Revisiting: Fate: Gates of Dawn (1991)

 

      

Fate: Gates of Dawn

Germany

reLINE Software (developer and publisher)

Released in 1991 for the Amiga and Atari ST

     

It's hard to believe that it's been over seven years since I wrapped up Olaf Patzenhauer's epic Fate: Gates of Dawn. As longtime readers may recall, I left the game with an unfinished map, which has always gnawed at me. It was time to take a second pass and really get into the meat of this seminal title.

      

What unique encounters lurk within that white space? Time to find out.

            

Fate, as you may recall, is based on Alternate Reality: The City, a game with epic intentions but little follow-through. Fate follows through, offering considerations of hunger, thirst, disease, drunkenness, fatigue, and a host of other potential conditions, as well as effects of weather. Its cities are sprawling, with multiple entrances and exits, stores, and guilds. NPCs wander the streets and the player has about as many options for interacting with them as a person does in real life. 

      

Instead of entering a virtual reality created by aliens like in Alternate Reality, the main character in Fate actually travels across different dimensions. In Fate, players start off as Winwood, a young person who owns a record store in the 20th century. Winwood enjoys his job but feels tired from working long hours. One day, while taking a nap on his sofa, he starts having nightmares about an old sorcerer casting spells. When he wakes up, he realizes he's not on his sofa anymore but in a dirty room above a tavern. He puts on some medieval-style clothes he finds nearby and goes downstairs to the bar. By listening to the conversations of the people there, he figures out that he's in a different version of human history where magic is powerful and technology developed differently.

      

The main character is lost in the woods as the game begins.

      

Winwood leaves the tavern and narrowly escapes a massacre carried out by Thardan's henchmen. He learns that Thardan, the mage from his nightmare, is searching for a "traveler between worlds." Suspecting that he's the one being sought, Winwood hides in a tree for a day. Eventually, he approaches an old man exploring the inn's ruins. This man, Naristos, is a seasoned fighter who shelters Winwood for the night and provides some information. Naristos reveals that Thardan is indeed an evil wizard with an army of henchmen and monsters. Thardan likely brought Winwood to this world through a portal to use his knowledge of advanced technologies for his own gain. Naristos advises Winwood to keep moving and find allies who think like him. He then directs Winwood toward the nearby city of Larvin.

       

The game starts with Winwood alone in the forest, wearing everyday clothes and carrying a dagger, 6 water bottles, 4 lunch rations, and 1,355 coins. He has no instructions where to go, but if he searches for a while, he'll inevitably find a road leading to the nearby city of Larvin. Having played the game before, I had a map showing the locations of valuable pieces of equipment, so I decided to make a few pit stops before heading to the city.

     

No reason not to make use of prior intelligence.

    

Once in the city, I decided to try to fill out my party as quickly as possible. As the game goes on, you meet NPCs with much better statistics than the average denizen of the city, but until then, a party at half-strength dies more often than is necessary. The game takes an interesting approach to NPCs. The copious options in the right-hand menu bar include "Chat" and "Ask for." "Chat" takes you to a screen where you can insult, adulate (compliment, basically), enchant, curse, joke, brag, tell fibs, or just introduce yourself. "Ask for" gives you more substantive dialogue options like "Name," "Profession," "Hint," and "Being." Back on the main menu, you can also ask NPCs to join you. You have to find the right approach for each NPC, which depends a lot on their class. Fighting classes tend to look for blunt honesty while magic classes are more responsive to flattery. Thieves appreciate guile.

         

My attempt to persuade this young lady doesn't work.

      

As I wandered, I was reminded of the game's excellent approach to sound. It's rare to find one that puts sound effects before music, and even rarer to find one that offers no music at all. Instead, Patzenhauer introduced the chirping of birds, the patter of rain, howling winds, and footsteps. 

      

The City of Larvin. Many of these areas are inaccessible at the beginning of the game.

       

I leave you as I explore the grand city of Larvin. Between NPCs and random combats, I hope to have a fleshed-out, equipped party in a few hours. Then we'll see what new surprises the world has to offer!