Video game tester career

Falcom produced quite a few action RPGs during the 8-bit era, notably Faxanadu on the Famicom/NES, and the Ys series for the Sega Master System and PC Engine/TurboGrafx-CD, renowned for its music and fully-voiced, animated cutscenes.  The Legend of Xanadu, published in 1993 on NECs PC Engine Super CD-ROM format, features similar production values.  But it never came to North American shores, so this week were taking a look at the Japanese edition.

The game arrives in a double-wide CD-ROM case, although theres only one disc included.  The extra space is consumed by a snazzy poster with dungeon maps on the back, and a full-color 48-page manual that introduces the characters and basic mechanics, along with basic weapon/armor info and several Q&A pages of hints.  The heros name is rendered in English as Areios, or Alektor, according to the manual, along with his friends Daimos, Noys, Sophia, Media (yes, Media), Lykos, Pyrra, and Argos.  And the title screen features the whole gang, marching across the countryside with a sense of strength and purpose despite their oversized heads:



As usual, playing these role-playing titles "blind" is pretty tricky for a non-Japanese-speaking gamer like yours truly.  But Ill see what I can figure out as I stumble through the menus and try to capture a sense of the games atmosphere and style, before I give up on making any serious headway into its storyline.  The stirring animated prologue, for example, features mounted riders fighting fierce beasts:



And the story seems to be rooted in Greek mythology with this reference to King Aeneas in the intro:



Like the Ys games, this is more of a wilderness adventure than a traditional fantasy tale -- Areios lands onshore near a small community, talks to the villagers and learns of (what I presume is) a dire tragedy in the making, should he prove unable to bring his heroic skills to bear.  Some of the conversations are fairly long-winded, or at least thats what I thought as I clicked dumbly through the Japanese dialogue before realizing that sometimes we have to pick between two conversational options to make progress.


The Super CD-ROM format, with its additional onboard memory, allows for some extra features.  Theres a running clock that causes the world to cycle from day to night, with shops open for business and citizens sleeping, depending on the time of day.  The additional disc and memory space also allows for perspective changes on occasion... at least, in shops, we get to see more detailed versions of the characters (all are rendered in this super-deformed style, even adult shopkeepers):



Finally, with the storyline set into motion, we can get out of town and kill us some monsters. 
The battle system is the same collision-based love-it-or-deal-with-it mechanic familiar from the Ys games -- we have to physically run into our foes using the control pad, hitting them with our sword-wielding side, while not hitting them so directly that they are able to damage us in return.   But the enemies tend to travel in packs more in this game than in the world of Ys, making it difficult to single one out from the bunch and run into it enough times to kill it without getting surrounded and killed ourselves.  When were not in conversation, a large heads-up display occupies one side of the screen r the other, switching positions depending on where Areios is headed... or not; its a little distracting but one gets used to it.



The enemies give up gems and occasional hit points as they are defeated, represented by icons that our hero must pick up, Legend of Zelda-style.  And the tougher enemies dole out quite a bit of damage, and are harder to hit, making the battles challenging early on as we try to level up.  Theres another challenge in store based on annoying and seldom-used RPG convention -- Areios weapons and armor also take damage and lose effectiveness during combat, forcing us to rebuy or upgrade from time to time at the shops in town.  We can monitor our heros basic stats, select options and save/load the game at any time using the handy SELECT-button menu:



Interestingly, after Areios runs out of hit points and passes away, he still exists as a ghost, and can fly through walls and over obstacles to explore the world.  But I wasnt able to find a way to restore him to flesh-and-blood humanity -- there probably is one, but without the necessary language skills I completely missed any clues of that sort -- so after playing Casper long enough to tire of it, I had to start over.



I usually run into a wall at some point when I try to play JRPGs in the original Japanese.  While its possible to muddle through the game, fighting monsters and discovering new villages and lands, without some basic grasp of the story its hard to care very much about whats going on.  The Legend of Xanadu is quite nicely done, clearly an evolution of the Ys games with new features and more varied design.  But its also very much the same sort of story one expects -- there will be a series of increasingly difficult battles, we will face down an evil overlord of some kind, and the credits will roll.  Maybe Im just getting curmudgeonly and impatient in my old age, but once I can see the road ahead with some degree of clarity, and realize that Im not going to get much of the story with equal clarity, Im ready to experience something else.  The Legend of Xanadu has been sampled.  Next!

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If you understand Japanese, you might get a lot more than I did out of this rich, polished JRPG. You may be able to find a copy for purchase here.

Bobbin Threadbare Journal Entry 2: "For the first time in my life I have left the island of Loom behind me! The gravestone of Lady Cygna hinted that I should revisit the cliff where this strange day began, and there I cast a draft that gave me the means to travel to lands across the sea. I have already met a glassmaker named Master Goodmold in the beautiful city of Crystalgard, and learnt about things I never would have heard about in my guarded homeland. I plan to explore this city of glass thoroughly before I move on to destinations unknown. I am both nervous and excited at what the future may hold for me!"


My first Loom gameplay post didn’t make it far beyond the game’s introduction, so I’m going to cut to the chase and get on with it for this second one. I’d finished exploring the village, so it was time to go see what else I could find on the island of Loom. The overhead shot had hinted that I might be able to visit a pier next to the ocean shore, so I headed in that direction. It turned out to be only one screen west of the village edge, and on arrival I found four seagulls sitting atop wooden poles and what looked to be another egg amongst the rocks near the water. I walked up to one of the gulls and clicked on it. Oddly, the four threads of a draft were heard, and the notes E,C,E,D flashed above my distaff. I was about to go hunting through the Book of Patterns to see what draft it might be when I realised those notes matched the ones I’d previously used to open the egg. It was the Opening draft, but why was I hearing it when I clicked on a bird? Selecting the other gulls caused the same draft to play, so I turned my attention to the egg-like item on the rock. It wasn’t a rock at all! It was a clam, and clearly the birds were somehow urging me to open it so they could eat whatever was inside!


I obliged, and using the Opening draft did indeed open the clam. One of the gulls flew down and began eating the horrible looking morsel inside, but I couldn’t find any reason why doing this might be helpful to me. In the end I decided that this scene would help players learn the Opening draft if they either didn’t have the Book of Patterns or had failed to take notice of it, despite that going against the copy protection theory I’d had previously. Regardless, I headed for the trees in the top left corner of the island and soon found myself on an eerie moonlit path. Some of the trees had large holes in them, so I decided to take a closer look. When I clicked on the first one, the note D was heard and lit up on the staff, and I was told that “There’s an owl in there!”. That was interesting, but what did it mean? I then noticed that there were a total of four holes in trees on the screen, and deducted that clicking on each would likely produce the four threads I needed to make up a draft! I was convinced of this theory when the second hole had another owl in it, and the note C lit up. I found yet another owl and another C lit up for the third hole (oh my...that sentence appears very dirty in hindsight), so I confidently clicked on the fourth and final one. “This hole is empty.” What?! Not only was there no owl, but no note was heard either!


The game designers really got me with that one, and all I could do was continue along the path and hope that I’d come across the final thread. The next screen contained a cemetery, with an owl perched on top of one of the tombstones. I’ve not specifically discussed the graphics at this stage, but I will right now. Loom is just beautiful, and this screen is a perfect example of the wonder, the attention to detail, and the symmetry of it all! It’s simply astounding what the designers managed to do within the confines of EGA. I checked out the gravestone, but was informed that I couldn’t read anything on it because the “owl’s tail feathers are blocking my view.” I clicked on the owl, but it was sound asleep and seemingly non-responsive. I looked through the drafts I’d learnt so far, but none of them seemed useful in waking the owl up. I moved my cursor around the screen and found I could also investigate the sky and the brambles to the left. I clicked on the sky and was informed that “The view from the cliff is better”, so I turned my attention to the brambles. Clicking on them caused Bobbin to cut his finger, and the yell of “Ouch!” scared a bunny rabbit out of its hiding place! It ran across the front of the cemetery, scaring the owl away in the process!


I was now able to read the gravestone, which had the following etched into it. “In Memory Of Lady Cygna Threadbare 7983-8004. Destiny shall draw the Lightning Down from the Heaven; roll its Thunder Far across the Sea, to where I Wait upon the Shore of Wonder, On the day the Sky is Opened And the Tree is split asunder.” After I’d finished reading the inscription, Bobbin made a point of saying “The day the sky is opened. Hmmm.” I figured there must be something important in that message, but I was keen to find out whether the owl had entered the fourth tree on the next screen. The message could wait! Just as I’d hoped, the owl had indeed flown into the fourth hole, and clicking on it produced a D. That meant the full draft must be D,C,C,D, but what would it do? I looked through the Book of Patterns, eventually coming across an obvious candidate. “Night Vision: The threads of this distinctive and beautiful draft are extrapolated from the song of nocturnal birds. At one time, Night Vision was prized by the Guild of Miners, whose legendary underground realm was chiefly illuminated by luminous tapestries bearing our Seal. Tragically, demand fell off after the Great Earthquake of 7331.” Night Vision would surely allow me to see better in the dark, and I knew exactly where that would be useful! I headed for the village, and entered the tent where I’d been unable to see beyond a pile of gold earlier on.


Selecting the darkness and then clicking the notes for Night Vision on my distaff caused the previously unseen part of the room to be illuminated! I could now see a wheel and some straw on the ground next to it. Selecting the wheel brought forth yet another draft, with this one containing the threads C,C,C and E. It didn’t take long to find which one it was in the Book of Patterns: “Straw Into Gold: When times are lean, the Elders may invoke this draft to generate extra revenue. Its use is strictly regulated by the Treasurer of the Guild to prevent inflation. Other Guilds, ignorant in the ways of spell-weaving, have concocted a variety of outlandish fairy tales involving this rather elementary weave.” It seemed pretty obvious what I should do with this draft, so I selected the straw and then the required threads. The straw turned into gold alright, but I still wasn’t able to take any of it. However, as I completed the draft, the blue sparks that lit the straw as it transformed continued up and over me. The note for F below the image of my distaff lit up! By now I’d realised that I could only cast “spells” that included only the lit up notes in my interface, so now I was going to be able perform more complicated drafts. I didn’t yet have any drafts that included the F note, but  the Emptying draft I’d learnt in one of the tents included a G. I was going to have to practice more before I’d be able to empty anything.

Since turning the straw into gold hadn’t given me any leads, I spent some time thinking about the message I’d found in the cemetery. Bobbin had made a point of repeating the line “the day the sky is opened”, and I’d been able to look at the sky on that screen. When I had though, I’d been informed that “the view from the cliff is better”. Should I head back to the cliff? How would I open the sky anyw...eureka! I could use my Opening draft to “open the sky” up on the mountain! I made my way back up there, selected the sky and then cast the Opening draft, admiring the large colourful portal that opened in the distance. Suddenly a bolt of lightning struck, hitting the tree right next to me and causing it to break off and crash into the ocean at the base of the cliff face. It didn’t merely sink though, instead drifting along the beachfront until it sat stationary in front of the pier. I wasn’t certain what I was going to do with it, but I raced down from the mountain and straight to the pier. When I clicked on the log, I unexpectedly fell into the water! I clicked on it again, and felt relieved when Bobbin climbed onto it as it began to drift out to sea. I really hadn’t expected to leave the island so soon! My immediate reaction was to be concerned that I might have missed something and created a dead end for myself. It didn’t seem likely that I was going to be able to return if I had! Then I remembered that Loom was the first game to follow the no dead end or dying LucasArts policy, and just went with the flow (literally).


I hadn’t travelled all that far when a very dangerous looking “waterspout” appeared in my path! I couldn’t get too close to it, nor could I bypass it, so I was going to have to do something with my distaff. Clicking on the waterspout got me the following message: “Whew! Listen to that twisty wind!” At the same time I heard the four notes of a draft, and recorded them as D,E,F,C. There just so happened to be a draft named Twisting in the Book of Patterns! “The origins of this ancient draft are lost in history. The earliest references to it are woven into the foremost hem of the Long Tapestry, beside threads depicting the manipulation of flax and yarn by hand. Tradition has it that the four notes were derived from the rhythmic squeak of First Elder Swellflax’s own spindle.” I couldn’t see how casting “Twisting” on something that was already twisting violently could help, but I gave it a shot anyway. “It’s twisting hard enough already! Must be SOME way to untwist it...” Hey, perhaps if I reversed the threads of the Twisting draft, it would untwist the waterspout? I tried it, and it worked, giving me free passage beyond, where a new land awaited! As soon as I set foot upon the sand of this new land, I “levelled up” and the note G lit up beneath my distaff. I was now ready to take on more complicated drafts!


It was time to start exploring, and I decided to head off to the right of screen since there was something glistening in that direction. It was a city made of what appeared to be green crystal!!! There were two entrances that I could see on the side I arrived on, with one being on a dome and the other at the base of a tower. I could see quite a bit of movement at the top of the tower, and noticed I could select a couple of workers that were up there doing something or other. I looked through my drafts, but couldn’t see anything that could logically be applied to the workers (although I tried a couple for good measure), so left it alone for now. I entered the dome, reappearing inside where everything was made of transparent green crystal. The only things in the room I could select were a couple of plaques at the foot of sculptures, so I clicked on one. As I approached that part of the room, a man dressed in blue entered and greeted me. “Welcome to Crystalgard. I am Master Goodmold, thirty-first in the Noble Guild of Glassmakers. Who have I the honor of meeting?” He seemed surprised when I responded with my name and guild, and complimented me on my cloak. “Crystalgard’s wisdom includes many legends concerning your Guild. One is particularly strange and amusing. They say it is death to peer beneath the hood of a Weaver. Can this be true?”


I hadn’t been aware of this belief amongst other guilds, and apparently Bobbin hadn’t been either. “Don’t know. Nobody ever tried it on me.” Bobbin then asked Master Goodmold if he’d seen a flock of swans passing by, but he hadn’t. He did recommend I check out their fine selection of binoculars, telescopes and other precision optics though, before leaving me to look around. I now had a chance to read the two plaques, with both of them turning out to be gravestones. One read “Softshard, Wife of Luscent Bottleblower here attained Final Clarity.”, while the other read “Near this spot, Luscent Bottlesblower, Founder of the Noble Guild of Glassmakers, attained his Final Clarity.” I couldn’t make anything important out of the messages, so I went in the same direction Goodmold had gone (to the right of screen). I reappeared in a rather complicated looking room, with various exits and stairways found in the background. Right next to me was a large cup resting on a pedestal, and there was a bell hanging from the wall at the end of the pathway I was standing on. I focussed on the cup, with Bobbin commenting that he’d “never seen glass sparkle like this”. Master Goodmold entered the room at this point, explaining that the cup was in fact not glass at all. “The chalice was carved from a single crystal of diamond.” When Bobbin questioned why it was made with crystal instead of glass, given that this was the Guild of Glassmakers, Goodmold explained the “Chromax Conundrum”.


The crystal chalice was made by the Glassmaker’s founding member, Luscent Bottleblow. “Three centuries ago, our fair city was plundered by a dragon. The greedy beast emptied our museum and treasury. Even Bottleblow’s great masterpiece, the First Scrying Sphere, was lost. Fortunately, the Conundrum was on loan to the Guild of Vintners at the time. It is our only remaining example of Bottleblow’s transcendent genius.” The reason it’s called the Conundrum is because the glassmakers don’t know why the chalice was made with crystal instead of glass. Well that was all very interesting, but I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with it. After Goodmold left the room, I tried the reverse draft of Emptying. To my surprise, this worked! The chalice filled with what I assumed was red wine, although when I clicked on it afterwards, Bobbin merely remarked “Wish I was old enough to drink.” I soon found that I could empty and fill the glass repeatedly, by casting the standard and reverse Emptying draft, but couldn’t figure out whether or not this achieved anything. Perhaps I need to come back later for this puzzle. This is where I stopped my first session of Loom about a week ago, and I’ve been dying to get back to it (blogging sometimes demands inhuman patience). I’m off to do exactly that, and as usual, will be back with a rundown in two or three days.


Session Time: 0 hours 45 minutes

Laura Bow Journal Entry 5: "I really wish I never accepted Lillians offer to come to this "family reunion". Everyone here seems determined to inflict bodily harm on one another, often resulting in death! I found Glorias body in the gazebo. I wasnt even shocked, which says a lot about what Ive already experienced in the last few hours. What the hell is going on here!? Henri is spying on everyone. Lillian is acting crazier by the minute. Fifi and Jeeves are having a secret relationship. Rudy and Clarence are at each other like they intend to kill one another any moment! And now Im pretty sure Ethel is dead too, which she likely would have caused herself anyway through excessive alcohol intake! If I have to stay on this island for the rest of the night, Im at least going to figure out who is behind all this killing!"


I’ve witnessed another Act of The Colonel’s Bequest. I say “witnessed”, because I’m afraid that’s all I’m really doing. My actual interaction within (and affect on) the storyline and events is so minimal, that all I’m really doing is trying to figure out what everyone else is up to around me. That’s not to say that I’m losing interest, which is probably what makes it all a bit frustrating. I’m very much focussed on figuring out who is behind all these murders, and am strangely still enjoying the process of finding who was where and when. So either I really suck at The Colonel’s Bequest, which is a distinct possibility, or the “puzzles” I’m supposed to solve are so imperceptible that I’m not even aware of them. I have stacks of items in my possession now, but I can’t think of any way to use any of them. As soon as I do, putting my genius plan into practice always seems to result in me dying a horrible death (the bell tower, the coat of armour etc.), and I really can’t imagine how all of a sudden there are going to be puzzles everywhere that require all this stuff, particularly as I’ve explored the entire environment in and out. All I can do is push on, and keep doing my best.


Act III ended with Gloria disappearing from the billiards room. There were some pieces of a broken record and a pile of pink feathers on the ground near the Victrola, so I took a closer look. While I was walking towards it, Jeeves followed me into the room with some sort of cleaning device. Before I had any chance to investigate, the damn butler “vacuumed” up all the evidence! I restored, and this time rushed across the room to give myself some sort of opportunity to check it out. I picked up the broken record, and was given the following message: “As you bend down to retrieve the largest piece of the broken record, you notice some spots of mud on the rug.” I then looked at the mud and found that it was a partial footprint, but given no further details. Figuring I was supposed to do something with the footprint, I put some thought into what that might be. My first thought was that I was supposed to use my notepad and pencil somehow, but everything I tried (“draw footprint”, “trace footprint”, “use notepad and pencil on footprint” etc.)  failed. Nothing else in my inventory seemed useful in the situation, so eventually I just had to let Jeeves clean it up. The pink feathers were obviously from Gloria’s boa, and I wasn’t able to pick those up.


So now I had a broken piece of a record! What could that possibly be used for? I decided my best course of action was to do what I’ve done in every other act. Try and find everyone and then watch what they do over the course of the next hour. The first place I entered was the library, where once again Jeeves entered the room and cleaned up the feathers that remained after Wilbur had been killed. I then entered the study, and was surprised when the progress clock appeared and moved on to 10:15. That didn’t take long! Lillian was in the room, and was going through one of Henri’s armoires. She hadn’t noticed that I was there, and spoke to herself: “What an interesting collection of weapons Uncle Henry had! I wonder... Oh, Laura!... you startled me!” Lillian then walked over and sat on one of the chairs. Was this another attempt at making me think Lillian was behind everything, after she’d been acting very strangely in the playhouse during Act III? I asked her lots of questions to see if I could find anything out. The only “success” I had was finding out that the cane I’d discovered in one of the hidden rooms did indeed belong to Henri, as I’d assumed. “I’m sure that’s Uncle Henri’s cane. Why are you carrying it around, Laura?” Telling Lillian about Wilbur resulted in her going to the chapel to see the body for herself, only to return and tell me that I was “just imagining things”.


Once I’d run out of people and events to talk to Lillian about, I restored my game back to 10:00 so I could try to find out where everyone else was at that time. The next room I visited was the parlor, where I found Fifi madly cleaning. I threw all the questions I could at her too, but got nothing interesting out of her either. Even Polly couldn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know! When I gave her a cracker, she said “AWWKK! I’ll teach her! AWWKK! She can’t break up with me!” This was clearly spoken by Clarence, and since her was already an intentional main suspect, didn’t change anything. I made my way upstairs, and found Henri in his room, smoking a cigar in his wheelchair as usual. I showed him the cane and even tried to give it to him, but he only responded with “Put it back where you found it!” I was starting to see a pattern with Henri though, which is that he disappears around quarter to the hour, every hour. I was keen to see whether he would once again disappear at 10:45, but would have to wait to find that out. After I’d checked out every room in the house, I made my way outside and set off to see whether Celie was still in her shack.


As mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been gradually revealing all the screens outside the house so as not to hijack one particular post with stacks of new locations. Thankfully, Act IV just happened to force me into almost all the screens I haven’t yet revealed, mostly thanks to what occurred on my way to Celie’s. As I made my way east of the well, I came to a screen with a gate leading into a hedge surrounded area. The clock appeared and ticked over to 10:15 again, and I witnessed Clarence walking north up the side of the hedge and off-screen. I was obviously meant to follow him, but before I describe that I’ll reveal what’s behind the gate. Beyond it was a small garden with a fountain in the middle. There were urns in two opposing corners and a statue of a nymph overseeing the scene. The urns were empty, and I couldn’t find anything to do with the fountain or the statue. That’s all there is to say about that, so let’s get back to following suspect number one. Clarence walked by Celie’s shack, and the maid was sitting in her rocking chair knitting on the porch. I paused to ask her questions (typing pauses the game so I didn’t have to worry about Clarence getting away from me), but like the others, Celie gave me nothing that seemed important.


I followed Clarence east, entering a screen containing a bridge crossing a small stream. The bridge was broken away in the middle, meaning there was no way to cross it. Clarence then went south into a swamp-filled section. There were a couple of threatening looking alligators there, but otherwise there was nothing to look into further. Clarence continued in that direction until he reached the fence at the southern end of the estate, then turned west. I followed him to the driveway and then into the garden in front of the mansion (the one with the statue of Colonel Henri in it). There Clarence stopped, and faced off with Rudy, who was standing at the other end of the pathway. The clock appeared and ticked over to 10:30, then the two of them got down to business! Rudy: “Get out of my sight, JERK!!” Clarence: “NO! YOU get out of MY sight!!” Rudy: “WHY, YOU...!!” Rudy and Clarence starting laying into each other, and it wasn’t long before Rudy landed a brutal right that floored Clarence! Rudy: “Don’t mess with me, BUD!! Just stay out of my way!!” When Clarence had recovered, he stood back up and shouted “You ain’t heard the last of me, RUDY! I’ll get you for this!!”, then they both stormed off in opposite directions.


If neither of these guys is the murderer, it seems likely that they will be before the night is out! The scene was entertaining alright, but it got me wondering what Rudy had been doing prior to the main event. I restored my game back to 10:00 and went looking for him, finding him just to the west of the study entrance. He too walked around from screen to screen before arriving at the scene of the fight, proving it was possible to end up at the 10:30 boxing match by following either of its combatants. So now I knew where three out of four main trigger points were for Act IV (discovering Lillian in the study, finding either Rudy or Clarence walking about, and watching the fight scene), but I hadn’t yet come across the last and most critical one. Who was going to die next? I hadn’t found Gloria’s body either, so it was time to go hunting. I walked from screen to screen until I reached a gazebo in the south-east part of the island. Normally there would be nothing to examine there, but this time I found Gloria’s body, lying spread-eagle on the ground. I searched her body, expecting to find some other item to add to my up until now completely useless inventory. Apart from finding that she’d been “viciously strangled with her feather boa”, I uncovered nothing of interest.


Since there was only one guest left that I hadn’t accounted for in Act IV, I set out to find Ethel. I wondered if she was still stumbling about blind drunk the way she was in the third act, so made my way towards the bell tower where her faltering route had started previously. I didnt make it that far, finding her on the driveway in the middle of one her aimless, intoxicated excursions. The progress clock appeared, making me certain that poor old Ethel was the next target. I followed her, but she disappeared at the same point that she always seemed to. I figured I was going to find her body in Act V, tucked away in one of the outside locations, so decided it was time to go around and fill in all the gaps on my spreadsheet. I found a few interesting things too, but none more surprising than what I walked in on in the dining room at 10:45! I guess I’d considered it a possibility earlier in the game, but I still hadn’t expected to walk in on Jeeves and Fifi throwing their cleaning equipment aside so they could pash like teenagers! Jeeves even pinched Fifi’s bottom when she reached down to collect her feather duster, naughtily raising his eyebrows at the player in the process.

Another interesting find occurred when I entered one of the hidden rooms. Just as I’d discovered the cane earlier, this time I found a cigar on the ground. It was pretty apparent now that Henri had been spying on people from the hidden rooms! The thing I needed to figure out though was whether this is all he was doing when he left his room at quarter to each hour, or whether he was involved in things more sinister. I should also mention that I found a bug during this “housekeeping” period of the act. Lillian had disappeared from the study around 10:45, making me wonder where she’d got to. I found her in our room, lounging on the bed, although the game didn’t seem to think that she was there. Trying to look at her or communicate with her both resulted in the game telling me “You must be confused. Lillian is not here.” I ended my session by playing through the act completely, as opposed to the piecemeal approach I’d been taking. I’m still keen to continue on and see what happens, but I’m beginning to wonder whether I’m simply approaching the game in a way that doesn’t really apply to it. Perhaps all my attempts to find uses for items I’ve found are futile, and they only serve as evidence? If that’s the case, I’m currently walking around an island where family members are being killed off one at a time, with me being the only non-family person there, all the while holding onto each of the victim’s items and what I assume are murder weapons. Good plan huh!

• Lillian spent most of the hour in the study checking out Henris weapon collection, before heading up to her room for a rest.
• Ethel continued on in her drunken stupor before apparently being killed at around 11:00pm.
• Henri stayed in his room until 10:45, at which point he disappeared, probably into the hidden rooms to spy on people.
• Fifi and Jeeves spent the entire hour cleaning up around the place, only pausing to kiss each other passionately in the dining room just before 11:00.
• Clarence and Rudy walked around outside before confronting each other in front of the house. They got into a fight, before leaving the scene to unknown destinations.
• Celie never left her chair on the porch of her shack, where she spent the hour knitting.

Total Time: 7 hours 00 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: Ive written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, Ive not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!

P.J. Barrett Journal Entry 5: "I had further success today, finding the Indella bird up in the terraces, and then convincing Lantra to hand over her pouches of crystals. Sadly, I still havent been able to catch that damn bird, and after making my way down through the underground trying to reach JonQuah, Ive been unable to solve a riddle that seems very important. I know it has something to do with all these circles, but what exactly?! Hey, there seems to be a path leading to the east. Maybe I can just...what was that!? Aaaaaggghhhh.........."

The previous Altered Destiny gameplay post finished with me getting my hands on the jewelled arrow that the prince had used to take down a Yula. This was not the end of my journey into the canyons however, as there were still some pathways out of the “Canyon Fork” that I needed to check out. Before I could do that though, there was a more pressing problem to deal with. I’d left all of my stuff in front of the bones, since I hadn’t been able to cross the web while holding them. Now I wanted to pick them back up, but the inventory limitations meant I was going to have to leave two things behind. I had a look through the items, trying to figure out what I likely wouldn’t need again. The most likely candidate was the scroll, since I’d already read it and had screenshots to boot. I hadn’t used the arrow, the leaf, the Kleeg or the bottle of pigment yet, so I certainly wasn’t going to get rid of one of them. I also knew the purpose of the bowl, and figured losing the golden tube would undoubtedly end in tears. That left the axe and the sword, both of which I could have used to gain access to the Pool of Light. The game made it clear time and time again that hitting people with weapons was not a worthy option, so it seemed reasonably safe to assume keeping one would be enough (I hadn’t actually gone to see JonQuah through the Pool of Light yet in this save game).


With that decision made, I left the scroll and the axe on the ground and made my way back through the canyons to the fork. I put the slime in the now empty bowl and then looked at my options. I’d already taken the second of the three paths to the north, so now I took the third, which wound around to the right of screen. I reappeared in the “Canyon Depths”, only now I was on the right hand path rather than the left. I could now follow this path to the north or off to the east, but I’ll cut to the chase and say that both led to dead ends in "Canyon Heights". I made my way back to the fork and took the Left Hand Path (any metalheads here?). This one took me right up to the plant-like thing I’d been able to see earlier in the “Canyon Heights”. I wasnt able to get past it, but it did look like there was a tunnel leading away behind it. Any interaction I attempted resulted in the same old “You should acquaint yourself with herbal lore so you can recognize it” message. If it turns out that I need to know what the plant is to be able to pick it up or move it, I’ll be very pissed indeed. That’s just stupid! For now, I was going to have to go back the way I came, ending my trip to the canyons, and more importantly, completing my exploration phase of Daltere! I’d kind of been dreading this moment, since it meant I was going to have to knuckle down and try to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do next.


So what did I know?! 1. I needed to find the Jewel of Light. The jewel would likely be found in a castle that I hadn’t uncovered yet. 2. Humans, called Longas, once inhabited Daltere, but were killed off after their prince killed a Yula with the Jewelled Arrow that I now possessed. The arrow head is made from a red jewel, which was one of the jewels needed to enter the castle. 3. Vindah can perform a divination for me, but only once I bring him an Indella bird from “the woods”. The only thing I knew about the bird was that it could be attracted to pretty colours. Vindah warned me about natural springs in the woods too, but I eventually figured out that he was talking about the Hoppas, which were creatures in the shape of springs. So the bird should be in the woods to the west of the crossroads. 4. JonQuah wanted me to cross the expanse of clamchop jaws, but gave me no idea how I might achieve that. The message on the stones nearby had read “Growth bridges the gap, seeding the path, crystallizing our differences.” Even when in the form of a tree, I could not figure out how to get to JonQuah. 5. Lantra has two pouches of crystals, but I couldn’t figure out how to get them from her. The parser suggested I just needed to be in the right spot to do so, but all of my attempts had failed. 6. There was an artefact next to Howler Lake, but any attempts to get close to it resulted in P.J. being killed by a Howler.


While looking over all of the above, I noticed something very interesting! The message on the stones Id seen in the caves made specific mention of seeds and crystals: “seeding the path, crystallizing our differences”. Surely the crystals that Lantra had in her possession could be used to bridge the gap to JonQuah!!! This was a revelation alright, but I still didn’t know how to get the crystals. I spent another fifteen minutes trying to get the damn things off Lantra, but it was clear that standing in the right place wasn’t the solution. The biggest problem was that Lantra didn’t seem to have an issue that needed solving. If I was required to give her something in return for the crystals, she simply wasn’t telling me what it was. Frustrated, I looked for another lead. The game had pretty much started with Vindah requesting the Indella bird so he could divine something for me. Should I be looking for the bird in the woods? I felt like the bottle of pigment might play a role since the bird was attracted to pretty colours, so made my way back to the woods to have another shot. I’d seen absolutely no sign of the Indella bird during my previous visit to the woods, and specifically looking for it on each screen had resulted in “I don’t see the Indella bird here”. I wandered from screen to screen again, trying to find something that I might be able to interact with. It still seemed strange to me that I couldn’t even open the bottle of pigment, as I really wasn’t sure how I might be able to use it anyway.


I typed “look up”, thinking that I might be able to see the bird above one of the screens. All I got was “You see the underside of the terrace over your head.” Eventually I arrived at the “Eastern Woods”, where the Hoppa had previously pollinated me, kicking off a transformation into a tree creature. The description of that screen made a point of mentioning the vines running up the back wall. I realised that I’d only tried to climb them after being pollinated last time I was there, and the result hadn’t been a definite no (I was just told that I couldn’t do it in my current condition). I tried to climb the vines now: “You’re not close enough.” Well that was promising, but my experience trying to get Lantra’s pouches had taught me not to get too excited. I couldn’t walk far along the wall without being accosted by the Hoppa, so I moved one screen to the left, hoping the vine wall would continue. It did, and typing “climb vines” caused P.J. to start scaling them! (3 points) A short climb later and I found myself on a screen called “Terrace, West Edge”. I was above the woods, and very confident that I would find the bird I needed up there somewhere. I could already see a little green creature, but looking at it revealed it to be something called a snert. “The Snert is a timid but curious creature who makes his home in the high terraces of the woods.” I walked past it to the south, and there in “A Terrace Clearing” was the Indella Bird, just sitting there in its nest!!!!


Finally I was getting somewhere! The only remaining challenge was to figure out how to get the bird, and looking at it revealed that the task might not be as simple as picking it up. “It’s an elusive, slippery kind of bird, as birds go, attracted by strong smells and bright colors.” I already knew about the attraction to colours, but the strong smells bit was new. I tried picking the bird up, but was told that there was “No way you could hold it in your hands.” I tried showing it the pigment, and even dropping it, but the bird wouldn’t react in any way. Not sure what to do, I decided to check out the remainder of the terrace, hoping I might find something that would help. There was a large tree on the screen to the right, and resting on the ground there was a small shell. I tried to pick it up, but once again I was going to have to drop something else first. I have to say that there’s nothing more infuriating than an item limit in an adventure game where everything you can pick up likely plays an important role! I dropped the Kleeg, only because it was very easy to see on the ground if and when I returned for it. I picked up the shell (5 points), only to find that it wasn’t the sort of shell I’d been expecting: “It’s a hollow seed shell that dropped from one of the vines. There’s nothing in the seed shell.”


For some reason holding an empty shell made me wonder whether I could put water in it, so I tried. “Don’t be a fraidy-cat. Go ahead and get wet first.” Huh!? Was this actually going to work? I walked into the water and then tried filling the shell again. It worked! (2 points) So now I had some water in a shell, but I couldn’t see how that might help me to get the bird. Now, this is where I have an admission to make. Way back when I was fighting the parser trying to get the two pouches off Lantra, out of desperation I opened up the manual to see if any of the verbs in the list might trigger an idea. They didn’t, but at the very end of the manual, as there often is in Sierra games, I scanned my eyes over the short walkthrough that teaches the player how to play the very first section of the game. Obviously I’d past that long ago, so didn’t for a second think that I would spoil anything for myself. A word jumped off the page at me, and I’m afraid there was no way that I could simply unsee it. That word was “CAGE”. This is exactly what the manual says: “Try giving a command to a character other than P.J. To do this, type in the character’s name, followed by a comma, then the command. Example: “ALNAR, MAKE A CAGE”. Now I’d thought it was weird at the time, but perhaps it was just an example and didn’t mean anything literal. After all, there was no reason in the world to ask Alnar to make me a cage. But now...now I wasn’t so sure.


I couldn’t ignore this thought, so saved my game and restored back to the crossroads. Instead of going to the woods, I waited for a large floater and grabbed hold of it. (2 points) I’d always assumed that I’d be able to hitch a ride back up to the floating islands on a large floater, but was still pretty happy when it worked. As soon as I arrived, I entered Alnar’s workshop and tried to find a reason why the average player might think that he could make a cage. I asked Alnar about the Indella bird, and his response gave me a solid clue: “A cage might help you catch him, though why you would want to catch a bird is beyond me.” I typed “ask about cage”, and the response was “It could be useful for some small animals.” I thought about what I might have done next had I not seen the spoiler, and typed “ask alnar to make cage”. The parser didn’t understand me! I typed “ask for cage” and got “I don’t think that Alnar has the cage”. I figure by now I would have walked away from Alnar, either forgetting about the cage or looking for it elsewhere, but I of course had another command to try. I typed “alnar, make a cage”, and he responded with “We don’t imprison animals here. I will make a small one for you though, warrior.” A few moments later there was a bright yellow cage sitting on the bench, which I eagerly tried to pick up. “You’ll have to drop something first.” Shaking my fist and cursing this damn game, I wandered outside and dropped my sword, returning to pick up the cage (2 points).


This success felt hollow due to the way it was achieved, and I still wasn’t sure it would help me to actually catch the Indella bird. I made my way back to the bird and typed “drop cage”. P.J. wandered over to the centre of the screen and placed the cage on the ground. (3 points) Suddenly the bird took off, swinging its tail feathers in a helicopter motion. It flew around the screen before landing right near the cage. I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat, praying that it would walk into the cage, but the thing just wandered back and forth past it. I was able to walk right up to the bird now, but despite my many attempts, wasn’t able to figure out how to get it into the cage. I figured I needed to put something in the cage that was either brightly coloured or strong in scent, but every time I tried putting anything in there the parser responded with “This is an old-fashioned trap.” Damn it! I felt like I was so close to opening the game up, but still couldn’t take the vital step I needed! I spent some time going over all my screenshots, looking desperately for something that might trigger a solution. While looking at the Lantra section, I noticed something she’d said about the crystals that sparked a glimmer of hope. “They must be planted out of sunlight for them to germinate, and I grow them to fruition with the help of water and light.” Could it be that giving Lantra the shell filled with water would result in me getting my hands on the pouches? I had nothing to lose, so raced off to try.


On arriving at Lantra’s cavern, I typed “give shell to lantra”, and it actually frickin’ worked!!!! “Thank you for your kindness. Now I can tend to these crystals.” (7 points) Lantra sprinkled water over the crystals, and then rewarded me for my help. “Thank you for helping me grow my crystals. In exchange for the water, I give you these." Finally I was able to collect the two pouches of crystals, which meant I might now be able to reach JonQuah in the Caves of Death. I have to say that this puzzle was a bit unfair, because Lantra never made it clear that she needed the water. I was thrilled to have solved it though, but my good mood was tarnished by the fact I was going to have to drop something again if I wanted to pick up both pouches. I figured the jewelled arrow probably wouldn’t be needed until much later in the game, so left it next to Lantra. It was time to go back through the Pool of Light, but I had to go via the floating island to pick up the sword I’d left there, swapping it for the Kleeg. I made my way back to the woods, allowed the Hoppa to pollinate me, then used the sword to avoid aRRaRRa and jump into the pool. Once in the underground caves, it was time to test out my theory. I threw the crystals from the large pouch while standing before the crowd of clamchops. As I’d hoped they would, they spread out over the gap and formed a bridge for me to cross! (5 points)


I walked across, and as I stepped on the platform that JonQuah had been floating above, it descended downwards like a lift. It passed through a tube, and typing “look” revealed there were “some strange markings” on the walls. I looked at them, and found the following riddle: “Old fools love dancing, and kicking their legs. The large ones stand up with the aid of a peg. The smallest are happy with four double chins, but the midsized liked no one and committed vile sins.” (4 points) This didn’t mean anything to me at the time, but its importance soon became clear. I was soon standing on a “Floating Floor”, with JonQuah once again beckoning me forward from the other side of the room. Trying to follow him to the right of screen resulted in a heavy tile falling from above and crushing me! It was then that I noticed the markings on the tiles and realised there were three different sized circles on them. Clearly the riddle held the key to following JonQuah without getting crushed, but despite spending twenty minutes trying to avoid the mid-sized markings, stepping on all the small ones, and every other combination I could think of, I simply couldn’t find a solution. I’m getting a bit sick of Altered Destiny now, so rather than waste another hour trying to figure out the solution to this puzzle and the Indella bird one, I’m putting in an official Request for Assistance. Obviously if the solution to one of these puzzles leads to the solution to the other, please don’t give both away. *sigh* I’m afraid the parser in this game is leaving me little choice but to get spoilers, as I just don’t trust it anymore.


Session Time: 2 hours 00 minutes
Total Time: 6 hours 30 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: Ive written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I have made a request for assistance. Thanks!