Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail

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Description

It is the ninth century, and Camelot, the legendary castle ruled by King Arthur, has fallen under a curse. Famine and drought plague the kingdom because of the love triangle between the king, his wife Gwenhyver, and the knight Launcelot. It appears that only the mysterious Holy Grail can restore Camelot, and three knights - Launcelot, Gawaine, and Galahad - embark on a journey to find it, and soon disappear without trace. King Arthur leaves his castle in search of the missing knights, hoping to locate the Grail as well. His quest takes him to real and mythical locations in England, and later to Jerusalem and other areas of the Holy Land.

Conquests of Camelot is an adventure game that requires the player to input text commands, mostly by combining verbs and objects (such as "look man", "take purse", etc.). A few commands (such as "ask about") have keyboard shortcuts. Unlike most other adventures, the game does not focus extensively on inventory-based puzzles. Rather, it presents a diverse array of tasks depending on concrete situations. These involve exploration, solving riddles, gathering information, participating in arcade sequences such as jousting, and others. Rudimentary money management is present as well.

Many problems have different solutions, and it is possible to reach the final part of the game even without having completed some of the essential quests (e.g. failing to save the knights). However, Arthur is being judged by the game in three different categories: skill (referring to the action sequences), wisdom (evaluating the amount of cultural information gathered), and soul (determining the moral value of Arthur's action). Failure to achieve a high score in the last category leads to a bad ending.

The game is set in a concrete historical period, but adds an alternate reality to it, assuming that pagan deities really existed, but were overshadowed by Christian worship. However, there are only a few references to real religious practices of the time or any historical characters.

Screenshots

Promo Images

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Trailer

Alternate Titles

• "King Arthur and the Search for the Grail" -- Working title
• "Conquests of Camelot: King Arthur - The Search for the Grail" -- In-game title
• "Conquests of Camelot I: The Search for the Grail" -- Media title

Part of the Following Groups

• Game Engine: Sierra's Creative Interpreter (SCI)
• King Arthur / Camelot games
• Setting: City - Jerusalem
• Theme: Holy Grail

User Reviews

I'd take a Christy Marx game over a Roberta Williams game	DOS	Andrew Fisher (704)
By far one of the most beautiful adventure games I've ever played...	DOS	John Lucas (13)
Camelot is still splendorous even in EGA	DOS	Depth Lord (1003)
An innovative, parser-based Sierra adventure.	DOS	Lucas Schippers (59)
Enjoyable, especially if you are interested in Greek/Roman mythology	DOS	Katakis | カタキス (41927)
A gem from an unrepeatable era	DOS	Iron Lord (44)
One of the best Sierra games ever, makes you forget it's EGA	DOS	Boston Low (90)

Critic Reviews

Enchanted Realms	Amiga	Nov, 1990	82 out of 100	82
ASM (Aktueller Software Markt)	Atari ST	Jan, 1991	9.6 out of 12	80
ASM (Aktueller Software Markt)	Amiga	Sep, 1990	9.5 out of 12	79
Adventure Gamers	DOS	Oct 10, 2008		70
A Force for Good	DOS	Jan, 2006		70
Power Play	Amiga	Oct, 1990	70 out of 100	70
Power Play	DOS	Jun, 1990	70 out of 100	70
Quandary	DOS	Mar, 2005		60
100 aktuelle PC-Spiele	DOS	1990	6 out of 10	60
Computer Gaming World (CGW)	DOS	Jul, 1990	Unscored	Unscored

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
Conflicting info about Conquests of Camelot	7	Indra was here (20891) Feb 13, 2009
areas with un-implemented puzzles?	3	Pseudo_Intellectual (63270) May 22, 2007

Trivia

Glastonbury Tor

A portion of the game takes place in Glastonbury Tor. British legends indeed connect the Tor with Avalon, King Arthur and the Grail. Joseph of Arimathea allegedly traveled to Britain and left the Grail in Glastonbury where an Abbey was later built

In the game, there is a little tree, and if the player examines it, narration will tell them that this thorn tree was planted by Joseph of Arimathea. That tree known as 'Glastonbury Holy Thorn' actually existed in the Abbey, and died in 1991 according to Wikipedia

Also, the cover lid of the well seen in the very same screen, is curiously similar to the lid of the Chalice Well, an actual natural spring that exists in the area

Manual

In some portions, Merlin (the narrator) will refer to the Liber ex Doctrina, the copy protection manual of the game. If the player types 'Ask Merlin about Liber ex Doctrina', the cover of the manual will appear in a dialog window and Merlin suspiciously will warn the player that he must always have it in hand. The manual's name Liber ex Doctrina means 'Free/Book from doctrine' in Latin. Note that in Latin, liber means both free and book.

References

• The ship's name reads KRISTI in Greek letters, a reference to Christie Marx.
• Also, a sign in Jerusalem reads LEDGER in Greek, for her husband and the game's illustrator
• If you have a Roland MT-32 connected to your machine and selected as your MIDI device: Start the game, and watch the display on the Roland very carefully. You will see several messages, including: 'Conquest of Camelot' '(It's Only A Model)' And when you quit the game it reads: 'HAM&JAM&SPAMALOT' This is a reference to the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Red herrings

There are a couple of red-herring places the player can find, without any significance to the game:

• One is the snake corner in the desert, found only if the player strays from his path. The player can kill one snake with the sword, but won't be able to go further. Also, if the player loses his way in the desert, he will see hallucinations about Lancelot and Guenevere
• The player can also follow the tunnel of the pool of Siloam, however the screens will gradually darken and the player will die if he goes further. That tunnel is also the place where the player is 'transported' should he try to escape the riddles of Fatima.
• Another such useless place is a dirty alley in Jerusalem, with a carcass of a dog and a pool of urine. The wall features Latin writing saying 'PRO BONUM TEMPUS APPELA CRISTI' translated as 'For a good time, call Christy', an obvious pun (and quite self-sarcastic) about the game creator herself

Runes

If the player examines the pedestal where the hag was standing on, in the stone circle, a dialog window will open with an icon of a runic inscription and its 'translation'. According to the narrator, the runes say about the five stone poets, encountered later in the game.

However if anyone tries to translate the runes with English letters (such guides can be found anywhere online), the 'actual' inscription doesn't say anything like that. The inscription actually contains the word 'Stormbringer' followed by the phrases 'death is all' and 'beware cursed is the wielder Thor'.

Other runes and words are too difficult to make out

Information also contributed by Itay Shahar

Related Web Sites

• Christy Marx's page for Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail (The game's designer, Christy Marx has her own page for the game.)
• Conquests of Camelot - FAQs & Guides (Various fact files and walkthroughs on GameFaqs.com)