PARADOX
by Jon A. Slack
This is a time-consuming, very frustrating game. It has numerous
items you do not need. It has countless rooms which you spend hours
mapping only to find that most are unnecessary to visit. It aims to
be paradoxical, fanciful and dreamlike but it only succeeds in
making you lose your patience. Sometimes of need to wear the ring to
use a spell, sometimes you do not. Sometimes you need another
object, sometimes you do not. That, I suppose, is part of the
surreal atmosphere, obviating the need to use logic to solve the
game. You are on some sort of quest, but you don't find out what it
is until about half-way through the game. You drop objects in one
place and find them in another. Once the have the book of runes, you
can map it to the alphabet and they attempt to decipher other runes
you see. The spelling is a little off in places. Sometimes the runes
are helpful.
There appear to be two different places where one can get the gold
key. One gets you more points than the other
You begin in a tunnel. INVENTORY (you are wearing a sword). Go N,
SE, TAKE RING, E, NE, TAKE FLASK, N, UP, W, W, SE, E, NE, E, FILL
FLASK, DRINK WATER, DROP FLASK, SE, W (ignore the rope), W, TAKE
DOOR, E, E, WEAR RING, DOWN, DROP DOOR, GET ON DOOR. You find
yourself in the river and at the valley floor).
Go E, E (you find yourself on a gamesboard), S, E, E, E, GO JOIR
(she tells you that in a cave with stone tablets, is an answer to a
riddle). Go E, E, E (Pan tells you to ignore everyone's advice. If
you meet the magician listen. Paradoxes always speak in riddles). Go
W, N, S, N, TAKE BOOK, READ BOOK (Use the translation to determine
what letters the runes stand for). Go S, S, S, W (the runes say -
reality is relative.) REALITY IS RELATIVE (you are transported to
the palace). ENTER PALACE.
You are in the hall. Go NE, EXAM FIREPLACE (the runes say - beware
the evils of greed and violence) SW, E, EXAMINE MAP (the runes say
hallucination, dream, nightmare, reality), W, W, TAKE HEALING, E,
SE, TAKE DAGGER, W, N, DOWN, S, E, EXAMINE CASES (the runes say -
the spell within this case will open unseen doors), OPEN CASE,
EXAMINE CASE, TAKE OPENING (you can USE OPEN here and go S, REMOVE
RING, USE OPEN, S and get the destruction spell, but that is
violence and it is not needed), W, SW, (ignore the ransom - it's
greed), N, REMOVE RING, EXAMINE BOOK (the runes say - the book of
time), WEAR RING, W, USE OPENING.
You are in the top floor of the palace. Go S, E, E, E, N, TAKE
CONVERSING, USE CONVERSING (you are told to find the magician and
cure him), S, W, W, W, S, EXAMINE BOX (the runes say - a magician
cured a unicorn, freed, and use this spell for all), OPEN BOX, LOOK,
TAKE APPEARING, S, E, N, EXAMINE BOX (the runes say - warning: to
open the box will involve the spell of destruction - this is not
true), OPEN BOX, LOOK, TAKE SILVER, S, S, S, E (not all doors can be
trusted and there are exits you cannot see).
Go S, SE, S, EXAMINE BOX, DROP SILVER, TAKE GOLD, DROP DAGGER, N, N,
NW, S, REMOVE RING, S, WEAR RING, UNLOCK DOOR (you see an old man),
LISTEN (you can't), USE HEALING (the magician tells you you have to
free the unicorn, find Joir and use the transportation spell to
bring you both home), E, UNLOCK DOOR, DROP GOLD, TAKE BOOK, TAKE
SILVER, UNLOCK DOOR, USE OPENING, FREE UNICORN, DROP SILVER, TAKE
TRANSPORTATION, N, W, N, N, E, E, E, S, E, N, N, LISTEN (the fox
tells you you need the transportation spell and luck), N, DROP
SILVER, TAKE SWORD, SHEATH SWORD.
Go W, EXAMINE SHELVES (you go through a secret door), USE APPEARING,
KISS JOIR, USE TRANSPORTATION, E, TURN BACK.
While the score for this walkthrough yields only 68%, likely it
would be higher if you explored more of the gamesboard. Frankly
there was too much of it.
Terri Sheehan
2003-09-01
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