Strategy tips

Playing Infinity Quest II is an exercise in strategy, rather than hand-eye coordination or reflexes. Every level will demand a different approach, but some general principles may still be stated. Of course, clever level designers may create levels where these strategies are not the ones to follow…

Generators

Dealing with generators is the fundamental technique of the game. To avoid having generators generate hordes of opponents, never get close to them. Don’t forget that generators don’t generate unless they are within 6 squares. The basic technique is to advance until a generator just becomes visible. At that point, if no monster blocks your sight, fire at it. If a monster is generated and moves into your line of fire, retreat one step. The monster will follow, and you can shoot it at your leisure: the generator, being out of range, isn’t working.

Once you’ve shot the monster(s), take a step forward, and try again. Unless the generator is running at a frequency of 1 or more, there will be turns when no monster is generated to block your line of fire. You only need a few opportunities for a clear shot to destroy the generator.

Of course, the preceding works perfectly only when the level is in full light; if the level is dim, you will need extra care with this strategy (since you may not be able to see the monsters being generated).

Diagonals
Walls block movement diagonally across them, but you may shoot in those directions. This is very useful when you encounter diagonal walls, which allow you to shoot monsters at no risk to yourself, except if they can shoot back.

Additionally, diagonal shooting is very useful at the edges of straight walls. If you position yourself at the opening in a wall, you will be able to get a free shot at monsters that move along the wall toward you. This is often an important tactic.

Finally, it is often better to approach a generator diagonally, as generated monsters do not tend to move in front of it, therefore leaving you plenty of clear shots…

Adjusting your speed to the game

Keep in mind that Infinity Quest II takes a moment to react to each move you make. If you click or type too fast, you’ll get ahead of the game. You can’t “take back” a move you’ve already made, so don’t try; it’ll only get worse. If you find yourself getting nervous and falling into this trap, set the playing speed slower and force yourself to pause before each move, and/or use the “1 move at a time” option in the Game Parameters dialog.

Good luck, Prince Argonn...

Hardware notes

Infinity Quest II will normally use 2000K of memory space when running; of this, approximately 750K is used for sounds. If you don’t have that much memory available, you can remove the file “IQSounds” from your disk. Infinity Quest II can run with no sound file available and will only need 1250K of memory in that case. When the program fails to find the file “IQSounds”, it will put up a dialog box asking you to find it. If you click the “Cancel” button, the program will forego its search and run without sounds, and without further complaint.

Software notes

Infinity Quest II requires System 6.0 or better to run, and 6.0.7 or better to play sounds properly. No guarantees are given if you try to run it under an earlier system than 6.0. Under System 6.x, it will run under Finder or MultiFinder.