Game #162: Ulysses & the Golden Fleece (1981)

Ulysses & the Golden Fleece is another fine example of amazing artwork used to display these early games. The collage on the box is reminiscent of the Jason & the Argonauts film by Ray Harryhausen or Clash of the Titans. It promises a grand quest and epic adventures.

I remember this box calling to me in my youth like a siren’s song (see what I did there?) but I never purchased the game or played it. This was a game on my list that I had really been looking forward to playing. Unfortunately, I ended up disappointed with the experience.

The biggest frustration for me were the puzzle designs. I am all for the creation of a difficult game or a game that is given a difficult or expert rating but I expect the puzzles to follow fair play rules. I believe I had to resort to “cheating” and obtaining a hint five different times in this particular game which is a record for me. The solutions didn’t cause me to berate myself but instead left me shaking my head. Perhaps the developers set out to create an extremely difficult game but what they did instead was alienate a large part of their audience with ridiculous puzzles.

I mentioned in my opening paragraph how the collage on the box cover reminded me of Jason & the Argonauts by Ray Harryhausen. Let’s be clear o’ Greek aficionados! It was Jason, son of the King of Iolcus, who assembled a pack of heroes, known as the Argonauts, and set sail to retrieve the Golden Fleece (the fleece of a winged holy ram of Zeus). Ulysses, also known as Odysseus – they are one and the same, is the hero of Homer’s Odyssey. I am sure that Sierra was avoiding copyright infringement and thus must have decided to create a Greek Mythology mishmash. There are a couple of instances in the game where having some familiarity with Greek Mythology will help you realize what you need to do. Alas if only the puzzle design didn’t negate that particular advantage – more on this later. Many key sequences will closely parallel the Jason & the Argonauts story albeit with Ulysses at the helm.

In this first opening sequence you’ll discover your quest, buy equipment at a store, and assemble your crew. I spent quite a bit of time mapping out all of the locations and it seemed that I had hit a dead end. There was one area, the entry hall of the King’s Castle, in which a guard would not let me in to see the King. I felt that this was the area that I needed to explore further. I found that by typing TALK GUARD he would then ask if I was Ulysses to which I replied YES. I was then granted audience to the King. If you explore and find daylight turn into evening and return to the area the guard will be gone from this location and the gates and doors locked and you will not get an audience with the King. This audience is necessary to move the game forward and you will have Softlocked the game. A Softlock in gaming is a situation where the player becomes stuck inside the game, unable to move forward or go back, unable to do anything about it, and thus will have to begin the game all over again. While I am not a fan of these situations this is certainly not the first time we’ve encountered something like this so I felt it was fair.

Once you have an audience with the King he tasks you with finding the Golden Fleece. He gives you a ship with which to do so and a bag of gold to purchase supplies and a crew.

This brings us to the second Softlock you’ll likely encounter in the game. I found this particular “puzzle” to be frustrating. Let me explain.

You have a bag of silver the King gave you to spend on supplies. Your only option at the store is to mix or match any 7 from this list of 8 items. You’re going to have to correctly guess which of the items to leave behind or you’ll be Softlocked from being able to finish the game. You only discover which items were necessary MUCH later in the game. In which case, you’ll have to begin the game all over again. I found myself restarting THREE different times because I incorrectly guessed which item to leave behind. While this was not one of the puzzles which violated fair play rules, I still found it to be extremely irritating. The first time I left behind the wood – WRONG! The second time I left behind the wine – WRONG! Which item do you leave behind? I refuse to shed any further light on the issue.

In this phase of the game, before you set sail, you’re going to want to find a chest in a wooded area and take it. The chest has an intricate lock that you can’t seem to open yet. Heavy sigh. More on this later. You’re also going to want to find a bottle floating in the water by the dock.

It is then time to set sail? Or is it?

Once you set sail you’ll have an albatross drop a bag into your ship at a certain location at sea. You’ll want to GET BAG and then in another location a CONDOR drops into the boat, dead, and you’ll want to pick up the CONDOR. The CONDOR is the epicenter of what is probably the worst puzzle I’ve encountered thus far. I feel that is really saying something as I’m 162 games into this journey. More on this frustrating puzzle later. Let’s instead focus on what would be yet another frustrating puzzle sequence. However before we delve into that, while mapping the ocean, there is an instant death area that you can discover. You perish merely by sailing into that location and will have to begin the game end. This isn’t the first time I’ve encountered something like this. While I’m not a fan instant death areas exist in these early games – I shrugged my shoulders – and started the game all over again.

You’ll soon sail into a hurricane where you can see an island in the distance. I knew it the island in the distance was my destination but no matter what I tried I kept getting killed by the hurricane.

Remember the guard back at the dock?

Yes that one. You needed to type GIVE COIN after which the game will ask you if you were trying to bribe a guard? When you answer YES he hands you a map and it has the complicated directions to move past the hurricane to the island. This was one of the times I had to resort to getting a hint and I berated myself a bit for this one though to be fair you can easily walk by the guard to get to the King’s Dock where the boat is docked. You were not able to access the King’s Dock until you visited the King. The King gives you gold and silver and after you visit the king you can then walk right past the guard; so bribing the guard never occurred to me. This had me grimacing a bit; but I blamed myself for this one even though I didn’t agree with the logic.

The medium has moved from an interactive text adventure to a graphic adventure but that doesn’t mean we’ll leave some of the classic early tropes behind. Ulysses & the Golden Fleece features a forest maze in the beginning, the ocean voyage itself is a maze to be conquered, an island maze, then an underground maze of caverns which have to be mapped. This seems like such standard fare for me that I just willingly go along for the ride but I know it was a frustration for several players.

On the island you’re going to want to find a Bridle and you’re also going to want to procure some Dust that you find in a hole in a tree. You are then ready to venture into the caves.

Once inside the cavern complex you’re going to want to fill the bottle in your possession with water from a spring. Then you’ll come to the first of a progression of puzzles. You’re going to come upon a deep fjord that you have to cross and this is where the Leather you purchased from the store comes in to play. If you left the Leather behind, you are now Softlocked and must begin the game all over again.

This took a lot of experimentation but this was a puzzle I was able to work out on my own but it involves using the leather you purchased.

Once past the deep fjord you’ll find yourself confronted by a dragon. To get past this obstacle you’ll have to ask yourself what is it that dragon’s covet. Getting by this particular obstacle was one of the easier puzzles.

This is the particular puzzle that really rankled me.

I found myself standing before a great canyon with seemingly no way to get across or move on.

My first thought was that since I found a bridle on the island I must find a Pegasus and that I must have missed a location so I backtracked and combed over every location over and over again. Then I thought perhaps the dust I found in the tree is magical and I have to sprinkle it on myself somehow and it will give me the power of flight. Nope.

Finally after about another hour of trying various things; I resorted to a hint or a “push” so that I could continue on. What I found was rather surprising and silly all rolled into one. Remember how I related that during your ocean voyage a Condor will drop dead into your boat? Before I continue I want to show you the graphic of the dead Condor lying in the boat.

There is your graphic. Now when this happened I DID pick up the Condor and did examine the Condor; which revealed nothing. There were no adjectives or sentences that described the Condor to you.

So…how do you get across the deep canyon? Well OBVIOUSLY you pluck the feathers from the Condor and then you type in MAKE WINGS. The game will ask you with what? You answer WITH FEATHERS. The game queries again with what else? You type in AND WAX. You then fly across the canyon to the other side. Really? This has got to be one of the most ridiculous puzzle solutions I’ve come across after reviewing 162 games. I know this is a fantasy game; but you couldn’t pay me to fashion some make-shift wings from a dead bird using wax and then leap off the side of a canyon cliff. Come on now. I found this entire puzzle falling within the unfair play rules. I did not feel badly looking up the hint for this because I would have NEVER gotten this given even many more hours of play.

Once you’re on the other side of the canyon you’ll encounter Pluto, the God of the Underworld.

This is where the dust you found in the tree comes in handy. You have to THROW DUST at Pluto and he will leave.

Once you move beyond Pluto you will soon encounter a wall of fire within the caverns. I tried to pour the water from the bottle over the fire and then over myself but I died each time. Once again you might have the opportunity to Softlock the game at this point if you chose to leave the wine behind in the store. If you left the wine behind you’re going to have to start the game all over again. Why? Because you obviously should pour an alcoholic beverage over yourself before attempting to walk through a wall of fire. I never even considered the wine even though it’s a liquid because I didn’t have a death wish. Really though – the solution is to POUR WINE – where? – ON SELF – then you can walk through the fire. I needed a hint to move beyond this wall of fire because I never considered pouring alcohol over myself and walking through. Silly me. Now at this point I was getting very perturbed with this particular game.

Once beyond the wall of fire you make your way back to the ship and you leave the island. Or attempt to leave the island. Your attempt at escaping the island by sea is blocked by Neptune; again reminiscent of the Ray Harryhausen film.

How do you deal with a God? Simple. Remember filling your bottle with water from that spring in the cavern? Here you type in POUR WATER and when asked where you enter IN OCEAN. This will cause Neptune to leave. It makes no sense, however amazingly, I did not need a hint for this one because a voice while exploring the forest in the beginning of the game whispered a hint that I would need a potion from the island to get by Neptune.

Your next obstacle has you sailing past Siren’s Island. I knew two things because I’m pretty versed in mythology: I knew I’d have to tie myself to the mast and I knew I’d be using the wax again to stopper the ears of my crew and myself. I just needed to wrestle with the parser to get this done. Unfortunately; I failed in that endeavor and once more I had to look at a walkthrough. When I read what I needed to do I was moving from perturbed to just ready to be done with this game. No matter what I tried with the wax I couldn’t figure out how to block the song of the Siren’s. The solution? I needed to enter HOLD WAX and the warmth of my hand must soften it. Couldn’t we have pretended that it was warm from my pocket? After you HOLD WAX you can then type in PLUG EARS (which I had already typed numerous times). Then you can TIE SELF to the MAST. The siren’s will then sing a rhyme and let you sail past the island.

The Island of the Cyclops took the last of my patience. You need to say the password SEVENSEAS to get the harpies to leave so that you can then open a cage.

Once you open the cage you can then retrieve the mallet inside. You’ll then make your way to the lair of the Cyclops. You’re going to GIVE WINE to the Cyclops and he will then ask what is needed to make wine? You respond with GRAPES and he then leaves for awhile. There is a tree TRUNK in the cave lair and you can pick it up. You then need to figure out that you have to SHARPEN TRUNK – with what? – WITH SWORD. In two more turns the cyclops returns and you have to type USE TRUNK – where? – IN EYE. Once you stab the Cyclops in the eye he leaves the cave. You can then make a fire using both the FLINT and WOOD from the store – if you left either of those items behind – then surprise – once again you have Softlocked the game and you must start all over again. You’ll then kill the sheep the Cyclops was herding and feed your crew.

Once past the lair of the Cyclops you’ll make your way to a clearing and suddenly encounter a group of skeletons. This is probably my favorite scene from Jason & the Argonauts. I love the stop motion technology that was Harryhausen’s trademark.

How do you get past this band of skeletons? This particular puzzle solution also enters the realm of absurdity. Remember the chest that we found in the forest back in the beginning of the game? It had an intricate lock that we couldn’t figure out. Remember the bottle we found near the docks? We used that bottle to fill it with water from the cave spring and then used it to vanquish Neptune. Well inside that bottle was a note. When you read the note you see this: ECEELF Fleece spelled backwards. Well here we go. ONLY in this particular location and at this particular time; if you now say ECEELF the chest suddenly opens. If you LOOK CHEST you will see a sword. If you GET SWORD and USE SWORD it will kill the entire group of skeletons. Did I need a hint to figure out to say ECEELF and open that chest up then? You betcha!

You’ll then move to a cliff wall where you’ll have to use yet another magical password: SUPPELTUEL which was in the Siren’s Rhyme. A door in the cliff wall will then open and you will find yourself in a valley with a chained Pegasus. You USE MALLET to break the chain holding the Pegasus.

You then finally use the bridle and you can RIDE PEGASUS who will jump over a wall of thorns and allow you to GET FLEECE hanging from a tree. You can then continue to ride the Pegasus back to the King. Once you give the fleece to the king it completes the game.

I didn’t feel very victorious after having completed the game. It felt more like I endured the game or persevered through the game. I think I had to resort to a walkthrough five different times which is something I am loathe to do. Admittedly had I not done so; I’d have never completed the game as my mind wouldn’t bend to those solutions no matter how many hours I put into it.

I played the game on an Apple emulator and the disk image is quite easy to track down. I spend a good ten hours with the game because I gave each puzzle my best effort and went through particular routines before resorting to a hint. The game map was quite large with many locations.

I am still very glad that I finally experienced the game and was able to complete it however I wouldn’t say the experience was very palatable. It is not often that this happens. Ironically the next game on my list is called Nightmare. Until next time…