Swords and Serpents: Top Heavy

See the bottom of this entry.

       

Not for the first time, Swords and Serpents has made me aware that I enjoy filling in gridded maps about as much as I like playing RPGs. If the game featured no combat at all--and it might as well not--I might still enjoy it about as much, and I'd still probably produce 16 carefully annotated maps on the way to the bottom.

    

Since you've already read plenty of Odes to Mapping in my previous entries (I would look them up and link to them, but I suspect if I don't, Busca will do the work for me), let me talk about something that occurred to me this time: I like it more when a) the game offers predictable grids; and b) every square is used. When a game lets its tiles make any shape or go off in any direction, I may like it more from a game world perspective, but I like it less mechanically. I enjoy knowing exactly how many squares the game is going to ask me to map--in this case, 4,096--and thus what percentage of the game I've completed. Every time I fill in a square, it's like watching a progress bar move closer to the end. In something like Crusaders of the Dark Savant, you have no idea where you are in terms of total progress.

   

Level 4 of the dungeon.

      

Meanwhile, when a game starts not using some of its squares, it feels like it's breaking its own rules. I want to toss the map in the air and say, "@%$! it, why do I even bother?" Swords and Serpents, in breaking neither rule, has kept me slightly addicted to mapping alone.

    

It's funny because by 1990, Interplay had largely outgrown 16 x 16 maps. They started there with The Bard's Tale (1985), but even that game's own sequels started experimenting with different sizes and shapes. Dragon Wars (1990) was still tiled, but the maps had very little predictability. Lord of the Rings, Vol. I (1990) abandoned tiles completely for continuous movement. But it's like they decided for their first console game, they needed to reach deep back into their roots. I find it amusing that Serpents came out the same year that ex-Interplay developer Michael Cranford wrote Centauri Alliance. These feel like products from the same author, down to the teleporters, one-way doors, and other mechanical tricks that the 1980s were famous for.

      

And Level 5! I hate dungeon levels that wrap. It makes no sense.

     

In between these levels, you have to fight a lot of battles--way more than makes any sense--and there isn't much to say about them. Enemies are differentiated only by image and level. They have no special attacks or defenses. You can't even really enjoy the tactics presented by magic spells (or at least I can't) because you mostly need your spell points for healing and navigation, and there aren't many good offensive spells anyway. Some readers want me to make more of the monster animations, but this is another area in which I disagree with most players. I would rather see the name of the monster I'm fighting than its image, and even in games that offer both, a static portrait that never varies between monsters of the same type excites me about as much as text. Portraits in which monsters swing their arms back and forth or blink or wave a weapon excite me only a little more than static portraits. Come back to me when the monster animations actually build immersion and convey something about what the monster is doing, so the player can tactically respond.

       

Somewhere during this session was my first eight-enemy battle.

     

That's about it for the broad themes. From here, I'll just cover level by level until I hit 2,500 words.

   

I explored Levels 1-3 during the first session. Level 4 was called "Secret Square," I assume because it culminated in a 5 x 5 square in the center of the level, although smaller 2 x 2 squares were featured throughout. The way to the central square had to be opened by hitting the corners of the level in a precise order, as clued by a message: "The four locks must be opened in the Mark of the 'Z.'"

    

Once I was through the door that the right pattern opened, a message warned, "Never do anything right!" This was a clue to turn left through a secret door rather than to turn right and follow a corridor uselessly around until it dumped the party out, although of course I had to do that just to map it. The same message was repeated just outside the central room, as to open its door, the player has to walk the perimeter corridor clockwise rather than counterclockwise.

       

This message means you haven't done something right.

     

The level had a zoom tube back to Level 1, something that's thankfully always telegraphed with Burma-Shave-like signs in the squares before the teleporter. Here, they read:

   

You've come this far . . .

Are you sure . . .

. . . you want to enter . . . 

ZOOM TUBE!

         

The level had two spells, a "Strength" spell and a "Death Mist" spell, neither of which seemed to do much in combat.

    

Level 5 was titled "The Haven," I imagine because it offered the first temple and armory since Level 1. It was the first level that wrapped, a mechanic that I inevitably loathe in any first-person tiled game. (I don't like it that much more in top-down games, either.) This created an odd pattern by which what is clearly the "center" of the level is divided into the four corners if you map in a way that retains the positioning of the earlier levels. 

   

This was a relief.

      

This central area is walled-off and completely inaccessible except for the "Passwall" spell, which the level offers, along with "Flight" (lets you levitate over traps). It seemed rather early for "Passwall." Using it in the closed-off parts of the level produced 400 gold pieces and a Glow Cloak.

     

Nice of someone to do that for us.

      

I was a little disappointed that the armory didn't have any items for sale that I didn't already have, except for helmets. I'd found one, but my characters needed a few more. Once I got done buying those, I still had thousands of gold pieces and no place to spend them. If the armory on Level 10 doesn't have better stuff, the economy in this game is going to be utterly worthless except for a couple of swords on Level 1.

      

Given that there's no way to lose or break equipment in this game, and that every character starts with at least a dagger, why would anyone ever need to buy one, especially on Level 5?

        

I took the "Passwall" spell back up to the previous levels and explored the closed-off areas. Level 1's closed square had a two-way teleporter to Level 6. A 2 x 1 area of Level 2 had absolutely nothing. A single square on Level 3 offered a Mirror Shield. Level 4 had a one-way teleporter to Level 9, which forced me to reload when I couldn't find a legitimate way back.

     

Level 6. I like big rooms. It makes things go faster.

    

There were four stairways down, and given their positions, I thought they'd all lead to a different corner of Level 6. Instead, they all funneled to the same square in the southwest corner of Level 6. That was weird.

 

"Shocking Truth" was Level 6's title, named for a large 10 x 9 room in which almost every square had a shock trap, thus requiring the "Flight" spell. (If that weren't obvious, a message read: "To fly as a bird would leave low concerns behind.") The center of this area offered the "Thunder" spell, an offensive spell that damages two enemies at once, but in practice does so little damage in comparison to a physical attack that it's not worth the pause in combat to cast it. I'd rather just use the spell points for healing later. 

       

I think I've done this dance at weddings.

      

There was an odd area to the southwest that could be accessed via the teleporter from Level 3 or a secret door from the large room with the traps. If you come the first way, you encounter a message that says, "you've found Secret Level Alpha!" The second way tells you that "you've found Secret Level Beta." A 4 x 4 room within this area (accessible only with "Passwall") offered the "Major Heal" spell, a full-party healing spell, which was nice because I was sick by then of casting one "Heal" at a time.

       

At this point, I have almost every spell in the game.

     

The manual says that you need the "seven ruby treasures," and I was starting to get concerned because I hadn't found anything since the Ruby Glasses on Level 2. This secret area had both the Ruby Shield and the Ruby Ring. Elsewhere on the level was a brass key that wasn't used anywhere on Level 6 or 7.

     

Level 7 was a little predictable.

      

Level 7 was called "Death" for no reason that I can see. It wasn't particularly hard. It consisted of 16 square rooms ringed by corridors. The "Stun" spell showed up somewhere, plus the Ruby Helmet and Ruby Crown. A zoom tube went back to Level 5. The way down to Level 8 was another 2 x 2 room with stairs in every square, except this time they went to different squares on Level 8.

      

This makes it sound like Kirk had it all along.

      

Level 8, "Rebirth," made extensive use of one of my least-favorite navigational elements: invisible walls. They occurred in extremely odd, irregular patterns, sometimes completely enclosing one or more squares, although they could be breached with "Passwall." The level had a magic fountain and zoom tube to Level 5, both nearly completely surrounded by teleporters to other points on the same level. I wasted a little time assuming that the Ruby Glasses would help me see the walls, but either I was wrong or I didn't figure out how to use them.

     

Level 8. I probably missed some invisible walls because I didn't try approaching and leaving every square from every direction.

        

An encounter in a 3 x 3 room enclosed by invisible walls said: "There is a short pole in the sand here!" My first thought was, "What, is someone playing horseshoes?" I then remembered I had been carrying a horseshoe since Level 3. I used it and got 5,000 experience points, enough to jump the party two experience levels.

      

I am preternaturally good at horseshoes in real life.

        

There were two stairways down to Level 9, one in the southeast corner and one in the southwest. Both were behind locked brass doors, and I'm relieved I ignored the impulse to discard the key after opening the first door. I only hope I don't need that gold key again because I tossed it a while ago.

       

Does every sentence have to end in an exclamation point!?

        

Most levels have offered a hint to what I imagine is some Spectre Snare (from The Bard's Tale II) sequence at the end game. So far, I have:

    

• When the time comes . . . prepare for VICTORY!
• For VICTORY, you must pass through walls!
• After sensing VICTORY, walk straight . . . Walls must be no barrier! 
• When walls become barriers on the path to VICTORY, turn left!
• When you turn left to VICTORY, two steps forward and one step backward!
• When you step back on the path of VICTORY, walk straight until your spell fails!

          

Then die!

      

These are in the order I received them, and they seem to all fit in that order. I like to think that VICTORY is the name of the dragon.

        

Lots of miscellaneous notes:

     

• The party reached Level 10 during this session and got occasional inventory upgrades. The game does a good job showing you exact statistics for each item, which I appreciate. But individual combats as well as getting back to a temple are both easy enough that combat feels like a minor annoyance rather than a central part of the game.

      

Weapon statistics. "Efficiency" is the speed of attack.

       

• Occasionally a new enemy is introduced, but most of the foes you face on a new level are harder variants of the ones you faced on earlier levels. Some of them are differentiated by color, and I don't really know what that means.

      

Most of the enemies I've fought so far.

     

• Testing with save states shows that there are some fixed combats in the game, but it's otherwise hard to tell them from random ones. Oddly, in most of these fixed combats the number of foes is fixed but the type of foe is randomized.

• Since "Passwall" is essential to entering certain mandatory areas, it's not possible to win the game without at least one mage. The manual warns you about this. I don't find it unforgivable, but I also don't like it.

• "Passwall" doesn't work everywhere. There are certain hard walls that it won't penetrate, presumably to keep you from circumventing puzzles and locks. 

      

I guess I'll have to go the long way around.

       

• Inventory space is becoming a big problem. Each character can only carry 6 items, but 4 of the slots are taken up by weapon, armor, shield, and helmet. Mandatory items like the Ruby things (some of which you cannot equip) and keys take up most of the other ones. You want at least one slot free for equipment that you find after combat, which is the source of most upgrades. I might soon get to a point where I have to sacrifice armor for inventory space.

      

Oryx has only one free inventory slot.

       

• Another way the game is like The Bard's Tale is that you're forced to pick up useless stuff after a lot of battles, which you then have to go and immediately drop.

       

Thanks. I already have a better one.

       

• The game only remembers the automap for the last two levels you visited, but fortunately it remembers the things you did on each level, so you don't have to (for instance) open locked doors twice.

 

As I get ready to go to Level 9 (again) and the second half of the game, it feels like too much has happened in the first half. I have 5 of 7 Ruby items all but one of the game's spells ("Viper"). "Passwall" means that navigational puzzles don't hit as hard as they otherwise would. Overall, it just feels like too much happened in the first half to sustain 8 more levels. Maybe I'm in for a surprise.

   

Time so far: 12 hours

     

*****

    

I was paralyzed. Pick your favorite caption:

   

• "I guess the long night has come."
• "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end."
• "I guess it's time for Irene to take over this blog while I do the housework."
• "Am I losing control or am I winning?" 
• "I just hope Grant Ward and Skye end up together."