admin
Level: Legendary Smitemaster
Rank Points: 8
IP: Logged

Whether you are an experienced DRODer or this is your first hold, I welcome you to one of the two newest Smitemaster’s Selections (SmS), Suit Pursuit.

Who am I? My name is Jason Fedor, known by the forumites by my first name, Jason. I have been playing DROD for almost three years, and have accomplished much in that time. I have enjoyed the official content, and here I am now, with a SmS of my own! I am an avid programmer, and I enjoy Ping-Pong and skiing, as well as frequenting the DROD forums, even though I don’t actually post as much as I did in my first year after finding this game.

Suit Pursuit, designed by myself, is a medium difficulty hold, taking place soon after the previous SmS, “Devilishly Dangerous Dungeons of Doom.” Beethro finds himself back in the Rooted Hub, and he is forced to follow a pathway that leads him past a deep building that extends far down into the darkness of the pit. When I started work on this hold, I hadn’t planned for it to become an SmS. To be honest, this hold was just a set of puzzles that I had intended to incorporate into another hold. However, it has very much changed since then, and it is a work of many different people.

I created the puzzles, and designed most of the hold. (The first level is all thanks to Chaco) The beta testing was done mostly by jbluestein, Stephen4Louise, Syntax, Chaco, and CuriousShyRabbit. The RC testing was mainly accomplished by slimm tom, Tim and CSR. Slimm tom wrote most of the level entrance texts and his help was invaluable near the end of the process. Mike Rimer (mrimer) has been with this hold for a long time as well, coordinating the voice acting, giving tips here and there, and without him, this hold could not be considered an SmS!

The Pit Thing, another gossipy gossiper, a headstrong stalwart and many other characters make an appearance in this Smitemaster’s Selection. The fabulous voice acting in this hold is all thanks to:

The voice actors and actresses:
Beethro Budkin - Snacko
Goblin, Aumtlich - mrimer
The Pit Thing, Stalwart - Abbyzzmal
Checkpoint Guard - Chaco
Gossiper - Elfstone
Rock Giant, Tutorial Voice - Calamarain
Various Guards - Abbyzzmal, Chaco, Someone Else
Various Architects - Abbyzzmal, Chaco

The Scriptwriters:
Chaco: For writing most of the spoken text
mrimer: For writing most of the remaining text
Myself: For writing the remaining text

Thanks to all these people, Suit Pursuit is here for you, and I hope you enjoy it!

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[Last edited by mrimer at 04-18-2009 05:05 PM]

12th Archivist
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 789
Registered: 12-07-2008
IP: Logged

It says on my SMS downloads that Suit Pursuit is a PHP file. Why is it not a hold file, and what can I do to make it a hold file?

I don't want to pay another nine dollars just so I get Suit Pursuit. The other hold, Complex Complex is a hold file, so why is this one not?

____________________________
It was going well until it exploded.
~Scott Manley

Check out the DROD Wikia project here!

slimm tom
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1240
Registered: 10-14-2006
IP: Logged

Something went wrong with the promotion process. Matt is going to fix it ASAP, just be patient for now.

Briareos
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3516
Registered: 08-07-2005
IP: Logged

12th Archivist wrote:
I don't want to pay another nine dollars just so I get Suit Pursuit. The other hold, Complex Complex is a hold file, so why is this one not?

Errr... that's most likely a bug that needs to be fixed - you should always be able to download your bought SmSes on your "Profile / Purchases" page.

But yeah, I get a 0-byte PHP file and no "Suit Pursuit" in-game either...

np: Jared Emerson-Johnson - The Big Stinker (Sam & Max Season Two OST (Disc 1))

____________________________
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
R.I.P. Robert Feldhoff (1962-2009)

vittro
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 482
Registered: 04-17-2005
IP: Logged

Any news on this hold yet? It has been 3-4 days from the release date. It should've been fixed by now

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http://vittorioromeo.info

slimm tom
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1240
Registered: 10-14-2006
IP: Logged

We're a bit short on monkeys at the moment, I apologize for the inconvenience.

Briareos
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3516
Registered: 08-07-2005
IP: Logged

It's been a week now - any news? Seems to me like the site's Truck Factor is currently dangerously close to one...

np: Jared Emerson-Johnson - What's New, Beelzebub? Cutscene Suite (Sam & Max Season Two OST (Disc 2))

____________________________
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
R.I.P. Robert Feldhoff (1962-2009)

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[Last edited by Briareos at 04-25-2009 07:06 PM]

CuriousShyRabbit
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3170
Registered: 10-14-2006
IP: Logged

Secreted because this post is no longer relevant.

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[Last edited by CuriousShyRabbit at 04-28-2009 03:15 AM]

robin
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 845
Registered: 09-01-2004
IP: Logged

I just tried this, and it failed.
I got a 0 MB file and when importing, it says "file corrupted"



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CuriousShyRabbit
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3170
Registered: 10-14-2006
IP: Logged

Secreted because this post is no longer relevant.

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[Last edited by CuriousShyRabbit at 04-28-2009 03:16 AM]

robin
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 845
Registered: 09-01-2004
IP: Logged

No problem for me,
I know Schik is doing the best he can.

I have a lot of patience, I know eventually the hold will be there, and then we'll play it

And I still have CC (which is very hard for me )

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robin
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 845
Registered: 09-01-2004
IP: Logged

I just tried it on my parents computer,

and it worked!

I guess that it wouldn't work on my computer because I tried it allready when the download link first appeared.

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slimm tom
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1240
Registered: 10-14-2006
IP: Logged

Note that the trick only works with IE6 (and possibly IE5), and not with any other browser. (Some more obscure browsers may work, but those aren't tested.)

Briareos
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3516
Registered: 08-07-2005
IP: Logged

For the record - I was just able to download all 3.1MB of it off my "Purchases" page.

EDIT: What trick? Firefox 3.0.9 prompted me where to save the members.php file, I told it to save it as "C:\Temp\Suit Pursuit.hold", and hey presto - it just worked.

____________________________
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
R.I.P. Robert Feldhoff (1962-2009)

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[Last edited by Briareos at 04-27-2009 12:51 PM]

slimm tom
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1240
Registered: 10-14-2006
IP: Logged

Strange. I also use Firefox 3.0.9 and I just get a 0 KB members.php file. (using the standard Firefox download manager)

And the trick is renaming the file to get it to work. It's supposed to be a hold file in the first place, so this is a little trick to get the hold early.

Jacob
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3749
Registered: 10-01-2004
IP: Logged

Works for me.
Enjoying it so far - down to level 3

____________________________
New to DROD? You may want to read this.
My Holds and Levels:

Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3659
Registered: 10-06-2005
IP: Logged

I'd like to take this opportunity to mention to everyone that's busy playing the hold that I pretty much wrote most of the (sparse) story of the hold, including most of the stuff in the very first level, everything that takes place at the gate checkpoint and some of the puzzle room comments. Mike added most of the canonical stuff, like the scroll in the Hub and Beethro's interactions with previously established personalities.

That said, have fun with this relatively easy hold, which doesn't really appreciably affect the overall DROD story, but mostly just details "a day in Beethro's underground journey". I'll write a proper review of this selection sometime later when more people have completed the hold.

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Quick links to my stuff (in case you forgot where it was):

Schik
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5419
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

This hold is fixed. It should download normally from your purchases page or from in-game, and the highscores seem to be working.

____________________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi

CuriousShyRabbit
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3170
Registered: 10-14-2006
IP: Logged

Thanks a whole lot, Schik!

robin
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 845
Registered: 09-01-2004
IP: Logged

Yeah, Schik!!!

EDIT: I forgot to tell




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[Last edited by robin at 04-28-2009 11:03 AM]

Blondbeard
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1486
Registered: 03-31-2005
IP: Logged

A realy good, easy hold! Overall I like the lynchpin rooms a lot more than the "kill the monsters" rooms. Luckely for me most of the rooms contained some kind of trick

zex20913
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1723
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Suit Pursuit: Entryway: Entrance Text: Hopefully the the sought after...

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agaricus5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1838
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

zex20913 wrote:
Suit Pursuit: Entryway: Entrance Text: Hopefully the the sought after...

...

Game on,

____________________________
Resident Medic/Mycologist

robin
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 845
Registered: 09-01-2004
IP: Logged

Mastered!!! (only the 2 bonus puzzles to do)

It's a lovely hold. I enjoyed playing it.

Not to easy and not to difficult, just perfect!!!

Keep up the good work!!



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zex20913
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1723
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Mastered and post-mastered. I think the hold was indeed medium difficulty, though there were some tricks I hadn't seen before. Some of the aumtlich rooms were quite well done.

If this hold was released simply on the holds board, I think I would have rated it better. The hold is mildly linear--if you get stuck on a room, you only have a maximum of 4 other rooms to attempt at any time. This is not too big a deal, except that sometimes it is quite difficult to see what exactly you must do to continue (the stalwart rooms come to mind here.)

As for the story, I was left wanting...more. Very little seems to happen here, either in characterization or plot advancement. Nearly no new information was revealed, and because of this, it felt less rewarding than some other SmS.

Of course, it is an SmS that I've beaten. I'm still stuck on a few of them, but I'm spiraling around.

4.5 brains, 6 overall.

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Syntax
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1218
Registered: 05-12-2005
IP: Logged

What a very excellent hold! Definitely a hark back to the days of good old puzzle solving DROD - and with lots of variety. I'm also rarely interested by the story-telling but I found this one very fun. Voice acting was great too.

Cheers!

calamarain
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 933
Registered: 03-25-2007
IP: Logged

I've just completed this (not mastered yet), with a little help here and there from H&S.

My thoughts on the hold:

Puzzles - generally good. Jason has the knack of making fun mid-range difficulty puzzles that work. There were a few ones that I disliked (the ones primarily requiring horde management in a very specific time period). There is also one thing I would have done very differently though

Appearance - Also good, minimalistic but still elegant. It looks like an Empire construction

Voice acting - As always, Snacko makes a worthy successor to Beethro, and the other stuff wasn't bad either

Story - Now here... simply that not much happened. There's voice acting yes, but the story doesn't progress much if at all.

Overall, 8 for fun, 6 brains.

____________________________
My Holds

fratropea
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 87
Registered: 11-05-2005
IP: Logged

Mastered!
But I have not completed the extra puzzles yet...
Excellent hold not too much difficulty, but not too much easy.
The rooms with the Slayer are very pleasant,
but they are few...
Good job!

I give 6 brains and 9 for fun!

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[Last edited by fratropea at 05-02-2009 11:02 AM]

Jacob
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3749
Registered: 10-01-2004
IP: Logged

[This is one of a set of hold reviews I'm writing. For more information, on scoring etc, see here]

General Description

A very enjoyable official, canon-based hold, involving a variety of easy-medium difficulty, frequently lynchpin-style puzzles, without any particular theme.

Good Points

Numerous clever lynchpin rooms, and no rooms that are particularly tedious or laborious. I cannot think of many rooms that really frustrated or bored me, and I only needed a couple of visits to the Hints and Solutions board. It's great to have a new hold with a canon storyline with voice acting.

Bad Points

I'm not really a fan of puzzles that use scripted characters when a non-scripted alternative is possible, and this happens a couple of times. As mentioned elsewhere, the storyline does not do much to advance the tale of Beethro Budkin and not much use is made of the “suit” in question. There are a couple of mildly irritating aumtlich manipulation puzzles.

Special features

Voice acting, some slayer player role puzzles.

Creativity: 8/10
Lynchpins: 8/10
Story: 5/10
Hack and Slash: 2/10
Efficiency: 2.5/10
Snake charming: 1/10
Tar-osity: 1/10
Overall: 9/10
Difficulty: 4.5/10


____________________________
New to DROD? You may want to read this.
My Holds and Levels:

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[Last edited by Jacob at 05-03-2009 03:25 AM]

Jatopian
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1842
Registered: 07-31-2005
IP: Logged

so I'm happily smiting along and being pleased with the Al Dente SmS

then I get to level 3 and wham, advanced snake manipulation

wtf guys, you were doing so well


also: Pit Thing sounds different for some reason.

____________________________
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