ECSTATICA --------- For the love of one shall briefly disclose the matters of mine which the Ancients do Alcamye call or others, Alchemy. Wherefore, it is here, understand you shall, this wonderful art and gift of the Almighty which was never found by labour of man, but it, by teaching or revelation began. He, and more surely she, so as I find, of noble mind, who searched nature will find this art, in manner of physik and magic natural. But all these writings are very dark despise all books and them defy wherein is nothing but recipe and accipe. Few learned men within this realm can tell thee aright what I do mean; I could never find man but one, which could teach me the secret of Alcamye and that was the old man on the close of Tirich, the guardian of our castle. This olde philosopher wise by wey of kind in sundry wise a deamon made prisoner of the stone circle. This devil, one of the worst, so as I finde, through our craft only could be defeated the nature of evil both in substance and figure. But teacheth the great worke a foule labour, not fit for lesser men or women, in which is found great travail with many perils and many a faille. Whomsoever thou art that presumest to dive into the fountain of work and hopes to obtain by ambitious enterprise, the reward of our arte, I tell thee by the eternal creator for a truth, for all truth being small is going far. If thou keep thy secrets in store unto thy shelve thou hast conquered the power and all the devils thou holdyst at will, maybe for wise men done say store is no sore, but women know more... Ecstatica, 928 AD A prelude... ------------ I started out on my journey in good spirits, riding through the lowlands and enjoying the solitude, as my horses hooves beat out a relaxing rhythm. Finding a waterfall above a deep pool I swam and refreshed myself, stretching out in the afternoon sun to dry. Perhaps we lingered too long though.... Trying to make up time, I pushed my stallion hard....too hard, and the rough country and burning heat took it's toll on horse and rider. Travelling through this part of the country is a demanding experience, treacherous mountain paths criss-cross endlessly, and more experienced riders than me have become hopelessly lost. The sun was starting its descent as we rode past a monastery, the twilight engulfing us in disturbing shadows. In the deepeing gloom we found ourselves at a cross-roads just outside a small village.... It had seemed the right thing to do at the time. With darkness falling, water and shelter were needed. The village was on the far side of a small bridge. A short distance to travel, for sure, but as I crossed that bridge, the atmosphere seemed to change, as quickly as a thunderstorm can turn the weather on a summer's day. On reaching the other side, I could feel that something was amiss.... Everything was still, and quiet as the grave. There were no children playing, no women cooking an evening meal, no men joking and laughing on the way home from the tavern.... what could be wrong? A shop to my right looks harmless enough, but why is the door hanging from its hinges and what are those foul scrawls daubed on the walls? What the... Oh my god........ An objective... --------------- You have arrived in a village that seems to be deserted. However, you'll soon discover that first appearences can be very deceptive. The village of Tirich is under the influence of dark, supernatural forces that have manifested themselves in a menagerie of ghouls and demons. Your survival depends upon your ability to discover why strange creatures prowl otherwise peaceful streets. You must free Tirich from this unholy spell, or perish trying. A diary may provide some clues as to why these fearful events have come to pass, and that's as good a place as any to begin your quest... Installation: ------------- Place disk 1 in your diskdrive. Type the letter of your diskdrive followed by a colon and press Enter e.g. A: Type INSTALL and press ENTER Follow the on screen instructions. Select a sound card from the list of supported cards. Select the directory that you want the game to install to e.g. default C:\ECSTATIC. Once installed, the game will be immediately playable. In order to play the game on future occasions, you must make the installed directory the current directory e.g. cd C:\ECSTATIC. Then type ECSTATIC and press ENTER. In game options: ---------------- At any point in the game you can press escape to access the in game options. A pop up menu with the following choices will appear on the screen: [Start Game (male)] - restarts the game from the beginning [Start Game (female)] - restarts the game from the beginning [Save Game] - Gives you ten slots in which you can save a game [Load Game] - Enables you to select any of the saved game [Options] - Selecting this will let you access another on screen menu with the following choices: Turn [music] on and off Turn [sound effects] on and off Turn [subtitles] on and off If you wish to alter the sound card settings then key in the following commands: Make the installed directory the current directory (e.g. cd C:\ECSTATIC). Type SETUP and press ENTER. You can then choose from the list of soundcards. The game will then play with the new settings. Controls: --------- Ecstatica's controls, via the numeric keypad on your keyboard, remain consistent throughout the game. You can move your character forwards in the direction that he/she is facing, via the '8' key, regardless of which viewing perspective the in-game editor editor offers you. (i.e., regardless of whether you are moving into, or out of, the screen). The keypad controls via the numeric keypad: 1 - Pick up, or put down, an object with your left hand (note that your character one object in either hand at any one time) 2 - Walk backwards 3 - Pick up, or put down an object with your right hand 4 - Turn left 5 - Dodge 6 - Turn right 7 - Hit with the left hand (or held object/weapon etc.) 8 - Walk forwards 9 - Hit with the right hand (object/weapon etc.) Your character's movement modes are... F1, F2, F3, F4 - Stealth (very useful for sneaking past enemies who are best not disturbed...) F5, F6, F7, F8 - Walk (quicker than stealth, but not too fast for comfort) F9, F10, F11, F12 - Run (might just get you out of trouble, but be careful you don't simply run out of the frying pan and into the fire) Credits: -------- Programming Andrew Spencer Animation & Story Alain Maindron Producer Greg Duddle Music & Sound Effects PC Music Sound Co-ordination Phil Morris Voice Characterisation Sharon Ashton Russ Lane Kevin McMahon Product Manager Pat Cain Public Relations Mark Blewitt Gleon O'Connel Packaging & Manual Design Keith Hopwood Mark Day Packaging & Manial Words Mark Day Huw Thomas Playtesters Paul Charsley Paul Holmes Jenny Newby Gary Nichols System Designed By Andrew Spencer Directed By Andrew Spencer Alain Maindron Illustration By Carl Critchlow Typed in by PADISHAR CREEL