The very first screen you will see when starting Golden Age is the title screen. Here you can move the cursor up and down to select one of three options, and press return to confirm your selection. Menus in Golden Age all generally use the same controls unless otherwise noted: Arrows to move the cursor, return to select an option, and backspace to cancel a selection. The three options are:
New Game - This option will begin a new game of Golden Age.
Load - This option will allow you to continue a previously saved game of Golden Age.
Quit - This option will exit the game.
When you select Load from the main menu (or Save from the Party Menu) you will be taken to the file menu, where you can save or load your game in one of three files. You can load a game at any time, but you cannot save a game unless a game is currently in progress. Use the arrow keys, return and backspace to select menu items as before.
A large part of Golden Age is exploring the world around you. You explore the world using the arrow keys. As long as you hold down an arrow key, your lead character will move in the direction you hold down (provided there are no obstacles in your way), and the rest of your party will follow you.
Occasionally, you will encounter obstacles, people, or creatures with whom you are able to interact. Pressing the return key will attempt to interact with them. Often, such interaction is vital to advancing the plot, or you might discover valuable treasures or a shop selling useful items. Please keep in mind that not all objects will interact with you, and interacting with some creatures may be dangerous.
Also, at any time while on the Map Screen, you can press "M" to access the Party Menu screen. Remember this, because many essential commands can only be accessed via the Party Menu screen (see below).
When travelling outside the towns, castles and other safe havens of Golden Age, you will often encounter villains intent on bringing your journey to a swift and violent end. To prevent this from happening, you are armed with a variety of weapons and magical spells to defend yourself with.
In battle, your party and the enemy will take turns performing actions. This does not mean you are actually lined up taking turns whacking each other, but rather, it is an abstraction that represents the flow of battle and the occasional opportunities which arrise to penetrate your foes defenses or perform a useful action. Because of this, Agility is essential in improving your ability to capitalize on such openings, and thus, characters and monsters with higher Agility tend to act sooner and more often.
When it is your turn to act, you will be presented with a choice of several options. As before, use the arrow keys to move the cursor, return to select an option and backspace to return to the previous menu (cancel an option). Your options are:
Fight - This command allows you to make a physical attack on an enemy. You can select one enemy or ally (including yourself) to attack with a weapon. Generally, you will want to use this on your opponents, but there are some occasions where it may be beneficial to attack your own party, such as to wake a sleeping ally. Fighting with weapons relies strongly on the attacker's physical strength, and is resisted by the defender's endurance. Additionally, a high agility gives a defender a good chance to dodge the attack.
Defend - This command allows you to focus entirely on defense and thus reduce the damage you receive from an enemy in combat. Alternatively, it can be used as a way to not take any action with a character.
Item - This command allows you to use an item in your inventory. Not all items can be used in combat, but wisely using those that can, such as potions and elixirs or magical wands, can provide a significant advantage in battle. The Item menu will indicate which items you have, which can be used in battle, and how many of each item you have. Many items which you can use in battle can only be used once, so be sure to keep track of how many you have left!
Magic - This command allows you to take advantage of a characters special skills and magical spells. Each spell costs a certain amount of mana, so make sure to watch your character's MP total. Also, each spell has its own special targetting restrictions. Some spells will only let you target the enemy or only let you target the party, while others will let you target an entire group (either your party or every enemy) or even everyone in the battle. To switch between individual, group and screen targetting modes, press the tab key.
Most magical spells rely on a character's intelligence for their effectiveness and are resisted by an opponent's wisdom, however some spells actually represent special techniques or abilities, and rely on other attributes instead. Each ability is different!
During combat, you may find it useful to strike your foes with magic which causes various effects which last beyond the action in which they are inflicted. Alternatively, you may wish to use abilities which increase the capabilities of your own allies. These are called status effects, and beware, because your opponent can use them, too. Most status effects will disappear when the battle ends or after a set duration. Status effects can also be cured or dispelled by the appropriate techniques.
Negative status effects:
Poison - This causes a character to lose a small amount of health every time they act. Poison will last until cured, even if the battle ends. Poison will negate regeneration.
Confusion - This causes a character to randomly attack either friend or foe each round. Being struck by a physical attack will often jar the senses and cure confusion.
Sleep - This causes a character to fall into a deep sleep and be unable to act. Suffering any amount of damage will awaken the character, but physical attacks will do double damage to sleeping characters.
Petrification - The character has been magically turned to stone and cannot act or suffer damage until it is cured. Petrification will last until cured, even if the battle ends.
Paralysis - The character has been paralyzed and is unable to take action, but can still be harmed.
Atrophy - The character's strength is halved. Atrophy will negate empower.
Slow - The character's agility is halved. Slow will negate haste.
Feeblemind - The character's intelligence is halved. Feeblemind will negate focus.
Weaken - The character's endurance is halved. Weaken will negate protect.
Gullible - The character's wisdom is halved. Gullible will negate foresight.
Positive status effects:
Regeneration - This causes a character to gain a small amount of health every time they act. Regeneration will negate poison.
Reraise - This causes a character to be ressurected instantly upon death.
Empower - The character's strength is increased by 50%. Empower will negate atrophy.
Haste - The character's agility is increased by 50%. Haste will negate slow.
Focus - The character's intelligence is increased by 50%. Focus will negate feeblemind.
Protect - The character's endurance is increased by 50%. Protect will negate weaken.
Foresight - The character's wisdom is increased by 50%. Foresight will negate gullible.
Your characters' abilities are represented by a variety of statistics. These statistics (sometimes abbreviated 'stats') play a vital role in your advancement:
Level - This number represents the overall level of skill the character has attained.
Experience - This number represents the experience a character has gained in his or her adventures. When enough experience is gained, the character's level will increase.
Points - When a character's level increases, they gain points which can be spent to customize the character's advancement.
Strength - Strength represents the character's raw muscle and combat technique and affects the amount of damage a character will deal with physical combat.
Agility - Agility represents a character's athletic ability and movement capability and affects a character's speed in combat, and their ability to successfully score a hit or evade an enemy's attack.
Intelligence - Intelligence represents a character's affinity for the magical arts and influences the effectiveness of their spells.
Endurance - Endurance represents the character's ability to withstand physical damage and affects the amount of damage received by physical attacks.
Wisdom - Wisdom represents a character's understanding of the world and inluences their ability to weather the effects of magical attacks.
The Party Menu is an important part of Golden Age, where you can manage your characters and inventory. As with the previous menus, use the arrow keys, return and backspace to make your selection. Additionally, in some screens, you can use page up and page down to conveniently cycle between your characters.
Status - This option allows you to view the statistics and equipment of your party. Use page up and page down to cycle between party members.
Equip - In this menu, you can change the equipment of your party. Equipment improves your statistics and can grant you special abilities, so do not neglect to equip your latest gear. There are six 'slots' for equipping items--Right Hand, Left Hand, Body, Head, Feet and Accessory. Some items may take up multiple slots, but their benefits will only be applied once. If you attempt to equip an item in a slot that already had something equipped in it, the currently equipped item will automatically be unequipped.
Item - coming soon.
Magic - coming soon.
Points - When your character defeat enemies, they will receive experience. Experience abstractly represents a character's growth and progress over the course of the adventure. When enough experience is gained, the character's level will increase. In addition to gaining a small increase in stats and having their hp and mp refilled, the character will gain 'points.' Points can be spent to improve statistics or learn new magic and abilities. As your abilities increase, the number of points needed to increase them will increase as well.
Order - This item allows you to change the marching order of your party.
Save - This takes you to the File Menu where you can save your game or load a new game.
Coming soon!