160 lines
11 KiB
HTML
160 lines
11 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
|
|
<html>
|
|
<head>
|
|
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
|
|
<title>Playing Tips for Beginners - Blades of Exile Guide</title>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css">
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
<div class="navbar">
|
|
<script src='nav.js' type='application/javascript'></script>
|
|
<noscript>Javascript required for the navbar.</noscript>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<div class="content">
|
|
<h1>Playing Tips for Beginners</h1>
|
|
Blades of Exile (Blades for short) is a computer fantasy role-playing game. If you've
|
|
never played a game of this sort before, much of what's going on will be very unfamiliar
|
|
to you. This section provides an overview of how to do the most important things, so you
|
|
don't get too swamped with the details. Don't worry - even though Blades of Exile is a
|
|
complicated program, once you can get around, you will be able to pick up other things
|
|
very easily. Also, don't worry if you've never played Exile I-III. Experience with those
|
|
games is not necessary to enjoy Blades of Exile.</p>
|
|
<h3>Starting the game</h3>
|
|
<p>In Blades of Exile, you will control a group (or "party") of up to six adventurers
|
|
(often referred to as PCs, for "player characters"). You will take these six people on
|
|
adventures, kill monsters, collect loot, and try to save the world. Each person has his or
|
|
her own skills, abilities, and items.</p>
|
|
<p>To start the game, you need to get a group of adventurers. From the starting screen,
|
|
press Create New Party, and watch the introduction. When you hit the button, you will be
|
|
at the party creation screen.</p>
|
|
<p>Notice you have already been given six characters. You can now, if you wish, drop,
|
|
recreate, or edit these PCs. For now, don't worry about this. Just hit "Done," and save
|
|
your party when given the chance. You will now see your party displayed on the
|
|
introduction screen. Once you have your adventurers, you need to send them into an
|
|
adventure (called a scenario). Click on Start Scenario and select "Valley of Dying
|
|
Things". You're now on an adventure!</p>
|
|
<h3>What's going on?</h3>
|
|
<p>You start in Fort Talrus, an outpost at the entrance to Skylark Vale. Skylark Vale is
|
|
currently afflicted by a horrible plague, a plague only you can cure. Before you can save
|
|
the world, however, you need to be able to walk around. Many monsters and puzzles will
|
|
inhibit your progress. For now, however, it is enough of a problem just to get equipped
|
|
and figure out how to move around in this odd new world.</p>
|
|
<h3>Moving around and getting stuff</h3>
|
|
<p>Once you've started the game, you will be in your room in Fort Talrus. You can see
|
|
yourself in bed in the window in the upper left corner of the screen (the terrain screen).
|
|
You can move around by pressing the buttons on the keypad, or by moving the mouse cursor
|
|
into the terrain screen and pressing the mouse button. Move around a bit.</p>
|
|
<p>Your characters will start with weapons and armor already equipped (i.e. worn).
|
|
However, there are more things to be gotten. For example, you'll want the lamp on the
|
|
table. Click on the button with the hand on it in the lower left corner (or type
|
|
<span class='key'>g</span>, for Get). The getting things window will come up. Click on the
|
|
lamp, and your first character will have it.</p>
|
|
<p>You should now see the lamp in the item window at the right side of the screen. To the
|
|
right of it will be four buttons: U (for Use), G (for Give), D (for Drop), and I (for Item
|
|
Info). When you click on the U button, you'll use the lamp and light will appear. Don't do
|
|
this yet - wait until you're in a dark place, like a dungeon.</p>
|
|
<p>Now move next to one of the dressers. Click on the D button by the lamp to drop it.
|
|
You'll need to click where to drop the item. Click on the dresser.</p>
|
|
<p>It's gone! You just put the lamp in the dresser. Maybe, in addition to the lamp,
|
|
there's something else in the dresser. You should search it.</p>
|
|
<p>To search something, look at it while standing next to it. Stand right under the
|
|
dresser. Press the Eye button (or type <span class='key'>l</span>), and click on the
|
|
dresser (or press the <span class='key'>8</span> on the keypad, for 'up'). You search the
|
|
dresser, and will see a list of everything inside. Get everything, then search the other
|
|
dresser.</p>
|
|
<p>Many things, such as barrels, crates, dressers and chests can be searched for
|
|
interesting things. If you think something useful is hidden somewhere, be sure to search.
|
|
Any sort of terrain can have something hidden in it.</p>
|
|
<p>Now you need to get supplies. Walk into the door to open it, and enter the room across
|
|
the hallway. There's plenty of items for you there. Get them all (again using the get
|
|
button or typing <span class='key'>g</span>). Don't forget to also take the armor out of
|
|
the chest.</p>
|
|
<h3>Readying armor and weapons</h3>
|
|
<p>Now that you have some armor and weapons, it's time to put on your new gear. The PC
|
|
screen, listing your party, is to the upper right. One of your characters' names will be
|
|
in italics. This is the active character. This character's inventory is given in the item
|
|
screen below it. Click on another PC's name. It will become the active character, and that
|
|
PC's inventory will appear below. You can also type the PC's number (using the numbers
|
|
along the top of the keyboard, not the keypad) to make them active, a very useful
|
|
shortcut.</p>
|
|
<p>Go to one of your PCs inventory pages. Click on the name of, say, a suit of armor. The
|
|
name of that item will now appear in italics. That means you're wearing it! Click it again
|
|
to take it off.</p>
|
|
<p>Suppose one PC has two suits of armor, and you want another PC to be protected. Go to
|
|
the page of the PC with two suits of armor, and hit the 'G' button by one of them. This
|
|
gives the item away. A window will come up asking who to give the item to. Click the
|
|
button by the name of the PC to give the item to.</p>
|
|
<p>Shift your new stuff around so that your fighters have the best armor and weapons.
|
|
There! You're equipped. Now, you can start meeting the people in the fort around you, or
|
|
go out and kill something.</p>
|
|
<h3>Talking to people</h3>
|
|
<p>To get anywhere in Blades of Exile, you'll need to talk to many, many people. Might as
|
|
well try this now. Click the mouth button (or hit <span class='key'>t</span>) and then
|
|
click on a person to talk to them. The talking window will appear.</p>
|
|
<p>Notice the buttons at the bottom of this area. Click on Name and Job, and you'll get
|
|
the basic information that character has to say.</p>
|
|
<p>To ask someone about something, click on the word after they say it. If someone says "I
|
|
really hate goblins," click on goblins to ask about it. If the person has something to
|
|
say, the word will flash, and something else will come up. To see what the person said
|
|
previously, click on Go Back.</p>
|
|
<p>Talk to people in the fort. You'll notice that the guards don't talk to you, but most
|
|
everything else has something to say. Be especially sure to go to the southwest corner of
|
|
Fort Talrus and see Commander Terrance, who will tell you a lot of information about your
|
|
mission. Also be sure find a person named Avizo. He won't tell you anything useful now,
|
|
but you'll need to speak with him later.</p>
|
|
<p>Finally, talking to people is how you will buy food and equipment. To see if someone
|
|
has something to sell, press the Buy button. If they do, click on the item name to buy
|
|
it.</p>
|
|
<h3>Killing Stuff</h3>
|
|
<p>Now it's time to go out and fight. Might as well get used to combat - you're going to
|
|
be doing a lot of it!</p>
|
|
<p>You can find stuff to kill by either finding a dungeon or wandering around outdoors.
|
|
When you get attacked, to strike back, simply move into the hostile monster. You'll swing
|
|
whatever weapon you have in your hand. The text area in the lower right will tell you how
|
|
your attack went.</p>
|
|
<p>When you kill stuff, the dead monsters will often leave behind more items for you to
|
|
get. Unfortunately, you won't always know what these items are, and you won't be allowed
|
|
to sell them until you do. There are, fortunately, people in towns who (for a fee) will
|
|
tell you what they are. One such person is Axel, in Sweetgrove.</p>
|
|
<h3>Casting Spells</h3>
|
|
<p>The other necessary skill for playing Blades of Exile is casting spells: magical
|
|
incantations which do all sorts of stuff. There are two sorts of spells: mage spells,
|
|
which tend to do damage and help in combat, and priest spells, which tend to heal and help
|
|
the party.</p>
|
|
<p>The easiest way to cast a spell is to use the Mage Spells or Priest spells menus. To
|
|
have a PC cast a spell, click on their name to make the PC active. The Mage Spells (or
|
|
Priest Spells) menu will list all available spells. Select the spell to cast it. If it's a
|
|
spell cast on another character, like Minor Heal, you'll be asked whom to cast it on.</p>
|
|
<p>You can also cast spells by using the Mage and Priest Spell windows, which you bring up
|
|
by clicking on the spell casting buttons in the lower left, or by typing 'm' or 'p'.
|
|
Instructions for using these windows are given in the spell casting chapter. They're a
|
|
little more complicated to use, but have the advantage of being usable entirely from the
|
|
keyboard.</p>
|
|
<p>There are seven levels of spells, each more draining and powerful than the spells in
|
|
the level before. You usually start with characters able to cast all spells from levels 1
|
|
to 3.</p>
|
|
<h3>Secret Doors</h3>
|
|
<p>Some doors (in all sorts of walls and in cave walls as well) are hidden. To search the
|
|
walls, walk into them. If there is a secret door there, you'll pass through the wall.</p>
|
|
<p>Go to the north side of the building you started in and walk along the wall to the west
|
|
(stand right next to the wall and don't go north, or you'll leave town). When you reach
|
|
the mountains to the northwest of the building, walk west through them. You'll find an
|
|
interesting (and hostile) surprise.</p>
|
|
<h3>If you get stuck</h3>
|
|
<p>Of course, it's possible that you will still get stuck. Maybe you always get killed, or
|
|
you can't find any money, or something else. Should this happen, Blades of Exile comes
|
|
with a character editor, which can heal your characters and give them as much gold and
|
|
food as they want.</p>
|
|
<h3>Moving onward</h3>
|
|
<p>Finally, when you're through with Fort Talrus, walk out of the building you started in,
|
|
and walk north. You'll eventually leave the town you're in and be outdoors. You'll be
|
|
standing by a road. Follow it north, and you will eventually find a town called
|
|
Sweetgrove. Walk into it to enter it. You're on your way!</p>
|
|
<p>This is only a brief overview, of course. It says nothing about training, or many
|
|
important things about spellcasting. It will, however, get you moving, and once you're
|
|
getting around, you should find the rest falls into place very quickly.</p>
|
|
<p>So welcome to the wild world of Blades of Exile! And good luck! Who knows? You may
|
|
actually be able to make a difference!</p>
|
|
</div></body>
|
|
</html>
|