'_______________________________________________________
:default
!-------------------------------------------------------

!MERITOUS HELP FILE

!-------------------------------------------------------
To navigate this help file, use the D-Pad. Press [o] to
activate links. Press [START] to return to the game. You
can access this help file at any time by pressing
[SELECT].
                          
!Table of Contents
                          
?intro?Introduction
?background?Background
?controls?Controls
?wuss?Wuss Mode
?dungeon?The Dome
?circuit?Your PSI Circuit and You
?cred?Credits
:intro
!-------------------------------------------------------

!Introduction

!-------------------------------------------------------

"   Far below the surface of the planet is a secret.
      place of limitless power. Those that seek to
      control such a utopia will soon bring an end
                     to themselves.                    "

MERITOUS is a top-view dungeon crawl action/adventure
game. As MERIT, a PSI user, your task is to investigate
the Orcus Dome, an ancient underground shrine.

In your way are the shadowy creatures that wander the
shrine. Using your PSI circuit, you must cut through any
that come between you and your goal.

?background?Background
?controls?Controls
?dungeon?The Dome

?default?Return to top
:background
!-------------------------------------------------------

!Background

!-------------------------------------------------------

!-- PSI --

PSI is a powerful, imprecise force. Often viewed as a
form of modern magic, PSI can be weilded to a limited
extent by beings (see PSI users) that have an unusual
level of mental awareness. PSI exists as a flow that can
be fashioned into a single-use tool for the weilder to
use.

As PSI is very difficult to shape precisely, PSI users
often settle for crude, uneconomical solutions to
problems. For example, using PSI as an attacking weapon
by draining off a large amount of it from the
surrounding area and unleashing it in one go. Or using
PSI as a protective shield by concentrating a large
amount of it in one area.

Where PSI actually comes from is unknown, however there
seems to be only a limited amount in the atmosphere at
any one time. While PSI is generally used by gathering
it from the area around the PSI user, some advanced PSI
users have worked out ways of gathering and storing
large quantities of it.

Some areas are naturally much richer in PSI than others.
PSI seems to be found in greater quantities when one is
underground, for example.

!-- PSI users --

PSI users are beings that have the mental capacity to
consciously use PSI. Any species is capable of producing
PSI users, though by far human PSI users are the most
common.

PSI users vary wildly in ability, with the rarest and
most powerful able to accomplish great feats. It is also
not uncommon for PSI users to become more or less
powerful over time. Theories exist that continual
exposure to and use of PSI increases one's competence,
while disuse can cause it to stagnate.

!-- Orcus Dome --

The Orcus Dome is a structure located deep within the
planet's crust. The internal structure seems to be both
crafted and organically grown. It is made up of a number
of tightly-woven rooms. The structure is unusual in that
it seems to have been made for the precise purpose of
gathering and concentrating PSI. The walls that divide
the rooms carry PSI gathered from the planet and channel
it into a single, very strong flow of PSI.

The discovery of the Dome has been a point of contention
among PSI users, most of whom want to use the large
reserves of the Dome to enhance their own PSI usage.

Eventually, the majority of PSI users agreed to ration
out use of the Dome to both ensure the existing reserves
would last as long as possible and to make sure that
each PSI user would receive a fair allocation.

!-- Strange events --

For several years, there was no problem with the ongoing
use of the Orcus Dome to provide PSI. However, for some
reason, the PSI extracted from the Dome began to behave
strangely. It worked unpredictably, and made controlling
the PSI very difficult. After one PSI user was killed as
a result of this, a decision was made to abandon using
the Orcus Dome for PSI.

Not happy with this decision, one PSI user, MERIT,
decided to use his own reserves of PSI to ethereally
warp into the Dome itself to find out what the problem
was and restore the Dome to its original state.

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:controls
!-------------------------------------------------------

!Controls

!-------------------------------------------------------

D-Pad    - Move around. To walk through doors, simply
           walk up to them and push against them.

[x]      - Charge your PSI circuit.

[START]  - Exit the game.

[SELECT] - View the help file.

[/\]     - View the map (you can then use the D-Pad to
           scroll around the map.

[o]      - Activate a trigger tile that you are standing
           on. Enter is also used for various other
           things, such as for reading in-game dialogue.
             
[[]]     - Pause the game.

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:dungeon
!-------------------------------------------------------

!The Dome

!-------------------------------------------------------

The Orcus Dome is made up of a series of rooms,
connected with short passages. The rooms are mostly
uniform in design, however, there are some points of
interest to look out for.

!----------------------------------
!Trigger tiles
!----------------------------------

Trigger tiles are special tiles that cover the floor of
the dungeon, and can be activated by standing on top of
them and pressing [o].

!Checkpoint tiles

Checkpoint tiles automatically record your genetic
makeup when you enter the room that they are in, and, at
the cost of some of your natural vitality, will restore
your being if you perish within the Dome.

The process can also be used to warp yourself between
tiles with no cost, by pressing [o] while on one of them.

!PSI Enhancement tiles

These tiles will, at the cost of some of your PSI
crystals, enhance your PSI abilities in one of three
different areas.

More on PSI abilities can be found in the chapter 'Your
PSI Circuit and You'

!Crystal Magnet tiles

These tiles, upon activation, pull loose PSI crystals
into the room that the tile is in.

!Compass tiles

These tiles point out useful places for you to go to. If
nothing appears when you stand on the tile, there is
nothing for you to do at the moment until more shadow
creatures are destroyed.

!Save tiles

These tiles use their own supply of PSI to record your
current state, allowing you to come back to the Dome if
you decide to leave for a while. They do this upon
activation with [o] button.

?circuit?Your PSI Circuit and You

!----------------------------------
!PSI Artifacts
!----------------------------------

There are a number of artifacts constructed with PSI
lying around the Dome, and some of these will be crucial
to your success. You can locate these with the compass
tile.

!Mystical Enhancement Tools

These artifacts will assist you in exploring the Dome by
enhancing your current abilities. With the right
artifacts, you can move faster, regenerate your shields
in less time, see shadow creatures through walls,
increase the power of your PSI attack and several other
things.

These artifacts are usually found in chests, and are
often well protected, but you can find them with the
compass tiles.

!PSI Keys

In the shape of famous weapons, the Keys are responsible
for filtering and controlling the flow of PSI throughout
the Dome. They are placed at the points where ley-lines
intersect, and it is unknown what will happen if they
are moved. You can find them, even if they have been
moved, with the compass tiles, but you will not be able
to touch them if they have been corrupted with darkness.

!Ancient Seal

One of the artifacts, in the shape of a pendant, must be
kept at the centre of the Dome at all times to keep the
PSI free of malign influences. The Ancient Seal can also
be found with the compass tiles, but will only be
visible while the PSI Keys are in place.

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:circuit
!-------------------------------------------------------

!Your PSI Circuit and You 

!-------------------------------------------------------

Your PSI ability has two main purposes in the game
--offence and defence.

!Offence

By holding down the [o] button, you can charge your
offensive PSI circuit and unleash it on surrounding
foes. Creatures made up of PSI that are hit by this
force will crystallise and break down into PSI crystals
that can be collected.

There are two different targeting reticles used while
the PSI circuit is charging. The circle will appear over
enemies that are in range of your attack. The cross will
appear over enemies that your PSI circuit is charged
enough to destroy. Both of these should appear over your
intended enemies before you release the charge. Only
then can you ensure that they will be hit.

Beware, however--some enemies can take more than one hit
from the PSI circuit before they are destroyed. Some
more powerful creatures may not show a targeting reticle
at all. In those cases you will have to experiment to
find out how much power you need to destroy them.

The further you charge your PSI circuit, the longer it
will take for your circuit to recover enough to use it
again. For this reason it is rarely a good idea to keep
your circuit fully charged.

Most enemy attacks can be stopped prematurely using the
PSI circuit, and enemy bullets can be knocked out of
the air.

Your 'Circuit charge' and 'Circuit refill' skills affect
how quickly your offensive PSI circuit charges and
recovers respectively. In addition, upgrading these
values also increases the maximum charge possible for
your circuit, necessary for destroying the most powerful
enemies. These can be upgraded by standing on the
necessary enhance tiles and pressing Enter when you have
sufficient PSI crystals.

!Defence

If your 'Reflect' skill is 1 or higher, you will
automatically use your PSI to form a physical shield
around yourself, which can block out attacks to a
limited extent. For every point of skill you have, your
shield will be able to block out one enemy bullet before
it recharges. The higher your skill, the faster the
shield will recharge. Note that particularly powerful
attacks, such as lasers, are able to blast through
multiple levels of shield in one go.

A shield is absolutely necessary for facing the more
powerful enemies in the Dome, so it is advised that you
upgrade your shield when you can.

!Further notes on enhancing skills

Because it costs more crystals to enhance a skill when
you have more ability in that skill, it is more
efficient to keep your three skills balanced rather than
trying to maximise one of them.

On skill display at the top of the screen, the name of
the skill will glow when you have enough crystals to
upgrade that skill on an enhance tile.

!PSI recollection

Your PSI also enhances your ability to recall facts and
visualise them accurately. As a result of this, you will
remember the layout of the portions of the Dome you have
explored so far, and can visualise this information by
pressing [/\]. This will show a map that you can scroll
around, and can be very useful for finding your way
around the Dome.

!PSI vitality

Last, but not least, your PSI also maintains your body
vitality. In the top-right corner, the three hearts
represent this. If you lose all three you will die and
be regenerated at the last checkpoint.

Unless you are playing on Wuss mode, you will also have
a limited number of lives. This represents your physical
vitality, and it will be damaged each time you die. When
you run out, your body will be permanently destroyed and
you won't be regenerated.

You can improve your vitality by collecting PSI crystals
that have formed into a heart shape. One of these will
restore one of your three hearts. If you already have
three hearts, they will go towards improving your
physical vitality. Collect enough and your number of
lives will increase.

?default?Return to top
:wuss
!-------------------------------------------------------

!Wuss Mode

!-------------------------------------------------------

Available from the title menu, Wuss mode is a reduced
-difficulty gameplay mode. When playing Wuss mode, you
will be able to attack faster, enemy bullets will be
slower and you will never permanently die. However, a
victory in Wuss mode is not considered to be an actual
completion of the game, and as a result the game will
not end the same way that it would normally.

?default?Return to top
:cred
!-------------------------------------------------------

!Credits 

!-------------------------------------------------------

    Concept:                    Lancer-X/Asceai
    
    Game design:                Lancer-X/Asceai
    
    Graphics:                   Lancer-X/Asceai
    
    Programming:                Lancer-X/Asceai
    
    Sound Effects:              Various sources
    
    Beta testing:               Quasar
    
    Beta testing:               Terryn
    
    Beta testing:               Wervyn
    
    Music:
     "Ambient Light"       Vogue of Triton
     "Battle of Ragnarok"  Frostbite
    "Dragon Cave"         TICAZ
     cavern.xm             Unknown
     "Caverns Boss"        Alexis Janson
     "Forest Boss"         Alexis Janson
     "Catacombs Boss"      Alexis Janson
     "Fear 2"              Mick Rippon
     "The Final Battle"    Goose/CéDA & iNVASiON
     "Ice Frontier"        Skaven/FC
     "KnarkLoader 1.0"     Rapacious
     "RPG-Battle"          Cyn
     "Metallic Forest"     Joseph Fox
     
    Porting:       Nestel (Marach, Marach5, Hubert55555)

?default?Return to top
