The Grail by Microdeal

[mk1]

Hi,

looking for The Grail by Microdeal. Doesn't seem to be available on the usual adf sites. I know it's included in the Talespin game construction set, but I think it's a different version.

HOL lists it as extremely rare, but there are at least too loose disks on ebay at the moment, so maybe it's worth salvaging.

[Galahad/FLT]

Its going to be boring, but I suspect its going to be on a compilation disk somewhere, unfortunately, unlike the ST, the Automation series and all the other series of comps are all catalogued, the Amiga wasnt.

[mk1]

Any idea where to look?

I had the game as a kid and just revisiting old titles I didn't complete back then. I know it's not a good game.

[mai]

I have put a disk in the zone, maybe its the game you are looking for!?

[DamienD]

...the other problem is that the one included in with Talespin is shortened:

From HOL notes:

A shortened, playable version of THE GRAIL was included with TALESPIN.

So you'd need to find the standalone version really.

[mk1]

Originally Posted by mai

I have put a disk in the zone, maybe its the game you are looking for!?

Thank you! That was it.

[mai]

You are welcome!

[mk1]

Originally Posted by DamienD

...the other problem is that the one included in with Talespin is shortened:

From HOL notes:

A shortened, playable version of THE GRAIL was included with TALESPIN.

So you'd need to find the standalone version really.

I don't know how or what exactly this means, but at least the random encounters never happen in the Talespin version (seen ie. in the atari st longplay).

But let's see, now that I got the game itself.

[mk1]

Hmm. Seems to be the same "problem" with the standalone version that none of the characters in the castle appear even though I'm following a walkthrough / atari st longplay.

Running the development mode while playing in Talespin one can see that all the character graphics and conditions are there but they just never appear. Tried on WinUAE emulating A500 + 512kb ram and on a real CDTV.

Maybe the Amiga version is bugged?

[BarryB]

Uploaded a 'clean' ADF from my original of The Grail to the Zone!

The one mai uploaded seems to have a virus at some point as ADF Workshop shows this:

------------------- -------- -------- -- -- -- ---------------- ---------------------
 Content list      |  Size  | CRC32  |BA|HR|SQ|      Date      | Information         |
------------------- -------- -------- -- -- -- ---------------- ---------------------
s/                 |   <DIR>|        |OK|OK|  |1990.02.08 11:40|                     |
s/startup-sequence |      26|22D3A880|OK|OK|OK|1990.02.08 11:40|                     |
Trashcan/          |   <DIR>|        |OK|OK|  |1990.02.07 16:35|                     |
!FIL-$6CB          |   2.608|903186FB|??|KO|OK|1970.01.01 00:00|Lost | Virus: BGS9 1 |
cd                 |   1.756|0F915856|OK|OK|OK|1990.02.08 11:40|                     |
disk.info          |     370|BDDAEF5A|OK|OK|OK|1990.02.07 17:52|                     |
diskone.tal        | 177.012|5065FF7D|OK|OK|OK|1990.02.08 11:31|                     |
disktwo.tal        | 383.060|673F93D5|OK|OK|OK|1990.02.08 11:38|                     |
stack              |     872|324CE791|OK|OK|OK|1990.02.07 17:50|                     |
start.tal          |  32.430|514568DF|OK|OK|OK|1990.02.08 11:32|                     |
telltale           |  52.656|CDF6AD79|OK|OK|OK|1990.02.07 17:50|                     |
telltale.info      |     302|2DBD58F5|OK|OK|OK|1990.02.08 11:39|                     |
Trashcan.info      |   1.166|21CCBE3B|OK|OK|OK|1990.02.07 16:35|                     |
------------------- -------- -------- -- -- -- ---------------- ---------------------

[DamienD]

Nice one BarryB

[mk1]

Cheers, BarryB!

[BarryB]

Hope it's OK!

[mk1]

Still no luck getting this game working properly.

Tried running kickstart 1.2 too, but didn't help.

[BarryB]

How far into the game is it? I'm wandering around streets outside the castle at the moment.

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by BarryB

How far into the game is it? I'm wandering around streets outside the castle at the moment.

Barry, can you dump your disk with the kryoflux free ?

The disk is modified, but i would like to check if it has a protection.

EDIT : it has none. The game works with kickstart v1.3 / A500

[BarryB]

What's modified? There are no save games on it?

I don't have a Kryoflux anymore, gave it to a friend last week, got fed up of waiting for news of IPF's and no updates to DTC in nearly 3 years so have abandoned preservation and just collect now!

[mk1]

Originally Posted by BarryB

How far into the game is it? I'm wandering around streets outside the castle at the moment.

Once you enter the castle all the "streets" are empty. There should be people in every screen that you could talk to and one "cripple" in a critical scene who you need to help to progress in the game.

As the game is included in Talespin you can see that all these characters have a probability value which means they don't always appear but for me they never appear, not in Talespin or in the standalone game.

EDIT: Here's a walkthrough if someone wants to try.

[BarryB]

Looking at a longplay of the Atari ST version then it's clear the Amiga version is a bad port of that version. There are no people in the castle as you say, no sound effects and following the solution doesn't do what it says, so looks to be another unfinishable game!

[mk1]

Yet HOL has screenshots that suggest otherwise:

http://hol.abime.net/2778/screenshot