BlackWater Canyon

Last modified by Crashwater on 2022/03/12 22:10

BlackWater Canyon is an incredibly vast gulch that serves as an Ossuary for the remains of the deceased on Dinosaur Planet. The solemn area has deep spiritual significance to the ShadowHunter Tribe, who serve as its protectors.

Krystal can arrive at this location through the hidden entrance in Lightfoot Village, where she'll need to navigate through the lengthy channels of the Canyon in order to find the Tree of Souls; a conduit for the spiritual energies of the fallen dinosaurs to return to the planet. 

Overview

Appropriately, BlackWater Canyon is one of the most barren areas of Dinosaur Planet, though this is due to fluctuations of development rather than the grave setting. 

While the entirety of the Canyon can be explored, all associated programming with the area is completely absent, meaning that interactions with the ShadowHunter Tribe, the intended boss fight, and any narrative elements to be imparted within BlackWater Canyon simply do not exist at this time. 

However the dialogue and layout do paint somewhat of a picture of what was meant to be. After going through the caverns below Lightfoot Village, Krystal and Kyte would reach the Tree of Souls, encountering a NPC of unknown race. After talking for a bit, he'd task you with finding his four friends as a test to see if Krystal is worthy to tread upon the roots of the sea of souls.(this access point is probably the hole in the middle of the giant snake skeleton) Krystal would then travel through caverns and a valley to reach one of the roots; after traveling up to it she'd reach a cliff and have to go through a long section of water. After reaching the entrance to a tomb, she'd encounter a pair of Shadowhunters; who hold the Spellstone. After an argument one of them would run off with the Spellstone. After getting past the tomb, Kyte would encounter the spirit of her mother; who tells her that a lot of angry spirits are ahead.

Krystal and Kyte then run after the Shadowhunter, finally reaching him.(no dialogue for this section exists but everything before and after does), based on the geometry its clearly for the boss; though its not a guarantee that's its purpose at this point. After getting the Spellstone from the Shadowhunter, on their way back; Krystal activates the Spellstone with the Tree of Souls.(Its iffy but this is what the dialogue seems to imply) Krystal then goes to Discovery Falls on her way out; getting a Krazoa Tablet.

Important Intended Items & Intended NPCs

NPC's: 

Unknown Dinosaur: A dinosaur that guards the tree of souls, based on this role; it seems likely that he's a dramatically modified version of the "Leader of the ShadowHunters" that the Lightfoot draft of Blackwater Canyon had.
ShadowHunter Thief: A ShadowHunter, he runs off with the Spellstone to annoy Kyte and Krystal. Obviously an evolution of the "ShadowHunter Prince".
ShadowHunter: A ShadowHunter that was fighting for the Spellstone, but instantly gave up when he noticed a princess was around.
Kyte's Mum: A ghost encountered before the boss.

Key Items:

BlackWater Canyon SpellStone: Needed to return to Desert Force Point Temple for progress in Krystal's Adventure.

Intended Enemies

BlackWater Canyon 'Monster': Envisioned as a huge skeletal foe that would have captured the Shadowhunter Thief.

Notable Bugs/Crashes

Due to a Log being placed late in the level, it tends to fall off the map. BlackWater Canyon is very prone to hard crashing as Logs make the game super unstable while in the void. To fix this, just use the code 0217F0E2 0006.

Trivia

  • BlackWater Canyon serves as one of the most incomplete areas in Dinosaur Planet, any restorative efforts for this portion of the game will be entirely community driven outside of dialogue.
  • This stage shared a gimmick with Walled City(the original), that being a "new partner"; but the dialogue reveals this aspect is long scrapped.
  • Based on the second version of Desert Force Point, this is probably the place you got the Grenade Spell(otherwise known as "Wizard Randorn").

Gallery

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References

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