Completed Let's Play Aleshar: World of Ice

[octavius]

Uh... you're not being very undercover about that... I didn't even introduce myself yet!

Ah, but you have already met her at the hideout in Snowhold.

GOOD FUCKING RIDDANCE!

It took me seriously like over 50 tries to kill this fucking dipshit. And I have finished this game several times before. Old skool baby!

Spoiler

Though a magic weapon, better stats or using balefire on him would've probably made it easier, poor initial skill/stat choices will rape you beyond recovery in this game

Yeah, I rolled until I got almost max stats for a Hunter.
When I killed the demon it was with Weak STR and Cutting skill, and using a regular Falchion (it's high Parry probably saved my ass).
I think I got lucky, though.

IIRC a reliable way to kill the Caerbaennen is to use the spell that pushes him back, throw him at walls repeatedly with that, he won't resist that shit at least not all the time.

I tried that for several rounds when the demon was busy with Coren and two Acolytes, but it never worked for me.

 

[octavius]

No saving in dungeons + any physical attack from an enemy can lead to a critical hit = meleeing is suicide.
Twice now I've tried to (re) explore the dungeons under Dwarlow.
I'm being ultra careful, always casting Stun on the Thugs, whack them twice, retreat, rinse and repat. Of course they're a piece of cake to kill with spells, but I want to improve my weapon skills.
With the Priests I use a Bow since they have weak armour and spells (except "Whirlwind (Air+Earth)) don't work on them.
Both times I've explored almost all of the dungeon, when some Dark Priest, already severely wounded, suddenly moves several squares and hits my character critically.
It's fucking maddening that there is no protection against criticals, like Helmets for the head, or Gauntlets for the hands.
And it's bizarre how much "action points" attacking with a Bow uses compared to casting spells.

 

[octavius]

Looks like progression of weapon skills is tied to class. At least the Bow skill increased faster than the Cutting skill for a Hunter.

BTW, except for the Legendary Weapons, are there any magical ones? I've found a Short Sword and a Pike lying in typical treasure spots, but Info'ing them reveals nothing special.

 

[octavius]

So where the hell is the Hillcrest cave? I thought it wa supposed to be inside the town, but I can find no dungeon entrance, not even any mention of it when talking to the locals.

 

[octavius]

So I reached the bottom of the cave holding the Stormaxe, and I faced an shade named Sorrow who is wielding a Heronblade.
He's really fast, do a lot of damage, and constantly dodges Balefire. To make matters worse you can't Blink out of the bottom level. On the one run where I didn't meet Sorrow, I got the Stormaxe, tried to Blink out, but all that happened was that my character got Exhaused and then died from heart failure.
Never mind. It seems the spell is rather buggy, especially if the game has been running for many hours.

EDIT. Whirlwind (Earth + Air) at full power killed (the?) Sorrow. And it left a Heronblade.

 

[octavius]

Finally managed to beat this game myself, but sadly I had to resort to cheating at the end for two reasons:

1. I had misplaced the Axe of Storms and had to re-retrieved it. But the game seems to be level scaled, since the place that formerly only held one Sorrow (making me think it was a "boss"), was suddenly crawling with Sorrows.
Incidentally the Balefire spell is overrated since monsters just keep dodging it. Etheral Force and "Whirlwind" (Air+Earth) seems to be the only reliable spells against the Undead. A Whirlwind at full force will kill a Sorrow, but you may not have time to recover before the next one appears...

2. The Blink spell is bugged.
When starting the program and entering a dungeon it will work correctly.
Then after a while if you cast it you will be teleported to FA BA and can't see your avatar. But at least it saves your ass, since you can cast Shrinegate to get back from "limbo".
But, when you need the spell the most, after having waded through a legion of Undead, the spell buggered me hard. Not only does it not work, but it leaves you completely exhausted.
If it wasn't for this fucking annoying bug, I would have completed the game in a legitimate way. Assuming of course killing the final demon is as "easy" as the Sartryns make it out to be.

All in all I think it was an exciting, but sometime frustrating game, and even more difficult than Wizardry 4.
The chance of enemies scoring critical hit means you are more or less forced to rely on magic, since even lowly priests have an ucanny ability to hit your eye with a dagger.
Also, Ash Bows use a horrendous amount of "action points", in which time an enemy can cast 3 spells or move almost 10 squares, so ranged combat is really not an option. And the only way to kill Trolls with a bow is with getting a critical.

The lack of automap is also a major downside, since the dungeons are too large to keep in my head, and the level design too uninteresting to make for any kind of mapping challenge. I ended up using Grid Cartographer to map all areas.

Since there is no saving in dungeons, combined with the lack of automap, the game takes much longer to complete than it should.

But the character system is very good. Every increase in stats or skills was a major event, and my character at no point felt overpowered.
Except for Strength, my stats never increased. Started with Promising Dex and Int, and Talented in Con, and that is how they stayed the whole game.
Str seems to increased by repeated pounding of melee weapons. It seems that skills and Str increase faster if the opponent is not Stunned (which means you at any time are prone to be killed by a critical hit) or if it's a strong enemy (my STR increased after defeating the first demon, for example).
Also seems like different classes have different aptitude in skills. My Hunter increased much faster in Bows than Cutting weapons, but OTOH it could be the result of Bow targets not being Stunned, so I'm not sure.

Would love to see a remake of this game with automap, larger screen and some way to protect against criticals, like Helmets for Head and Gauntlets for Hands maybe. As long as you play only one character the critical hit system means that your success in melee combat is based more on luck than skill.

Oh, and it would have been great if you could turn off music and leave only the sound FX on.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Will ya upload pics and finish this LP?

 

[octavius]

Who, me?

 

[Haba]

And he saith unto them,
Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?
Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea;
and there was a great calm.

Update 2016: Infinite Forms of Violence

Spoiler

Our last update left us in a dungeon in the north-eastern part of Aleshar, which we entered in the search of a legendary weapon that will hopefully help us in our quest...

So once more, into the fray!

But what awaits us?

...

..

.



RAAAAAAAAGH!

TROLLS!

ARE!

HERE!

Gahahahahahaha! Fuck you trolls, you are nothing for me!

Time to venture to deeper levels of this dungeon.

...

A Shade? Oh, what is this?

Sadly, the Troll Chief smashes the Shade before I have a chance to test his combat performance.

Uh... Guys?

It is starting to get a bit too crowded here

But magic prevails, once again.

I also stumble upon a new bow. Is it any better than my old ash bow? Who knows.

(It is inferior to my Ash bow in all possible ways besides the weight)

Rest of the dungeon is oddly uneventful, off to the third floor it is then.

Oh boy.

Meet Wraith, another variant of the undead. Diffirent color cape and better equipment.

Meet more Wraiths! But how tough are they?

Welp.

Pretty tough.

I decide that discretion is the better part of valor. While running like a pussy making a tactical retreat, I stumble into something...

Oh!

The Dragonhammer, legendary weapon of Reesh Bloodfury.

But what does it do? I have no fucking idea.

Having found what I came here for, I decide to leave the dungeon. But while I was changing my equipment, I've got more company.

Nothing magic wont fix, right?

...right?

Well fuck.

Since direct approach is challenging, let's try something else.

Sneaking around invisible is pretty handy, but you have to be careful about when the spell runs out. And you will need time to rest in between the castings...

Oh for fuck's sake...

When the stars align correctly, Shades and even Wraiths can be taken down.

But it always comes with a great cost.

I'd much rather avoid fighting the buggers. Thankfully they are preoccupied with the Rock Trolls so I manage to sneak by.

But what is this?

A Heronblade, one of the legendary weapons? Just lying about on some corpse? I don't mind if I do!

Since I am not proficient with crushing weapons, as an one-handed cutting tool, the Heronblade works better for me.

Ha! Eat a dick Shade!

After slaughtering countless goblins, trolls, shades and other sorts things, my strength, dexterity and constitution have all increased.

My survival and magic skills have also improved a great deal. But my combat skills on the other hand...

Oh well. I've made it back to the first level of the dungeon, might as well hone my skills a bit with easy fodder.

Only way to get cutting and two-handed up is to kill things the old-fashioned way.

Trash like goblins are no mat-

OH FOR THE FUCKING LOVE OF...

Fuck my fucking life. Once more, you have to make all the fucking way back to the first floor of this asshole dungeon.

Oh well, another try and I am finally out an-

Get here you little cunts!

And now that we've finally exited that damnable dungeon... time for another dungeon!

This time we'll go for the Stormaxe. Thankfully I have the sextant co-ordinates and it isn't that far away either.

Same 'ol.

Creepy...

Easy trip all the way to the third floor, not a monster in sight...

That of course changes soon.

My tactic? Running away to the stairs. Monsters don't thankfully follow.

Since I have to train up my combat skills, I have to try fighting melee once in a while.

With the help of the protection spell, I can take on Shades pretty reliably.

It is not perfect protection, though...

And sorrows don't give a single fuck.

Well, most often running away works, but...

...kurwa?

K-kurwa?

KURWA!

KUUUUUUUURWAAAAAA!

The fucking Sorrows are a bane of my existence.

Full strength banefire...

...does fuck-all.

Fighting those guys straight on is suicide, so I have to get creative.

Call it cheesing, but smashing their bony asses on the walls with the Tornado spell works pretty reliably.

Of course the downside is that you might get hurt yourself in the process, as enemies collide with you and the spell affects you as well if you cast it too close.

Beats getting your head lopped off though.

Finally found that looks like the right place.

Naturally it is swarming with ghosts.

Finally my hard work pays off!

Now I have the full collection!

with the help of my manually mapped out grid paper map, I make my way out of the dungeon.

Traversing the floors up, I stop to wonder about this floor...

It could be skipped, but it is a full sized dungeon floor. It seems empty...

But it is a long corridor that has some gems on the other end. The thing is, by the time you've made it to the other end, the rest of the dungeon has spawned full of rock trolls...

Since I am a professional though, I resist the temptation and fuck off promptly. And I don't have any further use for gems anyway.

So fuck it, I'm out. And I'm done with dungeons in general.

But what next? I have collected all of the legendary weapons. I didn't go for the Heronblade dungeon, since I already have one.

Since I have nothing else to do, let's go tell Fras Hilltop about the Seer's fate.

But of course I can't make my way there without being waylaid... l・sigh...

Good chance to test the Stormaxe.

Seems to work?

Fun fact: if you cripple the foe's arms, they won't be able to fight back.

About 20 swings later, I finally manage to end his life.

Their corpses give me some rations. I also sport a naginata, which belongs to the setting about as well as lasers belong to katanas.

Man, it has been a while.

Wait for nightime and then sneak down to the old meeting place...

But suddenly...

At this point of the game however, even KKK grand drag- high priests don't faze me particularly much.

They could kill the resistance guys with their magic though, so better choppa 'dem fast.

Mr. Hilltop makes it short 'n sweet. Apparently I am to secure the buggers a new hideout. Which means...

ANOTHER FUCKING DUNGEON!

HNNNNNNNG!

This dungeon has goblins? What a fucking sham.

Goblin Chiefs and Cave Trolls too. And Troll Hunters, those fuckers are nasty.

As if I would have any use for money at this point of the game...

Cave Trolls are something I can handle, if approached with care. The tactic is to cast haste on myself and run away to recover once it wears off.

Running around in the dungeon and slaughtering countless goblins finally pays off: I have gained a point in strength. As proof of my sudden development, I am no longer encumbered by the two sets of armor, bow, two swords, axe and hammer that I lug around with me. Hooray!

Now, I was told to clean up this dungeon, but the enemies respawn... I decide that at this point I've performed the necessary amount of slaughter. Time to report back in Snowhold.

Yaaaaay! More skiing around! At least my near-legendary survival skills make the wilderness movement lightning fast.

Weren't you supposed to be hiding at someone's home? Oh well, if I had to live in permafrost I'd be drinking too.

YAY for more backtracking!

Wait, level what of the dungeon? I saw no damn stairs! Don't tell me...

All this for a fucking fruit? And no stairs!

Another damn secret room, but no stairs!

How the hell did I miss this?

Wait we weren't supposed to meet in the bottom floor? And why does the dungeon have four fucking floors?!?

Wow, time to meet some old friends. Whose name I couldn't remember.

If he died during the cult raid, he wouldn't be here. Reactivity man!

Why is this asshat wielding a Heronblade, wasn't that supposed to be one of a kind thing? FFS. I could've just killed him and gotten the sword that way.

In before a hot babe to romance!

A man? Fuck this shit.

Ha ha, the way things are going you'll get to do so soon...

Again with the Raven. I don't care, it's a fucking he.

Fine fine, anything to get me out of this god damn dungeon.

Turning point, climax. Holy foreshadowing Batman!

So where the hell was I supposed to go again?

Here we are, anothe big ass town to search through.

It seems that absolutely everyone has a fucking Heronblade those days. But this guy also wears a plate mail, which kinda makes me not wanna pick a fight with him.

Since I got my STR gain already, time to lighten the load a bit.

How about the artifacts I am logging around?

WTF game, why is Stormaxe 0 gold?

In comparison, the best and most expensive armor costs just over 300 geld. I am tempted to switch to it, but the weight and encumbrance would literally kill me. If I had higher base STR, I could deal with it, but right know speed is more relevant for my survival.

Like... duuuuude.

Sounds ominous.

Gee willikers, I think we might have found our guy!

What the fuck dude, I've killed more cultists than you can count. Why do you think their robes are red?

FFS whatever, let's look for the friendly local priest and murder him in cold blood AGAIN then.

Wow, we got ourself a badass here!

A tragic fire, eh...

Well that sounds awful lot like... oh.

God damn tavern drunks...

Judging from the number of runes on the carpet, this looks like the right place

A guy sleeping in the bed, check.

Time to torch the place.

Somehow the guy survived the fiery hell that burned away even the god damn fireplace...

But whatever, that is easily fixed.

What have I become? And why do you like my style so much? Will Grimoire be released? When will this LP end?

All the questions, questions everywhere, but nary an answer in sight...

You will just have to wait to find out. To the bitter [end?]!

Happy new year, cunts!

 

[lightbane]

It still lives! Somehow.

 

[Baron Dupek]

After Untertail release this "Haba is brimming with confidence and ready to face anything" make me yeugh!

 

[Azira]

 

[Haba]

“There is, all about us, ancient knowledge - that cannot be denied. Yet Kruppe wonders, are there memories? True memories? Of enlivened flesh and the wind's caress, of the laughter of children? Memories of love?
When frozen between life and death, in the glacial in-between, what can exist of mortal feeling? Not even an echo. Only memories of ice, of ice and no more than that.”

Update 2017: An end has a start

Spoiler

Last when we saw, I'd just performed a minor prank to win the trust to a gentleman who was oddly enthralled by our style.

None the less, we make our way back to the loving embr... company of our co-conspirators.

Which naturally means yet another romp in a deep dank dungeon.

Time to backtrack to yet another DUNGEON! YAY!

While exploring, I find a mushroom! Possibly a magic one.

I also find a pouch.

Also possibly a magic one.

Finally we are ther... wait what?

Uh oh...

I'll cry when I am done killing.

There is only one person who could be behind of this.

I knew a man with runes on his carpet couldn't be trusted!

Uh...

Er...

God damn it. You don't simply go sequence breaking Aleshar.

So all the way back... if you were not dumbfuck like me and you paid attention, at the scene of the battle, you'd notice the message of "bloody trail leading deeper in the dungeon". If you are fully autistic, you could even count the corpses...

Remember how I was cursing the fact that this dungeon had so many pointless levels?

Well, this is why...

Finally we find the missing guy.

Well, that certainly was anticlimactic.

Dan actually follows you from this point on.

Keeping him alive the whole way is a challenge with all the trolls around.

Finally managing to keep him from dying, I am rewarded with... him vanishing up. God damn it game.

Time to backtrack all the way back to the city. And of course get ambushed on the way.

*cough* Raven, you slimy cunt!

You will pay for your treachery!

...

Phew! For a moment I was worried, usually when getting knocked out in a dark dungeon involves waking up with other kinds of aches as well.

So, you wake up naked in a locked cell...

What is the first thing you do? Look for secret doors, of course.

Whee, stairs! I could escape now!

HAHAHAH! No.

The goons forgot that I can into magix even while nude.

Having had my fun, I make my way back to the surface. All my stuff is conveniently right next to the fireplace.

But what now? Every lead is cold and everyone I know is dead.



Game? Hallo. Quest compass? Halp?

After some pointless wandering around, I leave the town.

Oh, this is new!

Well hallo thar!

That's a lot of dudes.

A lot of dead dudes.

Uh... now what? You kill the priests and their goons and the encounter ends. But you are literally hounded by this encounter all over the map now.

While killing them over and over is somewhat relaxing, surely this isn't all?

Maybe there is something I am missing...?

Well... O.K.

You really had me worried for a moment there!

You come to your senses in the middle of a ritual. Five cloaked figures are around you. Something is separating you from your magical power but not perfectly.

The shield that keeps you from the power is not perfect. There is one minor flaw. You concentrate and try to break through.

(And this time we are not even naked)

YAHOO! Take that, bitch!

Oh shit, this is actually mildly challenging. You can kill one of them easily, but the other four are quick to react.

I'll much rather take some fire and brimstone than four stabs to the gut.

That was much harder than it seems. Getting yourself hasted was critical.

Yeah, I've seen those guys before.

They were not at all grateful for me saving their asses with the deamon and all.

What a bunch of tossers.

Yeah, I think I know this place. I've killed a lot of dudes here.

Finally out. Screw this town.

Wait what?

Maybe I've been clubbed unconscious and captured a few times too many.

...

...

Ah fuck it, Shrine of the Spirit it is.

Wait a moment, those guys were not here before!

Pfft, what can one minor demon do to a literal battle god at this point?

Well... shit.

You god damn cheating son of a bitch.

Really? Really game? You just had to?

...

Finally, after dozens of tries, I've finally come up with a foolproof strategy to deal with the demons.

It involves haste and running like a little bitch.

Oh boy.

What do you think?

Seeing how I fared with the "minor" demons, I am inclined to agree...

Welp.

Take my runic power, cunt!

Eee...

...

Feel the might of the ancient dragons!

Or not...

Maybe one of those random items I found would help me? Let's try the mushroom on Bathoth.

HOW IS THIS HELPING?

Running like a pussy has worked before, surely it will save me here as well?

Seriously?

Well, what do you do when you have nowhere left to run anymore?

Heaven seems like a viable choice.

Runic weapons? The might of the ancient Sartryns?

FUCK THAT SHIT

Want to know how I deal with three meter tall demons wielding flaming swords?

With a LOT of arrows.

ABOUT THE FUCKING TIME!

To make sure that the cunt stays dead, I killed him three different ways.

Spoiler

The hard way:



And the cheat way:



Fun fact, I never killed him "legit" back in the day. Playing the game on my old dos machine, without save states and other modern crap, I ended up accidentally cheating my way through. And after countless of tries, that was good enough for me.

But... what now?

Thank you, our scion. We are proud of you. It has ever been
and will ever be the way of Sartryn to take the
responsibility for the lesser beings. You have done your
part. Others will do theirs.

You weren't born for nothing, you have fullfilled the task
appointed to you.

But this world no longer has need for us. Our way is not to
govern but to guide.

You, the youngest scion of the Sartryn may now return to
rest with us. Leave your fleshly prison behind. Come with
us to the light.

Let the ruin of the shrine be the monument of your
struggle. Let the legendary weapons lie here, awaiting for
the next scion to come for them.

Now, come with us.

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even this LP may end.

...

..

.

This LP has seen Age of Decadence turn from wispy vapors to an actual released game. It has witnessed Cleveland Mark Blakemore's wildest stories proven true. It has survived the presidency of Donald Trump and the final shattering of the seventh seal as Grimoire was released.

It is time.

It is done.

Thank you to the few that actually read through this all. Aleshar is a game that deserved a complete LP and I am glad I was able to deliver, even if at slightly relaxed pace.

I'll try to squeeze my thoughts into a post-mortem to explain my obsession with this obscure indie title. But it may take a while...

 

[lightbane]

Congratulations, it took you forever, but you finally finished this! Granted, you must be like one of the 10 people (including the devs) that played this, but still...

Hopefully your final-final update doesn't take so long.

 

[Tito Anic]

Allways wanted to play Aleshar. Tried it in a DosBox - runs very clunky.

 

[Haba]

Allways wanted to play Aleshar. Tried it in a DosBox - runs very clunky.

It is a bit finicky. You have to tweak the CPU cycles manually to find the sweet spot. But after that it should run pretty smoothly.

 

[Whisper]

I wonder why this game is not very popular or well known. Because it is great. Story, combat mechanics, development, no hand holding, theme and lore (Ice world!).

 

[octavius]

I wonder why this game is not very popular or well known. Because it is great. Story, combat mechanics, development, no hand holding, theme and lore (Ice world!).

Probably because it's bloody hard.