The Mystical Sphynx's questions

[bsftcs]

Dear and distinguished fellow members of this honourable board.

Just to be sure before detailing the exploits of Stackman's party:

We all agree, I hope, that the Mystical Sphynx guarding Anephas's Shrine asks three questions - the two latter of these being: 1) Who is the holy protector (Kerah) 2) Who is the holy defender (Anephas).

The first question is seemingly random, but the random seed seems to be determined right at the start of a game (just when pressing the fabled reset adventure button). I have tried going back to previous saved games in order to find out how many different questions the sphynx can choose from (even games saved before reaching Brimloch Roon). And in any given game the sphynx will ask the same question no matter how many times the game is reloaded.

From my previous experiences with the game and from searching this forum I have only been able to find three questions. One whose answer is "Death", one whose answer is "Ice", and one whose answer is "Shadow".

I have also encountered the answer "Grave", but in most posts people agree that that is only an alternative answer to "Death".

I have tried answering "Snow" instead of "Ice". The sphynx then informed me that my answer was wrong, but that I was so close that he would give me another try. Is this also what happens when answering "Grave" instead of "Death" - and have any of you encountered other questions than those I have mentioned here?

[ 06-11-2004, 10:56 AM: Message edited by: bsftcs ]

[Bungleau]

Hmmm... I've not paid enough attention to the questions, and I always seem to get the second or third one wrong, and have to do battle

I recall death as an answer, but no others; perhaps I need to refresh my brain a bit more. I know -- it's time to play some game!

*edit* Forgot to mention that I'll be keeping an eye out, both in the game and in this post.

[ 10-25-2003, 10:29 PM: Message edited by: Bungleau ]

[Lord]

Originally posted by Bungleau: Hmmm... I've not paid enough attention to the questions, and I always seem to get the second or third one wrong, and have to do battle I recall death as an answer, but no others; perhaps I need to refresh my brain a bit more. I know -- it's time to play some game! *edit* Forgot to mention that I'll be keeping an eye out, both in the game and in this post.

IIRC, I could never solve the riddles here and always ended up getting attacked. Of course, being a coward, I would run away into the Shrine (was it the shrine here???) [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

[Radek]

Interesting idea. Well, I cannot help because I do not answer any questions [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] since I have found that answering the questions does not bring any advantage. Quite the opposite.
Nevertheless, I think the simplest way of finding all riddles might be checking the binary files of the game. The files aren't encrypted so that searching the game directory for a known piece of the riddle should locate the needed data.

[CerebroDragon]

In exploring Brimloch Roon using a wacky swimming methodology (no ship!) by following the shoreline in a westerly direction, I eventually encountered the Sphinx just two days ago.
I found the riddles a little bit easy to be honest, comparitively speaking at least to other older RPGS. One would have to have taken an inexplicable nap from the plot of the game to miss the answers!
Having said that, my first answer was "grave" and haven't heard or read the alternatives. [img]smile.gif[/img]

If I may be permitted to ramble critically a little, the motives on the part of the creators to reward the party (under the Oath of the Mavin) so much XP for destroying both Oakenmir and the Sphinx left me scratching my chin somewhat. Unless I am mistaken, the net gain for destroying both these creatures seems to outweigh any gains at all for letting them live. Also, compared to the pitiful xp gained for the majority of the quests I've done for the Town Halls, the xp gain from doing this is almost unforgivable.
However, this is a very cold-hearted XP-centric way of thinking. I'm sure the lands of Gael Serran shall benefit in the long term under the flourishing wisdom of both Oakenmir and the Sphinx. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Yet, to conclude, perhaps some more thinking was needed on ways to encourage "good" behaviour throughout the game...a couple of other questions:

1) I never noticed any XP gain from answering the riddles correctly...can anyone else confirm this?
2) Are there any other events in the game which punish the player for a particular decision to balance these aspersions of moral ambivalence?

Well, I'll hopefully jump back into Gael Serran sometime later on...I've been replaying Champions of Krynn on the ol' Commodore 64 lately, so I've been a bit distracted!

Cheers,
Cerebrodragon

[moiraine sedai]

I have only ever encountered the ice one, but for some reason I always say snow... Must be the way he phrases the question. I think I answered Kerah to a question and he attacked me...

Oh well... I probably got muddled...

He is worth a lot of XP though... He has a tendency to send people insane with his magical scream thingy

It would be interesting to document all possible answers... [img]smile.gif[/img]

Moiraine Sedai

[bsftcs]

Originally posted by moiraine sedai: It would be interesting to document all possible answers... [img]smile.gif[/img]

I so do agree.

You seem to know what you are talking about, Radek. Pray tell, how do I access the files of which you speak?

[So So]

I found that the only answer that the sphinx accepted from me was my blade...Many of my characters have tried to answer the riddles, but they would never get the answer right. So i took the easy way out and allowed the sphinx to take an eternal vacation....

[Loumistro]

I don't know about any of the questions. The first time I went through the sphinx was stuck in the building itself. Now I do not mean like down in the tunnels. I mean one of those errors where half of his body was part of the building itself. Yeah so I just casted spells at him til he died off. Then I next time I played through I just attacked him before he could speak. Same with oakamier, and earathsmador. I found no use in keeping them around. They seemed to be more of a threat than anything. So I went into melee combat with them all.

[CerebroDragon]

Originally posted by Loumistro: Same with oakamier, and earathsmador. I found no use in keeping them around. They seemed to be more of a threat than anything. So I went into melee combat with them all.

I don't think this is a very believable justifcation. [img]tongue.gif[/img]
I never felt threatened by either Oakenmir or Erathsmedor, despite the latter being a huge leviathan and his previously inflicted injuries upon my party from the air. I let him live because he is a dragon and as a watcher, his spirit seemed so close to that of the Mavin. The Sphinx on the other hand, has a subconsiously threatening vibe as it issues forth the riddles, the possibility of making an incorrect answer running through the mind...
Killing it thus seems more justifiable compared to Oakenmir and Erathsmedor...