Dec 01, 2011

Want a copy of that very rare Official Hint Book? Well now's your chance. There is a copy on sale on eBay bundle with a boxed version of the game. Opening bid is US $6.95 but watch it rise during the final minutes of the auction. See this Story forum post for details. Update: Sold for US $19.50 to v***p. Congratulations on bagging that rare piece of PID memorabilia. :)

Nov 02, 2011

In a Story forum post, ps <pszajna@student.agh.edu.pl> provides some usage stats for the crystals. I've quoted the text below. Just checked how the crystals work for me. My results are: blue: 90 orange: 60 green: 55 violet: 45 black: 20 It was sure black one would shatter faster. These are certainly different from the ones reported by Mackinstyle (see below). The usage stats for the Black Crystal also differ significantly (100% higher) from that reported in the Official Hint Book (approx. 10 usages). So what are the true usage stats for the crystals or do they vary?

Sept 14, 2011

Is Pathways Into Darkness abandonware? Well according to Macintosh Garden it is and has been for a number of years based on the fact that it is has been available for download at their site. However, Bungie have now officially confirmed that Pathways Into Darkness is not 'abandonware'. As such, it is not possible for us to provide it for download on bungie.org. Sorry.

Aug 9, 2011

Bungie's own Marathon RPG. The following is an execellent piece of prose by Hopper <hopper@whpress.com> from a Story forum post. It's relevance to PID will be obvious as you read it. Many people forget that Bungie already expanded on the Marathon shooter and blended in RPG elements from more modern games: Like 3D Zelda games, you encounter obstacles which you can't get past the first time through; you have to return later with a special-purpose item. Also like Zelda, obsessive collecting is rewarded with additional health. Like traditional JRPGs, areas further along have increasingly stronger monsters, or bigger groups, to let you know that you're not powerful enough to progress. Also like JRPGs, late-game weapons make your initial equipment laughably obsolete. Like sandbox games, you can backtrack freely and revisit earlier sections of the game. Also like sandbox games, sometimes revisiting is helpful and often it's not. Like strategy games, you have to manage your time carefully, balancing time-limited resources (regenerating health and ammo) against a strict in-game deadline. Also like strategy games, you'll get this balance completely wrong the first time you play. Like Mass Effect, the story unfolds through innovative dialogue trees instead of static cutscenes or terminals. Also like Mass Effect, they offered a new twist on morality in games, though Bungie did this by reframing stock villains into helpful and even sympathetic characters. Sure, they ditched the run button and inexplicably moved the compelling space story back to Earth, but in terms of gameplay breadth they far surpassed Marathon when they produced Pathways into Darkness. They even learned from their box- and disc-related delays by moving the release into the past, though because of that, most people don't recognize the true progression of Bungie's talents.

Aug 7, 2011

Back in November of last year, Mackinstyle <ablakey@gmail.com> asked in a Story forum post: The crystals (other than yellow) have a limited number of charges. I know this is to prevent liberal use of them, but I'm curious what the ballpark is. I know each is different, but say for the blue crystal. Are we talking ~50? ~100?. I replied to his query as follows: As far as I'm aware this has never been systematically documented. Bungie's Official Hint Book states that the Black Crystal will only work ten times before shattering. It also states that the Blue Crystal can be used the most before it shatters. However, it causes the least damage. That's all I'm afraid. If you are playing the game you can simply save your game and try the crystals you have repeatedly until they shatter. Then go back to the saved game. That will give you the answer you need. Mackinstyle went on to test a number of crystals and posted his findings: So with a sample size of 1 (assuming the number of charges you can use vary a bit, which I think I read they do) Blue Crystal: 42 uses Orange Crystal: 55 uses. Finding these stats odd, I replied: The odd thing thing is that Bungie's Official Hint Book says that the Blue Crystal does less damage than the other crystals but you can use it more before it shatters. However that doesn't match your experience. So who is right? How many charges does it take before each crystal shatters? Know the answer then let us know. That boxed copy of PID mentioned on Aug 1, 2001 finally went for 8.25 UK Stirling ($13.60).

Aug 1, 2011

On the Story forum, elster-geist writes to say that he is selling his copy of PID on eBay. It's a boxed copy, with floppy disks, manual and all leaflets. If you are looking for the original game now's your chance. You will need an old Mac or run it in OS X under emulation.

July 11, 2011

In Bungie's original press release for Pathways Into Darkness it states: There are more than 4,000,000 square feet of passageways and catacombs with danger and terror lurking around every corner. 4,000,000 square feet? Just how big is that? Well you don't have to go far from Bungie's hometown to find out. When opened in 1930, the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, Illinois, was the largest building in the world with 4,000,000 square feet of floor space. A big building. Which gives you some idea of the size of Pathways. At least based on Bungie's figure. Another way to look at it is that 4,000,000 square feet is 91 acres or approximately 91 football fields. According to the Pathways manual, it was in the early 1930s that the Dreaming God's began to effect changes on the surface of the Earth. Of course, I am not suggesting for a moment that the Merchandise Mart was one of these. Anyway the Pathways press release goes on to state: Sixty-four million years ago, a large extra-terrestrial object struck the Earth in what would later be called southeastern Mexico. The object was buried thousands of feet below ground, its nearly two kilometer length remarkably intact. Odd how some figures are given in US standard and others are in metric. But I digress. The Empire State Building with its antenna spire included, stands a total of 1,454 ft (443.2 m) high. So the extra-terrestrial object is roughly four and half times as high (long) as the Empire State Building! That's one big object buried in the Yucatan. Accrding to the Pathways manual, you have to "carry a low-yield nuclear device down to the god's body and detonate it there." Now the deepest level in Pathways is Ok, Who Else Wants Some? at an elevation of -3276.8m or 10,750.7 feet below ground. 10,750.7 feet is just over two miles deep. So the two kilometer long extra-terrestrial object is buried over two miles below ground? That's one big object buried deep in the Yucatan.

July 10, 2011

Sorted the Inventory list into more logical categories. The Inventory list is over here -------------------------------------------------> Added a new section for Speaker-To-Animals' PID 2.0 and PID A1 Demo Shapes Dump. Also added external links in the Inventory section. In particular, some nice artwork by Niklas Jansson and a full PID walkthrough by HB.

July 9, 2011

Recently on the Story forum the issue of PID's old copy protection system came up. It was clear that some people hadn't seen this, particularly since it was removed when the game began to ship on CDs. So here is a screenshot of the password screen that comes up when you start the game. By turning to the relevant page in the manual you simply entered the correct monster combination. The monsters were in groups of four (left and right) at the bottom of pages 1 to 19. The codes are only in the hard copy version of the Manual. When the game began to ship on CD it came with an electronic manual in DOCMaker format. The monster codes were removed in the electronic version since the game no longer had copy protection.

June 24, 2011

Preserving the Dead... one file at a time. Thanks to GrimCleaver on the Story forum we now have a PDF version of the Pathways Into Darkness manual. You can read it online here. It's also listed in the Inventory Window (on the right). Remember, the Manual will open in the Message Window, but you can make this frame bigger by moving the frame edges. You can also 'crtl' click on the link and select Open Link in New Window. Unfortunately I have just realised that this page sucks on an iPad. For that I apologise. Any suggestions to remedy this please let me know. You can still get the old DOCMaker version of the PID manual here if you wish. But it won't work in Mac OSX.

June 11, 2011

Just watched the opening scene of the film Predators (2010) where Adrien Brody is in freefall above a jungle, his parachute opens only moments before crashing through the forest canopy towards the ground. He survives the fall. Oddly, this is familiar to you, as if it were from an old dream, but you can't exactly remember... From the Story introduction: During the jump from the C-151 your primary parachute fails, and you are able to pull the reserve only moments before crashing through the forest canopy toward the ground. You survive the fall. If you haven't seen the film you can actually see part of the opening scene in the International Trailer. It starts at around 27 seconds into the trailer. May 13, 2011 As pointed out in a Story forum post today is Friday 13th, the month is May... and the Dreaming God awakens... This is actually the second Friday 13th in May since you took matters into your own hands at the bottom of that pyramid on the Yucatan Peninsula back in 1994. So they obviously don't come around that often. I'm sure someone will be able to work out the year for the first one. And no doubt they'll be a seven there... somewhere. ;-) Apr 9, 2011 Pathways Into Darkness: The Search For The Road To Xibalbá by Barbara Mac Leod (University of Texas) and Dennis E. Puleston (University of Minnesota) was a paper presented at a Conference on the Art, Hieroglyphics, and Historic Approaches of the Late Classic Maya held in Palenque, Mexico in 1978. The proceedings of the conference were originally published in 1978 as Tercera Mesa Redonda de Palenque, Vol. IV, edited by Merle Greene Robertson and Donnan Call Jeffers. Monterey, California: Pre-Columbian Art Research Center, Herald Printers. In ancient Maya mythology, Xibalbá, roughly translated as "place of fear", is the name of the Mayan underworld, ruled by the Maya Death Gods (One Death and Seven Death) and Demons (such as Flying Scab and Pus Demon). Xibalbá is located at the lowest of five levels beneath the earth's surface. Though the exact location of the entrance to the underworld is unknown. Coincidence or... something more? Apr 6, 2011 Pathways Into Darkness is listed as a trademark under Bungie's name at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Shouldn't come as much of a surprise except that it is a new addition (added Apr 1, 2011). While it is possible this had been trademarked previously, Bungie did not have it trademarked in recent years. So why now? Protecting their assets or something more? Feb 23, 2011 Back in 2007, Aaron Jordan <aojordan@ncsu.edu> in a Story forum post spotted an interesting news item about King Tutankhamun and an 'Alien Gemstone'? Here's part of the article: King Tut and the Alien Gemstone The BBC has an interesting article about King Tutankhamun's amazing gemstone: apparently it's not from planet Earth. In 1996 in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Italian mineralogist Vincenzo de Michele spotted an unusual yellow-green gem in the middle of one of Tutankhamun's necklaces. The jewel was tested and found to be glass, but intriguingly it is older than the earliest Egyptian civilisation. Working with Egyptian geologist Aly Barakat, they traced its origins to unexplained chunks of glass found scattered in the sand in a remote region of the Sahara Desert. But the glass is itself a scientific enigma. How did it get to be there and who or what made it? The BBC Horizon programme has reported an extraordinary new theory linking Tutankhamun's gem with a meteor. The original BBC news report can be found here. Pathways Into Darkness by HB is a complete walkthrough of Pathways Into Darkness with screenshots. And I don't mean the odd one or two, there are hundreds! A true labour of love. If you're a hardcore PID fan or just curious to know what all the fuss is about then I recommend that you take a look. Thanks to fracai <arno@alum.wpi.edu> for pointing out a bunch of broken links and missing pages on the PID page. These have all been fixed. :-)