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:default
!------------------------------

!MERITOUS HELP FILE

!------------------------------
To navigate this help file,    
use the up and down button.    
Press B to activate links.     
Press SELECT or L to return to 
the game.                      
You can access this help file  
at any time by pressing 'L'. 
                          
!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

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: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.

[Y]      - Hide/Show 
           shield/charge/
           refill panel.           

[A]      - Hide/Show 
           artifact icons.  

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

[START]  - Exit the game.

[SELECT] - Pause the game.

[L]      - View the help file.

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

[Vol -/+]- Volume control.

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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 [B].

!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 [B] 
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 [B] 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 [X] 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 [R]. 
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.

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: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
     
  GP2X Port: Grz-
  (http://garzul.tonsite.biz)

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