Blades of Exile is designed to be as simple as possible to learn and play. If you, like many game-players, dislike reading the manual before jumping into the game, go ahead. It is recommended you read the Introduction (the next section), the overview of the most important commands (the section before), look at the illustrations to see what the buttons do, and, if you plan to design your characters from scratch (eventually a good idea), read the section describing what the skills are.
If you were lucky enough to have played Exile: Escape From the Pit, Exile II: Crystal Souls, or Exile III: Ruined World, you will have a very easy time getting into the swing of things here. The commands are basically the same, and the differences will be pretty easy to pick up as you go along.
The world of Exile is a huge place. Actually, it's two very different worlds in one. First, there's the surface world. The surface world is ruled by the Empire. That's what its called. The Empire. Not the Empire of Something, or the Something Empire. Just the Empire. It's understandable. There's no need for elaborate names when there's only one game in town.
The second world is the underworld, the networks of thousands of miles of caverns and tunnels, ever hidden from the sun, spiraling down to depths unimagined, filled with bizarre races of creatures, some friendly, most hostile. For many years, the Empire, in its arrogance, banished everyone it felt didn't fit in. Eccentrics, petty criminals, malcontents, they were all regarded as undesirable by the Empire. And, for many years, these unwanted citizens were sent into this underworld. There, against horrible odds, they formed their own nation. They called it Exile.
Exile is a network of hundreds of miles of caves and tunnels, forming an enormous, weblike labyrinth of warrens under the surface of the world. Kept lit by magic, fed by fungus, and populated by the unending stream of humans (and humanoids) from the surface, the people of Exile struggled by as best they could for many years.
They were opposed by demons. Many of these creatures, led by the demon lord Grah-Hoth, had been Exiled from the infernal realms to the caves where the humans were sent. There were the Nephilim, a barbarian race that once roamed the surface and, like the Exiles, had been banished from the surface. There were the slithzerikai, a subterranean lizard people, many of whom considered humans to be foes at best, meat at worst.
It seemed that there was no way for the humans to survive in this alien environment, opposed as they were by so many hostile creatures. When Exile was established, however, the Empire, complacent and arrogant, made its greatest mistake and gave Exile the boon it needed to survive. It sent down several mages, powerful mages, who were on the wrong side of a political struggle. The winners, Emperor Hawthorne and the archmage Garzahd, were confidant that sending down these archmagi would not be a problem. They even thought that maybe their skills could later be harnessed, once they were beaten down by several years of rotting in the sunless lands.
They could not have been more wrong.
Some of the exiled wizards, like Rone, and Solberg, and Patrick, were content simply building a better life for the Exiles. They united the Exiles into one nation, raised an army, and beat back the Nephilim and slithzerikai and, in one huge battle, imprisoned the demon Grah-Hoth. From there, the wizards tried to form a healthy, peaceful life, doing their best to forget the humans who had sent them from the light of the sun.
One of the wizards, however, was named Erika Redmark. A harsh and vindictive incantatrix, she enlisted a band of adventurers, made tough by their years below, in a wild, dangerous, and eventually successful scheme. She wanted to assassinate Hawthorne, brilliant and evil Emperor of the surface world.
Five years later, Hawthorne was killed in his own throne room.
The response was immediate, and vicious. First, the portal into Exile was closed. Nobody was to be sent through. Second, other portals were created in remote areas of Exile. Soldiers were sent there, the finest soldiers in the Empire's army. They had one mission: Vengeance. Not one citizen in this subterranean den of vipers was to escape alive.
In launching this invasion, however, the Empire made their critical mistake. They discovered a new, bizarre, humanoid race living even farther down in the caves - the Vahnatai. These creatures were highly intelligent and resourceful, and very skilled in the use of crystals for magical deeds. In fact, they had the ability to take the spirits of their ancestors, and bring them back in crystalline form. These revered forefathers, the Crystal Souls, were their spiritual guides, and the beings most revered by their people.
The Empire, seeing how strange and powerful the Crystal Souls were, kidnapped three of them. The Vahnatai, appalled by the magnitude of this crime but unsure of the identity of the perpetrators, attacked Exile.
Fortunately, aided by the peaceful Vahnatai Bon-Ihrno, a group of bold Exiles were able to infiltrate the Empire lands, steal the Crystal Souls, and return them to their rightful owners. In return, the Vahnatai joined forces with the Exiles, and used their mighty magic to slaughter the Empire troops. The Empire War finally ended, bloodily and victoriously.
Aided by Erika Redmark and their new Vahnatai allies, the Exiles built a mighty teleporter, a magical machine able to send many people in an instant from the caves to the surface. The Exiles hoped to find a part of the world as yet uncrushed by the Empire. Little did they know that the Vahnatai had plotted a savage revenge against the Empire. Their fury at the Empire for stealing their Crystal Souls was so great that they tried to kill every person on the surface, by inflicting them with plagues of vicious, lethal magical monsters.
Fortunately, a band of Exiles, seeing the surface world they so longed to rejoin threatened, opposed the Vahnatai and brought the plagues of monsters to an end. The leader of the Vahnatai, Rentar-Ihrno, was defeated. She fled to the lowest depths of the underworld, but not before she slew Erika.
Empress Prazak, the leader of the Empire, who is a good deal wiser and kinder than her predecessor, rewarded the Exiles with a corner of Valorim, the wildest and most unsettled portion of the Empire. Half of the people of Exile left the caves they loathed to return home. They now live on the surface, and have an uneasy peace with the Empire. The rest of the Exiles stay below, having come to regard Exile as their home. They have been joined by many friendly slithzerikai and Nephilim, although the barbarian members of those races raid Exile settlements whenever possible.
And, below everyone, ever lurk the Vahnatai. The Vahnatai still nurse a constant fury against the humans that defied them, and they are nervous about the other races that are constantly advancing through the caves they consider theirs. On the other hand, many of them, in their hearts, long for peace. It is a constant political struggle in the Vahnatai homeland, and the few contacts between them and other races tend to be very eccentric.
There are many forces in these two worlds, above and below ground. The people of Exile, above and below the surface, try to survive. The Empire tries to hold control, even as forces of rebellion keep poking up all around. The Vahnatai want to be safe. The Nephilim and slithzerikai fight to survive, often at the expense of others.
It's a tumultuous world, filled with combat and confusion. What better environment for a group of adventurers (like you) to make their fortunes?
Once you run Blades of Exile and see the title screen, you have five options:
When you are just starting, you'll want to select Make New Party...
Before you can do anything, you will need to create a band of adventurers for yourself to control. This group of adventurers, called a party, will be your agents in the strange worlds you find yourself in. You can control them, talk to people through them, and sometimes even get them killed. You have to have a party before you can start an adventure. To make a party, select Make New Party on the title screen.
A party is the group of up to 6 adventurers, called player characters (PCs for short). You can play a party of your own making, or get a prefabricated party provided by the game. When you first run the game, select 'Make New Party' from the opening screen. You can then choose whether to play a prefab party or make one from scratch.
When you hit Make New Party, you will be given the introduction to the game. Click the mouse button when you're through watching it. Then you will see the Party Creation window. You will be given six prefabricated characters, each with preassigned skills and abilities. To get rid of a prefab PC, hit the Delete button by its name, and then hit the Create button. When your party is how you want it, press the Done button to start the game.
Using the party creation window, you can select each of your character's names, graphics, race, advantages/disadvantages, and skills.
Each of your characters can be one of three different races, and have any of several advantages or disadvantages. These traits will help or hinder your character in various ways. They will also affect how quickly your character gains strength. If you take a character with lots of advantages, he or she will gain skills at a much lower rate. If there are lots of disadvantages, the character will gain skills faster.
These are the races and character traits. The percentage following each trait is how much slower this character will gain experience. A negative number means the character will gain experience faster.
A PC created from scratch gets 60 skill points. Skill points are a sort of money you will spend on abilities.
When you press the Skills button, you will see a window where you can increase and decrease this PCs skills. To spend skill points to increase an ability, press the '+' button next to it. Press the '-' button to undo the action. The cost in skill points to increase your value in each skill is the number before the slash in the 'Cost' column. The number after the slash isn't relevant yet (it becomes important when you train your characters).
Should you spend the points and be satisfied, press the 'Keep' button. If you want to start again, press cancel. When you buy and keep you skills, you go to the next step...
To assign a PC's graphic, press the Graphic button. Click on the button besides the graphic you want to use to represent your PC, or press cancel to begin the whole process anew.
If you have a Nephilim or Slith character, it is recommended (though not necessary) that you pick a graphic from that race.
To choose a name for your character, press the Name button. It must begin with a non-space character.
You won't be specifically asked whether your character is male or female. If you want your warrior to be a woman, select a female graphic and appropriate name.
Should you start with less than 6 PCs or drop one later on, you can get another. Go to the town you started the scenario in, and select Create New PC from the Options menu.
To find out what all these skills are good for, keep reading...
Your little computerized people are, basically, a whole bunch of numbers, each determining how well he or she deals with the horrid threats the game will come up with. These are the most important statistics.
The myriad skills you can buy for your characters are described below. Each can attain a maximum level of 20, unless otherwise specified. The cost for each skill in Skill Points is in parentheses after its name. Note that, when training in these skills later, each point of increase will cost gold, too.
The above three skills are important. When high, they give many bonuses in the things you do. On the other hand, when one of these three skills is below 4, the PC will have penalties in any situation involving that skills. A PC in combat with a 1 dexterity will miss a lot.
Eventually, one way or another, you will have a party to control. At this point, you will be returned to the main menu, where you can select a scenario.