This is the Omega FAQ (that is, it attempts to answer Frequently Asked Questions about Omega). This FAQ would be divided into two sections. The first section gives hints that help you figure out how to do what you want. These hints point you in the right direction but still let you figure things out and actually PLAY the game, as opposed to simply following directions. The second section (which was never yet completed) was to give more detailed directions as to how to do the same things that were discussed in the first section.
Last updated: 2/11/95
Omega is available from monu1.cc.monash.edu.au
The guilds are the key to success in Omega, and joining a guild should be your first action upon beginning a game. You want all of the experience you get to count towards advancement in your guild, so you should join a guild before you disarm your first trap or kill your first monster or go on the Oracle's first quest.
Some guilds require that you be of a particular alignment in order to join, and you will need to do one or two things before joining the guild in order to become of the appropriate alignment. Notice, though, that there is something you can do in Rampart that will make you slightly Lawful (Lawful enough to join any of the Lawful guilds), and there is something in Rampart you can do to make you slightly Chaotic (Chaotic enough to join any of the Chaotic guilds), so you needn't leave Rampart before you join a guild.
In addition to joining a guild, you'll need to obtain some basic equipment, if your guild doesn't provide you with any (some guilds do, and some don't, so don't buy anything before you've joined your guild). You should have some sort of weapon and some sort of armor - there's an armorer in Rampart who will sell these to you. You should also have a little bit of food on hand when you leave Rampart, in case you need to eat on your journey - there's a fast food restaurant in Rampart that will sell you food. It's also nice to check out the pawn shop from time to time and see if they have anything you can't live without.
Each player has his or her own favorite guild. The game is set up so that each guild gives you something good, so all of them are worthy (with the possible exception of being a priest of Destiny). Which guild you pick really depends on what kinds of things you like to do and how you like to play. And part of the fun of Omega is that you can join one set of guilds this time and a different set of guilds the next time you play, so your game doesn't get stale.
All of the gods except Destiny give their adherents spells and will occasionally remove cursed items for you. The god will also sometimes throw snowballs at monsters that are attacking you. When you advance to the highest level, you get a holy symbol that recharges your mana. You must have the same alignment as your god (Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic), and you must be of the right alignment every time you pray to your god. Unlike the sorcerers and the paladins, though, you are not required to become more lawful or more chaotic in order to advance.
The collegium magi gives you lots of spells, and every time you research a new spell, you get experience for it. Unfortunately, sometimes spell research is unsuccessful. You must pay tuition unless you have an intelligence of 18. Alignment is unimportant.
The sorcerers also give you spells, but not nearly as many as the collegium magi does. You can join them no matter what your alignment is, but you must be Chaotic in order to advance, and your alignment must become progressively more chaotic in order to advance to higher levels. There is a fee required to join the guild - the higher your Power is, the lower the fee is.
The thieves' guild requires that you be Neutral or Chaotic when you join, but they don't care what you are after that. They'll identify stuff for you, buy stuff at better rates than the pawnshop, and give you an occasional spell. You can pickpocket other creatures and open locks with a lockpick. One must pay dues in order to join; the higher your Dexterity, the lower the dues.
The mercenaries give you lots of cash and not much else. They start you off with a basic weapon and armor, but you don't get any niftier equipment upon advancement. Money is versatile, though - you can buy equipment or you can buy time at the gym to boost your stats or you can buy spell research at the collegium magi. Some of us find money to be rather a yawn, though.
The paladins give you equipment and a horse. Every time you return to their headquarters, they feed you and cure you of any wounds or diseases you may have. In older versions of the game, they also remove the curse on any cursed items you're carrying, but in later versions of the game, this feature has been removed. At later levels, the paladins also give you a spell or two. The paladins' mace of disruption, which you get when you advance enough in their guild, is one of those rare weapons that will hit even those monsters that aren't subject to normal weapons. You must be Lawful to join the order of paladins, and you must become progressively more Lawful in order to advance.
The arena gives you free time at the gym, which boosts your stats, one basic (not very good) weapon, and cash every time you win a fight. They also give you an extra maneuver (attack or defense), which is very useful, especially at low levels. If you advance to the highest level, you win Victrix, a very nifty weapon that has a high to-hit and also makes you immune to fear. You must have reasonable physical stats in order to join the arena, but alignment is unimportant.
Most guilds raise one or more of your stats every time you advance. For example, the collegium raises your intelligence and power, the mercenaries raise your strength and constitution, and so forth. The arena doesn't do this, but it does give you time at the gym, which accomplishes the same thing.
So, if you like to cast spells, you should pray to a god or join the collegium magi or the sorcerers. If you'd prefer to hack and slash, then you should join the mercenaries or the paladins or the arena. Which guild you join may be limited by what your stats are or by whether you can afford tuition or dues or whatever.
If you STILL don't know which guild to join, then join the paladins. They take care of you, by feeding you and curing disease and whatnot, so they're good for a new player who doesn't yet know how to avoid becoming diseased or how to avoid some of the other nasty things that the paladins will take care of for you. (This is especially true of older versions of the game, where the paladins remove curses on cursed items.) But remember that you'll have to be VERY Lawful.
It is possible to join more than one guild at once, although there are some guilds that don't work together. For example, you can't belong to the arena or the mercenaries and also be a paladin. You can't be a sorcerer and also a member of the collegium magi. When you belong to more than one guild, any experience you gain is split among those guilds (with the exception of the arena, where you only advance by fighting in the arena). This means that the more guilds you belong to, the more slowly you advance in all of them. Hence, low-level characters should probably stick to a single guild (or a single guild plus the arena, if your guild accepts arena members). Once you've advanced as far as you can go in your guild without completing the final guildquest, then it's time to join a second guild.
Now is the time for you to consult the Oracle for advice about what to do next.
If you visit the Oracle, she will give you excellent advice about what order you should do things in. The Duke, who lives in the castle, will also send you on quests if you present yourself to him. His quests and the Oracle's advice usually overlap, but if they disagree, well, the Duke is just a secular authority, but the Oracle's whole job is being wise....
The Oracle is a wise person who resides in Rampart and gives advice to adventurers.
Since the Oracle is a special and magical person, she doesn't live in an ordinary house in an ordinary part of town. Seek her where Rampart is wilder.
There are a couple of reasons for finding the Oracle. The game is lots easier if you do things in the order the Oracle tells you, rather than just randomly wandering around. The Oracle's initial advice is especially valuable, since she sends you on a quest that is not very dangerous but which will advance you from level one to level three. This means that you will have more hit points and more mana and more experience to take on the next, more dangerous, quest.
Another reason for finding the Oracle is that there is a place that you will eventually need to go to that is only reachable via the Oracle. She will send you to this place when you are ready.
The Archdruid is in a temple north of the city. Follow the road northeast until you come to a village. (You don't need to enter the village; it's just a landmark.) Explore the forest northwest of the village, and you should find the temple, which is denoted by an X. Once inside the temple, you'll need to explore it rather thoroughly in order to find the Archdruid. Search some likely-looking areas....
There is at least one place in Rampart that will give you the opportunity to become more Lawful, and there is at least one place in Rampart that will give you the opportunity to become more Chaotic. Look at the places in Rampart - what would a good person do? What would a bad person do?
Once you've left Rampart, you'll have ample opportunities to alter your alignment. It's easy, in these sorts of games, to fall into the mindset that monsters are for killing, but think about it for a second - does a Lawful person really attack anything that hasn't attacked him or her first? What other things might a Lawful person do - might they not try to reform the monsters somehow? As for a Chaotic person, it's easy to see that they would kill anything that moves, if it would be to their advantage, without regard for whether the monster was hostile or not. But there's another, even more Chaotic thing that you can do with monsters. Think of something sneaky that you could do to betray a monster....
The Archdruid will conduct the ritual of neutralization if you ask him to, which will bring your alignment back to Neutral. Unfortunately, there's a bug in the latest version of the game, such that the ritual of neutralization doesn't work. If you're playing that version of the game, don't count on being able to get neutralized....
If you are a member of the collegium magi or have acquired the spell of ritual magic in some other way, you can reach the Adept's Challenge by casting ritual magic in the appropriate room. Which room LOOKS like it would send you to the Adept's Challenge if you cast ritual magic there?
If you have the spell of wishing, you can wish for Location and then ask to be transported to the Temple of Destiny.
If you have the Amulet of the Planes, you can use it to transport you to the Temple of Destiny.
If you don't have any of these things, you might not be ready to try the Adept's Challenge after all. If you want to do it anyway, then you'll have to hoof it to the Temple of Destiny, which is in a rather inaccessible location....
The game itself gives you three hints about the Adept's Challenge, which are all that should be necessary for you to figure out what to do and how to win. To get these three hints, make sure you step on every square of the area where the Challenge takes place (except the ones that have stuff on them). The area where the Challenge takes place isn't all that big, so it doesn't take too long to explore it completely. Step on every square and listen to the three things it tells you.
As it turns out, it isn't necessary to completely destroy Death to win the Adept's Challenge. If you've been waiting to finish up until you completely destroy Death, you'll wait a loooong time. You only have to kill Death once, to get the item he carries, and then you're ready. Of course, killing Death is good experience, so you might enjoy just hanging out and killing him over and over again, but once is all that's necessary.
Good luck, and have fun!
End of Part One. Part Two was never completed - sorry.
Copyright © by Cory L. Kerens, January, 1995.
This FAQ can be e-mailed or archived, as long as