This game was my first experience with any RPG style game, unfortunately I was too young then to appreciate it or fully understand the depth of dungeon crawl games. After the LOAD "*",8,1 command and a long wait while listening to the floppy drives screaming you arrive in a shop.
I remember the shop specifically because it offered what I recognize now as the games flaw. You were asked how much money you had to start with. Like any other player I am sure, I found out right away E-8945 in the gold box meant you could buy anything you wanted from the shop.
Shields, different swords and if I recall correctly even arrows and bows. Enter the Temple of Apshai.
With my command key shortcut paper card sticking up out of the keyboard it was time to get to the graphic interface of the game and actually see the dungeon. Not a lot of information was given on the main screen. You saw the immediate area around your hero in top down perspective, and each time you moved or entered a new room/area you were given text readout of what the room looked like. In this way I would call the game a text based RPG with graphics to help follow along. Searching command was your most often used command and more often than not
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what you got for your efforts was called "trash." Hours and hours of browsing the dungeon and only getting trash to show for it. Enter the era of delayed gratification in video games. For the age this game was huge and complex! Per the instruction booklet that came with the game there were lots of different types of monsters to discover and vanquish in the temple. A newbs-bane and the only monster I ever personally fought was the Ant-man. Picture a giant ant with bows or sharp swords, who would kill me out-right no matter what treasures I had bought from the starting shop. Running away with your life was an option if you were lucky.
The difficulty of this game gives it its replay value. I attempted the starting levels countless times to turn it off in frustration. Older now and more experienced with RPGs I can’t wait to get back to my 'roots' and tackle this Temple. A definitely worthwhile download, I can remember a few more graphic C64 games but this one is the most memorable overall.
