Gate ** for 1.25MB IIgs from Seven Hills SEVEN HILLS: 2310 Oxford Road, Tallahassee, FL 32304-3930 atten: Childs (904-575-0566) Joystick and stereo board recommended The game uses a custom operating system and must be run from diskettes (not Hard Disk). An 8-page manual is included. Features attractive top-down display, good animation, and decent sound/music (with stereo or mono option). You can dig at (search) any square. Potions, gold, etc. may be found. The top 5 scores are saved on-diskette with names. There is no time limit. You begin with a shooting weapon (unlimited 'arrows') wearing Leather armor. Object is to defeat Darg, the Firemaster, who has taken you prisoner. Defeating Darg will restore peace to Divesia. NOTE: The diskettes are not write-protected and may be copied using Copy II or Diversi-Copy. Do not use either of the game diskettes (i.e. STARTUP and DISK 2) to save a game. Format separate GAME SAVE diskettes before playing. Only one game may be saved per diskette. The first time you save to a GAME SAVE diskette you will be told that the diskette in Slot 5, Drive 2 (or whatever) is not formatted as a save game diskette and asked if you want to save anyway. Be sure the diskette mentioned really is one intended for GAME SAVE and answer "Y"es. (Just in case, it's a good idea to activate write-protect on your Gate game diskettes.) Display Below the 'action area' are MAX (total weight you can carry) plus counts for YELLOW KEYS, RED KEYS, LIGHTNINGS. The large box seems to be for showing amulets you have collected. The large bar shows HEALTH (hit points). A blue line appears below the bar when a STAR is used: monsters will run away from you. The character pic shows current armor and shield. Key functions ESC: get Control Screen (click on "GATE" to get Key Function help) *: Change weapon (this also cancels Search mode) CLR: Dig or Search the current square (sets Search mode ON) SPC: use a Lightning (wipes out monsters on current display) DEL followed by 1, 2, or 3: Drop a key or a Lightning (4 probably lets you drop an amulet-- not sure) Open-Apple: Fire Closed-Apple: Stop moving 2, 4, 8, 6 on keypad: move in direction selected +/-: Increase/Decrease Sound level Game Items The Following can be carried with you: Yellow Keys open plain doors Red Keys open red doors Lightning flashes destroy all enemies on current screen Gold (100 per Treasure Chest opened) used to buy Food, Full HP restore, Armor, etc. at Magic Shops The items here are used immediately: Bottles of Food: restore HP Blue Potions: increment number of objects you can carry (permanent) Bombs: cause monsters who are shooting to self-destruct for several seconds Stars: cause blue line to appear below HP gauge. While it's present, monsters will run away from you. Rings: add to Score Messages Parchments: cause a message to appear. (Once the message is displayed, the parchment will vanish; so, write it down.) Panels: indicate places that may help you get your bearings Hidden messages: appear when you pass over a square the message is in. (These do not disappear once displayed.) Question marks: Ask a question. Answer correctly and you will get information. Characters: there is a variety of characters and monsters which behave differently Special spaces: Sometimes a flash will appear at the screen edge to let you know something has just happened when you walk upon a space. (It's up to you to figure out what it is.) Note: If stuck, you can pick up some useful clues by looking at blocks $31C-$345 of Disk 2 using a block editor such as Block Warden or BlockWorks. Mods To add to GOLD, KEYS, etc. use Copy II, Block Warden, or some similar utility to make mods to block $2C1* on the GAME SAVE diskette. *Note: This location appears to be stable; but, it is a good idea to check the values for Experience, gold, ... found against the values jotted down from the display at the time of the last Save. If the values are wildly different or impossible, you probably have the wrong block (or wrong diskette). $00-07: Experience For example, 00 00 07 00 06 03 04 00 = 706340 experience. This same basic format is employed for other items. (00 04 = 4 keys, 00 04 02 02 00 00 = 42200 gold, etc.) $08-09: Yellow Keys $0A-0B: Red Keys $0C-11: Gold $14-15: Max (total carry) $16-17: Lightnings Miscellaneous Hints It's a good idea to maintain 2 or 3 GAME SAVEs at different points as you make progress. This game is excessively difficult at the start. That is, with the supplies and information available, you are likely to need many frustrating re-starts to get through the first few levels. A fair mod is to give yourself 20,000 or so Gold early. Some squares inflict damage but, sometimes, you must pass over them to get to an exit. Your quest is to obtain four amulets and then defeat the Firemaster. When you obtain an amulet, it will show up in the larger box just left of the boxes showing number of keys. I do not remember for sure, but I believe the Castle (where you begin) has seven levels. Once out of the Castle, you find a fairly large countryside landscape. There are 2 or 3 magic shops in the castle and 2 or 3 more in the countryside. The amulets are sprinkled around the countryside. Getting each requires you to get to a "shrine" and answer a question. (A text message lets you know when you have reached a shrine. Shrines do not 'show up' on the map.) The gate to the Firemaster is not hard to find. It is a clearing surrounded by four pairs of stone pillars. As I recall, to open it, you drop one amulet between each of the four pairs. (To drop an item, you press DELETE and then a number corresponding to the item. See pg. 8 of the manual.) The manual does not say how to drop an amulet. I believe you press DELETE and then "4" (or, maybe, "0"). ____________________________________ A few hints from Harry Protagonist Ludowick Q: How do I get to the altar in Henrik's castle? To get to the altar in Hendrik's castle you must gather clues from the scrolls in the castle, solve the play on words, and give the answer to the Question in the castle's front hall. Q: How do i get to Joerg's castle? It is rumored that the Master of Illusions knew how to get to Joerg's castle. He's dead now, but if you could track down his tomb, maybe his shade will give you a hint. Go to the tomb of the Master of Illusions and type in the answer to the question asked (if you've already done this, you don't have to do it again). Then go to the signpost in the forest that says this: N: Gold River S: Maze Forest E: Lake of Illusions W: A Forest Way Since the Master said sometimes water is an illusion, go east to the lake. Go to the southern shore of the lake and try to walk north. Try every spot on the south shore of the lake. When you start walking on water, you're on the path to Joerg's castle. >>> Warning! Explicit hints follow! <<< Q: What are the answers in Henrik's castle? SECRET PASSAGE is the answer to the question in the front hall of the castle. The answer to the other questions is HENRIK. Q: What is the response to the question asked at the tomb of the Master of Illusions? ILLUSIONS is the answer. Rubywand