Author: professor6153

Galactic Hitchhiker was written by A. Knight for the CompuKit UK 101 which was a clone of Ohio Scientific’s Superboard II.

Galactic Hitchhiker is an interactive text adventure that seems very loosely based on Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The ties are tenuous but the famous catch-phrase from the series “Don’t Panic” appears multiple times during the game and even serves as a password requirement for one particular puzzle.

The game involves exploration of three different planets as well as some time travel. It’s actually a pretty good game and I quite enjoyed my experience with it. The premise of the game is that a mysterious stranger stole your transportation ticket while you’re waiting in a shuttle terminal. You give chase but ultimately discover that you’re stranded on a planet which is experiencing catastrophic earthquakes and is about to explode.

You find a key, after having missed your way off this dying planet, and use it to find a shuttle to escape. Your ship crashes on a planet known as Grecian 2000.

There are actually a lot of different locations to explore and the game is surprisingly large. The game is split into three major sections or areas to explore. The first is on the planet Gerbil as you’re in pursuit of the thief who stole your ticket and you try to escape the dying planet. The second section of the game will involve exploration of the planet; Grecian 2000. Lastly the third section will find you on the planet Gomerial which sports a whopping 24 locations to explore.

Once you crash land on Grecian 2000 there are 13 more locations to explore as well as a couple of a couple of moderately difficult puzzles to solve. Scott Adams was famous for first introducing what I call a location or map puzzle. Many players became accustomed to being told what the possible exits are out of a particular location while playing a game. For example, you’re in a wooded area and exits are to the north and east. Scott Adams took things a step further and attempted to obfuscate things by having the players type in a particular place to go to. We see it used effectively by Mr. Knight in Galactic Hitchhiker. I had hit a stumbling block on Grecian 2000 and wandered about experimentally for a bit until I discovered a new location:

A mountain is described in the background in one of the locations on the map and you can actually type in Go Mountain and you will trudge up the mountain and discover a mountain lodge up there. Going up the mountain had not been an obvious exit or choice. The ability to go there was not given with the other obvious east and west exits. But by typing in GO MOUNTAIN you went to another location all together. This is what I meant by the map itself being a part of the puzzle. At the mountain lodge you find a chopping-axe and a hint which will help much later in the game. You don’t find any old axe, you find a chopping-axe. Things clicked and I went to the only area of the map that seemed impassable, a ravine, that also sported the only blatant description of trees. I typed in chop tree and one of the trees conveniently fell right across the ravine for me.

I crossed the ravine and ended up within a city. There are a couple of important items to find in the city: a tatty old scarf as well as a pair of wire cutters. It was within the city that I encountered another stumbling block and also met an untimely death.

I was having a lot of difficulty getting by a rather surly Gerbicop when I ultimately discovered that I could chop him with the chopping-axe. Well, that was rather grisly but there it is. Getting by the Gerbicop allowed me to find the police telephone box and a rather tatty old scarf. This is an obvious nod to Doctor Who, another infamous series from across the pond.

In the upper level of a small building I found a shuttle service however I was prevented from reaching it by a chain link fence. I had also found some wire cutters so putting two and two together I used the wire cutters on the chain link fence. Only to discover that it was electrified and I died a horrible death. So I had to start the game all over again as there was no save game system in place. The chain link fence was an old “bait and switch” technique and there is another chain link fence in a different location of the map that you’ll get an opportunity to use the wire cutters on.

While exploring this planet I also came up on a little shack which had a still and there was a jug laying there. Well, of course, I typed in GET JUG

I got drunk and died.

Take three.

Once I made my way into a spacetran and it took off there was a button in the room with me. Well of course I pressed the button; and was promptly ejected into space. Getting rescued involved having to use an item in your inventory and it is probably the most difficult puzzle of the game.

Once rescued you find yourself on Gomerial, the third planet or location in the game.

There are 24 different locations to explore on Gomeril. You’ll need to get by a space ranger in one particular location and the solution to doing so will become readily apparent as you continue exploring. One of your inventory items, a large joint of beef, that you acquired on Grecian 2000 will be used to get by another obstacle in a different area of the map.

Eventually you’ll make your way into the plush office of the Temporal Travel Corporation and be asked for a password.

All I will say is remember the famous catch-phrase from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Once you give the correct password and are by Miggy you’ll find yourself in a chamber with an ear-splitting whine and a lever.

Pulling the lever takes you back in time just before the start of the game where you’ll find your ticket that you needed lying on the ground. Remember that you couldn’t go where you needed to because a mysterious stranger had taken your ticket that you dropped. Well since this story involves time travel it appears the mysterious stranger was actually you but from the future.

The map of the first planet is still the same map and you’ll have to make your way, ticket in hand, to the shuttle and catch your ride for real this time.

I thought this game was actually pretty darn good and I recommend that if you haven’t played the game you give it a try. It was fairly original and there were a large number of locations in the game to explore.

My next engagement is going to be with another text adventure from 1980 known as Will O’ Wisp.

Vampire Castle was written by Mike Bassman and published by Aardvark. We recently played Trek Adventure which was also published by Aardvark. The game was written for the Ohio Scientific Computer (OSI) and later ported to the Commodore 64, TRS-80, TRS-80 CoCo and unofficially ported to the Coleco Adam (special thanks to Gareth Pitchford for this information). The tape version sold for $14.95 back in 1981 and the disk version sold for $15.95 which is the equivalent of about $45.50 today.

I must admit that I am a sucker for a good vampire story. It’s a classic showdown between good and evil. Exploring an old castle, encountering the dreaded bloodsucker and then staking it through the heart has been a popular gaming theme thus far. We saw it first with Scott Adam’s The Count from 1979 and again in 1980’s Castlequest where your adversary was also a vampire. Even 1978’s mainframe game Mystery Mansion has a vampire as one of the antagonists. It is a popular theme and I know that going forward through time I will encounter many other vampire-themed games in my journey. Vampire Castle is the second game from 1980 that has slaying a vampire as the main goal (Castlequest being the other). Now that I’ve played the game I’m in the mood to watch Hammer Studio’s production of Horror of Dracula starring Christopher Lee. Many critics lauded Lee’s performance in this film as the best ever depicting Dracula.

I was able to play a DOS conversion of Vampire Castle which you can find HERE if you want to play yourself. If you are going to play you may want to give it a go first before reading a few SPOILERS below.

Vampire Castle is a short game and not too terribly difficult. I was able to play through the entire game with no help except for the fireplace puzzle. I deduced what I needed to do but I was playing guess the verb with the parser and I finally had to resort to a walkthrough only to get the proper wording. I didn’t use the walkthrough to aid me with the game.

I felt that Vampire Castle was another unique game for 1980 because it didn’t use common text adventure tropes from that period. There was no maze and it was not a treasure hunt. You move around and you explore the environment and there is an overarching goal to find the vampire in it’s domain and destroy it.

There were a couple of nice period pieces and interesting twists in the game. One such twist involves finding holy water in an old chapel in the basement. You can collect the holy water with an old bucket that you find on the upper level. Your first assumption is that you’re going to use the holy water in combat with the vampire. Soften him up before the final stake through the heart. But the holy water serves as a bit of a “bait and switch” in that you use it to douse the fire in the fireplace and not against the vampire. I found that to be a clever turn of events. A nice cliched set piece was moving the bookcase in the library to reveal stairs leading to a secret basement below. One other twist in the game involves finding a crate in the hidden basement. You also find a sledgehammer in another area of the castle. Thinking myself very clever, I smashed the crate with the hammer to provide myself with a nice collection of stakes. In a very clever twist, what I did there was “softlock” myself from being able to finish the game. You see before you smash the crate; you’re going to need it late in the game because you need to stand on it to reach something. THEN you can smash the crate. While I didn’t relish starting all over again (there is no save feature) I certainly appreciated the twist and this was something different that I hadn’t encountered yet in all of the text adventures that I have played.

Where I encountered a stumbling block in the game was with the fireplace in the study. I was sure that there was something about the fireplace that concealed a hidden passage. I was bolstered in this belief when I discovered I could put out the fire in the fireplace with the bucket of holy water. I then entered the fireplace itself but then couldn’t figure out what to do next. I tried pushing on the walls of the fireplace, smashing the walls, moving the walls. I probably spent a good twenty minutes guessing different verbs which may work. I finally resorted to a walkthrough and I am thankful that I did because the parser required me to type in BREAK FIREPLACE in order to find the hidden passage.

The hidden passage led me to an old boat and an underwater moat. I used an oar that I found in the castle to maneuver the boat to the other side.

I then found myself in a gallery and once I dealt with the puzzle of the tapestry I found myself in a room beyond with a locked coffin. The key to the coffin you can barter from a large rat you find in a torture chamber who has the key in it’s mouth. You can trade a piece of cheese for the key.

I was then able to kill the vampire with the stakes I’d created from the smashed crate.

Vampire Castle was a fun diversion and it had a couple of unique twists which I’d not encountered yet. The BREAK FIREPLACE parser-ala-palooza was a little frustrating but aside from that I’d recommend this game if you’re a fan of text adventures or the genre and you haven’t yet played it. This was Mike Bassman’s only adventure game and I thought he did a great job.

In a rather abrupt change of pace I’m off to the stars now as I tackle Galactic Hitchhiker; a science fiction text adventure.

To boldly go where no man has gone before – crammed into 8k BASIC program. There have been many Star Trek games on mainframes before the advent of the home computer. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first Star Trek game written as a text adventure for home computer systems. Trek Adventure was written by Bob Retelle and published by Aardvark. The game was developed for the Ohio Scientific computer (OSI) as well as the TRS-80, 16k TRS-80 Color, Timex/Sinclair, VIC-20 13k, PET and Commodore 64 too. I played the Commodore 64 version.

Two word commands are recognized and dealing with the parser was a bit of a wrestling match. I am a huge Star Trek fan so I was very excited to finally sit down and play this game. I have to say that I found a large divergence with this game. On the one hand, if it stands by itself, it’s actually a very good game with a great plot. You have to remember most text adventures in this time period followed a classic text adventure trope: find and collect the treasures scattered throughout the game and store them in a particular area. This game provides you with a good problem surrounded by a good story outline and there are specific things you have to do in order to win the game. A far cry from the usual treasure hunt. However on the other hand, this felt like a Star Trek game by title only. There were some colorful window dressings scattered about the ship such as the Saurian brandy and tricorder as two examples. Even Spock’s position on the bridge was detailed yet you couldn’t interact with Spock in any way. So to make myself clear; you’re not going to find or interact with any Star Trek personalities in this game nor take the role of a major character. You’re merely an officer on the ship. You’re better off judging this game by it’s own merits rather than as a part of the venerable Star Trek franchise. I can appreciate the nod to the series here though.

When you play the tape on the bridge you discover the ship has been badly damaged from a freak ion storm and the computer wants the crew to abandon ship by way of the shuttlecraft.

The map is rather small but a great representative layout of the typical Enterprise. You’ll eventually find a Transporter Room as well as Engineering. What makes this game very difficult is your inventory management. There are many red herrings to be found in this game that merely act as window dressing. Through much trial and error you’ll discover that you only need a very small sample of all the items you’ll find. The other difficulty is the parser itself. Remember they had to pack this entire game into 8k. So much of the time I had a good grasp of what I needed or wanted to do but I had to play “parser wrestlemania” quite a bit until I found what worked.

You move about the three levels of the ship by way of the turbolift. The uppermost level is the bridge while the middle level is where you’re going to do most of your mapping and exploring. The lowest level is where the shuttle bays can be found and they are your access out into space to repair the ship.

Once you find the auxillary control room on the middle level your problem is outlined for you.

You apparently need to repair or replace the magnatomic valve. Luckily you’ll find a spare in the Supply Room just off Engineering. This brings us to our first big puzzle of the game.

You will discover that in order to get into the Supply Room or the Armory that you will need an ID Badge. I initially did not find any kind of ID Badge until I typed in LOOK UNIFORMS while in the Gym area. Once you look at the uniforms you’ll discover that they have pockets. If you then type in LOOK POCKETS you’ll find an ID Badge. However using the ID Badge is where I started to really wrestle with the parser. In order to get into the Supply Room for example, you need to PRESENT BADGE and then the door will open and you can go into the room. Inside this room is a spare valve that you will need in order to repair the ship. When you enter the room; the door closes behind you. Once you have procured the valve, you’ll discover that you can’t open the door and that your ID Badge is now missing. I thought at first that I must need multiple ID Badges and set about searching the ship to no avail. Then I realized that this is an error or parser issue. When you type in PRESENT BADGE it is also synonymous with dropping the badge. So each time you have to PRESENT BADGE in the game you have to turn around and pick it up again. I was really beating my head against the wall with this issue for quite awhile.

A second issue which arose involving the parser was near the end game. There are actually two different spacesuits that you’ll find. One spacesuit has limited oxygen and therefore you have a limited number of moves with it. You have to use your limited oxygen suit to get to a locker and acquire a second suit that has no oxygen limitations as well as magnetic boots for walking on the hull. You need to get those items and get back to the airlock so you can switch suits. There is a very specific sequence you’ll have to master or you’ll die each time. I had no save game feature either and so I died many times until I got it just right. I had to start the game all the over again each time too which required the patience of a Saint.

Once I had both suits in my possession the game/parser had a terrible time distinguishing between the suit I wanted to drop and the new suit I wanted to put on. It was infuriating and this led to two more deaths. I finally figured out that I needed to go into the turbolift and remove the first suit then come back out and don the second suit so the game didn’t confuse the two. I thought the entire situation a bit unnecessary. I was eventually able to REPLACE the broken valve and then I made my way back to the Auxiliary Control room.

I pressed the engine firing button and received the following message up above.

I liked that this game did not fall into the classic text adventure trope of finding and collecting treasures. It had an interesting plot and a specific problem of having to repair the ship. The game’s difficulty was in the inventory management as there were a lot of items that you came across that were not necessary to complete the game however you could only carry just a few items. I appreciated the attempt to tie the game to the Star Trek universe however I thought the ties very tenuous. The game is good enough to stand on it’s own and I would have had more enjoyment with it if it were not for a couple of the parser issues.

If you want to play the game and experience it for yourself you can do so HERE.

For my next foray I’m heading to the fog shrouded woods of Transylvania to explore an old castle in the game; Vampire Castle. Hmm….I wonder what I might find in such a castle?

Time Traveler was developed and published by Krell Software in 1980 for the Apple II, Commodore PET, and TRS-80. It was their first official release. Time Traveler is similar in some ways to their Sword of Zedek which was released a year later. I covered Sword of Zedek in an earlier blog post but then discovered I had missed Time Traveler from 1980 so I, ahem, traveled back in time so to speak.

The goal of this game is to time travel to 14 different periods in history and obtain a magical ring from each era. Each of the rings has a very specific power and you can choose to use that power during the course of the game. I found that you can carry up to three rings from era to era however there is a great chance that you can lose the rings in which case you’ll have to search for each one all over again. Here are the rings listed as well as each power that they possess:

• The Ring of Toth (Egypt) allows you to always read the signs. This is a very useful power as the signs often disclose exactly where the ring of that era is hidden
• The Ring of Hammurabi (Babylon) increases your eloquence rating which helps you to persuade crowds to join your group. The more allies you have the easier it is win in combat
• The Ring of Solon (Athens) speeds up the healing process after you’ve taken wounds in battle. In all honesty the wounds I suffered from combat never seemed to be an issue.
• The Ring of Romulus (Rome) helps you to locate the other rings in each era. When you use it you are given the exact location of the ring. It makes this the most powerful ring of them all however I only got to keep it through two eras as I lost it to a time anomaly and it was automatically deposited in the Time Lab. Once a ring is deposited you cannot get it back. If you decide to try this game this is the first ring you should attempt to find.
• The Ring of Joshua (Jerusalem) makes you impervious to attacks and you cannot take any damage. Be warned it doesn’t mean that you automatically win the combat. You can still be defeated, imprisoned, and have your items stripped from you.
• The Ring of Rune (Denmark) lets you return to your time machine and Time Lab with instant success. Normally you can only reach your time machine from a market area on the grid and even then you are not always successful returning to the Lab.
• The Ring of Paul (Crusades) causes anachrony to occur when you use it. This seems to cause random events to occur which normally do not work in your favor. A ring may disappear from your possession etc.
• The Ring of Augustus (Italy) stops the other rings from disappearing however I still had this particular ring disappear from me during a moment of “anachrony” so after that happened I just started depositing the rings as I found them despite how cool some of these powers were.
• The Ring of Alfred (England) allows you to escape from prison with 100% success
• The Ring of Eagles (USA) increases the amount of gold that you can find when you search. You always get favorable results
• The Ring of Gaul (France) slows down time in some way though I never tried this ring
• The Ring of Jimmu (Japan) automatically searches as you move around squares but I found this in the market and never took advantage of it as I quickly spirited away to my Time Lab with it.
• The Ring of Nevsky (Russia) lets you begin each era armed with weapons but I never used this ring either as at this point I was racing to get each ring back to the lab as quickly as possible because there was no way to save your game and I was nearing completion
• The Ring of Loki (Germany) makes you invisible and this was another ring that I did not experiment with but instead quickly deposited it in the Time Lab.

The picture above depicts each of the rings deposited in the Time Vault as I finally located all 14 rings in their respective eras.

When you visit each era you are asked to pick a side in history:

I found this to be rather unique and educational however after you choose a side there is nothing else which differentiates one era from another. Each era consists of a 5 x 5 grid of 25 locations for you to explore. In each era you can also go inside the cave or the barracks or the arsenal etc. So you have to search outside AND inside these areas for the ring.

You see this same kind of grid pattern and use in Sword of Zedek which Krell Software published in 1981.

It took me awhile to become accustomed to gameplay but once you do each era is the same. If you encounter guards in any of the locations you can choose to B)ribe the guards or F)ight the guards. If you offer enough gold to the guards they will leave you alone and vacate the area. You can find gold by S)earching each of the squares in the grid. Gold comes in quite handy as you can oftentimes pay for information if you failed to read the sign and your informant almost always discloses the location of the ring. If you choose to fight the guards you will likely lose unless you were successful in P)ersuading the crowd to join your cause. If you are successful your Eloquence score increases. If they choose not to join you it causes your Eloquence score to drop. The same is true for combat. If you win your combat score increases, if you lose your score drops. Combat is an automatic, number crunching affair. You almost always win if you were able to find allies (strength in numbers) and especially if you found weapons and were able to arm yourselves.

You move about the 5 x 5 grid by typing G)0. It will then ask if you want to go N, S, E, W, In, Out, or Time Machine. You can only enter the Time Machine via a spot marked Market on the grid.

If you press I)nformation you will shown a screen with the number of rings that you’ve collected and which rings you still have to find.

M)ap gives you a view of the grid so you can see which way you want to move.

If there is a sign in the area you’re exploring you can choose to R)ead the sign which is very helpful as these signs quite often give you directions to the ring. You are often not able to read the sign even after several attempts.

S)earch will do just that in each spot on the grid. It is how you find gold, weapons, and the rings.

Once you find any of these items you hit T)ake and choose which you’d like to take.

U) allows you to use the power of a ring in your possession.

I found Time Traveler to be very interesting and I was impressed that there were 14 different magical rings in the game each with their own unique power. It was a marvel how they each impacted the game mechanics in a game hailing from 1980.

In 1981 Krell Software would release Odyssey In Time which is an updated version of Time Traveler. Instead of 14 locations there appear to be 24 eras to visit now. Your object is to find a ring in each era and also defeat the ruler in each era to move on.

I am staying in 1980 as I make a final push to try and wrap up all of the games from this particular year. I am about to boldly go where no man has gone before and play Trek Adventure. Until next time…

In the last blog post our adventuring company had turned despicably evil and were setting out to explore the fifth dungeon level.

I entered the fifth dungeon level ready for the fight of my life but was surprised at the lack of fixed and random encounters. Levels two and four (the good levels) had been brutal where combat was concerned. There were constant random encounters and the boss fights to obtain the Staff of the Earth and the Crystal of Evil were extremely hard. Even though experience in this game is extremely stingy, you can count on the difficulty of those two levels and the constant encounters to help increase your experience levels. Conversely, I found the third dungeon level to be extremely difficult to map and navigate but mainly devoid of random encounters. The same, at least in my experience, can be said of the fifth level.

The item to find on the fifth dungeon level is the Crystal of Good. The boss fight to obtain said crystal was very anti-climatic compared to previous boss fights. Once you’ve obtained the Crystal of Good the only other true item of interest on this level are the stairs which lead you to the sixth and final level. There is also a staircase on the fourth level which leads to the sixth level. So whether your party finishes as good or evil you have access to the end of the game without having to worry about switching alignments again. Given the juxtaposition of encounters between the “good” levels and the “evil” levels I recommend that you tackle levels two and four first and then become evil as it seems better acclimated to “grinding” that way.

The sixth dungeon level was difficult to map out as there are a lot of one way doors on this level. However, much like the third and fifth levels, I did not have to deal with many random encounters. The most difficult part of this level is dealing with the dragon L’KBreth. Physical combat with the dragon will find you on the losing end every single time. None of my fighters could touch him and all spell attempts were dispelled by the dragon. I discovered the only way to get past the dragon was to use the Crystals of Good & Evil. If you invoke their power they meld together to form a Crystal of Neutrality. If you have this Crystal of Neutrality in your possession you can then make your way past this stalwart guardian.

Once by the dragon it was a simple matter to map out the dungeon level until you come upon the last and final riddle of the game:

Once you solve this riddle, which seemed the easiest riddle of the entire game, you then find yourself standing before the goal of the entire quest:

A search of the statue strips it of the crystal sphere and places it in your possession.

Once the object of your quest is in your possession and you make it back to the castle you are confronted with the following query:

Even though my characters were still technically evil I did choose to surrender the orb to the sages and received the following message:

This marks the end of the game and grants the characters a victory denoted by an asterisk (star) next to their name alongside their other accomplishments.

Finishing Wizardry III was like saying goodbye to an old friend. This is not the first time I’ve completed Wizardry III; I had done so when I was much younger. In truth, I did not remember much of it nor how the story ended so I found the game just as challenging had I played it for the first time. It reminded me why the series is still venerable even today and a fan favorite. It was the first Wizardry game and it’s subsequent scenarios which got me addicted to computer role-playing games in the first place; especially dungeon crawlers. Revisiting the series is like having dinner with an old friend or cuddling up with a favorite old blanket. Playing the game evokes a strong feeling of nostalgia for me as I’m sure certain games do for others as well.

It may come as a bit of a shock and surprise but Wizardry III now marks the end of any familiarity I have with the series. School, work, family, hence real life, prevented me from even sampling any of the other entries in this beloved series. So when I do eventually get to Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna (which might take me a couple of actual years with all of the games to play on my plate) it will be with a fresh pair of eyes and the wonder and curiosity of a child. I am counting on these games creating new grand memories for me as I play them for the first time, and I hope dear reader, that you’ll be there right along with me.

I’m now going to journey back in time to 1980 again to play a CRPG appropriately titled The Time Traveler. I hope that not too much “time” has passed before you hear from me again.

When last we left off our intrepid band was still exploring the fourth level of the dungeon complex. I must say, where level design is concerned, I was very impressed by how the fourth and second dungeon levels are intertwined. Some great dungeon design there. I’ve made a lot of progress since my last post. First off, I mistakenly thought that I had made a thorough inspection of the second dungeon level.

I had missed a secret door in the northern section of the map while exploring the grand wizard Pol’s opulent surroundings. I then found myself in pitched combat with grand wizard Pol himself and his undead minions. Once I defeated Pol I found a mysterious Amulet. I’ve yet to get it identified but I believe it to be important and to likely be useful later.

So on the second dungeon level there are two quest items to find that seem to be of importance: The Staff of the Earth and this mysterious Amulet.

I returned to the fourth dungeon level and continued to map out the rest of the level. I outlined how I had found the Crystal of Evil on this level in my last post but I discovered one other very interesting item on this level and that is the Ship in the Bottle. If you look at the map there are areas in the southeast quadrant that are shaded in gray. These areas contain pressure plates and when you step on them a message of ‘Look Out!’ appears. Each time you step on a pressure plate and then make a move in any direction a random encounter will occur. More often than not; one of the items that you will be granted after one of these encounters is a mysterious bottle. You will soon discover that this magical item is actually a Ship in a Bottle and it allows you to move across the small lake located on the first dungeon level. This is a convenience because it affords you a very quick way to access stairs to the fifth dungeon level.

This installment of Wizardry is eccentric because in order to complete your quest you have to play the part of both good and evil. Good aligned characters are not allowed to access Dungeon Levels three or five. Evil aligned characters are not allowed to access Dungeon Levels two or four. So you have to switch alignments in this game. Now that I had the first, second, and fourth dungeon levels all mapped out, it was time to get my evil on. I started small. I began by pinching the bottom of every barmaid back at the local tavern and escalated to kicking small Golden Retriever puppies that I passed in the street. It became much more insidious when I made my way back into the first dungeon level. Each time I encountered a Friendly group of creatures; instead of leaving them alone; I chose to fight them. I kept this up over and over again until my entire party was despicably evil. Now we walked around with perpetual sneers on our faces. We would continuously shout out spoiler alerts to everyone’s newest TV binge when we passed them by. Soon we were perpetually greeted with nothing but hisses and boos. It is then that we were finally allowed access to the stairs to Dungeon Level three which are found on the first level.

I did not enjoy the third dungeon level. It was an absolute nightmare to map out. Even though the map is on a 20 x 20 grid, if you look around the edges of the map you’ll see that in many places the edges of the map join together continuously. This requires very careful mapping and constant use of the Wizard’s spell DUMAPIC. You can very easily walk right off the eastern edge of the map and suddenly find yourself on the far west side of the map if you’re not careful. It can be very disorienting. Then there is the central area of this dungeon level. It is a pure nightmare to navigate. The best way to describe it is to imagine wading into a fast flowing river. You’re likely just to get swept along. This is what happens when you first enter the middle area. Each step sweeps you both north and east. Mapping is crucial here because it is in this middle area that you encounter the ancient Monk.

I wasn’t too keen on exchanging my soul for what was in the chest. It sounded like the worst game of Let’s Make A Deal ever played. In all honesty I almost replied NO because I thought the consequences of saying yes were probably dire. I chose YES and instead of my soul he took the broadsword from one of my characters. It was unexpected but I would gladly trade a broadsword for what’s in the chest rather than my soul. In exchange for the broadsword the monk gave one of the party members a medallion.

This medallion becomes crucial as you continue exploring this dungeon level. To the north is a battle and a mysterious pool. When you search the pool you suddenly lose the medallion but are given a vial of holy water. I thoroughly search and mapped out this area ( which took FOREVER ! ) and did not find anything else of interest except for a staircase to the fifth dungeon level. I and my evil companions are now boldly striking out to search the fifth dungeon level. Being thoroughly evil, I can’t help but have thoughts of stabbing the person in front of me in the back and taking their share of the loot. Switching alignments is extremely tiring and likely hazardous to your health.

I would say at this point I’m likely 70% done with the game and it is my hope that when I report back to you I will have completed the quest and the last two dungeon levels. I am really enjoying the game which reinforces that the Wizardry series is still my favorite series to date and secondly that I just love a good dungeon crawler. It would seem to be my favorite genre so far.

In my previous blog entry I covered the first dungeon level which is not a dungeon at all but supposed to represent a tower built into the side of the volcano. I had each of the six characters that made up my party up to 7th level of experience and had acquired 4th level spells. In this blog entry I will update you on my progress thus far as well as detail the second dungeon level.

The second dungeon level was a difficult affair as the stairs from the first level place you in the lower right hand corner of the map while your ultimate goal resides in the top left corner. The ultimate goal being the stairs that take you up further to the fourth dungeon level. There are a lot of encounters that you will have to endure as you make your way from one corner of the map to the other.

The monsters that you encounter are more difficult and more varied than those that you encountered on the first dungeon level. You will frequently encounter Ronin, Friars, Witches, Strangling Vines, Bengal Tigers, Ashers (a form of undead) , Looters and Goblins.

The Friars, Ronin, and Witches can be deadly because of their spellcasting abilities. You need to always dispatch them first when they are encountered with other creatures and you need to have your priest character cast MONTINO as well right away. MONTINO will SILENCE your opponents which makes them unable to cast spells. You can find yourself in a sudden world of trouble if half of your party is suddenly put to sleep.

I was able to “grind” each of my characters up to the 10th level of experience while mapping and exploring the 2nd dungeon level.

I have also been mapping and exploring the 4th dungeon level as well due to the design of the 2nd dungeon level. You will note in my map up above that I color coded or highlighted two different areas of the dungeon. I did so because these areas can only be accessed via the fourth dungeon level. I spent a considerable amount of time searching for secret doors to no avail and had to resign myself to leaving those areas unexplored. It was only after exploring the fourth dungeon level that I learned I could access those previously unexplored areas. While on the 4th dungeon level I had a particularly difficult “boss” fight with a “Living Legend” and his undead minions. I was able to come away victorious and now with something called the Crystal of Evil in my possession.

I have not been able to access the third dungeon level yet as the second dungeon level connects to the fourth dungeon level by way of a stairway. I believe the stairway to the 3rd dungeon level is the stairway I cannot yet access on the first level.

The second level had a few things of noted interest. The first riddle of the game can be found on this dungeon level and you will need to answer that riddle before you can access the stairs to the fourth dungeon level.

One of the hidden areas of level two pays homage to the first game in the series by placing you outside the office of the grand wizard along with his office hours. You are informed that the wizard is *OUT*. Veterans of the first game will appreciate the humor and tip of the hat here. Ignoring the sign and going into the grand wizards office will instigate a tough battle with undead. You will then find a desk and when you search it you will discover a staff. I have experimented with the staff and have found that it will freeze my enemies in place by casting MANIFO.

The other highlighted area of this level appears to merely be window dressing. It is the Grand Wizard’s dining room and wine cellar however I found no interesting objects.

I am almost finished exploring and mapping the fourth level as well and I will report back when I am finished. I found a stairway to what I believe is the fifth dungeon level however I cannot verify because every time I try to cast DUMAPIC to get my bearings the spell fizzles out. I am apprehensive that none of my spells are going to function on that dungeon level.

Fost shrugs his shoulders and holds the torch aloft. “Well; we should finish exploring this level and then try those stairs again.”

The large barbarian, Niall, flexes his massive arms and growls; “Who have you been talking to?”

Fost answers; “I’ve been breaking the fourth wall and addressing our readers.”

Niall growls; “I do not know what a fourth wall is but you are making me very angry!”

Fost stares at Niall for a moment, shakes his head, and then proceeds down the dimly lit corridor.

Legacy of Llylgamyn is the third entry in the Wizardry series. It was developed and published by Sir-tech Software in 1983 for the Apple II and would eventually be ported to twelve other game systems. It is another first person, six level dungeon crawl. The dungeon is actually a volcano so the party journeys upwards rather than downwards.

The City of Llylgamyn and surrounding lands are threatened by the violent forces of nature. Earthquakes and volcanic rumblings threaten to endanger everyone. A party must be assembled to seek the dragon L’Kbreth and obtain the mystical Orb of Earithin.

Characters must be imported from Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord or Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds. However since the game is set a generation later, the characters are actually descendants of the original characters. They keep the same name and class, can select a new alignment, and are then reset back to level one.

Softline in 1983 praised Llylgamyn, stating that it “wasn’t written; it was composed…the dungeon feels like a living, breathing entity” and concluded that the game “is the best Wizardry yet.”

Robert Reams reviewed the game for Computer Gaming World, and stated that “The Legacy of Llylgamyn is an example of the maturing and improvement of an already excellent product. This new adventure will challenge all who accept this quest and will leave you looking for the two sequels which follow in its path”.

Philip L. Wing reviewed Legacy of Llylgamyn in The Space Gamer No. 72. Wing commented that “Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn is the best scenario of the series yet. It has a solid story, with riddles, appropriate to the scenario. This game is recommended for those who have the original, but characters with solid stats from the first two games are required.”

In 1984 Softline readers named the game the second most-popular Apple program of 1983, behind Lode Runner. Computer Gaming World’s Scorpia in 1991 and 1993 called the game “Wizardry I all over again, with a few bells and whistles added”. She stated that other than the novelty of playing two separate groups of adventurers, one good and one evil, “there is little to distinguish it from the previous two games”.

When you travel back through time and play these older games using an emulator, importing characters from previous games can be a tricky affair. I did play the previous two installments but experienced complications importing those characters. Luckily there was a collection of characters on the Llylgamyn disk I was playing from so I chose six different characters to go through the “legacy” process. I once again chose to forego a thief and my party makeup consisted of three fighters, a priest, and two wizards.

When I first began writing this blog I wrote an entry entitled; The Meaning Behind A Name in which I describe how I normally choose names for my characters in these games. I am always enthralled to read what names players choose for the characters that comprise their parties. Are they names from literature that I recognize or famous characters from games or film or simply the names of family and friends? I normally choose names from literature that I’ve read.

Listed above are the names of the six characters that make up my Llylgamyn adventuring party.

Bruenor Battlehammer is a fictional character in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting that first appears in the Icewind Dale trilogy by author R.A. Salvatore.

Fost Longstrider is a fictional character from Robert E. Vardeman’s excellent and campy War of Powers series.

Niall is taken from Niall of the Far Travels who was a Conan clone created by prolific author Gardner F. Fox. All 10 short stories were finally collected from various sources and can now be read in one volume.

I named my priest character Cadderly from Cadderly Bonaduce from the excellent Cleric Quintet by R.A. Salvatore. Better known for his Drizzt Dark Elf series this series is just as enjoyable for fans of Salvatore and the Forgotten Realms.

The name Mordred is taken from Arthurian legend and while Mordred was technically a druid I love using this name ever so often as a go to name for a spellcaster.

Lastly Khelben Blackstaff is a fictional character of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting and brainchild of creator Ed Greenwood. He is one of the more powerful spellcasters in the game.

Having chosen my characters I then eagerly set out to map and explore the first dungeon level.

The character classes, combat system, and overall gameplay mechanics are very similar to the first two installments of the series. The dungeon maps are still confined to a 20 x 20 grid system which I certainly appreciate as it makes manually mapping by hand an easier affair to manage.

I did notice that in this third installment that you do not seem to get a lot of experience points for the enemies that you encounter. It has made “leveling up” much more difficult than in the previous installment of the series. Grinding and acquiring new spells and more hit points has been harder so far.

The first dungeon level is not a dungeon at all but it is supposed to represent a tower built into the side of the volcano. There is a moat and a lake to contend with as well. If you do not have this contextually built into your mind this first dungeon level may seem a bit strange.

There has not been much variety thus far in this first level where denizens are concerned. I have encountered Giant Anacondas, Moat Monsters, Poltergeists, and Garian Guards throughout the first level. There have been no clues or anything that points me in the right direction; however I have encountered two sets of stairs. I am forbidden from going down up one set of stairs while the other set of stairs has taken me to the second level of the dungeon which I am now starting to map out.

I currently have each of the six characters up to 7th level and have recently acquired 4th level spells which consist of greater healing capabilities for my priest as well as the ability to cure poison. My wizards acquired offensive blast spells which affect entire groups. I feel comfortable enough now to begin to explore the second dungeon level. I will update you as soon as I’ve finished mapping and exploring that level.

The Prisoner is based on the TV series of the same name which ran from 1967 to 1968. It stars Patrick McGoohan as a secret agent who has chosen to resign from his job. He is then kidnapped and taken to a village which is really some sort of bizarre prison. His warders demand to know why he resigned and he is constantly trying to escape.

The game was written by David Mullich for the Apple II and published by Edu-Ware. You, like the TV series, play the role of an agent working for a mysterious corporation and you’ve decided to resign. Whether you choose to travel to London or anywhere else in the game you suddenly find yourself abducted. You awaken to find yourself on “The Island”. What ensues is one of the more bizarre games I’ve ever played. You are referred to as # rather than giving any kind of name and you travel from building to building; each hosting a quest or a test of your individuality or freedom. Will you conform or remain independent? The ultimate goal is to escape “The Island”.

In the beginning of the game you are given a resignation code of 417. You are asked to commit it to memory and under no circumstances are you to reveal it to anyone. Throughout the game the computer will constantly try and trick you into typing in this code. This was extremely amusing and at every turn you’re asked to type in that 417 sequence. Once you do, however, the game is over and you’ve lost. The game even fakes a computer crash to DOS and the error is on line 417. Ha ha! It appears you’ve dropped to a DOS prompt but if you type line 417 the game resumes and you discover you were tricked and once again you’ve lost. Pretty original there. The theme of individual identity vs. conformity runs rampant throughout the entire game. I had never seen the TV show and the more I played I began to wonder if there was even really an actual way off of the island. There are a lot of “red herrings” or false trails in this game where you think you’re going down the right path to getting off of “The Island” only to find that you have been tricked or have hit a dead end. Frustratingly so.

In one such example I finally made my way to The Wilds which I believed was the penultimate destination in order to escape “The Island”. I finally found a Train Depot which returned me to the City and to my office where I had resigned and I thought where I could tell them about “The Island”. I was given a choice to speak to a number of authority figures and then asked to submit my fingerprints (you had to hold your hands down on the keyboard – pretty cute). I am finally greeted by my old boss who says; “Well, well. Look who’s returned. We had give you up for lost. Have a seat.” This goes on for a bit and ultimately he leans forward and asks; “Tell us why you resigned. The code”

Ugh!!! If you give him the code you lose and your identity is consumed and “The Island” still wins. If you refuse to give up the code you find yourself right back on “The Island” I was almost ready to quit at that point because I honestly thought that perhaps that WAS the ending and that the point is that you’re never getting off “The Island” but are going to remain trapped in a loop which never ends. The game is bizarre that way. I was also a bit aggravated because it took me a lot of time to get to that spot and a lot of patience to make my way through The Wilds.

The other part of “The Island” where I got completely duped was in The Diner. At first blush when you walk into the building you are given choices of eating 1) Green Stuff 2) Red Stuff 3) Blue Stuff or 4) Exit When you select any of those options the response is Have a Good Meal. However; instead of hitting a numbered response, if you attempt to move around in the diner you discover a secret cloning facility! The doctor in there offers to clone you for 10,000 credits which can then act as a decoy for your escape. Having failed to escape through the Wilds, and realizing I now have to get a loan from the bank to complete this quest, and that I need other items in the game to get that loan, I figured this was the ultimate solution. Wow was I wrong. I did all that you needed to do to secure the 10,000 credits. I paid for the cloning process. The process is completed and an identical copy of myself emerges. It is at that moment that the facility is raided. The guard gives me 3 tries to prove my identity or I will be killed as a spy. No matter what I did I could not prove my identity and I was shot. I awoke back in The Castle. The cloning facility was another dead end. Pursuing that plot took FOREVER and quite literally sucked the life out of me!

Building #2 throughout the game was an odd building. It operates on a language parser and I’ve tried communicating with it throughout the game. You find a very strong and bizarre theme of conformity vs individuality and creativity throughout the entire game. Having spent hours chasing dead ends in the game I resorted to taking a peek at a walkthrough and I am very glad that I did. To ultimately win in this game, you have to go into building #2 and type in The Island is a Computer Game.

Once you do so you receive the following message shown above and finally discover the Truth, which is that you’ve simply been playing a computer game this entire time.

It is a rare occasion indeed that I throw my hands up in the air and resort to a hint. In this case I am glad that I did because I think I could have easily spent several more hours wrestling with this game. It is definitely a unique experience to anything else I’ve played so far in this era. Again, I’ve never seen the TV show but the author of the game definitely gives you a paranoid, oppressive, bizarre experience. If you’re an individual that spent hours on this game and tugged on the various myriad threads and solved this completely on your own then I tip my hat to you.

The irony here is that the ultimate solution is that you were playing a game however rather than feeling like a game it felt more like an “experience”.

Six Micro Stories is brought to you by Robert Lafore the author of Two Heads of the Coin and His Majesty’s Ship Impetuous. Lafore’s games bring a unique twist to the genre in that the author is constantly striving to foster conversation between the player and the computer. In Lafore’s previous games he has the computer identifying key words that the player types in and then attempts to simulate a conversational interaction as realistically as possible. Certain words will serve to move the game forward. The concept is no different in Six Micro Stories however the setup is.

Lafore presents six short stories and by doing so places the character in an extremely unique situation and in some cases a moral dilemma.

In the first story, The Empty World, you play the role of a pilot who finds that the entire continent of North America has suddenly disappeared along with all radio signals. This sounds like something right out of a Stephen King story.

In The Unexpected Question you’re asked to explain, during an oral exam which determines how the rest of your life will play out, just what Art means to you.

In The Guilty Look you are faced with a moral dilemma as you are “seemingly” caught stealing a priceless heirloom; but not everything is always as it appears.

Fatal Admission has you playing the role of a spy whose assignment might be blown.

The short vignette Encounter in the Park is a bit different from the others as you find yourself in a chance encounter with who might be the girl of your dreams. Sometimes you have only a brief window of opportunity in life; can you strike up a conversation with this woman and keep her interested?

In The Big Deal your company is on the verge of bankruptcy but you may be able to save yourself and your family as it just received an offer to buy you out. Can you close the deal before it is too late?

Six Micro stories is short and sweet and if you’ve never played a Robert Lafore game you’re in for a unique experience because Lafore has his own spin on the interactive adventure medium.

Each of the six stories places you in a thought provoking situation and the reactions and experiences couldn’t be more diverse. The game was a welcome respite and diversion after my long, grueling experience with The Tarturian.