This is an old game with excellent graphics (especially in the AGA version). You actually have to pay 1,000 gold coins if you want to save your game, which isn't cheap at all, so bear that in mind while you're playing the game.

If you don't like or get tired of the excellent sound effects that occur during game play, which are really relaxing (e.g. birds, frogs, sea waves, etc.), you can turn it off.

Anyway, when you start, you see a guy in front of you who tells you to go south. Recruit him (he has a dagger and some money), but proceed forward until you find Kyriela (in the woods near the river). Recruit her also (if you need healing, she's the one to ask). Note that there's 5 x 5 square right on the screen, which represents your battle formation. Now, follow the river to the north bridge (which leads to a village). There's a warrior on the bridge and you should kill him, but you're too poor to be able to afford to save a game (and it's just the beginning anyway), so if you die, it's game over. After receiving any hit, you can step back and let Kyriela try to patch you up. She can use a healing spell as well, but you should save her mental powers for later. If she fails, others can try as well (someone else might be successful). Keep Kyriela in the center, Aramir in front, and others around to protect her. Let Aramir (he's a warrior) do the fighting, but you can use help from a thief as well.

When you're done, take the money bag. Watch for them lying on the ground, where they can sometimes be found with some gold coins inside. Go to the tavern and listen to the rumors (you should always do that, since they give you valuable information about tasks that you should perform). Recruit Dorian. Buy some food in the stores and some armor for Aramir. Weapons too, if you can afford them (you might need a bow and arrows, but you can manage also without them by using magic (fireballs)). Always take note of local prices. Eating can restore your fighting capabilities (you'll be more effective in combat too), and sleeping will do the same for mental powers. Exhaustion may kill you, so food is essential (just as in real life). However, as time passes, fresh air will do you good, and your maximum strength level shall rise (as you approach the Ishar, this effect should increase). I'm not sure, but I think that you may actually stop playing for an hour or two and leave the computer on and your strength should rise (but you may suffer from malnutrition).

Anyway, now is the time to listen to the thief's advice and go to the Angaran country. There's a teleport west of this village (it's a red net amongst the trees that leads directly there, but there's an ambush on the other side of it, so you should go on foot.

Go west as much as you can, and then south. Try to avoid the barbarians (they're almost completely broke), and go to the house to the south (some sort of a wigwam). There's 15,000 coins in it. Take them. There's another bag of gold lying on the ground in some bushes with another few coins south of a village (west of the teleport). Take it when you can. You should find a man in one of the huts in the village. Talk to him.

Now you can proceed further east, across the river. Unless you want to waste your strength in fighting bears, keep your movements nearby the river. First go south and find a spirit of Azalghorm (amongst the tribes) and listen to him. Then, return and go farther north to another village. Recruit Unknown. Bear in mind that this is the only place where you can learn the "Cure Poison" spell, which you'll need if you want to test different mixtures in a magic clasp. Buy better armor.

Go north across the river, and talk to the man in the wigwam surrounded by wolves (amongst the bushes to the east there's another bag of gold). Go north (around the bay), and you'll find another bag of gold amid the bushes and a warrior wearing a mental helmet. Fight him with magic missiles, not with your sword! When you choose the "write runes" option, choose a spell and a little scroll icon should appear on the person's description menu (the one with hands). You can use it to cast your chosen spell immediately. Take his money, and give the helmet to Kiriela. If you run out of mental strength during combat, go to sleep and return refreshed for a continuation until you win.

Now go east. You'll find the last bag of gold in front of the tombs of Rhudgast forest. There should be no more of them lying around (at least I haven't found them). Leave the tombs for now, and go farther east. There's a bridge there with a monster on it. He's VERY dangerous. Fight him with fireballs too. Collect the money.

In Silmatil, if you go north, you'll find a Caveman. He has a lot of money (10,000 I suppose), but is also dangerous. Use the fireballs again if you like. However, there's a better way. If you go south (follow the river to avoid being attacked by tall warriors with swords), you shall find a city. There's also another smaller one further east, as you can see from the map. Cities are patrolled by Orcs, and you should be aware of their strength. There are many taverns and stores. Buy better armor and weapons. Remember where you saw Obarmon, the cleric. He's the only one that can learn the "Resurrection" spell. When you die, you see a red skull and cross bones. That would be a good time to cast a "Resurrection" spell on them and your party member shall live again. You can also collect his possessions from his remains before you leave them if you decide to do so. It's an expensive spell, but you'll need it. You'll also need an "Inversion" spell, and a "Regeneration" spell.

Teach Kiriela the "Binding" spell. When you cast this spell on an enemy, he'll be temporarily tied up and will loose his ability to resist your attacks during that period. Attack with swords while the spell lasts. If it fades, cast it again. You can try this on the Caveman, from Silmatil (if you haven't killed him already).

Return to the Rhudgast tombs. Use keys to unlock the doors (you should find them lying in corners of the labyrinth). You can use lockpicking as well, but only thieves have adequate expertise for that to work. Anyway, there's a key for every door. There's always a lot of gold in tombs, but beware of skeletons. If you've bought better armor and weapons, they should be no problem at all. There's also the possibility that you'll lock yourself in tombs if you misuse the levers, but I suspect that you won't do that twice (if at all).

When you enter the tombs, go right, collect the key from the corner, and return and unlock the door to the west (just touch the lock with the key). Once you're inside, you'll notice a small room with two passages. The right one ends with another locked door (the key is in the other half of the labyrinth), and the other proceeds further. NOW BEWARE!!! There's a huge cannibal waiting for you just around a corner and he can hit you with the strength of twenty-five! Before you know it, you'll be dead! Write runes for a "Binding" spell, then move in and cast it on him. If he doesn't kill somebody with his first blow, go berserk on him, but don't wait for the spell to break, cast it again after awhile, just to be sure. You can also use the "Inversion" spell on him, and he would fight himself to the death, but Obarmon is the only one capable of learning it and you should not recruit him yet. Anyway, if you really want to see that, you can leave him for later on.

There's a magical clasp on a pedestal in a room behind the Cannibal, and you should also find a rune tablet behind the locked door to the right. Now, leave the tombs, and go south across the east bridge. You'll find Brozl in the forest (he'll probably find you first). Fight him and collect the rings. There are five of them. There's also another rune tablet on a pedestal south near the shore. Take it too.

Go south through the teleport and then north. You should find a sword in a stone. It's the strongest (has a +6 strength) weapon in the game, and although not necessary, it's very nice to have. I'm not sure how to take it out of the stone, but I suspect that all of your team members must have to have the maximum experience points (31,000). Either that, or you should have a team member that never fought a battle. Maybe neither is a case, but I DID take it out of the stone once, although I don't know how I actually did that.

There's another wigwam to the east. DO NOT GO IN THERE (or it's game over for you)! Inside is a third rune tablet, but it's not time to collect it yet.

If you go south, you can talk to a trader with a horse. If you give him yewen (it's on the shore behind the Caveman), he'll give you a turtle slobber. The trader north of a bridge that leads to Silmatil will give you a spider web for 5,000 coins. You need those ingredients to make some potions, but you don't need them anyway. There's also another trader further east which gives his stuff for free (since he's one of the Yarel's companions).

Further south there is a "Fireball Deer guy". Bind him and kill him. Collect the money. There's another one of those at the far east (near the teleport). Do the same to him when you go there. Anyway, beware of bears (these are grizzlies). Notice Gil-Arad land to the west. It's darkness when you go there, but there's a fourth rune tablet on a pedestal at the south end of it. You can see it if you look from grizzly land to the west. When you do, go for it and get it (you should do that using the sense of touch, since you can't see it. Just click with the mouse on the appropriate spot.

Go north to the small village. Notice the tavern, and the spell shop. Drop rings, tablets, and other unnecessary stuff on the ground. Talk to the man in one of the wigwams. He'll ask you to free the princess (his daughter) from the Orcs in Elwingil. Go there and fight your way through the Orcs (you can use magic as well as the physical regeneration potion) until you reach the small square at the end of city. There's a door without a sign on it, where you can find a princess (just try entering the various doors around). However she won't come with you unless you have an empty space in your team for her. She's also very fragile and you'll have to fight the Orcs all over again to make your way out of the city. Beware that she doesn't get hurt (put her in the center of your formation). She's VERY important.

Return to her father's hut,and try to enter. Wow! All of the men in the team are in love with her and won't let her go. Fortunately, Kiriela is not a lesbian, but you'll have to get rid of all the other male party members. Dismiss them, let them kill each other, or let them be killed in a battle (strip them of all of theirs possessions and valuables before doing so). When you're done, return the princess, and you'll receive the Key to Valathar, whose lock is otherwise unpickable.

Now, prepare the physical regeneration potion, and go west to the lone wigwam that you were not supposed to enter before. Write runes for the "healing" spell and SAVE THE GAME.

Enter the wigwam, take the rune tablet, leave and drop it on the ground. Do this as fast as possible since you're rapidly dying. Use the "healing" spell if you must. Head back to the village and recruit the bearded wizard. He already knows the "regeneration" spell (it completely and immediately restores your life points). Give him the flask. Go south and recruit Manatar (the warrior in a wood of birches). Give him armor and weapons and rearrange your formation (these are new members). Bear in mind that he doesn't have a lot of life points. Use Kiriela's "healing" spell on him if necessary,and Zelanor's "regeneration" spell on Kiriela if necessary. Drink a "psychic regeneration" potion if you must, and make another one if you have to. You must recruit Obarmon the cleric and successfuly teach him the resurrection spell in order to stay alive. Then you can let Kiriela die in peace, and let Obarmon resurrect her, and Zelanor return her life points again. Take care of Obarmon's position in your formation, or he may be accidentally killed in battle. Teach him also the "inversion" spell.

If you have successfuly done all of that, you can relax. Go to the north village and collect your stuff from the ground. You can also save a game again, so that you don't have to repeat the life-saving-chase if something eventually goes wrong later.

There's a bug in the program, and because of it all of your team members start choking when you enter the forbidden house, because it's filled with some sort of toxic gas. Unfortunately even the member slots that do not currently have a character assigned to them! The "choking switch" will not be reset until after the death of the team member. If you recruit Zeloran in such a place, he'll die shortly thereafter. The cure is to have a full team when you enter, and then leave four dummy guys to die and proceed with Kiriela as described (just recruit any four from any tavern (take the opportunity to take their money since you can and will need it)).

Since you still have a vacant place in your team, go in Elwingil and recruit Khalin. Teach her the "regeneration" spell as well. You may learn some other spells too if you want to, but they're not necessary.

Proceed through the teleport in the far east. If you go south you'll find Yarel's companion mentioned before who'll offer you some herbs. If you go farther south, you'll encounter the reaches, but also the most dangerous warriors in the game. They all have 900 coins, but are good fighters and tough to kill. If you proceed further east, you'll reach a pig in a small field in a wood. You can transform it into a witch by giving her the "adequate" potion (But if it's not the right potion, it's goodbye flask unless you kill the pig. But then, you've achieved nothing and it's just a harmless animal anyway.), so that it can give you some advice, which you don't actually need.

Forget about the pig and go fetch greater enemies. East of the teleport from which you've arrived, there's a first magician. He'll cast spells on you, but won't chase you. Cast a "binding" spell on him and kill him. If he blinds all of your team members (two four-sided stars), just retreat, wait for the effects of the spell to pass, and try again. If he casts an "inversion" (the yin-yang symbol) spell on you, know that this spell is not a temporary one. It'll last forever unless Obarmon also knows how to cast it, so that he can reverse it. The one that is under this spell will hit himself or herself trying to defend the attack. Beware of this!

You should proceed east and enter the Valathar tombs with the key that you got after rescuing the princess. Otherwise,you won't be able to enter. Lockpicking does not work on this door.

Once inside you'll again encounter skeletons, and you'll find lots of treasure, throwing daggers, and some food (take a lot of food with you before you enter). There are locked doors, but the keys are always around in corners, and you can also lockpick them if you're lucky. However, there're lots of traps.

To pass the bars downstairs (actually after the first teleport), pull the first and third levers in a neighboring room and BOTH LEVERS UPSTAIRS (see the locked door to the south from the entrance).

Collect the last (fifth) rune tablet and the amulet, but beware of invisible blasts. They attack you from nowhere, but only if you stand on certain corner squares near the amulet room.

There's also an underwater corridor full of treasures. You'll choke inside, unless you run fast. However, if you want to stop to collect gold, use the "invulnerability" spell (it helps a lot, but you must cast it upon each team member, which takes time and mental powers) and a "regeneration" spell. Save strength for the return too. Of course, you don't have to collect all of the gold at once. Take a deep breath and have another try.

At the far end, you'll encounter the dragon guarding the entrance to the Ishar. Give every team member one ring that you took from Brozl for protection and you should have no trouble killing him. Even if you don't have the rings, you can still kill him with arrows, since he's so huge, that he's actually visible from around the corner. You can shoot him, but he can't harm you. Don't think that he's immortal. He's not, although it may seem like it, especially if you're using arrows.

You'll need monk suits in order to enter the Ishar. You'll get those from another of Yarel's companions, who lives in a city square (in a larger city I think). Just try every door in every square (there really aren't so many of them). Wear them all the time while in Ishar. I haven't told you about the suits, because by now you will certainly be in a need of a refresh. Go outside again, spend your collected treasure for some fun in the city and return replenished.

You'll need all the strength and supplies you can take with you. When everybody is wearing a monk suit, the door should open, but you'll encounter another wizard there. Bind him and kill him. He shouldn't be a problem (you probably surprised him). There's also another teleport. This one will lead you directly to Ishar. Once inside you can't get out any more.

Inside Ishar, there's only one corridor and it leads to Krogh himself. The floor, walls, and the ceiling, are also different and quite amazing actually. Excellent graphics! here are, however, two or three wizards to fight before Krogh. Proceed with caution!

When you're done with them (or even better before you even start to fight them, give each party member a rune tablet to protect him or her from Krogh's powerful spells. Give a talisman to your Manatar (or whoever's your favorite warrior), and write runes for "binding" for Kiriela, "inversion" for Obarmon, and "regeneration" for Khalin and Zelanor. Take another deep breath and proceed into the final battle.

Krogh has 10,000 hit points, but you can cause him 500 damage points if you've prepared yourself adequately. He can also hit your team with blast causing twenty-five to thirty points damage (despite the protection that you have), in a chain reaction lightning blow (or was it a fireball?), just like the dragon before.

Eventually, you'll kill him (or perish in the process) and liberate Ishar. In the final scene of triumph, you'll see piles of Ishar dancing around you. That's it! The end! A long, but successful story. There're also Ishar 2: Messengers Of Doom and Ishar 3: The Seven Gates Of Infinity (Silmarils/Silmarils) for those of you who like Ishar: Legend Of The Fortress.