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- ECSTATICA
- ---------
-
- For the love of one
- shall briefly disclose the matters of mine
- which the Ancients do Alcamye call
- or others, Alchemy.
- Wherefore, it is here, understand you shall,
- this wonderful art and gift of the Almighty
- which was never found by labour of man,
- but it, by teaching or revelation began.
-
- He, and more surely she, so as I find,
- of noble mind, who
- searched nature will find this art,
- in manner of physik
- and magic natural.
- But
- all these writings are very dark
- despise all books and them defy
- wherein is nothing but recipe and accipe.
- Few learned men within this realm
- can tell thee aright what I do mean;
- I could never find man but one,
- which could teach me the secret of Alcamye
- and that was the old man on the close of Tirich,
- the guardian of our castle.
-
- This olde philosopher wise
- by wey of kind in sundry wise
- a deamon made prisoner
- of the stone circle.
- This devil, one of the worst, so as I finde,
- through our craft only could be defeated
- the nature of evil
- both in substance and figure.
-
- But teacheth the great worke
- a foule labour,
- not fit for lesser men or women,
- in which is found great travail
- with many perils and many a faille.
-
- Whomsoever thou art that presumest to dive
- into the fountain of work and hopes to obtain
- by ambitious enterprise,
- the reward of our arte,
- I tell thee by the eternal creator
- for a truth, for all truth
- being small is going far.
-
- If thou keep thy secrets in store unto thy shelve
- thou hast conquered the power
- and all the devils thou holdyst at will,
- maybe
- for wise men done say store is no sore,
- but women know more...
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- Ecstatica, 928 AD
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-
- A prelude...
- ------------
-
- I started out on my journey in good spirits, riding through the
- lowlands and enjoying the solitude, as my horses hooves beat out a
- relaxing rhythm. Finding a waterfall above a deep pool I swam and
- refreshed myself, stretching out in the afternoon sun to dry.
- Perhaps we lingered too long though....
- Trying to make up time, I pushed my stallion hard....too hard, and the
- rough country and burning heat took it's toll on horse and rider.
- Travelling through this part of the country is a demanding experience,
- treacherous mountain paths criss-cross endlessly, and more experienced
- riders than me have become hopelessly lost. The sun was starting its
- descent as we rode past a monastery, the twilight engulfing us in
- disturbing shadows. In the deepeing gloom we found ourselves
- at a cross-roads just outside a small village....
- It had seemed the right thing to do at the time. With darkness falling,
- water and shelter were needed.
- The village was on the far side of a small bridge. A short distance to
- travel, for sure, but as I crossed that bridge, the atmosphere seemed
- to change, as quickly as a thunderstorm can turn the weather on a
- summer's day. On reaching the other side, I could feel that something
- was amiss....
- Everything was still, and quiet as the grave. There were no children
- playing, no women cooking an evening meal, no men joking and laughing
- on the way home from the tavern.... what could be wrong?
- A shop to my right looks harmless enough, but why is the door hanging
- from its hinges and what are those foul scrawls daubed on the walls?
- What the... Oh my god........
-
-
- An objective...
- ---------------
-
- You have arrived in a village that seems to be deserted. However,
- you'll soon discover that first appearences can be very deceptive.
- The village of Tirich is under the influence of dark, supernatural
- forces that have manifested themselves in a menagerie of ghouls and
- demons.
- Your survival depends upon your ability to discover why strange
- creatures prowl otherwise peaceful streets. You must free Tirich from
- this unholy spell, or perish trying. A diary may provide some clues as
- to why these fearful events have come to pass, and that's as good a
- place as any to begin your quest...
-
-
- Installation:
- -------------
-
- Place disk 1 in your diskdrive. Type the letter of your diskdrive
- followed by a colon and press Enter e.g. A: <enter>
- Type INSTALL and press ENTER
- Follow the on screen instructions.
- Select a sound card from the list of supported cards.
- Select the directory that you want the game to install to e.g.
- default C:\ECSTATIC.
- Once installed, the game will be immediately playable.
- In order to play the game on future occasions, you must make the
- installed directory the current directory e.g. cd C:\ECSTATIC. Then
- type ECSTATIC and press ENTER.
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- In game options:
- ----------------
-
- At any point in the game you can press escape to access the in game
- options. A pop up menu with the following choices will appear on
- the screen:
-
- [Start Game (male)] - restarts the game from the beginning
- [Start Game (female)] - restarts the game from the beginning
- [Save Game] - Gives you ten slots in which you can save a game
- [Load Game] - Enables you to select any of the saved game
- [Options] - Selecting this will let you access another on screen menu
- with the following choices:
- Turn [music] on and off
- Turn [sound effects] on and off
- Turn [subtitles] on and off
- If you wish to alter the sound card settings then key in the following
- commands:
- Make the installed directory the current directory (e.g. cd
- C:\ECSTATIC). Type SETUP and press ENTER. You can then choose from the
- list of soundcards. The game will then play with the new settings.
-
-
- Controls:
- ---------
-
- Ecstatica's controls, via the numeric keypad on your keyboard, remain
- consistent throughout the game.
- You can move your character forwards in the direction that he/she is
- facing, via the '8' key, regardless of which viewing perspective the
- in-game editor editor offers you. (i.e., regardless of whether you are
- moving into, or out of, the screen).
- The keypad controls via the numeric keypad:
- 1 - Pick up, or put down, an object with your left hand (note that
- your character one object in either hand at any one time)
- 2 - Walk backwards
- 3 - Pick up, or put down an object with your right hand
- 4 - Turn left
- 5 - Dodge
- 6 - Turn right
- 7 - Hit with the left hand (or held object/weapon etc.)
- 8 - Walk forwards
- 9 - Hit with the right hand (object/weapon etc.)
- Your character's movement modes are...
- F1, F2, F3, F4 - Stealth (very useful for sneaking past enemies who
- are best not disturbed...)
- F5, F6, F7, F8 - Walk (quicker than stealth, but not too fast for
- comfort)
- F9, F10, F11, F12 - Run (might just get you out of trouble, but be
- careful you don't simply run out of the frying pan and into the fire)
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- Credits:
- --------
-
- Programming Andrew Spencer
- Animation & Story Alain Maindron
- Producer Greg Duddle
- Music & Sound Effects PC Music
- Sound Co-ordination Phil Morris
- Voice Characterisation Sharon Ashton
- Russ Lane
- Kevin McMahon
- Product Manager Pat Cain
- Public Relations Mark Blewitt
- Gleon O'Connel
- Packaging & Manual Design Keith Hopwood
- Mark Day
- Packaging & Manial Words Mark Day
- Huw Thomas
- Playtesters Paul Charsley
- Paul Holmes
- Jenny Newby
- Gary Nichols
- System Designed By Andrew Spencer
- Directed By Andrew Spencer
- Alain Maindron
- Illustration By Carl Critchlow
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- Typed in by PADISHAR CREEL
-