Author: professor6153

When last we left off, I was exploring the castle and had finally found Mesron. He informed me that I was still missing an important item, and once found, would help me further. I felt that I had exhausted all of the castle’s secrets so it seemed it was now time to raid the treasury. I can see why Richard Garriott felt it a moral responsibility to change his game’s focus by Ultima IV. When you begin to unlock chests and take gold from the castle in Questron the guards are alerted and begin to attack you. It felt “wrong” to me to slay all the guards and then seek an audience with the king. I actually tried to do so and he informed me; “You come into my castle, rob me, and attack my guards then expect me to help you? Perhaps if you return in a more peaceful manner…” I can’t say I blame the man.

Besides gold, the chests can also contain keys. There are four different kinds of keys, a ruby key, an emerald key, a silver key, and a lead key. These keys open various doors throughout the castle. It is the gold key that you need to gain an audience with the king and the gold key was the hardest to find.

There are two unique places in the castle where you are able to increase your stats and become more powerful. One of the keys opens a room where resides a doctor. He claims he can make you more powerful if you give him 10 vials of holy water. I thus went out, using the gold I pilfered from the treasury, and bought as many vials of holy water as I could afford. I returned and gave the doctor the 10 vials he requested. He promptly increased my strength from 20 to 40!

The gold key, besides granting you entrance into the king’s audience chamber, opens a room which contains a princess. She informs you that for 2000 gold she will increase your charisma. I thus left, pilfered more gold from the castle, killed more guards, and returned with her 2000 gold. She promptly raised my charisma from 15 to 35.

When I tried to communicate with the king the first time and he refused my request; I explored his audience chamber thoroughly. There was a back room behind his throne that contained one treasure chest. Inside the chest was a trumpet. I discovered that this was a magic item and would prove invaluable later. It is imperative that you obtain this item.

It was time to leave the castle and return peacefully. When I did so I made it a point not to fight any of the guards and was able to seek an audience with the king. He increased my dexterity, declared me the strongest warrior in Questron, and knighted me. I sheepishly apologized for slaying 60 of his guards.

I then sought out Mesron again within the castle. He congratulated me on finding the trumpet, increased my hit point total and my stamina and then informed me that I must seek out the Land of Evil. To find this foul land, I need to make my way through the mists of the north to find the Hidden Port. Once I find the Land of Evil, I need to confront Mantor in his evil lair and destroy him before he can complete his evil plans of conquest.

Up to this point the game has been very stingy with plot details. I wandered all about the continent and found nothing but towns, cathedrals, and a castle. There were no dungeons or ruins to explore of any kind. One you gain a particular amount of experience or once a certain amount of time has passed, when you return to Geraldtown, which was your starting point, you discover it has been burned to the ground and you are told to seek out Mesron.

Now that I’ve been tasked with finding the Land of Evil and slaying Mantor; we finally discover our purpose or the true plot and I found myself becoming more immersed and enjoying the game even more.

The trumpet that you found is invaluable in helping you find the Hidden Port. When you blow on the trumpet, it magically transforms land that impedes your progress into marsh that allows continued progress. It was through the constant blowing of the trumpet that I was allowed to find and make my way to the Hidden Port. Once there, I absconded a raft and then made my way to the Land of Evil. All I did was sail north through a few screens of ocean until I finally landed.

Once I landed, I explored my new surroundings and discovered that random encounters in the wilderness are much more frequent and much deadlier. I discovered a town called Snake’s Landing. There was a new type of vendor in this town selling various magic spells and hit points. Hit points are now sold much like food in the game. I purchased more food and many more hit points being that this Land of Evil is so dangerous to traverse. I also purchased a Fire Ball spell to try it out. It appears that purchasing the spell doesn’t mean that you now know it and can cast it repeatedly. Instead, spells in the game seem to be like arrows. Once used they are depleted and if you want to cast one of them again you have to purchase more. I will be experimenting further with this spell system.

My further exploration of the surrounding land led to the discovery of a dungeon! The first dungeon I’ve found in the game. It was aptly named the Dungeon of Death. However, an imposing iron door refused any entry. Well, that’s disappointing. I set out once again and found yet another dungeon entitled Mountain Catacombs and I was allowed access.

It is within the Mountain Catacombs where I’ll take my leave from you once again. I’ve saved my game at this spot and when I return to it, I will be exploring the dungeons in Questron for the first time. I am enjoying the game thus far and had I purchased this game off the shelf when it came out, I would not have been disappointed.

I take the time to consume my meager rations of hard tack and water. Holding my torch aloft, I squint down the dark tunnel which beckons like a yawning mouth.

Until next time…

Questron was written by Charles W. Dougherty and published by SSI in 1984 for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit, and Commodore 64. I chose to play the Commodore 64 version using an emulator.

This will be the first in a series much like I did with the Wizardry and Ultima installments.

When Questron was released I was still a senior in high school. It would be another year before I would purchase my first home computer; an Apple IIC. Questron was SSI’s first foray into the field of role-playing games and they would later dominate and become a powerhouse in that arena. I have been eagerly anticipating playing these games and thus Questron was my first selection from the 1984 list.

I do not have any prior experience with Questron at all other than drooling over the box as a teen.

Once you’re past the title screen I was intrigued by the fact that Dougherty obtained a license from Richard Garriott for the game structure. I tried to find more about this detail and stumbled across a conversation that someone had copied and pasted from a conversation on AOL in 1984:

This is a bit surprising as a lot of these early games I’ve been playing seem to have “borrowed” ideas from one another. Perhaps copyright infringement and litigation were being policed better by 1984. Unless he copied actual lines of code, I don’t think Charles needed to secure this licensing from Garriott. Ring of Darkness was a blatant Ultima clone and I don’t remember Garriott going after them (I really enjoyed Ring of Darkness despite the familiar “Ultima skin”.

I find Questron to be a difficult game thus far. It is, much like the Ultima games, a game of economy. Gold equals power in this game. You are constantly fighting to obtain more and then instantly spending it on food and training once it is acquired.

I thought as my character gained experience and found better equipment that gold would be easier to obtain but that is not the case. So far it has remained a constant struggle. There are two ways that you can go about trying to acquire gold:

1. You can roam about the overland map and combat the many wandering monsters to be found there. Each victory nets you gold pieces.
2. The second way that you can obtain gold is through the games gambling system. There are three different games of chance that you can play in the various towns scattered throughout the continent: Blackjack, Double or Nothing, and Roulette. It is difficult to get on any kind of winning streak playing these games but I have had more success with both Double or Nothing and Roulette than I have with Blackjack. One time I won Double or Nothing three times in a row and then the guards all came after me and accused me of cheating. I had to flee to in order to save my life.

I don’t think it is very fair to call Questron a blatant clone of Ultima. There is a lot of originality in the game and differences that help the game to completely stand on its own merits.

The game seems to work on some sort of timing system. There were hardly any equipment options at the outset but more seem to become available to you as the game progresses. When the game begins only rawhide is available to you as an armor option and the only weapon was a whip. I also wandered around battling monsters for quite some time, and I wasn’t quite sure how to advance the plot or where I was supposed to go. Then suddenly in each of the towns it was confided to me that Mesron wanted to speak to me. Excellent! There is a plot twist but where in the hell is Mesron? I did eventually find Mesron, more on that in a bit, but my point is that there is some kind of timing system in play. I am not sure if experience triggers the change, obtaining a particular item or piece of equipment, or if it is just merely the advancement of actual time that triggers these plot points, but this is a pretty unique feature.

The landscape that you travel through is composed of forests, mountains, swamps and plains. There is an ocean which surrounds the continent and there is a lake with what appears to be an island in the center of it in the middle of the continent. A boat or raft has not yet been made available to me and I’ve yet to find a way to cross to the island but I’m sure I’ll discover how. Mountains are impassable unless you are equipped with rope and hooks as a weapon and then you’re able to cross the mountains.

There are about fifteen different cities that I’ve encountered scattered through the continent. You start near Geraldstown and nearby are also Mall Cave, Fort Cavern, River Junction and Prison Mines. The cities are pretty uniform for the most part. You can obtain armor and weapons in them as well as food. Food is a necessary resource for survival, and you consume it quickly as you move about on foot. You are constantly rushing to a nearby city and spending your money on more food in order to survive. New armor and weapons also vie for your hard-earned gold.

One other very unique feature in Questron is the presence of Cathedrals. I have encountered two of them so far. The Swamp Cathedral is in close proximity to Geraldstown. These structures are very mysterious in nature.

If you approach the front dais of the Cathedral, you’ll encounter the head priest. He will ask you how much you want to tithe. If you do not donate quite a bit of what you’re carrying he will simply tell you; “That is not enough” and then you’ll find you can become trapped in certain rooms of the Cathedral if you investigate without a proper “donation”. If you tithe quite a bit, he then informs you that “you will be blessed”. You will find this to be true because now if you investigate the Cathedral, you will find vials of holy water that you can take. If you consume these, they restore your hit points. This is the only way to heal in the game and so much of your gold must be preserved for donations in these Cathedrals.

One other very unique feature of the game; in the Swamp Cathedral you are asked if you want to attempt to increase your Dexterity. The cost is 50 gold if you answer yes and then suddenly the screen changes and you find yourself playing a skeet-shooting game. You aim a gun using the keyboard and attempt to shoot 1-3 clay pigeons out of the air. If you score well, your dexterity score will go up a couple of points. I have only increased my Dexterity one time in this fashion, and I want to make a point to go back and try again.

In the far southeast corner of the continent is the Ocean Cathedral. In here I obtained a magic flute and was told; “to only use it thrice”. I’ve yet to attempt to use it and thus I know not what it does yet.

In most of the other games that I’ve played thus far the creatures in the game have seemingly been pulled right from the Monster Manual in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Not so here. The monsters are highly original, and I’ve been writing down the names of them as I’m encountering them in the game. I’ve battled a Woods Ogre, Gar Mind Flayer, Rot Weed, Slime Swimmer, Flesh Feeler, Bloodhound Ghoul, Irish Stalker, and Army Scorpion to name a few. Some very unique creations and the graphics representing each creature are original as well.

The documentation that comes shipped with the game is excellent and on par with the excellent documentation found with the Ultima games, the Dunjonquest line, and Crystalware titles. It tells a lot of the game’s backstory and details each of the monsters that you’ll encounter. Excellent illustrations are scattered throughout the manual as well.

So where do I stand with the game at this point?

I recently obtained a magical flute from the Ocean Cathedral and entered the Castle. It was inside the castle that I finally found Mesron. He raised each of my ability scores a couple of points and then bestowed upon me a magical powder that can slow the castle guards down. There is enough there for three uses. He also told me that before he can aid me any further; I am still missing one item. So I am assuming I need to find this item either in the castle or that I need to find a way to get across the lake in the center of the continent to reach the island.

I will hopefully find some time this weekend to spend with the game. As luck would have it, work and real-life has suddenly become extremely busy for me just as I reached this 1984 list. I am greatly enjoying the game so far and I’m glad that it was the first game that I selected from the new list. I look forward to updating you with my further Questron adventures.

Until next time…

Baldor’s Castle was developed and published by Daedalus Digital for the VIC-20 in 1983.

I searched high and low and I could not find any box art or commercial packaging for this name. I did find an advertisement for the game:

Baldor’s Castle is an early roleplaying game for the VIC-20. Play is from a top-down perspective as the player explores the halls and rooms of the castle.

There is no main quest or objective in the game other than to try and stay alive, battle monsters, and collect gold. You can choose to fight with a sword or arrows.

You can also find potions to aid you in your pursuit of riches. In my tenure with this game, I found two different types of potions. One of the potions was a healing potion that increased my life and the other potion sped up the regeneration of my Power. The game was extremely basic, and you can see the different keyboard commands for the game listed above.

The game uses a fog of war to hide the castle’s level from you which is exposed as you move about and explore. One of the things that you can obtain after defeating a monster is a map which will not only show you the entire level but also where monsters and treasures are located.

The Power score is used to perform attacks. Each time you swing your sword or fire an arrow it depletes this score. The Power score replenishes as you move about the castle. Your Skill points are much like experience points and these increase as you defeat monsters. Once a monster is defeated you usually are rewarded with gold and potions. The potions are usually of the healing variety.

There is not a lot here. The only impetus to continue to play is to see if you can keep increasing your overall score. I knew what I was getting into before I even began the game because of the system it was created for.

I managed after playing for a couple of hours to get my Skill score up to 65 and this was accomplished by exploring much of the castle level. I suspect there is another level to be found because the screen goes out of it’s way to let you know that you are on the First Floor.

I played Baldur’s Castle on an emulator and spent about 2.5 hours with the game. It DOES check the RPG boxes and WAS on my list from 1983 and so the completist in me felt compelled to play the title and to report on it. I was surprised that I was able to find a one-page advertisement for the game but that I was unsuccessful in finding the game’s packaging.

Next upon the docket – we leave the 1983 list behind now after having worked through it – and move on to the RPGs that were developed and published in 1984. The first game from the list I’m choosing to tackle is Questron. I’m excited to play this one. I remember being attracted to the box art and I had always wanted to play the game but never did. Now I get the opportunity to do so.

Until next time…

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin was released in 1983 for the Intellivision. It was developed by APh Consulting and published by Mattel Electronics. It was Mattel’s second game under the Dungeons & Dragons license; the first being their Cloudy Mountain game. Mattel would go on to lose the license after the release of this game and we would not see another game use the license until 1988 with the release of the Pool of Radiance.

The object of the game is simple in scope. You’re to make your way into a deep web of endless rooms and corridors to defeat the dreaded Minotaur and recover the Treasure of Tarmin. Now remember that in 1983 we were graced with the likes of Wizardry III: The Legacy of Llylgamyn and Exodus: Ultima III however the Treasure of Tarmin offers a depth and complexity of gameplay that I did not think was possible for a home console of that period.

Graphically Treasure of Tarmin looks much different than it’s Cloudy Mountain predecessor. The action is a first-person point of view as the character traverses a maze of tunnels underneath the Island of Tarmin.

There are two different levels of play to choose from. There is an Easy mode and a Hard mode.

The Easy mode consists of 4 levels. You’re likely to find both the minotaur and treasure on the 4th level.

The Hard mode consists of 12 levels and they remove the option of retreating back to a prior level – so all of the UP ladders are now gone. Teleportation gates have also been added to the mix which sap your spiritual strength score. It is my understanding that you can continue lower after you defeat the minotaur and that the game supports 256 levels however I never tested this. Once you pick up the Treasure of Tarmin the game immediately ends so if you want to continue with a deeper foray into the labyrinth then you want to delay picking up the Treasure.

Movement through the dungeon is smooth and quite impressive on this early home console.

There is a lot of information on your map screen. In the lower left-hand corner is your compass which tells you the direction you’re traveling in. Rotating around your compass are the objects that are in your pack. Manipulating objects in the game took some getting used to so bear with me a moment as I walk you through it. The number in the bottom center of the screen shown above is the current dungeon level that you are on. You can see that I am on the 12th dungeon level. The icon to the left of that number shows what is in my left hand and the icon to the right of the number depicts what I’m carrying in my right hand. When you PICK UP or DROP objects it relates to your right hand only. Your right hand must be empty in order to pick an object up. To swap objects from one hand to another you can press SWAP HANDS. To swap an object in your pack with an object in your right hand you press SWAP PACK. Whichever object is in the 3 o’clock position will suddenly appear in your right hand. Your pack can hold objects in the 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 o’clock positions.

Obviously figuring all of this out took a little getting used but once you have the nuance of managing inventory down the game is actually quite fun.

In this screenshot I have a bow in my right hand. The numbers in the lower right-hand corner represent your character statistics. The top numbers represent your hit points or health. The second set of numbers represent your armor and defenses. The last set of numbers represent war weapon and spiritual weapon scores.

The minotaur itself is extremely hard to beat and you may find that when you first encounter it you’re not able to defeat it. It is best to retreat and look to face it another time.

There are numerous foes to face within the dungeon complex such as giants, skeletons, giant ants, giant snakes, alligators, giant scorpions, dragons (difficult encounters), ghouls, and wraiths. Monsters straight out of the AD&D Monster Manual.

There are two different types of damage: War and Spiritual and the different foes you encounter will deal different types of damage. The undead foes will sap your spiritual strength as will magic spells hurled at you. When either one of your War or Spiritual scores falls to 0 you perish. Characters can be reincarnated. You appear in a different part of the dungeon and lose most of your gear. Damage can be healed by consuming food and by drinking health potions. Both of these items can be found by exploring the different dungeon levels.

Some of the doors in the game that you go through will teleport you to a different part of the maze which adds even more depth and complexity to this home console offering. Most of the time an enemy or foe can be found behind a door and in rare instances going through a door can increase or decrease your health. So going through any doorway is a precarious affair. There are also many secret doors in the game that you can only discover by “bumping” into the walls to see how solid they really are.

The various weapons that you find throughout the game sport different colors which is representative of their power level. A tan axe or spear represents a normal weapon whereas an orange or blue axe or spear are more powerful. If you should find a white weapon it represents the highest possible power ranking.

There are scrolls to find which contain magical spells that you can hurl at your opponents. Fireballs and Lightning Bolts are the weapons of choice. Much like the physical weapons there are different colored scrolls as well which represent different power levels for these offensive spells. There are magical rings you can find which will increase your Spiritual score or spell casting power. You can find multi-colored keys to unlock chests and doors as well.

There are treasures to find such as coins, necklaces, gold ingots, lamps, chalices and crowns which award you points for finding them.

I was very surprised to discover that this console game had so much depth to it and was equally surprised that I found myself having such a fun time with the game. The game took me about six hours to beat and probably a good 45 minutes of that was me trying to acclimate myself to the inventory management system and numerous action buttons. Luckily combat is turn-based and so you can rotate through your pack and clumsily swap items without pressure of being attacked while you’re doing so.

You’ll notice that in the beginning of the game when you’re choosing your difficulty level that the castle is displayed against a starry background with a moon high in the sky.

Once you defeat the Minotaur you’ll find that the Treasure of Tarmin is directly behind him. When you pick up the Treasure it immediately ends the game and you are shown a screenshot of the castle with the sun shining in the background.

This juxtaposition of light vs dark has obvious good vs evil connotations.

I played the game using an emulator and if you’re wanting to experience this game for yourself it’s rather easy to install an emulator and then find the game rom and install that as well.

Next up on the docket is Baldor’s Castle.

Until next time…

Bokosuka Wars was published by ASCII and released in 1983 for the Sharp XI then released in 1984 for the MSX and PC-88, 1985 for the FM-7, PC-6001, PC-98, and NES.

This also marks the first game that we’ve played on the NES system. Nintendo infiltrated households on July 15, 1983 when it’s first major home console was born. Dubbed the Famicon, it was released in the east with its three launch games – Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr and Popeye.

It was time to take the Famicon to the west and in October of 1985 the Nintendo system was released in New York. It would go on to sell 35 million units in the United States and become a smash hit – releasing iconic series such as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda and Metroid.

Bokosuka Wars was never released in the west but it could be easily played by someone who doesn’t speak Japanese because the game is in English.

Bokosuka Wars is billed as a strategy game. You control a king who is fighting to reclaim his kingdom from the control of an invading army. Throughout the game you rescue and recruit subjects to your cause. You have the ability to move them all at once or pick and choose which soldiers to command.

You can choose to control yourself (the king), the normal soldiers, or the knights. Knights can destroy prison walls that soldiers are held captive in. Soldiers and knights who successfully survive three fights get upgraded to more powerful soldiers.

The game is lost if the king is killed in battle, and to win the game you have to reach the leader of the ogres and defeat him.

It took me awhile to get used to the data that was presented in the game. The number in the upper left corner represents the number of enemy forces remaining on the battlefield. The number to the right of that represents the remaining number of allied forces hidden in rocks, trees, or P.O.W. camps. The number on the bottom left is the remaining distance in meters to the location of King Ogreth. The number to the right of that, in the middle of the screen on the bottom, represents the attack strength of King Suren. It begins at 220 and get as high as 320. The number at the far right on the bottom depicts the power of the two units that are in battle. The number on the left is the allied unit’s power, the number on the right is the enemy’s power.

Your allied forces are hidden within rock formations and trees and so, as the King, you have to come into contact with these areas on the off chance that you may find and free one of your allies from these objects.

There is a strategy to the game in deciding who is going to fight particular enemies. Combat involves hidden calculations and probabilities. Once you have made your choice of combatant it’s a simple matter to sit back and see if the die rolls end up in your favor. If you win your unit receives a bump in power. Each enemy or unit has a specific number of points attached. There are fan sites that detail all of this information or you can simply read the NES documentation that comes with the game.

It took me a few games to get used to the gameplay. The game comes off as extremely hard at first blush but then once you get used to the gameplay it is not very hard to beat. I played on an NES emulator and the game took me about an hour to beat. You can take the path of patience and play strategically or you can choose to “bull rush” your way through to the end. I tried both strategies successfully.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one. It’s not really an RPG and I wouldn’t call it a grand strategy game either. It’s somewhere between lite-strategy and arcade in my humble opinion. This will certainly not be the only game that we review on the NES but it gets the distinction of being the first. I have actually been busy in the background adding NES games to the site’s database each day. There were some sites in my research that claim that this was the worst game ever made for the NES. There seems to be a lot of hate out there for the title. I don’t quite see what that is all about as I did enjoy my time with the game. Perhaps it was comparing the game to one of the computer ports but again I enjoyed my time with the game.

Next up on the docket will be yet another console game however this one is an Intellivision offering: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin.

Until next time…

Cells and Serpents was written by G. Lovel for the Nascom computer and published as a type in piece in December 1980’s Computing Today. It was ported in 1982 for the Atari 8-bit, BBC/Electron, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum.

The artwork is amazing and also the only artwork you’re going to see because Cells & Serpents is completely text based.

The game is reminiscent of The Devil’s Dungeon.

The game always begins with your character given a choice of three possible paths.

You make your choice by merely pressing the first letter of each word. For example if you want to take the left door you press (L)eft on the keyboard.

You can see, depicted above, that your character starts with 100 hit points, 10 spells, and that you’re on level 1. The character is always presented with three choices or three path to take much like a pick your path to adventure book.

Anyone remember these?

Many of the rooms contain a monster within. If you press G for (G)o In then combat will ensue. You want to monitor your hit points closely. Once they reach zero then you’re dead and will have to start all over. Combat is resolved automatically behind the scenes.

The goal of the game is to descend down into the depths of the dungeon in search of an exit. The exit allows you to leave the dungeon. Once you accomplish this task it is the equivalent of winning the game. It also allows you the option to start the game again with the same character, keeping all of the statistics and items that you’ve found. Hence the question on the start screen; ‘Do you want to load a saved character?’

When you defeat an enemy in combat your reward is usually gold pieces but sometimes you find more than that as shown below:

Many of the monsters seem pulled from the dungeons & dragons game setting. I played Cells & Serpents on an emulator and it took me roughly two hours to beat.

Your path choices are usually doors, rooms corridors and stairs going up or down. You never really want to reverse your steps and go back up unless you’re having a very difficult time with the encounters on the current level. You want to keep moving forward which means making your way lower and lower into the bowels of the dungeon. The exit you’re looking for can be found on one of the lower levels. One of your path choices can also be a Wall though when I chose that option the wall fell on me and I suffered damage so I learned early on to always avoid that option.

I finally found my exit on the 11th level of the dungeon. I killed 28 monsters and finished with 39 spells. The best item I found was a luckstone which improved my randomization odds by 62.5%. I had to kill a Pit Fiend to get it and that almost did not end well.

Cells & Serpents was a nice diversion but certainly not comparable to some of the giants that were published in 1983 such as Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn or Exodus: Ultima III.

Next up on the docket is Bokosuka Wars.

Until next time…

I temporarily placed my 1983 list on hold and went back in time to take care of another item I discovered from 1980.

The Wizard’s City was published by Aurora Software in 1980 for the Ohio Scientific and for the TRS-80 in 1981 by BAP$ Software.

The Wizard’s City is a turn-based role-playing game predominantly using a text-based format. There are some graphics that present a side view of your surroundings as you move about. I believe the original name of the game may have been Dungeons & Dragons and that the name change may have been done to avoid legal issues. TSR was known to be quite litigious over copyright back in the day.

The game begins by asking if you want to create a new character. If you answer YES then the computer will randomly generate your attributes for you between the values of 1 and 18. The four attributes are Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity, and Constitution ripped right from Dungeons & Dragons. You’re then asked to choose a character class as shown above and your choice will modify your previous attribute and hit point scores.

If you answer NO to the game’s beginning question then you are allowed to type in the attribute scores manually. Most of the early Dunjonquest games allowed you to do the same thing. Once I had played the game a few times I went back and manually typed in 18s and game myself a “super” character. A strength of 18 was preferable to me over a strength score of 5.

The Warrior and Dwarf character class choices seem synonymous with each other. You receive higher hit points and strength and you lose intelligence.

Elf and Medium seem equal to one another as well as far as choices go. Your hit point total is in the median range and these characters can use spells.

The mage has low hit points and low strength but gains extra intelligence and full use of spells.

Each character begins at 1st level. The Warrior, Dwarf, Elf, and Medium need 2000 experience points to attain a level and the Mage needs 2,500 experience points. You gain experience points by slaying monsters. You acquire gold pieces through defeat of your opponents which you can use to later boost your armor class while in the city.

You begin the game in the city which is depicted above. The first thing you’re asked is if you want more armor. If you answer yes you can pay gold to increase your armor class by 1. The cost is steep so you’ll find that you’ll need to go down into the dungeon, slay creatures, then make your way back.

Pressing the 1 key from anywhere in the city takes you down a passage to the first level of the dungeon. No matter what dungeon level you are on, each time you press the 1 key it will take you down another level. The lower you go the opponents become progressively tougher and your rewards (gold and experience) greater.

Pressing 2 on the keyboard moves your character to the left and pressing 3 moves your character to the right. Your character’s movement is depicted graphically in a side-scrolling fashion which is a bit different for 1980. You’ll see buildings moving by you when in the city and when in the dungeon you’ll see stalagtites hanging from the dungeon ceiling above you.

Pressing the 4 key anywhere in the dungeon will take you UP a dungeon level. So there is no need for any kind of mapping with this game. Pressing 1 always takes you down another level from wherever you are in the dungeon and pressing 4 from anywhere will always take you up a level. In this fashion it is relatively easy to grind your character to higher levels by surviving an encounter or two and then returning to the city to rest. There is no economy of food or anything else to keep track of.

If you press the 5 key you pause a turn without moving. If you press this key when in the city then it is the equivalent of resting overnight and you get all of your hit points back and any level progression you may have made while in the dungeon.

When exploring a dungeon level sometimes you can trigger a trapdoor which will drop you down a random number of levels.

When you encounter a wandering monster you have the choice to fight, cast a spell, or run. When you choose to fight combat is automatically generated for you and you then find out whether or not you emerged victorious. The different creatures you encounter are very diverse and pulled straight from the Dungeons & Dragons game.

There is no quest to perform in this game nor any kind of plot. It is a simple matter of going down into the dungeon beneath the city and battling wandering monsters for experience and gold.

I kept playing for quite some time until I attained 9th level with the super character that I created. You could keep playing this way indefinitely. The lower you go in the dungeon the more powerful the enemies. I guess if I’m a young kid and President of the Dungeons & Dragons club at school, I would have really liked this for my home computer in 1980.

Next up on the docket we return to my 1983 list for Cells & Serpents.

Until next time..

Dragon Quest was written by 17-year old Matt Pritchard and published by Midwest Computing for the Atari 800.

Dragon Quest is a dungeon crawler that has you exploring 90+ rooms in search of treasure. There is supposedly supposed to be a princess to rescue but alas I was unable to find the princess after much exploration. I probably spent more time with this game than I should have but the completist in me would not let it go.

Character generation involves rolling for your attributes, creating a name for the character and then choosing between dwarf, elf, and human for race.

I chose Fitz as the name of my character in honor of Robin Hobb’s outstanding Farseer Trilogy.

The game is very reminiscent of Super Quest however it adds a couple of very unique features. The most unique aspect of Dragon Quest is how it handles secret doors and their unique nature. Intelligence is the statistic that determines how successful you are in your search. The higher your intelligence the more likely you’re going to find a secret door if one exists. My character had a high intelligence of 17 but searching for secret doors was still a difficult task. You search for secret doors by hitting the (L)ook on the keyboard. Even if a secret door exists in the area it doesn’t automatically appear. You’ll find that you may have to hit the L key several times before one appears. A wandering monster was more likely to appear, much to my dismay, much faster than a secret door.

The secret doors are more like teleportation areas or warp zones that appear. They don’t necessarily have to be embedded in a wall. You may find that they appear in the middle of a room. When you go through a secret door most of them transport you to an area that is disconnected from the rest of the dungeon and only accessible by secret door or teleportation. These areas usually contain greater treasures or magical scrolls. You have to find another secret door to exit the area or leave via the way you came in. Other secret doors may take you to special areas within the dungeon that normally can’t be accessed. Like the room depicted above. There appears to be no way into the center of the room which contains a monster guarding a treasure. Later you’ll find a secret door that teleports you within the square where you’ll then be able to defeat the monster and take the treasure. Looking for a secret door within that square will allow you to escape its confines and return to the dungeon. There are two different areas like this in the dungeon. I spent a good 2-3 hours slamming the L key and going over every inch of the dungeon looking for the princess. I suspect I still missed something because I never did find the princess nor magical scroll #5.

Amad’s market is where you can purchase equipment which includes: regular arrows, magical arrows, healing potions, and holy water. The holy water acts much like an arrow or missile weapon. You press (T)hrow on the keyboard to hurl the holy water at an opponent. It is devastating to even the most powerful of undead creatures. A vampire that might take several magical arrows to slay can be bested by one or two vials of holy water. Amad’s market can be found at the beginning of the game however to access the market you have to (L)ook for a secret door and access it. If your character has a low intelligence score you may never find MANY of these secret doors. A high intelligence is an imperative.

The other unique feature of this game is its spell system. There are five magical scrolls that you can find numbered #1 through #5. Once you use the spell on the scroll it disappears so each spell is a one and done affair. I only found magical scrolls #1 through #4 and never did find the last scroll. The magical scrolls have the following properties:

Magical Scroll #1 – this is a kill spell. It immediately eliminates an enemy

Magical Scroll #2 – teleports you to your starting location in the dungeon

Magical Scroll #3 – an imprisonment spell that forms a block around your enemy

Magical Scroll #4 – this is an interesting spell. It creates a magical square around you that blasts a hole through a wall in four different compass directions. The dungeon location I teleported to and retrieved this scroll from had no exits nor secret doors I could find. I had to use this magic scroll to escape that area. When I blasted a hole in the wall and walked through it I wound up in Amad’s Market. My working theory is that if I were to restart the game over entirely; find the Magic Scroll #2 first (which teleports me back to the starting spot in the dungeon) and then obtain Magic Scroll #4, I would not have to use it to escape that area but would use the #2 instead. I have a hunch if I then took the time to wander all about that dungeon casting Magical Scroll #4 that it might take me to an area where I can find the princess. Or perhaps it leads me to Magical Scroll #5 which then leads me directly to the princess. I am relatively sure I did not miss any other secret doors or obvious solutions. What it boiled down to was choice. I had already spent probably way more time than I should have to this game; but I was enjoying myself. It didn’t seem practical to take the time to test my theory with such a daunting list ahead of me still. I am hoping that perhaps someone else will find the princess where I failed and then get back to us here with the solution. I definitely want to know the answer.

Now let’s get to the real star of this game. The map itself.

I’ll try to explain the map depicted above as best I can. Each numbered S is a secret door that teleports you to it’s match. For example S1 teleports you to the S1 location and so forth. You can see that most of these secret doors teleport you to isolated locations. These locations contain the greater treasures to find and the tougher monsters. The M on the map stands for monster and the T for treasure and these are at fixed locations on the map. You also have wandering monsters to deal with.

The graphics and movement through the game were quite smooth and seemed more fluid than many of the Dunjonquest games. I make that comparison because the gameplay and graphics are comparative to those previous games.

The game is one of economy because you’ll have to amass enough gold to purchase arrows, magical arrows, healing potions, and holy water. When I decided to end my search for the princess and move on, I was at a point where money no longer mattered as much. I had about 1200 gold pieces on me and was well stocked with all market items.

Combat involves melee with creatures that seem pulled from the Dungeons & Dragons game. There were giant rats, orcs, goblins, vampires, mummies, and others. Dragon Quest is a game in which you do not want to stand toe to toe with your opponent and hit the (F)ight key. You will end up getting decimated by even the weakest of creatures because you have no armor and there is none to find in the game. You want to stay as far away from your opponent as you can and rely on missile weapons to dispatch them. It will take MORE normal arrows to dispatch an opponent than what would be required of magical arrows but magical arrows are also 5x more expensive. There does not seem to be any experience or levels to be gained in the game. The goal here is one of exploration and to survive doing so.

I really enjoyed this game much more than I would have imagined and I probably have a good 8-10 hours invested in into it. I am very annoyed that I was not able to find the princess but felt that it was time to move on. There was no evidence anywhere of any kind of solution nor did I find evidence of anyone who was successful in finding the princess so I had to wonder and worry if this was not an emulation or “bug” issue.

Next up on the docket is Wizard’s City.

Until next time…

We’ve hit a bit of a milestone here with coverage of our 200th game on this journey. While I’m proud to have come this far the finish line is still nowhere in sight. To put things in perspective, if we were to compare what I’m doing here to hiking the Appalachian Trail, which spans 14 states and covers 2,200 miles, we’d be only about 20 miles into our hike at this point. However, I have greatly enjoyed the journey thus far and I am happy to report that my zest for this remains strong. Let’s take a look at our next entry.

Dragonsbane was written by Preston, Hunt, Rose, and More and published by Quicksila for the ZX Spectrum in 1983.

Dragonsbane is a 172 room dungeon packed with 40 different kinds of monsters and you are tasked with finding the princess and rescuing her. She is chained somewhere in the dungeon complex and you’re going to need to find two keys to free her.

What immediately struck me in a positive way were the game’s graphics. There was something about the black background, the layout of the screen, and the depiction of the creatures that really resonated with me. I really like the graphical layout as depicted above. I believe the layout is self-explanatory and I fell in love with the appearance and vibe.

There really are only 20 different types of monsters but they are represented by two different colors. So there are two variations of twenty different types of monsters and I enjoyed the graphical rendering of each of them. The game’s graphics evoke an atmosphere or charm that channels Darkest Dungeon vibes that wouldn’t appear for another 34 years.

This game oozes a uniqueness that I found charming. The dungeon layout is fixed but the monsters and items with each new game are distributed randomly.

Movement through the dungeon takes just a little bit of getting used to. You move using the number keys on your keyboard. 5 = left, 6 = back, 7 = forward and 8= right. The compass points are not fixed so when you move you’re moving in the direction you’re facing.

Each of the rooms are numbered and the map is fixed that way so it is a simple matter of writing the number of the room down and then linking them together to make your map.

There are also teleports that move you from one area of the dungeon labyrinth to the other. There were roughly five of these and mastering them is essential to a winning strategy.

It was obvious after playing the game for awhile that each of the dungeon denizens had a particular weakness or vulnerability. For example the skeleton succumbs easily to a bludgeoning weapon, the rat to a dagger, and the basilisk to a mirror. I thought perhaps then it was necessary to juggle your inventory and obliterate each monster obstacle with their appropriate weakness. I found that this strategy was greatly affected by the randomization of the objects and monsters in the dungeon with each new game. You also can only carry 7 objects at a time. Let’s step back from that line of thought and talk about food in the game.

When you begin each game you start with 16 meals. The game teases that consuming food increases your strength and endurance but NOT to gorge yourself; that you need to find the right balance of how much food to eat to rejuvenate yourself. I found that once your strength and endurance starts to wane, eating 3 meals will dramatically increase both of those meters. When your strength and endurance meters are relatively high, there is no monster in the game that can stand against you; defeating them is relatively easy. This places the economy of food in the game on center stage. Not all of the monsters are hostile. A few of them you can speak to rather than attack and your benevolence will allow you to trade with the creature. You can give it an inventory item in exchange for food. There are a couple of spots in the dungeon where you can find food and skill potions. All of this combines to create a strategy whereby your goal is to make your way through the entire dungeon while keeping your strength and endurance meters high. It is just combat that depletes your meters. Each step you take through the dungeon depletes your strength and endurance and running with this strategy can be a balancing act but it serves to ratchet up the tension which made the game even more enjoyable to me. The more combats that you win serves to increase your skill meter as well which means that measuring opponents against your strength and endurance meters falls more in your favor.

One of the two keys that you need to rescue the princess is guarded by a dragon lord. He looks impressive but again if your strength and endurance meters are high he is easily dispatched regardless of what weapon type you use.

You’ll need to find one of the hidden chutes in order to reach the area where the second key and princess are found.

I know these games are completely subjective but I really liked this offering. I liked having to create the map and work my way through the puzzle of it while dealing with the denizens. The graphics and the overall display really resonated with me. The battles too are highly entertaining in their descriptions as evidenced below:

I found this game to be extremely fun despite its simplicity.

Next up on the docket is Dragon Quest.

Until next time…

Labyrinth of Fear was written by Paul Barsby and published by Algray Software for the Colour Genie in 1983. This is the first game that I’ve covered for the Colour Genie which was a computer produced by Hong Kong-based manufacturer EACA and introduced in Germany in 1982. The BASIC was compatible with the TRS-80 and programs were provided to load TRS-80 programs into the Colour Genie. The operating system was a 16kb ROM containing LEVEL II BASIC.

The only other game created by Paul Barsby was Terry’s Travels which is a Frogger variant.

Labyrinth of Fear at first blush appears to be an obscure dungeon crawler. Your view is a first-person perspective featuring grid-based dungeon levels. You can turn 90 degrees and the wire-frame graphics are redrawn with every step that you take. I thought the main view of the maze was well done and movement through the maze seemed quick and fluid. Note that in the upper left corner next to the main view you are shown a layout of the maze as well as where the guards are located. The game is not really a role-playing game but falls more into the action category.

The documentation that comes with the game is rather sparse. The background information that you’re given is short and sweet:

You are about to return to the dawn of time when chaos and law battled for the souls of the infant human race, when all that stood between man and slavery were a few heroes. 

Deep in the forest of Kraaw lies the Labyrinth of Jarwon where, in the time before time began, those that came before kept the five secrets that can unlock the chains that bind man.

This same background information appears in a loading screen at the beginning of the game.

Your task in this game is to enter the maze and recover five blue boxes. The boxes are referred to as secrets. When you discover a box and pick it up you are told that you obtained Secret #1 for example.

You have an information panel to the left of your main view and it will display the number of secrets there that you’ve uncovered.

The five blue boxes are your ultimate goal but there are also many green boxes scattered throughout the dungeon level. The green boxes contain gold pieces. Some of these boxes contain guardians instead of gold that appear when you attempt to open the box. You can choose to simply walk by the box or you can stop and hit O on the keyboard that represents (O)pen. These guardians for some obscure reason are referred to as elementals.

The full gamut of your game controls are listed below:

Movement = 4 arrow keys

O = Open Box

P = Pay for passage (if you meet a guard or want to bribe the elementals)

F = Fight

Spacebar = Swing Sword

If a green box has a guardian attached then there is the possibility of combat. This is where the game becomes even more eccentric. You have two choices: 1) the elemental will allow you to move on if you pay a bribe – they will dictate to you how much – however be aware that you can bargain with them too. Thus gold is a very important commodity in the game. If you have a decent supply of gold coins you can bribe both guards and elementals and carry on in your search of blue boxes. If you have NO gold and open a green box that has a guardian attached you are not even given the choice of combat, the guardian deducts a random percentage from your strength score – sometimes as much as 10%. This is equivalent to a grievous wound. Allow me to explain.

Combat is a bizarre affair. The combat in this game reminds me of the Crown of Arthain.

When combat ensues the main view changes to display two characters facing one another. You then find yourself slamming your spacebar over and over again in order to defeat your opponent. I have found that even when you get very good at defeating your opponent that you lose about 15% of your strength score doing so. This means that you have to learn to economize your strength.

The addition of a timer further complicates the game. You are given a set amount of time to find the five blue boxes and the timer runs down as you move about.

Once I spent some time with the game the following strategy seemed to work the best. I would ignore most of the green boxes. I would take my chances with a select few in the hope that I could amass SOME gold. I would use my time to quickly navigate the maze, searching every inch while avoiding the four guards. Once I realized I had to deal with the guards in order to continue my search I used my gold to bribe the guards that I could and then resorted to combat to dispatch the rest. If you try and open all the green boxes that you find you’ll discover that the elementals deplete your strength score so much that you are unable to complete your quest.

There are also hidden pits within the maze that can drop you to a lower level. Each new level also presents the problem of four new guards.

I was finally able to obtain five of the blue boxes and once you accomplish this task the game quickly begins again.

This was another obscure title I had never heard of. I suspect that the game made my list of games to play because the cover and screen shots pass it off as a role-playing game.

I played Labyrinth of Fear on the Genieous emulator and it took me about two hours to beat the game. I want to give a shout out to @Bennett from our discord room who helped me get the game started. If you’re going to use the emulator to play this game you’ll need to attach Labyrinth_Of_Fear_A.cas and enter the following instructions:

Loading

SYSTEM (RETURN) 

At the *? prompt, type: 

L (RETURN) 

After a successful load, type: 

/ (RETURN) 

to start.

Wait about five seconds after the title screen has displayed, then Attach CAS and locate Labyrinth_Of_Fear_B.cas and then the game should run properly for you.

Next up on the docket is Dragonsbane.

Until next time…