Realms of Quest IV - 2014 release for the Commodore VIC-20

Developer Ghislain de Blois released Realms of Quest IV for the Commodore VIC-20 computer on January 19th, 2014 through publisher Psytronik. This newest game in the Realms of Quest series is a fine tribute to classic style turn based, party based dungeon crawlers of the 1980‘s. Visually, the game is very reminiscent of the early Wizardry games I-IV. It has wireframe graphics, a 10 level hand designed dungeon complete with spinners, teleporters, pits, and darkness zones, filled with monsters galore just waiting to sink their teeth into an unwary adventurer, plus a temple to heal your characters, a shop to purchase and sell equipment, and an inn to rest and train levels.

The plot of the game is to prevent the Lords of Time from ascending from the dungeon to wreak havoc on the peaceful world above at the hands of the evil sorcerer Nikaedor who was imprisoned in the endless dungeons below. You must defeat all of the 10 of Nikaedor’s Time Lords to put a stop to Nikaedor’s menacing evil.

Party creation features 10 races, and 12 classes to choose from and you can have up to eight characters in your adventuring team. There are over 100 graphical portraits, over 135 weapons, armor and other various equipment to discover, 60 magic spells to cast, and 3 game fonts to choose from and a 16 page instruction manual.

The game is released in 3 different forms.

1.) The Premium Edition (A physical copy of the game on 5+1/4 floppy disk + 16 page printed instruction manual in a plastic jewel case)

2.) Budget Edition 5+1/4 floppy disk-only version

 3.) Digital download (.D64)

 Discuss the game at the VIC-20 Denial Forums

When purchasing either the Premium or Budget edition through Psytronik/Binaryzone, a .D64 disk image is also provided to you for download so that you may use the .D64 image to play the game on an emulator.

Getting the game to run on an Emulator...

Firstly, you can download a Commodore emulator.
Personally, I use VICE
http://vice-emu.sourceforge.net/

Or search for other commodore emulators.
http://www.the-commodore-zone.com/articlelive/categories/Emulators/

Realms of Quest needs expanded memory to run so if you are using the VICE emulator you will want to set up your emulator as follows...

(to enlarge windowed screen size)
Settings > VIC Settings > Double Size

(choose drive model)
Settings > Drive Settings > Drive #8 Model > 1541-II

(to change speed settings)
Options > Maximum Speed > (change to whatever speed you want. I usually use 200%)

(to enable expanded memory)
Settings > Model Settings > Memory Expansions > Common Configurations > All (blocks 0/1/2/3/4/5)

(Now, do a soft reset so that memory setting switches from 3583 to 28159 memory.)
File > Reset > Soft

(Then attach your .D64 image...)
File > Attach a Disk Image > Unit #8 > (attach your REALMS4A.D64 file)

Now type the following to start the game....
LOAD”*”,8
RUN

There are also some NPC's along the way that offer the party some excellent and useful items to help the you along the way.

 

Visit Ghislain de Blois' official Realms of Quest Blog.

View Ruby's Adventures in the Realms of Quest (unofficial blog).

*Images re-used with permission from Ruby Golem.


Posted by weekendwastemonster Twitter