Swordquest: Fireworld
v 1.0
8-22-00
author: Dimetric Houston
e-mail: dhousto6@bellsouth.net
CONTENTS:
Introduction
Updates
Story
Controls
Rooms and Treasure Rooms
Objects
Action Sequences
Clues
Walkthrough
Tips, Tricks and Secrets
Credits
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTRODUCTION:
Hello all. This FAQ covers the game Swordquest: Fireworld for the Atari
2600. It is an adventure game. It is the second in the awesome series of
Swordquest games for the 2600.
The Swordquest series was Atari's first multi-part gaming series. The games
were accompanied by a small comic book which, in addition to providing
entertainment, also yielded clues to helping complete that particular game
and the series as a whole.
The Swordquest games are:
Swordquest Earthworld
Swordquest Fireworld
Swordquest Waterworld
Swordquest Airworld
This FAQ only covers Swordquest Fireworld.
I am not going to bother with the copyright stuff. If you are low enough
to try to bank a profit off of this, or you decide to plagiarize it, that's
your wretched morality.
The newest version of this FAQ can be found at the following sites:
GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com)
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UPDATES:
v 0.5 8-8-00
-Preliminary edition.
v 0.6 8-9-00
-updated Walkthrough section
-updated Action Sequences section
-updated Tips, Tricks, and Secrets section
v 0.7 8-17-00
-correction in Snakes subsection of Action Sequences section
-minor corrections
v 0.71 8-19-00
-updated Walkthrough section (added room Y4)
-updated Tips, Tricks, and Secrets section
v 1.0 8-22-00
-FINAL UPDATE! I have discovered a web site that has the solutions to
solving the Fireworld puzzle. It has pictures, item descriptions, and
just the whole nine yards you need to solve this game. This FAQ will
no longer be continued or updated unless something major occurs (like
the web site just mentioned goes down or something). The website is
Lafe's Game Solutions and the URL is
http://yosemite-sam.dragonfire.net/Solutions/Solution.htm
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STORY
You are Torr and Tarra, children of the great warrior Tarr. Your father was
slain in cold blood by the evil king Tyrannus and his henchman, the wizard
Konjuro. You are on a quest for the Sword of Ultimate Sorcery to exact
revenge upon Tyrannus and Konjuro.
Your quest will take you through four worlds of elemental power. Each world
has different challenges to test your skill and imagination. Conquer each
world and proceed to the next, all with the single goal of obtaining the
Sword of Ultimate Sorcery.
This is the second part of your quest, the blazing world of fire known as
Fireworld.
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CONTROLS
Joystick: -Moves character.
-Moves cursor in treasure rooms.
-Moves character object in some action sequences.
Button: -Starts action sequences.
-Takes/leaves object in treasure rooms.
-Fires arrows/shots in some action sequences.
Aside: Character objects? You'll see what I mean. Get ready to have your
sense of personhood challenged.
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ROOMS AND TREASURE ROOMS
There are 10 rooms and treasure rooms in this game.
To avoid confusion, I am labeling the room you initally see as a "room."
When I refer to a treasure room, I mean the room with the objects and the
door in the lower left corner. You see the treasure room once you finish the
action sequence the room.
When you enter a room, it is completely empty, except for your character.
Rooms have various numbers of exits.
Some treasure rooms house objects. These objects are to be used to assist
you in completing the game.
Inside treasure rooms are particular objects. The flashing box is the
cursor. Objects are scattered all over the room. The lower leftmost object
is a door. To exit the treasure room, place the cursor on the door and press
the button.
To take an object from the treasure room, place the cursor on the object and
press the button. If you have enough space in your inventory, the object
will appear in the bar at the bottom of the screen. This object is now in
your possession and will go with you from room to room until you leave it.
To leave an object in a treasure room, place the cursor on the object you
wish to leave and press the button. The object will disappear from your
inventory bar and appear in the treasure room space.
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OBJECTS
There are a total of 16 objects in this game. These objects will accomplish
certain things depending on the situation. Leaving objects in certain rooms
will yield clues that will help you complete the game.
Below are the objects:
Oil Lamp Water
Rope Grappling Hook
Amulet Talisman of Passage
Ring Chalice
Leather Armor Cloak of Invisibility
Shoes of Stealth Warrior's Sword
Dagger Short Sword
Shield Food
See the Tips, Tricks, and Secrets section to see some functions some of these
objects serve.
Note: You begin with no objects.
Note: You can only carry a max of 6 objects. If you want to carry something
else, you will have to leave an object.
The Chalice is vitally important. Check the Walkthrough and Tips, Tricks,
and Secrets sections to see why.
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ACTION SEQUENCES
Before you can enter the treasure room, you must accomplish a certain task.
These are called action sequences (like in Earthworld). Once you've finished
them, you automatically enter the treasure room.
There are 6 kinds of action sequences. These are described below.
Note: When you enter the rooms and press the button, the action sequence
will start. Unlike in Earthworld, you can not just leave an action
sequence when you wish. You must finish it or lose to it (in which
case you'll end up back in the room (not the treasure room).
Snakes
------
Very simple. You must destroy the snakes without being touched by them. You
are the black, um, "thing" at the center of the screen. Fire by pressing the
button. You can fire in eight directions. You can change the direction you
fire by moving the stick and pressing the button. You will fire in the
direction that you move. If you touch the walls, another snake will appear.
Get hit by a snake and you lose.
Firebirds
---------
Here you must dodge the firebirds which appear and come down at you. You are
the vertical bar at the bottom of the screen. Keep the bar from touching the
birds. If you are hit, the bar grows longer. Get hit 8 times and you lose.
Goblins
-------
Here you must catch the goblins that come down. You control the
multi-colored box at the bottom of the screen. Move the box with the
joystick and catch the goblins (like in Kaboom!). As you go, the goblins
will fall faster and faster. If a goblin goes past your box, you here a
"hit" sound, and it counts as a miss. Miss 7 goblins and you lose (you will
hear the hit sound once you enter the room, so you've already missed one
goblin--very unfair :( so actually it is 8 goblins missed).
Note: The goblin sequence is notorious for having the goblins disappear and
reappear right next to the ground. Look carefully to see where they
are before they blend into the background and reappear on top of you.
Knives
------
This one can really throw off your sense of balance. Here you must catch the
knives that fall down the screen. You must guide the knives into the large
rectangle at the screen bottom. The thing here is that you control the
"screen." The rectangle doesn't move. When you move the stick, the knives
will move to the left or right while falling. Pressing left makes the knives
move to the right; pressing right makes them move to the left. It takes some
getting used to. Like the goblin sequence, as you go, the knives fall faster
and faster. Miss 8 knives and you lose.
Salamanders
-----------
This is just like the Firebirds, but is much more difficult. The salamanders
look like the knives, except they rotate and come in large and small sizes.
Again you are the bar at the bottom of the screen and must keep the bar from
getting hit. As you go, the salamanders fall faster and faster. 8 hits and
you lose. This sequence is quite hard, as the rotation of the salamanders
makes it highly likely that they will hit you. Do your best.
Dragons
-------
Here you must shoot the dragons (yeah, those are dragons, so the manual says,
although they don't look ANYTHING like one ^_^ ) with your arrows while
avoiding the dragon's fire. Ok, their, um. . ."fire" is a bar (long or
short). Try to keep the bar from going over your "arrow"--the thing you
move. You should try to keep as far away from the bars as possible, as for
some reason, if they fall next to you, it counts as you being hit. There is
no hit sound or anything. If suddenly you find yourself back in the room and
not the treasure room, it means you lost.
Note: The goblin and knife sequences are a bit forgiving. You will surely
see an object slip by you every now and then, but sometimes they won't
register. Don't count on this though. Do the best you can.
Aside: Still know who and what you are? As you can see, you control boxes,
bars, things, and the like. Interesting that these things morph back
into a person for the rooms. I guess people can change after all ^_^
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CLUES
still in progress
Temporary note: The numbers that appear refer to the comic. The acquistion
of clues is just like in Earthworld; leave the right objects
in rooms and the clue will appear. To date, I haven't
gotten a clue yet, so that's why this section is still in
progress.
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WALKTHROUGH
This walkthrough is designed to help you through the complex maze called
Fireworld. This place is much, MUCH, worse than Earthworld. There isn't ANY
kind of coherence here. Room exits don't wrap like you would expect, so the
following map should prove extremely helpful.
I am listing the rooms by color and number. The rooms have various
background colors and some rooms have a different shade of the same color.
This varying shade is why numbers are used.
Each room has a various number of exits. I am showing what rooms the exits
lead to.
I am also listing the objects that are initally in each room and the action
sequence of that room. If a room doesn't have any objects, "none" will be
written in the space.
*You start in Y1.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Rooms B2, Y3, G3, and O2 can ONLY be accessed if you are
holding the Chalice. Make SURE you don't leave the Chalice
in B2, as the fact that these rooms interconnect one-way
with the earlier rooms will make it impossible to get back
to these rooms!
Abbreviations used:
------------------
Y1/Y2/Y3/Y4--yellow
B1--light blue
P1--dark purple
P2--light purple
O1/O2--orange
G1--light green
G2/G3--dark green
Pi1--pink
B2--mid blue (slightly darker than the inventory bar)
G1 P1 G1 G1 B1
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
B1 <--- Y1 ---> P1 Y1 <--- B1 ---> P2 Pi1 <--- P1 ---> Y1
| |
| |
| |
\ / \ /
Y2 Y2
O1
^
|
|
|
Y2 ---> Pi1 P1 <--- Pi1 ---> P2 P2 <--- G2 ---> O1
| | |
| | |
| | |
\ / \ / \ /
G1 Y2 Y2
Y2 G2
^ ^
| |
| |
| |
B1 <--- G1 ---> P1 G2 <--- O1 ---> Pi1 Pi1 <--- P2 ---> B1
| | |
| | |
| | |
\ / \ / \ /
Y1 Y2 Y2
B2 O2 Y3 B2
^ ^ ^ ^
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
G3 <--- ---> Pi1 G3 <--- B2 ---> O2 P2 <--- G3 ---> O2
Y3 |
P2 <--- ---> P1 |
| | |
| | \ /
| | Y3
\ /\ /
B1 G1
B2
^
|
|
|
G3 <--- O2 ---> Pi1 P2 <--- Y4 ---> Pi1
| |
| |
| |
\ / \ /
Y3 G1
Action sequences and Objects:
-----------------------------
Y1 Y2 B1 P1 P2
---- ---- ---- ---- ----
+goblins +firebirds +dragons +knives +snakes
-none -dagger -shoes -shield -ring
-rope -cloak -amulet -water
-leather armor
-chalice
Pi1 G1 G2 O1 B2
---- ---- ---- ---- ----
+goblins +snakes +dragons +knives +salamanders
-talisman -none -grap. hook -warrior sword -none
-oil lamp -food -? sword *
Y3 G3 O2 Y4
---- ---- ---- ----
+firebirds +dragons +knives +firebirds
-(Y2) -(G2) -(O1) -(Y3)
Treasure rooms Y3, G3, and O2 are actually treasure rooms Y2, G2, and O1
respectively. Once you exit the Y3, G3, or O2 treasure rooms you will be in
rooms Y2, G2, and O1 respectively. In short:
Y3--->Y2 read as Y3 exits to Y2, G3 exits to G2, and O2 exits to
G3--->G2 O1. These are the treasure room exits, not the exits of
O2--->O1 the rooms.
WARNING: B2 is a Chalice trap. If you leave the Chalice in B2 and wind up
in one of the earlier rooms through the Y3->Y2, G3->G2, O2->O1
treasure room exits, you will NOT be able to get back to Y3!!
Absolutely DO NOT leave the Chalice in B2. Y3 is the only way to
access B2, G3, and O2.
*this object is not listed in the manual.
I believe this is in reference to the comic in which Tarra (temporarily)
chose another sword over her Warrior Sword (given in Earthworld). It could
also refer to Torr who tried to fight the fire goblins with a sword other
than his Warrior Sword and it didn't work.
Y4 has a strange method to access it. Apparently it involves the Chalice and
Amulet. Try leaving the Chalice in P2 then taking the south exit. You may
end up in Y4. I have not been able to replicate this after turning the game
off, however. When I first accessed Y4, as long as I was holding the Amulet,
I could always get to it.
That's it for now, more in the next update!
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TIPS, TRICKS, AND SECRETS
The Amulet does NOT randomize room transfers like it did in Earthworld, but
it does appear to have something to do with speeding up the action sequences
(thus making them more difficult). It also seems to have something to do
with access to Y4.
The Chalice is EXTREMELY important!! It changes Y2 into Y3, therefore when
you hold the Chalice, all room exits which normally lead to Y2 will lead to
Y3. I think it also has something to do with gaining access to Y4.
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CREDITS
God--for the strength, life, and intellect to do this FAQ
Lafe's Game Solutions
(http://yosemite-sam.dragonfire.net/Solutions/Solution.htm)
--awesome website that has solutions to quite a few old-time games.
Beautiful HTML pics of the Swordquest games to help you through them.
I hope you have enjoyed this FAQ. If there are any corrections, additions,
etc. that you see that need to be put here, please e-mail me and let me know.
Thanks for reading.
dhousto6@bellsouth.net
Dimetric Houston
The End
AtariAge - Swordquest Fireworld strategy