Zeliard

Zeliard

DOS Cover art
Developer(s) Game Arts
Publisher(s) Sierra Entertainment
Platform(s) NEC PC-8801, X1, MS-DOS
Release date(s)

PC-8801

Genre(s) Platformer, Action RPG, Metroidvania[2]
Mode(s) Single-player

Zeliard (ゼリアード Zeriādo)is a platform-action RPG video game developed for the NEC PC-8801 and published by Game Arts in 1987 in Japan, and re-published for MS-DOS PCs in 1990 by Sierra Entertainment in Europe and North America. In Zeliard, the player controls the knight Duke Garland, whose task is to save the Kingdom of Zeliard by destroying the evil overlord Jashiin, and recovering the Nine Tears of Esmesanti, magic jewels.

Technical characteristics

The English language release of Zeliard is an MS-DOS-based game. It supports 64-color MCGA graphics, with alternate running modes at 16-color EGA, 4-color CGA, or monochrome graphics.

The game supports AdLib and SoundBlaster for sound effects; for music, the game also supports the Roland MT-32. Either a keyboard or a joystick can be used as input devices. The physical size of the game on disk is a bit less than 1 megabyte.

Requirements: 512KB memory, 8086 processor or better
Monitor supported: MCGA, VGA, EGA, CGA, Tandy, Hercules, Monochrome
sound card supported: Roland MT-32, AdLib, SoundBlaster, PC speaker

Being an MS-DOS-based game written for older hardware, the game may need an emulator, such as DOSBox, to run with all features enabled or at all on modern systems.

Plot

An ancient demon, called Jashiin (and self-dubbed as the Emperor of Chaos), emerges from a two-thousand-year-old sleep to unleash his wrath upon the Kingdom of Zeliard. Justifying his actions as a revenge upon the ancient kings of Zeliard, Jashiin does so by causing a sand rain to continue for 115 days, turning the kingdom into desert; as well, he turns King Felishika's only daughter, the beautiful princess Felicia, into stone.

The protagonist and player-controlled character, Duke Garland, is sent by the spirits to aide Zeliard and save Felicia. Duke Garland must recover the Nine Tears of Esmesanti, stolen by Jashiin from Felicia upon turning her to stone, for only they can reverse the enchantment. Subsequently, Duke Garland must also slay Jashiin. In order to do either, the player must pass through eight increasingly complex labyrinths, swarming with Jashiin's underlings. At the end of each Labyrinth, a boss dwells, holding one of the nine Tears; the final Tear is held by Jashiin himself.

Finally, Garland may find haven in various cities and outposts not yet conquered by Jashiin, in order to rest and purchase weaponry and equipment.

Gameplay

Zeliard is a fast-paced platform game. The gameplay can be divided into sections—in-town, and in-labyrinth.

In-town

No combat takes place in towns, with the exception of an optional boss in a building in the town with the fire caverns. Towns usually exist on the borders of different labyrinths, although some are located in the middle, and one village is hidden.

When in town, Garland can make use of any of the following facilities, provided they are present in that town:

Not all towns have all of these buildings, and certain towns may have additional, special-purpose buildings as well.

While in-town, Garland may also talk to the townfolk in hope of getting useful information for his quest.

Labyrinth

The labyrinths are the combat space of the game. When in a labyrinth, Garland will have to make good use of his sword, shield, special items, and magic spells, in order to slay countless creatures, and progress to the next boss or town.

The labyrinth area is divided into eight different sections, each with a unique appearance and containing unique monsters, and each having a different boss monster, guarding one of the Tears of Esmesanti jewels.

Labyrinths are further broken down into caverns. Moving from one cavern to another is done through doors (locked or unlocked), and keys must first be found to unlock locked doors.

Regular monsters inhabit each labyrinth, respawning each time Garland enters, leaves, moves from one cavern to another, or simply walks too far away from their spawn position. Boss monsters, on the other hand, do not respawn after being killed. The one exception to this is the semi-final boss, the personal bodyguard of Jashiin. It only needs to be killed once to gain access to Jashiin, but if the player later dies or teleports out, the boss will need to be killed again.

When a monster is killed, it may drop an alma. Almas are valuable jewel-like creature souls which can be exchanged at banks for gold; as well, some NPCs require a direct alma payment for a needed item. Almas come in three ratings, grayish red (worth 1 almas), grayish blue (worth 10 almas), and reddish white (worth 100 almas). Enemies in later parts of the game tend to drop more valuable almas, but later equipment is also more expensive.

Labyrinths also have hidden chests and dugouts, that may contain gold, almas, keys or recovery potions.

As well, later labyrinths in the game have hidden one-way air currents. Invisible to the player, they will involuntary carry Garland in their direction of flow. Some complex schemes of currents can be very difficult to outmaneuver, and reach the intended destination. However, currents may also provide a quick way to escape death, and using some hidden currents is required to progress in the game.

Garland can die by taking excessive damage from close contact with monsters, their projectiles, or the natural environment such as hidden spikes or excessive temperatures. There is no falling damage.

When dying, Garland will lose all his carried gold and half his carried almas, and be teleported back to the very first town in the game, having to go back to where he was before dying (which is usually easier than going there the first time, since the boss monsters are already dead, all the closed doors remain open, and special items acquired later in the game may be of use for quicker progression).

References

  1. 1 2 ゼリアード (in Japanese). Game Arts. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
  2. ↑ Szczepaniak, John. "Backtracking: The History of Metroidvania". GamesTM (116). Imagine Publishing. pp. 148–53.
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