Amiga Collections: Panorama/Panorama - Disk 28C (1988-04-27)(Pacific North-West Amigas Club)[WB].zip/Panorama - Disk 28C (1988-04-27)(Pacific North-West Amigas Club)[WB].adf/Txt/RTAHelp

Text File | 1988-04-27 | 8KB | 145 lines

Return To Atlantis Help

by Matt Ritchie (Plink sru516, Compuserve 71071,2500)

Return  to Atlantis is the long awaited Electronic arts adventure game
of undersea exploration.  I found it to be completable in approximately
20-25  hours  of  play,  if you have a good sense of direction and have
mastered the joystick controls.

This  file  is  designed  to  offer  some brief suggestions on ways to
complete the adventure in a reasonable amount of time and avoid getting
"stuck"  on  the  puzzles  that come with the game.  It will begin with
some  general  observations  and then move to a detailed description of
how each of the adventures in the game is resolved.

GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS-  1.   To  my  knowledge,  interaction  with the
inhabitants  of  the  Sea Thief is not necessary to complete any of the
missions.   Indeed, it is normally in your best interests to completely
skip  this  section  and  move  on to your assignment.  This is a shame
since  one of the most entertaining facets of the interface is watching
the  animated characters on the screen converse with your character.  I
suggest  that if you are going to talk to them to do so and then reboot
your machine to start the assignment fresh.

2.   I  found  it  NEVER  necessary  to  threatean  another character.
Bribery  is  important  for McGregor and Modibo, but seldom useful with
the others, particularly the Arabian.

3.   Learn  early  on  to  master  all  the  undersea controls at your
disposal,  especially  the  transporter and your weapons systems.  They
will  become extremely useful later on and the game can get frustrating
when you spend time trying to master them in more advanced missions.

4.   When  scanning, a scan radius of 5-6 squares in each direction is
probably the most you will need.  There are only a couple of exceptions
when you will find objects outside this area.

5.   If you fail a mission (ie- the mission is terminated and you have
not  recieved a "reward" screen) DO NOT return to base or you will lose
all  the  health  points spent on the current assignment.  Re-boot your
machine and play the assignment over, that way you will be able to keep
those precious experience points each time you re-play the assignment.

6.   Keep  yourself  up-to-date on ART's messages.  Sometimes they are
critical at the exact moment they arrive.

7.  When using RUF, set him on "Agressive".  This way, he can identify
the things you are looking for very quickly.

8.   When generating a new character, AWARENESS, ATHLETICS and WEAPONS
are  the most critical- especially awareness since it controls how long
you can stay underwater without having to surface.

AN EPISODE-BY-EPISODE DESCRIPTION OF THE ADVENTURE

1.   This assignment is fairly simple.  Swim around until you find the
treasure  chest,  scan it, and beam it up.  That's it.  Spend some time
practicing shooting Crabbots.

2.   The  "cable"  in  this scenario bears a striking resemblance to a
volcano  and  the  patch  looks  like a mountain that is far off.  Scan
ANYTHING that looks unusual to you to make sure that it isn't the patch
or cable.

3.   This  assignment  is simply a matter of beaming up the barrels to
the ship.  However, MAKE CERTAIN you find the TOXICITY SENSOR while you
are diving.  It is critical on the next assignment.

4.   This one, along with number six is by far the most frustrating of
all  of  them.   The  problem  is  that  you must float over all of the
medical  packs  and  use  your  toxicity  sensor to discover which ones
aren't poisoned (there are 3).  The best method I know of to do this is
to  position  yourself directly over the package and look at the meter.
If  it  registers nothing, then it is toxic, if it constantly points in
another  direction  then  it  is probably clean.  Beam it up.  Once you
have  three  packages  in  the hold, beam them down to an area far away
from  where you found them and use the sensor.  If it picks up nothing,
you  have  the  right  ones.   Now beam them up again and swim North to
Aquacity.   Using  the  transmitter  to  open  the doors, beam down the
packages inside the entrances to the domes.

5.  Your first priority in this assignment should be to swim north and
locate  the  HOMING  BEACON  and  PROPULSION UNIT.  These are virtually
indispensible  in  this  assignment  and  others.   Then use the homing
beacon  to  find  the  fish.   BEAM  THE  FISH UP, do not release it by
turning your transmitter on.

6.   This is the most frustrating of all the assignments.  You have to
find  12  independently  moving spheres and beam them up to the ship in
the alloted time.  Just a matter of carefully and efficiently searching
the seabed.  Use RUF to help you find them.

7.   After  you  land, swim south to the area the "mystery ally" tells
you  to  and  take the equipment.  It will help you later.  The rest of
the  assignment  is  a matter of isolating the bomb, finding the shield
and beaming the shield over the bomb.

8.   First,  gather  the  recorders,  then  shoot the power generator.
After  that,  it is just a matter of wiping out all of the equipment in
the area.

9.   The bouy marker for this assignment should be in the hold of your
ship when you leave.

10.  On the seabed you will find 2 columns.  Swim BETWEEN them and the
stations  will  shut down.  Destroy each part of all the krill stations
and you will have completed the assignment.

11.   In the North East part of the target area you should find a Comm
Dish, beam it up and then swim toward the psychotransmitter (RUF should
be  able  to find it).  When ART tells you to, beam the Comm dish down.
It will disrupt the signal to RUF2.

12.   As  you  swim,  you will eventually discover a map in the target
area.  It will blow up into six pieces.  In order to complete this one,
find the various pieces of the map and beam them up.

13.   After  you  are captured by Slingjaw, he will release you.  When
you  see  all  of the images of him, look very carefully at the band of
lights  that are right along his neck.  One of them will be the inverse
of the others.  This is the one to shoot with your weapon.  After that,
it is just a matter of destroying the pumps.

14.  If you swim toward the northward objects, you will encounter your
Arch  Foe.  Surface immediately.  Read the information ART provides and
return  to  the  same  area.   QUICKLY shoot at the small transport/pod
vehicle as much as possible.  You will eventually disable it.  Now swim
to  the  center  of  the collection of objects and you will find a Comm
dish.  Use your transmitter to jam it's signal and you're done.

AN AFTERTHOUGHT My complaint about interactive fiction/movies/whatever
has  always been that they lack true literary value.  Most of them tend
to center on shoot-em-up strategies or complex and frustrating puzzles.
Seldom do they try to have a moral or make a statement.  My praises for
Atlantis  rest in the fact that- for a change- this story seems to have
something  to  SAY.   And while you still have plenty of opportunity to
destroy  crabbots  along the way as well as figure out the significance
of  objects  such  as  the  columns,  the story makes a statement about
mankind,  nature and his relationship with both land, sea, and himself.
It  is  my  hope  that EA and other developers will look to this in the
future when considering appropriate themes for their gaming software.

If  you  have  any  other  questions  about this game or would like to
discuss it, please feel free to contact me.