Being a long time IoK player on CI$, and now moving on to Legends of Kesmai,
I have had certain sentimental feelings towards the old Islands of Kesmai
Advanced Game, despites is ASCII graphics. I played the AG knight Liu.Bei....Han
for almost 8 years. So, in an effort to spread knowledge of the old AG, and
provide some nostalgia for old IoKers everywhere, I have made this page drawing
together everything I remember about the AG.
Please contact me if you have
anything to add, or anything is inncorrect. It has been a LOOONNNGGG time.
The Advanced Game(AG) consisted of 4 lands that were not attached to the 4
more common lands of Kesmai, Leng, Oakvael, and Axe Glacier. (This was before
the UnderKingdom.) To get to the AG, you would have to use the one-way portal in
Kesmai -4 that is now the Oakvael portal. Once through the portal you would land
in Annwn, and would thereafter never be able to return to the BG lands. So going
to the Ag was a decision that was not to be made lightly, and very few
characters chose to make the switch.
The AG was A LOT harder than the BG,
and those of you that complain about the UnderKingdom being too hard have no
clue as to the terror that was Upper Rift Glacier, or the Far jungles of
Shukumei. But, being in the AG had certain advantages such as more powerful weapons armor, and
other items. (Click on the link for more details on specific stuff) There
was also the famous Hit Doctors. Instead of a sage, AG characters would give
their gold to Hit Doctors and buy hit points from him. A Knight or MA could have
a max of 400 hp, thaums and thieves 375, and wizzies 350. Believe me, hit points
got exponentially expensive as you got more of them, and you needed at least 250
to survive the easiest of the AG.
This helped with all the tough Lair Crits in
the AG.
Annwn: The first land you came to upon entry. Annwn was a very foresty level similar to Oakvael, and the dungeon was similar to Kes -3 or -4. However, on the surface of Annwn was the huge Tower of Wizardy, which was filled with lots of nasties as well as the evil wizard +Ydmos.
Torii: A small tropical island in the Illurian island chain, Torii was home to a vast tropical surface area, numerous rice paddies, a large pagoda complex, a haunted seaside castle, and deep mines which contained the ultimate enemy: Thisson, the demon lord.
Shukumei: A steamy jungle filled with traps and carnivorous plants and animals. Not for the faint of heart, very high level characters could succumb to the vicious creatures roaming the jungles. Not a happy place for a solo hunter.
Rift Glacier: By far the most popular land BG or AG, and the favorite of many an IoK character. Rift Glacier was a fairly challenging area, and very large. Consisting mainly of a large mountain with multiple levels, Rift was the primary hunting spot of most AG characters. Rift also had the Haunted House, which contained in its basement the infamous "Inviso-Level" which had walls, but you couldn't see them! So why you ran around getting stunned, the undead would happily deathspell you. On top of the mountain was the ancient mysterious Cloud Shrine. There in the high mists of the clouds dwelt Lucy the Could Dragon. A fall from the Cloud shrine would kill you...even if you were wearing FF boots. It was that high up.