Swordquest Earthworld = Bad or Good?

[JacobZu7zu7]

I heard some bad things about this game,

but I did wanna try it for myself.

So far I have enjoyed whatever

I have done. Gathering different objects,

and a few trick stages. Seems decent.

What about this game is good or bad?

I don't know exactly what I think, yet. :-)

[hbomb]

I remember playing this game somewhat roughly 25 years ago. I do remember it being a lot of fun, but what did I know...I was about 11. I guess the let down of this series is that you need to go through Waterworld in order to finish the game and accomplish the final goal. I don't believe Waterworld was ever completed, at least not to the point where any of us will get our mits on it. So, the quest can never be finished.

 

From memory though, I remember it being pretty cool. I never had Fireworld though.

[BrianC]

Waterworld was completed, but it was originally only available through a permotional offer. It did end up in stores, but in limited quantities. Airworld was the one that was never completed. http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html...wareLabelID=543

Edited August 10, 2006 by BrianC

[Lord Thag]

Earthworld wasn't a bad idea, but the real problem is that there is no rhyme or reason to the item placement. It's just random guessing - no logic or problem solving involved.

 

Waterworld is much closer to what the original game should have been, it offers clues and hints, and is actually fairly entertaining.

 

I like the challenge sequences best from earthworld though.

[JacobZu7zu7]

Interesting... yeah I heard that there is an E-Rare Waterworld. but not any final Airworld.

I am still on Earthworld. Without much instructions. So, I don't know how many

items I need to put into each zodiac room. I tried random, but no luck yet.

I don't think I am getting any clues. BTW: How does one know they have put the correct object in the zodiac rooms, and does this include a clue or tip?

Do I ever drop the .. shoes, lamp, cloak, key etc ? Or are these not used for clues?

I dunno, any help is welcomed

Edited August 10, 2006 by JacobZu7zu7

[Pixelboy]

Interesting... yeah I heard that there is an E-Rare Waterworld. but not any final Airworld.

I am still on Earthworld. Without much instructions. So, I don't know how many

items I need to put into each zodiac room. I tried random, but no luck yet.

I don't think I am getting any clues. BTW: How does one know they have put the correct object in the zodiac rooms, and does this include a clue or tip?

Do I ever drop the .. shoes, lamp, cloak, key etc ? Or are these not used for clues?

I dunno, any help is welcomed

You'll find detailed solutions for every SwordQuest game at yosemite-sam.net, although I don't know if reading that will be a major spoiler for you... Use the info as you see fit.

 

Ah those SwordQuest games... Either you like them or you don't. FireWorld was my personal favorite, even if they messed up the clues system into something totally useless.

Edited August 10, 2006 by Pixelboy

[NE146]

I don't know how many items I need to put into each zodiac room. I tried random, but no luck yet.

I don't think I am getting any clues. BTW: How does one know they have put the correct object in the zodiac rooms

 

Welcome to the amazing adventures of Swordquest

[jboypacman]

I could not stand the SwordQuest games as a kid.Recently at a friends house i played them again on his emulator.Guess what?I still hate them.To me they just not fun to play.I try to like everything but this is one of thoses case i dont.

[Kripto]

I was really disappointed with the SwordQuest games as as kid. They really have a feeling of having been conceived of by a group of "suits" around a board room versus someone who had any idea as to what makes gamers like a game.

 

I'm just glad Atari didn't make "SwordQuest 2000" for the Jag

[Tempest]

It's good for a SwordQuest game, but that isn't saying much.

 

Honestly, once the contest ended there was no reason to play these games. They were just a gimmick, nothing more.

 

Tempest

[pitfallaimee]

I always liked the little challenge rooms, and I misguidedly thought that was the purpose of the game as a child. I was playing it years after the contest ended, had only half a manual, but still had the comic--unfortunately, I didn't find out until I started collecting as an adult what the point of the game was. I "beat" it, and it was incredibly ungratifying considering how long I'd been waiting to see the ending. I later found out there were more of these games, and because I somehow liked the comics, wound up on the now-dead Airworld project. But in hindsight? Earthworld was not worth the time I gave it.

[ATARIPITBULL]

It's good for a SwordQuest game, but that isn't saying much.

 

Honestly, once the contest ended there was no reason to play these games. They were just a gimmick, nothing more.

 

Tempest

 

I agree, if it was not for the fact that you could have won prizes back in the day, I would not have keept playing it after a while, as a kid, it was a hard game to play. I liked the comic book stories better than the game.

 

:!:

[Vic George 2K3]

Just wasn't what I was looking for as far as a decent follow-up to Adventure.

[bcprs1]

As a kid, I used to just like the challenges in the Earthworld especially the "rafts". I didn't have the instructions so I didn't really know what to do.

[Room 34]

As far as I'm concerned, if you have to read a comic book for the game to make any sense, then the game's no good!

 

Personally I found all of the later, more complex adventure-type games for the 2600 to be kind of arbitrary in their construction and incredibly hard to figure out (without offering enough excitement to make them worth figuring out)... that goes for the SwordQuest games, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Riddle of the Sphinx, Krull... the only adventure games I've ever enjoyed at all on the 2600 were Adventure, Haunted House, and Secret Quest. (And it's not that I don't like adventure games... I love the Zelda series, which was the NES's natural successor to 2600 Adventure.)

[JacobZu7zu7]

Thanks for the tip site.

There is a site called AtariProtos.com

Which too has some tips on these quest games.

Found it just today.

I consider Swordquest Earthword, to be marginal.

It's fun enough for me. I like the theme.

 

But, if this game had more strategy involved, like had some time limit,

or some enimes in the rooms, use of tools/weapons etc.

This could have been an awesome game.

Luckly there was enough to it to be playable.

[Tempest]

There is a site called AtariProtos.com

 

Never heard of it.

 

Tempest

[Pixelboy]

But, if this game had more strategy involved, like had some time limit, or some enimes in the rooms, use of tools/weapons etc. This could have been an awesome game.

You should try Quest for Quintana Roo. It has all those things, although it's somewhat repetitive in nature (no more than SwordQuest, I suppose). I played the ColecoVision version and I liked it, once I got into it. The Atari 2600 version is a little different, but it's still basically the same game.

[JacobZu7zu7]

But, if this game had more strategy involved, like had some time limit, or some enimes in the rooms, use of tools/weapons etc. This could have been an awesome game.

You should try Quest for Quintana Roo. It has all those things, although it's somewhat repetitive in nature (no more than SwordQuest, I suppose). I played the ColecoVision version and I liked it, once I got into it. The Atari 2600 version is a little different, but it's still basically the same game.

 

Alright! I never heard of this game. I might get it on emulator soon.

Most times I play games on my 2600. But I DO use Stella emulator when I can't spare the money to buy some games, example = halloween and other rare games.

There are other quest games which I haven't enjoyed, like..

Riddle of the Sphinx.. ugh, I have no patience for this, I can't get into it.

Dark Chambers, this is so slow and boring. Raiders of lost ark,

never got past the second screen.. gave up early.

But I do wanna try Raiders again... I like movie titles.

 

You should check out that site, AtariProtos.com, good stuff there!

I hope I am allowed to post, which I think so

[NE146]

Personally I found all of the later, more complex adventure-type games for the 2600 to be kind of arbitrary in their construction and incredibly hard to figure out (without offering enough excitement to make them worth figuring out)... that goes for the SwordQuest games, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Riddle of the Sphinx, Krull...

 

I disagree on the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Now INITIALLY yes, it seems pretty random. I remember thinking "how the hell would I think to try and put the grenade there on the right to blow a hole?!?". However, Atari redeemed themselves by including a minor walkthrough in the instructions. Once I read that.. it just gave you enough that the rest of the game makes sense and if you play it, you will figure it out.

 

I mean, I did it. And I was a friggin kid. There was definitely a lot of excitement (and admittedly.. hours) figuring out Raiders and when I got to the mesa and figured out how to dig.. man that was #1

[Room 34]

Well I think there's probably also the fact that Adventure (capital A) was the only 2600 adventure (small a) game I actually played as a kid. The rest all came in the last 5 years, and I've had less tolerance for the level of abstract imagination (or hints from a manual) required for the 2600's adventure games.

[SeaGtGruff]

WaterWorld is the easiest of the SwordQuest games. But the clues almost make it too easy, because you can solve it very quickly, and then there's not as much of a reason to keep playing it.

 

FireWorld seemed like the hardest of the series when I first played it, but it's actually a lot easier to solve than EarthWorld is, because there's a kind of pattern to the clues. In fact, there are patterns within patterns, once you know what to look for. Also, the fact that FireWorld has a skill and action sequence outside of every room was an improvement over EarthWorld, even if the graphics aren't as good as in EarthWorld.

 

EarthWorld seemed easier than FireWorld on first play, because it was easy for me to find the first four clues. However, as far as I know, there isn't any real pattern to finding the clues, at least not in terms of how many objects you have to leave in how many rooms, as in FireWorld and WaterWorld. In fact, EarthWorld messed me up when it came to FireWorld, because I expected FireWorld to have the same kind of unpredictable "non-pattern" to it as EarthWorld, so I spent all my time trying out every possible combination of objects in the rooms-- not to mention keeping a written record of each combination that I tried, so I would know not to try it again (although the only way to do it is to use a systematic approach, or try the combinations according to a specific plan).

 

If you want to try to solve FireWorld by yourself, without peeking at the solution on the web, here's what you should do:

 

First, make a map of the rooms. This is a little bit trickier than it sounds, because if you draw the map correctly, most of the paths between the rooms will twist and turn on top of each other.

 

HINT: The map is based on the Tree of Life, which is a figure from the Kabbalah. The game manual comes right out and says that the map is based on the Tree of Life, so this isn't some kind of secret knowledge. You can find pictures of the Tree of Life diagram on the internet.

 

SPOILER ALERT: Here's a link to a map I made of the rooms. Don't look at it if you want to have the enjoyment of making your own map. I put it in a .zip file to make sure it doesn't show up inside this post. Some of the paths don't need to be drawn the way I've shown-- in particular, the two paths that I drew looping around the outside. I just drew them like that to keep the overlaps to a minimum.

 

Map.zip

 

Second, learn the number sequence of the rooms, because this does have some bearing on finding the clues in the game.

 

HINT: I guess it depends on whether you number the rooms in increasing or decreasing order, but the order I use is the one that's shown in the game's attract mode, numbering the first room shown as 1, then the next room shown as 2, and so on.

 

SPOILER ALERT: Here's a link to a picture I made of the Tree of Life diagram, with the points on the Tree of Life numbered in the same sequence as the FireWorld rooms (as described above).

 

Rooms.zip

 

Third, learn where the 16 objects are located at the beginning of the game. This isn't so critical to finding the clues, since you can just run around and collect the objects without worrying about their initial locations, but it's easier to start playing the game in any one sitting if you know which rooms to look in to get specific objects.

 

Fourth, every object in the game has at least one use, but there are different kinds of uses. One way an object might be used is to find a clue, by leaving certain objects in certain rooms. Another way an object might be used is to help you get past the skill and action sequences more easily, by carrying certain objects with you as you try to enter certain rooms, so try to determine which objects help with which skill and action sequences. And another way an object might be used is to help open up the various doorways from the central room (the one with eight doorways leading from it), either by carrying an object with you while you're standing outside the central room, or by leaving an object in the central room.

 

SPOILER ALERT: Here's a link to a list of the 16 objects, where they're found at the beginning of the game, and what their uses are. I've numbered the objects based on the order they have when you leave them in a room (i.e., which row and column-- objects 1 through 6 on the top row, from left to right, then objects 7 through 12 on the second row, from left to right, etc.).

 

Objects.zip

 

Fifth, try to develop a strategy for playing the game. Since the object of the game is to find all of the clues, and each clue is found by leaving certain objects in certain rooms, it goes without saying that your strategy should involve leaving the different objects in the different rooms, using some kind of methodology or procedure that makes it easier to keep track of which combinations you're tried, and which combinations you still need to try.

 

HINT: In my opinion, the best strategy is to start by gathering up all of the objects and leave them in a particular room-- i.e., in the same room. Then take the first object, go to one of the other rooms, and leave it there. If nothing happens, go back into the room, get the object, take it back to where you left all the other objects, leave it there, take the next object to the other room, leave it there, and see if you get a clue. Keep doing this until you've tried each object by itself in that room.

 

HINT: In EarthWorld, some clues required only one object in one room, other clues required two objects in one room, other clues required two objects in two rooms (i.e., one in each room at the same time), etc. FireWorld is different, because all of the clues are found in the same way.

 

SPOILER ALERT: Avert your eyes NOW-- REPEAT, NOW, DAMMIT! -- unless you want a major hint! Each clue is found by leaving four objects in one room, plus one object in another room. The clue is found inside the room where you leave the four objects, as long as the other room has the correct single object in it. Also, there's only one clue per room, so once you find a clue inside a particular room, you can take all of the objects into the next room and start working from that room.

 

HINT: There are patterns to which clues show up in which rooms, or which objects must be left in which rooms. These patterns don't necessarily hold true in all cases, but they hold true often enough to help you find the clues more quickly, once you start to see the patterns.

 

SPOILER ALERT: Here's a link to a list of the 10 clues, and which objects must be left in which rooms to trigger each clue.

 

Clues.zip

 

I hope these guidelines, hints, and spoilers help you to enjoy FireWorld more, but try to avoid using the spoilers unless you're stuck and absolutely, positively can't take it anymore!

 

Michael Rideout

[SeaGtGruff]

Earthworld wasn't a bad idea, but the real problem is that there is no rhyme or reason to the item placement. It's just random guessing - no logic or problem solving involved.

For the most part, that's true. But at least in the case of the first few clues, part of the "logic" seems to be to just go through the rooms in a particular direction, picking up the objects as you find them, and then when you can't carry any more objects, start dropping one or more of the objects in your inventory so you can pick up one or more objects in whatever room you're in.

 

Michael Rideout

[SeaGtGruff]

As a kid, I used to just like the challenges in the Earthworld especially the "rafts". I didn't have the instructions so I didn't really know what to do.

I agree that the skill and action sequences are part of any appeal that the SwordQuest series has. I'm not sure, but wasn't it still a fairly new concept at that time to have "minigames" within games? Nowadays that's very common, especially in adventure games or RPGs-- such as being able to play poker or blackjack to try to increase your money. Escape from the Mindmaster was another game for the Atari 2600 that featured minigames within the main game.

 

Michael Rideout

[Lord Thag]

Hey, nice post on Fireworld! I never gave it much of a shot as I figured it was just random based on my experience with earthworld. Now that I know there is a method to the madness, I may just give it a shot. I never actively hated these games, like some. I played them quite a bit as a little kid. Maybe I'll drag it out of mothballs tonight.