Conquests of Camelot
Encyclopedia
Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail is a graphic adventure game
released in 1989 by Sierra
. It was the first game in the Conquests series designed by Christy Marx
and her husband Peter Ledger
. The only other game in the series was 1992's Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood. Marx did the majority of the design work while Ledger created the game and package art.
Scoring was based on three kinds of points: Skill (when the player performs deeds that help him in his quest, or defeats enemies), Wisdom (when examining things, talking to others, or gaining hints) and Soul (performing good deeds to help others). The options provided a difficulty setting for the arcade sequences, but with lower points. The game featured a soundtrack of authentic-sounding medieval music
composed by Mark Seibert
.
The package included a map of Europe in Arthurian times and an illustrated manual called Liber Ex Doctrina (a Latin pun, for while it can be read "book (derived) from knowledge"—i.e. the game documentation—it can also be read "free from doctrine"). This book included information about the evolution of the Arthurian and Grail myths as well as Greek and Roman mythology; some of this information was required in order to answer riddles within the game.
because of the love triangle
between King Arthur
, Guinevere
and Lancelot
. This 'curse' brought famine and drought in the kingdom. After having a vision of the Holy Grail covered by a silver cloth, Gawain
, Lancelot
and Galahad
departed on a quest for the Holy Grail
. However, they did not return. The player controls Arthur in his search for the missing knights and the Grail.
The adventure itself concerns Camelot only briefly. The player travels across England
in order to fight with the Black Knight and rescue Gawain. Then the ruins of Glastonbury Tor
where a mad monk claims he has the Grail, left by Joseph of Arimathea
; the player can also see the Glastonbury Thorn and open a well, the lid of which curiously resembles the Chalice Well
. Afterwards, he visits Ot Moor
where the frozen (due to the curse) Lady of the Lake
challenges Arthur to a riddle in order to rescue the imprisoned Lancelot.
Arthur then leaves England in order to follow Galahad's traces. He arrives to Gaza
(where he will be hosted by a man called Al Sirat, who will introduce him to the cult of the Six Goddesses) and reach Jerusalem. Arthur will be tried throughout his journey in Palestine
, and acts of selflessness and helping people will add to his Soul point system.
The player is given a choice in how to proceed through the game: for example, the player may decide not to fight the Black Knight
, but must face the consequences of those decisions.
The I of the official title, as well as the epilogue, indicated a sequel – probably Conquests of Camelot II – but instead Marx proceeded to Conquests of the Longbow
.
The narration makes a preference to less known forms of words, for example Gwenhyver, Excaliber, Gawaine, Launcelot, magick
instead of the better known Guinevere, Excalibur, Gawain, Lancelot, magic. The parser however will understand all alternative forms without a problem.
Conquests of Camelot is heavily colored by its heavy religious overtones, since the game is centered on the recovery of the Holy Grail. If appropriate tributes are not made to Christ
and Mithras in the beginning of the game, Arthur will never venture beyond the walls of Camelot, as the castle's grating will fall and kill him. If Arthur decides not to help his knights, avoid thus the trials and arcade sequences, the Grail will also kill him at the very end of the game.
The Grail's power seems to be universal both as a Christian relic and an artifact (the cauldron
) of feminine power of the Goddess in pagan folklore. The old gods, such as Mithras, Cernunnos
and later Aphrodite
are portrayed as real gods, but their powers and influence are in decline because of the advent of Christianity. In the ending sequence of the game, the Grail obliterates what purports to be Mithras's symbol in the chapel in Camelot (in fact it is a Labarum
, an early symbol of Christianity).
However there are no religious authorities such as priests that are encountered in the game; the Mad Monk is revealed as serving the "Old Ones". If the player specifically asks Merlin about Rome, he will comment on the Bishop of Rome and the Christian Church
, but this is the only mention of religious authority. However when the player moves the cursor around the map of England, Merlin will frequently comment on early legendary Anglo-Saxon saints. It must be noted that in Longbow all monks and religious figures (besides Friar Tuck
) are villains.
#160 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4½ out of 5 stars.
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
released in 1989 by Sierra
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...
. It was the first game in the Conquests series designed by Christy Marx
Christy Marx
Christy Marx grew up in Danville, Illinois and is an American writer and a photographer. She has written scripts for various episodes of TV-series, mainly for kids' shows, including Jem, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Conan the Adventurer, G.I. Joe, Hypernauts, Captain Power and others...
and her husband Peter Ledger
Peter Ledger
Peter Ledger was an Australian commercial airbrush artist and illustrator.-Biography:...
. The only other game in the series was 1992's Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood. Marx did the majority of the design work while Ledger created the game and package art.
Gameplay
The gameplay is typical of the Sierra adventure games of that time, however it is enriched with several arcade sequences, puzzles and riddles. Occasionally, some alternative solutions to puzzles were available.Scoring was based on three kinds of points: Skill (when the player performs deeds that help him in his quest, or defeats enemies), Wisdom (when examining things, talking to others, or gaining hints) and Soul (performing good deeds to help others). The options provided a difficulty setting for the arcade sequences, but with lower points. The game featured a soundtrack of authentic-sounding medieval music
Medieval music
Medieval music is Western music written during the Middle Ages. This era begins with the fall of the Roman Empire and ends sometime in the early fifteenth century...
composed by Mark Seibert
Mark Seibert
Mark Seibert is an American musician, composer and producer best known for his work on various video games from Sierra Entertainment.-Biography:...
.
The package included a map of Europe in Arthurian times and an illustrated manual called Liber Ex Doctrina (a Latin pun, for while it can be read "book (derived) from knowledge"—i.e. the game documentation—it can also be read "free from doctrine"). This book included information about the evolution of the Arthurian and Grail myths as well as Greek and Roman mythology; some of this information was required in order to answer riddles within the game.
Plot
The game begins at the decline of CamelotCamelot
Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and eventually came to be described as the fantastic capital of Arthur's realm and a symbol of the Arthurian world...
because of the love triangle
Love triangle
A love triangle is usually a romantic relationship involving three people. While it can refer to two people independently romantically linked with a third, it usually implies that each of the three people has some kind of relationship to the other two...
between King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
, Guinevere
Guinevere
Guinevere was the legendary queen consort of King Arthur. In tales and folklore, she was said to have had a love affair with Arthur's chief knight Sir Lancelot...
and Lancelot
Lancelot
Sir Lancelot du Lac is one of the Knights of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. He is the most trusted of King Arthur's knights and plays a part in many of Arthur's victories...
. This 'curse' brought famine and drought in the kingdom. After having a vision of the Holy Grail covered by a silver cloth, Gawain
Gawain
Gawain is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table who appears very early in the Arthurian legend's development. He is one of a select number of Round Table members to be referred to as the greatest knight, most notably in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...
, Lancelot
Lancelot
Sir Lancelot du Lac is one of the Knights of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. He is the most trusted of King Arthur's knights and plays a part in many of Arthur's victories...
and Galahad
Galahad
Sir Galahad |Round Table]] and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. He is the illegitimate son of Lancelot and Elaine of Corbenic, and is renowned for his gallantry and purity. Emerging quite late in the medieval Arthurian tradition, he is perhaps the knightly...
departed on a quest for the Holy Grail
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
. However, they did not return. The player controls Arthur in his search for the missing knights and the Grail.
The adventure itself concerns Camelot only briefly. The player travels across England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in order to fight with the Black Knight and rescue Gawain. Then the ruins of Glastonbury Tor
Glastonbury Tor
Glastonbury Tor is a hill at Glastonbury, Somerset, England, which features the roofless St. Michael's Tower. The site is managed by the National Trust. It has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument ....
where a mad monk claims he has the Grail, left by Joseph of Arimathea
Joseph of Arimathea
Joseph of Arimathea was, according to the Gospels, the man who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after Jesus' Crucifixion. He is mentioned in all four Gospels.-Gospel references:...
; the player can also see the Glastonbury Thorn and open a well, the lid of which curiously resembles the Chalice Well
Chalice Well
Chalice Well is a holy well situated at the foot of Glastonbury Tor in the county of Somerset, England. The natural spring and surrounding gardens are owned and managed by the Chalice Well Trust , founded by Wellesley Tudor Pole in 1959.Archaeological evidence suggests that the well has been in...
. Afterwards, he visits Ot Moor
Otmoor
Otmoor or Ot Moor is an area of wetland and wet grassland in Oxfordshire, England, located halfway between Oxford and Bicester. It is about above sea level, and has an area of approximately ....
where the frozen (due to the curse) Lady of the Lake
Lady of the Lake
The Lady of the Lake is the name of several related characters who play parts in the Arthurian legend. These characters' roles include giving King Arthur his sword Excalibur, enchanting Merlin, and raising Lancelot after the death of his father...
challenges Arthur to a riddle in order to rescue the imprisoned Lancelot.
Arthur then leaves England in order to follow Galahad's traces. He arrives to Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
(where he will be hosted by a man called Al Sirat, who will introduce him to the cult of the Six Goddesses) and reach Jerusalem. Arthur will be tried throughout his journey in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, and acts of selflessness and helping people will add to his Soul point system.
The player is given a choice in how to proceed through the game: for example, the player may decide not to fight the Black Knight
Black Knight
The black knight is a literary stock character, often contrasted with the white knight. The character famously appeared in Arthurian literature and has been adapted and adopted by various authors, in cinema and popular culture...
, but must face the consequences of those decisions.
The I of the official title, as well as the epilogue, indicated a sequel – probably Conquests of Camelot II – but instead Marx proceeded to Conquests of the Longbow
Conquests of the Longbow
Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood is a graphic adventure game designed by Christy Marx and published by Sierra On-Line in 1992. It is considered the second part of the Conquests series, which began with Conquests of Camelot...
.
Themes
The game was marked by immense amount of historic knowledge and folklore that is woven between the dialogues and the descriptions as the plot unfolds. The message boxes (narration) are the wizard Merlin speaking and counseling the player.The narration makes a preference to less known forms of words, for example Gwenhyver, Excaliber, Gawaine, Launcelot, magick
Magic (fantasy)
Magic in fiction is the endowing of fictional characters or objects with magical powers.Such magic often serves as a plot device, the source of magical artifacts and their quests...
instead of the better known Guinevere, Excalibur, Gawain, Lancelot, magic. The parser however will understand all alternative forms without a problem.
Conquests of Camelot is heavily colored by its heavy religious overtones, since the game is centered on the recovery of the Holy Grail. If appropriate tributes are not made to Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
and Mithras in the beginning of the game, Arthur will never venture beyond the walls of Camelot, as the castle's grating will fall and kill him. If Arthur decides not to help his knights, avoid thus the trials and arcade sequences, the Grail will also kill him at the very end of the game.
The Grail's power seems to be universal both as a Christian relic and an artifact (the cauldron
Cauldron
A cauldron or caldron is a large metal pot for cooking and/or boiling over an open fire, with a large mouth and frequently with an arc-shaped hanger.- Etymology :...
) of feminine power of the Goddess in pagan folklore. The old gods, such as Mithras, Cernunnos
Cernunnos
Cernunnos is the conventional name given in Celtic studies to depictions of the horned god of Celtic polytheism. The name itself is only attested once, on the 1st-century Pillar of the Boatmen, but depictions of a horned or antlered figure, often seated in a "lotus position" and often associated...
and later Aphrodite
Aphrodite
Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation.Her Roman equivalent is the goddess .Historically, her cult in Greece was imported from, or influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia....
are portrayed as real gods, but their powers and influence are in decline because of the advent of Christianity. In the ending sequence of the game, the Grail obliterates what purports to be Mithras's symbol in the chapel in Camelot (in fact it is a Labarum
Labarum
The labarum was a vexillum that displayed the "Chi-Rho" symbol ☧, formed from the first two Greek letters of the word "Christ" — Chi and Rho . It was used by the Roman emperor Constantine I...
, an early symbol of Christianity).
However there are no religious authorities such as priests that are encountered in the game; the Mad Monk is revealed as serving the "Old Ones". If the player specifically asks Merlin about Rome, he will comment on the Bishop of Rome and the Christian Church
Christian Church
The Christian Church is the assembly or association of followers of Jesus Christ. The Greek term ἐκκλησία that in its appearances in the New Testament is usually translated as "church" basically means "assembly"...
, but this is the only mention of religious authority. However when the player moves the cursor around the map of England, Merlin will frequently comment on early legendary Anglo-Saxon saints. It must be noted that in Longbow all monks and religious figures (besides Friar Tuck
Friar Tuck
Friar Tuck is a companion to Robin Hood in the legends about that character. He is a common character in modern Robin Hood stories, which depict him as a jovial friar and one of Robin's Merry Men. The figure of Tuck was common in the May Games festivals of England and Scotland during the 15th...
) are villains.
Reception
The game was reviewed in 1990 in DragonDragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#160 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4½ out of 5 stars.
External links
- Game presentation and download from Christy Marx's official page
- Conquests of Camelot screenshot gallery at welovedosgames.net
- Conquests series Wiki on WikiaWikiaWikia is a free web hosting service for wikis . It is normally free of charge for readers and editors, deriving most of its income from advertising, and publishes all user-provided text under copyleft licenses. Wikia hosts several hundred thousand wikis using the open-source wiki software MediaWiki...
- GameFAQs
- Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail at IGN
- Mod for Neverwinter Nights with elements inspired from the game; from the Neverwinter Vault
- Conquests of Camelot on the Sierra Chest