Star Saga: Two - The Clathran Menace - Introduction and Back to Basics

Clathran Bird of Prey (Source: What is the Apple IIGS?)

My history with the series is covered in my early posts on the first game. The short of it is, my dad had these games when they were new, and my brother and I discovered them while looking for something new to play. The first game stuck out in my mind more than the second. I can't remember if I started playing and lost interest, or if my brother played through and didn't want to play again. In any case, I'm coming to this fresh.

Once again I have to thank Home of the Underdogs for piecing together the materials for this game in a playable package on the PC. Without their efforts, this game would most likely be lost to further obscurity. Unfortunately, the packages for this game seem to have some trouble running under newer OS's (64-bit Windows 7 and Vista throw an error I didn't investigate), so your best bet is to run this in 32-bit XP.

Part of me wishes I'd kept the disks (Source: MobyGames)

The year is now 2821 A.D., six years after the events of the first game. The timeline suggests we spent 4 years in the first game (about 200 turns), and 2 years afterwards refitting our ship to reduce the hodgepodge of equipment retrofitted on the fly throughout our adventures. Each of the six playable characters now has a sleeker ship build and reduced load. The characters remain the same, although their goals are slightly altered:

• Jean G. Clerc - Clerc pursued the dream of building the ultimate spaceship. Compared to the Clathrans though, the ship is no match. The pursuit for greater technology calls.
• Professor Lee Dambroke - Proposed and proved that humans can learn alien abilities, the professor takes the research one step further to discover why this was possible.
• Laran Darkwatch - Violated church dogma and chased truth beyond the Boundary, Laran discovered a message to continue that pursuit by retracing the founder's steps that lead them to create the Final Church of Man.
• Valentine Stewart - Heir to the Stewart Family business, Valentine threw it all away to become a smuggler. Having gained a renewed confidence from his family, he now has a contract to discover a source for a rare and powerful material.
• Corin Stoneseeker - The Stoneseeker line seeks a legend wrapped up in the Core Stone. Bearing the full weight of his destiny, Corin pushes into the galactic arm to discover the stone's true nature.
• M. J. Turner - Excommunicated from the Space Patrol, he was in truth set on a secret mission to capture the space pirate Silverbeard. With that task is complete, he leads the effort to push the Clathran survey line to the core.

This is the order I plan to play them in. Once again I'll play through each character, with the first providing the most depth on discoveries, and follow up with the others to fill in bits and pieces of their respective arcs. A final wrap up and comments on multi-player will bookend this coverage.

Who needs colorful graphics?

The text passages number 979, which should mean there's even more to the game, or at least greater alternative texts. The manual boasts 60 hours of playing, and I may reach it when I'm done with everything; I'm 15 hours in and through over half the planets. The Clathran Survey line suggests a time limit as it moves across the map towards the fringe.

I've always disliked games that impose a time limit to finishing, especially an ambiguous one. More so, I've hated when I had to start a game over from the beginning after investing many hours. A time limit suggests there's not enough time to fully explore and finish, and I have the unnerving feeling that I'll reach the limit before I figure out what to do. Time to push past those fears and move on. I'm documenting all aspects of the game, so subsequent playthroughs will be faster at least.

Instead of importing we "recreate" our characters.

Most of the basics for playing the game remain the same, and I'll point you towards my posting on the subject for the first game if you need a refresher. This game begins with the option to continue old characters. This consists of answering a few questions, which can lead to gaming:

• What was the final score? - Any answer will do, but if you answer max score (5000) you get all equipment (except the Immature Riallan), max drones, and max bays.
• How many cargo and drone bays? Select 10 - 14 cargo bays, and a drone of 3, 4, 5, or 8 bays. More than one character can have the 8-bay drone in this way.
• A list of questions about specific equipment - There's only one possible choice for each of the equipment categories (Hand-To-Hand - Attack - Contact, etc.), so it's rather limited. The Immature Riallan is a choice as well, so I'm hoping there's a nice tie-in later on.

Star Saga: Two claims there isn't a great disadvantage to starting with fresh characters, and I tend to agree.

Testing out a new character starting in Star Saga: Two.

The equipment that an old character can start out with is either freely given with new equipment discoveries or purchased for a single basic commodity. The only catch is needing to reach the new planets. The starting abilities are more than enough for beginning encounters, so really the only benefit are a drone and cargo bays.

You'll notice from this screenshot two new statistics, Personal Health and Ship Condition. This brings the previous game's suggestion of character death closer to a reality for this game. Given the darker tone of impending doom I have more apprehension diving into the unknown. Each combat is no longer taken on a whim.

The manual suggests that beyond these two mortality meters counting down to my demise, they also factor into combat. The lower these values are, the worse I'll perform in a fight. 50 personal health means I'm at 50% effectiveness. I hope it's as accurate as the fabled E.C.M. from the first game.

Even with 90 Personal Health, I get 100's

The glossary remains a wealth of information. Here are some highlights:

• Archigenitors - A race of advanced beings who have left their mark throughout the galaxy.
• Dodecahedron - twelve-sided polyhedron (why is this in the glossary?)
• Interactive Literature - Artistic constructs which incorporate the free will of the reader into a pre-existing scenario. The seductive appeal of this sort of game-playing posed such a threat to scientific progress in the latter half of the 20th century that it was eventually banned worldwide.
• Masters - A common term found on many planets referring to a mysterious race of beings who disappeared long ago.
• Message - Something you leave on an answering machine, or a weird psychic call heard by several humans relating to a waking dragon.
• Sudden Adjustment Psychosis Syndrome (a.k.a. SAPS) - An illness beginning to appear in the Home Worlds which is proving to be deadly in its effect on people.

Lastly, before we embark on another adventure, I want to thank all those involved in the creation of these games. I appreciate all the hard work you've done, and hope one day, however unlikely, to play the third.

Quest For Glory 1: So You Want to be a Hero - So You Want to be a Thief

Thief type characters have always held an attraction that I can't deny. I like collecting everything not nailed down. Sneaking around always seemed like the better option compared to the direct approach.

Sneaking gives me a hunchback.

However, even I have to admit there's a logical flaw in a game where the goal is to become a hero, but the main activities are sneaking around in the middle of the night stealing everyone's belongings. Especially when the victims are an innocent old lady and the town's sheriff.

I wonder if Silmaria is a future destination.

Well, first things first. I need to visit the local thieves guild and register myself so I don't get in trouble for encroaching on their turf. The manual makes mention of a thief sign to make myself known to my fellow thieves, but in the the VGA version I'm not sure how that will work at first.

Every action is mapped to a generic icon. The best candidate is the 'hand' icon, which is usually 'take' or 'use', but in this case it doubles as 'show thief sign' to the thieves in the alley. After learning the password I entered the guild located under a trap door in the tavern. I wonder if it's possible to guess the password.

Are there dues? What about benefits? Who's Jon B?

Joining the guild costs 25 gold. I receive an official license. As part of the thieves guild I now have a place to fence my pilfered goods, play a friendly throwing game, and get additional lock picks. There's also a thief's tool kit, which offers additional benefits to lock picking.

I beat "The Chief" with barely any throwing skill

Playing the throwing game requires setting the angle and force of each throw. These numbers in combination with the randomly set position on the screen you throw from (plus I'm sure throwing skill in some form) determines where the dagger will land. It's a very easy game, and you can pull in all the money you can imagine.

The Chief mentioned that there's a spy in our midst feeding information to the brigands. Since they're not union members he has quite the animosity towards them. There's a missed opportunity here, as we never get a chance to resolve who the spy is. I believe it's Bruno.

Found you!

As a thief, I have the option to sneak everywhere and for the first day I did just that. This advanced the skill to a very high level, and I started avoiding monsters. It's a nice feature and I enjoyed saving time and health.

No option to ambush them.

I was eager to sneak everywhere I went just to see how much combat I could avoid. I wasn't able to get by the ogre guarding the bear cave, but I did get the key from the kobold without rousing him.

You just stay asleep.

Well, let's get to the stealing already! The bread and butter of any thief. The whole town is ripe for the picking and I scouted out the possible locations. The butcher, the baker, the barber, the magic shop, the guild hall, the fruit stand, the healer, and the general store must offer such treasures beyond their locked doors... doors that are also barred from the inside; except for the magic shop, which is always under a watchful eye.

I tried Erasums' too. I only found a box that kept closing itself.

The only two remaining houses are the sheriff's home and the house of an innocent old lady who sleeps all day. Like I said before, I didn't feel very heroic ransacking these locations, but maybe we can convince ourselves otherwise.

Nice kitty... jaguar?

The old lady's house offered up a few bits of gold, a pair of candle sticks, and a string of pearls. Creaky stairs kept me from exploring further and the noisy bird wasn't much better. I pet the cat a bit too much and it turns into a large black jungle cat. It pounced and I found myself pinned to the floor, so I avoided that upon my reload. This left me short a few points in the end. A magic guard cat, this must be an evil witch in league with Baba Yaga. How else can she keep watch on the happenings of the town?

The only other thieving spot offers up a few treasures.

The bright blue vase is the first obvious item to take. A candelabra and music box are the next two trinkets I add to my pack; the latter gives a bit of a scary as it wakes Otto, but he fails to acknowledge my presence. The sheriff's house also has a hidden vault and I'm able to crack it without any effort from myself, just click.

Continuing my nefarious ways I attack the fox (-10 points).

What I've learned from this small stint in thieving is it's best to stay downstairs, don't go into any doors, and leave animals alone. I wish there were more locations to break into, but at least I have some treasure now. The barber's shop and jail are the most curious though. Both only say they're locked, not barred, yet trying to pick them only suggests "it doesn't work."

My collection is turned into raw gold when imported to QfG2.

I was now rather rich having won a number games against The Chief already, so I only cashed in a vase and candlesticks (I held on to the music box, candelabra, and pearls). I only got points for the first fenced find, and I thought these were nice keepsakes. I bought 9 more daggers, 2 healing potions, and 4 potions of vigor.

I practiced throwing with my new daggers.

Well stocked, I forged on without worry about grinding out my skills. I had some time to kill though so I trained up my throwing and climbing before heading to free Elsa. I spoke aloud the password and sneaked past the Minotaur with ease. It took a few minutes of failing to climb the structure before I made it over.

Apparently I didn't train enough.

I found myself in front of the Brigand Leader and used the dispel potion without giving it another thought. Elsa was free, and so was I to stare longingly at all the treasure that laid before me. I couldn't take a single item though, except for the mirror and potions on the table. All this treasure and nothing to do with it.

Ominous black bird what is your purpose?

My memory of the fourth game once again mixed me up and I anticipated being able to train my skills in the abandoned warehouse. I thought I remembered a climbing rope, throwing target, and practice locks inside. I'm also a little disappointed by only two spots for thieving, so I hope future games offer a bit more.

There's Jon B!

This game is a great start to the series, and I'm glad to finally overcome this childhood favorite. I enjoyed getting through this game each time, but all the same I'm ready to move on to the next. Having multiple avenues to travel towards solutions were appreciated (e.g. I found I could climb the mountain next to the spitting sprouts and grab the seed), and I hope the games continue in that vein. Getting through the next game will be a much greater accomplishment as I remember it not resonating with me.

Near the end, the night shows specular detail.

Quest For Glory 1: So You Want to be a Hero - So You Want to be a Fighter

If this game had a difficulty settings, then fighter is 'Easy'. If you don't want to give much thought to your actions beyond 'mash the attack button', then choose the fighter. If you just want to get through the game without a lot of side quests, then choose the fighter.

EGA graphics in all their glory!

While Magic-users have spells to gather and train, and thieves have loot to gather and sell, the fighter has the special skill of parry, which really doesn't add much benefit to combat. During my battles I found the best defense was a good offense.

Parry or just stab madly?

More often than not, holding the attack key won battles with less loss of life than trying to wrangle the controls to time parry or dodge. Even so, I did train those abilities to a respectable level in order to try to give them their due. In the end, I just spammed stab.

Parry did allow me to take out the Weapon Master though.

The fighter, or I should say the parry skill, allows the hero to train with the Weapon Master. My early days consisted of clearing out the stables, training with the Weapon Master, and fighting off waves of goblins. At 1 gold per day, it was a costly venture, but my skills at his hands raised considerably more than either of the other options.

Hey, just because I soundly trounced you doesn't mean you're a pathetic has-been.

Now that I lacked a quick way to build up stats, I was forced to train against endless waves of goblins. The training grounds there offered a slower progression, but greater rewards in gold. So much gold I was quickly weighed down, and ended up throwing much of it away.

After some time I gauged my skills advanced enough to take on the ogre outside the cave. I was correct in my assessment and found myself facing off with the bear.

Being a fighter and not turning back from a fight, I engaged the bear. I wasn't skilled enough to take him out, but I don't think it's possible to win in this case. I didn't try with max skills as I saw that fruitless. Without a calming spell I racked my brain for another means to satiate the bear; I offered him one of my food rations after he turned down the vegetables. I never did find a use for those, even the horses at the stables refused.

I also failed to use brute strength against the frost giant, even with max skills.

For the kobold, I found I didn't enter the normal combat screen when I typed 'fight', instead I pulled out my sword and sparred with him using the controls I had come accustomed to while facing the Weapon Master. Due to his constant teleporting, I found it easiest to throw rocks when he teleported away, which caused him to teleport back to directly in front of me. After a few rounds of stab and throw he disappeared and left a key behind.

So far the solutions to puzzles for a fighter have been narrowly focused on throwing (healer's ring, spitting plants), and I found Erasmus had little to offer a hero of my stature as well. I had little reason to visit 'enry, so I avoided even meeting him.

I slaughtered countless goblins.

In order to advance my skills I looked for fights at every corner, and after buying the chain mail armor I had little use for all the gold I began carrying around. Due to the weight of it all (I was carrying around massive amounts of fruit), I could only carry a small number of potions. I found the fighter added points to his score for each new creature bested in combat.

Corey, if you happen to read this, why wasn't mounting the head of a Saurus Rex in the guild hall an option? I'd love to see little details like this in Hero-U, which I'm looking forward to playing along with Trickster (or sooner).

I was trying to think of all manner of creature I could face off against. Even though the butcher dreamed of feasting on the white stag, I couldn't kill it. The dryad was equally immune to attacks, and the meeps wouldn't come out of their hidey-holes when faced with aggression. I never tried facing off with that fox in the trap though... probably wouldn't have worked anyway.

I even tried fighting the frost giant multiple ways, but even throwing rocks was a dead end.

I collected what I needed to finish the game, mandrake root, dispel potion, and the key to the secret passage. I never discovered the second note (at least I don't remember getting it), but I still managed to run across the meeting between Brutus and a random henchman brigand. Good thing too because brute strength couldn't open the door. I saw it's possible to just charge in and climb over the logs while stifling the pain of hundreds of arrows. I'd rather fight the troll in the cave though.

In-fighting brigands, who would have guessed.

I read, and spoiled myself, about the antwerp on Chet's blog. In the VGA version, you can just kind of maneuver around him and still operate the door; however, in the EGA version it didn't seem possible. So, I ended up attempting to face off with him.

Of course I'm cocky, I'm a fighter!

Well, the antwerp either got in the way or I had to fight him, which caused him to leap high in the air like a dragoon from Final Fantasy. I'm not sure I would have figured to type 'use sword' on my own, but because I read it in the recent blogs, I couldn't exactly wipe that from memory.

I think this animation was meant for a dagger. It looks like he is grabbing the sword blade. Don't try this at home kids.

Even with the foreknowledge of the password, I did the stupid fighter thing and entered headstrong in my ability to face off against the troll. It still took a couple of fights before I got the rhythm down to strike solid blows. I yanked off his beard for later and strode proudly outside where I met the minotaur.

Only two 'A's, I think you underestimate my baaadness.

Not big on small talk, the minotaur was a tough battle. I actually took him out easily the first time I faced him, but walked out towards the beginning area and died quickly since I didn't heal up. The next few fights were more difficult. Searching his body revealed some more money, which by this point is rather useless.

I found the same puzzles inside the fortress, which had slightly different timing in this version. After getting through them, I decided to try my hand against actually fighting the brigand leader. I didn't stand a chance.

In fact, I wasn't even given a chance.

Without throwing the dispel potion, a message appears that the brigand leader quickly dispatches me. Not much of a fight for a fighter. I guess the point here is that the potion is necessary.

After rescuing Elsa I made my way over to Baba Yaga. I gave the gem to the skull without learning the rhyme, but was able to type it out anyway with the text parser. There are some good things to say about not being dead ended in this way. Then again, I found that Baba Yaga greeted me in such a way as if I'd seen her before.

I'm guessing this was due to having the mirror in my possession, even though I also had the mandrake root and never met her before, so the game assumed I was at a point where I had encountered her already. My only option was to use the mirror, and I missed out on points in delivering the mandrake.

This ending isn't interactive like the VGA version, but it's also more timely.

In the end, I'm not sure which version I prefer. The added ease of use in the VGA is welcomed, but the EGA also has some charm in the control over dialogue. I'm not sure I can say one is distinctly better over the other. Another difference I noted was an empty stamina in this version didn't mean an automatic death in combat, which falls in line with the instructions, as it did in the VGA version. I wonder if that was a bug or a design decision.

Fighting it out with 0 stamina, each action now costs HP.

Well, now I've truly become the hero of Spielburg (once more), and I'm ready to start my adventure again as a thief.

All quests completed! Where did I miss those points?

The fighter was much easier to grind for stats, and I ended up maxing out most of them through basic meandering and mischief.

Bah! Who needs intelligence stuff? I crush things!

I do prefer the ending in this version, as it adds much more detail and charm to the world as we exit and set off for the next adventure.

What is Yogic?

I'm looking forward to joining Trickster for the next game in the series, which I have much less experience with. Honestly, I hated that game, but I'm ready to approach it with a fresh mind.

Oh yeah, I'm hyped!

But! First, I need to grind out a thief, and report on all the interesting things I can pick up, collect, and sell. I'm sure Hero-U has a lot of loot to not only sell, but a place to show off a collection of goodies.

Quest For Glory 1: So You Want to be a Hero - So You Want to be a Magic User

As a kid I came across the Quest For Glory Collection Series among my dad's games. The collection included games 1, 2, 3, 4, and a demo of 5. Although I never could get that demo to work (for the best from what I've heard), I enjoyed the others immensely even if I never completed them. My memories of the games are all jumbled together. I continuously mix up parts of the fourth with this one. The second game was very distinct in mind for being the only one that required the text parser to play, and I hated it as a kid. For whatever reason, I could manage Zork, Quest, and other text adventures, but as soon as a parser is mixed with graphics my interest shuts down. As for the third game, I have no memories of it... I'm not sure why.

Magic User!

My plan is to now join Trickster and Chet through each game (although I have a feeling Chet will fall behind as the gaps are greater between games). For this first one I chose to go with a Magic User since Trickster went with a fighter and Chet picked thief. I'm a little late to this review because I didn't want to break up the Star Saga One posts, but I played this at the same time. I just hope I can recall what my notes mean. Like Star Saga, and other games to come, I want to explore the games as much as possible, so I'll follow this up with fighter and thief.

I'm off to become a Wizard...

Without further ado, we start, like all adventurers, by entering the town of Spielburg. Here the Sheriff Schultz Meistersson greets us.

I gathered some information about the town and made note of the Guild Hall, Inn, and Magic Shop as points of interest. I also learned there's a brigand problem in these parts.

The Guild Hall offered up some quests, and one leaped out from my recollection, the Healer's ring. I remember it clearly from as an example in a game design book where it was praised for alternative avenues for resolution.

Spoiled with the solution I headed over to the Magic Shop and found the mystical Zara with her familiar Damiano. There are some spells on offer: Open, Fire Dart, and Fetch (which I pick up). There are also some potions, which are cheaper at the Healer's hut.

Come to me my pretty.

Fetch in hand, I headed out to the bird's nest and deprived it of its home by plucking my prize and unceremoniously tossing the twigs aside. With the ring in the Healer's hands, and a gold coin in mine, I headed back to the Zara and purchased Fire Dart. That should make combat a bit easier.

My prior knowledge depleted I finished my round of the town, then headed for the castle. At the castle I worked the stables for a meager wage, and did so in the mornings to follow. Not too far from town I came across a mushroom ring, and collected a few for the Healer who mentioned a need for them.

I think I'm doing this wrong,

Deep in the forest I found some strange creatures popping out of the ground. "My first real puzzle," I thought to myself, "how can I get them out?" I tried to pry them, I tried to burn them, I did everything I could except talk with them. Maybe I don't have the right magic?

Simply talking to the green one when he pops up is all that's necessary. Not much of a puzzle, but I'm happy with my new spell, Detect Magic.

Who's dropping magic scrolls in the woods?

I found some plants spitting a seed around next. A perfect opportunity to practice my fetch spell. This time though I found I wasn't quite up to the task of snatching a seed from midair.

I found later that the Open spell works just as well.

Well, the game definitely has the grinding aspect of RPGs down. I spent a good bit of time trying to fetch the seed before I felt the need to move on. It was getting dark and I needed a place to rest my head. At some later time I did manage to fetch the seed, but I didn't note when.

I stayed the night at the inn, and woke feeling partially refreshed. Another day of stable work, selling the mushrooms, and some goblin gold allowed me to pick the Open spell. I made good use of it by opening a stone slab at Erana's Peace.

Look how far it went... seems I've lost track of it.

I gingerly toke the Calm spell, which doesn't seem to help too much with wandering monsters, but I'm sure it has its use. The fruit looked appetizing, so I tried to cut some down with my dagger, which the game interpretted as, "throw dagger..." my only weapon.

Spending the night at Erana's Peace fully refreshed me. A new day, and a new direction. I found a fruit loving frost giant and a wizard's tower, which I left alone for the time being.

Ah! A talking fox!

I ran across a fox on my way back to town. Helping him out of his bind allowed me to hear what was on his mind. I ignored the absurdity of a talking fox and listened to word of a Dryad in need of help.

I picked up another dagger from the supply store in town before I made my way towards more unexplored parts of the forest. I found the Dryad, and was told the recipe for a dispel potion (I must of retrieved the seed by this point).

Green fur sounded familiar, I remembered the bit about flying water, and fairy dust from the mushroom ring fairies (unlikely I could get some from Zara). I quickly collected the first two, but needed to wait for nightfall before I retrieved the last

I said CALM!!

Passing some time I tried my new spells out in my attempt to enter the cave near the waterfall. While I could open the cave door, the man inside couldn't see me. I needed to climb up the slippery slope. With no climb ability I figured there was another way.

I tried all my spells until I hit upon a magical solution. I saw a ladder briefly with Detect Magic. Burning the location in my mind I climbed up and was greeted by 'Enry the 'Ermit. 'E speaks of 'is friend Erasmus, and offered me the Trigger spell that was passed on to 'im.

I track back towards Erana's Peace for some fruit, but found I was still full. Nearby was an ogre that looked far too menacing the first time I saw him, but with little else to do I tried my luck. Flame Dart and my practiced magic rating were high enough now to take him on with ease. I opened the chest and was rewarded with some extra money.

Is that a bear in a hula skirt?

Inside the cave I calmed the guard bear and found a kobold mage deeper still. Unfortunately, he only seemed to respond well to death and I was forced to introduce him to a few well placed Fire Darts. This combat is notable for not taking place in the usual separate screen.

It took a few tries: I ran out of magic points once and during another I decided Detect Magic might help. It didn't for the fight, but it did reveal a chest. Using Open triggered a trap, but I still collected the gold in addition to the key from the dead kobold. The key unlocked the bear's chains and dispelled his curse.

It turned out this was the missing Baronet. The claw marks on his horse now made sense. With his haughty attitude I was tempted to put the chain back on as he obviously hadn't learned his lesson yet. I didn't get the chance to before he teleported back to the castle.

I collected the reward and spent a lavish night at the castle celebrating this small victory. Of course, it was then morning again and I had even more time to kill before I could collect that fairy dust. Since I was now drowning in money, I stopped by the Healer's shop and picked up an undead ungent in addition to a selection of magic and stamina potions. I also bought some apples for the frost giant, and delivered them before stopping by to see Erasmus.

You were kind of slow... I even consulted the manual.

For beating Erasmus I got a spell that stuns enemies called Erasmus' Razzle Dazzle (shortened to Dazzle). It was still light out, so I explored a bit more and found an Antwerp and the Brigand's camp. I couldn't do much with them though.

As dusk approached I made my way to the mushroom ring once again and encountered the fairies. They were very welcoming and asked me to dance for them. I think any value of agility would succeed, but I wonder if a lower value would see me stumble.

At least Mikey doesn't have much of an appetite.

With a bottle full of fairy dust, I left the safety of the ring and wandered into the night. I discovered the graveyard where I promptly joined the undead floating around. I used the ungent on my reload and pulled the mandrake at midnight. With little else to do, I visited Erana's Peace to rest. On the way I was accosted by a Cheetaur, but he was quickly dispatched.

The next day, with all parts collected I dropped by the Healer's. The dispel potion was ready on the following morning. Using charm and guile I avoided the Antwerp and opened a side passage in the mountain.
I was surprised to find a troll on the other side waiting for me, and with no way out of it I faced off with him. After a few reloads I was successful and quaffed a couple of potions before moving on. Right outside this troll cave was a minotaur. Not confident in a second difficult fight, I used a calm and dazzle spell to stun the beast before opening the door to the fortress.

Poor Yorick, I knew him well... not really.

I had some trouble crossing the trapped courtyard, and even more getting the timing correct for the dinning hall tumble with the three stooges. Really, how was I supposed to know I needed to jump on the table to cut the chandelier. Only by luck of a random click did I manage this feat. In any case, I found Yorick in the next room, but he unhelpfully threw things at me even after I explained my purpose, so I scared him off with a Calm spell (I think any spell would do).

Yorick's maze wasn't much of a challenge. Once through the door, I was confronted by the brigand leader. The dispel potion flew from my hand and destroyed the enchantment on Elsa. She thanked me and bade me back to the castle for my reward. Before we get to that though, there's the final task of dealing with Baba Yaga.

Hut of brown now sit down!

Unhelpfully, I found I could be locked out of this quest if I gave the skull his glowing eyes before learning the pass phrase for the hut. In the VGA version, there's no parser to enter the command. I was fortunate to have saved prior to this discovery, and was able to enter the hut.

Inside I met Baba Yaga who quickly turned me into a frog without a chance to react with the dragon mirror I retrieved from the brigand leader's quarters. It seemed this first meeting was too scripted. Baba Yaga requested I gather a mandrake should she deign to let me go. I already had the root on me, but it seems "too scripted" is a running theme for this part.

Just showing her own reflection should be enough to drive her off.

So, I found myself outside her hut once more. I quickly re-entered, gave her the mandrake root, and again found myself whisked outside before I could react. On my third visit I finally pulled my mirror out and reflected the frog curse. Boy was Baba Yaga hopping mad. She flew away in her bird hut and left the valley in peace.

With all quests completed the ending played without any further chance to explore. I reloaded to see what else I may have missed. I don't remember much more happening, although I did stop by Erasmus' place again to challenge him, and I found some more points.

I'm sorry you're so bad at your own game.

The ending shows a quick scene with the full cast of characters, including the creators. I also received notice that I was now the Hero of Spielburg before being swept up in another adventure.

Corey Cole sporting a dragon head codpiece.

With his treasure recovered, Abdulla Doo, a merchant I had missed during my first playthrough took me back to his homeland. In tow are the Kattas (Shema and Shameen) who ran the inn. We'll see more of them in the next game.

I will show you the world~~

In addition to points hunting I spent a number of days improving my individual spell skills for the next game. I'm going to export each character to play through the subsequent games, so I want them to have every advantage. I tested out my first completion of the game, and noted I had one more spell than the default mage, but all of my stats were abysmally lower (some by more than half). I just couldn't live with that.

The last two shots are before I replayed, here's my final score.

Up next I'll play as a fighter and follow in the footsteps of Trickster. I'll also give the EGA version a go and see how much harder the parser is to deal with.