Castle of the Winds 1: A Question of Vengeance

Role dilogy "Castle of the Winds" is the first and last game project of an American programmer named Rick Saad. In the late 1980s, being an employee of Microsoft, a small company at that time, he was distracted from working on the DOS version of the text editor Word, got into programming under Windows - and decided to create a computer game for this graphical environment. Developed in 1989–1992 (the final and most common version, 1.1A, appeared in 1993), “Castle of the Winds” was somewhat artificially divided into two parts: the first one, “A Question of Vengeance”, extended to various BBS as a shareware product. Having tested it in business, it was possible to send the publisher - the well-known company Epic MegaGames - $ 25, having received for this not only a sense of moral satisfaction from a cleared conscience, but also a diskette with both parts of the game, including the sequel - “Lifthransir’s Bane”. To the surprise of the author, the number of registered users reached 13.5 thousand, and in 1994 even the rare full-edition boxed edition from The B & N Companies under its Monkey Business, Inc. trademark was released. Fortunately, in 2003, Rick Saada provided both heads of the game for free use, so that now everyone can be sure of their merits.

By definition, the author, “Castle of the Winds” is a graphic adventure game inspired by fantasy role-playing games, such as his beloved D & D; However, in fact, we are faced with exactly that role-playing computer game with a somewhat lightweight system, belonging to the class of followers of “Rogue”. Appearance has never been a strong point of “bagels”, and this project, with its extremely simple graphic component, is no exception; However, the brainchild of SaadaSoft differs from the overwhelming majority of DOS games of its time, as you can guess, in the bright colors of the palette and the convenient mouse-and-window interface. At the same time, alas, there is no music that sound effects. And, to put it mildly, there is almost no animation: the hero, and all the various representatives of the local fauna, intelligent and unwise, are displayed as standard Windows icons, just moving from one place to another - except mini-pictures with flying arrows or by casting spells of fireballs or ice balls, slightly diversify the static interiors of local white-gray dungeons.

But the setting of "Castle of the Winds" turns out to be an interesting one: we have to swing a sword not in the real Middle Ages, but not in the fictitious world of some kind of "elves" and "orcs", but in a rather strictly sustained style of Scandinavian mythology. Accordingly, there is a place here for magic, and for the temple of Odin, and for the trolls, kobolds and jotuns. The plot is not at all intricate and is served exclusively in the form of occasionally found here and there notes: our hero - or heroine, for the floor can be chosen at the beginning of the game - is the foster child of poor farmers; having excommunicated once in a case in a nearby village, we find our house burned back upon return, and the said parents killed. In the future, we are waiting for a visit to a mine located on five floors - and its careful study on the subject of methodical stripping of pests and other living creatures. Then we will go to a more populous village called Bjarnarhaven; is it worth to doubt that a fortress with eleven levels of dungeons will be found nearby, where you can make the blood feud for the loved ones killed in the title of the game - and find out all the details of your real pedigree.

In addition to specifying the name and gender (and corresponding to this last appearance: in addition to the two default icons, you can also set any other icon of the standard Windows type for your protagonist, including those created by your own) at the beginning of the new game you must also select the level of complexity and distribute the main characteristics of the hero. There are only four of them: strength (responsible primarily for the ability to inflict serious bodily harm oncoming monsters), intelligence (affecting the mana margin), body build (determining both the number of health points and the volume of carried weights) and agility (embodied in speed - not so much movement, because all the action takes place in turn-based mode, as many exercises with a sword or an ax). You can replenish these characteristics from the available total stock; in the future, their increase (or even decrease) is possible only with the help of special objects.

In addition to the four marked indicators, you can also see indicators of the level, experience, health points and mana, current and maximum allowable weight and volume on the character's screen, triggered at any time by pressing Alt-C or from the Character menu! inventory, as well as the quantitative characteristics of wearing armor and gold (silver or copper) stock. The experience is given solely for the destruction of monsters, as well as for the neutralization of traps - the “quests” familiar to many role-playing games are completely absent here, just like any non-player characters.

All other interface elements in Castle of the Winds are just as visual and accessible to the challenge in several alternative ways. Moving the hero across the main screen is most conveniently done with the eight keys of the small numeric keypad (although you can also move through the mouse by holding down the icon of your character with the left button). Pressing the right button generates a message about the contents of the corresponding area of ​​the screen - so you can, say, read the signs of stores. In a small window at the bottom right is a brief information about our indicators of health, mana and speed; there is also a countdown of the time elapsed since the beginning of the game (for reference only), and the name of the current location is demonstrated. To the left, in the larger window, you can successively follow all the recent events that happened to us. Finally, the top line of the standard Windows interface is reserved for the main menu, with the ability to call up the character screen, inventory, map, spell book, and special commands — for example, to use scrolls or potions in the quick access cells, to descend or climb stairs. rest or to search for hidden doors. Virtually all such commands can be executed using the keyboard - by learning about the corresponding shortcut keys from the help menu; In addition, the main ones - like the ten most favorite spells - are duplicated on the special panel introduced in version 1.1 of the game under the top menu as a list of verbs and a customizable set of icons with images of magic tricks from your repertoire. In general - everything is extremely clear and convenient.

In addition, special commands — such as sorting the contents of the duffel bag into categories and a remarkable opportunity to give your own name to any piece of equipment — are available in the inventory window. This latter represents the image of the hero’s “doll” surrounded by equipment cells; on the lower right, open containers are visible, such as a backpack or belt with individual cells, and above is the actual location window, with an image of what lies in this place on the floor - or on the store shelves when visiting such an institution. Accordingly, the sale and purchase takes place simply by moving the mouse from one window to another; you can also pick up an item from the floor in the main game window by pressing the G key or the “Get” command (option: F / “Free Hand” to take it in your left hand, - unless, of course, it is already occupied) ).

In the very first village, where we find ourselves at the beginning of the game, there are very few shops - a little more rich in shopping and entertainment facilities is the next village, Bjarnarhaven. In addition to a few shops of an armorer, a bronzer and a merchant of enchanted items, you will find here the Temple of Odin, which provides a wide variety of services for the treatment and restoration of characteristics - but, as a rule, at absolutely godless prices. The practical use of such an institution as a bank is relatively small: exchanging a stock of cash for credit letters to local entrepreneurs, you can only protect yourself from a possible meeting with thieves. But the two other special places are much more remarkable - the sage's hut, which is able to accurately identify unknown objects found by you (an indispensable service, unless you have already acquired a spell or scrolls of identification), and a junk shop, cheaply buying up all completely useless objects like torn shoes and bottles. with water - if, thanks to the wise man’s remuneration, you were not lucky enough to establish that it was just such finds you cherished so carefully, acquired by overworking hikes in depth mine or fortress.

Of course, we will have to spend the lion's share of time precisely in these remote places, returning to the villages as the inventory is filled with all sorts of good things - isn't it for this process that we love games like “Rogue”? Moreover, “Castle of the Winds” provides fans of this kind of adventure with almost unlimited possibilities - due to the fact that all levels of dungeons with the treasures contained in them and the fauna inhabiting them are generated randomly each time. Inquisitive travelers can use spells or scrolls to detect monsters or objects - but it is possible to rely on chance by opening the next floor of the fortress, step by step, not knowing what you will meet around the turn of the corridor or in the next room (or simply saving the game before each risky action).

Fights are implemented very simply: to attack the enemy with melee weapons, you just need to move the hero's icon in his direction. Using the spell will require extra gestures - pressing the corresponding button on the panel above or calling it from the menu, and then clicking on the image of the enemy. The moves take place alternately, with the peculiarity that each of those present at the level of monsters responds to any move of our character; another thing is that the vast majority of those are not visible to us (and are not dangerous), however, in case of getting into a room with several monsters, you should behave extremely carefully. However, if the battle turns out to be beyond your powers, and the healing spells do not help to hold out for a while, you can always try to retreat and rest somewhere in a safe place: most antagonists are not inclined to pursue their goal, rising or falling to another floor. For this last action, at any level there are two ladders in each of the two directions; however - due to the complete spontaneity of the location of local interiors - far from the whole floor may be available to us initially: many rooms, including those rich in treasures, monsters or stairs, may be hidden behind secret doors - or even be in rooms inaccessible from outside. In the first case, the search team can help us, in the second - only special spells such as teleportation or clairvoyance.

All in all, we have the opportunity to study 34 spells of seven schools of magic - or be equipped with those using disposable scrolls. The most useful of them - in addition to the treatment of injuries, the identification of objects and two types of teleport - turns out to be the “Runa of return”, which allows you to move immediately to the exit from the dungeon, without having to go all the way on your own two feet - meeting in addition the new monsters . The same spell will allow you to return from the village to the farthest from the floors of the fortress or mine you have already visited. As an alternative, you can order the corresponding service in the Odin Temple for a thousand copper coins. You can learn new spells in two ways - with the help of appropriate books, occasionally appearing on sale or as part of treasures stored in dungeons, or when the hero's level rises: every time in the event of this pleasant event, we are given the opportunity to choose one of the available magical knowledge (health points and mana increases automatically).

The local bestiary does not concede in assortment at all. Most often, we will meet all sorts of representatives of the fauna: rats, bears, wolves, spiders, overgrown ants and so on, as well as snakes and scorpions. The latter are able to poison us with their poison: the health indicator will not immediately decrease due to this, but it will change its color - after which the usual rest with the “r” team can lead not to filling the missing points, but to death. Therefore, try as quickly as possible to acquire, if not a poison neutralization spell, then at least a strategic reserve of the corresponding potions. No less numerous category of enemies are humanoids: three types of goblins, kobolds, ogres, trolls, all sorts of bandits and werewolves, and also a thief, the most unpleasant and most human-like of them, famous for his ability to steal items from your inventory (and then quickly disappear in an unknown direction). But the jotun giants are rare and more likely on high levels of complexity - with the exception of the main villain (as for the first part of the game), Hrungnir; as for the undead, skeletons or walking corpses are unlikely to cause you special trouble unless you meet with their whole company - but with whom you need to keep looking not only with the sword, but also with the ear, so with this special kind of ghosts with one touch to reduce your basic characteristics (yes, so that they can only be restored in the Temple for a fee, or with the help of appropriate potions, extremely rare and expensive). Finally, there is also a special group of unlikely magical creatures, each of which is remarkable in its own way: let's say, the mucus is immune to cold weapons and is only affected by spells, and the manticore attacks several times at a time.

Having been defeated, the monsters - with rare exception - leave us either only experience or also a monetary allowance: no swords and forks to you, falling out of gutted rats. But all the equipment is either bought in the villages for the accumulated copper coins, or is selected here, in the dungeons, right on the floor. The range deserves respect: 18 types of weapons, from zero (“broken sword”) and first (“baton”) to two-handed sword of the twelfth class, and 11 varieties of the main component of armor, breastplate - and that's not counting all sorts of modifications, that is, versions enchanted to increase any of our role indicator. But there are also shields, helmets, capes, boots, gloves, bracers, rings and amulets, magic wands and staffs, an abundance of various scrolls and potions - and several options for bags, backpacks, boxes and belts for storing all of the above.

In addition to useful enchantment, equipment components can also be "damned", that is, reduce our characteristics: this is what should be feared when picking up a type of helmet or gloves unknown to science. The easiest way to identify what was found is to put it on yourself, but if you are unlucky and you have equipped the hero with a damn ring or sword, you can remove it only for a considerable amount in the Temple, returning to the settlement (or by loading the previously saved game). And so either try to study the corresponding spell as quickly as possible, or do not rush to try on a freshly picked thing, but carefully pack it in a duffel bag - and for a small fee, ask the wise man for advice on your next visit to the village. At the same time, once having recognized a potion or a scroll, we will continue to find in our travels only already clearly signed copies of the same object - but the equipment elements will need to be re-examined each time.

The only thing worth complaining about in “Castle of the Winds” is the impossibility to see the characteristics of armor and weapons directly from the inventory: those are listed only in the help from the in-game help, and only for standard types of items. And if the indicators of the enchanted helmet or breastplate can still be determined empirically, removing and dressing them - and carefully observing the change in the corresponding indicator in the character window, then the indicators of damage caused by the weapon or the level of our resistance to any of the magic of the elements in the game anywhere else not listed! So it remains only to guess what exactly is meant by the profound inscription "greatly increases your chance to hit the target" ... The flaw is very strange, especially against the background of all the other conveniences of the simplest interface.

Still, despite this minor flaw, Castle of the Winds turns out to be a great RPG-lite, promising a lot of pleasure and great interest in terms of repetitions, always able to show you new architectural tricks in the interiors of the fortress, new monsters and new modifications. useful and not very items. You can go through the game a dozen times, never having met, for example, a snow giant or not having learned about the existence of a special belt for ten (!) Cells, or you can, once again returning to Bjarnarhaven, to find the entire store counter clothes littered with this rare and extremely comfortable piece of equipment ...