Elzair
Cipher
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2009
- Messages
- 2,254
Let's Play Advanced Dungeons and Dragons . . . On Intellivision!!
Alright, since I LP'ed a fairly recent and (in)famous game (namely Oblivion) last time, I decided to do a quick LP on an incredibly obscure game. This was the best I could come up with.
Now, I know what many of you are thinking: there is no way in hell that this can be an RPG, especially since it is a console game (and an Intellivision one at that). I would answer that, while it may not contain most (or nearly any) elements of modern RPGs, it has Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the title, and that is good enough for me!
Here is what the manual says about the game.
It seems like pretty standard stuff.
Anyway, let's get started!
First of all, this is what an Intellivision controller looked like.
Pretty fucked up, huh?
Well, most games came with paper-overlays for the telephone pad, so you could make the numbers mean something. Here is the overlay for this game.
Now that that is out of the way, let's start up the game!
Now, according to the manual, you have four difficulty options.
They only affect the number of arrows you receive from quivers in dungeons and the movement speed of monsters.
Since this is just a quick LP, I will cheat like a mothafucka by selecting Easy (and making frequent use of save-states).
I now enter the (randomly-generated) overland map. The brown mountains are impassable, and the black mountains contain dungeons that I must clear to pass over them. The greenish-gray represents forests, and to pass those I need to find an axe; the rivers can be crossed with a boat, and the walls can be bypassed with a key. All of these items can be found in the dungeons. I start on the house (I guess it represents a village), and I must make my way to the volcano.
When I near one of the black mountains, it changes color to grey, blue, red or purple depending on the difficulty of its dungeon (easiest-hardest). The difficulty of the dungeon mostly reflects the monsters in it and the treasures found inside. Here is a handy reference guide.
To enter a dungeon, I just move my avatar over the mountain. Since I only start with three arrows, I enter a grey dungeon to find some more. (BTW arrows are the only weapon in the game, so I must use them sparingly. Enemies take between one and three arrows to kill)
Here is a photo of the dungeon. I am the black figure with the bow (at least that's what I think it is). I have no idea what the black specks on the ground represent.
The dungeons are randomly-generated as well.
After some wandering around, I finally find a quiver of arrows! Quivers add about eleven extra arrows to my arsenal.
BTW, this game features an interesting way to keep track of my arrows. When I press the Count Arrows button, I hear one beep for each arrow in my quiver.
Also, this game may have pioneered Fog of War. Dungeon passages will only become visible on the map once I have run through them once.
I find another quiver. MOAR Arrows!!!
Whew! The exit! Let's get outta this easy dungeon and find some real challenges!
It appears that the next dungeon is a purple dungeon, so I should find a key inside!
I go to find the key!
Note that once I complete a dungeon, I cannot re-enter it until I have escaped from three more dungeons, so I better pick up any special items the first time around.
After only a quick exploration, I find the key. Unfortunately, it is guarded by a dragon! At least, I think that is a dragon. The shitty graphics make it difficult to tell for sure.
When the hero is damaged, he changes color: from black to blue, then from blue to red, and he then collapses into dust. When that happens, one of the other two heroes takes over. The new hero starts at the entrance to the current dungeon with the same number of arrows and key items as the deceased hero had. Since I am being cheap, I will simply reload.
How do you like that shit now, bitch?!
Anyway, I grab the key and search around the dungeon for more quivers and the exit.
I now encounter a daemon. Like the dragon, he takes two arrows to the face before going down.
I LIEK AROWS!!1!
Bad dino, bad!
Let's get the fuck out of here!
Since I now have a key, I decide to grab a boat from a blue dungeon.
Yay! Another quiver!
And another!
The only thing standing between me and the sailboat is a six-foot demon that can be killed with two arrows.
God! What a shitty boat that is! It doesn't even have a sail!
Since we have the tugboat, let's make like a tree and get out of here!
I now have to go through another purple dungeon to get where I want to go.
I'm getting some quiver action tonight!
Another day! Another exit!
I then clear out another blue dungeon putting me quite close to my goal. Now I could clear out another half-a-dozen dungeons, but I am bored, so let's get to the final dungeon. It is about this time that I notice that my character can move diagonally on the world map, even if both corresponding cardinal directions are blocked.
I went from that blue dungeon to the wall all in one move. The key that appears above the gate indicates that I use the key I found in the dungeon to open the door.
Now I use the boat to cross the stream.
It is now time for the final dungeon!
More arrows are never a bad thing.
EEK!! SNAKES .... IN A GAME!!!
As usual, they take two hits to kill.
Here it is! The final quiver in the game!
I finally come upon one of the pieces of the crown!! Of course it is guarded by a winged dragon that takes three arrows to go down.
Take that you winged wuss!!
(BTW that cross-thing is supposed to be an arrow.)
One down! One to go!
No matter how hard I try, I can't get the jump on this last one.
Instead, I will snipe him. I can hit monsters even through fog-of-war as long as they are onscreen. Of course, once I start firing arrows, the monsters have a habit of rushing right towards me.
Once I pick up the second piece of the crown, I get treated to the ending "cinematic."
Yay! I have built a palace on the foot of an active volcano! Hooray for me!
Alright, since I LP'ed a fairly recent and (in)famous game (namely Oblivion) last time, I decided to do a quick LP on an incredibly obscure game. This was the best I could come up with.
Now, I know what many of you are thinking: there is no way in hell that this can be an RPG, especially since it is a console game (and an Intellivision one at that). I would answer that, while it may not contain most (or nearly any) elements of modern RPGs, it has Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the title, and that is good enough for me!
Here is what the manual says about the game.
You control a 3-man expedition of adventurers.
Your object is to acquire the two halves of the ancient Crown of
Kings, hidden deep within the caverns of the legendary Cloudy
Mountain. To reach the treasure you must cross a hostile land. The
obstacles are numerous. Your resources are courage, cunning and
three arrows. The rest you must find and fight to obtain. If you
survive the wasteland and the creatures of the caves, you will have
traveled out of danger into even greater peril. For each half of the
Crown of Kings is guarded by terror - the Winged Dragons keep their
endless watch.
It seems like pretty standard stuff.
Anyway, let's get started!
First of all, this is what an Intellivision controller looked like.
Pretty fucked up, huh?
Well, most games came with paper-overlays for the telephone pad, so you could make the numbers mean something. Here is the overlay for this game.
Now that that is out of the way, let's start up the game!
Now, according to the manual, you have four difficulty options.
[3]: Sightseer (Easy)
[2]: Weekend Adventurer (Medium)
[1]: Soldier of Fortune (Medium Hard)
DISC: Hero (Hard)
They only affect the number of arrows you receive from quivers in dungeons and the movement speed of monsters.
Since this is just a quick LP, I will cheat like a mothafucka by selecting Easy (and making frequent use of save-states).
I now enter the (randomly-generated) overland map. The brown mountains are impassable, and the black mountains contain dungeons that I must clear to pass over them. The greenish-gray represents forests, and to pass those I need to find an axe; the rivers can be crossed with a boat, and the walls can be bypassed with a key. All of these items can be found in the dungeons. I start on the house (I guess it represents a village), and I must make my way to the volcano.
When I near one of the black mountains, it changes color to grey, blue, red or purple depending on the difficulty of its dungeon (easiest-hardest). The difficulty of the dungeon mostly reflects the monsters in it and the treasures found inside. Here is a handy reference guide.
GRAY - EASY. Quivers of arrows only
BLUE - MEDIUM. Boat and arrows
RED - MEDIUM HARD. Axe and arrows
PURPLE - HARD. Key and arrows
To enter a dungeon, I just move my avatar over the mountain. Since I only start with three arrows, I enter a grey dungeon to find some more. (BTW arrows are the only weapon in the game, so I must use them sparingly. Enemies take between one and three arrows to kill)
Here is a photo of the dungeon. I am the black figure with the bow (at least that's what I think it is). I have no idea what the black specks on the ground represent.
The dungeons are randomly-generated as well.
After some wandering around, I finally find a quiver of arrows! Quivers add about eleven extra arrows to my arsenal.
BTW, this game features an interesting way to keep track of my arrows. When I press the Count Arrows button, I hear one beep for each arrow in my quiver.
Also, this game may have pioneered Fog of War. Dungeon passages will only become visible on the map once I have run through them once.
I find another quiver. MOAR Arrows!!!
Whew! The exit! Let's get outta this easy dungeon and find some real challenges!
It appears that the next dungeon is a purple dungeon, so I should find a key inside!
I go to find the key!
Note that once I complete a dungeon, I cannot re-enter it until I have escaped from three more dungeons, so I better pick up any special items the first time around.
After only a quick exploration, I find the key. Unfortunately, it is guarded by a dragon! At least, I think that is a dragon. The shitty graphics make it difficult to tell for sure.
When the hero is damaged, he changes color: from black to blue, then from blue to red, and he then collapses into dust. When that happens, one of the other two heroes takes over. The new hero starts at the entrance to the current dungeon with the same number of arrows and key items as the deceased hero had. Since I am being cheap, I will simply reload.
How do you like that shit now, bitch?!
Anyway, I grab the key and search around the dungeon for more quivers and the exit.
I now encounter a daemon. Like the dragon, he takes two arrows to the face before going down.
I LIEK AROWS!!1!
Bad dino, bad!
Let's get the fuck out of here!
Since I now have a key, I decide to grab a boat from a blue dungeon.
Yay! Another quiver!
And another!
The only thing standing between me and the sailboat is a six-foot demon that can be killed with two arrows.
God! What a shitty boat that is! It doesn't even have a sail!
Since we have the tugboat, let's make like a tree and get out of here!
I now have to go through another purple dungeon to get where I want to go.
I'm getting some quiver action tonight!
Another day! Another exit!
I then clear out another blue dungeon putting me quite close to my goal. Now I could clear out another half-a-dozen dungeons, but I am bored, so let's get to the final dungeon. It is about this time that I notice that my character can move diagonally on the world map, even if both corresponding cardinal directions are blocked.
I went from that blue dungeon to the wall all in one move. The key that appears above the gate indicates that I use the key I found in the dungeon to open the door.
Now I use the boat to cross the stream.
It is now time for the final dungeon!
More arrows are never a bad thing.
EEK!! SNAKES .... IN A GAME!!!
As usual, they take two hits to kill.
Here it is! The final quiver in the game!
I finally come upon one of the pieces of the crown!! Of course it is guarded by a winged dragon that takes three arrows to go down.
Take that you winged wuss!!
(BTW that cross-thing is supposed to be an arrow.)
One down! One to go!
No matter how hard I try, I can't get the jump on this last one.
Instead, I will snipe him. I can hit monsters even through fog-of-war as long as they are onscreen. Of course, once I start firing arrows, the monsters have a habit of rushing right towards me.
Once I pick up the second piece of the crown, I get treated to the ending "cinematic."
Yay! I have built a palace on the foot of an active volcano! Hooray for me!