<!--
	Title: (Scorpion's Tale) Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur
	Author: Scorpia
	Source: Computer Gaming World, v9(9)
	Date: September 1989
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

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InvisiClues.org editors note: Portions of this article, like many of
the <em>Scorpion's Tale</em> columns from <em>Computer Gaming World</em>, may include
material plagiarized from other sources, including the original
<em>InvisiClues</em> and uncredited postings to online gaming forums.
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<table><tbody>
<tr><td>TITLE:</td><td>Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur</td></tr>
<tr><td>SYSTEMS:</td><td>Apple II (w/ 128K)<br>Macintosh (with 512K)<br>Supports Mac II Color</td></tr>
<tr><td>REVIEWED:</td><td>Apple II</td></tr>
<tr><td>PRICE:</td><td>Apple II ($39.95)<br>Macintosh ($49.95)</td></tr>
<tr><td>DESIGNER:</td><td>Bob Bates</td></tr>
<tr><td>PUBLISHER:</td><td>Infocom<br>Cambridge, MA</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>

**Warning: Although "The Scorpion's Tale" is a warm and
comfortable tavern of the mind with a nice cozy fire of
vibrant images, our resident storyteller conjures up illuminating
hints about games. If the gentle reader eschews
hints, let him beware!**

Ahhh, autumn again! One of my favorite times of year (actually,
any season except summer is ok with me . . . grin). Fred
is back from the Grues Convention and ready to serve your favorite
beverage. We have a special on ale this month (for those of drinking
age), to get you in the mood for a little trip through Merrie Old England
during the time of knights and chivalry.

"Arthur" is based on the King Arthur and the Round Table legends, of
course. As you might expect, the game deals with his getting Excalibur
from the stone to prove his right to rule England. Since, in legend, Arthur
simply walked up and pulled the sword from the stone, a few (well,
more than a few) changes needed to be made.

The game has online hints, but the best way to play is
with them off. However, you should bring them up, at least once,
to read the notes. They provide some interesting background information
to the game.

<img class="float-right-wide" src="/public/img/articles/cgw-scorpions-tale-arthur/arthur-art.jpg" alt="Art from Arthur: Quest for Excalibur">

Basically, Arthur must prove he has what it takes to be King.
This involves solving a lot of puzzles and accumulating a whole
bunch of points: quest points, experience points, wisdom points,
and chivalry points. When he has a high enough score in each
category, he can pull the sword free and be acclaimed King.

It all starts in a churchyard where Arthur first tries, unsuccessfully,
to pull the sword out. Merlin appears and gives him a pep talk,
then vanishes. Soon after, the soldiers of the evil King Lot arrive
on the scene. As there's a curfew on these days, Arthur needs to
get out of sight, fast . . . or the game will be a short one.

Arthur watches while Lot has his soldiers cart off the stone,
sword and all. Obviously, Lot is up to no good here. The next
morning, Lot appears on the churchyard steps, apparently wielding
Excalibur. After giving a hyped-up talk to the assembled
peasantry (the man definitely has a way with words), he says he
will have himself crowned on Christmas Day at noon. That's only
three days off, so Arthur doesn't have much time.

Once the churchyard is deserted again, Arthur can start moving
around. The first place he should move to is Merlin's cave outside
the town (Merlin told him to, anyway). However, he has to watch
out for the Invisible Knight. Any time Arthur steps into the
Meadow, the Knight comes along and snarfs anything Arthur is
carrying.

Yes, it's that tired old thief routine that went out (or
should have) with *Zork I*. Unfortunately, you'll have to
put up with it here, at least until Arthur finds the means of
thwarting the thefts. Until then, Arthur should avoid
going into the meadow carrying anything of importance
as much as possible. So, Arthur should drop what he's carrying
before leaving town (you have to go to the Meadow to reach Merlin).

At the cave, Merlin gives Arthur the ability to change
into five animal forms: badger, owl, salamander, turtle,
and eel. Each of these forms will be necessary to solving
all the puzzles in the game. The owl, in some ways,
is the best, since as a bird you can fly almost anywhere, including places you might
not be able to reach in your human form without great difficulty.
It is also a fast way of travelling from place to place.

The only drawback is that you can't carry anything as an owl (or
as most other creatures). Ergo, the owl form is good for scouting
and some other purposes, but it's not an easy way to get around
obstacles that must be passed by solving puzzles.

After visiting Merlin (don't forget the bag!), Arthur should explore
the environs past the Meadow, where he will soon come
across the Red Knight. The Knight guards the entrance to a
causeway that leads to an island in the middle of a lake. In order
to get past the Knight, Arthur must give him four special objects:
a golden fleece, the hair of a dragon, the tusk of a boar, and the
egg of a raven. Obtaining these items forms the bulk of the
game and the trials Arthur must pass to prove himself worthy of
Excalibur (Arthur can reach the island in animal form, but it won't
do him much good).

At this point, doing some exploring (as a human and otherwise)
is a good idea. The game has an auto-mapping feature (with
separate maps for human and animal forms, by the way) but it is
something of a pain to use on the Apple (more on that later), so
you may want to make your own as you go along.

Once you have a fair idea of what's where, Arthur can get down
to the serious business of proving himself the stuff of Kings. A
visit to the tavern in the town is certainly in order. Arthur should
pick up some information here as well as an item or two.
Don't worry about being kicked out; only one visit is necessary (provided
you get what you need).

<figure class="float-right-half">
<img src="/public/img/articles/cgw-scorpions-tale-arthur/arthur-screen-shots.png" alt="Arthur screen shots">
<figcaption>Since, in legend, Arthur simply walked up and pulled the
sword from the stone, a few (well, more than few) changes needed to be made.</figcaption>
</figure>

Moving right along to the badger hole (could anything be more blatant?) by
the smithy, a trip inside is definitely in order. Interestingly enough, the badger
den is right next to the castle prison. Inside the prison (the means of entry is
rather obvious), is a prisoner of great importance.
Arthur is going to have to get the man out of the
castle. It's the chivalrous thing to do, after all, and besides, he'll
tell Arthur where to find something he needs.

Of course, there's a guard to dispose of first. Arthur will have to
be a bit physical here. Then, there's the matter of leaving the
castle. Arthur, of course, could just fly off as an owl, but that
doesn't help the other man much. However, poking around passageways
and listening in the right place should provide the
means of leaving, although a visit to the armory should be made
before bidding a fond farewell to the castle for now.

Also in the badger hole, just a quick jaunt south of the den, is
the badger maze, full of twisty little passages, all alike. Yes, you
do have to go through it. Sigh. Since you can't carry anything to
drop, you'll have to think of another way to keep your place, so
to speak. I wonder if being in this place makes you feel itchy?

Somewhere along the line, you'll look in at the cottage on the
moor. The poor peasant inside appears to be in bad shape. Then
again, that's not surprising. It's not too warm in here, after all.
Well, don't just stand there gawking, Arthur, help the poor man,
for peat's sake!

And let's not overlook the Kraken in the lake (even if you'd
prefer to). Examine him carefully (just don't get too close). How
pretty! Wouldn't you just love to have that little bauble? Too bad
you can't carry a weapon underwater. That would help a lot.
What can you do about this? (Ever play *Zork II*? Remember the
dragon?).

By this time, you'll probably want to do something about the Invisible
Knight. So, a trip to the ivory tower is in order. Of course,
if you joust had a key to open the door, it might be easier to get
inside (hehe).

Inside the tower, be sure to explore everywhere. Arthur has to
answer a riddle (the name of the old man in the tower) and the
clues are all there. Still, it won't be all that easy, as the name is
somewhat concealed. I hope Arthur knows his alphabet well.

Once that's taken care of, Arthur can pay a visit to the Invisible
Knight and get back anything that might have been stolen (and
the knight won't steal anything again). The knight also has an
item that Arthur can use, but first . . . another riddle (riddling was
a big pastime in those days). This one is a little easier, actually,
and I know I can count on you to solve it pretty quickly. Arthur is
now able to get the first of the four objects he needs for the Red
Knight.

Which object should be next? Well, the boar is not too difficult. As a
matter of fact, Arthur doesn't even have to fight him (it would be a pretty
uneven fight). A boar, you know, is a sort of wild pig. Think about a
whole roast pig for a moment, and you'll get the idea.

You may be wondering about the Black Knight. Arthur does have to
defeat him in combat. It's the only way to get across the
river with items in hand (animal forms can, of course, do it easily,
but they can't carry anything). However, it's not something to try
too early in the game, as Arthur will do better should he have a
fair amount of experience under his belt. Save the game before
making the attempt. If it's clear that Arthur isn't going to win, try
again later.

Beyond the river, as you probably knew before this, is the
dragon (yes, the one with the hair). Dealing with him is rather
simple, provided you've done the right things at the glade in the
forest. Then, it's into the cave for some real fun.

Spooks! All sorts of ghosts (including those of things you may
have killed up to this point) start popping out of the woodwork,
so to speak. Feeling scared? There's no need. After all, ghosts
are immaterial.

Past the ghosts, you will find two rooms (in different directions).
One is the Cold Room. Brr, is it cold in here! How cold is it? Cold
enough to make your very words freeze (now, THAT'S cold!). Too
bad Arthur doesn't have a parka (this isn't a place to linger).

The other room has an occupant. The occupant is a basilisk.
Basilisks are relatives of Medusa: one look and you're stoned . . .
literally. So, you better not look, at least not straight on.

There's another room after that one. It's the Hot Room. Whew,
it's hot in here! How hot is it? Hot enough to dry up your throat
and tongue (now, THAT'S hot!). Arthur wouldn't want to stay in
here too long, either. Now, if he could just say the magic word
that would open the door, he'd be ok.

And in that last room is . . . a pretty young girl? Sure about
that, Arthur? I wouldn't be, if I were you. It's really the demon
trying to fake you out. That's about all he can do, since he happens
to be chained (the chains aren't fake) to the chair. He also
happens to be sitting on the fleece.

But has he got a deal for you! Just open the manacles, and you
can have the fleece. Easy, eh? Of course, demons aren't known
for their trustworthiness. On the other hand, Arthur can't just pull
the fleece out from under him. Looks like Arthur will have to accept
the demon's offer.

However . . . there's a trick involved here. If Arthur is really
clever, he can avoid freeing the demon while still obtaining the
fleece. The demon really is bound by the contract between him
and Arthur, so it's very important to notice exactly what he says.

So, at last, Arthur has everything and can go running off to give
them to the Red Knight. There is, though, the little matter of
waking the Lady in The Lake. For that, you should pay close attention
to the poem on the inside cover of the manual (the
manual, not the book of hours). Be aware also that you'll have to
wait a bit before the event. It won't happen at midnight, but quite
some time after.

Once she's been awakened, you'll have what you need to challenge
King Lot to a duel. The only problem with the duel is that,
after all this business about being brave and chivalrous, you win
by what is essentially a cheap trick, rather than by skill or force of
arms. This takes the edge off the victory.

Anyway, once you've put Lot out of the picture (no, you don't
kill him), you can finally pull out Excalibur and be proclaimed
King of England.

Before closing the Tale for this issue, however, I must mention
some problems. *Arthur* is **Infocom**'s most poorly produced game
ever. The number of disk swaps and disk flippings (the game
comes on three double-sided disks on the Apple) is simply outrageous,
even in all-text mode. When you have to change disks
because part of a paragraph is on one, and the rest on another,
you know something is wrong with the design. This is also sometimes
necessary with a single sentence.

The auto-mapping, while very nice, suffers from the same flaw.
As you get further into the game, the map naturally becomes
more detailed, and a lot of disk swapping is required as the map
is re-drawn.

The Apple II graphics are mediocre at best and are slow to
come on. On the other hand, the basic Macintosh graphics are industry
standard and the Mac II graphics look very nice.

Disk access is generally slow. Your best bet is to forego pictures
and map in order to play in all-text mode. It will speed things up
a little, at least.

Speaking of disk access, the Apple II version is not very bright
in some circumstances. For example, it tells you to put, say, Side
2 in Drive One. Then it goes looking for the disk in Drive Two
first. Why? I have no idea, but that's what it does. Also, you have
to be careful when restoring a position. If you put the wrong disk
in the drive by mistake, or if you type in the save name wrong,
the game will buzz between the drives for awhile, then tell you the
save failed, and you'll have to do it over again. If you have a hard
drive, I recommend using it; your life may be a little easier.

Well, that's it for this time. Remember if you need help with an
adventure game, you can reach me in the following ways:

On Delphi: Visit the GameSIG (under the Groups and Clubs
menu). On GEnie: Stop by the Games Roundtable (type: Scorpia
to reach the Games RT). By US Mail (enclose a self-addressed
stamped envelope if you live in the Unites States): Scorpia, PO
Box 338, Gracie Station, New York, NY 10028.

Until next time, happy adventuring!

Copyright 1989 by Scorpia, all rights reserved.