Letters If you write in on an adventure-related matter and your letter isn't marked "Not for Publication", I'll assume it's okay for me to quote from it here. @~First, a letter from a most unusual address.... ------------------------------------------------------------------ ST ACTION Troll, Under the Troll Bridge (extract) Greetings Foolish Human, Having received your SynTax disk this morning, I immediately seized the opportunity to read that rather than get on with writing the Dungeon Scrolls as I should. Bearing in mind that all writings by humans are inferior to that produced by Trolls, I'll accept that yours has some small merit as far as it goes! Enough of these compliments .... I send my best wishes to the human who is contacting Infogrames regarding Murders in Venice. I tried that months ago - I'm still waiting for a reply. This is all very well, but a whole morning is now gone and I still have four pages to write - who would have thought a Troll like me would have ended up a slave to Atari owners? Here's a quote for your next issue:- "SynTax - Trolls wouldn't read anything else under their bridge". ST ACTION TROLL - July 1990 @~After those kind words, I feel very guilty about all the trolls @~(only one Troll deserves a capital "T") that I've played tricks @~on in various adventures. I'll try not to do it in future .... @~honest!! ------------------------------------------------------------------ Henry Rushing, Dortmund, West Germany (extract) .....Have a good SynTax year (as successful as the first). Oh, one thing. I have a friend who has an STE. I wanted to show him an issue of SynTax to get him interested but ... it didn't run. STE incompatible? Maybe you'd like to look into it. @~Issues 4 onwards have always been STE-compatible since another @~reader discovered incompatibility in the earlier issues. @~1 to 3 have been remastered and you can check whether you have @~an old or new version by using SHOW INFO. The original disks had @~little or no free space on them but the new versions have about @~40K free. If you have an old disk and want it upgraded, just @~send the old one with return postage (an International Reply @~Coupon in the case of readers abroad) and a new disk will wing @~its way to you. The new versions also have the faster file @~loading, better printing etc of Issue 4. @~Henry also sent in some suggestions for improvement when he @~resubscribed: 1. Version that runs on color or mono @~See Editorial for some news on this! 2. With reviews some graphics (one or two screens) to give an idea of that aspect of the game. @~Space is the main problem regarding including more screenshots @~which is why I try to use composite screenshots so long as they @~are still clear. Originally I used to use a PD program which @~would capture a screenshot. As programs got more protected, it @~was more difficult to get pix in this way so I invested in @~Multiface ST. But I am now finding that even this can't cope @~with the latest games apart from the loading screen eg Time, @~Grimblood, Chronoquest 2. So it's getting increasingly difficult @~to find games which I CAN get screenshots from. 3. Include your own exclusive to subscribers game. @~Great idea!! I'll see what can be arranged..... ------------------------------------------------------------------ Marion Taylor, London A footnote to Dave's and your comments concerning Comms software for the ST - I agree that commercial software for Prestel is pretty useless when it comes to doing any editing on Prestel and I've got a pile of programs in my Junk Cupboard to prove that! Like Sue, I go back to my faithful old Speccy when I'm editing. I would recommend FLASH for playing Mugs and for accessing Bulletin Boards. I use it with my WS3000 modem and it works perfectly, it's easy to use and it's not too deadly expensive at around œ22.00. @~Watch the PD section for some good comms software next issue! @~Now a suggestion for improvement from... Kim Pimmel, St Peter Port, Guernsey The only thing that slightly bugs me is the (short) time you have to wait when SynTax is loaded and the words at the top of the screen appear letter by letter. It makes me impatient as I want to get on with reading the diskmag. Could you speed up the words or just put them on the screen in one go? @~Anyone else agree? If so, I'll speed 'em up next time I alter @~the program. I'd rather do that than have them appear in one go. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Jan Kellerman, Lilydale, Australia (extract) ... I don't know any other ST owners in Aust. Thank goodness adventuring is a more or less universal language or a lot of us would be really stumped for conversation with friends who also adventure ... I hate to even think of it!! Apart from SynTax, I also get ST Format. I was reading in there all about Chaos Strikes Back and thought I'd be a traitor and try an RPG (just this once). The write-ups said "no need to have played Dungeon Master" .... what a lie! If you don't get Dungeon Master, you don't get any spell symbols. I ordered Chaos from Special Reserve and got really excited when it arrived .. I had read the hints in SynTax and elsewhere ... look out, Down Under, here starts the making of a new one of the converted (maybe). Well, you can imagine what happened ... followed the instructions, made my team of players and went to set off. Those worms just kept poisoning us all ... and the little symbols just kept saying I had cast another useless spell (when I worked out that is how they worked). Anyway, I wrote to Kami Kaze Andy in Perth W.A. and he sent a letter with all the spells in it but no symbols!! I finally mail-ordered Dungeon Master .... there it all was in the booklet ... shame on the software company for not reproducing the same in the manual for Chaos. By the way, on the back of the box for Chaos it says with a star "requires Dungeon Master". Whoever did the review in ST Format and User should be horsewhipped for such a blue to say you don't need the first game! You may not need the game but you sure as heck need the manual! @~I agree - it should have been made clear that you really @~needed to have DM to be able to play CSB. Ok, in theory CSB @~stands alone but in practice - forget it! I've only seen the @~start of the game and despite knowing a bit about DM, I was @~really lost as I wasn't familiar enough with the spells or quick @~enough at casting them. ------------------------------------------------------------------- From Claire Dyard, Aubrives, France (extract) ....I was very satisfied with the disks: as you can see, ST Writer is STE-compatible and I found Wizard's Tower a very playable game. In a previous issue of Adventure Probe, this game had a poor review but in SynTax it has been considered a good game, so I had mixed feelings about it. I was quite happy to receive it and I'm enjoying it. Of course, this is not "Jade Stone" or some other first class game but it is a first try and a good one. I think it will appeal more to beginners than to seasoned adventurers. I'd like to tell you how much I am pleased to see that ZENOBI is now publishing games for the ATARI: as a SPECTRUM owner, I have much appreciated this software company and I recommend it for its service, second to none. John Wilson is really someone who cares. That is important when someone lives abroad, like I do, because it is always difficult to write and ask why the games ordered some weeks ago didn't arrive or arrived in a bad state: nothing like that with ZENOBI! And usually John Wilson publishes good games (I say "usually" because SOULDRINKER was a bit of a disappointment). I've heard that John Wilson is having his own games written for the ATARI: that would be good news as his games are fantastic! @~Thanks for your contributions to this issue, Claire and also for @~providing World which is now in the PD section. I agree with you @~about Zenobi. John's games always arrive quickly and in good @~condition. Three cheers for Zenobi...... Alex van Kaam, Deurne, Holland (extract) .........There is one thing I wanted to ask you. Sometimes I am looking for a file and I don't know on which disk it is and every time I put a new disk in my drive I have to restart the complete system. So couldn't you make a new option which loads the menus and files from another issue into the one you are working with? For example, I am looking through Issue 6 and I want to see a file from Issue 4. I put Issue 4 in my drive and click on the new option and the program dumps the menus from Issue 6 and loads the menus from Issue 4. @~Someone else asked recently about this. The program would need to @~be rewritten in order to cope with it and as it's working okay at @~the moment, I'm wary of twiddling with it! However, next time the @~program needs changing, we can consider it. Steven King, Dartford, Kent How about a SynTax subscribers' Top 10 all-time favourite adventure games? Everyone who writes in can enclose their own list. @~Good idea ..... who's going to start the ball rolling? ------------------------------------------------------------------ Ian Taylor, Wallington (extract) Congratulations on another excellent issue. I too like the maps. Perhaps you could "publish" maps for some of the harder-to-map, @+but well-known, adventures for those stuck. ~Any requests? ...... With regard to the problems with Castle Software, while not defending them, I have bought quite a bit from them and never had any problems. My recommendation when dealing with any mail-order company would be: (1) Always ring up before sending off an order to check availability of the goods. By doing this, you maximise your chance of only paying for what you get. (2) If possible, pay by credit card over the phone - this increases your chance of getting your goods and also gives you further insurance against companies not sending goods - you can then claim off the credit card company.... ....While I'm on the subject of companies you can't trust, I'd like to plug one you can - the ST Club who provide an excellent PD service and a very good magazine at only œ8 for 12 issues. Although the magazine publication has been a bit erratic, the PD nearly @+always arrives by return of post. ~I agree, the ST Club give @~excellent service - if you want to give them a try, there's an @~ad for them in the relevant section of the magazine. While I appreciate the "nice" touch of having the background colour the same as the disk, I find it very difficult to read in colour - any chance of making it easier to read? @~Erm...not really, just adjusting the controls on your TV or @~monitor. Sometimes I find I have to adjust the controls from one @~issue to another to get the contrast just right.