Hero's Of The Lance

Welcome to SSI's long awaited release of Hero's Of The Lance 
(HOL).  This "arcade" version of Gigax's D&D game is not bad for 
their first edition. Also being released, but not till Jan/Feb 89 
is their Pool of Radiance (A Bard's Tale type D&D game).

This game is more arcade than puzzle oriented and your characters 
are furnished for you. It is not D&D per say, but a very good 
horizontal scrolling "Barbarian" type game.  It is not a very hard 
game once you figure out some tricks in dealing with certain 
creatures. 

(Maps)
My major complaint about this game is its mapping and how it 
relates to what you see on the screen. For example you must 
whenever you enter a doorway (shown by highlighting the N,S,E,W of 
the compass in red) the screen only shows you a right and left 
area. Depending on where in the game your are you could have 
turned 90 degrees, and are facing at right angles to where you 
were or 180 degrees and are facing at 180 degrees to where you 
were or even facing the same direction and just moving forward 
through a wall.

So, when mapping, keep watch at the compass. You may want to print 
out our maps to assist you. I have shown North with an arrow on 
each map. Later in the game the mapping gets harder, but if you 
use our maps and keep the old eye on the compass you should not 
get lost. You can also drop objects and come back to them later if 
you need to check out an area and want to make sure you get back 
to your starting point. 

(Pits)
You will have to jump over two pits in the game. They are the only 
pits you can jump over. (Make sure you have your character with 
the highest dexterity rating in front) You will know these pits by 
the opening in them and that there will be some weapon firing 
through them in the up direction. Just watch the firing, and time 
your jump just after it fires two bursts. Save, before jumping in 
case you miss the jump. If you miss you will lose your first 
character and they cannot be resurrected. So, restart where you 
saved the game last. There are objects hidden throughout the Maze 
(level 3) where there are pits. None of these objects except the 
potions for healing will do much for the end game where you will 
meet the old dragon.

(Objects)
There are several objects scattered thoughout the game. Some are 
visible to the eye, and some require the "view invisible" spell. 
It is best to save game before using the view invisible spell. It 
only lasts a very short time and if there is nothing to see, you 
have wasted spell points you will need later in the game. So, save 
game, use spell, if something is there, take it. If nothing is 
there, restart where you saved.

Amazingly, you do not need anything else to win this game. You 
carry all that you need. But taking objects such as arrows, 
pouches, potions, scrolls, rings gives you some variety in dealing 
with creatures and healing spells.

(Magic)
Your two characters that handle magic must be in the first four 
characters to use their magic. They will also take damage whenever 
you are involved in battles. Casting magic can be done anywhere 
and doesn't require the magic user to be "in front". Pressing 
space bar during a fight and selecting a spell and returning to 
the fight will cast the spell in the direction you are facing.

(Monsters)
A variety of monsters attack in certain ways. For example, the 
humans you meet only have swords and do not use range attack. So 
they will walk up to you, giving you time to fire range weapons at 
them or wait till you can use your sword at them. 

In general, do not let any creature get on top of you (you are 
unable to hit them and they keep hitting you). Jump away and then 
turn and continue fighting them. In this game you kill anything that   
moves. 

Draconians (the ones that fall to dust when killed) are easy to 
kill. Just wait till you get the alert that you can fight close 
and press the fire button and push the joystick in the direction 
they are coming from. Do not use the dwarf. Keep him for getting 
under weapons fired by creatures.

Spiders are very deadly in this game. Use your sword, they are too 
low to use range weapons on. Make sure you swing down to hit them. 

Trolls are easy to kill as long as you swing down to hit them. 

Spectral Minions are easily seen by their blue ghost-like 
appearance and their slow movement. Just use your sword and attack 
at close range. Get away fast if their body becomes shiney, they 
are taking hit points away from you at that time.

Bozak Draconians are noted by their using fire ball range attacks 
on you. If you meet them with your fighter in front, they will 
start backing up and fire repeatedly at you. Switch to the Dwarf 
and also cast "sleep" by the cleric. When you see your dwarf, run 
as fast as you can towards the Draconian. He will get hit by the 
"sleep" spell and freeze and when the fire balls finally stop, you 
can then switch to a character with a sword and finish him off. 
NOTE: When he dies, he shoots one last spell. Try jumping through 
hime while you see him dying and the fireball will miss you.

Gully Dwarves are killed the same as Trolls. 

Hatchling Black Dragons are harder to deal with. They spit acid on 
you only at close range. They cannot fire while backing up, so the 
best approach with them is to attack them by running forward until 
you get them backing up, cast a "sleep" spell and keep backing 
them up till they are hit with the "sleep" spell. Then kill it 
off. By the way, using "hold person" will only work if the dragon 
doesn't duck under it. If he does, then try casting the "protect 
from dragon breath" and just fire range weapons at his tail. This 
means aim low! Red arrows do more damage than normal arrows and 
pepples do less damage than normal arrows. I go to where I used 
this technique more often. Also see below for a way to change or 
eliminate the dragon when going through a door. Wraiths can be 
dealt with by just hitting them like humans. Range weapons do not 
have any effect.

Khisanth the great dragon is quite a killer. See notes at map for 
detailed information on dealing with him. One thing you may want 
to try, for the fun of it, is to run towards him and get under 
him. Of course the rings will be there, he will be unable to hit 
you because your under his belly. Its quite a scene and 
predictament to be in.

A good general hint:  If you enter a doorway and you get attacked 
by a creature, go back and enter the doorway again and sometimes 
the creature will change or dissapear. I dealt with quite a few 
dragons this way. The ones that don't dissapear just have to be 
dealt with.

All potions are good for you. Orange makes you stronger 
temporarily. Green and Blue cure hit points. Yellow makes you more 
confident and Red potions will slow monsters down. All potions 
except the Healing potions are temporary.

Rings are aids at making you harder to hit by monsters. We only 
found one, when the book mentions several. The effects of the ring 
are permanent.

We also found only one wand and it was useless because it was 
found at the near end of the game.