Dragon Wars: Won!

I love that my guys seem to be celebrating in the background.

"Administering the conquest of the world is a bitch. If I'd known how much work this was going to take, I doubt I ever would have started." -- Namtar, Journal Entry 131

So I did that thing I often do where I get so involved in a game that I don't stop to compile my notes and write a blog entry when I should, which means my coverage of Dragon Wars feels a little rushed, especially for those of you who are fans. I played for about 16 hours over the weekend, and I was so frustrated by the time the end came that I was stabbing the keyboard; "Involved in" the game didn't necessarily mean I was loving it.

The problem with Dragon Wars, like every Interplay game to date, is the relentlessness and repetitiveness of the combats. It's a bit of a paradox because we play CRPGs in part for the battles, but nobody wants to fight this much. The bad thing about this game in particular is that spell power is limited by the available dragon stones and dragon's eyes, and you can easily find yourself burning through your supply on a series of stupid, random combats. This is especially true towards the end of the game, when so many enemies are capable of attacks that damage you from a distance. You're trying to cross the battlefield to engage them, and you have to stop and cast "Cure All" every other round and use a valuable dragon stone every three or four rounds.

At some point, I'd realized that fixed encounters don't necessarily produce the same number or type of enemies every time, so I found that if I fled from them and returned, I might get a more favorable slate of foes. But towards the end of the game, it even started messing with this dynamic, not allowing some of my characters to flee and getting them stunned or killed instead.

The endgame area got deceptively quiet in terms of combats--random or fixed--but then I met Namtar, who I was forced to fight five separate times, including one three-combat sequence with no way to save in between. It took me, conservatively, 20-25 tries before I was able to win, but somehow I preferred that to the idea of grinding for hours to gain 2 or 4 more skill points.

Ah, but I get ahead of myself. Let's cover the half to two-thirds of the game that, since my last posting, led me to the end. I'll break it up by section. I'm very sorry for the length; this should have been two or three postings.

Phoebus

When I ended my last entry, I had just returned to Phoebus after a long detour to the siege of Byzanople. My return trip didn't last long. I entered the Temple of the Sun and was attacked by 10 Strosstrupen who I was unable to defeat. They captured me and threw me in jail.

This cell looks a little cramped for six days of captivity with a mixed-gender party.

A fifth columnist who identified herself as Berengaria unlocked my door and got the guard drunk. (I had to use "hide" for the only time in the game to sneak past him.) Her note said to meet her in the tavern in the city. Unfortunately, that meeting never took place. I came across the city's dragon and interrupted its feeding to save a prisoner. The dragon became enraged, broke its bonds, and destroyed the city. Good riddance, I said. Phoebus kept jerking me around.

I mean, if you're playing a "good" party, you basically have to say "no" here, right?

I have no idea what would have happened if I'd met the woman or fought the high priest, Mystalvision, myself. Also, there was an area that required some kind of password to get by, and I never found out what was behind there.

This didn't work. I'll have to remember to look up spoilers.

Mystic Wood

This area was on the same island as Phoebus, and it provided a "Nexus" that allowed fast transportation to other islands.This came in extremely handy for the rest of the game.

There was an island in the woods that I couldn't cross to until sometime later, when I got a pair of jumping boots at the City of the Yellow Mud Toad. When I got there, I did something (I forget what) to get a statue of the god Enkidu, which I never used anywhere in the game.

Quag and the City of the Yellow Mud Toad

Quag was an island a little further on, populated by annoying "Murk Trees" that caused a lot of death and reloading. This island was an important centerpoint to travel, as a destination from the Mystic Woods nexus and the origin point for a ship I was later able to acquire. Because fixed encounters respawn every time you leave an area and return, I found myself fighting the damned trees constantly.

They didn't quite get an entry on the "most annoying CRPG enemies" list, but they were close.

The City of the Yellow Mud Toad--perhaps the most originally-named location I've encountered in a CRPG--had two quests to solve: the city was slowly sinking in the mud, and a statue of their patron, Lanac'toor, had been dismembered. I had been finding pieces all over the islands. (Actually, I guess it wasn't a statue; it was Lanac'toor himself, turned to stone by Namtar.)

I solved the sinking problem by casting "Create Wall" at a location where the water was coming in. I can't remember where I got the spell. For this, the priests of the city gave me the "golden boots" that allowed me to leap over water and chasms. Also in the city, I bought an ankh from a souvenir shop. This turned out to be a big deal later. My "climb" skill got me over some loose rubble and to some treasure. One of the items was a "Mountain Sword" that no one could use.
 

I used to think "keel-haul" was just a fancy way to say "kill."

The second location on the same island was called "Smugglers' Cove," and it contained a band of bloodthirsty pirates who, once I'd demonstrated I was a thief, were happy to give me a lift to the city of Necropolis. They attacked me and killed me when I tried to go out a different door, but I later returned (when stronger), killed them, and got use of their boat, which was vital for traveling to different parts of the islands. I don't know if there was a way to do it without killing them.

Necropolis

Billed as the "city of the dead," Necropolis was filled with spirits, ghouls, skeletons, and other creatures, many capable of attacking from a distance. It was in this city that I started to get seriously annoyed with the random combats.

1 point of damage is reasonably significant in this game, especially when it accumulates and causes more damage than that to the "stun" bar.

There was one area in which I fought through about a dozen individual spider battles only to get transported back to Purgatory at the end of it! I had to painstakingly make my way back to Necropolis.

The things people worship in these islands...

The main purpose of the city seemed to be to visit the god Nergal (following a huge battle with undead), who told me he was hungry and wanted me to feed him. I gave him some mushrooms I'd found in the Mystic Woods. He then made me select a character to "serve" him, and there was this weird scene in which he ate the character's head, but the character was still okay afterwards. I don't know if it did anything permanent. In any event, he gave me a silver key I needed to free another goddess, Irkalla.

More important, the basement of Necropolis held a well of souls, where I was finally able to resurrect Louie! He'd been dead since the first island.

The second time I used the teleporter to leave Necropolis, it landed me near Lansk. Remembering the dragon caged inside, whose puzzle I had yet to solve, I decided to pay a visit and see if spamming all my skills and items would help. (It often does in this game.) He reacted to the ankh I'd purchased in the City of the Yellow Mud Toad and gave me a "dragon gem" that turned out to be vital later. I'm glad I stopped.

Irkalla

I knew of two places where I needed to use the jumping boots I got in the City of the Yellow Mud Toad: the mystic forest (where I got the statue as recounted above) and the goddess Irkalla's lair in the underworld. Irkalla needed a silver key to free her from captivity.

Once I go the key from Nergal, I returned and set her loose. She rewarded me with a potion that would allow me to breathe water, and she charged me to find the skull of her son, Roba.

It's not really a reward if you're sending me on a quest, is it?

Kingshome

The next island I had to explore was one I crossed briefly on the way back from Byzanople: King's Island, home of the capital, Kingshome. No sooner had I stepped onto the island than...

Again!?

I was caught and thrown immediately into a dungeon, but it was curiously unlocked, and I was able to make my way up to the city with only a few battles. In the old king's throne room, I encountered Namtar, but it wasn't the final battle. He just wearily told me about his troubles trying to conquer the world but said it was his destiny, as the son of gods. He told me to find him on the Mountain of Salvation and disappeared.

There were lots of hints that King Drake was already dead.

Freeport

There were some outdoor areas not worth recounting before I found a place where I could take a ship to Freeport, one of two cities to continue to resist Namtar. There were hardly any battles in the city. I had been told it was my destiny to find the Sword of Freedom here, but when I jumped to its island in the harbor and took hold of it, it turned out to be a trap and killed my lead character. I fear I reloaded rather than hauling him back to Necropolis.

It was a trap!

One building held the exiled government of Tars--the ruined city I visited way back at the beginning. The leader indicated that Namtar had found some way to control the dragons, which is why none of them did any good against Namtar's conquest.

These spells took most of the last of my gold, and then I ended up finding most of them later. Grrr.

In the city, I bought some spells, including the vital "Soften Stone," and found the last of the pieces necessary to reassemble the statue in the City of the Yellow Mud Toad.

I don't even know why I'm killing these guys. And the game is totally nonchalant about it.

Yellow Mud Toad Again and College of Mages

Reassembling the statue revealed a passageway under the city, where I found Lanac'toor's laboratory. His notes indicated that he'd made liberal use of "Soften Stone" (which disintegrates walls) and "Create Wall" in constructing it. I used the former to slowly deconstruct the dungeon and found his treasures, including some spectacles I needed to get into the College of Mages on a different island. There were a lot of annoying combats in his chambers.

The College of Mages produced a series of spell-based puzzles which were rather fun. I began by countering a column of fire by casting a cold spell, but a second column of fire refused to give way until I cast "Reveal Glamour" to find out it was really a wall of ice.

Some of the other uses were obvious, like "Disarm Trap" to get over a tripwire. When I was done, the head of the college, Utnapishtim (I know where they got that name thanks to Rivers of Light!), rewarded me with a selection of treasure. Taking a cue from his body language, I chose something called a "Soul Bowl" which I never used anywhere during the rest of the game. (As far as I can tell, the Soul Bowl was the only thing I got out of the college and the spectacles that got me into the college was the only thing I got out of Lanac'toor's place. This means the whole exercise of assembling the statue was a bit of a waste of time, though it's possible I found crucial spells in some places.)

Sunken Ruins

This was an area accessible from the ship I'd received from beating the pirates. The main purpose to this area was using the potion of waterbreathing to enter a sunken city and retrieve the skull of Roba, Irkalla's son. I didn't take very good notes here.

Dwarf Clan Hall

I got into it from the surface by putting a pair of eyes into a statue, though I can't remember where I got the eyes. Inside, I saved a bunch of dwarves from having been stoned by a gorgon, but they were angry that I had looted their treasures first. There were a few very difficult battles with automatons that occasioned much swearing and reloading.

I had trouble keeping Louie alive throughout the end game.

As Irkalla had instructed, I used her son's skull at the forge. This opened up a different passage to Irkalla's realm, where I was granted the Sword of Freedom. I missed the bit of lore that explained how it ended up in Irkalla's place instead of Freeport--perhaps Namtar stole it, set up the trap, and then hid it with the imprisoned goddess?

In any event, it was a fantastic weapon. I gave it to Valeria, since Bolingbroke was doing great with a Dragon Sword he'd picked up somewhere. I went from doing maybe 1-20 damage per round to 1-80.

Dragon Valley

This is the last area I explored before heading to the Mountain of Salvation to confront Namtar. I saved it for last because when I'd entered the first time, I died almost immediately. I seriously started to lose patience with this area. There were multiple combats with tough "dragon warriors," and cockatrices were able to attack me multiple times at range.

They're almost as annoying as they are in NetHack.

I had exhausted my dragon stones and spell points, and was just about to ragequit, when I uncovered a very large cache of "dragon eyes" which recharge even more spell points than the stones. Still, I was starting to get a bad feeling about the area; there were multiple messages indicating that perhaps I was committing needless slaughter.

They attacked me first, dammit!

At last, I came face-to-face with the dragon queen, who was furious at me. Rather than fight her, I used my "dragon gem" and got this paragraph:

The Dragon Queen recoils when you show the Dragon Gem. "Curse you!" she hisses. "The Dragon Gem marks you as a friend of dragons, and binds me to your will." The Dragon Queen looms above you, seeming impossibly large. "I grant you life, and I dismiss you from my presence. When next you use the Dragon Gem, I will respond...but the sacrifice you offer must be sweet, or I will turn on you, and the Dragon Gem be damned!" With a beat of her wings, the Dragon Queen is gone.

The dragons in this game are freaky.

For a game that reportedly shoehorned dragons in at the last minute, I thought it did a pretty good job. I mean, I can kind-of see how they were grafted on. But if I hadn't read the article, I don't think I would have picked up on it.

Mountain of Salvation and Endgame

The endgame was a bit confusing. To get to the Mountain of Salvation, I boarded a boat of pilgrims, and I was forced to use some "pilgrim garb" to blend in. As usual, I don't remember where I picked it up, but I'm glad I saved everything that sounded like a quest item.

I was captured almost immediately upon arrival and thrown in jail, but as usual I escaped without any trouble and ended up wandering around the area. At one place, I found an altar to the "Universal God" and was told that he required a sign of freedom. I used the Sword of Freedom, and all my characters got juiced up with an extra three points to their attributes. Cool. That would have taken about 10 levels normally.

I interpreted a message at a rock crevice correctly to use both my "IQ" and "climb" abilities to bypass some guards and get into Namtar's fortress. Lots of random combats. Let's skip to Namtar.

Though sometimes it did feel this way.

Namtar was amassing his army on a battle plain, and on the first visit, I blundered forward into it. I died very quickly.

Yes, yes. I get the hint.

After a reload, I used the "Dragon Gem" to call down the Dragon Queen. There were some fun cut-scenes as she toasted the entire army, Namtar included.

Just as I was wondering if the Dragon Queen was going to be this game's deux ex machina, she flew away and Namtar jumped back to life.

"Did you hear that?! He called you a 'lap dog'! Come back!"

I ended up having to kill Namtar three times in succession, with no opportunity to save in between. The first time, he made all physical attacks. My four lead fighters had good weapons, and I was able to defeat him fairly easily as long as I used my spellcaster to keep up on healing.

But his second incarnation was a damned nightmare. He was able to attack with spells at a distance (and enemy spell points never run out!), and every time I got close to him, he cast "Whirlwind" to push me back--a spell that never became available to me! I didn't have any weapons capable of damaging him from a distance, so I had to kill him by slowly bleeding him down with damage spells. It took a couple dozen tries, over two hours, and almost all my dragon's eyes.

Elspeth uses all her spell points in a single attack.

After that, you can imagine my rage when he rose again. Fortunately, the third time, he was much less effective. He used only stun attacks on one character at a time, so I was able to kill him with melee weapons while using my last few spell points unstunning the affected characters each round.

Somehow, I don't believe you.

After his third death, I was finally able to save and pick up his body. It automatically transported me to the Magan Underworld, near the chasm from which he had been born. Fortunately, there was a recharging pool here, which helped immensely when he sprang back to life again with 30 goblins by his side.

Since I knew the recharging pool was behind me, I unloaded every mass damage spell I had at Namtar and the goblins, and the fight was over fairly quickly.

Picking up his body again, I made my way to the chasm. I had to pass some "faeries" who sapped almost all my health, but Ulrich's "bandage" skill took care of that easily enough. There, on the platform before the pit, Namtar resurrected himself a fifth time.

At least he's scared. I get so sick of cocky villains.

Sick of the game and exhausted (it was about 03:45 in the morning), I was expecting the most difficult battle of the game, but it was surprisingly easy. Namtar spent most of it trying to run away. I just had to cast heal a few times and otherwise rely on my melee attackers.

When he had died for the last time, I picked up his body and threw it into the pit. My GIF-conversion software isn't working for some reason, so I've just pasted the sequence of endgame screenshots below.

Not the most elaborate of endgame sequences, but satisfying enough. It dropped me to the prompt at this point; there's no way to continue playing after winning.

After the game was over, I began to obsess a bit over how much of it was truly necessary. There's an exit to Mount Salvation from the Magan Underworld, and there's an entrance to the Underworld from Purgatory. Would it be possible for a high-level party to go directly to the endgame, fight Namtar's army (instead of summoning the Dragon Queen to do it), and defeat Namtar himself? I restarted to see how far I could get, and I guess at the very least, you need the boots to jump across the chasm to enter Namtar's fortress. But I'm not sure if you really need the Sword of Freedom, to free Irkalla, to get the Dragon Queen's help, and so on. Andrew Schultz's walkthrough seems to bear this out.

I also feel like there would be a lot more to explore and find on a second playing. I never got anything from "Mountain Lore," "Forest Lore," or "Cave Lore," and only once from "Town Lore," and I feel like I probably missed opportunities to try them. I probably didn't use half the spells. Neither "Pickpocket" nor "Swim" ever came up in any obvious place. I never found the use for the Soul Bowl, the Enkidu Totem, or a set of "Dragon's Tears." I'd like to see what happens if the dragon doesn't destroy Phoebus, perhaps try selling myself into slavery, see how things go if I fight the Dragon Queen instead of allying with her, try some alternate options at Byzanople, and so forth.

I'm not going to do it--too many games, too little time--but I like that this game leaves so many possibilities. This is one of the earliest games to allow so many alternate approaches to puzzles and plot, and it deserves credit for it's open-ended world. As I prepare the GIMLET, please comment with your own experiences with the game, and the alternate routes you took to the end.