Fates of Twinion - Sierra

Back in 1994, two PC RPGs were released by Sierra - Shadow of
Yserbius and Fates of Twinion. They were designed to be played
over their Imagination network ... yes, these were two of the
first graphical online RPGs that I remember. This was in the days
before the rise of the Internet ... on this side of the Pond we
had Prestel and text MUGs like MUD, Gods and Shades. In America
they had the Sierra Network and Yserbius. Though I was a big fan
of Gods and MUD, I was very envious!

Unlike its successors, Ultima Online, Everquest, Asheron's Call et
al, Yserbius and Twinion could also be played offline. Maybe this
meant you could later log on with a beefed up character, or maybe
the two games were kept separate. Whatever, mere mortals like me
had to be satisfied with offline play against computer generated
monsters but that didn't worry me (much). I can still remember the
day I bought the game, in Bromley. I'd read a lot about it, now I
could play it.

It came on a stack of HD 3.5" disks, had VGA graphics and I loved
it. I installed the package and settled back to play Shadows of
Yserbius as my persona of Zeke. I reviewed this back in Issue 31
and the solution was serialised from Issue 32 to 38, my hand drawn
maps being transferred to computer by Alex. Bill Commons and John
Moore (aka Arnie) also bought it on my recommendation and found it
very addictive. In fact it was through playing the game that the 
terrible duo of Zeke and Arnie really developed as characters.

When I finished Yserbius, which was tough going, I didn't feel
like playing Twinion straight away so I went onto something else
and ... well, years passed and I never went back to it until
recently when I felt like playing an RPG but couldn't find
anything to grab me. I looked along my shelf of software and
remembered that I still had Twinion to play. But when I went to
install it, I found that the first installation disk had corrupted
in the intervening years and kept throwing up an error message.

Thank heavens for Underdogs. I logged on and downloaded the full
game very quickly. Installation, this time, was a breeze and soon
I was settled down to play ... and I've been playing it ever
since.

As I mentioned earlier, like Yserbius, Twinion was originally an
online game which could also be played offline. The Sierra
Imagination Network where you could play it is long gone and there
are features such as the pub which aren't accessible in the single
player game, and it would certainly make a difference fighting
with a party rather than just one character. But there doesn't 
seem to be anything lacking when you play alone.

The screen display shows your forward view in the main window. To
the right are icons representing the party (ie just you in the
single player version) and a large version of your figure for
adding armour, weapons etc. At times of battle, the display
changes as your icon faces those of your opponents.  You have two
inventory bags, one is meant to be for every day items, the other
for quest items. In practice, you'll probably find your
possessions get as jumbled between the bags as mine did.

When you start the game, you are initially restricted to just a
few areas. These are the main hall, two linked side areas called
Gauntlet Gauche and Gauntlet Droit which together comprise an
initial quest, and the slightly harder Queen's Aqueduct which
leads to The Reservoir and, finally, to Twinion Falls. Only after
you have completed these sections and got to a certain level, will
a portal from the initial hall open up and admit you to Night Elf
Ingress.

By this stage of the game there is still no real plot, but mention
had been made at several points, through messages and cryptic
runes, to Queen Aeowyn who organised the building of the aqueduct
and reservoir. And shortly after this point, you'll meet the Queen
who sets you the task of collecting four pieces of an ancient map
to prove your loyalty. Handing you a key, she directs you to a
gateway and the depths of a volcano. It's going to be quite a
trip!

At the moment I'm still searching for my first piece of map and
I'm sure that completing the map won't be the end of the game.
I've battled giants in a coliseum, paddled in the energy-sapping
Lake Despair, gained a musical key to enter a ballroom, had bricks
dropped on my head and walked through mist which drained my mana.
I've learnt spells to reveal secret doors, fired missiles, cast
shielding spells, controlled enemy monsters and turned them to
stone. I've gained extra skills in tracking and detecting monsters
as I've gained levels. And I've had a brilliant time.

I don't know what it is about Twinion that makes it so gripping
for me. The game is so old that the graphics are very primitive.
But the ideas behind the locations and the storyline give the
whole game great atmosphere. I think Fates of Twinion will keep me
busy for a long time yet.

If you want to give it a whirl, you can download it from Underdogs
at www.theunderdogs.org - see you there!

                                                     Sue

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