I'd call this thing a bad parody on Square's RPGs.
It's a result of a rather crazy idea to make console-like rpg. The idea
died in my brain from self-suffocation, but some pieces were left, so I
thought "what would console rpg look like in a text form?", or something
like that. Shooting, random battles, new skills, bosses, cutscenes,
longish dialogues with lots of "..." in them - you know it all. At first
it seemed that it wouldn't work, but some wit and duct tape - and here's
the first chunk. Rotten tomatoes welcome, send them to juris@mt.lv
On to the madness
--8<---------------
File: Readme.txt
Release version 1.0.0
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Getting statred
3. Frequently asked questions
4. Legal stuff
1. Introdustion
Thank you for choosing Backwards, the walkthroughfic by Juris Kalnins.
2. Getting started
System requirements
Required:
14" monitor
keyboard (for text scrolling)
software capable of displaying ASCII encoded text in 80 columns
Recommended:
21" monitor
ergonomic chair
printer
Lipton Yellow Label tea.
Usage
The square brackets contain descriptions of scenes. Each scene has
exactly one description.
When person who's talking can be determined from context, or when it's
irrelevant, person's name before speech is ommited.
3. Frequently asked questions
1. What time is it?
2. How can I get to this address?
3. What's the difference between Windows 95 and virus?
4. Legal stuff
Coming soon. Please contact Juris Kalnins for updates.
File: Backwards.txt
Juris Kalnins
presents
Backwards!
(c) 2000 Juris Kalnins, all rights reserved
v1.0.0 (Presented in ASCII)
Intro
[Remains of a small town. Several wooden buildings have burned down, some are
still smoking. No bodies are visible.]
[The inside of some sort of military vehicle. Yound dark haired man in
light green field uniform is sitting at the communication console, talking]
"... no casualities on our side, sir. Yes, completely destroyed." Vehicle
jumps slightly, and the man almost drops the earpiece.
"All bodies collected for analysis, sir." He suddently pulls away from
telephone, from which a distorted feminine voice can be heard shouting.
"I'm sorry, I just thought... Yes, sir! I'm sorry, sir! No, they will find
only ruins when they come... Intercept? Yes, sir! Returning to the site
immedeately, sir!"
[The same devastated town. Remains of one of the buildings. All walls have
collapsed, at least partially, some beams and frames are still standing.
A man in a dirty gray shirt and pants is sitting in the frame of what once
was the front door. He is looking at a small metalic amulet, which he
holds in his hands. His face shows no emotion.]
"I will never do it again. If you can hear me, I promise that I'll never do
it." He takes amulet in right hand, and punches ground with it.
Suddenly, an engine noise can be heard in the distance. The man raises his
head and looks in its direction. Armored transport can be seen
approaching at a high speed, leaving clouds of dust after it.
Stage 1
"Repeat your orders, Kiri."
Bald, strongly built officer is addressing two soldiers in dark blue uniforms.
They are standing inside the armored transport vehicle. Kiri, a young female
soldier who is standing closer to the officer, repeats the orders.
"Get in, take anything that looks useful, get away."
"Good. We'll be there in thirty seconds, I want you all to take you places.
Any more questions?"
"Sir?"
"What is it, Tobu?"
"Sir, what if there's any survivours?"
"There are no survivours after bombing. Now get ready."
[The town's square. The armored transport stops in the middle of it and opens
doors. Both soldiers, equipped with rifles and carrying small shoulder bags
step out of it and head in opposite directions.
Tobu kicks something with his foot and bends down to pick it up.
It's a rusty bucket handle. "Interesting," he says and puts it into his
shoulder bag. When he looks up, he notices the man in the gray shirt.]
"Hey, I see someone there!"
"NIA?" The voice of the officer sounds in his helmet.
"No, he looks like a survivour."
"He has to look like a Kabo Nebu to survive! It was a direct hit there."
"I'm approaching him."
"Wait! Kiri."
"Sir?"
"Go cover Tobu. He's found someone."
"On my way, sir."
Kiri swings her rifle into a ready position and runs across the square to
cover Tobu.
[The man in the gray shirt watches as Tobu approaches, his riffle lowered.
Kiri follows him closely, cautiously looking around. Her rifle points at the
man all the time.]
Tobu: "Are you a survivour?"
The voice of the officer over the radio groans.
The man looks at Tobu for a moment, then turns away.
Tobu: "Hallo? What are you doing here? What's your name?"
The man continues to ignore Tobu. Kiri moves forward, raising rifle so
that it seems to point at the man even more than before.
Kiri: "Stand up, slow, drop any weapons and follow us!"
The man looks at Kiri, then looks away.
"What are you doing there?" The voice of the officer sounds impatient.
"Bring him in now!"
"Now!" Kiri moves even closer to the man.
"Um, sir?" Tobu speaks into helmet. "He seems to ignore us."
A thump can be heard over the link, then the officer replies, sarcastically.
"Well, then just pick him up and carry him here."
"He looks to heavy, sir." Another thump can be heard, followed by "ouch!"
The man looks at the soldiers, then asks. "Any problems?"
"Stand up and follow us!" Kiri raises her riffle a little more.
"Go away."
"Sir?"
Officer: "I heard it, Tobu. Just drag him here, please?"
Tobu puts his rifle away, then goes to man and reaches to take his shoulder.
"Would you mind me dragging you?"
The man sighs and reluctantly stands up.
[Inside the moving transport vehicle. The officer is standing before the
man in the gray shirt. Kiri stands in corner, holding a small handgun, Tobu
is unarmed and is inspecting the bucket handle.]
"I'm captain Gaza of freedom army. I'd like to know your name and what you
were doing in the ruins of that town."
The man looks uncomfortable. He puts the amulet he's holding around his
neck, then looks at everyone around him.
"My name is ..."
Inscript tutorial 1:
All persons have four letter names. Some persons have two names. When
choosing name, it's importand that it sounds good, and that it has no obscene
meaning in one of the major languages. For further examples see Phantasy Star
series.
End of tutorial 1.
"... Name. This town, it ... I was living there. And then it just exploded.
Everything. Animals, houses, all ... people."
Kiri (to herself): "Name. What a stupid name."
Gaza: "You we're there when it happened?" Name just nods.
"But that't impossible," Gaza speaks to himself, then loudly, "how did you
survive?"
Name thinks for a moment. He looks again at his amulet, then replies
"I don't know" in voice that implies he's lying.
Gaza starts to ask something else, but he's interrupted by a female voice
coming from the front of the vehicle.
"We're being attacked by NIA fasttank! Everybody hold on, I'll try to
shake it off."
Transport turns sharply, and everybody is thrown towards the wall at which
Name is sitting. Immedeately, a nearby explosion shakes the vehicle. After
few more sharp turns and explosions all four passengers lay on the floor in
one big heap. Muffled shouts "get off!" are coming from it.
"That tank has stopped, guys. I think they've lost us. Wee!" The driver's
shout is cut short by a much louder explosion. Transport is thrown by it and
lands on it's roof. One of the doors is missing, torn out by the blast.
[A desert with grayish looking sand. Damaged transport lays upside down.
Tobu, Kiri, Gaza, Name and short red haired driver are crouching
behind it. Enemy tank has stopped a few hundred meters away, and
there's automatic fire coming from it.]
"Why don't they just blast us?" The driver asks.
"Maybe they want us alive. I've heard they throw prisoners in pits full
of bugs and worms and wacth it like a show. Or they hang them by their ..."
"Shut up and shoot, Tobu." Kiri shouts from her side of the vehicle. She's
returning fire, and quickly pulls back around the corner when tank resumes
shooting.
Kiri: "They're coming. They have grenades!"
A shot catches Kiri, and she falls down, holding left arm. The driver
hurries to her side. "Kiri, oh my God!"
Name looks at Kiri, then whispers, looking at his amulet "I know I promised.
I'm sorry, but I have to help." He stands up and goes around the transport
towards the tank.
"Wait," Gaza tries to stop him, but Name shakes him off. "What you think
you're doing? Stop! Stop him!"
[Two NIA soldiers are priming grenades. Suddenly Name comes from behind the
transport and runs towards them. Soldiers look at each other, then at Name.
They both grin, raise machine guns and fire at him simultaneously. Some shots
hit transport and sand, but Name continues to run, unharmed. Soldiers keep
firing, but bullets only slightly slow Name down. Soldiers start backing
towards the fasttank. Soon, they drop their guns and run.]
[The red haired girl has helped Kiri to sit up and is now bandaging her arm.
There is a horrible scream from the tank that startles everyone. Gaza looks
around the wreck, then motions to follow him.]
[Name stands before the tank, his shirt torn apart by bullets. He doesn't
look hurt, though. Both soldiers lay unconscious. Gaza and the rest of the
group approaches slowly.]
Gaza: "What happened?"
"I got you a new car. Like it?"
"Oh, wow! Thanks! Dad, can I drive it? Please?" Redhead runs towards
the tank and starts examinig it like a new toy. She kicks it, climbs on
turret, jumps some.
"All right, go ahead Yuki." Gaza replies, then to himself, "not that we
have any other way to get to base." To Yuki "And don't call me dad when we're
on mission!"
"Sorry, dad! Oh, I mean sorry captain!" Kiri and Tobu roll eyes.
"Yes! I've got a fasttank!" Yuki hugs the turret, which starts to turn.
Yuki is thrown off the tank by the barrel of the main gun. Everyone backs
away. Tank starts to spin around, the emmits an unhealthy screetch and
dies. The hatch in turret opens and smoke starts to come out of it. A
young dark haired man in light green field uniform climbs out of the tank,
waving white handkerchief.
"I surrender! Please don't shoot!" He wipes his face with the handkerchief.
Everyone stares at him.
Yuki: "You broke my tank!" She runs at the man before Gaza can stop her.
She grabs him by the front of his uniform and lifts him above the ground.
"You broke my new fasttank!" She shakes him.
Man: "He-e-elp!"
Gaza: "Put him down. You don't want to kill our prisoner!"
"I do!" Yuki shakes him some more. "He broke my tank!"
"I'm sure that we can fix it. And we have to interrogate him first."
Yuki lets the man go. He falls on his behing and quickly crawls away from
her. Yuki looks at him, then at the tank. She climbs into it.
Gaza: "Who are you?"
The man stands up. "I'm Beck. Junior communication officer of the second
tactical vehicle squad of the National Integration Army of Her Majesty
Fara. Don't kill me." He gives a sloppy salute. Kiri snickers.
Gaza: "What are your orders?"
"My orders are to kill you everybody." He notices Name for the first
time. "Hey! We killed you already!"
Name: "I'm sure you're mistaken." Everybody looks at him. "They missed me,
ok?"
All: "..." They look at his bullet ridden shirt.
Tobu: "Who are you? No one has survived the bombings."
Name is getting uncomfortabe. "I don't know, ok?" To himself -
"Not anymore..."
Gaza: "What do you mean you don't know? You've lost your memory?"
Name brightens: "Yes! That's right, I lost my memory. I forgot about that."
Tobu (to himself): "Wow!"
Kiri (to herself): "Crap."
Gaza: "Don't you remember what happened?"
Name: "No, nothing" Pretends to think for a moment. "No, nothing" To
himself "I wonder if they will buy it..."
Everyone is distracted by the sound of tank's engine. It spins around
few times, goes a short distance then stops. Yuki literaly jumps out of it.
"Yes! I fixed my tank!" She runs around it, then runs to Name and hugs
him. "Thanks, Name!"
Name: "Urk!"
Gaza: "Ok, let's go back to the base." Everybody climbs into the fasttank.
Kiri is the last. She watches as Name climbs into the tank.
(to herself): "I'll find out who you are..."
End Stage 1