QUEST FOR ETERNITY
ASP Software, 1984
==================
Solution by Exemptus - December 2022
Overview and general hints:
---------------------------
In this game we are cast as a starship pilot: the Overlords of the Universe have
a vacancy for a Master of Eternity and we have decided to apply, no doubt
attracted by the impressive title and benefits package. We are told to proceed
to a teleportal booth more than 2000 light years away from where we are, and our
spaceship doesn't even work. The Overlords regard this as a fair test of wit for
our application.
So the goal of this adventure is not so well defined, but certainly the first
order of the day is to get the spaceship running, and we'll take it from there.
This adventure has a conventional parser with a good verb range for a BASIC game
and plenty of objects and puzzles. LOOK and EXAMINE are synonyms, directions are
NESWUD (plus we can GO places), we can save, and there is neither score nor a
help facility, so we are on our own. Standard conventions for classic text
adventures pretty much apply. The parser is kind enough to tell us when it does
not understand a verb or noun, but keep in mind it only looks at the three first
letters of it. So, if you find out it accepts DRILL, it may be the case that the
game is actually expecting it to mean DRIVE.
It is wise to EXAMINE all things, even those that are part of the description,
as a number of these will reveal new objects or things to interact with. You can
FIT, CONNECT and INSERT things into each other, and this also works with objects
you carry, so if anything looks like it might be insertable into other stuff, do
try and see. There is a lot of experimentation involved in this regard. You can
also FIX or REPAIR some things, but you need to be in the right location to do
this, it doesn't only depend on tools.
Objects like the spacesuit have more uses than the obvious one. It has a limited
supply of air, and you will die if you run out of it, even if you're in a place
with a breathable atmosphere (fair enough), but air can be recharged.
This game is made more difficult than necessary not because of the puzzles, most
of which are easy, but because there is plenty of logistical complexity - a lot
of objects, the use of which is often unclear, and many restrictions on their
operation. There is a "right" order in which to do things, and the player has to
spend a fair amount of time experimenting with things in order to sequence
actions in that order, which is not obvious. Doing things out of order has all
kinds of consequences, from putting the game into a silent, unwinnable state (no
player Bill or Rights applies to Masters of Eternity candidates, you see) to
making things more difficult by not noticing clues that depend on such order.
The starship, once repaired, is pre-programmed to go to a certain planet. It can
be made to go to other planets, but you need to find and transmit their
coordinates to the ship first. Once it knows of a set of planets to go to, there
is a way to program a specific destination into it, so we can visit planets more
than once and in any order.
The walkthrough below follows a logical progression to discovery, so it does
some unnecessary things and it's not optimised for efficiency. It has been
tested on the Spectrum version of the game, but I have no reason to think it
won't work with the original Atari version, though I haven't checked. There are
a few small bugs with connections and some details are likely to be different,
so standard disclaimers apply.
Walkthrough:
------------
[We start in the flight control room of the starship Nebula. There is a control
panel, a terminal, and a viewscreen here. The first task will be to get the ship
repaired. This will require finding out what is wrong in the first place, the
function of each object, and how to fix things.]
EXAMINE PANEL [Two buttons appear, yellow and green]
EXAMINE VIEWSCREEN [Blank, so this gives no clue]
EXAMINE TERMINAL [It says: enter security code]
[Security code? Although this is in fact guessable, let's get back to it later.]
N [There is a spacesuit here]
GET SPACESUIT
EXAMINE SPACESUIT [Air supply reads 0]
[The spacesuit has its own reserve of air, so if you try WEARing the spacesuit
now, you will suffocate. This suggests the air reserve must be replenished
somehow.]
S
S
E [Tech facilities]
[There is some equipment here: a computer, a flexible tube, a white button,
laser knife and screwdriver. The last two look like useful tools. There is also
a cargo hold with a large crate E and D of here, but we don't have the means to
open it yet. If we push the button we'll hear a hiss noise, which suggests that
this is the air replenishing system. Also note that the room has repair
equipment. However, *nothing will work* until we have entered the security code
on the terminal. So we try the computer first.]
PROGRAM COMPUTER
[The game then spits out a stream of rubbish. Let it finish. Now look at it more
closely: among the random characters there is some legible text saying
"securitycodeisASP"! This takes care of the code for the terminal.]
W
N
ENTER ASP [Something happened]
[I said before that the code is guessable, but it may require some background.
The code is ASP, which stands for "Argus Software Publishing", the original
trade name of the game publisher. Confusion is likely here, since the legal
parent entity was Argus Press, a British publishing company which had several
divisions, one of which was Argus Press Software Ltd. But this is APS, not ASP.
"ASP Software" was the commercial name of one of the software labels used by
Argus Press Software, under which the original Atari version was published. It
had other labels such as "Computer Tutor" (for educational games) or "Mind
Games" (for adventure and RPG games, later on). It doesn't help that the
Spectrum version was published under the label "Mind Games" instead.]
EXAMINE VIEWSCREEN [You are drifting in deep space]
EXAMINE TERMINAL
[OK, so the viewscreen was activated by the terminal. The viewscreen will be
useful to know where the ship is. The terminal gives more information, such as
the nature of the fault (Datalink) and how many planets it knows about (none),
as well as the programmed destination and where we are now. If you try the
buttons, nothing happens, as the ship is broken, but we have no more clues
here.]
S
W [Living quarters, there is a bed here]
GO BED [We find a systems manual and a pillow]
GET MANUAL
READ MANUAL [The screen is blank]
EXAMINE MANUIAL [Something is missing]
[So the manual is electronic and is missing a component. Let's check the
pillow.]
GET PILLOW [Aha, a memory cartridge was under it]
GET MEMORY
DROP PILLOW
FIT MEMORY [To the manual]
READ MANUAL [Section 436.5 - Datalink - Interesting!]
DROP MANUAL
[We can leave the manual here; reading it is necessary for the later repairs to
work, but we don't have to keep it with us.]
GET UP
E
E
CONNECT PIPE [to Spacesuit]
PUSH WHITE [Air goes in]
GET KNIFE
GET SCREWDRIVER
EXAMINE SPACESUIT [Air reads 50; this is actually turns]
[The spacesuit is usable now, so we can go outside through the airlock. Some of
the reparations have to be done there.]
W
N
N
E [Airlock]
WEAR SPACESUIT
PUSH BLUE [The exterior door opens]
GO DOOR [We are outside]
D
E [Beside maintenance panel]
UNSCREW COVER [With the screwdriver]
GET COVER [As we remove the cover, we see some circuit boards]
GET CIRCUIT [It shows in our inventory as Datalink]
[Right, so according to the manual this is the component that is likely broken.
We'll need to repair it and re-fit it.
DROP COVER
W
U
GO AIRLOCK
PUSH BLUE
REMOVE SPACESHIP
W
W
GET ANALYSER
[The analyser is needed to repair the datalink; if we try to do it without we'll
be told we can't do that just yet.]
E
S
S
E
REPAIR DATALINK
DROP ANALYSER
W
N
N
E
WEAR SPACESUIT
PUSH BLUE
GO DOOR
D
E
FIT DATALINK
SCREW COVER [Best to be neat and leave things as they were]
W
U
U [Top of spaceship]
E [There is a parabolic dish here]
EXAMINE DISH [It has a red button]
PUSH RED
[The aerial rotates and locks onto a signal. This unlocks the first set of
planet coordinates. The ship is now repaired and can go places.]
W
D
[The Spectrum version has a bug here: we should be able to GO AIRLOCK directly
from here, but we can do so only if we come from below, not above.]
D
U
GO AIRLOCK
PUSH BLUE
REMOVE SPACESHIP
DROP SPACESUIT
W
DROP SCREWDRIVER
S
[We are at the control room again. In order to make the ship move, we have to
push the Yellow then the Green button, in that order. This can be easily found
out by trial and error. The Yellow button, in fact, shifts the coordinates to
the next planet in the sequence, but since we have just one for now, it won't
do any good to push it more than once. We are going nowhere else than the first
planet for the time being, until we receive the programmed coordinates with
the next destination. So our main task once arrived will be getting these
coordinates.]
PUSH YELLOW
PUSH GREEN
EXAMINE VIEWSCREEN [We are on Tarkos; we can check the terminal as well]
N
E
PUSH BLUE
GO DOOR [We don't need the spacesuit, as the atmosphere is breathable]
E
E [There is deep vegetation here]
CUT VEGETATION [With the laser knife; an alien coin appears]
CUT VEGETATION [Once more, and a mirror appears]
GET MIRROR
N
GET VESSEL
W
[The highlight of this planet is an alien structure whose door is to the N of
here but can't be opened. We notice a beam of red light coming from the pyramid
in the centre of this front courtyard and ending up on a sensor by the door. It
doesn't take a lot to work out that reflecting the beam will likely get the door
open.]
REFLECT LIGHT [Something happened]
DROP MIRROR
W [There's a strong bar here]
GET BAR
DROP KNIFE
S
GO AIRLOCK
PUSH BLUE
DROP VESSEL
W
S
S
D [With the bar, we can now open the crate in the hold]
OPEN CRATE [It's open]
LOOK CRATE [A visor is revealed]
LOOK CRATE [A blaster appears]
DROP BAR
GET BLASTER
U
N
N
E
PUSH BLUE
GO DOOR
N
E
N [Front of alien building]
GO DOOR [Entrance to alien complex]
W
W [Large hexagonal room, there's an android here]
[The android prevents us going S. Time to examine the blaster more closely.]
EXAMINE BLASTER [It is set to Destroy, 30 power]
SWITCH BLASTER [Set to Stun instead]
[The blaster has a limited amount of energy and it will run out if used. It has
two settings and clearly the Destroy model uses up the energy more quickly, so
we'll go for Stun if possible.]
BLAST ANDROID [Stunned]
GET ANDROID
S
S [Hemispherical room with a tower of controls; a force field blocks the way W]
THROW ANDROID [It disappears against the force field with a flash]
[This disables both the android and the force field, clearing the way.]
EXAMINE TOWER [A switch appears; ignore it for the time being]
W [Transmission control room, a miniature transmitter is here]
GET TRANSMITTER
[You may have guessed that this contains the coordinates to the next planet. But
Do not TRANSMIT just yet, as you'll burn the transmitter. It so happens that
it's missing a circuit module.]
N
N [A store room with spare parts]
EXAMINE PARTS [A miniature circuit module shows up]
GET MODULE
FIT MODULE [It slots in perfectly]
S
S
TRANSMIT [Something beeps back in response]
DROP TRANSMITTER
E
N
N
E
E
S [Off building]
S
S
W
GO AIRLOCK
PUSH BLUE
W
S
PUSH YELLOW
PUSH GREEN
EXAMINE VIEWSCREEN [Planet Ariston]
N
E
GET VESSEL
PUSH BLUE
GO DOOR
N [A dark orb and some grains of irradium are here]
N [The cave ends here, and there is a pond and an enormous red herring :)]
GET WATER [Not immediately obvious, but we can fill the vessel with water here]
DROP VESSEL
S
GET ORB
[We'll leave the vessel here for the time being, as we'll need it later. At this
time we need the orb back in Tarkos, because it is a light source once activated
and there is something there that we need to reach in a dark room.]
S
GO AIRLOCK
PUSH BLUE
W
S
PUSH YELLOW
PUSH GREEN [Back to Tarkos]
N
E
PUSH BLUE
GO DOOR
[We can know the orb is a light source because if we EXAMINE it, we will be told
that it could have a bright future. Next we need to activate the orb. Remember
the switch on the control tower I told your earlier to ignore?]
E
N
N
GO DOOR
W
W
S
S
D [The tower extends to this room, and a light beam comes from it to the floor]
DROP ORB
U
PUSH SWITCH
D
GET ORB [Now the orb is glowing brightly]
[To be fair, the game provides some clues if you experiment with the orb in the
right way, suggesting at one point that you should leave it here and come back.
In any case, we have a light source now we can use.]
U
N
N
E
E
D
W
EXAMINE CHEMICALS [A phial of milky liquid is revealed]
GET PHIAL
E
U
GET PLATINUM
[We have what we need to go to Ariston now.]
S
W
S
S
GO AIRLOCK
PUSH BLUE
DROP ORB
DROP PLATINUM
GET SPACESUIT
W
S
S
E
CONNECT PIPE
PUSH WHITE [Rechange air in the spacesuit]
W
N
PUSH YELLOW
PUSH GREEN [To Ariston we go]
N
E
PUSH BLUE
GO DOOR
N
[Ignore the irradium. You can actually MIX IRRADIUM with the water in the
vessel, but you don't need to.]
N
GET VESSEL
POUR PHIAL [This makes a column rise from the pool]
CLIMB COLUMN
[We are now at a lake shore and with us there is an angry taquilla. No clue what
a taquilla is, but it clearly is angry, and prevents us from going N. Luckily,
it is only thirsty, so no need to resort to violence.]
DROP VESSEL [The taquilla snatches it and runs off]
E
[Here we have a bubbling pool and a block of ice. The ice we need to BLAST away
at maximum power, since otherwise it won't melt.]
SWITCH BLASTER [Back to Destroy setting]
BLAST ICE
BLAST ICE [And again: a conical piece of bronze is revealed]
[This matches the conical piece of platinum we found on Tarkos. However, if we
try to grab the piece, we'll find it is far too hot to handle, due to the
blaster fire having heated it. We can use the spacesuit to handle it, but the
air won't last enough if we do. There is an intermediate solution.]
WEAR SPACESUIT
GET BRONZE
THROW BRONZE [Straight into the pool]
REMOVE SPACESUIT
GET BRONZE [We can now handle it, as it has cooled off]
W
N [North side of lake]
[We have two paths. N of here there is a mindless ogron blocking the entrance to
a cave. The ogron is difficult to get past, as blasting won't work on it. The
only way to deal with it is to bring the spinning top from Tarkos, which is in
another dark room we didn't get to, and drop it where the ogron is. It will be
mesmerised by the top and let us pass. But in the cave there is nothing but a
cylindrical probe that is not even needed to finish the game, so we don't need
to concern ourselves with the N path. So we'll go E, but there are toxic fumes
there that will insta-kill us. Good thing we brought the spacesuit with air to
spare.]
WEAR SPACESUIT
E
N
N [End of tunnel; there is a glass tablet here]
REMOVE SPACESUIT [The air is OK in this room]
PUSH GLASS [It begins to bleep periodically]
[This must be the transmitter for the next set of coordinates, so it's likely we
now have another planet to travel to. Back to the ship then.]
WEAR SPACESUIT
S
S
W
REMOVE SPACESUIT
GET GOLD [Don't forget this]
S
D
S
S
GO AIRLOCK
PUSH BLUE
DROP SPACESUIT
W
S
PUSH YELLOW
PUSH GREEN
EXAMINE VIEWSCREEN [We are on Zargon 3, a hostile outpost]
N
E
GET PLATINUM
PUSH BLUE
GO DOOR
[Zargon 3 is not very welcoming: we find ourselves in a large clearing with six
armed guards pointing vaporisers at us. Despite the threat, you can ignore them,
as long as you don't do anything odd.]
E
S [On a northern path through dense undergrowth]
EXAMINE UNDERGROWTH [A conical piece of silver appears]
GET SILVER [Our collection is complete now!]
N
E
[We have arrived at the entrance of the Temple of Creation. It's likely the
transportal booth, our final goal, will be here. But there is no apparent way to
enter, just an abstract metal casting on the outside]
EXAMINE CASTING [There are 4 conical slots at the top]
FIT PLATINUM
FIT GOLD
FIT SILVER
FIT BRONZE [A secret opening down appears]
D
[We find a chamber with a lever and a cross-hatch of deadly proton rays blocking
access to the south room. There is also a lever. We can visit the north room,
but there is nothing there that is of immediate use. If we experiment, we'll
find that the lever stops the flux of proton rays, but only while it's being
pulled. So we can't go south and back again, because we don't have the means to
keep the lever pulled. Even this experiment won't work correctly, as there is a
spurious STOP instruction on line 4180 in the Spectrum version which shouldn't
be there, but the fact remains that we don't have a way to solve this puzzle
right now. So we must explore elsewhere.]
U
W
S
S [A ferocious gorphon appears]
[Fortunately we still have our blaster with us.]
SWITCH BLASTER [As there's not enough charge for Destroy mode]
BLAST GORPHON
DROP BLASTER [It's empty now]
S
S [Cell block complex]
[All locations within the cell block complex are full of armed guards which will
shoot first and ask later if we go in the wrong direction. Only some directions
are safe in each location.]
D
E
S [Cell; there is a length of twine here]
GET TWINE
U
W
U
N
N
N
N
E
D [At temple again]
[The idea is to use the twine to keep the level pulled while we move to the
South room.]
TIE TWINE [to lever]
PULL TWINE [The rays stop]
S [There is a red prism here]
GET PRISM
PULL TWINE
N
DROP TWINE
U
W
W
GO AIRLOCK
PUSH BLUE
[We are almost done: the prism needs to be exchanged by a quartz on Ariston, the
quartz then needs to be activated on Tarkos, and finally we use the activated
quartz on the transportal booth in Zargon 3. So it's back to Ariston first.]
W
S
PUSH YELLOW [One for Tarkos]
PUSH YELLOW [One more for Ariston]
PUSH GREEN
N
E
GET ORB [We'll need light]
PUSH BLUE
GO DOOR
N
N
CLIMB COLUMN
W
U [A magnificent sculpture of red prisms is here]
FIT PRISM [A secret opening appears]
W [The quartz is here]
GET QUARTZ
E
D
E
D
S
S
GO AIRLOCK
PUSH BLUE
DROP ORB
[Next we need to activate the quartz. This is not evident, but the lump of
quartz as it is will not work. We may observe that the teleportal booth, as most
of the working artifacts in the game, irradiate iridescent light, or are lighted
in general. This suggests that the same has to be done to the quartz. We did
this with the orb, after all, so the same treatment will work here.]
W
S
PUSH YELLOW [One for Zargon 3]
PUSH YELLOW [Another back to Tarkos]
PUSH GREEN
N
E
PUSH BLUE
GO DOOR
E
N
N
GO DOOR
W
W
S
S
D
DROP QUARTZ
U
PUSH SWITCH
D [The quartz is iridescent now]
GET QUARTZ
U
N
N
E
E
S
S
S
W
GO AIRLOCK
PUSH BLUE
[Almost done. We just have to get back to the Temple of Creation on Zargon 3 and
turn the teleportal booth on.]
W
S
PUSH YELLOW [One for Ariston]
PUSH YELLOW [Another for Zargon 3]
PUSH GREEN
N
E
PUSH BLUE
GO DOOR
E
E
D
N [The booth is here]
GO BOOTH
FIT QUARTZ
[End of game.]
