Times of Lore(NES) FAQ/Walkthrough version 1.5.0 by schultz.andrew@sbcglobal.net Please do not reproduce for profit without my consent. You won't be getting much profit anyway, but that's not the point. This took time and effort, and I just wanted to save a memory of an old game and the odd solutions any way I could. Please send me an email referring to me and this guide by name if you'd like to post it on your site. This FAQ refers to the maps I made for GameFAQs.com. Basically, ToL's main quests and world maps are like the PC, but they are different enough that separate ones can be warranted. If you want another walkthrough besides the anonymous one on GameFAQs--or even this one--I recommend Dave Barber's solution for the Amiga version. If you can find it. It seems to have disappeared, but it helped me. ================================ OUTLINE 1. INTRODUCTION 2. CONTROLS 3. STRATEGIES 4. WALKTHROUGH 5. CHEATS 6. VERSIONS 7. CREDITS ================================ 1. INTRODUCTION Times of Lore(ToL) was an innovative game made by Origin as a tweener, a template of the new stuff in Ultima VI that tried to keep the same feel of U5. The PC version, at least, was not a full success--too many monsters zipped out from a corner to get you, and there was a lot of randomness in monsters. You'd face none, then several at once, and you needed a laborious search of your inventory to use an item you just found. Often you'd die looking for the right item you just picked up. So unfortunately innovation didn't mean fun. The NES version is certainly easier, perhaps a bit too easy--though this is coming from someone who played the PC version just before. So I remembered where everything was. Didn't hurt to have easier paths to the important places, or that the screen contained many more squares to travel on, so that you didn't have monsters pouring out of the corners. You can mow them down ahead of time. In addition, save states allow you to pump up your gold and such pretty easily without tedious resting. Cheating even lets you have big critical items early. Still, you need to develop some control of the interface and awareness of the world map. For those who played the PC version, it is a cakewalk. While you would vaguely hope to avoid combat in the PC version, you can actively avoid it or make a joke of it in the NES version. And basically this FAQ is a Cliff's Notes version of the PC FAQ, plus and minus important specifics(the dungeons are a bit askew,) with a byte-editing guide at the end. I haven't nailed down all the points where you can skip over quests that just provide information, but there are some obvious points that get rid of long long walks--which aren't dangerous, but they are tedious. 2. CONTROLS Move the arrow left/right to choose from the knight, valkyrie or barbarian, left to right. Push A to get started. I chose the knight, but it doesn't matter. The A button strikes in the direction you are facing. This is bad in the Apple/PC version as you can kill a lot of townsmen. Here, they are a lot harder to kill than the monsters, but more seriously, it's less of a nuisance for when you go to talk to the barkeep and push the wrong button and attack him instead. If you have a missile weapon, that goes first. Then you have the hand-to-hand weapon. The game alternates between the two, which is a bit confusing, but you can't drop your hand-to-hand weapon. As a knight, most enemies take two hits, so throw something at them then time their run--the game gives a lot of latitude for when your sword hits. After a couple seconds, if it was time for your hand-to-hand weapon, the missile weapon is useful. Since enemies don't pop up in front of you, you might as well use the missile weapon. It can be tough to tell what direction you are facing, and you don't change until you 1) run a few steps in that direction, if it is a 180 degree turn or 2) make a 90 degree turn. You don't go more slowly if you're backing up. Some problems in combat occur when you back up and fire the wrong way, so deal with enemies from behind quickly. The B button brings up the dialogue screen. This is similar to the PC version, only there is no save option, and no game time passes as you make your selection. A selects the current item in the option menu and B sends you back. Use the arrows to switch between the choices. The mouth(talking) opens up a dialogue with other subjects you can ask. Chitchat or Question is the first choice. Chitchat can give something new to ask, while a question can expound on topics learned in chitchat or from solving quests. You can buy special combat items this way. The eye allows you to look at an item. It's pretty useless overall. The bag shows your inventory. It has no practical value other than to notify you if you are low on food. Other inventories can show the items you are holding. The closed hand says to take an item. You can take pretty much any item in a two square radius. You cannot drop an item, but you won't need to. The grasping hand lets you use an item. Some items, such as weapons, are used automatically, others are used at the special location where they are effective(key,) and others, like a note, are not usable. Except for... The open hand, the final item, allows you to give an item to someone who has sent you on a quest. They will reward you with information or gold, if you have the right item. Note that the game can only show six items at a time, so as it goes on, you may not be able to see everything you have--just scroll down to decide what to use/give, and you should be okay. SELECT does nothing. START pauses the game. Items are much like the PC version. --the red scroll kills all monsters --the blue scroll freezes all monsters --yes, "the spidery runes release a magic their magic" is a typo. --no, scrolls don't work on Big Enemies --the blue potion heals partially --the green potion heals fully --the red potion, found later, allows you to run in one direction, invisible, til you run into something. This is moderately useful but not critical. You can only hold one each of a scroll and potion at a time, so hold the green potion til you need it, and use a blue scroll whenever you get one, as the red is much more useful. Also, if you make an error browsing through the menu, like trying to pick up something that's not there, you can still scroll around--you just can't exit the options screen. You can outrun enemies, but it's probably more expedient just to kill them if they're in front of you. Plus, you can run into an enemy, and trying to flee like that is slower than killing them. If you goof up and attack a townsman with A instead of talking with B, just go out of the area and return. The NES version is much more forgiving than the PC, and townsmen take a few hits to die, anyway. 3. STRATEGIES Because you have so much space ahead, use it. Your dagger/axe cannot fire all the way to the edge of the screen--it's about 2 icons short. But enemies may walk perpendicular to you, and you can shoot them with no problem. It's possible to have both potions, but it seems you're more likely to get a new item the fewer you have. This could be because the game checks for a specific item with each enemy killed, but in any case, you can afford to use items liberally, as they get back to you quickly. After you get the boots, stock up on food in town when you can. There's nothing else to buy, and you're more likely to get stuck starving than to lose to enemies, especially once you get the boots. Before you get the boots, you can just barely outrun enemies as the knight, which is great. It's best to avoid undeads, as they don't drop anything, and they are tougher to beat. Avoid spiders if you can. After you get the boots, you can swerve and steer away pretty easily. Release your dagger/axe, then time your sword blow for when the enemy comes at you. If it hits the enemy from behind, pow! That's it for them. In combat, just button bash to wipe out one enemy, then turn to knock another one out. You don't have to do anything fancy, and you can't anyway. Enemies approaching from the same direction can shoot at each other and save you the time, so retreating a bit is good. Don't get surrounded from all sides. A little zigzagging can confuse enemies a lot. When in doubt traveling, either stick to roads or walk on the edge of a river/lake. I found critical locations in the middle of nowhere by going UDLR from a turn in a path. In general, paths are marked, but it is tough to get to and from Treela if you don't know how. Trees are not so dense as in the PC version, so you can poke around and something should work soon enough. You can cut across the desert and avoid roads with my map, but it's risky. 4. WALKTHROUGH As opposed to the PC version, the NES allows you to solve things more directly. You are also less restricted in movement, and even the darkness is not as bad to work through as in the PC version. So you can start with the first quest immediately. Go down the stairs and visit the prior, who should be in the SW. If not, he may come up to you anyway. Ask around with everyone til you see him. You probably want to get used to the in-town controls anyway. You also should get used to dialogue: you can re-try a cycle, but usually it starts with chitchat, then asking someone, then asking someone else. Tell the Prior yes, then you're done with him for now. Go and talk with the innkeeper and the old man on the bench to the north. One of them will probably tell you about Valwyn/the High King, etc. These clues aren't always critical, but note the tones when you have a new subject of conversation. In this case, you need High King for later. Ask the Old Man about the Kingdom, then Valwyn. You should hear a tone after each question. This will open other questions later. Leave this building and follow the past east. When it bends north, go that way. Follow the path into the forest and look for enemies ahead. None should appear from the sides, since the forest is impenetrable. Go north, then east when the forest path turns. You'll encounter enemies along the way, and you can pretty much hit them just before you run into them. Use the hand to pick up anything they may drop. Try not to let two enemies attack you at once, though you should have the health to plow through any way you go about things. You should get to the woodsman's hut pretty quickly as you see a field to the north. Enter the hut, and you can take the dagger. The dagger is great in the NES version, because you don't have to fetch it if you miss, so it works a lot like the axe in the PC version--no need for reloads. You don't have to talk to the woodsman, since you have this walkthrough, but if you chat, he should tell you about orcs. Ask about orcs and learn about the camp. Now I would recommend piling up, if you haven't already, on the blue and green potion and the red and blue scrolls. You don't have to be at 100% health, but it is a good idea to be over half. If you haven't played the PC version, retreat into town and save the game. Of course, you can use save states if you are emulating. Basically this means going into the forest a few times, resting, and returning. The camp, where you need to go next, is to the north of a pool, the same clue as the PC version. But it is less of a walk to get there. You just need to go straight north from the east side woodsman's hut and then hook around the west side of the pool and keep going north. The path through the woods is handily marked, so just go N W S W N W S W S to the clearing. This bit is not so tough, since you freeze enemies while using an item. Head SE to the center. Kill all non-important looking enemies and then when the blue one is in sight, use the red scroll on him. If you still have problems, you have two potions to help you heal. Now you need to get out as you came. You can run past pretty much all monsters and even go to the side when one comes at you, if your health is that low. Offer the urn to the prior in the inn where you started, and you will get to talk to the Regent. Also, talk to the old man to get information about the great medallion. Also, stock up on food. You should have more than enough gold now. The Regent is in the center of the town, inside a building guards would not let you in before. You may wish to save the game first. If you wish to look around at the Regent's, his living quarters are upstairs and the jail is downstairs. The Regent will ask you if you can trust him. Funny thing here is that you can tell the regent "No" and your quest is over--you die. But you get to go behind that locked door you saw if you wandered around! It's rather amusing, so why not try it, especially with save states. You are sent on a quest to the southeast to Ganestor--exit south of town and follow the path east once across the bridge. Now for a detour. After the path hooks back north, go north when the lake falls away. Tilt back a bit west to avoid the mountains and go north until you hit a building. This is Treela. The inn(NW) has a serf sitting at the bar who will sell you boots for $77. You may have to chitchat and then ask him about the boots and a bunch of other stuff, but after that, they are very worth it and will save many times their cost in food before the end--they're even an advantage in fights. Basically, they help you go faster. Go south from the east edge of Treela and get back on the road. Head east, and it will wind south. Follow the path til you get to Ganestor. Ganestor is not bad even if it is obscure in the southeast of the game. There are some conversations here which aren't strictly necessary, but they tell you why you can just go find the secret passage. Chitchat the serf in the house in the west. Ask about secret way, then Barton tells you about Smitty if you ask him, then go down the stairs. Push the lever in the room down the stairs behind the bartender. This next bit can be tricky, even with the boots helping you. You may wish to use them to make sure they're working. You need to get a guard to run at you, then sneak to the side and up to go past him. They are bad at turning, so if you go by them, they can't catch you. I found it's good to go S E N on the first level, then run left and right(with 2 90 degree turns) til the enemy comes down and run up and around him once he comes down. Then go into the room with the tablet, get the tablet, and get out. You can go directly west to Lankwell and the Assassin from the south of Ganestor, just below the inn. All you technically have to do is go in and ask the Assassin about the High King, and he gives you a confessional scroll. However, you probably want to get the axe, too, if you haven't yet. It's 95 gold, which you can get on the way from Ganestor to Lankwell. To get to Lankwell from the Assassin's hut, follow the path, go norh across the bridge, then go north a bit once the path ends, then west. To officially find out about the Assassin, ask the thug in the inn (NE Lankwell) about the Assassin. Then go south, west through the buildings and north with the path when it reconnects. Enter the building and ask about the Black Asp. The building to the east has a guy who'll sell you an axe. The axe is a bit better than the dagger, as it goes and returns more quickly. You can fire it continuously. Go back to the Black Asp's, east to Ganestor. Go to the Warden. He is up the stairs behind where you got the tablet. Offer the Warden the scroll--if you just talk, he says you have no business here, but give him the scroll, and he mentions that there's a spy around. Watch out here--it may seem as though you don't have it, so you need to scroll down in the inventory for the scroll (heh.) You now have something new to ask about: spying. Barton will tell you someone has been sneaking around, and you don't technically even need to have talked to him about that. The warden will now let you leave out the front. Do so and then wait south of the guards for night--green turning to orange then grey. Another guard will come out. Talk to him about spying. He'll get mad and attack--actually, you can attack him unprovoked, but just in case you want to follow the story line and all that, there it is. Plus if you are facing another guard, you'll have a choice to talk two: one of two indistinguishable guards. Nail him--a few hits with the axe--and get the note he dropped. Go back to the Warden, and give him the note. He will tell you to go to Hampton, which is north of Ganestor. You actually don't have to. In Hampton, you just learn that the prince is held in Shadowpeak. Just follow the mountain range north and when it cuts back, go NE to Shadowpeak. This is pretty easy. Don't even bother to use the red scroll on the first floor to dispatch the three guards, as they don't really attack you. Get the green scroll--it allows you three teleports. Go up the stairs. The red scroll isn't necessary to kill the guard to the east, but it's quicker. He'll drop a key. Get the key and release the prince. He'll tell you of the need to visit Irial. You don't need to bother yet, technically, as he just gives you a quest you're going to do anyway. You do, however, need holy water from Rhyder. It costs 25 gold. Rhyder's a bit away, but first you'll need to go west on the path, then not turning when it goes down. You will get to the Lost Hope Inn. Talk to the old man at the table below. Chitchat, temple, lyche, then holy water. He tells you to ask Friar Kaine of Rhyder--without this chat, you would not have been able to. The green scroll is useful here. It lets you teleport to Rhyder. However, if you want to walk back, go west til you hit the path, north through Eralan, and north through the forest path to the town on the other side. That is Rhyder. Buy the holy water from the man in the northwest house. He is Friar Kaine. You only need one. It seems to say "Buy" then "Holy Water" in the menu, because there's no space for a big phrase like "Holy water." Eh well. Now go to Irial's. From Rhyder, it is east around the river. You may wish to go to the extreme east and fight a giant to get a ring. It lets you walk around invisible for a bit, and in fact you can even attack monsters while invisible, so it can make one dungeon easy until it wears off. South and west and south and west, following the bank, then across a bit of a forest and up. Talk to Irial so that you can enter the Ruins. Now go to the Lost Hope Inn, where you chatted with the old man. You can just cross the bridge and go west, but south when you hit a river. At the end you'll need to go back east to a bridge, then south to the path which will go east. Go south to the ruins. The door to below is in the SE of the whole mess. It's easily identifiable as a sort of blackened area among grey ruins--it's a door in perspective, actually. The map through is very similar to what is in the PC, but there are a few differences. You should be able to use the boots to blaze through. You can zigzag around most enemies and thus not need to fight them. My map has buttons to push and the order to do so, but here is something more verbally descriptive. Basically, you push button to open doors and create bridges, but a few buttons are traps. Touch the button to the south, opening a door to the west. Go west. Go south and touch button #2. Retreat and go east, south and west. Touch the button above. South, east, north and west through the second open door. Step on that button and walk south past the bridge that is created. The next button is a teleport. Go east and enter the second passage to the south. There's a button in the southwest that opens a door in the northeast of this area. That leads back west to another teleport. From there, go north and a bit east. Step on all three buttons at the top. Go south down the east side, over three bridges. Go west and step on the east button--this opens the throne room door. Recross the bridges. Go west, but south when you hit walls. Step on the button. Enter the two doors to the north. Walk up to the Lyche and use the Holy Water on it. Note that if you attack the lyche, it will gaze at you if you try to use an item, so be sure not to do so by mistake. You can teleport to near the exit by going south and touching the right knob in the anteroom. Or you can just use the green scroll to teleport to a town from the dungeon. Do this only if you're really near death, and go to Rhyder. Having killed the Lyche, go visit Irial. If you teleported, go east from Rhyder and around the lake to get to Irial(back west) or, from the Last Hope Inn, go north and west along the river until you find a bridge. Cross it and follow the water to the west as it goes north. There's another bridge to the north. Enter and see Irial. He will give you a key to the Blasted Spot. Go back to the Last Hope Inn and save. Go west along the main road, then south when you see an inn above. It's just before the second bend north. You will hit the Blasted Spot's entrance. You may have to walk around a bit to hit the direct center and then a bit north, but you don't ever have to use the key through the menu. The game does this automatically. This is another dungeon similar to the PC. I will refer you to the NES version of the map. Again, have the boots ready. You can get through in one try with some potions and maybe a red scroll, though you shouldn't need to fake out too many monsters. Go east hooking south around a wall, then north when you can. Touch the near lever, then go a few squares south, then east, then north through the door. Touch lever 2. Leave through the door and go south. Hook east around the room and enter the door to the west. Step on 3. Retreat, go west, and at the next door, go up and touch lever #4. That teleports you. Now touch 5, which opens a door east, then 6a and 6b. These two, in order, open a bridge west of the stairs. Exit the door, go south, bending east, and go west. Go north at the second passage. Go northeast and touch the top of the two buttons, but not the bottom. Exit and go west and south. Touch the button in the room to the east. Retreat west, north and east and go north when you see the button below. Walk in and grab the chime. Exit south and go east and up to the room with two buttons. Step on the bottom one to be teleported near the entrance. Get out. Now go to Treela--teleporting is okay, but east along the path and north at Hampton is quick, too--and exit to the north. Follow the passage along the lake til you see a big building. Go east along the bottom. The chimes will let you in the temple automatically. The temple is not tough and may only take one whole candle of life units, which is not a problem, as you can always bump around to get a green potion beforehand. Plow through the bottom level, up and left. Don't worry if skeletons are created. You can run past them with your boots, after all--you can even bull through them and hack at them, if you want. Save the red scroll for the grey mage on the second floor. You don't have to interpolate this next part, since it means you'll take a lot of damage, but it rounds out the story. Go back down to the first level and to the SW corner, where you see the lever in the small room to the north. Pull the lever. Go down the stairs that appear. The cell you want is in the center along the bottom. Talk to the prisoner and say yes. He'll tell you to look at the bed. Go back upstairs. Enter the center bedroom and stay by the bed. Use "look" and notice there is a sphere at the very end of the inventory, if you want. You can now take the sphere and go to the first floor. Go to the priest in the NE. You can zigzag around the pillars. Face him and use the sphere. That kills him. Note--if he gazes at you, retreat to an inn, rest, and return. That will dispell everything. Then don't hit him the next time. Then get the medallion and watch the final bit. You get a point score and everything. Woohoo! 5. CHEATS 0x084 = # of food 0x089 = # of uses of green scroll (?) 0x4d2 = gold(low byte) 0x4d3 = gold(high byte) 0x52e = health(maximum 0xc0) Use these two in conjunction to tack on items: (I take no responsibility for weird stuff happening with a wacky # of items) 0x085 = # of items 0x5f3 = start of inventory 0xff=no item 0x00=white key 0x01=note 0x02=tablet 0x03=ring 0x04=urn 0x05=key 0x06=boots 0x07=chime 0x08=medallion 0x09=holy water 0x0a=sphere 0x0b=scroll 0x0c=green key 0x0d=green potion 0x0e=blue potion 0x0f=blue scroll 0x10=red scroll 0x11/0x12=bag of gold(not used in inventory) 0x13=food(not used in inventory) 0x14=dagger 0x15=axe 0x16=green scroll 0x17=red potion 0x18++=[DON'T USE THIS VALUE--BAD THINGS WILL PROBABLY HAPPEN] (this can short circuit a lot of the rest of the game, so be warned.) End of FAQ Proper ================================ 6. VERSIONS 1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs 1/29/2008, complete with cheat codes and everything but a sprig of tasty parsley on top. 1.5.0: sent to GameFAQs 9/19/2009, with extra maps added. I walked through the game to pin down exactly whom to talk to where, and I also found some shortcuts on the NES version not available with the PC version. 7. CREDITS Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang, current and emeritus. They know who they are, and you should, too, because they get/got some SERIOUS writing done. Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, War Doc, Brian Sulpher, AdamL, odino, JDog and others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not-yet-banned message board incarnation. I am not part of his gang, but I want him to be part of mine. Thanks to the NES Completion Project folks for keeping it going. Special thanks to odino for notifying me about this game and listening to stuff. I think AdamL did too. Thanks to falsehead for the chat which helped push me to do the PC version and this. Thanks to Paul Senzee for the cool maps. Thanks to Dave Barber for his FAQ which seems to have gone missing. Thanks to FCEUXD for making it so easy to edit hex stuff.