Centauri Alliance: Won! (with Summary and Rating)

 

The Medal of Honor looks a bit like a coaster.

         

Centauri Alliance

United States

Brøderbund Software, Inc. (developer and publisher)

Released 1990 for Apple II and Commodore 64

Date Started: 2 May 2024 

Date Ended: 4 June 2024

Total Hours: 32

Difficulty: Moderate (3.0/5)

Final Rating: (to come later)

Ranking at time of posting: (to come later)   

    

From the creator of The Bard's Tale comes the same sort of game in a science fiction setting (although not always). A party of up to 8 operatives of an interstellar alliance try to foil an invasion by exploring a series of about 50 indoor maps of 16 x 16 tiles each, spread across a dozen planets. You fight a huge variety of unmemorable foes on a hex map, but the map is largely an abstraction, and combat in general uses a Wizardry or Bard's Tale system of defining your actions and then watching them execute, threaded with the enemies' in a hidden order of initiative. "Psionics" replace spells, which are otherwise nearly identical to The Bard's Tale. Storytelling never rises to the level of competence that the game's plot twists are interesting.

   

******

     

When I wrapped up last time, I had recognized I had pushed too far too fast and had settled in for a period of grinding. I did that for about two hours. A few factors made me lose interest. First, I was trying to get my metamorph to the point that he could turn into a "Zon Dragon," which would have made him much more effective at ranged attacks. But when he achieved the level when he could have cast it, he didn't have enough psi points. This continued for two levels beyond that, too. 

   

The other thing I was trying to do was to get my spellcasters to the level that they could learn "Matter" and "Energy" school spells. I assumed this would happen when the characters hit Level 10 in "Mind" and "Body." Nope. I have no idea how you get offered those spell classes. Neither Shay Addams nor Andrew Schultz was any help with that one.

   

I did my grinding mostly on Kevner's World, the medieval planet, and I kept finding myself amazed at how Michael Cranford essentially programmed an entire medieval game--to include monsters and equipment--for a single planet. For hours, I fought red dragons, beholders, ogres, sorcerers, and balrogs and was rewarded with halberds, platemail, and rings of health. Unfortunately, these items help highlight a basically-broken equipment system. There's no way to identify what items actually do unless they have a direct effect on your protection or shield. A lot of them are throwing items, and I admittedly underemphasized those. 

      

What does an "Auramaker Ring" do? Your guess is as good as mine.

       

When I got bored and frustrated with grinding, I decided to see how close I could get to the end without being able to win any battles. I returned to Keppa Var via the alien transporter on Epsilon Indi and entered the Daynab base with the password CASTLE-FIST.

     

I had already been here, of course, and I knew there were some fixed combats, and I knew that I couldn't beat them. That doesn't mean I had to. If you successfully flee a combat, the enemies disappear as if they were never there. This strategy worked on the first enemy group I encountered. Beyond them, I found a cache of Daynab uniforms, and after that, the guards mostly left me alone. From this moment on, every time I encountered a random combat, unless it was with a single enemy in melee range, I tried to flee and reloaded if it failed. This is one of those things that would have taken so long on a real Apple II that it wouldn't have been a viable strategy. 

     

The fact that those Daynab commanders include a lizard and a chicken apparently doesn't bother them.

       

The Daynab base was four levels with a lot of up and down, but three of the levels were only partial ones, not using all of the 16 x 16 space. Our goal was to find the Alliance "traitor," a Donsai. We found him in a cell on the fourth level, but he protested that he wasn't a traitor. Instead, he said that he had been sent to investigate the Daynabs and got caught. The real traitor, he said, is Councilman Renfrew. Renfrew is mentioned in the game manual as the councilor who sent our party after the Donsai in the first place. 

   

The Donsai, Commander Varion, went on to say that Keppa Var is also the site of an ancient Fractyrian fortress with who-knows-what technology waiting to be plundered. He said the passcard to the fortress was in a vault on the second level of the current base, which he could open.

We had no choice but to bring him with us, dismissing our "VII Man" mech. He was a pretty good fighter, skilled in melee, sidearm, and throwing weapons, and I put him in the second position. With Varion in tow, we were able to get into the vault on the second level, which allowed us to grab a "technocard" necessary to access the Fractyr ruins on the same planet.

         

Michael Cranford ruins every boy's Leia fantasies in one graphic.

       

We escaped from Daynab, leveled up a couple of characters (I'd won a few easy fights), then returned to the planet to enter the Fractyr ruins. This was a challenging dungeon. It's four levels (though none of them use the full 16 x 16 space) with numerous staircases up and down and numerous teleporters on each level. From the moment you enter the dungeon, you can't use any psionic abilities. Spells cast outside the dungeon will remain in effect, but once you enter, it's not easy to get back out. So there was some cursing and reloading the first time I found out that psionics didn't work and I was stuck in the dark.

    

Fortunately, I had "Astral Sight" by now, a "light" spell that lasts damn near indefinitely. Before entering the second time, I cast that, "Spatial Sense," "Seventh Sense," and "Slow Regeneration." I saved just before entering the dungeon, and for the next few hours, I mapped as much as I could and reloaded if I got killed--which was almost every time I encountered any foe. 

      

A trap just about kills me.

      

There are three exceptions to that last statement: three fixed combats that occur in the dungeon, all of them against single enemies, all of them requiring that only one of your characters participate in the fight. Each one of them starts with a face appearing in the air demanding that I "choose one to step forward." In all cases, I chose Morella, because she does devastating melee damage with the Fractyr Fist. Later, looking at Quest for Clues, I got the impression that you're supposed to have the character with the Fractyr equipment fight the battles.

   

The enemies were named Big Jim, Gingerbread Man, and Blizzard. All of them lasted exactly one round, and all of them died in one hit. A couple of them went first and hit me first, but I had a shield pumped up to 100, and they didn't do that much damage.

       

If you send everyone forward, the enemy disappears and you have to leave the level and return.

       

I don't know precisely what the purpose of the battles was. I got a weapon from one called a Krelslayer which I never equipped or used. Another gave me a Mauve Sphere, which did turn out to be important, but it wouldn't have been necessary with higher-level characters. And yet one of the messages below suggests these combats were necessary, so I can only imagine my progress would have been blocked in some way if I hadn't fought them.

     

That was pretty easy.

        

Multiple squares in the dungeon gave me a message that I set off an alarm, and then drained all my health and psi points to 1. "Slow Regeneration" did its job after those drainages. They weren't as crippling as they could have been because I was avoiding almost all combat anyway.

 

There were five places in the dungeon where I came upon a weird inscription on a wall and "the Fractyr First begins to glow." It took me a few visits to realize that I could A)ctivate the Fist at these times to translate the messages:

   

• "Of eons past and far below / A tale to tell of dread and woe / A secret said, a truth to know / A power great to yet bestow."

• "The four small corner rooms above are not PSI-damped." I translated this very late in the session. There was a lot more cursing.

• "To pass, break during the take-off."

• "Fight the three, wear the fist, a focal power must exist to bring you to the point of change--activate it in that range."

• "ENERGY NEXUS." This last one was accompanied by a little map.

           

Before translation.

      

A final message was found on the first floor at the end of a long corridor: "Come here with a Shapemaster."

     

I found the area indicated by the little map and activated the Fist. It asked me for a keyword. It took a while to figure out what it wanted, as I had gotten the SHAPEMASTER keyword some time earlier and didn't think anything special of it. When I fed that keyword, I learned that a "Shapemaster" is a type of metamorph that I guess anyone can learn, not just Praktors. In fact, Praktors can't learn it because they can't equip the Fractyr Fist. Anyway, the message didn't tell me anything about how you learn the ability, and none of my characters had it.

   

I spent damn near an hour wandering around trying to figure out what to do next before I went to Quest for Clues and found that the "Shapemaster" ability is given automatically to the character wearing the Fist when he asks about it, if he's standing in the Energy Nexus. Except the Energy Nexus is one step to the west of where I had been standing. The stupid in-game map had led me astray.

     

If you saw this, which square would you think was important. The odd one to the east, right? Well, apparently it's the one next to it.

       

I went back and activated it again, and Morella got the "Shape" ability, which allowed her to shapeshift to a Fractyr at Level 1. The Fist suggested the ability could be trained; I don't know what shapes might be available at higher levels since I never got there.

       

Is it talking to me? Am I reading this somewhere?

       

Thus shapeshifted, I returned to the square that said "Come here with a Shapemaster." I was teleported to the fourth level of the dungeon. I wandered down a hallway to a room where the game showed a cinematic recapping the story of the Fractyrs:

   

Our quest in search of a greater Being took us far from our home system, which lies near the center of the galaxy. It has now been abandoned for countless millennia. The first stage of our journey took us to the far reaches of the galaxy. While standard propulsion served adequately for local exploration, interstellar travel necessitated a new technology. As we began our search, we noted many primitive civilizations, and purposefully left such outposts as this one as a means to help them reach beyond their petty barbarities. The final part of our quest took us beyond the edge of the galaxy, out to a nearby quasar, and the system of Kindratus. It lies over 200,000 light years from the edge of the galaxy, yet we reached it instantly . . .

            

We might need some more detail here.

      

There was nowhere else to go from this room, and the sequence repeated indefinitely. An on-screen message said to "Press ESC to break concentration." I realized this went with the message to "break during take-off." Specifically, I had to hit the ESC key while the cinematic showed the Fractyr's rocket taking off for the "far reaches of the galaxy." That opened a secret door to the west. Clever.

    

Moving on, we found a "mattermission" platform at the end of a hallway. With nothing else to do, we stood upon it and were warped to what I guess was the Fractyrs' current home world.

       

How nice. They give burglars a free ride home.

        

It was a two-level map. As usual, we reloaded when we met enemies, but there weren't many. A holographic message intercepted us at one point and called us intruders, but using the Fractyr Fist disabled the security devices.

   

A message told us to "avoid the cyber room," but of course we didn't. We touched a panel, and Turhan was turned into a robot or something. I reloaded.

     

Lesson: don't touch strange alien panels.

    

On the second level, we found our way to the chamber of the High Citizens of Fractyr:

   

"Greetings, oh voyagers of the Alliance. You have come very far in search of the secret left behind in ancient fortresses. Fractyrians still exist and have seeded the galaxy with clues of our civilization. Your enemies have invaded Alliance space with the intention of grabbing the power of the Fractyr homeworld. They were unable to make the journey, however, as they lacked sufficient virtue. One of our people will accompany you to help you in your task. We would not have aided them, in any case, as we serve a higher and more noble cause than the mere possession of destructive power. Prepare to leave for Earth."

       

I love that those two dudes in the back are completely uninterested in these aliens that have broken into their meeting.

     

I had to replay this because I didn't have a space available for The Fracyrian who wanted to join the party. I had to kick out my faithful Fractyr Mech. The Fractyrian had no combat skills, so it's a good thing we didn't need him for that.

   

The game teleported us automatically to "Earth," which was just another 16 x 16 map. I guess we were in the headquarters of the Alliance. As we explored, we got attacked by huge parties of ridiculous enemies: experimechs, assassins, rock stars, attorneys, paper-pushers, bodyguards, friends of Renfrew, evil soldiers, janitors, and so forth. We didn't have the faintest hope against any of them. Again, we kept mapping, fleeing, and reloading when fleeing didn't work.

        

Right.

     

There were only three things of interest to find on the map. First was a shuttle back to Lunabase, but if we tried to take it, the Fractyrian left. Second was the Alliance prison, where if we accidentally wandered into a cell, we got stuck and had to reload.

   

Third was the entrance to the Alliance council chamber. Every time we tried to enter, the game told us, "A solid wall of force blocks further progress. The Council is always guarded when in session." I went around and tested all the walls for secret doors. Nothing.

      

The Council hasn't planned for alien artifacts!

        

Fortunately, I had fiddled around with the "Mauve Sphere" that I received in one of the battles in the Fractyr fortress. It cast the "Teleport" spell. It hadn't worked on the Fractyr world, but it worked fine here, and I was able to reach the Council chamber and the endgame. I should note that Quest for Clues tells you to cast "Passwall" or "Teleport," two high-level "Matter" spells, and doesn't even suggest the Mauve Sphere. If I hadn't figured it out, this would be a very different sort of entry.

   

The endgame:

    

You have burst into the meeting chambers of the High Council. The Council is in session. "What is the meaning of this!" the Donsai councilor cries.

 

None of them look like a Valkyryn, Praktor, or Arcturian.

        

"We have information concerning treachery--from inside this very council," Vir shouts.

Councilor Renfrew stands and points to your group, including the Fractyrian. "They are the traitors! They are wanted on charges of counter-espionage and high treason. I demand that they be placed under arrest! Guards, throw them in the Alliance prison!" 

       

What other prison could the guards have thrown us in?

     

"Stop," the Fractyrian commands. A stasis field envelops the room. "These courageous adventurers have come too far to plead their case."

"Renfrew is the traitor," Varion says.

   

"Where is your proof?" the Council demands.

  

"Allow me to explain," Varion says, stepping forward. "I was on a special mission to investigate rumors of a Daynab invasion through Keppa Var, an Alliance fringe world. My reports went to Councilor Renfrew, who urged me to secrecy. I found that Keppa Var was the site of a Fractyrian base, with a potential connection to the Fractyrian homeworld. The Daynab invasion was merely a cover for a plot to exploit this base. I knew that the invasion had to have resulted from treachery within the High Council; our enemies had access to all our information. All of the sudden, my cover was blown, and I was taken captive. Councilor Renfrew knew of my location, and the reason for the invasion, but told you nothing. It was HE who was supplying our enemies with information. HE is the traitor!"

      

Won't Varion be embarrassed if it turns out to be Renfrew's aide.

     

"I also bear witness to this," the Fractyrian says. "Our people can produce evidence to substantiate a charge of treason." The Fractyrian then points at Renfrew. "Speak truth."

  

Renfrew, under truth-compulsion, nods. "It's true." 

      

The Fractyrian then took off, and the party members all got the Medal of Honor, as per the screen up top. "This scenario is completed," the game says, "but greater adventure awaits you on your second mission . . ."

   

The game then took the party to Lunabase and alliance headquarters, where the officer told us "INVASION ALERT! You are ordered to report to the Headquarters on Epsilon Indi immediately." I didn't know whether this was just a repeat of the previous quest or whether it was something new. We jumped a shuttle to Epsilon Indi--and got attacked and boarded by the pirate dreadnought on the way. The pirate dreadnought seemed to be playing out as it had before, so I quit the game, but let me know if you know anything different and this really is a second mission.

        

This feels familiar.

      

FYI, if you go into the Council chambers without either the Fractyrian or Varion in the party, you get arrested and tossed into prison.

        

You think they'd want to hear at least a little more.

      

So, in the end, my horribly under-leveled party managed to win the game because there was no "final battle," and the only fixed battles were special encounters that just required one person to fight. I didn't like fleeing all of those combats, but I would have liked grinding less.

    

This is already pretty long, but let's do a quick GIMLET:

   

• 4 points for the game world. The story is okay. The biggest problem is that there isn't enough of it. Renfrew is the only person who could possibly be the traitor, because he's the only named character in the backstory. None of the alien races that make up the Alliance make a significant appearance in the game; none of the worlds feel anything like alien worlds.

• 4 points for character creation and development. You definitely feel the party getting stronger as they level, and I appreciate that the skill system allows for extensive customization of the characters. The problem is that not enough matters other than combat and psi abilities. I don't think my technical character used his abilities even once (unless something happened that was passive). All of the alien races were wasted; my characters might as well have all been human.

• 1 point for NPCs. I give this for those who will join the party. Everything else is an encounter.

• 5 points for encounters and foes. The Bard's Tale series, including Centauri Alliance, epitomizes what some RPG Codexian once coined "trash mob." You just get piles of originally-named but otherwise unmemorable enemies that you have to mow down. You don't even get portraits here. So most of the points in this category goes to the many non-combat encounters, including navigational and linguistic puzzles in some of the dungeons, which were the highlight of the game. As usual, I found that if I mapped a session, I enjoyed it a lot more than when I used the automaps.

       

This trash mob even has a janitor.

      

• 5 points for magic and combat. The Bard's Tale system was showing its age when The Bard's Tale was new, but it works okay. There are a fair number of tactical considerations dealing with distance and the best attack, and there are a lot of spell options even among the two classes that I played. The problem, of course, is that enemy difficulty outpaces the party quickly unless you grind a lot, but I'll save those deductions for later.

• 4 points for equipment. I was a little generous here because there's so damned much of it that I can only assume I would have gotten more out of it if I had taken the time to explore what everything did. Since I didn't, I ended the game with most of the equipment that I had at the halfway mark.

• 2 points for the economy. It was useful to the extent that I kept buying shield belts and they kept me alive.

• 3 points for a main quest and a couple of side-dungeons if not exactly side quests. There are no choices or alternate endings.

• 3 points for graphics, sound, and interface. The graphics are just functional and the sound is almost completely absent. The interface works well enough.

• 2 points for gameplay. It's way too linear, not replayable, grindy, and unbalanced. You could defend the ridiculous endgame combat difficulty by arguing that combat isn't necessary in the first place, but that's like multiplying zeroes.

    

That gives us a final score of 33. That makes sense. I can't recommend it, but I would have been able to recommend it with a few changes. In comparison, I gave The Bard's Tale 37. Dragon Wars, another Bard's Tale descendant from 1990, got 51. The biggest problem with Alliance is that it doesn't fill any niche. Many other games were doing science fiction better, and many other games had taken the basic Bard's Tale template and evolved it into something better.

       

The Commodore 64 and Apple II were essentially dead as popular platforms by 1990, which meant that Alliance made almost no splash in American magazines. Computer Gaming World mentioned that it existed in the March 1990 issue (with Ultima VI on the cover) but never reviewed it. The C64 had a little life left in Europe, so there were reviews in a selection of English (Zzap!64) and German (Power Play, Aktueller Software Markt) magazines. Although rating between 72% and 80%, the reviews (at least, the parts I translated) were relatively positive, with some shade cast on the primitive graphics and more on the disk loading times.

     

A 2013 interview with Cranford on RPG Codex goes into some of the game's development problems. Cranford chalks them up to delays for graphics artists to do all the animations that the various cinematics required. Because of these delays, the release occurred well after the heyday of its native platforms ("the decline happened quickly"), and Cranford didn't have any experience with the PC. Reading between the lines, the larger issue is that Cranford was working on his own at a time when a single developer couldn't compete with the diverse teams of specialists at places like Origin and Interplay. If Brøderbund had really prioritized the game, they would have hooked up Cranford with programmers to handle graphics, sound, and a DOS port at the beginning.

      

I had thought that this was Cranford's last game: When Alliance finally hit the shelves, he was getting a master's degree in Theological Studies and beginning a teaching career at Biola University. But he appears in the credits of Cyberdreams' Dark Seed (1992) as one of the two designers. An adventure game, it looks completely unlike anything else he ever worked on, and yet I can't find any interview in which anyone asked him about it. In 2018, he provided some assistance with InExile's The Bard's Tale IV, which I imagined involved some hatchet-burying with Brian Fargo.