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Swordquest


Torr

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I've been a big fan of the Swordquest games since I first played one and realized I was playing a game with REAL plot and ideas... not just get the most points... or at least as much plot or depth as a 2600 title could have...

 

I am the type of person that HATES faqs/walkthrus/cheatcodes/etc when it comes to games... i figure I paid for the game, i'm gonna get my money's worth, not take it home and beat it in 30 minutes...

 

Anyway, the main point I'm trying to get at is... I've been working at them this last little while after getting my hands on a good emulator and the rom (Trust me, If my still Atari 2600 still worked i'd use it, but it don't and I can't get another one easily...) I was able to beat Waterworld without much trouble, gathering clues and whatnot I was able to narrow the items down to what room they belong in... but Earthworld and Fireworld I just can't wrap my head around... for one there are NO clues as to where I should put anything... I tried placing objects like they were used in the comic books but that didn't work...

 

So as a last resort I asked a friend to read the walkthrus and tell me if he thought I'd have a snowball's chance in hell at getting anywhere... he said no... he said that it looked to him like there was no pattern or anything as to how to place items in the rooms for either of them...

 

I've figured out what most of the items do, and I was even able to map out Fireworld CRAZY layout... but I can't get any farther... was my friend right? are the actual solutions to EartWorld and FireWorld completely off the wall?

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Yeah I do...

I loved how the comic book was incorporated with the game and how you had to do so much stuff from scratch, like map out the areas, figure out what items do and whatnot...

 

Waterworld was REALLY fun... but EarthWorld and FireWorld have me stumped...

 

PS: I know a lot of people frown upon the swordquest games, but I'm not being sarcastic or anything, I really DO love them... Well WaterWorld at least... but if the others turn out the way my friend claims them... then maybe they're not so great...

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Torr, If you go to Atarihq.com or Atari-history.com, you can read all about the two guys who won the two contests and how they did it. I belive that the winner of Fireworld said that the pattern was of a thing called the tree of knowledge, or something like that, any ways you can read all about it there.

 

8) 8) 8)

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Ahhh... my favorite subject... Why Swordquest was the biggest waste of time in 2600 history. Stan is right. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to placing the items in Earthworld or Fireworld and Earthworld was absolutely insane in what you had to do to get all the clues. The last clue in particular, there is absolutely no way you can get. There is an absolutely essential walkthrough that someone will have to be kind to post the link. The absolutely worst part about the game is that if you got all the clues, there is no reward. No fanfare, no awesome ending. Nothing.

Swordquest coulda been great. Instead, it was half baked, ill conceived, and an insult to adventure lovers. Get Raiders of the Lost Ark or Riddle of the Sphinx. You'll thank me later.

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Yeah I read that tree of knowledge crap that guy who won was talking about.... I think he fell outta a tree of knowledge.

 

This kids..Is why you shouldn't smoke pot ...MmmmmmKay.

 

I can remember getting a few of the clues in Earthworld on my own as a kid. Didn't know how or why. The whole thing was lame if you ask me. (Altho at the time I just had to win those great prizes!!) I can't believe they put so much time and planning into that crap and couldn't design a decent game to go with it.

 

Swordquest sucks junk!!!!

 

Was Waterworld different than the others??? Why do you love that one so much and not the others? Is there more to Waterworld???

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How SwordQuest was promoted, getting everyone's hopes up:

 

A four-cartridge series of sequels to Adventure. WOW! And they come with comic books. Okay, they're not made by Marvel, but still...free comics! And you can win neat treasures!! WOW!

 

What SwordQuest actually was:

 

A duo of carts (and one rare addendum called WaterWorld) featuring rehashed scenarios from Frogger, a title screen on which most of the graphics memory was spent, terrible play mechanics (except for your wanderer's "walking" animation), and nothing to do, find or achieve except to happen upon number clues apparently triggered by what angle from which you look at your TV screen, and what the humidity percentage is outside your living room.

 

But I'm no stranger to liking games that aren't popular. I love E.T., and it's generally a hated game, because you have to (shudder) read the instructions. Also, to be fair, it's hard to walk around without falling in a pit unless you're pretty adept with a joystick. But if you like the games, more power to ya. I, myself, would rather beat my face against a hot grill over and over and over and over than try to figure out how to beat a bad game with no real ending. (Jeez....or something like that, except more nicely put.)

 

CF

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I always liked the story line and comic books that came with the games and the Waterworld comic book is the best one yet! Aimee, I sure hope the comic book that you are making for the new 5200 Airworld game can beat the last one?

 

8) :D :!:

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I gotta agree with the general sentiment here. I can remember getting Earthworld as a kid, and being full of anticipation. Then, after playing it for hours, and hitting the first two clues by dumb luck, giving up on it in bored frustration. Mind you, I'm a big fan of adventure titles, and I still play Adventure, Haunted House, and Raiders on the 2600 frequently. I also love 20th Century Fox's Crypts of Chaos: great when you're in the mood for a good, old fashioned dungeon hack and slash. For some reason, the Swordquest titles seemed rushed and poorly executed. Still, I keep telling myelf I'm going to sit down and finish Earthworld one day, just so I can say I conquered it. :)

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Yeah I beat WaterWorld

 

The way I did it was at first when I ws tryign out different items to see what effect they had (which one let you skip action sequences, etc...) and as I was dropping and picking up items to test clues would pop up on the inventory bar.

 

An example would be, drop the peasent's ring in room IV and down in the inventory you would see the Crown and th Armor... so you know at ONE point the Crown and The Armor must be left in the same room... and then I got the clue III and Crown... so I knew the crown must be left in room III.... with the Armor... and then I'd get a clue as to what goes with the armor... after getting a LOT of clues like that and keping track of where I got them I was able to deduct what clues to leave where and I just used common sense and started by leaving the appropriate items in room I, then Room II... so on to room 7 (or 0 techinally) but there was no flashy ending... however I can't remember what the ending was... it was about 6 monthes ago that I beat it... if anyone wants the solution I could probably beat it again... I lost my original clue sheets and whatnot... dammit...

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Hey,

 

I will like to have the solution....

 

Now what I remember is on one internet site (I don,t remember the URL) there was a solution and It was that solution that had a bug in. So we were not able to complete the waterworld.

 

Here is the site: http://www.tripoint.org/sq/sq.html

 

I will try again maybe tonithg or this weekend to see if the solution is right or what?

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Man...

 

I just read the interview with Michael Rideout (the guy who won the chalice) and it he stated there that in both EW and FW he never found more than 2 or 3 clues... he just found the words in comic book without the help of the game...

 

However for the EW contest he picked out the wrong words but for FW he was right... so he got into the contest as a finalist by fluke!!!

 

And I must admit, I've read the comic books and the words aren't very well hidden, ANYONE could find them, with or without the game...

 

My question is, Why would Atari make such a simple contest for such elaborate prizes?

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Yeah, I guess... I mean at $30 a cartridge you'd only have to sell 5,000 games to break even... and probaly a thousand or two more to cover Airfare/hotel rates for contestants...

 

But still... even today, you don't see contests for even a FEW thousand dollars on $80 games!!!

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Of course you can win Waterworld, but for some reason the game ends after each clue. So, it's not like you can play one game and find all the clues in it. There's no particular order, as there is in Earthworld.

 

Fireworld is a whole 'nother story -- can anyone find all the clues in one game? The game speeds up so much that I have to take two games to find them all (and again, order is not important, IIRC).

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Anyone ever consider doing a LIVE Swordquest?

 

You could start with a large house with many rooms and in each room put in a table. Then you get a bunch of items (like a coke can, a turnip, a wico joystick, a watermelon, etc.) Then get some contestant to walk around and see if he can figure out what items to put on what table using an old Teenage Ninja Turtles comic book as his guide. Oh man it'll be great!

 

Of course you'd have to figure out a few details like maybe having the guy solve some kind of crossword puzzle each time to get the chance to put a watermelon on the table in the living room. And some guys to open or lock doors depending on what items are on what tables.

 

It'll be a virtual ADVENTURE!!!!!!1 :D

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The potential for chaos would be endless! :D

 

I think what NE146 has suggested really captures the essence of the Swordquest series, especially considering that the items mentioned don't have a single blasted thing in common, and the puzzles are totally illogical! It would be a sure fire way to reduce some hapless classic gamer to blubbering idiot, curled up in a fetal position at one corner of the house, clutching his TMNT comic like a security blanket.

 

Personally, I'd want to be one of the folks locking and unlocking the doors. They'd definitely have the most fun (see also: sadistic glee).

 

We need to talk to the folks at Philly Classic about setting aside some space next year... :wink:

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Nicely done, Stan.  Of course, I didn't feel like trying too many times...

 

Couldn't have done it without you Russ! It is very hard to do and it actually took me 4 full plays to finally figure out in what order to get the clues so that it was not completely impossible. Ugh, I doubt it will ever be put in the Atari again...

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