P.O. Box 245 Ogdensburg Business Center, Suite 2E Ogdensburg, New York 13669 For Immediate Release Contact: Shari T. Mitchell, Public Relations Manager (315) 393-6451 extension 16 Realms of Arkania - Star Trail Released "Sir-tech is back with a role-player's dream come true: great graphics and true FRPG feel. It's been awhile since FRPG fans had anything this good to look forward to." PC Gamer, November 1994 Ogdensburg, New York - October 28, 1994 - Sir-tech Software, Inc. announced today the release of Realms of Arkania - Star Trail. Star Trail, the second title in the Realms of Arkania fantasy role-playing trilogy and sequel to the award-winning Blade of Destiny, is available to consumers for IBM platforms. Realms of Arkania - Star Trail was developed by Attic Entertainment Software for the computer in close cooperation with the original authors, Fantasy Productions in Germany. The combined talents of Attic Entertainment, Fantasy Productions and Sir-tech have produced a fully translated version of Star Trail for the English market. Since its introduction in Germany in the first-quarter of 1994, Realms of Arkania - Star Trail has garnered top reviews and kudos from the German media including PlayTime Magazine's PlayTime Star, PC Games Award, TV Movie Magazine's Movie Star, ASM's August 1994 Game of the Month, Power Play Magazine's Power Play Award and PC Joker's Hit Award. Star Trail received additional awards from Chip Magazine and PC Professional Magazine. Storyline A band of foolhardy adventurers have emerged into a land of unrest. A land shrouded with hatred. Feuding between the elves and dwarves and the disappearance of the Salamander Stone have fueled the Orc's thirst for war. The Salamander Stone, a gem of mysterious powers, must be found to restore harmony between the elves and dwarves. For these enemies, banding together may be their only hope against the bloodthirsty Orcs. Ask And You Shall Receive After the release of Realms of Arkania - Blade of Destiny, Sir-tech gathered players' compliments and criticisms from correspondence and telephone calls. In Germany, Attic Entertainment incorporated new feature upon new feature until, one and one-half years later, they had created a product the gaming public had asked for and a design that no one in the industry could match. "Star Trail has everything a fan could want in an RPG, including an advanced character creation routine, an absorbing storyline with plenty of twists and turns, and complex combat with all the extras you could want," said Trent Ward, PC Gamer. Engine Star Trail has the most advanced smooth-scrolling engine on the market. Star Trail allows the gamer to look up, down, forward, backward, right and left and his or her pitch and bank changes as they turn corners. Additionally, depending on the character leading a gamer's party, perspective changes. A tall Thorwalian tends to see things differently than a runty dwarf. Diary Feature As each day passes, Star Trail's diary automatically records any important events. Gamers can make their own entries or use the diary as an unusual day planner. Incorporated in Star Trail's diary design is a powerful search feature and print option. Automapping The picture players see using Star Trail''s automap feature is literally an overhead view of the town. Star Trail's automap allows the player to move his or her party to another location and to zoom in or out for a better look. Additionally, players can enter up to 100 memos about locations on the map. Combat Realms of Arkania is known for its phased, isometric, turned-based combat system. Star Trail offers gamers four different combat options: a total computer fight showing only the outcome, a total computer fight that allows players to watch the action unfold, a character computer fight that puts the computer in control of one or more characters, and a manual combat that lets the player control everything. Additionally, gamers have the option of allowing their characters to fight in three alternate modes: aggressively, carefully or normally. Save Games In response to gamers' requests, players are no longer assessed a penalty for saving the game outside of a temple. Additionally, Star Trail allows the player to enter notes about each save for future reference. Macros Since characters tend to do the same things in combat and camp, Star Trail collects certain macros that allow the player to repeat the previous actions without selecting them all over again. Print Option Realms of Arkania - Star Trail offers gamers a character print option making character stats easy to view. Players may print a character's statistics, skills and spell values to a standard dot matrix printer or an ASCII file. Packrats Welcome Players like to keep everything they find. Star Trail has added warehouses so players can keep their stuff without slowing down their party. Of course, this feature has a bit of a twist. Like other businesses in Arkania, warehouses are susceptible to thieves. Character Generation Star Trail follows the same path as its predecessor, Blade of Destiny. Players once again can create characters from a variety of classes: Warrior, Rogue, Jester, Thorwalian, Hunter, Dwarf, Magician, Witch, Druid, Green Elf, Silvan Elf and Ice Elf. Star Trail also offers a band of pregenerated characters ready and waiting for the adventure to begin. Gamers who ventured through Blade of Destiny may also transfer their characters into Star Trail. The Advanced and Novice Mode options continue to allow players the chance to customize their characters in automatic or comprehensive modes. Additionally, the inclusion of Positive and Negative attributes continues to give Realms of Arkania's characters personality that no other FRPG offers. Skill System Realms of Arkania -- Star Trail offers a variety of skill classes. Combat, nature, intuition, craftsmanship, lore, body and social skills offer characters distinctive profiles and personalities determining a character's success in a variety of fields. As in Blade of Destiny, the player can choose the Novice mode so that the computer will manage their character's individual skills or choose Advanced mode where the player has full control and access to the character information. Magic System Over 80 different spells, rituals and prayers are offered to magic users. A character is not confined to a special spellbook but may learn a variety of spells which makes specialization imperative. Included in Star Trail's magic system are wand rituals. These powerful rituals allow a Magician or Magicienne to "charge" a wand with certain spells. An appropriately charged wand is ready and waiting when duty calls. Herbs & Poisons Traveling through Arkania's wilds, characters will likely come across a vast array of herbs that may prove useful during the adventure. Some herbs can be used without prior preparations, while others require a skilled and knowledgable character before the herb's use becomes apparent. When mixed together, some of Arkania's herbs can form wonderful healing agents or deadly poisons. Realms of Arkania - Star Trail is available for CD-ROM and holds a suggested retail price of $79.95. The 3.5" floppy disk version of Star Trail carries a suggested retail price of $69.95. The Star Trail Speech Pack will be offered later this year at a suggested retail price of $19.95. Additionally, Sir-tech will release the Realms of Arkania -- Star Trail Clue Book in conjunction with the release of the final product. The Star Trail Clue Book will retail for $19.95. Realms of Arkania - Star Trail is available through Babbage's, Best Buy, CompUSA, Computer City, Egghead Discount Software, Electronics Boutique, Software Etc. and other independent stores in the United States. #30