Aleshar World of Ice manual
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ALESHAR: THE WORLD OF ICE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Manual (C) 1997, Hypothermia Legal stuff This is the full version of Aleshar: the World of Ice. No distribution or copying of this product is permitted. You have purchased the license to use the full version of Aleshar: the World of Ice on one (1) computer at any time. You may have two (2) separate copies of Aleshar: the World of Ice, so you may back up your game. Hypothermia is not responsible for any kind of damage done to you or your system by using Aleshar: the World of Ice. You use the product on your own risk. No part of Aleshar: the World of Ice may be decompiled or modified. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Introduction 1 Aleshar? 1.1 Story and background 1.2 Credits 1.3 Getting started 2 System requirements 2.1 Setting up the game 2.2 Loading the game 2.3 Troubleshooting 2.4 (NEW) Playing the game 3 Outdoors 3.1 Cities and dungeons 3.2 The inventory 3.3 Combat 3.4 Damage 3.41 Weapons 3.42 Armor 3.43 Magic 3.5 Hazards 3.6 The "rules" 3.7 Registering 4 Why should I register? 4.1 How to register 4.2 Questions and answers 5 Hints and tips 6 Quick start 7 Weapon statistics Appendix A Armor statistics Appendix B ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.1 HYPOTHERMIA Contact us: Via EMail: hypothermia@usa.net Via WWW: www.netti.fi/~vnorilo Via modem: +358-9-376989 (Finland: 09 376989) +358-9-85454082 (Finland: 09 85454082) Via mail: Hypothermia C/O Honkanen Korpinkatu 17 04230 Kerava Finland Europe Credits for Aleshar: the World of Ice Design: Ossi Honkanen Graphics: Janne Pulkkinen Programming: Vesa Norilo Music: Vesa Norilo Sound system: Silvio Turello Compression: Fabrice Bellard Playtesting: Tuomas Koivusalo and the Aleshar Beta Crew 1.2 ALESHAR? We came up with the concept of Aleshar in December 1995. The original idea was to make a game called Cryosphere. Cryosphere was supposed to be a game in an icy, cold, post-holocaust world. The game started forming after Vesa created a scrolling fractal landscape. After about half a year of passive working, we were about to scrap the whole project. Too many if's and but's had driven us in to a dead end. Then one day, when Vesa and Ossi were trying to think of a way to make the concept work, they got an idea. The whole project was reshaped and rewritten. The cold, futuristic world of Cryosphere was turned into a distant island of Aleshar. A whole new world was created. 1.3 STORY AND BACKGROUND You were born to a minor town mayor and his wife. Right from the beginning they knew you were somehow different from other kids. And they were right. You had the spark of Elemental Powers. Your grandfather once had the same spark. And like the vast majority of young who were like you and himself, he was to become a priest of the Cult of Wisdom - The only legal user of Power. Your grandfather abhorred the priest life. He was given a choice. To be bereft of the Powers for ever, or to become a priest. He chose neither. With the support of some of his friends, he managed to escape the priests. But he was too dangerous an example. He was hunted down and executed publicly. The priests were farsighted enough to accuse him of several horrible crimes, to prevent uprising by Alesharians. Most people still believe the Cult is the only answer to their everyday religious needs. But your father knew the truth. The Cult had many good men, true keepers of wisdom, but as every power does, even wisdom corrupts. Cult leaders often became ambitious and greedy. And some became cruel. Knowing this, and remembering his thraumatic experience from childhood, the execution of his own father, he would never allow you to become a Priest. Neither would he allow you to meet the fate of your grandfather. The Townspeople were loyal to your father, and so they arranged you to 'disappear'. In truth you were sent to an old man, elementalist himself by some claims. To avoid suspicion, he lived far distant from any larger settlement. He was forgotten by the cult. Your father hoped you would be forgotten as well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ GETTING STARTED ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.1 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Aleshar - world of ice requires the following: - 80386 processor - VGA compatible display adapter and monitor - 380 kb of conventional memory - 4 megabytes of memory - 4 megabytes of hard disk space - MS-DOS 3.0 or higher Recommended: - 80486/66MHz - EMM386 or compatible EMS manager - 512k SVGA adapter capable of 640x400 256c mode - 8 megabytes of memory (so you can load a disk cache program) - 512k Gravis Ultrasound or compatible 2.2 SETTING UP THE GAME Before you begin to play the game, you must configure the game to match your system. Execute the configuration-program in your Aleshar directory. CD \GAMES\ALESHAR INSTALL.EXE Because you have already installed the game, select setup. Your current setup is shown on the last row of the screen. The default options are VGA resolution for graphics and No Sound. You can select a sound card for music and sound effects and a higher resolution. We recommend the SVGA resolution 640x400, if your display is capable of it. 640x480 resolution is basically the same, but it has a different aspect ratio and will not use the whole screen. In order to use high resolutions, you need a high performance video adapter. We recommend boosting your graphics capabilities with a driver called UniVBE(tm). It is created by SciTech and it will provide extensive VESA 2.0 compatible services for your card. You can find a demo version of the UniVBE(tm) drivers from almost any FTP site or BBS. You are given 21 days free testing period, and after that you must register the UniVBE. Visit Scitech soft in the WWW: www.scitechsoft.com If you own a sound card, select Audio Options. Aleshar: the World of Ice supports four sound cards. SoundBlaster, SoundBlaster 16, Pro Audio Spectrum 16 and Gravis Ultrasound. If you choose SoundBlaster, SoundBlaster 16 or PAS you must select the mixing quality. Higher quality requires more CPU horsepower, but also sounds better. On SoundBlaster, only rates 11kHz, 16kHz and 22kHz are available. On Gravis Ultrasound, only 44kHz is available. Gravis Ultrasound, SB16 and PAS16 produce 16-bit stereo sound, while SB produces 8-bit mono sound. Gravis Ultrasound sound driver doesn't slow your computer down, unlike SB, SB16 and PAS16 drivers. Next, you will have to select the sound volumes. Soft music, loud SFXs is probably the best option. NOTE! Memory requirements will vary according to your soundcard: Board Conventional EMS XMS No Sound 340kB 2.5MB 2.6MB SB (Pro) 600kB 3.2MB n/a SB 16 550kB 3.2MB n/a PAS16 550kB 3.2MB n/a GUS 410kB 2.5MB 2.6MB You can use EMS with all configurations, and XMS with GUS or No Sound. Using EMS will give much better performance than XMS! If you are out of memory, check the troubleshooting section. 2.3 LOADING THE GAME The game can be started by typing the following: CD GAMES\ALESHAR (or whatever your Aleshar-directory is) ALESHAR.EXE If you know your system doesn't have Upper Memory, or you don't want to use it, use the following syntax: ALESHAR.EXE /NOUMB If you have problems and are using 4DOS(tm) or NDOS(tm), use ALESHAR.EXE [/NOUMB] /4DOS This switch doesn't use shelling since 4DOS/NDOS shelling seems to be unstable in all programs, not only Aleshar. You must execute SOUNDDRV.EXE before launching ALESHAR with the /4DOS switch. 2.4 TROUBLESHOOTING You should ALWAYS be able to run Aleshar: the World of Ice with sounds off and the standard VGA resolution! Try them before deleting the game! 2.41 The game just hangs! There are more than a few possible explanations. - Video If you do not have VGA display, I don't know how the game behaves. Certainly not right. If you have selected SVGA modes, you should use the UniVBE(tm) driver if your VESA is older than 2.0. You can download the UniVBE shareware demo from almost any BBS. It gives you 21 days free trial. Hypothermia VESA drivers were developed under UniVBE(tm) 5.1 and 5.2, so use them or later for optimum performance. They mostly function with my Cirrus Logic v1.2 VESA, but not quite with the older VESA drivers of the other Hypothermia Members. - Audio Selecting a wrong soundcard may cause the game to hang. As stated earlier, Silvio Turello's SoundSystem seems to be unable to report an out of memory -error. This is very trouble- some since with software mixing cards (SB, SB16 and PAS) require quite much memory. If the game crashes with a black screen after the loading screen, the crash might be caused by the sound system. - Memory If you use a software mixing card, be certain you have much memory. Check whether you have upper memory with the MEM command. If it reports 0k, try to install a device driver called EMM386. To do this, simply do the following: NOTE! Always back up your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files before modifying them!!! - Open your CONFIG.SYS file with some text editor like DOS's EDIT. - Search for a line with something like DEVICE = C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS - Install a line after that one with the following: DEVICE = C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM or DEVICE = C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM - Save the file and reboot your computer. Now you have upper memory in your system. Aleshar should be able to run with some 500-odd kilobytes of base memory, if there is more than 100 kilobytes of upper memory free. For No Sound or Gravis Ultrasound, the requirement is about 200 kilobytes less. One fault in the otherwise brilliant SoundSystem we use is that it can't play sound effects on SB, PAS or SB16 unless EMS is enabled. Check if you have EMS memory by typing MEM to the command prompt. If it reports only XMS memory status, you do not have EMS enabled. Open your CONFIG.SYS file with some text editor. - Search for a line with something like: DEVICE = C:\DOS\EMM386 ... - If there is no such a line, add the following somewhere, preferably right after the HIMEM.SYS: DEVICE = C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM or DEVICE = C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM - If there already is a line with something about EMM386, take a look at it. If you find the word "NOEMS" from somewhere along the line, replace it with the word "RAM". If this seems too complicated, select NO SOUND, or upgrade your soundcard to a real wavetable card - Gravis Ultrasound. It will require about 200 kilobytes less memory and will produce superior sound. (No, they didn't pay us anything). For additional information, you can consult DOS help with the keyword EMM386.EXE, UMB and upper memory. 2.42 The Game exits to DOS with an error message The messages are most often self-explanatory. Here are some of the more confusing ones: VESA function 01h (GetModeInfo) returned a bad status Your drivers or video card do not support the video mode you selected. Reselect the mode, or pick 320x200 to be sure. VESA function x (...) returned a bad status. VESA function x (...) not supported ... These error messages occur when your SVGA drivers are too old for Aleshar: the World of Ice. To get perfect performance, you should upgrade your drivers to VESA 2.0 compliant ones. There are more than one ways of doing this. You can either contact the vendor of your video card for new drivers, or search new drivers from the internet or some large BBSes. Hypothermia recommends using the UniVBE(tm) drivers by SciTech software. They are universal, so they work with almost any SVGA adapter. In addition, Aleshar is developed under UniVBE(tm) 5.1 and 5.2. SVGA hardware unable to... This means that your video drivers can do what Aleshar wants, but your video card is too old. You have no choice but to select different video mode. SVGA display couldn't be centered. This is not a serious error. Some VESA 1.2 or 1.3 drivers just can't seem to center the display in 640x400 mode. The active portion of the screen will be in the upper part of the screen. VESA driver not present Likely you do not have a SVGA card, or your card doesn't support VESA. Select the 320x200 mode. 2.43 Strange behavior You might want to check with the above sections that you have all the settings right. EMM386 related errors - If your DMA buffer size is too small and you use SB, SB16 or PAS, EMM386 crashes the machine. It gives you detailed instructions on how to fix the situation, however. - Error #12 means you are out of stack space. See DOS readme for more information and instructions on how to fix the problem. MEGAEM related errors With Gravis Ultrasound SoundBlaster emulator, Aleshar can't produce correct sound. This is not a problem, since Aleshar has a built-in support for Gravis Ultrasound. Unload the MEGAEM before starting Aleshar by typing MEGAEM -f Disk full If your hard drive is full, there might be trouble with temporary files. Check that you have some 500 kilobytes of HD space before launching Aleshar: the World of Ice. 2.44 Optimum performance Aleshar: the World of Ice was tested on many machines from a 386/16 to P200. Even 386/16 managed playable speed without sound and with the standard VGA resolution. If you think Aleshar: the World of Ice works too slowly, read this section carefully. Reasons for slowdown: XMS. XMS-support was built after the initial release of Aleshar. Our XMS driver actually emulates EMS, so the block- maps might be dreadfully slow without EMS. The above sections concentrate on installing and setting up EMM386. Software mixing. Using Sound Blaster slows Aleshar: the World of Ice down about 15%. SB16 and PAS are even slower, but sound much better. If you want to sacrifice sound quality for speed, select regular Sound Blaster in stead of SB16 or PAS, since these cards are compatible with the 8-bit Blaster. SVGA modes. 320x200 is more than 4 times faster than the 640x400 mode. 16-bit Windows. If you manage to run Aleshar: the World of Ice under Windows 3.1, we congratulate you. Our programmer managed this with Gravis Ultrasound sounds on and Windows GUS drivers installed! Anyway, running games under 16-bit Windows is a hobby of enginerds and a total waste of time. We don't recommend using Windows 3.1 as a platform for Aleshar. Windows 95. It is better than the 16-bit version, but we recommend using DOS 7, via restarting the computer in MS-DOS mode. With low resolution and no sounds we managed to run Aleshar in a window, but kids, do not try this at home. You really need to know many things on Windows 95 to run Aleshar in a window. In a DOS box, you should succeed without sounds. Sound support under W95 is another matter altogether. Usually W95 doesn't leave enough conventional memory for this and occasionally even the W95 drivers conflict with the running application. Note that Windows 95 functions as EMM386, so you don't have to worry about EMS memory. Cache. You should load SMARTDRIVE if you have enough memory. With 4 megabytes we do not advise this but if you have more, then absolutely load this wonderful driver by typing SMARTDRV. 486/25 should be easily enough. But if you do not have a Pentium, we recommend upgrading your computer. You won't probably need a PPro 200 to run Aleshar, but most of the future games (from Hypothermia also) will require more and more horsepower. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. PLAYING THE GAME ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.1 OUTDOORS When the game begins, you see a snow-covered landscape with a lonely adventurer standing in the middle of nowhere. You are that lonely adventurer. You can move around the landscape by pressing the arrows on your keyboard. Your movement speed is determined by your Skiing-skill (good skiers move faster). When moving up slopes, your speed will be determined by your Climbing-skill (better climber, faster movement). You will notice that the viewpoint is a bit tilted. When you press up, your character moves towards the upper-left hand corner of your screen. Pressing up goes north, down goes south, right goes east and left goes west. Everything in the outside world happens 'real-time'. The timescale is not the same as in real life, but time still goes on. If you wait long enough, you will die of starvation. Monsters can ambush you, so when you leave an outpost, move fast. You can pause the game by pressing the ESC-key. Continue the game by selecting the CONTINUE-item. Other selections of this menu will be discussed later. Heavy loads, bleeding and wounds will slow you down, so keep an eye on your encumbrance and health levels. You can see the inventory by pressing the I-key. (see 'the inventory' later) By pressing the Z-key you can view your stats, skills, health, money, food and fatigue levels. You can select the screen (general, health, skills) you want by arrow keys. When you are through checking your status, press the space bar or the enter-key. You can hunt (or at least try hunting) by pressing the H-key. Your Hunting-skill will affect the result. If succesful, you will receive some food. This can be really important on long journeys. Notice that some food is used during the hunting, too. If you are out of food and trying to hunt for long periods, you may die of starvation. Note! The game may report that you catch game, but still there is no more food in your inventory. Notice that your character uses food while hunting. An experienced traveller will survive long times with just the minimum amount of rations. The amount of rations you will consume in a certain time will be determined by your Survival-skill. If your Survival-skill is high, you can travel long distances with small amounts of food. When exploring the continent, you can find many places of intrest. Cities, dungeons and other interesting places can be found scattered all over the continent. As you move away from a city, the houses will disappear. That is because you can't see them anymore. Your visual range is determined by your Tracking-skill. A character with a high tracking skill can notice items, cities and dungeons from far away. You can enter cities and dungeons by walking "on top of them" and pressing the E-key. (see the Cities and dungeons section later). Defeated enemies (and you) will usually leave a pile of items behind. You can collect the items from the outdoors terrain by moving on the item and pressing the G-key. If you own a map, you can view it with the M-key. Magic can be used outside, with some exceptions. Only spells that heal or remove hunger can be used. Spells like speed can be used, but they will expire almost immediately (this is because of the larger timescale) and are therefor useless. Casting spells is easy when you can concentrate on the casting process. Therefor all spells cast in the outside terrain are automatic successes. 3.2 Cities and dungeons Moving around in the cities and dungeons is easy. You will advance to the direction you are facing by pressing the up arrow. You can turn around by pressing the left and right arrows. (Just like in Quake(tm) :) Pressing the down arrow will make you turn 180 degrees. You can open doors by facing them and pressing the O-key. If the door is locked and you do not have a key, you can press the P-key to pick the lock (or at least try to). Closed doors can be attacked. If you are strong enough, you can bash them open. You can also use keys to unlock doors. If you try to pick locks or to bash doors, friendly people may turn hostile. You can talk to people by pressing the T-key. Move the cursor on the top of the person you wish to talk to and press enter. You must be near enough to the person to talk to him/her. You can end the conversation by pressing entering a blank line or saying 'BYE'. You can type in sentences or words. The parser will detect certain words from your text and use them as keywords. The green words in the person's answers are keywords. Typing in these keywords will give more information. Note that as the story proceeds, some persons will say different things about different subjects. In cities you can buy weapons, armor, lodging, food and healing services. You must find the supplier (i.e merchant, smith, innkeeper, healer) and talk to him/her by pressing the T-key. Say 'BUY' or 'SELL' and a menu will appear. Weaponsmiths and traders, unlike innkeepers and healers, do not trade when they are off duty. In cities and dungeons, time doesn't go on if you do nothing. You can 'wait' by pressing the space bar. Spells can be cast by pressing the C-key. Notice that people are not used to magic, and therefor they will consider you a threat. See section 3.5, Magic. 3.3 The inventory You can access the inventory at any time by pressing the I-key. A listing of your belongings will appear along with some commands. After selecting the command you must select the item you wish to use/equip/drop. EQUIP will ready (or unready) an item. Only weapons and armor can be readied. You can ready two weapons at a time, a melee and a ranged weapon. USE will use an item. If items such as keys, maps or sextant are used, they will function in some way. DROP will drop an item. It will be left where you stand. INFO will display text describing an item, if applicable. DONE will return from the inventory menu. 3.4 Combat You can encounter hostile creatures during your travels. When you do, the game will enter the combat mode. This is much like the city/dungeon mode. Your objective is to evade or destroy your enemies. You can use either melee weapons or long range weapons. Pressing the R-key will select the ranged weapon, if you have one readied. Pressing the M-key will ready your melee weapon, or prepare for barehanded combat. Your character will use a melee weapon by default. When you are using a melee weapon, you can attack enemies by just trying to walk over them. You can also attack an enemy by pressing the A-key and selecting the opponent you wish to hit. If you use a ranged weapon, press the A-key and select the opponent you wish to hit. You must be able to see your opponent. Your chances of hitting are the smaller the further the enemy is from you. 3.41 Damage When hit by weapons or magic, different body parts might get damaged. If a body part reaches critical damage state, it will cease to function. Enough damage will kill your enemy (or you). You can see your own condition by pressing the Z-key and selecting the wounds screen. Damaged legs will slow you down, damaged hands will make fighting difficult and damaged head and torso will affect everything you do. Your (or your enemies') wounds will bleed. Loss of blood will make you feel weaker and thus add to fatigue. If character bleeds, he/she/it will leave bloody trails. You can check your own bleeding status by pressing the Z-key. Bleeding can be stopped with bandages. You can bandage yourself by using a bandage. This can be done from the inventory. Herbs can be used to speed up healing. You can buy both herbs and bandages from the local healer. 3.42 Weapons Aleshar - the world of ice offers a wide variety of weapons. Swords, clubs, maces, axes, spears, bows and others can be bought from the local smith. There is no such thing as "the best weapon". The accuracy of a weapon depends on the character's skills and condition. Lighter weapons are easier to use, but heavier weapons will inflict more damage. Magic weapons look like ordinary weapons. They will work in the same way as any other weapon, but their accuracy and damage might be greater than that of the normal weapons. 3.43 Armor As there is no "best weapon", there is no "best armor" either. Light armor won't slow you down, but on the other hand, it won't protect you that much. Armor can be bought from the local smith. If you want to know precisely how the combat works, see section 3.7. 3.5 Magic Magic is an important element in Aleshar - the World of Ice. In the beginning you will not be able to use magic, but don't worry, you will learn soon. Casting spells is easy. Press the C-key anywhere in the cities, dungeons, combat or outside. You will see a screen with runes. Each rune represents an element. The elements and corresponding runes are: Fire (a pyramid) Water (an ellipse with a horizontal line) Air (a three-pointed "star") Earth (a hemisphere) Spirit (a circle and a dot) You can move the selector (blue glow) with the left and right arrow keys. Pressing SPACE will activate or deactivate the currently highlighted rune. Active runes will begin rotating. Pressing the up and down keys will increase or decrease the power of the spell. The more power you direct to the spell, the faster the runes will rotate. At extremely high power, runes may begin to glow. The spells are made up from elements, or flows. Spells are formed by combinations of one, two or three runes. If three runes are used, one of them must be the spirit rune. There is one exception to this rule, but you must find it out by yourself. The effect of a spell depends on the selected combination of runes and the alignment of the target. When the flows of water and air are focused on a friendly unit, he/she/it will move faster for a period of time depending on the power of the spell. When the same flows are targeted on an enemy, he/she/it will freeze (for a while). Magic is a powerful weapon, but the power must come from somewhere. As you cast spells, be aware of your exhaustion levels. If you push yourself too far, you will eventually die of overexhaustion. Some combinations are harder and thus more fatiguing to do than others. Usually these combinations will result more powerful effects, too. Here are a few general rules: - The more runes you use, the more powerful the spell will be - The more power you select, the more powerful the spell will be - Spells directed against opponents will generally be more exhausting Note that the spells have two modes: Hostile and friendly. When you aim the spell against an enemy, it will be harmful. When you cast the same combination over an ally or yourself, it will be helpful. We encourage you to experiment with magic. ANY combination cast against your enemies will harm them in some way. You will encounter some situations that are very difficult to handle without magic, so it is good to know how different combinations work. Here are some combinations to get you started: Flow(s) Effect on enemies Effect on friends Fire Causes burning damage Boosts combat skills Earth Causes physical damage Gives protection Earth+Water Degeneration Regeneration 3.6 Enemies & other hazards There are many creatures on Aleshar that will be glad to eat you for their supper. Trolls, thieves and bloodthirsty snowgiants will try to kill you whenever there's a chance. By knowing your enemies you can survive longer. Thieves and raiding parties These greedy people will try to kill you and take all of your money. They are found everywhere on Aleshar. Thieves usually band up with bountyhunters and warriors. Be very careful when you fight thieves! They often have quite good equipment and even ranged weapons. Trolls These large humanoids have been trouble as long as there has been life on Aleshar. Taller and stronger than any human, they should be considered a threat. Trolls are very slow, though, and can be easily avoided. Ranged weapons are good against trolls, but don't let them get too near you! Goblins As the trolls are huge, muscular, ugly and green, the goblins are short, skinny, ugly and green. They are usually found in dungeons and caves, but some raiding parties will attack traders and travellers in hope of finding food. Goblins are not much of a threat by themselves, but they try to come at you in numbers. Try to slay enough of them until they surround you. Snowgiants There are three words describing the snowgiants: big, deadly, unfriendly. They are even larger than trolls, towering up to 3 meters (10 ft.). They are hostile towards all other species. Deadly. Undead There are some stories about undead creatures guarding the greatest secrets of Aleshar. Stories about guardian spirits may be stories, but then, maybe not. If the legends and stories are true, one should be really careful with these hostile spirits. But even spirits are not immune to your magical powers. 3.7 The combat rules This section tells you the consequences of your actions and will give you a better chance to beat your opponents. There are three important factors which affect your combat performance: Speed - Determined by the character's dexterity attribute - Modified by weapon and armour encumbrance attributes - Modified by inventory weight - Modified by fatigue - Modified by damage - Modified by magical effects Skill - Determined by the character's dexterity and combat skills - Modified by weapon accuracy attributes - Modified by fatigue - Modified by damage - Modified by magical effects Strength - Determined by the character's strength attribute - Modified by weapon weight - Modified by fatigue - Modified by damage - Modified by magical effects When attacking, the most important factors are in order: skill, speed and strength. Your fatigue increases whenever you do something like running or fighting or casting spells. The armor you wear and the weapon you wield will affect your fatigue along with the inventory weight. Fatigue saps your strength and speed. You can rest by pressing the space bar. The higher your constitution attribute is, the faster you recover your stamina. Fighting constantly without resting will eventually cause your defeat. There are two kinds of damage modifications: Overrall damage Sum of all your wounds. It slightly affects all your actions. Disabling damage This kind of damage gives you heavy penalties in certain actions. When your legs are broken, movement speed is affected by disabling damage. When your arms are broken, attacking strength and speed are dramatically reduced. You are assumed to use your right arm. If it is broken, you will use your left arm with some penalty on skill, speed and strength. If you use two-handed weapons and have only one functional hand, your attributes are reduced further. You have better chances of blocking your opponent's attacks if you are engaged with him. You are engaged with someone if you attacked him the last turn. Moving or doing something else than attacking clears your engaged status. However, when you are engaged, you are more vulnerable to ranged attacks. When a hit is scored, there is a chance of wounding the target. There are six different body parts that can be hit. Body part Hits % Head 10 Torso 40 Hands 10 each Legs 15 each Hits to head and torso can be deadly. Hits to limbs can be disabling. Your head is the most vulnerable part. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. REGISTERING ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Actually, you don't need to register, since you already have the full registered version. But if you have obtained it via illegal means, and wish to legalize it, order the full version from us and be freed from guilt. Aleshar really doesn't cost much. If you can't part with 15 bucks then you'd better quit living - it's too expensive. Why should I register? 4.1 When you register Aleshar - the World of Ice, you will: - Aleshar is VERY cheap. Nowadays games like Aleshar cost often more than 2-3 times the price of Aleshar! - Receive the full version of the game. You have only visited about a tenth of Aleshar dungeons! The full version is three times as long as the shareware version. It includes many dangerous and deadly monsters, lots of graphics and music and legendary artifacts of stunning magical power! - The complete index of spell combinations. Over 40 spells! How to register? 4.2 There are two ways to register. You may use cash or international money orders. Fill in the form below, and include either enough cash or a copy of the receipt you got from the money order. Always save the original receipt! Money orders should be directed to: Hypothermia 513205-444765 Kansallisosakepankki, Kerava Consult your local bank. Prices in different currencies including shipping and handling: FIM 50 mk USD $15 GBP �8 Note! We will not answer to invalid orders. We will not return any money to you! - If your order doesn't include any money or doesn't include enough money, we will notify you by Email (if address given). We will not return the money. - If you include money in another currency than FIM, USD or GBP, include a currency exchange fee of 4 USD (or equal amount in the currency you sent). - If you give wrong or missing information on your address, we are not responsible for any lost property. (Money or data) If you have anything to ask, please contact us: Via EMail: hypothermia@usa.net or vnorilo@netti.fi, janne.pulkkinen@dlc.fi or ossih@hotmail.com Via Mail: Hypothermia C/O Honkanen Korpinkatu 17 04230 Kerava Finland Europe 4.3 Order form Fill all these fields: -- 8< ------------------------- CUT HERE ------------------------------- Name :__________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ Method of payment: [ ] Cash [ ] Money order Amount of payment:______________ Currency used : [ ] FIM [ ] GBP [ ] USD [ ] Other ________ (Remember the USD 4 additional currency exchange payment) Optional: You don't have to fill in these, but it will help us to develope games as YOU like them! Rate Aleshar. 0-10: Graphics:__ Music:__ Gameplay:__ Overrall:__ Comments: _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ Your EMail address:______________________________________ [ ] Add my address to the Aleshar mailing list -- 8< ------------------------- CUT HERE ------------------------------- Print the form above, fill in the necessary information, and send the envelope including the order form and the cash or the copy of the receipt. If you don't have a printer, you can write by hand. Write at least your name and address. Please try to write clearly. Hypothermia C/O Honkanen Korpinkatu 17 04230 Kerava Finland Europe Please allow up to 4 weeks for handling and delivery! If you don't receive your registration, please contact us. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Send your questions to us. They will be added here in the future releases! hypothermia@usa.net vnorilo@netti.fi (Warder) janne.pulkkinen@dlc.fi (Wisp) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. HINTS AND TIPS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ By following these hints you will survive longer: - Always run if you are outnumbered or overpowered. - If your character is too weak, go off adventuring. There are many 'unnecessary' dungeons in the full version. There are no time-critical missions in Aleshar. - Visit all the shrines between different missions. You are going to be in a serious trouble without decent magical skills! - If you are faster than your opponent, hit and run is a good tactic. - Always equip yourself properly before setting off. Unless you are a good hunter you can die when your food runs out. Take sufficient amount of bandages and herbs with you. - When you loot, take only as much items as you can carry without penalty. Weapons are good plunder - the are quite light and fetch a good price. - Use two-handed weapons only when your strenght is good. High strenght allows you to don heavy armor without penalty, which is necessary with 2h-weapons, since it is relatively difficult to parry with them. - If you are fast but not very strong, avoid heavy armor. Encumbrancing armor can actually make you more vulnerable! - Do not fight many opponents at once if you can avoid it. Parrying penalty occurs when you fight more than one opponent at a time! - Move fast. You will likely encounter fewer monsters that way. This is true for both outdoors and indoors movement. - If you have low magical skills, cast only minimum-power spells with one or two runes. Use magic only when your fatigue level is not high. Using too much magic can result in a heart attack. - Experiment with the magic. Try out different combinations. Remember that ANY combination aimed on an opponent is harmful - and that ANY combination over yourself is helpful! - Choose your weapons carefully. Use heavy weapons when you face slow and tough opponents like trolls, and light weapons when you face agile and weak opponents like goblins. - If the townspeople turn hostile and attack you, try to escape the town without killing people. People will forgive you sooner, and you do not eliminate anyone who might have critical information about the later stages of the game. - Never kill anybody in a city or a town, unless you are absolutely certain you won't be caught. If you kill someone and are detected, the people won't forgive you even if you wait a lifetime! If you kill someone in a honest combat (ie. you stole something and they attacked you) townspeople will eventually forgive you. Just wait! - When you wander the outdoors, know where you are going. Always write down the sextant coordinates of the town where you left from, so you know where to return. Also write down all the coordinates you learn. - Learn to use the sextant! - Pay attention to what is being said. Never miss anything! Write down all the keywords and ask about them from everyone. - If you think you are stuck and can't proceed, you must be doing something wrong. Try to think of something other than the obvious solution (which usually is the brute force). Also check these: - Have you killed any characters? Some of them are vital to the continuity of the game. - Have you visited all of the towns you know? - Have you talked to everyone? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. QUICK START ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7.1 Summary of all the keys 7.11 Outdoors Arrow keys will move your character. Up North Left West Down South Right East Note that north is towars the upper-left hand corner of your screen, not straight upwards! Additional action keys: Esc Menu/Pause C Cast Spell E Enter City/Dungeon H Hunt for food I Inventory M View the Map. Z View the status of your character. Press right and left in the status screen to select the page. 7.12 Cities and Dungeons Arrow keys will function as follows: Up Walk forwards Left Turn left Down Turn around Right Turn right North is upwards. Additional keys: Esc Menu, abort aiming F1 Display the key list A Attack C Cast Spell E Enter stairs G Get Items I Inventory L Look at M Select the melee weapon O Open a door or a chest R Select the ranged weapon Z View the status You can also attack enemies by facing them and pressing forwards. This applies only to melee weapons. 7.13 The Beginning of an Adventure You will start the game outdoors. You are a short way northeast from your destination, the town of Cyan Bay. Press down and left to reach the cluster of houses. The lone hut you left behind is the burned hut of your trainer. Press the E-key to enter the town of Cyan Bay once you stand in it. The screen will change, and you are in a town. In the intro sequence, your trainer told you to find out Master Greymire, who is the innkeeper. The inn is straight to north from you. Open the door with the O-key and walk into the inn. There are usually more or less people in the Inn. One of them is Master Greymire. You can use the L-key to look at different persons. Once you have located Master Greymire, walk next to him. He is usually in the common room, but when he is not, you will find him in his study adjacent to the common room. Press the T-key to begin conversation with Erik Greymire. Type in the hotword 'trainer' to tell Erik all that has happened. Erik will tell you about the resistance and will give you a key. He also gives you the coordinates of a city called Snowhold. Write them down! Go to Erik's study and press the I-key to bring up the inventory. Select the USE-item and move the highlight on the PLAIN KEY. Press ENTER and move the cursor on the locked door. It will be unlocked. Go down in Erik's basement and take some weapons, armor and food he has stored there. Also pick up the sextant! You can now leave the town. You might want to buy some additional supplies from Master Greymire. Talk to him and type in 'buy' or 'sell'. Once you are outdoors, experiment with the sextant until you know how it works. Then set out for the Snowhold. Good luck! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A. WEAPON STATISTICS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ �������������������������������������������������������� Small slashing Type Wgt Pow Par % Acc % �������������������������������������������������������� Knife Cutting 1 * 20 20 Dagger Cutting 1 * 35 40 Shortsword Cutting 4 ** 60 50 Main Gauche Cutting 2 * 70 15 Dirk Cutting 1 * 5 15 Jagged Dagger Cutting 2 * 40 40 Fist Dagger Cutting 0 * 0 20 Handaxe Cutting 4 ** 45 50 Small Spear Cutting 5 ** 50 40 �������������������������������������������������������� Big slashing Type Wgt Pow Par % Acc % �������������������������������������������������������� Broadsword Cutting 6 *** 70 60 Longsword Cutting 6 *** 75 66 Falchion Cutting 5 ** 80 66 Greataxe Two-handed 7 *** 50 60 Jagged Sword Two-handed 7 **** 55 55 2-H Sword Two-handed 10 **** 40 45 Claymore Two-handed 11 ***** 33 40 2-H Axe Two-handed 10 **** 33 30 Battleaxe Two-handed 11 **** 40 35 Pike Two-handed 11 *** 66 40 Halberd Two-handed 10 *** 60 50 Naginata Two-handed 9 *** 86 50 �������������������������������������������������������� Small crushing Type Wgt Pow Par % Acc % �������������������������������������������������������� Small Club Crushing 5 ** 35 40 Mace Crushing 5 ** 40 40 Spiked Mace Crushing 5 ** 40 45 Hammer Crushing 4 * 30 35 Small Morningstar Crushing 9 **** 5 5 Club Crushing 8 *** 45 40 �������������������������������������������������������� Big crushing Type Wgt Pow Par % Acc % �������������������������������������������������������� Flail Two-handed 10 ***** 25 33 Morning Star Two-handed 18 ******15 22 Great Mace Two-handed 9 **** 30 40 Warhammer Two-handed 9 **** 30 35 �������������������������������������������������������� Bow Type Wgt Pow Par % Acc % �������������������������������������������������������� Horn Bow Bow 5 ** - 50 Longbow Bow 8 **** - 60 Ash Bow Bow 9 **** - 80 �������������������������������������������������������� Throwing Type Wgt Pow Par % Acc % �������������������������������������������������������� Throwing Dagger Throwing 1 * - 40 Dirk Throwing 1 * - 50 Javelin Throwing 1 ** - 50 Wgt = Weight Pow = Power Par % = Parrying Acc % = Accuracy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ B. ARMOR STATISTICS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ �������������������������������������������������������� Armor Weight Con Pen Enc �������������������������������������������������������� Padded Cloth 5 ** * * Banded Mail 7 ** ** * Leather Vest 10 ** *** ** Tanned Leather 12 ** *** ** Chain Shirt 30 ** **** *** Chain Hauberk 40 *** **** **** Plate Mail 50 **** **** ***** Scale Plate 50 ***** **** **** Con = Protection against concussion Pen = Protection against penetration Enc = Encumbrance ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ALESHAR: THE WORLD OF ICE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Spell List (C) 1997, Hypothermia Hostile spells Spell name Elements Misc. Compulsion W F S Sleep W E S Chill Storm W A S Melt F E S Preterstorm F A S Chasm E A S Balefire F S Slow W S Paralyze E S Entangle A S Firebeam F W Degenerate E W Freeze A W Stun W Curse E F Lightning A F Burn F Tornado A E Damage E Wind A Friendly Spells Spell name Elements Misc. Shrinegate S F E W A Major Attack boost W F S Complete Heal W E S Stay Hand W A S Wardfire F E S Acid Touch F A S Remove Fatigue W S Major Heal E S Invisibility A S Attack boost F W Regenerate E W Quick A W Refresh W Major Protection E F Missile Protection A F Courage F Major Deflect A E Protection E Deflect A S = Spirit F = Fire E = Earth W = Water A = Air
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