Title: Souls of Darkon Platform: 48K ZX Spectrum PUBLISHER: Bug-Byte AUTHOR: Taskset YEAR: 1986 CATEGORY: Adventure >BEGIN Controls Keyboard only >END Controls >BEGIN Instructions Megron, where science and sorcery are used to awesome effect. The obsession for power has released the evil of DARKON. Only you and Komputa can free the people. A sci-fi fantasy with magical graphics from beyond the sun of Crenal. You have landed on Megron and your faithful robotic friend hovers nearby. The air is fresh and things seem normal. Long gone is the Grand Council of Megron. Their power and knowledge which combined science and sorcery has been amassed by the evil one, Darkon. Your task is to find him and destroy him. All you have is your ability to learn and your technical know-how. A text panel describes your surroundings; the graphics screen can give you more info, if requested. The R-H panel is a record of your commands. The bottom line is for you to enter commands in typed English. ENTER the commands. You will need to enter specific commands. Many commands can be abbreviated. Try V or VOCAB to see some of the verbs you can use. RESTART sets you back at the beginning. SAVE saves your current position. LOAD brings back SAVEd positions. You should already be in the adventure before LOADing. >END Instructions >BEGIN Hints/Cheats Phrases in [] are corrections added by me (Jim Grimwood). THE MOST IMPORTANT HINT OF ALL This game isn't too difficult, except for one problem which I was unable to resolve without help from Bob Manson, who disassembled the game code to find out - how to see in the dark. There is no hint either on the cassette inlay or in the game as to how this can be done, and I think that the likelihood of anyone deducing it is remote, so here's how: SCAN INFRARED ... or maybe two problems. To activate the Silicon Star: SAY SILICON. Jim Grimwood HELP and LEGEND hints There are a number of places in the game where typing HELP or LEGEND will give you a clue as to how to proceed; these are listed here to save you time, as most of them aren't much help at all, but they should be enough hints, taken with the above two, to enable you to solve the game without looking at the full solution. Start: It is said that the sculpture was made by the rebel Crigon. Fountain: Pay the guide to help you through. Altar: It is said that the stone guardian, Rok, guards the Sacred Altar of Darkon from those who would yield the Solar Sword. Monolith: The Monolith was erected in honour of Darkon and is the gateway to his domain. Clearing in Woods: Find a hungry gnome with a map. Outside Grimor's lair: It is said that no one escapes Grimor's lair. Cave: It is said that the Pool of Darkon is inhabited by demons. Field in the Fortress: All is not as it seems. Glass Room in the Fortress: It is said that the Silicon Star is useless outside the Fortress. Darkon's Chamber: It is said that the Solar Sword is the only thing to destroy Darkon. There are many dead ends, useless objects and red herrings in this game, and most of the 'hints' the game gives are pretty irrelevant to it's solution. There are some places where you will be told that you can't go, because there is a closed door there which isn't mentioned; just OPEN DOOR first. Jim Grimwood The guard at the monolith needs a bottle of gold. If you've got the container, to fill it you: PUT CRYSTAL IN FOUNTAIN[; FILL BOTTLE WITH GOLD]. Your Sinclair 15 (Mar.1987) p.54 Robot: ZAP ROBOT; EXAMINE ARM; PRESS BUTTON; LOOK[; GET VISOR]; GET CRYSTAL. Sword: GIVE COIN TO BLACKSMITH[; OUT; EXAMINE BARREL; GET SWORD]. Your Sinclair 33 (Sep.1988) p.105 >END Hints/Cheats >BEGIN Solution Before resorting to the solution below, please look at THE MOST IMPORTANT HINT OF ALL in the Hints/Cheats section; this may well be enough to see you through the game. Many thanks to Bob Manson for digging this out of the program code. Rather than giving a step-by-step solution, which is pretty boring, I've detailed all the key actions, leaving you to work out the detailed sequence of events. Don't forget to pick up the bag of food at the first location (see Hints section). The sculpture will yield a hook and a fork. You need the crystal eye from the robot; after zapping it, be careful to examine it first before trying to take anything. You need the bottle; and you can use the mushroom at a later stage, but it's not important. Climb the tree for a coin and a ring. The woodsman will give you a couple of useful things, and a couple less so, if you find him a new axe. The rope and hook will be useful when joined together. The dead warrior will yield a helmet, which isn't much use. The carving on the altar will unlock the plaque on the standing stone to release an axe and sword; in exchange for the axe the woodsman will shower you with gifts. Pay the blacksmith with the coin to repair the sword, which he will then leave outside the door - look around a bit. The man by the fountain is a guide who will take you into the woods beyond the monolith to the south, if he gets paid first. The crystal eye will activate the fountain and the bottle will come in handy to collect the payment for the guide - then FOLLOW GUIDE. In the clearing, the bag of food will attract a hungry gnome with a map; once you've got it, then FOLLOW MAP. Use the belt to carry you over the swamp. Don't delay or detour; there's nothing useful to see or find. Once at the base of the cliff, your rope and hook will come in handy to get to the top. You can look around in the cave first, if you like (remember - SCAN INFR), but there's nothing useful there. Make sure that you're wearing the ring before you climb up the rope. Once you're in the Fortress, there's another invisible door to negotiate before you can proceed. You'll be able to get inside the big skull, with a bit of fiddling around, where you can use your amazing infrared eyes again. The key can be used later, but is primarily a clue; the jar is important. Don't bother with the plants. Examine the Silicon Star and you'll find another use for the watering can - then GET STAR, of course. There's a secret door in the Hall of Darkon, and opening it is pretty obscure, so I'll tell you - STRIKE FORK ON PLATE. (Hey! I worked this one out for myself!) Make sure that Komputa goes through first (ie. FOLLOW KOMPUTA) - send your trusty robot companion to his death, you heartless cad! After Komputa's kopped it, you've got two turns to deal with the mad guard Kraytor - but I'll leave you to work that one out for yourself. ... Oh, hang on, this it supposed to be a full solution, so I'd better tell you. I was stumped on this without Bob Manson's help delving into the code. SAY SILICON and then attack Kraytor with the Star ("Kill my bestest buddy, would you?! Take that!"), then finish him off with the trusty fork. Moving eastwards, you can then polish off the cook with the mushroom (although you might not need to), and use your amazing infrared eyes again in the dark room. The only important thing in here is the control wheel, which with a bit of turning and pulling will open up the stairs from the kitchen. Not much further to go now. Ignore the animals in the glass cases, and use the chloroform in the jar from the big skull to sedate the snakes, then open the door beyond and go south. Then it's that old room, rope, sword trick ... Finally you end up in Darkon's chamber, and have three moves to defeat him before he drains your soul into a bottle. You could use one move to type LEGEND for a clue, but if you've read the Hints section you don't need to do that. This last step I'll leave to you. Suffice to say that everything beginning with "S" will come in very handy - errm, except the salt - and don't ignore the Flask of "S"ouls, either. Jim Grimwood >END Solution >BEGIN Reviews "A very well presented adventure and a welcome change at a time when just about every mainstream adventure is Quilled. The cartoon-style graphics are very effective and suit the game well." (overall 7/10) Crash 24 (Jan.1986) p.166(Derek Brewster) "The problems are not all simple and you will need some ingenuity to progress very far. The presentation is attractive [...] and there is sufficient interest in the early section to get you involved and keen to solve the riddle of the Altar and the Monolith. Not bad." (3/5 stars) Sinclair User 47 (Feb.1986) p.84 () "With coins, swords, crystal fountains and blacksmiths, there's nothing very original in the early stages of the game, but that doesn't matter as the whole thing is well presented." (8/10) Your Sinclair 12 (Dec.1986) p.84 (Mike Gerrard) >END Reviews >BEGIN Information Catalogue number BBS 041 BUG If you type in a word longer than will fit in the command record window the program will go into an unending loop trying to find a line on which it will fit. >END Information >BEGIN Sources Crash 24, Jan.1986, p.166 (review) Sinclair User 47, Feb.1986, p.84 (review) Your Sinclair 12,15,33, Dec.1986, Mar.1987, Sep.1988, p.84,54,105 (review,hints) Jim Grimwood, Bob Manson (solution) >END Sources