Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure
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Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure was a videogame written by Robert Clardy and released by Synergistic Software in 1978. It was created for the Apple II platform and is considered one of the first microcomputer-based role playing games. The title was intentionally misspelled, with Apventure being a reference to the Apple computer.
A forerunner of Akalabeth and Ultima, Odyssey was a multi-part adventure game that placed the player in the role of the leader of an army who sets out to vanquish an evil wizard. Elements of Dungeons and Dragons can be found within the game.
Game overview
The game features several major sections. Except for the endgame section, the game play is presented in a top-down map format with limited animation and sound effects.
Part 1
The game starts on an uncharted island in the Sargasso Sea, where the player and a small group of men have to search the island for castles, ruins and temples, wherein they can find randomly placed treasure and valuable magical items. Along the way, the game generates random encounters with monsters, rogues, and wizards. Some wizards and warlocks encountered might be kindly disposed towards the player and provide magical items, while others may attack on sight. Similarly, some groups of rogues and warriors encountered might choose to join the player's group rather than fight.Combat is conducted using a random number generator - the party with the higher number during a round inflicts damage on the enemy, with damage gauged by the number of men/creatures killed. When a group reaches zero members, the team is defeated. The player's "roll" is determined by the number of men, and the type and quantity of weapons and armor carried.
For the player, maintaining a large army is necessary in order to continue to carry gold, treasure, and necessities such as weapons. The fewer men in a party, the fewer items that can be carried. Men can be added to the team by having groups of warriors and rogues agree to join; a more expensive way of adding men is to purchase contracts that periodically become available for sale. Three randomly scattered towns allow the player to purchase food (which must be replenished) and goods such as lockpicks that allow access to some structures. The type and quantity of goods available for purchase are randomly generated. The player also encounters the occasional caravan from which goods can be purchased - or, the player may choose to attack the caravan; if the caravan is defeated, the team receives the spoils which consists of a number of random items that may or may not be useful.
The towns are not explored. Instead, the player is automatically taken to the market where bartering for goods occurs. The player can choose to pay the full price, or can negotiate for a lower fee. Depending on the player's charisma level (set at the start of the game), the merchants may agree to charge less, or they may get upset at a low bid and remove an item from sale completely (which can be hazardous to the player if the item removed for sale happens to be badly-needed food). Merchants are replenished after the player leaves the town and has an encounter of some sort. Caravans work the same ways as towns, except as they are randomly encountered one has only a single chance to strike a deal. Occasionally, huts are encountered in the wilderness where the player can gamble a (usually large) amount of gold for an alleged magic item that may or may not be any good.
Gold is accumulated from chests and other sources, including magical scrolls; the more magic experience a player has, the more gold is obtained from a scroll.
Travel around the island can be slow and dangerous, and items purchased by the player may be necessary to pass through obstacles or avoid loss of men. (For example, if the player has a shovel, men can be rescued from avalanches and cave-ins; a machete may be needed to pass through dense jungle; an amulet is needed to cure swamp fever, etc.) If a player is lucky, a magic carpet might be found in a chest or be obtained from a friendly wizard or warlock. This allows quick travel across the island; riding a magic carpet avoids monster battles but also skips over buildings and ruins that may contain treasure. Horses can also be obtained with a similar effect, however the player must have a sufficient quantity of horses to carry the team, while only one magic carpet is required.
The ultimate goal of the island section of the game is to collect enough gold to purchase a ship (which is usually available at only the one town closest to the northwest corner of the island) and also to collect ample magical objects and other items (mirrors, wooden planks, even a monkey or two) which will be needed later in the game.
Part 2
The game then becomes a sea expedition, with the player navigating his/her vessel between several islands. Among hazards that must be dealt with: pirate attacks, unpredictable winds, whirlpools, scurvy among the crew, falling off the edge of the world, and rotting sails. How well the player is able to cope with these hazards depends upon how well stocked the player's team became on the main island. (Once Part 2 begins, the island can no longer be accessed.)During this segment of the game, the player may encounter the god Poseidon who will tell the player where a great treasure may be found (the player's ability to find the treasure will depend upon whether he/she was able to obtain a sextant during the island expedition). This item is usually some sort of magic item. Merchant vessels may also be encountered - with the player having the same options as with caravans, attack or barter. After leaving the island, this is the only easy way to obtain necessary items such as fruit, spare sails, and weapons. The group may also encounter pirates, whirlpools, birds, and other hazards that can kill men and damage the ship.
Navigation is at the mercy of wind and currents (and whether the vessel has any intact sails left). Hazards include running aground if the player weighs anchor too close to shore, and falling off the edge of the world if the ship gets too close to the edge of the map.
Although most islands will provide the player with food and water, only two islands are of great note. One, always located in the top left of the map, leads to the finale. But before the endgame can begin, the player must first obtain a special magic item from a dungeon randomly located on one of the other islands. This leads to Part 3 of the game.
Part 3
Once the dungeon island is located, the player must tithe a magic item (it doesn't matter which) in order to enter. Once inside, the team encounters traps, cave-ins, and burrowing creatures as it makes its way ever-lower into the dungeon. As before, the ability to survive these obstacles depends upon how well-stocked the team is.Eventually (after a random number of levels, usually no more than 3 or 4) the group reaches a chamber where the Holy Grail can be obtained. Once this mission is completed, the sea expedition continues as the player guides the ship towards the Wizard's island in the northwest corner. Unlike the rest of the game, which is presented in high-resolution graphics, the dungeon portion is presented in blocky, low-resolution graphics.
Part 4 (endgame)
During the final segment of the game, the view switches to a 3/4 map view, the entire field of play remaining on screen, like a gaming board. In this endgame, the player advances upon the evil castle, overcoming randomized obstacles placed in his/her way such as walls, giant pits, etc. (like most obstacles in the game, these are described in text rather than actually seen). The player's ability to get past these obstacles with minimal damage/loss of men depends upon what items have been kept in inventory. Seemingly innocuous items found on the main island early in the game such as mirrors and monkeys, are often essential. (For example, a monkey is needed to unlock a door; mirrors can protect against damage from Medusa). If the team makes it to the castle, a great battle ensues, which the player invariably wins so long as the team has a fair number of men. The game ends with a tally of how many creatures the player's team killed, how large the team became, etc.Graphics and technology
Although primitive by today's standards, Odyssey was considered cutting-edge for its time, making use of the Apple II's two graphics modes (high-resolution and low-resolution), and text. The game was written in Integer BASIC and was one of the first microcomputer games to be created using multiple programs, requiring floppy disc activation and access mid-game. (This feature, however, led to a way in which the player could cheat: by removing the disk when the computer required access, a cursor flashes on screen; typing "goto 770" would fool the computer into thinking that the player had just opened up a treasure box. This is one of the earliest known examples of a cheat code.) Prior to this, most games were self-contained, single programs; Odyssey was split into several different programs and took up an entire disk. The game also made use of rudimentary sound effects.Trivia
- Odyssey combines elements of two earlier games written by Clardy: Dungeon Adventure and Wilderness Adventure.
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