Mystic Towers

Mystic Towers
Developer(s) Animation F/X
Publisher(s) Manaccom, Apogee Software
Designer(s) Lindsay Whipp
Platform(s) PC:DOS
Release date(s) July 15, 1994
Genre(s) Role-playing video game, Platform game
Mode(s) Single player

Mystic Towers is a video game created by Australian developer Animation F/X and published by Manaccom domestically and Apogee Software internationally. It stars Baron Baldric, an old wizard with a magic staff and an array of amusing mannerisms, who must quest through twelve towers and rid them of monsters. Mystic Towers is a sequel to Baron Baldric: A Grave Adventure, a platform game in which Baron Baldric battled an evil sorcerous ancestor. The earlier game, originally written for the Amiga and later ported to the PC, was published by Manaccom and not released outside of Australia.

Gameplay

Each tower consists of 45 rooms (5 floors with 9 rooms), 15 monsters, and 1 monster generator. In each tower, Baldric must defeat all the monsters, destroy the monster generator, and obtain the Large Red Tower Key that opens the main door at the start of the level.

Baron Baldric has a health bar showing his hit points, which decrease as Baron takes damage from monsters, is poisoned, or steps on traps. When his health meter runs out, Baldric loses a life. He begins with nine lives in reserve (One life in Practice Mode), but when these lives are gone, the game is over.

The food and drink bars show Baron's hunger and thirst, and they slowly decrease over the course of gameplay. Along his quest, Baldic must consume enough food and drink to avoid starvation and thirst. If at any time, one or more of these two bars run out, Baron Baldric will slowly lose life until food or drink is consumed, and neither meters are empty. As long as both the food and drink bars are not empty, Baldric's health slowly recharges (as long as he is not poisoned). Food can be found in a variety of places, and some monsters will drop them when killed. Drinks can be found in bottles and flasks, as well as in water fountains in towers. Note that some bottles contain wine, which will make Baron Baldric tipsy (characterized by spinning and hiccuping) for a short while.

Coins can be collected to purchase spells. The higher the floor of the tower in which a spell is purchased, the more powerful the spell generally is. Note that spell "vending machines" may break after a few uses.

Treasure can also be collected to increase the player's points. Every 10,000 points is worth an extra life; Baldric can have up to 9 lives in hand at once.

Spells

There a total of ten spells in the game. The first five are damage spells (Ice, Sulfur, Venom Cloud, Fireball and Lightning) for killing monsters and only the Ice has infinite ammo. Damage spells with greater power are rare and must be utilized strategically. The other five spells (Reveal, Heal, Teleport, Levitate, and Bomb) are utility spells each with a unique purpose. The Reveal spell lights up dark rooms, reveals hidden doors, treasure, and poison tiles. The Heal Spell restores Baldric's health and cures poison. Teleport can only be used on a teleport pad, which transports him to the floor indicated by the number on the pad. Levitate makes Baldric float one level above the floor and the spell can be cast many times to float even higher. Baron Baldric can return to the ground by jumping. Finally, Bomb can be cast only on a monster generator, as part of the criteria of completing the level. Although all the spells are collectible, only the damage spells are purchasable. Several monsters can cast spells, with seemingly no limits, the Venom Cloud having the ability to poison Baron Baldric, and Lightning being able to kill in two hits.

Powerups

There are three types of powerups that Baron Baldric can collect in a tower. These are invisibility, meta-power and shields. These powerups only last a limited amount of time.

Monsters

There are 30 unique monsters spanning the 12 levels, with 5 monster types occupying each tower. Note that each monster type will show up in 2 of the 12 towers. Monsters have a specific domain of rooms that they will wander around in, and will not leave that domain. A monster's domain is indicated by a portrait of a monster (and its life bar) in the upper right corner of the screen.

Generally, monsters attack by biting or clawing Baron Baldric, but some monsters are also capable of shooting projectiles, like ice shots, venom clouds, fireballs and lightnings. These projectiles are extremely harmful, and should be avoided at all costs, especially the venom cloud variant of shooting monsters, which are found in the higher level of the towers.

To defeat them, use any one of Baron Baldric's spells, lure them toward a Bomb Trap, or jump on top of them (if possible). However, keep in mind that monsters will have more health, and are generally more dangerous and more aggressive in the higher levels of a tower. Also, a monster may move faster when it is damaged enough, giving a would-player a hard time.

Below is a short description of each monster, and where they would appear:

Rimm Tower and Rimm Fortress

Tor Karad Keep and Tor Karad Castle

Nortscar Needle and Nortscar Spire

Wolf's Fang and Wolf's Claw

Ebonscarp and Ebonscarp II

Marchwall Hold and MarchWall Fort

Traps and damaging surfaces

Aside from monsters, the towers themselves are far from harmless. There are a variety of traps that the player should be aware off, so that they do not trigger them inadvertently. There are a few types of traps the play should be aware of:

Baron Baldric can become poisoned in a variety of ways, such as stepping on a poison tile, drinking slime, or getting hit by a venom cloud. Baron Baldric slowly loses health and the health bar flashes when Baron Baldric is poisoned, and he turns green. In order to cure poison, the player can use a heal spell, drink slime from outlets, or eat a mushroom (the only instance where eating a mushroom is beneficial. If Baron Baldric eats a mushroom when he's not poisoned, he will die instantly).

Runes

These helpful runes, carved into the walls of a particular room, can tell Baron Baldric what he should expect in the room.

Apprentice and Wizard towers

As the name implies, the game takes place inside of towers. There are 12 towers in the game. Each tower has an "Apprentice" version, which Baldric visits on the first half of his quest, and a "Wizard" version, which he visits on the second. Apprentice towers are significantly easier than Wizard towers. In Wizard towers, Baldric does not start with maps of each floor, the monsters are significantly stronger and faster, teleporters do not link in a ring but direct, the Red Tower Key is not in the starting room, and there are new classes of obstacles to overcome.

External links

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