Perilar

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: This game is hard!

Yes, it is. Back in the '80s, life was hard, and so were games. A game might take weeks, months, or years to complete, enemies might be massively more powerful than you could handle, random chance might strand you in a hopeless position.
Games were like the Kobayashi Maru exercise--how you died was at least as important as how you lived. Games that coddle you and guarantee success are for wimps.
That said, Perilar can be won. It's a pretty straightforward process. Caution and careful resource management will let you reach the Temple of Darkness.

Q: Perilar looks like an old console or 8-bit computer game!

Why, thank you!

Old games ran on machines you wouldn't trust to run a toaster now. Perilar is a tribute to those games, it's my attempt to capture the feel and gameplay and difficulty and look of those games I grew up with, most importantly Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness (shown right) and Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress.
Part of that feel is that the graphics are somewhat blocky and repetitive. There's a gameplay advantage to it, though: it's instantly obvious where you can move, what you can do. "Softer" graphics with edges bleeding into each other and free motion make it hard to tell exactly what's going on in the tactical situation.

Q: How do I move or attack?

To move, tap on the edges of the map view in the direction you want to go. You don't need to drag or swipe.
To attack, move into a monster. You can't tap on them directly.
To talk to an NPC, move into it.
To open a door, or a chest, or... You get the idea.

Q: How do I open the menu?

Tap on or near your avatar.

Q: Is the entire world random?

Not quite; there are several special features placed in specific spots (the Village, Castle, etc.). The rest of the world is basically random. This can produce easy or difficult groups of maps. The terrain on a map is also random, which again makes it variously easy or difficult to cross or find cover.

Q: The detail text is really small and goes by fast!

Agreed, but it's largely irrelevant. You can see 90% of what you need in play from the health bars, blood splatters and death skulls, and the audio cues duplicate that information. The only time you actually need the detail text is to read your stats, or sometimes to determine exactly what's happened to you.

Q: Are the different jobs any different?

Yes, every job will produce a different kind of gameplay. Every player will do better or worse with certain jobs. Fighters are great for bashing through enemies early on, but have a VERY difficult time later in the game. Thieves require hit-and-run tactics to use their poison effectively. Wizards have incredible offensive powers, but must be extremely careful not to get hit. Clerics are almost unkillable, but have a hard time inflicting much damage. Bards and Knights are slightly better at melee than Wizards or Clerics, but are less effective with spells. Bards using musical instruments will inflict confusion on their victims, which can give you some time to kill multiple foes, but makes it hard to catch them.

Q: Are the different races any different?

Aside from some minor stat bonuses and penalties, the main reason to choose any race is which jobs it allows.

Q: Why can't I keep several weapons? How can I tell which one is best?

One of the "mini-games" in Perilar is trying to get the best weapons and armor. The weapon or armor you sometimes get when you kill a monster or open a chest is always appropriate for a maximum of your level or the map's level, whichever is lower. So if you're a 20th level character on a 10th level map, you will only find 1st-10th level items; on a 25th level map, you'll find 1st-25th level items.

Weapons and armor are described with 2-3 words: Enchantment (optional), Material, and Type, like "Blessed Copper Handaxe" or "Rune Titanium Vibrosword". Each Enchantment and Material modifies the base stats of the weapon type in a consistent way, so if you can compare a Copper Handaxe with a Blessed Copper Handaxe, you'll know what "Blessed" does.

Once you've used a weapon or armor in combat, you can see its stats by hitting Menu, Stats. You'll have to do your own research and analysis to determine which combinations are the best for your needs; two weapons are not always "better" or "worse" than each other, they may just have different stats.

If you could carry multiple weapons and armor, there wouldn't be any risk in trying out a new item.

Q: Do you get loot by killing monsters with spells or poison?

No, you have to defeat a monster in melee to get loot. This helps balance out the Wizard's massive ranged damage potential, or the Thief's poison (which is certain, if slow, death for monsters). I try to plink away at monsters with spells until they're at 10-20%, then hit them for loot, but they still usually get a blow in.

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