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thevalleyarchive · 5 years ago

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A Warm Embrace

Beaujester AU where Jester is a crime princess raised by the Gentleman and Beau wasn’t sent to the Cobalt Soul - her family just kicked her out. Beau has nowhere to go - but she does have a certain set of skills.

The door slammed in Beau’s face with all the force and finality of the lid of a coffin. There had never been much warmth for her in her father’s house, but it was only now that that door had shut that Beau realized just how cold the rainy Kamordah evening was. She stood for another long moment on the porch, shivering, as her father’s last words rang through her entire being. Then she turned and walked into the drizzle, away from the house that was no longer her home. Had never been her home. The rain pelted her, rivulets of clear liquid running down face. It was only rain that ran down her face. She wiped it away, but the rain kept coming, and it was hard to see through all the water in her eyes.

She only paused for a moment between the door of the house and the gate of the Lionett estate as she made her departure. Her father may have caught her in the act of selling his wine illegally, but he hadn’t asked her where she kept her stash. She flipped over a large rock along the path and retrieved four bottles of his finest, most valued stock. At least this way he’d be losing something he cared about. With the bottles safely secured in her rucksack, she finished her exit. The guards at the gate were stone-faced as she passed. She couldn’t see their faces, but she knew. She knew that there was definitely no pity. Beau hated pity. She didn’t need it. And she didn’t look at their faces.

The main road was mud, rapidly turning to a dirty soup, but Beau plowed through it as she made her way to the Dusty Lion inn. It wasn’t the largest bar in town, or the nicest or the cleanest or the safest. That’s why she did most of her business there. The kind of people who went to the Dusty Lion needed contacts, people who could get them cheap goods and services. People who didn’t or couldn’t care about how those things were acquired. Only the wicked and desperate called on that place. So Beau stepped beneath its cracked and greying sign and pushed through the mud-encrusted door.

A wall of warmth greeted her, the warmth of a badly smoking fire and dozens of grubby bodies shoved together in close quarters. It was a warmth that grasped and pulled, that raked over her body like the shifty eyes of the strangers who turned to see who had arrived. No familiar faces. Beau’s heart sunk. With the weather so bad and the bar so unusually full, she’d been sure there would be someone there that she’d done business with before. She squared her shoulders and shoved through towards the bar. She’d make a new contact if she needed to, then. She was fucking personable. She sat down at the bar and caught the bartender’s eye. “Whisky,” she said, in what she hoped was a friendly and casual tone. The small man’s eyes widened in fear and he hurried to pour her a drink. Fuck.

Beau downed the whiskey in one swallow and shuddered as it burned down her throat. She glanced at the bartender, who was still looking at her nervously. Fuck it. “More,” she barked at him, and turned to take a closer look at the crowd as he hastened to fill her glass. Lots of out of towners, a few local crooks, that wasn’t surprising. A few lawful citizens of Kamordah – that was surprising. Beau guessed the rain must’ve overridden their concern about rubbing shoulders with lowlifes like her. Still no one she knew she could sell to. She raised her newly filled whiskey to her lips to take a drink, then paused as the opening door caught her attention. A hooded figure in a green cloak stepped in from the rain, followed by much shorter figure in a grey cloak. Beau cocked her head. It almost looked like the taller figure had blue skin. Who fucking has blue skin?

As Beau looked on, her suspicion was confirmed – and then some – as the figure pushed back her hood, revealing a young tiefling woman – with blue skin yes, but also blue hair, and eyes that lay somewhere between blue and violet. Her face was wide, with high cheekbones, a mouth that seemed almost permanently upturned into a smile, and a splash of freckles across her cheeks. She looked altogether too sweet and innocent for a place like this. On another night, maybe Beau would walk up and introduce herself with a wink and a smirk, but that kind of thought couldn’t be farther from her mind right now. She downed her drink and turned her attention to the shorter figure. A halfling, by the look of him, with dark hair. Not someone she knew, but he did appear to have a pretty good collection of tattoos, and that was just what she could see while he was cloaked. Maybe a good person to try. Beau was just considering her approach when there was loud bang, and all the windows in the bar flew open.

The room was immediately thrown into darkness as the bitter wind rushed into the bar, carrying with it the chill and wet of the world outside. A cacophony of disgruntled swearing rose up from the patrons and joined the whistling howl of the wind swirling through the air. It was in turn joined by another sound, a sound like high sweet laughter, a laugh of giddy joy and simple delight. The fuck? Beau looked around for its source, but the bar was dark, and she couldn’t see a damn thing. Stupid fucking human eyes. Then, with another cacophonous crash, the windows slammed shut, and it was quiet again. Beau turned back towards the bar, and saw the bartender about to hurry off, carrying oil and flint to relight the room. “Hey hey hey,” Beau barked at him, locking eyes on him and pointing at her empty glass. “More.” He paused, looking at her with something nasty in his eyes, but she stared him down. Fucking try me tonight. Her thought must’ve shown on her face, because he scowled at her before quickly pouring her a drink and hurrying away. “Thank you!” Beau called after him, a sharp smile on her face.

As she sipped her drink and the light creeped back into the room, Beau gave a quick glance around, looking for that halfling again. Her search ended rapidly, though, when her eyes caught on a familiar figure, sitting alone at a table in the corner. She must’ve missed him in the bustle earlier, but now that the weirdness with the windows had drawn the crowd in closer to the bar, Beau had a clear line of sight to the blond human man. His name was Marillius, and he was a wine seller that operated out of Rexxentrum. She and Tori had done business with him a few times – he was always delighted to buy fine Lionett wine at such a ridiculously low price. She hadn’t seen him since she and Tori had been caught, though. Hopefully that wouldn’t spook him. Beau waited. After a few seconds, Marillius looked up from his plate and saw her looking at him. Beau raised her glass to him with the same sharp smile still on her face, and flicked her head towards the empty barstool next to her. Marillius narrowed his eyes, then stood, smoothing his clothes, and carefully made his way to the bar.

“Marillius! How you been, man?” called Beau as he approached.

“Wet,” said Marillius dryly as he took the seat next to her. He smelled of grapes and perfume. Beau wrinkled her nose. “Do you have something for me?” he asked. His eyes narrowed even further. “Where is your friend?”

Beau took a drink. Her smile stayed fixed and her eyes stayed hard. “As to the second question, you’d know better than me. Isn’t Rexxentrum where the nearest prison is?” She paused for a moment to give him a chance to express insincere sympathies.

Marillius said nothing.

Beau continued, “As to the first question, what I have for you here are four bottles of the finest Lionett reserves.” That got his attention.

“You have these bottles with you, I take it?” said Marillius, looking at Beau shrewdly.

Beau unslung her rucksack and removed one bottle and handed it to him to inspect. The red wine within sloshed slightly. “Give it a look, but be careful with it. That’s liquid gold you’re holding.”

Marillius gave it a long, careful look, swirling it gently as he did. “Yes, I daresay it is,” he said finally, setting the bottle down carefully. “Will you be wanting the usual price for it, then?”

“That, and one other thing,” said Beau, leaning forward. “I want a job. I want you to take me with you to Rexxentrum.”

The words hung in the air for a long minute as Marillius looked at her with undisguised incredulity and suspicion. “Why on earth would you want to work for me in Rexxentrum?” he asked, with a tone that made Beau grind her teeth. “You have a very lucrative operation going here.”

“Not anymore.” Beau leaned back and downed the last of her drink. “Dad kicked me out. Cut me off. These bottles are the last of it.”

“I see.” Marillion’s eyes bored into her. “Then why on earth would I want to take you with me?”

“What?” Beau furrowed her brow, confused. And maybe, she realized, a little bit drunk. “I’m a fucking phenomenal fence. Or smuggler. Or whatever. I get you good fucking things at a good fucking price.”

“Here, maybe. But you’re a little girl stealing from her daddy’s winery.” His mockery burrowed into her. “That’s a far sight different than being a reliable supplier or acquirer. You were a contact,” he said, his voice dripping with disdain, “And a contact without connections is of no value to me. I’ll buy those bottles from you – I’ll give you a few extra gold on each, even. But after that, I see no value in prolonging our association.” Marillion produced a purse from his belt and held it out towards Beau.

Blood pounded in her head. Beau looked from the bulging bag of coins to the smug, condescending face of the man holding it, and had to fight the urge to sink her fist into his stupid fucking nose. “Fuck you,” she spat.

“Hmph.” Marillion’s arm withdrew, and the bag of coins vanished. He stood and brushed off his clothes. “Good evening, Beauregard,” he said, and he walked away.

Beau turned to the bartender and shoved her empty glass toward him. “More!” she yelled, the words ripping at her throat. He filled the glass quickly, and just as quickly she emptied it. Her head spun, filled with whisky and rage and something sharper, some yawning oblivion of terror that threatened to swallow her. There was no way out. Who would take her with them? Marillion was right, she was just a spoiled brat playing at crime who’d gotten slapped on the wrist and run off crying. Who would want to hire someone so pathetic? She looked at the bottle of wine still resting on the bar top.

It’d have to be the wine, she realized. She hadn’t been exaggerating – the fine stock she’d taken was more than worth its weight in gold. If she sold it to a legitimate buyer, she could get much more money than Marillion had offered, more than enough to… to…

To what? To build a life? Doing what? Beau didn’t know. And what kind of life would that be, given to her by her dad’s wine money? Beau looked again at the bottle, and the hatred and indignation at that thought swelled up in her, more powerful than fear or anger or humiliation. She seized the bottle up and ripped the cork from its mouth. She raised it to her lips and poured, filling her mouth with liquid that was sweet and rich and dry and sour, pouring the entirety of it into herself, into the gaping maw in her chest to be destroyed. For a moment it felt like it would fill her, like the swirling, warm liquid pumping into her throat was about to coalesce into… something. And then it was empty, and she felt the last gulp in her mouth, red and warm as blood, and she swallowed, and the bottle crashed to the ground and shattered as her head swirled and swam. She leaned forward and felt something warm and wet running down her cheeks. Definitely wine.

A voice spoke up behind her and she jumped. It was a low voice, gruff and smooth and clever, nothing like her dad’s. She angrily wiped her eyes and turned to see the halfling man she’d noticed earlier, his hood down, his hair spiky and somewhat disheveled. Behind him, the tiefling girl leaned against the bar as the bartender searched under it for a bottle. For a moment, Beau thought she saw a paintbrush in the girl’s hand, but that was ridiculous. There was graffiti all over this place, and surely that dick drawing had always been there. And that caricature of the bartender. And that unicorn…?

“Well?” asked the halfling, and Beau snapped out of her trance.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” she asked, her voice thick.

“I said that I saw that man tried to cheat you on those wine bottles, and that I wanted to offer you a better price. You were smart not to take a deal that shitty,” said the man. “Though it wasn’t very smart to drink one of them.”

“Yeah, that’s me,” said Beau. “I’m just so fucking smart. What’s your name?”

“Thed,” said Thed. “And you can call her-“

“I’m the Sapphire!” said the tiefling brightly, stepping up next to Thed. She extended one hand towards Beau to shake. In her other hand she held a glass of milk.

Beau took her hand hesitantly. She had the odd urge to bow and kiss one of the gaudy rings the girl was wearing on her outstretched hand, but she gave it a firm shake instead. “Do they call you that because you’re pretty and blue?”

“That’s exactly why they call me that!” the Sapphire beamed.

Thed stepped between them, giving Beau a look that she’d probably recognize if she were less drunk, but that just seemed generically unpleasant right now. “About your wine-“

Beau interrupted him. “Where are you from, Thed?”

“A fence should know better than to ask those kinds of questions,” Thed said with a hint of warning.

“But are you from a big city?” asked Beau. Her words were beginning to slur a bit.

“One of the biggest,” Thed responded. “Why?”

Beau looked at him as steadily as she could manage. “You can have the bottles, free of charge. A gift for you, or your boss, if you have one. But I want you to take me with you. And I want a job.”

Thed looked taken aback. “You don’t even know what we do.”

“Doesn’t matter to me,” said Beau, “I just want out of this stupid fucking town. And besides, you want someone like me working for you.” Marillion’s stupid, condescending face swam in front of her vision. “I’m fucking good at finding things. Getting people things they want.”

Thed looked at Beau closely, sizing her up. “I don’t make the decisions about who works with me,” he said after a long moment, “But if you’re serious, I’ll take you to my boss, and see what he thinks. I can’t promise more than that.”

“Don’t worry though!” said the Sapphire excitedly. “He’s going to love you. Like, I just met you, and you already seem so cool.”

Beau smiled. With relief, with satisfaction, at the ridiculousness of the girl standing in front of her. “Thanks, Sapphire.”

“Well of course!” said the Sapphire. “What’s your name?” she asked.

“Beau.”

“It’s nice to meet you Beau,” said the Sapphire. “Do you have a place to stay for the night? Because we have two rooms! You can stay with Thed, he won’t mind!”

Thed’s face seemed to fill with exhaustion as he heard this. “No, I won’t mind at all,” he said with just a hint of exasperation.

Beau thought for a moment. Her impulse was to say no, to sleep out in the mud and the rain, but the Sapphire had offered so sweetly, and Thed so clearly hated the idea, that Beau found herself saying the words, “That sounds great.”

“Great!” said the Sapphire, and she and Thed stepped away from the bar, towards the stairs. Beau made to follow them, but she was stopped by the sound of the bartender clearing his throat.

Beau turned back towards him. He held out a hand. “If you’re done for the night, pay up,” he said.

Beau reached for her purse. She’d taken a few gold from the house when her dad kicked her out. As her fingers followed her purse strings, though, they grasped on empty air. Her purse had been cut.

She was fumbling for an excuse, when the voice of the Sapphire cut through her fog. “Don’t worry, we’ll cover her,” the Sapphire said to the bartender.

Thed let out a grunt of annoyance. “Sapphire, we don’t need to pay for this tagalong! We’re already giving her a free place to sleep for the night!”

The Sapphire gave him a look of reproach. “We can pay for four whiskeys, Thed,” she said. “What can that cost? 5 platinum?” And to Beau’s astonishment, the Sapphire produced five shining platinum coins from somewhere beneath her cloak and pressed them into the bartender’s fingers, which had gone limp in astonishment.

The Sapphire gave Beau a smile, so filled with warmth Beau almost wanted to cry. “Come on upstairs!” And with that, the Sapphire flounced away, up the stairs and out of sight. Beau and Thed followed. They arrived on a landing and stopped walking at the doors to two adjacent rooms. The Sapphire vanished into one of them, poking her head out just long enough to shout “Goodnight!” before slamming the door. Thed turned to Beau and awkwardly gestured her into the other one. Beau entered, and Thed followed behind, closing the door. He turned towards her.

“Before you head off to your beauty sleep, and to the monster of a hangover waiting for you in the morning, I’ll take those bottles,” he said, extending a hand.

Beau unslung her rucksack and passed it over to him. “Take care of those,” she warned, her head swimming as she collapsed down onto the bed. “Those are for your boss. I want to make a good impression.”

Thed chuckled. “I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” he said. “The boss prefers to work with a certain kind of person. He’ll be happy to see that you’ve brought many gifts.”

I’ll be posting this to AO3 as soon as I get an account, and I plan to update weekly. Check back for a link in a few days, or follow my blog and I’ll make a post about it.

UPDATE: Link now posted on my blog, in my blog description, and in a comment on this post!

#critcal role #mighty nein #beaujester #beaujes #lavorregard #fic #critical role fic #beauregard lionett #jester lavorre

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nubis84 · 8 years ago

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Mis canciones favoritas de todos los tiempos

No sé si es que he estado leyendo mucho al crítico Piero Scaruffi pero me ha dado y he creado, con ayuda de mi perfil de Last.fm, un listado de mis canciones favoritas de todos los tiempos. Es una lista subjetiva, guiada por la emoción. Espero os guste y encontréis algún tema que también acabe siendo de vuestros favoritos:

1. Child in Time de Deep Purple 2. Souvenirs D’un Autre Monde de Alcest 3. The Musical Box de Genesis 4. Fake PlasticTrees de Radiohead 5. The Start of Something Beautiful de Porcupine Tree 6. Pictures of You de The Cure 7. Let Down de Radiohead 8. High Hopes de Pink Floyd 9. Untitled 8 (Poplagid) de SigurRós 10. Gloomy Sunday de RezsoSeress 11. Trains de Porcupine Tree 12. Hoppípolla de SigurRós 13. Time de Pink Floyd 14. Lateralus de Tool 15. Roads de Portishead 16. Stranger in your Soul de Transatlantic 17. Bird Girl de Antony and the Johnsons 18. When My Guitar Gently Weeps de The Beatles 19. Neverland de Marillion 20. Conceiving You de Riverside 21. I Believe de Riverside 22. Midnight City de M83 23. East Hastings de Godspeed You! Black Emperor 24. Cripple and the Starfish de Antony and the Johnsons 25. Cloudbusting de Kate Bush 26. Nights in White Satin de The Moody Blues 27. Happy Returns de Steven Wilson 28. Money de Pink Floyd 29. Welcome to the Machine de Pink Floyd 30. Burden de Opeth 31. Hallelujah de Jeff Buckley 32. My Gift of Silence de Blackfield 33. Ready to Start de Arcade Fire 34. Una Mattina de Ludovico Einaudi 35. Echoes de Pink Floyd 36. The Perfect Element de Pain of Salvation 37. Reckoner de Radiohead 38. Let it Happen de Tame Impala 39. And You and I de Yes 40. The Lake de Antony and the Johnsons 41. LàoúNaissent les CouleursNouvelles de Alcest 42. In the Air Tonight de Phil Collins 43. Man with a Harmonica de EnnioMorricone 44. A Day in the Life de The Beatles 45. The Sciencist de Coldplay 46. Untouchable, Part 1 de Anathema 47. Yellow de Coldplay 48. Five Miles Out de Mike Oldfield 49. After de Riverside 50. Revolution de The Beatles 51. Violet Hill de Coldplay 52. I.V. de X-Japan 53. Summer de Antonio Vivaldi 54. All the Blue Changes de No-Man 55. Computer Love de Kraftwerk 56. Andvari de SigurRós 57. Autre Temps de Alcest 58. Hyperballad de Björk 59. Alice de Tom Waits 60. Lovesong de The Cure 61. Fade into You de Mazzy Star 62. Are You There? de Mono 63. Here Comes the Sun de The Beatles 64. Apprentice of the Universe de Pure Reason Revolution 65. Sometime World de Wishbone Ash 66. Shesmovedon de Porcupine Tree 67. All Along the Watchtower de Jimi Hendrix 68. The Pot de Tool 69. A Natural Disaster de Anathema 70. Flying de Anathema 71. Hrafntinna de SigurRós 72. The Wind Blew Them All Away de Transatlantic 73. Exile Vilify de The National 74. Deep de Anathema 75. Ænima de Tool 76. 46&2 de Tool 77. Stinkfist de Tool 78. Unravel de Björk 79. Wait de M83 80. Hey Joe de Jimi Hendrix 81. Disarm de The Smashing Pumpkins 82. Animal Instinct de The Cranberries 83. Babe I’m Gonna Leave You de Led Zeppelin 84. 21st Century Schizoid Man de King Crimson 85. Hallowed Be Thy Name de Iron Maiden 86. Heaven & Hell de Black Sabbath 87. Clocks de Coldplay 88. Flesh without Blood de Grimes 89. Karma de Kamelot 90. Egypt (The Chains are On) de Dio 91. Forgotten Land de Riverside 92. One de U2 93. Grace de Jeff Buckley 94. Schism de Tool 95. Hunted by a Freak de Mogwai 96. Second Life Syndrome de Riverside 97. Life in Technicolor II de Coldplay 98. Karma Police de Radiohead 99. Learning to Live de Dream Theater 100. Eleanor Rigby de The Beatles 101. Cut the World de Antony and the Johnsons 102. Mykonos de Fleet Floxes 103. Sober de Tool 104. The Beginning and the End de Anathema 105. Carry Me Ohio de Sun Kil Moon 106. Hurt de Nine Inch Nails 107. All is Violent, All is Bright de God is an Astronaut 108. Comfortably Numb de Pink Floyd 109. March of Mephisto de Kamelot

110. Farewell de Kamelot 111. Willie the Pimp de Frank Zappa & Captain Beefheart 112. Roundabout de Yes 113. Disintegration de The Cure 114. The Fool on the Hill de The Beatles 115. Thin Air de Anathema 116. Sweet Child o’ Mine de Guns N’ Roses 117. 100 years of Choke de World’s End Girlfriend 118. Together We’re Stranger de No-Man 119. Drugged de Bass Communion 120. Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales de Car Seat Headrest 121. Out of Myself de Riverside 122. Torn de Shadow Gallery 123. BlackestEyes de PorcupineTree 124. Wings of Despair de Kamelot 125. Center of the Universe de Kamelot 126. Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) de Kate Bush 127. Ashes in the Snow de Mono 128. Dahlia de X-Japan 129. Weak and Powerless de A Perfect Circle 130. Look on Down from the Bridge de Mazzy Star 131. The Sound of Silence de Simon & Garfunkel 132. Bring It On de Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 133. Forbidden Colours de Ryuichi Sakamoto y David Sylvian 134. How to Disappear Completely de Radiohead 135. Comforting Sounds de Mew 136. Dungtitled (In A Major) de Stars of the Lid 137. A Symphony Pathetique de A Winged Victory for the Sullen 138. Wait for Sleep de Dream Theater 139. Wish You Were Here de Pink Floyd 140. Blue de A Perfect Life 141. Pass This On de The Knife 142. Free Bird de LynyrdSkynyrd 143. When the Lights Are Down de Kamelot 144. Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2 de Pink Floyd 145. Moonlight Shadow de Mike Oldfield 146. Bravo de Nacho Vegas y Enrique Bunbury 147. God Only Knows de The Beach Boys 148. No More Surprises de Radiohead 149. Theme of Laura de Akira Yamaoka 150. Mr. Tambourine de The Byrds (junto a la de Bob Dylan) 151. Holy Diver de Dio 152. Rock’ N’ Roll Children de Dio 153. Animate de Rush 154. Arriving Somewhere But not Here de Porcupine Tree 155. Anesthetize de Porcupine Tree 156. Heart of Sunrise de Yes 157. Windowpane de Opeth 158. Flume de Bon Iver 159. La Ley Innata (disco) de Extremoduro 160. Blowin’ in the Wind de Bob Dylan 161. Duel with the Devil de Transatlantic 162. Heart of Gold de Neil Young 163. Fantastic Place de Marillion 164. Angel de Massive Attack 165. Vapour Trail de Ride 166. Drive Home de Steven Wilson 167. Working Class Hero de John Lennon 168. Victim of Changes de Judas Priest 169. Blood Brothers de Iron Maiden 170. God de John Lennon 171. Otherside de Red Hot Chili Peppers 172. Graveyard Girl de M83 173. Ohio de Over the Rhine 174. In my Place de Coldplay 175. High & Dry de Radiohead 176. Such a Shame de Talk Talk 177. Sultans of Swing de Dire Straits 178. Somebody to Love de Jefferson Airplane 179. The Boxer de Simon & Garfunkel 180. Divenire de LudovicoEinaudi 181. Birthday Resistance de World’s End Girlfriend 182. Have a Cigar de Pink Floyd 183. N.I.B. de Black Sabbath 184. Roulette Dares de The Mars Volta 185. Song to the Siren de This Mortal Coil 186. The Spirit Carries On de Dream Theater 187. I Just Want to Have Something to Do de Ramones 188. There Is a Light That Never Goes Out de The Smiths 189. Second Love de Pain of Salvation 190. Limelight de Rush 191. YYZ de Rush 192. Starless de King Crimson 193. Finally Free de Dream Theater 194. Californication de Red Hot Chili Peppers 195. Let There Be Light de Mike Oldfield 196. All Mine de Portishead 197. The Package de A Perfect Circle 198. Wherever There is Light de No-Man 199. Stars Die de Porcupine Tree 200. En la Ardiente Oscuridad de Nacho Vegas 201. Venus de Theatre of Tragedy 202. A Perfect Day Elise de PJ Harvey 203. Fix You de Coldplay 204. Fight Test de The Flaming Lips 205. We are the Massacre de World’s End Girlfriend 206. What it Is de Mark Knopfler 207. Race for the Prize de The Flaming Lips 208. Near Light de ÓlafurArnalds 209. Délivrance de Alcest 210. Untouched de Alcest 211. Imagine de John Lennon 212. MalasNoticias de Los Suaves 213. Abre la Puerta de Triana 214. Findland de Cult of Luna 215. Beautiful de Marillion 216. Lovers in Japan de Coldplay 217. Trailer 3 de Mono & World’s End Girlfriend 218. Black Sabbath de Black Sabbath 219. Motorcycle Emptiness de Manic Street Preachers 220. TuFrialdad de Triana 221. Innuendo de Queen 222. Day is Done de Nick Drake 223. No Diggity de Blackstreet 224. Ain’t no Funny de Danny Brown 225. Jumpin’ Jack Flash de The Rolling Stones 226. Chove en Santiago de LuarnaLubre 227. DarkHorse de George Harrison 228. No Ordinary Love de Sade 229. Vapour Trail Lullaby de Steven Wilson/Blackfield 230. The Fountain de Pendulum 231. Viva la Vida de Coldplay 232. Bonnie the Cat de Porcupine Tree 233. Grand Piano de Nicki Minaj 234. Walk the Line de The Tallest Man on Earth 235. Black Hearted Love de PJ Harvey y John Parish 236. Parabol+Parabola de Tool 237. 4 de Aphex Twin 238. Alone in Kyoto de Air 239. Helter Skelter de The Beatles 240. Gimme Shelter de The Rolling Stones 241. California Dreamin’ de The Mamas & the Papas 242. Jeremy de Pearl Jam 243. Buying New Soul de Porcupine Tree 244. Gaia de Mägo de Oz 245. Don’t Hurt Yourself de Marillion 246. Fallen Angel de King Crimson 247. I Want You de Bob Dylan 248. Are you There? de Anathema 249. Man on the Moon de R.E.M. 250. The One I Love de R.E.M. 251. The Hand that Feeds de Nine Inch Nails 252. Lola de The Kinks 253. Midnight Black Earth de Bohren& der Club of Gore 254. LuminosaMañana de Triana 255. One Last Goodbye de Anathema 256. The Chain de Fleetwood Mac 257. Go Your Own Way de Fleetwood Mac 258. Goddess on a Hiway de Mercury Rev 259. Undenied de Portishead 260. You Never Give me your Money (Suite final de Abbey Road en general) de The Beatles 261. Your Hand in Mine de Explosions in the Sky 262. Kveikur de SigurRós 263. Forgotten Hopes de Anathema 264. To Speak of Solitude de Brambles 265. The Sound of Muzak de Porcupine Tree 266. Saeglópur de SigurRós 267. Killing All the Flies de Mogwai 268. Veneno para las Hadas de Steven Wilson 269. WarPigs de Black Sabbath 270. Fallin’ de Alicia Keys 271. FamilyMan de Mike Oldfield 272. Perth de Bon Iver 273. We Exist de Arcade Fire 274. Dirty Boots de Sonic Youth 275. Blood & Thunder de Mastodon 276. California de Mazzy Star 277. Up the Hill Backwards de David Bowie 278. 13 Angels Standing Guard ‘round the Side of your Bed de Silver Mt. Zion 279. Feel Good, Inc. de Gorillaz 280. Tomorrow Comes Today de Gorillaz 281. Blood Bank de Bon Iver 282. Back to Chapel Town de Cult of Luna 283. First Breath After Coma de The Explosions in the Sky 284. Gardenia de Kyuss 285. Asteroid de Kyuss 286. Over the Madness de Paradise Lost 287. Truenorth de No-Man 288. Kurenai de X-Japan 289. La Grange de ZZ Top 290. Bullet in the Head de Rage Agaist the Machine 291. Something de The Beatles 292. Untitled 1 (Vaka) 293. Everybody Hurts de R.E.M. 294. SpaceOddity de David Bowie 295. Prowler de Bohren& der Club of Gore 296. Iceland de Bark Cat Bark 297. Show Must Go On de Queen 298. No One Knows de Queens of the Stone Age 299. Archangel de Burial 300. Comfort Me de Shadow Gallery 301. Just Like a Woman de Bob Dylan 302. Stop Crying Your Heart Out de Oasis 303. Whole Lotta Love de Led Zeppelin 304. See Emily Plays de Pink Floyd 305. Feel So Low de Blackfield/Porcupine Tree 306. Sledgehammer de Peter Gabriel 307. Monkey Gone to Heaven de The Pixies 308. 180db_ de Aphex Twin 309. Big Exit de PJ Harvey 310. Hurt de Johnny Cash 311. Spark de Over the Rhine 312. Riders on the Storm de The Doors 313. One Last Time de Dream Theater 314. Spinning de Transatlantic 315. Highway Star de Deep Purple 316. No Part of Me de Steven Wilson 317. Angelene de PJ Harvey 318. If You Tolerate this your Children will be Next de Manic Street Preachers 319. Southern Man de Neil Young 320. Old Man de Neil Young 321. Runaway de The National 322. Nine Cats de Porcupine Tree 323. Penny Lane de The Beatles 324. Ride On de Cruachan 325. Simple Man de LynyrdSkynyrd 326. Dancing with the Moonlit Knight de Genesis 327. Colours de Airbag 328. Twilight of the Thunder God de AmonAmarth 329. Feedbacker, Part 2 de Boris 330. Tempest de Deftones 331. The Outsider de A Perfect Circle 332. Días Extraños de Nacho Vegas y Enrique Bunbury 333. Should I Stay or Should I Go de The Clash 334. Red Eyes de The War on Drugs 335. Another World de Antony and the Johnsons 336. For Emma de Bon Iver 337. Skinny Love de Bon Iver 338. Beth/Rest de Bon Iver 339. What is Life de George Harrison 340. No More Tears de OzzyOsbourne 341. Yoshimi Battle the Pink Robots Pt. 1 de The Flaming Lips 342. A Lifetime of Adventure de TuomasHolopainen 343. Thinkin Bout You de Frank Ocean 344. Twilight de Antony and the Johnsons 345. Hello de Blackfield 346. Rain de The Beatles 347. Voodo Child (Slight Return) 348. ÖngyikosVasárnap de Venetian Snares 349. Grease de Frankie Valli 350. Noon de Alva Noto + RyuichiSakamoto 351. Cherry-Coloured Funk de Cocteau Twins 352. Change (In the House of Flies) de Deftones 353. The Whirlwind de Transatlantic 354. April de Akira Kosemura 355. Veteran of the Psychic Wars de Blue Öyster Club 356. Smooth Operator de Sade 357. The Model de Kraftwerk 358. The Host of Seraphim de Dead Can Dance 359. Further on up the Road de Johnny Cash 360. Motherload de Mastodon 361. Accelerate de Susanne Sundfor 362. I am the Highway de Audioslave 363. You Know my Name de Chris Cornell 364. Thank You de Steven Wilson 365. Dream On de Dio y YngwieMalmsteen 366. Fly de LudovicoEinaudi 367. Room of Angel de Akira Yamaoka 368. Angels Walk Among Us de Anathema 369. Aqualung de JethroTull 370. Last Goodbye de Jeff Buckley 371. A Whiter Shade of Pale de ProcolHarum 372. I Want You (She’s so Heavy) de The Beatles 373. Because de The Beatles 374. Leaves de HalaStrana 375. Ghosts I See de Shamrain 376. Hopes Leaves de Opeth 377. Luka de Suzanne Vega 378. Jesus Christ de Brand New 379. Free Fallin’ de Tom Petty 380. Small Two of Pieces de YasunoriMitsuda 381. I am the Walrus de The Beatles 382. Kool Thing de Sonic Youth 383. 4 Degrees de Anohni 384. Butterfly de Koji Wada 385. Wuthering Heights de Kate Bush 386. Hell Bells de AC/DC 387. Ace of Spades de Mötorhead 388. It’s Gonna Be a Long Night de Ween 389. Wouldn’t It be Nice de The Beach Boys 390. The Times they are a-Changin’ de Bob Dylan 391. Somebody to Love de Queen 392. A1 de ÓlafurArnalds& Nils Frahm 393. Electric Feel de MGMT 394. Falling (Twin Peaks theme) de Angelo Badalamenti y Julee Cruise 395. Wake Up de Arcade Fire 396. Afraid of Nothing de Sharon Van Etten 397. Like a Rolling Stone de Bob Dylan 398. The Widow de The Mars Volta 399. Tangled Up in Blue de Bob Dylan 400. In your Room de Depeche Mode 401. Silent Hill Theme de Akira Yamaoka 402. Avond de Boudewijn De Groot 403. DNA de Blackfield 404. Losing my Religion de R.E.M. 405. All the Lights de Kaney West 406. Creep de Radiohead

Otros temas destacados:

7 seconds de YoussouN’Dour y Neneh Cherry 15 Step de Radiohead 1904 de The Tallest Man on Earth Afterlife de Arcade Fire Airbag de Radiohead Alone Again Or de Love All is Full of Love de Björk Amen Omen de Ben Harper An Ocean Between the Waves de The War on Drugs Army of Me de Björk Around the World de Daft Punk Baba O’Riley de The Who Back in the U.S.S.R. de The Beatles Back When You Were Beautiful de No-Man Ball and Biscuit de The White Stripes Before We Fall de Memories of Machines Behind Blue Eyes de The Who Beyond this Life de Dream Theater Blackfield de Blackfield Blackhole Sun de Soundgarden Blind de Hercules and Love Affair BreakonThrough de The Doors Buddy Holly de Weezer Charlie Big Potato de Skunk Anansie Children of the Grave de Black Sabbath Coda de God is an Astronaut Collapse the Light into Earth de Porcupine Tree Come Together de The Beatles Crazy de Gnarls Barkley Cyclone de Mono DanseRusse de Hurt Dear Prudence de The Beatles Debaser de The Pixies Deliverance de Opeth Digital Love de Daft Punk Do you Realize?? de The Flaming Lips Epitaph de King Crimson Eulogy de Tool Even Less de Porcupine Tree Everlong de Foo Fighters Everything in Its Right Place de Radiohead Far Cry de Rush Falls Apart de Hurt Fell in Love with a Girl de The White Stripes Firefly de Over the Rhine Fistful of Love de Antony and the Johnsons Forgot AboutDre de Dr. Dre y Eminem Gansta’s Paradise de Coolio ft. L.V Get it On de T. Rex Glory de Radical Face Glory Box de Portishead Go Do de Jónsi Go with the Flow de Queens of the Stone Age Good Fortune de PJ Harvey Harmony Korine de Steven Wilson Heartattack in a Layby de Porcupine Tree Hey Jude de The Beatles Hey You de Pink Floyd Henry Lee de Nick Cave &The Bad Seeds Heroes de David Bowie Hope There’s Someone de Antony and the Johnsons Hurricane de Bob Dylan Hysteria de Muse I See you Tears de Dakoya Suite I Turned you Down de Riverside If You’ve Never Had to Run Away de Dakota Suite In My Life de The Beatles In My Time of Need de Opeth Intro de The XX It Will Follow the Rain de The Tallest Man on Earth Jóga de Björk Judith de A PerfectCircle Just Like Heaven de The Cure Kettering de The Antlers Kids de MGMT Knights of Cydonia de Muse Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door de Bob Dylan Kodama de Alcest L’ViaL’Viaquez de TheMars Volta L.A. Woman de The Doors Lady Madonna de The Beatles Lay, Lady, Lay de Bob Dylan Layla de Derek & The Dominos Lazarus de Porcupine Tree Learn to Fly de Foo Fighters Left Out de Riverside Liange de Anoice Life on Mars? de David Bowie Light my Fire de The Doors Locomotive Breath de JethroTull London Calling de The Clash Lonely Boy de The Black Keys Loose Heart de Riverside Lose Yourself de Eminem Loser de Beck Lost in the Supermarket de The Clash Loud Places de Jamie XX Love, Reign O’er Me de The Who Lucky Man de Emerson, Lake & Palmer Lucky Man de The Verve Luminol de Steven Wilson Mr. Blue Sky de Electric Light Orchestra Magic de Coldplay Me Agaist the World de 2pac Meadows of Heaven de Nightwish Modern Man de ArcadeFire Move on Up de Curtis Mayfield MyGeneration de TheWho NobuoUematsu (en general) NowhereMan de The Beatles Nude de Radiohead NuboleBianche de Ludovico Eunaudi Ocean Cloud de Marillion OceanMan de Ween OlsenOlsen de SigurRós Once de Blackfield One of these Days de Pink Floyd Only Shallow de My Bloody Valentine Optimistic de Radiohead Out of Time de Blur Owner of a Lonely Heart de Yes Oxygen de Blackfield Paranoid de Black Sabbath Paranoid Android de Radiohead People are Stranger de The Doors Perfect Day de Lou Reed Piano Lessons de Porcupine Tree Power de Kanye West Primavera de Ludovico Einaudi Pyramids de Frank Ocean Radio Ballet de Eluvium Radio Protector de 65daysofstatic Rainbow in the Dark de Dio RambleOn de Led Zeppelin Rapture de Hurt Ripple de Anoice Rock the Casbah de The Clash Save Tonight de Eagle-eye Cherry Seven Nation Army de The White Stripes She Don’t Use Jelly de The Flaming Lips Shelter de Alcest Soon de My Bloody Valentine Sour Times de Portishead Starálfur de SigurRós Strawberry Fields Forever de The Beatles Such Owls as You de Brambles Svefn-g-Englar de SigurRós Swans (Banda) Teen Age Riot de Sonic Youth The Changeling de The Doors The End de The Doors The Next Episode de Dr. Dre The Piano Drop de Tim Hecker The Suburbs de Arcade Fire The Yeah YeahYeahSong de The Flaming Lips The Wizard de Black Sabbath This is Love de PJ Harvey This White Mountain on Which You Will Die de Agalloch Through Her Eyes de Dream Theater Think You Can Wait de The National To Bring You My Love de PJ Harvey Today de The Smashing Pumpkins Tom Sawyer de Rush Tomorrow Never Knows de The Beatles Tonto de Battles Tubular Bells de Mike Oldfield Unison de Björk Venus in Furs de The Velvet Underground Videotape de Radiohead Waitin’ for a Superman de The Flaming Lips Waving de Blackfield We Real Cool de Nick Cave &The Bad Seeds Welcome Home de Radical Face When the Leeve Breaks de Led Zeppelin When you Sleep de My Bloody Valentine Where the Wild Roses Grow de Nick Cave &The Bad Seeds Window de The Album Leaf Won’t Get Fooled Again de The Who Wonderwall de Oasis You Are my Sister de Antony and the Johnsons You Want it Darker de Leonard Cohen Your Song de Elton John Ziggy Stardust de David Bowie

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ciathyzareposts · 4 years ago

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Game 371: Amberstar (1992)

I suspect the title font is in amber, but someone let me know for sure.

Amberstar

Germany

Thalion Software (developer and publisher)

Released 1992 for Amiga, Atari ST, and DOS

Date Started: 20 June 2020 Amberstar is the first game I can remember that starts better if you haven’t read the manual. First of all, the manual is 168 pages–and it explains so little about what you experience in the game’s opening hours that it might as well be written for a different game. Second, it sets up a less interesting quest than the game itself. The manual’s story is all about the standard evil wizard trying to take over the world. The Amulet of Yendor that can stop him has been broken into 13 pieces, each one hidden somewhere across the land. Yawn. It made me realize that we have the terms Amulet of Yendor or MacGuffin for the Artifact That The Hero Must Find, but we need a separate term for when the MacGuffin is broken into multiple pieces. Anyway, the actual game begins with no mention of any of this. Instead, the starting character is in a cemetery, mourning over (in my case) her parent’s graves, recalling how they were recently murdered by a band of orcs attacking their carriage. Left with nothing to do, the character heads into the nearby city and starts looking for adventure.

The character is reminded of the backstory when she gets to her house.

If you read the manual, there’s quite a bit of confusion at the beginning of the game when it comes to character creation. The manual tells you that you can have up to six characters, and it sets up a pretty standard Dungeons and Dragons-derived system for their creation. Races are human, elf, dwarf, gnome, halfling, half-elf, and “half-ork.” Attributes are strength, intelligence, dexterity, speed, constitution, charisma, luck, magic resistance, and age. Races have the usual advantages with attributes (e.g., dwarves and half-orcs get the highest strength, halflings the highest dexterity, humans are average across the board); the highest value that anyone gets is 100.

Classes are warrior, “paladine,” ranger, thief, monk, white wizard, grey wizard, and black wizard. The wizard classes are interesting. Like Thalion’s previous Dragonflight (and, oddly, like Final Fantasy), magic is split into white (mostly healing) and black (mostly offensive) varieties. I figured “grey” wizards would be able to cast both, but it turns out they have their own set of spells, focused mostly on adventuring (“Light,” “Magic Compass,” “Identification”) and buffing. Paladines get some white magic abilities, monks get some grey magic, and rangers get both white and grey. There are typical racial restrictions on classes. That is, humans get to be anything. Mages otherwise have to be elves, half-elves, or gnomes. Dwarves can only be warriors or monks, half-orks only warriors or thieves. That kind of thing.

This interesting screen precedes the more boring title screen.

There are ten derived skills: attack, parry, swim, listen, find traps, disarm traps, pick locks, search, read magic, and use magic. Thieves so far outclass anyone else for swim, listen, find traps, disarm traps, pick locks, and search that it seems foolish to travel without one, although both monks and rangers have some skill in those areas.

Anyway, most of this setup is ignored during actual character creation. You only get to make one character, and I guess it’s a human since the attributes are all rolled on a scale of 60, but the race isn’t specified anywhere on the character sheet. Neither is the class. She gets no initial magic statistic at all, nor any thief-specific or mage-specific skills. Your only choices are sex, name, and the ability to hit “reroll” as many times as you want for the initial attributes. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t create a six-character party, as I had a whole “color wheel” thing worked out, with characters named Violet, Indigo, Magenta, Vermillion, and Chartreuse. Then it turns out that the game only displays the first five letters, so I changed Violet to Viola.

Too bad no class favors both strength and intelligence.

The character starts in the city cemetery next to her parents’ graves. She has clothes, shoes, a knife, and a small, random number of gold pieces. The cemetery is presented in top-down, iconographic form, but most of the rest of the city uses a first-person interface. Either way, movement is turn-based and tiled.

A little bit of backstory for the character.

The interface and I are going to struggle a bit before we come to some accord. I suspect the game really wants you to play with the mouse. To move, you can either click on the movement pad or on the map window itself, where the cursor changes to an arrow indicating direction of movement relative to the party’s current position. If you right-click on the movement pad, other options appear: look, listen, talk, mount/dismount transport, cast spell, camp, automap, battle formation, and disk options. Clicking any of these might change the pad to show even more options. In any event, the numberpad on the keyboard always corresponds, positionally, to the buttons on the screen pad. So far, so good, but if you want to use the keyboard in conjunction with the mouse and you’re right-handed, you have to awkwardly position your left hand on the numberpad while your right hand controls movement with the mouse. You don’t want to control everything with the keyboard because constant switching between the action options and the movement options is annoying. I really need to invest in an external numberpad for times like this, but it would have been nice if the developers had mapped the action items to sensible keys, like L)ook and T)alk, or at least used the QWEASDZXC cluster as analogues for the action pad and left the numberpad for movement alone.

The options on the “action pad” change depending on what screen you’re on.

Also annoying is that the “Look” and “Talk” commands bring up a cursor, which you then have to click on the object that you want to look at or talk to. Since you can only ever look at or talk to things immediately adjacent to the character, it would have been more intuitive to have the player specify a direction after using those options rather than clicking on something, particularly since it’s easy to mis-click on the wrong thing. If you mis-click too close to the character, it opens the inventory screen, which is particularly annoying.

Viewing statues in Marillion’s tomb.

The cemetery has some statues and gravestones that you can look at, plus a sub-area inside the Tomb of Sir Marillion. If you wander into the tomb, you find statues dedicated to Gala, the goddess of life, and Bala, the goddess of death. A memorial to Marillion says that “his life was dedicated to light and his soul will escape from the shadows.” Marillion ties into the game’s backstory, which has to do with the return, after a thousand years, of an ancient wizard named Tarbos. I’ll summarize his full story–which takes up 79 pages of the manual–later on, but for now suffice to say that he was the mortal spawn of the King of Hell and he tried to conquer the world (called Lyramion) a millennium ago. A cabal of wizards gathered in the castle Godsbane and cast a spell that banished him to one of Lyramion’s moons. Knowing that the only way for him to return is if someone cast a counterspell within Godsbane, the wizards magically sealed the castle with an artifact called the Amberstar, then divided the star into 13 pieces. A group of knights kept watch over the castle for the next thousand years. Recently, the castle was invaded by a dark wizard named Marmion, who killed the knights and their commander, Sir Marillion. Marmion used magic from the King of Hell to get into the castle without the Amberstar, so now someone needs to reunite the 13 pieces of the Amberstar to get back into the castle and stop him from performing the ritual to recall Tarbos.

All of this is far in the future for our orphan, though, who leaves the top-down cemetery to find herself in a first-person city called Twinlake. Size. A competent automap keeps track of where you’ve been but not the names of various locations and services, so I made my own. The map occupies 32 x 30 coordinates, but using worm tunnels and still leaving a lot of space unused.

My map of the opening city.

Twinlake has the usual slate of RPG services: a couple of shops, a healer, a food store, a stable, guilds for wizards and thieves, a sage to identify equipment, a tavern, and a store selling rafts. The PC’s house is also here, and both it and the tavern switch to a top-down map for exploration. The textured corridors of the first-person section are pretty dull and featureless, so the game’s approach seems to be to switch to an iconographic interface whenever it wants to do anything interesting. There are no combats in the city itself.

The automap works okay except that it shows nothing where the iconographic sections are.

There are a few NPCs wandering the corridors. Some of them offer only a quick scripted dialogue, but others allow you to ask about keywords, including an option to type in your own keyword if it’s not on the list. While I like such keyword systems, this one seems to retain in the list every keyword that you’ve ever gotten from any NPC. This is a bit annoying because I feel like I have to click on each keyword just in case.

Speaking with the ghost of a dead knight, I still have options to ask about the COOK in the town’s tavern.

A wizard warns me that magical items have limited charges. A ranger suggests I take unidentified items to sages and pay them to identify them. A guard warns me to avoid bubbles in swamps because they release deadly gases, and another guard warns me of orc activity north of Twinlake. A young girl named Sunny wants my help finding her lost cat, Felix, for which she promises to tell me a great secret. The cat was lost near the cemetery. In a castle-looking configuration in the southeast of town, I run into Lord Karwain, apparently the ruler of the town, who is looking for someone to descend into the sewers, where something is stirring and soldiers have disappeared.

The first major quest of the game.

My parents must have been pretty wealthy to have such a big house in the middle of the city. I entered using the key that came with the character; keys disappear when they fulfill their purpose, which would have been a nice addition to The Black Gate. There was one locked door in the house, but also a key to open it. Among the various rooms, I found a few hundred gold pieces, a set of chainmail, a short sword, a pair of boots, and a few other items. Right now, my undeclared character can’t wear the armor or wield the sword. The family dog is still in the house, hanging around the kitchen, and I feel bad that I can’t take him with me. Is he just going to starve to death?

My old bedroom.

It takes me a few minutes to get used to the game’s inventory system. If you’re going to make me use the mouse, then let me drag items from chests directly to my character portrait (like The Black Gate) rather than forcing me to click separate buttons for “take item out of the chest” or “put item in the chest” first. But there are things I like about it, particularly the ability to click with the eye icon on any object and get a full rundown of its statistics and what classes are able to wield it. A screen like this should be required by law in every CRPG. Not really, of course, because that would be a huge overreach of governmental powers, and impossible to enforce in an international industry, but you get what I mean. On the negative side, ammunition (arrows, sling stones) seem to show up as individual, unstackable objects, which I think might be a dealbreaker for using those weapons.

The short sword’s stats show me exactly how much damage it can do and who can equip it.

The tavern was a large building also in iconographic form. Initiating conversation with NPCs is a bit different in this interface, but the result–including the selection of keywords–is the same. A beggar tells me that the ghost of Sir Marillion appears at his grave at midnight. A family friend invites me to make use of his father’s old house, north of town, where many of his “inventions” still sit unused. A dwarf worries that all the orc and troll attacks lately heralds Tarbos’s return. (The game is inconsistent in whether it’s spelled “orc” or “ork,” unless it intends two different creatures. I guess I’ll use the standard spelling from now on.) One cook lost his ring down the drain (perhaps to be found in the sewers); the other wants me to retrieve a decent bottle of wine from the cellar, where something “large and slimy” has lately taken up residence.

Trying to talk to something in the tavern’s kitchen. Maybe it was a cat.

Most important, I soon find my first companion: A shaggy-haired, mustachioed man incongruously named “Silk.” Like me, he’s an undeclared class. He’s looking for the thieves’ guild and wants to join. It just so happens I have already wandered through the illusory door to the thieves’ guild accidentally, so I know where it is, but when I visit both it and the warriors’ guild, the options to join are greyed out. I assume this is how you declare your class, and I further assume that we’ll need some combination of experience or money before they’ll let us in. I don’t know where the other guilds are, so I wonder how long you have to play the game if you want the main character to be a “paladine” (the game is consistent about this, so I’ll stop using quotes) or ranger or mage.

We find the guild but not anything to do there.

The rumor about Marillion’s ghost intrigues me, so I returned to the cemetery (also to search for Felix) and wait in Marillion’s tomb until his ghost does, in fact, appear. Unfortunately, it just rants about the attack on Godsbane and doesn’t have anything useful to offer. There’s a locked door in the tomb, so I expect some later quest allows me to interact with him more productively and unlock this door. I don’t see any sign of Felix.

Marmillion is clearly reliving his death.

At this point, I already have four explicit quests:

Find Felix for Sunny

Figure out what’s going on in the sewers for Lord Karwain

Find the cook’s ring in the sewers

Get the wine bottle from the tavern cellars

I decide to try the tavern cellars first. I struggle with the interface for a while before I figure out how to light a torch. I don’t see why clicking on it isn’t enough; you have to click the “use” button first.

Dungeon exploration is pretty straightforward. You get atmospheric messages as you move along. If you want to search something more thoroughly, you stop and hit the “eye” icon. The automap works as long as you have a light source. Unfortunately, torches don’t last long, and I only started with two, so after the first dies, I light the second and make a rush back to the stairs. Clearly, I’ll have to go to the store for more.

The game shows in its iconographic sections, tells in its first-person sections.

Miscellaneous notes:

There is only one save slot. Saving the game is bizarre when you have party members, because for some reason you also click on the “save” button to get rid of them. The game presents this to you with the question, “Would you like to let members of the group go?” and then presents two options: “Exit” and “OK.” “OK” makes it sound like yes, you want to let members of the group go, but if you hit “Exit,” you don’t save. In fact, what “OK” does is get rid of members that you’ve selected while simultaneously saving, so to keep the party as-is, you just hit “OK” without selecting anyone. It’s still ridiculously confusing like a lot of the interface.

How would you interpret this screen?

There’s a day/night cycle, and NPCs in the iconographic parts of the game keep to a schedule, retiring to bed at night and moving about during the day. In the first-person side, NPCs are constantly present, but stores open and close based on the cycle. The character finds a magic painting in his house that changes based on whether it’s day or night, allowing her to determine the rough time even in a dungeon, though I can’t help but think a watch would have been more convenient.

Acquiring the useful-but-cumbersome painting.

There’s a food system, but you don’t have to eat to stave off hunger. Rather, you simply have to have food in your inventory if you want to regenerate hit points and spell points when you rest. Both only regenerate 10% even if you have food, so I assume there’s going to be better mechanisms for this. There are pools in Sir Marillion’s tomb that regenerate both, for instance.

If you decide you don’t like your main character and change him or her during the game’s opening stages, reloading your saved game will just replace the character but maintain your auto-map, dialogue keywords, and save position. I haven’t tested how it affects gold or inventory, as I hadn’t spent or acquired anything when I changed my character. I assume there’s a point at which this is no longer possible.

I have a hard time spotting some doors in the iconographic sections. I have an equally hard time telling what some of the icons are supposed to be.

One of the tavern rooms. There’s a door in the west wall. There are tables with place settings on them, but what are the four objects lined up north-south on the right-hand side of the tables? And what is that thing in the far left-hand side of the screen?

The game apparently has no sound effects, just music. Town exploration is accompanied by a theme-and-variations composition. The theme is eight bars and goes through eight variations with different instrumentation and ornamentation. Each variation takes 10 seconds, and the A section is repeated, so you have 90 seconds of music before the piece cycles back to the beginning. I say all of this because the game gets praised for its music, and I wanted you to know I took time to listen and analyze before turning it off permanently.

It always feels incomplete when I don’t have the opportunity to even taste combat for the first entry, but this was already getting pretty long.

I end where I started: This is a promising beginning to a game that would be more promising if I didn’t already know it was going to devolve into a quest to collect 13 pieces of something to save the world. My idea of a perfect RPG is one in which my highborn ingénue, now forced to fend for herself in the real world, slowly develops the skills she needs to survive, assembles a team around her, and solves local problems until she’s strong enough to take on the orc band that killed her parents. Take her from Level 1 to Level 8 during this process and leave plenty of room for continued growth in the sequel.

This is the type of quest I enjoy.

The only thing I can hope now is that the game doesn’t make the collection of the 13 pieces completely uniform and bloodless. Like each one is at the bottom of a 10-level dungeon. That would suck. A couple ought to be at the bottom of 10-level dungeons. A couple ought to be acquired by solving some kind of puzzle. A couple ought to be for sale. Mix it up. Keep the player guessing. Let him hope that the next one might be easy. Ultima VI did it well with the map quest, for instance. At first, I had some hope that the entire trilogy would be about finding the 13 pieces, and Amberstar was just the beginning, but a premature trip to Wikipedia killed that theory.

At least the game understands the concept of “side quests.” As I return to the rich world of Britannia, I’m reminded that ORIGIN never really got that concept right, not even in The Black Gate, which admittedly has more than the previous titles in the series.

Time so far: 3 hours

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/game-371-amberstar-1992/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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devils-gatemedia · 7 years ago

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It’s been 30 years since the release of Fish’s final album with Marillion, “Clutching At Straws”. It was a successful release in that it managed to chart at number 2, and contained no less than three UK top 40 singles: “Incommunicado”, “Sugar Mice” and “Warm Wet Circles”. It did, however, unfortunately spell the end of Fish era Marillion. For me, it’s also probably the weakest of the albums that Fish did with his old band mates, but that’s only because “Script For A Jesters Tear”, “Fugazi” and “Misplaced Childhood” were so exceptional. According to Fish however, in an interview he did in 2016, it’s his favourite album that he did with the band. To commemorate this 30th anniversary, Fish is out on the road playing the album in its entirety. It’s obviously an idea that’s much appreciated by his fanbase as tonight’s show is completely sold out.

Unfortunately, due to a mix up with press passes at the O2, I spent part of the support acts set standing around in the foyer, wondering if this was going to be a very short review. Eventually a helpful PR person helped me out, and I managed to gain access to the hall to catch at least some of the opening band’s performance.

Doris Brendel, described on her Facebook page as a modern day Janis Joplin, and who some might remember from the band The Violet Hour, cast quite a striking and memorable presence. She paraded along the edge of the stage dressed in a flamboyant and very theatrical long fur gown. Her eye catching shock of red hair was given extra prominence against the pale colours of her outfit. The rest of her band also follow the steampunk aesthetic, adorning top hats and other Victorian style trappings. Visually, the band looked great, and more importantly, they were going down a storm with this Glasgow crowd. Even though it was an extremely early start (the doors opening at 6:30pm), and a Thursday evening, the band managed a very respectable turnout. They were a good match for Fish, and I could hear some Marillion influences, especially on the piano parts. The use of unusual instruments such as the cello and flute were a nice addition to their overall sound. “I’m very lucky I’ll also be singing with Fish tonight” Doris informed us before the band managed to successfully get a sing along going with the crowd. The band put on an energetic and engaging performance and I’d very much like to catch up with them again at some point in the future.

While the album Fish talked about back in 2016, “Weltschmerz”, hasn’t materialised yet, I’m sure most fans will manage to console themselves with the thought of hearing “Clutching At Straws” from start to finish. A large screen containing a multitude of images, and the sound of “The Voyeur”, serves as an introduction to the band as they take to the stage. A huge cheer goes up for a slightly dishevelled looking Fish as he joins the rest of the band. Encouraged by the Scots born singer, the crowd clap along to one of the more lively songs of the evening.

Before we get to “Clutching At Straws”, the band treat us to a few more songs from Fish’s back catalogue. “Emperor’s Song”, featuring a very nice guitar solo, comes across very well live and keeps the energy going. “You may know this from the Glasgow underground, London underground. We assume the position” says Fish, raising his arm and swaying; pretending to hold onto a ceiling-mounted strap hanger. During “Circle Line”, the backdrop video shows various scenes from underground railway stations and views from a train’s cab. It’s during this track I really come to appreciate the video footage and how it complements the tracks so well. Superimposed upon the video is real-time footage of the band members playing, which is quite clever, and not something I’ve seen before.

“Glasgow how are you? Last date of the tour, and I’m gonna have a sit down. A year and a half of eating pies, what do you expect?”. The show tonight isn’t just about the music, Fish also entertains the crowd with a bit of banter in-between songs. Among other things, he has a go at Theresa May and Brexit. “It’s scary days”, he tells us. “This song is about we, the people”, before the band launches into the still topical and lyrically relevant “State Of Mind”. Fish, now 59 years old, sits for part of this song on a kitchen stool, as his fitness level isn’t quite up to jumping around all night.

Fish regales the audience with a story about his drunken behaviour (falling into a Christmas tree), and how the next song was inspired by hotels. With that, we start on our journey through the classic Marillion album, starting with “Warm Wet Circles”.

I have to admit, I was slightly apprehensive about coming to the gig tonight. I’ve never seen Fish live before, and I love his era Marillion songs. These songs were written 30 years ago, would he be able to sing them still? Had his voice deteriorated, like so many of his contemporaries, and would the band remain faithful to the way the old songs were played? Thankfully, my worries were put to rest, and while Fish’s voice isn’t quite the same as it was, these old classics still sounded great.

Highlights from the album’s set were upbeat crowd pleaser, “Incommunicado”, and also the very touching “Sugar Mice”. For the encore, it was great to hear “Tux On”, as it’s one of my all-time favourite Marillion songs. This was Fish’s last night of the tour, so if you haven’t managed to catch him yet, then I’m afraid you’ve missed out. It was a great night of music, listening to Fish’s humorous anecdotes, discovering interesting stories on the origins of some of the songs, and watching him steadily get through a bottle of wine.

Review: Martin Patterson

Images: Dave Jamieson

Live Review: Fish – O2 ABC, Glasgow It's been 30 years since the release of Fish's final album with Marillion, "Clutching At Straws". It was a successful release in that it managed to chart at number 2, and contained no less than three UK top 40 singles: "Incommunicado", "Sugar Mice" and "Warm Wet Circles".

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