The Legend Of The Drak

By Sylph

No memories of this could ever hope to, one day, go back to the origins of the Drak. Only in the writings can we remember, through the narrator's point of view what cannot be described.

As the years made no sense, Gods ruled powerfully. They offered protection to mankind in exchange for their worship. Everything was related to knowledge, but a mistake was made. A time of decadence, still impossible up till then, came upon them. It was the end of the devine influence. Gods were going against each other as men initiated themselves to their rituals. They so aspire for their fellow man's sun, and evil will be engulfed by their wounds.

Wars were bloody... deadly through the participation of the gods. All land, as pure as they may have seemed before the conflict, were soiled by blood from the battles. Life was no more; survival replaced it and men forgot. Conscious of the senseless acts they had done, the victorious Gods, forever retired. Mankind quickly forgot the superior beings at the origin of their misfortune. Nevertheless, no one could repress these emerging new feelings. From that point on, Evil was part of man's soul.

After several generations and with the help of some thinkers from the original conflict, a certain order was re-established. From the hierarchical system in place, a new council was formed. Founded by men and women of knowledge, it opposed to evil in any and all forms. Many people joined and many of them followed the teachings. Through the travels of the disciples a moral was born. The values portrayed were nobles. They were not in anyway resemblant to those conveyed by the old Gods. And so, the council gained some notoriety. Presuming the influence it had on the population, it made it its duty to straighten evolution and bring back hope to a meaningless future... it created the Drak.

Nothing could better illustrate the Drak's creation than the tale of its genesis by its creators...

"We, men and women of knowledge pledge on this sacred day of the awakening; to perpetuate wisdom and to ensure that such a tragedy will die at the roots."

Those were the wise words of the council before they were justified in meaning.

Chosen by the council, an elder undertook a journey. As it was selected by the council, the highest mountain of the region would serve as its undertaking. After numerous detours, he finally made it to the base. Contemplating its beauty, he also felt the dangers within.

The old man carefully climbed the slopes. One after another the next a little steeper than the one before. Up there nature was unstable. The elements, crazy changed endlessly. Hot, cold, the old man clenched his teeth.

Ensuring his grips, the old man looked for stability. Death, patiently waited for a slip up. Anxiety could be seen on the elder's reddened face. Fog was up and the wind was whirling; lashing the battered body of a man on his last few steps.

Calling upon his last ressources, he stood and cleared his mind. The council was looking for the wanderer; himself the center of communion. Strength, new and powerful came from within. He had the power. He was linked to everyone and they gave their life to him. Emerging from within, a desir was difficult to suppress... Nevertheless he did his job and did it well. When he came to, he glanced one last time at the scenery for the end was near. Reaped by two dragons, he passed away in silence. But, the Drak was born: never ending symbol of spiritual and physical achievement, whose guardians layed the faith of their creator.

A great challenge is waiting for you !
100 levels to conquer to achieve the ultimate wisdom !

For each level, there is an objective in lines or blocs to achieve and a number of points to cumulate. Once theses objectives reached, you have the possibility to go at the next level immediately or to continue in order to obtain a better score. Your performances in each level and your total of points will be write down in the great elder's book.

Particular sets of rules apply under five different modes:

There is the normal mode where you destroy lines.
Crystal mode where you annul crystals by matching them.
Elemental mode where the elements fight one another.
Annulment mode similar to the normal mode but with specificaly choosen pieces.
And finally, the obstruction mode where you must complete the lines who appears.

Nothing can be hold for granted. Even the pieces have their own comportements. For example, a piece made of spheres will collapse while some types of blocs will destroy theirself on contact of each other. It will be up to you to recognize them and place them in consequence.
You will need a great deal of ingeniosity and good reflexes, because powers beyond your control are lead against you. Thus, you'll not only need to correctly place you pieces, but you'll also have to face catastrophes like fireball, lightning, meteorite and even flood !

But everything is not against you. To help you in your travel, you have the practice mode where you can choose the settings and rules under which you want to play. Moreover, in the practice mode and in the first ten levels of the conquest mode, blocs who can reacts with your actual piece are indicated. And to permit you an easier alignment, the shadow of your actual piece appear on the top of your downed blocs.

Great care have been taken for the visual and sonor environnements. There is also twelve backgrounds, each with its appropriate music. But this is not the end, see by yourself: sounds effects, animation for each situation like tremedous roar of the thunder, possible materialisations of pieces, melting of ice cubes... and even the wonderful twinkling of crystal blocs.

A great challenge await you !
Are you ready to turn over and over your sandglass until you lose the notion of time?
Are you ready to face all the surprises who hide their hatred in the darkness, waiting for you to pass?
I hope for you, because when the challenge will comes, you will cannot go back and he will follow you like a malediction... You have a chance, but take it !
YOU are ABLE to do it ! The prophety MUST be true !

Any PC compatible computer, from 286 to Pentium and more, with a VGA graphic card, will support this game. And for your pleasure, you have also the possibility to use a sound card like AdLib, Sound Blaster and compatibles or even the PC speaker. To play, you can either use your keyboard, a mouse or a joystick.

Version upgrade:

Credit card order.
Better documentation.
EMS memory support.

A shareware version of Drak is at your disposal. It is made of 10 levels different of the complete version. If you like it and want to order the complete version, read the ORDER.FRM file which is included with the shareware. You can also order Drak via Internet with NorthStar Solutions.
Download Drak Shareware v1.60
(DRAK160.ZIP(370K))

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Drak is a trademark and copyright of Nostalgy reg.
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