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                               2ND DEMO VERSION

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            Visit the Darkness Ethereal Website for more RPGs at:
               http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Ring/1683

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  WELCOME:

  This is the 2nd demo version of the console style RPG, Distant Promises. 
  I like to call this an 'unofficial demo'... This is because it's just a
  quick demo, put out so you can enjoy some more of the game! Yes, there are
  likely a few small bugs, and some of the smaller features haven't been
  implemented yet, but this version has been tested, and it's playable from
  start to end... So enjoy!
  We've made lots of changes to the game.  Instead of reading about them
  here though, why not just play Distant Promises and find out for yourself!
  Don't forget to run the setup.exe file first though!

  THE STORY:

  Many years ago, greed and war plauged the world.  During this time, an evil
  entity, feeding on humanity's greed, awoke, and ravaged the world, before
  collapsing into slumber again.  This set civilization back hundreds of
  years.  Over time, tales of this monster grew into legend, and legend faded
  into myth.  Now, greed is spreading once again... and the entity begins to
  stir...

  CHANGES FROM THE FIRST DEMO:

  Well... There have been many changes since the last demo.  Here's just a
  small list:

  - Better enemy AI.
  - More balanced game play.
  - Ability to save and restore your game.
  - Stereo music! (Note: Not all of the tracks are final)
  - Pixel scrolling!
  - Four more areas, plus some of the world to explore!
  - Monster names now appear in battle!
  - Hand pointer can only be moved to a living enemy.
  - Characters have their own AT guages during battle!
  - More cutscenes!
  - Enemy spells, and spell names are now visible.
  - More graphics.

  COMMAND REFERENCE:

  The controls for the game are simple.  The <ENTER> key accepts selections.
  The <ESC> key cancels selections.  The arrow keys move your character or
  cursor.  Just think of old SNES RPG's; <ESC> is your B button and <ENTER>
  is your A button.  To call up the menu while on the map screen, just hit
  <ENTER>.  To quit the game, hit <ESC> on the map screen.  That should help
  you get started.

  FINAL WORDS:

  Well... This has been a real team effort.  So be sure to e-mail any one of
  us, and let us know what you think.  We want your suggestions so that we
  may improve the game, and make it better!

  Cheers!

  The Darkness Ethereal Team,
  DarkDread             darkdread@hotmail.com
  DeviusCreed           garnetblood@hotmail.com
  Nekrophidius          kaddash@rocketmail.com
  Tyranny               tyranny_@hotmail.com
  Shopro                shopro@hotmail.com

  ERRORS:

  Well... As this is a demo version, there are still some minor bugs and
  glitches... These will be worked out in the final version, but for now,
  here's a list of what is/isn't here, and what to avoid.

  - Some items will not work in battle... This is simply because they have
    not been implemented yet.

  - Marionet has no magic yet... He will have summon spells in the full
    version.

  - The CG for the Ancient Library battles is not what will be in the final.
    This CG is actually for a later area of the game.

  - If you walk up to an NPC, the screen will "jerk" sometimes... This is
    just a small graphical glitch.  We know why it happens.  It will be
    fixed.

  - I've noticed that, once, after being defeated by a boss... The game put
    me into a battle with the boss again... This time, the death sequence
    worked correctly.  This glitch is still being worked out, but it has no
    adverse effects on your game.

  - The game is not optimized, and it's still slow on a 486... Plus... You
    should have around 580k of free conventional memory to be able to play
    this version.  Please bear with it, DP will be very playable on lower
    end machines and machines with less that 580k free conventional mem when
    it's done.

  That should cover it.  There might be some more minor glitches here and
  there... But not likely.

  HAILS TO:

  Big Nose, zkman, Tek, Pyrus, hydroXide, The Brain, Zack, Ray, everyone on
  #quickbasic, and anyone else we may have forgotten...

  CREDITS:

       Program:

         DarkDread
         DeviusCreed

       Graphics:

         DarkDread
         SHROUD

       CG Renders:

         DeviusCreed

       SoundTrack:

         Nekrophidius

       Enemy Design:

         DarkDread
         SHROUD

       Font Face:

         SEAV

       Blast! Library:

         Andrew L. Ayers

       GSLib:

         The Brain

       BWSB Library:

         Edward Schlunder

       Beta Testing:

         DarkDread
         DeviusCreed
         Tyranny
         SHROUD
         Anna Hart

       Special Thanks:

         Big Nose
         Shopro

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------
  LICENSE:

  DISTANT PROMISES (C) 1999 MATT ZUCHOWSKI AND DARKNESS ETHEREAL.  THIS
  PROGRAM MAY BE FREELY DISTRIBUTED AS LONG AS ALL FILES ARE INCLUDED,
  NOTHING IS MODIFIED AND NO FEE IS CHARGED.  THE AUTHOR(S) ASSUME(S) NO
  RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE USE AND/OR MISUSE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
