Tygus Horx: Summary and Rating

 

The final dungeon I was able to explore.

      

Tygus Horx

Germany

Independently developed; Markt & Technik Verlag (publisher, via 64'er magazine)

Released in 1990 for Commodore 64

Date Started: 19 August 2022  

Date Ended: 30 September 2022

Total Hours: 19 (unfinished)

Difficulty: Moderate (3.0/5)

Final Rating: 21

Ranking at Time of Posting: 166/483 (34%)

    

Summary:

A German diskmag game (a game that came on disk with a Commodore magazine) written in English, Tygus Horx tries to replicate the gameplay of The Bard's Tale (1985) but simplifies too much of the mechanics. Even the quest is similar: save the city (here inexplicably called "Tygus Horx") from a vague but apocalyptic threat. The story, such as it is, takes your party of six characters through several dungeons, each offering a key to the next one. Combat, equipment, and character development are reasonably well-done, but ultimately the tactics and mechanics are too limited for the size of the game world, and character advancement requires far too much grinding. I was unable to win because of what is possibly a bug, but see below and draw your own conclusions.

    

*****

    

Unfortunately, I think I've reached the end with Tygus Horx. When I blogged last time, I was on the threshold of a new dungeon, the lair of Xe-Tje. The first level was a long maze. It started in the southwest corner, and various branches led to rooms in the other three corners.

    

Xe-Tje's lair, Level 1.

     

The level has a "band" of dark squares, four squares wide, on the right half of the map. You're constantly weaving in and out of this area, meaning you have to waste a lot of spell points on "Magic Torch." The other two levels have similar bands. It's very annoying.

 

Just before the doors to each of the three rooms, you find a message telling you the occupant of one of the other rooms. For instance, the message in the southwest says: "Northeast is Sukaro." Each of the rooms has a stairway leading down to a different section of Level 2. Two of the areas on Level 2 have encounters with people who say, "Who am I?," prompting you to give the name you've learned. These two encounters open the way to sections of a third level, where you explore to find a single square on which you learn one part to a three part code phrase needed back on Level 1. The two parts I got are "REST" and "IN." It doesn't take a lot to guess the third.

       

Level 2. What ought to be an explorable area in the southeast ends in a dead end.

       

The problem is the room in the southeast corner of Level 1. It leads to a 3 x 1 corridor on Level 2, but there's no way out of it to explore the rest of this section, find the wizard, go down, and presumably get the word PEACE. I've tried kicking every wall. There really isn't anything else you can do.

But fine, clearly the third word is PEACE. Back on Level 1, I gave the code phrase to a "guardian," opening the way to another section of Level 2. There, I had to wander around in darkness through a bunch of single-square rooms until I found the stairway down in the lower-left corner.

       

Passing the guardian.

       

The stairway led to an unmapped section of Level 3, also consisting of single-square rooms. There was an outer ring of them, then an inner ring, and finally a single square. I entered, and . . . nothing. There's nothing in the room. I tried ensuring that I fought at least one random combat. I tried using every item I had. I tried kicking every wall. Nothing happens.

  

I don't know if I've missed anything, but I ran around checking everything twice. I searched for maps and spoilers, but I only found one German site (linked by commenters in my first entry) that has any hints, and they stop after REST IN PEACE.

       

Level 3. The yellow square ought to have something, but it doesn't.

     

Readers often find things I don't, so if anyone turns up something that gets me out of this, I'll give it a try and post an addendum, but just in case, I'll offer a quick GIMLET:

    

• 2 points for the game world. It offers a basic, relatively derivative framing story.

• 3 points for character creation and development. Horx offers the creation options and development feedback of a typical mid-1980s RPG. The ability to change spell classes is nice.

• 0 points for NPC interaction. I don't really consider shopkeepers and random old men popping up in dungeons as "NPCs" so much as "encounters."

• 2 points for encounters and foes. I don't really offer anything for the indistinguishable members of the trash mobs that you fight throughout the game, but it gets some consideration for its puzzles and dungeon messages.

• 3 points for magic and combat. The dumbed-down magic system leaves you with fewer tactical options than The Bard's Tale, and non-spellcasters have nothing to do but swing away.

       

Casting mass-damage spells is fun in any Bard's Tale clone.

      

• 3 points for equipment. You get a steady stream of upgrades, but unfortunately no usable magic items as in The Bard's Tale.

• 2 points for the economy. You need money for healing, spell-recharging, and spellbook acquisition, but nothing else. From your first battle, your money is on an upward trajectory throughout the game, so there's never any question of not having it when you need it. A lack of items to purchase in stores is a regrettable omission.

• 2 points for a main quest with no side-quests or role-playing options.

• 2 points for graphics, sound, and interface, almost all for the easy-to-master keyboard interface.

• 2 points for gameplay. It's linear, not replayable, and too long for its limited content, but at least the difficulty is pitched about right.

   

That gives us a final score of 21, making it a somewhat average shareware title. This is one of those many games of the era that wouldn't exist except that maybe you didn't have a local software store, or if you did, it didn't carry The Bard's Tale.

    

That's not a reference I expected to see.

     

A final amusing note: One of the groups of enemies I fought in Xe-Tje's dungeon were called "Ducky Boys." The Ducky Boys were apparently a real Bronx street gang in the 1970s, but I'm only aware of them because of Philip Kaufman's excellent film, The Wanderers (1979). I've never met anyone else who has seen that movie, but Rainer Sulzbach must have.

    

In some ways, this ending is perfect. After all, it wouldn't be a German diskmag game if I could actually finish it.

  

*****

    

Addendum:

       

Author Rainer Sulzbach commented on some of the entries after they were posted, and we've exchanged some emails since. Unfortunately, I still can't progress with the game, at it appears that no one ever could, but Rainer offered his original maps, which I post below:

   

The city of Tygus Horx. I had this one all mapped except for the two southeastern corner, which requires a key to open.

The first dungeon. Doesn't look like I missed anything here, either.

Ulandar's domain. Lots of "dark" squares here.

Xe-Tje's domain. This is where things go amiss. On the third map, in the lower right corner, you're supposed to defeat Xe-Tje's guardiajns and get a red key, which would open the way to the next dungeon. There's also supposed to be a secret door on Level 2 that doesn't appear, leaving large area of the southeast corners of Levels 2 and 3 inaccessible.

The final dungeon, which I didn't get to experience.

      

The maps show that, as I wrote in my last entry, I was supposed to find a red key on the third level of Xe-Tje's domain. This would have opened the gate to the southeast corner of the city, where I would have been able to enter the stronghold of Malu-Krii, the "darkest creature" who has taken over the city.

The notes show that Level 1 was composed almost entirely of dark squares. One square had a statue of Agaron, the first hero to try to overthrow Malu-Krii; this would have been a password on Level 2. I can't tell from the notes whether a player would have been forced to attempt a light spell in that particular square just to get that message. Level 2 would have  also offered a Fountain of Wisdom, but I can't tell whether that was a real benefit or a trap.

Level 3 would have been about finding the four letters to the password KILL, which lets you into the final chamber on Level 4. There, Malu-Krii taunts them:

   

Arrr! Mortal fools, you are thorugh my tests. You have beaten my best friends: The Mazenary, Ulandar, and Xe-Tje. But now you have run in[to] your last battle. And only the strong survive. Har, har! With a short whistle, some of his cool friends ruin in their foes. [English is not Rainer's first language.]

   

After defeating Malu-Krii and his allies, the player gets this endgame text:

      

"We've killed 'em!" one of you is shouting. You seem to be very happy and you begin to dance. But you end because you hear this voice saying: "You are the heroes. You have killed the Master of the Darkness and his legions. TYGUS HORX is free of its evil. You now receive as a sign of tribute 300,000 pieces of gold and 300,000 points of experience. Live in peace.

   

Rainer said that Tygus Horx had no meaning, just random syllables strung together.

So that's the rest of the story! I'm glad we could learn what the ending was supposed to be, even if I couldn't show it.