a labyrinth of doors:
should I use a key? No, Wait!
I'll use a bottle
Additional Comments:
And now for something completely different.
Different indeed! While toying around with various Intellivision emulators in my attempt to finish up Advanced Dungeons & Dragons since my actual Intellivision and TV don't care to communicate, I found myself looking through some of the more obscure emulators I've managed to collect over the years. I had gotten a hold of a couple emulators for the Amstrad CPC computer system and have been eager to try some games out but I've never had luck getting any of them to work. Much like the games offered on the Commodore 64, I was both mesmerized by the primitive graphics and the incredible soundtracks that graced any number of CPC games as seen in a variety of YouTube videos I perused out of curiosity.
Sorcery just so happened to be a game I picked out of pure happenstance to test out some CPC emulators. Turns out, after poking around on the net for information on the game, that its highly praised by fans of CPC gaming. Lucky pick, I suppose. Perhaps I should take up the lottery. The copy I found had a few POKEs, essentially cheats for us console laymen, pre-installed. Not knowing what the questions were in reference to, since they were in either Spanish or Portuguese - it escapes me at the moment - I randomly hit yes or no. Though, truth be told, I feel a bit silly admitting as such since I realized after the fact, and once I got a few minutes of gameplay under my belt, that the questions weren't all that difficult to translate. This is, of course, flagrantly disregarding any use of Google Translate I could have taken advantage of should it be of such concern.
While simple enough, Sorcery is a confusing blend of puzzles and level navigation. Haphazardly turning certain POKEs on only makes matters worse. The true purpose of well over half the items escaped me while I finagled my way past creepy denizens with unintended invincibility. Only the vast array of locked doors and hatches curbed my magical adventure. The thing is, I wasn't exactly aware that I had cheats set up, which only intensified my confusion over what I saw on screen. The idea of integrated POKEs was completely foreign to me and I never imagined I had the ability to turn on full cheats at the drop of a hat. But after some further research and full translation of the POKEs menu, I finally had a grip on reality - or at least the reality of what Sorcery's all about.
A few weeks later and armed with a better understanding of its mechanics, I stepped back into the CPC arena. POKEs eliminated, I plunged ahead looking forward to experiencing the game for what it really is. After all, though my initial foray was mired in epic confusion, I enjoyed my miniature adventure piloting the lone sorcerer around a magical kingdom filled with strange retro computer wonders. I saw hope in this game and had every desire to return for a full playthrough. And though I may be ignorant or inexperienced in the ways of computer gaming from yesteryear - or any year for that matter - I could see why Sorcery was held in high regard. Despite its primitiveness, the game immediately grabbed me as a fun, yet quirky, little puzzle platformer.
But alas, even with my newfound knowledge, Sorcery is a bewildering door maze that calls for run after hopeless run of trial and error. Other than a couple obvious clues, it's a total crapshoot as far as how and where a majority of the items are used. So, it wasn't just the unbeknownst cheats that affected this convoluted labyrinth of doors and keys. Do I use a key or a bottle? Ok, keys are for doors and bottles are for hatches. No, wait. Keys are for hatches and bottles are for doors? No. Sometimes keys are for both doors and hatches, but so are bottles? What the fuck is going on!? After multiple, and I mean multiple, attempts, I still don't know what locked apertures use keys and which use bottles. Who the heck opens a door with a bottle anyway?
Honestly, I expected to suffer through numerous runs as I slowly learned what magical items were required to unlock my imprisoned wizard brethren, but the whole keys/bottles ordeal actually proved to be my bane. Unlocking the wizards, though suffering from umpteen runs of trial and error in and of itself, were at least easy to eventually memorize. Ah! I use the chalice in the chateau, the goblet in the wastelands, and so on. But I'll be damned if I can memorize all of those mundane portals spread throughout the lands. Sheesh. I found myself wasting an incalculable amount of time traversing the kingdom in search for keys or bottles because apparently my initial intuition was wrong.
Confusion aside, Sorcery is still a brilliant game. And let's be honest: modern gaming has spoiled us with unnecessary hand holding to the point where we expect the answer to be as plain as day. It's difficult to look at a lot of these old games with the required detachment from modern philosophies. While toying around with CPC emulators as well as a few other old computer emus, I stumbled across a copy of Zork, one of the very first computer games I remember playing that wasn't Oregon Trail or Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? The old text adventures are a perfect example of the old school philosophy of throwing you out to the wolves. Can you survive? Here's a hint book that contains literally no hints - good luck! Sorcery raises the same old school gaming survivalist tactics that we all once loved and accepted but now abhor and punish with slanderous commentary. Yikes! That's me! Damn you, modern gaming industry!
But I find it wrong to disparage Sorcery for its required investigative workload. After all, that's what the entire game is built around. I just wish I had confidence in my key ring. Hate to be a jailer in that kingdom. I'd have to lug around a crate of bottles, shields, and a fleur de lys. Try hanging all of that around your belt loop. No wonder the player can only haul around a single object at any given time.
There is one minor detail that agitated me on each and every attempt - besides the whole key/bottle debacle. I'm well aware that every rescued sorcerer stands waiting within the final room, but I really wish they had placed a counter somewhere on the HUD showing either how many compatriots have been rescued or remain imprisoned. Along with wasting precious book eating moments finding the appropriate device to unlock a door, I often found myself wasting time running back and forth between the Sanctuary and some obscure corner of the kingdom because I realized I miscounted how many prison breaks I successfully orchestrated until it was too late. The final words of the great tome of life would crumble away and I'd find myself wallowing in my own failings.
It may be short and simple, but Sorcery requires a good deal of memorization - be it the required unlocking devices at any given moment, how many fellow wizards I've freed, or whether or not I've unlocked that one trap door before venturing out to the great stone henge. Yep, memorization...memorization and a steady hand to ensure our magical hero doesn't drown in the icy depths of every lake in the kingdom. Boy howdy, did some of those lakes ever infuriate me. Keep hovering, you stupid magical twat. Is it really that difficult? Apparently for me, yes, it is.
Nevertheless, I loved Sorcery, and I've read the sequel only improved the already great gameplay. Sorcery also introduced me to the wonderful world of Amstrad, and I'm looking forward to unearthing other marvels penned for such archaic machinery. And since I'm on the subject, I know I've always ragged on or belittled PC games in general, but I do have a warm appreciation for the various old dinosaurs. In some respects, I think I have my old Apple II to thank for that. A bit depressing to think what may have come of it - scrap most likely. But with gems like Sorcery, I'm all the more eager to try out some of the old, forgotten games little known by those of us who were steeped in console gaming.
Rating: 4 sorcerers with mundane, workaday names out of 5
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