LA PRINCESA
Software Center (by Fromesoft), 1985
========================================
Solution by Exemptus - January 2024
Overview and general hints:
---------------------------
This game is written in Spanish. I'm writing this solution in English, but the
reasonable assumption is that whoever is interested in playing the game has
enough command of the language. In any case, this allows the solution to reach a
wider audience.
This is a quilled game in which the goal is to rescue Princess Annia, daughter
of King Satiar, taken prisoner to the caves of the evil Guarniog. The mechanics
of the game, therefore, consist on exploring the caves, braving their dangers,
finding the princess, and escaping alive. There is a secondary goal which is to
score the maximum of 100% points, which can be done only by getting all the
relevant treasure. It is possible to rescue the princess with a much lower score
and this was the object of a contest when the game was first released.
The game is compact: only 44 locations. The main difficulties are cartography
and navigation, not puzzles: there are relatively few and all of them are of the
sort "you need to have the right object(s) with you". But the convoluted map is
rife with passages, some secret and most overt, which can be traversed (using P)
only with the conjuro (spell) in hand, and maybe other conditions as well. A few
secret ways have nothing to do with the conjuro and require other things.
The player can carry up to 13 objects, which is a considerable amount, and there
are plenty of things to carry as well. This makes things complicated, even if
many of the obstacles can be negotiated through obvious use of them (a steep,
slippery descent needs the magical boots, for instance), others need to be
(arbitrarily) absent for it to work, which makes for lots of trial and error
combinations.
Optimal use of passages can bypass certain obstacles, but getting 100% requires
meeting most of them. The solution below is far from optimal but achieves top
score. This is made more difficult because the score can't be checked during the
game: it's only disclosed when the game ends.
Darkness is badly handled: only the first location we go into is dark, in the
sense that the description doesn't show until we have a light source. However,
a light source is readily available, and once taken and lighted, we cannot drop
it, as the game says we don't have it (but we do: it will permanently take an
inventory slot). This is a bug with the game logic. So, although practically all
the game locations are dark, this turns out to be irrelevant in terms of play.
We have to eat / drink at regular intervals as well. This is annoying, but not
really hard to get around: there are several locations where there is food as a
consumable object or water that we can carry in a bottle. There are also three
locations on level 3 of the caves that have fruit trees (árboles frutales) and
these are in effect an infinite source of food: it is enough to be at one of
these locations and say COME FRUTA (eat fruit) to sate hunger.
Walkthrough:
------------
[We start outside the complex of caves where Guarniog lives and the Princess is
prisoner in. An oil lamp (candil) is here.]
COGE CANDIL [take oil lamp]
E [It is dark]
ENCIENDE CANDIL [Light lamp]
M [For MIRA, which means LOOK; this redescribes the location]
O [For OESTE (West)]
S [There is an empty bottle here]
COGE BOTELLA [Take bottle]
SE
[Here the floor drops down suddenly and we'll die if we try to go down. We're
not equipped yet for it. There is an áura mágico (magical aura) here. In truth
this should be spelt "aura mágica", since it's feminine, but hey-ho. This is one
of many magical objects scattered around. They will protect us against certain
dangers but they are also likely to become obstacles for some passages.]
COGE AURA [We take it]
NO [This is north-west]
N
N [There is an empty canteen here]
COGE CANTIMPLORA [Take canteen]
E [A pool of oil is here]
COGE ACEITE [Take oil, with the bottle]
E [The spell is here]
COGE CONJURO [Take spell]
[The spell will allow us to go through most passages. Whenever in the room
description it says "También hay un pasaje" (There is also a passage) we can go
through it by saying P. If we can't but we have the spell, it's possible that
other objects are needed as well.]
S [Normally the curse would kill us here without the aura]
COGE COMIDA [Take food]
COGE LLAVE [Take key - this is a skeleton key]
S
O [There is water and some magic boots here]
COGE AGUA [Take water, with the canteen]
COGE BOTAS [Take boots]
PON BOTAS [Wear boots]
[A rusted door prevents passage to the south, but this can be easily solved.]
USA ACEITE [Use oil]
ABRE PUERTA [Open door, which now works]
S [There is an axe here, which we ignore]
[There are several weapons. At one point, we'll fight a monster, and some
weapons are better than others. The axe is not the best, so we won't be wasting
inventory by lugging it around.]
S
BAJAR [Down we go, which the boots make possible; we are now on level 2]
[A sword is here, which we also ignore. We are told these are the domains of the
Great Monster. By the way, our score is 12% just for getting here.]
N [There is a rope here, which can be used to descend the pit to Level 3]
COGE CUERDA [Take rope]
S [A miracle potion]
COGE POCIMA [Take potion]
E [At this point we are probably hungry; fortunately, there is food here]
COGE COMIDA [Take food]
COME COMIDA [Eat food]
COGE VARITA [Take wand; the wand will be needed to enter the prison]
O
O [There is a cross here, which we ignore]
[The cross allows not to be robbed of the ring in the Slaves quarters, but there
is no reason to go there.]
P [Go through the passage to a cave with a closed wardrobe]
ABRE ARMARIO [Open wardrobe; a Warrior dagger appears]
COGE DAGA [The dagger is the best weapon]
O [There is a deep pit here]
DEJA CUERDA [Drop rope, which will allow us to go down, but not yet]
S [There is a closed chest here]
ABRE COFRE [Open chest; there is a gold ring]
DEJA LLAVE [Drop key, which is no longer needed]
COGE ANILLO [Take ring; our score is now 20%]
[The ring is one of the two objects we will need for Princess Annia to follow
us; the other is her medallion, which is down in level 3]
S [There are some silver bells here; you should save your game]
COGE CASCABELES [This is a treasure and score is now 22%]
[By the way, the potion prevented the bells from ringing and alerting the
monsters around. Don't ask me how that works, as we didn't even have to drink
it: miracle potion indeed. We don't need it any longer, so we can make room in
our inventory.]
DEJA BOTELLA [Drop bottle]
DEJA POCIMA [Drop potion]
DEJA AURA [The aura is no longer useful, either]
E
N
BAJAR [Go down, which the aura would have prevented]
[We are now on level 3 and our score is 32%. We need several objects here to
reach Annia's cell, though the way to it is on level 2. On this level is the
Great Treasure, which will disappear automatically unless we escape through the
Guardian's chamber. But we need protection for that.]
SO [Edge of the Stone Forest; Anna's medallion is here]
COGE MEDALLON [Take medallion; score is now 45%]
P [Through the passage to the orchard]
COME FRUTA [Eat fruit, to stave off hunger for another while]
SO
SO [The Astral Stone is here]
COGE PIEDRA [Take stone, which protects us from the Guardian]
E
NE [The Great Treasure is here]
COGE TESORO [Take treasure; score is 65%]
[If we now try to exit where we came from, the treasure will vanish. We'll need
to exit south.]
S [The astral stone prevents the Guardian from killing us]
DEJA PIEDRA [Drop stone, which is necessary to go through the passage]
P [Through the passage and to the orchard again]
SO
NO [We come into the Monster, but with the Warrior Dagger we win the fight]
[It is possible to win with the axe or the sword, but the chances are 25% and
40% respectively. The dagger is a better bet. We no longer need it, though, so
we drop it to make room for the diamond amulet that is here.]
DEJA DAGA [Drop dagger]
COGE AMULETO [Take amulet]
P [Through the passage, which takes us up to level 2 again]
E
COGE COMIDA
COME COMIDA [Hunger probably has shown up again by now]
P {to Guarniog's Portal]
[The game tells us that we won't be able to enter the portal except... the
answer is if we have the necessary objects to, which are the spell and amulet.]
P [We are at the Fountain of Life; if we drink, though, we'll die]
P [The passage takes us to Annia's cell]
COGE ANNIA [Take Annia, which in practice means she follows us; score is 100%]
[Annia will not follow unless we have both the gold ring and her medallion. Like
all princesses she's rather fussy, even with rescuers. The surrounding rooms to
the cell are a maze, with descriptions taunting the player, but there is a way
out.]
O
S [There is a pearl necklace here]
DEJA VARITA [Drop wand]
COGE COLLAR [Take necklace]
E
[This is a key cave, the only one with a passage. In order to exit, we need to
have the pearl necklace but not the magic wand.]
P [We go through the exit and manage to escape with 100% score.]
[End of game.]
