Fetch Quest

I played this game as a kid, and remember both really liking it and never quite beating it. Typical difficult yet enjoyable NES game.

Day One
0:01
I name my hero Joven and my heroin Acara. I don't think those are Greek names.

0:02
I start off in Arcadia, and man alive does this game look and feel like Zelda II.

0:04
The enemies are actually a bit tricky to hit. They are so small that you can't hit them standing or even crouching, so you have to wait for them to jump up. Best to catch them on the way down.

0:05
Lots of houses to start the game. In the last one I entered, I am attacked before I can even move by a slime that falls from the ceiling. Annoying.

0:07
After a few more screens of little more than random slime killing, I come across another house. When I enter the lower door, I'm transported to Attica. Yet if I take the top door, it's just a regular house.

0:09
Ah, my first non-slime enemy: some sort of bull or buffalo thing that is actually a bit easier than the slimes. It took a few more hits, but I also suffered no damages while standing there hoping that it would jump up in the air so I could actually attack it.

0:10
Ha, I have entered Zeus' temple, and the only way he will talk to you is if you are crouching - aka kneeling - when you speak. Nifty.

0:12
I've hit the end of the map, where there is a door that takes me to Peloponnes. I have my ass handed to me by the much tougher monsters that appear right away. Hm, I think I'll head back to check out Attica, which I skipped before.

0:15
Lots of houses. Lots of talking. I'm not sure if this is just background chatter or actually important to the game yet.

0:17
New enemies in this area: saytrs, scorpion-looking things, and tiny purple bears that throw spears at you before dashing off. I still haven't been able to attack one before it gets off the screen.

0:20
Found Athena, goddess of wisdom and war. She gives me a shield, which shows up in my inventory. Funny, the hero has been carrying a shield the entire game, and looks no different now. Does this just mean that my shield will now start working?

0:21
Hey, that's just what happened - I now reflect the spears of the purple bears! Still haven't killed one though.

0:22
Music just drastically changed in the middle of walking through one of the screens. Boss fight?

0:23
There is some sort of golem just sitting down at the end of the path. I can't attack him, nor does he hurt me if I walk into him. No clue what I'm supposed to do, so I guess I'm walking back.

0:26
Cripes! I just ran into some sort of Lamia creature, who killed me in seconds. Her arrows, despite looking very similar to the purple bears' spears, were not reflected off of my shield. Let's try that again, shall we?

0:27
It looks like death sends you back to the start of the map - in this case, the very first room in Attica. Because I'm lazy and a bit of a cheater though, I'm just going to use save states (I'm doing one at the start of every room) to go back and try again. As I do this, I notice that dying also halves the number of red jewels you have (not sure what these are for off the top of my head, but lots of enemies drop them - likely some sort of money).

0:28
Fough the lamia again, died again. I did manage to get in four or five hits though, and noticed that behind her, there appears to be some sort of pit. Maybe you push her into that?

0:30
Two tries later, I kill her. Took six hits and I'm left with one life bar. My reward? A cave entrance that contains a small child who thanks me for his rescue. I assume he belongs to one of the houses and that there is a reward if I return there.

0:32
Yep, just one screen over, a woman gives me a staff for helping the kid out. She doesn't know what it does though, and tells me to ask her father. Not like I have any idea who that is or where he may be.

0:33
I try out the staff, and it looks identical to my previous club weapon except it is red instead of brown. It does kill the scorpions in one hit instead of two though, so hooray for more power!

0:36
After checking all the houses again, I finally find the father, the man who supposedly tells me what the staff does. His words: "Prometheus is the only person who knows how to use the powers of the staff". I'll note that I also have no idea where he is either. Time to wander.

0:38
I'm not seeing much else to explore in Attica, as the mysterious golem creature is the only thing I think I haven't figured out yet. Time to head back to Arcadia to wander around there.

0:41
I'm back in Peloponnes, and I'll just say that just because my weapon is stronger, that doesn't mean the enemies still aren't kicking my ass. Those bats that zoom down from the ceiling have been a pain to hit.

0:42
There is a spiderweb that blocks my path, so no exploring Peloponnes right now. I've heard enough people in the houses mention fire that I assume that's what I'll need before I can get past here. Maybe that's the power of the staff?

0:46
The old man in the house I mentioned early on with attacking slime you can't avoid tells me I shouldn't go to Peloponnes until after I've visited Attica and Argolis, the latter of which I haven't been to. I now notice for the first time that there is another door behind him, which probably will take me there.

0:48
A correct prediction! Here I come Argolis! I notice there are eight locations on the map, and I've only partially explored two of them so far.

0:51
I'll say it right now: these bats are harder than all the other enemies in the game combined. They swoop down so fast and as such a wretched angle for you to hit. I'm just going to try to run past them, because fighting one is likely to drain half my life bar.

0:54
Uh-oh, boss-sounding music! Looks like there is a lion, which someone in one of the houses told me was guarding the guy who can tell me my staff's power. Sadly, before I can even attempt to fight the lion, the three bats that are hanging overhead make short work of me. This will be tricky.

0:57
It took about a half dozen reloads, but I finally take care of all the bats without dying. I then kill the lion in roughly two seconds without taking a hit. That doesn't seem quite right.

0:58
As guessed, the old man tells me I can shoot fire from my staff by holding the up button while attacking. Like a Castlevania subweapon, kind of. I guess I now have to get all the way back to Peloponnes?

1:00
I'm already so, so in love with this fire attack. It does two absolutely wonderful things that I couldn't do before: attack the ground and attack from a distance. Both have been incredibly useful already in just the two minutes or so I've been using it.

1:01
There is a second cave to explore here in Atica. While I was planning on going back to Peloponnes, no reason not to check this one out while I'm here.

1:02
The new flame power has done nothing to make the bats any less awful for me. They still rip me to shreds.

1:04
I'm knocked into a pit by a group of three bats. This had not happened to me so far, and I fully expected to die from it. Instead, I just fall down to a lower floor, filled with snakes. Are all pits like this? I wonder if there are a bunch of areas I didn't explore because I never jumped into any pits.

1:06
Arg, the door at the end of the pit-world just takes me back to the start of the cave. Guess I get to go through the bats again.

1:10
I find another one of the temples that house the gods. This one is a tad different from the last two though: the god is replaced by a stumpy little man, who says: "Hermes is gone, summoned by Zeus. Get out of here". Okay, dick.

1:11
I've now reached the end of the cave, a dead end. Boy, I'm so glad I explored this second cave!

1:14
Back in Arcadia, and holy hell, the flame is just as useful as expected in dealing with slimes and tiny bears. Off to Peloponnes!

1:16
Hit by the slime again as I exit the old man's house. It's not any less annoying the second time around.

1:19
Back in Peloponnes, where there are two bats directly above you when you first enter. You can imagine how I fare against them. The fire staff does burn down the web letting me proceed.

1:21
This place is so, so confusing. There are so many doors (which are pretty well hidden, since they aren't so much doors as gaps between the trees) and everything looks relatively similar. I'm thinking I'm just going to wanter randomly until I find something.

1:22
Ha, I walk around for a second and choose a door at random, and wind up in one of the god's temples. I am given a harp that summons Pegasus, though I'm not sure what that means specifically.

1:25
Walking around a bit more, I find a new area with tall branches and thorns. Someone in one of the houses told me I could burn the thorns, but my fire doesn't seem to do anything. Thanks.

1:28
More aimless moving between the screens. I keep finding new things - people, areas - but I still have no semblance of where I'm supposed to go. Or what I'm supposed to be doing, for that matter. Was I just supposed to find the harp, or is there more to this area?

1:35
I've hit the absolute worst part of being stuck in a maze: I've stopped seeing new things. The past several minutes have just been repeats of before, running into the same people and finding the same new areas. Another couple minutes of this, and it'll just be frustration.

1:38
I'm now convinced that I cannot proceed here. I'm going back to explore old areas. First idea: check out pits in Argolis.

1:42
I now officially know that not all pits lead to lower levels. In fact, most seem to lead to death. As far as I can tell, there is no way to know which is which. If I didn't have save states, I honestly think I'd stop playing the game at this point - it's been over twenty minutes since I've made any progress, and I now know that it's possible for seemingly bottomless pits to have a chance to contain something more. Oh well though, since I do have save states, it's not quite as bad.

1:44
I found a new pit to jump down, which have extra-powerful red snakes inside, who occasionally drop their skin. I don't know what it's used for, but I'm going to grab some, because I'm sure it's necessary eventually. There is also an old man who sells me something for fifty olives (apparently, they're not jewels). When I pick it up, it increases my life bar! This is so necessary and awesome for my continued enjoyment of the game.

2:00
I get twenty of the skins, then head out. I very vaguely recall from my childhood play through that twenty skins is what you need. For what, I don't remember. Best guess: a fireproof shield, which has been mentioned at a few of the houses. These snakes were immune to my first attack, so it makes sense.

2:03
New idea: go back to see Zeus in the first area, since supposedly Hermes is with him. What good Hermes will do for me, I do not know, but it's an idea.

2:06
Ta-da, Hermes' Sandals! I can now jump higher, which means I can access the areas I couldn't reach before in that awful wooded maze. Let's head back there now.

2:07
Whoa, these shoes apparently also let you reverse gravity, so you can walk on the ceiling. That has to be useful.

2:11
Found my way back to the thorny area, which I am now able to pass through. It's been a good fifty minutes or so, but I'm finally making progress again.

2:12
Remember how I couldn't burn the thorn bushes? I guess that was just the green ones. There are now red ones which I am capable of destroying. Not sure what the point is, as it's not like I can reach this part without having the flame staff anyways.

2:15
Boss music! According to a person in the tree, I'll be fighting Hydra. But first, let's head back a screen to kill some baddies to fill up my nearly-empty life bar.

2:17
Easy as pie, only took minimal damage. Outside of that Lamia earlier, the bosses have been cake, certainly much easier than the regular enemies. For my win, I rescue the forest fairy, who gives me a new sword. I'm actually iffy on whether or not to use it, as I've gotten pretty used to the fireball powers of the staff.

2:18
I realize I'm not sure where to go now. One of the house people told me a sword is necessary to defeat the cyclops, but I haven't seen a cyclops. My only guess is that one of the other previously unexplorablable areas in the forest houses the monster.

2:23
I reach the cyclops (indeed, in the other unexplored area) with a half of a life bar left. I'm not even going to try. Time to fill up my life by killing things.

2:28
Alright, full enough. Time to see if we have another cakewalk of a boss.

2:29
Conflicting emotions here. Right before the cyclops, if you hit the tree with your sword (I was trying to kill a bat and missed, natch), a life bar boosting items drops down. I'm obviously super stoked, as these are the items that make the game somewhat possible, but pretty annoyed that I just spent five minutes filling up my life killing enemies when this would've done it for me.

2:31
Good gravy, the cyclops went down in only four hits. He nailed me a couple of times, but still, no challenge at all. The difficulty of the regular enemies to the bosses is very much out of whack. Anyways, a new pathway opens up that lets me go to my fifth area of the map, Laconia.

2:32
What. The. Hell. I was just walking along, when suddenly, the floor falls out beneath me and I die. I don't think there was any way to tell it was going to fall, and being surrounded by about a half dozen enemies gave me little time to react. Arg.

2:33
I can avoid the falling platforms as well as most of the enemies if I just walk on the ceilings. Since there are no experience points to be gained in this game and my olives are already full, I see no reason not to pursue this opportunity.

2:36
Someone in a house tells me I can avoid the call of a siren by using my harp. Thank goodness I walk into all of these houses, as I still had no idea what that harp was for.

2:40
Found a pitch-black cave area. Using my fire staff allows me to see. Good, I honestly wasn't liking the sword all that much anyways. It was stronger though, so I'm sure I'll be forced back to it soon enough.

2:41
Uh, like twenty seconds later. Another cyclops is here, and you can't hurt it without the sword.

2:43
Cyclops is dead, though this one took more hits than the last. Reward? Life-bar up! I love these things, you can never have enough of them.

2:47
Apparently not all of the breakaway floors are bad. On the screen I'm at now, one of them dropped a potion-looking thing from the ceiling. Not sure what it does yet, but I'm sure someone in one of the houses will tell me eventually.

2:48
Another breakaway floor, same room, drops me down and doesn't kill me. The inconsistency on these pitfalls is maddening.

2:49
This one leads to the temple for Poseidon, who sells me an ocarina that lets me summon dolphins for sixty olives. There have been dead ends in I believe all of the worlds that looked like oceans, so this probably will let me cross those. There is one right above where I am now, where I got that potion thing, so I'm going to test it there.

2:51
Aye, the ocarina let's me advance past the watery dead ends, as expected. Of course, even these little sea voyages couldn't be peaceful, as there are plenty of enemies on the one water screen.

2:52
Boss music! I'm fighting siren now. Let's see if the harp does anything.

2:53
Might have been the easiest boss fight yet, if that's possible. She started to sing and that dragged me towards her, but playing the harp allowed me to move freely again. I then walked up to her, hit her three times with the sword, and she was dead. Weak.

2:54
I enter the door right next to the siren, which drops me into a black cave. After lighting it up, I have to fight three wizzrobe-like enemies who absolutely wreck me. As I only have half a life bar, it might take a few reloads to beat this room.

2:59
That was a huge pain. Again, why are regular enemies so much harder than bosses? Or were these guys bosses? There was no boss music, but I did get an item for winning: a crystal ball. Someone in a house early on in the game mentioned that there was a crystal ball that makes invisible things visible, so I'd have to presume this is that. Not sure where I'll use it though.

3:06
Back at the first map again, without anywhere specific in mind to go. I do have the ocarina now, so I guess I should start exploring the various watery dead ends. The only one I remember off the top of my head is where I fought the Lamia.

3:10
Nope, that would be the wrong way. Taking the dolphin from the Lamia spot lands me in Phrygia, where the enemies are so insanely strong and take so many hits to kill that I know I can't possibly be in the right spot. It's nice to know that I can come here if need be in case I can't find anywhere else to go, but for now, I'm going to search elsewhere.

3:13
Back in Argolis, which I know also had a watery dead end. I think it was in the first cave. Right?

3:16
Holy crap! There is no sea for me to use my ocarina at, which sucks, but my crystal ball found a hidden doorway. Lucky I didn't go to the second cave first.

3:19
In this hidden door, I stumble onto a fairy who says she was forced into here by a cyclops. She offers me a love letter from Acara. Ha! I totally forgot that I had to enter a female name back at the start of the game. I guess I'm rescuing her, or something.

- At this point, I had to step away for a few hours. When I came back, I had no clue at all what I was doing supposed to be doing. Thanks to a quick check of GameFAQs, I know knew my next step. Yea, it may be cheating a little bit, but I'm already using save states at the start of each room, so oh well.

3:20
Apparently, I need to go talk to one particular guy in Attica after getting the love letter, says the walkthough. I picked a pretty great time to step away from the game, as there was no way in hell I was going to figure that one out on my own in less than an hour.

3:21
Also learned from the same section of the walkthrough: using the harp at the sun statues allows you to teleport between locations. Huh. How would I have ever have known that? Anyways, using the one right next to the invisible door takes me directly to the guy's house in Attica. He gives me a key and sends me off to finally go after that golem that blocks the path.

3:24
Good lord, the golem was just another cyclops. The only thing that made the battle any different is that the tiny purple bears kept popping in from the left to throw spears at me. That was more of a mild annoyance than anything that made the battle difficult though.

3:25
Arrived in Phthia, a name which I am not quite sure how to pronounce.

3:35
This place is near impossible. I'm lucky to make it half a screen without dying. Enemies are very difficult to kill, there are tons of them, they respawn rapidly - I don't know if I'm going to be able to keep going.

3:42
I can't do it. No matter what I do, I just keep dying. Time to take a short break and try again later.

- I decided to recheck the walkthrough, to see if I was crazy for finding this place impossible. It seems I'm not that far off. However, it appears that by beating this section, you get an item that doubles your defense. Now I'm not one to tell the designers how to do their job, but I'm thinking I probably should have gotten that item before coming to this place.

3:45
Okay, by going the completely opposite way from where I had been, I'm able to advance a little bit until I find a room that has a health-restoring waterfall. This also fills up my potion bottle, which essentially gives me two lifebars. Okay, maybe now I have a sliver of a chance.

3:46
I cannot leave the waterfall room without the monkey enemy hitting me enough times to drain half my life.

3:48
I find another temple, in which I can buy a new weapon for 70 olives. Problem: I only have 48. Bigger problem: I'm not in a place where I can make more olives. I've just run from every enemy I've seen since I've gotten here, and sadly, you have to actually kill the enemies to get olives. Hm, so should I suck it up and just fight by the waterfall room until I get enough, or should I trek all the way back to the beginning, where olive-earning is as simple as can be?

4:00
I went with the former. Actually, right by the temple entrance, there were two little bug enemies that I could easily and safely kill with the fire staff. It was dull, but easy enough. Now I have exactly seventy olives, and a new sword. Judging by the inventory screen, it's my last weapon. Better be good!

4:02
I find another life-up item. Fan-f'n-tastic. Why does it seem like I never have enough? I wonder if I've missed a bunch of these along the way?

4:04
This new sword, while doing very little to deal with the massive amount of damage I'm taking, does make pretty much every enemy killable in one hit. Can't complain about that.

4:06
There is this centaur monster on this screen, who is almost certainly the biggest pain in the ass encountered all game. As usual, I'll not that this isn't a boss, but a single enemy. He jumps around like a nutcase and fires arrows, and kills me with very little effort. I think I'm just going to run by him, if possible.

4:07
Yep, it sure is possible. Didn't take a single hit.

4:09
I'm at this big flowery field now, really different from any other area I've been to. I also manage to discover that my new sword can shoot out a little lightning bolt, that while not quite as awesome as the fire staff's fireball (since it travels straight ahead and doesn't hit the ground), it's still great to have a ranged attack.

4:10
I have very quickly learned that using this new sword's power takes away a half bar of life with each use. The game does not stop you from using it when you only have a half bar left, so it is quite easy to kill yourself. That puts a bit of a damper on things.

4:11
Boss music! Looks identical to the hydra I fought earlier, except green instead of pink. Will we have our first truly challenging boss?

4:13
No. The dragon had no attacks at all, instead just flying around the field, hoping to make contact with me. After about twenty seconds, I recognized a fairly simple pattern and dispatched him without taking any hits. My reward is a golden apple, which if I am to believe the walkthough I glanced at during my last break, will double my defense, and not a microsecond too soon.

4:16
I couldn't be happier to report that the apple does in fact word as advertised. It's ridiculously refreshing to be able to move forward while actually attacking enemies, rather than inching my way through the screens just praying I don't get hit.

4:18
My crystal ball and key combine to lead me to the second fairy, who gives me another love letter from Acara. This letter actually tells me something of note, mentioning the sea at Argolis. It's not much, but I'll take any hints I can get in this game.

4:30
Thinking ahead a bit, I spend some time collecting olives in the beginning area of the game. I don't know how many I may need for the next temple, but at the very least I'll have a good head start.

4:34
Hit the ocean, ride the dolphin, arrive at Crete. From the various house people I've spoken to, this place contains nothing but witches and minotaurs. Should be a blast.

4:38
Another maze, just like the forest from before. I can only hope that this time, I have everything with me that I need to get through it all.

4:41
I randomly go through rooms until I find an old lady who will make me a new shield for eighty olives and twenty snake skins. I accept, which leaves me with one olive and no snake skins. I assume this is the shield that reflects fire, though where that will be useful, I'm not quite sure.

4:43
Boss music! This appears to be a minotaur. At this point, I'm not even going to wonder if he'll be hard; that boss music has trained me to assume a cakewalk is coming.

4:45
Wow, he actually drained most of my life! Truly unexpected. Still went down after ten or so hits. For my victory, I receive the third love letter from Acara. It mentions that the door to Hades will now be open. I've heard several people in the houses mention that I need to go to Phrygia beforehand though, to get an important item. That's the place near the Lamia battle, which is where I'm off to next.

4:58
In another temple, I can buy an item for eighty more olives. Arg! I have only five olives left after getting the new shield. Unlike last time, I don't think I'm going to hang around here to try to build up the remaining seventy-five I need. Back to the first area. Sigh.

5:10
Olive collection is going incredibly slow compared to last time. In roughly the same amount of time, I've only gotten half as many as before. Frankly, with the game looking about 90% finished, I don't know if I care to keep doing this. I mean, am I going to see anything in the next 45-60 minutes that I haven't seen already? I really do want to finish, but this tedious olive collecting is killing me. Would it have been so bad to make that shield just cost the twenty skins, and have the other thing cost the eighty olives? Why do they both have to cost so much?

Day Two
5:12
I loaded up the game and started to play, and after another couple of minutes of collecting olives, I just couldn't do it any more. I've played the game for five hours, and about a third of that time has been spent wandering around a maze aimlessly, or collecting, whether it be olives or skins. It's not that I can't tolerate a random resource-gathering segment here or there in a game; rather, it's the percentage of total game time spent on it that becomes unbearable towards the end. Two hours in a fifty hour RPG is fine. Two hours in a six hour action/adventure game is not. Even if I account for the save states I used and the fact that I had played this game awhile back (and thus had bits of familiarity with it), it still seems like no more than a ten hour affair, so the same holds true.

Final Thoughts
All in all, I enjoyed the game quite a bit. Yes, despite what I said above. The setting is quite unique, the music is fairly pleasant, and the graphics are quite nice for a mid-life NES title. It is very similar in style to Zelda II, so definitely worth going through if you're a fan of that. Even if you aren't, it's still worth a go. I just think that it's key to keeping in mind going in that you may reach a point where you get frustrated enough with the game that you can't keep playing it. The olive/skin collecting periods are huge pace-killers, you're likely to be stumped as to what to do next on more than one occasion, and assuming you forsake using saved states, the exponentially more deadly enemies will start killing you frequently as the game moves along. So play the game, but don't force yourself to play it too hard - your mental well being may rest on your ability to just walk away.