics Quest

Post by Rwolf »

Trying out the game now, the download DOS version from this site; initially it works ok, but I found an issue with the music/sound fx that plays during the levitation spell, it seems to hang the dosbox process, no matter what soundcard settings I have configured. With sound fx off the levitation works, so I have a workaround. Only missing out some minor sounds which relate to actions taken, but there are text indicators as well - sound is optional.
I'm still exploring the dungeon/cellar & castle bottom floors, so I cannot help you yet with your problems, but I'll be back.

(I know how to remove some rocks to make bigger hole, but that does not mean I *have* a rock; so I don't think it's the same puzzle.)

Hmm...I got up some flights of vines&ghost stairs to the icy stairs, tried falling through the ghostly stairs to the wine cellar, but I don't know if the game has bugged out; no way out it seems - maybe it is just a trap. The way to the stairs with vines was *down* from the cellar's safe area, which seems odd? The cellar staircase *should* have led back up from the safe IMO. Possibly the sound issue caused corrupt save files, though saving is not automatic.
(I seem to recall playing this game long ago; the stones in the cellar and the item in the wine cellar triggers some faint memories.)

edit1:
something is definitely fishy about the game states, once an event has triggered, it does not matter if one reloads an older savegame, the event flags are still showing that 'future' action has taken place. Not sure how the game copes with dosbox memory management.

I do suspect the dungeon troll(?) 'Grraak' might have the key, or maybe the treasure for the looters bribe, there was something gold-glinting behind him, but I have to get him out of the way somehow. There is also a birds nest in the garden/courtyard with something in it.

edit 2:
Ok, I restarted the game, with sound fx off and minimum memory 1MB allocated in DOSBox; sems to work better and the strange navigation bugs seems to be gone, but the game is sensitive about doing the right thing at the right time...for instance, there is a castle door to open at the start; try to do it again if it's open and the game will partially crash, corrupting the screen in this location, depending on where on the door you click; e.g. clicking on the hinges or symbol after the door already has opened. This is noticeable in the browser version too.
(I'm making a map of the castle, so I was revisiting the old locations.)

edit3:
I note one of the difficulties with this game is that the graphics cursor does not change when held over active areas, or 'hotspots'. This means that the game becomes a veritable pixel-hunt to find anything to interact with. Sometimes you can look at an area of a wall and see a slightly different description, which means it might be interactive compared to the surrounding background, but this requires constant clicking around every possible object. Possibly a later version of the game might have made the hotspots more noticeable, there is a later '1999' version I have read.

edit4: I just watched a short gameplay video on youtube of the 1999 version for Windows, and I find some of the UI is better, like supporting a widescreen, inventory items can be examined easier. The navigation hints are less functional, as in the DOS version the possible directions from a room showed as highlighted, which is not in the Windows version. Hotspots still not visible what I saw.

DOS version: maybe its a DOSBox issue - things can become invisible; e.g. after a while a bird can appear in a courtyard, and it is seen sitting on top of a well, but next time you come back it is gone. However if you explicitly use the 'look' cursor on the same spot, the game says it's still there, only you can't see it. This seems to be triggered by reading a note in the garden, found elsewhere, as the protagonist avatar shows up and the bird just disappears. You *have* to read it in the garden, it seems - there is no way to examine items in detail once in the inventory, there the note is just 'a crumpled note' with no content, so it was by chance I used it in the garden.
Last edited by Rwolf on Fri Apr 29, 2022 9:15 am, edited 5 times in total.
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Rwolf
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HELP - Cendrics Quest

Post by Rwolf »

It turns out there is a looter in the upper levels of the castle, and he has hidden the key you seek - he needs bribing to reveal the hiding place (not sure with what to bribe him). The only 'rock' I have found so far is a part of a puzzle to open up a path through a pile of rubble in the dungeon, you remove rocks in a specific order to open it up.

Edit: I think I found the rocks that the OP referred to, there are some hidden among the bushes in the courtyard; you cannot see them, but have to do an extensive pixel-hunt to gather a few small rocks that go into your inventory. The are used e.g. in the Wizards chamber, maybe somewhere else too. This is another typical puzzle of the times; even though other objects could work, in this game only these rocks and no others will do for this puzzle.

I have just got to the stairway in flames now. I can see during brief screen transition flashes that there are some spells (Winter) and items that might be useful for cooling things off, but those I have not found yet.

(at 56/135pts so far, so I have a good bit to go still. I definitely have played the game before, but I don't recall how far I got then. Frustrating, as I recall where some items are and also some events, but cannot remember how to reach or trigger them. Or sometimes an action triggers something in another room, but no idea what. This is a veritable pixel hunt at times, and a case of nearly having to decipher the developers mind in order to find solutions to some puzzles.)
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Rwolf
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HELP - Cendrics Quest

Post by Rwolf »

Finished the unregistered version at 67/135pts. (not sure if registering the DOS version is still possible, there seems to be some Windows bundle of all the Serpenthead games still being sold on CD, but it is unclear if they are properly registered.)

The game ends as you open the golden box in the cell and takes the first of the three parts of the sceptre.

@OP: As I wrote before, the rocks you find in the courtyard are used in a puzzle in the Wizards room.
I never got past the flaming stairs, that must be later in the registered version.

I had some corrupted animations in the interactions with the thief; reloading the scene made it work better.
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MrFlibble
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HELP - Cendrics Quest

Post by MrFlibble »

@Rwolf, any chance you'd add an entry for this game at MobyGames, now that you've completed the shareware version? Both Serpenthead and the Deluxe re-release are already documented.
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HELP - Cendrics Quest

Post by Rwolf »

Yes, it's been in the queue already for some time; just wondering if the '99 version merits a separate entry or just an added platform to the DOS version.

(So far I've been unable to find even the demo of the windows '99 version; the fileplanet one is just a suspicious downloader that does not match the given filesize; I'll ignore it for now.)

Update: I think I've located the demo of Cendrics Quest 99 from one of the shareware collections at archive.org, the filesize seems correct, if it works ok, I'll make a Windows addition to the submitted DOS game. edit: Ok, it's in the queue.

Update2:
More oddities from the Windows '99 version; it seems impossible to *look* at anything once it is in the inventory. This means the note from the skeleton cannot be read, as you cannot read it when it is in it's hand either. This note is a part of the story line, and has hints for other locations in the game.

Some descriptive texts have been kept when the actual graphics have changed; e.g. in the areas around the thief, doorway directions are visibly and functionally different from what the text says, which is taken from the DOS version.

Also certain texts (proclamations) need to be *read* according to the scene instructions, but even though the translation tool is available and can be used, which initially *seems* to work, you still cannot read a specific text, even though this text is needed to get a specific reward for the thief - luckily the reward can be found through trial and error anyway.

There is also an included windows 95 help-file for the game, which is by default unusable in modern windows versions, since Microsoft has removed the Winhlp software from Vista onwards; there were downloads for reading these files on Vista, Win7, Win8 & Win10 but all ms download links are now dead for anything less than Win8. Luckily I found an archive.org installation package that worked for me - not the correct language version, but still useable.
Last edited by Rwolf on Sat May 21, 2022 6:00 am, edited 8 times in total.
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MrFlibble
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HELP - Cendrics Quest

Post by MrFlibble »

Thanks!
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Rwolf
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HELP - Cendrics Quest

Post by Rwolf »

Cendric's Quest

Both DOS & Windows versions in this entry. (Credits still pending)
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MrFlibble
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HELP - Cendrics Quest

Post by MrFlibble »

Nice, thanks!
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