Chapter 9: Getting the whole story

Jewel of Arabia is a vast world of vivid landscapes and diverse terrains. It is also a world full of fascinating people and races. The landscape is sparsely populated, with most people living in or near large towns. Towns offer people protection, and are also the centers of industry and trade. You will want to spend a lot of time exploring new towns as you discover them.

As you adventure across the land, you will also discover the races who share the world with the Men of Clay. There are races who are friendly with the Men of Clay, and you will be allowed to enter their towns and conduct business freely. However, there are also races who are, for one reason or another, at odds with the Men of Clay. When you encounter these races, you will have to use your ingenuity to gain entrance into their towns. There is usually a way in, but you will have to solve this vital puzzle by carefully considering all of your characters' skills and abilities.

Talking

While you explore new towns, you will get an opportunity to talk to different people who live there. You should always take the time to question people thoroughly and find out all they have to say. Townspeople will reveal a great deal of the story, and also inform you of specific missions. So, by talking to people you will gain access to both the story and the adventures. Occasionally, people will also give you items when you talk to them. When they do so, the items will always be placed in your Princely character's inventory.

The only people in the towns you will actually "see" are people who have something to say. Towns are of course full of other people going about their daily business, but you do not have to talk to each and every one of them. Thus, if you do see someone in town or inside a building, it is almost always someone important to the story.

Initiating a conversation

Initiating a conversation in Jewel of Arabia is straightforward. Whenever you see a character on the map or inside of a building, get near to the person and press the talk button. This will bring up the talking form.

When you first talk to someone, that person's "hello" message is displayed. You can always return to this first sentence and restart the conversation by typing "hello" or pressing the "Hello" button. To end a conversation, type "bye" or press the "Bye" button.

Each time a character says something, you will want to read their response and use "keywords" from their dialog to further the conversation. In this talking example, some important keywords are "Ibrizia" and "city". Typing either of these keywords will get you more information. Both of these keywords lead down the same path, so typing either one will get you to the same place. Other keywords are "fair" and "prosperous". Typing either of these keywords will lead you down a different path.

Whenever you type in a keyword, you must press the return key on your keyboard or press the "Query" button on the talking form. This lets the computer know that you are done typing and ready to get some feedback.

Talking strategies

There are times when it might be difficult to figure out where to go with a conversation. If you get really stuck, the best thing to do is start the conversation over again and carefully read each response to see if you missed a vital path. Also, every keyword you type is recorded on the text scroll in the order that you type them. If you reach a dead-end in the conversation, look back over the keywords you have already typed and see if going back a few words will lead you down a different path.

There are several keywords that every single character responds to in addition to hello. These keywords are:

• Their profession.
• The name of the town they live in.

In the above example, the character is "Sultan Imraan". If you ask him the keyword "Sultan", he will tell you something about his job as sultan.

You are also in the town of Ibrizia. People always like to talk about where they are from. So, if you enter the name of the town you are currently in, they will respond.

There are other tricks you will learn as you get the hang of talking to people. For example, if you enter the keyword "teach" when talking to a Zarathustran, they will always tell you the meditation they teach.

And if you meet a person who has an animal for sale, the keyword "buy" or "sell" will usually generate a useful response.

There are times when you will be asked a direct "yes or no" question. You must enter the keyword "yes" if you wish to do what they ask.

Storyboards

In addition to talking, much of the story in Jewel of Arabia will be revealed to you via storyboards. Storyboards are not only informational, but also reveal a great deal of mood and tell you more about the races and the world you are exploring. If one of the things you enjoy most about role-playing games is a rich and fulfilling story, then you will enjoy reading these storyboards.

This is an example of a storyboard. These storyboards occur at key locations and after key events during the game. You should always take the time to read these storyboards carefully. There are many times when a storyboard will appear once and only once. Thus, if you quickly dismiss it by pressing the "Ok" button or the return key, you could miss a vital piece of the story.