Fargoal 1.00, 2010
Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_of_Fargoal) says:
„…Sword of
Fargoal was a computer game written in 1982 by Jeff McCord.
The November 1996 anniversary issue of Computer
Gaming World listed Sword of Fargoal as #147 on the "Top 150
Best Video Games of All Time."…”
Fargoal for fx-9860G has
been inspired by the program mentioned above.
You have to direct your hero through a dungeon (third-person-view),
have him search the Sword and escape. Ok, some nasty creatures will try to hinder you, t. i. kill your hero.
But some treasures may be of help (or possibly not).
It is recommended to investigate every treasure box. Otherwise your hero won't
survive long or you’ll miss the Sword.
Call for help with F1.
It is not known, which tactic fits best. Maybe “run
for it” or “stealth” or “the way of the dragon”.
Avoiding combats will disable you to save the game, because game-saving needs credits and credits are carried by
creatures, only.
If you start the game you will see the following picture:
Hit EXIT to continue.
At startup, the program checks if a saved game
exists. As the case may be, it asks to load the saved game. If there isn’t a
saved game or if you denied to load one, the program
enters the setup-dialog to set the difficulty between 1 and 5 (max.) (use the up/down key). You cannot set a difficulty level,
when you have not successfully finished the previous difficulty level, yet.
Hence, if you start the very first time, only difficulty 1 is available!
If you load a saved game, the hero will start in the dungeon-level above
the one, where you saved the game. If you saved level 0, it will start in level
0, of course.
Now you see some rectangular figures of different size. These are fixed
obstacles. Under normal circumstances neither your hero nor other creatures can see through them. Your hero can use them to
hide and outdistance chasing creatures.
If the difficulty level is set to
1, creatures and treasures of
dungeon-level 0 are revealed immediately.
Inside of the rectangular figure in the upper right corner the actual
dungeon level is displayed. It is initially zero.
On the right side of the pitch two vertical lines are displayed. The
left one shows the hero’s health status. Right of the health status, the hero’s
endurance status is displayed. Right of the endurance display, the keys, which
the hero actually owns, are displayed from bottom up as dotted line. Initially
the hero doesn’t own any key. The hero’s key ring capacity is limited to 20
keys. The amount of still living creatures on the current level is displayed as
dottet line top down. You should check for these lines regularly. If the
health-line runs low, your hero will probably end his existence. If the
endurance-line runs low, you hero won’t be able to run fast and outdistance
approaching creatures. If it comes to a combat, low endurance will be a
disadvantage, too.
The symbols used to display objects and creatures living in the dungeon are
shown below. After your hero had an encounter with an enemy, this type of enemy
is displayed by a different icon, depending on its capabilities. The hero will
soon learn, which of the creatures are the more
dangerous. Small squares are treasures, which your hero should investigate.
After a treasure has been investigated, it changes appearance and stays
visible, if it is not used up.
When you enter a level, the hero is framed by a square, which is a stair
(exit). If your hero moves away from this exit, he will enter the pitch. If
your hero does not move away from the exit within a few seconds, the program
will ask you to use the exit.
The creatures, which detect your hero, will
start to chase him down. In level 0 they are not very dangerous.
In the dungeon-view the AC/ON quits the game immediately giving the
following display:
Simply move your hero with the keys “up”, “down”, “right”, “left”, “7”,
“4”, “1”, “8”, “2”, “9”, “6”, “3”.
The hero’s actual speed depends on the speed-basevalue and on the actual
endurance. It is not possible to constantly run around. Endurance will wear off
while moving, the hero will slow down, the creature(s) will catch up.
Sometimes it may be useful to rest in a hidden corner of the maze. If
the hero does not move, endurance is restored.
If your hero runs into an unknown treasure, it is automatically investigated.
If it is locked, your hero can open it using a key or breaking it. The
available keys match the count of locked chests in every level. Alas, some of
the keys are carried by creatures, which have to be
persuaded, to surrender the key. Every locked chest is secured by a trap. If it
is opened by violence, the trap is triggered. This usually turns out to be
painful, if not deadly. It is not necessary to use a treasure’s content
immediately. An investigated treasure is displayed with a special icon. It will
not vanish from the map, even behind an obstacle. The hero has to travel light.
He is not able to carry tons of items. He has to return to the very location to
use a treasure. Luckily the creatures are not interested in treasures.
If the hero refuses to use a treasure, this treasure cannot be used for
a few seconds, even if the hero stays within the activation distance.
Universal potions
Using universal potions offers some options to choose of:
strength: strength is
increased; gives some advantages in combat (limited to one per level).
speed: speed is
increased (limited to one per level).
constitution: constitution
influences max. endurance and max. health.
sight: sight is
increased.
health: actual health is
fully restored.
invisibility: the hero is
invisble for 30-40 seconds. Very important in certain situations (limited to
one per level)! During the last 5 seconds of invisibility, the hero’s icon
starts to flash.
X-ray: every creature is
visible for a few seconds. Perhaps a gimmick. Not very
useful, though.
Healing potions restore health. Excessive potion-power is used to
restore endurance.
“Reveal all” makes creatures and treasures of the current level
permanently visible. “Reveal treasures” makes the treasures of the current
level permanently visible.
If your hero finds a mine, the program asks, if
the mine should be armed. If you decide to do this, hurry away, because an armed
mine does not distiguish between friend and foe. The next one, who comes near,
includung your hero, will trigger the mine and most probably be terminated. You
can leave the mine inactive, return later and arm it to deal with stronger
opponents. Arm the mine and lure the creature into disaster. If a creature is destroyed by a mine, the hero receives the
same rewards as if he would have killed the creature in combat.
Even if the creature is not destroyed, the blast will leave it rather weak.
Arrows are used to stun a creature for a few seconds. Use key “ALPHA” to
release an arrow. It will move into the direction, where the hero is looking.
The amount of arrows available is limited. The hero has to recover a few
seconds, before he can fire another arrow.
A stunned creature can be investigated without danger by running into
combat and fleeing immediately. If you kow your enemy, you can decide, whether
to use up a valuable fireball or mine or to risk a direct attack.
Quiver
A quiver contains a varying amount of arrows.
Fireballs are used to deal with very nasty opponents. Use key “SHIFT” to
release a fireball. It will move into the direction, the hero is looking. Even
if the creature is not destroyed, the blast will leave it rather weak. The hero
has to recover a few seconds, before he can throw another fireball.
After your hero has cleared a level of every enemy, he gains an
additional fireball as reward. If you are lucky, you’ll find sulfur.
Sulfur is used to create a fireball. It is not very likely to find more
than one piece per level. BTW: the creation of a fireball
requires some arrows, too.
When an armed mine is triggered or if a fireball
hits a creature, a little explosion occurs. The noise
draws every creature to the very position of the blast.
An armed mine can be triggered with an arrow. Maybe
this can serve as tactical decoy.
The movement of a creature follows two general principles. Some of them patrol
between two fixed points. Some of them follow a chaotic movement scheme, going
hither and thither. If a creature detects the hero, it starts the chase. It is
not this easy to outdistance a chasing creature. It remembers the last
position, where it has seen the hero and will go to this position in any case, f. i. to have a look around the corner, where the hero has
just vanished. If it reaches this point and does not see the hero any more, it
returns to its predefined moving routine, f. i. patrolling. Every creature owns
its specific set of properties, like strength, speed, sight, constitution and
health.
A creature cannot see your hero, if it moves away from him. It has some
advantages to attack a creature from behind, when it is not aware. If a creature
sees the hero, its icon starts to flash.
If the hero runs into or is captured by a creature,
a round based combat will start. The actual properties of the combatants are
displayed as values and bar-graphs.
Hitting the up-arrow-key will attack. Hitting the down-arrow-key will
defend. If your hero attacks, 90 % of the hero’s strength (S) is used to
calculate the attack value. The attack value won’t reach its full value, if the
endurance (E) is low. Attacking wears off endurance (E). Hence it is not wise
to attack repeatedly. Under normal circumstances your hero should attack and
defend in turn. If your hero defends, 90 % of the hero’s strength (S) is used
to calculate the defence value. While defending, endurance (E) will be
recovered. With EXIT it is possible to flee. Of course this has some
consequences. The creature’s attack will hit without any defence, unless it is
stunned. An adrenalin boost, which pushes endurance (E) to
the max. allowed value, will support the
escape. Have an eye on the health-values (H).
If your hero is invisible or approaches from behind, then the creature
cannot defend in the first round, t. i. your hero’s attack strikes with full
force. If your hero is invisible and attacks, the invisibility ends
immediately, if the foe is not terminated by the first blow.
If your hero wins, he gains some credits, depending on the creature’s
strength. You need some credits to save the game.
If your hero is slain, t. i. your hero’s health-value drops below zero,
the following picture is displayed
The Sword draws health from your hero, once grabbed. On the hero’s way
back, there should be the one and other healing potion
to secure a successful homecoming.
The hero should avoid encounters with more than one creature at a time.
In deeper dungeon levels, your hero should always recover endurance if
possible. Especially if health is low.
The deeper the hero climbs, the more inconvenient the creatures will be.
Some adventurers, especially those who’ve survived, recommended to enter every new level invisible, if possible.
Use mines to weaken the stronger opponents.
Especially in deeper levels this will possibly be essential.
Arrows and fireballs can
come in handy, too.
If your hero climbs up the exit of level 0
while owning the Sword. the following picture is
shown:
For every difficulty-setting, an individual highscore is stored. If you
gain a new record in the actual difficulty-setting, this will be announced.
There are two objectives. Maximum credits or minimum time (cycles).
Keyboard functions
F1: help
F2: hero’s status screen
F5: saves the current game. This will cost some credits.
The program requires 1-10 kBytes, depending on how many levels are explored
already, how many creatures are still living and how many treasures are still
unused.
Normally the game is saved in the main memory. Hence, you have to switch
off your calc properly, to have the game permanently saved. If the calc is
reset by P-button or a crash, the recently saved game will be lost. If there
isn’t enough main memory available, the save fails with MCS-error: 0030.
The package contains an additional G1A: SMEM_FARGOAL.G1A, which saves
the game to storage memory. If you prefer to have the games saved to storage
memory, rename SMEM_FARGOAL.G1A to FARGOAL.G1A and transfer this file to your
calc instead of the standard-version.