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[Talkie]

Ok,

I just redid Level 12 and won at 0.10 seconds, and can confirm that the timing ends at the moment you kill Jaffar. All the part after doesn't seem to count in the score (which is calculated exclusively by the timing, no bonus if you found this or that number of potions).

I think that if you reach Act 2 of Level 12 you are ok even if you reach 0.00 min. I'm only babbling this for those desparate like me who reached near the end with no time. I got pretty stressed. I think if you start level 12 with 3 minutes left you're fine if you don't do mistake and go fast. Going faster must mean you're an expert.

Cheers,

Talkie

(by the way, in previous post I said Level 11 was hard, that's cos there is some stuff to figure out that took me a while, chances to take, and a guard that's pretty close to a jump you have to make. That one made me fall very often, and there is no issue even when you hang to that ledge. But obviously Level 9 you won't beat in one course. It's less about how hard it is that how it requires study of what went wrong in the first couple courses where you'll make a LOT of crazy detours. So maybe it's equal to 8 and 11 in difficulty. Level 12 is the most vertiginous, and perhaps the most fun. Depends if you enjoy guards or not. They just annoy me. I love the high jumps.)

[Talkie]

Well welll well, here I am many days later, and I have finished this game
at 18.00 (meaning there was 18 minutes left).

I found the mac version somewhere (macintosh garden) which is at the same time way more beautiful and more boring (the prison walls are always gray).

This game functions like an adventure game in the sense that you can take weeks to do it the first time (without or with very little help), and then afterward you can do it pretty fast because you know where lie the dangers and you have learned a good rhythm for movements. By then I find that replay value is in playing it the fastest possible, without saving.
But the first time is really about exploring and saving. You won't be able to do it without saving if you are new to this (you can only save from Level 3). Also, my suggestion to the beginner is after you saved a level, keep a copy of the save file (Prince.sav) in another folder, and try redo the same level faster. Or reload the save after you died too many times, you really need to keep up with pace.


Cheers,

Talkie


PS: Oops, the version here (DOS 1.0) might also have all the prison walls gray. I was playing version 1.4. Prison walls colors are important in the way they make you feel you are in another part of the palace.

[gregor]

there are some shortcuts in previous levels - like going through ceeling and running most of the whole level. and in that way avoid all the jumping and fighting. add a few jumps to running to make it even faster... and you can finish certain levels in less than a minute.

some shortcuts mean you don't get potions for extra energy. but if you are good at fighting you don't need it anyway...