NOTE: If you are having trouble starting the game, chances are you don't have enough conventional memory. ASPETRA requires at least 570,000 bytes of free conventional memory. If you are running DOS 6 or above, try running MEMMAKER to free up memory. If you are running Windows, exit to DOS before running the game. If you are running Windows 95, restart your computer in MS-DOS Mode before running the game. %%%%%%%%%%%%% A S P E T R A %%%%%%%%%%%%% (C) 1996 by Zonarware CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Basic Role-Playing Concepts 2.1 The Story 2.2 Your Character 3.0 How to Play 3.1 Basic Controls 3.2 Towns 3.2.1 Townspeople 3.2.2 Weapon Shops 3.2.3 Item Shops 3.2.4 Inns 3.3 The Wilderness 3.4 Dungeons 3.5 The Main Menu 3.5.1 Stats 3.5.2 Items 3.5.3 Magic 3.5.4 Equip 3.5.5 Load 3.5.6 Save 3.5.7 Volume 3.5.8 Quit 3.6 Combat 1.0 Introduction Welcome to the world of Aspetra. This is a full-fleged, animated role-playing game. It was designed to bring you hours and hours of exciting adventure, while telling an epic story. We hope you have as much fun playing this game as we did creating it. 2.0 Basic Role-Playing Concepts 2.1 The Story Here at Zonarware, we believe that the most important element of an RPG is its storyline. There are scores of computer RPGs out there, but most are simply hack-and-slash dungeon games. Aspetra has its share of hacking and slashing as well, but the core of the game is an epic story that we wanted to tell. 2.2 Your Character The center of the game is your character. You see the world through his eyes, and direct him to do what you want to do and go where you want to go. Your character begins the game as a wimp. Through combat with monsters, you gradually gain experience. At certain points of experience, your overall level of development goes up. This is called "gaining a level". When you gain a level, you become stronger offensively and defensively. Your character's abilities are represented by numbers called stats. Stats measure your strength, your defense against weapons and magic, your Level, your experience--anything you need to know. Your character is also capable of eventually learning magic spells. Spells generally either destroy your enemies, or help your character. 3.0 How to Play 3.1 Basic Controls Aspetra was designed to be played with very few keys. Arrow Keys: Move your character, and move cursors. Spacebar: Makes things happen. Select a menu option, talk to people, open doors, pick up an object, advance conversations, etc. ESC Key: Opens up the main menu, backs out of menus, cancels operations. Enter Key: Same as Spacebar. And that's all! 3.2 Towns Towns are the center of a lot of game activities. 3.2.1 Townspeople Townspeople walk around, going about their business. You can talk to townspeople by facing them and pressing the spacebar. They have usefull information to give. 3.2.2 Weapon Shops Every town has a weapon shop. This is where you buy weapons and armor. Walk into the shop, go to the counter, and press the spacebar. A menu will pop up: Buy Sell Goodbye Select "Buy" to bring up a list of the shop's inventory. From this list, select the item you wish to buy. An information box will pop up telling you how many of that item you already own, whether you already have it equipped, whether you should buy it, and how many you wish to buy. The left and right arrow keys change the "How Many" by one. The up and down arrows change the "How Many" by ten. When you are ready to make the transaction, press Enter or the Spacebar. Select "Sell" to bring up your own inventory. Select the item you wish to sell. An information box will pop up asking how many you wish to sell. Again, use the arrow keys to change this. When you are ready to sell, press Enter or the Spacebar. 3.2.3 Item Shops Item shops sell useful items that you will need on your journey. The menus work the same way as they do in the weapon shops. Here is a list of items and their effects: Trial Size Heal: Restores 3 HP (Hit Points) Light Heal: Restores 50 HP Strong Heal: Restores 250 HP Mega Heal: Restores 500 HP Replenish: Restores All HP Antidote: Cures Poison Root: Restores 25 MP (Magic Points) Red Flower: Restores 100 MP Hyper Potion: Restores All HP and MP 3.2.4 Inns Inns are where you rest when you want to recover completely. Staying at an inn restores all your HP and MP. Simply walk up to the counter and press Spacebar. 3.3 The Wilderness The wilderness is the areas between towns and dungeons. They are dangerous places, filled with monsters. A lot of combat takes place in the wilderness. 3.4 Dungeons Dungeons come in all shapes and sizes. This term includes Caves, Mines, Catacombs, Forts, and even Castles. Dungeons are usually the site of a quest. They are full of treasure and monsters. 3.5 The Main Menu Press the ESC Key while you have control of your character. This will bring up a menu with the following choices: 3.5.1 Stats This brings up a box showing your various abilities. 3.5.2 Items This brings up your inventory. Select which item you wish to use, then press Enter or Spacebar. 3.5.3 Magic This brings up your book of spells. Select which spell you wish to use, then press Enter or Spacebar. Note that usually, the only spells that are of any use in this menu are healing spells. 3.5.4 Equip This brings up a list of the weapons and armor currently equipped on your body. Select which article you wish to change, and press Space or Enter. This brings up your inventory. Select the article you wish to equip, then press Enter or Space. Remember that weapons and armor have no effect unless they are equipped on you. 3.5.5 Load This brings up the savegame menu. You can save up to three separate games. Select the slot you wish to load. Also You may select the a: drive as a source for savegames. CAUTION: do not select "a:" unless you have a disk in the drive that holds savegames. 3.5.6 Save This brings up the savegame menu. Select the slot you wish to save into. 3.5.7 Volume This controls the volume of the music. 3.5.8 Quit This Ends the game. 3.6 Combat As you walk around the wilderness or the dungeons, you will periodically be attacked by monsters. As soon as you are attacked, you will be swept into the combat screen. Combat works this way: You have a bar that fills up when you are ready to attack. When you are ready to attack, a menu will pop up. FIGHT ITEM (MAGIC) <**-- If you know any. RUN Select FIGHT to attack with a weapon. A sword will appear above your enemies. Move the sword to select which enemy you wish to attack. Select ITEM to bring up your inventory. Select which item you wish to use (usually a healing item.) If you know MAGIC, you may select this. A list of your spells will pop up. Select which spell you wish to cast. A ball of energy will appear above your enemies. Select which enemy you wish to attack. Some spells can attack all your enemies at once. To select ALL enemies, press the DOWN arrow key when the ball of light appears. If you wish to escape combat for any reason, select run. You may also run simply by pressing the ESC Key. Remember that there are some fights that are mandatory. You may not escape from these fights. ************** We hope you enjoy this game as much as we enjoyed making it. ZONAR LIVES