Game #207: Questron (1984)

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…