Relics (PC-88), a perfectly scrutable videogame
Since I’m going to run Relics at the Big Bad Gameathon next week (and wanted to write a guide anway), I was looking at an old Japanese website explaining its arcane “personality system”.
This is my current draft which will go into a future gamefaqs guide. Check this out if you want to see a perfectly normal and easy to understand videogame (as far as I can tell, none of this is even mentioned in the slightest in-game or in the manual):
(UPDATE: the guide is done, check it out here https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc88/331450-relics/faqs/81467)
This information is taken from a now-defunct Japanese website (https://web.archive.org/web/20210602040351/https://sites.google.com/site/hyonzsz/home/relics). I cannot fully confirm that the information is correct, but the outcomes are as described, so it seems true to me.
There are several different hidden attributes describing the player’s “personality”. They affect a few different outcomes in the game, but are otherwise completely invisible. All attributes initially have the value 3 and can range from 1 to 5.
| Event | Aggression | Intelligence | Action | Curiosity | Sense of Justice | Cruelty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1) Don’t take Idol of the Beast | -1 | -1 | ||||
| 2) Take Idol of the Beast | +1 | |||||
| 3) Destroy a document statue | +1 | |||||
| 4) Take document after destroying document statue | -1 | +1 | +1 | |||
| 5) Destroy the generator | +1 | +1 | ||||
| 6) Give medicine to injured person | -1 | +1 | +1 | -1 | ||
| 7) Kill injured person | +2 | +2 | ||||
| 8) Attack Heaven | -2 | +2 |
1* Apparently as soon as you step out of the door in the second room, if you take any step to the right, it counts as “not taking the idol”, even if you go back and take it.
3, 4, 5* It seems that these stat changes are applied any time you leave the room, so if you enter and leave the room repeatedly they will accumulate.
3, 4* These are for the document rooms on the upper floors in the first part of the game. Taking the document cancels out the stat change for destroying the statue.
Stat Effects
To get the String Chart from Heaven, the Sense of Justice stat must be at least 4. The usual path to that is to take the Idol of the Beast, then get the Medicine and give it to the injured person.
In the Item Room, a different item will be available based on the Intelligence stat. 1 = Jewel (useless?), 2 = Map, 3 = Lamp (for the dark room with the password), 4 or 5 = Medicine.
Judgement
When going through the password door, your stats will determine your personality type, which mainly changes whether you can get the good ending. The type is determined as follows, in this order:
- If your “hacker counter” is 10 or higher, you’re a Hacker (apparently the hacker counter is increased by “searching for hidden commands”, mainly by pressing keyboard keys like the function keys).
- If you have taken 5 or more bodies, your type is Attack.
- If your stats are within these ranges, you’re the Ideal type: Aggression: 2-4, Intelligence: 4-5, Action: 4-5, Curiosity: 4-5, Sense of Justice: 4-5, Cruelty: 1-2.
- If your stats are within these ranges, you’re the Intelligent type: Aggression: 1-4, Intelligence: 4-5, Action: 1-4.
- Anything else gives the Attack type.
The personality types have these effects:
- Hacker or Attack: Can possess the Golden Fighter (?), the Alien and the Dragon, giving you access to the easter egg ending (?). The key for the girl’s capsule will not drop, so you cannot get the good ending.
- Intelligent: The key for the girl’s capsule will not drop, so you cannot get the good ending.
- Ideal: The Silver Fighter and the Holy Warrior (?) will automatically be possessed without having to fight them. The key for the girl’s capsule will drop if you defeat the monster that kinda looks like a Giger vacuum cleaner, on the upper right end of the underground (behind an idol item).