Welcome to the demo of Odyssey - The Legend of Nemesis, the new role playing game for the Macintosh, published by MacSoft. The game takes place on an archipelago - a chain of islands - each with its own strange culture to explore and try to change for the better. The demo version of Odyssey that this file came with includes the complete first island for you to discover. Odyssey was written in such a way that one can play it with very little fore-knowledge. Simply run the game and start exploring the world you have, by fate, come into. But first you should understand how to control your character: try reading the Interface section that follows.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Odyssey - The Legend of Nemesis requires any Macintosh capable of displaying 256 colors or grays, with System 7 or later, and 2552k of RAM free. 3064k free is required for stereo sound effects. The musical soundtrack requires that Quicktime 2.0 (or later) and Quicktime Musical Instruments are installed (both of these ship with the Odyssey CD). Odyssey is PowerMac native.
If you need technical assistance getting Odyssey to run, have any questions at all, or would like to order the full version of this game, you can contact:
MacSoft
The WizardWorks Group
3850 Annapolis Lane Suite 100
Minneapolis, MN 55447-5443
800-229-2714
or
612-559-5301
The full version Odyssey - The Legend of Nemesis is currently available direct from MacSoft. The game will be available in stores and through mail order by March, 1996.
A beautiful black T-shirt featuring Derek Riggs' stunning cover art is available direct from MacSoft for 14 bucks.
WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.1?
If you have played the Odyssey Demo before, you should note that the Odyssey Demo 1.1 adds diagonal movement for the player. See the movement selection below for a full description.
INTERFACE
Odyssey is controlled by numerous keyboard commands, almost all of which have mouse-only equivalents. All keys are fully configurable via the Configure Game Keys section of the Preferences Dialog. On first starting Odyssey one should investigate this dialog (accessible through the Edit menu) and set the keys as one sees fit. Controlling the game with the mouse-alone involves clicking in association with various modifier keys. Try command-clicking(which will try to perform an action on a given area), option-clicking(which will look at a given location), and shift-clicking (which will position the target and attack whatever happens to be under it - more on this later).
WINDOWS
There are three main windows in Odyssey - the view window, through which the player sees a bird's eye view of the Odyssey world, with the player's character always center screen; the inventory window, in which the player manipulates their inventory; and the message window, in which the player receives various messages about events in the game. One can switch between the windows by clicking on them, or by using the window-switching menu items or the window-switching game keys in the Preferences Dialog. If the "Automatic Window Switching" preference is turned on, when the player presses a key for a window that is not active, that window becomes active automatically. For instance, if the Inventory Window is active, and the player presses the North key, and if that key is different from any key associated with the inventory window (such as the "up inventory" key) then the View window will automatically become active.
STATISTICS
When you first create a character, you will be given three statistics that indicate how strong, intelligent, and dexterous your character is: Stoutness, Sagacity, and Nimbleness respectively. Each of these scores is out of twenty, and the higher your score the better, though you will never be able to roll a character with full statistics. If you do not like the statistics you are given, you can re-roll until you are satisfied. The player also starts out with "health points", which will decrease when the player is attacked, resulting in his/her death when they are reduced to zero. Health can be regained slowly over time or through special devices. Similarly, the player will soon gain psionic points, which allow the player to use psionic powers. These decrease as the player uses the powers, but also come back slowly over time.
MOVEMENT
Movement in the world of Odyssey is possible in the four cardinal directions - North, South, East and West - as well as diagonally - Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Suthwest. When a character moves diagonally s/he is actually moving twice. For instance, moving Northwest actually means moving once North and once West. If there are obstacles to the North and West, the character will not be able to move to the Northwest, even if that particular square is free of obstacles.
Movement can be accomplished either by the keyboard commands or through clciking the mouse in the view window. Odyssey will also move your character to a specific spot in the view window if you command-click on that spot. One can then move between different levels (world maps, towns, dungeons, etc.) in the Odyssey world through entrances usually designated by one of the following: cave openings, buildings, stairs, ladders, or glowing mirrors. The player can stand on one of these portals and either command-click on it or use the "enter" key or menu item to travel to the new level.
LOOKING
You can look at any part of the world by holding down option while pressing one of the four cardinal directions: if there is anything of interest there, a message will be displayed in the message window describing it. Equivalently, you can option-click in a square directly adjacent to the player character to look at the contents of that square.
TARGETING
Using the target is instrumental to numerous actions in Odyssey. The target can be moved around the screen by holding down shift and pressing a direction, such as shift-North. Also, holding down the shift key and moving the mouse around the view window will cause the target to move. The target can also automatically target objects or non-player characters by pressing the "cycle target" key. To hide the target, one can hold down option while pressing the "cycle target" key.
OPENING
You can open doors, trunks, or coffers by pressing the "open" key or menu item while standing next to the object you wish to open. If there is more than one object to open around the player character, the game automatically opens only the first one it finds. If you wish to open a specific door, trunk, or coffer, target the object first, and then press open. You can also command-click on a door, coffer, or other openable object to try to open it.
PICKING-UP OBJECTS
Picking up objects is simply accomplished using the "get" key or menu option. This will, one by one, pick up the objects that surround you, starting with the objects underneath you. You can pick up a particular object by targeting it and then using the "get" key. You can also command-click on an object to pick it up: the cursor will change to a hand when you are holding down the command key and have your cursor above an object.
USING OBJECTS
Once an object is in your inventory, you can use or equip it by first hi-lighting it and then pressing the "select" or "alternate select" key or the "use/equip" menu items. You can also double-click on an item to use/equip it. Some items, such as a long sword, are automatically put into your right or left hand. All one-handed weapons are automatically put into your right hand, while all shields and torches are automatically put into your left. If you wish to put the object into the "other" hand - say the long sword into your left - use the alternate-select key. Once an item is equipped - in your hand or on your body - you can unequip it by using the select key or double clicking on it again. You can view exactly what your character has equipped by double-clicking on the animating character icon in the upper-left-hand corner of the inventory window, or by using the "maximize/minimize character view" menu item, from the Game menu. If you so desire, you can equip and/or use items by dragging them up on to the maximized character view.
GETTING DESCRIPTIONS OF OBJECTS
You can get information about an item by holding down the command key while double clicking or selecting it. There is also a menu item for this feature.
DROPPING OBJECTS
This is simply accomplished by holding down option while you double click or select an item. If you wish to drop it next to (instead of under) you, hold down option and press a direction using the inventory window directional keys, or use the "drop" menu item.
PSIONICS
Psionic powers work just like objects: they are scrolls that you can pick up and can get descriptions of. In order to use them, first the player character must discover a way to gain psionic abilities. Once that is accomplished, psionics must be "equipped" in the same way that weapons are. Then the psionic can be used via the "use psionic" key or menu-item in the view-window. Each psionic costs a certain number of "psionic points" to use, the amount of which is indicated by the number written next to the psionic in the inventory window. If the player does not have enough psionic points for a given psionic, he/she will be unable to use it. Some psionics - particularly combat psionics - require the target be set on a particular agent or object.
COMBAT
You can attack any living being in Odyssey, friend or foe. Simply target the enemy, and then use the attack key (or the left-attack key if you wish to attack with the weapon in your left hand). You can also shift-click on an enemy to attack them. For most weapons you must be directly adjacent to the opponent in order to attack, though pole-arms have a slightly-longer reach and thrown weapons can go quite a distance. Usually you want to have some sort of weapon equipped when you attack: see the "Using Objects" section above. It is also advisable that you be wearing as much armor as possible during combat, which must similarly be equipped to have any effect. If the "Combat Autotarget" option is on, when the player presses the attack key and has nothing targeted, the game will automatically target and attack one agent immediately adjacent to the player, if any. WARNING: the person standing next to you could be your friend, and attacking them would be considered a social faux pas. Some psionic powers can be used in combat: they too must be equipped, a target must be selected, and the psionic key pressed.
RESTING
After combat, the player will often have fewer than his maximum health points. Similarly, using psionics will decrease the number of psionic points the player has. Both these statistics are regained slowly over time. To expedite this process, the player can go to sleep, waking up whenever they want, or once their health and psionics are at full. However, if the player is attacked while he/she sleeps, attacks will do more damage than usual. Even if the player is at full health or psionics, they can rest so as to pass game-time quickly.
TALKING
The player will meet many non-player characters (agents) with whom the player can converse. Simply press the talk key while standing next to an agent, or command-click on them. If the player is standing next to multiple agents, the player can pick the specific one they want to talk to with the target, or the game will pick one automatically. Once in the talk dialog, the agent will start speaking to the player. The player then responds with one word questions. For instance, almost all agents will respond when asked their name or job, by simply typing "name" or "job". Often the player can figure out other things the agent might know about by analyzing their answers to the above questions. For instance, if farmer Bob, when asked his job, replies with "I raise Warthogs", the player should then ask Bob about warthogs by typing "Warthogs". Sometimes the agent will ask the player specific questions, to which the player should reply accordingly. Conversations are vital to Odyssey, and finding out all that an agent has to say is crucial to a player's success.
LIGHTING
A totally black square in the view window indicates a spot which the player cannot see at that point in time. This can be due to one of two reasons: either the location is out of the line-of-sight of the player (perhaps it is behind a wall, trees, a mountain, or other visual obstruction); or the spot may not have enough lighting to be visible. At night-time, the radius in which the player can see via natural lighting is decreased dramatically, and in dungeons the player will hardly be able to see at all. Torches and lanterns, when equipped in either hand, can help the player to see farther in the darkness. Later on, the player will find special Psionic powers and other objects which will help illuminate the world of Odyssey.
INTERFACE
All of that may seem like a lot of information, but we have found that people have a fairly easy time picking up the interface of Odyssey - The Legend of Nemesis. For the most part, the game's interface works as one would hope a Macintosh RPG would, and we have found that comprehension of the game's interface comes quickly to most.
GAMEPLAY NOTES
It is important to note that Odyssey is not the type of game where the player is supposed to kill everything they see. Though there are savage monsters who wander the surface of the islands who the player will have to fight off and kill in order to survive, there are also many very nice people who the player can talk to and help out. It's a good idea not to attack something unless it attacks you first (though if a ferocious beast comes running straight up to you, teeth gnashing, whose brethren have tried ripping you apart countless times before, it's probably a good idea to get in the first blow).
GETTING STARTED/PARTIAL WALK-THROUGH
NOTE: Hard-core computer RPG players should probably check-out here, lest the Odyssey - The Legend of Nemesis demo prove too easy for them.
As you start out the game, you have washed up a beach, all your possession lost. In other words, you're in no position to defend yourself against the monsters which will soon attempt to rip you to pieces. As you head down the beach to the south, already you will see a monster coming to get you. However, you may be able to survive if you duck into the small cave opening you see, which has a fire-bucket next to it. So walk to that entrance and press the "enter" key or command-click on the entrance. Soon, you will find yourself in a small subterranean cave. Walk around the room to familiarize yourself with it. Notice that there are some items around the room (torches on the table) to be picked up. Try picking them up with the "get" key or by command-clicking on them. You will notice (if you are observant) that there is a person in a bed in the southeast corner of the cave. Walk over to him and try talking to him with either the "talk" key or by command-clicking on him. If he's still in bed, he's probably still asleep, and you won't be able to talk to him until he wakes up. So, walk around the room a bit, until the character wakes up. Now go talk to him. Ask him about his name, his job, and anything else you may think of, such as the island, or maybe your staff. But, most importantly, ask him for help. Once he gives you some advice, you should be able to acquire several items which will help you to survive on the world of Odyssey. Try equipping these, as described in the using-objects section above. Once so equipped you should be able to leave the old man's hut and fight off the monsters. But keep an eye on your health bar. As you become more confident, explore the rest of this strange island you find yourself on...
