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.

 

Start the game

 

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.

 

The symbols used:

 

 

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:

 

 

 

Moving around

 

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.

 

Treasure

 

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

 

Healing potions restore health. Excessive potion-power is used to restore endurance.

 

Reveal all/treasures

 

“Reveal all” makes creatures and treasures of the current level permanently visible. “Reveal treasures” makes the treasures of the current level permanently visible.

 

Mines

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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.

 

Explosions

 

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.

 

Creatures

 

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.

 

Combat

 

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

 

 

 

Some survival hints

 

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.

 

Success

 

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.