Elysion/Walkthrough

Objective
Your ultimate objective throughout the game is to defeat the great evil known as Baal. In order to do this, you must complete several smaller objectives, including locating and collecting the ten scrolls which explain the story of Baal and how to defeat him, and restoring the holy sword which is stored in a shrine. You begin the game in a castle on the west side of Elysion Island. From there, you must explore a dungeon to the left of the castle before going out and exploring the rest of the island, as well as various lands including the lost forest, desert of mystery, and the holy land.

As you proceed through the game, you must fight and defeat several monsters in order to earn experience points, and increase your level of ability. As your level increases, your strength and vitality increase, making it easier for you to explore more dangerous lands. Do not advance to an area before you are capable of surviving combat with the monsters that inhabit the region. Be sure to know the location of the closest Inn so that you can easily sleep and restore your health and magic points if necessary, and to buy more life-saving supplies.

Choosing a race
Though no one race has a clear cut advantage over all of the others, making the choice of which race to play has a big impact on the game. You should first choose a character who compliments your strengths as a player. Note that if you choose the Minos or Viskam race, the game uses a very "male" set of graphics, while if you choose the Dionea or Aylex race, the game is presented with a more "female" set of graphics.

The flow of time
As an action RPG, it is important to keep your wits about you and be prepared for combat at all times. However, Elysion is unusual due to the fact that time does not advance as long as you stand still. This means that when you come to a stop, so do all of the monsters around you. As long as you are motionless, you have no need to fear attack, even if a monster is right beside you. Attacking a monster with your weapon constitutes movement, so attacking will allow time to flow normally, but it will come to a stop again once your attack is complete. Use this to your advantage by ceasing movement whenever you need to take a break, or by stopping in the middle of battle to heal yourself before continuing.

Inn
Until you complete the king's first objective, to gather the first two scrolls as well as the Hero's ring from the castle dungeon, no Inn will be available to you. Once you present the king with the Hero's ring, you can visit an Inn for several purposes. You can buy new equipment, or sell off equipment that you no longer wish to keep. You can sleep at the inn for a price that is particular to each Inn, and restore you lost health and magic points. You can save your game by requesting a password that you can write down and enter in at another time. You can even gamble at a card game, which is explained below. The last option that you have is to exit the Inn and return to the world outside.

Gambling
The gambling game is an opportunity for you to earn extra cash if you are successful at making the right guess. When you begin to gamble, you are asked how much gold you would like to wager. You may enter any amount between (and including) 1 and 100. Once you set your wager, you are shown a card face up on the left. You must then guess whether the value on the card to the right will be higher, lower, or the same as the value shown on the left. Note that if you choose to guess that the value will be the same, the amount you can win is worth twice as much as usual. Also note that an Ace counts as the highest possible card, followed by King, Queen, and Jack, then the numbers 10 through 2.

Once you make your selection, the card on the right will flip over and begin cycling very fast through all of the possible numbers. Press to stop the cycle and cause the cards to slow down until one card is ultimately selected. If you lose, your wager is lost to you. If you guess correctly, you can win twice the amount you bet (or four times if you chose "the same"). However, before your prize money is awarded, you are asked if you would like to take the money or play again. If you choose to play again, you will be playing for the chance to double your earnings by attempting to win again. This can happen as many times as you like, but the highest multiplier you can ever obtain is 64 times the original value of your bet. If you win when your multiplier is 64, and you attempt to play again, you will never be awarded more than 64 times your bet, so you may as well stop and start over.

Note that the number which appears on the right isn't chosen entirely at random. In fact, the game does influence the chance that you have to win, based primarily on your character's charisma. If your charisma is low, the game will purposely make it difficult for you to win any more than once, or possibly two times in a row. If the third card shown is a 2, you may think that a choice of "higher" is a sure thing, but the game will slowly advance through the cards until the right card is a two as well, preventing you from winning. However, as your level increases, and your charisma rises as a result, it becomes easier to succeed at winning three or even four times. Winning beyond that requires a good deal of luck and strategy, so you are recommended to take your winnings early on before you press your luck and lose what you've gained.

Treasure chests
In Elysion, there are several aspects about treasure chests that you should be aware of.
 * Visible or Hidden: While there are a large number of treasure chests that you can see from anywhere on the screen, there are a considerable number of treasure chests which are hidden from sight until you get rather close to them. In order to find the, you must wander around (unless you know their exact location) until you are standing close enough to them to make them appear.  Alternatively, you can cast the spell of Inspect which will make every hidden chest that is present in the visible screen appear.
 * Random or Specific: Many chests contain one particular item, and can always be counted on to contain that item every time you play through the game. These would include chests that contain key items.  The contents of other chests are determined at random when you open them.  Though the item they contain is random, the value or quality of the item is usually predetermined (i.e. a chest that gives a good weapon may not always provide that weapon, but it will provide equipment of equal strength.)  Note that if you die, random chests will reappear in their original locations with new items, while chests with specific items will not reappear.
 * Safe or Trapped: The majority of the chests that you examine are safe to open and won't harm you in any way. A few of the chests, however, are trapped.  Traps are no random, the same particular set of chests are always trapped every time you play.  One of three effects may occur when you open a trapped chest.  If the trap is Sickness, you will be unable to draw your weapon and attack enemies for a short period of time.  If the trap is Old, you will do half the normal amount of damage with each attack for a short period of time.  If the trap is Explosion, the chest will do a considerable amount of damage to you, often reducing your health to one, but never killing you.  Status effects that last temporarily are indicated by a change in music.  Once the background music returns to normal, so too does your status.

Gathering items
Once you open a treasure chest, you are offered the option of whether you would like to take the contents or not. You are not required to take the item. Your ability to obtain the item depends on whether you can carry it or not. Your ability to carry an item depends on two things: the weight of the item and the space in your inventory. Each player can only hold a limited amount of gear. At maximum, they may only hold 18 different items. Additionally, they can only hold a certain total weight. This is determined by a player's strength. The higher your strength, the heavier items you can carry.

If you open a chest, but are not able to carry the contents, you may opt to drop one of the items currently in your inventory. To do this, press on the inventory screen until the cursor points to the Drop command. Then select an item you wish to drop and press. Note that just because you drop one item, the item may still be too heavy, and you may be required to drop another item if you truly wish to keep it. Once an item is dropped, it cannot be recovered. Also, once the contents of a chest are ignored, they cannot be reclaimed.

Key items do not count against your weight limit, nor can they be passed up. If you do not have enough room in your inventory to carry the item, you will be forced to drop something so that you may collect the item.