Author: professor6153

I would definitely not be the first nor the last to describe Savage Island as “brutally difficult”. I was able to beat the game last night but it took a 5 hour marathon session that had me up until 2 a.m. This game was released in 1980 and it followed Scott Adam’s Ghost Town which I thought was hard. The aspects of Ghost Town that made that game difficult are carried over into this game and Mr. Adams pulls no punches.

In hindsight; now that I’ve finished the game; many of the game’s puzzles are fair and once past the bear puzzle the game seems to move along quite nicely. There are several things that are responsible for the game’s moniker of being especially difficult.

One of the aspects carried over from Ghost Town is that not all exits or destinations are obvious to the player. You may need to interact with your environment in order to arrive at a place. So when you see a volcano described in the text; rather than GO EAST (which you are not allowed to do) you instead have to type GO VOLCANO and then you suddenly find yourself on the rim of the volcano looking down. There are several instances of this that occur in Savage Island and it broke interactive fiction conventions for that time period.

The second game mechanic that added to the difficulty level was a randomization factor that involved dealing with both the weather and the bear. This threw me for a loop for awhile because I was very used to an IF / THEN kind of ideology in the text adventures I’ve played thus far. What I mean by this is that I was used to a system of games whereby if I took an action in that game which resulted in failure than I knew not to take that action again. It was the wrong course of action and I had best try something else. Scott Adams broke interactive fiction tropes by including a randomization factor. The bear may have decided to eat me right away when I first entered the volcano however that did not mean that entering the volcano was a wrong course of action. I may try again and find that the bear doesn’t eat me the next time I try the same action. So I had to throw convention out the window and realize in Savage Island that my course of action may not necessarily have been the wrong course of action; it just may have been committed at the wrong time or merely been a victim of a randomization routine. So it became a matter of attempting the same thing several times and expecting a different outcome; which in some circles is called insanity.

So in Savage Island I found myself saving the game repeatedly with many different save titles. I think by the time I finished the game I had 21 different saved game files. In one sequence of actions the high winds may kill me in five moves. In another RESTORE the high winds might kill me in 3 moves or 11 moves. In one game the bear might sniff me and immediately eat me upon encountering it. In another RESTORE the bear might not eat me right away and I have a couple of turns to take an action. The bear is tricky because it is attracted to the sweat or salt on your body. If you have taken a lot of actions prior to encountering the bear the game assumes you are perspiring and it has an affect on the randomization routine. You can bathe in the lake and reset that condition before you meet the bear however encountering the bear causes you to become nervous and this nervousness causes you to begin to perspire. CHOMP!

This may be the only interactive fiction game up to this point where the theme of much of the game is quite literally man against nature. This was a very different theme for this period compared to all of the other interactive adventures to have come before it. You had, I believe I counted 62 turns, before a hurricane hits the island and you’re dealing with heavy winds. When you move about in those winds there is the very real danger of dying. When you combine the randomization of the hurricane winds with dealing with a sick bear it creates quite the difficulty loop. I call it a loop because dealing with both the weather and the bear gets very tricky. You have a sequence of actions that you have to get right to be able to deal with the bear and weather. You also had to deal with swimming in a realistic fashion, finding a place to sleep, and building a raft with what you have on hand. Certainly a different theme than any that have come before it.

Correctly dealing with the bear and weather loop puzzle involves you first finding a bottle of rum and deciding what to do with the contents of the bottle, which took a lot of my time. What you do NOT want to do is pour out and waste the rum that is in the bottle. So the most difficult puzzle of the game involves you having to carry the bottle of rum into the volcano hoping that the bear will not eat you; safely storing the rum in a certain location; and then figuring out how you’re going to take the empty bottle back out of the volcano.

Wait. Why would carrying an empty bottle out of the volcano be difficult? You did, after all, carry it in. Because the only way to leave the volcano and make your way back to the island’s shores is to swim an underground lake. However you can’t seem to carry any items at all with you while swimming or you’ll drown. So you need to leave said bottle, swim empty handed across the lake; make your way back to the island shores; retrieve an item that will help you with the lake inventory; and make your way back to the volcano with it.

SPOILER ALERT

I’m talking about the palm log. However the palm log replaces the bottle conundrum in that you have to ALSO get the palm log back out of the volcano as well; and it isn’t by swimming with it across the lake. How to get the log out of the volcano was another time suck for me as I played through this game.

END OF SPOILER ALERT

Once you solve the problem of the bear, which is not easy, you can safely make your way into the dark opening and this time you can WAIT inside without fear of the bear eating you. Once you do that the storm outside passes and you are then able to break that weather & bear loop. For me, once I broke that loop, I found that the game progressed at a much more manageable difficulty level.

I had guessed correctly that I had needed to build a raft. Once the raft is built you will find that you can visit two different places: the atoll and a beach. Once again the randomization routine rears it’s ugly head here. Like most other interactive text adventures I had thought that there is just one correct path to get from point A to point B but not so in Savage Island. Whether you reach the atoll or the beach first seems completely random as well as the directions that you take to get there. I also found out the hard way that you want to visit the atoll first before you visit the beach so my numerous saved games helped me there.

Once you visit the beach the game takes a decidedly weird turn involving aliens, the prehistoric past, and alien machinery. You’ll find that you have to go back to the main island you escaped from and you’ll finally get a chance to explore the dark cave complex just past the bear. It is only now that you finally have your light source and in my opinion this was probably the second hardest puzzle in the game. Solving this puzzle requires many steps. The first is realizing that you can explore the bottom of the lake by holding your breath! Make sure you retrieved not one but two items from the bottom of the lake. The mysterious plastic box was a huge time suck for me. Make sure that you carry it with you at all times. In the caves off the beach you find by raft is where I actually had to resort to getting a hint that involved the force field. I was mad at myself after I did so because I succumbed to the same trick that had already been used in the game several times. I blame the late night playing session; wink. I also just couldn’t wrap my mind around walking right into a force field.

The end of the game will involve repaired alien machinery and a caveman who will give you a password in order to start Savage Island – Part Two.

I feel like I’ll need to do some push ups and eat a protein bar before I even begin to think of tackling Savage Island – Part Two. I played Savage Island on an Apple emulator and it took me roughly 20 hours to complete the game. I have been extremely busy with my J O B and so many of those early hours with the game were spent in short 15 to 30 minute bursts and involved me starting over many times. Trying to free yourself from that weather and sick bear loop is not the sort of Groundhog Day comedy that you want to subject yourself too much to.

I really felt a sense of accomplishment after having finished this one because it required much time, patience, and experimentation on the part of the player. I think this game holds the record for me now in the interactive fiction category for the amount of time needed to complete; beating out Zork I and Empire of the Overmind. To reiterate; I feel that many people had so much trouble with Savage Island – Part One because it introduced a number of firsts in the interactive fiction category. It is true that Scott Adams set out to make it difficult but part of that difficulty involved him continuing to experiment and play with the medium that he’d already published nine other adventures in.

Savage Island is the 10th game in Scott Adams’ Adventure Series and it is not for the uninitiated. The game thus far has been brutally difficult.

I have been extremely busy with work the past four weeks and thus my gaming time has been drastically reduced. I have found myself playing the game in 30 minute segments on nights where I’m not too exhausted. The game gives up it’s secrets only after great persistence. I’ve been like a starving man searching for bread crumbs.

You begin the game on a beach next to a large stone head lying near the shore. I had no idea what the premise of the game was when I first started to play it.

I can only surmise at this point what I’m likely supposed to do but more on that later. Moving about from location to location is not as simple as previous text adventures that we’ve played. For example, when you move south from your starting location you can spot a volcano in the distance. You cannot move in any particular direction from that spot however if you type in GO VOLCANO then you suddenly find yourself on the rim of the volcano looking down. There have been a few instances like this where you have to interact with your environment rather than moving in a particular compass direction. This has made exploring the island slow and tedious as you test each compass direction and then have to resort to interacting with descriptive elements as well.

I have been able to slowly make some progress with the game however I am still dealing with multiple puzzles.

One of the biggest puzzles in the game has got to be the bear. Yes this seems like an episode of Lost which wouldn’t come around for another 15 years or so. Once you are standing on the rim of the volcano you can make your down into the caldera and once you do so you’ll find a cave and a lake; and also a bear. ( it took me quite a bit of playing time before I even realized that I could go down in to the volcano ) The bear would routinely sniff me, lick me, and then eat me. This caused me to have to restart the game multiple times. I slowly came to realize that the bear is attracted to the sweat on my body. If you swim in the lake before you encounter the bear it will buy you some time. The more actions you take however and the more time that goes by you’ll begin to perspire again and when you do the bear will eat you.

The bear is generally found in the cave and there is also a dark opening in the cave that I can enter however I have no light source. I’ve yet to take the time to attempt to map the cave in the dark. The game warns you that you can fall and break your neck by moving around in the dark so I’m assuming there must be a light source somewhere however I have yet to find it. There is also a ledge just off the main chamber of the cave that overlooks a lava flow and it is incredibly hot in the room. I am sure it is there for a reason.

Here are all of the current puzzles I am currently working on:

• the bear – examining the bear reveals that it is sick – it is also attracted to the sweat on your body so I believe I have to help the bear in some way or give it something
• the dark cave – I need to try to find a light source of some kind
• in my most recent session I had two huge breakthroughs – I discovered a bottle of rum by digging in the sand at the beach – I dumped out the rum and filled the bottle with seawater and tried to give it to the bear or dump it in a natural stone basin in the cave but my attempts have gotten me killed each time. I’ll keep experimenting with the bottle of rum but it seems key
• I also discovered that if I hold my breath I can dive down to the bottom of the lake. I found a knife down there but each time I try to carry an item in the water it leads to me drowning. I believe I have thought through a solution to this problem but so far I have failed to properly implement my plan. One of the things you have to deal with is a hurricane which hits the island. In one of my play sessions I heard a loud crash and discovered that a palm tree had been knocked down. I was able to pick up the tree trunk and carry it around. I believe I have to get the trunk and take it down to the lake and perhaps I can use that as a flotation device to help me. The problem is the hurricane keeps killing me. I am sure there is a spot on the island where I can be safe from the strong winds and then obtain the tree trunk. I will work on that this week.
• I discovered I could climb the head on the beach and once up there I discovered an atoll in the distance. I believe that I am to build a raft and make my way over to that atoll. Why a raft? I see no other way to cross water filled with sharks to a neighboring atoll. I have a trunk from a palm tree; and I spotted some vines when I was examining the jungle but I couldn’t get the vines. Perhaps the knife; if I can obtain it; will allow me to cut the vines. We’ll see
• So I need to deal with the bear, the lake, the hurricane, find a light source, get materials for a raft, and make my way off of the island.

It took quite a bit of time to pull this information from the game. Time and persistence and constant experimentation has led to the puzzles that I’ve presented to you. The game is extremely tough and does not give up it’s secrets easily. I will continue to plug away at this and hopefully have an update for you next week and I’ll have more to say about the game itself.

Warrior of Ras, Volume Two: Kaiv is the sequel to Randall D. Masteller’s Dunzhin. It is the second of what ultimately became a four game series; all of which were published by Screenplay.

Kaiv allows you to actually import your character from Dunzhin even if that character is Level 11 and higher. I elected to go the hard route and started the game with a new character instead.

The manual is well done and the game’s instructions are delivered through the character of Grimsweord; having just survived his ordeal within the Kaiv complex.

This sequel builds upon the previous game by allowing for inventory management now. You begin the game with 2000 gold and in a market just outside of the cave complex.

The market is now an integral part of the game and you will find yourself returning to the market several times to replenish supplies. Your sword can break during combat so it is essential that you have one to two backups and even these will not be enough to see you through to the end of the game. Your armor can also be destroyed over time as it succumbs to multiple hits during combat. Torches, food, and water all depreciate in this game which is a huge change and improvement over the last game. I found that I had to travel back to the market place three different times to purchase more of said items.

The other items in the market place have their own important functions in the game as well. The flint & steel are needed in order to light a new torch. Rope and pick are needed as you traverse the Kaiv complex as cave-ins are a frequent hazard. The mirror and cross can be used against certain enemies as there is a much greater flexibility in combat now compared to the previous game. You will find that not only can you use items in combat but you can also use potions and magic items which you find during your exploration of the Kaiv complex.

The implementation of having to consume food and water to survive and having to maintain and manage your weapons and armor is a marked improvement in complexity compared to the first game in the series. The combat complexity which made the first game so interesting has not changed much in this new offering. If anything the combat is even more flexible with the addition of now being able to use potions, magic items, and equipment purchased from the market.

Some of the creatures that you encounter are very hard to beat such as lords, vampires, and wyverns. Special items can aid you as well as the potions and magic items that you find. I found some of the higher level encounters in this game to be much harder than they were in the previous installment.

The KAIV does not contain levels like in a dungeon however the complex grows or scrolls from left to right. When you explore from left to right; as you reach the right most edge you suddenly find yourself in an entirely new screen to be explored. The game uses a fog of war like it’s predecessor and in this way each “new screen” to the right acts much like a new and more difficult dungeon level. There are six total screens which make up the KAIV complex from left to right.

The more that you move from left to right the higher the difficulty factor becomes. The frequency with which your torch goes out and your need for food and water seems to increase. Your chance of a wandering encounter with creatures increases. Your chances of a cave-in also increases. If you are caught in a cave-in you will need your pick to get out of it and even then you might suffer more damage. The creatures which you encounter also become tougher. You’ll find that you’re more likely to encounter a lord or a vampire or a wyvern in the 5th or 6th screen to the right or other high level encounters.

The ultimate goal in KAIV is to survive to find the hidden treasure located in the last level of the KAIV. For me the hidden treasure ended up being 7000 gold pieces. A bit anti-climatic maybe for some but I greatly enjoyed the entire experience.

I liked the first game in the series and this second offering doesn’t disappoint. The inclusion of inventory management, food & water for survival and adding magical items that can be used in combat checks off more RPG boxes for me.

It took me roughly six hours to build my character up enough to be able to reach and find the hidden treasure. I played Warrior of Ras, Volume Two: Kaiv on an Apple emulator. I liked the first game in the series and I liked this one even better. I look forward to 1983’s checklist of RPG games so that I can play the third and fourth games in the series. I find Randall D. Masteller’s work to be very impressive so far.

Warrior of Ras, Volume One: Dunzhin was published by Screenplay in 1982 for the TRS-80, Apple II, and PC Booter and in 1983 it was ported to the Atari 8-Bit and Commodore 64. Randall Don Masteller was the author of the game and would go on to write three sequels with Steven Baumrucker. Masteller then left Screenplay and moved on to work for Microprose. His credits include Silent Service for the Atari ST and Crusade in Europe and Conflict in Vietnam for the Commodore 64. I could find no other credits for the author.

Dunzhin randomly generates it’s dungeon levels with each new game that you play and it also randomly generates the item that you’re looking for to complete your quest. In this way it guarantees that each play through will be different or unique. The White Amulet of Liviz was my target which I needed to find in order to complete my quest. There are five dungeon levels randomly generated in the game and the random item you’re assigned to find will likely be found on levels 4 or 5.

I wanted to double check the back of the box to make sure that the game does not advertise itself as “rogue-like”. It refers to itself as a graphic role playing game and this is certainly more appropriate. It greatly reminds me in many ways of The Sword of Fargoal.

The game manual is nowhere near as elaborate as a game manual produced by Epyx but I found it to have quite a bit of “character.” There is a short back story which you can read and the game mechanics and keys are described to you through the narrative of another adventurer who has survived the Dunzhin as well.

You do not get to purchase items or choose your type of armor or sword nor is there any sort of magic system in the game. When you step in to the first level of the dungeon it is much like Sword of Fargoal in that a fog of war is in play. You can only see the your immediate surroundings and the rest of the dungeon level that is unexplored is in utter darkness and it is not revealed to you. When you begin to navigate through the maze then the surrounding area reveals itself to you.

The picture depicted above shows an example of the fog of war in play. Rooms are only revealed to you as you enter them. Each of the rooms are labeled with a letter of the alphabet. Some of the rooms have treasures to obtain and other rooms reveal special properties that they have such as mending armor and weapons to recharging wands and staves.

The movement system is reminiscent of Dunjonquest: Temple of Apshai though rather than facing a direction and typing a number one through nine; you literally type in MOVE SOUTH 2 or MOVE WEST 5. I rather liked that unique form of movement progression through the dungeon but I can see where others might find it tedious.

The really impressive thing about Dunzhin was it’s very complex system of combat.

You not only have an overall Armor Defense rating but each part of your body has it’s own individual armor class and defense rating. Each blow to a specific body part subtracts from both the individual’s overall hit points but also from the specific points assigned to that target area. If you overwhelm any one target area; or in other words if any body part falls to zero; it results in death. While certain body parts are harder to hit than others; you can try to end the battle rather quickly by trying to overwhelm a particularly vulnerable body part. I found the combat system to be extremely fascinating and it was definitely a highlight of the game. It is the first time I’ve encountered a combat system of this nature in home computer role-playing games.

You can also choose to make a normal attack, or AIM in which you’re trading power for a greater chance to hit, or you can use a FORCE attack whereby it is harder for you to hit but you’re letting it all hang out in an effort to deliver a titanic blow. The complexity of the combat is truly amazing. The head and neck are harder to hit but have fewer protection points. The chest and legs are easier to hit but usually have more protection. So you’ll have to decide if you want to try and wear down your opponent in a long, drawn out battle or if you want to try to slay them with one mighty blow by going for a harder to hit body part.

The complexity of the combat does not end there. You gain experience points for the foes which you conquer. This is unique from prior games in that the game differentiates the experience points you obtain from lower level monsters from higher level monsters. Level progression through the first 9 levels of experience is relatively quick but then the amount of experience points you need to reach 10th level and beyond increases significantly. When you gain a level the protection points for each body party increases as does your overall defense points. If you want to remain on the first or second dungeon level and fight low level opponents then it is going to take longer for you to grind to higher experience point levels. As you move deeper into the dungeon you will begin to encounter more difficult creatures which are worth more experience points when you beat them. You have the ability in the game to CALL YOUR FOES. If you desire to encounter a specific enemy you can SEARCH for them and find them relatively quickly. There are 18 different creatures that are listed in the documentation and in this way you can make sure that you encounter and experience all 18 of them. You can purposefully then seek out the toughest opponents in this way and thus earn huge experience point totals. Extremely unique and was really fun to test yourself against the most powerful foes.

You have the ability to save your game anywhere in the Dunzhin so permadeath is not really a threat in this game. There were also random messages that you’d encounter in various parts of the Dunzhin. Sometimes a ghostly voice would whisper “Go Away!” and you’d find yourself teleported to a different area of the Dunzhin. In another example a woman’s voice suddenly whispers next to you “I like you” and when this happens you’ll find that your luck improves in combat. I liked when this happened to me because immediately afterwards I would search for higher level foes to combat because I knew that my die rolls were going to be “lucky” or extremely good. The female voice though may sometimes whisper “I do not like you” and thus conversely many of your die rolls would be negatively impacted and so you had to be extremely careful at that point.

I eventually found what I was looking for on the 4th level of the dungeon.

It was then a simple matter of making my way back through the previous levels to the surface. When you get to the surface you receive a quick message that reads; You have exited the Dunzhin. Congratulations! You have obtained the item! WELL DONE! Short and sweet.

I played Warrior of Ras, Volume One: Dunzhin on an Apple emulator and it took me about three hours to win the game. I was a fan of both Sword of Fargoal and Temple of Apshai so it was not hard for me to instantly like Dunzhin as well. I am actually greatly looking forward to playing the sequel: Warrior of Ras, Volume Two: Kaiv which was also released in 1982. The sequel is actually next up in my que so when next I speak to you it will be concerning Masteller’s sequel.

5 seconds

5 seconds was the life span of my first character that I generated for this game.

5 seconds

5 seconds is the amount of time you have to decide what it is that you would like to do. The game advertises itself as a turn-based game however if you do nothing in 5 seconds the game decides for you. Most of the time this results in a random encounter with a level 4 giant or a level 3 vampire. Seriously. On my turn I may do 5 damage if I am lucky while they kill me in one blow.

Telengard was developed by Microcomputer Games and published by Avalon Hill. It was released in 1982 for the Apple II, Commodore PET, and TRS-80. It was ported to the Atari and Commodore 64 in 1983 and for DOS in 1985.

I was very excited to play this game. I remember seeing the game on store shelves and hearing that the game was hard and it’s “world” vast.

The game advertises itself as a “rogue-like” but trying to compare this game to Rogue is like comparing an apple to an orange.

You begin the game by randomly rolling up character stats and then choosing a name. Once the game begins you find yourself at the bottom of the stairs. There is usually an encounter before you’ve even taken a step. I believe my first character encountered a Level 3 Vampire at the foot of the stairs. It drained my blood, drained my experience (instantly killing me) and drained my enthusiasm to continue.

This went on for some time. I believe I went through 15 characters in roughly 25 minutes.

Telengard is the 109th game I’ve played and reviewed while on my retro-game journey and it is also the most disappointing game that I’ve played to date. I know this will cause some ire with many but it’s true. There are multiple things about this game that bothered me greatly.

• I didn’t like the randomness of the wandering monsters. I could just stay at the foot of the stairs and every 5 seconds I may experience an encounter with a wandering monster. It could range from a skeleton to dragons, giants, and vampires; some at extremely high levels of experience. I found a Ring of Regeneration +1 at the foot of the stairs and an Elven Cloak +2 at the foot of the stairs. I felt like I was in a Monty Haul campaign or that the Dungeon Master was drunk.
• If this is indeed a “rogue-like” game then let me choose my character class and race. Let me manage and experiment with my inventory. Instead what Telengard does is replace your current inventory item with a new item that you find. So if you found a Ring of Regeneration +1 and then later found a Ring of Protection +1; the Ring of Protection would replace the Ring of Regeneration; which simply disappears from your inventory. Any choice is taken away from you.
• The completionist in me desperately wanted to map out the dungeon level. There was no time to map the game out! You have to make a decision within 5 seconds or the computer makes one for you. Why even bother to explore when you can just stand there at the foot of the stairs and randomly encounter foes every 5 seconds? So I gave up the notion of trying to complete some sort of map. There is no pause feature in the game and you CAN save the game but when you open the SAVE file it erases the file; so permadeath is very real with this game.
• I did not care for the way experience was handled in the game as well. You receive very little experience for the monsters you slay but if you find gold and you climb the stairs to the surface the game converts your gold to experience points. I never lived long enough to get very high enough in levels.
• This leads to my biggest complaint about the game. There is absolutely zero reason to play. There is no plot. There is no quest. There is no challenge to reach a particular level. There are no special beasts to slay. It is just a completely random Monty Haul campaign running at a speed of 5 seconds per turn. I don’t understand why Avalon Hill didn’t push for the developer to add some sort of quest or storyline. Zero. Zilch. Nada

I have gone out of my way to find the value and to appreciate the art form with every single game that I have played during this entire experience. I was able to take something positive away from every single game experience. I sadly cannot say the same for Telengard. A game like this is simply not for me in any way, shape or form. I completely understand that playing and reviewing these games is a subjective experience. I am also sure that Telengard likely has a fan base as well. I, however, am not one of them.

No story, no quest, no goal and no minimal level advancement had me putting in the minimal amount of time required with what was a “non-rogue-like” and NON-turn-based game despite being advertised to the contrary. If I were to succumb to negativity and create a Worst Game of the Year Award; I would have to give it to this game.

Castle of Doom is the fifth adventure in the series but the third adventure written by Eamon creator Donald Brown.

Donald Brown adds to the complexity of the programming in this latest adventure. The player may now return to the Main Hall at any time during the course of the adventure. Castle of Doom will then remember the state of the dungeon in which your character left it so that you can return to the adventure without any interruption. This is a new feature added to the wonderful world of Eamon!

Castle of Doom does not have much of a plot. The premise is that “two kindly old ladies” maintain a circular Castle of Doom as a challenge to members of the Guild of Free Adventurers. The player then is expected to fight, explore and plunder his or her way through the Castle.

The description of each room and the map of the Castle is another feature unique to Eamon games. While a couple of the adventures have had as many as 70+ locations to explore; most of the maps have been relatively straightforward. The multi-level circular structure however can be confusing to map out.

The humor in Eamon games can sometimes be slightly absurd and another example of this humor can be found on the first level of the Castle. In the Main Hall you can encounter three dwarves named Huey, Dewey, and Louie. They are friendly and can be great allies as you explore the Castle.

In the arc-shaped Hall of Heroes you will find a golden statue. If you attempt to pick the statue up it transforms into an adventurer known as Lilith . Lilith explains to you that he’ll return to statue form if he is killed – however if he kills you, you will become the statue. If you defeat Lilith he does simply transform into the statue again.

In the library you can find a book and if you read it; the book will raise your Charisma score

In one of the quarter-circle rooms resides a tiger. If you’re able to kill it you can obtain it’s jeweled collar.

On the second level of the Castle is a guest bedroom with a woman chained to the bed post by a gold chain. If you release her she turns into a succubus and then attacks you.

On the second level you also encounter a room with two chests; one of them is a mimic! There is a cute reference to Beginner’s Cave and the mimic encounter there.

The first level of the Castle has a chamber with an emerald on a stand in the middle of the room. It is labeled “Brown Travel Agency”. If you touch the emerald you are magically teleported into subterranean chambers below the Castle.

You may encounter Dracula in the subterranean complex either in his coffin or roaming the halls. The only way he can be killed is with the Acme Bottle of Holy Water and a wooden stake.

Three orcs guard a valuable pearl in the subterranean catacombs.

There is a room which holds an Academy Award “Oscar” statuette. If you touch it it will magically teleport you back to the room with the green emerald.

Your player character can return to the Main Hall with some of the plunder and then return later to obtain the rest because of the new “snapshot” feature.

Castle of Doom may not have much of a plot but the unique map and new “snapshot” feature by Donald Brown make it a must play. Fost Longstrider enjoyed ‘hacking n slashing’ throughout the Castle and garnering some nice loot in the process.

I used the proceeds from the loot I brought back to the Hall to learn the Speed spell and I now know all of the spells and I have my Sword weapon proficiency up to 66% now.

Next up in the que will be Telengard; a 1982 role-playing dungeon crawler by Daniel Lawrence.

My character, Fost Longstrider, is back in action again as we saddle up for the next Eamon adventure.

Zyphur River was written by Jim Jacobson who also wrote Cave of the Mind. A famous scientist, Professor Axom, has been kidnapped and SFPOS (The Society for the Preservation of Scientists) is offering a reward for the safe return of the professor. It is rumored that the infamous Black Warrior is responsible for the kidnapping and that he lairs somewhere along the Zyphur River. You must traverse the river, find the professor, and bring him back alive.

The map is large with almost 70 different locations to explore.

Some of the encounters include a small dragon, Cerebus, a giant crab, a roc and the Black Warrior, of course, just to name a few. The Cerebus encounter doesn’t make much story sense but remember that the Eamon series is considered public domain and even one of us could still use the editor today to create an adventure.

I did not find any special items or weapons that I wanted to keep and carry over into the next adventure but I did find enough treasure to allow me to pay for the HEAL and POWER spells. My percentage chance to hit with the sword continues to increase and improve as well. Every time you score a successful hit upon an enemy it ultimately improves your combat performance.

I find these Eamon adventures to be extremely addictive. It is amazing how incredible the system is and the editor as well which allowed individuals to create their own adventures and contribute to a growing community. For those who love to advance characters and build upon skills; for those who like the idea of transferring your character from one adventure to the next; the game offers an intoxicating experience.

Zyphur Riverventure is an improvement over Jacobson’s Cave of the Mind. You’ll use a boat to traverse the river and you’ll be disembarking and exploring multiple locations along the river. It will be necessary for you to map out the scenario otherwise you might get a bit confused. The scenario was more difficult than Cave of the Mind however it was not as difficult as Lair of the Minotaur. It took me probably about 60 – 90 minutes to beat the game on an Apple emulator.

It looks as if Fost Longstrider is going to be busy as next up will be yet another Eamon scenario: Castle of Doom

Here Links to the other Eamon games I’ve covered:

Beginner’s Cave

Lair of the Minotaur

Cave of the Mind

We return once again to the wonderful world of Eamon and to the third entry in the series: Cave of the Mind. Remember that Eamon was created by Donald Brown and serves as an engine to house modules or story arcs that characters could play through; so basically a complete role-playing campaign system. You can read my full original experience with Eamon HERE.

You start play in the Adventurer’s Hall where you can create a character or retrieve your character from the previous two games. I chose to create a new character for this experience.

Once my character was complete I then chose to go on an adventure and at that point I inserted Eamon #3: Cave of the Mind. The Cave of the Mind was written by Jim Jacobson and Red Varnum. Jim Jacobson would go on to write many more Eamon adventures.

Cave of the Mind begins with you meeting a little man just outside of the Adventurer’s Hall. He is holding a grail filled with a bubbling green potion. He hints that you should experience the most challenging adventure that you can imagine and slyly winks at you. He then hands you the grail and urges you to drink it. Once you drink the potion you awaken in a cavern complex.

This adventure and story is definitely for beginner players. It is very much in the flavor of Donald Brown’s Beginner’s Cave. The map is relatively simple and there are a total of 26 different rooms.

There really are no puzzles and it is simply a defeat the monster and take the treasure kind of experience. I should warn you that the closet off of the east guest room has an inscription written upon the wall. If you read the inscription you will be stripped of your weapon and most of your possessions. They simply vanish. Yes that was irritating. The writing is pretty decent and again one gets the impression that they are sitting down to a one on one Dungeons & Dragons table-top experience. The different creatures that you’ll encounter range from vampire bats to giant snakes and venus flytraps and even a mad chef.

The toughest boss or encounter is the battle with the cyclops near the end of the game. The cyclops is also guarding another grail filled with bubbling potion which you’ll have to drink in order to return to the Adventurer’s Hall.

I finished the game and returned to the Adventurer’s Hall where I exchanged my loot for roughly 1600 gold pieces. I then used that money to get trained in a HEAL spell and also purchased some Plate Armor. I then sauntered up to the bar, ordered a tankard and began to flirt with the serving wench. I look forward to my next adventure with Fost Longstrider.

Sword of Fargoal was written by Jeff McCord and published by Epyx in 1982. I could find no evidence that Jeff McCord worked on any other game other than Sword of Fargoal. The manual contains some very nice graphics and high production values which was typical of Epyx during that time.

The premise or goal of the game is that you are magically transported into the uppermost level of a dungeon with three things: a short sword, a teleport spell and a healing vial. Your quest is to find the Protectorate Sword which is located somewhere between levels 15-20. The Protectorate Sword was forged, it is told, in the fires of the Gods and protected the Great Forest from evil for countless years. When wielded against an evil hand, the enemy is surely defeated.

The forces of evil ended up capturing the sword and have hidden it deep in the mountains where it could no longer protect the land. A powerful, evil wizard known as Ulma has been terrorizing the land during the sword’s absence; so it is up to you to enter the dungeon and retrieve the sword to use against the evil wizard.

The Sword of Fargoal is a lite rogue-like that is played with both a joystick and a keyboard; though it is possible to play with just a joystick. I played Fargoal on a Commodore 64 emulator and it took me about 5 total hours to beat. I did use a “snapshot” feature of the emulator which allowed me to save my game at any time. There is no regular save game feature so I would imagine that very few people finished this game even after hours and hours of play. I ended up finding the sword on the 18th level and then had to work my way out of the dungeon.

The graphics are very nice but it is the sounds which steal the show. This is the first game I’ve played where the sounds are an integral part of the game. It is amazing what the developer was able to do to produce growls, sword clanks, shield smashes, and various spells being cast. The sound effects are a treat and it is the first game that I’ve played where I had the sound turned up and it didn’t bother me.

When you first appear on a dungeon level there is a fog of war in play and thus you can only see the space in which you are standing in. When you begin to move in a particular direction more of the surrounding dungeon begins to appear before you. Each level has staircases going up and down, wandering monsters, bags of hidden gold, traps and special items to find such as magical maps and spells. When you move your joystick over a wandering monster then battle ensues. There are terrific sound effects which help to represent the battle. The monsters become increasingly more difficult to beat as you move lower and lower throughout the dungeon.

When you progress from one level to the next you are shown a screen which will detail your inventory to you and the items which you’ve picked up. You are not allowed to access your inventory at any time nor are you allowed to create your character. Your character starts with 11 hit points, a battle skill of 9, a short sword, a healing potion, and a teleport spell.

There are five different spells that you can find and cast within the game: Drift, Invisibility, Light, Shield and Regeneration. Drift is used to slow your fall in a Pit Trap. You can press the Panic Button or the letter D on the keyboard to activate the spell. Light increases the distance you can see around you in the dungeon. Invisibility makes you invisible to your enemies. Shield protects you from damage by a monster or an explosion. Shield must be cast before combat. Regeneration allows you to heal at twice your normal rate much like the temple in each dungeon level. Invisibility and Shield are very powerful spells.

You can also find magical sacks which allow you to increase the amount of gold you can carry with each bag you find. Each bag allows you to carry an additional 100 gold pieces. You may also encounter an enchantment which increases your weapons ability to hit and do damage by +1.

There are three different kinds of traps in the game which trigger when you walk over them. There is an explosion – that never feels good, a Pit Trap, and a Ceiling Trap. The Ceiling Trap, much like the Explosion, does damage to you. The Pit Trap does damage as well but it can also cause you to fall multiple dungeon levels lower.

In between each dungeon level is the only time you can examine your inventory as well as monitor your statistics. You are shown your total number of experience points thus far as well as experience level, hit points, battle skill, the dungeon level you are on and total monsters slain.

Unlike Rogue, there really isn’t much of a strategy to employ with the game. It is a CRPG but plays more like an arcade game. However I did find the game to be very enjoyable and addictive. The Protectorate Sword is randomly found between levels 15 – 20. I found the sword on the 18th level. You’ll know you’re on the level of the sword because there are no rooms on that level and it is constructed more like a maze.

You can compare the picture above with the other dungeon level picture that I posted and note the difference.

Once you find the sword the game drastically becomes much different. You now have to make your way back out of the dungeon; but you only have 33 minutes in which to do so! This is very difficult to do and I found myself saving the game at each level, finding the stairway UP, and then reloading the game and heading straight towards the stairway. Even doing that I barely made it out. To make matters much worse, anytime you encounter or touch a wandering monster, most of them immediately steal your sword. So you have to literally avoid almost all encounters as you make your way back to the surface. Each level does have a temple area, which is depicted by a cross, and if you stand on that temple icon, your hit points regenerate at twice the normal rate. On the way DOWN, I would clear a level and then make my way to the temple to regenerate my hit points as healing potions were scarce. On the way UP, you do not have time to seek out the temple.

My experience with the game was not a short affair. It is not terribly difficult with a save game feature however there is still quite a sacrifice of time spent with the game. I imagine that if you tried to beat the game without any save feature that it would be almost impossible; quite possibly taking you weeks or months to do. You would also need to have a block of HOURS to be able to spend in front of your computer.

I greatly enjoyed my experience with this 1982 offering and while it seemed more arcade than rogue-like I found it to be a pleasant surprise.

I should have started this blog post with Aloha! I have been in Hawaii the past 11 days and thus there were no additions to the website nor blog posts. I started Sword of Fargoal before I left and then spent the past three days finishing the game and writing this blog.

I wanted to take this time to let my readers of the site know that I did also create a Discord room for the site which will allow us to discuss our favorite games in a real-time manner. The invite link does expire in 7 days however you can search RetroGamesTrove to find the discord room as well. Link to Discord Room

Ultima II is the second blockbuster sequel that we’ve played from the list of 1982 CRPG offerings. The first was Wizardry II: Knight of Diamonds. Where Wizardry II was essentially the same game albeit a different scenario; Ultima II is completely different from it’s predecessor and goes completely off the rails.

Ultima II was the “Big Trouble in Little China” of 1982.

Big Trouble in Little China starring Kurt Russell was directed by John Carpenter in 1986. It was a horror, martial arts, fantasy, action-comedy that had everything in it but the kitchen sink. If you’re wondering what a horror, martial arts, fantasy, action-comedy looks like; you have to see it to believe it. If we’re being honest; I loved it.

I make this comparison because Ultima II sports a medieval fantasy setting complete with towns, towers, and dungeons. However it also involves time travel using time portals, outer space travel whereby you can visit and explore all of the planets, throws in for good measure KGB agents, phasers and force-fields and has you piloting frigates, bi-planes, and rockets. It has everything in it but a kitchen sink lying washed up on the shoreline.

In Ultima II the manual explains that the evil Mondain (who we slew in the first game) was training an apprentice. A protegee with amazing, magical abilities. Years later this apprentice made herself known as Minax; enchantress of evil. Her reign was terrible indeed and resulted in what appears to be a nuclear holocaust in the year 2111. If it were not for the time doors, no living things would have escaped. A small group on Earth, yes this sequel for some reason now takes place on Earth, believes that if someone were to go back in time and slay Minax, that it will then unravel all of the terrible devastation that she’s wrought. Honestly the story is a bit of a mess. I am not even sure how or why there are time doors scattered all about but Richard Garriott admitted in an interview that he was heavily influenced by the movie Time Bandits while developing the game. So the ultimate goal is to travel back in time, seek out Minax in her evil fortress, and assassinate her so that you can change the current timeline.

There is so much to unpack here that I wanted to try to provide some form of organization. In order to travel back in time to defeat Minax you are going to need four things:

• 1) the force field ring
• 2) the Quicksword
• 3) 9900 or more hit points – I won the game with only 300 hit points left – it was very close and took me multiple tries
• 4) power armor.

Ultima II is really all about grinding. Grinding, grinding, grinding. Senseless grinding. On the surface there seems to be a lot to the game and the multiple items seem to add layers of complexity. However the way in which you obtain these items reveals it to be simply a facade.

Let’s start at the beginning with character creation. I took my time with the manual before beginning play as I was sure there might be clues located within that might be necessary to complete the game. In Ultima I the dungeons figure very prominently in the game. Your hit points increase each time you leave a dungeon based on the amount of experience you gained. I noticed that there is a spell entitled Surface that clerics can learn which immediately take you to the surface from anywhere in a dungeon. I felt that this spell would have been a game changer in the first Ultima so I decided to create a cleric. I learned two things right away when I began play. The first was that I didn’t even have torches or a light source for the dungeons. Secondly, and most importantly, your hit points do not increase in this game after you leave a dungeon! The only way that you can increase your hit point total is to pay, or bribe, Lord British. Each time you pay Lord British 50 gold pieces he raises your hit points by 300. This decreases as you advance in levels.

Once I learned this I scrapped my current character and created a Dwarven fighter. You will find that you have to constantly pay Lord British to increase your hit point total to avoid death. This involves you having to slay many, many, many creatures because this is the only way to obtain gold to pay Lord British.

When you begin play you only have the clothes on your back and a few gold pieces. I would recommend purchasing chain and an axe to start play. You are going to find it extremely hard to pay for food to survive and to also bribe Lord British for hit points. The answer to this dilemma lies with a village to the south. It took me quite some time to reach this solution. I was barely getting by until I entered the village to the south of the castle in the 1990 A.D. era. I started to steal food from a fish n chips stand and then would run off before the guards caught me. I would then enter the village again and wash, rinse, repeat. In this fashion I never had to rely on food again but I was forced to steal my food throughout the entire game.

One of the key things about this game is to take your time in the villages and towns. Talk to every single individual. Leave no stone unturned. Most of the messages are stock replies or in game jokes but you will find the valuable information that you absolutely must have to win the game by talking to these individuals. One of the huge pieces of information I learned was to offer gold to the clerk at the Hotel California in San Antonio (Garriott was a huge Eagles fan). If you offer him gold he will sometimes raise your abilities by saying “Alakazam!” You’ll need to give him a minimum of 100 gold pieces in order to get this affect. Sometimes he will merely thank you for your generous contribution. This is the only way in the game to raise your attributes. You must have an Agility of more than 41 to equip a Phaser and you have to have an Agility over 49 to equip the Quicksword. So you’ll need to grind to get enough gold to pay the clerk until you finally have your Agility over 50. So paying the hotel clerk in this way becomes rather expensive in addition to bribing Lord British to raise your hit points.

One of the huge differences between Ultima I and Ultima II is that in this sequel you will find that you will need to find and obtain many different items which you need to progress further in the game. There are many different items that you’ll need and I’ve made a list of the following items and what they do:

• Boots – protect from leg paralysis spells
• Cloaks – protect from arm paralysis spells
• Green Idols – protect from sleep spells
• Strange Coins – temporarily negate time (you’ll want to amass as many of these as you can for the end game)
• Keys – necessary to open locked doors
• Helmets – allow a magical view of the outdoor map
• Blue Tassles – necessary to board a pirate ship (a necessity in order to even have a remote chance of winning the game)
• Skull Keys – necessary to board a plane
• Brass Buttons – necessary to launch and land the plane
• Ankhs – necessary to board a rocket ship
• Tri-lithium – necessary to launch and land the rocket ship and to execute Hyperjumps in space
• Torches – illuminates dungeons and towers

Now here is the shocking part of this game. You don’t find these items by killing creatures on the overland map or in dungeons. You can only get these items by killing thieves. You can encounter thieves on the overland map, in dungeons, and in towns and villages. You must murder the thieves to acquire these items. I spent a good while murdering thieves in order to find Blue Tassles so that I could board a pirate ship.

It gets worse. You must have the ability to unlock the doors you’ll find in the towns and villages. Only the guards have these keys. So you must murder several guards as well in order to steal their keys so that you can unlock doors. Be very careful here as the guards are very tough to kill and they will gang up on you. Some of the guards too are invincible and immune to all forms of attack. You can discover which ones are invincible by transacting or talking to them. If they respond with “Pay your taxes!” then you’ll be able possibly murder them. If you get “funny there is no response” then these guards are invincible.

So to reiterate; the game is all about grinding. You want to get into combat often so that you can acquire gold in order to bribe Lord British to raise your hit points and you also want to acquire a lot of wealth so that you can also pay the hotel clerk to raise your abilities. You’ll want to continue to grind in this fashion until you are strong enough to begin to take on the guards.

Which brings us to the pirate ships. If you can acquire a Blue Tassle and board a pirate ship you can then use the cannons to fire upon your enemies. You easily obliterate them and as you move around the coast and islands they line up as cannon fodder. This greatly speeds up your level advancement but it is still mind numbing grinding as you pummel your F key numerous times.

You’ll also want to purchase Power Armor at some point. You’ll need it for the end game and it costs roughly 2450 gold pieces so again you’ll have to do…wait for it… more grinding.

Once you have your abilities at a respectable level (a minimum of 50 Agility) and have your hit points at 9900 or above, then it is time to gain possession of the Quicksword, the only weapon which can wound Minax. You’ll discover where the location of the Quicksword is by talking to everyone in the towns and villages. Santre, who is imprisoned in one of the jail cells in San Antonio, will give it to you for 500 gold pieces. So you had best get grinding for that 500 gold.

Now story-wise this makes absolutely zero sense to me, but I just went with it, I learned that I needed to find Father Antos and get his blessing and that he was likely on Planet X. I learned from a different area that the coordinates for Planet X were 9,9,9. I then had to make my way to Pirate Harbor, steal a rocket ship from KGB agents, and blast off into outer space. I then Hyperjumped using coordinates 9,9,9 to Planet X. You want to make sure you have enough Tri-lithium to launch, land and Hyperjump otherwise you will strand yourself in space. When you land your rocket ship, you can only land on grass or you will instantly blow up. True story. I spent quite some time messing around with this portion of the game.

Once you land on Planet X, there is a lone castle there and within you will finally discover Father Antos and get his blessing. Once you get his blessing you return to Earth using 6,6,6 as the coordinates.

Having returned to Earth with Father Antos’ blessing, you want to head back to San Antonio and find an old man by a tree within the town. If you offer him 900 gold he will give you a Force Field Ring (but only if you have Father Antos’ blessing). You will need the Force Field Ring to enter certain areas of ShadowGuard, the dreaded castle of Minax. So if you don’t have 900 gold pieces on you, guess what, more grinding.

Once you have the Force Field Ring, the QuickSword, have your hit points over 9900, and possess Power Armor, you are then ready to travel through a time portal to the Time of Legends. In the middle of the Time of Legends you will find Castle Shadowguard.

Shadowguard is extremely deadly. It’s a lovely place that includes a Torture Chamber and a Museum or art gallery of all of her greatest evil accomplishments. The Force Field Ring will allow you to pass through the Force Field areas but the demons within the castle are extremely deadly. Try to avoid contact with them and this is where the Strange Coins you’ve collected come into play. The coins Negate Time and when you use one of the coins it slows time around you and allows you to move past your enemies or take several actions while they are frozen in place. You’ll find Minax in the northeast part of Shadowguard. If you wound her with the Quicksword she then teleports to the southwest corner of the Castle. You’ll need to avoid all of the enemies by Negating Time as much as you can and make your way to the southwest room and wound her again. She’ll teleport back to the northeast corner. You need to keep doing this until she perishes.

I played the DOS version of Ultima II and it took me an entire week of playing on and off to finish. I probably spent roughly 20-25 hours with it. This one had everything in it but the kitchen sink as I’ve already outlined. In an interview Garriott admitted that he enjoyed the medieval pieces the best and I believe by the third installment all of the future-like stuff will be gone. I will be sure to report back to you when and if I ever make my way to Ultima III: Exodus. While I enjoyed the Wizardry sequel quite a bit; I did not enjoy this sequel as much as I thought I might. The story didn’t make much sense nor did the time travel from era to era (though the time portals did look super cool and were executed well). I couldn’t wrap my head around paying Lord British to give me hit points nor could I understand why I had to steal my food the entire game and kill castle guards in order to take their keys. There was definitely a lot that went into this game developmentally and conceptually and it is a huge step forward in scope from Ultima I but the execution of it’s points left a lot to be desired. Now that it is behind me I feel a sense of accomplishment at having finished the second game in such a classic series. The game was not easy and it took quite some time to find all of the clues that you needed in order to move the game forward. My understanding from all of the reading that I’ve done is that the games become immensely better going forward so I’m looking forward to the next sequel in the series.