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Let's play Tower of Myraglen! (Done! With multiple endings!)

Crooked Bee

(no longer) a wide-wandering bee
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cover_front_small.jpg


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Floor 1, Part 1
Floor 1, Part 2
Floor 2
Floor 3
Floor 4
Floor 5
Floor 6
Floors 7 and 8
Floors 9 and 10 + Multiple Endings

Tower of Myraglen is an action-RPG (or action-adventure, whatever) developed and published by PBI Software in 1987 for Apple IIGS. The game was designed and written by Richard L. Seaborne, the man behind Escape from Hell, with Jeff A. Lefferts doing the graphics and sound. It's basically a dungeon-crawler with a simplistic combat system where you just bump into enemies until either they or you are dead. The dungeon-crawling aspect seems, however, to be quite nicely done, with obscure clues, nasty traps, powerful enemies, etc. One feature that makes the game really stand out is that it's a dungeon crawler with morality-based puzzles, story, and exploration, somewhat similar to (and probably inspired by) the Ultima series in that regard. So I predict lots of preaching, "hast thou been good", and stuff like that ahead.

Why this LP all of a sudden?
I'm currently working on a retrospective review/article for the Codex, which hopefully won't suck too much and will get posted as official Codex content eventually (or I may just post it as a thread if it doesn't). I won't tell you what the article is going to be about just yet, but Tower of Myraglen will be featured in it alongside a few other titles. Extensively or not, I can't yet say; much will depend on what I think about the game. And that's why I need to play through it at least once and at least halfway through, or maybe even to completion. And since I'm playing the game anyway, why not document it in nice colourful pictures?

So what about Dangerous High School Girls? I hear they are in trouble!
They totally are! And there's even more trouble coming their way soon! In other words, neither my DHSGIT LP nor my Threads of Fate LP will be abandoned; both will thrive and bloom and go on and on.

This is an Apple IIGS game, right? So how are you going to play it?
Why, using an emulator, of course. I mean KEGS32. KEGS32 is very basic and not very intuitive, but it seems to work fine and it's the best we (those using Windows) currently have. One problem is, it doesn't support save states, and the Tower of Myraglen only has one save slot, meaning that if the save file gets corrupted or I do something stupid locking myself into a dead end mid-way, I very much doubt I'll have the stamina to replay the game from the start.

I want to be a dragon read more about the game!
Well, there isn't much I can do to help you. The game doesn't even have a Mobygames page! There is, however, a Wikipedia page. And you can have the manual too. So the best you can do is just follow this LP.

How will this LP proceed?
My current plan is, one tower floor per update. I have been able to dig up some maps, meaning I won't have to draw them myself, which is a plus in case of this LP.
 

Crooked Bee

(no longer) a wide-wandering bee
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INTRODUCTION

Myraglen: Myraglen is the name of a dying world, a world soon to be lost to evil. Once it was a thriving world wherein justice could prevail, but now it has lost much of its strength. This world is your world.

You are a Knight in the Tower of Myraglen and your mission is to find the Medallion of Soul Stealing to save your people. You must make it through all the different levels and collect the necessary tools which aid in your quest. There are a variety of monsters and traps within the Tower to make things difficult.

Tower Of Myraglen: The Tower was built by the Arch Mage Mendalick to harbor the Medallion Of Soul-Stealing. Many mysteries exist within it.

Mendalick: Mendalick is a famous wizard of Myraglen. His wizardly might brought him the title of Arch mage. But his claim to fame was his construction of the Medallion Of Soul-Stealing and The Tower of Myraglen.

Medallion Of Soul-Stealing: The Medallion is said to have the power to drain its victim's soul in an instant. Its power has never been matched by any sorcery.

In an age of darkness the remnants of a once great civilization are drawn together. The few remaining Knights of Justice have answered the King Of Myraglen's plea for help. They have come to save the world, knowing that its only hope lies with them. Each knows well the world of Myraglen, and of its devastation since the unholy wars. Myraglen is infected with a disease that cannot be cured without another confrontation. But this final battle is feared by all, for the armies of evil are vast and those of good are virtually non-existent. Only a handful of good knights live now, and they are gathered together at the ruins of Castle Myraglen.

There they hear the wise words of the King. He warns of an ancient device, a relic, created by the Arch Mage Mendalick. This artifact, entitled the Medallion Of Soul Stealing, is said to have power so great that no mortal can hope to escape it. It drains its victim's soul from its very being, leaving it unharmed, though lifeless. The King explains why this medallion must be considered during these last days of goodness.

If we, the good side, can get the medallion before evil does, victory may yet be ours. Without it, certain defeat is inevitable. The King furthers that the medallion could very well be the only chance goodness has for survival. Sadly, he says that the medallion is protected. Only the purest, most intelligent Knight of Justice is said to be capable of retrieving the medallion from its storage place, The Tower Of Myraglen.

The King concludes that each Knight must enter the Tower, trying to bring back the medallion. If one Knight fails, another must try. If all knights fail, he will enter. He says that he needs the medallion for Myraglen! Each Knight is given a Ring Of Unlimited Arrows, and escorted to the base of a mammoth Tower. Legends foretold of the Tower and its many riddles, puzzles, and tests for goodness. Never before has there been any provocation to enter. Those who dared enter due to whim were never seen again. Other, more wise, people accepted the Tower as a monument of justice and purity. Now, no matter what it is or represents, each Knight will enter and measure his skills against those of the Tower.

As one of the last knights of valor, the King wishes you luck and success! As a fare well he says, "Serve The One! Servo Devy Unum!"


01myraglen002.png


PBI Software is mostly remembered for the co-op turn based strategy game Strategic Conquest. This, however, is a very different kind of game.

intro.gif


For one, it is an action-RPG/dungeon crawler. And it's real-time, not turn-based.

01myraglen016.png


It is, however, quite cool for what it is. The review of Tower of Myraglen published in the Dragon magazine in 1988 (#129) praised it quite a bit:

The Tower possesses the nastiest creatures this side of the AD&D® game module T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil… As is common in many adventure games, most messages are vital to an upcoming encounter or are designed to lead you through a myriad of horrible haunts to reach a specific sublevel goal. ... Those that do all in their power to dent your armor and wreak havoc upon your body include the likes of the axebeak, cat, giant centipede, demon, dragon, fire beetle, flatheaded humanoid (which looks like a berserk Gumby), flying manta ray, fuzzy humanoid, gargoyle, ghost, guiser (a water elemental), Hades Hound, indescribable beast (yeech!), giant lizard, mud man, mind warper, repair zombie (immortal, unfortunately), skeleton, slime, giant snake, unseen force, and giant wasp. Not a single one of these beings is in any way kind, generous, or forgiving. ... Advice time again: Don't be greedy! There's a tremendous amount of loot and other treasures laying in wait within the tower, especially in the numerous chests you're going to find. When the on-screen messages hint at greed being an undoing, consider such words most fortuitous. These hints don't mean you can't retrieve anything you find, just that you should be selective about your acquisitions.

01myraglen019.png


Sounds good? Well, hopefully it is.

Each chamber within the Tower is constructed of a rock believed to exist only in Myraglen; this belief led to its name, Myraglen Rock. In its most basic form (common stones and pebbles) it is no different than any other rock, but when imbued with certain magical properties, known only to the greatest of sorcerers, it becomes impervious to all physical and magical assaults. This defense of the Tower has rendered all attempts to force entry futile. The magicked rock, though invulnerable, has been known to coiled moss in damp areas. The moistened rock is still indestructible, however.

Mendalick, so legends say, was able to imbue more than just the rock with such defenses. He placed similar spells upon the portals of the mighty Tower. This he had done to hold the beasts of evil nature in specific rooms. His fortunate he had prepared such protections, for some of the creatures were said to be the most hideous evil creations ever conceived.

The carpenters hired by Mendalick to build furnishings for the Tower have long since passed away. Their descendants know the tales quite well, however; they may even know the tales better than the original workers themselves. A frequent Myraglen saying, "Stories are remembered long after the fact is forgotten", is applicable here because the facts have been lost to the past; the remembered tales tell of the construction of the Tower.

All the men who worked on the Tower were strangely aware of the momentous event taking place. Through another mystic sense they could feel that the fate of the world rest in their work. Such beliefs resulted in phenomenal care in the job. Not a single stone was laid without careful planning and personal pride. The wood workers built with the best accuracy ever recorded, making certain each door, table, and chair was identical to the next. The metal workers did the same, fashioning troughs for beasts, sturdy iron doors, and steel portcullises. Everything was supposed to be easily replaced, needing little extra work in the future. Those who begged Mendalick, The Arch Mage, to give them immortality were given it - they were converted to Repair Zombies, human-like creatures that exist only to maintain and guard the Tower. Legends say that the Repair Zombies still exist within the Tower, that they cannot be killed... merely banished temporarily when apparently slain. Those who did not wish to be changed were left to live a life of contentment. The people were worried for Mendalick, when he hobbled up the huge steps toward the Tower. I recall the wonder, the incredible shock of the people when he said he planned to convert the entire Tower into Myraglen Rock. He cast spells on the outside for many moons. One day he was no longer around. The tower's gates were closed. We knew, somehow, that he was gone, and that we shouldn't go in the Tower until we needed his Medallion Of Soul Stealing for something very important - when the world's survival, its fate, was contingent upon Mendalick's creation.

The contents of each chamber isn't remembered, but the knowledge that creatures exist in the Tower and that the Tower was well constructed is known. You can solve the unknown mazes of the Tower many ways; one such technique is to map the maze.


01myraglen023.png


01myraglen025.png


Spooky.

The meaning of the above is, there will be two apparitions we will be encountering in the course of the game: a good and an evil one, basically. The nature of the apparitions is even explained the manual, in the Glossary section to which I will be occasionally referring in the LP.

Apparition: An apparition is a phantasmal image of something. Being illusionary, it has no substance; this immaterial existence makes it impervous to attack. This invulnerability is commonly used as a warning or threat to people who enter a specified area. It takes powerful sorcery to conjure such apparitions.

01myraglen030.png


...

01myraglen038.png


And here we are. Our valiant hero is standing at the entrance of the Tower of Myraglen. His current HP is 1000; this will be our main attribute, which will be increased by strength potions we find. HP is extremely valuable, and some fights must be avoided lest they take too much of it.

01myraglen044.png


The other two attributes are Damage and Defense. They are increased by weapons and armour we pick up along the way.

We have two weapons at our disposal: a melee (currently a simple shortsword) and a ranged one, called the Ring of Unlimited Arrows in this game:

Even worse, the King states, the Tower itself has many mystic spells placed upon it. No conventional weapon or armor can pass through its gates and only one person may be within its confines at any given time. Attempts to do otherwise will result in the destruction of the violators. As a result, he informs the knights, his wizard has created a magical ring. The ring will pass through the tower's gates, as it is not a conventional weapon; it is a Ring Of Unlimited Arrows. With it the knights may fight with a sword, or similar weapon, while firing arrows in any direction. One thing to be careful of, the ring's arrows will, because they are magically guided, strike the easiest to hit object. If a creature hides behind a chair, the chair will be hit rather than the beast. You must draw it away from the obstacle and shoot it, or enter normal combat with a weapon you might find in the Tower.

Arrows are very weak, however, and we'll have to rely on melee most of the time.

This is, by the way, one of those games where you can lose at the very beginning -- by leaving the tower:

01myraglen039.png


And so the hero turned out to be a chicken and the world was destroyed. :salute:

Stay tuned for a different turn of events as we explore the first level of the tower!
 

Erebus

Arcane
Joined
Jul 12, 2008
Messages
4,763
Interesting that the super-powerful artifact we're looking for would be a "Medallion of Soul stealing" instead of a "Magic Sword of Supreme Goodness" or something like that.

The way you can lose right from the start is pretty funny. :)
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
And Bee surprises us once more with a new lp!!! :salute:
So what about Dangerous High School Girls? I hear they are in trouble!
They totally are! And there's even more trouble incoming soon! In other words, neither my DHSGIT LP nor my Threads of Fate LP will be abandoned; both will thrive and bloom and go on and on.

What about the Gateway sequel's lp? And the BAT2's one?? And that other sci-fi game that was not translated to english?? :M :M

The king's plan sounds extremely morally questionable, if he wants to use the medallion to brainwash all the "evil people" to become good and create a Brave New World-like society, it could be potentially worse than what the bad guys would do. And these Repair Zombies remind me of Torment's Mortuary. Concidence?
 

The Thin Man

Novice
Joined
Jul 24, 2011
Messages
97
The box art brings me back, it's like everyone and their mothers used that brick frame for their box art back in the day.
 

Crooked Bee

(no longer) a wide-wandering bee
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Floor 1, Part 1

I've decided to break this update in two, since it contains a very important story exposition, which you should read since it introduces a nice twist. So I thought I'd end this update with the twist, 'cause that's a good way to end an update.

tower_of_myraglen_level_1.png


Despite being only the first floor of the tower, it has some pretty nasty moments. The game is supposed to be relatively hardcore, after all, despite the simplistic mechanics.

For now, however, we are still beginning our crawl.

01myraglen060.png


The controls are simple. W-A-S-Z allows you to send an arrow flying into the corresponding direction, I-J-K-M allows you to move. You press a key and then move until you either press SPACE or bump into a wall. Easy as that. Sounds a bit stupid, but in fact it's pretty useful for ramming into enemies (which is the way you attack them in melee in this game).

The dark passage to the north beckons us, but we don't want to miss out on the treasure in the room to the west.

01myraglen061.png


There is a bestiary in the manual; I guess those non-friendly creatures must be Fuzzy Humanoids.

Fuzzy Humanoid: These creatures are very primitive, acting much like our early tribes. They practice simple customs, one of which is the belief that all other races are evil and must be killed. This is surprising because they are relatively weak creatures.

01myraglen062.png


They are relatively weak indeed, but still our health has been diminished. And believe me, we don't want it to drop too low.

Treasure chests in Tower of Myraglen are funny. The first thing you should keep in mind is, their contents are randomised whenever you reload the game -- meaning it is quite useful to save the game before opening them and then reload if you don't find anything useful inside. There are three kinds of things you can discover in the chests: gold, armour and weapons, and strength potions. Gold is self-explanatory, although I have yet to find a shop or anything. As for armour and weapons, the best ones you find are equipped automatically, which is quite useful if simplistic. Finally, strength potions increase our HP; and any increase in HP should be treasured and not wasted away. That also means your HP is never set in stone in Tower of Myraglen: there are no regenerating health, no levels, and no "max HP". Which should constantly keep you on your toes. I approve of that.

01myraglen072.png

01myraglen075.png


We don't get an HP increase in any of the chests in this room, but we do find a Longsword and Leather Armour, so I decide not to reload and just roll along.

Leather Armor: This armor, made entirely of thick animal skin, serves as valuable protection when it is the only thing available. It is still, no matter what its praises, the least desirable armor for a Knight.

Long Sword: This bladed weapon is the standard sword used by knights. Its mass delivers blows with great momentum, destroying its target readily. It's effective against armor as well, breaking through most.

Let's now explore than beckoning passage to the north. We crawl through several linear north-south areas and arrive at an intersection.

01myraglen079.png


The quest compass points east.
:thumbsup:

Naturally, as you may have guessed, that isn't a quest compass (which this game thankfully doesn't have), but simply the tutorial, which we could skip if we wanted to.

01myraglen080.png


The basic linear passages look like that. I won't be showing them off any more. There are quite a lot of them on our way.

01myraglen081.png


Someone dropped the chalk, but there is no way for us to pick it up. So inside the door we go.

01myraglen082.png


There ain't nobody here but us chickens!

Well, in fact those barely discernible yellow enemies probably aren't chickens, but rather Flying Manta Rays.

Flying Manta Ray: These creatures, frequently dwelling beneath sand, have been known to sneak up on opponents with the least warning - they cast an illusion of sand around them wherever they go. Use this to your advantage.

01myraglen084.png


We somehow manage to defeat them all and stay unharmed, yay. I noticed that you can shoot arrows and melee-ram simultaneously, which should help our hero a lot.

01myraglen085.png


The smell in this room isn't exactly pleasant, but the contents of the chest definitely are. We get our first potion of HP increase! :incline:

01myraglen089.png


As well as Chain mail! Life is good.

Chain Mail: A suit of mail, thousands of metal rings linked together, such as this was a break through when it was created. Its predecessor, simply referred to as Ring Mail, was tremendous in its own right. Technology outdated it quickly though, with the superior chain. This armor is considered the least respectable battle armor befitting a Knight.

We return to the big intersection and head north this time. (And by the way, you can totally follow our adventures on the map I posted in the beginning of this update!)

01myraglen099.png


Going all the way to the north brings us to a door and a passage leading east. Let's see if there's any treasure behind the door first.

01myraglen100.png


Did I already tell you this game just loves preaching at us? Well, now is the perfect time.

01myraglen125.png


We've lost some HP, but a Battle Axe more than compensates for that.

Battle Axe: The axe developed as a weapon because knights were often faced with locked portals. The axe was a useful weapon, for the Knight could chop a door down quickly with the huge blade. It is usually considered much more deadly than the long sword, though more bulky.

We head down the eastern passage, all the way till we hit a dead end. A mirror is hanging here.

01myraglen134.png


We approach and examine it by pressing L for Look.

01myraglen135.png


An apparition of an aged wizard appears. Basically, the real, in-game prologue kicks in here. It's very lengthy, so I'd rather transcribe it than flood this update with screenshots.

As you gaze into the mirror, you feel a sense of peace, of absolute tranquility. A story begins to be seen from within the mirror, much like an animated adventure.

"Once there was an exceptionally smart boy who grew up to be a powerful wizard. He thought wizardly powers were the answer to the problems of the world. Ergo, he created through the greatest of spells a medallion, a medallion that was capable of draining the soul from its wielder's opponent. The boy, Mendalick, was aged much by the process of its creation, but felt the lost decades were worth the universal safety of the land. But he found, however, that he no longer had the strength of his youth, so he could not use what he had created. Finally he realized that if the dark side of life gained possession of the weapon, terrible evil could be inflicted on his world, his home!

In desperation, he had a tower built to harbor the thing. His tower was built of tremendous stone, of Myraglen Rock. The substance, created by him for the sole purpose of the medallion's protection, was impervious to all forms of attack. The old feeble grey-haired man enters his tower upon its completion, never to be seen again."

01myraglen145.png


A second story begins, "A king summons a brave adventurer to his aid. He tells him about the medallion's terrible power, and furthers that it can be easily stolen by thugs because the tower has lost its magical protection, leaving only a few scarce traps behind. For the safety of the kingdom, he instructs the adventurer to enter the tower and retrieve the medallion. Only then can the kingdom be safe once again. The brave journeyman enters the tower, and many days later leaves it. He gives the medallion to the king, only to have the monarch drain his soul as the king says, 'You naive fool!'

The king grows older, becoming more and more evil, pitting cities against cities in awful unholy wars. Hell becomes the new name for Myraglen. Hopelessness and despair are common. Entire villages are engulfed in flames from no where."

01myraglen149.png


The stories halt... An apparition of an old bearded man huddled over a staff slowly forms before you. He begins to speak, "I am Mendalick and I am truly sorry. I began this problem long ago by creating the Medallion Of Soul-Stealing. Forgive me, for I did so with good intent. But without wisdom, I was no more than a naive inexperienced boy.

Of course my mortality has left me long ago. I am dead, now an apparition in your mind, no more than a memory. I will aid you if and only if you are good. For that to be known, you must enter my many tests in my tower, knowing greed of life is evil. If you do not pass, you will surely die! You need the medallion to destroy the king who is not a king of this world.

He is an impostor. He is the king from the darkest side, from a world that is pure evil. He must be stopped with my medallion. I hope you are good, intelligent, and skillful; without those traits I cannot give you the medallion. The second story you saw is what could happen if the evil king, The Arch Evil Sir PunDragon :)roll:), is given the medallion. Prevent the disaster! Even if he isn't given the medallion, awful terror will shroud the once skies of crystal purity. Ah, my fate is as always, Fading Away."

01myraglen159.png


The apparition slowly fades away.


So... did someone wonder why the king wanted to have the medallion? Here's the twist for you: Lord British is evil, and the wizard isn't. :M Looks like this game is trying to turn Ultima upside down.

Erebus said:
Interesting that the super-powerful artifact we're looking for would be a "Medallion of Soul stealing" instead of a "Magic Sword of Supreme Goodness" or something like that.

Interesting indeed...

lightbane said:
The king's plan sounds extremely morally questionable, if he wants to use the medallion to brainwash all the "evil people" to become good and create a Brave New World-like society, it could be potentially worse than what the bad guys would do.

Gosh, you guys are so perceptive! :clap:
 

Fowyr

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
7,671
Looks interesting. Manual tries so hard to explain why this tower can't be razed with the help of dozen stonemasons or several barrels of the magical TNT.
:lol:
 

Crooked Bee

(no longer) a wide-wandering bee
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Floor 1, Part 2

The "my fate is as always, Fading away" part in Mendalick's speech was a clue, by the way, which we're going to need later.

tower_of_myraglen_level_1.png


We backtrack to the main intersection and head west this time.

01myraglen173.png


We go all the way east and enter the central door.

01myraglen174.png


No true RPG can go without having you fight some rats on level one of the dungeon.
:thumbsup:

01myraglen178.png


Those weird-looking things are actually scorched curtains. Who would've thought.

01myraglen181.png


Exploiting the randomness, I save and then reload until we find some worthy loot inside one of the chests. A Halberd, hell yeah!

Halberd: This weapon evolved as a lance-axe. It served the purpose of a long polearm, while also acting as a
battle axe. Most versions of the halberd have an axe-like blade with a lance-like (large spear) tip as the head of the weapon. This weapon is the preferred weapon of a Knight when confronted with powerful opponents.

Finally a suitably powerful weapon.

Backtracking to the previous screen, let's explore the room to the south.

01myraglen186.png


The room is unguarded, and we find lots of gold in those chests. No HP increase, but whatever, I don't want to be exploiting the game too much.

01myraglen190.png


The northern room has two slimes.

Slime: Creatures without form are very difficult to kill. You must actually pulp the thing so much that it can no longer ooze in one piece. They aren't very dangerous, as even leather armor completely negates any danger they pose. They're still obstildes in any case, and they can be a nuisance to get rid of.

Interestingly, slimes don't deal any damage to an armoured knight. They are there just to annoy you. So we waste some time pulping the things till they can no longer ooze in one piece. :)

01myraglen195.png


And we are rewarded with a unique kind of key.

01myraglen205.png


Even more doors await us to the east. We brave the southern one first, trecking through a long corridor

By the way, I failed to mention there are random enemies sometimes spawning in corridors. They aren't too tough anyway, though.

01myraglen209.png


This is another totally destroyed room, inhabited by skeletons.

Skeleton: These are simple beasts conjured by wizardry to serve their masters. Their purpose is usually simple, such as to kill all who enter a specified area. They offer no other ability.

We find a clue to a puzzle in here:

01myraglen212.png


In the dark of night at 12 Midnight the skull will light and the clock will strike. The pendulum case harbors the face, which shows the key near the fireplace.

The puzzle is a tricky one, as we're about to see.

Done here, we backtrack and explore the room to the north.

01myraglen222.png


After dealing with some Fuzzy Humanoids, we gain some more HP. Great!

The puzzle room is a bit to the west from here, marked by a red exclamation mark on the map. There's a clock and a fireplace in here. The clue we got earlier tells us the clock will strike at midnight, revealing a key in the fireplace.

01myraglen237.png


The puzzle is tricky because the in-game clock directly corresponds to your system clock! Meaning you must set your system clock to midnight or noon to solve it. That's just... nasty.

01myraglen238.png

01myraglen231.png


And now we should examine the fireplace.

01myraglen233.png


We have the key now.

01myraglen234.png


Two keys in our inventory, woohoo!

01myraglen243.png


Time to explore the rest of Floor 1.

01myraglen245.png


Judging by the hammer in that creature's hand, it must be a Repair Zombie.

Repair Zombie: These are not ordinary zombies, for they are believed to be immortal. They are never killed, though they are temporarily dispelled (banished). They dean up and maintain the Tower, and protect it against invaders.

01myraglen247.png


There are chickens and humanoids attacking us in the chamber to the northeast. We deal with them and discover a large strength potion in one of the treasure chests.

01myraglen266.png


We have 2000 HP now! :incline: Oh the magic of save-reload.

01myraglen268.png


The iron door is opened by the gold key we're carrying.

01myraglen269.png


More easy enemies to slay.

01myraglen279.png


"Mammoth expedition"? :roll:

01myraglen283.png


The corridor curves to the south.

01myraglen285.png


An off-shoot corridor leads to the east. I wonder what's there.

01myraglen286.png


Naturally, despite the explicit warning, curiosity takes the best of me. (But I save the game first.)

01myraglen290.png


Oops. It's a trap!

lavapit.gif


Placing a lava pit trap on floor one is probably meant to demonstrate the game won't be fooling around. Its intentions are serious.
:thumbsup:

01myraglen307.png


The room to the west a bit further down the corridor just isn't worth it.

01myraglen313.png


It has three hell hounds.

Hades' Hound: These creatures belong to Hades, serving as bringers of death and destruction. They breathe fire, just as the demons throw it, at their intended victims. Their sole purpose is to destroy!

01myraglen314.png


They're throwing fireballs at us, and defeating them costs us ca. 300 HP. All that for a measly treasure chest? Not worth it. So I reload and avoid the room.

01myraglen329.png


Another room has a mimic, called "Guiser" in this game.

Guiser: This creature must be considered one of the most adaptable beasts of Myraglen, for it assumes the appearance of its surrounding, surprising its intended victims. Most often, the creature appears as a chest.

Again, not worth it. The game always makes you measure your greed for loot against the HP cost of obtaining it. That is deliberate and part of the game's overall message: greed isn't good for you. :P

01myraglen340.png


It doesn't say anything about greed for HP, though. :smug:

We crawl through the southern corridor, which then turns north, and enter the first room, marked with "?" on the map.

01myraglen350.png


This is, of course, a test room. You shouldn't take those gems. Otherwise...

01myraglen354.png


It transforms into a giant snake!!!

The old man yells, "You are no better than a common thief, stealing the beauty from life. You shan't have my statue for the injustice you have done, but I shall have your life!" The man fades until he is no longer discernible.


01myraglen360.png


And a snake appears in the old man's place. It's going to cost us a shitton of HP if we fight it, so I'd better reload.

01myraglen362.png


The next room to the north contains a passage to the southeast.

01myraglen363.png


Another vision of Mara of Mendalick awaits us.

"Behind an end stand the steps you must ascend. Once at the gate whisper my fate and you'll avoid a fray which may make you run away." The apparition slowly fades away.

"Whisper my fate", eh? That's easy, if you've been paying attention.

01myraglen372.png


The room to the north looks abandoned, but it's an illusion, as the bearded man himself is kind enough to tell us:

01myraglen374.png


"Illusions may stand before you, but don't let them bore you. Just remember that beyond this end stand the steps you must ascend. So simply go straight as if the passage did not end." The apparition slowly fades away, leaving only the wall behind him.

01myraglen379.png


We grab some more HP from the chests and bravely bump into the eastern wall, revealing a secret passage.

01myraglen384.png


:yeah:

Floor two, here we come!
 

Brother None

inXile Entertainment
Developer
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Messages
5,673
Heh. Interesting game. I dig how meticulous they are about making the tower and its previous-undisturbed state plausible, most games just don't bother. And the way it toys with RPG tropes (evil wizard/good king, loot hoarding) is fun.

Unexpected little gem!

The puzzle is tricky because the in-game clock directly corresponds to your system clock! Meaning you must set your system clock to midnight or noon to solve it. That's just... nasty.

Meta!
 

Kashmir Slippers

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I am really enjoying this LP for many of the above reasons.

As for the save-scumming, I don't have a problem with it. It looks like a hard game that is based a lot on chance. You aren't doing it too much, so I don't care.
 

Crooked Bee

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Awor Szurkrarz said:
How many HP :what: ?

HP is but a convenience anyway.

Loot randomising is a questionable decision, true. Richard Seaborne used the same mechanics in Escape from Hell, which is a very different kind of RPG. I wonder why; especially in case of Tower of Myraglen, it seems kind of ambiguous to both insist on the "keep your greed for loot in check" thing and encourage save-scumming for better loot at the same time. Anyway, I'll do my best to not be exploiting it too much.
 

Crooked Bee

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Floor 2

tower_of_myraglen_level_2.png


Having survived the dangers of floor 1, we now ascend to the second floor.

02myraglen002.png


What kind of traps and trials await us here?

02myraglen003.png


We come across the first nasty puzzle in the very next room. The gargoyles will attack and tear us a new one if we try going through the door without giving the situation a thought.

Gargoyle: These huge monsters, created by necromancers, should be avoided at all costs. Their magical existence makes them exceptionally strong and difficult to kill. They can fly into their opponents, while flailing their mighty fists down upon their hapless victims.

Mendalick's voice urges us to remember, i.e., recall two of the clues we were given back on level one:

"Behind an end stand the steps you must ascend. Once at the gate whisper my fate and you'll avoid a fray which may make you run away." The apparition slowly fades away.

"Whisper my fate", huh? Note that the apparition slowly fades away. Combine that with Mendalick's very first speech...

"Prevent the disaster! Even if he isn't given the medallion, awful terror will shroud the once skies of crystal purity. Ah, my fate is as always, Fading Away."

...and we now know the words we must speak to enter the door unharmed: FADING AWAY.

02myraglen006.png


To speak the answer to the riddle, we must press Y to yell and then enter the words.

02myraglen007.png


The gate opens, and the gargoyles remain non-hostile. :incline:

02myraglen012.png


The next area contains a fork of three paths; being tempted by the sly voice, we take the middle one.

02myraglen014.png


The preaching goes on as we crawl down the narrow passage.

02myraglen015.png


Now here's another trick, of which Tower of Myraglen seems to be so full of: the treasure is a lie. To pass this test, we must simply turn back and exit the room, thereby resisting the temptation.

As soon as we do that, a vision of Mendalick appears again. (I really wonder if Dark Heart of Uukrul's visions were inspired by the ones in this game. Probably just a coincidence.)

02myraglen017.png


"Justice is done so very rarely, and you are among the elite :)obviously:). I congratulate you for your goodness, and for the honor you have displayed. You have resisted a huge temptation, one that is especially great.

I tell you to be good and pure for all your life, and even after. Beyond this realm you must be as a crystal. Be pure and hard -- do not be harmed by the world around you. When you doubt the answer lies within you, speak aloud the mystic phrase of command, 'SERVO DEVY UNUM'." The apparition fades out of sight.


Looks like we've received an important clue for a later riddle!

02myraglen023.png


Next we take the left path, which then curves to the west.

02myraglen025.png


Behind the northern door lies what seems at first to be an ordinary rat-infested cellar:

02myraglen026.png


But in fact it is not. There is another clue we can receive here.

02myraglen027.png


The clue to "ignore the noise" is life-saving, as we're about to see.

02myraglen038.png


Now we could just ignore the room to the east, since nothing but deception awaits us there. But I'll just reload later.

02myraglen039.png


The gorgon is badass and hits us hard.

But it's not the gorgon we've come here for -- it's an evil apparition:

02myraglen044.png


"I am a friend despite your clear disbelief. I even tell you that the key you need lies behind the sphere of internal explosions." The creature vanishes in an equal flash.

Woe to us if we believe the evil creature. "The sphere of internal explosions" sure doesn't sound dangerous at all. :roll:

02myraglen050.png


We backtrack and go up the right corridor, which then turns east.

02myraglen054.png


At the next intersection, we head down and deal with some skeletons in what seems to be a dead-end...

02myraglen058.png


...but naturally isn't. :P

02myraglen059.png


We disregard the empty threats and crawl on.

02myraglen061.png


Now this is some nasty stuff. The fight costs us more than 200 HP.

02myraglen064.png


In the next room, a hell hound is hurling balls of fire at us, so we stay beyond their reach, wait for the doggie to come out of hiding, and deal with her in melee. 40 HP gone anyway.

The magic monolith is activated by the words we heard from Mendalick earlier:

02myraglen067.png


The magic words release the forces of truth and justice from captivity...

02myraglen070.png


And the platinum key is ours.
:thumbsup:

We go back north and then further east.

02myraglen075.png


The text urges us to be cautious, and indeed, if we approach one of those two rocks...

02myraglen076.png


...that won't end well. So we better not.

02myraglen079.png


The room to the north features new enemies -- flat-headed humanoids.

Flat-Headed Humanoid: These creatures seem to be closely related to humans, for they are civilized and well-tempered. Their only drawback is their uncontrollable anger when interrupted by strangers. They are typically specialists with the saber!

Well-tempered my butt. Thankfully, the chest contains a strength potion.

02myraglen083.png


Life keeps throwing curves at us: this time, it's a curve to the north. And yes, I believe we have explored the previous areas thoroughly enough.

We follow the corridor all the way north until the next curve:

02myraglen086.png


And west we go.

02myraglen089.png


A faint knocking is heard. We press on.

02myraglen090.png


Damn curves.

02myraglen091.png


The knocking grows into a rumbling.

02myraglen097.png


The southern passage roars. But let's head west first for another trolling game over.

02myraglen101.png


Naturally, if we head further west...

02myraglen104.png


...the world gets destroyed. :salute:

02myraglen108.png


Yes, I do!

02myraglen111.png


So yeah, southern passage, eh?

02myraglen113.png


Uh-oh.

02myraglen117.png


And this is the sphere of internal explosions that the dark apparition was talking about. The good apparition, on the other hand, warned us to stay clear of the source of the noise -- which is the sphere. If we approach it, we die, so we should head east instead.

There's another fork there; we take the right path first and arrive at another vision:

02myraglen119.png


"The tower's size may be a surprise. But you must realize that it harbors many a prize. The gorgon guards no key you seek. So search abroad and don't be meek." The vision fades out of sight.

The clue isn't too useful; it probably just warns us the apparition in the gorgon room was evil, which was quite obvious anyway.

And the left passage leads to another malicious vision:

02myraglen124.png


"Abandon all hope, ye who enter The Tower Of Myraglen. Thou hast entered my domain, my sphere of control. Stand fast and run fast if thou wishest to survive the perils of my world! I shall meet thee again, and when I do thou shalt lose the most precious dreams... as they transform into nightmares!" The beast is gone with a flash!

Nothing left for us to do here but proceed to the stairs up to level three.

02myraglen132.png

02myraglen133.png


We use the platinum key for that.

02myraglen136.png


Floor 3 awaits!
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
10,156
This game sure is preachy. It would be awesome if there was an "evil" ending, in which the hero is tired of hearing the wizard's ramblings and decides to take over the world with the power of the Soul-Sucking Medallion. :lol: :lol:
Sadly, I don't think that's possible.
 

Crooked Bee

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Floor 3

tower_of_myraglen_level_3.png


Again, this map can hardly be called accurate, but whatever. This is a really small floor.

03myraglen04.png


A flashback to Ultima IV awaits as soon as we step off the stairs. I almost expected the question to be either "Art thou good in nature?" or "Art thou good in spirit?"

Anyway, I answer YES. But of course.

03myraglen07.png


But the game seems to disbelieve me. Oh well.
Nothing happens if we answer NO, by the way.

03myraglen10.png


Now this is one really wicked room. It is massive, 3x4 of standard-size segments. Each segment has its own "message", but most importantly, every other step triggers some kind of trap!

03myraglen11.png


That's why the voice is warning us against taking a straight path.

03myraglen13.png

03myraglen14.png

03myraglen18.png


Pictured above is the correct path. As for other traps and messages...

03tower_bonus0008.png

03tower_bonus0012.png


There are explosion traps.

03tower_bonus0009.png

03tower_bonus0014.png


There are traps that make your weapon vanish. :/

03tower_bonus0013.png

03tower_bonus0015.png


And finally, there are traps that make your armour disappear. :/

That's just... hardcore. Crossing this room can leave you without HP, weapons, and armour. :lol:

03myraglen19.png


Let's assume we've crossed the room unharmed.

03myraglen21.png


More tests await us.

As for choosing a door... let's go up the middle passage, like we did back on the second floor.

03myraglen24.png


The three corridors connect anyway. All paths in life are interconnected :blah:

03myraglen26.png


Some kind of... centipedes?

Centipede, Giant: Through magic the ordinary centipede was expanded to a huge size, making it capable of vanquising human opponents.

03myraglen29.png


Inside the chest, there's an Ornate Sea God Statue, which shows up as "Poseidon Statue" in the inventory.

We return to the previous screen and head east, arriving to another room:

03myraglen34.png


Cats, rats, and humanoids. The latter must've domesticated the rats as well. What a motley crew.

03myraglen40.png


We gain some HP, which is always a good thing, and then backtrack and head to a similar room to the west.

03myraglen49.png


Nothing really interesting here.

03myraglen54.png


Back at the intersection, we could of course go through the fourth door...

03myraglen55.png


...but that really wouldn't be a good idea. The thing is, even though you can't see it, this room is full of some kind of water elementals that are much more powerful than we are. And they're invisible, to boot! There's no way we could clear the room at the moment without sacrificing most of our HP; maybe we should return here later.

So we head south instead.

03myraglen61.png


We go through the door and...

03myraglen64.png


...encounter some funny-looking mud monsters!

Mud Man: These creatures smell of excriment, and look like humanoids covered with mud. They serve no known purpose, but are simply creatures. You should be wary of their force, however. They have been known to pull victims down beneath mud, releasing them only after they are dead.

More like dung monsters. Eww.

03myraglen70.png


We defeat them all, but lose more than 250 HP in the process.

03myraglen71.png


Curves...
emot-argh.gif


03myraglen73.png


Level 4, here we come!
 

Kz3r0

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Joined
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Messages
27,012
Crooked Bee said:
Let's assume we've crossed the room unharmed.!
How you did that?
Trial and error or there's some other way to do it?
 

Crooked Bee

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Trial and error, yup. It's not that bad, really: "every other step" was a bit of an exaggeration on my part. Still, trial and error it is.

Anyway, it's mostly my HP hoarding that is to blame -- we could've easily sprung a trap or two, that wouldn't have been much to write home about since there are several treasure chests that can land you new equipment right after that.

(Doesn't make the room any less nasty or unfair, though. But dungeon crawlers are supposed to be unfair and sadistic anyway.)
 

lightbane

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Joined
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It's like Gandhi and Paulo Coelho wanted to make a game and produced this.
 

ironyuri

Guest
In before:

MOAR LIKE TURD GOLEMS.

M I RITE?
 

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