Guest Post: Game 568: Les Six Lys (1984)

 

      

Les Six Lys

"The Six Lilies" 

AKA Jeu des 6 Lys or Le Jeu des Six Lys, either way meaning "Game of Six Lilies"

France
Infogrames (developer and publisher)
Released in October 1984 for Alice 32K and Alice 90

Date Started: 10 February 2026 (CRPG Addict Only)

Date Ended: 12 February 2026 (CRPG Addict Only)

Total Hours: 3 (both of us)

Difficulty: Easy (2.0/5) once you get the hang of it
Final Rating: (to come later)

Ranking at time of posting: (to come later) 

     

Guest Blogger: The Wargaming Scribe is a Frenchman in his 40s who covers the history of computer wargames on his own blog.

       

*****

    

Chet (CRPG Addict) here. I'm taking a break from blogging for a couple of weeks, but before I went on break, I prepared this guest entry from the Wargaming Scribe for publication. He did a good job, saving me from having to do a lot of translation (less from the game than from its background and the background of the system). His review stands as the bulk of the entry. But . . . well, see for yourself at the end. 

     

CRPG Addict Rule Number 12 is: "It's never a good sign when the game box and the title screen don't agree on the name of the game." Such is the case here, where the box gives the name as Jeu de 6 Lys ("Game of 6 Lilies"), the manual calls it Le Jeu des Six Lys, and the title screen just calls it Les Six Lys. Either way, my policy is to favor the title screen in cases of such ambiguity, so Les Six Lys it is. It is possible that this title, pronounced in French, is the most grating, fingernails-on-a-chalkboard title in CRPG history.

    

The Scribe's entry starts below the break. I'll be back at the end. 

       

Meanwhile, the box shows six fleurs-de-lys, which I don't think is the same thing as a "lys."

          

****** 

 

The CRPG Addict has always had issues with early French RPGs, which generally don't follow any known convention and are usually not good enough to warrant the extra effort of learning a bizarre ruleset—in French. Today's game adds insult to the injury of being French: it is a game specific to a minor French computer, the Matra Alice, which does not have any other RPGs to its pedigree. I am therefore very happy to take this load off the Addict's broad shoulders.
      
The Alice computers are the result of an unlikely joint-venture between Matra (known for making missiles) and Hachette (known for publishing manuals and magazines), two companies that sought to enter the computer market in 1983. As they arrived late and had no prior experience in the industry, the first Alice was a clone of the Tandy MC-10, which relied on heavy marketing and a very engaging look to hide the fact that it was almost obsolete at release (only 4K of memory!). An October 1984 attempt to improve the offer with the Alice 32K (a misleading name: 32 stands for 16K RAM +16K ROM) and the Alice 90 (40K RAM) did not save the brand, as by then France was moving to the Amstrad CPC and its vast library of games. In January 1986, Matra discontinued the Alice, having sold (according to them) 35,000 units. By then, only about 50 games had been released for the Alice, and very few of them were exclusive to the platform. Les Six Lys is one of these rare exclusives.

   

The three Alice models and their signature red color. Note the odd shape of the Alice 90 at the bottom-right.

     
The weird but derivative plot of Lys fits in a single paragraph of the manual: The country of the six lilies lived happily, until "an unknown hand" broke the stem of one of the lilies. The five other lilies, upset, put Princess Alicea in a deep slumber until a replacement lily was to be delivered to them. The hero, Gael the Brave, took it upon himself to steal the lily guarded by the Dragon—and that's the last time you will hear about 5 of the 6 eponymous lilies and that unknown hand.

      
The character creation is simple: the game rolls four sets of 3 stats and asks you to pick one. Choosing is rarely hard: constitution is really HP, force [strength] is combat capacity, and intelligence is used to identify items.

     

Half of the choices are not Pareto-optimal.

      

After I select the objectively best set of stats, I am launched into the game. Now, most RPGs would let you learn the ropes before challenging you with the first tough combat. Well, this one opens with a "momivore" attacking me. It quickly drains my hit points while being virtually immune to my attacks. That's how I lose my first character.

       

Wounded by a momivore, whatever that is, immediately after launching the game.

     
On my second attempt, I immediately escape North, which is done by simply typing "N." [Ed. All commands in the game are one or two characters followed by ENTER. If you are attacking a monster or picking up an item, you add the monster number or item number after the command; for instance, AT1 to pick up Item#1 or AT1 to attack monster #1.] Enemies don't block your movements and don't follow you, either, so I am safe from the momivore. I find myself in a room with a skeleton and a "hipopo", but also some writing (ecrit) and chicken (poulet) on the ground. Luckily, around half of the monsters in this game don't attack you on sight. I regret to report that it is to their detriment, because you will have to attack them: each enemy killed increases your strength and heals you somewhat. The other sources of strength, constitution and intelligence are the various potions, chalices, chickens, and scrolls spread around. Some are good, some are bad, and the latter can be detected by the CO)nnaître ("know") command. It always succeeds, but costs intelligence.
      

I have just identified the writing, and the game tells me that it is a "letter for fools," so presumably something that will make me lose intelligence. Hard pass.

       

Neither the enemies nor the items are reshuffled when you launch a new game, so the Les Six Lys plays like Desktop Dungeons: you have to comb the map and kill the monsters in a specific order that builds strength and preserves constitution. Unfortunately, unlike Desktop Dungeons, you don't know the strength of the enemies before fighting them, so a lot of trial and death is necessary. My second, third, fourth and fifth deaths all happened because I attacked monsters out of order.

      

Fighting a helpless sankou ("no-neck") with the sword (épée) it had left lying around.

        

Ultimately, I find opening moves that I like: move East in a dead-end called VESTRIA where there is a sword that can be equipped (+5 strength) and a weak monster called "sankou" that can be killed easily, then turn back, race past the momivore, past the skeleton and the hipopo, past a "kokinel" and a "cameleo," until I reach a room with a potion of health and a helmet (+2 strength). After that, I return to the entrance, killing the kokinel, cameleo, hipopo and skeleton in that order, which gives me enough strength to easily defeat the momivore. I continue this systematic and optimized approach until I manage to easily beat the strongest monster of the early game: a "migalus" found in a room called ALCHIMIE. At this point, I have 94 strength, 42 intelligence (I didn’t spend any as I wrote down which items I could consume and which ones were cursed), and 97 constitution. I have a general idea of the size of the game due to an accidental glance at a player-made map on the Alice website, so I reckon I have a good chance to finish the game in one go. I stop mapping the game and attempt a straight shot to victory.

      

My map of the game with the names of the rooms and the number indicating what's edible/readable. No reason to indicate what isn't. The orangey color indicates locations where enemies attack immediately.

                 
There isn’t much more to say about the game. I attack every monster I meet, half of them old types I already know, half of them new to me. I always win, but initially it grinds away my constitution, until I eventually become so strong that I kill most enemies before they get to damage me—and so my constitution stabilizes. I also realize that potions with different effects have different colors, and therefore I can drink red potions safely, but never green ones. Unfortunately, there is no such trick for the other item types. After some exploration, the dungeon branches west and east. I explore the Eastern wing and find a special-looking location defended by a monkey and . . . a hermit crab? Both are easily killed, but I commit the location (PERDIRE) to memory.

   

I refuse to have "killed by an ouistito [a marmoset] in a 1984 game" stain my gaming record.

       

Having explored the Eastern wing, I move to the western wing of the dungeon (castle? I am not sure). Enemies in the area are tougher, and I stop attacking passive enemies when I reach 200 strength (and 34 Constitution), relying on food and potions to heal. Eventually, I find the Dragon, along with a passive “robo.” The lily is near!
         

This robot is one-of-a-kind in the dungeon, so I don't know whether it is strong or weak.

          
I kill the dragon after a combat that’s longer than usual, but not particularly hard. I receive a substantial bonus in strength, and then move on to the room it was guarding. In it, I find . . . a delicious chicken and a poisoned potion. Dang.

    

The vibe. Gael then slaughtered the mushro for strength and constitution.

        

Backtracking to another corridor, I find a second dragon, alone this time. It’s an easy victory given my new strength.
      

Just for science, I try moving past the dragon, but I'm blocked. I reckon it is the only enemy blocking you this way, though I haven't tested this with the other dragon.

          

This was the correct dragon, and behind it I find the lily and a unique monster called Nono. I surmise that the cute passive monster in the final room is a trap and so I ignore it. I simply pick up the lily and leave the room.
       

"Nono" is the name you could give to a dog in France, so either it's a trap or the developer added his pet to the game—or maybe both.

      
With the lily in hand, I return to the special PERDIRE room, which immediately ends the game.
      

"Gale the Brave, you prevailed. Alicea lives again, and thanks you for it." It sounds odd in French as well.

      

Les Six Lys is first mentioned in French magazines in October 1984, exactly when the Alice was launched, making it one of the first French “CRPGs,” coming to my knowledge fourth after Citadelle (January 1984), Argolath (May 1984), and Tyrann (July 1984). Unlike those other RPGs, which as flawed as they were felt like full-fledged RPGs, Les Six Lys seems to have subverted the Addict’s definition of a CRPG by offering the minimum possible content while still technically respecting the checklist: 

            

• “Throughout the game, the character becomes stronger and it’s not only maximum health.” Well, the game has strength and intelligence, too!

• “The player has some control on his development.” The player can choose which monster to attack and what to eat, drink, and read.

• “The player has an inventory of equipment he can equip or drop.” There is an inventory of equipment, with the entire equipment list consisting of a) the sword and b) the helmet.

The game also has a few bugs, like ghost items you cannot interact with (the game thinks they are simply not there) and one ghost monster (happily enough a passive one). 
        

The map of the game found on the Alice abandonware site. The lily is not in the LYS room but rather in the PUELLA room at the bottom left. Given that PUELLA means "young lady" in Latin, I suspect the princess was initially there.

      
If I tried to rate the game on the GIMLET scale, it would be a series of 0s and 1s, mostly 0s. I guess it could receive a 1 in “character development” and  “encounters”? Even for 1984, it must have been a doozy. However, this was not an issue for Infogrames, with its CEO Bruno Bonnel explaining the context surrounding the game in Une Histoire des Jeux Vidéos en France (2020): 

        

I absolutely needed to do sales. I am at Matra, in front of the head of marketing who is about to launch the Alice. He asks me whether we have a game for him. I tell him we are preparing one. Behind him, there is a vase with six lilies, so I say: “It’s the game of six lilies.” He asks me what it is. I answer: “It’s confidential but, well, I can tell you. It’s a formidable adventure game with a princess, a dragon . . .” whatever I can think of. He tells me that if we do it, he will buy 20,000 copies that he will put in the box with the Alice . . . It was five or six francs a tape, so it would be around 100,000 Francs. Such a sum would cover two months’ expenses. It was simply awesome . . . I leave, and I am so taken by the daily grind that I forget about it. Three months later, the Matra factory calls: they are waiting for the master in two days, and I have no idea what they were talking about . . . We wrote, coded, and produced it in three days for the Alice 4K.

       
This cool story is to be taken with a pinch of salt, because it gets better with every retelling: in La Saga des Jeux Vidéos (2008), the discussion had happened in a restaurant and Infogrames was the one supposed to duplicate 20,000 tapes (cue “in the middle of the night before the due date, most of Infogrames employees were still duplicating the tapes”). In any case, Les Six Lys does not work on the Alice 4K and Bonnel has mixed up with the Alice 32K and Alice 90. Nothing in the archives I read indicates that the game was sold bundled with a computer either, though I can’t rule it out totally.

However, there is something found in both narrations that I absolutely believe: the fact that the game was made in either 2 or 3 days! Lys definitely plays like a game hacked together in a hurry to meet a deadline. This is probably the reason for which it is so different from the other early French RPGs. These are weird, confusing, and often downright frustrating, but they ooze love for the genre, whereas the Les Six Lys is simply a stale cash-grab. 

    

*****

    

And I (the CRPG Addict) return. Here's the fly in the ointment: As the Scribe correctly analyzes, Les Six Lys meets my definition of an RPG. And while I've had guest BRIEFs and guest special topic entries, I've never let a guest blogger fully cover a game that was validly on my list. So I figured I had to check out the game for myself and prove that I'd played it with my own name on the winning screen. Sighing, I fired it up.

   

I couldn't get the graphics to work right no matter what I did. The backgrounds never fully rendered. Each screen just had a couple of blocks on the right-hand side.

 

I think Scribe undersold the game's bugs. I feel like I was told that a monster didn't exist (in response to AT) or that an item didn't exist (in response to PR or AV) about a third of the time. And the game got its numbers confused a lot. I'd go to pick up a helm (#2) and somehow end up picking up the sword (#2). The same thing happened a couple of times with dropping items.

      

The game insists that the chicken does not exist.

       

Following the Scribe's directions and map, it only took me about 30 minutes to win. The most annoying part was that the French keyboard changes the positions of "A" and "Q" (among other things), so I was always typing QT1 when I meant AT1. Also, the game reads a BACKSPACE as breaking the program. Fortunately, the DCAlice emulator has a very quick save state option.

   

I otherwise found the experience identical to what the Scribe reported. You definitely have to hit the screens in the right order. I triumphantly reached the final screen, only to realize that the game never asked me for a name. It forces you to play a character named "Gael." (How I Met Your Mother fans, have at it.) So all that work was for nothing. The best I can show to prove my own victory is a screenshot of my character holding the lily with different statistics than Scribe had at the same place.

 

Voilà.

         

Just for fun, a full list of the game's enemies: arienis (looks like a two-headed skeleton), camelo (2), canivore (2), chauveri, dragon (2), garde ("guard"), globo (looks like a snake), grenoui ("frog"?), hipopo (2), kokinel (2, some kind of bird), lonkou (a humanoid), migalus (2, looks like a spider), milpat (2, clearly short for mille-pattes or "millipede"), momivore (2), nabotin (Google translates this as "dwarf"; now I want to know the difference between it and nain), naja (2, some kind of snake), nono, ouistito (3, "marmoset"), paladi, poulpi (2, "octopus"), rablato, robo (robot), sankou (2), skelet (2, "skeleton"), tarentul (2, "tarantula"), tetardu ("tadpole"), tetbas (2), vampyr ("vampire"), vermina ("vermine").

 

I certainly agree with Scribe on the rating: I only give it a 6 on the GIMLET, with 1s for the backstory, character creation, combat, equipment, quest, and "gameplay," mostly for being short. At least the rating is thematically consistent.

    

I'm glad I played myself for only one reason: Les Six Lys is clearly a precursor to the same interface used by Infogrames' Mandragore (1985) and Oméga: Planète Invisible (1985). You have the same lists of items and enemies/NPCs, the same two-letter commands, with numbers specifying the object or enemy to be targeted, and some of the same graphics. So this diversion was interesting if, for no other reason, to see the weird prototype of those later weird games.