The CRPG Book
A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games
A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games
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1
The CRPG Book is a free, non-profit project.
If you would like to have a hardcover version, you can buy one at Bitmap Books.
All the author profits from the hardcover edition
will be donated to Vocação, an education NGO in Brazil.
All games featured are the property of the copyright owners.
Their images have been used respectfully purely for review purposes.
Cover art by Jan Pospíšil
(www.janpospisil.daportfolio.com)
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The CRPG Book:
A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games
Edited by Felipe Pepe
This book is the result of five years of work
and the collaboration of 119 volunteers.
We hope that you enjoy it.
v2.0
April 2019
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Contents
Contents 4
Introduction 8
About the Project 10
Contributors 11
Articles & Guides 15
Using this book 16
FAQ 17
What is an Old-School RPG? 18
Ports: Far beyond resolution and FPS 20
Unplayable 24
Cartography 26
From Prussia with love - The origin of RPGs 28
The PLATO RPGs 30
The Reviews 35
1975-1979
The beginning of the digital invasion 36
Beneath Apple Manor 38
Dungeon Campaign 40
Dunjonquest: Temple of Apshai 42
Akalabeth:World of Doom 44
1980-1984
The boom, the clones and the crash 46
Eamon 48
Rogue 50
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord 52
Ultima 54
Dragon’s Eye 56
Dungeons of Daggorath 57
Telengard 58
Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress 59
Moria 60
The Return of Heracles 62
Ultima III: Exodus 64
Questron 66
1985-1989
Here come the new challengers 68
Wizard’s Crown 70
The Bard’s Tale 72
Alternate Reality: The City 74
Phantasie 76
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar 78
Autoduel 80
Rings of Zilfin 81
Might and Magic: Book I - Secret of the Inner Sanctum 82
Starflight 84
Alter Ego 86
Alien Fires 2199 A.D. 87
Ys: The Vanished Omens 88
Deathlord 90
Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna 91
NetHack 92
The Faery Tale Adventure 94
Dungeon Master 96
Zeliard 98
Neuromancer 99
Wasteland 100
Pool of Radiance 102
Star Saga: One - Beyond The Boundary 104
Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom 105
Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny 106
Prophecy I: The Fall of Trinadon 108
Drakkhen 109
The Magic Candle 110
Hillsfar 112
4
Castle of the Winds 113
Quest for Glory: So You Want to Be a Hero 114
Knights of Legend 116
The Dark Heart of Uukrul 118
Windwalker 119
Bloodwych 120
The Immortal 121
1990-1994
The creative and technological explosion 122
Ultima VI: The False Prophet 124
Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge 126
Tunnels & Trolls: Crusaders of Khazan 128
Circuit’s Edge 129
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Vol. I 130
Captive 132
Champions of Krynn 133
MegaTraveller: The Zhodani Conspiracy 134
Spirit of Excalibur 136
Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire 138
Escape from Hell 139
Eye of the Beholder 140
Cobra Mission: Panic in Cobra City 142
Knights of Xentar 143
Moraff ’s World 144
Fate: Gates of Dawn 145
Disciples of Steel 146
Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra 148
Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams 149
The Bard’s Tale Construction Set 150
Gateway to the Savage Frontier 151
Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny 152
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss 154
Might and Magic: Worlds of Xeen 156
Legend 158
The Summoning 159
Ultima VII: The Black Gate 160
Ishar: Legend of the Fortress 162
Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant 164
Star Control 2 166
Darklands 168
Shadowlands 170
Amberstar 172
Ambermoon 173
Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness 174
ShadowCaster 176
Perihelion: The Prophecy 177
Princess Maker 2 178
Veil of Darkness 180
BloodNet 181
Betrayal at Krondor 182
The Legacy: Realm of Terror 184
Hired Guns 185
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands 186
Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos 188
Dungeon Hack 189
Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures 190
Ultima VIII: Pagan 192
ADOM - Ancient Domains of Mystery 194
Al-Qadim: The Genie’s Curse 196
Superhero League of Hoboken 197
Realmz 198
The Elder Scrolls I: Arena 200
1995-1999
New 3D worlds and new audiences 202
Witchaven 204
CyberMage: Darklight Awakening 205
Ravenloft: Stone Prophet 206
Exile: Escape from the Pit 208
World of Aden: Thunderscape 210
Entomorph: Plague of the Darkfall 211
Mordor: Depths of Dejenol 212
Albion 214
Stonekeep 216
Strife: Quest for the Sigil 217
Anvil of Dawn 218
Dungeons & Dragons: Shadows over Mystara 219
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall 220
Diablo 222
Birthright: The Gorgon’s Alliance 224
An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire 225
Fallout: A Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game 226
Lands of Lore II: Guardians of Destiny 228
Descent to Undermountain 229
Final Fantasy VII 230
Betrayal in Antara 232
Return to Krondor 233
Rage of Mages 234
Dink Smallwood 236
Hexplore 237
Baldur’s Gate 238
Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven 240
Fallout 2 242
King’s Quest: Mask of Eternity 244
Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator 245
Jagged Alliance 2 246
Planescape: Torment 248
Ultima IX: Ascension 250
Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor 252
Gorky 17 253
Omikron: The Nomad Soul 254
System Shock 2 256
5
2000-2004
The rise of the modern gaming industry 258
Deus Ex 260
Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn 262
Siege of Avalon 264
Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer 265
Diablo II 266
Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption 268
Soulbringer 270
Grandia II 271
Breath of Fire IV 272
Evil Islands: Curse of the Lost Soul 274
Icewind Dale 276
Summoner 278
Wizards & Warriors 279
Wizardry 8 280
Anachronox 282
Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura 284
Gothic 286
Severance: Blade of Darkness 288
Geneforge 290
Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor 292
ZanZarah: The Hidden Portal 293
Divine Divinity 294
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind 296
Arx Fatalis 298
Icewind Dale II 300
Might and Magic IX 301
Neverwinter Nights 302
Neverwinter Nights: Aurora Toolset & Modules 304
Freedom Force 306
Dungeon Siege 308
Gothic II 310
Prince of Qin 312
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 314
The Battle for Wesnoth 316
Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusaders 317
TRON 2.0 318
Temple of Elemental Evil 320
Deus Ex: Invisible War 322
Kult: Heretic Kingdoms 323
Sacred 324
Fable 326
Space Rangers 2: Dominators 328
Sudeki 330
The Bard’s Tale 331
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 332
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky 334
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords 336
2005-2009
Indie, casual, social & multi-platform games338
Super Columbine Massacre RPG! 340
Jade Empire 342
Fate 344
Titan Quest 345
Dwarf Fortress 346
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 348
Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup 350
Gothic 3 352
Neverwinter Nights 2 354
Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales 356
Dark Messiah: Might and Magic 358
Mass Effect 360
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords 362
Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale 363
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl 364
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer 366
Agarest: Generations of War 368
Elona 369
The Witcher 370
7.62 High Calibre 372
Eschalon 374
Hellgate: London 376
Barkley, Shut up and Jam: Gaiden 377
The Last Remnant 378
Valkyria Chronicles 379
Fallout 3 380
Drakensang: The Dark Eye 382
Fortune Summoners: Secret of the Elemental Stone 384
Seventh Sense 385
Mount & Blade 386
Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir 388
Divinity II: Ego Draconis 389
Dragon Age: Origins 390
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II 392
Venetica 393
Torchlight 394
Yumina the Ethereal 396
Marauder 397
Risen 398
Knights of the Chalice 400
2010-2014
The freedom to play (and create) any game 402
Borderlands 404
Din’s Curse 406
ArcaniA: Gothic 4 407
Two Worlds II 408
Cthulhu Saves the World 410
Faery: Legends of Avalon 411
6
Alpha Protocol: The Espionage RPG 412
Fallout: New Vegas 414
Mass Effect 2 416
Academagia: The Making of Mages 418
Dungeons of Dredmor 419
E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy 420
Dark Souls 422
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings 424
Way of the Samurai 4 426
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 428
Magical Diary 430
Dragon Age II 431
Deus Ex: Human Revolution 432
Mass Effect 3 434
Tales of Maj’Eyal 436
Legend of Grimrock 438
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning 440
Dragon’s Dogma 442
Of Orcs and Men 444
Defender’s Quest: Valley of the Forgotten 445
Diablo III 446
FTL: Faster Than Light 448
Paper Sorcerer 449
Shadowrun Returns 450
Hyperdimension Neptunia - Re;Birth1 452
Heroine’s Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok 453
Path of Exile 454
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead 456
Aaklash: Legacy 457
Card Hunter 458
Bound by Flame 459
Might and Magic X 460
The Banner Saga 461
NEO Scavenger 462
Blackguards 464
Transistor 465
Divinity: Original Sin 466
Lords of Xulima 468
Lords of the Fallen 469
Dragon Age: Inquisition 470
Wasteland 2 472
South Park: The Stick of Truth 474
UnderRail 475
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt 476
Age of Decadence 478
Undertale 480
Mystery Chronicles: One Way Heroics 481
Tale of Wuxia 482
Fallout 4 484
Sunless Sea 486
Hand of Fate 487
Pillars of Eternity 488
Further Adventures 491
1982-1987: The birth of the Japanese RPGs 492
Fan-Translations 496
SD Snatcher 497
Chinese Paladin 498
E.V.O.: The Theory of Evolution 499
The Legend of Cao Cao 500
Labyrinth of Touhou 501
Sword of Moonlight: King’s Field Making Tool 502
Sengoku Rance 503
Kamidori Alchemy Meister 504
Gates of Skeldal 505
Games we’ll (likely) never play 506
Lists & Further Reading 513
Lists 514
Editor’s Picks 517
Further Reading 518
Glossary 522
Index 524
7
Introduction
When thinking about where a book dedicated
to computer RPGs might come from, one
might consider countries like Germany,
Canada, UK or the US. Maybe France, Russia or Poland.
Surely never Brazil. There’s a good reason for this.
When the first personal computers and games
started to appear in the late 70s, Brazil was under a
military dictatorship which banned all computer
imports. We couldn’t buy an Apple II, C64 or IBM
PC, only the slow and crude national alternatives.
Some, like my father, managed to bypass this by
smuggling a computer into the country. Still, to play
you also needed to find games, and those were a rarity
(especially CRPGs!). You had to know someone who
travelled to the US and brought the floppy disks back
– and then copy those. That’s how Betrayal at Krondor
arrived at my house back in the early 90s.
Even with the computer and the game in hand,
there was still one final barrier: the language. As
much as I enjoyed seeing my father play, I had no
idea of what those costumed people were saying. I
spent months playing Krondor, exploring its large
world, but never even left the first chapter. My biggest
achievement was brute-forcing a riddle chest.
I found solace in JRPGs. Not only they were much
easier to play, but consoles were growing popular in
Brazil, as in 1994 we finally began to emerge from
a long and brutal economical crisis. A friend in my
apartment building had a Super Nintendo with
Chrono Trigger, and that game became my passion.
By then, owning a PC was finally legal, but the CRPG
genre was dead – computers were Doom machines.
Years later, I was reading a games magazine and
something caught my eye: a bizarre game where you
could teach farmers about crop rotation to earn XP –
but only if you had created a smart character.
I had just started playing tabletop RPGs and was
fascinated by a computer game like that. So, in 1998 I
bought Fallout, which I love to this day. Not only is it
an amazing game that breathed new life into CRPGs,
but I finally knew enough English to play it properly.
My younger brother didn’t. He couldn’t do most
quests, so he just walked around and killed everyone.
But that was also allowed, and we had a lot of fun
talking about just how different our experiences were
and all the cool things we kept discovering.
I wanted to do that with more people, to talk
with my friends in school about this game, to hear
their stories, to partake in the joy of a shared hobby.
However, my parents had just divorced and I was
then living in a small town in Brazil’s countryside.
My father gave me his old computer, but no one else
I knew had one. They were still very expensive and
complicated machines. Cyber Cafes began to appear
around this time, but people played Counter-Strike
there, not hundred-hour-long CRPGs.
Other than my brother, I had no one to talk to
about the wise-cracking sword in Baldur’s Gate II,
how I became a vampire in Morrowind or the fact that
you can shoot Anna Navarre in Deus Ex.
In 2004 I moved back to São Paulo, Brazil’s
biggest city, to go to university. A side-effect was that,
for the first time in my life, I had the Internet in my
house. That was when everything changed.
It sounds obvious today, we take it for granted,
but the Internet freed us from all regional barriers.
I could talk to anyone, anywhere, about anything!
Eventually I found the RPG Codex, where not
only I could talk for hours about my favourite games,
but could I learn about RPGs I missed, alternate quest
solutions I never tried, cool mods, funny stories,
powerful builds and much more. I was home.
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In the 14 years since, I’ve been trying to learn as
much as possible about this amazing genre. I played
Ultima, Wizardry and other classics that I had missed,
tried obscure gems, emulated the hardware I never
had, and much more. I owe a lot to abandonware
sites, emulator developers, wise forum members and
to the great work done recently by GOG.com.
But where does one start? Just what is a C64?
Does Wizardry I still hold up today? Is Albion good?
Should I play the Might and Magic games in order?
Am I playing badly or is this game extremely hard?
Which mods to use in Neverwinter Nights?
I suffered all these questions – and many more –
but finding the answers wasn’t always easy.
Over the years, many guides became outdated,
and when asking around you might find someone who
“is tired of dumb questions”, who gives poor answers
or who simply hates a game that you might love.
Resources such as “Top 10 RPGs” lists help, but they
mostly focus on the recent, popular titles.
As such, this book represents several things.
First, it’s a guide – the one I wish I’d had when
I first began exploring the world of CRPGs. It shows
the most important, popular and interesting titles,
then tells you about what makes them so special. You
can flip the book open, read about a few cool games,
see the screenshots and choose what to play next.
I’ve made sure to add some historical context
too, showing what was happening at the time. To fully
grasp the impact Ultima IV or Dungeon Master had,
you must know what came before and after them.
The book is also a helping hand. It has tips on
how to run games that aren’t compatible with modern
hardware, tells you when there’s a patch to fix critical
bugs and even recommends some mods, so that you
can have the best possible experience.
Finally, it’s a gift to my younger self – and to
anyone who might feel lonely like I did. Here you
have over a hundred people from across the world, all
willing to sit down and tell you about their favourite
RPGs, the great adventures that they had and why you
should try these games.
Creating this book was a long, wild ride. It first
began in early 2014, with the RPG Codex Top 70
CRPGs, a poll where people voted on their favourite
games and then wrote small reviews. From there
came the idea of making an expanded book version,
with longer reviews and adding historically important
titles and curiosities. Having made the Top 70 list in
about two months, I thought that the book would
take around six to ten months, at most. Ha!
It took me four years.
Still, I can’t complain. I learned a lot during this
time, had a blast playing the 300+ games featured
here, got in contact with legendary figures from my
childhood such as Chris Avellone, Warren Spector,
Scorpia and Tim Cain, as well as all the wonderful
people that helped create and promote this project.
It’s surreal now to recall a time when computers
were rare, obtuse artefacts and reading a simple quest
in English was a challenge. A time when a project
like this would’ve been impossible. I’d never talked
to a foreigner until I was 17 years old, yet now I live
in Japan.
Isaac Asimov used to say that the role of science
fiction was to predict change, so that we could better
handle it as a society. Perhaps the role of RPGs (and
games in general) is to help prepare individuals for
challenges and adventures to come.
Felipe Pepe,
Project Editor
9
About the project
The CRPG Book Project is a collaborative, non-profit project created to compile the history of Computer
Role-Playing Games into an accessible and educative volume. The book was written by volunteers from
all continents, ages and walks of life: developers, journalists, modders, critics, scholars and fans, but also
parents, couples, grandfathers, doctors, teachers, engineers, businessmen, etc.
The purpose of the project is to spread our passion for this great genre, sharing knowledge that is currently
scattered across countless forums, magazines, websites and minds. The book covers CRPGs from 1975 to 2015,
plus contains several articles, mod recommendations, developer quotes and interesting trivia, in an effort to
create a guide that will have something to offer to old-school veterans and new players alike.
This PDF is based on the hardcover version of the book, published by Bitmap Books in 2019. That was a
limited release, that helped us to get the entire book proofread and revised by a professional. The CRPG Book
Project remains non-profit, and all the author earnings from that version (£12.475) were donated to Vocação, a
Brazilian NGO that helps kids and teenagers from poor areas to get education and employment.
Dedicated to:
Claudia, Célia, Marco, Saphyra, Thais, Vanessa, Thiago, Carol and Caio.
Special thanks to:
The RPG Codex, RPG Watch, Bitmap Books, Hardcore Gaming 101, Ultima Codex, The Internet Archive, Matt Chat,
MobyGames, The CRPG Addict, Cyber1, CGW Museum, DJ OldGames, DOSBox, The Digital Antiquarian, Unseen64,
Museum of Computer Adventure Game History, The LP Archive, Abandonia, My Abandonware, GOG, Gamasutra,
Nautilus, Shane Plays, Hall of Light, Emuparadise and every unsung hero who contributed to these websites, developed
emulators, ports for modern systems, mods, fan-patches, archived rare games or uploaded footage of them to YouTube.
This book would have been impossible without all of you.
And, of course, a most special thanks to those who created all theses games in the first place, as well as those who
put their best into games that unfortunately never saw the light of day. This book is a tribute to your work.
10
Contributors
Alberto Ourique (AO) is an experienced
copywriter, but a rookie in game industry
and novels. If all goes wrong, he intends to
embrace immortality by becoming a lich.
Andre Stenhouse (AS) didn’t own a single
console game until high school, but played
Quest for Glory with her father and read
stacks of books.
Andrea Marcato (AM) is a long-standing
Abandonian who is amazed to be in the
same credits list as Chris Avellone.
Andreas Inderwildi (AI) is a writer and
freelance game critic with an unhealthy
obsession for Dark Souls and Planescape:
Torment. When he isn't playing games he
likes to read and/or write about history,
folklore, and the occult.
Andrew “Quarex” Huntleigh (QX) is a
family man with a PhD, and spends his days
as a federal officer when not agonising over
proper paper-doll inventory management.
Arkadiusz Makieła (AR) got his first
computer, an Atari 65XE, at the age of 10.
This was the beginning of his quest for an
ultimate RPG. Today, he still doesn’t realise
there’s no such thing.
Árni Víkingur (ÁV) has been sheltering from
the Icelandic frost by a warm computer
since 1986 and therefore knows far too
much about video games.
B. “Mr Novanova” White (BW) is a writer
who remembers when Knights of Legend
would make his floppy drive melt. Inquiries
can be sent to forbwhite@gmail.com
BaronVonChateau (BC) Dreams of making
a surrealist RPG, though he has no idea of
what he exactly means by that. To trump his
despair, he spends years making convoluted
quest mods named after jazz standards.
Benjamin Sanderfer (BE) once helped
develop software for a famous RPG
publisher for their universal pen-and-paper
game system. Too bad that system was such
a failure it helped drive that company out of
business. True story.
Blobert (BL) Started with RPGs with
Phantasie III on the C64. Fell in love Ultima
V, and continues to play CRPGs when his
four kids give him the chance.
Branislav Mikulka (BM) resides in the land
of the leprechauns. Got stuck in the MS-
DOS gaming era, secretly admires trashy
movies from the 50s and thinks Philip K.
Dick was the best writer ever.
Brian Stratton (BS) started playing CRPGs
in third grade and still lives for fighting
minotaurs, dragons, orcs and the undead.
Brian ‘Psychochild’ Green (BG) is an MMO
developer who first played text MUDs and
is a lot more friendly than his pseudonym
might indicate.
Casiel Raegis (CR) is a North Carolina-based
film director whose backlog is larger than
this book.
Casper “Grunker” Gronemann (CG)
dislikes most parties, excepting those
with six characters or more.
Chester Bolingbroke (CHB) continues
to struggle with his addiction.
Chris Avellone (MCA) is reported to be
friendly, non-toxic, and his mother still
doesn’t understand what he does on a
daily basis, but he loves her anyway.
Christian Hviid (CH) started gaming in the
80s and still thinks 3D gaming is something
new-school and dirty.
Christian Hudspeth (CHR) Husband, father,
gamer and really good at all of them, just ask
his mom.
Christopher Ables (CA) has a passion for
gaming history. He and his wife grew up
gaming and love playing both new and
old-school games together.
Crooked Bee (CB) got to be the RPG
Codex’s editor-in-chief after defeating the
previous editor in a game of Wizardry IV.
That should tell you all you need to know
about her.
Daniel D’Agostino (DD) became a software
developer to learn how to create games.
Ironically, he now seldom finds time for
games thanks to software development itself.
Darktoes (D1) is a student, gamer and
self-proclaimed helpful person.
Darth Roxor (DR) likes Betrayal at Krondor,
naked volleyball and putting as many
adverbs into his articles as possible.
David Ballestrino (DB) can’t look at a
chequered floor without imagining how
to position a party and hoping for a good
initiative roll.
David Konkol (DK) is an author and game
designer whose insane ramblings can be
found at www.madoverlordstudios.com
David Walgrave (DW) has three uses for
his deep, booming voice: to organise video
game projects, to sing as the frontman of a
metal band, and to quietly talk to his cute,
fluffy dogs.
David “dhamster” Hamilton (DH) is ready
to form a party like it’s 1999.
11
David “mindx2” B. (M2) spends many
a night perusing his collection of classic
computer game boxes, pining away for
that bygone era.
Deuce Traveler (DT) has many hobbies besides
CRPGs. He also likes beer, exercise,
pulp novels, chess, and the occasional screw.
Diggfinger (DF) loves Fallout and everything
Troika-related. Check out his wiki on Jason D.
Anderson if you’re not convinced.
Dorateen (DO) rolled a dwarven fighter over
thirty years ago and has enjoyed this hobby
from tabletop into its computer role-playing
iterations ever since.
Drew Merrithew (DM) became a developer
specialising in cybersecurity when it became
apparent game development doesn’t pay.
Durante (DU) role-plays a scientist by day
and is an RPG gamer at night. He has a
thing for intricate systems and simulations,
even if they are needlessly complex.
Eric Shumaker (ES) is a gamer bad boy who
games for what he believes in. He has worked
on many stupid games you haven’t played.
ERYFKRAD (ER), His Holiness the God-
Emperor of All Mankind, Lord of the Heavens
above and Master of the Hells Below.
Fairfax (FAX) MCA disciple and Civilization
modder, loves game development stories
and daydreaming about making CRPGs.
Felipe Pepe (FE) is the idiot who thought
he could finish making this book in just
six months or so.
Ferhergón (FHG) used to host “Maniacos
del Calabozo” and thinks old gold times
for RPGs are long gone.
Frank “HiddenX” Wecke (HX) The Elder
Spy, Game Curator & Editor at RPG Watch,
RPG Dot veteran and special emissary at
the RPG Codex.
Gabor “J_C” Domjan (JC) grew up in the
90s and got to see the golden age of gaming.
He enjoys most genres, but CRPGs and
flight simulators are his real love.
Garfunkel (GA) got a C64 for Christmas,
detoured briefly to Amiga 500 before settling
in with a PC in the 90s and has never
strayed elsewhere.
Gary Butterfield (GB) is an author, podcaster
and loving supporter to maligned CRPG
sequels. He’s actually sort of OK with THAC0.
Geo Ashton (GE) is an avid writer who
enjoys playing video games and reading
about gaming culture.
George Weidman (GW) makes videos a few
people enjoy. He has lost years of his life to
the Fallout series, and regrets nothing.
Ghostdog (GD) Has been in RPG Codex
far too long for his sanity’s sake. When
he had trouble replaying his favourite
game, Planescape Torment in widescreen
resolutions, he made a UI mod to fix that.
Grant Torre (GT) Living in the state
of Michigan, he spends his time with
drumming, literature, video games, and
everything else geek culture has to offer.
Guilherme De Sousa (GS) has enjoyed
CRPGs since playing Ultima IV on the
C64 back in the mid 1980s.
Gustavo Zambonin (GZ) is, perhaps, the
youngest among all of the contributors,
slowly learning how to savour the best
CRPGs released since he was born.
Hannah and Joe Williams (H&JW) are
a married couple LARPing as computer
game creators and part-time hermits.
Ian Frazier (IF) is a game designer whose
hobbies include painting minis and banishing
unfathomable evils to the outer darkness.
Ivan Mitrović (IM) Proud member of the PC
master race, in 2001 he tried his first RPG,
Planescape:Torment which up to this day
remains his favourite game.
Jack “Highwang” Ragasa (JR) is a YouTube
game reviewer that attributes many years of
video games to his overly verbose nature.
Jaedar (JA) had a great big think about it,
and realised NWN2 is one of the first ‘real’
RPGs he ever played. He’s been playing
catch-up ever since.
Jakub Wichnowski (JW) Story is what he
values the most in games and he hopes that
one day he’ll be able to make a game at least
half as good as Planescape: Torment.
James McDermott (JM) is a musician that
plays too many games. He is still waiting
patiently for Arcanum 2.
James “Blaine” Henderson (JBH) doesn’t like
whatever terrible games you like, unless they’re
games that he also happens to like; but he can
probably find a reason to criticise you anyway.
Jay Barnson (JB) is a writer, game developer,
programmer, and – in an alternate universe
where the C64 never came to be – the Grand
Emperor of the Western Hemisphere Hegemony.
Jedi Master Radek (JMR) from the depth
of his basement is scheming to take over
the world. Hoping to turn all readers into
his mindless puppets.
Joseph Coppola (JO) is a programmer who
enjoys RPGs, novels, and other word-based
activities.
Jörn Grote (JG) had to decide whether to
study for final school examinations or play
Fallout. It worked out for the best.
John Harris (JH) writes for @Play and on retro
games, and also sometimes makes computer
games. He thinks the best game ever made is
Rampart, the fool.
Kenneth Kully (KE) inadvertently created the
biggest hub of Ultima news and fan activity
online, and still finds time for it when he isn’t
on call as a father or Scout leader!
Kurt Kalata (KK) took his first step towards
war and made the end of battle. He also runs
Hardcore Gaming 101.
Lev (LEV) likes RPGs and just wanted to
appear in a book with Chris Avellone.
Ludo Lense (LL) Trades sanity for the ability
to make overly long videos about games.
Luis Magalhães (LM) From doctor to marketer
to writer, Luis keeps changing class in real life,
but his favourite gaming genre is unchanged
since the 90s. Hint: it’s not FPSs.
M. Simard (MS) prefers to stay in the basement
during summer, although his German
Shepherd does take him out for a walk every
once in a while
Maciej Miszczyk (MM) Gamer since early
childhood, loves games of all kinds but
prefers either RPGs from mid-to-late 90s or
anything that’s obscure, complex, difficult
or unique.
Marc Hofstee (MHO) is called the weirdest
Ascaron-fan of all time (quote M. Worsley).
He also loves Final Fantasy VII, an Atari ST
and his seven kids.
Marko Vučković (MV) is an old strategy fan
who spent way too much time playing Laser
Squad on his C64, but regrets nothing.
Mathias Haaf (MH) Amateur writer from
Germany and an avid collector and player
of MS-DOS RPGs. Has a YouTube channel
were he posts videos on his beloved hobby.
Max Silbiger (MAS) is a developer who does
translation hacks of old Japanese PC games.
Sometimes, he even gets to play them, too!
Michael Mils (MI) learned to read and write
on a French 8-bit computer and therefore
grew both bitter and nostalgic.
Michel Sabbagh (MIS) is a bug smasher by
day and word wrangler by night who has a
salmon fetish.
12
Neanderthal (NT) Wounded, old and
lecherous.
Nicolas Hennemann (NH) Freelance writer
and translator, took the chance to tell you
about his favourite game and ran with it.
Nicole “Jaz” Schuhmacher (NS) grew
up with Pong and is still a multi-platform
gamer. She gets all teary-eyed when thinking
of the games of the 90s.
Nostaljaded (NJ) can be found lurking in the
Bearpit. No other known facts other than a
quirky one who prefers the veil over limelight.
Nyaa (NY) is an avid gamer who took up
Translation LP of unique foreign games as
a hobby to contribute back to the gaming
industry that he loved.
Octavius (OC) aka PetrusOctavianus is
one of the veterans of the RPG Codex.
Oleg “Smiling Spectre” Bobryshev (SS)
is an avid gamer and game collector.
He wants to play them all, but real life
makes its own adjustments.
Outmind (OU) enjoys long walks on the
battlefield and hopes robots won’t take over
before an FF Tactics sequel is released.
Patrick Holleman (PNH) writes books about
the historical development of video game
design. No, he does not know why, either.
www.thegamedesignforum.com
Petr Hanák (PE) is a Dračí Doupě gamemaster
that just had to create his own game system
for the party. Secretly hoping to finish it and
shatter the AD&D supremacy.
Prime Junta (PJ) has a thing for systems,
worlds, and stories, and thinks RPGs on
computers and off them are the coolest
way we know to bring all of them together.
Reggie Carolipio (RE) has been trying not to
walk and turn in 90° angles or (A)ttack stray
monsters without armour since the 80s.
Ricardo Regis (RI) learned to love CRPGs as
a child, while he fantasised everything that
happened during tabletop RPG matches
with his friends.
Richard Cobbett (RC) just wants everyone
to stop with the bloody giant spiders already.
Unless there’s an equally giant can of RAID.
Richard Mitchell (RM) got his CRPG start
with Ultima on the C64 in 1988. He would
like to say it’s been all downhill ever since but
Star Wars and comic books would disagree.
Rob Parker (RP) studies interactive fiction
and roguelikes, Managing Editor for First
Person Scholar.
Rob Taylor (RT) has been hanging out in
Waterdeep tavern, enjoying the vibe, since
1991. He was a professional games journalist
in another life.
Robert Bailey (RB) is an RPG Watch member
who still plays C64 RPGs and goes misty eyed
upon reflecting on the games which got him
started on this grand adventure.
Rod “TronFAQ” Rehn (RTR) has a dumb
nickname that he’s now stuck with, and
somehow went from writing FAQs to
making mods for one of his favourite games.
Rogueknight333 (RK) had a hard time
finding the old school RPGs he loved,
so decided to use the Neverwinter Nights
toolset to make his own, resulting in the
ongoing Swordflight series.
Romanus “ZZ” Surt (ZZ) played shooter
games before stumbling upon Akalabeth
and Mordor.
Ryan J. Scott aka “Zombra” (RJS) is neither
zombie nor zebra, but enjoys certain
qualities of both.
Ryan Ridlen (RR) Hooked on RPGs since
Betrayal at Krondor. Loves story-driven games
and turn-based tactical combat.
Scorpia (SC) is still crazy (gaming)
after all these years. Sometimes, she
wishes we were still in the 8-bit era.
Scrooge (SR) got into computer gaming
relatively late, being a part of the console
crowd before. Since then she loves soaking up
everything that’s turn- and party-based.
Shamus Young (SY) is a programmer, an
author, and nearly a composer. He just won’t
shut up about video games.
Shanga@Bearpit (SH) Cuddly fierce bear
who doesn’t like to share his food, but would
gladly starve and let you eat it all if you’re a
nice person.
Silver Girl (SG)
Sitra Achara (SA) spelunking in Temple of
Elemental Evil files since 2006, has yet to be
eaten by a grue.
SniperHF (SD) started playing RPGs on
completely opposite ends of the spectrum
with Fallout and Diablo. He has been addicted
to the genre ever since.
SuicideBunny was due to help with the book,
but the universe had other plans. RIP, bro.
Suzie Ng (SN) CRPG enthusiast since Baldur’s
Gate II, enjoys party-based games with good
NPC interactions, and dreaming of getting
involved in mod development.
‘Tatty’ Waniand (TW) would spend her
perfect Sunday coding, reading books that
aren’t related to work, and daydreaming
about gore and games.
Thiago Fernandes dos Santos (TF) has always
loved RPGs and fighting games.
Thomas Henshell (TH) always read the
manual before playing the game. Always.
Patiently awaiting manuals to make a
comeback.
Thomas Ribault (TR) can’t stop talking with
his hands. He loves CRPGs so much that he
is writing a PhD about them.
Théo “Izual” Dezalay (IZ) wrote a whole book
about Fallout, which means he obviously made
all the wrong choices in his life.
Tilman Hakenberg (TI) has managed to trick
everyone into thinking he’s some kind of
writer, but doesn’t really know what he’s doing.
Tim Cain (TC) has been making video games
since before it was cool. You know, like in
the 80s.
Tonya Bezpalko (TAB) loves stats that turn out
to do nothing when you look them up later,
and other antique design elements.
Trevor “Trooth” Mooth (TM) is a selfproclaimed
authority on roguelikes, and has
been gaming and writing since before you
were born.
Vadim Keilin (VK) is a scholar whose
academic job gives him the perfect excuse
to play games - because, you know, research.
VioletShadow (VS) would like to be a
figure skater in the next life. In this one, she
frequents questionable forums and plays
Bloodlines.
Vladimir Sumina (VL) grew up playing
adventure games. Then he discovered CRPGs,
which showered him with an abundance of
choices, and he soon realised that blowing up
a door can be just as fun as unlocking it.
Werner Spahl (WS) is an analytical chemist
who never would have thought that fixing a
game is sometimes more fun than playing it.
Wojtek “Mico Selva” Misiurka (WM) is a
failed fan-fiction writer turned world-class
time waster, with an ever-growing backlog
of stuff to do.
Zed Duke of Banville (ZD) has been playing
CRPGs since 1986. Although he now
reluctantly plays games on IBM PCs and
consoles, he spends his spare time building a
time machine so that he can travel back and
establish Amiga world domination.
13
14
Articles
& Guides
Here we feature a guide to using this book
and an FAQ on how to play older CRPGs,
followed by a selection of articles about older
hardware, game history and CRPG trends.
Several writers contributed here. The first article
is from Jay Barnson, developer at Rampant Games
and prolific writer, full of insights into the RPG genre.
The second comes from Michael Abbott. He’s a
game design professor and used to write for the Brainy
Gamer blog/podcast. He writes about his experiences
teaching about older games to new generations.
Next we have Scorpia, the anonymous legend of
gaming journalism. She was the CRPG expert for the
Computer Gaming World magazine during the 80s
and most of the 90s. Until 2009 she posted at Scorpia’s
Gaming Lair, but has unfortunately retired. Still, she
was kind enough to contribute with an article and a
couple of reviews for this book.
Finally, Craig Stern, creator of the Telepath RPG
series and the Messiah board game, who wrote an
article on the distant origins of RPGs.
The map for Might
and Magic IV: Clouds
of Xeen, by artist
Michael Winterbauer.
15
Using this book
The goal of this book is not only to gather,
preserve and share the history of CRPGs,
but also to help people find hidden gems or
experience classic titles for the first time. The games
are listed in chronological order, starting in 1975, but
feel free to start right at the end and slowly come back
if you wish, or jump to your favourite title and explore
what was going on at the time.
The book contains over 400 CRPGs – some of
them legendary classics, others just curiosities – but
even the worst game included here has something
interesting to offer, be it a great concept that was
poorly executed or just some insight into the reasons
behind the game’s shortcomings.
If you’re new to the genre or haven’t played many
older RPGs, here are some tips to help you:
SAVE OFTEN!! Auto-saves and checkpoints weren’t
common until the 2000s, so remember to save often
or you might suddenly lose hours of progress. There’s
no shame in saving after every battle – ignore those
who say “save-scumming ruins the challenge”, as really
challenging games will limit your saves when needed.
Start slowly. Games like Wizardy I, Ultima IV and
Pool of Radiance are all-time classics, but going from
modern games to one from the 80s is a shock – there’s
no mouse support, interfaces are terrible, some features
aged badly and you’re expected to take notes and draw
maps. Starting with them might frustrate you.
Dungeon crawlers are great for beginners. Games
like Eye of the Beholder, Lands of Lore, Anvil of Dawn
and Dungeon Master were designed to be accessible
– they aged very well, have mouse support and a welldone
difficulty curve – they start slowly but become
very challenging by the end.
Suggested starting points:
– 1980s CRPGs: Dungeon Master, Phantasie,
Wasteland and Quest for Glory.
– 1990s CRPGs: Might and Magic VI, Fallout, Baldur’s
Gate, Betrayal at Krondor, Star Control II, Diablo,
Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness and System
Shock 2.
– 2000s CRPGs: Deus Ex, Morrowind, Wizardry 8,
Diablo II, Gothic, Geneforge, Dragon Age: Origins,
Valkyria Chronicles and Star Wars: Knights of the
Old Republic II - The Sith Lords.
– Roguelikes: Dungeons of Dredmor, Tales of
Maj’Eyal or Stone Soup: Dungeon Crawl.
Above all, remember to have fun. Some games may
take a while to get going, but continuously forcing
yourself to play something you’re not enjoying will
only result in burnout.
16
FAQ
DOS, Apple, C64, Amiga... Which version should I play?
The DOS versions are usually the most common;
they are often available on GOG.com and have a
powerful and easy-to-use emulator: DOSBox.
The Commodore Amiga version of some games
released between 1985 and 1990 had much superior
graphics and sound, but getting the Amiga emulators
to run can be slightly more complex.
For titles released before 1985 the Apple II versions
are usually the best alternative, as the AppleWin
emulator is extremely easy to use.
What should I keep at hand while playing?
I strongly advise to always play RPGs with a pencil
and paper nearby for note-taking and map-making.
The manual is important for checking rules, but
some RPGs also use it as a spell book, requiring you
to type the name of each spell when casting.
Also, most 80s RPGs had a Quick Reference Guide,
with all the game’s commands in one handy list. They
are extremely useful and I suggest printing it.
Should I read the manual before playing?
That’s expected for most pre-90s RPGs, as they
provide little to no in-game tutorials and creating a
character requires familiarity with the game’s rules.
Moreover, games like Ultima IV have amazing
manuals explaining the world and its lore, and that
knowledge might be required during play.
Should I take notes?
Quest logs weren’t common until the late 90s and
older RPGs often have keywords, passwords or even
entire magic rituals you need to know to beat the
game – these might be mentioned just once during a
dialog, so be sure to note them down!
Should I draw my own dungeon maps?
That’s part of the intended experience in most
old-school dungeon crawlers. Designers would add
teleporters, spinners, dark areas and other traps to
confuse players and challenge their map-making skills.
If you don’t want to use a pencil and grid paper,
there’s great software such as Grid Cartographer. Some
games also have their own fan-made mapping tools,
such as Eye of the Beholder’s The All Seeing Eye.
Should I re-roll my character’s stats?
In games such as Wizardry, stats determine which
class your character can choose. For example, in
order to become a Thief your character needs at least
11 Agility, so you’ll have to re-roll until you get that.
Others, like Baldur’s Gate allow you to pick a class
regardless, but a poor stat roll can leave you with a
weak character. So, again, carefully read the manual.
I’m afraid my characters will suck. What can I do?
Indeed, creating a bad character in some older
RPGs can make progress extremely difficult – or
sometimes impossible.
If you read the manual but still feel insecure, do an
online search for recommended parties for beginners.
You can copy them entirely or just take hints, and that
will help you avoid hitting a wall hours later.
I can’t get a game to work, what now?
Visit the PC Gaming Wiki, an amazing wiki that
helps players run and optimise all kinds of PC games.
If you can’t find the game or the issue you’re having,
try checking the Vogons forums.
17
What is an
Old-School RPG?
by Jay Barnson
I’m going to make a confession. This is a big one,
coming from a designer of an “old-school style”
CRPG, and from a guy who’s constantly harping
on about the joys of old-school gaming.
I don’t know what the hell “old-school” means.
Sure, I was there playing these old classics when
they were new, and I still play some of them today
(Hey, I just re-played Ultima III a few months ago!)
I remember clearly when The Bard’s Tale was the hot
new thing. I was reading “behind the scenes” articles
in magazines and books when the big players
of the era seemed like they’d be pumping out
RPGs until the end of time – yet are now long
shuttered. I’ve chatted with some of these
guys at length at GDC (back when it was
called CGDC, even). But that doesn’t mean I
know what I’m talking about.
Sure, I’ve got my own little pet ideas,
but they apparently conflict with other people’s ideas,
so apparently I don’t really understand what it means.
That, or old-school is in the eye of the beholder.
Take, for example, turn-based vs. real-time.
Action-based, “real-time” RPGs have been with us for
a very, very long time. I like to refer back to Gateway
to Apshai, published in 1983 (yeah, over a decade
before Diablo), which was pure action-arcade-RPG.
You had the trappings of an RPG, gathering loot and
gaining levels as you used the joystick to do actionbased
battle against pixelated bad-guys.
We can also go back to Ultima III or Telengard,
two of the earliest CRPGs I ever played. These were
“real-time turn-based” if that makes any sense. You
had time limits to choose your actions. Worse, the
only “pause” command was getting into some input
loop where the games were asking for additional
details or confirmation of your action.
I don’t know
what the hell
“old-school”
means.
So really, as far as I’m concerned, and as much as
I like to refer to “turn-based” games as “old-school”,
the truth of the matter is that both have been with us
about as long as we’ve had commercial CRPGs.
There’s absolutely nothing inherently new or
improved or better about action-based gaming. And
there were absolutely no technical limitations preventing
RPGs from being real-time / action-based –
there were lots of Action RPGs back then.
Variety runs the gamut. Perspective? We had topdown,
first-person, isometric, side-scrolling,
hybrids, and variations like crazy. Even games
that changed perspective when combat started.
Complexity? You’ve got dirt-simple
titles from back in the day that make the
most “dumbed-down” modern offerings
seem like piloting the space shuttle by
comparison.
And then you have some pretty awesomely
over-the-top tactical stuff, like SSI’s Wizard’s Crown.
And humongously detailed systems with tons of
dynamic-generated content and gazillions of factions,
like Daggerfall. And everything in-between. Old-school
games had you exploring a single, open-ended
dungeon. Or an open-ended world. Or led you along
a very constrained path, level-by-level.
We can’t even agree about a time-period for “oldschool”.
Maybe it’s my age, but I still have a tough time
thinking of any game published in a year that begins
with a “2” as “old-school”.
It’s like, you take the history of commercial
computer games, which for me begins around 1979,
and mark it at the halfway point between then and
now – which would be about 1996 – and set that as
the “old-school” demarcation.
18
Gateway to Apshai: action-based battles back in 1983.
Ultima III imposed time limits on your decisions.
The awesomely over-the-top Wizard’s Crown.
Yeah, I’ll give it a little bit of extra slosh, but I
have a tough time thinking of a game like Oblivion
as old-school. Friggin’ kids. Plus, as I’m still playing
older games for the first time (I just recently finished
Star Wars: KotOR II), I have a tough time thinking of
some of these games as being all that old.
When I talk “old-school”, I tend to talk about
classic games that I personally played, which included
some classics as well as some stinkers. Back then, I
didn’t worry about whether Al-Qadim: The Genie’s
Curse was a “real” RPG or not. Hardly anybody
worried about that until the “boom” of RPGs hit its
peak in the early 90s and then started contracting.
Sure, you occasionally had an article explaining
the difference between the two popular genres, RPG
vs. Adventure. How quaint that seems now. Really – it
was all good. Except when it was bad. When did we
start worrying so hard about what box we fit these
games into, anyway? And how did that happen?
So you wanna know what “old-school” means?
Maybe it means all the amazing variety of game styles
that used to be sold but are no longer “in vogue”
amongst mainstream publishers.
Al-Qadim: The Genie’s Curse, RPG or not? No one cared.
Instead, they’ve narrowed their scope down to
just a tiny handful of crowd-pleasing styles that they
keep trying to perfect. But as the whole “mainstream
publishing” thing is also losing relevance (at least
for PC development), I don’t even understand how
important that really is anymore.
I’m still going to refer to some of the things I
do as “old-school,” but like the word “indie” it’s really
just a poor shorthand to potential players to reset
expectations. But old is the new new. Or something
like that.
But really, I still don’t know what the hell I’m
talking about.
March 18, 2013
Jay Barnson has been playing video games since
Pac-Man and Wizardry were hot stuff, and has been
creating both indie games and top-shelf “AAA” retail
games for over a decade.
19
Ports:
Far beyond resolution and FPS
by Felipe Pepe
Port comparisons in today’s era of multi-platform
releases usually amount to small differences,
such as slightly better visual effects, a slightly
smoother frame rate or slightly higher resolution,
especially when comparing Sony’s and Microsoft’s
consoles. PC ports might have more nuances, such as
4K resolution, additional options like Field of View
and support for mods.
Still, it’s a far cry from the 80s, when dozens
of wildly different platforms were fighting for
consumers’ preference, each with its own hardware
particularities. Even basic elements like colours or
sound were up for grabs – a 1986 Macintosh had a
sound card but could only render black and white
images, while an IBM PC from the same year could
display colours but its only sound was beeps from its
internal speaker.
Even among computers with colour there was a
wide range of colour pallets and limitations. The blue
of a Commodore 64, an Amstrad CPC and a NES had
completely different tones, often making art designed
for one hardware look weird on the other.
Then you had deeper differences: some
computers used cassette tapes, others 5¼-inch or 3½inch
floppies. Some had mouse support, others didn’t
even have a hard drive. Plus all the variations in speed
and capacity of each hardware.
Another factor was the time difference between
ports. Dungeon Master was released for the Atari ST
in 1987, for the Amiga in 1988 and was only ported to
MS-DOS in 1992. Some companies would update the
ports as time went by, so the original 1985 release of
Phantasie for the Commodore 64 had crude graphics
and clunky UI, while the 1987 Amiga version uses a
new, colourful art and has mouse support.
This style of game porting would continue
until the early 2000s, when several factors such as
the massive popularity of consoles, the economical
struggles of PC developers, the market dominance
of a few giant publishers and the arrival of the Xbox
pushed all games towards multi-platform releases.
For players wondering what’s the best version
of older games, the MS-DOS versions are usually
the easiest to find and run – they are often available
on GOG.com and have a powerful and easy-to-use
emulator: DOSBox (the DOSBox Daum build offers
more options, while DFend has a friendly interface).
The Commodore Amiga version of some games
released between 1985 and 1990 had much superior
graphics and sound, but getting the WinUAE Amiga
emulator to run can be slightly more complex. You
can also try the Amiga Forever emulator – it’s paid,
but comes with pre-configured setups.
For titles released before 1985, the Apple II versions
are usually the best alternative, as the AppleWin
emulator is extremely easy to use and you can also
play online at Virtual Apple II.
The following pages will show some comparison
between several ports of a same game, to give you an
idea of just how different they could be.
20
Defender of the Crown
Commodore Amiga
Apple IIGS
Atari ST
Commodore 64
DOS (EGA Mode)
Amstrad CPC
Macintosh
DOS (CGA Mode)
NES
Defender of the Crown (1987) was designed to show the Amiga’s graphical power, and while its 16-bit rivals
– the Apple IIGS and the Atari ST – could display a very similar image, they still lost some of the finer details.
The comparison also show some peculiarities of each machine, such as the C64’s darker colours.
Eye of the Beholder
CGA (4 colours)
EGA (16 colours)
VGA (256 colours)
Even playing in the same platform could result in very different experiences. SSI’s Eye of the Beholder (1991)
was released for MS-DOS with gorgeous VGA graphics, but it also supported older graphics cards. While those
playing today on emulators or GOG’s re-release usually default to the superior VGA mode, back then players
with older machines had no choice but to play in EGA or even CGA mode.
21
The Bard’s Tale
Apple II (1985)
Commodore Amiga (1986) ZX Spectrum (1988)
The Original Bard’s Tale for the Apple II was an impressive graphical feat since, until then, dungeon
crawlers like Wizardry all used wire-frame graphics. However, the Amiga version, released just a year later,
added mouse support and had a massive leap in graphical quality, overshadowing previous versions. Still, the
high cost of the 16-bit computers meant ports for weaker but cheaper machines like the ZX Spectrum and
Amstrad CPC would still be produced in the following years.
Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant
DOS (1992) PlayStation (1995)
Windows (1996)
Not all re-releases and later ports are improvements. Wizardry VII received a Japan-only remake for the
PlayStation, but the fully 3D graphics aged much more poorly than the original’s pixel art. Worst yet was Wizardry
Gold, a re-release of the game for Windows and Mac that added many bugs, blurred pixels, inconsistent art
style and only ran in a window. In this case, just stick to the original release.
Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World
DOS (1988)
Macintosh (1990) PC-9801 (1988)
Combat in most versions of Might and Magic II is very similar, using keyboard controls and showing
only one enemy at a time. The Mac version, however, is fully mouse-driven and uses the Mac’s GUI to display
multiple windows at a time. While slick, many players find that managing a party of six characters is much
easier with the keyboard’s hotkeys. The Japanese PC-98 port is also mouse-driven, but instead of multiple
windows it has an entirely different combat screen, which shows the party and the enemies.
22
Might and Magic I - Exploration Comparison
Apple II original release (1986)
DOS port (1987) Macintosh port (1987)
PC-8801 port (1987) NES port (1990)
PC Engine remake (1991)
Might and Magic I - Combat Comparison
The PC Engine
remake was
ambitious, with
character design
by Yoshikazu
Yasuhiko,
a famous
Japanese artist,
and soundtrack
by Joe Hisaishi,
known for its
work on Studio
Ghibli movies.
Apple II original release (1986)
DOS port (1987) Macintosh port (1987)
PC-8801 port (1987)
NES port (1990)
PC Engine remake (1991)
Might and Magic I was first released on the Apple II. The DOS port arrived later and it’s very faithful, just
changing some colours and fonts. The Mac port, however, makes full use of the machine’s mouse support and
high-resolution (albeit monochrome) graphics, introducing a vastly superior interface. The Japanese machines
were much better at handling colours, so their versions have the best visuals among PC releases.
The NES port has some drastic changes – the interface is menu-based, a mini-map was added and graphics
are much better, making it arguably the best version available in English. Finally, the PC Engine version is
actually a remake. Adapted to Japanese audiences, it features a cast of six fixed heroes, a fancy intro sequence,
adds an on-screen mini-map and it’s fully voiced. Sadly, it was only released in Japan.
23
Unplayable
by Michael Abbott
One of my most satisfying moments as a
teacher came two years ago when 15 students
overcame their resistance and disorientation
and embraced the original Fallout. I wrote about that
experience, and since then I’ve continued to challenge
my students with games that fall well outside their
comfort zones: arcade classics (e.g. Defender);
interactive fiction (e.g. Planetfall); and early dungeon
crawlers (e.g. Rogue).
But I’ve noticed a general downward trajectory
forming over the last six years or so. Gradually my
students have grown less and less capable of handling
one particular assignment: Ultima IV.
To be sure, they struggle with a game like
Planetfall, but when they finally learn the game’s
syntax (and heed my advice to map their progress),
it’s mostly a question of puzzle-solving. Defender
knocks them down initially, but they soon apply the
quick reflexes they’ve developed playing modern
games, and they’re fine.
Ultima IV is another story. Here’s a sampling of
posts from the forum I set up to facilitate out-of-class
discussion of the game:
“I’ve been very confused throughout the entire
experience. I’ve honestly sat here for hours trying
to figure out what to do and it just isn’t making
much sense to me right now.”
“When I start a game I like to do it all on my
own, but it’s been impossible to do so with Ultima.
I’ve asked friends for help, looked up FAQs/
walkthroughs, and even searched for Let’s Play
Ultima 4 on Youtube and I am still uncertain as to
how to get further in this game.”
“Yeah, I still have no idea what the main goal is. I
suppose it’s to basically find out what the purpose
of the Ankh is. But I see no way of furthering that
goal.”
“I tried for a while without any walkthroughs to get
the full gamer experience sort of thing and within
the hour I gave up because of a combination of
bad controls and a hard-to-get-into story for me at
least. It reminded me of a bad RuneScape.”
“I don’t quite understand the concept of the game.
I believe my main confusion is the controls and
how it displays what you have done and how you
moved. I’m not used to RPGs and I don’t like them
too much. I hope to find out how to move forward,
but so far no luck.”
“How the hell do I get out of here after I die?”
They had five days to play U4, and I asked
them to make as much progress as they could in
that time. When we gathered to debrief in class, a
few students explained how they’d overcome some
of their difficulties, but the vast majority was utterly
flummoxed by the game. As one of them put it, “I’d say
for gamers of our generation, an RPG like Ultima IV
is boring and pretty much unplayable.” After removing
the arrow from my chest, I asked them to explain why.
It mostly came down to issues of user interface,
navigation, combat, and a general lack of clarity about
what to do and how to do it. I had supplied them
with the Book of Mystic Wisdom and the History of
Britannia, both in PDF form, but not a single student
bothered to read them. “I thought that was just stuff
they put in the box with the game,” said one student.
24
Two pages
from Ultima IV’s
‘History of Britannia’
booklet that came
with every copy
of the game.
“Yes,” I replied. “They put it in there because they
expected you to read it.” “Wow,” he responded.
Some of their difficulties must be chalked up
to poor teaching. I should have done a better job of
preparing them for the assignment. I resisted holding
their hands because in the past I’ve found it useful to
plop them down in Britannia and let them struggle.
Figure out the systems, grasp the mechanics, and go
forth. Ultima IV may be a high mountain to climb for
a 19-year-old Call of Duty player, but it’s well worth
the effort.
At least that’s what I used to think. Now it seems
to me we’re facing basic literacy issues. These eager
players are willing to try something new but, in the
case of a game like Ultima IV, the required skill set
and the basic assumptions the game makes are so
foreign to them that the game has indeed become
virtually unplayable.
And as much as I hate to say it - even after they
learn to craft potions, speak to every villager, and take
notes on what they say – it isn’t much fun for them.
They want a radar in the corner of the screen. They
want mission logs. They want fun combat. They want
an in-game tutorial. They want a game that doesn’t
feel like so much work.
I’m pretty sure I’ll continue to teach Ultima IV.
The series is simply too foundational to overlook, and I
can develop new teaching strategies. But I believe we’ve
finally reached the point where the gap separating
today’s generation of gamers from those of us who
once drew maps on grid paper is nearly unbridgeable.
These wonderful old games are still valuable, of
course, and I don’t mean to suggest we should toss
them in the dustbin.
But if we’re interested in preserving our history
and teaching students about why these games matter,
a “play this game and sink-or-swim” approach won’t
work anymore. The question for me at this point is how
to balance the process of learning and discovery I want
them to have inside the game with their need for basic
remedial help.
I love great old games like Ultima IV, but I can
no longer assume the game will make its case for
greatness all by itself.
September 22, 2010
Michael Abbott writes and hosts the Brainy Gamer
blog and podcast, devoted to video games
and the community of gamers.
25
Cartography
by Scorpia
Some companies,
such as Sir-Tech
and New World
Computing, would
even include graph
paper sheets in
their games’ boxes.
26
Many gamers today take auto-mapping for
granted. Very likely, they couldn’t imagine a
product without it. We of the (cough) “elder
generation”, however, know otherwise. Those who go
back to the “golden era of gaming” remember well,
perhaps all too well, the joys of manual cartography.
I learned my lesson fairly early. It wasn’t long, as
I wandered in the mazes of Colossal Cave and Zork,
before I realised that random scraps of paper or sheets
stolen from the printer just weren’t going to do the job.
It was time to get professional about this. I bought a
stack of graph paper, a package of pencils, and that
most important item, a blister pack of erasers.
Actually, mapping out the adventure games
usually wasn’t too bad. Aside from an occasional nasty
trick or mean maze, they were pretty straightforward
and, most importantly, nothing was out there waiting
for lunch. RPGs, however, were quite another matter.
Despite being on mere 8-bit machines, the RPGs
were big, and seemed all the larger because mapping
was a very slow process. There you were (or I was),
carefully pencilling in one step at a time, and there
all the critters were, ready to pounce and rip out your
heart, lungs, and assorted other organs for appetizers.
In no time at all, you were turned around, and
only twenty minutes later (if you were lucky), did
you realise your careful cartography was somewhat
inaccurate. It’s amazing how many erasers you could
go through mapping out just one game.
The prime example for huge was the first Might
and Magic. I still have my 50+ maps from that one. Yep,
that many. It seems incredible now, to look at those old
sheets, and ponder the time and effort needed to draw
the maps, one step at a time.
There was one saving grace, though: the dungeons
were all standardised, being the same size and shape.
Naturally, size was different in different games, but
if you were doing M&M, you could count on each
outdoor area, each town, each dungeon level, being
the same 16×16 square.
Of course, that meant 256 happy little steps
per section, each one carefully mapped. With notes,
naturally, on where things were found, where traps
were, where messages appeared (and what they said),
and so on. And fighting off monsters galore almost
every step of the way (it’s odd how Monsters Galore
showed up in every RPG; busy little critter!).
While Might and Magic was the most excessive
in terms of mapping, other games weren’t far behind.
The Bard’s Tale, for instance, required a fair amount
of cartographical effort, though it featured a mere
one town and no outdoors. Seventeen maps for that
one, each a generous 22×22 in size, and our friend,
Monsters, waiting for us everywhere.
I don’t know if it’s possible to adequately convey
what it meant to map-as-you-go. This was work, real
work. OK, you knew the size of the dungeon, drew it
on the graph paper, numbered the sides, and usually
knew your starting point. Say it was X3, Y5; here were
the stairs out. Everything else was unknown.
A map from
Bard’s Tale, filled
with spinners
and dark areas.
Be glad it isn’t a
teleporter maze.
So you started off, taking a step, drawing lines on
your map, and hoping against hope that you hadn’t
just stepped on a spinner that turned your merry
band in another direction, or worse, an undetectable
teleporter that just sent you halfway across the
dungeon without you realising it.
Beyond that, there were nasty little places where
everyone took damage as they walked through,
where magic was suppressed, where it was totally
dark, where you could walk into pits or chutes, or any
combination of the foregoing. And remember, our pal
Monsters was there, too, practically every other step.
Yet we persevered. We mapped. We fought.
We erased. We screamed and cursed and muttered
(maybe louder than muttered) imprecations against
the evil designers. Then we mapped and fought and
erased and screamed some more.
We could take it. We were tough. We were
dedicated. We were hardcore gamers. We were
masochists. Nothing else could explain why, the
moment a game was finished, we put aside the old
maps, reached for a fresh sheet of paper, and started
on the next RPG.
It’s a pity there was no Game Scouts of America
to hand out merit badges for Cartography. Not one
of us earned one, and we still have the calluses to
prove it.
Ah yes, the golden age of gaming. It many ways,
it was a good time. But y’know, there are some things
about it I don’t miss at all…
Copyright © 2006 Scorpia. Reprinted by permission.
Scorpia is one of the most fondly remembered
game journalists. From the 80s through to April ’99, she
was a lead reviewer of, and hint giver for, adventure
and role-playing games at Computer Gaming World
magazine. Scorpia also ran game-related areas on
Compuserve (the original GameSIG), Delphi (GameSIG),
AOL (Scorpia’s Lair), and GEnie (Games RoundTable).
27
From Prussia with love
The origin of RPGs
by Craig Stern
In 1811, a special
table full of drawers
was made so that
King Wilhelm III could
play Kriegsspiel.
The table is still
around, kept at
the Charlottenburg
Palace in Berlin.
28
Computer RPGs began to appear in the 1970s,
more or less contemporaneously with the
arrival and popularisation of pen-and-paper
role-playing games – which are themselves the
children of historical wargames. Thus, the CRPG has
only been around for a few decades – but its history
reaches all the way back to the 1800s.
Baron von Reisswitz is credited with creating the
first true wargame – that is, a game meant to simulate
battles with a certain degree of fidelity, and not merely
a chess derivative. Created in the early 1810s, this
game went by the name Kriegsspiel (meaning “War
Game” in German). It featured units actually in use
by the military of the day, and was meant to simulate
battles. Character creation was a matter of faithfully
emulating the real-world characteristics of the units
those pieces represented, then using die rolls to
simulate unforeseen factors in resolving combat.
Von Reisswitz’s son created a revised version of
the game in 1824. The revised Kriegsspiel paid such
close attention to accuracy that the Chief of Prussian
General Staff recommended it as a military exercise;
the King of Prussia, in turn, actually ordered that
every regiment of the army be supplied with a copy.
In 1876, Colonel Julius Adrian Friedrich
Wilhelm von Verdy du Vernois produced a third
version of Kriegsspiel. Vernois was suspicious of the
idea that military outcomes could be predetermined
according to fixed rules, and replaced die rolls with
the mediation of impartial “umpires” who would
determine the outcomes of various engagements
based on their knowledge and experience (yes, the
first Dungeon Masters were Prussian military men
from the 1800s).
The American military began putting out its
own wargames around this time, with Jane’s Fighting
Ships following suit across the Atlantic in 1898.
Like Kriegsspiel, Jane’s Fighting Ships spelled out
the characteristics of the game’s numerous units in
astonishing detail. (Google Books has a digitised copy
of the rulebook online, so you can see for yourself just
how intricate this got.)
Even H.G. Wells, the renowned writer, got in on
the action, producing Little Wars in 1913. The rules
of Little Wars were far simpler than those of other
wargames, but it generally followed the practice of
simulating large-scale battles, with the characteristics
of different unit types decided rigidly according to the
type of troops each unit represented.
It wasn’t until the early 1970s that wargames
started delving into the idea of individual men and
women as units. The games that did this eventually
became known as “man-to-man wargames” (not
to be confused with Steve Jackson’s ruleset of the
same name). It may seem obvious to us now, but
this focus on individual men and women was such
a radical departure from wargaming tradition that it
wouldn’t be mentioned in the rules for Gary Gygax’s
Chainmail until 1971, three years after Chainmail’s
initial publication.
Illustrated
London News
picture from
1913, showing
H. G. Wells at his
house, measuring
unit movement
with a string.
Even then, it seems the man-to-man rules in
Chainmail were largely an afterthought, relegated to a
mere two pages out of the entire 44-page book. There,
too, character creation remained a matter of looking
up prefabricated unit values in a table.
Things changed dramatically with the publication
of Dungeons & Dragons in 1974. It retained many of
Chainmail’s rules, centring character creation around
selecting from three main classes of characters:
Fighting Men, Magic-Users and Clerics.
However, before selecting a class, D&D first
had players roll three six-sided dice to determine
abilities: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution,
Dexterity, and Charisma. These would, in turn, impact
how well-suited the character was to a given class,
imposing bonuses (or penalties!) based on their
chosen class’s primary statistic.
This wholly upended the method of character
creation that had prevailed up until that point.
Statistics were no longer determined by class: instead,
characters got statistics, and only then chose a class
based on which roles the statistics made available
to them. This approach would form the basis of
numerous classic computer RPGs.
RPGs continued to diverge from wargames as
the genre developed, and so too did their character
creation systems. With increased focus on unique,
individual characters came an increased focus on the
abilities and limitations of each individual character.
At their peak, these considerations would come to
supplant the notion of character class entirely.
Published in 1986, Steve Jackson’s GURPS
represented a coming of age for skill-based RPG
systems. GURPS characters have no classes at all –
rather, they have four primary attributes and a huge
variety of skills that can be levelled independently of
one another.
In a way, this represented the zenith of the
individual-focused approach to character creation.
All vestiges of the old system were gone: in the skillbased
paradigm, characters became unique, fully
realised individuals rather than mere instances of a
uniform military unit to be used in battle simulations.
This approach became quite popular among
pen-and-paper role-players, not just with GURPS,
but later with the RPGs published by White Wolf,
such as Mage: The Ascension and Vampire: The
Masquerade. GURPS would strongly influence the
SPECIAL. ruleset eventually used in the Fallout
series; and Vampire: The Masquerade’s rules would
form the basis for Vampire: Bloodlines.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here –
although pen-and-paper role-playing games would
directly influence CRPGs for many years, CRPGs
have a history all their own, beginning humbly with
the tinkerings of bored university students in the
mid-1970s.
Craig Stern is the founder of Sinister Design;
creator of Telepath Tactics and True Messiah:
www.truemessiahgame.com
29
The PLATO RPGs
by Felipe Pepe
A PLATO terminal,
with its distinct
orange plasma
display. By 1976
there were 950 of
these terminals
across the globe.
30
With home computers being so omnipresent
in our daily lives, it’s odd to realise just
how recent a technology they are. It was
only in the mid-70s when home computers began to
appear – before that, all we had were giant machines
that would weigh tons and occupy entire floors.
Yet some of these computers were way ahead
of their time. The legendary “Mother of All Demos”
presentation, made by Douglas Engelbart in 1968,
shows him using a mouse and window-based GUI,
clicking on hyperlinks and chatting with a colleague
via video conference while co-editing an online text.
One of such avant-garde computer systems
was the PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic
Teaching Operations). Created in 1960, it was a giant
mainframe with user-friendly terminals designed to
teach university students via a series of virtual lessons.
The PLATO IV system, introduced in 1972, went
as far as to offer vector-based graphics, a touch-screen
interface and an Internet-like network, connected to
thousands of other terminals across the globe.
Students soon found that all this could be used to
create games as well, and titles like Empire (1973) and
Spasim (1974) began to appear. Empire is particularly
impressive: it is a game where up to 30 players battle
in a top-down space arena, shooting each other’s ships
and fighting to control the galaxy – all this in 1973!
When Dungeons & Dragons came out in 1974,
it unleashed the perfect storm: powerful computers,
bored programming students and a statistic-driven
game that was begging for automation. The result was
the birth of Computer Role-Playing Games.
Sadly, not all of them survived. PLATO was still
an educational system, so its administrators would
delete unauthorised games. As such, we lost all records
of m119h, the first CRPG ever made, created in 1974.
But its successors escaped – hidden under nondescript
names like pedit5 or saved by students, they were
played by thousands and influenced many later titles.
Thanks to the effort of Cyber1, a community
created to preserve the PLATO legacy, these early
CRPGs are still available and can be freely played.
However, keep in mind that some of them have been
updated since the 70s – Oubliette’s title screen even has
an ad for its iPhone remake – so they aren’t the exact
version people were playing back in the day, but they
still give us a good idea of how things were.
If you want to learn more about PLATO, I fullheartedly
recommend The Friendly Orange Glow: The
Untold Story of the PLATO System and the Dawn of
Cyberculture by Brian Dear (2017). While somewhat
light on the gaming side of things, the book is the best
resource available on PLATO and its influence.
The Dungeon / pedit5 (1975)
Created by Reginald “Rusty” Rutherford at the
University of Illinois, this the oldest playable CRPG.
Officially called The Dungeon, it was hidden among
the PLATO files under the name pedit5 to avoid being
found and deleted by the system administrators.
Despite its age, the game holds up quite well.
You start by typing a name. The game then rolls your
attributes – Strength, Dexterity, Constitution and
Intelligence – and you’re off to the dungeon.
Visually the game resembles a roguelike, although
it predates Rogue (1980). You explore a maze-like topdown
dungeon, searching for treasure and battling
monsters – if you die, your character is erased. Your
goal is to collect 20,000 XP and return to the entrance.
Succeed and your score is added to the Hall of Fame.
The dungeon layout is fixed and has only one floor,
but it’s quite large and also features secret passages.
Random encounters will occur as you explore, with
the game prompting you to fight, cast a spell or flee.
There’s a surprising amount of depth here, with
16 spells available. These are a selection of classic
D&D spells, such as Magic Missile (deals damage),
Invisibility (escapes combat), Cure (heals you) and
Charm (ends combat). Enemies even have different
spell resistances: you can’t use Sleep on an Undead.
As such, pedit5 is not only an important historical
artefact, it’s also a good game – especially for the time.
It’s a short dungeon romp with enough variety in
enemies and spells to sustain repeated runs in search of
high scores. It would take years until home computer
CRPGs could match this level of sophistication.
dnd (1975)
Despite trying to cleverly hide itself, pedit5 was
eventually deleted from the PLATO system (luckily, a
copy was saved by a student). In its wake came dnd,
created by Ray Wood and Gary Whisenhunt.
Since Wood was one of the administrators of
the PLATO system, his game was openly hosted
and enjoyed a long-lasting popularity, with constant
updates based on player feedback.
At its core, the game is very similar to pedit5,
but with more detailed character artwork, additional
monsters and spells, as well as a few extra features –
such as being able to re-roll your initial stats.
Initially the game only had one dungeon floor,
but the creators kept expanding it. Inspired by pinball
machines, they decided to add a high-score system.
Since players then began to just race to collect gold
and exit the dungeon, they decided to add an end goal:
to retrieve the Orb, which was guarded by the Dragon
– the first boss fight in a video game.
The creators later handed the reins to Dirk
Pellet, who kept on improving the game. He added
new magical items, potions, a bag for holding and
even an auto-fight feature when encountering weak
monsters. The most iconic item was the Genie Lamp,
which could be used to make a wish: you would
literally write a request to the game administrators,
who would read it and, hopefully, grant your wish.
All this additional content makes dnd much
more complex than pedit5, but also harder and longer.
Later versions of dnd had as many as 15 floors, with
any sense of balance thrown out of the window.
In 2012,
The RPG
Fanatic made
an extensive
video interview
with the dnd’s
creators. You
can watch it
here.
31
Moria (1975)
Both pedit5 and dnd followed a similar structure,
but Moria was a radical departure. Possibly inspired
by Maze War (1973), Moria used wire-frame graphics
to display the dungeon in a first-person view.
Also, despite its name, the authors weren’t familiar
with D&D or Lord of the Rings; they just played dnd
and decided to make something like it. As such, it
abandons D&D’s traditional stats, enemies and spells.
Moria’s four stats – Cunning, Piety, Valour and
Wizardry – are based on a 0-100 scale and increase
with use. Each stat is also tied to a guild, such as Valor
being used by the Knights’ Guild. Instead of levelling
up by earning XP, you must join a guild and pay to
increase in rank, earning special bonuses as you rise.
All stats are useful in battle – Valour influences
your attacks and Wizardry is used to cast spells, but
Cunning is used to trick enemies into a critical attack
and Piety can destroy some enemy types. Money now
has a use, as stores offer dozens of weapons for sale
(you can even haggle). Just don’t forget to purchase
water and food rations, or you’ll die of starvation.
More importantly, Moria is actually an online
multiplayer RPG. The world is shared with up to
ten players, who can band together to form a party!
Moria’s world is absolutely massive, with a large city
and over 200 areas. The downside is that the game has
no real end goal and its areas are just empty mazes
filled with increasingly challenging enemies.
Extremely innovative, Moria is basically a giant
sandbox for players to meet, explore and grow in
power. Every MMORPG out there owes it a nod.
Oubliette (1977)
If dnd was the follow-up to pedit5, then Oubliette
is the follow up to Moria. Still a multiplayer game, it
expands upon it predecessor in almost every way.
Moria had four character classes by means of
the four guilds in town, but Oubliette expands that
to 15 races and 15 classes, each with its own stats
requirements! You have the usual Tolkien and D&D
options, a few exotic ones like Ninja and Courtesan,
plus some taken from Lord Foul’s Bane, a high fantasy
novel written by Stephen R. Donaldson in 1977.
Oubliette begins at a large castle town on top of a
10-level dungeon, featuring several equipment shops,
a casino with gambling mini-games, a temple where
fallen characters can be resurrected (if their bodies
are retrieved by other players) and even a place where
you can purchase charmed monsters to take into the
dungeon and help you in combat.
Spellcasting was also expanded and now uses a
system of magic words. For example, in order to cast
the “Light” spell you have to type DUMAPIC.
By now, Wizardry veterans may be thinking that a
lot of that sounds familiar. Indeed, Andrew Greenberg
and Robert Woodhead were PLATO users and clearly
took a lot from Oubliette, which led to many complaints
of plagiarism from other PLATO users.
Oubliette would also greatly influence Mordor:
Depths of Dejenol (1995) and Demise: Rise of the Ku’tan
(1999). Very few games can claim to still be inspiring
successors more than 20 years after its release. For
those curious to try it, Oubliette had an iPhone and
Android version released in 2010.
32
Futurewar (1977)
PLATO had a lot more than just fantasy RPGs.
Games like Empire showed that students had a passion
for spaceships, sci-fi tabletop RPGs like Traveller were
starting to appear and Star Wars (1977) had just come
out. Futurewar then was PLATO’s first sci-fi RPG.
The game sends players through time to the “far
future” year of 2020, where nuclear war destroyed
Earth and created an army of mutants. You start by
choosing a team – Americans, Guerrillas, Barbarians,
Martians or Cyborgs – each with its starting location
and bonuses. Then, you roll your stats and can choose
one of eight classes, such as Soldier, Medic, Spy and
Holy Man.
Futurewar is another multiplayer RPG based on
exploring dungeons, but it adds several twists such as
environmental hazards: you might step on a mine, or
be poisoned by a radioactive waste. It also includes a
radar, which can detect nearby players and enemies.
While still based on stats, with various different
weapons available, it’s also a sort of early FPS. When
combat begins, your gun appears on screen and you
must aim and shoot to hit. There’s a short time limit
for each turn, effectively making combat feel real-time.
Thus, in a sense, Futurewar was the first FPS/RPG
hybrid. Another novelty is having a soldier shooting
demons in real time (ish) inside a maze, which would
later appear in one of the biggest games of all time.
Of course, none of Doom’s creators had access to
PLATO, and even back in the 70s Futurewar wasn’t
a very popular game. But it’s interesting to see how
shooting demons always had a special appeal.
Avatar (1979)
Avatar would be the last of the big PLATO games,
intentionally designed to surpass all previous RPGs on
the platform, drawing the best they each had to offer.
The game features 10 races and 11 classes, also
tied to guilds in town. Like Oubliette, you start at a
castle on top of a huge 15-level dungeon, but, instead
of having to walk around, the town is presented as a
menu (as Wizardry later did). Another similarity is
the many new hazards inside the dungeon, such as
pits, zones of darkness, spinners and anti-magic areas.
Enemies are also much more deadly, and able to cause
status effects, such as Poison, Sleep or Paralysis.
According to Richard Bartle, Avatar soon became
“the most successful PLATO game ever – it accounted
for 6% of all the hours spent on the system between
September 1978 and May 1985”. It was so complex it
had a staff of volunteers that helped run everything,
much like GMs in modern MMORPGs. This also
allowed for custom quests that required players to hunt
down certain monsters on a certain floor.
There are even reports of players bribing admins
to get powerful in-game items or resurrect their
characters after a failed spell teleported them into a
stone wall, as well as graduating players selling their
characters before losing access to PLATO.
Avatar was constantly updated over the years and
still lives on the Cyber1 servers. The latest version is
from 1995 and still enjoys some popularity.
33
34
34
The Reviews
This is the meat of the book. Over the next 450
pages you’ll find information on over 400
RPGs, all written by fans, modders, developers
and journalists, listed in chronological order and
full of screenshots, quotes from its developers and
even mod suggestions. The idea is to serve both as a
timeline of the genre and a guide to help players get
the most out of their games.
This section is divided into several chapters,
each featuring a span of 5 years. These showcase the
events that happened during those years, plus add a
brief overview of the changes in the gaming world
during that period, giving context to the games and
the technological revolution that empowered them.
Lord British and the
Gargoyles read the
Codex of Ultimate
Wisdom, in Ultima VI:
The False Prophet.
35
1975-1979
The beginning
of the digital invasion
It’s no easy task to pinpoint the birth of video games. Tennis for Two,
created in 1958, is an often-cited starting point, while others name 1962’s
Spacewar! or 1950’s Bertie the Brain. All have their own merit.
Since the first surviving CRPGs were developed in 1975 for PLATO,
that will be the starting point of this book. Which is convenient, since the
second half of the 70s was when the video game revolution really took
off, spreading across home computers, video game consoles and arcades.
Consoles began to appear in 1972, led by the Magnavox Odyssey.
These were very crude machines, mostly only capable of running Pong
and other very similar games pre-built into the hardware.
The second generation of consoles introduced the concept of ROM
cartridges, allowing for companies to continuously develop new games
for their machines, much like today’s consoles. While it had a slow start,
the Atari 2600 would become a massive hit thanks to the arrival of classic
games like Enduro, River Raid, Pitfall and Space Invaders.
Computers, on the other hand, were still huge mainframes kept in
universities, large companies and research centers. Some smaller models
existed, but they were either prohibitively expensive or too slow to even
handle BASIC. This began to change with the Altair 8800.
Small, cheap (for a computer) and with enough power to be actually
useful, it sold thousands of units and was the first commercially successful
home computer. On its heels came the Apple II, Commodore PET and
TRS-80 – the famous “1977 trinity” of home computers.
While the Altair 8800 was made for hobbyists, these three machines
were built for mass production, aimed at nontechnical users. However,
although they much more versatile than a games console, home computers
were expensive, extremely complicated to use and still struggled to offer
their users something other than very simple applications and games.
They were highly profitable, but still sold mostly to business, gamers
or hobbyists, and their popularity was relative – while the TRS-80 sold
200,000 units, the Atari 2600 sold 30 million units.
Computer games themselves were also little more than curiosities.
A few, rare commercial titles were sold inside ziplock bags, but most
came from technical magazines – they contained pages filled with BASIC
code that people would type in their computers, recreating the games.
Arcades were also still a small business, less popular than pinball
machines. They would grow steadily over the next few years, then explode
with Space Invaders in 1979, ushering in a golden age for arcades.
In five years, video games went from Pong to a rich ecosystem with
multiple genres, platforms and audiences. And this was just the start.
36
Trends:
PLATO Games: Home computers were just appearing, but American universities had
large educational mainframes since the 60s. The most famous was the PLATO network,
which came to host several games made by students (hidden from system administrators).
Due to the mainframe’s power, these games often had innovative features far beyond
what an Atari 2600 or Apple II could offer. Empire, for example, allowed students from
campuses all over the US to join in online multiplayer battles way back in 1973!
Empire is a
multiplayer
turn-based
space game
made by John
Daleske in 1973.
Atari vs Activision: Atari was rigid with its employees – they weren’t paid much and
got no credit for the games they designed. Noticing how much money their games made,
a group of developers left the company and started their own, Activision, in 1979. Atari
sued them for developing games for the Atari 2600, but the court decided people could play
whatever they wanted on their consoles. Activision became the first third-party publisher
and opened the doors for others to do the same, setting the stage for the crash in 1983.
Boxing, released
in 1980 for the
Atari 2600,
was one of the
first games by
Activision.
BBS: Private systems like the PLATO network already allowed users to post messages
online, and the advent of home computers and modems soon brought that experience to
households as well. The first public BBS (Bulletin Board System) went online in 1978, hosting
discussions between computer hobbyists from Chicago. Over the years BBSs would grow to
offer all sorts of services, from online games to paid file hosting. They peaked in popularity
during the mid-90s, when they began to be replaced by the Internet.
BBSs like ExecPC
were very popular
during the 90s and
allowed the sharing
of freeware and
shareware games
like Doom.
The Altair 8800 is released.
An early pioneer, it was the
first commercially successful
home computer, proving that
there was a market for them.
The Apple II is the first massmarket
home computer. The
only among its early rivals
to have colours, it became a
popular games device.
The TRS-80 computer arrives.
Created by Tandy, owner of
the widely available Radio
Shack electronic stores, it
outsold the Apple II for years.
The Commodore PET is
released. The first model
was criticised for its small
keyboard, but subsequent
models were very successful.
The Atari 8-bit family begins.
A low-cost home computer,
it also had a cartridge slot for
games, making it a popular
gateway into computers.
1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
Colossal Cave Adventure
(also know as ADVENT
or Adventure) is created by
Will Crowther on a PDP-10
mainframe. The first adventure
game ever, it also influenced
RPGs and roguelikes.
The Atari 2600 is released.
By far the most successful
early games console, it sold
over 30 million units and
popularised the use of ROM
cartridges, allowing for an
extensive game library.
The VHS (Video Home System)
began to be sold in the US,
competing against the Betamax
and the LaserDisc for the
emerging home video market.
VHS would win and remain
dominant until the early 00s.
Space Invaders is released.
A seminal classic, it greatly
popularised arcades and
video games in general.
Its Atari 2600 port was also a
hit, becoming the first game
to sell over a million copies.
The Intellivision arrives.
Created by toy giant Mattel,
it brought in better graphics,
licensed games and even a
voice module. It was the
Atari 2600’s biggest rival,
selling 3 million units.
37
Beneath
Apple Manor
Don Worth, 1978
Apple II (PC Booter, Atari 8-bit)*
*BAM was
re-released in a
Special Edition
in 1982, with
fancier graphics,
multiple ports
and the ability to
save the game to
play in multiple
sessions.
There are old games, and there are ancient
games. Beneath Apple Manor is ancient.
Arriving in 1978, it was the first, or one of the
very first, RPG-like games for home computers. Yes,
personal computing goes back that far.
It could run in as little as 16K RAM (tape version)
or in 32K+ (disk version, which I had). Levels were
created on the fly as you went deeper in the dungeon.
Monsters were limited to five: green slime, ghost,
troll, purple worm, and red dragon. However, they
increased in power the further down you went.
Each had its own type of nastiness. Slimes could
dissolve armour. Trolls regenerated. Ghosts reduced
your Strength permanently. Worms could kill you in
one hit, as could Dragons, who had tough hides.
BAM could be customised, too. You chose
the number of rooms per level (4-7, depending on
RAM), the difficulty factor, and whether you wanted
black-and-white or colour graphics. With colour,
everything was a different coloured block.
I much preferred the ASCII black-and-white,
where the monsters (and player, too) were represented
by letters and treasure by $.
You had four stats: Strength, Dexterity, Body
and Intelligence. Fighting depleted Strength, so a
breather after combat was necessary to restore it.
Likewise, movement reduced Dexterity and spellcasting
lowered Intelligence. Resting brought those
back up, but only a Heal spell could restore hit points.
This was not a game of fast movement and rapid-fire
combat – caution was needed.
Experience was earned by killing monsters and
bringing treasure back to the main staircase – the
starting point of each level (it wasn’t marked on the
map, either, so you’d better remember its location).
There you traded points at 10 XP for 1 stat
point, increasing it permanently. Gold could buy
upgrades to weapons and armour. Most important of
all, there you could purchase a “brain scan”. It was
your character save.
My character (Y) found a treasure chest ($) while
trying to run from a slime (S). It was cursed.
Commands were all over the keyboard, and
each action depleted one of your attributes.
38
“It was released two years
before Rogue came out. I was not
influenced by Rogue (didn’t see it
until something like 1983) and, so
far as I know, the Rogue guys up
at UC Berkeley hadn’t seen BAM
either. We probably both came up
with the same idea independently.
But at least I can say Rogue is
“Beneath Apple Manor-like”
– Don Worth,
Beneath Apple Manor’s creator
Should you die – sooner or later, bound to
happen – the scan restored you to life at the staircase.
Of course, any money you had at the time was
dropped. However, you were alive again as of the
last scan. And you’d want a new scan as soon as you
could afford it. Each use reduced the stats of your
next “reload” by 10%. Ouch! Too many restores of the
same scan would leave you a wimp.
So you proceeded carefully along the level,
listening at doors, inspecting walls for secret
doors, bashing stuck doors open, running when
overmatched, and hoping you wouldn’t run into too
many wandering monsters.
All this had a goal: to find the fabled Golden
Apple, rumoured to be in a dragon hoard far below
the surface. Naturally, it exists, and there it is! Or is it?
You know the saying: there can be only one (though
not a ring this time).
But each hoard had a supposed Apple; grab a
fake, and you were soon reloading. How could you tell
real from fake? Only – haha – by taking it. You don’t
always need heavy combat to induce sweaty palms.
BAM had to be played entirely in one session. The
brain scans were good only for the current game. Quit,
and you’d have to start a new game next time. Still, it
was meant as a “quick” play. At 5 rooms/levels, you
could usually get through it in about four hours or so.
Thus BAM was a prototype for Rogue and its
many variants. Sadly, it seems to have been overlooked
in the history of this sub-genre, even though it arrived
two years before Rogue itself showed up in 1980.
In its time, Beneath Apple Manor was a fun – if
occasionally frustrating – diversion. While simple,
the game required thought and strategy. And it shows
what could be done with limited RAM and tight, welldesigned
code. SC
Playing a huge
dungeon floor
in colour mode.
We (the blue
square) listen
behind a door,
where apparently
a troll lurks inside.
Some historians
claim that BAM
was the very
first commercial
computer game,
sold in speciality
stores inside
a ziplock bag.
BAM allowed you to customise the size of the levels,
choose between display modes and 10 difficulty settings.
Beneath Apple Manor: Special Edition added so-called
“hi-res graphics”, but you could still play in ASCII mode.
39
Dungeon
Campaign
Synergistic Software, Inc., 1978
Apple II and Atari 8-bit
Synergistic
Software was
founded in
1978 by Robert
Clardy and Ann
Dickens Clardy.
They would
create several
other games in
the 80s and 90s,
including Spirit
of Excalibur and
Diablo’s Hellfire
expansion.
My party is the
pink square,
treasures are
yellow, enemies
are dark green,
stairs are white and
the pits are grey.
40
When talking about the first computer
games of the 70s, people often overlook
the important role played by tech demos,
guides and tech magazines. The Apple II, for example,
came with a reference manual which explained how
the entire computer worked and contained the BASIC
source code of a few simple games to teach its users.
One of these games was Dragon Maze (1978), by
Gary J. Shannon, which randomly generated a simple
top-down maze. The player had to navigate the maze
by pressing U(p), D(own), L(eft) or R(ight), trying to
escape before a dragon could catch them.
A series of codes that could be used to generate
countless dungeons ready for exploration – this was a
gold mine for any RPG fan, and Robert Clardy was one
of such fans. Inspired by Dragon Maze, he made his
own dungeon-exploring game: Dungeon Campaign.
The game starts by generating four dungeon
levels – a process that could take several minutes on
the Apple II, giving time for players to try to map it
down with pen and paper, if they so desired. Once it
was finished, you’re sent out to explore it.
There’s no character generation; your party
always starts with 15 nameless members, including
one Elf and one Dwarf. This may sound weird today,
but Dungeons & Dragons was a very different game
back in 1978 – Elves and Dwarves didn’t have classes,
and there was a focus on larger parties.
Each type of party member has a function. The
Elf warns of immediate danger, such as a nearby trap
or enemy, while the Dwarf maps the dungeon – if he
dies, the map in the screen will no longer update as
you explore. The rest of the party members serve as
both your hit points and your strength – the game
ends if they all die, but at each victory they increase
their strength. This means your 15 warriors will have
a strength of 15 at first, go to 30 after the first battle,
to 45 after the second, but decrease to 42 if one party
member dies. And die they will.
Combat is simplistic, you just roll your attack,
which is added to your strength to see if you hit the
enemy. Every enemy in the game dies with two hits;
they just become harder to hit as you delve deeper.
You also have to roll the enemy’s attack, and if they hit
you’ll lose 1-3 party members.
The dungeon offers a few other perils, such as
traps that will randomly send you to other levels, and
rooms filled with toxic gas. Each of the four levels
also has a guardian monster, which will run after the
player and kill 1-2 party members if it reaches them.
These have different behaviours – the giant snake on
Level 3 moves in real time across the maze, while the
spectre on Level 4 can pass through walls.
Regardless, Dungeon Campaign is an easy game.
It’s also short. The goal is not to simply complete it, but
to get a high score, collecting as much gold as possible
before finishing the dungeon – a score-driven design
that mirrors the popular arcade games of the era.
“I had come from the paper
Dungeons & Dragons world and
anything that would roll the dice,
keep track of the rules, do the maths,
tally the results, and describe the
results was totally awesome. The
dungeon master could now play,
rather than just moderate. This was
pretty cool, even if the graphics
resolution was 40x40 pixels, with
4 lines of text below. Ugh. Hard to
believe after playing Halo...”
– Robert Clardy,
Dungeon Campaign’s creator
My party battles
a pack of Spiders
at the fourth
dungeon floor
(purple and
green icon). The
white icon is the
spectre, who will
kill one of my
party members
if it reaches me.
After the simple yet satisfying fun of Dungeon
Campaign, Robert Clardy would quickly produce three
more games, constantly pushing the boundaries.
Released in 1979, Wilderness Campaign is a
much more ambitious RPG. Here you explore a large
outdoor area, fighting enemies and exploring ruins
in search of treasure, then hiring more troops and
buying equipment in villages – all in order to cross the
map, reach the castle and defeat the evil necromancer.
Combat is still based around the number of
party members, but now you can hire hundreds of
mercenaries and buy better equipment. Some offer
bonuses against special enemies, such as silver daggers
against werewolves, while others are used when
crossing rough terrain – a mountain might require a
rope, while a jungle area might require a machete.
The game was followed by Odyssey: The Compleat
Apventure (a play on Apple and Adventure), released in
1980. Even larger in scope, it’s divided into segments.
First you explore an island to gather resources,
much like Wilderness Campaign. Then you purchase a
boat and sail across the sea, battling monsters, hunger
and diseases in search of a magical orb. After finding
it, you travel to the castle of a mighty wizard, solving a
series of text-based challenges in order to rescue him.
Robert Clardy’s fourth game, Apventure to Atlantis
(1982), continues where the previous one ended, but
plays more like an adventure game, with less focus on
stats and several puzzles that must be solved via a textparser.
Now playing as the new lord of the castle, you
must defend yourself against invaders from Atlantis
and find a way to stop them once and for all.
Almost 40 years later, these games look pre-historic
and play nothing like what we now call RPGs. But that’s
exactly their appeal – unshackled by genre conventions,
they tell whatever epic adventure they wish to tell, using
whichever novel mechanics their creator had imagined.
The computer is a tool for the Dungeon Master. FE
Wilderness Campaign’s map is fixed, but points of interest
are randomly placed, such as the town I’m at (purple icon).
Apventure to Atlantis added elements from text adventure
games, such as item puzzles, static images and a text-parser.
41
Dunjonquest:
Temple of Apshai
Automated Simulations, 1979
TRS-80, Atari 8-bit, Apple II, MS-DOS, etc
Apshai’s engine
was reused
for over a
dozen games.
Automated
Simulations’
refusal to update
its technology
eventually made
it lose markets
to newer games
and led to Jon
Freeman leaving
the company.
Since you
couldn’t save into
Apshai’s cassette
tapes, every time
the game starts
you can roll a
new character or
type in the stats,
gear and XP of a
previous hero.
42
Dungeons smell faintly of vanilla. This was one
of many important life lessons I learned in
my early adventuring days while descending
into the depths of Temple of Apshai.
Conceived by avid dungeon master Jim Connelley
and two of his D&D gaming friends, Jon Freeman and
Jeff Johnson, Temple of Apshai was originally released
to fulfil their desire for a “graphical adventure” game
that required strategy and a little bit of luck to get
by, as opposed to the text-only adventure games
(like Colossal Cave and Zork) of the times that were
imaginative but had static solutions.
It was the first in what would be called the
Dunjonquest series. While rarely remembered today,
the series spawned several games, sequels and add-ons,
and was one of the best-selling early computer games,
initially outselling both Wizardry I and Ultima I.
Although the blocky, black-and-white graphics
of the TRS-80 received high praise back in 1979
(we didn’t have much to go on), the real secrets to
the success of Temple of Apshai was its underlying
strategy system, rich writing, and sense of character.
Like all good adventures, players begin at the
inn, where they can customise their character stats
(or let the Innkeeper roll the stat dice for them) and
purchase equipment. Being inspired by D&D, the
character sheet for Apshai used the same core stats
and they could be freely edited – both so that players
could import their characters from tabletop RPGs,
and because it was not possible to save character data
on the original TRS-80 cassette format.
Once sufficiently (or insufficiently) equipped,
the adventure begins. The original dungeon, Temple
of Apshai, is a forgotten temple consumed by wild
overgrowth. It’s chock-full of traps, secret doors
and glittering gems, and inhabited by all manner of
disgusting creatures – giant slimes, overgrown insects
of all sorts, and various things that died some time
ago but didn’t have the decency to acknowledge it.
Released in 1981, The Upper Reaches of Apshai
expansion added a new dungeon. A comic relief act, it
takes place in the gardens and houses behind the inn.
There are peculiar happenings in the vegetable garden
for heroes to investigate, angry housewives and killer
tomatoes to fight and, if you are lucky, a delicious pot of
chicken soup or some ill-fitting laundry to find.
The second expansion, Curse of Ra, (1981) takes
place in a cursed pyramid in the middle of a desert.
Full of narrow, twisting hallways, traps at every step,
and inconvenient slabs of stone that drop to block
exits, heroes will square off against exotic foes like
sphinxes, mummies and, worst of all, wild camels.
There are four levels for each dungeon, each one
more difficult than the last, but players could choose
which level to explore in any order. There’s no true
ending; players could revisit the dungeons as often as
they liked and see it repopulated with monsters (both
fixed and wandering) and treasure.
Apshai uses a simultaneous turn-based system. When you
(the arrow) move or act, the enemy (the cross) acts as well.
The 1985 remake Temple of Apshai Trilogy contains all three
dungeons and adds vastly improved graphics and UI.
When entering a room, players could search
for traps and secret doors, grab treasure or put their
ear to a door to listen for movement within the next
room. With high enough Intelligence and Ego stats,
an adventurer could even smooth-talk their way past
deadly enemies. If diplomacy fails, combat kicks in.
Players have four methods of dispatching foes:
a normal swing of the sword, a powerful thrust that
could inflict great damage but also left a character
more open to attack, and a parry that favoured defence
over offence, and a bow to shoot enemies at a distance
so long as arrows were at hand. The character’s gear
and experience also played a role, and players had to
be careful not to become so tired they can’t act.
Setting the mood for all of this was the superb
writing. Each room – 233 in Temple of Apshai and
over 500 with the expansions – had a number that
players could refer to in the game’s excellent illustrated
manual (clearly the work of tabletop enthusiasts) to
find a description of the room they just entered. These
descriptions, preferably read aloud in an ominous
voice, truly gave the dungeons a sense of character.
After creating a character you can purchase equipment from
the Innkeeper – and might also haggle for cheaper prices.
One of the remake’s best features is displaying the room
descriptions in-game, instead of referring to the manual.
The vanilla-smelling caverns, the dim roaring
sound that becomes louder as an adventurer treads in
a certain direction, the “SPROINGGG!” of a crossbow
trap that someone apparently forgot to load with a
bolt – these descriptions gave players an environment
in which to tell their own stories, and made the plain
graphics pop with imagined detail.
Besides mood setting, the room descriptions
also provided subtle clues as to where players could
find secret doors, traps, treasures, or monsters. See
some scratch marks on the floor near the East wall?
Good chances of finding a secret door there. Skeleton
on the floor? Don’t turn your back on it, he probably
feels fine. See some laundry hung out to dry? Steel
yourself for the wrath of an angry housewife.
Thanks to the evocative writing and the strategic
combat system, the Temple of Apshai is a timeless
classic that still retains its replay value today. Even
if one had the map of every dungeon memorised,
reading the room descriptions is like going back to a
favourite novel, and surviving combat is never a sure
thing, even for veterans. JY
Temple of Apshai
was followed
by a series of
“MicroQuests”,
very short
and simple
Dunjonquest
titles that
featured more
arcade elements.
The “real” sequel
was Hellfire
Warrior (1980),
which improved
the mechanics
and even got
two expansions,
but was never
as popular as the
original game.
43
Akalabeth:
World of Doom
Richard Garriott, 1979
Apple II, MS-DOS and iOS*
*Akalabeth can
be downloaded
for free on GOG,
and in 2011 an
iOS version was
released on
the App Store.
There are only
six items in the
game. Food is
vital to survive, the
Axe and Shield are
basic equipment,
the Bow and Rapier
are exclusive to the
Fighter, and only
the Mage can use
the Magic Amulet.
44
It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that Richard
Garriott is one of the most important people to
ever make their stamp on gaming. Starting off as a
solo programmer, his endeavours would quickly propel
him into the position of one of the most famous
and recognised figures in the industry.
The Ultima games, the founding of Origin Systems,
even his alter ego (“Lord British”); Garriott is directly
responsible for several of gaming’s earliest icons.
Everyone has to start somewhere though, and for
Garriott that starting point was Dungeons & Dragons.
An avid player, the adventures he ran with his friends
served as inspiration for another of his high school
hobbies: programming computer games. Working on
his school’s primitive teletype machine, the teenage
Garriott created a simple game that he dubbed D&D.
Eventually, he had progressed through so many
iterations that D&D had become D&D #28.
Then, in 1979, he made it commercial. He rewrote
the game for the Apple II, renamed it Akalabeth: World
of Doom and sold it in ziplock bags with photocopied
instructions and a cover illustration by his mother.
This original release would find its way into the
hands of the California Pacific Computer Company
who offered to publish the game on a wider scale.
It would become a hit for the young developer,
providing the profits he needed to lay the foundation
for the legacy that followed.
Sadly, for all it helped to foment, the game itself
has not aged well. You’re tasked by Lord British with
proving yourself worthy of being a knight in the royal
court. While there have certainly been adventures
that launched on less, Akalabeth never grows beyond
this bare-bones plot.
All it amounts to is entering a dungeon, killing
a specific monster and then reporting back to Lord
British so he can tell you to kill another one that’s even
tougher. Do this a few times and you win.
This on its own isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker.
In fact, none of the CRPGs that came before had
any goals beside gathering treasures, so it’s already
an evolution of sorts. Unfortunately, Akalabeth’s
gameplay is just too thin to stand on its own.
As you start, the game lets you pick a “lucky
number”, which serves as seed for its randomly
generated overworld. Regardless of what number you
pick, though, the worlds it creates are universally dull.
The towns you visit have no real NPCs and you won’t
encounter any monsters outside of its dungeons.
Character creation and development is almost
non-existent. Your stats are rolled randomly and your
one big choice between playing a Fighter or a Mage is
mostly just picking between more weapons options or
being able to use the Magic Amulet, which holds a few
magic spells. While combat can have some strategy,
you’ll often just press the attack button until someone
dies. Akalabeth is the CRPG genre boiled down to its
most rudimentary parts.
“Akalabeth was not made to
be published. I made it merely
for myself and my friends. It was
John Mayer, the manager of the
Computerland store where I had a
summer job, who encouraged me to
spend the large sum (in those days
for a high school senior) of $200 to
‘publish’ it on the store wall.”
– Richard Garriott,
Akalabeth’s creator
That’s not to say there’s no charm or fun to be
had. In its best moments, Akalabeth almost feels like
a simple roguelike. Death can come quickly, and it
can genuinely be fun to see how long you can last
before you’re killed. Even this experience, however,
is derailed by the game’s punishing approach to food.
Food, even more than hit points, is life in
Akalabeth. Your character eats a ton of it and there’s no
leeway – if the food counter reaches zero, you starve
to death instantly. This would be fine if it were easier
to plan ahead. Unfortunately, the random dungeon
and town locations can make it hard to determine
how much you’ll need to find your next destination.
Dungeon layouts are likewise random and it’s
easy to get lost in their wire-frame corridors. If you
start off as a Mage, you can use the Magic Amulet to
transport yourself outside safely. If you’re a Fighter,
however, you’ll have no choice but to trek all the way
back out, scoffing down food with every step.
Nine times out of ten, this will be what kills you.
Worse than that though, it kills the fun. Play sessions
typically aren’t long, but it’s still frustrating when you
starve to death before even reaching the first dungeon.
I started giving up and restarting the second my food
supply began to run low.
None of this should be taken to mean that
Akalabeth’s not worth trying. It just means that you
need to approach it with the proper mindset. If you
start up Akalabeth intent on enjoying some good oldfashioned
CRPG fun, you’re probably going to be
disappointed. There are just too many other titles that
do what it does better.
Akalabeth feels best if you view it as a museum
piece. It’s Ultima in the infant stage; the birthplace of
now-traditional CRPG elements like the overworld
map and the quest-based progression, as well as
Richard Garriott’s testing ground for the ideas that
would make the Ultima games great. SS
Dungeons are
random and
explored in firstperson.
Combat
is turn-based and
very simple, but
enemies like the
Thief can steal
your weapons
and food, leaving
you defenceless.
The name
Akalabeth
comes from
Akallabêth, one
of the chapters
in J.R.R. Tolkien’s
The Silmarillion.
Another Tolkien
reference is that
the final enemy
you must hunt is
always a Balrog.
Akalabeth was the first CRPG with an overworld map.
Here you can see a castle, a nearby town and a mountain.
Each time you hunt and kill the monster that Lord British
requested he’ll raise your stats and present a new quest.
45
1980-1984
The boom,
the clones and the crash
The entire tech industry radically changed in the early 80s, starting
with the arrival of IBM in the home computer market.
An established tech giant that dominated mainframe computers, its
IBM Personal Computer (or IBM PC) forced the home computer segment
to professionalise. While Apple discouraged third-party developers, IBM
shared all information and had an open architecture. Empowered by the
company’s legendary reputation and a powerful marketing campaign,
IBM PCs quickly dethroned Apple and became the leading standard,
with an extensive catalogue of software and components.
But these were still costly, high-end products. Vital in popularising
home computers were new low-end machines like the Commodore 64,
ZX Spectrum and the MSX line. Costing a fraction of an Apple II or IBM
PC, they plugged into common TVs (instead of expensive monitors),
began to be used as educational tools in schools and were great gaming
machines, helping to introduce a whole new generation to computers.
Meanwhile, the console market had become a free-for-all mayhem.
Fuelled by the success of the Atari 2600, several companies decided to
jump on the bandwagon and make their own consoles, with over a dozen
console models now competing side-by-side on store shelves.
Countless companies also followed Activision, becoming third-party
developers and publishing their own games. Most were of terrible quality
or cheap copies of popular titles. Atari themselves also had poor standards,
with failures like its crude port of Pac-Man and the infamous E.T. game.
Still, profit was at a record high and companies and retailers kept betting
on ever-increasing sales for the holidays of 1982. However, customers got so
burnt out that they stopped buying. Left with massive dead stocks and no
way to recover their investments, the US market crashed in 1983.
What was a 3 billion dollar business in 1982 barely made 100 million
in 1985. Video games went from prized products directly to bargain bins,
and the US console industry was for all purposes dead.
The crisis also affected arcades, since many companies were active
on both markets, and the whole video game business declared a fad.
Despite this, computers were eager to satisfy those hungry for more.
No longer curiosities sold in ziplock bags, computer games started to
professionalise. EA, Interplay, Origin, Infocom, Brøderbund, SSI, Sierra
On-line and New World Computing were all founded around this time,
and would rule the market until the late 90s.
Meanwhile, in Japan, an odd coincidence occurred. On the same day
– July 15, 1983 – two companies released their first consoles: the Nintendo
Famicom and the SEGA SG-1000. It was a sign of things to come.
46
Trends:
IBM PC-Compatibles: Computers like the Apple II and Commodore PET had closed,
proprietary architectures, but the IBM PC was produced with off-the-shelf components –
only its BIOS was copyrighted. This allowed companies like Compaq to produce their own,
cheaper machines that could still run IBM’s software – the famous IBM PC-Compatibles,
or PC Clones. They would be extremely popular and help IBM attain market dominance,
but years later the clones would actually overthrow IBM.
Released in 1983,
the Compaq Portable
was the first 100%
Compatible PC
Clone, created by
reverse-engineering
IBM’s BIOS.
The 1983 Video Game Crash: Video games were the icon of the digital revolution that
began in the mid 70s, with the Atari as its poster boy. Its massive success led to a gold rush,
with even companies like Johnson & Johnson making games for a quick profit. When it all
collapsed, a cloud of negativity and doubt started to spread – even home computers were
declared a fad by many analysts, arguing that there was still no compelling reason for homes
to have a computer and calling it “a technology in search of a use”.
Atari 2600’s E.T. cost
millions in licence
fees but got only five
weeks of development
time. A terrible game,
its catastrophic failure
is an icon of the crash.
The Golden Age of Arcades: The release of Space Invaders in 1978 led arcades to
the height of their popularity. Hits like Asteroids, Donkey Kong, Defender, Mr. Do! and
Centipede were making millions – Pac-Man alone sold over 400,000 machines worldwide,
becoming a pop culture icon with an extensive line of merchandise and even a TV show.
But it wouldn’t last long – arcades were soon crushed by the NES, only briefly resurging in
the late 80s / early 90s thanks to beat ‘em ups and fighting games.
Donkey Kong
(1981) was one
of the biggest
arcade hits, with
over 60,000
machines spread
across the world.
Mystery House was released.
Roberta Williams and Sierra’s
first game, it added graphics to
previously text-only adventure
games, redefining the genre.
The first IBM PC was
released. A massive success,
it would destroy Apple’s
dominance and pave the way
for the IBM PC-Compatibles.
The ZX Spectrum was
released. A British rival to
the Commodore 64, it greatly
popularised computers in
Europe and South America.
The Commodore 64 was
released. The “Ford Model T of
home computers”, it was hugely
popular and dominated the
low-end market for years.
The Amstrad CPC line began.
A popular all-in-one computer,
it came with a colour monitor
and tape recorder, yet was still
relatively cheap.
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
Nintendo’s Game & Watch
was released. An LCD clock
with a single game, it had
several models and inspired the
Game Boy. In 1982 the Donkey
Kong Game and Watch also
introduced the D-Pad.
The MS-DOS was released.
Developed by Microsoft for
the IBM PC, it was also sold
separately, being used in all
IBM PC-Compatibles.
It would remain popular
until the late 90s.
3½-inch floppy disks began
to be sold. Initially 360KB
in size, they could hold up
to 1.44MB by 1986. They
replaced cassette tapes and
5¼-inch floppies, remaining
popular until the early 00s.
The MSX was an attempt to
create a new industry standard.
Designed by Microsoft and
several Japanese companies, it
was popular in Japan, Europe,
the Middle East and South
America until the 90s.
The Apple Macintosh
popularises the mouse,
graphical interfaces and other
innovations, but it’s expensive
and fails to compete with the
IBM PC, leading to Steve Jobs
being fired from Apple.
47
Eamon
Donald Brown, 1980
Apple II (MS-DOS, Atari ST and Windows)*
Eamon was
ported by
fans to other
platforms,
including
several different
versions for
MS-DOS. If you
want to give
the game a try,
there’s also a
handy browser
version.
The Main Hall,
where your
characters are
created and come
to rest between
adventures. The
shops offer only
a few items, so
you’ll need to go
out exploring to
find the cool stuff.
48
You walk into the Adventurer’s Guild, register
your name and abilities, then buy a weapon
and a piece of armour. After asking the nearby
wizard to teach you some spells, you enter a hall lined
with doors – each leading to a different adventure,
in a different setting, written by a different person.
Welcome to Eamon.
Eamon isn’t just one game, it is a game system – a
set of rules and tools for creating more games. Initially
circulating by word of mouth, it became popular via
Recreational Computing, an American computer
magazine. Their July 1980 issue was entirely dedicated
to “fantasy games”, with articles about how to create
such games, their future as a genre and also a few
games, such as Eamon and Wizard’s Castle, with their
authors explaining how they work and the next few
pages containing the game’s entire BASIC code.
Readers would type the code on their computers
and then save it on a tape or disk in order to play.
This was cheap way to distribute games before the
Internet, but also an invaluable resource in helping
aspiring programmers learn from other’s code.
Created by Donald Brown, Eamon’s heart is its
“Main Hall” program, used to create your character
and load adventures. You simply type a name and the
game will generate a character based on three stats:
Hardiness, which determines HP and carries weight;
Agility, used in combat and when activating traps;
and Charisma, which controls how friendly NPCs are
(mostly if they’ll attack you or not) and store prices.
You can buy weapons and armour at the store, as
well as spells from the wizard. There are five weapons
types, three armour categories and four spells – Heal,
Blast, Speed and Power – which heal, deal damage,
boost Agility or ask the gods for a favour, respectively.
The Main Hall also includes a sample adventure
called Beginner’s Cave, and it’s a good taste of what
Eamon is. It plays much like text adventures such as
Colossal Cave (1976): the game gives a description of
the room you’re currently in and you act by typing
commands, such as NORTH (or N) to head north,
GET SWORD to grab a sword on the ground, etc.
Eamon’s novelty was introducing RPG elements, with
combat being based on dice-rolls and your stats and
weapon skills slowly increasing as you use them.
Furthermore, as soon as you finish the adventure
you’re returned to the Main Hall (given you survive)
and can use your new weapons and skills in hundreds
of brand-new adventures, all created by other players
using Eamon’s Dungeon Designer Diskette.
This means you can take the magical sword at the
end of the Beginner’s Cave into a space adventure, use
it to stop an alien invasion and then bring your newly
acquired blaster rifle to Ancient Greece to battle the
Minotaur – or any other adventure whose disk you
managed to get at college or at work, trade by mail or
create yourself. Remember, this was long before the
Internet or even BBSs became popular!
“Unlike most games, there is no
clear single goal in a fantasy roleplaying
game. Instead, you are
directing the actions of a character
to achieve the goals you want him/
her to achieve. Although most
people accept normal goals such as
‘make lots of money’ or ‘become a
feared warrior’, you can choose any
yardstick you want to measure your
success. After all, it’s your life – you
ARE the character.”
– Donald Brown,
Eamon’s creator
Seeing the game’s success, Donald Brown created
SwordThrust (1981), a sequel to Eamon, but this time
a commercial product. Despite several improvements,
such as a better interface and more spells, it was never as
popular and had few adventures made for it, resulting
in Brown abandoning game development.
The free, public domain nature of Eamon had
made it spread across the US and, with Brown leaving
Eamon behind, the community rose to the challenge
of keeping the game alive. Programmer John Nelson
hacked the system to allow for more complex designs
and in 1984 founded the National Eamon Users Club,
an association that catalogued Eamon adventures and
published a newsletter with reviews and design tips.
In 1988 the club became The Eamon Adventurer’s
Guild, helmed by Thomas Zuchowski, and can still be
found at www.eamonag.org. Their records contain 256
adventures, most created between 1984 and 1994, but
sadly it stopped being updated in 2005.
Today it’s easy to download these adventures and
enjoy how diverse they are. You might be a pirate, a
cop or a time-traveller, delve into Moria, hunt hackers,
fight cyborgs, explore the inside of the Death Star, or
even play as Batman pursuing the Joker.
Of course, the problem with having a game
entirely based on user-generated content is that the
quality varies wildly. Some games are creative and
well-designed, while others suffer from poor writing,
cheap deaths, obtuse puzzles and tiresome combat.
The Star Wars adventure listed above sounds cool, but
it’s filled with endless battles against stormtroopers.
Yet, I finished it. Mostly because I really wanted
to bring a lightsaber with me. Mind you, the lightsaber
functions like any other sword, and it was actually
weaker than the weapons I had. The only thing special
about it was its name. But this incredible power that
words have to feed our imagination is precisely why
Eamon conquered so many fans. FE
I kill the last enemy
of the Beginner’s
Cave and he drops
his magical sword,
which I’ll carry to
new adventures.
It has the special
power to produce
fire, which can
be used to solve
puzzles in this
adventure.
The Eamon
Adventure’s Guild
produced a CD
which comes with
242 public domain
adventures, maps,
guides, all their
newsletters and
some emulators.
You can download
it here.
The status screen showing stats, gear and skills. Don’t get too
attached: weapons break and character death is permanent!
SwordThrust introduced several improvements, such as a
status window on top, but was never as popular as Eamon.
49
Rogue
Michael Toy and Ken Arnold, 1980*
UNIX (MS-DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, etc)
*Rogue first
appeared on
Unix terminals
in 1980. It was
then ported to
MS-DOS by A.I.
Design in 1984
and published
by Epyx in 1985
for several
platforms.
Monsters respawn
constantly, but
you’ll also have to
deal with traps and
hidden passages.
50
Rogue gave the roguelike sub-genre its name.
It was inspired by popular text-based adventure
games like Colossal Cave Adventure (1976), but
where adventure games emphasised world-building,
hand-crafted puzzles and story, Rogue’s primary goal
was replayability: its elements would be randomised
between each playthrough, producing a new experience
every time. Rogue’s objective is straightforward: descend
into a dungeon to find the Amulet of Yendor and bring
it back to the surface – without dying!
The game was developed by Michael Toy and Glen
Wichman, with later input from Ken Arnold at Berkley’s
University of California. Created using the university’s
Unix terminal, Rogue became so popular it was included
on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), an opensource
operating system, spreading to other campuses.
Excited by the game’s renown, the developers
founded a company, A.I. Design, and made a deal with
Epyx to publish it as a commercial title. But it was too
late. People had already embraced Rogue as a public
domain game, creating and sharing their own “Roguelikes”,
spawning a an entire sub-genre.
I spent years banging my head against the
ludicrous complexity and idiosyncratic mechanics of
roguelikes like NetHack, ADOM, and Angband before
I got around to playing Rogue. I was a little surprised
at the simplicity of its design: There’s no character
creation to speak of. You name your rogue and the
game plops you down on the first floor of the dungeon.
The dungeon design is also relatively simplistic.
Each floor is composed of a 3x3 grid of rooms. The
only thing that changes in the layout is the presence
or absence of a room, how the corridors connect the
rooms, and the shape of the rooms. On later levels, the
hallways may become more complex and difficult to
navigate, and some rooms may be dark, limiting the
player’s field of vision. There is only one stairway down
on each level. You cannot go back to previous levels
until you retrieve the Amulet of Yendor.
As a result, the structure of Rogue is more linear
than something like NetHack, but that also makes it far
more accessible: the moment-to-moment decisions a
player needs to make are leaner, more focused.
This isn’t to say that Rogue doesn’t have a lot of
compelling depth to it. As with most other roguelikes,
it features potions, wands, staves, rings, and scrolls
– all of which have random effects and must be
identified by experimenting with them. Figuring out
different strategies to mitigate the risk involved in
identifying these items is one of the chief pleasures of
any roguelike, but here it feels a lot more manageable
than later versions, especially for new players.
In many ways, calling the games that were created
in the image of Rogue “roguelikes” is a bit of a misnomer.
The games that sprung from its combination of dungeon
crawling, procedural generation, and permadeath
expanded on its formula in a range of ways that give
them only a passing resemblance to their inspiration.
“In a lot of ways, I think playing
Rogue is to playing Diablo as reading
a book is to watching a movie.
When reading a book, you don’t see
the characters or special effects or
action, but you imagine it in your
mind, and the effect of the book
is just as strong as the effect of a
movie. The difference is that you get
to make up the images in your own
head. Just as some people prefer
reading to watching a movie, there
are still some (including myself) who
prefer Rogue to the newer, more
graphically intense games.”
– Glen Wichman,
Rogue’s co-creator
The MS-DOS
version of
Rogue. Combat
is turn-based
and very simple,
you just move in
the direction of
the enemy. But
there are several
items, scrolls and
potions, as well
as monsters with
special abilities.
Many in the roguelike community only bring up
Rogue as a marker of how far the genre has come in
implementing randomness and increasingly complex
systems on top of the core mechanics. I feel like that
interpretation sells the game short, and places too much
emphasis on overwhelming complexity. Playing Rogue
taught me the importance of clarity and restraint.
There’s something pure about its singular focus on
dungeon crawling. It leads to far fewer opportunities
for new players to get themselves killed. While there
will certainly be times where they’ll die due to a
miscalculation or misunderstanding of the game,
the sheer amount of information and knowledge
demanded is far lower than other roguelikes.
It’s rare, but the clarity of design found in Rogue
occasionally shines through in more modern designs:
Brian Walker’s Brogue (2009) takes Rogue’s classless
system to heart and even simplifies it further by making
it so the player doesn’t need to kill monsters to level up.
Similarly, Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (2006) has a
design philosophy that emphasises the need for clarity
and an aversion to grinding or deaths that feel unfair.
They are not shy about removing mechanics or character
creation options that run counter to those goals.
Is it still worth going back to Rogue? It’s a tough
question to answer. I get a lot out of playing Rogue and
still replay it on a regular basis. But that interest is a
combination of nostalgia and the affections of someone
who is already deeply interested in roguelikes as a genre.
In many ways, it’s a shame that Rogue doesn’t come
up in discussion as frequently as ADOM or NetHack
does. Its simplified design provides a smoother onramp
than other roguelikes, whose idiosyncrasies and
impenetrability frequently place new players in utterly
inscrutable and fatal situations. To that end, I think it’s
a worthwhile starting point: the lessons you learn here
will help prepare you for the far more complicated (and
unforgiving) fare the genre is known for. RP
The game’s inventory, with some identified potions but
several magical scrolls whose effects I still don’t know.
Epyx also released a graphical version of Rogue for Amiga
and Atari ST, but the zoomed view made it harder to play.
51
Wizardry:
Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
Sir-Tech, 1981
Apple II, MS-DOS, C64, Mac, NES, SNES, etc*
*Wizardry was
exclusive to the
Apple II until
1984, but
has since been
ported or remade
for dozens of
systems, such as
the SNES, PS1,
Saturn, mobile
phones, etc.
Sadly, many of
these versions
only came out
in Japan.
Characters can be
Fighters, Mages,
Priests or Thieves
depending on
their stats. Those
with high stats can
change into elite
classes: Bishop,
Samurai, Lord
and Ninja.
52
Back in 1978, two university undergraduates,
Andrew Greenberg and Robert Woodhead,
started to develop their own computer RPG.
They took a lot from the PLATO games (especially
Oubliette), but also added some revolutionary ideas,
which kept their friends playing for nights on end.
This would be the first game to give players
control over a party of characters instead of just a
lone hero, sending them to explore an expertly crafted
dungeon full of perils and secrets. It was the birth of the
most influential dungeon crawler of all time: Wizardry.
However, they coded the game using Pascal and
had to wait months for Apple to actually support the
language before the game could run on any Apple II.
In the meantime, they kept improving its technical
aspects, as well as balancing the gameplay, creating
the most complex and polished home computer game
released so far. It even had an animated intro!
Wizardry quickly became one of the best-selling
computer games of the 80s – a true phenomenon that
topped sales and rating charts for years and led to the
birth of unofficial game guides, trainers and edit tools.
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
is a pure dungeon crawler. Unlike Might and Magic
or Ultima, it makes no attempt at creating a detailed
setting with a rich history. It doesn’t even provide a
world outside its dungeon – the town of Llylgamyn is
nothing more than a menu from where you can access
services like a shop, an inn, a tavern and a temple.
There is, of course, a quest you’re supposed to
accomplish: defeating the evil arch-wizard Werdna
and retrieving his amulet. But the game is ultimately
about exploring a massive dungeon, surviving tough
battles and power-building your party. This is where
Wizardry’s secret lies: a focus on a seemingly simple,
yet highly addictive and replayable gameplay.
Wizardry is a claustrophobic experience, and it
uses difficulty to enforce this concept. There’s no save
feature – if a party member dies you have to find and
drag his body to the temple for a chance at bringing him
back, use rare resurrection spells that would reduce the
character’s Constitution, or just re-roll a new character.
The same applies if the entire party dies, obviously.
Thus, Wizardry is a game of danger assessment
and resource management, in which your ability to
win encounters unscathed decides how deep you’ll be
able to go. This makes every fight relevant; if you lose
hit points or waste spells in non-lethal encounters,
they’ll quickly add up and force you to return to town
– not via a handy Town Portal, but by walking back.
Besides the battles, the dungeon itself proves to
be a big challenge. There’s no auto-map, of course, and
each level is full with false walls, spinners, teleporters,
chutes and other nice surprises. The huge dungeon is
divided into ten descending levels, and your primary
task in each of them is to find the stairs or elevator
that allows you to go deeper. All of this may sound
more frustrating than fun, but believe me, it’s both.
“Both Andy [Greenberg] and I were
active on the PLATO system, which
was a tremendous influence on us.
PLATO had email, chat, newsgroups,
multiplayer real-time game, and
much more, all starting in the early
70s. The multiplayer dungeon games
were particularly good [...] Wizardry
was in many ways our attempt to
see if we could write a single-player
game as cool as the PLATO dungeon
games and cram it into a tiny
machine like the Apple II.”
– Robert Woodhead,
Wizardry’s co-creator
Wizardry has some balance issues (Thieves
are useless in combat) and rather unfair mechanics
(levelling up can decrease stats), but a common criticism
is how empty some parts of the dungeon are, as special
encounters and locations are rare and far between.
This was addressed in the two next Wizardry
games, Knight of Diamonds and Legacy of Llylgamyn.
They focused on bringing better content, with only
minor gameplay adjustments. While nowadays these
games are referred to as sequels, they were originally
sold as “scenarios” – extra content for the first game.
Knight of Diamonds was released in 1982 and
originally required that you transferred your party over
from Wizardry I (later ports added character creation).
The characters are then tasked with finding the pieces
of a legendary armour set, which can be used by them.
Each level featured distinct puzzles and had more
interesting encounters aside from just combat, making
exploration much more meaningful.
The final entry in the original trilogy is Legacy of
Llylgamyn (1983). This time your previous party isn’t
exactly imported, but rather used as ancestors for new
characters; their stats carry over, but you’ll start with a
level 1 party. The game expands the role of alignments,
as some areas can only be entered by good characters,
while others are exclusive to evil ones. This forces the
player to handle two parties, or to plan an alignment
switch mid-game. More importantly, the design of
the dungeons remains great and features more unique
puzzles, locations and content than previous titles.
Wizardry is more than a series: it’s an entire genre.
Besides the eight main titles developed by Sir-Tech,
there are over 30 official Wizardry games made in
Japan, plus hundreds of clones and variants known as
DRPGs (Dungeon RPGs). There’s a reason why this is
one of the most influential and long-lasting series ever:
it remains extremely fun. But don’t take my word for it,
the dungeon awaits you! DB
Wizardry wasn’t
the first game to
have first-person
dungeons, but
their complexity
was revolutionary.
Instead of randomly
generated, they
were hand-made
and filled with
secrets, events,
traps and many
other surprises.
Nowadays the
best way to
play Wizardry
is with the fantranslation
of
Wizardry: Story
of Llylgamyn, a
Japanese remake
of the first three
games for the
SNES, featuring
much better
graphics, UI
and balance.
Wizardry has a deep magic system with 46 spells in two
schools. To cast them you must manually type their names.
The SNES remake of the initial Wizardry trilogy has much better
graphics and interface, making it a great entry point.
53
Ultima
Richard Garriott, 1981
Apple II and Atari 8-Bit*
*In 1986 Ultima
was re-released
as Ultima 1:
The First Age of
Darkness, with
new versions for
the Apple II,
C64, IBM PC and
various Japanese
computers, such
as the MSX2 and
FM-Towns.
The innovative
overworld map.
I’m inside a forest
fighting an Evil
Trent. To the
north lies the
town of Britain
and the Castle of
Lord British.
54
Ultima was the first real professionally released
RPG from Richard Garriott, and it shows.
He threw in everything his young computer
geek self thought fun, so anything went!
Combining a huge, colourful and innovative
overworld map, the randomly generated wire-frame
dungeons from Akalabeth and even an incredibly
frustrating space battles – similar to the Atari 8-bit
game, Star Raiders – Ultima gave players many fun
and interesting things to do, and it’s easy to see why it
was so successful.
As the game begins, the four continents of
Sosaria have already been conquered by the evil
wizard Mondain, who used the Gem of Immortality
to become invincible. Your only hope is to collect four
magic gems to power a time machine to go back in
time and slay the wizard before he gains his powers.
You can basically explore the world as you
want because of how loosely intertwined the game’s
solution and mechanics are. Which is good, as at its
core Ultima takes about 2-5 hours to complete, if you
know what you are doing.
Most of that time is spent gaining enough gold
to buy food and supplies to survive, along with getting
enough experience from killing monsters in order to
qualify to acquire the time machine and complete the
game. This is all XP is good for – character levels are
otherwise irrelevant in this game.
Hit Points are gained through killing monsters
inside of dungeons and then escaping, or by giving
money to one of the eight kings that inhabit the world
(one of which is the famous Lord British, Garriott’s
alter ego). Attribute scores are improved by locating
and interacting with signposts spread throughout
the world, with bonus points rewarded for going to
these signposts as a quest for four of the kings. Doing
quests for the other kings involves killing monsters in
the dungeons you would go into anyway, and you can
also try to rescue captive princesses from castles.
Combat itself is very similar to Akalabeth, but
you have a time limit to act, or you’ll lose your turn.
And now there are random enemy encounters on the
overworld map as well, not only inside dungeons.
Towns and castles are one-screen areas where
most of the game’s solutions are uncovered via jesters
talking out loud, or by spending money in bars. Items
and food can be bought – or stolen, though that may
anger the tough guards. As the player progresses, the
technology of the world advances, and various new
weapons and armour begin showing up in the stores,
going from swords and bows to pistols, energy swords
and even a “phazor”. That also includes vehicles, such
as a hovercraft with lasers and a space shuttle.
Ultima allows you to play a Human, Elf, Dwarf or
“Bobbit”, as either a Fighter, Cleric, Rogue or Wizard.
Those mostly just change your initial attributes, as
anyone can use any equipment, but only the Wizard
can cast some of the spells.
“With the success of Akalabeth,
I decided to start fresh with my
first work intended for public
consumption. I began a game
originally entitled ‘Ultimatum’! Built
on much of the same code base as
Akalabeth, it continued to refine
the Richard Garriott virtual worldbuilding
techniques. The game
maps were largely based on the
D&D worlds I created called Sosaria.
When finished, we launched it
under the name Ultima.”
– Richard Garriott,
Ultima’s creator
The magic system is quite simple, with only a
few different spells sold as one-cast scrolls. And really,
only two are useful: Ladders Up & Down. Those aid
in making dungeons much easier, as they allow one to
avoid having to seriously map or look for secret doors.
This is part of why Ultima was so revolutionary:
while other RPGs were dungeon crawlers, Ultima was
an epic adventure – you would explore a large world,
visit towns, talk to kings, ride horses, travel in time,
go to space and, yes, also battle monsters in dungeons.
Yet it was easy to get started; just read the gorgeous
manual illustrated by Denis Loubet to get immersed
in the world, and then use the Command Summary
Card to learn the few keystrokes required to play.
Ultima was my first real RPG experience. While
I had some understanding of this sort of thing thanks
to the Endless Quest and Choose Your Own Adventure
books, this game was like nothing my 13-year-old
mind had experienced back in 1988 on my new C64.
It taught me keyboard layouts and how these
“RPG things” worked. To look for clues. To explore
a world with much of its flavour in the manual’s
wonderful text and artwork. To BE in an adventure,
as opposed to just watching the animated Hobbit film.
This game took me a good month to complete –
with only a single call to Origin’s hint line towards the
end game – in those days before game solutions were
easily available. And it made me fall in love with the
genre as a whole.
Would a much more difficult and unforgiving
game like Wizardry have done the same, with its
deadly traps and multiple characters – who could all
be permanently wiped out in an instant?
Would Apshai, with its far more finicky control
scheme, world detail hidden within multiple
paragraphs to read in a booklet and far slower form of
character advancement have done the same?
Probably not. RM
At Lord British’s
castle, with the
Jester shouting he
has the key I need.
In an RPG, that’s
a death wish.
Fan Joseph
Propati created
a board game
adaptation of
Ultima, made
for solo play.
It’s free, and
you can find
it at www.
boardgame
geek.com
After buying the space shuttle, you must dock at star bases,
acquire a spaceship and shoot down TIE-Fighters. clones.
Here we are on the lowest floor of a dungeon, being
approached by a wire-frame Balrog... I mean BalRON!
55
Dragon’s Eye
Southern Software, 1981
Atari 8-bit, Apple II and Commodore PET
In combat you can
perform several
actions, like leaping,
dodging or executing
a barrage of attacks,
all which drain your
strength meter.
There are 40
locations to
explore, divided
into seven areas.
You can travel
quickly between
them, or move
slowly trying to
avoid random
encounters.
56
Among the several “proto-RPGs” made in the
late 70s and early 80s while the RPG genre
was still defining itself, a popular style was
the “gather treasures across the land” games.
Directly inspired by Colossal Cave (1976) and
board games like Magic Realm (1979), these were
games where you (often alternating turns with other
players) raced to explore an area and collect treasures,
competing to see who can earn a higher score.
Being a very early title, still sold in cassette tapes,
Dragon’s Eye is a simple game, beatable in an hour or
so. You start by naming your hero, then choosing a
weapon and a title, after which you’ll get a random
selection of spells and be sent to the world map.
Your goal is to find the mythical Dragon Eye and
return with it to the starting city within 21 days. Once
you do so, you win the game and will be rated on how
many battles you won and treasures you recovered.
You play by moving around the world map and
searching locations for treasures or clues to their
location. Actions like walking, searching and resting
take a certain amount of time based on factors like
your speed and weather, but you can use spells such
as Cure Self or Teleport to help with the time limit.
Unlike other games of this kind, Dragon’s Eye has
no competing AI opponents, quests, special events
or dungeons – you just walk around searching areas
repeatedly, as there’s a high percentage chance to find items.
What makes Dragon’s Eye stand out is its combat.
When you encounter an enemy, the screen goes to a
2D side-view and you control your character much
like in a fighting game, but in turns: you can order
it to move left or right, chop, do an overhead attack,
leap, dodge, block, use an item, fire an arrow, etc.
Each action drains your strength, reducing the
power of blows and forcing you to rest afterwards. It’s
primitive and unreliable but highly original, coming
from a time before fighting games even existed.
This unique blend of 2D combat and turn-based
RPG would be revisited in Windwalker (1989), and
later games like Wizards Wars (1988) and Moonstone:
A Hard Days Knight (1991) would greatly expand the
“find all treasures” concept, but Dragon’s Eye deserves
its praise as one of the many forgotten pioneers that
helped shape video games. FE
DynaMicro, 1982
Tandy Coco (Windows, Linux and PSP)*
Dungeons
of Daggorath
Tension flows at every step. The only sounds
you hear are your own heartbeats, and the
distinct roar of beasts who wish to stop it.
Dungeons of Daggorath is, in many ways, the logical
follow-up to the similarly brutal Akalabeth.
Players takes the role of a prophetic hero out to
defeat an evil wizard who spreads darkness over the
land. In desperation, your village sends you into the
wizard’s dungeons, with nary but a wooden sword
and a torch to light the way.
Daggorath ramps up the stakes from prior firstperson
dungeon crawlers by being fully real-time.
Commands must be quickly input in the text parser,
since enemies won’t patiently wait for their turn. To
make things easier, you can use abbreviations, such
as typing “A R” instead of “Attack Right” to strike with
the weapon in your right hand.
Linked in deep with this is the mechanic of a
constant heartbeat representing the character’s health.
It will steadily accelerate as the player takes action or
gets hit by enemies – exhausting yourself or taking
too much damage will send your heart into a tailspin,
possibly leading to a blackout. Players must find a safe
place and catch their breath for a bit, lest they want to
risk a heart attack ending their adventure.
Exploration is limited by torches the player
collects. If a torch begins to dim, your hit rate against
monsters becomes lessened as their outline becomes
dimmed. Having to replace torches or other items
requires real-time inventory management, during
which a slow player can be decimated.
The real defining characteristic of Daggorath
is its atmosphere, using its monochromatic colour
palette and foreboding heartbeat sound to the fullest.
Each step carries not the just the fear of being overrun
by monsters, but also of getting lost in the dungeon.
The game culminates on the fifth level of the
dungeon, wrestling with the parser to activate a magic
ring which finally gives the wizard what for, and the
player taking his position as the ruler of Daggorath.
Dungeons of Daggorath is certainly still worth
experiencing, being an important precursor to
Dungeon Master (1987). It’s not easily digestible, but
every single element has a purpose. The RPG legacy
owes at least a respectful nod to Daggorath. EJ
*Douglas
Morgan,
former
president of
DynaMicro,
released the
source code
of Daggorath,
which led to
fans creating
various ports
that can
be legally
downloaded.
The dungeon has
no traps, but is full
of fake walls. It also
changes colours:
some floors are
black while others
are white.
Powerful enemies
such as the Stone
Giant can kill you
in one blow, so
quickly attacking
and running is key
to your survival.
But be careful
not to mistype!
57
Telengard
The Avalon Hill Game Company, 1982
C64, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, TRS-80, etc
Over the
years fans
have created
enhanced
versions of
Telengard, and a
Windows port.
The latter was
created by
Travis Baldree,
co-founder of
Runic Games.
Telengard is
brutally unfair.
You can start the
game, encounter
a very powerful
monster and die
permanently in a
few seconds.
Instead of directly
controlling your
character, you
input cardinal
directions and
move from
screen to screen.
58
When I was eleven, I discovered Telengard.
While not the most advanced CRPG at
the time, it was incredibly addictive and
replayable. The game is built around almost arcade-like
runs into the dungeon to see just how far you can get
in a single session before inevitably conceding defeat.
Every few years, I still wander back to try my luck
delving the depths of the dungeon. Telengard’s biggest
strength, however, is also its greatest weakness.
Apart from the dungeon layout, everything is
randomised – your initial stats, which monster you are
going to face, what their levels are, and what treasures
you will manage to scrounge up. The wild nature of the
RNG ensures that every session is wildly different, but
can also lead to frustration. It’s a game that requires
patience to get a good start, and tenacity to not despair
when you lose everything from one uncontrollable
moment – especially since you have a short time limit
to input your actions every turn.
This is why I keep coming back to Telengard; most
CRPGs are carefully designed around difficulty curves,
balance, and making sure the player is always in control.
Telengard just ruthlessly throws the player in and starts
delivering the fun. The feeling of having survived a
mid-level dragon early in the game is unsurpassed by
what other games give you when they have a encounters
perfectly balanced for where you are in the game.
In the end I still do crave control, and will drift
away from Telengard for a while every time, but that
feeling when you get back to it is hard to beat.
While Telengard is often mislabelled as a roguelike,
its dungeons aren’t random but procedurally generated,
spanning 50 massive floors. On the other hand, there’s no
end goal – you just survive as long as possible.
The game’s developer, Daniel Lawrence, claims he
created Telengard as a home computer port of a game
called DND that he wrote while at Purdue University.
The controversy is that Lawrence’s DND and Telengard
have many elements that are similar to PLATO’s dnd.
This led to criticism and many plagiarism accusations,
since Telengard was released as a commercial title.
Regardless, we didn’t knew about any of this at
the time. Telengard became a popular title among early
CRPG fans, and many like myself still enjoy challenging
its unforgiving RNG from time to time. DM
Ultima II:
Revenge of the Enchantress
Richard Garriott, 1982
Apple II, C64, Atari 8-bit, DOS, Mac, etc
After the success of Ultima I, Richard Garriott
spent over a year working to create a sequel.
During this time he taught himself how to
program in assembly language, allowing for several
improvements in graphical variety and scale.
But what really defined Ultima II was that in the
meanwhile Garriott saw Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits
(1981), a light-hearted fantasy movie about a kid who
meets a group of dwarves and travels through several
time periods by using a magic map.
Heavily inspired by the movie, Garriott moved
Ultima II from the magical land of Sosaria to Earth.
After the wizard Mondain was defeated in the
previous game, his apprentice and lover Minax learns
time travel and floods Earth’s past, present and future
with her evil minions. Lord British calls upon a new
hero to step forward and undo Minax’s wicked work.
To do so, the hero travels across five time periods
using magical gates – which would become an iconic
feature of the Ultima series. As in the movie, a map
shows all the gates and where and when they lead to.
This map was actually a physical cloth map, included
in the game’s box. Back then most games were still
being sold inside crude ziplock bags, and Garriott was
snubbed by several publishers until Sierra On-Line
agreed on producing a box with the map.
If time travel isn’t enough for you, Ultima II also
goes into space, allowing you to visit the nine planets
of our solar system (back when Pluto was a planet!).
Sadly, all these areas have barely any content or story
to them – apart from a few Easter eggs – and even the
first-person dungeons are mostly pointless.
Truly, you’ll spend most of the game battling
monsters for key items that randomly drop, cursing
the poorly balanced character system and grinding
until you’re strong enough to attack Minax’s fortress.
Another reason why Ultima II isn’t discussed
much today is because its events were retconned in
future games of the series. This solved the confusing
mess of why Sosarian characters were on Earth and
any plot holes derived from timeline-altering events.
Ultima II had great ideas that impressed gamers
back then, but the repetitive gameplay and lack of
meaningful content makes it the most dated game in
the series. Still, greater things were yet to come. FE
In 1983,
Sierra On-Line
published
Ultima:
Escape from
Mt. Drash, a
crude dungeon
crawler for the
VIC-20. It has
nothing to
do with the
Ultima series,
but Garriott
allowed Sierra
to use the
series’ name.
Fighting an Orc in
1423 BC Europe.
The world map
isn’t very big,
but it’s slightly
different in each
time period.
While Ultima II
looks a lot like
its predecessor,
it packs discrete
improvements
such as large
towns to explore
and animated
water tiles.
59
Moria
Robert Alan Koeneke, 1983
VAX-11/780 (MS-DOS, Amiga and Linux)*
*The original
Moria was made
for VAX-11/780
computers,
but its creator
shared the
source code
freely, which
allowed various
versions and
ports – under
the requirement
that it was kept
non-commercial.
The town shops
allow you to
prepare yourself
for the dungeon.
But beware,
as beggars and
thieves also roam
the streets and
may steal your
gold – or life.
60
First released in 1983, Moria started out as a
Rogue clone for University of Oklahoma’s VAX-
11/780 mini-computer (not to be confused with
the 1975 Moria game for PLATO). As development
went on, the game started to differ significantly from its
predecessor: the setting became Tolkien’s Middle Earth
and the objective was to kill the Balrog.
More importantly, Moria introduced several
features that would later become essential to certain
sub-genre of roguelikes: a town with shops at the top
of the dungeon, scrolling multiple-screen maps, spells,
artefact items with special properties, character classes
and races and the need to carry a source of light.
At the beginning of each game, a new character
must be created. Race, class and sex are chosen by
the player while all the stats, as well as the character’s
background, are randomised (the game allows rerolling
so one shouldn’t worry too much). From then
on, Moria is pure dungeon crawling with occasional
trips back to the town in order to sell useless
equipment and buy better ones, replenish food and
torches and identify unknown items.
The game (as well as others inspired by it) is
focused mostly on combat and exploration and doesn’t
feature NetHack’s item-based puzzles or ADOM’s
quests – like Rogue before it, it’s all about getting to the
bottom of the dungeon while fighting against hordes
of monsters. Levels (with the exception of a town) in
Moria don’t persist – when you return to the dungeon
floor you’ve visited, it will be generated anew.
Moria’s interface differs a bit from the one of
Rogue: this time, playing area occupies the right side
of the screen, with the character information placed
on the left. There are also a few graphical differences
like the walls being denoted by a hash sign and the
inequality signs being used for staircases.
The game is played through a text terminal (with
the usual possibility of playing the game remotely
through Telnet or SSH) and controlled with the
keyboard. The control scheme might be a problem
for laptop owners as most versions of Moria are
controlled with the numpad, without the possibility
of using arrow keys or the VI-style controls.
Unfortunately, Moria is an early roguelike and
it suffers from many of the same problems a player
might encounter with Rogue or Hack: it’s difficult
while not being complex enough to provide you a way
of preparing yourself for the worst encounters.
That would be enough to make your survival in
any game dependent on the mercy of random number
generators, but Moria takes it a few steps further: while
the game was being developed, each new version was
supposed to be a challenge for the veteran players
who’ve managed to beat the previous ones. As a result,
Moria’s difficulty makes the game unwelcoming even
to those who’ve played roguelikes before and don’t
have a problem with procedurally generated levels,
permanent death and a high level of difficulty.
“I listened a lot to my players
and kept making enhancements
to the game to fix problems, to
challenge them, and to keep
them going. If anyone managed
to win, I immediately found out
how, and ‘enhanced’ the game
to make it harder. I once vowed
it was ‘unbeatable’, and a week
later a friend of mine beat it! His
character, ‘Iggy’, was placed into
the game as ‘The Evil Iggy’, and
immortalised. And, of course, I
went in and plugged up the trick
he used to win.”
– Robert Alan Koeneke,
Moria’s creator
Surrounded by
giant white louse,
our desperate
dwarf resorts
to one of the
unidentified
potions in his
inventory. Sadly,
It was a potion
of slowness.
After being abandoned in 1987 by its original
creator, Robert Alan Koeneke, the game lived on
as Unix Moria – or UMoria – a port that, thanks to
being written in C, provided new players with the
possibility of playing Moria on different hardware
(contrary to what the name suggests, UMoria can be
played on systems other than Unix, e.g. MS-DOS).
This is by far the most popular version of Moria and
the one that inspired the creation of games such as
Castle of the Winds, Angband and even Diablo.
Nowadays, the popularity of Moria and UMoria
has been far surpassed by derivative titles, especially
Angband (in fact, the sub-genre of roguelikes that
has been codified by this game is often described
Angband-like). While it’s sad that such an important
game in the history of CRPGs is being overlooked,
it’s easy to see why: Angband is extremely faithful to
the gameplay and setting (although this time players
are tasked with defeating Morgoth) of original Moria
while greatly improving it and expanding upon it.
It’s simply a better game that, while still challenging,
won’t scare off less experienced players.
While everyone with an interest in roguelike
games should play a few sessions of Moria to
experience an important part of the genre’s history,
chances are that more fun will be had with games
that descended from it. MM
Angband
Angband was first released in 1990 but is still in active
development. Its gameplay and visual style are similar
to that of Moria but it has more enemies (including
boss monsters), spells and items as well as a longer
dungeon, while at the same time being more balanced
and streamlined. In contrast to Moria’s monochrome
look, Angband gives colours to different enemies, items
and HUD elements. It is also notable for the ease of
modding as all its data is stored in text files – this has
resulted in the creation of numerous variants, such as
ZAngband and MAngband, and helped to popularise
the Moria/Angband sub-genre of roguelikes.
The Amiga version had mouse support and very simple
graphics, but both were more confusing than helpful.
Angband allows for tilesets, as well as ASCII graphics.
61
The Return
of Heracles
Stuart Smith, 1983
Apple II, Atari 8-bit and C64
Stuart Smith
would go on
to create the
Adventure
Construction
Set in 1984,
an influential
toolset that
allowed players
to create their
own CRPGs.
Each of the 19
characters has
its own traits.
Palaemon,
Heracles’ original
name, begins by
facing two snakes
sent by Hera,
while Odysseus is
accompanied by
his dog, Argus.
62
Stuart Smith is a somewhat enigmatic figure from
early CRPG history. His output was top-notch,
reflecting his belief that creating mindless games
without educational value was a pointless exercise,
which may have led to his seemingly early and
permanent exit from the game development world.
His first game was Fracas (1980), an early RPG
where up to eight players could explore a maze-like
city, competing (or cooperating) to see who would
complete self-imposed challenges first. A defining
feature of Fracas and Smith’s subsequent games is
the autonomy that NPCs have: every single creature
in the game is unique, and explores the maze just as
you do, picking up items, fighting enemies from other
factions and eventually even levelling up!
The concept evolved with Ali Baba and the Forty
Thieves (1981), which gave players a more complex
dungeon to explore, populated by 40 thieves, shops,
NPCs like Aladdin and other unique creatures. Your
goal here is to rescue Princess Buddir-al-Buddoor and,
besides the obvious Arabian Nights influence, the game
also took cues from Tolkien’s books and folk tales.
Smith’s next game would be more coherent and,
for many fans, remain his best. The Return of Heracles
is so embedded in Greek mythology that it likely falls
in the category of “edutainment”, but in the same way
The Oregon Trail does – you virtually have no choice
but to learn about myriad (mostly-accurate) aspects
of Ancient Greek myths, legends, and culture.
There is a relatively shocking degree of nonlinearity
in the game, as you can choose everything
from which Greek hero to play (Perseus, Hippolyta,
Jason, Achilles, Odysseus, etc.), how many characters
you’ll control (anywhere from one to all 19 of them)
and whether you’ll spend your time trying to avoid
combat or killing every character you meet.
Some combat is unavoidable, as the purpose of
the game – completing the Twelve Labours of Heracles
– does necessitate fights such as the traditional slaying
of the Hydra and the Nemean Lion. But you are free
to try to duck and weave your way around the vast
majority of characters, and there are even wholly
optional areas in the game.
The learning aspect should definitely be
emphasised; charming vignettes explain various myths
and historical information, and characters come to life
even with the hardware limitations of the time. My
childhood memories of the tragic figure of Endymion
(in myth and, usually, in-game) stayed with me my
whole life, and my son’s middle name is Endymion
almost entirely because of the experiences I had here.
The switching between the overworld maps of
Greece and the “interior” maps is fairly innovative for
the time, and someone with a passing knowledge of
Greek geography and mythology could likely guess
where to go for various quests (to some degree)
without having to stumble randomly through the
game’s sizeable world or consult the Oracle of Delphi.
Each hero has its own stats, which can be improved by
training, acquiring new equipment or earning blessings.
The score system greatly increases the game’s replayability,
with players still competing for high scores and speedruns.
Knowledge of Greek myths is vital to avoid certain deaths,
such as being cursed and then devoured by Actaeon’s dogs.
But make no mistake, the role-playing adventure
aspects of the game are fabulous for the era as well.
The time limit of 200 turns per quest keeps the game
fast and intense, while random elements like roaming
NPCs and the whim of the gods (climbing Olympus
might earn you either a gift or a curse) keeps every
playthrough fresh. There is a solid economy which
enforces tough choices as the monetary resources are
(mostly) finite. Thus, the more characters you have,
the more difficult it becomes to properly equip them.
Minimal-character “speedruns” are evidently
popular within the retro community but, if you do
choose to take the full panoply of characters, then it can
be heartbreaking when your nearly-naked characters
succumb to the hordes in the Trojan War segment.
Compared to today’s 100-hour RPGs, it’s amazing
how The Return of Heracles throws virtually the entire
“greatest hits” of Greek mythology at you rapid-fire,
one screen after another. Certainly any game where
you can obtain the Golden Fleece, triumphantly
board the Trojan Horse, and climb Mount Olympus
in the span of a few minutes does not lack in action.
For all its complexity, the game is extremely easy to play.
All you need are the four arrow keys, Space and Enter.
Speaking to other aspects of immersion, the
relatively minimal amount of sound in the game is
implemented so well that it remains striking even
today. There are ambient sounds of crashing waves
in maritime scenes, sounds of gates opening and
closing, and distinctive tones indicating the amount
of damage done by an attack – from a barely-audible
glancing blow, to a bass-heavy deathblow dirge. The
musical score is easy to call masterful for the time,
as the few songs are all excellently memorable and
thematically appropriate.
Overall, The Return of Heracles stands out for
the sheer amount of entertainment stuffed into it,
particularly given its age. The only real competition
in 1983 were the third releases from Wizardry and
Ultima. But Wizardry was never meant to be a similar
sort of game, and it would be another two years before
Lord British refined his own technique and released a
CRPG with the kind of narrative depth and resonance
that Stuart Smith had already mastered – although
Smith did have the advantage of using stories that had
already been honed for thousands of years. QX
63
Ultima III:
Exodus
Origin Systems, 1983
Apple II, MS-DOS, C64, Amiga, NES, etc
Those who wish
to play Exodus
can try the
MS-DOS version
with the Ultima
3 Upgrade mod,
which adds
VGA graphics,
MIDI sound and
many other cool
improvements.
You start Exodus
by creating four
characters for
your party. It’s
the only Ultima
to allow this, and
the last one to
feature fantasy
races like Elves
and Bobbits.
64
Ultima III is an important departure from its
predecessors, allowing players to control a
party of adventurers for the first time in the
series. The enemy you face is also one of the strangest
in gaming history: the half-demon, half-machine
offspring of Mondain and Minax called Exodus.
This creature threatens Sosaria, requiring you to
return to the setting of Ultima I, though my advice to
you is not to get too attached to the place.
One of the reasons Richard Garriott has a great
reputation as a programmer is due to how well he
handled technical improvements from game to game.
While the Wizardry series saw small incremental
changes through the first five games of the series, the
transition from Akalabeth, Ultima I, Ultima II, and
then Ultima III is startling, especially knowing that
each of these games was coded by the same person.
Once more, the geographic area was expanded
from the previous game. In sound, the game made
another impressive jump with more rhythmic tunes
that changed depending on the party’s game location,
which strongly pushed the mood.
In the previous two games, combat was simply
a matter of attacking a foe standing in front of you,
but Ultima III moves all battles to a separate, tactical
combat map. Now you must carefully consider the
position and movement of all your characters, greatly
expanding your options in combat. On top of this,
the game also adds new character races, classes and
different spell groups for Wizards and Clerics.
Outside combat, the game is also much tighter.
The space battles and most sci-fi elements of Ultima
I and II were removed, and talking to NPCs is more
important now, as conversation trees were added. The
game also packs a twist, with a final encounter that
requires more puzzle-solving than combat.
Although a cloth map was once again included
with the game box, a new continent that could be
found off the map was made available, adding a sense
of wonder. The same could be said for a secret spell
that was not included in the manual and required
puzzle-solving and exploration to discover. The time
gates of Ultima II were back, now officially called
Moongates, and would allow travel dependent on
phases of the planet’s twin moons.
Garriott felt that allowing the character to be able
to interact with his or her surroundings was vital to the
CRPG experience, so he sought to improve upon the
things that one could do. Players could pick up more
objects and manipulate them on the screen, allowing
for further puzzle design and problem-solving.
Of course, all of these improvements would be
the result of brand-new programming code. Garriott
had left Sierra On-Line after Ultima II was published,
claiming that they stopped paying him his royalties,
and started his own game company – Origin Systems.
If his fledgling creation was to survive, then Ultima III
would have to be a hit.
“Once I published Ultima III
suddenly a large number of people
wrote to the company, and I began
to see exactly what people thought
of the game. They would often
describe how they would play the
game. As I quickly realised, people
were playing completely differently
than I thought – they were minmaxing
for power, versus roleplaying
as the hero. It was really
eye-opening.”
– Richard Garriott,
Ultima III’s creator
Luckily, his hard work and brand-new code was
successful enough to sell over a hundred thousand
copies of Exodus, resulting in Origin’s continued
survival and the game receiving a Gold Award from
the Software Publisher’s Association.
A transition piece, Exodus’ game design feels
much closer to Ultima IV than Ultima II, but the game
is narratively tied to its predecessors. This is the last
we’ll see of Sosaria, and the last we’ll see of some of
the character classes and races we were able to play in
the previous games. Exodus ends with a cataclysmic
event that will reshape the world into Britannia and
destroy the social order of those that survive.
We’ll still see some familiar locations in future
games, such as Britain and Yew, but this is goodbye
to places like Grey and Monitor. Remnants of Sosaria
will be brought up in future games, but I can’t help
but wonder what the series would have been like if
Garriott had kept them in his future games.
Ultima III would have a deep, lasting influence,
popularising tactical party- and turn-based combat
among Western developers – which would later be
expanded by Wizard’s Crown (1985), Pool of Radiance
(1988) and many others.
And it would also be a hit in Japan. The previous
Ultima games were ported to Japanese computers,
inspiring games like 夢 幻 の 心 臓 (Heart of Fantasy,
1984), but Exodus was the first game of the series to
be ported to Nintendo’s NES/Famicom consoles. This
port, released a few months after Dragon Quest (1986)
had redefined JRPGs, was the first Western RPG of
many Japanese developers, as well as many console
gamers across the world.
While not as fun as some of the games that would
come after, this is where the series really begins to kick
off, and I would still recommend Ultima III to fans of
old PC games and those that enjoy experiencing the
origins of an important RPG series. DT
While obscure
CRPG Tunnels
of Doom (1982)
pioneered the
tactical partybased
and turnbased
combat,
it was Ultima III
who popularised
this feature.
Players who
beat the game
were told to
send a letter to
Origin reporting
their deeds.
In return, they
would get a
completion
certificate,
signed by Lord
British himself.
This tradition
would continue
up to Ultima
VIII (1994).
Ultima III added a line-of-sight system, so walls, doors,
forests and mountains all block how far you can see.
Dungeons now have solid colour walls, while encounters
are more sparse and fought in the tactical combat view.
65
Questron
Strategic Simulations, Inc., 1984
C64, Apple II and Atari 8-bit
Questron
was SSI’s first
published RPG.
It became a
hit, surpassing
all the strategy
games the
company was
known for.
Once you arrive
at the Land of
Evil, you’ll be able
to explore firstperson
dungeons.
While most RPGs
used straight
wire-frames,
Questron’s
dungeons are
more cave-like.
66
The early years of CRPG history show a wide
variety of game styles. They all look and
play quite differently. It was a new frontier;
people where still trying to figure out how an RPG
should play on the computer. Some brought ideas
from the PLATO RPGs, but most stories are about
programmers who bought an Apple II and tried to
make a game on it, using their favourite tabletop
RPGs, books and movies as reference.
Questron is different. It was born when Charles
Dougherty played Ultima I and fell in love with it. He
had never played an RPG before, but he was a skilled
programmer, so he decided to see if he could make his
own game – based on the only RPG he knew.
When the game was done, he sent it to publishers,
hoping for a deal. Brøderbund began displaying the
game at conventions, and in one of those Richard
Garriott happened to pass by and complained about
how similar the game was to Ultima. Brøderbund gave
up on publishing it, but Strategic Simulations Inc.
(SSI) wanted to get into the CRPG market and decided
to strike a deal with Garriott.
And so, after a few changes, Questron was released
in 1984, featuring a disclaimer: “Game structure and
style used under licence of Richard Garriott”.
It sounds a bit mean today, considering how often
popular titles are copied, and that the following years
saw dozens of RPGs heavily inspired by Ultima, like
Shards of Spring, 2400 A.D., Magic Candle, Deathlord,
Dragon Quest, Exile, etc. But Questron was the first,
and it’s indeed extremely similar to Ultima I and II.
There’s no character creation, you simply type a
name and spawn on the game’s massive open world.
Your first goal is to gather gold and grow stronger,
buying weapons and armour in the various towns,
and visiting cathedrals to increase your HP.
Questron has no XP system; to improve your
stats you must pay to play mini-games, e.g. skeetshooting
will slowly increase your Dexterity. While
quite original, this means that fighting monsters is
mostly pointless – it wields little gold, no XP and will
drain your HP. You’re better off gambling in town,
playing blackjack or roulette. Not very heroic.
Once you’re rich and powerful enough, the king
will summon you. You’ll be tasked with travelling to the
Land of Evil, where you must defeat the evil wizard.
This new land is another large continent, but it features
more dangerous enemies, a few first-person dungeons
and a giant eagle you can mount to fly around.
While the journey has few innovations, Questron’s
ending was revolutionary. Today we expect extensive
cutscenes that will bring closure to our adventures,
but, back in the day, games would just say “You Won!”
and shut down. Questron was the first CRPG – and
possibly the first video game – that rewarded you with
a long animated victory ceremony, with trumpeters
announcing your arrival, the king appointing you
Baron and even some sequel-teasing.
“One of my regrets was never
calling Richard [Garriott] to talk
about it [the similarities with
Ultima]. But, bear in mind he was
a big name, I was a nobody living
disconnected in the Midwest, and
Brøderbund and SSI were telling me
that he was pissed. I had no idea
what to say to him.”
– Chuck Dougherty,
Questron’s co-creator
A town with four
shops, a casino
and a jail. I bribed
the guard to let
me speak with
the prisoner,
who is giving
me some hints.
Like Ultima, the
shop’s inventory
is time-based,
with new items
being available
over time.
Questron became a best-selling hit, so Charles and
his twin brother, John, founded Quest Software and
made their second game, Legacy of the Ancients (1987).
It features an updated engine, with large towns, better
graphics and an item durability system, but follows a
very similar formula to Questron, where you must earn
gold by gambling or fighting and then raise your stats
in mini-games until you can defeat the evil bad guy.
However, Legacy had a unique hook: you start
the game inside a Galatic Museum, where the exhibits
are magical – they may teleport you to a city or secret
dungeon, or grant an item or stat boost. To interact with
them you need special coins, which must be found by
exploring. The game still doesn’t use XP; instead you
must do quests for the museum’s caretaker, who will
grant you levels and unlock new areas of the museum.
After releasing Legacy under Electronic Arts,
the brothers partnered again with SSI, who assigned
Westwood Studios to help them create Questron II.
Released in 1988, Questron II had fancy new
graphics, but was practically a remake of Questron I –
the same single-character RPG based around getting
gold to buy gear and raise stats. Lacking the novelty of
Legacy’s Galactic Museum and with a primitive style
of gameplay, it had little to offer next to big 1988 titles
like Wasteland, Ultima V and Pool of Radiance.
The brothers still made one more game in 1988,
The Legend of Blacksilver. It mixes the best of Questron
and Legacy in a polished package, but it’s ultimately
more of the same. Furthermore, its publisher, Epyx,
went bankrupt and failed to properly promote the game,
so the twins decided to retire from game development.
It’s an interesting story. Neither Charles nor
John had any previous experience with RPGs – they
simply loved Ultima and decided to make games like
it. This led to several iterations of the same concept,
but unfortunately it all fell apart when they failed to
move on as times changed. FE
Legacy of the Ancients features an iconic Galactic Museum,
where you can use exhibitions as gates to faraway lands.
Questron II’s graphics were improved, but the gameplay felt
simplistic next to games like Ultima V and Wasteland.
67
1985-1989
Here come
the new challengers
After the crash of 1983, video game consoles had become a dirty
word in the US – neither retailers nor parents were willing to spend
money on one. But where people saw a dead fad, SEGA and Nintendo
saw an opportunity to cross the seas and conquer a new market.
Nintendo’s solution was to sell their Famicom console not as a video
game console, but as a toy – a “Nintendo Entertainment System” (aka NES),
bundled with a Zapper Light Gun and ROB, a plastic robot that would assist
players in some games (and was quickly abandoned after release).
Still, Nintendo’s masterstroke was the “Nintendo Seal of Quality”,
the company’s answer to the countless bad, buggy and sometimes even
obscene “shovelware” games that flooded the market. Now Nintendo
guaranteed the quality of each game they published, and a lockout chip
prevented other companies from releasing unlicensed NES games. This
would reshape the console industry and become the new norm, with
developers now being forced to sign deals with console companies.
These tactics, together with a library of titles like Super Mario Bros,
The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Castlevania, Mega Man and Final Fantasy
made the NES a cultural phenomena, resurrecting game consoles.
Meanwhile, computers were also facing a change of guard. A new
generation of personal computers arrived, led by the Commodore Amiga
and the Atari ST. They brought in massive improvements in performance,
audio and graphics, but the outstanding revolution was the adoption of
the mouse and Graphical User Interfaces. This allowed home computers
to become more intuitive and accessible, as even a child could drag the
mouse across the screen to click on objects and icons.
While IBM PC-Compatibles remained the most popular platform,
they also faced several changes. In 1985, Intel released its i386 processor
and Compaq quickly incorporated it in its DeskPro 386, gaining market
by producing an IBM clone more advanced than IBM’s own machines.
IBM tried to recover its throne with the PS2 family in 1987. It was
an innovative machine, with an all-new operational system (OS/2), new
ports and a new VGA graphics card that allowed it to rival the Amiga
and ST. However, IBM doomed itself by trying to enforce a proprietary
architecture in order to regain control over the clones. Simply put, IBM’s
new machine wasn’t IBM PC-Compatible. It faced severe backlash
and only further increased the dominance of clones, who managed to
replicate its features without relying on IBM.
Overall, the second half of the 80s brought in a wave of innovation
that revitalised the whole industry, setting the foundations for the
creative explosion that would follow in the 90s.
68
Trends:
Graphical User Interface: People often mistakingly believe that before Windows 95
the only operating system computers had were black DOS screens, but the Xerox Alto,
created in 1973, already had a mouse and a graphical operating system. The Apple Lisa
popularised the concept in 1983 and soon every big company followed suit. The Amiga,
Atari ST and Macintosh all had their own graphical operating systems with mouse support,
while IBM-PCs could use OS/2, GEOS, GEM or Microsoft’s newly released Windows.
Apple’s Lisa already
had its own graphical
interface in 1983,
with mouse support,
multiple windows
and drag-down
menus.
Graphic Modes: One of the most noticeable advances of the new generation of
computers were the graphics. Previously most computers could only handle up to 16
colours, but now 64 colours became the standard – and special modes like the Amiga’s HAM
rendered up to 4096 colors at once. IBM PC-Compatibles relied on CGA cards, which
allowed only 4 colours. In 1984, EGA cards raised that to 16 colours, and in 1987 the VGA
cards pushed it to 256 colours, finally standing up to the Amiga, Apple IIGS and Atari ST.
An image
created on
Amiga’s Photon
Paint, using the
machine’s 4096
colours at once.
Sound Cards: Early computers could produce nothing but a few “beeps” as sound.
Dedicated Sound Cards were first created as tools for professional musicians, with later
machines like the Amiga and Atari ST offering built-in audio chips. IBM-PCs were left
behind until 1987, when the AdLib sound card arrived, followed by the Sound Blaster,
the Roland MT-32 sound module and many others. Sound Cards would be a competitive
business until the mid 90s, when they began to be replaced by built-in audio chips.
King’s Quest IV
was released in
1988 and was
the first game to
support IBM PC
sound cards.
The Commodore Amiga
family begins with the Amiga
1000, an accessible home
computer with cutting edge
CPU, graphics and sound.
The Nintendo Entertainment
System arrives in the US.
A cultural phenomena, it
reignited game consoles and
sold over 60 million units.
The Apple IIGS is released.
Apple’s answer to the Amiga
and Atari ST, it was cheaper
and ran Apple II software,
but was slow and outdated.
SimCity is released.
Selling over one million copies,
it expanded the horizon of
video games beyond combat
and epic adventures.
The Genesis / Mega Drive
is released. SEGA’s biggest
success and the eternal rival
to the Super Nintendo, it sold
over 30 million units.
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
The Atari ST family is
launched. A cheaper
alternative to the Amiga, it
was also the first computer
with a coloured GUI. Its builtin
MIDI ports made it very
popular with musicians.
SEGA’s Master System arrives in
the West. While technologically
superior to the NES, it suffered
from a smaller game library. It
sold over 10 million units at the
time, being very successful in
Europe and Brazil.
Dragon Quest is released
in Japan for the Famicom.
Blending Wizardry with
Ultima and Akira Toriyama’s
unique art style, it defined
JRPGs and sold over
2 million copies.
The IBM PS/2 was IBM’s
attempt to regain control
of the PC clones market.
Although it did introduce
several innovations, it was
heavily criticised for its
closed architecture.
The Game Boy is released.
While it faced competition
from handhelds like the Atari
Lynx and SEGA Game Gear,
its low price and excellent
games made it the victor,
selling over 118 million units.
69
Wizard’s
Crown
Strategic Simulations, Inc., 1985
Apple II, Atari 8-bit, C64, Atari ST and MS-DOS
While SSI had
published
RPGs before,
Wizard’s Crown
was the first
one created by
their internal
team, a group
of wargaming
veterans led
by Paul Murray
and Keith Brors,
who would also
create the Gold
Box series later.
The city offers
some shops and
taverns, but most
of your time will
be spent in the
ruins next to it,
trying to find new
locations and
fighting random
encounters.
70
Wizard’s Crown is a turn-based, tactical
CRPG created by my favourite gaming
company of all time, SSI. The backstory
is simplistic, involving a ravaged land, crazed wizard
evil guy, and a McGuffin held by said wizard. The
player puts a team of eight heroes together, has them
explore their surroundings, and eventually gathers
enough skill and special equipment to kill the evil
wizard and take his crown back home.
The game features five classes – Warrior, Thief,
Priest, Ranger and Sorcerer, but character creation
is done through a point-buy system, allowing you
to customise a character’s stats and skills. Thus, you
can create a powerful pure warrior who excels as a
sword and shield fighter, but the system also allows
for multi-class characters, such as a lightly armoured
Ranger/Priest with some points in healing in order to
complement the party’s dedicated Priest.
Characters never level up, but instead earn more
skill points, which can be used to improve how well
they use a particular sort of weapon, block with a
shield, identify items, cast spells, etc.
The entire game takes place in a very limited
area, consisting only of a crime-ridden half of a city,
bandit-filled woods north of the city, and the ruined
remnants of the second half of the city to the south.
Overworld movement is done from a 2D topdown
perspective through a map of grid squares,
though the party can enter certain structures and
shops. When the party enters a building or dungeon
that requires exploration, it is brought into another
map. Non-combat skills become important, as there
are often locked doors and secrets to discover.
Similarly, when the party encounters enemies
the game goes to a combat map, complete with walls
and furniture that affect movement and line of fire.
Combat is really where this game shines. Here
you can see the sort of design choices that would later
come into play in the famous Gold Box series, which
SSI began in 1988 with Pool of Radiance.
You start battles by positioning your heroes, and
the direction a combatant faces is important, with
better defensive values against frontal attacks, while
attacks from behind are more devastating.
Once combat begins, there’s an outstanding
number of actions available. Characters can go prone
or zig-zag to avoid arrows, sacrifice defence for a more
reckless attack, spend an entire turn aiming their bow,
break shields with axes, guard against approaching
enemies, hide, etc. Besides hit points there’s also a
detailed injury system, and unconscious companions
can die by bleeding out unless one of your characters
stabilises them. Furthermore, if a battle takes too long,
morale starts to drop, making it harder.
Wizard’s Crown is by far the most tactical RPG of
its time – battles are an elegant dance, with forward lines
of soldiers protecting allied archers and spellcasters,
while supporting healers running in between.
Character creation offers a great amount of options, and you
also get to pick icons to represent each hero in battle.
Characters can be injured in several ways, and can go down
unconscious even if they still have all their hit points.
After battles you must carefully treat your characters.
Unconscious heroes will be left behind if you move on.
However, if fighting long tactical battles against
random hordes of enemies gets tiresome, Wizard’s
Crown offers a novel “Quick Combat” option – the
game does all the fighting, you just monitor your
party status and order a quick retreat if needed.
The downside is that the AI won’t fight as well
as a decent player – it’s especially inept with magic,
leading to some costly victories. But the real issue is
that if you skip combat, there isn’t much game left.
The biggest problem with Wizard’s Crown comes
from how limited the backdrop is. There simply isn’t
enough territory to explore to justify the amount of
hours it takes to beat the game. Once you clear out the
beginning portion of the city there is nothing left to
explore, but the northern woods and southern ruins
have enemies too tough for you to defeat.
So you will spend a large amount of time
running through places you’ve already cleared, trying
to attract wandering monsters for a few earned skill
points and items to sell. Wizard’s Crown requires
ridiculous hours of grinding so you can eventually
improve your characters enough to move on.
The Eternal Dagger added new features, like being able to talk,
surrender or hide from enemies, but it was still tedious.
The sequel, The Eternal Dagger (1987), tried to
fix this by introducing a larger world map, with varied
terrain types and even adding puzzles. Sadly, it also
added a new fatigue system, more micro-managing and
longer travelling times, demanding even more patience
from players. More complicated than complex, it was a
step back from its predecessor.
I really can’t recommend Wizard’s Crown to new
audiences, especially when the Gold Box games took
much of what was good here and made for a much
better experience. Still, Wizard’s Crown will always
have a special place in my heart.
When I was a tween, my father purchased
an Atari PC version of the game for me, though I
was unable to get far in it back then. In 2015, I was
watching over my dying father during many long days
alongside his bed. I showed the Wizard’s Crown end
screen to him when I beat the game and asked if he
remembered buying the game for me and he gave me
a warm smile. He was dead a handful of days later.
So although I can’t recommend it to others, I have
no regrets over my time with it. Thanks again, Dad. DT
71
The Bard’s Tale
Interplay, 1985
Apple II, Amiga, Atari ST, C64 and MS-DOS
Eight novels
were written
around the
Bard’s Tale lore,
by famous
authors such
as Mercedes
Lackey, Josepha
Sherman
and Michael
Stackpole (who
also helped
to design The
Bard’s Tale III).
The original
Apple II release may
look simple today,
but the smooth
animations were
revolutionary
next to Wizardry’s
crude wire-frame
corridors.
72
Designed in the halcyon days of computer
role-playing games, where using graph
paper to map out every explorable space
was practically the norm, the irrepressible Bard’s Tale
trilogy is a deeply treasured series of games developed
by Interplay through the mid to late 80s.
Highly inspired by its older brother, Wizardry,
Bard’s Tale helped push the party-based dungeon
crawler forward with its emphasis on tactical turnbased
combat, deviously creative and eminently
memorable dungeon design, sheer atmospheric
writing, monster sprite animations and its deeply
unique magic system, requiring the player use four
letter code words. (ARFI, MAMA, NUKE anyone?)
Michael Cranford’s ambition came in the form
of a windowed first-person perspective which moves
with a pseudo-3D effect as the textures change,
creating an immersing sense of truly moving through
a virtual world. The player’s characters 1-6 were listed
below, with a slot available for summoned creatures or
NPCs who may occasionally join your intrepid group.
Arguably one of Bard’s Tale’s greatest pleasures
lies in the party creation: making a diverse range
of characters to explore Skara Brae and meet
its challenges. The rich party design gives these
games a fantastic longevity and I can vividly recall
experimenting with many combinations of Paladins,
Warriors, Hunters, Bards, Rogues and the spellcasting
classes, seeking that “perfect” party balance.
A distinctive aspect to the Bard’s Tale character
system is the array of magic classes at the disposal of
the player. In addition to the classic Bard class, who
can weave a limited number of magical songs in
and out of combat to influence proceedings before
requiring a stiff drink, the player can also take
advantage of the tiered magical class system. Whilst
Magicians and Conjurers are the only two spell-casting
classes initially available in character creation, after
some levelling, players can choose to change the
classes of their spellcasters to Sorcerer (Illusions) and
Wizard (Summoning), adding depth to combat.
During the early phases of the game, Bard’s Tale
is an intensely demanding experience as players have
to familiarise themselves with Skara Brae’s important
locations relatively quickly, else suffer the wrath of one
of the many random encounters which could easily
send low-level characters to their collective doom.
The incredible sense of danger one has when simply
making one’s way to Garth’s Shoppe, exploring a new
dungeon for the first time, or the sense of dread when
making one’s way back to the stairs with low magic
points to the sanctuary of the Adventurer’s Guild
and the safety of a well-saved game, are memorable
highlights of this wonderful trilogy.
Thus, a slow careful approach in nurturing and
managing one’s characters in the beginning pays off as
the group progressively becomes stronger and moves
with greater assurance through the wintery streets
and dungeons: to finally face Mangar himself!
“I had a vision for abandoning
Wizardry’s wire-frame corridors and
introducing framed animation of
textured walls that moved toward
you (a pseudo-3D effect). I wanted
a world that looked more real than
Wizardry’s. That was my primary
design departure. I also wanted
more magic involved in the game;
hack and slash wasn’t as interesting
to me.”
– Michael Cranford,
The Bard’s Tale creator
Later ports of the
game, such as the
Amiga version
released just one
year after the
Apple II version,
vastly improved
the graphics.
Released a year later, Bard’s Tale II: The Destiny
Knight, saw a much larger game world with six cities
and large outdoor areas, plus more save-game chances.
Players could transfer their parties from Bards Tale I
or Ultima III, use the services of banks, gamble in
casinos and take advantage of ranged combat.
Also new is a starter dungeon to assist players
in getting up to speed with their chosen characters,
alleviating the first game’s entry barrier. As portrayed
in the title screen animation, the main quest in the game
was to reunite the seven pieces of the destiny wand
and foil the plans of the evil Archmage, Lagoth Zanta.
Ardent fans of the series will also recall the
“Snares of Death” within the many challenging
dungeons. These were real-time puzzles and often
had a slightly esoteric element which befuddled and
flummoxed gamers worldwide. I would argue that
Bard’s Tale II is the most arduously challenging game
of the trilogy – which is no small feat.
Michale Cranford left the company afterwards,
but in 1988 The Bard’s Tale III: Thief of Fate brought
an even wider scope to the series. You must traverse
the dimensions and solve their individual quests to
collect magical items and topple the mad god Tarjan.
The addition of an auto-map feature and the
ability to save one’s game anywhere added a layer
to accessibility and convenience to the series. Due
of the variety of locations, descriptive prose within
dungeons and overall story, the third game remains
my favourite and closest to my heart.
Personally, I found much delight in the writing as
it’s richly atmospheric and yields many poetic moments
– from the articulate to the poignantly romantic and
even tragic. I fondly recall using some of the riddles
from the game in AD&D sessions with friends!
May ye all live to see why the thief was so fateful!
Raise a tankard to the great Bard’s Tale! Huzzah! RB
Interplay lost the
Bard’s Tale name
to its publisher,
Electronic Arts,
so the fourth
game in the
series had to be
transformed into
Dragon Wars
(1989). Many
failed attempts
to make Bard’s
Tale IV followed
until 2018, when
Brian Fargo’s
inXile released
a crowd-funded
sequel to the
original games.
The series is often criticised for the massive amount of
random encounters, and it’s quite self-aware about it.
The series received a faithful remaster in 2018, featuring
redrawn graphics, bug fixes and a new automap system.
73
Alternate Reality:
The City
In 1999, Philip
Price and Gary
Gilberson teamed
up again to create
an MMO called
Alternate Reality
Online, but the
project was
cancelled due to
lack of funds.
The character
creation screen,
where your
stats and wealth
are rolled. The
graphics were
quite impressive
for the time.
Paradise Programming, 1985
Atari 8-bit, Amiga, Apple II, MS-DOS, etc
Created by Philip Price, Alternate Reality was
originally planned as an ambitious series
of seven scenarios – City, Dungeon, Arena,
Palace, Wilderness, Revelation and Destiny. The City
would be patched by subsequent scenarios, creating
a huge, seamless adventure. Sadly only the first two –
The City and The Dungeon – were ever released.
Kidnapped by an alien spaceship, you find
yourself dropped into the hostile city of Xebec’s
Demise, fighting against the elements and a wide
variety of inhabitants from thieves, robbers and noblemen
to fantastical creatures of the night, as well as
trying to understand why you were abducted.
As you step through the doorway of the spaceship
the spinning numbers above your head will roll your
initial statistics within the world of Alternate Reality.
As well as the traditional Strength, Stamina, Skill,
Charisma, Wisdom and Intelligence, the game featured
a number of additional statistics about the character,
such as hunger, drunkenness and exhaustion, which
remain hidden from the players. Even 30 years later
there’s still discussion about the impact stats have on
events and certain types of encounters.
You explore a large city (64x64 squares) through
a small first person window in the centre of the screen,
using either keyboard or joystick. Unlike Wizardry
and Bard’s Tale, which used relatively simple 3D views
which “jumped” as you moved to each map square,
Alternate Reality provided full-colour textured walls
which scrolled smoothly by as your character moved
from one map square to another.
Combine that with other graphical effects such
as numerous sprite animations, day-and-night cycle,
rain and flashes of lightning and you have a game
which was graphically and aurally way ahead of its
peers. It made use of the Atari 8-bit unique strengths
to achieve some special effects, such as maximising
the number of colours on-screen, that programmers
found challenging to port to other computers later
on. It’s elaborate opening sequence (almost 5 minutes
long and with a theme song), movie-style credits and
careful sync of sound and image were novel features
which only became common many years later.
The music by Gary Gilbertson is memorable and
well employed. There’s a variety of songs for special
locations and events – including a Game Over song –
with lyrics appearing on-screen. During encounters,
the type of music can be used to determine the nature
of the encounter and how hostile it is likely to be.
With the absence of any defined quests within
The City, your goals are simply to develop a character
with powerful stats, obtain high-quality equipment
and amass sufficient wealth so that you may have a
chance to survive in future scenarios. This is done
through encountering the city’s inhabitants and
defeating them in combat, though wealth can also
be increased through the use of variable-rate bank
accounts – although a higher interest rate also means
there is a higher risk of you losing your money!
74
“Life is very short and one must try
to do what one can that best serves
man. It’s too short to just sit back
content and watch the world go by.
One is obligated to find ways to help
one another. I received much less
money creating games than when I
worked on the B-2 Stealth bomber,
but the joy I brought to so many
people with the games is priceless,
completely without measure. Never
underestimate the power of joy.”
– Philip Price,
Alternate Reality’s creator
After the release of The City, Phillip Price left
due to issues with the game’s publisher. And so the
sequel, Alternate Reality: The Dungeon, would arrive
only in 1987, developed by Ken Jordan and Dan Pinal
with some notes from Price and with Gary Gilbertson
again providing a rich variety of music.
The Dungeon is a solid dungeon crawler that can
be played without The City and feels like a full game.
It offers several quests found either through exploring
or by visiting the Oracle, who will assign quests if a
suitable offering is made. Through completing these
quests the player learns a lot more about the nature
of Alternate Reality’s environment and his kidnappers.
New features included a greatly expanded range
of items such as scrolls, tarot cards, magical eyes,
wands, as well as more unique locations across four
dungeon levels, spell-casting and an interesting guild
system where membership in one guild made you an
instant enemy with a rival guild.
Sadly, the series was never completed. A design
document for The Arena was completed but coding
never began. By that time 16-bit computers such as
the Amiga, Atari ST and the IBM PC were the rule,
and the market had moved away from all the 8-bit
machines. The City would be ported to these new
computers, now featuring vastly improved graphics,
but the developers did not include the patch system
Price had created, so the ports were unable to link
with other scenarios.
In the end, that didn’t matter, as The Dungeon
never got a 16-bit port. Versions for the Amiga and
IBM PC were about 70% complete when the game’s
publisher, Datasoft, went out of business.
Today players still brave the streets of Xebec’s
Demise and the corridors of The Dungeon, trying to
discover yet more secrets of the mysterious Alternate
Reality and hoping that one day they will be able to
finally bring their characters back to Earth. GS
Alternate Reality
features intense
use of music.
Some locations
have unique
songs, with lyrics
that appear in
sing-along style
on the screen.
Alternate
Reality X is a
modern, fan
remake of
the first two
games, that
allows you to
freely move
between
The City and
The Dungeon.
It’s currently
in development,
but you can
try it at www.
crpgdev.com
Besides fighting, players can also try to Charm or Trick
foes if their Charisma and Intelligence are high enough.
The Dungeon added a four-level maze to explore, with
various new interactions, events, enemies and quests.
75
Phantasie
Strategic Simulations, Inc., 1985
Atari ST, Amiga, C64, Apple II and MS-DOS
In a 2013
interview,
Winston Wood
revealed he
was working
on Phantasie V
during his spare
time. However,
in 2014 the
project was put
on hold due
lack of funding.
The overworld
map is quite simple,
containing only
cities, dungeons and
inns. But it’s full of
enemies that can
even take the party
by surprise at night.
76
Ask CRPG fans who Lord British is and chances
are they’ll know – he’s Richard Garriott’s alter
ego in the Ultima series. Ask them who Lord
Wood is, and the answer is less certain.
In the mid-80s, SSI released a three-game series,
Phantasie (1985), Phantasie II (1986) and Phantasie
III: The Wrath of Nikademus (1987), all created by
Winston Douglas Wood. In the games, he’s known as
Lord Wood, the noble leader of the forces of good and
the adversary of the evil Nikademus.
Phantasie’s original box touts the game as a “roleplaying
odyssey”, and this is a truly fitting description.
For just as Odysseus wandered throughout ancient
Greece on his journeys, the Phantasie series draws
much of its inspiration from Greek mythology. The
sorceror, Nikademus, is bent on conquering the world
with the help of his patron, the dark god Pluto. Zeus
cannot allow this to go unanswered and, like the
myths of old, he finds mortals – a party of adventurers
– to help his cause. The god also enlists the aid of Lord
Wood and a wizard, Filmon the Sage, to guide and
assist players throughout all three games.
Throughout the games, your journeys are
many and varied. Not only do players venture across
medieval-fantasy lands, but they also visit different
planes of existence. In fact, interdimensional travel is
a crucial and exhilarating aspect of the series. Players
travel to the Astral Plane, the Planes of Light and
Darkness, and multiple layers of the Netherworld.
These aren’t just dungeons to explore, but rather small
overworlds, complete with towns and locations. Not
only do players hear about the gods, but they also meet
them, Zeus at Mt. Olympus and Pluto in his “smallest
castle”, which is so vast it defies mortal comprehension.
One of the most unique aspects of the series is
the wide range of playable races available for players’
parties (15 in total). Not only can characters be
humans, elves, dwarves or gnomes, but they also can
be any number of D&D-inspired races, such as gnolls,
orcs, goblins, minotaurs, Lizardmen and sprites.
Each race has its own graphical representation on
the combat screen, which was quite advanced for
the time. It’s also possible to transfer characters from
game to game in the series.
The flow of the games follows a pattern that has
become quite familiar in console games and JRPGs.
Players’ parties advance from town to town in the
overworld, explore dungeons encountered along the
way and gain more experience and better equipment
in the process. The dungeons are displayed in a basic,
mini-map-style view, but are embellished with text
descriptions to bring them to life.
The story is mainly told through scrolls found
scattered across towns and dungeons. These scrolls do
an excellent job of introducing players to the people,
places and events that shape the world of Phantasie.
Players also encounter many puzzles and personalities
in the dungeons, such as Filmon and Lord Wood.
The dungeons are a highlight. You’ll encounter various
skill checks, interactions and secrets while exploring.
Upon defeat, your characters’ souls are judged. They can
be resurrected, destroyed or turned into undead.
In combat, enemies organise themselves in rows, while
your party remains on the bottom of the screen.
However, few encounters are so benign, and
combat is an ever-present reality in the Phantasie
series. The battle system is phase-based with enemies
organised in rows and closely resembles the early
Final Fantasy games, which arrived several years
later. This system is the same in the first two games,
but it’s improved with the addition of ranged weapons
and the ability to hit different body locations in the
third game.
Not all battles are random though, and there
are many unique encounters to experience in the
Phantasie III offers improved graphics and locational
damage – you can injure, break or even cut off limbs.
games, such as a creature called J.R. Trolkin in the
first game, an obvious homage to J.R.R. Tolkien.
More memorable though are Pluto’s Minions from
Phantasie II (1986), a collection of nine unique and
challenging monsters whom Pluto keeps as pets.
This all leads to a final confrontation with
Nikademus in Phantasie III (1987). Though the series
is mostly linear, players are presented with a choice
before the final battle. Should they defeat Nikademus
and be hailed as heroes by Zeus, or should they betray
Lord Wood and side with Pluto? You decide. BS
Japanese Games:
The Phantasie series was localised in
Japan by Star Craft Inc. Several changes
were made, such as altering the art style
and using a side-view combat screen.
The games were a success, and in 1991
Winston Wood travelled to Japan to
develop Phantasie IV: Birth of Heroes,
which remains unreleased in the West.
The side-view
battle interface
of the Japanese
Phantasie MSX
port (left), and
the Japan-only
Phantasie IV
(right).
77
Ultima IV:
Quest of the Avatar
Origin Systems, 1985
Amiga, C64, Apple II, MS-DOS and Atari ST
An upgrade
for the DOS
version was
made by fans.
The Ultima IV
Upgrade Patch
fixes bugs,
improves the
graphics, the UI
and the music.
Moongates allow
fast travel; ships
can help get you to
inaccessible places.
78
It’s a very old game now, designed originally for
8-bit systems with 64K RAM and CPUs running
about 1 MHz. Regardless, the achievements of
Ultima IV are astonishing.
It begins with a novel method of character
creation: the Gypsy woman and her quasi-Tarot cards.
She presents several situations, each with a choice of
two responses. There are no right or wrong answers.
The reading is designed to gauge your mental
outlook, your morals and ethics, and give you the
profession closest to them. Each profession represents
one of the eight virtues: Valour (Fighter), Honour
(Paladin), Spirituality (Ranger), Humility (Shepherd),
Honesty (Mage), Self-Sacrifice (Tinker), Compassion
(Bard) and Justice (Druid).
With many games, that’s as far as it would go.
You’d have your mage or fighter or bard or whatever,
and play on from there – killing monsters, collecting
loot and saving the world. In Ultima IV, this is only
the start of a long journey of the soul, a journey that
depends on building character; on perfecting yourself
in all eight virtues and becoming the Avatar.
No game, before or since, has had such an
objective. All others have been concerned with making
you a better warrior or spell-slinger, concentrating
entirely on developing physical or magical prowess.
Combat is the means to this, and it is easy to see why
other CRPGs have so much. It’s the main way to get
ahead; in some cases, the only way.
You certainly have fighting in Ultima IV. It’s how
you prove your Valour – but Valour is only one virtue.
Developing those other seven depends upon how you
react to and treat other people.
There’s no backsliding here either. Each “eighth”
(enlightenment in a virtue) is hard to earn and not
permanent. The game watches every move you make.
Start acting the wrong way, and you’ll be losing those
eighths. Only a true Avatar can finish this game.
There’s also Ultima IV’s open design. You can go
almost anywhere you want, any time you want; the
game is very much not linear. There are many things
to do, and quite a few objects to gather, but, for the
most part, these can be done in any order. Eventually,
of course, everything narrows down to the end game.
Until that time, the player has a lot of discretion as to
where to go and what to do.
While combat isn’t the main focus of the game,
there is plenty of it, and it’s turn-based. Opponents
are carefully controlled, so you won’t, especially at
the start, be overwhelmed. You can explore without
worrying that a horde of orcs will show up and wipe
you out. Also, enemies will sometimes run away if
they take too many casualties.
You aren’t alone, either. Over time, you gather
in seven members to your party. They represent the
other seven virtues, and you will need every one of
those people. Further, levelling is not a big item; eight
is the maximum level you can reach.
“The point is not whether you
have strong enough muscles or
big enough guns to win, the issue
should be: What have you learned?
What wisdom have you gained
from the beginning through to the
end that really means you’re now
the appropriate person to solve
the problem?”
– Richard Garriott,
Ultima IV’s project leader
Conversation has always been a staple of the
Ultimas, even if it was very limited in previous
games. An important aspect here is that people give
you information because they like you, trust you, or
respect you. This is trust or respect you earn by your
actions during play. The closer you are to the ideal
of Avatarhood, the more likely people are to tell you
important things.
There is none of the “quid pro quo” that infects
so many games. You know: “So, you want the location
of the +30 Sword of Instant Death? First, you must
travel to the lair of the Dread Funny Bunnies, and
bring back to me the Drum of Ages (batteries not
included).” Nowhere in Ultima IV are you ever
someone’s “gofer”.
People don’t send you off to retrieve lost/stolen
items as though you’re some sort of pet dog. Nor
do they ask you to do any “favours”. Everything you
learn, every item you obtain, is for your own use.
Perhaps the most iconoclastic part of Ultima IV
is the ending. As a friend of mine put it, “It’s the only
game where the goal is to read a book”. Not trashing
Foozle, not saving the world (again), but penetrating
to the depths of a dungeon to read the Codex of
Ultimate Wisdom. There have been other games with
nonviolent endings, but none so original as this.
For all that, some of today’s gamers may find the
game unplayable. The graphics are primitive. There is
no log, no journal, no automap, no big loot drops, no
hand-holding. Patience and extensive note-taking are
crucial, because there is so much to learn. You’d better
learn it all too; you’re tested throughout the final
dungeon to ensure you really know what it means to
be the Avatar.
However, if you’re looking for a unique experience
that doesn’t rely on hack-and-slash or endless “side
jobs”, then Ultima IV is still one-of-a-kind, even after
all these years. SC
Creating your
character with
the Gypsy’s Tarot
cards. Your choice
is always the right
one... for you.
Created by fan
Chris Hopkins,
Ultima IV
Part 2: Dude,
where’s my
Avatar? is a
parody of the
Ultima series.
It takes place
in the gap of
time between
Ultima IV and
Ultima V.
There are no quests in the sense of doing a task to get
a reward. What you must do is be (and remain) worthy.
Ultima IV introduced seven recruitable companions,
who became important recurring characters in the series.
79
Autoduel
Origin Systems, 1985
MS-DOS, Apple II, Amiga, C64, Atari 8-bit, etc
80
Autoduel was
created by
Chuck Bueche
and Richard
Garriott, in
one of his
rare ventures
outside of the
Ultima series.
There are 16
cities you can
travel to, either
by taking a bus
or by manually
driving there
(and surviving
the trip). You
can even visit
Origin’s HQ in
Manchester.
Building your
own car is
Autoduel’s high
point. There are
many options
and factors to
consider, from
weight, speed
and cargo room
to weapon
and armour
placement.
Dystopian futures often feel like interesting
RPG settings, but late 70s cinema delivered
two cult classics that just begged to be played:
Death Race 2000 and Mad Max. Steve Jackson artfully
translated that drive into 1980’s Car Wars, a popular
tabletop RPG all about building your own vehicle of
destruction and driving it across post-apocalyptic US.
Autoduel, born of a deal between Steve Jackson and
Origin Systems, is its CRPG adaptation.
Although a licensed product, Autoduel features
a massive difference: while Car Wars was turn-based,
Origin’s team took some lessons from Midway’s 1983
arcade hit Spy Hunter and made the game an arcade-y,
top-down real-time driving game that requires fast
reflexes and is best played with a joystick.
True to its source material, Autoduel features an
incredibly detailed car-building system. You’ll choose
from various car types (compact, van, pickup, luxury,
etc.) and equip it with your choice of chassis, armour,
suspension, tyres, weapons and power plant.
This is where the game shines. It’s a joy to build
your own vehicles, creating a fast car that can outrun
enemies and lay mines or buying a large power plant
to use laser weapons. There’s also a robust locational
damage system, as weapons, tyres, armour layers and
even the driver have their own hit points. Get shot at
a side that has no armour left and you’re likely dead.
You can freely drive across the Northeastern US,
hunting outlaws (and salvaging their cars), battling
in arenas and taking delivery quests. It can get a bit
repetitive after a while, but build enough prestige and
you’ll unlock a final mission for the FBI.
Unfortunately, Autoduel’s top-down driving and
combat aged badly. Yes, it was great for 1985, but lacks
that visceral feedback we have in modern 3D driving
games. However, its real flaw is the extreme difficulty.
The combat is fairly challenging, but gets frustrating
when paired with permadeath – if you die the game
erases your save, forcing you to restart from scratch
unless you have a very expensive clone of yourself.
If you enjoy such high challenge (or don’t mind
making manual backups of your save files), then be
sure to take Autoduel for a ride. While there are many
other vehicular combat games out there, very few can
match the complexity of this classic. FE
Strategic Simulations Inc., 1986
Atari ST, DOS, Apple II and C64
Rings of Zilfin
Rings of Zilfin is one of those early CRPGs that
really makes you wonder how differently
the genre could have evolved. The game is a
unique mix of light RPG mechanics with King’s Queststyled
adventure and fast-paced arcade-like battles.
The plot is the usual save-the-world fare, but
it’s played with some twists. The world of Batiniq is
threated by the evil Lord Dragos, who has one of the
two legendary Rings of Zilfin. Your rather ambitious
goal is to somehow get both rings for yourself and use
them to destroy Dragos once and for all.
The world is divided into a series of locations,
such as villages, forests, mountains, dungeons and
deserts. You must journey the land, collecting items,
purchasing equipment, talking to NPCs in search of
hints and battling the occasional enemy.
Most of these foes are fought in the ground, in
real time; you can slash them with your sword, cast
spells or use the bow at point-blank range. However,
some foes are flying creatures that must be shot down
with the bow or with projectile spells – Space Invaders-style.
Your endurance will go down with each hit you
take, but you’ll also have to manage fatigue, which
is necessary to perform actions such as attacking,
casting spells or just travelling. Luckily, there are
plenty of magical mushrooms and healers in Batiniq.
However, while Zilfin has an interesting world,
it bears a critical flaw. Instead of directly travelling
from one area to another, you must always go through
a long and repetitive side-scrolling journey, battling
monsters, collecting food and resting. These journeys
all look and play exactly the same, which gets boring
really fast, especially when you must cross a large
number of areas. You’ll eventually gain access to a
teleport spell that speeds things up, but few players
will still be playing by that point.
It’s disappointing really, for the rest of the game
is surprisingly smooth and well-crafted, even though
it’s an easy game, clearly designed for beginners. It
wouldn’t be far-fetched to consider Rings of Zilfin a
lost precursor to the famous Quest for Glory series.
The creator of Zilfin, Ali Atabek, would move on
to develop The Magic Candle series in 1989, where a
few of these concepts would get a second and much
more enjoyable chance to shine. FE
Night Birds might
appear during
your travels. You
must quickly
shoot them
down, in Space
Invaders fashion,
or they will call
more monsters.
Towns and
villages provide
healers and
places such
as shops and
taverns. Talking
to the NPCs
will provide
important clues
to succeed in
your quest.
81
Might and Magic:
Book I - Secret of the Inner Sanctum
*Might and
Magic was
a huge hit,
earning several
awards and
being ported
to multiple
systems,
including later
remakes for
the NES and
the Japanese
computers.
Might and
Magic’s openworld
structure
was novel at
the time, and a
refreshing change
from linear
dungeon crawls.
New World Computing, 1986
MS-DOS, Amiga, Apple II, Mac, C64, etc*
Might and Magic - Book I is the first of a
long series of party- based “blobber” RPGs
initiated by John Van Caneghem, founder
of New World Computing. It offered a new take on the
sub-genre then dominated by Wizardry, with a large
outdoor open world and a “real” turn-based combat
system, as opposed to the popular phased one.
In games like Wizardy and The Bard’s Tale all
commands were issued in bulk at the beginning of
the turn, then played out. Might and Magic made
every command be executed immediately, both for
the player and the enemies, allowing players the
opportunity to instantly react to how events unfold.
Preference for one or the other is a matter of
taste, but this new way to handle a party in combat
offered an interesting alternative.
The open world brought a sense of liberty
few games had dared offer until then. The map
lured the player in with promise of discovery and
developments, and that the promise the game does
keep. Environments include forests, deserts, swamps,
mountains, oceans and ethereal realms.
The world is a large patchwork of puzzles. Forest
mazes are not designed to appear natural, but rather
offer a challenge to access secret areas that reap higher
rewards, including keys to unlock areas you may have
run into previously but were unable to enter.
The game’s artful use of impenetrable forest,
mountain walls, portals and secret passages make
many areas a challenge that needs to be revisited
repeatedly before you can confidently draw that last
square and complete your own map.
Many will be shaken off by the necessity to
draw the maps and keep notes. But these challenges
to the player’s rigour will make stepping out of the
comfort zone worth it. Every challenge brings its
lot of satisfaction when it is overcome, and carefully
building your own maps is no exception.
The combat system, backed by dozens of tactical
spells, is an experience in nail-biting suspense where
one poor decision can often turn the tide against you
and spell defeat. A good one can lead to a satisfying
victory against apparently disastrous odds. Granted,
not every battle offers these situations but they come
around enough to make the game memorable.
While there is, to some extent, a bit of level
scaling (as encounters adapt to the strength of
your party), it only goes so far. Roaming the world
therefore leads to encounters that inevitably lead to an
untimely death. Even within the same map, accessing
a remote area might lead to scripted encounters that
offer an unexpected level of resistance, keeping you
on your toes.
Another aspect that keeps you alert is the fact
that the only way to save your progress is to return
to the inn. This saves in a single slot, overwriting the
previous entry, and can lead to intense frustration,
but it also makes each battle more suspenseful.
82
“The biggest challenge for me
was being the designer/creator
of the games and the CEO of the
company. This dual role always
created personal conflict. On one
hand I wanted to make every
game perfect, more features,
better polish… and on the other I
had to pay the bills. My ongoing
compromise was: if I stayed
profitable, I will always be able to
make another game.”
– Jon Van Caneghem,
Might and Magic’s creator
Then there is the world and story. Little regard
is given to realism. You will run into an odd mix
of magic and alien technology, and be attacked
by unlikely parties where insect swarms, vampire
bats and clerics can just as easily form an alliance
against you as more typical formations of Orcs and
hippogriffs. This gives an out-of-this-world sense that
adds to the experience without wrecking it as a less
abstract title probably would.
Might and Magic I is light on text, but it manages
to form the foundation of a rich lore and a storyline
that will be expanded upon with future titles. NPCs
will offer quests that contribute to this, and mention
is made of legendary characters in short bursts of text
found in key locations throughout the world.
All these intricate pieces and hard-won victories
of this large world fall together toward a finale that
opens the way to one of the longest series of roleplaying
adventures (ten titles!).
The second of which, Might and Magic II: Gates
to Another World (1988), largely offers more of the
same. The combat system, for one, is quite similar,
albeit with a new list of spells, new skills to acquire at
higher levels, and running away is riskier.
The levelling system evolves as well, offering
many more levels but with less noticeable effects.
There are two new classes (Ninja and Barbarian), noncombat
skills that can be acquired while adventuring
(path-finding, mountaineering, etc.), a rudimentary
automapping feature (which requires the acquisition
of a skill to be enabled) and much improved visuals.
While the early Might and Magic games have a
challenging (and sometimes frustrating) gameplay,
the satisfaction in overcoming them is still something
special that’s rarely rivalled. As an indie developer,
they inspired me to undertake my own series, Swords
and Sorcery, following on John Van Caneghem’s
footsteps decades after these were published. CC
The high difficulty
and the long play
hours one can
lose by dying
makes retreating
or surrendering
very useful
options.
SPOILER:
Might and
Magic II had
a unusual and
controversial
ending: after
the final battle
you had to solve
a cryptogram
in under 15
minutes or you
would die.
Combat is text-only, but offers great tactical depth. Actions
are performed one at a time, giving you time to react.
Might and Magic II introduced improved graphics, new
character skills and an automap, but still plays similarly.
83
Starflight
Binary Systems, 1986
MS-DOS, C64, Amiga, Atari ST, Genesis, etc
At a time
when games
were made by
two or three
people over
6-12 months,
it took a fiveman
team over
three years
to develop
Starflight.
The five races
you can recruit
all have very
different skills,
learning rates and
durability. Your
crew composition
also affects your
dealings with
other races.
84
Starflight perfectly captures what made Star Trek
so endearing: exploring, negotiating with alien
races and life-and-death space battles. All set
in an open-world procedurally generated galaxy you
could explore for hundreds of hours. Not bad for a
game crammed in 64KB of memory.
Planet Arth is in trouble. Deadly solar flares are
occurring all over the galaxy, threatening to wipe out
civilisation. Your task is to must find fuel for refugee
ships leaving Arth, find colonisable planets for them,
uncover ancient alien artefacts, and figure out why
the solar flares are happening in the first place. All this
is accomplished through scanning planets, exploring
their surfaces and speaking with the star-faring aliens.
The adventure begins at Interstel’s space
port, where you walk your avatar through various
departments preparing for your journey, in one of the
first “walking menus” in games. There you can recruit
up to six brave crewmen from five different races, such
as a quick learning plant-based species and a highly
skilled robot race. The robots are an interesting first
choice, as it starts with high initial skills, but can never
improve through training like the other races.
You begin with a small budget to equip your ship
and train your crew. These are tough initial choices.
Should you add weapons and shields or train your
Science Officer to scan planets accurately? There’s no
hand-holding here: leave the star port without cargo
pods and you have cut yourself off from much of the
revenue-generating opportunities in the game.
Once ready, you can open the ship’s galactic map.
It’s awash in nebulae, worm holes, hundreds of stars
and over 800 procedurally generated planets waiting
to be explored, making one feel very small and alone
in this sea of opportunity. Your only limitation is fuel.
The ship is easily piloted by the cursor/numpad
keys, no pesky Newtonian physics to deal with. Further
actions are spread across your officers, in a simple and
immersive UI – e.g. to heal a crew member, select the
Doctor, open its menu and choose the Treat option.
Once you reach a planet, you can order your
Science Officer to scan it, and based on his skill you
will see important details like gravity and average
temperature. Should you decide to land, simply
select a landing area and confirm. The game will then
render a first-person landing into the exact point you
selected – quite an impressive feature at the time!
The crew will then disembark into a tank-like
rover and start exploring the procedurally generated
surface, using a scanner and your intuition in search
of resources. Where do you go? Anywhere you please!
But don’t stray too far from the ship, as your rover’s
fuel won’t last long. This creates some of the most
stressful risk/reward decisions in gaming: to travel
just a wee bit further to get some valuable mineral or
alien creature, or head back to the ship.
Mistakes are deadly. Permadeath means not only
does your intrepid crew dies a horrible death, but the
game bounces out to DOS and deletes your save file.
Having a well-trained Communication Officer is vital to
avoid misunderstandings with the many alien races.
You start the game with limited resources, and will be forced
to make hard choices when first configuring your ship.
Always analyze planets before landing, else you risk being
crushed by gravity or destroyed by extreme temperatures.
Exploring the universe will also inevitably bring
you into contact with alien ships. This displays the
scariest line one can read in this permadeath game:
“Scanners indicate unidentified object!”
These encounters are real-time events. You can
manoeuvre around the aliens ships and make choices
such as raising shields, arming weapons, scanning or
hailing the aliens. Firing is as simple as pressing the
space bar, with the game choosing the appropriate
weapon based on range from the target. Your actions
will obviously affect communication opportunities.
In an age dominated by text parsers, conversation
is, thankfully, abstracted to a few efficient questions,
postures and statements. It may seem sparse but the
game does it surprisingly well, filling out your choices
with richly worded text. As you learn more, questions
get better and responses reveal more.
It’s interesting the designers chose a real-time
conversation system. After making a choice, you wait.
Are they simply not responding, are they preparing
their weapons, or are they just thinking? This kind of
tension hasn’t been explored much in other games.
Your goal when exploring planets is to capture specimens,
collect rare minerals and survive their many hazards.
The game also pioneered a system they called
“story network”. Time passes in the universe while you
are off exploring, with solar flares and other events
occurring on a regular schedule. When you return to
the star dock, new missives are available either based
on time, your actions or both – propelling the story
forward to the next node.
The sequel, Starflight 2: Trade Routes of the Cloud
Nebula (1989) is simply a better Starflight 1. With a new
story, improved graphics, reduced emphasis on mining,
higher emphasis on trading and interacting with aliens,
it generally smoothed out the sharp edges. Years later,
Protostar (1993) began development as Starflight 3
but went its own way due to contract issues. The series
would also go on to inspire Star Control (1990), and
its lasting influence is still strongly felt on games like
Mass Effect and even on Dwarf Fortress.
A genre-defining game, it was perfectly summed
up by famed science fiction author Orson Scott Card
(of Ender’s Game): “Starflight is the first science fiction
computer game that actually gives you something of
the experience of roaming through the galaxy”. TH
Starflight sold a
very respectable
100,000 units on
DOS, then was
ported to multiple
systems and sold
over 1 million units.
In 1991 a heavily
updated Mega
Drive/Genesis
version was
released.
85
Alter Ego
Activision, 1986
Apple II, MS-DOS, C64, iOS and Android*
*Alter Ego
was recently
re-released for
iOS, Android,
and browsers.
Its stewards are
also working
on expanding
and updating
the game for
today’s society.
Based on several
interviews by a
psychologist on
memorable life
events, Alter Ego
touches on family,
relationships,
work, drugs, and
sexual life.
After each event
you’re shown
moods and
actions you can
choose in reply.
The outcome of
those is based on
your personality
and past history.
86
The phrase “computer role-playing game” brings
to mind certain connotations. Heroic battles,
esoteric character systems, medieval European
pastiche, player control of the narrative, etc...
However, few games express the idea of roleplaying
quite like Alter Ego. Helmed by Peter J. Favaro,
a child psychologist, the game is more concerned with
the endless permutations of mundane modern life
than with slaying orcs or uncovering conspiracies.
In Alter Ego you’ll play through key life events
with probability altering statistics behind them. The
game starts with a series of questions, akin to Ultima IV,
that will determine the character’s initial personality.
Afterwards, the player can choose one of seven life stages
to begin, or start all the way from the womb.
Gameplay consists of selecting a series of themed
vignettes represented by symbols for love, family,
career, etc. Each scenario presents the player with an
age-appropriate situation and offers choices as to how
to react. Honest answers or true role-playing are both
options, as is kicking the hornet’s nest in order to put
one’s avatar through the wringer. These choices impact
character relationships, finances, career and health
through a set of statistics. Though most stats are visible,
worrying about them isn’t necessary for play. Becoming
wrapped up in stats in Alter Ego is missing the point.
So many RPGs claim that no two games will play
the same, but Alter Ego provides such a wide variety
of esoteric situations that it feels like it delivers. You
can become a money-hungry business tycoon or be
murdered in an alley. Remain single or take a spouse.
Die alone or die surrounded by family. When a game
ends, you’re tempted to start over to see what would
have happened if you had just chosen differently – a
ludic expression of an all too common real-life dilemma.
One major criticism of Alter Ego is that it definitely
feels of its time. Originally sold in separate “male” and
“female” versions, the game is rather sexist sometimes,
fails to account for homosexual / bisexual relationships
or being a single parent and seems to reward playing
according to 80s’ conservative values.
Regardless, Alter Ego remains essential to this day,
especially for fans of modern adventure games such as
Telltale’s offerings. Haven’t you ever wondered what it
would be like to live a different life? GB
Alien Fires
2199 A.D.
Jagware Inc., 1987
Amiga, Atari ST and MS-DOS
The first thing to be said about Alien Fires is that
it’s a very bad game. A terrible one, among the
worst in this book. Yet it’s such an interesting
title that it would be a disservice not to talk about it.
The manual explains you are a Time Lord, sent
by the enigmatic Elders to find a scientist by the name
of Dr. Samuel Kurtz. A genius, he built a time machine
and wants to use it to go back to the Big Bang and
witness the moment of Creation. You must stop him,
as some secrets are not meant for mortal eyes.
It’s a creative premise, and expectations remain
high as you boot the game, see a colourful intro with
a nice soundtrack and reach character creation, where
you’ll distribute points between seven skills.
Once that’s done, you board the oddly-shaped
Galaxy’s End space station. While almost every other
dungeon crawler is built and navigated in a square
grid, Alien Fires uses all sorts of odd angles and allows
players to turn in increments of 45 degrees, making
exploration and mapping quite a challenge.
You’ll soon meet a friendly alien, who greets you
not with text, but with voiced dialogue! Turns out
Alien Fires uses the Amiga’s text-to-speech feature to
make its NPCs “speak”! The technology is primitive
– every NPC has the exact same “voice” and it’s often
hard to understand what’s being said. But the real
issue is that dialogue is pointless.
You’ll talk to many exotic NPCs via a text parser,
navigate oddly-shaped rooms and collect several keys
and items, but it’s all for nought. Keys are useless, NPCs
don’t say anything of value and all you really need to do
is cross six small levels until you reach the last floor and
find Dr. Kurtz – then fight a shoehorned boss battle.
In fact, you could beat the game in a few minutes
if not for the frequent random encounters. And here,
once again, the game fails to provide any satisfaction.
During combat you just press the “Fight” button
and watch as you character and the enemy trade blows.
There are no tactics involved, fights play mostly the
same and the most important factor is luck.
In the end, Alien Fires feels like an ambitious
tech demo. The premise is original, the art and music
are often great and ideas like using text-to-voice and
creating dungeons in odd angles are interesting, but
unfortunately there’s no real game beneath them. FE
Alien Fires was
later ported to
Atari ST and
DOS, losing the
text-to-voice
feature. The
game hinted
at a sequel
and even asked
players to keep
their character’s
save file, but
Alien Fires 2
never arrived.
Dialogues use
a text-to-voice
system and a
competent text
parser, but the
NPCs themselves
have nothing of
value to say.
The game offers
melee and
ranged weapons,
limited ammo
and armour for
specific body
parts, but during
combat you just
click on “Fight”
and watch.
87
Ys
The Vanished Omens
Nihon Falcom, 1987
MSX2, MS-DOS, Apple IIGS, PC-88, etc
Nihon Falcom
is one of the
most important
Japanese game
developers. In
the 80s it stood
side-by-side with
Square and Enix,
but focused on
the Japanese
PC market – a,
reason why
they aren’t as
well-known in
the West.
Boss battles
can be difficult,
forcing you to
grind. But there
are a few items
and equipment
available at shops
(or hidden) that
can help you.
88
There were a number of action-based RPGs in
the early days of Japanese computer games,
such as T&E Soft’s Hydlide (1984) and System
Sacom’s Märchen Veil (1985), but the most well-known
is Falcom’s Ys (pronounced “eese”). The company had
previously eschewed turn-based RPGs with earlier
games like Dragon Slayer (1984) and Xanadu (1985),
but Ys was a more ambitious game.
It told the story of red-haired hero Adol Christin
and his journey to uncover the legendary land of Ys,
which had broken free from its spot on the Earth and
flown into the sky. With the help of a mysterious fortune
teller, Adol learns of six magical books and two
ancient goddesses of Ys, who have since descended
from their thrones to live among the humans.
The game was so large that it was split up into
two separate games – the first, Ancient Ys Vanished
(also known as The Vanished Omens) is where Adol
searches for Ys, and the second, The Final Chapter, has
him finding and exploring the sky-bound kingdom. In
most modern re-releases, these are bundled together
as a single release, which makes sense.
The first Ys game consists only of two towns, a
tiny overworld and three dungeons, one of which is
so gigantic that it occupies about half of the game.
The second game is much longer and more involved,
sending Adol through lands of ice and fire before
reaching the shrine to defeat the evil Darm.
Like many early Japanese Action RPGs, you fight
enemies by bumping into them, where your rate of
success is based on your experience level. However,
your power is much greater if you hit the enemy at
an off-angle. The second game introduces a magic
system that allows Adol to throw fireballs, which is
much easier to deal with. Amidst other combat spells,
there’s also a spell that turns you into a monster,
allowing you to talk to other bad guys, whose various
musings are not only funny but provide valuable hints.
It may all sound overly simplistic, considering
much of what one does is to roam the landscape,
ramming into every enemy in sight, but that’s really
part of the fun. Ys doesn’t bog itself down with puzzles
or aimless wandering. For the most part, they’re
straightforward adventures that are fairly short, but
full of the same sense of wonder and adventure that
made the Zelda games so consistently popular.
Ys was originally released on the Japanese
PC-8801 in 1987, but was ported to several home
computer and consoles. It was released internationally
on various platforms, first on the SEGA Master
System, then on the MS-DOS and Apple IIGS.
These were OK conversions, though the PC
ports butchered the excellent soundtrack. They had
limited success, but the TurboGrafx-16 version was
included as a pack-in for the US TurboDuo console,
leading to much greater exposure. This version also
included new cinematics, professional voice acting
and incredible redbook arrangements of the music.
“Recent RPGs have been very
difficult, and it takes a lot of
willpower to finish them. So
eventually we came to have our
doubts: was this really ‘fun’?
With Ys, therefore, we set out to
create the opposite kind of game,
something that would be accessible,
easy to play, and not geared toward
hardcore RPG maniacs.”
– Masaya Hashimoto,
Ys’ programmer and designer
Falcom revised these two games several times
over the years, the most significant starting in 1998
with the Ys Eternal games for Windows 95, which
included an expanded world map for the first game,
remade SVGA graphics, new music, and smoother
controls. These were later ported to the PSP and to
modern PCs, then localised into English courtesy of
XSeed. Outside of those who prefer the 90s-era rock
synth soundtrack of the TurboGrafx-16 version, these
are widely viewed as the definitive releases.
The Ys series has become Falcom’s flagship
franchise over the years. While the first two Ys games
tell a complete story, Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (1989)
switches to a side-scrolling perspective and changes
the setting to an entirely unrelated scenario. After this
point, Falcom experienced a significant staff shortage,
resulting in the fourth game getting licensed out to
two companies for two very different titles, one for
the Super Famicom, the other for the PC Engine.
Ys V (1995) was developed in-house by Falcom,
though only for the Super Famicom, which attempted
to modernise the series by replacing the “bump”
system with a standard Zelda-style attack button.
The series returned to PCs with Ys VI: The Ark of
Napishtim (2003), which was something of a series rebirth,
switching the background graphics to 3D (but
keeping the 2D sprites). This engine was used for the
next two games: Oath in Felghana, a remake of Ys III,
and Ys Origin, a prequel with many storyline ties to
the first two games. Falcom then shifted development
back to handheld platforms, with Ys VII (2009) and
Ys: Memories of Celceta (a remake of Ys IV).
Despite being one of the most important CRPGs
in Japanese history, Ys never quite reached worldwide
popularity in the way of Final Fantasy or even Dragon
Quest. A shame, for the series is full of fast-paced
action and adventures in faraway lands, with some of
the best music in the history of gaming. KK
In combat all
you have to do
is bump into
enemies. But you
must do it slightly
off-centre, as in
the picture, for
attacking head-on
will likely just get
you killed.
The Ys series
also inspired
quite a bit of
tie-in media,
including a
manga series,
two separate
anime OVAs
and a whole
series of
soundtrack
releases.
Ys II was only officially released in English for PCs in 2013,
but the game is very light on text and was fan-translated.
The remakes vastly expand and improve Ys I and II, but
remain faithful to the series’ simple yet iconic gameplay.
89
Deathlord
Al Escudero and David Wong, 1987
Apple II and C64
Deathlord
was originally
inspired by
Norse mythology,
but five weeks
before release
Electronic Arts
demanded that
it was changed
into a Japanese
setting.
Exploration
and battles are
all shown in
an Ultima-like
top-down view,
but the combat
system is actually
very similar to
Wizardry.
Unless you’re
well-versed in
Japanese, you’ll
need the manual
to understand the
races, classes and
spells. Yabanjin,
for example, is a
kind of Barbarian.
90
Some say Wizardry IV is the RPG that hates you
the most. Others – the more elitist types who
snicker at something as mainstream as Wizardry
– might name Deathlord instead.
Combining Ultima’s top-down exploration with
a Wizardry-like combat system, Deathlord takes place
in an Oriental fantasy world with Japanese names for
everything. As a result, Deathlord lets you play a Toshi
and an Obake, a Mahotsukai and a Ronin.
There are eight races and 16 classes, including four
Mage classes, each with its own compelling set of spells.
The character system is solid, and every level-up brings
you a significant increase in power, allowing you to brave
areas you previously would not dare to.
And with Deathlord’s 17 continents and
archipelagos, there are a lot of areas to brave. This huge
world may feel too empty at times, but the locations are
consistently good. They have traps, clues, and secrets
to find. Many show more than they explicitly tell, by
way of their surroundings and the NPCs that inhabit
them, such as the masterful portrayal of the eternal
yet unstable opposition between Fort Demonguard
and Malkanth, the volcanic city of demons.
There are no quest objectives, or quests at all.
There is only the starting clue that Deathlord, the
game’s villain, gives you. Further clues are obscure
and difficult to find. There are some places, such
as prisons or private residences, that you cannot
simply enter; you can only break into them, with the
consequence of angering on the entire town’s guard.
However, you might learn something valuable
if you do take the risk – all the greater given the
game’s “permadeath” save system with only one,
automatically overwritten slot.
The ingenuity of Deathlord’s design is to make
its blend of Ultima exploration and Wizardry combat
flow really well despite the difficulties involved in
bringing traditional dungeon hazards – chutes,
secret doors, teleporters, etc. – over to a top-down
perspective. Most dungeons have a unique theme,
and are as unforgiving as they are inventive. You will
not make it far without mapping them out, and some
secrets are only noticeable if you study the map.
To an enthusiastic dungeon crawler, Deathlord
is one of the ultimate games. CB
Sir‐Tech, 1987
Apple II, DOS and PC-98
Wizardry IV:
The Return of Werdna
Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna, is not
just the fourth game in the legendary
Wizardry series – it’s famously the hardest
game in the history of computer RPGs. The majority
of those who have played the game were unable to
leave the very first room. Incidentally, Wizardry IV
remains to this day one of the most innovative RPGs.
Wizardry IV turns the standard RPG premise
on its head. In this game you play Werdna, the villain
you defeated back in Wizardry I, trying to escape his
escape-proof underground prison. Stripped of his
powers, Werdna starts out extremely weak.
Doing away with the customary experiencebased
character development system, the game has
you rely on summoned monsters and only increase
your power at magical pentagrams – specific, sparsely
placed points in the dungeon – so that your power is
directly tied to your progress. Allied with monsters,
you battle parties of adventurers fully intent on
banishing you back to your eternal rest. Simply put,
Wizardry IV has you fight as a monster party against
an adventuring party.
Monsters are, however, an unruly bunch. They
do not follow Werdna’s orders directly. To make
things worse, most enemies you encounter – Werdna
sarcastically dubs them “do-gooders” – can kill you
in one or at most two hits, and you tend to encounter
them every other step. An unlucky roll of a die, a
wrong step or a foolish decision, and bam! you’re
dead and have to reload the game.
Beginning at the bottom of the dungeon, you
struggle to climb up to the surface. Useful loot is
minimal, being mostly limited to puzzle-related items,
and there’s no way of telling a plot-critical item from a
fluff one beforehand. And even if by some miracle the
enemies don’t get you, the dungeon itself will.
To that end, Wizardry IV features the most
sadistic, and brilliant, dungeon and puzzle design that
no other RPG, except maybe Chaos Strikes Back or
The Dark Heart of Uukrul or can compete with, where
the dungeon itself is basically one large puzzle that
you must figure out to progress or at least survive.
If you’re in the mood for some fantastic and
incredibly punishing dungeons, be sure to check out
Wizardry IV. CB
Wizardry IV was
delayed for many
years. During the
development,
Robert Woodhead
and Roe Adams III
began to subtitle
Japanese anime
as a hobby, later
founding AnimEigo,
an official anime
distributor.
The enemies you
face are actually
other player’s
parties from
previous games
that were
submitted to
Sir‐Tech by mail.
Each pentagram
offers a different
set of monsters
to be summoned.
91
NetHack
Dev Team, 1987
MS-DOS, Windows, Linux, Amiga, Android, etc
NetHack
is free and
open-source.
Download the
latest version
at www.
nethack.org
NetHack offers
13 classes, five
races and 39 skills.
However, its real
depth comes not
from character
development, but
items, monsters and
their interaction
with the complex
sub-systems.
92
NetHack is one of the “major” roguelikes. Like
Rogue, it send players into a large, randomly
generated dungeon that gets tougher as they
descend. Also like Rogue, the goal is the “Amulet of
Yendor,” which they must escape with once found.
But the devil, as they say, is in the details.
NetHack is a game with fearsome complexity –
the logic of its world defies belief: a player can take a
potion, dip it into a fountain to dilute it with water,
then drop it on a co-aligned altar and pray to turn it
into holy water. Then he can dip another item to bless
it, or instead dip a pile of other potions of water into
it at once to make lots more holy water in a single go.
Or he could throw it at a monster to attack it with its
vapour, mix it with other potions, or dip other items
into it. Rumor has it the player can even drink them.
That’s just a quick overview of one of its features.
Even if I wrote just one grossly vague sentence on each
aspect of the game, it would require an entire book.
Despite this overwhelming depth and its reputation
for being extremely challenging for new players,
NetHack is also almost always winnable.
The path to becoming good enough to “ascend”
(win the game) takes unaided players years, but with
guides and heavy spoilers can be crossed in weeks.
NetHack demands a lot from players, but it’s a carefully
balanced game that promotes experimentation and
even has its own internal system of hints, in the form
of fortune cookies and pronouncements by an Oracle.
Players also write a lot about NetHack online. You
can read about monsters and their abilities, the dungeon
and its contents, the best ways of traversing levels, the
many, many ways in which one can die, etc. There are
also the YAAPs (Yet Another Ascension Post), where
players tell of their victories, often role-playing or with
optional challenges in the form of “conducts” – being
vegan, atheist, pacifist or even playing the entire game
with their characters wearing a blindfold.
The process of playing NetHack requires gaining
levels like most RPGs, but even more important than
that is finding the items needed to complete the quest.
We might say that a player’s power is item-bound –
a Level 1 player with excellent equipment is more
powerful than a naked Level 10 character. A good item
found randomly on the dungeon floor (or provided
by a lucky magical wish) can greatly change the game.
This helps NetHack to remain interesting through many
plays, even if the player doesn’t get very far.
One can consider NetHack to have three major
phases: early, mid and late game. The early game is the
most challenging, as the player is low-level, doesn’t know
what most things are, and is preparing his “ascension
kit” – the items he’ll need to win. By contrast, the long
mid-game period is pretty boring, both because of
monotonous maze levels, and because there’s little to test
a knowledgeable player. The end game brings several
novel situations that liven the game up, but a properly
prepared player will probably be able to handle them.
“Most titles run their course
because they can only be played
so many times before becoming
repetitive. That cannot be said
about NetHack. People who have
been playing the game for years
still get excited when something
good happens to them, when
they ascend, when they discover
something that the dev team
thought of that impresses them.”
– Paul Winner,
NetHack’s developer
NetHack is an open-source game, and this has
resulted in the creation of several variants, fan-made
versions that seek to remedy some of its flaws or add
new features. There are several variants: NetHack:
The Next Generation, adds a “geek” class and many
Douglas Adams references; UnNetHack improves
the UI and ramps up randomness to increase variety;
Slash’EM Extended adds even more stuff to the game,
like new classes and races; and so on.
Most variants, as tends to be the way of fans
making mods, are even harder than the original game,
and are even more heavily reliant on spoilers. The
most popular of these changes are sometimes adopted
by the developers back into the original game.
While many players prefer the efficiency of the
ASCII graphics, NetHack comes with the option to
play using a graphical tileset. There are many custom
ones, and fans have also created the Vulture’s Eye client,
which provides a GUI, music and an isometric look.
NetHack is a descendant of Hack, a 1982 variant
of Rogue created by Jay Fenlason during college. In
1987 the dev team re-wrote Hack and released it on
the Usenet (an early Internet), adding the “Net” prefix.
While updates have been irregular since then, the game
is still under active development – in late 2016, they
released version 3.6.0 after a hiatus of six years.
The dev team is devoted but busy, and mortality
has begun to take its toll. With over thirty years of
history on their backs, team members who were
college students when they began working on NetHack
are now in their fifties, or older. While its original
members age, as do all human beings, the team has
brought in a steady supply of new blood, some of them
creators of balance variants, and so new ideas have
infiltrated the game.
What will NetHack become under the stewardship
of these newcomers? Not even the Oracle may say with
certainty. JH
The complexity
of NetHack is
legendary – it
has hundreds of
items, monsters,
effects and
variables, yet they
all interact with
each other in
logical ways. This
led to a popular
mantra among
players: “the dev
team thinks of
everything”.
Newcomers
should check the
handy beginner’s
guide on www.
nethackwiki.
com. It provides
important tips
without going
into spoilers.
Having a list with
the keyboard
commands is
also advisable.
NetHack also supports a variety of tilesets, which replace
the ASCII graphics and make things easier for newcomers.
Vulture’s Eye is a free tool that adds graphics, sound effects,
music and a graphical interface to NetHack and its variants.
93
The Faery Tale
Adventure
MicroIllusions, 1987
Amiga, MS-DOS, C64 and Genesis
David Joiner’s
career as a game
designer began
by surreptitiously
writing a “space
war” game on
a mainframe at
U.S. Strategic
Air Command
headquarters and
ended working
on SimCity 4 and
The Sims 2 for
EA-owned Maxis.
94
In true fairytale
fashion, the
game opens
with a book-like
presentation
introducing
the three the
brothers.
Created entirely by David Joiner in seven months,
The Faery Tale Adventure was perhaps the first
RPG original to the Amiga. In good fairytale
fashion, the background story consists of a necromancer
kidnapping the king’s daughter while unleashing a
plague of monsters upon the land of Holm.
Three brothers from the village of Tambry have
taken up arms to save the realm, but the player controls
only a single brother at a time, starting with Julian, the
eldest. If Julian’s luck should run out – dying gradually
diminishes it – then the next oldest, Phillip, falls under
the player’s control, and finally the youngest, Kevin.
Reaching the remains of a deceased brother will yield
whatever treasures he had accumulated, but otherwise
each brother starts afresh and plays the same, aside
from minor differences in starting attributes.
Exploration is the focus of the game, which is
fortunate as it is easily its strongest aspect. Most of the
challenge consists in discovering what exists in which
locations, and what needs to be done to accomplish
other tasks and ultimately win the game by reaching
and defeating the necromancer.
Open-world before the term existed, Faery Tale
from the beginning confronts the player with a vast
land – equivalent to 17 thousand screens-worth of
material – that can be explored in (nearly) any order one
chooses, striding freely across open meadows, tundras,
farmlands, dense and forbidding woods, desert, bogs,
and volcanic wasteland. Punctuating the landscape are
various buildings, caverns, or other indoor locations,
sometimes named on the paper map accompanying the
game. Showing the contours of the world and various
sites scattered about it, the map is an essential tool and
also serves as copyright protection, as when booting
the game you’re required to input three words from the
rhyme wrapping around the map.
The immense charm of the game contributes
greatly to the fun of exploration. Although the music
consists of only half a dozen tracks, the game makes
the most of them and of the Amiga’s superior sound
capabilities. Both the daytime and night-time themes
are superb, and will be interrupted by a tense battle
theme as enemies randomly spawn on the fringes on
the map and pursue you.
If the player tires of hiking, it is possible to gain
the ability to summon a sea turtle that will graciously
permit the brother to ride on its back over the seas,
reaching otherwise inaccessible locations. Later still,
a magic lasso permits the taming of a giant swan,
allowing the brother to literally “wing forth in flight”
as the rhyme indicates. Logistics are present in the
game, not only in a day-and-night cycle (magical
green jewels provide short-lived light), but also in
the need for food and sleep. Going too long without
buying food from an inn results in starvation eating
away at the brother’s vitality, but going too long
without sleep means the brother will move in a
drunken fashion, unable to walk a straight line!
“I think I mostly made it up as I
went along. In this, I think I was
inspired by Jon Van Caneghem’s
approach to making Might and
Magic, which was to start with a
basic engine and then add detail like
crazy. It’s interesting too, because
many years later in working on
SimCity 4 and Sims 2 at Maxis, I ran
into the same principle, which is this:
there’s really no way to measure
how fun a game will be until you’ve
built it, or at least built enough of it
that you can start playing.”
– David Joiner,
The Faery Tale Adventure’s creator
Other RPG elements are relatively limited,
however, contributing to the game’s reputation as
an “RPG lite”. Each brother has only four attributes:
Bravery, Luck, Kindness and Vitality. Success in combat
depends on the Bravery attribute, which increases
with victory in combat (as does Vitality more slowly),
creating a feedback loop in which a successful brother
becomes powerful enough to trivialise combat.
With few exceptions, there are only three types
of enemies – skeletons, ogres, and wraiths who
look suspiciously like Nazgûl – all of which appear
randomly and are defeated by pointing the brother
in the right direction and pressing a button to attack.
The only other progression consists of
accumulating gold pieces and inventory items. The
game is spiced up with several magic items: for example
blue stones allow teleportation between circles of stone
pillars, while bird totems reveal a map showing terrain
around you, and gold rings briefly freeze time.
While it sold well, Faery Tale Adventure lacked
substantial impact on other RPGs of the time, and a
sequel didn’t appear until 1997. Halls of the Dead: Faery
Tale Adventure II kept a focus on seamless exploration
but radically revised gameplay, keeping the brothers
together as a party and making combat turn-based.
Sadly, the overambitious, mouse-driven controls
combined with faulty path-finding made it difficult
to even move the brothers around. Released after the
bankruptcy of its developer, The Dreamer’s Guild, Halls
of the Dead also suffers from extensive last-minute cuts
to content, and it passed with little notice.
Nonetheless, the basic design of FTA pointed the
way forward to the open-world “hiking simulators”
of a later era. Those indifferent to its charms may
find it monotonous, but despite its limitations Faery
Tale Adventure will remain a sentimental favourite of
those fortunate enough to have experienced it on its
original platform. ZD
The ghost of a
deceased brother
will urge the nextin-line
to find his
remains.
The game’s
manual includes
a much more
extensive
background
story, detailing
the three
brothers,
their father,
the village’s
talisman, and
even the Red
Knight, but
this is entirely
irrelevant to
actual gameplay.
The giant swan allows you to quickly fly across the map,
reaching new areas and avoiding a lot of combat.
The sequel, Halls of the Dead, features an isometric view,
expanded character options and full voice acting.
95
Dungeon
Master
FTL Games, 1987
MS-DOS, Atari ST, Amiga, SNES, etc.*
Dungeon
Master was
a massive hit
at the time,
becoming the
bestselling
Atari ST game
of all time and
winning dozens
of awards,
including a
“Special Award
for Artistic
Achievement”
from CGW.
While most
other RPGs were
still using text
parsers, Dungeon
Master’s interface
was mouse-driven,
graphical and
very intuitive.
96
Dungeon Master is one of the games that has
had the biggest impact on me. I’ll never forget
when I faced my first zombie. It was behind
bars, I had a dagger, and to my joy throwing the dagger
at the zombie through the bars actually worked!
Immediately I knew this game was something special.
Dungeon Master was a revolutionary CRPG
featuring a pseudo-3D world presented in firstperson
perspective. Players controlled a party of four
characters that acted as a single “blob” (hence the
term “blobber”), moving in real time from square to
square. Controlling four characters in real time may
sound like a daunting task, but the game is fairly slow
and all actions take a certain time to execute, with the
various types of attacks having different speeds, so
there is no frenetic clicking involved.
The combat is the weakest aspect of the game,
since it’s too easy to sidestep enemies, attack them,
and sidestep again – the infamous Two Step Dance
– but that is a general problem with all real-time
first-person party- and tile-based RPGs – aka “blobbers”.
Apart from the combat, however, Dungeon
Master was a step forward for RPGs in most respects.
The audiovisuals were unrivalled for a long time.
DM was one of the first games to use 3D audio, so
you could actually use sound to keep track of your
enemies. And while there’s only one type of dungeon
graphics throughout the game, it looked very good.
Dungeon Master was also one of the first CRPGs
to discard the traditional XP system, and instead used
a system where skills increased by usage, something
later adopted by the Elder Scrolls games. The game did
have the traditional character classes of Fighter, Priest,
Wizard and Ninja, and characters could advance in all
classes. Using melee weapons increased Fighter levels,
missiles, weapons, and generally throwing things
increased Ninja levels, casting spells increased Wizard
levels, while making potions increased Priest levels.
You didn’t create your own characters, but
instead had to choose up to four heroes from The Hall
of Champions. And what a colourful and diverse lot
those champions were! Who can forget characters like
Hisssssa, Wuuf the Bika or Halk the Barbarian?
Dungeon Master featured a wide assortment of
enemies, from skeletons and zombies, to shrieking
slow moving trees, to giant rats, scorpions and purple
worms. And the most annoying creature of them all –
the Gigglers, who would run up to the party, steal an
item, giggle and run away.
There wasn’t really much of story in the game,
but the manual included a well-written backstory to
introduce players into the game. It tells that one day
the Grey Lord found a Power Gem, but unleashing its
power resulted in his essence splitting into two halves
– a good wizard and the evil Lord Chaos. The player
takes the role of Theron, Lord Grey’s apprentice, who
selects and controls the four champions. The task is
to enter the dungeon, find the Firestaff and then use
it to stop Lord Chaos.
“We had a ‘hunch’ that Dungeon
Master would do OK. I guess
because we felt we were trying to
do a type of game that had never
been done before. That is a game
that blends real-time action with a
rich environment to play in. I guess
the closest analogue to what we
were trying to do was to create
the dungeon equivalent of a
‘flight simulator’.”
– Wayne Holder,
Dungeon Master’s producer
DM was followed by Chaos Strikes Back (1989),
at first advertised as an expansion, but then released
as a stand-alone game. It allowed you to import your
characters from DM and also came with a Champion
Editor tool, which allowed players to customise the
Champions’ names and portraits – pixel by pixel.
Chaos Strikes Back was like Dungeon Master on
steroids, with even more deadly enemies, fiendish
puzzles and possibly the most intricate 3D dungeon
ever created, with all 13 levels interconnected via
numerous stairs and pits. In my opinion, it was the
ultimate game in the real-time blobber sub-genre of
CRPGs. One of my best gaming moments ever was
on a level containing both illusory walls and dragons.
Unlike me, the dragons could see through the walls,
and even breath fire through them. But I could hear
each dragon stomping about, which meant I could
locate them by sound and then do the “Two Step
Dance” though the illusory walls!
Later RPGs would have prettier and more varied
graphics, and have more of a story and better NPC
interaction, but none could rival the level design and
puzzles of Dungeon Master and Chaos Strikes Back.
Another thing that set DM and CSB apart from
later games is the interaction with the environment,
from using doors and traps, to chopping and fireballing
doors, to something as basic as throwing things
through bars. For example, in DM a fireball actually
has a physical presence in the dungeon and can burn
wooden doors or be sent through teleporters.
Dungeon Master is a landmark in gaming history,
creating a new CRPG sub-genre and inspiring dozens
of clones – even after Ultima Underworld appeared
in 1992 with a natural evolution of the formula.
However, all the real-time blobbers that followed were
evolutionary dead ends; even though some of them
were fun to play, for me they were all anti-climaxes
after Dungeon Master and Chaos Strikes Back. OC
The various
attacks have
different speeds
and power.
Characters can
also throw their
weapons and
pretty much
anything in their
inventory.
*Dungeon Master
still has an active
community of
fans that created
various ports
(Windows, Java,
Mac and Linux),
tools and over a
hundred custom
dungeons for DM.
Visit them at
www.dungeonmaster.com
If the dangers of the dungeon weren’t enough, players
still have to keep all their characters fed and hydrated.
Spells are cast by inputting the correct runes at the
right side of the screen – if your character has enough skill.
97
Zeliard
Game Arts, 1987
MS-DOS, NEC PC-8801 and X1
As happened
with many
other games
at the time,
Zeliard’s US box
tries to mask
the Japanese
aesthetic of the
game, featuring
a viking on the
cover instead
of the mangastyled
character
that actually
stars the game.
There are special
magic items you
need to collect to
explore, such as a
cape that protects
you from heat.
The hints provided
by the townsfolk are
vital to uncovering
secrets and finishing
the game. Be sure
to write them down.
98
I
remember Zeliard mainly for three reasons:
the game is huge, extremely difficult and I only
finished it a few years after my progress stalled in
the final dungeon. When I first played it, I could barely
understand English, so I missed an important hint.
The game was clearly inspired by Nihon Falcom’s
Xanadu (1985) but, while that game remained in
Japan, Zeliard was actually translated into English,
being released in the West in 1990.
One of the early “metroidvania” games, it set
itself apart by having a slight influx of RPG elements.
It features a hidden XP system that allows you level up
when sages in town deem you experienced enough,
increasing hit points, damage and magic.
Zeliard also has a simplistic inventory system:
one slot for a weapon, one for armour and one for a
shield – which will break after a certain number of hits.
The various potions you can buy in towns regenerate
health, magic, raise damage or repair your shields.
You can attack with horizontal, upwards and
downwards sword slashes, and after defeating each
boss monster you will also get new spells – all of them
offensive in nature. As in other “metroidvania” games
there are also items that grant you access to otherwise
unreachable areas, such as boots to climb slopes, or a
cloak to resist intense heat.
Zeliard stands out among its kind for recapturing
the feeling of old-school CRPG dungeon crawlers.
It cannot be mastered by just being good at the
action part, you have to also map the entire game
meticulously, explore every inch and also note down
every hint the townspeople utter to succeed.
Mapping is made difficult both by the fact that
later levels consist of two or three layers intricately
interlinked and by a very unusual quirk of the overall
topology: the maps are circular. Wherever you may
be, if you go far enough right or left, up or down, you
will end up where you started. It easy to get lost even
in the first level, and without a map you won’t get far
in the later ones.
Zeliard’s platforming mechanics have long
been surpassed and its fusion of 2D action and RPG
elements is by no means unique these days, but the
overall dungeon design make it stand in a class of its
own even today. If you enjoy a challenge, that is. JG
Interplay, 1988
Amiga, Apple II, C64 and MS-DOS
Neuromancer
Cyberpunk is one of those genres I wished
had gotten as much play in CRPGs as they
did on tabletops. For their part, Interplay
went straight to the source with William Gibson’s
Neuromancer. The result was a sort of cross between
a traditional 2D adventure and a CRPG, a year before
Sierra’s Quest for Glory hit retail.
The game doesn’t follow the events of the book,
but uses the same setting and some of the characters.
In the year of 2058, people plug into the ‘net in a literal
sense thanks to a surgically implanted jack in their
head transforming all those 0s and 1s into a digital
hallucination. And someone or something in there is
making all of your friends disappear one by one.
As a cyberspace ‘cowboy’ that only has six
credits to his name and who spent the last night face
down in food he hasn’t paid for yet, you’ll be pulled
into the same mystery – interrogating NPCs for leads
and finding ways into places you’re not wanted, then
eventually hitting the matrix in search of data and the
credits for upgrades and connection time.
Skills are learned via chips that can be bought and
upgraded the same way software and your cyberdeck
can be. Spells are software. Those are used in combat
within cyberspace against intrusion countermeasure
electronics (ICE) and the occasional AI watchdogs,
protecting their fortress of corporate secrets.
One could also sell organs, replacing them with
cheap plastic, though don’t expect what’s left of your
meat body to survive more than a minor biofeedback
shock in cyberspace. While conceptually interesting,
these interactions are when the tone difference stands
out. While Neuromancer was a dark, frightening
novel, the game takes a tongue-in-cheek approach.
No event is more emblematic of this than meeting a
sect of Pong worshipers. Yes, the video game.
As unique as Interplay’s vision was, others had
even higher aims. Timothy Leary, the LSD-advocating
psychologist, was the book’s licence owner and pitched
a different game – a CYOA “Mind Movie” where you
played as celebrities and saw cyberspace as fractals.
No matter the interpretation, Neuromancer’s
cyberpunk manifesto continues to influence dystopian
futures where flesh is cheap and information can flashfry
the wetware between your ears. RE
“I suppose
the ultimate
Neuromancer
game would pit
you against a
real AI...”
– William Gibson
A big part of
the game is
spent trying to
get money to
survive, in any
way possible.
Surfing through
cyberspace,
you’ll use
‘warez’ to
infiltrate
databases.
99
Wasteland
Interplay, 1988
MS-DOS, Apple II, C64 and Windows*
*Wasteland was
re-released in
2013 by InXile,
featuring a new
soundtrack and
reworked art.
It also included
all the text in the
game itself, with
no need to check
paragraphs in the
manual anymore.
Heavily derived
from tabletop
RPGs, Wasteland
features seven
attributes and
over 30 skills, but
not all of them are
equally useful.
100
I
almost passed on Wasteland on the shelf of EB
Games way back when. Like, way way back when.
I had tried almost every other CRPG in the store,
from the big companies like Interplay, SSI, Origin –
checked out their games from Wizard’s Crown, Bard’s
Tale, Ultima, Eternal Dagger, Might and Magic... until
Wasteland was the only thing left in the store.
Yet I didn’t want to get it. It looked weird. Finally,
two things lured me in: the Bard’s Tale character layout
screenshot on the back cover, and the Interplay name.
I loved Bard’s Tale, I trusted Interplay, and I trusted
Brian Fargo. And when I sat down and plugged in
this spiritual ancestor to Fallout into my Commodore
64, I could not stop exploring this unique, highlyimaginative
world devastated by nuclear war.
I upheld Desert Ranger justice, communed with
a drunken hobo who saw the future in Snake Squeezins,
cloned my party members (!), repaired toasters, fired
howitzers, got wasteland herpes from a three-legged
hooker, and fought a menagerie of enemies from
killer robots, giant garden pests and leather jerks to
rad angels that glowed with a life of their own.
At the end... I didn’t want it to end (you can keep
playing, too!). I was floored. I didn’t realise CRPGs
could be this way. I still refer to Wasteland’s mechanics
in game design, a brilliant blend of area design context
and RPG systems used to create amazing scenarios.
Wasteland has numerous strengths and
weaknesses, but the strengths definitely overshadow
the weaknesses. The area design, ambiance, the system
spread and applications, and the narrative itself were
top-notch, while the system balance, attribute use,
healing and the rare application of the ability to divide
your party diminished the experience somewhat.
The narrative shines through in the game content
itself, and also in the well-written (and amusingly
so) narrative book included in the game, filled with
richly described characters. The wasteland is simply
an amazing blend of raider-occupied towns, mutant
agricultural centers, robot factories, Las Vegas and
even the inside of an android’s brain, where I almost
feared the game had jumped the shark.
The quests and encounters there are innovative
and interesting, and although the overall quest
doesn’t kick into full gear until over halfway through
the game, there’s plenty to keep you going. The people
of the world respond to your actions, even as soon as
the first area of the campaign, and remind you of the
harsh world that you’ve found yourself in.
Wasteland comes with a slight learning curve not
present in other RPGs at the time, reflected first in its
character creation. Loosely based on the Mercenaries,
Spies and Private Eyes tabletop RPG, its skill-based
and attribute-based system was a bit more complex
than say, Bard’s Tale, but allowed for a richer character
role-playing. If I wanted to create a Russian explosives
expert who liked to throw knives, I could. And that
was a much richer development tree than “Fighter.”
“I think the things that drew
people to Wasteland and Fallout
are the similarities. [...] There was
this open sandbox world and we
weren’t preaching to you as to how
to behave, in terms of a morality
perspective. The ‘correct’ thing to
do was never clear, and sometimes,
there weren’t clear, correct things.
There was also a lot of cause
and effect and a lot of subtlety;
layers and layers of gameplay in
a post-apocalyptic world, with an
interesting combat system.”
– Brian Fargo,
Wasteland’s director
The system is elegant, difficult and confusing
at the same time. The elegance comes in the simple
mechanic of being able to select any attribute, item,
or skill, and then select an object in the environment
for that to act on. An adventure game mechanic taken
to the extreme with brilliant results. If you want to use
Intelligence on an object, you can. If you want to use
your proton axe on a wall or door, you can.
It is touches like this where Wasteland shines.
Similarly, the fact the skill tree grows beyond what’s
in the manual adds a powerful element of mystery,
driving you to explore more of the world and see
what’s in the next library, making the world deeper.
That said, Wasteland has its share of design
confusion. It’s difficult to see the differences in combat
between Pugilism, Melee Weapons and Brawling.
Some skills are largely useless, while others are critical
(Doctor, for example). The same is true for stats: some
attributes, such as Charisma, hold little value.
Wasteland also had an annoying auto-save
function that could sometimes trap you in dead-end
situations (some area designs can push you out of an
area, say, by falling into a river and irradiating everyone,
then saves the game right after, almost guaranteeing a
slow death). This often forced me to quickly yank the
disk or, when I was older, set up copies of the game to
prevent being trapped with no hope of salvation.
Wasteland is one of the best role-playing
games I’ve ever played, and it’s echoed in the design
philosophy and how they accomplish so much by
exposing their systems to design. That, matched with
the sheer creative brilliance of the levels and the novelty
of the setting, has kept it in my heart for over 20 years,
Scorpitrons, androids, bloodthirsty rabbits, and all.
I swore that if I ever had the chance, I’d work
on a sequel, and, thanks to Brian Fargo, I got the
opportunity with Wasteland 2 (2014). I hope the next
generation enjoys the wasteland as much as I did. MCA
Cults, cults, and
yet more cults,
all willing to
embrace you
with radioactive,
glowing arms.
Due to memory
limitations, most
of the game’s
text is in the
printed manual.
The game then
asks you to
read certain
paragraphs.
To stop players
from reading
them early,
fake ones were
added, such as
false codes or an
entire storyline
about a Martian
invasion.
Wasteland’s combat is similar to Bard’s Tale, but it also
displays the position of all foes when you press Space.
The game offers a large open world to explore at
your pace, but you better equip a Geiger counter.
101
Pool of
Radiance
Strategic Simulations, Inc., 1988
MS-DOS, Amiga, Apple II, C64 and NES
In 1987, after
two console
games for the
Intellivision,
TSR announced
they would like
to license D&D
to a computer
game company.
Origin, EA and
SSI were the
final bidders.
SSI won with a
broad plan of
various games
across multiple
genres.
You can create
a party of up to
six characters,
customising their
portraits and
combat icons.
Then play them
all the way to
Pools of Darkness,
reaching epic
levels of power.
102
Pool of Radiance would be the first in a series of
four computer role-playing games set in the
Forgotten Realms Moonsea region. It would
also launch the acclaimed and influential “Gold Box”
titles developed by SSI – so called due to the iconic
golden boxes they were packaged in.
The first officially licensed Dungeons & Dragons
computer game, it faithfully adapted the extremely
popular AD&D pen-and-paper rules to the virtual
environment for the first time, paving the way for
many games to follow. A remarkable feat at the time,
the game packed a meticulous implementation of the
expansive ruleset, from its spell book and combat
mechanics to a statistically accurate bestiary. Even
the monster portraits can be traced to AD&D’s 1st
Edition Monster Manual, recreated in pixelated form.
Other iconic mechanics adhered to include resting
and the time needed to heal or memorise spells.
From the very start Pool of Radiance provides
the basics of the role-playing genre, requiring players
to create a party of up to six characters, built from
AD&D’s multiple races and class combinations.
The heroes would then begin at the port city of
Phlan, motivated by fortune or glory to win back the
city from its monstrous overlord. A novel feature,
Pool of Radiance is a mission-based adventure, with
characters receiving assignments from the Council,
or taking up tasks that are completely optional. The
open nature of its structure allowed players to go
about quests in any order, and most objectives could
be accomplished through multiple solutions.
Exploration is done in first-person; with a 3D
view port window into the fantastic world – similar
to The Bard’s Tale series. The interface is clunky and
slow, but individual character sheets display all the
vital information one would expect from the tabletop
game. Players must learn to track hit points, THAC0,
armour class, inventories and spell books, contributing
to the pervasive feel of pen and paper.
When diplomacy fails and a battle begins,
the player is switched to a top-down “isometric”
view of a field, derived from Wizard’s Crown. The
characters are represented by icons (you can even
customise yours), and movement and positioning is
crucial. Staged against foes in tactical turn-based resolution,
the game boasts some impressive large-scale
battles, sometimes with dozens of enemies at once.
Also featured is the overland map. Upon leaving
the city or one of the many dungeons in the outskirts,
the party is changed to representation by a single icon
in order to traverse the open land. This includes the
possibility of random encounters, discovering new
locations or other hidden secrets.
After finishing Pool of Radiance, players may
transfer their heroes to the next game in the series, all
the way to the fourth game. Characters can progress
in a sweeping campaign, similar to ongoing play with
pen and paper, reaching epic power levels.
Pool of Radiance features a vast city and its surrounding
wilderness, packed with many missions and side-quests.
Curse of Azure Bonds introduced many improvements
and a story set after events of the Azure Bonds novel.
Secret of the Silver Blade had huge areas, far bigger than
the standard 16x16 maps, filled with enemies to battle.
The sequel, Curse of the Azure Bonds (1989), was
a more story-focused adventure, the party awakening
to find their equipment stolen (a cheap balance trick)
and their arms branded with mystic blue sigils, which
rob them of their free will. The characters would then
follow the footsteps of Alias and Finder Wyvernspur,
as told in the TSR-published novel Azure Bonds.
The game expanded upon the Gold Box engine,
introducing the Paladin and Ranger classes and adding
a “fix” command to facilitate the healing process
in the camp menu. The overland map now included
small utility towns, which offered temple, tavern and
shop services from only a menu. Also included were
mini-dungeons for the party to explore, as a bonus
content loosely tied to the main storyline.
The third title of the saga, Secret of the Silver
Blades (1990), sends the party to an entirely different
region, the mining town of New Verdigris – although
events still tie in to a wider tapestry being weaved.
Gone was the overland map portion of adventure,
replaced by confinement around the mysterious Well
of Knowledge, using teleporters to access areas.
Pools of Darkness made the jump to VGA graphics and
delivered a high-level adventure across dimensions.
Unfortunately, Secret of the Silver Blade might
be considered not only the weakest of the series, but
perhaps of all the Gold Box games. Its plot is simple
and linear, with few role-playing opportunities and far
too many random encounters, which can get tiresome.
Finally, in 1991, SSI released the culminating
title Pools of Darkness, delivering an epic conclusion
in the truest sense of the word. The characters would
level up to dizzy heights advancing to forty, and be
thrown against the very pawns of a vengeful god.
The overland map was back – but multiplied –,
taking the party to different dimensions. Supremely
memorable was the section taking place in the spider
realm of the Marilith Kalistes, which should strike a
chord with any AD&D fan who played the Queen of the
Demon Web Pits module. And there was still a high-level
post-game dungeon, designed by Dave Shelley.
A massive commercial and critical success, the
Pool of Radiance games were remarkable not only for
bringing an authentic Dungeons &Dragons experience
to computers, but also for allowing players to forge a
heroic story across four expertly crafted titles. DO
The Gold Box
Companion
is a free fanmade
tool that
can be used
to enhance
the Gold Box
games, offering
features such
as automap,
info HUDs
and cheats.
103
Star Saga: One
Beyond the Boundary
Masterplay Publishing, 1988
MS-DOS and Apple IIGS
In the early
2000s a group
of fans from
the Home of
the Underdogs
created the Star
Saga Game Kit,
which contains
an interactive
map and all of
Star Saga’s text
in HTML form.
Star Saga’s box
was huge, with a
large sector map,
player tokens,
game disks
and 20 printed
booklets that
added up to over
700 pages.
The software
has no graphics
whatsoever.
After you input
your actions, it
calculates the
outcome and
directs you to one
of the 888 texts in
the booklets.
104
The very first computer RPGs, created way back
in the 70s, were born out of a simple realisation:
tabletop RPGs are full of rules, numbers and
percentages, and a computer is much better at keeping
track of those than a human being. Star Saga: One, by
Andrew Greenberg – one of the Wizardry creators – is
that idea taken one step further.
The game can be described as a mix of CRPG,
boardgame and Choose Your Own Adventure book.
It’s a space opera to be played by 1-6 players on a large
map, with all the rules being handled by the computer
– a reliable and always available Game Master.
You start by selecting one of six pre-made
characters, each with their own illustrated booklet that
richly describes their background, starting resources
and secret motivations – such as finding an item and
taking it back home. You then open the sector map
and choose a planet to visit in search of your goals.
Each turn, players input their actions into the
computer, which will reply with the number of a text to
be read on the printed booklets, showing the outcome
of their choices and the options now available. A single
turn has several phases, allowing for multiple actions,
such as talking to NPCs or trading fuel and resources.
The computer will keep track of all these, as well as
handle Star Saga’s simple item-based combat.
It’s a clever concept. Thanks to the computer, the
game has a depth that no CYOA book can match, while
the printed booklets allow for funny, well-written text
that was miles ahead of any CRPG of the time, making
every new planet and encounter feel unique. Sadly, the
technology wasn’t there yet. The back-and-forth from
the PC to the booklets to the map is slow and awkward,
while completing your objectives takes far too long –
one playthrough can last weeks, or even months!
The game still had a sequel, Star Saga: Two - The
Clathran Menace (1989), which continued the story of
the six main characters. In fact, the series was planned
as a trilogy, but poor sales ended it prematurely.
From today’s perspective, it’s almost absurd how
all these booklets, maps and inputs could easily be
handled by a single phone app. A bold game, Star Saga’s
biggest flaw was to be way ahead of its time. FE
Sir-Tech, 1988
MS-DOS, Apple II, C64, NES and SNES
Wizardry V:
Heart of the Maelstrom
Around the time the first Wizardry game was
released, an enthusiastic programmer known
as David W. Bradley started working on an
ambitious RPG called Dragon’s Breath. In 1984 he sent
the game to Sir-Tech, which agreed to publish it on
one condition: to remake it as the fifth Wizardry.
Wizardry IV, however, got stuck in development
hell and would only be completed at the end of 1987,
forcing Bradley’s game to be postponed for years.
This tortuous story explains why Heart of the
Maelstrom is so similar to the original Wizardry on
the surface, despite being released seven years later.
Yet all that time wasn’t wasted idling. Maelstrom
is an iterative title that meticulously improves the
most lacking aspects of previous games. The Thief,
for instance, used to be a pretty useless class; now he’s
required to pick locked doors and search for secrets,
can sneak around in combat to launch surprise attacks
and is able to use a bow to fight from the back row.
Other additions include polearms with extended
range, the ability to swim and friendly NPCs that roam
the dungeons. There are also new spells, including
creature summoning, magical barriers and monster
charming, all which add new tactical elements.
While these gameplay improvements make the
game much better, what stands out in Wizardry V is
D.W. Bradley’s writing and design. Humour is ever
present, making each dialogue or description feel like
a reward to the player. The game allows players to
interact with memorable NPCs like the annoying Pot
of Gold, the pitiful Mad Stomper, the Duck of Sparks
or the drunk sorcerer, and many of these characters
can be bribed, pickpocketed or even attacked.
The dungeon also gained personality. With few
sentences, Bradley turns wire-frame walls into dens of
thieves, shady taverns or even disco ball rooms.
Their very shape comes into play; in previous
games they were limited to a 20x20 grid, but now huge
levels stretch in unpredictable shapes, challenging the
map-making skills of any player.
Heart of the Maelstrom is, for me, the last Wizardry
game with a child’s heart. The following titles grew
increasingly more advanced and became objectively
“better” RPGs, yet I always felt something intangible
was left behind with the series’ “come of age”. DB
Much like
Wizardry I-III,
nowadays
we suggest
playing the
SNES remake
of Heart of the
Maelstrom, due
to its superior
graphics and
interface.
The friendly
NPCs that roam
the dungeons
are one of the
big additions
to Wizardry V.
They are vital to
solve the game’s
many puzzles.
Wizardry V’s artist
was clearly skilled,
but the game’s
CGA graphics were
terribly outdated
next to games like
Dungeon Master
and Might and
Magic II.
105
Ultima V:
Warriors of Destiny
Origin Systems, 1988
MS-DOS, Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, NES, etc
Ultima V carried
on the proud
tradition from
U4 of including a
physical trinket
in the box that
was key to the
plot: in this case,
the Codex coin.
From chairs you
could sit in to
torches you could
steal and barrels
you could move,
Ultima V created
a living world.
106
The entire Ultima series is near and dear to my
heart, but none more than Ultima V – a game
I spent over five years of my life striving to
recreate via a Dungeon Siege mod called “Lazarus”.
What makes Ultima V so special? While the first
three Ultima games established foundational design
tenets for CRPGs in general, and Ultima IV pioneered
the concept of morality in games, Ultima V was the
first RPG to introduce true world simulation.
By “world simulation” I mean the collection of
systems which grant players the illusion of a living,
breathing world that exists independent of their
actions, rather than simply a game board upon which
the player can stab monsters.
Earlier Ultimas had already introduced primitive
day-and-night cycles where visibility and monster
spawning varied based on time of day, but Ultima
V took that a step further and introduced NPC
scheduling – merchants get out of bed in the morning
and walk to their shops to open for business, while
guards close down city gates after nightfall to keep out
wandering monsters.
On top of that, environmental objects were
actually recognised by the game for the first time –
each potted plant or bookshelf wasn’t just a painted
bit of the background, but a physical thing you
could move around. Harpsichords could actually be
played, and a careful look through the game’s manual
could teach the player how to play a specific tune
with special effects in the game world. While this
sometimes allowed for puzzle-solving, it mostly just
served to make the game world feel more real and to
give players more opportunities for interaction.
And that was the beauty of it – Ultima V was
perhaps the first time a game designer realised he
could generate a tremendous amount of fun by simply
creating an immersive world with some limited
agency and letting players run wild. The groundwork
laid with this philosophy would later emerge (with
improvements) in everything from Grand Theft Auto
to Skyrim.
On top of its accomplishments in world design,
Ultima V pushed forward on the narrative front,
turning Ultima IV’s focus on virtue upside-down
as Lord Blackthorn – the primary antagonist of the
game – codifies the eight virtues of Ultima IV into
draconian laws. To some characters you meet, Lord
Blackthorn is a vile usurper and his laws are unjust,
while others are benefiting from his rule and see the
player character and his friends as dangerous outlaws.
You play a Robin Hood-esque role, never
entirely certain who you can trust and who might
turn you in to the authorities. This situation leads
to interesting questions like “does virtue still have
meaning when compelled?” and introduces shades
of grey to the moral equation of Ultima, creating
situations where “what’s right” isn’t always readily
apparent and keeping players on their toes.
“[...] where Ultima IV was fairly
black-and-white – I mean good
guys are good guys and bad guys
are bad guys – Ultima V unfolds in
a grey area. Lots of characters try
convincing you that Blackthorn is
doing things just right; some say
he’s an evil force; and others realise
he’s wrong but are taking advantage
of the situation for personal profit
and are willing to fight anyone who
opposes Blackthorn.”
– Richard Garriott,
Ultima V’s creator
With Lord British
now missing,
Blackthorn took
control and
imposed a darker,
extremist version
of the virtues.
Another place Ultima V worked wonders
was in the Underworld – a massive new region
added to the game world for the first time in the
series. The Underworld was a sprawling cavernous
region every bit as big (and as open) as the surface
world, linked to the realm above by a network of
dungeons. The impetus for the game’s story is the
disappearance of the rightful king (Lord British)
into this shadowy expanse, and the developers
of Ultima V used this fact as an opportunity for
immersion by providing a written chronicle of the
king’s expedition into the darkness.
Smart players could read carefully through
the chronicle and use its words to guide them ingame
as they followed the lost king’s footsteps. The
ensuing connection between shared experience of
the real player and the character they controlled was
remarkably powerful.
In conclusion: From its morally ambiguous
dilemmas and intriguing story premise to its primitive
world simulation and vast play space, Ultima V paved
the way for all the great RPGs to come.
If you haven’t already played it, you owe it to
yourself to pick up a copy and experience this key
piece of RPG history! IF
Mods:
Ultima V Update Patch: If you’re playing the MS-DOS
version of U5, use this mod to add the full soundtrack
found only in other versions of the game.
Ultima V: Lazarus: a 60+ hour Dungeon Siege mod that
recreates Ultima V from the ground up, with modern
3D graphics, CD-quality music, real-time combat, richer
quests and dialogues, and an optional “evil” path through
the game.
You can find it here: www.u5lazarus.com
Ultima V would be the last game of the core series to
use a first-person “blobber” view when inside dungeons.
Ultima V: Lazarus uses the Dungeon Siege engine
to recreate Ultima V with more modern technology.
107
Prophecy I:
The Fall of Trinadon
Activision, 1989
MS-DOS
The game is
called Prophecy I
because creator,
Richard Seaborne,
originally planned
to make it into a
series. He couldn’t
get funding from
Activison, so he
moved on to make
Escape from Hell
(1990) for EA.
Each area screen
is accompanied
by a brief but
rather charming
descriptive text,
adding much to
the overall sense
of wonder.
Spells can be
modified by
adding prefixes:
“Harlok” heals
10 HP, while
“KruHarlok” heals
30 HP but costs
more to cast.
108
The late 80s is not what comes to mind when
envisioning Action RPGs, which may be why
Prophecy I: The Fall of Trinadon never found
much of an audience and is largely forgotten today.
Its VGA graphics were not particularly beautiful,
it only used PC Speaker for sound effects and music,
and its interface was not terribly elegant. Yet Prophecy
still packs a surprising amount of fun into an easy-toplay
package.
The game starts in medias res, the protagonist
having apparently slept through the massacre of his
hometown. He rouses in time to begin his quest – to
avenge his kin by finding and killing Lord Krellane.
As expected in a CRPG of the era, Prophecy
features a full array of Dungeons & Dragonsdescended
statistics and generous expository text. But
there’s also plenty of unexpected elements, such as a
Zelda-like real-time combat where hits and misses
are driven entirely by player reflexes, while damage is
calculated by character’s stats and equipment.
There is indeed a surprising array of equipment
to find in the game, and though the multiple-bodypart
armour system has no impact on your character’s
appearance, the weapon and/or shield your character
has equipped does appear. This is important, as a
weapon’s size directly correlates with its range.
However, the game’s most innovative and
mechanically enjoyable feature is the ability to create
spells through a rudimentary magical language.
The manual presents you with a few dozen basic
incantations, but spells can be further enhanced by
adding prefixes to increase their strength and range,
in exchange for increased energy costs.
It’s difficult to envision a simpler system for
allowing a basic set of spells to actually remain useful
throughout the entire game.
There are of course anachronistic annoyances,
including manual-based copy protection, randomlygenerated-on-load
treasure, mildly obtuse puzzles,
processor-speed-based gameplay, and QuickBASICdriven
PC speaker sound/music (and fonts).
Still, no matter how long it has been since I first
bought the game new, I still find it rewarding to return
to Prophecy – which is high praise for an Action RPG
from the 1980s. QX
Drakkhen
Infogrames, 1989
MS-DOS, Amiga, Atari ST and SNES
Drakkhen is a very original game, starting from
its story. A glory-seeking Paladin slayed the
Great Dragon – but it turns out that he was
the keeper of magic, so now all the world’s magic is
gone, leaving humanity in chaos and unprotected.
You must create a party of four heroes (Warrior,
Scout, Wizard and Priest) to explore a mystical island
inhabited by eight warring dragon princes, collecting
their treasures to resurrect the Great Dragon.
You explore the island through a free-roaming
3D first-person view. This was an amazing feat at the
time and the island is huge, even if mostly empty.
There are eight castles, a shop, a temple, some inns,
houses and teleporters, plus a nice day-and-night cycle.
Once you enter one of the castles, the game
switches to a 2D side-view, where you can control
each of your heroes individually, fighting monsters,
collecting items and solving very simple puzzles.
Unfortunately, the combat is also very simple.
Battles happen in real time and automatically – once
you’ve ordered the party to attack all you can do is
change the spells the Wizard and Priest are casting.
The difficulty is rather unfair, as the game is filled
with traps that instantly kill a character (or the whole
party), and you’ll have to grind a lot to beat the game.
There’s only one save slot and you can’t save when
inside the castles, so things can get frustrating fast.
Besides the novel 3D world map, the 2D graphics
are also impressive and very original, blending
detailed pixel art with more exotic styles, such as 3D
wire-frame soldiers or rotoscoped human silhouettes.
The interface also deserves praise – Drakkhen is one
of the first RPGs to allow the player to control each
party member individually in real time, yet it does it
in a simple and intuitive way. It’s just a shame that the
adventure game-like actions aren’t used much.
The game was ported to multiple systems, but
the SNES version is by far the best. New dialogues,
tips, items and a world map were added, while the
difficulty was reduced, with cheap deaths removed.
Overall, Drakkhen is an outstanding feat of both
technology and creativity – an experimental title that
was way ahead of its time. The result is an original and
weird title, but also an opaque and frustrating RPG.
Regardless, it’s definitely worth a look. FE
The ending of
Drakkhen teased
a sequel, but
Infogrames never
made it. Kemco,
the Japanese
company
responsible for
the SNES port,
released Super
Drakkhen in 1994,
a loosely related
side-scroller.
Drakkhen has
exotic enemies
such as giant
dog heads, 3D
polygons and the
silhouette of a
woman dancing
and shouting
“I love you”.
While the game
has an open
world, your quest
must be done in a
specific order and
manner, which
isn’t always clear.
The dialogues
don’t help
much either.
109
The Magic
Candle
Mindcraft Software, 1989
MS-DOS, Apple II, C64 and NES
Mindcraft
Software was
founded by Ali
Atabek, who
previously
created Rings
of Zilfin. The
company would
be best known
for its Magic
Candle trilogy
and for Siege
(1992).
Your goal to
search for a
way to stop the
magic candle
from melting,
and then collect
the various items
required to do so.
110
The Magic Candle is one of those rare CRPGs,
along with Ultima V, Betrayal at Krondor and
Baldur’s Gate II, that does everything right.
From background story, NPC interaction, puzzles,
exploration and combat, Magic Candle does it all well,
and the end product is a well-rounded, solid CRPG.
The background story is a variation of the tired
old “evil demon/mage/warlord is threatening to
conquer all the world and only YOU can stop him”
plot. The twist is that, in this game, the evil demon
starts imprisoned in a magic candle, but said candle is
melting. The goal of the game is to prevent the candle
from melting down and the demon from escaping.
You have a limited number of days to do so, which is
different based on the difficulty setting you choose.
So time is of the essence in Magic Candle - literally.
The logistics of time management is one of the things
that sets the game apart from so many other CRPGs.
Everything takes time, from travelling to memorising
spells, working for money and training skills. So while
on a ship voyage that takes three days, your spell casters
can memorise lots of spells, for example.
Which brings us to another novel thing in the
game – splitting the party. It’s possible to have some
characters exploring a dungeon, while one character
is making money in a city in another part of the
world and yet another character is memorising spells
at an inn in a different town. Usually you’ll want all
you characters present in dungeons, though, but
when exploring a city, it can be a good idea to have
one character (preferably one with high Charisma) do
the exploring, while others make money, rest, train or
memorise spells. The party splitting is also important
in order to solve some of the problems in the game.
Magic Candle looks like an old Ultima game,
where you control a party or a character on a topdown
map. There are several types of maps – the
overland map, the castle and town maps, and the
dungeon maps. Combat either takes place directly on
the dungeon map, or it switches to a separate combat
map if you are on the overland.
The combat system is among the better turn-based
systems. It’s not very complex, but has many unique
features, like different kind of mushrooms you can eat
to get various combat bonuses, the ability to sidestep
attacks (if not blocked on the sides), and the ability to
pierce several enemies with one arrow. It’s quite simple,
but also quite tactical and fun. The monsters are a mix
of generic types like orcs and trolls, and original, exotic
ones like hraffels, zorlims and bargs.
An important part of the game is talking to NPCs
to find clues on how to stop the candle from burning
down. Lots and lots of note-taking (or screen-capping)
is needed. NPCs also have schedules like in Ultima
5-7, and finding them can sometimes be a challenge
in itself. Some of them won’t even leave their houses
and you have to knock on their doors, but they won’t
open unless you address them by their names.
Your party moves as a block, but you can split them into
various parties to explore, solve puzzles, train and work.
Combat is turn-based and quite simple, but you’ll have
to manage character’s ammo, food and rest to succeed.
Magic Candle II introduced mouse control and improved
graphics, but also removed the ability to split your party.
Magic Candle III had nice graphics and a good story, but
its gameplay felt archaic next to other RPGs at the time.
Speaking of names, you take the role of Lukas, a
young Ranger, and can recruit up to five companions
from around 30 NPCs of five different races and nine
different professions, who have different strengths
and weaknesses. The characters have most of the
traditional CRPG stats and skills, but also some rare
ones like hunting and armourer, to unique ones like
gem-cutting, tailoring and carpentry.
There are no XP or levels; character’s stats
and skills increase through various methods, from
practice and training to more adventurous ones, and
various characters have different aptitudes in various
stats and skills.
The Magic Candle feels more like a simulation
than most CRPGs do. You need lots of items to survive
in the wilderness, like food, arrows, ropes, and many
special items that are useful in dungeons. There is
also a day-and-night cycle, a need to sleep and rest,
and need to repair weapons and armour. Shops open
and close, and ships leave on certain days. If you like
logistics, you’ll like The Magic Candle.
If there are any negative things I can say about
The Magic Candle it’s that the weapons and armour
selection is rather sparse and there are no random
drops, and maybe that the game is a bit too long, with
too much combat towards the end. Skills and stats
maxing before the end and no random loot, makes
combat too much of a chore in the end.
Speaking of the end, The Magic Candle has one
of the most unique ways of winning a CRPG, ending
not on a battle or dungeon crawl, but by asking you
to perform an elaborate ritual to rebuild the candle.
The Magic Candle was followed by two sequels:
The Magic Candle II - The Four and Forty (1991) and
Magic Candle III (1992). While their plots remained
unique, gameplay was streamlined and padded with
combat, faring poorly against games like Ultima VI.
Mindcraft Software also produced two spin-offs
set in the same world: The Keys to Maramon (1990), an
early Action RPG, and Bloodstone: An Epic Dwarven
Tale (1993), based on Magic Candle III’s engine. The
company would close doors soon after. OC
The Magic Candle
was chosen “RPG
of the Year” by
Computer Gaming
World in 1989,
where it also
won an award for
“Most Rewarding
Ending” in 1996.
111
Hillsfar
Westwood Studios, 1989
MS-DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, C64 and NES
112
You can visit
guilds, stores,
pubs, or you
can break in,
by lock-picking
or using a
magical Ring
of Knock.
To pick locks you
must find the
correct pick for
each tumbler.
Besides the time
limit, you must be
careful of traps
and of breaking
the picks.
Part of SSI’s AD&D series, Hillsfar is a very
elaborate side-quest and, like all side-quests,
there are rewards to be had for those daring
enough to seek them.
Instead of importing your characters from Pool
of Radiance straight into Curse of the Azure Bonds,
you can import them into Hillsfar, then transfer them
back out. Characters cannot level up in Hillsfar, but
the experience they earn will transfer with them.
The game plays much differently than its Gold
Box brethren. Your party camps outside the city of
Hillsfar, where the mage Maalthiir has taken power,
outlawed magic and oppressed the populace.
You take individual characters inside the city
to quest alone. Based on their class, they find quests
by visiting their respective guilds. Quests range from
finding lost items to investigating a kidnapping, and
may require you to fight for information in the arena or
check out the latest gossip in the taverns. Three quests,
with increasing rewards, are available for each class.
Most of the action takes place in the form of arcade
segments. Travelling to outlying areas requires riding
a horse across dirt roads while avoiding obstacles.
Investigating locations (or breaking into them) takes
place in a top-down perspective as you explore mazes
for treasure and clues, avoiding the town guards and
magical traps. There is an archery range where you may
compete for prizes and an arena where you may fight
for the same (sometimes your life).
All combat takes place in the arena, and since
magic is outlawed, magic users will not be permitted
to cast spells during the game. The mini-games are
the same despite your class, though class will affect
certain aspects of them. For instance, chests that you
find will often be locked, and you can either force
them open, risking dangerous traps, or if you are a
thief you may engage in a lock-picking mini-game
that requires good eyes and fast fingers.
Although as a standalone title the game can be
tedious considering the lack of an overarching quest,
as a companion piece to Pool of Radiance and Curse of
the Azure Bonds and a chance to build your characters
beyond the usual methods of experience farming,
Hillsfar is an entertaining diversion and a fun place
to explore. CA
Castle
of the Winds
SaadaSoft, 1989
Windows
Castle of the Winds is one of the few CRPGs
I remember playing and winning as a child
of the 90s, partly because it was available as
shareware to set up the commercially released second
part of the story, so the first part was shorter. Beyond
that, it has an addictive charm derived both from its
roguelike tile-based dungeon-delving and its clean
window-based interface.
Originally produced in 1989 as an early piece of
software using the Windows graphical shell in MS-
DOS by Rick Saada, it was released with its sequel in
1993 by Epic MegaGames. In the first part, A Question
of Vengeance, you are an orphan who must avenge
the destruction of your hometown and retrieve a
stolen amulet given to you by your parents. After
two dungeons and a boss, finding and activating
the amulet allows the character to be imported into
the second part, subtitled Lifthransir’s Bane, which
features a much larger town and many more items,
enemies, and encounters. Its deep dungeon has 25
levels with multiple bosses and monster hordes.
What earns Castle of the Winds a notable place in
CRPG history is its unique blend of Norse mythology
and addictive dungeon crawling in one of the earliest
Windows-based graphical interfaces. Today that gives
it a utilitarian aesthetic but, unlike most roguelikes,
its gameplay is mouse-driven with a drag-and-drop
inventory and a customisable spell button bar.
There are no classes or races, so characters can
use every item and spell. A new spell is granted each
level, and more can be learned from books. The game
is entirely turn-based, but time passes in varying
increments depending on actions taken. Inventory is
measured in both bulk and weight, so packs can run
out of room even if the PC can carry more weight.
The dungeon levels are persistent once generated,
plus a few have set encounters, such as a memorable
potion-shaped spider room, or a prisoner to free
within a limited time. Foes include vicious wildlife,
humans, standard fantasy creatures, undead spirits
and specifically Norse monsters like jotun – giants.
While some aspects of the game are very simple,
Castle of the Winds has enough complexity to satisfy
that itch to explore dungeons, increase in strength
and tackle ever fiercer enemies. AS
In 1998, Saada
released both
parts of Castle
of the Winds
as freeware
on his website.
The Windowsbased
interface
sets the game
apart from others
of the time, with
its drop-down
menus and
mouse-driven
gameplay.
The stats
and items are
simple, and
the graphical
interface is
very intuitive,
keeping the
game accessible
to those new
to roguelikes.
113
Quest for Glory:
So You Want to Be a Hero
A remake
of Quest for
Glory I was
released in
1992, sporting
new colourful
VGA graphics
and a full
point-and-click
interface.
You can create
hybrid characters,
such as a fighter
who can cast
spells or pick
locks, but some
acts are locked to
specific classes.
Sierra On-Line, 1989
MS-DOS, Amiga, Atari ST and PC-98
What’s in a name? In the case of Quest for
Glory, an unfortunate story. The series
originally began as Hero’s Quest, before
Milton Bradley pointed at the board game and gave a
meaningful cough. It’s a shame, because while Quest
For Glory is arguably a better title, it’s really not what
the series has ever been about.
For creators Lori and Corey Cole, heroism
is a thing to aspire towards for its own sake – the
importance of being the light in the darkness, of
saving the world through simple human compassion
as much as beating up whatever threatens it, and of
doing the right thing not because you’re thinking of
the reward, but because it’s the right thing to do.
Quest for Glory started its hero’s journey like
many others – a young man approaching a small
town, hoping to make his name. (Originally there
were plans for other character options, including
races, but space was at a premium.) It offered a mix of
classic graphic adventure gaming and RPG elements,
though unsurprisingly for a Sierra game with ‘Quest’
in the title, it leaned heavier to the adventure side.
In particular, it didn’t matter how good your
stats were, the game was full of instant death if you
annoyed characters or got caught breaking the rules.
Pick a fight with a thief, for instance, and there’s not
even a battle. Just click, boom, comedy death message.
The RPG side breathed a lot of life into the world
though, with your choice of character class allowing
three paths through the game – Fighter, Magic User
and Thief. Later games would add Paladin to this,
either by importing the hero from the previous game
or as a title that had to be earned through good deeds.
In the first game, that meant a Magic User
could challenge local wizard Erasmus and his pet
rat, Fenrus, (or local rat Fenrus and his pet wizard,
Erasmus, depending on who you ask) to a magical
mini-game duel, while the Thief could join the local
guild and break into houses to somewhat unheroically
liberate them of their loot.
They also have one of the best deaths in Sierra’s
murderous history – using the Lock-pick on yourself
with low skill would lead to you stabbing yourself
in the brain and dying instantly. With high skills?
Congratulations! You successfully picked your nose.
Warning: Avoid Quest for Glory if you don’t like puns.
The adventure side of the game mostly came
through in puzzles, in dialogue, and the general feel of
the game, though never to the crazy lengths of most
dedicated adventures. It was more about using tools at
your disposal, with the games playing fair.
If you need to retrieve an item and you have a
spell to do that, then said spell will either work or
at least give a reason why it doesn’t. If it looks like
a surface can be climbed to get an item, it probably
can be. It might take some stat grinding to get good
enough, and there might be an easier way like casting
Levitate, but it’ll usually work.
114
Combat is very simple. You can dodge or parry attacks
with a shield, but often it’s better to just keep attacking.
The game uses Sierra’s SCI0 engine from King’s Quest IV,
allowing for mouse control but still requiring a text parser.
Quest for Glory II sends you to a labyrinthine Arabic city,
imperiled by elementals and surrounded by a vast desert.
The downside of this is that the RPG elements
are limited. Combat especially is mini-game hell from
the very start to the very end of the series, only the
details changing. There’s very little in the way of gear
too, with usually only a couple of upgrades per game.
It’s best to think of these elements as seasoning
rather than a major part of the meal, manifest more
in elements like side-quests that you can take on, the
ability to wander more or less freely around the world,
day-and-night cycles where the worst monsters usually
come out at night, and the need to eat and sleep.
Being based on adventures did however allow
for much stronger narrative than most RPGs had back
in 1989. The series made great use of this, with each
game set in a different location with its own rules.
For Quest for Glory I, it’s the European village
of Spielburg, where everything is familiar. Quest for
Glory II: Trial by Fire (1991) took the hero to Arabia,
with most of the action taking place in one big city
where events happened on set days and had to be
dealt with before it was too late – before then leaving
on a caravan to sort out the mastermind behind it all.
The third game made the transition to VGA graphics and
replaced the text parser with point-and-click controls.
Quest for Glory III: Wages of War (1992) remains one
of the few games to explore Africa, focusing on war
and the hunt for a lost city.
Collectively, these become more than just a
travelogue, with the hero constantly being exposed to
both what people want, and what they really need –
facing evil enemies who have to be stopped, but also
learning that appearances can be deceptive.
In QFG1 for instance, there’s a group of bandits
terrorising the valley. The big reveal is that their leader
is the local baron’s enchanted daughter, but the route to
learning that makes a point of showing her to be more
than just a snarling villain. She has honour. She makes
a point of personally intervening when her men attack
one of the villagers and getting him medical treatment.
She has nuance, and while not all of the baddies are
similarly redeemable, that nuance runs through every
plot point and every decision made in the series.
Heroism, it repeatedly emphases, relies just as
much on seeing the good in people as the bad. There
are worse lessons for a game to teach, whether you
want to be a hero or not. RC
While the
second game
was only
released with
EGA graphics,
a free fan
remake with
VGA graphics
was released in
2008, made by
AGD Interactive.
115
Knights of
Legend
Origin Systems, 1989
MS-DOS, Apple II and C64
Not only
Knights of
Legend not
only had great
artwork for
the time, but it
also came with
an edit tool,
allowing players
to customise
their character’s
appearance and
shield design.
The world
map is large
and diverse,
but there’s
nothing to do
in it besides
fighting random
encounters and
searching for
the location of
quest battles.
116
Knights of Legend’s manual opens with a brief
tale on how the game was created: in 1981 a
group of four tabletop RPG players sat down
in a restaurant to debate tabletop RPGs. They loved
complex rulesets, but doing all the calculations they
required was slow and tiring.
One of those friends, Todd Mitchell Porter, was
a programmer, and upon returning home he began
to design a computer RPG that could deliver all that
complexity, but was quick and easy to play.
He spent eight years working on the game. When
a prototype was done, he showed it to Richard Garriott,
who signed him under Origin Systems and published
the game in 1989 as Knights of Legend.
This little backstory helps to understand what
kind of game we’re talking about here. From the
150-page manual that describes the fantasy realm of
Ashtalarea – including a timeline and an appendix on
Elven language – to the fact that every single NPC has
a unique portrait and personality, Knights of Legend is
a gorgeous and extremely ambitious RPG, filled with
handcrafted details and passion.
You start by creating a party of six characters. There
are Humans, Elves and Dwarves, but also Keldens, a
race of gigantic flying humanoids. Instead of classes,
you choose from 33 richly described backgrounds, like
Dark Guard (former guards of the evil wizard Pildar)
or Usip (a small tribe of Elves in danger of extinction).
These affect characters’ initial stats, weapon skills and
wealth, and also how NPCs react to them, as many will
refuse to serve a Dark Guard or dislike Dwarves.
Magic is based on Elven words, which must be
learned from wizards to create spells that target the
enemy type and stats you need. For example, the spell
DAYNALON is made of DAY (human), NA (body),
L (moderate) and ON (nearby), and will moderately
damage the body of a nearby human. Using YR
instead of ON would make it a long-range spell, while
using AR instead of DAY would make it target Elves.
It sounds cool on paper, but spells are expensive
and ridiculously specific: a spell against Ogres is useless
against Stone Ogres, making them very hard to use.
Once your party is set, you explore towns in a topdown
view, talking to NPCs via Ultima-like keywords
until you get a quest. The game contains 23 quests
you must complete in order to unlock the final quest,
but they are all mostly unrelated and follow the same
formula: an NPC asks for an item, you ask around for
clues, learn vague hints (like “search north of town”)
and go to the world map searching for it – which brings
us to Knights of Legend’s defining feature: combat.
Once a battle begins, you’ll be overwhelmed by
the amount of options available. Combat is turn-based
and each turn your characters can move in three speeds
(Walk, Run or Sprint), select from dozens of attack
combinations – Hack at Head, Slash at Legs, Thrust at
Body, Headbutt at Legs, etc –, and prepare a defensive
manoeuvre, like Dodging, Jumping or Backing Up.
Character development amounts to improving weapon skills
and gaining social ranks, which have little gameplay impact.
The inventory screen shows a detailed “paper doll” of
your characters, something new to RPGs at the time.
Every NPC in town has a unique portrait and personality,
reacting differently to the various races and backgrounds.
All these options impact damage and hit Chance,
but also Fatigue – a vital stat in Knights of Legend. Every
action causes Fatigue, based on the equipment being
used, the wounds sustained and the type of action.
A heavily armoured Kelden may be tough, but he
won’t be able to fly (or even run) for more than a few
rounds without passing out with exhaustion. As such,
it’s important to balance equipment load, as well as to
know when to attack relentlessly and when to rest.
A key feature here is that characters with high
Foresight can read enemy movements, allowing you to
see what the creature will do and respond accordingly.
If he’ll target the head of the character in front of him,
you can order that character to duck to avoid the blow.
It’s one of the most complex combat systems in
any RPG, but it has a huge flaw: it’s excruciatingly slow.
Every turn, for each of six characters, you must select
where to move, how fast to move, how to attack, where
to attack, how to defend and confirm each action. Not
only is there a lot to do and the interface is sluggish, but
enemies require several blows to be defeated. Killing a
single Orc in an open field can take more than 10 minutes.
The enemy has a wounded arm and I can see it will target
my legs, so I can avoid the attack by jumping next turn.
Moreover, while random encounters are always
fought in small areas, quest battles take place in massive
dungeons, exacerbating the issue. If repositioning your
party is already a slow task, then scouting huge areas
in search of quest items and surviving enemies is the
CRPG equivalent of Chinese water torture – a single
battle against a few enemies can last over three hours!
To make matters worse, enemies act predictably
and you never face more than one enemy type at once.
And not only does the formulaic quest design provide little
incentive or sense of reward, but the last quest has a bug,
asking you to report your victories to the wrong NPC.
Still, there’s a final nail in the coffin: the only way
to save your game is to go back to town, enter an inn
and pay for each character to rest. Not only does this
mean you can’t save and quit during the hour-long battles,
but you won’t be able to save at all if you’re out of money!
It’s an ironic fate – Knights of Legend was born from
a desire to quickly play tactical tabletop RPGs but, while
the computer does handle all calculations, the game is
so slow and demands so much micro-managing that it’s
easier to just go back to tabletop RPGs. FE
Knights of
Legend was
designed to
support multiple
expansions;
the main menu
even has an
“Install New
Region” option.
However, the
game sold
poorly and
no expansions
were ever made.
117
The Dark Heart
of Uukrul
Brøderbund Software, 1989
MS-DOS and Apple II
“We did set out
to make the game
memorable, and
the things the
player remembers
most are solving
challenges,
not hacking up
monsters.”
- Ian Boswell,
Uukrul’s designer
You explore the
dungeon in firstperson,
following
the visions and
remains of a party
who came before
you but failed to
slay the evil Uukrul.
During
encounters the
game switches
to a top-down
tactical turnbased
combat,
similar to the
Gold Box series.
118
The Dark Heart of Uukrul is my favourite
RPG of all time. I should be angry that it is
so obscure and overlooked, but I realise this
game caters only to a very specific kind of RPG fan.
Uukrul’s achievement lies in the unorthodox
ideas inherent in each of its components – it features
some of the best dungeon, puzzle and character
development design in the history of the genre, but
also combines them into a highly memorable whole.
Uukrul emphasises teamwork in a way that few
other RPGs do, requiring each of your characters’
input for combat and puzzle-solving alike. That,
however, comes at the cost of making the party
composition fixed – your group inevitably consists of
a Fighter, a Paladin, a Magician and a Priest.
While the first two classes are fairly traditional, the
magic system is where Uukrul shines again. Both the
Priest and the Magician gain not only in levels, but also
in the number and quality of rings they have equipped,
each dedicated to a specific deity or magic arcana.
Obtaining new rings is a separate form of character
progression, unique in how tightly DHoU ties it to
the exploration process as well as to the dungeon lore.
Deciphering the Priest’s prayers is also an exciting task
– a puzzle that relies as much on studying the manual
as it does on in-game experimentation.
What made me completely and irreversibly fall
in love with the game, however, are its dungeons.
The Cube, designed in “true” 3D so that the overall
layout is seamless and makes sense; the oddness of
the Battlefield maze with a spinner trap that haunts
me still; the Palace, a “meta” role-playing area
emphasising the concept of chance via the roll of a die;
and, of course, the Chaos, the most unorthodox and
ingenious level ever created for an RPG – encounterfree
and illusion-based, yet logical and climactic,
alone worth a full playthrough of the game.
I can’t think of any other dungeon crawler that
can top Uukrul when it comes to dungeon design;
Wizardry IV and Chaos Strikes Back are probably the
only ones that come close.
Released just a bit too late to become popular,
with dated graphics and sound limitations, The Dark
Heart of Uukrul has since been rediscovered and is
now enjoying a niche cult classic status. CB
Windwalker
Origin Systems, 1989
MS-DOS, Amiga, Apple II, C64 and Atari ST
In 1985 Origin published Moebius: The Orb of
Celestial Harmony, an odd RPG by Greg Malone.
It was a mediocre Ultima-clone, but it stood out
due to its Chinese-based setting, bizarre art style and,
especially, its real-time martial arts combat, inspired
by fighting games like Karateka (1984).
The sequel, Windwalker, went one step further.
While its predecessor’s combat was reflex-based,
you can now battle in turn-based mode, creating
a fascinating fighting system that allows you to
carefully choose your next move from a menu.
Moreover, a real-time replay can be seen afterwards,
making it all look like a fierce martial arts duel.
So why isn’t such cool game talked about more?
Because combat quickly becomes one of Windwalker’s
worst aspects. Attacks have a rock-paper-scissors logic
to them – once you understand your opponent’s moves,
you’ll know how to counter their attacks. But you
can use only two fighting styles and there’s only four
enemy types in the game – one being the final boss!
Worse yet, enemies spawn constantly, turning battles
into a chore that drags the entire game down.
Regardless, there isn’t much to see here anyway.
There’s no character creation, stats or skills – you just
grow stronger as you play. The world is small, composed
of tiny islands, a huge empty ocean, very few NPCs and
only three quests. Thus, the frequent battles feel like lazy
padding for what’s otherwise a 2-3 hours game.
The Chinese-inspired setting is richly described
in the manual (with a bibliography!) and there’s even an
NPC that will read your fortune using the I Ching, but
otherwise it’s tragically underused. You get some magic
chants, a mostly irrelevant honour code, mythological
creatures and that’s about it. Still, the game does look
very distinctive, using heads as icons and a perspective
that rolls vertically, as if the world was a cylinder.
Finally, there’s a clever save and permadeath
system: guards will only capture you if you lose, not kill
you. And you can save anywhere. But if do you die, the
game autosaves – die 10 times and it’s game over.
In the end, Windwalker is one of those games that
I really wanted to like – it looks so original and creative!
Sadly, what looks like its greatest strength – the combat –
only drags it down instead. And the rest of the game
simply isn’t good enough to make up for that. FE
In Moebius: The
Orb of Celestial
Harmony and
in Windwalker
you’re guided by
Moebius, Greg
Malone’s alter
ego. Malone
would later work
on Ultima VI
and direct Duke
Nukem 3D.
The turn-based
martial arts
combat feels
great at first,
but the frequent
battles and lack
of enemy variety
quickly turns it
into a chore.
You’ll only battle
human opponents.
Other creatures
serve as obstacles
that you must
avoid, usually by
using magic or
special items.
119
Bloodwych
Mirrorsoft, 1989
Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, MS-DOS, etc
Bloodwych was
followed by
Hexx: Heresy
of the Wizard.
Released in 1994,
it was an early
3D dungeon
crawler featuring
the same
heroes, but no
multiplayer.
One player
battles a giant
crab, while the
other tries to
bribe his way
through a pair of
ghost warriors.
The first player
tries to figure out
a locked door,
while the second
buys a spell
from the magic
fairy, which visits
heroes when
they sleep.
120
One interesting aspect of 1980s CRPGs was
how they dared try out new ideas, both to
be better games and adapt new technology.
Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. Bloodwych is a
great example of the latter, a game full of cool ideas but
barely any praise and recognition for them, especially
today. So what happened?
The screenshots show the biggest idea: split-screen.
Now two players can try to save the world together.
More ideas pop up in the character creation
process: Pick one of 16 pre-generated champions,
sorted by colours and card suits to determine their
character class and school of magic. Spades are
fighters, Hearts are bards, Clubs are wizards and
Diamonds are rogues. With this one champion the
player walks about the starting dungeon to find
and recruit three more champions using a versatile
keyword-based dialogue system that was years ahead
of its time. The biggest problem with the two-player
mode reveals itself here: the game has the same
amount of resources regardless of whether a friend
tags along or not, meaning that players have to
compete for champions, XP, food and gear. As there’s
nothing stopping players from attacking each other, a
friendly game can turn nasty in a heartbeat.
The dungeons themselves are basic fare; key
hunts, fake walls, pressure plates and spinners, and yet
the concept of a second player doesn’t play into the level
design. In fact, another of the game’s cool ideas is that
the party can be split up, which opens up many new
gameplay options but they are never used. At no time
are multiple parties required to complete the game.
Players can also stop and (try to) talk to
monsters they encounter, but short of trade offers or
using shops there’s little reason to bother. So many
cool ideas, so little done with them. The 8-bit versions
of Bloodwych even cut out many of these cool ideas.
This was somewhat addressed in the game’s
expansion pack, The Extended Levels, where monsters
are more chatty, offer valuable trades and can even
be recruited into the party. Sadly the dungeons are
no better designed this time around. As a result
Bloodwych stands as a house full of unused ideas,
ignored by history as bigger games with bigger ideas
strode past it to become known classics. ÁV
Sandcastle, 1990
Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Genesis and NES*
The Immortal
Even for a time where there was much less handholding
in games, The Immortal stands out
as exceptionally unforgiving in the gory and
creative ways your character – an old wizard searching
for his mentor in a ruined city – can and will die.
A refreshing mix of action, adventure and RPG,
the game features real-time fights, puzzles, NPCs,
spells and many items – each with a purpose, even
if that purpose is to kill you in a gruesome manner.
The Immortal boasts great graphics for its time,
a novel save system for each level making up for the
many ways you die, varied environments to explore
and a short but surprisingly engaging story told
through dream sequences and characters you meet
during your travels.
Although the game’s manual provides some
hints, each level of the carefully handcrafted dungeon
involves a lot of trial and error to traverse – one wrong
step can mean getting immolated, crushed, drowned,
spiked, webbed, swallowed whole by worms or simply
attacked with few opportunities to replenish health
after a fight. Fights are limited in number however,
and thus always feel like a significant accomplishment
once you have won or managed to bypass them.
Puzzles are diverse and mostly unique, from
reflecting light with a certain item so a hidden exit
appears and planting spores that will poison everyone
present in a room to avoiding invisible enemies
through creative use of a fireball. Though it is mostly
linear, the game also incorporates some choice and
consequence, with different outcomes depending on
whether you chose to kill or aid certain characters.
Not a huge hit for its time, I nevertheless have
very fond childhood memories of the game. It had an
immersive quality to it that, in my mind, outshines
many newer and bigger games.
I fought hard for the rather fragile wizard,
*wanting* him to succeed and see what happened next,
wanting to know who the elusive girl was and whether
there was an actual dragon living down below.
If you can stomach real-time fighting and a few
punishingly difficult parts, this is a forgotten gem –
one that gives a real sense of accomplishment upon
completion, as well as one that entertains, immerses
and frustrates until then. CH
*The Immortal
versions are very
different, some
featuring extra
areas and traps.
The Apple IIGS is
the original, but
the Genesis port
became famous
for adding
bloody death
animations to
each enemy.
The wizard drinks
a shrinking potion
to sneak past the
goblins and enter
a small crack in
the wall.
Fights are in
real time and
very arcade-like.
You have two
different attacks
and can dodge
left or right to tire
your opponents.
121
1990-1994
The creative and
technological explosion
The early 90s are often brought up as a golden age of gaming, filled
with innovative and creative releases, and it’s hard to disagree. In just a
few years entire new genres were invented or perfected, spawning stillongoing
series and classic titles still unrivalled.
Dune II set the standard for RTS games; Wolfenstein 3D and Doom
introduced FPS (or “Doom-clones”, as they were known); Civilization
popularised 4x games; Alone in the Dark brought in survival horror;
Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat and The King of Fighters dominated
the arcades; platformers had Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country,
Sonic, Megaman X, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and Super Metroid;
JRPGs had Earthbound, Final Fantasy VI, Breath of Fire, Secret of Mana;
LucasArts and Sierra released dozens of amazing adventure games;
Ultima Underworld showed the world how to do 3D games, and the list
goes on and on: Need for Speed, Warcraft, SimCity 2000, Mario Kart,
X-COM, Lemmings, F-Zero, Wing Commander, Star Fox, etc.
With more people having dial-up conections and access to BBSs,
“shareware” began to spread – games like Epic Pinball, Duke Nukem and
Doom, as well as several applications, could all be tried for free then fully
unlocked by registering them via mail. It was a way for small studios to
circumvent retailers and market their games directly. Eventually many
game magazines began to include CD-ROMs filled with shareware titles,
as well as demos and game trailers, helping them spread even more.
The hardware side also saw a fierce competition. The Super Nintendo
vs. SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive is one of the most famous rivalries in gaming
history, but lesser-known consoles such as the TurboGrafx-16, Phillips CD-I,
NeoGeo and 3DO were also fighting for a spot in the sun.
Deadlier yet was the battle for personal computers. Powered by new
technology like VGA graphics and Intel i386 processors, PCs had proved
themselves unstoppable. In 1993 Atari left the battle to focus on their
Jaguar console. Commodore would soon follow, going bankrupt in 1994.
Only Apple endured, struggling to keep its Macintosh relevant.
IBM wasn’t the winner either. In 1994 Compaq replaced it as the
biggest PC vendor in the US. IBM PC-Compatibles evolved, the industry
standard became having Windows and an Intel chip – the “Wintel” combo.
While computers were steadily growing popular, it was still a daunting
task to buy one, as technology evolved fast, competing standards appeared
and several factors had to be considered – platform, processor, operational
system, modem, audio card, graphics card, CD-ROM drive – all very
poorly explained to consumers.
But, if you made the right choices, you had the time of your life.
122
Trends:
CD-ROMs & FMV: While a floppy disk could hold up to 1.4MB, the new CD-ROMs
carried 650MB. This massive gain in storage allowed developers to pursue their wildest
dreams: not only pre-recorded music instead of MIDI files, but pre-rendered backgrounds,
cutscenes and even real actors instead of animated pixels using FMV (Full Motion Video).
While it aged poorly, at the time it was hailed as the long-awaited fusion of games and cinema.
But system requirements were high: expensive CD-ROM drives, sound and graphic cards.
Released in 1993,
The 7th Guest used
real actors as ghosts.
It’s often credited
alongside Myst
for popularising
CD-ROMs.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board: While violence and sex in video games
was nothing new, the use of real actors in games like Mortal Kombat and Night Trap
led to a reignited controversy and a hearing on the topic in 1993. Nintendo responded
by censoring their games, while SEGA created its own rating system. Eventually several
game companies partnered to form the Entertainment Software Association (ESA),
which led to the creation of the self-regulatory ESRB rating system in 1994.
The ESRB rating
was the industry’s
way to deal with
demands for
censorship.
Modding: Programmers have been tinkering with the code of other people’s games
since the dawn of video games, but id Software noticed how cumbersome it was to mod
Wolfenstein 3D and decided to make Doom easily moddable – everything needed was
contained in WAD (“Where’s All the Data?”) files. With Doom’s massive popularity and
the dawn of the Internet, thousands of mods were created. This philosophy was carried into
Quake and later Half-Life, leading to legendary mods like Team Fortress and Counter-Strike.
Aliens TC is a
total conversion
mod for Doom,
based on the
movie Aliens and
released in 1994.
The World Wide Web,
the Internet as we know it
today, begins as the first web
browser, HTTP, HTML and
web pages are created.
The Super Nintendo is released.
Despite arriving much later
than the Genesis/Mega Drive,
it “won” the 16-bit generation,
selling 41M units.
Linux is first released.
Created by Linus Torvalds, it
led to free and open-source
operational systems used by
many companies and users.
Myst uses CD-ROMs to
deliver a gorgeous, welldesigned
and accessible
Adventure game, becoming
the PC’s best-selling game.
The PlayStation is Sony’s first
console. Created after a failed
partnership with Nintendo, it
would dominate the market,
selling over 100 million units.
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994
Windows 3.0 is released.
Microsoft partnered with
many companies to sell
IBM PC-Compatibles with
Windows 3.0 pre-installed,
leading to it becoming
extremely popular.
Sonic: The Hedgehog is
SEGA’s answer to Nintendo’s
Mario. Faster and edgier, the
mascot would become an
icon of gaming in the 90s,
especially of the Nintendo vs.
SEGA console war.
Mortal Kombat not only
conquers the arcades and
begins a long-standing
rivalry with Street Fighter,
but also has parents up in
arms against its violence,
paving way for the ESRB.
Doom arrives, reaching
millions of people as
shareware. One of the most
important games of all
time, it popularised firstperson
shooters, multiplayer
deathmatches and modding.
The SEGA Saturn is released
as a successor to the Genesis/
Mega Drive. Expensive,
poorly marketed and with
many games available only in
Japan, the console failed and
sold only 9 million units.
123
Ultima VI:
The False Prophet
Origin Systems, 1990
MS-DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, C64 and SNES*
*Thanks to
Nuvie, Ultima
VI can also be
played under
Windows, Linux
and Mac OS X.
The game also
had a Japanese
FM-Towns
version that
added voice
acting by Richard
Garriott and
other Origin
employees.
The Shrines of
Virtue allow the
Avatar to level up,
once they have
been liberated.
Each confers
different stat
bonuses, based
on its respective
Virtues.
124
Ultima VI must have come as a shock to
Ultima fans when it was first released, so
wildly did its graphics depart from the design
of the first five titles in the series. Gone were the
overhead tiles and dual-scale worlds that had been
staples of the series; full-colour isometric graphics
and a continuous, open world awaited the Avatar.
From the first moments of its introduction,
Ultima VI marks itself as different. The turn-based
combat is the first aspect of the game that players
experience, and the initial battle plays out in the
middle of Lord British’s throne room!
It’s a grim picture that is painted as the game
opens: Britannia is under attack by a new and
terrifying foe. The Gargoyles have marched out of
the depths of the world, killed many of the realm’s
soldiers, and have seized the eight Shrines of Virtue.
And it’s up to you to stop them. Ultima VI thus seems
to set up a very generic tale about a hero ridding a
fantasy realm of an army of monsters. And were this
any other game, that might well have been the scope
of its story.
But this is an Ultima; Ultima VI twists its story
around in a brilliant act of narrative subversion. The
Gargoyles, we soon learn, have a legitimate grievance
against Britannia, one which upends the Avatar’s
seemingly noble actions in Ultima IV and Ultima V.
For, as the player will soon learn, the Codex
was not Britannia’s to claim; it has, in fact, been
stolen. And the rescue of Lord British precipitated
a horrifying cataclysm that devastated the Gargoyle
people and their home. Now, bereft of their holy book
and reeling from the destruction of much of their
world, they have set out to pay back Britannia in kind
for its misdeeds. And it is only by finding a way to
reconcile the warring sides that the Avatar can prevail.
In fact, Ultima VI gives players the option to
almost completely avoid the use of violence. It isn’t
even necessary to level up to finish the game, and
there are only two or three fights that are genuinely
unavoidable. (The opening battle, notably, is not one
of these.) Clever players can, for the most part, find
ways to carry out each piece of the game’s plot using
non-violent methods, and some parts of the plot can
even be skipped entirely.
Not that one can’t find combat if one goes
looking for it; there are plenty of random encounters
scattered across Britannia. Ultima VI’s monsters are
usually not difficult to best even at lower experience
levels, but some of them can be truly devastating in
combat. (Battle-hardened Avatars can even test their
mettle against the dragons of Destard... if they dare.)
Of course, you don’t need to throw yourself out
into Britannia alone. The Avatar’s companions from
previous games can be found all across the land, some
of them eager to join you again. New NPCs can also
be found, to further fill out the ranks, and up to seven
party members can be recruited.
“I began to reach into things like
racism, and what I did with Ultima
VI was I brought in a race of beings
that look very demonic: they have
horns, they have leathery wings,
they have long claws. [...] I set you
up to assume that they were evil,
when in fact they have families and
literature and science, and their grief
with you is associated with things
that the human society has been
doing to them over time. In fact, the
way to lose the game is to win the
battle. The way to win the game is to
force peace.”
– Richard Garriott,
Ultima VI’s designer
The concept of “open-world” gaming is not new;
even the first Ultima game can be considered “openworld”.
But Ultima VI expanded upon it by doing
away with the dual-scale world design that had been
a key characteristic of previous Ultimas (and, indeed,
of most other CRPGs to that point).
Gone were the depictions of cities and towns as
single-tile icons on an “overworld” map, which had to
be “entered” for the player to be taken to another map
full of buildings and NPCs. In Ultima VI buildings
and NPCs are present alongside mountains and
forests – all of Britannia can be explored in one go.
Nuvie
The New Ultima VI Engine began as an attempt to
create an open-source implementation of the U6
engine that could run natively under modern operating
systems. But Nuvie has since grown far beyond Eric
Fry’s original design and now offers various new
features, such as a new UI, dialogue keywords, new
graphics and much more.
And Britannia itself feels alive. NPCs are fully
scheduled; they sleep at night, wake in the morning
and sit down to eat, and go about their day tending
a shop or wandering about town. They close up shop
for the evening, eat dinner, and then return to their
bed to rest for another day.
Ultima VI can be different games to different
players. It can be approached casually, but offers
much for the seasoned CRPG veteran to enjoy as well.
It can be completed in under two hours, or explored
for months on end. It’s a classic title well worth
purchasing and exploring. KE
The Ultima 6 Project
Created in partnership with the team behind Ultima V:
Lazarus, this mod offers a recreation of Ultima VI using
the Dungeon Siege engine. It adds new subplots and
side-quests, but it’s also more combat-heavy than the
original game. Get it here: www.u6project.com
Ultima VI is
widely regarded
as the first Ultima
which had both
a deep narrative
and a highly
detailed world.
Numerous
utilities exist
to allow players
to edit the map,
graphics, and
dialogue of
Ultima VI. For
more details, go
to: www.ultima6.
ultimacodex.com
Nuvie allows you to hide U6’s intrusive UI and use new
features from Ultima VII, such as dialogue keywords.
Encounters that could be avoided in Ultima VI typically
have to be fought out to their bitter end in U6P.
125
Wizardry VI:
Bane of the Cosmic Forge
Wizardry VI
was remade for
the SNES and
Saturn, sporting
much improved
graphics and a
handy minimap.
Sadly,
these versions
never left Japan.
Wizardry VI
finally replaced
the wire-frame
dungeons with
colourful EGA
graphics. But it’s
very limited: the
game only has
one tileset, so
forests, mines
and pyramids all
look like stone
dungeons.
Sir-Tech, 1990
MS-DOS, Amiga, Mac, SNES and Saturn
Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge is
often overlooked as a stepping stone for
the sprawling sequel Wizardry VII, yet in
my opinion it’s the best of the whole series.
There are lots of objective reasons why it’s
important for the evolution of the series, but for me
it conveyed such an incredible sense of place without
losing the gamey and addictive maze-ness of previous
Wizardry entries that just made it hard to put down.
I remember mapping the main hub of the game, the
entry level of the castle, and suddenly realising that
it actually resembled a castle when you looked at the
map. At that time that blew my mind more than many
of the more far-reaching changes to mechanics.
That said, Wizardry VI marked a major turning
point for the series. David Bradley was now the sole
designer, and he wasn’t afraid to break conventions.
Some changes are immediately obvious, such as the
new EGA graphics, while others are more subtle.
For example, when you enter the Bane castle for
the first time the gate ominously closes behind you,
never to be opened again.
If you didn’t play any of the previous games in
the series, this detail might not mean much to you.
Otherwise you will immediately understand that with
one swift move you have been cut off from one of the
main support pillars of past games. There is no going
back to the city to rest and heal, to identify or buy
items, or restore or replace fallen comrades.
Where Wizardry V improved on mechanics of
the early Wizardry games with small iterative steps,
Wizardry VI boldly rips out the guts of the series and
replaces them to an extent never done before or again.
Instead of five races and eight classes, you get 11 races
and 14 classes, all with distinct career paths and
strengths and weaknesses. The typical fantasy races
from previous games remain, but they are joined by
new furry options like humanoid cats, dogs, lizards,
dragons and others.
Moreover, an extensive skill system was added,
with over 20 skills spread across three categories
(Weapons, Physical and Academic), further
differentiating the various classes. As with previous
games, items are restricted by class and race, with
most of the restrictions making at least some sense.
Quantity doesn’t always translate into quality
but, together with the already existing class-change
feature, character development in Wizardry VI went
into overdrive – seeing your characters go from total
pushovers to killing machines is as satisfying as ever.
Magic is another area that was completely
overhauled. Spells are now sorted into six schools,
including Psionics and Alchemy. The more poetic
spell names were replaced by functional ones (e.g.
MAHALITO became Fireball), which decreased style
but increased usability. More importantly, spells now
cost mana and can be cast in six distinct power levels,
each increasing its effectiveness and cost.
126
“Bane was a breakout – it was time
to take the next step, time for our
adventures to grow up and leave the
safety of the nest, it was time that
there should be no going back. Bane
retained the full spirit of traditional
Wizardry, braving ever deeper into
the castle dungeon, but then, what
happens?! At the point of climax we
reach not the lowest depths, but
instead ascend outside the confines
of the dungeon prison, freed forever
from the shackles of the past, and
the end is now the prelude for what
is to follow.”
– David D. Bradley,
Wizardry VI’s creator
Another area the game improves upon are locks
and traps. Wizardry VI introduces separate gameplay
for both unlocking doors and opening treasure chests.
Usually I hate mini-games in RPGs, as they often feel
completely disconnected from the core gameplay of
the rest of the game, but I always loved the various
iterations of lock-picking and trap-disarming starting
with Wizardry VI, as they felt like such an integral
part of the game’s world.
It would be easy to go on with a list of all the
things Bradley changed with Wizardry VI (improved
NPC interactions, different attack modes for weapons,
increased number of status effects, etc.), but all it boils
down to is that the changes pushed the series into a
new era without sacrificing complexity along the way.
That isn’t to say that nothing was lost in the
transition. Not everyone enjoyed the verbose NPCs,
the ability to rest anywhere and the removal of the
“explore dungeon, return to town” gameplay loop.
Japanese developers prefer the old ways, and
have polished the gameplay of earlier Wizardry entries
to perfection, their best “dungeon RPGs” offering the
same mechanical depth that Wizardry VI introduced.
But their worlds remain constrained and limited – as
awesome as they are – to abstract mazes.
Wizardry VI, on the other hand, broke free from
these constraints, with maps that felt like real places
yet are still maze-like enough to provide a challenge.
Unlike its open-world sequels, Wizardry VI’s maps are
tightly designed, with many paths between the various
areas. Instead of a series of dungeon levels, you really
had the feeling of slowly exploring a massive, densely
layered castle and its surroundings.
Wizardry VI is much more than a transition
piece – it managed to repackage the classic Wizardry
experience, by both pushing forward and yet keeping
the elements that have always been most appealing
about the series. JG
NPCs are more
complex and
play a much
greater role
than in previous
Wizardry games.
Some may even
lie to you, and
the game offers
three different
endings based on
whom you chose
to believe.
You can use
the Cosmic
Forge Editor to
apply bug fixes,
patches that
alter gameplay
mechanics and
edit many of
the game files.
Wizardry VI finally adds mouse support, but its interface
is unwieldy and works much better with the keyboard.
Magic plays very differently from previous Wizardry games,
as spells now cost mana and have multiple power levels.
127
Tunnels & Trolls:
Crusaders of Khazan
New World Computing, 1990
MS-DOS, PC-98, PC-88 and FM-Towns
Tunnels & Trolls
was first released
in Japan, and then
almost entirely
re-written by Neal
Hallford (writer
of Betrayal at
Krondor) to be
released in English.
Combat is turnbased
and can be
automatically fought
by the AI. While
most battles are
simple, some
are practically
unwinnable.
Events are spread
all over the maps,
but are invisible.
You never know
when you’ll come
across a life-anddeath
choice, so
save often!
128
Tunnels & Trolls is based on the tabletop RPG of
the same name, designed by Ken St. Andre in
1975 as a light-hearted and accessible alternative
to the recently released Dungeons & Dragons.
When Tunnels & Trolls was released in Japan in
1987, it became extremely popular. And so Starcraft,
the company who published the Japanese versions of
Wizardry and Might and Magic, asked New World
Computing to co-design a licensed T&T CRPG.
As such, Tunnel & Trolls: Crusaders of Khazan’s
design was done in the US, then sent to Japan, where
the game was programmed. This can be immediately
noticed in the unusual mouse-driven interface, similar
to early Japanese graphical operational systems.
Overall the game plays mostly like an Ultima
clone, with various cities, a large overworld, turnbased
combat and a customisable four-character party.
What truly sets it apart is the presence of countless
Choose Your Own Adventure-like events, most taken
directly from T&T’s solo adventure game books.
Instead of having interactive NPCs, the game is
filled with countless text-heavy encounters and events
where you can pick one of many options, leading to
vastly different outcomes; from a nice reward to
instant death – some may even change depending on
your race, class, stats and/or known languages!
However, while events are well-written and offer
many role-playing opportunities, far too often a blind
choice will wipe your party – for example, ignoring
a castaway’s plea for help can lead to an impossible
battle against a horde of angry water elementals.
To make matters worse, enemies scale to your
level in an unfair way. If there’s a dragon blocking your
way and you decide to grind a few more levels, chances
are next time you’ll face three dragons instead.
To survive you’ll have to save after almost every
step, because any harmless-looking empty square
nearby may actually contain a deadly trap, ambush or
event that can take you to the Game Over screen.
It’s a shame, but these annoying issues ended up
dooming what’s otherwise an intriguing game. The
excellent CYOA-like events set it apart from any other
CRPG of the time (and even of today), but only those
willing to endure a frustrating difficulty and many,
many reloads will get to enjoy them. FE
Westwood Associates, 1990
MS-DOS
Circuit’s Edge
Circuit’s Edge is an interesting Adventure/RPG
hybrid, based on George Alec Effinger’s 1987
book When Gravity Fails. It takes place in a
dystopic cyberpunk future which, like most of the
sort, owes a tremendous debt to William Gibson’s
Neuromancer. The major difference is that, instead of
the world being overtaken by the Japanese, it’s instead
been influenced by Islamic culture.
You control Marîd Audran who, per usual pulp
standards, is a down-on-his-luck detective that has
resorted to running goods for his pals. During a
seemingly innocuous delivery, you find your client
dead, presumably murdered. A mafia boss saves
you from being arrested, but now you must help
him investigate the murder, exploring the seedy
underground of a city known only as The Budayeen.
The gameplay leans more towards the RPG end
of the spectrum, as real puzzles are sparse and most of
the time is simply spent running to different cafes and
bars, talking to people, and finding leads. You’ll also
end up gambling, beating up punks and selling junk
to get enough money to buy cybernetic modifications,
which can be equipped to improve various skills, such
as combat and hacking.
Not all of the events are linear, making it
relatively free-form compared to a standard adventure
game. The game runs in real time, meaning certain
people are at certain places during certain times and
it is entirely possible to miss stuff if you take too long.
While the story is standard and the interface
is a pain, Circuit’s Edge really nails the atmosphere.
The 16-colour graphics are perfect to depict the
city’s grittiness, and the music, while sparse, is
appropriately moody. There’s quite a bit of nudity,
many of the females are “sexchanges”, and you can
sleep with practically anything or even light up.
There are over 60 locations in The Budayeen,
and you can easily spend the first few hours trawling
the bars, trying to pick up hookers, gambling and
watching holo peep shows, just taking in the game
world. While the interaction is somewhat limited,
there’s enough depth to the hellhole that is the
Budayeen to make the trip worthwhile, even decades
later. As a whole, Circuit’s Edge flounders as an RPG
but succeeds as a work of interactive fiction. KK
Circuit’s Edge
had the help of
When Gravity
Fails author
George Alec
Effinger, who
claimed to
have written
“about 75%
of everything
on screen”.
You explore the
city in first-person
view, like an urban
dungeon, using a
drop-down menu
or typing keywords
to interact with
items and NPCs.
You can be randomly
attacked by muggers,
but winning these
fights usually just
requires that you’ve
installed the proper
cybernetic mods.
129
J.R.R. Tolkien’s
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I
In 1994 Interplay
released another
game called
J.R.R. Tolkien’s
The Lord of the
Rings Vol. I,
this time for the
SNES. Despite
having the exact
same title, it was
an entirely new
game, made by
a different team.
While the graphics
where good for
the time, they lack
variety and fail to
convey a sense
of wonder. This
screenshot shows
the gates of Moria
and its tentacle
guardian, but they
look like many
other areas.
Interplay, 1990
MS-DOS and Amiga
I
remember exactly why I bought Lord of the Rings
Vol. 1. The box art was cool. The title had quite
the catchy name. And since this was the CD-ROM
version, it featured lots of animated cutscenes from a
movie I had no idea was animated by Ralph Bakshi
nor that it was adapted from apparently quite the
famous book. I was a 10-year-old kid, OK?
Yet this was a game that changed my life: you
can explore a huge game world however you like?
And you can do things in the order you want? And
there are several solutions to problems, some the
developers have not actually thought about?
While mostly forgotten today, LOTR Vol. 1 has
many of the features that defined the great RPGs of its
time, presented in a colourful and acessible game that
still remains rewarding and highly replayable.
You start alone with a band of three weak
hobbits, grow nearly invincible as the full Fellowship
is formed, explore dungeons, talk to characters with
a system of keywords very much akin to Ultima, get
side-quests, fight in many turn-based battles, and
eventually, prevail (at least until the sequel).
The game uses an overhead view similar to
Ultima VI, with a mouse-driven interface and graphics
that are colourful but lack in variety. The soundtrack,
however, is memorable and features tunes that feel
both adventurous and peaceful.
The player controls a large party of up to
ten adventurers at once, but there’s actually many
more characters available to be recruited. There’s
no character creation and levelling up is pratically
meaningless, so customisation comes from selecting
who will join your Fellowship and equipping them.
The game world, fully fleshed out from the Shire
to Lothlorien, is lengthily described on-screen (or
in the game’s manual, if you were playing the floppy
disk version) – a similarity it shares with Wasteland,
another Interplay game. And not the only one: skills
are to be used often outside of combat. Your characters
can climb a hill, jump over pits, pick locks, or even use
their knowledge to display additional text that gives
important clues or just interesting lore.
The reader of Lord of the Rings often wished she
could explore Middle-Earth at her own pace, and this
is a game that pretty much allows this; walking off
tracks, entering every house, talking to everyone and
inspecting every cranny is the most rewarding aspect
of this game. And it is quite a big game.
Combat, on the other hand, is the game’s main
weakness. It’s turn-based but allows for very few
strategies, with the large party being more of a burden
than a tactical advantage – the walk order of your
party, for example, is of utmost importance to avoid
getting strong characters stuck behind weaker ones.
Overall, it boils down to having the highest strength
and being lucky. Magic is scarce and used mostly for
puzzle-solving, but it’s disappointing that not even
enemy spellcasters will use magic against you.
130
“I had obsessed over the books
when I was little, had the calendar
and everything. And inside the
front cover of The Fellowship of
the Ring was a computer program
I’d written down by hand when I
was in seventh grade. I brought it
to them [the Tolkien Estate] and
showed them: ‘This was my first
computer program, written inside
the cover of this book.’ I don’t know
if that’s what got them to agree,
but they did. I think they knew they
were dealing with people that were
passionate about the licence.”
– Brian Fargo,
Interplay’s founder
Lord of the Rings, Vol. 1 had another controversial
feature. Anyone who read the book will be confused at
seeing references to Sharkey quite early in the game,
at meeting the wizard Radagast in such circumstances,
and even being able to recruit another very special
character so early in the story.
This is because LOTR Vol. 1 doesn’t follow the plot
of the novel entirely. It says this straight away in the
manual: “The reason we did this was not to ‘improve’
Tolkien’s work, but to challenge the computer gamer who
is familiar with Tolkien’s work. Expect to be surprised.”
As such, there are many plot elements, quests, and
even main story events that didn’t appear in the books.
A huge betrayal and blasphemy to some, a fair bit of
fresh air to others – especially as it allowed for events
and quests to have multiple solutions.
The game also played loose with its cast, as you
can “win” even if characters like Frodo, Gimli, Legolas
and Aragorn are dead or were never recruited.
Despite this, some moments in the game can be
very confusing if players aren’t familiar with the books.
There are no hints on how to deal with the Balrog in
Moria, for example. It’s also easy to miss important
events and characters, as some of them will only appear
if you walk over the exact tile that triggers them.
The game was followed by a Volume 2 in 1992,
based on The Two Towers. The engine and gameplay
were mostly similar, but one could tell the developers
were struggling with a source material featuring vast,
open fields and a less linear story. The sequel erraticaly
moved you from one party to the other and featured
rather dull environments. And how to show the
massive Helm’s Deep battle with 1990 technology?
Volume 3 was never made; poor sales sealed its
fate. It could be just as well, as Return of the King’s story
is hardly fit for this kind of game. Thus ends this first
attempt at a Lord of the Rings CRPG; not a major title,
but a small curiosity that can be easily enjoyed. MI
Combat is
turn-based and
very simple; the
most important
thing is the
marching order
of your party, as
characters need
to get close to
attack and might
get stuck behind
weaker party
members.
The game was
re-released
for CD-ROM in
1992, adding
an automap,
an extended
soundtrack,
scenes from
Ralph Bakshi’s
Lord of the
Rings movie
and removing
the need
to look up
paragraphs in
the manual.
The CD-ROM version replaced its cutscenes with clips from
the 1978 Lord of the Rings movie directed by Ralph Bakshi.
There’s a great degree of narrative freedom; events have
multiple paths and you can win without key characters.
131
Captive
Mindscape International, 1990
MS-DOS, Amiga and Atari ST
The Ultimate
Captive Guide
is an excellent
fan-site entirely
dedicated to
Captive, filled
with trivia,
useful tools,
tips and stats.
You can replace
the droids’ parts,
upgrade your
equipment and
install shields,
scanners, minimaps
and other
useful features
directly to the UI.
Captive 2 is a
very exotic and
ambitious game,
with a massive
scope and some
very unusual
design choices.
132
Captive is a real-time sci-fi blobber where your
character wakes up imprisoned somewhere
unknown. Your only hope now is to remotely
control four droids, who must find and liberate you.
The droids are highly customisable, as they have
detachable individual parts (hands, arms, legs, feet,
chest and head), each with its own stats, energy cost
and utility. For example, a droid with a damaged head
will display distorted graphics to the player.
Captive relies heavily on procedural generation.
When you start the game, you first have to fly with
a spaceship to one of the planets on your star map,
land, locate an enemy base, enter, locate a space probe
inside the base, destroy the generators and then run
like hell. If you don’t manage to get out in time, you’ll
die when the base explodes. The goal of the game is to
do this ten more times, allowing you to free yourself.
If you succeed, you get the chance to start over
again, and again and again. Hundreds of bases with
countless procedurally generated levels, all sprung
from the same seed to make sure every player sees
the same sets of levels. This is both the game’s greatest
strength and weakness. Once you understand how
the game constructs levels and even puzzles, you’ll
realise just how bare-bones and repetitive it is.
Playing Captive as a kid, that didn’t bother me.
What kept me going was seeing something new every
base. New monsters, different tile graphics, more
weapons, body parts and ingenious tech upgrades.
That first run with 11 bases is quite fun and has
enough to offer to overcome the simplistic gameplay.
But after that it gets tedious.
The sequel, Liberation: Captive 2 (1994), was
truly ambitious. Once again in charge of the four
droids, you have to investigate a murder cover-up
in a futuristic, hostile city. The city is massive – a
sprawling open world with shops, libraries, offices,
houses, etc. The game also featured fully 3D graphics,
a customisable UI and introduced the ability to talk to
NPCs, pursuing more peaceful approaches.
Still, just as with the first game, most of it was
procedurally generated and, combined with the
insanely large city, made for a game easy to admire for
its ambition but hard to finish due to sheer size and
lack of compelling, handcrafted content. JG
Champions
of Krynn
Strategic Simulations, Inc, 1990
MS-DOS, Amiga, Apple II and C64
Champions of Krynn is the first entry in the
second of SSI’s “Gold Box” series, this time set
on the then-popular Dragonlance setting. I
bought it when I was 14 years old, attracted by the box
art and the back of the box description. I had only just
discovered Tolkien and entered my first fantasy phase,
I guess. (“It’s not a phase, mum!”)
When I bought the game, I had never played D&D
and I didn’t really know what it was. I thought it was
something very American, probably expensive, and
surely I wouldn’t find anyone to play it with anyway.
(I did have Hero Quest and it was already tough finding
friends who wanted to play that.) A computer game
was the ideal solution to my fantasy role-playing needs.
The manual first describes how to play the game,
then explains the AD&D rules (often in great detail),
followed by several journal-like entries to which the
game refers to once in a while in order to advance the
story. It was all quite overwhelming. Just by reading
these, I understood that Krynn was something real,
complex and detailed. I knew it was made for me.
I think you remember your first computer RPG
because it draws you in. You are absorbed by it and you
care about your characters so much, you dream about
them. In hindsight, the story wasn’t exactly the strong
point of the Krynn series, but the stories you come up
with yourself, these live forever.
Now that I know Dragonlance, I appreciate the
attention to details. How a lot of iconic characters
make their appearance in these games. How magical
items are rare and mages aren’t trusted. How they made
the gods, and even the three moons and their cycles a
gameplay feature, boosting certain magic depending
on their phase. How you could create a Kender or a
Solamnic Knight, and how there were already quests
that only a certain class could solve.
A lot later, when I traded my Commodore 64 for
a PC, I could finally play the rest of this epic trilogy:
Death Knights of Krynn, released in 1991, and Dark
Queen of Krynn (1992). And so I restarted Champions
(probably for the fifth time), in order to import my
party into the sequels. And even though I was almost
10 years older, and it was the ugliest game at that time,
it was still my favourite RPG.
Now I’m almost 30 years older, and it still is. DW
The Dragonlance
setting by Tracy
& Laura Hickman
grew extremely
popular in the 90s,
with a dedicated
D&D line and a
shared universe
spanning over
190 novels.
The Gold Box
games are
known for their
challenging
tactical combat,
and Krynn adds
new threats like
Draconians that
explode after
being killed.
The Krynn series
is filled with
iconic characters
and set pieces
from the books,
such as Death
Knights, flying
islands and
dragon battles,
remaining a fan
favourite.
133
MegaTraveller:
The Zhodani Conspiracy
The Traveller
tabletop RPG was
first published in
1977 and became
quite popular in
the 80s. It had
several versions,
like MegaTraveller,
T4, T5, Mongoose
and adaptations
for Hero System,
GURPS and d20.
Character
creation is
faithful to the
MegaTraveller
tabletop ruleset
and almost a
game by itself;
you can even
die to injuries!
It would later
by mimicked by
System Shock 2.
Paragon Software, 1990
MS-DOS, Amiga and Atari ST
Based on the MegaTraveller pen-and-paper RPG,
The Zhodani Conspiracy brings one of the most
complex rulesets in any video game. However,
complexity doesn’t equate to quality, and much of the
game is overshadowed by pointless rules, a cliché plot
and a combat system that turns duels with laser rifles
into a chore – a sin for any sci-fi game.
Upon starting the game (and passing the
multiple-choice copy protection test), players have
the option of creating five characters from scratch or
quick-starting with a pre-generated party.
MegaTraveller offered one of the most extensive
character generation process ever made. Hours can be
spent here. After rolling (and most likely re-rolling)
your attributes, your character can attempt to sign
up for one of the five major services (Marines, Army,
Navy, Merchant, and Scout), or enter the draft.
Signing up for a branch is by no means assured:
the Marines, for example, are quite difficult to enter
and, even if you’re successfully accepted, there’s no
guarantee that you won’t be pulling kitchen duty and
peeling potatoes for a term – literally.
Each term you’ll learn new skills but, instead
of manually selecting them, you choose a category
and the game randomly gives you one of its skills,
e.g., Personal Development might give you Physical,
+1 Dexterity, Vice, Hand Combat or Blade Combat.
Yet some of these can still have sub-options! For
example, Vice can have you learning Bribery, Forgery
and other types of skulduggery.
After each term, you can choose to re-enlist or
retire and become a mercenary. The longer you serve,
the better trained your character, but serve too long
and your stats begin to decrease due to old age – you
might be expelled or even have an accident and die
during character creation! Once you retire, you get
one random benefit for each term served – bonus
attributes, weapons, armour or simply some cash.
With your party finished, a mysterious woman
barges into a bar and hires you to deliver a disc with
information that can end the ongoing war. You then
leave the bar and get ambushed, starting under enemy
fire with no time to prepare or learn the controls.
To make matters worse, the combat is atrocious.
Battles play in real time, but the interface is slow and
only one character can be controlled at a time. This
means your party will stand still while you awkwardly
try to order one character to fire at the enemies.
This was such an issue that Paragon Software
made a patch for the game, changing the combat to
allow players to pause and issue orders. Still, battles
remain the worst part of the game – there are no tactics
or useful feedback, you just shoot until someone dies.
Moreover, hearing about a patch in a pre-Internet era
was a challenge, so many players never saw the fixes.
If you manage to survive – or flee – the ambush,
the game finally starts properly and you’re free to
explore the planet’s tiny city in a top-down view.
134
Walking out of the starport without using a vacuum suit
is a recipe for instant death in planets with no oxygen.
Your ship has eight stations that must be manned. During
combat, for example, you need someone firing the guns.
Space flight was originally too hard, with variables like
gravitational fields, and was patched to be more arcade-y.
MegaTraveller’s main quest is really just an excuse
to gather money to upgrade your characters and ship
for the endgame. In this regard, the game can be
overwhelming, as every aspect is filled with options.
Shops are packed with several types of weapons,
armour, items and upgrades. You can enter buildings
and talk to a few NPCs (though they won’t say much),
rent one of three unique vehicles to explore the planet’s
surface or just travel to other planets and systems.
The spaceport allows you to board your ship – or
buy a new one. Also available are computer programs
that increase your chance of evading attacks or allow
you to jump between solar systems – yes, not only
does your ship need to have a Jump Drive to travel,
but it also needs the software to operate it! The
computers themselves can also be upgraded to allow
for more programs to run simultaneously.
The spaceport also allows you to buy and sell
commodities. Different planets have different prices,
so it’s possible to start by playing as a trader. Another
valid option is attacking other spaceships, destroying
them and tractor-beaming their cargo.
The sequel expands upon the first game, but doesn’t fix
glaring flaws like the terrible combat and useless skills.
Where MegaTraveller falls flat is that most of this
is wasted. The game’s quests, battles and exploration
are bare-bones, with nothing that justifies having all
these systems, e.g. why have over 30 weapon types but
only a few enemies that all behave the same way?
The game bolsters 85 skills, but the manual itself
states that 25 are useless, left there for those who wish
to use their characters to play the pen-and-paper
version of MegaTraveller. Still, the remaining 57 skills
are just as meaningless and can be mostly ignored.
The sequel, MegaTraveller 2: Quest for the Ancients
(1991), features a non-linear story that’s slightly better,
but still has terrible combat and doubles down on the
pointless complexity – now there are 125 skills!
In the end, enjoying the MegaTraveller CRPGs is
all about the illusion – if you ignore (or don’t realise)
how pointless its systems are, you can dive into them
and create your own enjoyment – trading, pirating,
learning which weapons can be legally carried in
each city, managing air tanks while exploring toxic
atmospheres, etc. Whether they are meaningful or not,
few games offer so many systems to play with. FE
The Zhodani
Conspiracy had
an unusually high
amount of patches
for a 1990 title.
First they added
a pause feature
to combat, and
a second patch
improved the
interface and the
space controls.
These changes
were included in
the Amiga and
Atari ST ports.
135
Spirit of
Excalibur
Synergistic Software, 1990
MS-DOS, Amiga, Apple IIGS, Atari ST and Mac
In 1989
Synergistic
Software
released J.R.R.
Tolkien’s War in
Middle Earth,
a very similar
game to Spirit
of Excalibur,
but set in
Middle-Earth
and focused
on large-scale
battles.
You can send
multiple parties to
explore the world
and choose how
to react to the
various events and
challenges they
come across.
136
In Spirit of Excalibur you play as the mythical
Knights of the Round Table, in a time after
Arthur’s death where the realm is in turmoil and
needs saving.
Harking back to a time where developers often
mixed and matched genres, the game contains a bit
of everything – exploration, strategy, adventure and
RPG elements. You control armies in (simple) tactical
battles, direct your multiple parties of knights around
the campaign map in search of clues, quests and items
you need to overcome obstacles. On the way you
will meet many colourful characters to interact with,
trading with some, getting information from others,
helping the local populace and working to create
alliances and get new knights to join.
All this is done within a narrative divided into
several episodes, with each containing an overarching
objective, new NPCs and armies on the map and
several side-quests you can choose to engage in or not.
The amount of knights you can move out into
the world, saving damsels and slaying dragons, is
limited at first but as you conquer territory and solve
quests, more and more knights and parts of Britain
join you, giving you more manpower and leading to
your ultimate goal of reuniting the land.
Some knights have old rivalries and should be
kept apart, others are of questionable moral fibre
and may join the enemy, but mostly you’ll come to
rely on only a few key knights, sorcerers and monks.
Some will have an army under their command, which
you’ll need to counter Saxon armies and robbers on
the campaign map, but most knights you’ll employ
in RPG fashion, facing opponents in single combat,
supported by magic, potions and other helpful items.
Spirit of Excalibur is divided into five parts, each
containing a challenge to the realm that must be
dealt with – in many cases swiftly and under severe
opposition. Navigating through this in the most
effective manner requires a lot of experimentation and
a lot of restarts for each chapter. This is both part of the
charm and the frustration of the game – it will make
you work for its perfect ending and you will feel quite
some accomplishment if you ever get it.
Battles are relatively few in number, and many
can be avoided. A nice touch is that you can mix and
match multiple parties, directing each of them around
the map as you please, completing multiple objectives
such as countering enemy armies in several places at
once or having quicker knights scout ahead, buying
things from peddlers and gathering information, while
your best party focuses on the storyline.
I remember originally filing the game under
‘adventure’, because while it has progressing stats
and several ways to solve (some) situations, at its
heart, the game is about exploration, puzzle-solving
and above all, even for its time, trial and error. In its
hardest parts you be under time constraints and need
to do everything just right.
Like in adventure games, you can explore locations and
use a list of verbs to interact with characters and items.
Sir Ector duels Morwick to rescue a maiden. Combat is
real-time and mostly automatic, but you can give orders.
During army battles you can order individual troops to
perform tactical actions or use special items and spells.
Losing certain characters or using key items
before their ‘right’ time might get you through one
episode, but make the game unsolvable because you
needed those characters/items later. Needless to say,
maintaining a save from both start and end of each
episode is recommended.
While the game has a problematic interface,
horrid pathfinding and at times frustrating gameplay,
I nonetheless remember my elation at finally ‘solving’
it, figuring out the puzzles and completing battles with
strong knights equipped with the right items. The
story is well-done, the world was beautiful for its time
and the exploration, the curiosity to see what the next
sleepy hamlet or gloomy ruin held, was captivating.
The sequel, Vengeance of Excalibur (1991) largely
reuses the same engine and gameplay mechanics
as Spirit. It moves the action to Spain, as a band of
knights chase after a traitor who stole the artefacts of
the realm. The game has improved path-finding and
interface, making it potentially less frustrating, as well
as markedly easier gameplay due to more linearity in
the story and less trial and error.
Vengeance of Excalibur sends your knights to Spain, where
they’ll meet Gypsies, Basques, Saracens and even Djinns.
Locales are evocative however, and the game
retains the attractiveness of its predecessor in exploring
and fighting your way across a detailed and changing
map, though you only control four knights and hardly
need to split your party this time around. One new,
nice feature of the sequel is the ability to import your
knights from Spirit, complete with gear and stats.
In summary, Vengeance is a smoother, more
streamlined and linear experience, with a completely
fresh setting, retaining most of what was good about
Spirit, although failing to evoke quite the same level
of fondness. Still, if you like the first, you will like the
second as well – it is a charming game in its own right
and certainly more forgiving than its elder brother.
Both games are quite forgotten by now, but I see
them as rough gems with lots of enjoyment to be had
for the right aficionado looking for both challenge
and atmosphere. As a child I stayed up many long
nights playing, admiring the graphics and making
up Arthurian lore of my own – as such, this series
definitely sparked my imagination and still shines
clearly in my memory decades later. CH
137
Worlds of Ultima:
The Savage Empire
The game’s
manual was
stylised as a 50s’
pulp magazine,
covering its plot,
items, tribes
and enemies,
as well as a fake
expedition by
the developers.
Savage Empire
features cutscenes
at key
moments of the
game, moving
beyond the usual
beginning and
ending cutscenes.
Getting around
the huge valley
can be tricky, as
you’ll have to
pack food, fend
off dinosaurs and
navigate a mazelike
landscape.
Origin Systems, 1990
MS-DOS, Mac and SNES
After developing an expensive 16-bit engine
for Ultima VI, Origin decided to use this new
engine to produce a series of smaller scaled
Ultima spin-offs, titled Worlds of Ultima.
The Savage Empire was the first of said series,
sending the Avatar to the Lost Valley of Eodon, a
Land of the Lost-like world populated by primitive
tribes and pre-historic dinosaurs, heavily inspired by
pulp magazines and the Allan Quatermain novels.
The valley’s numerous tribes all resemble various
different ethnic groups from Earth’s past, including
stereotypical African, Polynesian, Neanderthal and
Asian cultures. Along with these human tribes and
the aforementioned dinosaurs, The Savage Empire also
features more fantastical creatures, such as a lizard-like
tribe, Aztecan automatons and evil giant ant-people
called Myrmidex – the game’s main antagonists.
Your goal as the Avatar is to bring all the different
warring tribes together to defeat the Myrmidex and
bring peace to Eodon. In typical Ultima fashion each
tribe expects you to accomplish some tasks in order for
them to pledge their support. These tasks range from
rescuing a chief ’s daughter and blocking a lava flow to
drugging a T-Rex and hanging a bell on its neck.
The gameplay is very similar to Ultima VI – those
familiar with it will feel right at home with the clunky
UI, turn-based combat system and day-and-night NPC
schedules. The new crafting system is robust, allowing
you to skin animals, use ovens to bake clay pots and even
grind sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate to make
gunpowder. Another big difference is the magic system:
the Avatar must make spirit offerings to cast a rather
limited amount of spells (only nine in total).
In The Savage Empire the Avatar won’t meet his
traditional companions from the main Ultima series,
like Iolo, Dupre or Shamino. However, he’ll be joined
by rather familiar-looking natives who just so happen
to closely resemble his friends, such as Triolo, Dokray
and Shamuru. He’ll also have the choice to romance
the brave warrior Aiela or her adopted sister, Tristia –
the first interaction of this kind in CRPGs.
While Savage Empire is much smaller in scope
than the main Ultima games, it still manages to retain
the exploration, quest structure and semi-open world
aspects of Ultima VI, offering a solid experience. M2
138
Escape
from Hell
Electronic Arts, 1990
MS-DOS
Your girlfriend has disappeared, along with your
best friend? Your life has gone to Hell? A lot of us
have been there, I am sure, but Richard Seaborne’s
Escape from Hell takes those moments literally, turning
them into a unique RPG premise – a cross between
Dante’s Inferno and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
You are Richard, and due to a powerful magic
incantation, or perhaps for your unexplained sins, you
suddenly find yourself alive in Hell. Your girlfriend
and your best friend are somewhere around, too, so
you need to find them – and escape. Not without
taking revenge on Satan for playing such a trick on you
first, though. Which means it is time to grab an antitank
rifle, team up with Stalin and Hamlet, and show
Satan what you are made of, the way RPG heroes do!
Exploring Hell’s wasted landscape and banding
together with (in)famous historical and literary
individuals is, in fact, what Escape from Hell is all about.
Indeed, seeing as the game’s difficulty is fairly low, the
main challenge lies precisely in deciding who will join
or leave Richard’s side. Mechanically, Escape from Hell
is a simpler version of Wasteland: a top-down, turnbased
RPG, with stats, skills (mostly combat-oriented,
but sometimes not), and first-person fights featuring
animated enemy portraits.
Like many older CRPGs, Escape from Hell’s tone
can get really wacky. (Remember Might and Magic’s
roasted peasants or Wasteland’s bunny master?) It
stays tongue-in-cheek throughout and never gives a
damn about setting consistency. If that sounds fun to
you, then you will enjoy the game’s humorous design
and often clever writing, and the way it thematises
Hell’s bureaucracy and dynamics of power, among
other things. It’s the kind of off-the-rails creativity
that, in these days of post-Kickstarter nostalgia and
the AAA RPG crisis, the genre seems to sorely lack.
Sadly, due to EA’s all-too-familiar shenanigans,
the game was downscaled and rushed out. Alternative
endings, six further circles of Hell, a lot of individual
quest chains, and an alignment system, all had to be cut.
That often leads to loose ends, and ultimately prevents
it from reaching true RPG greatness. And yet, even in
the state that it shipped in, Escape from Hell remains an
unorthodox and one-of-a-kind RPG, bound to remain
in your memory long after you have beaten it. CB
You can read
an extensive
interview with
the game’s
developer at
the RPG Codex.
One of the
game’s unique
mechanics
involves using
golden tridents
to alter the
environment or
even travel in
time. This helps
compensate
for the game’s
small world and
present new
challenges.
Being set in Hell,
the game offers an
unusual variety of
recruitable NPCs,
such as Dante,
Stalin, Genghis
Khan, Hamlet,
Spartacus, Juliet
and Mozart,
among other
real and fictional
characters.
139
Eye of the
Beholder
Westwood Studios, 1991
MS-DOS, Amiga, SEGA CD and SNES
If you’re having
difficulties, The
All-Seeing Eye is
an automapper
for the first
two Eye of
the Beholder
games, that also
provides some
cheats and a
character editor.
140
The character
system is
presented as
a full AD&D
adaptation, but
some stats and
even classes
are borderline
useless.
Eye of the Beholder was a point-of-no-return for
me when it came to RPGs – it looked like a
deep and complex game with stunning visuals
and a gripping atmosphere. I had never heard of
Dungeons & Dragons before this, and in hindsight Eye
of the Beholder served as a wonderful entry point into
that realm, not to mention other games like it.
The intro blew me away as it laid down the
plot: a party of adventurers is sent to look for an
evil presence within the city of Waterdeep, and told
to start in the sewers. The game mesmerised me so
much that I didn’t stop to ask “Wait, sewers?” but was
instead eager to start my adventure and see where it
would take me.
Eye of the Beholder’s character creation
appeared both simple and complex at the same time,
but it wasn’t until much later that I realised why
that was; the developers decided to merely use the
AD&D rules as a guideline instead of wrapping the
game in them. Turns out that half of the main stats
are useless and many smaller rules are either ignored
or hidden from the player.
Looking back on that I can imagine that hardcore
roleplayers would be miffed, but to a newcomer like
myself it was perfect. I did as the manual suggested
and created a mixed party of four characters that
could deal with whatever dangers lay ahead, knowing
that I could recruit two NPCs in-game if something
went wrong.
Once the game starts it won’t take long to get
immersed in the game’s atmosphere. Bare bones lie
piled up in the corner and glowing eyes stare at me
from a sewer grate. No music is played beyond the
title screen, which left me only with environmental
sounds to break the silence. After checking my gear
and opening a rusty door I stood face-to-face with my
first monster, a small kobold with a vicious glint in
his eyes. I was familiar with games telling me in plain
text what monsters I had run into, but here I saw firsthand
that I was facing one murderous kobold, and
that I had to act fast to deal with him as the game is
real-time, after all.
The game’s design firmly suggests that players
figure things out for themselves. Except for a crude
map of the starting levels, a compass in the UI and
a few vague clues gleamed from the (mostly useless)
manual, I was utterly on my own and trapped in
a sewer. Even when I accidentally discovered that
the game has hidden “Special Quests” I was mostly
clueless as to how I found them. Not that I cared, I
was having too much fun exploring.
At first I thought my party would never meet
anyone to talk to, but I was quickly proven wrong
after I cleared the sewers. NPC interactions are just
walls of exposition text, but sometimes I was given
a choice like slaying an injured dwarf or sparing the
drow leader’s life... not that any choices mattered in
the long run.
The various plot-locked doors and undetectable
traps make the Thief class almost useless.
Combat is real-time, inspired by Dungeon Master, but
magic follows the AD&D rules and must be prepared.
Eye of the Beholder 2 was an improvement in every
regard, including much high-quality NPC artwork.
Death was never far away, and while characters
could be raised from the dead, there were few
opportunities to do so. The early monsters didn’t pose
much of a threat, but then I stumbled upon spiders
that wiped out my party several times due to their
poison. And that was just the start of my adventure...
Around the time I first played EotB, the sequel
Eye of the Beholder 2: Legend of Darkmoon (1991) was
already out. The sequel improved on the original in
every way, and I could even import my EotB1 party to
EotB2! What a joy I felt!
Not even the large outdoor areas and fancy monsters
could save EotB3 from being the weakest in the trilogy.
When Eye of the Beholder 3: Assault on Myth
Drannor was released in 1993, I snapped it up
immediately, hoping for an epic conclusion to my
adventures. What I got was a game that lacked
the magic touch of its prequels. Turns out that the
developer had parted ways with the publisher, which
then had to finish the game in-house in a hurry.
The result was a game more in tune with the
AD&D rules, but not in a good way. Despite the poor
third entry, the Eye of the Beholder series still stands
tall, even after all these years. ÁV
Ports & Remakes
Eye of the Beholder’s success resulted in faithful conversions to the
SNES and the SEGA CD in 1994 that added a new soundtrack by
famous composer Yuzo Koshiro. Curiously, a new remake for the
Game Boy Advance was made in 2002. This remake made various
changes, such as employing the D&D 3rd Edition rules, adding
non-combat skills like Bluff and Intimidate, and even using a new
isometric tactical combat, similar to that of the Gold Box games.
Unfortunately, the slow combat and awkward interface don’t fit
well, resulting in a mediocre game.
141
Cobra Mission:
Panic in Cobra City
INOS, 1991
MS-DOS and PC-98
Cobra Mission
was released in
Japan in 1991,
then localised
into English
by Megatech
Software in 1992.
Battles require
you to drag
your weapon
into the body
part you want to
attack, as many
times as you can
while the enemy
attack charges.
Cobra City is
divided into six
main areas you
can explore.
You’ll spend a lot
of time aimlessly
walking around
and fighting
random battles.
142
Erotic Japanese RPGs date back to the early 80s,
before even Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy
existed. Titles such as 団 地 妻 の 誘 惑 (roughly
“Housewife Temptation”) had players be a salesman,
visiting apartment blocks, fighting gangsters and
trying to “score” with the ladies, way back in 1983.
Cobra Mission’s claim to fame is being the first
erotic Japanese game to be fully translated into English
and released in the US, courtesy of Megatech Software.
This was before the violence and sex controversies
surrounding Mortal Kombat and Night Trap which led
to the ESRB being formed, when game publishing was
still a wild, new frontier.
You play as JR, a hotshot private eye visiting
Cobra City. You meet with Faythe, a childhood friend,
and must help her to solve a kidnapping. The game
is divided into six city areas, which you must unlock
one by one, investigating the crimes in the area and
defeating the local gang leaders.
Cobra Mission is a rather crude Adventure/
RPG hybrid. You explore the city in a top-down
perspective, visiting locations, talking to people,
doing simple side-quests for money and searching for
opportunities to ogle at naked ladies (such as peaking
at a nude beach through a telescope).
The problem is that most of the time you’ll be
walking around aimlessly, with no clues whatsoever.
And every few steps you’ll be thrown into a random
encounter. Moreover, some events must be done in an
specific order or manner (including the sex scenes!),
forcing retries and more aimless walking.
Combat is easy, but unique. To attack, you drag
your cursor into the enemy part you want to hit –
each enemy has different weak points. You must do
this repeatably and as fast as you can, while the enemy
charges a power bar to execute his attack.
Oddly, the Japanese version has a standard
JRPG turn-based combat. It was the team at Megatech
who overhauled the combat and other parts of the
game, adding more enemies, side-quests, sexy scenes
and re-drawing many of the characters.
Still, Cobra Mission is very mediocre. Its appeal
came from novelty – an erotic game drawn in anime
style made in distant Japan. For a teenager in 1992,
it was a new, exotic and slightly off-limits treat.
While standards are a bit higher today, it’s still
a style of game Western audiences aren’t used to, and
Cobra Mission’s “so-bad-that-it-is-good” charm might
just be enough to warrant a look. FE
Knights of
Xentar
ELF Corporation, 1991
MS-DOS, PC-88, 3DO, X68K and PCD
The second (and last) erotic RPG to be localised
by Megatech, Knights of Xentar was originally
called Dragon Knight III. The first two games
in the series were simplistic first-person dungeon
crawlers, but DK3 draws its inspirations from early
Final Fantasy games, sporting a top-down perspective
and a full party instead of a lone adventurer.
The game continues right off where the previous
ones left off. Having rescued a group of maidens
from an evil witch, our hero Takeru (localised to
“Desmond”) wakes up from his celebration festivities
suffering from a horrible hangover. And to add insult
to injury, a group of local thugs robs our hero blind.
Takeru starts the game literally stark naked. A simple
innocent quest to recover our hero’s stolen jewels and
his magical sword soon turns into an epic endeavour
involving high Heavens and lowest depths of Hell.
You spend the majority of the time in a topdown
2D mode, exploring locales, talking to citizens
and performing simple quests – with the game’s lewd
humour keeping things interesting. While you can
freely travel between locations, the game is relatively
linear, with artificial roadblocks limiting progress.
Combat itself is automatically resolved in real
time, allowing you to occasionally interject using
items and magic at the opportune moments. As in
most JRPGs, itemisation is extremely simplistic,
being limited to armour and weapon upgrades, while
level-ups automatically increase your base stats.
Overall, Xentar isn’t very challenging. Some
stronger enemies may pose as temporary roadblocks,
but most of the challenge can be eliminated by
simply grinding random encounters until you match
your foes. Throughout the game Takeru will also
be meeting some familiar characters from the two
previous games that will permanently join the party.
While the game features explicit (and bizarre)
sex scenes, including rape, its US release was barely
noticed and Megatech soon folded. Critics were more
concerned with the dated visuals and the “archaic
gameplay mechanics” than the kinky contents.
Despite the lukewarm reception, Knights of
Xentar remains as something of an achievement. For
many adolescents, it was their first introduction to the
depraved world of Japanese adult gaming. HB
Knights of
Xentar was
localised into
English by
Megatech
Software in
1995. Both a
censored and
an uncensored
version were
released.
Combat is in real
time and mostly
automatic; you
can only select
character’s
behaviours and
order them to use
items and spells.
Xentar’s humour
is its first noticeable
aspect, as you are
immediately robbed
and forced to run
around naked.
143
Moraff’s World
Moraffware, 1991
MS-DOS
Moraff’s World
has a rare trait:
it supports 12
different video
modes, from
4 colour CGA all
the way to 256
colour SVGA,
which made
it easy to run in
any computer.
Combat is
turn-based and
very simple.
Fighters can only
attack, but magic
users have over
100 spells at
their disposal.
Dungeon floors
are random and
massive. The
game gives tips
on the location of
special enemies,
but navigating
towards them is a
big challenge.
144
CRPG fans that had access to the Internet in the
90s might have seen one of Steve Moraff’s games:
Moraff’s Revenge (1988), Moraff’s World (1991)
and Moraff’s Dungeons of the Unforgiven (1993), a trio of
widely distributed shareware dungeon crawlers.
Moraff ’s World is the best-known, but they all
offer basically the same gameplay, with incremental
graphical upgrades. Regardless, the series never goes
beyond a crude Microsoft Paint-like art style.
What really stands out in Moraff ’s games is the
four-way first-person view: you constantly see what’s
North, South, East and West of you. There’s no “facing”
– you can attack in any direction, and pressing the left
arrow key moves you left, instead of turning.
Gameplay is a blend of roguelikes and Wizardry.
You create a character, choosing from eight races and
seven classes, then delve into an enormous, randomly
generated dungeon. You battle, gather XP and return
to town to heal, level up and buy better equipment.
There’s little variety in items or monsters, but it
still makes for a surprisingly addictive loop, as you try
to go as deep as possible, balancing risk and reward.
There’s no real story or goal either, but there are floors
where you can hunt a monster that holds a treasure,
following simple hints like “Go East” or “Go North”.
These floors are the game at its best. The sheer
size of each floor and the countless hidden pits that
drop you a few floors make navigation very tricky.
You’ll have to think three-dimensionally, using the
floors above and below to move towards your goal.
The shareware version of Moraff ’s World offers four
of these hunts, on the 4th, 8th, 12th and 16th floors.
The registered version, however, has 200 floors! Not
only does this become insanely repetitive, but it breaks
parts of the game. Character progression stagnates and
Fighters becomes useless, as spells are mandatory to
quickly ascend and descent floors, teleport, heal, enchant
and protect yourself from level-draining monsters.
In an age when computers were still novel and
retail RPGs like Ultima were expensive, Moraff’s games
were accessible and seemingly endless. Perhaps the best
way to understand them (and many 90s sharewares)
is to compare them with mobile or browser-based games
– some discard them as not “real” games, yet they are
widely played, often more than acclaimed classics. FE
reLINE Software, 1991
Amiga and Atari ST
Fate:
Gates of Dawn
Fate: Gates of Dawn is an obscure, superlative
German game. It’s a first-person turn-based
blobber with quite a few interesting features.
You are able to control as many as four different
parties with up to seven party members each – one of
your parties can crawl through a dungeon level while
another is in the city collecting rumours and a third
one is out in the wild exploring the gigantic world.
To do so, you’re able to recruit almost every
(friendly) NPC you meet. Every encounter lets you
choose from several menus – chatting, charming,
joking, bragging, etc. Depending on several (maybe
random?) factors the NPCs react differently to you,
from being upset and leaving without a word, to being
angered and attacking, or to starting to like you and
wanting to join your quest.
Combat encounters are done by menus too, and
feel incredibly satisfying. The mix of 11 races and 31
classes available to the player makes up for interesting
party composition – you really have to think about
it and have several parties to be able to prevail in the
sometimes hard-as-hell combat situations. There is a
total of over 150 spells to choose from, with characters
being able to learn spells from different classes to
satisfy all your character-building needs.
The world itself is one of the largest in old-school
games, brought to life by wandering NPCs and dayand-night
cycles. Be it a magic well that replenishes
your magic points, a hole in which you find an NPC
that might join your party, or an incredible item – it’s
full of things for you to discover.
Then there are the dungeons, which are enormous
too. There are several carefully crafted lairs, crypts and
castles, riddled with complex puzzles, deadly traps and
combat encounters that will all make you curse at the
screen – but are very rewarding to complete.
Fate also has nudity, which was censored in the
English release. This version is rare, as few copies
were made, but the game has since become freeware.
I cannot overstate how large the game is; even
playing it with a guide would still easily require over
100 hours. If you enjoy large and complex RPGs, you
should definitely play Fate. But I advise making good
use of the eight save slots – there are multiple ways to
completely screw up your game. SR
Olaf Patzenhauer,
Fate’s creator,
passed away in
2011. He had
created a sequel
named Fate 2 as
a private project
and freely gave
custom versions
of it to a few fans.
Perhaps due to
German humour,
there are some
odd options in
combat, such as
closing your eyes,
groping, mocking,
or asking party
members to kiss.
Fate has a
“cavetrain” that
runs across its
massive world,
connecting the
major cities.
145
Disciples
of Steel
MegaSoft Entertainment, 1991
MS-DOS and Atari ST
Disciples of
Steel was the
only game from
Texas-based
MegaSoft.
A sequel was
planned, with
greater focus on
army battles,
but piracy, poor
sales and fierce
reviews ended
the series.
You explore the
world map and
its various towns
in a top-town
view, but the
towns are huge
and mostly
empty, with no
real NPCs besides
stores, inns and
temples.
146
If an RPG is announced today, no matter its form or
setting, one can assume it will have certain elements:
meaningful character development; a rich backstory;
combat that offers a variety of tactical options; a full
inventory of weapons, armour, and accessories; dialogue
and role-playing encounters; a large explorable game
world; a variety of quests and, side-quests; etc. These
elements have become so codified in what we understand
as a “role-playing game” that even its sub-genres, such as
roguelikes, have found ways to incorporate them.
There were no such assurances in the 1980s
and early 1990s. The decade was full of games that
excelled in one area or another but rarely presented
a complete “package” of role-playing elements the
way that the players of today might understand them.
Ultima, for all its strengths, never had an excellent
combat system, while Dungeon Master and its clones
could never tell a coherent story.
Disciples of Steel offers such a complete package.
It’s a bold game, ambitious beyond the capabilities of its
year. It does so many things that, even though it gets a lot
of them wrong, there’s still an awful lot that it does right.
A fully voiced intro with animated graphics sets
up the backstory. Twelve years ago, a horde of orcs
appeared and, to counter the threat, the kingdoms of
Lanathor united under the banner of warchief Ustfa
Nelor and his elite Disciples of Steel. Although they
drove off the hordes, it was a Pyrrhic victory, as few
Disciples survived, and they all disappeared on the
return journey. The game casts the player as Nelor’s
step-son, encouraged by a mysterious sorceress to
reform the Disciples and destroy evil for good.
You start by creating a party of eight characters.
For most of its mechanics, the developers were heavily
inspired by SSI’s Wizard’s Crown (1985). The similarities
exist in the types of races (human, dwarf, elf, half-elf,
gnome, halfling, ogre, and troll) and classes (Warrior,
Knight, Priest, Mage, Illusionist, Rogue, Monk, Ranger,
and Blacksmith), their associated skills and the basic
mechanisms of magic and combat.
Thus, combat is wonderfully tactical. It takes place
on a top-down grid full of enemies and obstacles, with
characters acting in order of initiative and possessing a
huge number of actions – moving, attacking, casting,
scanning the battlefield, equipping items, hiding,
picking up items, performing first aid, aiming to
improve the chance of hitting the next round, etc. The
several dozen spells divided among the game’s three
spell-casting classes – all of which give you the ability
to adjust the number of points channelled into them –
only add to the tactical options.
Then there’s a myriad of other nuances – weapons
and armour can take damage and break; weight and
encumbrance greatly affect combat ability; individual
body parts can be injured and must be treated separately
from hit points, etc. Moreover, buying and selling items
is governed by a complex bargaining system, and the
economy itself is far more advanced than other RPGs.
Characters in Disciples of Steel have eight stats and 22 skills,
which are increased by directly spending experience points.
Combat occurs on a tactical map with terrain and obstacle
considerations, e.g. you can lock a door to divide the enemy.
Dungeons are explored in first-person mode, with a handy
automap and room descriptions that set the atmosphere.
Understanding these systems is vital, as Disciples
is a very hard game. You start with little direction in a
hostile environment. All areas and dungeons are open
at the outset, so it’s easy to stumble somewhere you’re
not ready to be—and that’s just about everywhere. A
new player might lose four out of five beginner battles,
and it takes about a dozen hours to stabilise the party.
Once you’re feeling ready, you should visit each
of the nine kingdoms and solve a series of quests for
each king. The quests vary considerably in length and
difficulty, and many intertwine. Reaching the end of a
king’s quest line results in the king either agreeing to
ally with the Disciples when the Big Battle comes or
actually turning over the kingdom to the Disciples,
letting them set tax rates and raise and equip armies.
At this point, an entirely different side to an
already complex game becomes available: the ability
to field large armies and attack other kingdoms on a
strategic map. You move stacks of troops against their
opponents, observing equipment, morale, and terrain.
That such a complex system is basically optional is one
of the amazing things about Disciples of Steel.
Once you gather allies (or subdue them), the game reveals
strategy battles inspired by SSI’s Sword of Aragon (1989).
The game even offers the ability to skip the quest
threads entirely and just assassinate the various kings
and queens and take over their kingdoms. This involves
storming their castles and slaying their guards – an
extremely hard battle, but absolutely winnable.
You can win the game in three ways: kill the
evil wizard Variz in his dungeon with your party
(a traditional RPG path); wait until the “Armageddon”
date when Variz leads his forces against Lanathor
and defeat him with your armies (a strategy path); or
conquer each of the enemy cities before the deadline.
However, to be a fan of Disciples of Steel – and I am
an unequivocal fan – is to forgive an awful lot of things.
There’s a food and water metre that never budges,
useless conversation options, a “search” function that
never finds anything, skills and spells that have no use,
a poor manual, many bugs, an unsatisfying ending, etc.
And yet, despite failing in so many things,
Disciples of Steel performs excellently in the core
areas that make a good RPG – tactical combat, magic,
equipment, character development, and quests – and is
thus enormously fun to play even today. CHB
Disciples of Steel
was heavily
criticised for its
initial difficulty,
so developers
released an
update in which
characters start
with 1,000
experience
points to spend.
147
Might and Magic III:
Isles of Terra
New World Computing, 1991
MS-DOS, Amiga, Mac and SNES
Scorpia, the
renowned video
game journalist,
wrote a harsh
review of M&M II.
As revenge, New
World Computing
added a poisonous
monster named
after her to
M&M III.
Enemies, traps
and points of
interest are now
visible in the
distance, allowing
for ranged
combat and a
more engaging
exploration.
Instead of the
classical name
list, M&M III
displays portraits
of your party
members at the
bottom of the
screen. Their
expressions
change as they
take damage or
suffer conditions.
148
One of the most remarkable things about the
Might and Magic series is how New World
Computing kept innovating on each title.
Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra is a good example
of this, with several changes from its predecessor.
As soon as you start, you’re greeted by colourful
VGA graphics, rich sound, a fantastic mouse-based
interface and several quality-of-life improvements,
such as the ability to save the game anywhere.
Gameplay-wise, the most important addition
is that now enemies are now actual entities roaming
the map, rather than just being random encounters
that spawn out of nowhere. You can see them from a
distance and even engage in ranged combat; sometimes
this is essential to defeat certain enemies with the ability
to kill party members in one blow, but it can prove to
be deadly against enemies such as dragons.
You start your adventure by creating a party of
six characters, choosing between five races and ten
classes. You can also hire two NPCs, who will ask for
daily wages to accompany you. Isles of Terra features
many new skills and equipment pieces (which now
have durability), plus a new realm of Nature magic,
expanding upon the series’ character system.
Once ready, your party sets off to fight against
Sheltem, your antagonist in previous titles, who must
now be defeated in his own homeworld of Terra. The
quest is very open and can be completed in different
ways, which gives you a chance to leisurely explore a
huge world full with secrets, riddles, tough challenges
and good humour, plus the rapid and explosive power
growth the series traditionally offers.
Exploration is another of the signature marks of
the Might and Magic series, and one of the strongest
points of Isles of Terra. Each location feels unique,
monsters are extremely varied and constantly present
different challenges that you can’t just defeat by brute
force. Despite the massive power inflation there
seems to always be a good item upgrade to be found
that makes you smile greedily – which you’ll certainly
need, because the game is very tough.
This balance between rewarding your curiosity
and punishing your carelessness is where Isles of Terra
excels, maybe offering the most satisfying exploration
in the whole series. DB
Worlds of Ultima:
Martian Dreams
Origin Systems, 1991
MS-DOS and Mac
It’s 1893. Percival Lovell builds a space cannon to
fire a team of trained volunteers to Mars. Instead,
sabotage sees it fire during the World’s Columbian
Exposition, while half the Victorian era’s greatest
minds are aboard. Jump to 1991. The Avatar receives
a mysterious book, explaining how the Orb of the
Moons can also be used to travel through time, and a
desperate plea to join the other half of the Victorian
era’s greatest minds on a rescue mission.
Martian Dreams has many problems, many of
them the fault of the already clunky and ugly Ultima VI
engine, and for most of the rest the fact that Mars isn’t
the most visually exciting of locations. It’s easily one of
Origin’s best ideas though, and full of ideas deserving
a remake. The combination of real history and classic
sci-fi, with several drops of Ultima for good measure
worked in superbly, even before the amusement of
elements like the Gypsy character creation system
replaced with psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud. (“Ja,
ja, I am thinking you are sounding like great mage…”)
Aside from its regular combat sequences, Martian
Dreams is as much an adventure as it is an RPG, with a
very linear path. Much of the plot revolves around the
fate of the Martians, ignoring the fact that the Avatar
actually went there already back in Ultima II, and it’s
a decent story, spoiled only by the fact that the limited
dialogue system doesn’t allow for working alongside
the likes of Tesla and Roosevelt and Nelly Bly to have
the character it really needed.
When it hits its peaks though, it offers some
great moments. A definite highlight is when the
game’s villain declares that even with the Avatar’s new
ability to summon items from dreams – essentially,
the Martians are in a dream version of The Matrix –
humanity won’t be able to imagine a weapon capable
of stopping him for a hundred years or more!
Being a time-traveller and a time-traveller from
Texas at that, the Avatar wastes little time before casually
whipping up an M60 machine gun out of thin air.
To some extent, this kind of moment almost
makes trying to play Martian Dreams more frustrating.
It was a good game in its time, but now it’s hard to see
past the gulf between what it is and what its ideas
deserved. They’re all there for the stealing though, and
well worth a second outing. RC
Instead of
creating your
character with
the Gypsy
and her
cards/potions,
you answer
questions from
Sigmund Freud.
The Avatar will
be joined by
many great
personalities
from the
Victorian Era, as
well as the alter
ego of a certain
game developer.
149
The Bard’s Tale
Construction Set
Bt Builder is
an open-source
implementation
of the Bard’s Tale
Construction Set.
A build under
development is
available at www.
identicalsoftware.
com/btbuilder
The map editor is
the game’s best
feature, with
four tilesets, a
powerful tool for
creating events
and the option
to quickly test it
while you build.
the maze.
You can edit the
stats of items,
monsters and
spells to create
new ones, but
you can’t edit
the rules behind
them or add new
ones, limiting
your options.
Interplay, 1991
MS-DOS and Amiga
The Bard’s Tale series was a hit back in the mid-
80s, adding colourful graphics and a lighthearted
atmosphere to the classic Wizardry
formula. But was a short-lived one, as the series ended
in 1988 due to a legal dispute between interplay and EA.
Meanwhile, the genre kept moving forward, with
titles like Dragon Wars, Might and Magic III, Wizardry
VI, the Gold Box series, etc. Yet, in 1991 Interplay
returned to Bard’s Tale – this time with an editor!
Unfortunately, it’s a rather sad return. The goal
was to allow players to make their own RPGs – they
can even export them as stand-alone games – but the
editor suffers from severe limitations. Races, classes
and stats can’t be changed at all – you’re stuck with
the Bard’s Tale rules. And while you can create custom
items, spells and monsters, the variables are so limited
that even recreating the original Bard’s Tale I would
be impossible. The graphics, while good-looking,
lack variety, allowing for few interesting encounters.
Overall, there just isn’t enough flexibility to create
anything other than a lesser Bard’s Tale clone.
In fact, the Construction Set came with its own
sample scenario, Star Light Festival, which was just
that – an inferior Bard’s Tale game. Slow, grinding and
with none of the series’ original creators or charm, it
felt out of place next to the great RPGs of the era.
The killing blow came with the arrival of SSI’s
Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures (1993), a much
more powerful editor for the popular Gold Box series.
From that point on, anyone still interested in creating
their own RPG had no reason whatsoever to choose
The Bard’s Tale Construction Set. This is particularly
noticeable in how rare fan-made modules are.
Searching online, the only surviving modules are
The Bard’s Lore 1 and 2, created by John H. Wigforss
in the late 90s, and The Bard’s Quest: Dungeons of the
Unknown (1994), by Visionsoft. The former are simple
games full of jokes and pop culture references, while
the latter is nothing more than Interplay’s Star Light
Festival module repacked with a new name – possibly
to be shamelessly resold as a stand-alone game.
As such, while there are still communities for
Unlimited Adventures and even for older games like
Eamon, the Bard’s Tale Construction Set never took off,
and now lies completely forgotten. FE
150
Stormfront Studios, 1991
MS-DOS, Amiga and C64
Gateway to the
Savage Frontier
The Savage Frontier duology is another entry
in SSI’s fabled Gold Box series, usually one
people play only after they’ve gone through
every other Gold Box game. This is kind of backwards,
as the first game, Gateway to the Savage Frontier, is
probably the best entry point to them overall.
Difficulty is pretty low at first, but after that you
get an epic scavenger hunt that offers a lot of content
and just hits all the right AD&D adventure buttons.
The game is basically a grand tour of the Savage
Frontier, a region of the Forgotten Realms, with each
of the cities you visit acting as a mini-adventure, until
you reach the big and satisfying finale. For me, that was
the biggest draw of the game. It’s not overly ambitious
in terms of complex mechanics or storytelling, but
it really captures the fun of a long-running RPG
campaign that starts small and slowly ups the ante.
While Gateway showed that Stormfront Studios
had a good grasp of the Gold Box engine, it’s really the
second game, Treasures of the Savage Frontier (1992),
where they came into their own. It’s where they really
stretched their coding muscles and improved a lot of
the series’ various gameplay elements.
Treasures enhances the overworld map with
weather effects (conveyed by text messages), different
movement speeds and increased encounter rates
based on the terrain type. Only roads and waterways
are safe. The further along you get in the game, seasons
change, with graphical changes to the overland map
and inside cities. There are rudimentary side quests,
while some of battles become more dynamic, with
enemies getting reinforcements if you don’t beat the
main force fast enough.
Still, the most famous “improvement” to the
gameplay is that, like Worlds of Ultima: The Savage
Empire before it, Treasures contains a romance plot.
More than just titillation, if one of the smitten
partners gets killed, the other goes into a rage until
the end of the fight. And later on, if the party doesn’t
support the romance, you lose the NPC and your main
character has decreased combat effectiveness.
While often overlooked, the two Savage Frontier
games offer the chance of following your adventurers
through a long and varied campaign, with a big climax
that makes it all the more fun to play. JG
Stormfront
Studios made
three Gold Box
games for SSI:
the two Savage
Frontier games
and the original
Neverwinter
Nights (1991),
the world’s first
multiplayer
online RPG
with graphics.
The large
overworld map is
one of Gateway’s
defining features,
and was expanded
in Treasures, with
weather effects
such as snow
slowing your
characters down.
Treasures of
the Savage
Frontier has two
romanceable
NPCs. Which
one you gets
depends on your
lead character’s
gender, and
they can directly
impact gameplay.
151
Realms of Arkania:
Blade of Destiny
Attic Entertainment, 1992
MS-DOS, Amiga and Mac
Das Schwarze
Auge was first
released in
Germany in 1984,
but it was only
translated into
English in 2001.
Blade of Destiny
was translated
by Sir-Tech and
published in the
US in 1993, but
they renamed
the setting
to Realms of
Arkania.
You should
prepare carefully.
Carry water, food,
ropes, tools, herbs
and torches,
take care of your
weapons and
bring blankets and
warm clothes for
cold areas – or
you’ll get sick.
152
To understand the effect the Realms of Arkania
trilogy had on the German market, one has to
look back at the state of tabletop role-playing
games in the early 90s in Germany.
Back then, Das Schwarze Auge (The Dark Eye)
– the German answer to Dungeons & Dragons – was
deep in its prime. Huge shelves of TDE books lined
not only specialist hobby stores, but every toy store in
Germany. Even today it remains the country’s most
successful RPG franchise by a great margin.
After cutting their teeth with a few small CRPGs,
Attic Entertainment got the TDE licence and created
a game that was as faithful to the tabletop game as
possible – exactly what fans at the time wanted.
In Blade of Destiny, players are pitted against
the threat of an invasion of orcs into medieval
Scandinavia-lookalike Thorwal. To repel them, the
heroes have to find the titular Blade of Destiny. Of
course, this being a video game, there is a map leading
to the sword; a map that has been split into many
parts and strewn across the land. You get your first
rough directions, then off you go.
After the intro, you’re free to do whatever you
like. Exploring is split between towns and dungeons,
seen in a first-person view, and a 2D overworld map
where you choose your travel destinations.
Travelling is a big part of the game. Your journey
is shown by an Indiana Jones-style red line on the
map and occasionally interrupted by events presented
in CYOA fashion – “Do you help the injured Elf?” –,
as well as ambushes and random encounters.
For the turn-based battles, the game switches to
an isometric view. Characters receive action points,
based on their individual speed and how much
armour they carry. These points can be used for
everything from various types of attacks, to spellcasting,
to movement and inventory management.
How faithfully the game adhered to the tabletop
game’s background and ruleset is still impressive
after more than twenty years. The developers worked
closely with the designers of TDE and everything –
from the dice-based character generation to the skill
set and the huge spell list – was lifted directly from
the tabletop game, with only a few concessions and
adjustments (for better or worse).
Thus, you’ll deal with an overwhelming amount
of stats: 14 attributes, 52 skills and 48 spells, plus
derived stats. Each spell has its own proficiency level,
and skills cover everything from herb-collecting to
haggling to ancient tongues. Creating the six members
of your party can take a long time – and yes, it’s very
easy to waste points on things you’ll never need.
The game also demands a lot of micromanaging,
from food and drink to carrying suitable clothing for
a northern climate if you don’t want your heroes to be
struck down with illness. And every time you camp
on the road you’ll have to assign who will hunt, heal
the injured, the guard shifts, hours of sleep, etc.
“The area where these games truly
excelled, in my opinion, was the
micromanagement of characters.
I know, it sounds bad, but for many
players this is what they were
looking forward to. We wanted to
make the most hardcore RPG out
there, and I think we succeeded,
all the way down to making sure
players were feeding their characters
on a regular schedule. Naturally, this
kind of level of detail did not sit well
with everyone.”
– Guido Henkel,
Blade of Destiny’s producer
Unfortunately, what was a huge selling point
for tabletop veterans made things difficult for new
players. As a TDE player, you knew all the tricks and
exploits. As a newcomer, you were often left to your
own devices, constantly flipping through the manual.
Still, the strength of the game has always been the
setting. Digital Thorwal is dripping with atmosphere,
with detailed text descriptions, small illustrations and
countless Choose Your Own Adventure segments.
Some of the texts are simply nonsensical jokes, but
most of them are well-written pieces that immerse
you in the setting. And the intricate (and often
unforgiving) rules help ground you in this land.
And boy, it’s a huge land. The main story is not
too interesting, but there’s just so much to explore!
You can travel through forests, climb mountains,
delve deep into various dungeons, eradicate a pirate
village, set sail with a ghost ship, etc. Wherever you
go, there’s always something interesting to find.
After the success of the first game, came the
sequels. Star Trail (1994) is commonly held as the high
point of the series and adhered closely to the concept
of its predecessor, while also adding a better dialogue
system, fully 3D towns and dungeons and other
upgrades that made the experience more satisfying.
The third game, Shadows over Riva (1996),
removed the overland travel altogether and took place
in a single, well-realised and fully fleshed-out city, with
a more elaborate plot. It also used its CD-ROM format
to add pre-rendered backgrounds and voiced cutscenes.
Moreover, a party created in Blade of Destiny could be
carried over the entire trilogy, in a truly epic journey.
After that, the Northlands fell into silence. There
have been ill-fated attempts to revive it, but the boom
of tabletop role-playing games had already passed.
Still, from time to time, I can feel the temptation to
return to Thorwal, to meet its people and explore its
lands. If only I could remember the rules. TI
Each turn your
characters have a
limited amount of
movement points
available, which
dictates how far
they can walk and
what actions they
can perform.
In 2013 a
remake of Blade
of Destiny was
developed by
Crafty Studios,
but it was
incomplete on
release, with
severe bugs
and translation
issues. It has
been heavily
patched since,
but it’s still
a crude and
poorly-made
title. Stick to the
original trilogy.
Towns and dungeons in the original game are explored in a
step-based first-person mode – but the sequels are fully 3D.
The third game has great art and many UI improvements,
but arrived in the US only in 1997 and was seen as outdated.
153
Ultima Underworld:
The Stygian Abyss
Blue Sky Productions, 1992
MS-DOS (and PS1)*
*A port of Ultima
Underworld was
released for the
PS1 in 1997,
which replaces
enemies’ sprites
with 3D models.
Oddly, this version
was only released
in Japan.
The icons on the
left allow you to
talk, grab, look,
fight and use.
There are also
several types of
attacks depending
on your mouse
movement.
154
Known as the first “true” 3D commercial RPG,
Ultima Underworld and its sequel were ahead
of their time in many ways, full of stand-out
ideas and innovations. So much attention is devoted
to the pioneering technology, long ago rendered
obsolete, that the other exceptional features of this
classic PC game series are often ignored.
Of course, the free-moving 3D was groundbreaking
even when compared with Wolfenstein 3D,
released later in 1992. Where the precursor to Doom
offered only flat, featureless floors and 90-degree angles
in exchange for fast gameplay, Underworld featured
fully texture-mapped environments with angled walls,
slopes, cliffs, rivers of swimmable, flowing water and
dangerous lava – all governed by a physics system that
influenced all moveable objects.
In spite of the 3D graphics being confined
to a limited window size for rendering speed on
early systems, the environments in Underworld are
immersive and complex. The floors and walls are
littered with interactive elements, from pull-chains and
levers to edible plants and hallucinatory mushrooms.
The story is a paint-by-numbers affair that starts
with the player’s character – unrecognised as the
Avatar of Virtue – being locked into the Stygian Abyss
to prove his or her innocence by rescuing the Baron’s
daughter. The titular Stygian Abyss is only eight levels
deep, but the sprawling, detailed levels traversed at
methodical pace represent hours of play each.
For me, the real story is the environment and
the dialogues about the history of the Stygian Abyss
– a noble attempt to build a peaceful utopia turned
into a hellish nightmare of bickering, isolated factions
scraping a minimal survival. Throughout the dungeon
are the remains of past battles and events. Combined
with the stories of the denizens and scrawled notes,
the player’s own imagination builds a history and a
new story with the player’s character as interloper.
There’s something about this claustrophobic
environment that remains compelling even today. The
confines of the dungeon and the limited resources
within define the player’s entire world. The details are
important: the quality and ownership of equipment,
the freshness of the food, the composition of the floor,
the apparent flaws in the wall texture indicating a secret
passage, the apparent mood of the creature down the
hall, and much more. Like the core Ultima games of the
era, the interactivity with the world was far beyond that
of most RPGs before and even since.
No shops or merchants exist within the depths
of this dungeon. There are several creatures inclined
to trade, but within the Abyss the barter system
rules. The creature type, disposition, and hints about
their preferences dictate the value of trades, not an
arbitrary gold-piece value. Not only does this make
sense and feed the narrative, but it also makes the
other characters more interesting. Simple as it was,
their likes and dislikes impacted the player’s world.
“We had a huge advantage in
that even though we were trying
to make a hybrid game and we
were trying to figure out what a
dungeon simulator was, we had all
the Ultima -ness of it to fall back
on. Sure, we were inventing how to
move and how to swing your sword
and all that stuff, but at the end of
the day it was an Ultima. You talk,
you get, you drop, you combine
reagents, you use runes.”
– Doug Church,
Ultima Underworld’s programmer
Perhaps because the team was, as a whole, fairly
inexperienced in game development, the puzzles and
challenges possess a raw, rule-of-cool wildness that, to
me, feels like the sort of thing a human game master
in a tabletop RPG might come up with just because it
sounds like fun. One section of a level is mapped like
a Pac-Man maze, requiring the player to pick up blue
nuggets pursued by a ghost. To communicate with the
Lizardmen, the player must learn their language a bit
at a time. Many challenges are open-ended, allowing
the player several methods to accomplish their goals
using the rules systems and 3D environment.
More innovations and improvements to the
genre are sprinkled liberally throughout the game,
including a beautiful automap that allowed free-form
note-taking, an early faction system, and even some
limited crafting. While limited by the technology of
the day, its design would still be considered ambitious
for anyone but a major AAA studio.
Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds
(1993) appeared shortly afterwards, providing a
number of incremental improvements. The story was
more carefully crafted and integrated as a follow-up
to Ultima VII. Characters had more to say, and what
they said and did would change as events transpired.
The game offered a cleaner interface, better balance
and technology. And, in spite of the extremely tight
development schedule, it still retained the fundamental
gameplay, feel, and creativity of the original.
Together, these games provide some of the best
dungeon-crawling experiences to be found on the PC,
something too often forgotten in their chief claims to
fame of being the first “true” 3D RPGs. Pioneering
and primitive they may be, but, not far beneath the
VGA graphics and clunky interfaces, the games
conceal wonderfully visceral dungeon exploration still
well worth playing today. Come prepared to kiss the
sunlight and outdoor air goodbye for a while. JB
You can talk, bribe
and barter with
various creatures
in the Abyss.
The Lizardmen,
however, require
you to first learn
their language,
word by word.
In the Masters
of Doom book,
it’s revealed
that John
Romero and
Carmack were
inspired by
an Ultima
Underworld
demo to make
Catacomb 3-D,
which later led
to Wolfenstein
3D and Doom.
The game features 48 spells like Levitate, Telekinesis and
Stealth, cast by combining runes you find across the Abyss.
Ultima Underworld II sends the Avatar to multiple worlds.
They are all underground, but offer some graphical variety.
155
Might and Magic:
World of Xeen
New World Computing, 1992
MS-DOS, Mac and PC-98
New World
Computing
released an
enhanced CD
version of
World of Xeen
in 1994 that
added new
voiced content
to the game.
Side-quests
usually are very
simple, based
on finding an
object or killing
a specific enemy.
But they are
creative.
156
Might and Magic: World of Xeen is actually an
adventure composed of two distinct games:
Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen (1992)
and Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen (1993).
Played separately, these games are typical Might and
Magic games, but when both are installed in your
computer they combine into a continuous experience.
Xeen is a flat, square-shaped world, and on
each game you explore one side of the planet – first
defeating the infamous Lord Xeen on the Light Side,
then battling his master, Sheltem, on the Darkside.
Magical pyramids spread across the land allow you to
travel between both sides, exploring each at your own
pace. Furthermore, World of Xeen adds a new batch of
quests, requiring you to face challenges across all of
Xeen to reach the game’s true ending.
World of Xeen is the ultimate 2D game of the
series before the move to 3D in Might and Magic VI
and beyond. It was also the last game that New World
Computing published independently before being
acquired by The 3DO Company. As a game developer,
I find the games like Xeen at the cusp of a transition to
be particularly interesting.
Xeen’s production values show that New World
Computing wanted a grand game. The art is lush and
detailed, the world is massive by any standard, there
were voiced cutscenes not often seen, and the fact
that the two entire games combined together to form
a complete game set it apart from any other RPG.
Gameplay-wise, World of Xeen is a direct
descendant of prior Might and Magic games and
borrows many mechanics, particularly from the third
game. You create a party of six characters of various
classes and races. You have a standard selection of
weapon users, spell slingers, and hybrid classes that
can use heavy gear and spells. Your race choice gives
you some benefits and penalties in the short term.
Advancement comes from gaining new levels, as well
as acquiring skills to help you in your adventures,
such as Path-finding, Swimming and Linguistics.
Items created by combining base types with random
attributes also add to character power.
Power inflation is the hallmark of the Might and
Magic games, and you see it clearly here. Your party
starts out weak, but magical items and temporary buffs
to statistics, hit points, or magic points can make any
party’s orders of magnitude more powerful. While this
seems silly, it allows for the player’s knowledge to give
advantages that simply grinding levels could not. This
power inflation also makes it so that the adjustments
you got from your starting character choices have less
of an impact at the endgame.
Movement and fighting are the usual grid- and
turn-based affairs of first-person RPGs at the time.
Characters with ranged weapons and spellcasters can
fire at enemies approaching from a distance; but, be
warned, enemies can do the same. Knowing how to
move and not expose yourself to attacks can be the
difference between victory and defeat.
“I have always felt the game
systems I created were very robust,
probably the biggest strength of
the games and still hold up today.
Plus the free-form nature of the
game worlds is very appealing. [...]
Although I have a special fondness
for Might and Magic I since I did
the entire game myself, I would
still have to say World of Xeen was
my favourite and the pinnacle of
the game systems, universe and
conclusion to the original story.”
– Jon Van Caneghem,
Might and Magic’s creator
The land in each game is large, with 24 map
locations, each of which are 16x16 squares. On top
of all this explorable area, there are ten towns, castles,
and dozens of dungeons to explore. Progressing across
the map often requires your characters to cast certain
spells or to learn special skills mentioned previously.
There are plenty of exotic places to visit. The
gorgeous physical maps included with the games
show a wide variety of biomes: huge deserts, lava
lakes, dense forests and frozen expanses. In addition,
there are fantastical places where you can levitate over
clouds and walk along roads in the sky. The game feels
like a heroic sword-and-sorcery story, with different
elements thrown together in a hodge-podge of fun.
The important part is the adventure, not necessarily
any thematic or logical consistent with the “real world”.
The puzzles are particularly interesting, as they
tend to rely on knowledge outside the game and can
be daunting to non-English speakers.
For example, one dungeon has you solving a
crossword puzzle using clues. The sheer number of
puzzles makes the game challenging more than just
hacking up monsters and taking loot. Of course, those
playing the game now can just look up a handy FAQ
to get past the tricky parts.
As mentioned before, the game also had
cutscenes as part of a larger story. The story continues
with standard fantasy tropes that blend with slowly
revealed sci-fi elements – another hallmark of the
Might and Magic series. As the player approaches the
end of the game, the true plot becomes revealed: the
events of the game are the conclusion of a grand fight
that spanned all the prior games in the series.
In all, World of Xeen is a game that includes
practically everything. If you look hard, you can
probably even find a kitchen sink somewhere. But,
because of its immense scope and place in history, the
game stands as a landmark RPG for good reason. BG
Enemies have
large, expressive
and sometimes
humorous
animations. But
even the silly
ones can inflict
nasty status
effects and wipe
out your party.
In 1995 a
group of fans
created a mod
of Might and
Magic V named
Swords of Xeen.
New World
Computing
then endorsed
and released
the mod as an
official bonus
scenario.
The game has a unique visual style, using an iconic colour
palette, a few digitised photos and a light-hearted tone.
Some areas have special requirements, like learning to
swim to cross a river or casting Levitate to walk on clouds.
157
Legend
Mindscape Ltd., 1992
Amiga, MS-DOS and Atari ST
A sequel was
released in
the same year,
called Worlds of
Legend: Son of
the Empire, this
time with an
Eastern setting.
A tricky riddle
room at the
Dark Tower. You
must mix and
cast a couple of
complex spells
to open the four
doors to the west.
Mixing a deadly
spell. All runes
are present and
our Runemaster
has a good stock
of reagents too.
158
When, as a 12-year-old, I first played Legend
(titled The Four Crystals of Trazere in the
US), I was left confused. Until this day
RPGs for me were always turn-based, but now my
party ran in real time, sometimes fighting monsters
faster than I could react. Nevertheless Legend quickly
became one of my all-time favourite RPGs, because of
the fascinating magic system and isometric view - two
features that were new to me as well.
The land of Trazere is in a state of emergency as
an ancient force of chaos begins to transform ordinary
citizens into monsters. Seeking to save the kingdom,
four heroic adventurers gather at the city Treihadwyl:
The Berserker, a warrior prone to uncontrollable rage;
the Troubadour, who plays magical tunes; the Assassin,
a master of deception who can turn invisible and
backstab enemies; and the powerful Runemaster.
Legend plays in two levels, the map view and the
dungeon view. On the map, the group can travel to
towns, villages, forts and special locations – including
enemy armies in the field. They can visit blacksmiths,
apothecaries, taverns, temples, artificers and level up
at the Guild – if they are experienced enough.
When the party enters a dungeon, the game
switches into an isometric view. Enemies appear
randomly and combat is mostly automatic – click
on the rally icon and the group will seek the nearest
enemy and start to fight – but you can also individually
control each character. Each dungeon level also has a
special puzzle room, which must be solved by casting
various spells with the Runemaster.
The magic system is the highlight of the game,
allowing the Runemaster to create various spells by
mixing reagents and runes. For example, to create
an offensive spell that first hits an enemy, then all
adjacent foes around, inflicting damage and paralysis,
the Runemaster needs the runes Missile (for the flight
characteristics), Surround (for the environmental
effect), Damage (for harm) and Paralyse (for
paralysis). The ingredients are then mixed in the
mortar through a nice animation and become a spell,
which the Runemaster can now cast once.
The combination of its unique magic system and
challenging dungeon riddles makes Legend a great
title, suitable for all fans of classic RPGs. MH
The best way to describe The Summoning is
“Dungeon Master meets Ultima”, which is little
wonder given the track record of its developer.
Event Horizon’s first game, DarkSpyre (1990) was
basically a single-character Dungeon Master clone
infused with roguelike elements. Their second title,
Dusk of the Gods (1991), was an open-world Action
RPG based on a very thorough recreation of Norse
mythology, with Ultima-like gameplay.
The Summoning meshes these influences and
past experiences into a solid single-character dungeon
crawler. Your character can be fully generated or
chosen from a couple dozen premade ones. Character
development is somewhat innovative, featuring both
combat and magic skills that improve with use and
the more traditional experience levels.
The gameplay is very similar to Dungeon Master,
focusing less on combat and more on resource
management and puzzle-solving. Most of the puzzles
boil down to a traditional mix of pressure plates,
teleporters, rolling balls, pits and key hunts. However,
they are expertly designed and never grow stale – no
small feat given the game’s impressive length.
The game is completely set within a single
dungeon, divided into several regions that are
unlocked in a linear progression. Within these regions
there’s a lot of interconnectivity between the levels, as
well as a few alternative paths and optional areas.
But where The Summoning shines is in its story.
On your way through the dungeon, you’ll meet many
characters and learn a lot about both your enemies
and your benefactors, as well as the world in general.
The game features not one, but two shocking twists –
that is, in the best-case scenario.
There are three basic endings and one hidden
true ending. Which one you get is entirely determined
Event Horizon, 1992
MS-DOS
by one or two choices made directly before the end.
However, those are presented not as dialogue options,
but as puzzles, which you can only solve successfully
if you paid careful attention to the lore.
The Summoning does not shy away from its
roots, at times blatantly copying gameplay elements.
However the result of combining two vastly different
styles is a unique and very entertaining game, more
than deserving of being placed among the classics. VK
The Summoning
Combat is in
real time, and
positioning is key.
Weapons have
different attacks,
but break often,
so use them
carefully.
You learn spells
by collecting
scrolls that
contain the
combination of
hand gestures
necessary to
cast them, like in
Dungeon Master.
159
Ultima VII:
The Black Gate
*Modders created
the Exult project,
which allows you
to play Ultima VII
on modern PCs,
with several new
features like
higher resolution,
status bar and
using Serpents
Isle’s inventory in
The Black Gate.
The Guardian
speaks directly
to you, then
constantly taunts
you during the
game – pointing
out you’re going
in the wrong
direction or that
a party member
just died.
“
Origin Systems, 1992
MS-DOS, SNES (Windows, Mac and Linux)*
Avatar! Know that Britannia has entered into a
new age of enlightenment. Know that the time
has come for the one true Lord of Britannia
to take his place at the head of his people! Under my
guidance, Britannia will flourish. And all the people
shall rejoice and pay homage to their new Guardian!
Know that you, too, shall kneel before me, Avatar.
You too, shall soon acknowledge my authority, for I shall
be your companion, your provider – and your master!”
As the red face mocked me with a menacing laugh
and began to sink back into the blue static background,
I was shocked. In most games, the antagonist just sits
on the sidelines, but in Ultima VII the Guardian shows
up right at the start, tells you his intent and then taunts
you throughout the entire game.
Anyone who has played through Ultima VII can
tell you what an immersive, amazing journey it is.
Quite a few things set it apart, including its story. As
the Avatar, you return to Britannia, meet your friend
Iolo and learn of the brutal murder of a blacksmith
and his gargoyle companion. Your first objective then
is to solve the mystery behind this tragedy.
It’s a very different experience from RPGs where
you just need to out-kill monsters to get a shiny new
weapon. In the Ultima series people matter. Their
dialogue is not something to be skipped so you can
just get on with the game. The text is something to be
savoured, like a compelling book.
Eventually, the trail leads you out of the starting
city of Trinsic, to Paws, then Britain, and from there
you can head wherever you want. However, Britannia
has become a much darker place since your last visit,
so adultery, drug abuse and class struggles are just a
few of the more mature themes you will find.
Adding to the immersion is the clean and fully
mouse-driven interface. Gone are the list of keyboard
commands needed to play – walking, talking, picking
up items, opening your inventory, moving objects
around, etc... it’s all done with a click of the mouse. Also
gone are the stiff dialogues based on typing “name”,
“job”, “bye” and other keywords. Now you just have to
click on the dialogue options that appear on-screen.
Another aspect is the sheer amount of detail that
went into Ultima VII’s world. Not only in the dialogues
and secrets, but in the simulation of the world itself.
Want to make bread? Cut the grain, grind it into flour,
add water to make dough, then pop it into the oven.
Now you have bread. You can also shear sheep and
make cloth, forge your own sword, go fishing, pile up
crates to climb, get a job as farmer, etc.
I obviously enjoy Ultima VII immensely, but it
does have its flaws though. One of them is the combat.
It’s real-time and mostly automatic – you basically
just toggle in between a “peace” or “combat” mode.
The frustration sets in when you go into combat
mode and everyone in your party runs off-screen. In
a dungeon this usually means at least someone will
die, no matter how high their level.
160
“In many ways, The Black Gate was
one of the very first SIMS! That was
the genius behind the engine that
was created by Richard [Garriott] and
Ken Demarest (lead programmer)
and his team. That was the idea – to
create a world you could run around
in and live in. The other writers
and I took great care to make each
individual NPC a whole person, as
much as we could.”
– Raymond Benson,
Ultima VII’s lead writer
Another flaw is that there’s no auto-eating. Use
of resources is the mark of a good RPG, but when
Shamino says he’s hungry I have to open up my paper
doll, then his paper doll, then his backpack, click on
some food and feed him – and then when I walk two
steps and Iolo complains he is hungry as well.
Ultima VII had a expansion, Forge of Virtue,
which sends the Avatar to investigate the Isle of Fire.
Relatively short, the game’s backstory is well-written,
although it’s not on par with the main quest.
In 1993 came Ultima VII - Part 2: Serpent Isle.
A full-length stand-alone release, it continues the
events told in Ultima VII and Ultima Underworld II.
The Avatar follows a villain to the eponymous
Serpent Isles, which are actually the “Lands of Danger
and Despair” from Ultima I. Shortly after leaving
your ship, a magic storm switches your items and
companions with other things. For example, your
spell book switches place with a piece of pumice.
Part of the game’s premise is you need to hunt
down all of your old equipment, as well as your nowmissing
companions. As you explore the Isle, you will
also come across three towns which have rejected the
Three Principles of Truth, Love and Courage, core of
the Virtues which you defined in Ultima IV.
Serpent Isle has a very different tone from other
Ultima games, having a more linear and event-based
story, with a heavy emphasis on dialogues. This displeased
some old fans, but inspired many developers later.
It eventually also got its own mini-expansion,
The Silver Seed – which oddly came with a complete
walkthrough in the box! Sadly, EA had already begun
to meddle too much, and this expansion was a rushed
release, with poor puzzles and a disconnected plot.
True masterpieces, both Ultima VII parts are well
worth playing, not only to see where modern RPGs
truly found their footing, but also for an incredible
story that has yet to be surpassed. DK
Double-clicking
on your character
shows you his
“paper doll”.
From there you
can drag items
into him to equip,
or drop them into
the bags to store.
Serpent Isle was
first planned as
a pirate-themed
game for the
Worlds of Ultima
series. Later it
became a main
Ultima game, but,
since Garriott had
declared that no
two Ultima games
should use the
same engine,
it was released
as Ultima VII -
Part 2.
You can give orders to your party in combat, but they
work more like suggestions that will be kindly ignored.
Serpent Isle brought improvements to the interface
and a more linear story, with a very different tone.
161
Ishar:
Legend of the Fortress
Silmarils, 1992
Amiga, Atari ST and MS-DOS
If you find Ishar
too punishing,
fan-made
patches exist
to remove the
need to pay
each time you
save the game.
This friendly man
is the first NPC
you’ll meet. He’s
eager to join
your party... and
run away with
your items.
162
At first glance, Ishar appears to be one of the
many games spawned by the success of the
Eye of the Beholder series. Fortunately, it’s
much more than that. Silmarils, a French veteran of
the Amiga scene, introduced many original ideas to
the formula.
You start all alone in the middle of Kendoria,
a vast kingdom, a bit lost too. Contrary to many
dungeon crawlers, Ishar let you spend most of your
time outside: no indications except a big map and
a simple objective: reach the fortress of Ishar to kill
the evil sorcerer Khrog. A direct sequel to Crystals of
Arborea, Ishar doesn’t require any former knowledge
of the series but offers interesting cameos.
Ishar is probably the ultimate capitalist dream
since you must pay for everything. Recruiting up to
four other characters? Pay. Getting precious food and
water to avoid starvation? Pay. Train your characters
to grow stronger? Pay. You merely want to save? PAY.
While disturbing at first, the system quickly becomes
a nice way to make dire choices at every step of the
adventure.
Combat is in real time, meaning a lot of
micromanagement on your end. Magic is useful and,
since most classes get specific spells, you don’t need to
focus too much on it. Still it can be extra costly thanks
to expensive potions to cure your characters and refill
your magic. The very “high fantasy”-looking bestiary
is well endowed and the general monster design very
nice. A cool feature regarding combat in Ishar is the
possibility to create a tactical formation for your
group, protecting your spellcasters behind your more
resilient warriors, for example. While a bit crude,
attacks and spells are entirely animated. Curiously,
enemies don’t chase you but, since the game is really
hard, that’s a relief.
The sense of scale is probably one of the things
that Ishar does best. Kendoria is a vast land and
navigating through its wilderness takes some time.
Cartography becomes vital as you step through miles
and miles of marshes, forests and open plains. Silmarils
has worked a long time on Amiga and excels in creating
beautiful lush nature that make long strolls enjoyable.
Strangely enough for a CRPG, there is only a handful
of underground dungeons but each one is memorable.
Spending most of the game outside makes dungeons
feel claustrophobic and deadly since you can’t avoid
enemies anymore. Civilisation is also present through
scattered villages and one gigantic city.
Adventure and dangers dwell within towns with
packs of thieves and bandits, but those places also
offer rest for our weary adventurers. Inns, smiths and
various shops are a good way to recruit fresh blood,
train your merry band or hear rumours. Additionally
to the main plot, various side-quests are available
through specific NPCs. For example, one of them
allows you to even cross the path of the former heroes
of Crystals of Arborea, the prequel to Ishar.
Characters will vote on key decisions. Here they refused
my request to dismiss one of the party members.
Some characters are clearly using you and
may refuse to even reveal their names.
The second game has you travelling through various
islands, in search of artefacts for your quest.
In Ishar, from the lowest human thief to the
greatest Lizardman fighter, everyone has a voice and
strong feelings toward other races. Every time you
want to recruit, murder or dismiss someone, a vote
occurs. The outcome is democratic and characters
each have their predetermined opinions. The most
powerful teammates usually have the most xenophobic
opinions, which can lead to dreadful consequences
such as a character leaving the group or, worst-case
scenario, total party kill. Having a 100% human team
is weaker than other combinations but is also the safest
way to control a group. Silmarils is keen to remind
you the “dog-eat-dog” nature of Kendoria as the first
recruitable NPC in the game will take your money and
flee after travelling a few days with you.
Ishar is a hard and demanding game but the
satisfaction and the novelty of the game makes it a
worthy addition to every CRPG library.
Bigger, better and less confusing, Ishar 2:
Messengers of Doom (1993) is probably the best of the
series but doesn’t have the awesome Basil Poledouris
soundtrack.
Ishar 3 features exotic settings and some really
impressive artwork, based on digitised photos.
You now play as the new Lord of Ishar, Zubaran,
who needs to kill Shandar, an evil sect leader. The
second entry offers an expanded playground with
an entire archipelago to explore and some major
improvements. Saving is now free and a GPS indicates
your location on the map. You can also import your
party from the previous game. However, NPCs will
send you all over the archipelago to get an object or
talk to someone, so taking notes is essential.
Sadly, the last game of the series, Ishar 3: The
Seven Gates of Infinity (1994), is a disappointment.
By using the Gates of Infinity, Zubaran & co time
travel to different time periods, displaying specific
environments, monsters and NPCs. While graphically
enhanced, most backgrounds feel like reused assets of
Ishar 2. The battle for the fate of Ishar consists mostly
of travelling back and forth between the Dragon of
Sith’s lair and the city to heal your wounds.
On a funny note, the now-speaking NPCs are
mostly digitised actors, like a bearded Mel Gibson or
Dustin Hoffman. TR
A fourth game,
called Ishar:
Genesis was
considered,
but never
got made.
163
Wizardry VII:
Crusaders of the Dark Savant
Sir-Tech, 1992
MS-DOS, Windows, Mac, Saturn and PS1
Wizardry Gold,
a new version of
Wizardry VII for
Windows and
Mac was released
in 1996. This
version is widely
considered to be
inferior, due to
its inconsistent
graphics, poor
music and
frequent bugs.
Characters can
change classes
at any time if
they have the
required stats,
and skills are
now divided into
three categories
– Weaponry,
Physical and
Academia.
164
I
didn’t finish Wizardry VII on my first try, or
my second a few years later. That first attempt
was right after it was published in 1992, when I
was still relatively wet behind the ears when it came
to computer games, having not played anything
really big. Wizardry VII was a revelation, a massive,
sprawling behemoth of a game that made it easy to
get lost in, both in terms of its geography as well as its
more opaque mysteries.
The second try was an attempt to brute-force
the game by sheer will, even though I wasn’t enjoying
myself all that much. I just wanted to beat the damn
game. As the Internet (and its easily available guides)
were still a year or so away, I was stopped by some
of the more obstructionist puzzles. As they say, third
time’s the charm.
Almost entirely the brainchild of D.W. Bradley,
Wizardry VII continued the transformation Bradley
had started with its predecessor. The roots of the
Greenberg/Woodhead Wizardry can still be seen:
movement is by discrete steps from square to square
– the building blocks of the world and its dungeons.
Battles are still phase-based and mostly
randomly triggered, apart from a few fixed ones. A
few new spells and skills were added, lock-picking
and trap-disarming were overhauled but, overall, the
core system remained the same.
What Bradley ingeniously did was to transpose
this refined dungeon-crawling formula to a huge,
handcrafted open world, long before this was a thing.
In Wizardry VII, you have an entire planet to
explore. And, unlike most games, you’re not alone
on your quest. Various other factions have joined the
fray, including the eponymous Dark Savant and his
robot legions, in a wild scavenger hunt for the Astral
Dominae – a powerful ancient artefact.
Your objective is to find various map pieces
spread all over the planet that, in theory, should help
you solve various puzzles and reach your final goal.
Though, in practice, some of these puzzles are almost
impossible to solve without the help of a guide. This
is not helped by a keyword-based dialogue system
that makes it easy to miss crucial hints. And there’s no
journal, so expect to make a copious amount of notes.
The game has six major factions you can ally
with, but much more interesting are rival parties
made up of individuals from those factions. Like
you, they roam the planet, collecting map pieces,
befriending, antagonising and fighting each other –
or you – giving an overall sense of urgency and of a
living game world.
To facilitate this new mechanic, the game
introduced a Diplomacy skill and expanded NPC
interaction options, allowing you befriend them and
trade items and information. That said, while I love
the concept of rival parties and expanded interactions,
their implementations are far too insubstantial and
fickle to be more than an illusion of world reactivity.
“Alas, Crusaders was my last
Wizardry title. On its heels came
the advent of 3D, Doom and realtime,
and as video games went
mainstream, recognisable brand
names and blowing people up
commanded massive profits, while
with rare exception innovation in
game paradigms were costly, and
all too often ended in failed titles.”
– David W. Bradley,
Wizardry VII’s creator
Yet, while it may not have been great, the game
tried something new that remains novel to this day,
and it improved the experience most of the time.
Wizardry VII also adds automapping, though
it’s skill-based and nearly useless without training.
A more subtle addition are the new ground tiles for
paved roads. There is only one road in the game and
it connects all major locations. Together with the
map, it makes orientation easy and yet feels much
less condescending than modern quests compasses,
mostly because it still was possible to get temporarily
lost or have that feeling of exploration and true
discovery so often lacking in modern games.
Since Wizardry VII takes place on a different
world than the first six games, another change comes
in the new races you meet and the more-or-less
creative monsters (two-headed tigers, walking octopi,
etc.). Where the previous games were pure fantasy,
the seventh part has a strong science fiction influence.
The sum of all these things is an experience
that feels both familiar and novel at the same time.
I loved discovering and learning all these new elements
on my first try, and yet at the same time I loved the
familiarity of playing an old-school Wizardry with a
large and extensive overworld.
On my third attempt to play it, armed with a
better understanding of the game mechanics and a
way to get around the more annoying puzzles due to
the availability of solutions on the Internet, I plowed
through the game and enjoyed every second of it.
Wizardry VII is a game that invites exploration.
It wants you to map its world exhaustively and look
into every nook and cranny. Like all the games in the
series, it expects you to know how to build a strong
party, but accommodates a lot of different builds and
approaches. It contains an endless number of battles
that can sap your energy, and yet it always makes you
come back for more. JG
Some NPCs
require specific
words to be said,
puzzles can be
very complex and
there’s no journal
system, so be
prepared to take
lots of notes.
The Automap
Mod can be
used to move
the game’s map
to a convenient
secondary
window, while
the Cosmic
Forge is a pack
of tools that
allows much
of the game
to be edited.
Battles are challenging and require a well-made party, but
the few monsters sprites can grow repetitive after a while.
The roaming NPC parties may find clues before you do,
forcing you seek them and try to trade, steal or kill them.
165
Star Control 2
Toys for Bob Inc., 1992
MS-DOS, 3DO (Linux, Mac and Windows)*
*In 2002 the
source code
of SC2 was
released. Fans
then started The
Ur-Quan Masters
project, to port
the game to
modern PCs.
Combat is similar to
Asteroid, but each
of the various ships
plays differently.
166
When I am asked what my favourite CRPG
is, people are often surprised when I
answer it’s Star Control 2. “That’s an
adventure game,” they reply. Oh, but Star Control 2 is
so much more than that!
You control a ship that starts off as a bare-bones
hull, and as you acquire resources and credits, you can
buy upgrades to improve your ship, as well as gain new
crew and landing craft to replace any that were lost
in battles and exploration. These features are a direct
analogue to the skills, items and hit points in a typical
role-playing game, making Star Control 2 closer to a
CRPG than an adventure game. And like any good
CRPG, Star Control 2 offers three areas of activity for
the player: exploration, storyline, and combat.
The area for you to explore in Star Control 2 is
huge. It’s nothing less than a whole galactic arm (and
then some), with hundreds of star systems to explore.
While a minority of these systems are important to
the game’s storyline, most of them contain valuable
resources that can be harvested by landing probes.
You’ll find everything from minerals to lifeforms to
special items needed to advance the storyline.
To me, one of the most amazing things about
Star Control 2 is that the explorable area is entirely
open and free-form. True, you are limited in your
exploration radius by your fuel reserves, but within
that restriction you can go anywhere. The dialogue
you have with main characters often gives you clues
on where to go, but you are free to ignore that advice
and go anywhere you want.
Like any CRPG, there were some areas that needed
to be unlocked before you can visit them (or get any
results from visiting them). The best example of this
is QuasiSpace, the strange dimension that the Arilou
Lalee’lay race comes from. Portals into QuasiSpace
were randomly scattered around the galactic arm,
and you are eventually granted the ability to enter
QuasiSpace at will by using a Portal Spawner that you
can create from pieces found on a wrecked enemy ship.
But until that time, many distant systems are difficult to
reach, and some are downright impossible.
The universe of Star Control 2 is filled with
many races, and the dialogues with those races are
varied and always humorous (if darkly so). Most
races have a unique perspective, ranging from the
insult-flinging Pkunk to the depressed Utwig to the
mysterious, multidimensional Orz. Conversations
with representatives of these races can be hilarious and
confusing, but they are needed to advance the plot.
The pacing of the game was remarkably
well-controlled by the designers, especially given the
open-ended nature of the playspace. New races were
found regularly, and each one gave you additional
information about the history of the conflict in the
region, as well as hints on where to go next and even
new avenues of exploration. It always felt like there
was somewhere to go and something to do that was
important to advance to the story.
There are hundreds of systems to explore, ranging
from our own solar system to even other dimensions.
Engaging in conversations with any of the numerous
alien species in Star Control 2 is always amusing.
At the Starbase you can upgrade your flagship, trade
resources, recruit crew members and buy new ships.
The storyline of Star Control 2 unfolded over
time, as you explored the stars and spoke with the
races you discovered. Some were friendly and some
were not, which led to one of the best features of the
game: the combat system.
Combat in Star Control 2 is nothing short of
fantastic. Each race has its own ship, with unique
weapons, defenses and propulsion. The ships fight in
a 2D top-down arena reminiscent of the old arcade
games Space War and Asteroid. Some ships have
powerful but short-range weapons, while others have
self-guided attack missiles, and others have inertialess
propulsion and can literally turn on a dime. The
crew on your ship acts as its “hit points”, because
successful strikes will kill crew members and the ship
is destroyed when all crew are dead. One ship even
uses its own crew to power its weapons!
Each combat consists of one ship fighting one
ship. Like the old rock-paper-scissors game, some
ships can handily defeat other ships, but, unlike RPS,
a highly skilled player can sometimes overcome a
deficiency in a ship’s capabilities.
When landing on planets you must weigh up the danger
of hazards such as electrical storms and intense heat.
And with over two dozen races, by the end of the
game there is a huge variety of ship types to choose
from, not counting the player’s own flagship, which is
itself uniquely upgraded.
Each race also had its own music that played
during its dialogue, and this music was based in MOD
format, which using digitised samples of instruments
to play the notes, which are stored independently of the
samples and in a much smaller format. This allowed
for wildly varying music for each race, but without
the large computational overhead (in 1994 terms) of
100% digitised music like an MP3. At the time, Star
Control 2 had some of the best-sounding music of any
game on the market, and that music helped define the
tone of each race that you encountered in the game.
Since its release in 1992, Star Control 2 has
been considered one of the best computer game
ever developed, and, for me, it remains my favourite
CRPG of all time. You can see its influence in the
open-endedness of Fallout and Arcanum, and I will
always remember this game fondly. Thank you Toys
for Bob for making such an amazing game! TC
Toys for Bob
was acquired
by Activision
in 2005. Fred
Ford and Paul
Reiche III, the
creators of Star
Control, went
on to create
the popular
Skylanders
games. The Star
Control license
was brought by
Stardock, who
released Star
Control: Origins
in 2018.
167
Darklands
MicroProse, 1992
MS-DOS
Darklands
comes with
an extensive
110-page
manual that is
required to play
the game and
even includes
a detailed
historical
background
on life in the
Holy Roman
Empire.
The character
system is classless
and extensive,
with seven
different weapon
skills and twelve
non-combat
ones, such as
Stealth, Alchemy
and Religion.
168
Ominously opening with a warning that “in
Medieval Germany, reality is more horrifying
that fantasy”, Darklands keeps its word,
whether the horror is a child-gobbling Satanist or just
the tedium of digging your scabbed and beaten body
out of jail with a spoon. Despite its age, the unique
mix of Choose Your Own Adventure progression,
immersive historical setting and classless builds make
Darklands a refreshing and original experience.
Set in the 15th-century Holy Roman Empire,
Darklands covers a large swath of medieval Europe and
portrays Greater Germany in the full glory of its grim
day-to-day survival, arbitrary law enforcers and superstitious
beliefs both rampant and fantastic. The game
world itself is history come to life, thorough and well-researched.
Dialogue and exploration choices are littered
with Germanic linguistics, and beautiful pixel art depicts
lush medieval scenes with accuracy and detail.
With a setting so rich and detailed, it is fitting that
Darklands is an open-world RPG, encouraging free
exploration from the start while you slowly unravel
your ultimate goal: avert an apocalyptic disaster.
From character creation, the game is admirably
committed to the time period, with a system that
raises characters from infancy to adulthood with a
multitude of options for occupations and backgrounds
commonly found in medieval Europe, each adjusting
the stats and skills in minor ways. If it’s your dream
to role-play a country commoner turned alchemist
turned hermit, this is a game for you.
In Darklands you’ll never gain experience points
or level up. Progression is the result of your actions,
successes and failures, increasing and decreasing your
attributes in small increments. With a massive variety
of skills and stats based on your chosen background,
the game creates an interesting party dynamic where
characters have a multitude of skills they are good at,
instead of the more typical singular focus of classes.
Although classless builds are not uncommon in RPGs
through the years, it was a rarity at the time, and is
still an exciting challenge to build a character without
the crutch of a predefined class.
A diversion from typical fantasy, the game has
no Mage character – the closest you’ll get to the
arcane arts is a brilliant system of alchemy and divine
prayer. It’s a welcome change, as your builds take on
qualities not often seen in RPGs, most notably with
characters that can call on specific saints to intervene
in a myriad of social and hostile situations.
The historical accuracy is charming and
immersive, all the while being consistently fun to
play, proving that once-existing nightmares, beliefs
and folklore can be just as entertaining as the usual
fantasy genre tropes. Similarly, equipment and loot are
wonderfully time period-appropriate. It’s refreshing
to equip a pike because in the 15th century it was the
best way to skewer a wolf with your arm intact, not
because it does +25 fire damage.
“At the very start, I wanted the
Darklands’ ‘hook’ to be that it
would use some beliefs from the
era to “justify” fantastical elements,
rather than trotting out the usual
bog-standard wizards, clerics,
bards, etc. Where possible, I like my
game designs to provide an insight
into history – a ‘you are there’
feeling. When searching for tactical
trade-offs and interesting details,
why goof around conjuring up stuff
when there is plenty of interesting
historical material to use?”
– Arnold Hendrick,
Darklands’ lead designer
Besides the unique setting and character system,
Darklands also shines in its Choose Your Own
Adventure gameplay. Locations, dialogues and events
are all explored primarily through illustrated screens
offering multiple choices based on your stats/skills and
a surprising amount of free will. These screens are all
expertly written, with vivid descriptions that enhance
the role-playing aspect of the game.
Whether you’re deciding how to enter a town
when you don’t have the money to pay the tax, deal
with an unwelcome bandit visit in the forest, or discuss
a loan with a shrewd banker, the game often allows
for multiple outcomes and consequences, many of
which do not end well. Darklands is as challenging
as it is rewarding, and your choices inevitably lead to
undesirable scenarios such as crawling through sewers
to escape a landscape of horrors, or surrendering to
a vicious pack of creatures only to see one of your
companions devoured as a penalty.
Interrupting your explorations are fast-paced
isometric battles, fought through a real-time-withpause
combat – both innovative concepts at the time.
These are usually prefaced with an opportunity to put
some divine power on your side or toss an alchemical
potion into the fray for a chance to escape. Without
the right equipment these encounters can be brutal,
leading to bandits robbing you of everything but a few
pfennigs hidden in your boot.
Despite all these notable systems and a carefully
crafted setting, the release of Darklands was met with
a mixed reception, mostly due to an unwieldy amount
of bugs and a tendency to crash.
The game endured, however, and has retroactively
been labelled one of the best RPGs of all time, with a
content-filled scale and scope that would influence
games like Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls series and the
real-time-with-pause combat in the Infinity Engine
games. H&JW
Locations,
dialogues and
events are
explored through
Choose Your
Own Adventure
screens like
this, with nice
hand-drawn
illustrations in
the background.
Hendrick
hinted at the
possibility of
creating sequels
for Darklands,
set in historical
eras such as the
Hundred Years’
War, the War
of the Roses or
featuring Vlad
the Impaler but,
sadly, those
were never
realised.
Darklands’ map is huge and features many cities, villages,
keeps, caves, mines, churches and other places of interest.
Most battles end as soon as you slay all enemies, but
a few of them take part in large, trap-filled dungeons.
169
Shadowlands
Domark, 1992
Atari ST, Amiga and MS-DOS
Two characters
control the door
switches, while a
third one battles
a skeleton and
the fourth rests
in peace.
170
Shadowlands. The mere name inspires sweet and
dark memories. For most people, it’s the title
of an Anthony Hopkins movie about the life
of writer C.S. Lewis, a good friend of J.R.R. Tolkien.
But, to me, it recalls all the great time I spent inside
dungeons, accompanied by four adventures with
Japanese manga-styled faces. Of what is – without a
doubt – one my favourite RPGs.
Shadowlands was published in 1992 by Domark,
who would later would give birth to the best-selling
Prince of Persia games, but at the time were known for
their arcade games. In this context, it isn’t strange that
doubts were cast over Domark’s ability of delivering a
good RPG.
These doubts vanish as soon as you begin playing
Shadowlands. A 3D, real-time isometric world awaits
the four heroes chosen to avenge Prince Vashnar and
defeat the mighty Overlord in his underground lair.
Before reaching him, you had to define the
heroes, which was relatively simple, since each one
was characterised by four basic attributes: Combat,
Magic, Strength and Health.
Although these stats are important at the start
of the game, you’ll also be able to further define your
heroes as the game advances, since they gain Magic
and Combat points with practice. So, the more spells
they cast, the better they become at casting. This is the
same system used in the classic Dungeon Master, from
which Shadowlands takes many cues.
Expanding upon Drakkhen (1989), Shadowlands
was created in a way to allow players to control the four
heroes either individually or as a group. Today this may
sound trivial, but at the time it was a real revolution
in RPGs. Until then there were basically two systems:
either the group moved and acted together, with each
character performing his specific skills, or there was a
lone hero, typically in a top-down view.
The ability to spread the members of your party
and control them individually opened countless
combat and puzzle possibilities. In fact, in certain
moments of the game advances is of vital importance:
the formation in which the group advances: walking
in a line isn’t the same as advancing as a block to face
an enemy, for example. It was a strategic dimension
entirely new to RPGs.
But, without a doubt, the most challenging and
fun aspect of the game is its puzzles. Besides the usual
key-and-lock, sliding blocks and pressure plates,
Shadowlands added – for the first time – puzzles that
use light. I’ll explain:
The game features a system called Photoscope,
where each light source – in the scenery or carried by
characters – illuminates the environment in real time,
fading away with distance and creating multiple levels
of shadows (thus the name of the game). This system
was cleverly used by the game’s designers to introduce
a new type of switch that required a certain level of
light to be activated.
When creating your party, the game allows you to roll
their stats and also to customise their appearance.
Each character can only equip two items at a time, but
the game allows you to split the party into two groups.
You control each character by clicking on his body parts,
such as clicking the right arm to interact with objects.
The control scheme is simple and intuitive,
allowing players – after a bit of practice – to easily
control each of the four characters. And quickly too,
something vital in the more complicated situations
found later in the game. Among the things that players
have to master is how to throw objects, as the range
varies according to the nature and weight of each
object, plus the strength of the character throwing it.
There’s little to say about the other elements of
the game. The plot was simple and linear, basically an
excuse to introduce a series of dungeons, packed with
monsters to kill and traps to solve.
Your adventure begins in a grove that’s no more
than a tutorial. From there you’ll enter a dungeon,
five levels deep. Beating it leads you back to sunlight,
where a hedge maze leads the heroes into a pyramid.
Inside, you’ll face four levels packed with the game’s
most challenging traps.
Once you’re out, there’s another labyrinthine
garden, followed by a cave full of enemies and, finally,
the palace – where the Overlord awaits beside Vashnar’s
body, ready for a final battle.
The sequel, Shadoworlds, was also released in 1992. It has
a sci-fi setting and an updated UI, but feels uninspired.
Regarding the enemies, there isn’t much to see.
The first levels bring undead, as well as the usual
dungeon fauna: rats, snakes and deadly scorpions.
Further on you’ll face the memorable minotaurs, as
well as hell hounds and burning men. Among their
dangerous weapons are fireballs, which have unique
effects in Shadowlands’ Photoscope system. Since said
projectiles also harm monsters, you can use them to
find clever solutions to tough situations.
The graphics aren’t very attractive and offer
little variety to the alleged different environments.
And while the game’s theme song is memorable
and eerie, there’s no music in-game, and barely any
sound effects. Of course, none of this diminishes the
attractiveness of the game.
In the end, Shadowlands was (and still is) a
magnificent and revolutionary game in two aspects:
the individual control of heroes and the use of the
Photoscope system. It’s rare to see a game bring this
level of originality. The game also had a sequel called
Shadoworlds, set in space and using the same engine,
but without the same attractiveness of the original. FHG
171
Amberstar
Thalion Software, 1992
Amiga, Atari ST and MS-DOS
Amberstar came
with a 180-page
manual containing
a short novel
with the setting’s
backstory, as well
as a world map.
Inside dungeons
and towns you
play in a 2D firstperson
mode,
while encounters
moves the party
and its enemies
to a tactical grid.
Amberstar
doesn’t have
any random
encounters, but
while you’ll fight
way less than
in other RPGs,
its battles and
ambushes are
much harder.
172
First in a planned “Amber trilogy” of games set in
the fantasy world of Lyramion, Amberstar starts
out with the protagonist alone before the grave
of his parents, trying to decide what to do next.
Soon the story leads into the city sewers for the
usual rat-slaying to save a cat but, tellingly, even this
is a special event with a twist, leading to a unique
reward. Amberstar might seem conventional on the
surface, but it manages tropes with its own flair.
Right from the moment you exit the starting
city, you can go (almost) everywhere, easily getting
lost in swamps and forests, unless knowing where to
go. On your way, you’ll recruit others into your party
to search for missing pieces of the titular Amberstar.
With an evocative soundtrack, a clever dialogue
system based on keywords and quirky characters to
meet, recruit or help out, Amberstar oozes charm. As
you explore the land, your sense of accomplishment
grows each time you find a way to reach to new places
(riding horses, rafts, boats or even your own giant
eagle), figure out a clue or win a difficult battle.
Combat is turn-based on a grid, with orders
being given for all characters and then acted out all at
once. It’s an intuitive, albeit simple system, where your
level and gear have a huge impact. Who you recruit
for your party also makes for quite different strategies.
Amberstar doesn’t hold your hand and features
both subtle hints and infuriatingly hard riddles. There
is no quest log – you are supposed to pay attention
yourself (it’s advised to write everything down) and
act upon hints found in dialogue, deciphered runes
and journals, searching for the mentioned places and
solving elaborate enigmas to open up new areas.
At its core, Amberstar is all about exploration,
wondering what lies over the next mountain range or
behind the door inside the old ruin – though there are
no branching stories, side-quests, random encounters
or hundreds of items to collect, the world is sprawling
and contains many cities and dungeons waiting to be
found, all fitting into the main story.
While the sequel Ambermoon is even better, and
while many might not have the focus and patience
needed to enjoy this game in the modern age, for
me it’s a gem as enjoyable now as then – a game with
unique wit and charm. C
Ambermoon
Thalion Software, 1993
Amiga
Ambermoon is the second game in the never
completed “Amber trilogy”. Unfortunately,
the game was a huge flop sales-wise, closing
the doors of German developer Thalion even before
they could port the game or finish translating it.
Luckily, an official English version was later
leaked and made freely available, as all of Thalion’s
games became public domain after its demise.
That said, let’s look at the actual game. Taking
place decades after Amberstar, system-wise the game
is roughly identical – the same turn- and grid-based
combat, inventory and dialogue system. The two
exploration view modes remain: isometric for houses
and wilderness, plus a first-person view for towns and
dungeons – though now in 3D. As such, Ambermoon’s
design is similar to Albion (1995), a better-known
game later developed by former Thalion employees.
Ambermoon is huge, sprawling with locations to
explore, though these are done in a somewhat linear
fashion, with gates between areas – as opposed to the
mostly free overland map of Amberstar. However,
the charm, wit and storytelling of that game are
still present. We play as the grandson of the earlier
protagonist, who receives a quest from his dying
grandfather. From there, the game is about travelling,
finding companions for your party, solving quests,
puzzles and fighting a diverse range of opponents.
It’s standard RPG fare, but done with a certain
warmth and elegance, competent gameplay systems
and with lots of opportunities for exploration and
immersion – even if the game’s combat is somewhat
slow and challenging in the first few hours. Returning
players can also witness how the lands and its people
fared since Amberstar, when a moon crashed into the
planet, changing it into a fragmented post-apocalyptic
fantasy world.
Ambermoon, like Amberstar, is about the story of
a boy who is all alone in the world, and during his
journey he finds new friends, helps villagers and kings
but never loses his innocence. As such, it’s simple and
old-fashioned, but also endearing. Ambermoon might
be the most hidden game gem you’ll (n)ever come
across, but if you liked Albion and/or Amberstar, this
is a must-play. It’s well-made, has a clear direction as
well as engaging puzzles and story. CH
Thalion was a
German studio,
founded in 1988
and closed in
1994. Fans later
created a “web
shrine” to it,
with its history
and games:
www.thalion.
exotica.org.uk
Dungeons and
towns are now
shown in a freemovement
early
3D view, with
roaming enemies
and an excellent
automap.
The game doesn’t
hold your hand
in any way. UI
elements such as
compass, clock
and coordinates
will only show if
you find or buy
them first.
173
Quest for Glory:
Shadows of Darkness
The first release
of Shadow of
Darkness was
a rushed out
floppy version,
full of bugs
and lacking
the game’s
excellent voice
acting. Avoid it
at all costs.
The character
system remains
very similar to
previous games
in the series,
with three core
classes plus the
possibility of
making hybrids.
Sierra On-Line, 1993
MS-DOS
The fourth Quest for Glory game takes place in
Mordavia, a haunted valley fit for a Universal
horror film. Strange magic has summoned
you to this land, and your only hope of escape is to
find out why. But it won’t be easy: the locals don’t take
kindly to strangers.
Here vampires, werewolves, and gravediggers
cavort before tainted churches and squirming eldergods.
This is an autumn world, ever on the brink of
Halloween. Or, perhaps, its invention. But that’s not
to say the game takes itself too seriously. QfG4 is a
perfect blend of comedy and gothic horror.
Like most great games, there’s a bit of a learning
curve. Part RPG, part adventure game, it’s also very
much its own thing. You create a character, fight
battles, and raise stats by repeatedly using them.
But the highest priced item isn’t a sword, it’s a hand
broom (don’t worry, I’m sure it will come in handy).
And to get health potions you must beat a musical
memory game, win a round of twenty questions, trap
a Tribble-like creature and guide the bouncy little
sucker through a rotating rat maze.
Seasoned adventurers will try to combine every
inventory item with everything in sight. But the world
is so vast and there are so many items (you can get
over-encumbered!) that brute-force puzzle-solving
will get you nowhere. Progress is less about raising
stats or combining items than talking to the right
person, in the right place, at the right time.
You can play a Fighter, Thief, Magic-User, or
import a Paladin from the last game. Problems have
multiple solutions, ranging from casting the right
spell to picking the right lock to punching the right
face. I always picked the Fighter, much to the sarcastic
narrator’s delight: “You read the book, written entirely
in one-syllable words, obviously intended for Fighters.
It’s absolutely fascinating.”
Combat is a war of attrition. Fought in an
arcade-like manner (or set to auto-battle), individual
encounters aren’t overly challenging, but eventually
you’ll find yourself lost, poisoned and down to your
last potion. Flee in terror and you’ll be chased, screen
after screen, until you find sanctuary or eternal rest
– whichever comes first. Resting is only possible in a
few locations, and the feeling of relief when you step
into the warm safety of the inn should be familiar to
anyone who played the original Resident Evil.
Few games have such atmosphere. As you
leave town, the excellent soundtrack slowly fades,
as if afraid to follow you into the woods. Darkness
doesn’t fall in Mordavia, it slowly suffocates the light.
And as the gnarled trees look more and more like
grasping hands, you might catch yourself wondering:
Waitaminute... was that thing there before?
QfG4 was also one of the first “talkie” games,
using CD-ROM technology to store thousands of
spoken lines. Back then, actually being able to hear
people talk was something of a revelation.
174
The point-and-click controls are very accessible, with verbs,
items and spells placed in a hidden bar atop of the screen.
The game delivers a brilliant blend of horror and deadly
situations with silly gags and a charming sense of humour.
Combat is somewhat arcade-like, and enemies range from
poisonous wyverns to Monthy Python-esque killer bunnies.
The narrator (voiced by John Rhys-Davies, who
played Gimli in Lord of the Rings) acts like a skilled
Game Master, describing sights, smells and sounds.
Characters have pages of dialogue, ranging from dire
warnings to throwaway gags. The most memorable
is a trio of townsfolk who sound suspiciously like
Jack Nicholson, Rodney Dangerfield, and, er, Jack
Nicholson (the voice actors were asked which
celebrities they could impersonate, and when two
answered Nicholson, they went with it).
The story really comes together when you meet
the Domovoi, a house spirit who reveals just how
much the town has suffered. Usually NPCs can’t wait
to burden total strangers with their problems: step
into town and you’ll be mobbed by locals waving tales
of woe like street urchins thrusting baubles at tourists.
But Mordavians are too guarded, too devoid
of hope to even bother. It’s the Domovoi who helps
you realise these are more than one-joke characters.
They’re good people who’ve lived so long in darkness
they’ve forgotten about the light. The goal isn’t really
to escape Mordavia, the goal is to set it free.
Quest for Glory V is huge, but also a radical departure,
featuring 3D graphics and a heavy focus on combat.
On the surface, QfG4 seems like a light-hearted
comedy, the RPG equivalent of Young Frankenstein.
But this is a tale of love, sacrifice, and redemption.
It just happens to feature duelling Jack Nicholson
impersonators and enough puns to send the narrator
into a giggle fit. And trust me, you haven’t lived until
you’ve heard John Rhys-Davies giggle.
The first four Quest for Glory games were released
from 1989 to 1993, in a golden era of adventure games
but, sadly, the genre declined heavily in the following
years, and Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire (1998) feels
torn between moving on with the world and pleasing
old fans. Troubled by a nightmarish development
cycle, it’s a huge game that offers an epic ending to the
series, but also features blocky early 3D graphics and a
heavy focus on combat, leading to a mixed reception.
After its release, the team was laid off by Sierra,
and the series’ distinctive gameplay was followed
only by a handful of fan-games – until 2012, when
Kickstarter brought a wave of spiritual successors,
including one from the series’ original creators, Lori and
Corey Cole, titled Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption. JRA
There are three
popular fan-made
games based on
the series: Quest
for Yrolg, Quest
for Glory 4 ½
(both parodies)
and the excellent
Heroine’s Quest:
The Herald of
Ragnarok.
175
ShadowCaster
Raven Software, 1993
MS-DOS
ShadowCaster
was re-released
in CD-ROM in
1994, adding
voice acting, FMV
sequences and
two challenging
levels after you
finish the game.
While most of
your time will be
spent fighting,
combat isn’t fun.
It’s slow, easy
and lacks both
the complexity of
an RPG and the
action of Doom.
Each form
has unique
advantages, cons
and powers. The
Caun is small
and weak, but
can heal himself,
sneak, cast light,
telekinesis and
other spells.
176
Raven Software is known today as an Activision
subsidiary working on the Call of Duty series;
in the mid-90s they were know as developers
of Heretic and Hexen; but they really began in 1992
with Black Crypt, a real-time blobber for the Amiga.
Sensing the death of the Amiga, they licensed a
new engine id’s John Carmack was working on after
Wolfenstein 3D (but before Doom), and made what’s
arguably the first FPS/RPG hybrid: ShadowCaster.
You play as Kirt, a guy who (very) suddenly finds
out that he is a shape-shifter from another dimension
who must defeat Malkor, an evil outcast god.
As a shape-shifter, Kirt will learn to assume
various forms during his adventures. He begins only
with the Maorin form – a huge werewolf with four
arms. In this form you’re stronger, tougher, faster and
can see invisible traps, but drown in water.
Later on, Kirk will also learn to transform into
Caun, – a small and fragile spellcaster that can sneak
around; Opsis, a floating eyeball that can scout the
map and scare enemies; Kahpa, a frog-like creature
that can breath underwater and perform elemental
attacks; Ssair, a red salamander that can breath fire;
and Grost, a nearly invincible stone giant that can
punch through walls and cause earthquakes.
However, taking the form of a creature and using
its abilities drains Kirk’s magical power. Once it runs
out, he’ll revert to his human form, which naturally
regenerates magic power but is much weaker.
While exploring the dungeons you’ll come across
(very) simple puzzles, weapons, armour, potions, keys
and magic items you can collect, plus gain XP and
eventually level up (thought all stats are hidden).
While all this sounds cool, ShadowCaster never
lives up to its potential. Kirk has all these interesting
abilities, yet they are used sparingly and in predictable
ways. Combat is the real focus, but it’s dull and slow
(especially for a Doom-like), with small, crude maps,
weak enemy design and over-reliance on melee.
A real-time blobber inside an (early) Doom engine,
ShadowCaster was a promising concept powered by
an impressive technology, but its parts never clicked
together. It’s not surprising that Raven Software would
next create Heretic, streamlining the RPG elements to
deliver a Doom-like fast-paced FPS. FE
Perihelion:
The Prophecy
Morbid Visions, 1993
Amiga
Released only in Europe and exclusive to the
then-declining Amiga, this obscure sci-fi RPG
oozes atmosphere with its audacious two-tone
palette, ominous soundtrack and exotic setting.
Inspired by Dune rather than Lord of the Rings
(why so few games do this?), Perihelion is set in a
planet ravaged by ancient wars, inhabited by cyborgs,
psionic cultists and genetically engineered mutants,
all ruled by a long line of Imperial clones.
The stylised intro sequence tells of a powerful
psionic god named “The Unborn” trying to breach into
this reality, causing chaos all across the planet. To stop
it, the Emperor summons six prophesied heroes kept
in stasis for centuries just for this moment: your party.
You start the game by creating said party from
several races and classes, in a complex but poorly
explained ruleset – you can do things like customise
the DNA composition of hybrid races, but the manual
won’t even tell you what each class stands for! That
finished (somehow), you start your quest.
Perihelion is a first-person dungeon crawler with
tactical turn-based combat, similar to the Gold Box
games. A core difference is that it’s much shorter –
about 8-10 hours long – and focus is more on its story.
Combat occurs sparingly and there are no random
encounters, which is welcome given how slow and
underwhelming the game’s battles are.
That, unfortunately, can also be said for most
of the game itself. The atmosphere is great, and the
story tries very hard to be interesting, but you’ll spend
most of your time roaming across empty cities and
dungeons, trying to figure what to do next.
There’s also the issue of the interface – while it
looks impressive, it’s cumbersome and unintuitive.
Simple actions such as examining an item or talking
to NPCs are way harder than they ever needed to be.
In fact, the entire game has this strong “form over
function” feeling. Features such as using computer
terminals for investigative work (you need to actually
type in commands like “read” or “login”) or crafting
your own spells via runes are all great in concept, but
become busy work due to their poor execution.
It’s a shame that such unique presentation and
setting are tied to such a weak RPG. In the end, it’s better
to just look at, rather than actually play Perihelion. FE
Perihelion
was declared
abandonware
by its designer,
Edvard Toth, who
put together a
game + emulator
pack for anyone
to download.
The tactical turnbased
combat
looks similar to
the Gold Box
games, but uses
action points and
psionic spells.
To examine an
item you must
select it on the
inventory screen,
move to the
network screen
and then type
“ANALYSE”. It gets
tiresome fast.
177
Princess
Maker 2
Gainax, 1993
MS-DOS, 3DO, Mac, Saturn and Windows*
*In 2004 a new
version called
Princess Maker 2:
Refine was issued
in Japan for PS2
and Windows,
featuring updated
art and full voice
acting. This is the
version released
on Steam in 2016,
thought some
fans still prefer
the original leaked
MS-DOS beta.
Each job has its
own pros and
cons. Working as
a farmer helps to
raise stats that
are important for
a fighter, but it’s
frowned upon by
the nobles.
178
Princess Maker 2 is a Japanese RPG, but its US
release was an adventure by itself. In 1995 Soft-
Egg Enterprises began to localise the game into
English, but ran into countless delays. By the time
things were sorted out, no one cared anymore for an
MS-DOS game. Without an official English release,
the game became a cult hit after a beta version of the
translation was leaked and started to circulate in the
early 2000s. It was only in 2016 that the game finally
was officially released in English, via the Steam store.
The series is worthy of a closer examination, as
Princess Maker (1990) pioneered the sim-raising genre,
spawning many sequels and inspiring similar games. It
also helps that the game was developed by Gainax, the
anime studio famous for Evangelion. So let us abandon
all prejudices and dive into this often overlooked gem!
Princess Maker 2 takes place in a fantasy-medieval
setting, where players take the role of a retired war
veteran to whose protection was entrusted a young
girl. As her father, players must raise the girl from her
10th birthday until she turns 18-years-old, taking care
of her jobs, studies, training and adventures.
Each of those activities takes 10 days of a monthly
schedule you must plan for your daughter. Working
increases some of her stats but decreases others and
a potential pay depends solely on her performance.
For example, working as a lumberjack will increase
strength but decrease her sensibility. If she works well,
she returns home with a pay. Schools are expensive,
especially in the early game, but as your daughter
studies, she can advance into more expensive master
classes, which yield even more skill points.
She can also participate in more traditional RPG
activities: going on adventures bringing back money,
rare items and having special encounters (tip: usually
by camping near interesting locations). There are four
places to go through, each moderately more difficult
than the previous. Every area has plenty of surprises,
even if their size feels underwhelming. Adventuring
won’t usually take more than a third of the game’s time
for most players. Sometimes random enemies will
appear, engaging your daughter into battle. Combat is
very simple, and consists only of attacking with either
physical hits or magical spells and using items.
Stats include many skills and attributes, both
visible and hidden ones; oddly enough, attributes
don’t affect skills in any way. Your daughter’s starting
stats depend on her sign and blood type and she’ll
face various hidden checks during the game.
Depending on players’ goals each stat is more or
less useful (although some may take a part in a wider
variety of goals). Increasing them may be sometimes
a challenge in the face of ever-decreasing funds,
especially since developers have foreseen that most
players would make their daughters warriors on a first
playthrough, thus making it the most difficult path.
But pure might won’t take her far; only investing in
social skills can take her up in the social ladder.
“Mr. Okada [Gainax’s President]
told me that, because he was born a
man, he often failed to understand
women. He wanted a game where
he could experience how it would
be to live and die as a woman. [...]
I also had a game I wanted to make.
I loved Nobunaga’s Ambition, but
didn’t enjoy the battle scenes. I
wanted a game that was Nobunaga’s
Ambition, but only the parts where
you train subordinates. [...] The next
week I returned with a smile in my
face, saying ‘let’s make a game about
raising a girl’.”
– Takami Akai,
Princess Maker 2’s director
Don’t want your daughter to become a fighter?
Worry not, Princess Maker 2 features more than 70
different careers. Once she completes 18 years, the
game ends and she’ll follow a path depending on
how she was raised, as well as her friendships and
actions during the game. She can become a hero, a
dancer, a painter, a general, a queen, a martial arts
teacher, a BDSM queen, a nun, a writer, a luxurious
prostitute, a thug, a knight or even the Princess of
Darkness. Sometimes there is also an extra check to
see how well she’ll perform in a given profession.
Dancer’s success depends on constitution and only
intelligent thugs can avoid pursuit.
At mid-game your daughter gets, based on her
stats, a rival which she will have the pleasure of facing
at festivals. These festivals take place once a year and
she can participate in a combat, cooking, painting or
dancing challenge – all which wield fantastic rewards
and a great deal of fame.
What really sets Princess Maker 2 apart are its
choices and consequences. Is your daughter refined
and charismatic? Then a rich man in love will start
appearing and giving her free money. Did she sell the
sword she got from a king? It will be found and her
reputation will go down. Did she befriend a prime
minister? Then as a judge of a dancing competition
he will make sure she gets an easier time beating the
challenge. Did she slay many monsters? Then she will
stop having any remorse about it. Should she paint a
good painting, it will be displayed in her room. Those
little moments are what make or break a game, and
Princess Maker 2 is outstanding in this regard.
Driven heavily by stats and by player decisions,
Princess Maker 2 is a great game for players who enjoy
those aspects of role-playing games.
You won’t find challenging combat or deep
plotline here, but rest assured, it’s a game you will
want to replay, again and again. JMR
The game overflows
with stats, skills and
numbers, but not all
of them are under
your control, e.g.
if you don’t treat
your daughter well,
she might become a
stubborn delinquent.
There are nine
Princess Maker
games, most of
them released
only in Japan.
However, there
are various
Western spiritual
successors, such
as Cute Knight,
Spirited Heart
and Long Live
the Queen.
During battles you simply choose between using physical or
magical attacks, and hope that all that training was enough.
When out on adventures, your daughter might find wild
beasts, treasures and some very special encounters.
179
Veil of Darkness
Event Horizon Software, 1993
MS-DOS, FM Towns and PC-98
After releasing
Veil of Darkness,
Event Horizon
changed the
company’s name
to DreamForge
Intertainment.
The dialogue
system uses
both highlighted
keywords and a
text parser.
Combat is realtime
and based
on clicking on the
weapons in your
hands – an odd
mix of Diablo and
Dungeon Master.
Your health is
measured by a
body in a coffin.
180
Veil of Darkness is an odd game. You play as
a cargo pilot whose plane suddenly crashes
in a remote Romanian region. Saved by the
daughter of a local baron, you quickly realise that
leaving the valley is out of the question. Indeed, an
evil vampire called Kairn magically sealed the region
using mist, hence the name Veil of Darkness.
The good news is that an ancient prophecy foretold
your arrival, nominating you as the “chosen one”.
Your task in the game is to fulfil the prophecy
stanza by stanza (it’s a HUGE pamphlet), following it
almost as a quest log, to learn the tragic tale of Kairn
and eventually kill him.
Your biggest allies are in a camp of mysterious
gypsies, acting as advisers and healers. The story feels
unique, the dialogues are well-done and the gothic
atmosphere itself is gripping. If you are half the nerd as
I am, you’re already screaming “dark lord, gypsies, fog:
RAVENLOFT!” Too bad that the generic protagonist
feels out of place with his lack of personality and
outrageous yellow jacket.
Even if it’s sold as an RPG, Veil of Darkness is
more like an adventure game in the end. It’s possible
to smash hordes of enemies without breaking a sweat
and most of the bosses or special enemies are glorified
puzzles. Indeed, combat is in real time but not very
difficult, that is IF you possess the right weapon.
Like in every horror story, each monster is weak to a
certain type of weaponry. Movement and combat are
solved through clicking, giving serious Diablo vibes.
Before dealing with Kairn directly, various tasks
given to you by villagers and linked to the prophecy
must be dealt with: hunting down a werewolf, curing
a child from madness, laying a ghost to rest, etc...
Progression is left to the player’s freedom but lack
of certain key objects or weapons tend to limit your
options. Quests are solved through specific actions,
chain of dialogue or just getting a unique item. It’s not
rocket science but some thinking might be required.
In a nutshell, Veil of Darkness is a great adventure
game but not really a good RPG. It was Event Horizon’s
last attempt to mix both genres, as they went back to
make more orthodox CRPGs and the excellent pointand-click
Sanitarium. Still, I would recommend it for
the nice story and the Ravenloft vibes. TR
BloodNet
MicroProse, 1993
MS-DOS and Amiga
Vampires are pretty cool, but you know what is
cooler? Vampires in a cyberpunk setting. At
least, that is what Microprose thought when
they created BloodNet.
The premise is quite simple, you play as Ransom
Stark, a private eye living in a futuristic Manhattan.
One night’s flirting with a cute girl ends up going
south as he is bitten by a hundred-years-old vampire
cleverly called Abraham Van Helsing. Stark escapes
but is doomed to slowly turn into a fully fledged
vampire. The objective of the game is simple: destroy
Van Helsing and find the ultimate icebreaker to
destroy once and for all the vampire “virus”. It’s mostly
Shadowrun with a touch of World of Darkness.
Being half-vampire, Stark has a humanity and
a bloodlust pool. You must drink blood to keep
the bloodlust under control, but you lose humanity
when biting humans. The story and the dialogues are
intriguing and usually well-done. Ransom is a funny
character, the supporting cast is extremely colourful
and the vampire/cyberpunk concept eventually
grows on you.
BloodNet uses a lot of stats: combat, hacking,
social but also vampire-related skills. Party members
can be enrolled to expand your panel of actions.
The controls are point-and-clicks with gigantic
environments and very tiny pixelated characters
evolving through them. It’s not very good-looking
and some cutscenes use those god awful old early
3D renders. You can also hack into the cyberspace to
access “pits”, private sectors through specific keywords
to solve major puzzles or reach sub-quests.
Combat is awful and badly explained. It’s a basic
turn-based system, but some stats don’t make sense
and others are useless. For example, initiative never
works and damage ratings seem completely random.
It’s just a mess and once you understand that
only firearms and high-tech weapons are useful, you
just save-scum and power your way through.
BloodNet starts with an interesting premise,
develops it halfway but never truly succeeds in
turning it into a fun game. The ending is also a copout
and feels like a sequel-hook. Unfortunately for
MicroProse, the planned sequel – BloodNet 2000 –
was quickly cancelled. TR
One of the
characters,Benny
Puzzle, speaks
in crossword
puzzles. Here,
he’s offering to
buy you a drink.
Besides the skill
trees, there’s
also a good
amount of items
for you to equip
your characters,
including unique
weapons and
armour.
181
Betrayal
at Krondor
Dynamix, 1993
MS-DOS
Betrayal at
Krondor had
quite the
interesting
development
history, and
it has been
described in
detail by lead
writer Neal
Hallford on
his website in
a series titled
“Krondor
Confidential”.
You’ll face several
kinds of enemies
in combat, as well
as puzzle-like trap
encounters that
require you to
navigate the area
in a certain way.
182
Betrayal at Krondor was released in 1993 and still
remains one of the best games the CRPG genre
has to show. The reasons for this are many, but
they all, ultimately, come down to the same thing –
BaK offers all the “major” RPG design aspects (combat,
exploration, narrative), and it does so splendidly.
The combat might appear basic on paper. You
control 2-3 characters on a small semi-isometric grid,
taking turns smacking down enemies that usually
outnumber you. The real deal, however, lies in the
details, as the combat in Krondor is very fiddly.
Taking damage lowers combat efficiency, spells
are interesting and plentiful, but cost health to cast,
and some enemies may come back from the dead or
run away when low on HP. Preparation is also vital,
since foes not only outnumber you, but also employ
dirty tricks such as poisoned or blessed weapons (and
contrary to many other games, poison in Krondor is
serious business). Thus, it’s always good to keep a large
supply of consumables of your own to boost your gear
and even the odds. Especially if you’re about to face
five angry Moredhel warlocks.
While the combat in Betrayal at Krondor might
not be particularly groundbreaking, it has one major
job that it accomplishes exactly as it should – to burn
through your supplies and put blocks in your way as
you explore.
Exploration is a key part of the game. Not only
is the gameworld huge and full of content, it also
opens nearly all of its landmass to you from the getgo
and encourages you to uncover it. The shortest way
towards your goal might be the most perilous one,
while side-paths, hidden dungeons and seemingly
unimportant villages may hold hints necessary to
understand the events that play out in the game.
Another great aspect of Krondor’s exploration
is how involved it is. Your party needs food rations
to keep going, and you have to watch out for rations
that are poisoned or spoiled. You can use various
spells to light your way in the night or hide yourself
from enemies. You can go anywhere you want, dig
up cemeteries, catch diseases and die on the way to
the temple because you forgot to pack the necessary
medication, or get exploded in a naphtha mine after
you try to use a torch.
There are also plenty of puzzles along the way,
including the famous Wordlock chests that open only
when you give the right answer to their riddles. The
only thing that could be said to spoil the exploration
a bit are the game’s graphics, which haven’t aged all
that well. Or, at least, the ones showing the regular
outside world because underground sections and
general artwork (and the glorious live actors in goofy
costumes) are all top-notch. Not to mention the
terrific music that accompanies you everywhere.
Finally, the area where Krondor probably shines
the most, and which no game to this day has managed
to topple, is its writing and narrative.
“Unlike other games whose
progression mechanic largely
revolved around ‘clearing out’ levels
and always moving forward, we
made a radical decision. Our game
world would be persistent. It would
exist – and change – whether or
not the player showed up to see
what was going on. In answer to the
classic zen koan, our answer was
yes, the tree would definitely make a
sound when it fell in the forest, but it
would be up to the player to decide
whether or not they were going to
be there to hear it fall.”
– Neal Hallford,
Betrayal at Krondor’s writer
The game is loosely based on Raymond E. Feist’s
Riftwar saga, a high-fantasy book series from the 80s,
although it doesn’t share that many common elements
with the books (which is probably for the best, to be
frank). If you’re familiar with Riftwar, you’ll probably
recognise many of the characters and past events
described in-game, but that’s it, really.
Still, this grounding in literature lends itself
well to Krondor’s general writing format. That is,
everything here resembles a book. The story is divided
into chapters, each switching between different
characters and locations. Messages show up on paper
pages, descriptions are detailed and robust, and there
are very few “functional” texts to find here, such as
“this doesn’t work” or “wrong item” – no, the game
always presents you an intricate picture of something,
such as a character trying something nonsensical and
saying he has to stay focused or he’ll be putting jam on
his sword and poison in his sandwich the next time.
But the style is not all, for the story in Krondor is
also one of the best around. The game presents you a
political intrigue with a hundred million billion twists,
turns and hidden layers, and it’s up to your party,
caught in the middle of this maelstrom, to make sense
of it. Plus, as said before, simply going from plot point
A to B is never enough. To really connect the dots you
have to investigate the whole world and gather clues,
or you’ll just keep stumbling around.
Betrayal at Krondor is, suffice to say, quite
possibly my favourite RPG of all time. When you think
of most other role-playing games, you’ll always find
yourself saying, “it’s a great one, but…”. In Krondor,
there are no “buts”. This game is great through and
through. It has no underdeveloped or bad sides, nor
does it fall apart as it keeps going.
It’s the closest we’ve ever got to a perfect entry in
the CRPG genre, and I’ll be willing to fight you to the
death to defend this statement. DR
Like a book,
Krondor’s story
is divided into
several chapters,
each following
a set group
of characters
pursuing a certain
objective.
While Betrayal
at Krondor
was based on
Raymond E.
Feist’s books,
it’s actually
a whole new
story. It was
later adapted
by Feist into
a novel called
Krondor: The
Betrayal.
Exploration is in first-person, and you’ll venture through
caves and dungeons besides the large overworld map.
Items, spells, weapons and actions are all presented in a
book-like fashion, instead of the usual descriptive texts.
183
The Legacy:
Realm of Terror
Magnetic Scrolls, 1993
MS-DOS
Magnetic Scrolls
was a British
company that
developed many
text adventure
games during
the 80s, such as
The Pawn (1985)
and The Guild of
Thieves (1987).
The Legacy was
their last game.
The visuals of the
game were very
advanced for the
time, and the
interface is based
on resizeable
windows that can
be moved around.
The Legacy presents
several pre-made
heirs for you to
choose, such as a
retired marine, a
businesswoman
or a journalist,
but you can also
create your own.
184
The Legacy casts you as the heir of a mansion.
As soon as you enter it, the door locks itself,
zombies infest the hallways and you begin to
find disturbing notes detailing occult rituals.
If this sounds similar to Alone in the Dark (1992),
released in the same year, that’s because it is. A lot. They
even share a heavy Lovecraftian tone, even if the manual
insists that The Legacy was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s
The Fall of the House of Usher story.
However, while Alone in the Dark was about
puzzle-solving and a few deadly monsters, The Legacy
is an RPG. A dungeon crawler, to be precise. Each
level is a twisting maze, filled with one-way doors,
traps, teleporters and secrets – challenging to navigate
even with the help of the on-screen mini-map.
Monsters are also plentiful. From zombies to
extra-dimensional beings, be prepared to fight a lot.
Combat is in real time, much like Dungeon Master,
and each victory gives you XP to improve your stats
and skills – but will likely also cost valuable resources.
And that’s the challenge: resource management.
Health items are extremely rare, as are bullets and
crystals that restore magic power. You can rest to heal,
but only at rare safe areas – and sleeping makes you
hungry, so you’re limited by food availability.
As such, Realm of Terror can be a very difficult
and frustrating game – one that might force you to load
an old save file or even restart if you wasted too much
ammo, magic or health early on and can’t proceed.
Its first few hours can be punishing for newcomers,
especially if they spent points on the “wrong” skills,
but that’s also when the atmosphere is at its best.
Sadly, once you’re better prepared, the tension
dims and inventory management becomes the main
challenge. The game has dozens of weapons, items
and puzzle pieces, but you can carry very few of them
at once. You’ll often find a puzzle and be forced to
backtrack to grab its solution. Luckily, the monsters
don’t respawn – if you bothered to kill them.
Overall, The Legacy is an exotic and charming RPG,
with a presentation ahead of its time and some tense
moments. But once its Lovecraftian monsters become
trash mobs, most of that atmosphere vanishes. It’s still
great for dungeon crawler fans, but it’s easy to see why
Alone in the Dark is the superior horror game. FE
Hired Guns
DMA Design, 1993
Amiga and MS-DOS
Multiplayer RPGs released before the Internet
came along are rare treasures. While they’re
often limited in some manner, they more
than make up for it with the joy of not being alone in
front of the computer.
Hired Guns is such a game, one that aims for those
aspects of gaming: the companionship of friends and
teamwork. This real-time dungeon crawler allows up to
four players to squeeze in front of a single computer to
control a band of mercenaries on a top-secret mission.
The game pays for its multiplayer focus by being a
very “lite” RPG. There is no character creation process:
players pick their merc(s) from the pool of 12 available
characters, and besides included gear, three barebones
stats and a Human/Droid race factor, there is
nothing more to speak of in RPG terms. The XP only
serves as a high score counter, nothing more.
What helps give each character an identity is
their gear. The medic carries health kits and a stun
gun, the combat droid lugs a mini-gun about and the
mystery woman packs a plethora of psi-amps, the
game’s version of magic spells. These limited-use items
do things like act as weapons, build bridges, teleport
players and generally affect the terrain in various ways,
and are often essential to completing each stage.
There are three game modes on offer: practice
stages, single missions and the long story campaign.
Gameplay in each one boils down to finding keys,
killing baddies, solving environmental puzzles and
reaching the exit, sometimes under a time limit.
In order to fit in the multiplayer the UI has been
streamlined to a bare minimum: each character gets
25% of the screen, with tabs for their first-person
view, inventory, stat page and map display. Playing
with the mouse is surprisingly intuitive, but not so
much with the keyboard and joystick.
Hired Guns is truly a case of “the more the
merrier”; playing alone has you control four mercs at
once, while 2-player mode splits them evenly and 3
and 4 players get only one merc each, which is where
the game truly shines.
The campaign is long and challenging and I
strongly advise tackling it with a couple of friends,
just like I did in 1995, hence the fond memories I have
of this game. ÁV
A reboot of
Hired Guns was
being made in
the late 90s, as
a multiplayer
mission-based
FPS. The game
was cancelled,
but a demo is
still available
for download.
Character
selection screen,
showing one of
the 12 playable
mercenaries.
Each comes with
unique stats and
inventory.
A four-player
game where
each character
is accessing a
different screen:
first-person view,
map, stat screen
and inventory.
185
Dark Sun:
Shattered Lands
Strategic Simulations Inc., 1993
MS-DOS
The Dark Sun
setting was
quite popular
in American
prisons. TSR
received a lot
of fan mail
from prisoners,
who identified
themselves
with the slave
gladiators.
Dark Sun is an
AD&D campaign
setting, but its
ruleset allows
you to play with
some exotic races
and classes, such
as a Thri-Kreen
Psionicist, a Half-
Giant Gladiator or
a Mul Preserver.
186
Athas, the world of Dark Sun, was once a planet
full of life. It was turned into the desert by
power-hungry and mad wizards thousands of
years ago. Here we follow the story of four unlikely
heroes. Slowly rotting away in a prison of city-state
Draj, awaiting their death in the gladiator arena. Will
they rise and change the face of unforgiving Athas? Or
will they become more forgotten souls whose corpses
will be buried under the never-ending sea of sand?
The game starts with party creation. Dark Sun is
an AD&D campaign setting, so things should be quite
familiar. You can choose the race of your characters, their
alignment, their professions and adjust basic attributes
like strength, dexterity or wisdom. There are no skills,
feats or perks as we expect from the games of today.
There is, however, one thing that sets it apart
from other RPG games of its time: Psionics. Each
character has psionic abilities that allow them to
disintegrate animate objects, absorb diseases or
transform your arm into a weapon. Beware though,
almost all intelligent creatures on Athas have such
abilities, and they will not hesitate to use them.
Your party begins as slave gladiators, forced to
fight monsters to the death in the arena. The world of
Dark Sun is presented in top-down, slightly isometric
view, and fights are turn-based. The well-designed
interface is entirely mouse-driven, presented with
self-explanatory icons and is very easy to use.
In between the fights you wander around pens
talking to their inhabitants, solving small puzzles and
mini-quests. This is where you’ll slowly notice some
of the great elements of Dark Sun. The dialogues offer
a great amount of text and options for the players, and
most, if not all, of the quests have multiple solutions,
allowing you to choose whichever approach you like.
Since you don’t want to spend the rest of your
days counting hay straws and occasionally fighting for
the amusement of Average Joe, you need to escape.
If you want to use the brute-force approach you can
hack your way out, even teaming up with another
gang; or if you want to avoid confrontation altogether
you can try to bribe the Templars. This gives the game
an enormous amount of replayability. You can play
Dark Sun over and over and you will always find new
quests and new ways how to complete them.
After escaping the pens, the main quest begins:
to rally the free villages in a fight against the mighty
army of city-state Draj. They are preparing a military
campaign that is supposed to wipe out all ex-slaves.
This is another example where Dark Sun shines: its
openness and non-linearity. You want to help all
villages or none at all and face the army by yourself?
You can! Want to investigate a remote cave, visit the
travelling caravan or go deep into the lair of a mad
wizard? It’s up to you where to start and where to go
next. The game is divided into over 30 areas, each a
huge open space with many quests, adding to nice
40+ hours of gameplay.
Dark Sun’s dialogues look average today, but they were novel
at the time, offering players plenty of text and options.
Every character in Dark Sun can use Psionics, but
you’ll also see many of the traditional AD&D spells.
The combat system is turn-based, using the AD&D ruleset,
but the UI keeps things simple and accessible.
The sequel, Wake of the Ravager, expanded the game in
every sense, unfortunately even in the amount of bugs.
While exploring the game areas you’ll face many
adversaries. There will be zombies and spiders, but
these are just a nuisance. The real test of your skills
will be fighting extra-planar Tanar’ri, 15-foot-tall
Mountain Stalkers or the huge Mastyrial scorpions.
And it’s not only the fauna that wants to kill you.
Forget what you learned about fantasy races from all
the Tolkien-derived worlds out there – here Halflings
are xenophobic cannibals, elves are honourless
nomads and none of the other races are any better.
Graphically, Shattered Lands is very pretty, with
nicely drawn environments, each area with its own
distinctive look, feel and unique variety of monsters.
Unfortunately the game was set back by low-quality
animations and numerous bugs. While I have not
encountered a critical one, there were occasional
hiccups where I had to restart the quest or go back to
previous save positions.
The story continues in the follow-up game, Wake
of the Ravager (1994). Our heroes arrive at the city of
Tyr and need to stop the coming of the dragon.
In short, Ravager is bigger, louder and much
more buggier. Sprites got much bigger, animations
were improved and the overall mood became much
grittier and dark. The atmosphere was improved by
voiced dialogue, new cutscenes and a great CD-audio
soundtrack. Sadly, some of the bugs were gamebreaking
and you could face a complete restart of your
game due to an inability to finish one of the main quests.
The Dark Sun saga was concluded in Dark Sun
Online: Crimson Sands (1996), a short-lived online
RPG, preceding the likes of Ultima Online. Its brief
history is one plagued with development and budget
issues, many bugs and rampant cheating by players.
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands was supposed to be
a breakthrough for SSI, but it was plagued by bugs
and delayed releases. Furthermore, the game was
the product of a transition era – ahead of its peers
in many aspects, such as the UI, the open areas, the
dialogues, and the multiple quest solutions, while also
struggling on how to implement these features. Give
Dark Sun a spin, you won’t be disappointed. BM
You can
transfer your
party from
Shattered
Lands to Wake
of the Ravager.
This, however,
will cause all
enemies to
have twice the
HP, which will
make the game
really hard.
187
Lands of Lore:
The Throne of Chaos
Westwood Studios, 1993
MS-DOS
Not only is
the artwork is
fantastic, but
the game is fully
voiced, with
Patrick Stewart
cast as the King.
The game is full
of little details,
such as how
the characters’
portraits reflect
their injuries.
188
Westwood Associates had a great run with
SSI’s Eye of the Beholder and its sequel,
before Virgin Interactive snatched them up
in 1992, renaming the development house Westwood
Studios. In 1993, they put their experience to good use
with Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos.
Now free to build their own rules, they took the
AD&D crunch found in EotB and tried to make it less
intimidating, while providing no less of a challenge.
Much like titles from the Gold Box and Ultima
series, the game came with a more technical manual
explaining the interface and separated the fiction out into
a separate book. It detailed the evil of Scotia, her Dark
Army, and a short, mythic history of the land which laid
out the foundations for Westwood’s new world.
Players chose one of four heroes to take up the
quest up with, each with their own strengths and
weaknesses from the scaly Ak’shel and his magic to
the roguish Kierean, the well-rounded Conrad or the
straight-up basher Michael. Up to two NPCs could
eventually also join your chosen hero, making it more
of a “blobber” experience.
Attributes were cut down to two catch-all bins –
Might and Protection. Skills were similarly shortened
to three major categories – Fighter, Rogue, and Mage.
But instead of using experience points to determine
your character’s development, Lands of Lore followed
the example of titles such as Dungeon Master in
making it so that using actions most associated with
each character would improve them over time.
The game was also relatively linear as you fought
through one zone after the next during the quest, but
the first-person 3D world Westwood put together
was like EotB on pixelised steroids. Outdoor areas,
towns, and traditional dungeons peppered with traps,
hidden switches, beasts that could dissolve weapons
or disarm players, and interactive NPCs celebrated
Westwood’s last dalliance with grid-based dungeon
-crawling all automapped for your pleasure.
Tough, brutal encounters and dungeons later
in the game were offset only by the ability to rest
anywhere, but Lands of Lore knew when to take the
gloves off and punished unprepared players despite its
deceptive simplicity. It’s a formula that holds up well
even today, and a crawl still worth delving into. RE
DreamForge Intertainment, 1993
MS-DOS
Dungeon Hack
Dungeon Hack is, sadly, a good idea poorly
implemented. The game employs a reworked
version of the Eye of the Beholder engine
to create a real-time single-character graphical
roguelike that allows you to customise its random
dungeons. It also offers some new features, such as the
addition of an automap and a new class – the Bard.
However, making it a real-time single-character
roguelike that uses the AD&D 2nd edition rules is
also what virtually damns it.
Dungeon Hack is a very straightforward roguelike,
in which you descend through a dungeon without
any sort of shop or rest stops along the way, killing
monsters and finding loot in a randomly generated
labyrinth with simple puzzles normally involving
putting a dozen keys into a dozen types of door until
you find or kill the objective at the bottom of it.
Along the way you’ll battle some of the over fifty
monsters present in the game – including liches and
invisible feyrs – and face hazards such as underwater
levels, anti-magic fields and starvation.
Yet between the over-reliance on die rolls, the
awkward challenge of quickly controlling your actions
in real time and its AD&D adaptation, having a
properly fun time is distressingly just out of range.
Given that TSR’s AD&D rules are designed for
turn- and party-based RPG combat, it should be no
surprise that they are troublesome in a game built
around a single character exploring a dungeon in real
time. There was no effort in adapting the rules, so
classes such as the Bard, Mage, and Thief are practically
useless, as the game hardly provides any benefit to
playing them. Most locked objects require specific
keys, and the combination of real-time combat with
a slow spell interface make the Mage virtually useless
and easily killed here.
Had Dungeon Hack been a party-based roguelike,
the issues with its constant “Save or Die” elements
would have been lessened, and more than a handful
of character builds would be genuinely viable.
As it stands, the game is only worth trying if
you are a big fan of the roguelike genre, willing to
overlook the obvious gameplay flaws. It’s just sad that
the concept behind Dungeon Hack had so much more
potential than the game was able to deliver. RM
The graphics
are improved
over the already
excellent Eye of
the Beholder. The
added mini-map
is also welcome.
One nice touch
is being able to
customise the
random dungeon
and then share it
with your friends.
(You can also
get rid of boring
level-draining
undead.)
189
Forgotten Realms:
Unlimited Adventures
Strategic Simulations, Inc, 1993
MS-DOS and Mac
You can check
the Unlimited
Adventures
Hall of Fame
to learn all
about FRUA’s
most popular
modules, then
download
the modules
from frua.
rosedragon.org
While FRUA
was somewhat
limited at first,
players have since
created tools to
allow for custom
classes, races,
stats, artwork
and music.
190
The popular “Gold Box” series began in 1988
with Pool of Radiance and now, after six years,
twelve games and several big changes in the
industry, it was showing its age. SSI then concluded
the series with Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures
(FRUA), a toolset intended to allow aspiring designers
to create their own Gold Box-like games, replicating
most of the functions that existed in the core games.
At first FRUA had some hard limitations on what
could be changed, but they were eventually overcome
with the use of hacks, such as UAShell. These hacks
allowed a designer to introduce a multitude of
changes to the default Dungeons & Dragons modules
and create other styles. Since the toolset’s release, the
FRUA designers have developed all kinds of fantasy
modules, as well as science fiction, cyberpunk, horror,
humour, superhero and even anime-style modules.
Over the years, a community of devoted followers
has sprung up around the FRUA toolset. This collection
of designers, hackers and players continually keep new
innovations and modules (also referred to as “designs”)
coming out at a regular intervals.
The community hosts a forum at www.ua.reonis.
com, releases an occasional newsletter and even holds
module creation contests based upon various themes.
They post reviews of modules, both new and old, in
order to help new community members find the bestquality
scenarios to suit their needs.
No mention of FRUA could be complete without
a discussion of the actual modules created for it. Many
of them rival the original Gold Box series of games in
design, scope and ambition.
Those looking to stick with D&D need look no
further than Ray Dyer’s massive “Realm” series. This
group of 40+ modules translate many popular AD&D
tabletop modules into playable FRUA scenarios.
Everything from “The Keep on the Borderlands” to
“The Temple of Elemental Evil” to even a remake of
“Pool of Radiance” can be found within Realm.
Original AD&D-style modules exist as well,
including Ben Jockish’s “The Sect,” John Rudy’s “The
Guild” and Ben Sanderfer’s “AT1: Dark Alliances”. These
adventures can take players through Dragonlance,
the Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk or any number of
AD&D’s established worlds, and anyone who wants to
roll up a party and delve into deep dungeons looking
for treasure is likely to find a lot to love.
Science fiction modules are less prevalent but still
popular, with several of them being based upon Buck
Rogers (in the style of the SSI’s Buck Rogers games).
Harri Polsa has created a series of sci-fi modules
around his main character, Millar Jade Vanderholle,
though they have met with some controversy due
their explicit sexual nature.
All modules are classified as either “Vanilla”,
which uses only FRUA’s assets, “French Vanilla”, which
adds new artwork, or “Hacked”, which has extensive
changes and requires the use of the UAShell mod.
Areas are 24x24 squares in size and can have multiple
tilesets at once, making for large and diverse dungeons.
Besides the first-person exploration, you can also create
overland maps with events and random encounters.
“Hacked” modules use UAShell to have more flexibility,
allowing them to modify FRUA’s rules and appearance.
It should also be mentioned that, while intended
primarily as a tool to create scenarios, FRUA did
ship with a sample adventure called “Heirs to Skull
Crag”, a forgotten 13th entry in the Gold Box line-up.
However, its reviews have been less than favourable
in comparison to the SSI classics that preceded it.
Given the limitations of FRUA, it was only a
matter of time before someone began work on a sequel
to the toolset in order to remove those limitations.
In development since 1995, Dungeon Craft has
seen several modules released for it. The advantages
of this toolset include being able to run natively in
Windows, the use of high-resolution artwork and
having an unlimited number of events and art assets.
The disadvantage is not being compatible with FRUA
modules. The engine is open-source, and still under
development, with a large following all of its own.
Another spiritual successor, the IceBlink Engine,
was kickstarted in 2012. Combining parts of FRUA and
BioWare’s Neverwinter Nights, it can be used to create
modules for both Windows and Android systems. It is
still lacking in features, but its future looks promising.
Some modules have a bigger focus on storytelling and
will provide a pre-made character for players to use.
Despite developments on these systems, though,
there still remains a hardcore following for FRUA and
its modules. New breakthroughs in hacking the engine
continue to happen and designers find new ways to
excite players through inventive use of artwork and
storytelling. For a toolset that is nearly 25 years old,
FRUA has stood the test of time.
As members of the community like to say: so
long as there are adventures to be played, there will
be someone there to play them. And so long as there
are stories left to tell, there will be someone there to
create them. BE
Mods:
UAShell: An important tool that applies the hacks
within a module’s directory, such as custom art and
music, then reverses those same hacks when the player
is done. It contains several tools to help designers affect
changes within the FRUA engine, so running a hacked
module without UAShell can lead to strange results and
even the odd bug or crash.
SSI abandoned
FRUA within a
year of release,
leaving some
bugs behind.
The FRUA
community has
since released
their own
unofficial 1.3
patch, fixing
several issues.
191
Ultima VIII:
Pagan
Origin Systems, 1994
MS-DOS (Windows, Mac and Linux)*
You witness an
execution as soon
as you arrive,
setting the grim
tone of the game.
No one knows
about the Avatar
here, and they
won’t hesitate to
execute you.
192
*Pentagram
is a fan-made
open-source
program
that enables
Pagan to run
on modern
computers.
Ultima VIII: Pagan is overall the 13th game
to bear the Ultima name, and it is one of
the franchise’s most controversial entries.
Rushed out, much of the game was scaled back, cut,
or – at worst – left unfinished in the final product.
The material that remained in the game unscathed
suffered from a strangely disjointed sense of direction,
as if competing development ideologies had not yet
been hammered into a cogent whole. A dark – at times
even morbid – tale of Machiavellian ethics and moral
expediency contrasted sharply with an inexplicable
focus on jumping mechanics and Super Mario-esque
platforming – leading some to derisively dub the game
“Super Avatar Bros”.
Yet despite its monumental development woes
and lack of overarching direction, Ultima VIII remains
a compelling and distinct entry in the Ultima series –
foreboding, unfamiliar, viciously morally ambiguous,
and possessed of a truly unsettling, claustrophobic
atmosphere. Had it been given the care it deserved,
it may have proven a worthy successor even to the
mighty Ultima VII duology.
Instead, it is an enduring testament to the way
in which the “business” side of the gaming industry
can cripple a promising project – a hard lesson, and
unfortunately still a very relevant one today.
The narrative of Ultima VIII begins directly
where Ultima VII: Serpent Isle ends. The Avatar finds
himself helpless in the hands of the Guardian, an evil
invading deity hell-bent on conquering the Avatar’s
adopted fatherland, Britannia. In order to punish
the Avatar for continually meddling in his plans,
the Guardian exiles him to the eponymous Pagan, a
barren land of darkness. From there, the Avatar must
search for a way to return to Britannia – all along in
a desperate race against time, as the Guardian has
already begun his grim conquest.
Though Ultima VIII’s story functions as a direct
continuation of the Ultima VII duology, the gameplay
mechanics are substantially different from its two
immediate predecessors – and even, to varying extents,
from any of the previous games in the series. Gone is
the slant-overhead camera perspective of Ultima VII –
Ultima VIII was the first, and is currently the only, game
in the series to have a pure 3D-isometric perspective.
The Avatar’s “companions”, iconic party members
present even in the earliest games, are missing for the
first time – the Avatar must journey alone.
The turn-based, battle-scene combat of earlier
Ultima games had already been simplified in Ultima
VII into a more fluid, real-time action system; in
Ultima VIII, that system was even further simplified
– some would say devolved – into what is, for all
intents and purposes, “hack and slash” combat.
The magic system was also overhauled from the
one found in Ultima VII – spells now require a lot
more effort and time to cast, arguably marginalising
them in favour of weapon-based attacks.
“With Ultima VIII, I wanted to be
even more severe with the sinister
elements. That’s where your
character went off to the land of
Pagan, which was the Guardian’s
home world. This world wasn’t
your standard, virtuous goodygoody-two-shoes
setting, to the
point where, if you tried to uphold
the goody-goody-two-shoes life
in the game, you couldn’t get
anywhere.”
– Richard Garriott,
Ultima VIII: Pagan’s producer
The newly added platforming sequences are
a chore by any metric, but the initial release of the
game coupled them with absolutely horrific jump
controls, clunky enough to be virtually broken. The
initial uproar caused by these jump mechanics was so
vehement that EA released a patch altering them into
a significantly more manageable endeavour.
So – with all of these caveats, flaws, questionable
design choices, and development woes, what worth
does Ultima VIII offer? For one, the atmosphere
holds up incredibly well. Despite the many cuts and
revisions, the developers have still managed to craft a
compelling, alien world, full of oppressive dread and
an inescapable sense of vulnerability. The Avatar is a
stranger in Pagan, and the player, too, is meant to feel
like a stranger – alienated from the grim, featureless
landscape, the vile NPCs, and even from the Avatar,
who commits progressively more uncomfortable
atrocities in his urge to return to Britannia.
Even today, Ultima VIII’s depictions of bloody
human sacrifice and demon summoning can still
provoke shock and disgust. The narrative – though
fraught with plot holes, dropped arcs and other
inconsistencies – nevertheless communicates its main
theme quite viscerally: that the Avatar, in pursuit of
his own “just” ends, is systematically perverting and
shattering his own code of virtues.
At the game’s conclusion, it is clear that the
Avatar’s victory is Pyrrhic at best; and at worst, it is not
a victory at all, but rather the final collapse of a moral
code that the Avatar has spent many Ultima games
striving to uphold and protect.
Ultima VIII is a very disappointing example
of squandered potential. And yet, beneath all of its
faults and missteps, there lies within it an important
philosophical counterpoint to the naive optimism of
Ultima IV: take care that you do not abandon your
virtues, even in pursuit of the greater good. CR
The Guardian is
worshipped in
Pagan and his
voice constantly
taunts you,
providing false
hints, laughing at
your actions and
describing how
he’s destroying
Britannia.
An expansion
called The Lost
Vale and a CD-
ROM enhanced
version were
planned, but
both were
cancelled due
to poor sales.
Read more
about The
Lost Vale on
page 508.
Each school of magic has a different way of preparing
spells – such as arranging reagents on a pentagram.
To jump you must press both mouse buttons at once.
I assure you, it’s even more awkward than it sounds.
193
ADOM
Ancient Domains of Mystery
Thomas Biskup, 1994
Windows, MS-DOS, Amiga, Mac and Linux
Thomas
Biskup created
an Indiegogo
campaign in
2012 to fund a
‘rebirth’ of ADOM’s
development.
It raised $90,000.
ADOM uses nine
main stats and over
40 skills you can
level up and train
for, as well as a
corruption system
which incurs random
mutations, such as
gills or acid blood.
194
I
was lucky enough to have a home computer in the
early 80s. I learned how to read and type by playing
interactive fiction games and roguelikes. The high
difficulty and complexity of those early roguelikes
means that many of them have been a fixture in my
life for decades, and of those early roguelikes, ADOM
(Ancient Domains of Mystery) has meant the most to
me over the years. The first release of ADOM was in
1994, and development continued until 2002. In 2012,
development resumed following a successful crowdfunding
campaign.
The first time I played ADOM it felt like a
missing connection between interactive fiction
and roguelikes. Interactive fiction games (the early
Zork games and Colossal Cave Adventure tend to be
the most enduring examples) give you the feeling
you’re exploring real places: handwritten stories
embroidered with puzzles, and rooms furnished with
enough clues to solve those puzzles but written to
suggest a lived-in world beyond that room.
Rogue, the game that gives ‘roguelikes’ their
name, was an attempt to solve a specific problem with
interactive fiction: once you figured out the puzzles,
there was little incentive to play them again (beyond
the comfort of returning to a beloved film or novel).
The way that roguelikes tried to solve the
problem was to focus on procedural generation: the
task of world-building was collapsed into algorithms
that would build it anew every time the player
embarked on a new quest. However, in the quest
to produce the perfect “forever” game, most of the
world-building was given over to the cold thrashing
jaws of procedural generation.
ADOM differentiates itself from other roguelikes
right from the start: before players begin the game,
they are invited to “Embark on the Postcard
Adventure” – an option on the main menu that lists
Thomas Biskup’s home address with the simple request
to send him a postcard if they enjoyed ADOM. It’s a
remarkably human gesture in a genre of game that
established itself as a vector for cold machine logic.
During character creation, there are 12 races
and over 20 classes to choose from. Certainly, some
combinations are more effective than others, but the
game will let you pick any combination you want. In
keeping with the concerns that motivated Rogue, the
choices you make during character creation will have
a major impact on how the game plays out.
Once you’ve created your character, a short
passage describing your upbringing is generated,
populated with some events that relate to your
race and class. It’s a brilliant way to prime players,
something that later roguelikes would replicate and
build upon to great effect.
After this, ADOM does what made me fall in
love with it, something that cut against the established
orthodoxy of roguelikes up until that point: ADOM
drops you right into the mountainous Drakalor Chain
of the world of Ancardia; not the top floor of an
astonishingly deep dungeon, but a whole corner of the
world, full of caves and towns and dungeons.
“ADOM was inspired by several
roguelike games: most prominently
NetHack, Angband as far as early
visualisations go and Omega for the
wilderness area. The commercial
RPG Wasteland (IMHO still the
best computer RPG ever) was
the prime sample as far as open
storytelling goes, the pen-andpaper
RPG Warhammer provided
the inspiration for Chaos and
Corruption.”
– Thomas Biskup,
ADOM’s creator
While dungeons are procedurally generated, the
overworld in ADOM remains static. The starting town,
Terinyo, is always in the same spot, as are the dungeons.
Ancardia is a lived-in mess of a place, with quests
to complete and people to meet. The quests come in
a range of flavours: many require the player to kill a
monster somewhere, some are epic, world-changing
fare – stop (or join) the chaos that threatens all of
Ancardia – and, to my delight, a few are cheerfully
banal: save a cute puppy at the bottom of a dungeon.
ADOM is an important game in the roguelike
canon, but what does that mean to someone who hasn’t
followed the genre for decades? At the time of writing,
Biskup has made good on his promise to implement
graphical tiles and release the game on Steam. He has
added an indispensable tutorial mode and a range of
difficulty options, making ADOM one of the most
accessible traditional roguelikes on the market.
Many traditional roguelikes, for all their
procedurally generated content and complexity, still
dabble with handcrafted sections, but that authored
content is often exclusively focused on small puzzles
that are disconnected from a wider world.
If you are not already sold on banging your
head against a vertical difficulty curve, there’s little
there to motivate you to stay; very few of those early
roguelikes care about the stakes of a wider world
beyond their dungeons.
ADOM’s gambit is that there are wider stakes
than simply getting the MacGuffin or killing the evil
in the dungeon. It’s no surprise that ADOM’s design
decisions inspired some truly phenomenal modern
roguelikes, such as Tales of Maj’Eyal (2012) and Caves
of Qud (2015). But what really makes ADOM special
is how it still holds up even in the context of that kind
of competition, even after so long. RP
ADOM’s fixed
world map
was inspired
by another
roguelike, Omega
(1988), and
would set it
apart from other
roguelikes.
If you want to
know more
about ADOM’s
history, check
out this 2016
presentation
Thomas Biskup
gave at the
Roguelike
Celebration
event.
ADOM Deluxe,
sold on Steam
since 2015, comes
with graphical tiles,
mouse support,
achievements,
more gameplay
customisation
options, special
challenges and
other nice updates.
195
Al-Qadim:
The Genie’s Curse
Cyberlore Studios, 1994
MS-DOS
Cyberlore
Studios was
founded in
1992 by ex-SSI
developers.
Later they
partnered with
their former
employer to
make Al-Qadim
and Entomorph.
Al-Qadim combat
and puzzles are
simple, but wellexecuted,
similar
to those on the
2D Legend of
Zelda games.
The dialogues are
interesting and
well-written, but,
despite the many
choices, few of
them have actual
consequences.
196
Al-Qadim is not your typical RPG. Usually,
CRPGs are about experience points, stats,
numbers, skills, plethora of weapons and
huge amounts of choices. And although Genie’s Curse
is based on the obscure AD&D setting Al-Qadim,
the game is nothing like that. You play a predefined
character and you won’t ever need to check your stats.
Yet still this game is for me one of the best role-playing
experiences I have ever tasted. Why, you might ask?
Al-Qadim puts you in the curly shoes of a corsair
finishing his training. Note that you are not a corsair
in the ordinary meaning – on the contrary, you are
a law-upholding hero, part of a respected family, that
adheres to a strict code of honour and is always helpful to
anyone in distress. That’s what I liked about the game, it
moves away from statistics and numbers to what I find
really important: character and storytelling. It’s true,
you don’t have much choice in how to play the game,
and the story tries to keep you very strictly on rails, but
in exchange it gives you the opportunity to really create
a connection with your character.
As you return home, you are joyously welcomed
by your family. That time is, however, cut short due to
a tragic event – your family’s genie has attacked the
ship of the Caliph. With your parents now in prison,
it’s your task is to find who is responsible for this. For
that you’ll battle foes with a very simplified real-time
combat and overcome many puzzles, usually based
on switches and maze navigation. When you are not
fighting or getting lost, you’ll be testing your wits
during conversations with NPCs.
The Al-Qadim setting is heavily influenced by
the Arabian Nights stories, so during your travels
you’ll seek advice from a sorceress, solve riddles from
djinns, sail the seas on a magical ship, ride on flying
carpets and other fantastical adventures. The game
has beautifully drawn graphics, with vivid details, that
give it a fairy-tale feeling. This atmosphere is further
enhanced by its rich Arab-inspired MIDI music.
Al-Qadim is worth trying for various reasons.
If you love good storytelling and you would like to
relive your childhood, when the fairy tales were full
of true heroes with pure heart, then it is definitely a
game for you. Just don’t come in expecting the complex,
stat-heavy RPG experience of other SSI titles. BM
Legend Entertainment, 1994
MS-DOS
Superhero
League of Hoboken
After releasing Zork in 1980, Infocom ruled the
text adventure genre during the 80s. When
the company was purchased by Activision in
1989, a few employees decided to jump ship and set
up their own company, called Legend Entertainment.
Their first games, such as the Spellcasting series,
were roughly text adventures with static images and
a friendly interface. However, in 1994, armed with a
new engine, Legend tried something truly unique.
Created by veteran Steve Meretzky, Superhero
League of Hoboken is a humorous Adventure/RPG
hybrid about a team of ridiculous superheroes who
live in post-apocalyptic New Jersey.
As the Crimson Tape, a hero whose only power
is to create organisational charts, your task is to gather
a team of similarly underpowered heroes and wisely
use them to complete various missions.
These missions are solved in the usual old-school
adventure game fashion: you collect countless weird
items, using them and your “unique” powers to create
rather unusual solutions – like playing Frank Sinatra
songs to kill an army of evil pigeons.
The game, however, is explored via an RPG-like
world map, where you can freely travel from your HQ
to various locations, such as villages, stores, museums
and decayed landmarks. More areas open as you learn
to cross rougher terrain and acquire subway passes.
You’ll also face random battles against bizarre
creatures, like psionic evangelists, mutant bureaucrats
and even a robotic version of Richard Nixon. Combat
is turn-based and very simple, even though it allows
for 9 party members. Most heroes will just melee or
shoot, but a few weird powers like Tropical Oil Man’s
“increase foe’s cholesterol” can be quite useful.
The downside of this unusual mix of genres is
that you’ll spend a lot of time walking across the huge
map and battling monsters while trying to figure out
the puzzles. Often the item you need for a mission is
on a dangerous and undiscovered area far away, or
even only available as a rare drop from battles.
What holds everything together and keeps the
game enjoyable is the brilliant writing. From missions
about buying guacamole to lawyers suing your party
mid-battle, Superhero League of Hoboken manages to
be as funny as it’s flawed. FE
Legend would
still produce
a few more
games, such as
the cult classic
Deathgate.
It then closed
down in 2004.
Some items are
used for puzzles,
others to reach
new areas, and
a few will even
increase your
stats or give
characters new
superpowers.
The RPG side is
very accessible,
with a simple
turn-based
combat system,
few stats and
heroes that
automatically
wear their best
equipment.
197
Realmz
Fantasoft, 1994
Mac and Windows*
*The Windows
version of
Realmz is
outdated and
doesn’t have
the Divinity
toolset. It’s
advised to
play the Mac
version, using
emulation
software such
as Basilisk II or
SheepShaver.
Realmz was quite
ahead of its time,
allowing events
to be solved in
multiple ways:
dialogue choices,
skill checks,
special items,
spells, etc.
198
Countless adventures across countless realms
– this might as well have been the slogan of
Realmz. Developed primarily for Macintosh,
Realmz is a game that proudly wore its genesis in
the 90s on its sleeves – bright colours, an incredible
assortment of character creation options, plus a
shareware philosophy and business model that led to
an incredible staying power, even as time wore on.
On first running Realmz, the player is presented
with a single “scenario” that they can play to their
heart’s content: the City of Bywater, a simple and
relatively bare-bones adventure that could be
completed in the haze of a summer afternoon. Not
counting the areas sealed off until you paid for and
registered your copy, that is.
Despite the simple and relatively spartan roots,
Bywater is still a fun and surprisingly versatile little
adventure. And behind it lies Realmz’s incredibly
complex character creation system. The plethora of
options and statistics is astounding, allowing you to
create truly complex parties of up to six characters,
with exotic heroes such as Leprechaun Cabalists,
Kobold Crusaders and Vampire Dabblers.
Each of the 19 races and 20 classes – or castes,
as they are known in Realmz – also possesses other
advantages or disadvantages, such as fire-resisting
demons or regenerating lizardmen. Stats range from
movement and attacks per round to racial resistances,
hated enemies and even complex ageing charts.
Fine-tuning your party leads to one of Realmz’s
many surprising strengths – the multiple approaches
to certain events. Wandering around Bywater, for
example, might lead you to a young boy whose dog
has fallen down the well. To help him you can use a
rope, have an acrobatic party member flip down into
the well, call the town guard, try to use a spell, etc.
This flexibility also lent itself well to combat.
Turn-based and highly tactical, combat is reminiscent
of SSI’s “Gold Box” RPGs, updated to include a
mouse-driven interface and improvements such as
terrain types, obstacles, guarding against approach
and much more. Every battle feels unique as large
enemies jump over obstacles, giant bees paralyse the
party, necromancers summon undead hordes, squishy
rogues chuck flasks of oil to save their lives, etc.
Realmz is a potpourri of old-school pen-andpaper
ideas, and nowhere is that more true than magic.
There are three different schools of magic, each with
their own utility, combat, and scenario-based spells.
The Waterworld spell, for example, makes your party
able to breath underwater, opening new horizons for
you to explore – or allowing you to survive a flash
flood in a murky cavern. Casting is mana-based, and
you can “overcast” a spell, increasing its mana cost,
but also its damage and area of effect.
The scenario is a melange of fantasy that does
whatever it pleases, and it’s all the more charming for
it. Barring some twists and turns, Bywater is a shallow
and linear story, but can be surprisingly effective.
“Most of the Realmz scenarios
have been aimed towards hackand-slash
as that area is really
lacking in RPGs. Sure, there are
games out there that give you
hack-and-slash, but they don’t go
into enough detail with character
development. I got so sick of games
that had your character broken
down into 3 coloured lines: Health,
Attack and Defense. I wanted a
game that let me get into the nuts
and bolts of a character’s stats.
That is where I think Realmz
top-of-the-line.”
– Tim Phillips,
Realmz’s creator
Regardless, the solid and multifaceted characterbuilding
combined with the flexible encounters and
events successfully convinced players to register their
games, which not only unlocked all of Bywater, but
gave access to the Prelude to Pestilence scenario, a
higher-level scenario, while also offering the ability
to create high-level characters. Which you’d end
up needing if you didn’t spend your time wisely in
Bywater (or spent too much time, and become a little
too strong). Combat can become very complex very
quickly, especially when magical enemies, buffs and
debuffs come into play.
But make no mistake – the meat of the game
was the stories you built around your characters and
party; as well as recruitable allies such as the friendly
wizard Vodalian, or Reppep Rd, a drunk dwarf found
in the local brothel. Being able to imagine your party
and their stories, however, is probably what lead so
many fans to want to create more, and developer Tim
Phillips allowed them just that.
The Realmz Divinity toolset is fairly primitive
by today’s standards for mod tools, but at the time it
allowed fans of the game to create their own scenarios
to do with as they pleased. You could even license
them in the hopes that someone would pay you for
your time, share them with friends or spread it freely,
on the wild and untamed Internet of the early 90s.
And many did. Though it never flourished in the
way gaming communities have now, with easier access
to the Internet and fewer barriers to entry, the fact that
a humble shareware game survived from 1994 to the
early 00s is a testament to the stories fans created.
For all the faults Realmz has – a hefty interface
and manual that wants players to pay respect to
them, a somewhat cumbersome weapon-swapping
mechanic that becomes remarkably intuitive the
longer you play, a blistering maze of hotkeys, and no
real end-state – those too are its strengths, as well, and
it deserves to be remembered for them. There are still
realms out there waiting to be explored, after all. TW
Combat is the
main strength
of Realmz.
Tactical, full of
options and with
a mouse-driven
UI, it feels like
an updated
Gold Box game.
In 2001
Fantasoft
released New
Centurions, a
sci-fi RPG based
on Realmz’s
engine. It was
only released
for Mac, and
is no longer
available for
download.
The interface is rather clunky, but it offers very detailed
information on all the game’s stats, rules and items.
The magic system allows players to boost the strength
and area of a spell by spending more magic points.
199
The Elder
Scrolls: Arena
Bethesda Softworks, 1994
MS-DOS
Arena can be
somewhat
tricky to run
properly under
DOS Box, so we
recommend
the handy
ArenaSetup
package, that
comes preconfigured.
Seasons alter
the weather,
clothing and races
change with each
region and even
landmarks, such
as Morrowind’s
Red Mountain,
can be seen on
the horizon.
200
The Elder Scrolls: Arena is the first game in
Bethesda’s long-running Elder Scrolls series.
It came out in 1994, roughly two years after
Ultima Underworld opened everyone’s eyes to the
concept of a first-person, free-roaming RPG.
But Bethesda had their own ideas. In 1990, they
sharpened their open-world teeth with The Terminator
license, casting players as either Kyle Reese or the
Terminator and set them loose in an open-world slice
of Los Angeles. It was crude, but it paved the way for
Arena. Instead of a dungeon, or a city, Bethesda set out
to create an entire continent filled with both.
Lead designer Vijay Lakshman and his team
went out to create their own world and lore, inspired
by old pen-and-paper RPGs. The continent of Tamriel
(Arena is the only game in the series to feature the
entire continent) measures “three to four thousand
kilometers east to west”, and is populated by a variety
of races, environments, flora and fauna. It also includes
a day-and-night cycle and even its own calendar, with
holidays and special dates unique to each region; all
that inside a stack of eight 3.5” floppies.
Tile-based CRPGs have been doing that for years
with smaller, 2D worlds, but taking those concepts
into the interactive intimacy of a free-roaming 3D
experience raised the CRPG bar as much as Ultima
Underworld did.
Fiction filling the opening pages of the manual
layout is a familiar starting point that Elder Scrolls fans
will immediately recognise – a captured prisoner. In
Arena, you languish in a dungeon beneath the Imperial
City, where careless exploration could easily kill you
even before beginning your epic quest to find the pieces
of the Staff of Chaos and end the rule of the usurper
hiding in the Emperor’s skin, Jagar Tharn.
18 classes await in Arena, along with D&D-like
stats to shape their your character from one of the
eight races in the game. Or, borrowing a page from
Origin’s Ultima IV, a series of questions suggest which
class will be best for the player. I remember spending
an hour or so carefully mixing different classes and
races together, testing them in the opening dungeon
against sewer vermin, and then starting over again to
try another class and mix of statistics.
Despite the Ultima IV inspirations, there’s no
alignment or strict moral fibre tying players’ hands.
You’re free to bash down doors in the middle of the
night to break into stores, steal everything and kill the
guards on the way out with the loot if you want, while
searching for a way to end Jagar Tharn’s rule.
Combat appears to be simple button-mashing,
but hides some unexpected depth. Melee attacks are
done by holding the right mouse button and moving
the mouse across the screen. Each movement executes
a different type of attack: moving sideways leads to a
slash, while a vertical movement results in a thrusting
attack. Attacking at the same time as your enemy will
parry the attack.
“Up to that time, Bethesda
had never done a role-playing
game, only action games like the
Terminator series and sports titles
like Wayne Gretzky Hockey.
I remember talking to the guys at
Sir-Tech who were doing Wizardry
VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant
at the time, and them literally
laughing at us for thinking we
could do it.”
– Ted Peterson,
Arena’s designer
To help vanquish your foes, Arena features about
21 weapon types and 26 armour pieces, all of which
can be made from one of eight different kinds of
metal – such as Iron, Mithril or Ebony – each with a
different bonus. Furthermore, enchanted items might
be found in dungeons or bought in stores. And, if
you’re lucky, you might even hear rumours pointing
you towards one of the legendary artefacts of Tamriel.
Also, if the 50 spells available are too boring, you
could always try and create your own from a huge
number of factors and effects (which could sometimes
lead to making Mages wildly overpowered).
As you kept playing, the randomly generated
quests made it easy to ignore the main campaign. The
way that the game randomised the end-goals for sidequests,
dungeon locations, and the rumours one could
hear from one town to the next fed into that sandbox
illusion with more and more hours spent wandering
through each province just to see what was there.
As compelling as the smoke and mirrors were,
technology only went so far. The massive continent
is mostly empty, filled with procedurally generated
plains. Despite being visible on the map, there was no
Red Mountain (or mountains for the most part) and
doing so many side-quests would make some of those
dungeons in the wilderness seem a little too familiar
after so long with a bit of repetition thrown in.
Regardless, the sheer geographic vastness and
the idea of infinite adventure successfully made the
world of Tamriel a sandbox of possibilities that other
CRPGs had only paved the way forward for.
With a 3D viewscreen, action-oriented combat,
and blending all of that in with attributes, playerdriven
morality, and a world filled with a wide variety
of equipment and empowering loot, Arena lived up
to its name as a crucible for players to find their own
way and become the first stepping stone to Bethesda’s
biggest series. RE
In Arena
the Khajit
descend from
an intelligent
feline race, but
have human
appearance
due to memory
limitations.
Since 2004
Bethesda
has made
Arena freely
available for
download, as
part of the 10th
anniversary
of The Elder
Scrolls series.
At Mage Guilds you can pay to create your own spells,
combining up to three effects in any way you want.
It’s vital to talk to NPCs and ask them directions.
They also provide side-quests and useful rumours.
201
1995-1999
New 3D worlds
and new audiences
The second half of the 90s continued with the impressive release of
new games that spawned iconic series or even entire new genres, but now
3D graphics were the new hot thing.
Powered by the new generation of consoles, Super Mario 64, Final
Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, Medal of Honor, Tomb Raider
and Gran Turismo sold millions and set the standards for 3D games.
On the PC side, RTS and FPS titles continued to rise in popularity,
with blockbusters like Command & Conquer, Age of Empires, WarCraft II,
StarCraft, Quake, Unreal and Half-Life. With the audience expanding,
games like Full Throttle, Diablo, Phantasmagoria and Baldur’s Gate also
sold over a million copies each – an amazing feat at the time.
However, producing games was quickly becoming more and more
expensive. Mistakes had a heavier costs, and companies like Interplay
started to sink under failed attempts to get into the 3D craze and/or
the booming console market. Decade-long series suddenly ended after
disappointing jumps to 3D, such as King’s Quest VIII: Mask of Eternity,
Ultima IX: Ascension and Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire.
The arrival of Windows 95 erased any remaining doubt that PCs
were now synonymous with Windows, but the “Wintel” combo was
weakened as Intel’s Pentium chips saw increased competition from AMD.
Rivalry was also grew increasingly fierce among 3D acceleration cards,
sound cards, peripherals like joysticks and even Internet browsers.
With 3D games being so popular, companies like 3dfx, Nvidia, S3 and
ATI fought for dominance with their “3D accelerator” graphics cards – a
battle mostly dominated by 3dfx’s popular Voodoo cards.
By the mid-90s, the Internet had become the new frontier for
business. Every company wanted a website (not often knowing why), eBay
and Amazon were founded, the first banner ad campaigns appeared and
there was a lot of market speculation – the dot.com bubble had begun.
Two browsers fought for dominance then: the Internet Explorer and
the Netscape Navigator. But Microsoft giving its browser for free to any
Windows 95 owner led to a quick victory, with most browsers becoming
traditionally free and a subsequent trial in 1998, which condemned
Microsoft for crushing its competitions to secure its monopoly.
Meanwhile, Apple was lost. Their new console, Pippin, was a failure
while the Macintosh was a relic. The solution was to bring back Steve Jobs,
fired in 1985. With the release of the iMac in 1998, he managed to revive
Apple, establishing it as the “cool” and out-of-the-box alternative to PCs.
Between Windows 95’s accessibility, popular new games and the lure
of the Internet, the late 90s is when computers finally went mainstream.
202
Trends:
Online and LAN Multiplayer: Doom allowed up to four players in deathmatch battles.
With access to Internet still limited, the more popular solution was Doom LAN parties.
When games like Quake and StarCraft arrived, the Internet was much more widespread,
and playing online became extremely popular. However, it wasn’t simple – the IP address
of players and servers had to be found and typed in. To help, services like GameSpy and
Blizzard’s Battle.net started to appear, listing servers and handling matchmaking.
GameSpy was
originally called
QuakeSpy, created
in 1996 to help
people play
Quake online.
3D Graphics: The 90s was a decade of learning how to handle 3D games. Even
explaining them was difficult early on – Ultima Underworld (1992) had to run magazine
ads showing an object from multiple angles to illustrate the concept. Then came problems
like controlling characters (and cameras) in 3D space, competing rendering technologies,
primitive tools, high system requirements, etc. It was a very long process, but one that led
to important breakthroughs such as the creation of the analogue stick.
Super Mario 64
was an early
poster boy for 3D
games, showing
just how well the
concept could
work.
MMORPGs: While MUDs and other permanent online worlds existed for
decades, the late 90s saw the popularisation of commercial graphical MMORPGs.
Meridian 59 (1996) and Ultima Online (1997) not only brought in a record number of
players, but also standardised charging flat monthly rates, as opposed to hourly fees.
They would be followed by Lineage (1997), EverQuest (1998), Asheron’s Call (1999) and
many others, then peak with the genre’s biggest title, World of Warcraft (2004).
Ultima Online
was the first
MMORPG to
reach 100,000
subscribers.
Windows 95 arrives.
A landmark, it helped
make computers more
user-friendly and became
synonymous with PCs.
The Nintendo 64 is released,
still using cartridges but
introducing the analogue
stick. It would sell 32 million
units worldwide.
DVDs start to be
commercially available in
the US, offering much larger
storage capacity and faster
transfer rates than CDs.
The iMac is released.
Created by Steve Jobs in his
return to Apple as CEO, it
marked the rebirth of the
company’s popularity.
The Dreamcast is released.
Facing the PS2’s overwhelming
popularity and SEGA’s own
internal struggles, it was quickly
abandoned, selling 9M units.
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Pokémon is released in Japan
for the Game Boy, selling
10M copies. It would arrive
in the West in 1998, starting
a “Pokémania” that took up
the planet, from games to
anime, toys, cards, etc.
Quake would follow up on
Doom with fully 3D graphics
and physics. A landmark that
popularised deathmatches,
WASD controls, mods like
Team Fortress and even led to
Machinima and speedruns.
StarCraft is released.
The most popular RTS of all
time, it offers three races,
great story and excellent
multiplayer. It became an
early eSport icon and sold
over 11M copies.
Half-Life pushes the FPS
genre from killing arenas to an
immersive interactive world,
built on seamless storytelling.
It also had countless mods,
including the still-popular
Counter-Strike.
Bleem! is released.
A commercial PS1 emulator
for PCs, it was brutally sued
by Sony. Despite winning in
court, the legal fees put it out
of business and emulation
became an industry taboo.
203
Witchaven
Capstone Software, 1995
MS-DOS
Witchaven was
made using the
BUILD Engine,
which would
later be used by
Duke Nukem 3D,
Shadow Warrior
and Blood.
The game
makes great use
of physics, with
neat tricks such
as firing arrows
into a wall and
climbing on top
of them.
Utility spells like
Fly and Night
Vision, as well
as potions of
Invisiblity and Fire
Resistance, are
important tools
for your survival.
204
Witchaven is not a fully fledged RPG – it’s
a first-person shooter (or rather, hackand-slasher)
with RPG elements. There
are quite a few of those elements: XP, levelling up,
degrading weapons, different types of armour,
spells, traps, secrets and other goodies. There are five
different types of potion to collect, various combat
and utility spells to learn. But there’s no character
creation, no NPC interaction and not a single choice
to be made – besides gore and difficulty levels.
You play as knight Grondoval, a one-man army
sent to defeat the evil witch Illwhyrin. Killing trolls,
imps and other enemies will make you level up and
become tougher still. Higher levels also mean less
weapon corrosion and access to more potent spells –
and you will need those to be able to defeat Illwhyrin.
Talking about defeat: the need to think tactically
or die is exactly what makes Witchaven so compelling.
In the beginning, combat is mostly a close-quarters
affair, but you will soon find out that the combination
of degrading weapons and imprecise controls makes
it an especially dangerous one. Thankfully, most of
the minions are just as susceptible to terrain-induced
damage as you are, so using the environment to your
advantage will end many fights early.
In later levels and at higher difficulty, you’ll find
fewer potions, scrolls and even weapons, and chances
are that you will run out of essential supplies at the
most unfortunate moment. Discovering that you have
no spell scroll left when the trapped corridor you
reached by flying turns out to be a dead end (and you
haven’t saved in a long while!) would be an example.
But if you were a little thrifty yourself, you might still
be able to cross the corridor with the help of your bow
and arrows – provided you saved those up.
There are a few shortcomings (mainly squishy
controls and visually poor interior design), but the
game scores with its clever use of physics and gripping
combat. Defeating foes with environmental help is
even more rewarding than using the ‘Nuke’ spell.
Witchaven stands today as a product of its time,
when games like Doom and Hexen were kings and
everyone wanted a piece of the pie. Too bad that its
1996 sequel expanded primarily on the shortcomings:
Witchaven II: Blood Vengeance suffered from horrible
controls that rendered it nearly unplayable. NS
Origin Systems, 1995
MS-DOS
CyberMage:
Darklight Awakening
In the not-so-far future, governments have made
way for mega-corporations, but their pursuit of
profits at any cost isn’t to everyone’s liking. As a
consequence, armed rebels have taken the fight to the
streets. This is the Cyberpunk era you live in, and this
is where you manage to get yourself killed.
Then you suddenly get better. You awake in a lab –
without memories, but with a gem implanted into your
forehead, and with the minions of NeCrom hot on
your trail. If you want to find out why this guy is after
you and why you suddenly have access to a mystical
power called “Darklight”, you’d better run – NOW!
Thus starts CyberMage: Darklight Awakening, by
David W. Bradley of Wizardry fame. At first glance,
CyberMage may be a futuristic first-person shooter,
but it’s driven by a compelling story and incorporates
several RPG elements. There are traps, secrets and
puzzles, exploration is an important (and quite
rewarding) part of the game and the atmosphere is
immersive. You can (and will have to) talk to NPCs to
gather information – friendlies and hostiles alike. Not
everybody should be killed just because the game looks
like a shooter! Gambling and spending the money in
different stores are options just as are watching TV or
driving tanks. And then there are your “magical” skills.
CyberMage’s way of imparting new spells on the
player’s character is also intriguing. You’ll also learn a
new Darklight power by being exposed to its effects!
This makes for interesting situations: running from an
enemy with a strong power might be an option if your
health is low, but, if it’s not, charging him to get hit and
return his gift would be the better alternative.
There’s also a more traditional arsenal for nonmagical
combat. Each weapon works differently against
each type of enemy, while your body armour is split into
separate parts which can be repaired or replaced.
But the most important piece of equipment is your
jetpack. Once you acquire this, you will be immune to a
score of bugs, as the game will occasionally crash if you
happen to tread on the wrong patch of ground.
Add extreme hardware requirements, stupid NPCs
and a choppy engine, and you’ll know why CyberMage
never got the cult following it deserves. But behind those
shortcomings lies an atmospheric, detailed and beautiful
Cyberpunk world that begs to be explored. NS
CyberMage’s
story is told
through comic
book-style
cutscenes, and
the game itself
came with a
comic book
showing the
events that
lead to your
death.
CyberMage was
produced by
Warren Spector,
and some of its
elements feel as
a stepping stone
for what he would
create in Deus Ex
five years later.
The game is
fully voiced, but
dialogues are
simple and onesided,
with NPCs
usually just asking
for money, items
or for someone
to be killed.
205
Ravenloft:
Stone Prophet
DreamForge Intertainment, 1995
MS-DOS
Stone Prophet
uses its CD-ROM
capabilities in
an unusual way,
featuring a spirit
that sings the
“Song of the
Elusive Ghost”,
which tells the
story behind
the events
happening in
Har’Akir.
The inhabitants
of the Har’akir
desert are suffering
from a terrible
curse and blame
outsiders such as
yourself for their
fate. Some quite
disturbing scenes
are presented.
206
After traversing a mysterious wall of light, two
adventurers are trapped in the desert land of
Har’Akir. A wall of searing heat, known as
the Wall of Ra, prevents their escape. A flesh-rotting
disease and devastating storms threaten the survival
of the remaining inhabitants of the desert, most of
whom are concentrated in the Village of Muhar. Thus
begins Ravenloft: Stone Prophet.
The game takes the form of a first-person dungeon
crawler, using an early 3D engine that feels very much
like that of The Elder Scrolls: Arena. It includes an
automap that is extremely useful to maintain one’s
orientation, and also supports jumping and flight by
means of the appropriate spells – although these game
mechanics are much less polished and useful than in a
game like Ultima Underworld.
The party begins with two characters you create
at the start of the game, and can grow to include two
additional NPCs for a maximum party size of four.
Stone Prophet also features day-and-night cycles, and
the blazing sun battering the desert by day requires
players to maintain a supply of water in order to survive.
The combat system is real-time, very similar to
titles such as Eye of the Beholder and Lands of Lore.
The game features a rich bestiary, and being aware of
the abilities of each creature is important to be able
to overcome them – enemies can be poisoned, given
diseases, paralysed, stunned, explode upon death,
or cast certain spells. While most creatures can be
defeated using normal weapons and spells, some
require a special approach. For instance, desert trolls
can only be killed by acid, fire or water, and the three
greater mummies in the game are so powerful that
they cannot be destroyed by normal means.
There are few friends to be found among the
frightened and superstitious inhabitants of Muhar,
who believe the party to be responsible for the plague
and the storms. Nonetheless, many NPCs contribute
to the quest with interesting conversation and bits of
history that add a lot of atmosphere to the game.
Some of these NPCs are willing to join the party,
believing that they stand more of a chance to leave
Har’Akir as part of a group effort than on their own.
These NPCs range from regular humans to exotic
creatures such as a wemic, a desert troll, an undead
warrior and even a jackalwere.
Choosing which NPCs to keep is a strategic
decision, as each of them has his strengths and
weaknesses. For example, the desert troll is an
excellent combatant, especially during the earlier
stages of the game; however, he can’t gain experience,
has a very limited inventory space, and can’t hold
anything in his hands.
The inventory is very elegant, with a simple drag
and drop interface and mannequins that display your
current equipment and held items with nicely drawn
artwork. The inventory capacity, however, is quite
limited, both in slots and in maximum weight.
Whenever you enter one of Stone Prophet’s dungeons,
the interface changes to fit the theme of the level.
The game’s exotic companions all have different abilities.
The Wemic, for instance, can jump to reach high places.
Ravenloft: Strahd’s Possession was the first of the three
games and featured a distinctive horror atmosphere.
These harsh inventory limitations force players
to make tough choices, as the world is so full of useful
items that one is frequently faced with the dilemma
of which items to keep. Especially since characters
also need to carry plenty of water skins to survive the
blazing desert – or rely on a Create Water spell.
Spellcasting follows the typical AD&D magic
system, and is quite similar to that in the Eye of the
Beholder trilogy, featuring typical spells such as Fireball
and Magic Missile. Some spells are particularly useful
(such as Knock or Teleport), and a few are actually
essential to complete the game (such as Speak with
Animals, which allows conversation with key NPCs).
Ravenloft: Stone Prophet provides a welcome
departure from typical sewer treks with its massive
Egyptian-style open world. The desert of Har’Akir is
vast and fraught with dangers, but also provides many
interesting encounters, in terms of NPCs, items, and
dungeons to visit. Each of the dungeons, ranging from
ancient burial catacombs to richly decorated temples,
provides important insight into the plot as well as items
necessary to progress in the quest to leave Har’Akir.
Menzoberranzan capitalised heavily on the presence of
Drizzt Do’Urden, one of AD&D’s most popular characters.
Stone Prophet is actually the third RPG developed
by DreamForge using the same engine. The first of
these is Ravenloft: Strahd’s Possession (1994), which
shares some common themes: after being drawn into
a strange land crawling with undead, the party must
find a way to defeat the dark lord of the land and
secure their safe passage back home.
The second game is Menzoberranzan (1994),
which is set on the highly popular Forgotten Realms
setting. In order to rescue villagers captured by
Drow, the party descends into the Underdark. On
the way, they enlist the aid of Drizzt Do’Urden, the
legendary Drow ranger. The party eventually becomes
embroiled in a feud between various Drow houses of
Menzoberranzan, in a bid to free the villagers and
Drizzt himself.
Unfortunately, these games aren’t quite as good,
which led to the entire series being often overlooked.
Regardless, Ravenloft: Stone Prophet is more than
worth a look, and if you enjoyed DreamForge’s take
on dungeon crawlers, perhaps give the other titles a
try as well. DD
207
Exile:
Escape from the Pit
Spiderweb Software, 1995
Windows and Mac
Starting
with Exile’s
underground
prison world, Jeff
Vogel’s games
have a tradition
of featuring
unique settings
and premises.
208
Exile: Escape from the Pit was the first of many
games developed by Jeff Vogel at Spiderweb
Software. A 2D, turn-based CRPG with party
management and top-down perspective, it’s probably
best known now as the source of the Avernum games.
The backstory took a lot of fantasy tropes and
twisted enough of them to make something unique.
The land of Exile is an underground, subsurface world
where political enemies of the Empire and hardened
criminals are sent via a one-way portal. Glowing moss
on the rocks provide a poor light, while mushrooms,
rock lizards, and underground streams allow bare
survival. The people of Exile are beset by underground
tribes of goblins, lizardmen, and other threats without
aid or care from the people of the Empire. And it seems
a demon allied with the Emperor might be behind a
series of other misfortunes.
As one might imagine, the people left here to die
hold a strong grudge against the Empire. Since they
feel as if they might be doomed anyway, they can at
least strike back. And that’s your quest – to find a way
back to the surface and enact revenge.
Before you can get said revenge, you will create
a party of six characters and assign skill points and
attributes to assist in whatever role each character is
to take. Although you are going to need some heavily
armed fighters, it’s necessary to have a thief to handle
traps and locks, a divine spellcaster for healing the
party, and an arcane spellcaster to throw fireballs.
New points can be assigned to improve your
characters upon gaining enough experience to level
up, and there will be enough currency earned during
your first quests to be able to afford decent armour
and weapons. The best spells cannot be employed until
characters build up enough skill to cast them, so forget
about raining death upon those that oppose you right
at the start.
Also, expect characters to die a lot, so save early
and save often. Exile is incredibly difficult unless you
find several important hidden treasures, requiring
you to have to invest a few hours in searching your
surroundings. Although the enemies you encounter
near the first town are a minor threat, wandering
monsters become increasingly hard the further you
get from civilisation.
Skills alone won’t guarantee survival, meaning
that you are going to have to loot dungeons in order
to purchase better weapons or find secret stashes of
magical equipment. This game was designed with the
completionists and explorers in mind.
Not everyone will want to kill you, and your
party will find new allies during their quest. The
negotiations your heroes make in Exile become
important factors in future games, and a couple of
new races become playable in the sequel.
These new relations drive the plot of this and
future games, adding lore and a sense of wonder that
was well designed by Mr. Vogel.
“One of the biggest challenges [in
remaking games] I’ve had is to just
respect my younger self, to look at
something and say, that’s dumb,
that’s broken, that’s out of control,
and then just trust my younger self
and trust my fans who loved this
game and leave it be.”
– Jeff Vogel,
Exile’s creator and
Spiderweb Software’s founder
Exile’s combat is
turn-based, with
a party of up to
six characters.
Its remakes
would keep the
high difficulty,
but reduce the
party to four
characters.
Originally released as shareware, Exile came out
at the perfect time, as you can count the amount of
worthwhile CRPGs published in 1995 on one hand.
Although isometric and first-person games were the
norm during the mid-90s, many players still fondly
remembered Ultima V’s top-down graphics.
In fact, Vogel took many aspects of Ultima V’s
combat and improved upon them, making Exile a much
better tactical RPG than its contemporaries – and the
Ultima games themselves. Not a bad accomplishment
for a game made entirely by one man.
It’s success led to Exile II: Crystal Souls (1996),
a larger sequel with more character creation options,
and Exile III: Ruined World (1997), which blew its two
predecessors out of the water in size and plot twists.
Blades of Exile was released in the same year, adding
three short scenarios and a game editor, creating a
large modding community that still has websites and
modules in existence today.
The popularity of the story led Spiderweb to
revisit and update the original trilogy twice with more
technically advanced game engines.
The first was in 2000, with Avernum. Vogel
updated the interface, made graphics isometric,
expanded the story and renamed the underground
world of Exile to Avernum. After remaking the original
trilogy, Spiderweb created three more Avernum games,
and a Blades of Avernum game editor.
In 2011, Vogel released Avernum: Escape from the
Pit, once again updating the graphics and interface,
rewriting the story and adding new side-content.
As Sade says, it’s never as good as the first time, as I
consider the Exile trilogy to be the best series authored
by Jeff Vogel despite the many other great works he has
developed through the last two decades.
The original Exile trilogy is freeware now, freely
available on Spiderweb’s website, so prestigious gamers
have no reason not to give it a go. DT
The first remake, Avernum (2000), was also released as
shareware, and eventually became a six-game series.
Avernum: Escape from the Pit (2011) is a remake of a
remake, but also a great entry point for modern gamers.
209
World of Aden:
Thunderscape
Strategic Simulations, Inc., 1995
MS-DOS and Windows
Three novels
and a tabletop
RPG based on
the World of
Aden setting
were released
in 1996, and
in 2013 a
sourcebook for
Pathfinder was
successfully
kickstarted.
The game offers
a great variety of
combat moves
and tactical
options, but the
enemies are dull
and easy to kill.
Each level up you
gain a number of
points you can
use to improve
your skills or
learn new ones,
but it’s advised
to specialise your
characters.
210
After the decline in sales of their games during
the early 90s, SSI had lost the AD&D license.
So the company had Shane Hensley, author
of Deadlands and Savage Worlds, create a new fantasy
setting for their next games – the World of Aden.
A peaceful world until a mysterious eclipse called
the Darkfall brought demons into the land, Aden had
its inhabitants employing both magic and technology
to defend their world from the evil Nocturnals.
Thunderscape is the first of the two games set in
the World of Aden. A 3D dungeon crawler, you start
by creating a party of four characters using an original
classless ruleset, with nine races, five attributes and
18 skills – including a few non-combat ones, such as
Pickpockets, Lockpick, Fast Talk and Xenology.
You’re then taken to the bottom of a valley, where
begins your quest to stop the Nocturnal army. While
the graphics aren’t impressive, with brown muted
colours and poor draw distance, it’s a fun start, as you
climb the valley coming across a shop, an elevator,
secrets, riddles and two NPCs you can recruit.
The combat system is especially well-designed.
Turn-based but fast, thanks to the efficient interface
and quick animations, it also offers a great deal of
options. There are over 20 combat moves, such as
Berserk Attack, Mighty Blow, Kick, Shoot, Shield
Bash, Feign, Aim for Vitals, Block Enemy Advance,
Dodge Backstab and even the Fast Talk skill to bribe
or confuse enemies. Spells can also be tuned, as you
can set how much mana to spend when casting them.
It’s a depth rarely seen in dungeon crawlers, but,
unfortunately, it’s wasted on the game’s poor content.
Most enemies are too easy and stupid to force you to
fully use the combat system. Add a lot of backtracking
plus rapidly respawning enemies and after a while
you’ll get bored and just auto-attack everything.
And while the first area is content-rich, most
others are giant, featureless maze-like levels that just
require you to randomly explore until you find the
key, item or lever you need to open the next level.
While it was innovative, Thunderscape feels like
a shade of a much better game. Great systems are in
place, but the content fails to take advantage of them,
offering instead an easy, dull and repetitive experience.
At least the guitar-driven soundtrack is excellent. FE
Cyberlore Studios, 1995
Windows and Mac
Entomorph:
Plague of the Darkfall
The second game set in the World of Aden and
the last RPG published by SSI, Entomorph is
somewhat of a hybrid title, featuring a bit of
puzzle and item-hunting, light role-playing elements
and a heavy dose of arcade-like real-time combat.
However, the exotic setting and plot are where
the game really shines. The island of Phoros was once
a thriving nation, raising giant beetles for both labour
and food. When an incident known as the Darkfall
led the beetles to vanish, it fell into chaos. Ten years
later, a group of nobles start to bring the beetles back
into the island, but multiple reports of missing people
and savage insect attacks begin to appear as well.
You play as Warrick, a squire who returns from
training in search of his sister, last seen heading for
Phoros. In an interesting change, your adventures here
are narrated by a storyteller, as he recounts it to your
younger brother – sometimes spicing details up a bit.
Another cool twist is that, as your quests advances,
you will eventually mutate into an insect yourself.
Unfortunately, there ends Entomorph’s appeal.
The game uses Al-Qadim’s engine and tries to follow
its blend of RPG, action and adventure, but none of
the different elements work very well here. It opens
with a big village full of interesting NPCs and a few
side-quests, but quickly devolves into a linear and
poorly told story that feels rushed and incomplete.
Combat is crude – there are no skills, armour or
even weapons, you literally just punch your enemies.
And there are no stats or experience points either –
you only grow stronger by progressively mutating into
an insect. The magic system is more robust, featuring
22 different spells, and you can set how much mana
to spend when casting each one. A nice idea, but you
have so little mana that you’ll rarely cast anything but
healing spells, except during the rare boss fights.
Above all, what really dooms Entomorph is just
how frustrating its quests are. The game is horrible
at directing players, and you’ll likely spend hours
walking without any clear goals, blindly trying to find
a quest item or where you were supposed to go.
It’s a shame really, as the concept behind the game
is refreshingly original, the presentation is colourful
and the soundtrack is rich. But, unless you are starved
for exotic games, it’s best to avoid Entomorph. FE
Thunderscape
and Entomorph
sold well, but
by then SSI
had already
been sold, and
the company’s
new owners
cancelled any
further World
of Aden games.
You’ll morph
into a giant
mantis as the
game advances.
More insects will
appear as well,
and the island’s
vegetation
will slowly be
destroyed.
Some NPCs have
nicely detailed
backstories, and
there are a few
side-quests you
can take to earn
magic items and
healing potions.
211
Mordor:
Depths of Dejenol
David Allen, 1995
Windows
Fans at
Braindead’s
Mordor Site
created several
tools and mods
for Mordor, and
have also been
working on a
remake, named
Mordor XP:
The Demise Of
Dejenol.
212
The Windowsbased
interface
is dated and
unfriendly,
but allows for
customisation
and quick play
once you’re
familiarised.
Mordor: Depths of Dejenol is a MUD-inspired
dungeon crawler created by David Allen.
Having gone largely unnoticed at the time
of its release, it has since attained cult status and
spawned a series of reiterations, the latest of which is
Demise: Ascension, a polished, expanded and refined
experience with Mordor still deeply at heart.
Although a lacklustre story drives the game
forward, the core principle that keeps you playing is
the prospect of tackling a foreboding, labyrinthine
dungeon complex in a number of diverse playstyle,
all with their strengths and shortcomings. To get the
most out of Mordor you need to plan your progression
in advance, even lay the groundwork with disposable
characters you don’t mind abandoning once they’ve
picked up their share of tomes and potions.
Starting up your first game is a daunting task –
the several races, stats, alignments and guilds all make
a difference between a successful progression and an
essentially flawed character that just won’t cut it at the
deeper levels. Mordor swiftly and mercilessly punishes
the ignorant, cocky or unprepared adventurer.
Unlike with some other titles, you’d best read the
manual before going in. Even then, death is a novice’s
companion. The guilds help with resurrection costs at
the start, but unprepared players might find themselves
with dead characters they’ve put dozens of hours into
with no immediate means of getting them back.
Your adventures start in a town which provides
equipment, levelling and questing opportunities as
well as places to store your hard-earned gold, raise
dead comrades and heal wounds. These only offer
a brief respite, as you will be spending most of your
time exploring the massive dungeon.
Mordor has only one dungeon, but it spans
15 large floors, each 30x30 squares wide. Add antimagic
and underwater areas, teleporters, quicksand
you can lose your items in, buff-stripping squares
and, of course, a plethora of trapped chests that can
do anything from displacing or poisoning party
members to killing them outright, and you have a
playing field that needs to be tread upon lightly.
The staple of Mordor’s gameplay is its semiautomatic
RTwP combat. Its most basic form consists
of simply watching the battle log until either side dies.
Bigger groups and harder foes require a more active
approach however. Fights that would be impossible to
win by hitting away and hoping for the best become
manageable once you pause the combat in order
to cast the right spells, assign different targets and
defend weaker party members.
Encounters range from standard fantasy fare to
more obscure foes like balls of energy – all beautifully
illustrated in a unique art style. Some are timid, others
cast spells or can instantly kill you by decapitation or
stoning. There are even some that will talk to you or
join and become companions – which can also be
purchased (and sold) as slaves in town.
“Out of all the work I’ve done,
I think Mordor was my absolute
favourite. Sadly, all of the games
I created after Mordor just got
more complex and brought more
problems rather than established
a simple cut-and-dry fun time like
Mordor did.”
– David Allen,
Mordor’s creator
Your characters improve by gaining levels in their
respective guilds and by finding better loot. There
isn’t much diversity to the items you’ll find, especially
when starting out, but each serves a purpose and there
are no fillers or randomly generated ones. Some are
cursed of course, but that’s a different matter.
Foresight (or metagaming) is vital when managing
your party. A single character can potentially join all
the guilds their alignment and race allow, but that
becomes prohibitive due to the huge XP requirements
later on. Guild levels go up into the hundreds, even
thousands, and neglecting one guild while focusing on
another results in severe penalties later on. A balanced
party mitigates this, but the weakness of individual
members makes for slow delving in return. Whichever
way you pursue, be prepared for A LOT of grinding.
After the release of Mordor, David Allen began
working on a sequel – Mordor 2: Darkness Awakening,
blending 3D environments with 2D monsters.
He then made a deal with Interplay to publish
it, renaming it Infinite Worlds, but unfortunately the
partnership didn’t work out. In 1999 the game finally
came out, now as Demise: Rise of the Ku’tan.
Demise featured fully 3D graphics, multiplayer
and expanded the dungeon to 30 massive levels, each
45x45 squares wide, with specific tilesets and unique
locations like beaches, swamps and graveyards.
While critics unanimously bashed the game, it
developed a cult following. David Allen went on to
work on MMOs, but sold the game’s license to a fan,
who continues to patch and expand the game – the
latest version being Demise: Ascension.
Mordor and Demise are an acquired taste. The
planning, vast amount of grind and possibility of a
major setback whenever you descend are certainly
not for everyone. Nevertheless, they have a unique,
addictive feel that constantly drives the determined
adventurer ever deeper. OU
While you can
pause to give
direct orders,
combat is mostly
automatic.
Mordor’s real
focus is on
carefully building
the perfect party
and managing
your resources.
In 2004 a group
of fans created
Demise - The
Revelation,
an expanded
version of
Demise. Still
updated, it’s
now a different
branch of the
official Demise
and freely
available for
for download.
The Mordor 2 and Infinite Worlds betas are still available
online. While buggy, Mordor 2 is highly regarded by fans.
Demise’s crude 3D graphics were already dated in 1999,
but the insane size of its dungeons remains unmatched.
213
Albion
Blue Byte Software, 1995
MS-DOS
Albion began
as a sequel to
Ambermoon,
but Thalion
Software closed
down and the
development
team moved
to Blue Byte,
creating a
new story
and setting.
Each race and
class has access
to different
items, equipment
and spells. For
example, the Iskai
can wield an extra
small weapon in
their tails.
214
In 1995 I went to my local computer shop and asked
the owner for a new good game. He knew my
preference for role-playing games and suggested a
game called Albion, from Blue Byte Software. A sci-fi
RPG made by German developers?
I was a bit skeptical at first, but after hearing that
the game designers were also involved in Amberstar
and Ambermoon – two of my all-time favourites – I
was convinced and bought the game. I was starving
for a new good CRPG and was positively surprised
when I realised after a few hours of playing that I
already was in love with this new fantastic game.
First of all, Albion shines with an immersive and
detailed story. In the 23rd century, powerful multinational
companies from Earth try to mine natural
resources from uninhabited planets with great mining
spaceships. You play Tom Driscoll, a pilot from the
mining ship Toronto who crashes with his shuttle
during a reconnaissance flight onto the exotic planet
Albion. Albion is supposed to be a barren world,
ready to be mined, but Tom discovers quickly that
nothing could be further from the truth.
Barely surviving the crash, you wake up in a
village, surrounded by Iskai – exotic and intelligent
cat-like creatures. Together with your scientist partner,
Rainer, you must earn their trust through good deeds
and intelligent conversation, while trying to find a
way to warn the mining ship about its mistake.
Albion is full of alien tribes and factions to
interact with, historic places to explore, rich and varied
landscapes and various useful equipment to find. Blue
Byte decided to make a game for a mature audience
that addresses alien first-contact, environmentalism
and anti-capitalism, similar to the 2009 movie Avatar.
The story also features some twists, betrayal, murder
and ancient Celtic magic.
The main plot is linear, but each major location
offers plenty of things to discover. You can feel that the
level design in Albion is a labour of love. Every little
detail, creature, item and puzzle is carefully planned,
created and placed manually. Around every corner
a new little adventure or secret is waiting for you, to
be discovered. This makes exploring a rewarding and
exciting experience. The limited inventory, the deep
dungeons, the serious wounds or conditions, the lack
of provisions, the need of rest and some adventure
game-style puzzles will force you to backtrack quite
a lot. And you’ll discover many optional areas as well.
Albion is a very long game, with over 166 NPCs
and 60 different monsters, and interacting with them
is always interesting: you can ask everyone about many
topics (listed in a dialogue screen) or type in keywords
to learn about new topics, secrets, culture, language,
quests, potions, gossip and relations. The story develops
slowly through interacting with people, so you have to
read, guess and ask a lot. Of course often you’ll only get
answers by doing some side-quests and sometimes by
recruiting new party members.
Albion features various different types of perspective.
Dungeons are usually explored in a 3D first-person view.
Inside buildings you usually play with an isometric view,
exploring rich environments full of items and NPCs.
But not all dungeons are in first-person; some of the more
puzzle-intense ones are explored in isometric view.
You can build a party with up to six members.
Each party member has a predefined class and a specific
background related to the story, and every character has
an inventory which is limited by their strength, so you’ll
have to micromanage your items and provisions. Albion
features many different items, some with very unique
purposes. For example, you’ll only get an in-game time
display if you find a watch at some point in the game,
which is good for monitoring the day-and-night cycle
and the shops’ opening hours.
Battles are turn-based, very challenging and
take place in on a 5x6 grid. Combat is very tactical,
featuring a whopping 52 spells, and enemies are
quite clever - so be prepared. As long as one party
member survives you can heal the rest of the party
after battle. Strategic positioning of the characters on
the battlefield and tactical decisions like protecting
magic-users, getting the first attack by moving a
character relative to the enemy, luring enemies into
weapon/spell ranges etc. are critical to win.
When a monster reaches you, combat begins. It’s turn-based,
set on a 6x5 tactical grid and very challenging.
Albion has beautiful graphics, featuring a 2D/3D
hybrid system. When in most towns and dungeons
the game switches to a 3D first-person view, while in
interior locations and outdoor areas a 2D isometric
view is used. The controls are simple and easy to learn,
and the game includes a helpful automap feature.
With Albion, Blue Byte has created a fully
believable alien world including the fauna, flora and
architecture. Exploration is interesting, there are a
lot of NPCs to interact with and you’ll have to learn
their customs and culture to succeed. The storyline
is gripping with many surprises, and the whole game
features many different gameplay elements, with an
attention to detail rarely found elsewhere.
Albion is a beautiful, fascinating, serious and
entertaining game that I recommend to all CRPG-fans
that are patient and mature enough to understand and
enjoy demanding game mechanics and challenging
tactical combat.
Dsarii-ma, my friends! HX
215
Stonekeep
Interplay, 1995
MS-DOS
Stonekeep 2:
Godmaker was
in development
for years, but
got cancelled in
2001. The series
was revisited
in 2012 with
Stonekeep:
Bones of the
Ancestors for
the Wii, but
it was terribly
reviewed.
Combat is realtime,
but you
can pause to use
items. Eventually
you’ll be joined
by companions,
who help fight
automatically.
Although it
aged poorly, the
extensive use of
FMV was one
of Stonekeep’s
selling points and
took a big chunk
of its 5 million
dollars budget.
216
Stonekeep always makes me think of the
adventure films of the 1980s like Labyrinth and
The Neverending Story, mostly due to how filmlike
the game is. Drake, the young naive protagonist,
is thrust into a fantasy world to battle magical beasts,
joined by strange but loyal companions as he strives
to confront the Big Baddie and save the day. Shame
the game didn’t sport a synth-pop soundtrack or it
would be an all-time classic.
The FMV intro tells of a castle named Stonekeep
that is attacked by a great evil. Only Drake survives
and, as he returns years later to learn what happened,
he is set on an epic quest to save a pantheon of
gods from peril. Nothing new there really, except
everything in Stonekeep is about immersion. Video
replaces pixels, voice acting replaces text and even the
game’s interface is justified as being magical artefacts.
Speaking of magic, the game’s magic system is
quite ingenious. Basic rune-like symbols represent
different spells, but they can also be mixed with other
symbols to get neat upgrades, leading to a remarkably
flexible system. By comparison the combat system is
just “whack things with it to get better at it”-variety,
which gets the job done.
But Stonekeep’s strength doesn’t lie in its graphics
or game design, but in the characters you meet. Stout
dwarves, cowardly greenskins, creepy undead and
singing fairies are part of a wide cast of characters
with actual personalities that stick with you long after
you’ve stopped playing (especially the fairies). All
of this gives Stonekeep a somewhat light-humoured
atmosphere that still holds up today.
If this game has a flaw, then it is the fact that
beneath all that sparkle is just a simple grid-based
dungeon crawler, which feels restrictive and out
of style with the graphics. Another low point is the
uneven flow of the second half of the game, where
exposition is either dumped on the player in large
amounts, or scattered about so scarcely that it takes
effort to even find it, leaving players wondering where
they are or what they’re supposed to be doing.
Like those child-like adventure films of the
1980s, Stonekeep is no outstanding milestone, but its
innate charm and the rosy tint of nostalgia help make
it a fondly cherished game nevertheless. ÁV
Rogue Entertainment, 1996
MS-DOS
Strife:
Quest for the Sigil
ShadowCaster first attempted to blend FPS/RPG
elements back in 1993, and the following years
saw other hybrids such as Hexen, Witchaven,
System Shock and CyberMage. Yet, the game most
often remembered as “the first FPS/RPG” is Strife.
There’s a reason for that. Even the first minutes
of Strife feel very different. You start the game, fight a
couple of guards and then, instead of killing demons,
you walk into a peaceful town, with various shops, a
bar and some interactive NPCs throwing gossip.
You’re then contacted via radio by “Blackbird”,
who asks you to join The Front, an underground
resistance against the evil theocracy of The Order.
This isn’t just some throwaway backstory – you’ll
actually go to the rebel’s HQ and work with them.
Your first objective is to take over The Order’s base
in town. For that you’ll have to perform a few sabotage
missions and trade favours with other NPCs – all of
whom have charming voice acting and portraits. Once
the base’s defenses are down, you’ll attack it alongside
rebel troops, kill the enemy general and move your HQ
there! It’s a nice, satisfying pay-off.
After that, the town’s gate opens and you’re sent
to another location, to further battle the forces of The
Order. The world is hub-based, with the maps linking
together to form an overworld of sorts you can freely
explore, thought the main quest is mostly linear.
Some of your missions can also involve stealth,
meaning disguising yourself and only killing enemies
with a poisoned crossbow. As your quest advances
you’ll uncover more about The Order, learn about the
mythic Sigil and experience some great plot twists.
You’ll also gain access to new weapons and
upgrades, such as a grenade launcher or increased
accuracy stat. Just be sure to carefully manage your
money between health kits, armour and ammo.
Finally, while most of the dialogue options are
illusionary, there’s a choice about half the way into the
game that forks the game into two different routes,
each with different missions and endings.
Strife was the last game to use the Doom engine,
which was already heavily dated. But, while other FPS
focused on new 3D graphics, Strife instead presented
a new path for the genre, with memorable NPCs, an
early open world and a cool, branching story. FE
Strife was
re-released
in 2014 on
Steam as Strife:
Veteran Edition,
using an
engine based
on Chocolate
Doom. Many
improvements
were added,
and its source
code is freely
available.
Strife’s combat
isn’t the best
among Doom
clones, but it
presents some
great set-pieces
and fun weapons.
Dialogue
choices are
mostly pointless.
Here the first
choice begins
the main quest
line, the second
one kills you and
the third one
just ends the
dialogue.
217
Anvil of Dawn
DreamForge Intertainment, 1995
MS-DOS
Anvil of Dawn
got voted ‘RPG
of the Year’ by
CGW, but was
Dreamforge’s
last RPG. They
would still
publish a few
other titles,
such as the cult
adventure game
Sanitarium in
1998, before
closing down
in 2001.
Combat is rather
simple and does
not require much
more than clicking
your opponents
to death.
The interface is
mouse-driven and
intuitive, but the
inventory can get
confusing later
on, when carrying
dozens of items
and containers.
218
You begin Anvil of Dawn by choosing one of
five heroes who have gathered to bring down
the evil Warlord. However, while the other
four heroes are sent ahead to attack the invading army
head on, you are taken aside for a covert mission,
tasked to find the secret behind the Warlord’s power.
Anvil follows in the footsteps of Lands of Lore,
mixing a slick presentation with a more accessible
brand of real-time dungeon-crawling.
There are just four base attributes, and these can
only be tinkered with at the character selection screen.
To increase your powers further, you will have to find
items such as potions that permanently increase your
hit and spell points. You will also spend experience
points to increase the potency of your spells and the
damage of your weapon attacks. These experience
points are earned by inflicting damage, and may only
be spent once you have completed a dungeon.
Every NPC you meet is fully voiced and there’s
a unique voice set for each of the different player
characters as well. The delivery of said voices may not
always be very convincing, but at least the effort has
provided some good variety. James C. McMenamy has
created a great, dynamic (even sometimes bombastic)
soundtrack for the game, which is an impressive feat
considering its MIDI format.
The automap in Anvil of Dawn is one the game’s
strongest points, and it has many times been called
one of the best automaps in role-playing game history.
It shows anything you would want to see: monsters
(alive or dead), doors, stairs, interactive objects, and
much more. It even shows walls and outlines from
where you have explored in previous games. True map
aficionados can also print maps of the game’s massive
dungeons, or export them to text files.
Anvil of Dawn won the “RPG of the Year” award
from Computer Gaming World in 1996, trumping
over heavyweight releases like Might and Magic IV
and Stonekeep. It features fantastic aesthetics, great
exploration with varied environments and an almost
unparalleled automapping system.
It may not be a favourite among hardcore
dungeon dwellers due to its simplistic character
development, but I’d say it’s a great starting place for
anyone new to dungeon crawlers. ZE
Capcom, 1996
Windows, Arcade, PS3 and Xbox 360
Dungeons & Dragons:
Shadow over Mystara
Back in 1991, Capcom released King of Dragons,
a side-scrolling beat ‘em up arcade game. It
expanded the barbarian theme of Golden Axe
(1989) into a full-blown AD&D-like setting, allowing
up to three players to choose between a Fighter,
Dwarf, Elf, Cleric or Wizard and battle orcs, dragons,
gnolls and other fantasy creatures, as well as level up,
gaining more hit points, armour and damage.
While KoD was simplistic, Capcom invested in
the formula and released Dungeons & Dragons: Tower
of Doom in 1993. Now an official D&D title, it allowed
for up to four players and featured a Fighter, Cleric,
Elf and Dwarf battling against iconic creatures such
as Owlbears, Displacer Beasts and a Lich.
The gameplay was greatly improved, allowing
players to block, riposte, roll, dash, slide and perform
special attacks. The Elf and the Cleric could cast a
limited number of spells each life/continue/area, such
as Invisibility, Turn Undead, Hold Person and Magic
Missile, with more being learned as they level up.
Multiple items were available, such as throwing
daggers, +1 arrows, magical rings and power-ups like
the Boots of Speed or the Gauntlets of Ogre Power.
Players could spend the gold they collected in shops
between each area, and occasionally the party was
able to choose where they wanted to explore next.
Tower of Doom was already impressive, but its
sequel, Shadow over Mystara, improved the formula
in every way. New melee attacks were possible and
an inventory allowed you to equip different weapons,
armour and items. Two more heroes were added –
the Wizard is a glass cannon with powerful spells like
Meteor Swarm and Power Word Kill, while the Thief
is a nimble fighter, able to pick locked chests, disarm
traps and double-jump. Even the graphics are better,
as the new art assets sport a unique, stylised look.
Moreover, the game is packed with well-hidden
secrets. The Elf can guide the party through a forest
side-path, the Cleric can uncurse mysterious blades,
body parts of defeated monsters can be used to craft
equipment and so on. It’s a delightful game to explore.
Although they are beat ‘em ups, you can feel the
developer’s passion for RPGs. Both the D&D games
were ported to PCs as the Chronicles of Mystara bundle
in 2013 and are a must-play for arcade fans. FE
Using the
OpenBOR
engine, fans
created sequels
to SoM, such
as Knights and
Dragons and
D&D: The Rise
of Warduke –
two amazing
open-world
beat ‘em up
RPGs.
The inventory is a
great addition to
the beat ‘em up
formula, as you
hunt for hidden
equipment and
adapt yourself for
each challenge.
Each of the six
characters has an
alternate sprite set,
which comes with
different spells and
items, effectively
offering twelve
unique characters.
219
The Elder Scrolls II:
Daggerfall
Bethesda Softworks, 1996
MS-DOS
Since 2009
Bethesda made
Daggerfall
freely available
for download
on their
website, as
celebration
for the 15th
anniversary
of The Elder
Scrolls series.
Besides the
multiple armour
parts and
accessories,
Daggerfall also
offers hundreds
of clothing pieces,
so that you can
properly role-play
your Argonian
vampire noble.
220
Envisioned as a game where you can do anything
and never run out of quests and dungeons,
Daggerfall was the most ambitious sandbox
game ever conceived. Such projects often end up as
horrible disasters (vide Battlecruiser 3000AD), but
somehow Bethesda Softworks managed to pull it off,
even though the effort and dedication to this worthy
cause nearly bankrupted it, leading to its acquisition
by ZeniMax and re-examination of priorities.
Procedurally generated, Daggerfall features
a truly humongous world with over 15,000 towns
and dungeons, over 750,000 characters, and a large
number of guilds, temples, knightly and Templar
orders, witch covens, vampire bloodlines, werewolves,
and even wereboars (each with their own quests), all
tied together with a handcrafted non-linear main
quest with six different endings.
The game has a very detailed character system
and a robust skillset, supporting different ways to
handle obstacles and survive (climbing vs levitating,
medicine/swimming vs casting spells, raw damage vs
backstab and critical strike, etc.).
Even the character generator is overwhelmingly
complex by today’s standards, allowing you to create
unique characters with different advantages and
disadvantages (weakness in holy places, rapid healing
in the darkness, forbidden armour type, immunity to
magic, affinity with certain weapons, phobias, etc.).
Your level-up speed is tied to these strengths and
weakness, so you can make a juggernaut of destruction
who’d level up very, very slowly, a sickly warrior allergic
to sunlight and physical activity who’d level up twice
as fast, or any other combination of different traits and
curses – though some can play horribly.
Daggerfall did a lot of interesting things but if I
had to pick the best, it would be the dungeons: it made
you fear them. In most games a dungeon is a short
hallway with some rooms; if you’re lucky, there is a
lower level with another hallway. Not in Daggerfall.
You go into a dungeon, you don’t know when or IF
you’re coming back. You don’t know if your weapons
will last, if you have enough supplies, if you’re prepared
to deal with whatever you’ll find there. Emerging
from a dungeon alive was an accomplishment and
I can’t think of another game that managed to pull
that off. Certainly not Skyrim where on your way to a
quest dungeon you run into 3-4 lesser dungeons and
clear them out while you’re in the area.
The dungeons’ design is fantastic and skill-based
– walls and air shafts to climb, open areas to levitate,
pits to jump over, flooded areas to dive into, hidden
areas and doors, multiple routes, switches, elevators,
teleporters and so on.
Basically, Bethesda put together a very detailed
character system and built a procedurally generated
world around it, as opposed to putting together
a pretty game and throwing in some skills for the
player’s amusement.
“I think it’s pretty astonishing
how many things actually did make
it into Daggerfall. I mean, don’t
forget that turning into a vampire
and a werewolf and buying boats
and property and all that stuff
were essentially ‘easter eggs’ in the
game. We didn’t mention any of
that in the manual or in previews.
They were just things to reward the
player if he kept on playing.”
– Ted Peterson,
Daggerfall’s lead designer
The random quests deserve a special mention
as well. They were well-written and did a great job
supporting different characters and role-playing. For
example, a priest might ask you to protect his temple
against thieves coming to rob it, or to travel to some
village and cast an elaborate healing spell on a sick
person or investigate divine manifestations. While
not very complex, such quests were infinitely more
engaging than “kill 5 wolves”.
In addition, Daggerfall had a superb atmosphere
(just go out at night to enjoy delightful MIDI
music, occasionally interrupted by the slain king’s
ghost screaming “Vengeaaaance!”), tons of spells, a
detailed spell-making and enchantment system with
advantages and disadvantages, horses to ride, carriages
to haul all that loot after a busy week in a dungeon,
houses and ships to buy, lycanthropy, vampirism,
banking, Daedra princes to summon in exchange for
legendary artefacts, a truckload of monsters, etc.
Despite its flaws (mainly, bugs and the inevitably
repetitive nature of procedurally generated games),
Daggerfall remains an impressive achievement in
game design and complexity, standing next to the
other notable and unsurpassed games of that era like
Darklands, Ultima Underworld and Realms of Arkania.
Considering that a game of such depth and
complexity will never be made again, I’d suggest you
grab DOSBox and see what games were like in the
olden days when giants were upon the earth. VD
Useful Files and Mods:
Ancestral Ghost’s Daggerfall Setup: Installs the game,
applies patches and fan-made quest packs, increases the
game’s draw distance and configures DOSBox to best
run the game. Highly recommended.
Daedrafall: An interesting mod that allows you to
play as a Daedra who kills the game’s original hero.
The dialogue system
allows you to ask
anyone about several
topics using three
different tones.
NPCs also react to
your reputation,
level, guild and race.
Currently
there are two
projects aiming
to remake
Daggerfall
– DaggerXL and
Daggerfall Unity.
Both seek to
port the game
into a new
engine, allowing
better graphics,
new features
and greater
mod support.
Even with the 3D map, finding your way out of a massive
dungeon can be a nightmare. A teleport spell sure helps.
Be prepared: some enemies have spells and resistances
that can single-handedly neutralise your tactics.
221
Diablo
The history
of Diablo
is explored
in the Stay
Awhile and
Listen book,
published in
2013 by David
L. Craddock.
“Stay a while
and listen” says
Deckard Cain,
one of the most
recognised NPCs
in gaming. He’ll
tell you tales and
identify items,
but will charge
you for that.
222
“
Blizzard North, 1996
Windows, Mac and PS1
Ahh, fresh meat.” Those now immortal words
of Diablo’s infamous first real antagonist, the
Butcher, give an apt foreshadowing of what
is to come. Diablo and its sequels are like a butcher’s
meat grinder. A haunting experience where players
find themselves faced with a never-ending onslaught
of ungodly creatures. Your journey concluding by
facing down the ultimate evil himself: Diablo.
A player’s journey in Diablo starts off with the
choosing of a character class and a name. Each class
has attributes pre-allocated and a special skill. The
Warrior specialises in melee weaponry and repair.
Archery and trap-disarming are handled by the
Rogue. Finally, the Sorcerer specialises in powerful
spells and the ability to charge magical staves.
Further abilities however are not locked into your
class selection – new skills and spells are acquired by
finding or buying arcane tomes and can be learned by
any class – as long as they have the required attributes.
Classes also have assigned speeds of attack, casting,
and blocking. Great depth in customisation wouldn’t
come until Diablo II.
Diablo excels at world-building. Tristram is a
quaint little gothic town whose church sits on top of a
mysterious labyrinth. Each new game has a randomly
generated dungeon where the adventure takes place.
But your first experience isn’t killing monsters
or grabbing items. It’s the serene sounds of one of
the single best tracks in gaming history. Strong voice
acting and nuanced dialogue introduces you to the
world in Diablo. Each of Tristram’s cast tells a part of
the story through quality voiced dialogue in addition
to their gameplay functions.
The cast of characters, music, and gothic-styled
art of the town creates an atmosphere where the player
always wants to learn more. As you delve deeper into
the dungeon you’ll find books detailing past events
such as the possession of the prince, the King’s
subsequent madness, or details on unique quests. The
plot itself fails to live up to such great world-building
as your mission is laser-focused on ridding the town
of evil and defeating Diablo.
Diablo’s core gameplay is built on an addictive
foundation of killing monsters, levelling up, finding
items, and doing this over and over again. This
gameplay loop became so popular that it spawned an
entire sub-genre known as “Diablo clones”.
Killing monsters is simple. Left-click to attack,
right-click to use spells, and press the numbered keys
to consume potions in the hot bar. Monsters comes in
various shapes and forms – including colour palette
swaps – and occasionally you’ll also encounter unique
fiends that come with special abilities and resistances.
Experience gained from killing these monsters
eventually leads to a level-up where you can allocate
five points to Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, or Magic.
Each of these affect derived statistics like damage,
chance to hit, life, and mana.
“Originally, Diablo was a turn-based
game. It was largely modelled
around a roguelike game called
Angband. [...] A bit into the
development, the idea of turning
Diablo into a real-time game started
whispering around the office.
I resisted for a while, but eventually
I decided to give it a try, and I
remember it like it was yesterday.
I spent the day converting the code
to real-time, and the first time
I pressed the mouse button, the
warrior walked over and smashed
a skeleton apart in a smooth and
satisfying motion.”
– David Brevik,
Diablo’s lead programmer
What makes this loop fun is the item system.
Each item you find will be randomly generated from a
preset pool of qualities. Regular items have no special
properties; just a damage or armour rating. Magical
items combine a prefix and suffix attribute which
provide various bonuses to your character. It could
be faster attack speed, additional character stats, or
even curses. And Unique items are extremely rare and
powerful. Diablo captures players with the constant
promise of a better item just around the corner,
maybe in the next chest or enemy, driving you to keep
fighting monsters till the early hours of the morning.
Together with Diablo, Blizzard also launched the
Battle.net service, where you could play competitively
or cooperatively online. The big downside was the
rampant cheating, as Blizzard did not police hacks
and exploits much. This alienated some from online
play, so the company was much fiercer in enforcing
anti-cheating measures on future titles.
In 1997, Diablo got an expansion called Hellfire.
It brought some welcome convenience features like
the ability to move faster in town. Oddly, Hellfire was
not developed by the same team or even company,
so it lacks the same consistent quality as the base
game. Still, extra content in the way of a new class –
the Monk –, item upgrades and quests make Hellfire
worthwhile for Diablo veterans, and some features
would eventually work their way into Diablo II.
Not many RPGs succeed in minimalism like
Diablo. The game world is not to be missed and the
seminal loot system provides limitless replay value.
There’s always another item to find, another monster
to kill and a new gothic labyrinth to navigate. SD
Mods:
Belzebub: aka Diablo HD, it adds widescreen support
and extensive gameplay changes, such as rebalanced
classes and features from Diablo II.
Diablo Awake: Adds new monsters/bosses, spells,
quests, and items, plus bug fixes and gameplay tweaks.
The Hell: Claiming to be the hardest of all Diablo mods,
it adds new classes, items and over 500 named monsters.
The Rogue faces
the macabre
Butcher, one of
Diablo’s unique
boss enemies. His
room is covered
in blood, full of
mutilated corpses
that didn’t exactly
please parents.
The Hellfire
expansion
added the
Monk class,
but the disc
also contained
two unfinished
classes – the
Barbarian and
the Bard. Both
can be played
by editing the
game’s files.
The small grid-based inventory forces players to go
back to town frequently, for a brief moment of respite.
The Belzebub mod also adds content that was cut
from the game, such as the Butcher’s Chambers.
223
Birthright:
The Gorgon’s Alliance
Synergistic Software, 1996
Windows
The Birthright
campaign
setting was
released in
1995, designed
by Rich Baker
and Colin
McComb. It was
built around
the concept
of bloodlines
having divine
powers that
help heroes to
rule kingdoms.
The army battles
are very limited.
Even Wizards
and Clerics
don’t do much
besides casting
damage spells.
The strategy
segment is the
saving grace of
Birthright. You
can choose to
play with all the
complex rules and
features or in an
easier, lite version.
224
Birthright: The Gorgon’s Alliance is an ambitious
hybrid game based on the obscure Birthright
AD&D campaign setting. The game consists of
three distinct segments: the main strategy map where
you control your kingdom, real-time battles between
armies and a dungeon-crawling “adventure mode”.
While marketing focused on the battles and RPG
elements, those were by far the most disappointing
aspects of Birthright and doomed it to being forgotten.
The biggest and most important part of the game
is the grand strategy map, where you’ll choose one of
18 available kingdoms and lead it to victory against
the Gorgon invasion. This part is actually very well
done and complex, as you get various options such as
building fortifications, casting global magic, building
trade routes and conducting espionage, allowing the
player to choose his own playstyle.
When armies clash, you go to the rather limited
battle segment. You can field only a small part of your
army, leaving the rest in reserve to replace damaged
units. And both sides can only move units in a small
5x3 grid, which leaves little room for any real tactics.
In the adventure segments, your regent and his
lieutenants go delving in dungeons after relics in a
3D first-person blobber. Mechanic-wise this part is
rather shallow – despite using the AD&D ruleset, you
are limited to premade heroes and can’t customise
them much. The combat itself can be played in either
real-time or turn-based mode, but both are poorly
done. They are also confusing, thanks to a “cinematic”
camera that pans out to show the characters fighting,
which often results in said camera getting stuck. The
redeeming part is the level design, as maps are filled
with secrets that are quite rewarding to find.
Birthright also offers multiple paths to victory,
tough conquest, diplomacy, economy, magic and/or
acquiring relics. Everything you and other regents do
generates victory points and every few turns the game
shows the progress of all factions.
It’s easy to see why this game was both a
commercial and a critical failure – the adventures
are frustrating, battles are underwhelming and the
strategy part is overwhelming. As such, those looking
for an RPG should stay away, but strategy fans might
find Birthright worth playing. MV
An Elder
Scrolls Legend:
Battlespire
Bethesda Softworks, 1997
MS-DOS
The Battlespire is a training centre for aspiring
Imperial Battlemages, built into a secret corner
of the Daedric realm of Oblivion. When you
enter the premises to take your final test, you discover
that the academy has been taken over by Daedric
invaders! Now a seal blocks the portal you entered by,
it looks like your only way out of this nightmare is
through battle.
Originally planned as an add-on to Daggerfall,
Battlespire was published as a stand-alone game.
All the action takes place in the seven levels of the
Battlespire and the regions of Oblivion intertwined
with it. The character and class creation system is
classic Elder Scrolls, even if only six player races made
the cut. Also missing are the rest: function, gold and
shops. But it’s not as if sleep was a good idea, anyway,
with all those Daedric minions breathing down your
neck. And if you need more equipment, find it on–
site or take it off dead bodies. By the way, loot is the
only randomised instance in Battlespire: Unlike the
Daggerfall dungeons, the complex maps here are
entirely handcrafted, so you won’t end up starving in
a misbuilt labyrinth.
No, you’ll pretty likely die in combat instead.
Enemies in the Battlespire are a lot tougher than
those you encountered in Daggerfall. You need to
outmanoeuvre hostiles if you want to survive. Now,
don’t get me wrong: Battlespire may be more actionoriented
and linear than Daggerfall, but it’s not all about
bloodshed. You’ll have plenty of opportunity to get to
know the invaders and make allies. Yes, you read that
right: allies. Not all Daedra are evil, nor does everyone
agree with Mehrunes Dagon’s plans of conquest. While
you can get far by being impolite or just resorting to
violence, you would be a fool to not take advantage of
all the political intrigue going on.
Furthermore, Battlespire adds to and draws on
established Elder Scrolls lore. Enjoyed Oblivion and
want to learn more about the Daedric realm, Mehrunes
Dagon and his infighting court? Play Battlespire!
My only gripe are the bugs. While it’s not the
bugfest Daggerfall was, some might force you to start
levels all over again, so be sure to patch it. But don’t
you dare ignore this fun and demanding game just because
of this. The scheming, the voice acting and the
dialogue options are too brilliant to miss out on. NS
After Battlespire
Bethesda
released another
spin-off: The
Elder Scrolls
Adventures:
Redguard, a 3D
action-adventure
game. Warmly
received, the
game’s most
memorable
feature was its
black protagonist.
Combat is similar
to Daggerfall,
with the mouse
movement
controlling the
weapons’ attacks.
You can pick a
pre-made class or
create your own,
customising stats,
advantages and
disadvantages,
as well as buying
your starting
equipment,
items and spells.
225
Fallout
A Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game
Interplay, 1997
Windows, MS-DOS and Mac
Fallout had a
very rough
development,
filled with
cancellation
threats and a
lot of work
being done by
developers in
their spare time.
After Diablo’s
success they
were heavily
pressured to turn
the game into
a real-time
multiplayer RPG.
Combat is turnbased
and uses
action points, a
simplified version
of X-COM’s Time
Units. The game
allows you to aim
shots at specific
body parts of
enemies to blind
or cripple them.
226
It’s very difficult to convey just how important the
first Fallout was to CRPGs. Not only because now
most people associate the series with Bethesda’s
open-world games, but mainly because its influence
is so widespread that it became almost invisible.
The JRPGs, RTS and FPS genres were booming
back in 1997, but CRPGs were practically dead. Diablo
had been a big hit, but the genre was otherwise stale –
most games were Tolkien-esque heroic fantasies where
you made a character/party and went out exploring
dungeons and killing stuff. They were combat-focused,
extremely linear and usually poorly written.
Fallout changed everything. A spiritual successor
to Wasteland (1988), it’s post-apocalyptic, packed with
dark humour and presented in a retro-futuristic style,
spiced with ironic optimism based on 1950s America.
You play as a citizen of an underground vault,
who must leave this sheltered life and venture into
the radioactive wasteland in search of a Water Chip.
Fallout offers a large, non-linear open world full of
perils, but is not an RPG about raiding dungeons –
most of your time will be spent in the few surviving
towns, dealing with man’s biggest foe: other man.
It must be said that Fallout excels at atmosphere
and world-building. Everything follows a coherent
internal logic, the soundtrack is foreboding and the
writers knew just how to build up tension, e.g. the way
the Deathclaw is introduced – first in wild rumours,
then slowly coming to the forefront – is outstanding.
However, what defines the game is the amount
(and quality) of role-playing options. Fallout wasn’t
the first RPG with choices, but it was the first entirely
designed around them. The developer’s goal was that
every quest should be solvable in at least three ways:
combat, dialogue or stealth. And they succeeded.
A simple side-quest such as Raiders kidnapping
a girl has multiple approaches: you can kill everyone,
talk them down or sneak in and lock-pick the girl’s
cell door. That would already be impressive even by
modern standards (and it’s far more than Bethesda
now offers), but Fallout goes further. You can also
trade for the girl, blow her cell, ignore her and join the
Raiders, challenge their leader to a fist fight, or even
disguise yourself as their previous leader.
Every time you play you’ll find new solutions.
And the designers were not afraid of letting you skip
content – why battle dozens of giant scorpions when
you can just blow up their cave’s entrance instead?
Behind all this is the game’s robust character
system. Fallout was initially going to be based on
GURPS, a popular and flexible tabletop RPG system,
but the game’s violence led to the license’s owner later
refusing the deal. The designers then had to quickly
create their own ruleset: the SPECIAL system.
Based around seven stats and 18 skills ranging
from Small Weapons to Sneak, Repair and Speech, it
offers an amazing range of role-playing options. This,
combined with the multiple solutions to each quest,
means you can truly play however you want.
“GURPS was another huge
influence on me. With its generic
system that allowed any setting to
be used, I could finally make up any
adventure story and it would work.
Science fiction stories set in space,
superhero adventures, a psionic
system that was balanced... GURPS
opened my eyes to the world of
adventure beyond the realm of
fantasy.”
– Tim Cain,
Producer, designer and
lead programmer of Fallout
In Fallout it’s perfectly possible to play a pacifist,
talking your way out of conflicts and finishing the
game without killing anyone – even the “big bad” is
reasonable. Or you can do the exact opposite and kill
everyone. Or how about playing as a character with
intelligence so low that he can’t even speak properly?
The game reacts to all that in meaningful ways,
including the now-famous ending slides that show the
consequences of your actions. Your first playthrough
won’t last more than 20 hours, as the game is short and
has a time limit, but you can easily spend hundreds of
hours replaying it to try new characters and paths.
Sadly, Fallout isn’t perfect. Combat can be quite
satisfying thanks to the excellent animations, fast UI
and great sound design, but it also lacks in depth and
is quite unbalanced: critical hits are far too powerful.
There’s also some minor annoyances, like how the AI
companions you can recruit are ridiculously stupid.
The sequel, Fallout 2 (1998), would improve on
these and add much more content and polish, making
it, for some fans, the best game of the series. However,
the original game will always remain this concise and
expertly crafted experience that should be played by
every RPG fan. And then replayed, over and over.
Fallout carved a new path for CRPGs, pushing
the concept of “choice and consequence” deep into
the modern rendition of the genre. But, to this day,
very few games reached the impressive standards that
Fallout has set over 20 years ago. FE
Mods:
Fallout Fixt: An excellent mod pack with the best
patches and mods in a customisable installation.
High-Resolution Patch: Unlocks higher resolutions.
Not recommended, as it can spoil some moments.
Depending on
your stats, items
and skills, new
dialogue options
may appear,
but they aren’t
marked. You’ll
have to read
everything and
decide which
answer is better.
The first release
of Fallout had a
time limit which
changed with
your actions.
Due to negative
feedback, the
1.1 patch greatly
extended the
limit, but the
Fallout Fixt
mod can revert
it back to the
original.
You’ll travel across the wasteland through the world map,
trying to uncover new areas and avoid random battles.
Fallout introduced ideas like choosing a Perk every few
levels, which D&D 3rd Edition later mimicked with Feats.
227
Lands of Lore II:
Guardians of Destiny
Westwood Studios, 1997
Windows and MS-DOS
Westwood
Studios was sold
to EA in 1998,
and in 1999 they
released Lands
of Lore III. The
worst game in
the series, it
was universally
bashed for its
outdated 3D
graphics and
bland gameplay.
Sometimes
transformations
will happen at the
worst possible
time, turning
you into a small,
fragile reptile right
next to an angry
skeleton.
The game never
explicitly tells you
this, but it offers a
few alternatives,
such as killing the
King and stealing
his treasure,
instead of trying to
persuade him.
228
Westwood Studios had a strong tradition in
2D art, creating some impressive artwork
in Eye of the Beholder and Lands of Lore.
But the 3D craze and the popularity of the FMV scenes
in Command & Conquer clearly changed something,
and so Guardians of Destiny came as a 3D title, with
real actors, full voice acting and many pre-rendered
cutscenes – enough to fill four CDs. Despite the effort,
time wouldn’t be gentle, and the game’s graphics have
aged far worse than those of its predecessor.
Guardians of Destiny puts you in control of
Luther, son of Scotia – the evil witch defeated in
Lands of Lore. However, Luther isn’t a villain in search
of revenge, but rather a wisecracking reluctant hero,
who must find a cure for the ancient curse he bears.
This curse causes Luther to randomly (yes, it
might happen at any time) transform into a tiny
lizard – that can pass through small openings and cast
powerful spells – or into a huge beast, strong and able
to move large objects. Apart from that, however, the
gameplay is very simple. There are no party members,
no classes to choose from, level-ups are automatic and
the real-time combat usually boils down to clicking
the Attack and Magic buttons as fast as possible.
Luckily, combat and stats aren’t the focus of
the game. Guardians of Destiny features a design
that clearly favours exploration instead of combat,
with its well-designed levels populated by just a few
enemies. Instead of monsters, the areas in the game
are filled with alternative paths, for each of your
transformations, and secrets – not only a few hidden
rooms and treasures, but entire levels, items, spells
and even lore-related cutscenes that players might
not see. There are also various interactions with the
environment, such as stacking boxes to climb a ledge,
igniting oil or destroying pillars to cause a cave-in.
Better yet, the game features two paths – a good
and an evil one – each offering a few unique events
and endings. There are no dialogue choices in-game,
everything is made through direct interactions, such
as killing NPCs or using/destroying key objects.
These fine details remind you that Guardians of
Destiny was made by Westwood Studios, long-time
veterans of the genre. While it may look cheesy, it’s still
a charming RPG, with a charismatic main character,
great level design and many secrets to uncover. FE
Interplay, 1997
MS-DOS
Descent to
Undermountain
Back in the mid-90s, Interplay’s internal teams
were working on two CRPGs: their big bet was
the eagerly awaited Descent to Undermountain,
while the other was a side-project named Fallout.
This may sound weird today, so some context is
needed. Interplay scored a hit in 1994 by publishing
Descent, a 3D zero-gravity FPS were you controlled a
spaceship and could move in any direction. Around
the same time, the company bought the license to
make games based on AD&D, and thus a bold idea
was born: a fully 3D Dungeons & Dragons multiplayer
dungeon crawler based on the Descent engine!
While a clever business decision, the technical
side was a disaster. Unfamiliar with the engine, the team
struggled and the game was delayed for years, then
suddenly rushed out for 1997’s Christmas – without
multiplayer (which was still listed on the box). Worse,
it was practically unplayable, with constant crashes,
slowdowns, enemies floating in mid-air, a brain-dead
AI, unclimbable ladders and many other serious bugs.
Even if you got the game to work, combat was a
mess. The AD&D rules were crudely adapted into a
real-time Action RPG, as monsters and the player just
keep missing each other until someone scores a lucky
dice roll – in which case a single blow can kill your
character during the first several hours.
Similarly, you can play as a Fighter, Cleric, Thief
or Mage (or even multi-class) – with iconic spells like
Fireball, Invisibility and Feather Fall. But until you
level up a few times, you’re limited to one spell per
day. After that, your options are to battle monsters
with a dagger or to find a (rare) safe place to rest.
There isn’t much enemy or environment variety,
but at least the setting and lore are both well employed,
with Undermountain, a massive dungeon beneath the
city of Waterdeep, being a great location for a CRPG.
Composed of four hubs and several interconnected
dungeons, Undermountain is filled with traps, hidden
passages, optional areas, a great soundtrack and NPCs
with unusual quests and dialogues. The dungeons are
also well-done, although too reliant on illusory walls.
Sadly, any quality to Descent to Undermountain is
buried deep beneath a barely working engine, gamebreaking
bugs, muddy graphics, tedious combat and
many unfulfilled promises. FE
Combat is
real-time, dull
and mostly
luck-based, as
enemies can kill
you in one or
two hits – if they
can roll past your
Armour class.
Your main
quest comes
from Khelben
Blackstaff in
Waterdeep,
but you’ll find
many creatures
inside dungeons
asking for help or
offering rewards.
229
Final Fantasy VII
Squaresoft, 1997
Windows and PS1
Final Fantasy
VII was one of
the first JRPGs
to be ported
to Windows. It
was released by
Eidos in 1998 and
became infamous
for making odd
changes, such as
using low-quality
MIDI music and
adding mouths
to the in-game
models. Most of
these were fixed
in the 2012
re-release.
Combat follows
the traditional
Final Fantasy
formula, called
Active Time
Battle. The big
change was the
3D graphics,
which were
impressive at
the time.
230
Over twenty years since its original release,
Final Fantasy VII remains the most popular
entry in a very popular series. The game was
a breakthrough hit, and maintains a broad fan base
even today. In its own time, it was the console RPG for
people who didn’t play console RPGs, much the same
way that the novels of George R.R. Martin became the
fantasy novels for people who don’t read that genre.
(Indeed, the game was so popular that Squaresoft
later commissioned an extremely rare PC port, which
explains its inclusion in this book.)
In short, Final Fantasy VII was a cultural
phenomenon around the world, and Squaresoft (now
Square Enix) has never enjoyed the same measure of
cultural penetration since.
In a sense, Final Fantasy VII deserves its special
reputation, because it is unique in many ways. These
days, dramatic stories and high-res cutscenes are
ubiquitous in mainstream games. Moreover, many
of those games are preceded by multi-million-dollar
marketing campaigns. But, in 1997, FFVII was a
pioneer in both of those things, and few people had
ever seen anything like it.
FFVII also takes the sword-and-sorcery tropes
for which RPGs were famous and replaces them with
a futuristic dystopia. (It was hardly the first RPG to do
this, but the console audience had yet to encounter
games like Fallout). Gone are the wizards, knights and
rogues of traditional RPGs. Instead, the player meets
an aloof mercenary, an eco-terrorist, a bartender, a
research specimen, an aviator, a vampire, a remotecontrolled
toy, and the world’s last ninja.
The player’s party doesn’t fight against an evil
empire either, but rather against a globe-spanning
corporation with its own private army. The world is
well-rendered, highly detailed, and deeply memorable.
Years later, players of all tastes still find the gigantic
metropolis of Midgar to be one of the most compelling
settings they’ve encountered in a game.
In another sense, FFVII is not as remarkable
as its reputation suggests, but instead is a direct
continuation of trends which the series had been
developing for years. Starting in Final Fantasy V,
the series designers began to deprecate the role of
traditional RPG job classes. This trend continues in
FFVII, in which the statistical differences between
characters were so small as to be imperceptible,
except to master-level players. Only one character has
a discernible job class – Aeris, who is clearly a white
Mage – and her fate in the game can be taken as a
kind of embedded critique of the meaningfulness of
job classes in story-heavy RPGs.
But why does Final Fantasy VII get rid of
character classes? By abandoning the tactical aspect of
party composition, it allows the player to use whatever
combination of characters he or she liked for storyrelated
reasons. If the player thinks Cid is funny, that
Red XIII is cute, or that Vincent is cool – well, they can
bring those characters to any fight in the game!
“When a character in a video
game dies, no one thinks it’s that
sad. They’re just characters in a
game, after all — you can just reset
the game and try again, or you can
always revive them somehow. I felt
that their lives just didn’t have much
weight. With ‘life’ as our theme
for FFVII, I thought we should try
depicting a character who really dies
for good, who can’t come back. For
that death to resonate, it needed to
be an important character.”
– Tetsuya Nomura,
FFVII’s character director
While the
character models
during combat
and cutscenes
were somewhat
realistic, outside
combat you
control simple,
stylised characters
over pre-rendered
backgrounds.
Tactical considerations always take a back seat,
because storytelling was the primary concern of the
developers. This is also the reason why the main quest
is notoriously easy. Aside from two or three difficult
bosses, the game presents few mandatory challenges.
They did not want to alienate a core audience that was
playing for the story and characters.
Like everything else in the game, FFVII’s story
is remarkable in one sense, and in another sense
it is completely normal for the series. As usual, an
unlikely group of heroes bands together to save the
world from a homicidal maniac. The real magic
of the story is in how the characters react to their
circumstances. Nearly all of the important characters
in the game, including the antagonist, are survivors
who have outlived the people, places and ideas that
once defined them. The characters’ maturely written
internal struggles make the grandiose plot relevant to
an audience that might otherwise have outgrown it.
Final Fantasy VII remains a fun game to play,
as well. Although the main quest is easy and only
replayable for its best story moments, the endgame
is still quite engaging. To deliver a complex set of
challenges without interfering with the story, most of
the really interesting content is pushed towards the
end of the game. All of FFVII’s most idiosyncratic
features (like Chocobo breeding and complex Materia
setups) only become available to the player after the
30-hour mark.
Overall, Final Fantasy VII is an excellent example
of the subgenre retrospectively called the “JRPG.”
Enthusiasts of traditional PC or tabletop RPGs
should be aware that linear storytelling is the primary
concern, and the traditional moral and tactical choices
are either omitted or relocated to places they might
not expect them. But, if we assess it in the context of
what it aims to accomplish, Final Fantasy VII remains
an artistic triumph. PNH
Several mods
were made for
the PC port,
improving the
graphics, UI and
music quality,
as well as
increasing
the difficulty.
Tifa’s Bootleg
is a handy
mod manager
that lists the
improvements
available and
allows you to
choose which
to install.
The character system is based on equipping Materia,
which provides stat bonus, skills, spells and summons.
Final Fantasy VII features over 40 minutes of pre-rendered
cutscenes, something unheard of at the time.
231
Betrayal in
Antara
Sierra On-Line, 1997
Windows
Antara’s combat
is slow, often
challenging and
way too frequent.
Dispatching
the armies of
enemies blocking
your path
you take gets
repetitive fast.
Characters’ skills
increase only by
studying. You
can select up
to five skills to
be studied at
once, and set
the percentage
of time they will
spend on each.
232
Betrayal at Krondor was a big hit back in 1993,
so it was expected that a sequel would follow
shortly. Especially since the game took place
in Raymond E. Feist’s world of Midkemia, a popular
fantasy setting explored in over 20 novels.
A direct sequel by Dynamix was indeed in the
works, titled Thief of Dreams, but a dispute between
the developers and Sierra, their parent company, saw
the game cancelled and the licence lost in 1994.
Later regretting this outcome, Sierra then made
Betrayal in Antara, a “spiritual successor” (yes, decades
before Kickstarter), re-using Krondor’s engine in a
new setting. The core gameplay is exactly the same: a
party of three heroes travels across the world in a firstperson
view, fighting enemies in simple turn-based
battles and dealing with the occasional puzzles, sidequests
and overly talkative NPCs along the way.
However, not only was the setting was changed – the
developers, writing and tone are also entirely different.
Instead of emulating a novel with multiple playable
characters, Antara is closer to a 90s’ Saturday morning
cartoon, as three clichéd teenagers – the rich, bold hero,
the insecure wizard and “the girl” – band together to
investigate a mystery, deal with stubborn grown-ups,
spout witty lines and ultimately save the kingdom.
That could still be fun, if not for how crude the
game itself is. While every element in Krondor worked
together to form an engaging narrative, Antara feels
barely glued together. The world is – and plays as – a
bunch of towns with short linear paths between them,
that one could cross in seconds if not for enemies
blocking the road every five steps. Most of the game
is spent in these filler battles, only so you can reach
the next generic town and complete some of the laziest
“go there, fetch this” quests in gaming that will have
you aimlessly roaming the map for hours.
Even the underwhelming graphics heighten the
barrenness of the world. While the hand-drawn art is
charming, the aged engine can render only very limited
3D landscapes and muted, heavily dithered colours.
Overall, Betrayal in Antara is a simple game about
following paths between towns, battling foes and then
watching a badly voiced teenage cartoon adventure.
Unless you’re really starved for more of Betrayal at
Krondor’s gameplay, I’d suggest skipping this one. FE
Return to
Krondor
PyroTechnix, 1998
Windows
After the cancellation of the original sequel to
Betrayal at Krondor – Thief of Dreams – the
PyroTechnix studio acquired the Midkemia
setting’s licence and began working with its author,
Raymond E. Feist, on a new game – Return to Krondor.
In an ironic twist of fate, PyroTechnix’s parent
company sold the studio to Sierra, who then published
the game as the official sequel to Betrayal at Krondor,
less than a year after publishing their own “spiritual
successor” to that game, Betrayal in Antara.
To add to the confusion, Return to Krondor has
little in common with Betrayal besides the setting. A
fully voiced third-person 3D point-and-click game
mostly set inside a single city, it feels like an Adventure/
RPG hybrid. It offers some investigative quests with
multiple solutions and a few fun puzzles, but the overall
gameplay is linear and strict, with rare side-quests,
optional areas or character customisation options.
As the squire/reformed thief Jimmy “the Hand”
(a returning character from Betrayal at Krondor), you
must investigate a dangerous man who’s been raiding
the city of Krondor in search of a lost artefact. The
story spans 11 chapters of varying length, with a cast
of five heroes that come and go with the plot.
The combat is still turn-based, but was expanded
with (poorly explained) features such as battle stances,
full/half actions, quick casting, attacks of opportunity,
weight penalties and random “fate” bonus each round.
Most characters die in 2-3 hits, meaning having the
initiative often decides the outcome of the battle.
The graphics follow the Resident Evil formula of
pre-rendered backgrounds with fixed camera angles.
Unfortunately, it often uses disorienting or distant
cameras that make it difficult to see what’s happening.
The UI is also disappointing, featuring overdesigned
visuals but poor usability, especially in combat.
If you come to Return to Krondor expecting
a sequel to Betrayal at Krondor, you will be greatly
disappointed. The story penned by Raymond E. Feist
is good, but – like the game itself – it’s also short,
linear and unambitious, save for a few highlights.
Still, those willing to set the game’s heritage aside
and take Return to Krondor for what it is – a simple
yet charming story-driven RPG with a great combat
system on top – will likely have a good time. FE
Raymond E. Feist
adapted Return to
Krondor’s plot into
a novel, named
Krondor: Tear of
the Gods. The
ending teases a
sequel, but Sierra
had economical
difficulties in 1999
and never made it.
The combat is
the best in the
series, with
several tactical
options and small
nuances, even if
impaired by the
lacklustre UI.
The game’s
heroes all have
strict classes
and there isn’t
much equipment
variety, so
don’t expect a
deep character
customisation.
233
Rage of
Mages
Nival Entertainment, 1998
Windows
In both Rage of
Mages 1 and 2
you can change
the resolution
by editing its
shortcut. If you
add “ -1024”
at the end of
the shortcut’s
“target” field,
the game will
run in 1024x768.
Wizards have five
magic schools:
Fire, Water, Air,
Earth and Astral.
They increase as
you use them,
but you’ll only
learn new spells
by buying books.
234
Before CDProjekt could sell millions with AAA
games, back when the Polish company was just
known for adapting Black Isle and BioWare
classics to its domestic market, there was a time when
Eastern European developers lived in the obscurity of
low budget “shovelware” titles.
One of those studios was Mir Dialogue. Founded
in 1996, it became one of the first game developers
of the modern capitalist Russia. Soon the company
became Nival, and its first game was an RTS/RPG
hybrid called Allods: The Seal of Mystery – best known
outside Russia as Rage of Mages.
You start the game by creating your character,
which here just means choosing between the Wizard
and Warrior class, then your name, gender and main
skill. There are also four stats you can slightly alter,
but they play a very small role.
There are no levels in Rage of Mages; your power
is mainly defined by your equipment and skill level
in five specialisations – Magic Schools for wizards,
Weapons for warriors. As in the Elder Scrolls games,
you improve these skills by simply using particular
weapons or spells.
In practice, however, choosing your character at
the start is barely relevant. You will play with the four
heroes (male/female Warrior and male/female Wizard)
anyways, since the other three characters will appear
later in the game and join you.
Your adventure starts in a swamp and you have
to escort a woman to a nearby village. This basically
means killing everyone in your way and not dying
until you reach a certain point of the map. Then you
achieve victory and go to the next map.
The maps are what anyone could expect from a
90s RTS; rectangles of undiscovered territory hidden
by the fog of war. It has a graphic style reminiscent of
a less cartoony Warcraft II, with more varied terrain,
weather changes and a day-and-night cycle.
You’ll eventually reach the city of Plagat, a greatly
presented menu where you can buy equipment, talk
with NPCs and companions, hire mercenaries, train
you characters and start more missions.
As you start to hire more units, you’ll truly notice
the hybrid nature of the game. There’s no resource
management, base-building or unit-producing, but
the basic and most important mechanic of the game is
the micromanagement of units. It even has functions
like assigning keyboard numbers to different groups of
troops – though formations are sadly missing.
In every map you have some objectives to
accomplish, usually killing some particular monsters or
reaching a certain part of the map. There’s no indications
or marks on the map so exploration is necessary, which
may lead to additional battles or hidden items.
You move your units, fight the enemies, usually
using a lot of hit-and-run tactics, (don’t feel guilty about
it, enemies use it too) and little else. You have to be fast
and skilled enough with your mouse since the game is
hard and there’s no way to pause and issue orders.
“[...] People had already begun
to form stereotypes of genres, and
each player saw (and played) the
game through those stereotypes.
So, strategy gamers played it as a
strategy game, and, of course, it
lacked some elements that had
come to be considered standard for
the genre – the same happened to
RPG players. In the end, we weren’t
able to convince the hardcore fans
of either genre that the mix worked,
instead catching a smaller group in
between.”
– Serge Orlovsky,
Nival Entertainment’s CEO
The four main
characters can
improve their skills
and change their
equipment, but
the rest of your
troops are static
mercenaries.
At stores you’ll find an impressive amount of
equipment to buy and sell. All humanoid enemies
drop their equipment, so you’ll get plenty of loot.
However, you can only change the equipment of your
heroes, and their role in the game decreases quickly.
You automatically fail a mission if a hero gets
killed, so you will have to protect them and take them
away from the front lines while the mercenaries do
all the hard work. For some reason, your warrior
heroes are weaker than the hired soldiers, so after a
while only the two wizards will remain useful thanks
to the variety of spells; there are 24 of them which
can be absolutely determinant in a fight if you’re
quick enough to use them in the right moment.
The game is long, and while the first maps can be
resolved in a few minutes, some of the last maps can be
ridiculously huge and take hours to explore. Sometimes
there are also scripted events, short dialogues or just
really silly jokes. Those, along with pretty decent CG
videos, carry the narrative of the game.
Rage of Mages also has a simple multiplayer mode,
which basically consists of fighting and improving your
character with other players on dedicated maps.
The game was followed by one direct sequel,
Rage of Mages 2: Necromancer (1999), which added
several improvements such as better AI, auto-casting
and more side-quests, plus a map editor that earned
it a small but loyal fan base, active for a few years.
Later came a surprisingly good 3D spiritual successor
called Evil Islands: Curse of the Lost Soul (2000), and
the free-to-play MMORPG Allods Online (2011).
Rage of Mages could’ve been just another old
low-budget title, buried among the many releases of
the golden age of Western RPGs, but it still has an
important place in recent Russian software history.
Even if you disregard its historical value, there’s
a certain naivety and fairy-tale feeling here that
makes it quite charming. It’s a nice little game, with a
great presentation, that can provide hours of mouse
action and treasure-hunting. LEV
Each mission you must hire mercenaries to join you. They
come with their own equipment, which can’t be changed.
Rage of Mages 2 is even harder than the first game, but
plays better thanks to many gameplay improvements.
235
Dink
Smallwood
Robinson Technologies, 1997
Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS and Android
Several
versions of
Dink Smallwood
exist. The 2011
HD version has
more features,
but doesn’t
support all
D-mods. You’re
best off with
the FreeDink
release, which
runs perfectly on
modern PCs.
Combat is realtime
and somewhat
Diablo-like, with a
melee attack and a
magic spell, but it’s
very simple.
A
joyful blend of Zelda and Monkey Island,
Dink Smallwood tells the story of a pig farmer
still living with his mother, mocked by real
adventures and rejected by women. When evil strikes,
is up to him take up arms and begin his own epic quest.
Of course, the game’s claim to fame is the humour,
and Dink delivers a constant barrage of odd quips,
cruel jokes and passive-aggressive dialogues. I advise
attacking everything in sight, just to see his reaction.
The gameplay is simple – you travel through
map screens, talking to NPCs and battling monsters,
eventually levelling up your three stats – Attack, Defense
and Magic – and finding new weapons and spells.
Sadly, the game’s progression is often halted by
quest items sold in stores at insane prices, forcing
players to spend hours killing monsters. This destroys
the flow of an otherwise short and sweet game.
By itself, Dink would be little more than a
curiosity. But the game came with friendly mod tools,
and, in 1999, the developers made the game free, later
releasing the source code as well. This led to the rise
of a passionate community creating “D-mods” – new
adventure modules for Dink Smallwood.
Still active today, the “Dinkers” have produced
hundreds of D-mods, ranging from epic adventures
to short romps, one-screen mini-games and even
educative modules that teach scripting.
These modules have long since surpassed the
base game and are more than enough reason to own
Dink Smallwood. Just head to www.dinknetwork.com
and choose your next adventure. FE
A great deal of
Dink’s humour
comes from the
dialogue choices,
full of dirty
jokes and edgy
teenager lines.
236
Mods:
Mystery Island: An official sequel to Dink Smallwood,
made by the original developers 13 years later.
Pilgrim’s Quest: A lengthy adventure, with several new
regions, weapons, spells, riddles and even boat sailing.
Lyna’s Story: With Dink gone and the King’s knights
missing, it’s up to Lyna to venture out and save the day.
Dink Goes Boating: An excellent tutorial for the game’s
modding, it carefully explains how scripting works.
Mayhem: A short time-attack module where you’re
a Black Knight that must pillage a village and get out.
Hexplore
Heliovisions Productions, 1998
Windows
Hexplore is an isometric, party-based RPG
from France. It had a number of interesting
technical aspects and gameplay solutions,
but never achieved much success and is relatively
unknown, even to veterans of the genre.
Set during the Crusades in a fantastic version
of Earth, the game follows Mac Bride, an adventurer,
as he tries to track down fellow missing knights and,
of course, save the world in the process. During the
first level he is joined by three other companions – an
archer, warrior and sorcerer.
Each character has a unique set of weapons
and utility items at their disposal. Mac is a generalist
that uses bombs, melee and short-range weapons.
The archer uses long-range weapons and can reveal
hidden places on the map. The warrior uses a number
of powerful melee weapons and explosives, while the
wizard can heal, make the party invisible or rain fire
from above. As the game progresses, characters gain
access to three additional upgrades for each weapon
which increase their damage/usefulness and even
change the way they behave in some cases.
There are 12 huge levels spanning many open
spaces and explorable interiors. Each level also features
a number of puzzles where each character needs
to use its unique skill (fit through a tight opening,
operate mechanical devices, etc.) to complete it. Party
members often need to split up in order to solve the
puzzles, scout ahead or draw fire away from weaker
allies. Managing the whole party is quite easy, thanks
to a simple and efficient interface.
Unlike other isometric RPGs from the late 90s,
Hexplore is fully 3D and allows you to freely rotate
the camera – something you’ll need to do a lot to
uncover all the treasures, keys and secrets hidden in
its cleverly constructed environments.
Hexplore is also one of the rare games that uses a
voxel-based engine (instead of polygons). It was pretty
fast for its time, but even then the graphics looked
muddled. This was made up for somewhat with handdrawn
cutscenes and a memorable soundtrack.
The game also supported 4-player multiplayer,
but it never became popular. Overall, Hexplore is a
fun, niche game that didn’t improve upon existing
standards, but remains an interesting experiment. OU
To run Hexplore
on modern PCs
you’re going to
need the fan
patch, otherwise
the game will
crash every
few seconds.
The later areas of
the game focus
heavily on puzzles
and exploration,
with mazes full
of traps, keys and
secret switches.
Combat is simple,
real-time and a
bit Diablo-like.
You can change
the game’s speed
to plow through
easy enemies or
carefully battle
tougher foes.
237
Baldur’s Gate
BioWare, 1998
Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS and Android
Baldur’s Gate
was the first
game to use the
legendary Infinity
Engine, which
also powered
the Icewind
Dale games and
Planescape:
Torment. In 2012
fans created
GemRB, an opensource
version of
the engine.
Exploration is
unique, as key
locations are
connected by
“empty” roads
and wilderness
areas you must
cross, making
the world more
immersive.
238
It’s often written about how Final Fantasy VII
changed the fate of Japanese RPGs upon its release
in 1997. Much less is written about how, one year
later, Baldur’s Gate revitalised the CRPG genre.
After the genre tapered off during the mid-90s,
losing its appeal to “Doom-clones”, RTS games and the
rising popularity of consoles, some CRPG developers
were left wondering if they had coded themselves into
a corner. Baldur’s Gate, though, managed to bring
them back to the spotlight, selling two million copies
worldwide and forever elevating the recently founded
BioWare into a household name for CRPGs.
It’s not that it was the only CRPG around. The
revered Fallout series began a year before, to similar
critical acclaim – but only a tiny fraction of the sales.
Part of the appeal behind Baldur’s Gate comes from
the popular Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ruleset,
here applied to a friendly real-time -with-pause battle
system that has since become one of the most beloved
in the genre – think an RTS where the space bar
pauses the action, providing players tight control over
a party of six highly specialised characters.
Battles are then seamlessly integrated into
the exploration of the huge world, a vast region of
Forgotten Realms composed of several interlocking
maps – including the six-map wonder that is the
eponymous city of Baldur’s Gate – peppered with
combat encounters of varying challenge levels.
While not strictly an open world, the way the
maps interlocked with one another, and the fact that
you could (mostly) freely explore them, made Baldur’s
Gate feel like one. There was an addictive feeling to
mapping out the areas as you advanced and cleared the
map’s “fog of war”, and exploration was rewarded often,
but not often enough to make it feel that anywhere you
went there were “shinnies” waiting for you.
In fact, Baldur’s Gate is often a masterclass on
the art of using useless space. Many buildings are
enterable, but have little of interest inside. Many
maps are just odd stretches of forest with little more
than a couple of enemy encounters. The world, then,
exists because the world does not solely exist, as in
many moderns games, as a playground for the player.
This makes it feel more real, and makes it feel more
meaningful on the rare occasions when you do find
something unique and useful to you.
Dungeons are ever-present, of course, littered
with traps, if unfortunately light on puzzles. Dragons
are notoriously absent, due to a hard level cap (often
modded out by min-maxing players) that would make
such encounters near impossible in accordance to
the AD&D rules. Other than that, the game’s enemy
variety has seldom been surpassed.
The AD&D ruleset also powers a rich character
creation system, offering players a lot of freedom to
craft their own, unique protagonist – later joined by
a colourful cast of companions which would set the
foundation for BioWare’s character writing.
“We looked at RTSs, such as
Command & Conquer and Warcraft.
You’d click on characters and they’d
say something back to you, and it
was a surprise. In Jagged Alliance,
one character would take out a
gun and start shooting the other
because they’d had an argument.
We wanted to make [the characters
in Baldur’s Gate] feel like real
people, not NPCs who were AIcontrolled.
They really felt like they
had personalities and came to life.”
– Dr. Ray Muzyka,
BioWare’s co-founder
The excellent voice work and elegant mechanical
quirks (the ranger Minsc has one quick-slot assigned
to his pet hamster; the married couple, Khalid and
Jaheira, will only stay in the party as a pair) gave these
companions personality, while the fact that equipped
weapons and armour were represented on the in-game
models gave the player a way to make them his own.
Lest we forget, however, the AD&D system was
created as a framework on top of which tabletop
players would layer improvisation and role-playing,
helped or thwarted by the all-seeing Dungeon Master
player. No such flexibility exists here, resulting more
often than not on unbalanced encounters that require
one to rely on the dice as much as strategy – and
sometimes on the saving graces of the save and load.
Followed by the solid Tales of the Sword Coast
expansion and by an even better sequel, Baldur’s Gate
remains an often replayed classic, thanks to extensive
curation, earlier on by fans and currently by Beamdog.
The company, formed by former Bioware staff,
re-released the game and its sequel, adjusting them
for modern computers (and tablets) and even adding
some new content. As a result, Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced
Edition is accepted as the most complete out -of -thebox
way to play this legendary game. And blissfully
compatible with original mods – because you’ll still
want to unlock that level cap. LM
Mods:
Baldur’s Gate Trilogy-WeiDU: An excellent fan-made
alternative to the Enhanced Edition, it combines both
Baldur’s Gate games into one vastly improved game.
BG1 Tweak Pack: A pack of customisable changes and
tweaks, like unlocking level caps or hiding helmets.
Unfinished Business: Restores a lot of cut content.
The Fields of the Dead: A huge mod that make rules
more faithful to AD&D and adds a lot of content.
The main quest is
fairly linear, but
the side-quests
often allow you
to pick sides,
such as helping
Edwin to kill the
witch Dynaheir,
or joining Minsc
to rescue her.
In 2016
Beamdog
released
Baldur’s
Gate: Siege of
Dragonspear,
an expansion
pack for the
Enhanced
Edition of BG.
While combat was translated into real-time, BioWare kept
an impressive amount of the AD&D ruleset’s depth.
The charismatic companions, diverse equipment, iconic
classes and efficient UI makes party-building a joy.
239
Might and Magic VI:
The Mandate of Heaven
New World Computing, 1998
Windows
After releasing
the Xeen duology,
NWC created the
Heroes of Might
and Magic
spin-off series,
fantasy strategy
games that over
time became
more popular
than the main
M&M RPG
series itself.
You can hire up to
two NPCs to help
you. They don’t
fight, but can offer
spells, skills and
passive bonuses.
However, they’ll
take a percentage
of all the money
you find.
240
After a five-year hiatus, New World Computing
returns to Might and Magic, leaving behind
the flat world of Xeen to bring the series to
the three-dimensional continent of Enroth, home to
the first two Heroes of Might and Magic games.
A radically different game, Might and Magic VI
eschews the 2D, grid-based world of its predecessors
in favour of a more modern 3D free-roaming world.
Similar to early FPS titles like Doom, the engine
renders 3D environments and 2D enemy sprites.
The game is primarily played in real time and
features a day-and-night cycle, with an in-game
minute passing every two seconds. Actions such as
travel, rest and training advance the clock by hours
or days at a time, and the game’s shops, stables and
ships abide by a rigid schedule: most businesses close
overnight, and travel services only run their routes
on specific days of the week. Your party will need to
occasionally stop to rest and eat; they’ll press on if
you let them, but their condition will deteriorate over
time, leading to exhaustion and even death! In spite
of this, managing time in-game isn’t difficult, and
adds to a sense of immersion.
Combat in Might and Magic VI is a hybrid
between real-time and turn-based gameplay, and
generally takes place against dozens of enemies at a
time. Real-time combat can be hectic, but exciting:
a player might often find themselves running
backwards, evading incoming projectiles while
pumping spells and arrows into the advancing horde.
At any time, pressing Enter toggles a turnbased
mode, leading to a more tactical experience.
While turn-based mode is switched on, the party
may not move, but the player has time to make more
deliberate choices during combat. A player might find
themselves gravitating to either real-time or turnbased
combat, or mixing them: both modes have their
advantages, and are viable in most situations.
Your party consists of four human adventurers,
who can specialise in one of six different classes.
M&M VI introduced the now-classic formula of
seeking trainers to improve your skills, with the skill
masters being hidden in obscure places. Characters
are free to master any skill their class has access to,
and can learn any spell in their available spell schools.
However, there are a significant number of spells
which don’t scale well into the later game, or simply
don’t work at all! Later M&M games fix these issues,
but place more limits on which spells a class can
learn, and which skills they can master. As a result,
character classes in this game are less specialised and
more homogeneous than in its sequels, but the player
has more freedom to develop them as they see fit.
The balance tends to favour spell-casting classes,
due in part to the raw power of Light and Dark magic
and the sheer utility of Water and Air. Physical classes
quickly drop off in power, but their survivability can
save the party, and they tend to have more points to
spend on non-combat skills like Repair.
“Although controversial, I feel
the most important thing was
the turn-based/real-time combat
system. We really gave this a lot of
thought, and I think this was the
key to bringing Might and Magic’s
party-based system into the post-
Doom 3D world.”
– Jon Van Caneghem,
Might and Magic’s creator
Your party will start out feeling rather weak, but
will ramp up steadily in power as you play. It can be
very satisfying to return to an area that once gave you
trouble, and cut a swath of destruction through it!
Might and Magic VI takes place after the events of
Heroes of Might and Magic II, but it does not follow a
completely linear narrative – it is quite open-ended in its
structure. While the starting town of New Sorpigal has
a useful assortment of low-level quests and dungeons,
most regions are accessible from the very beginning of
the game, and many quests, even within the main quest
line, can be completed in any order.
Dungeons are typically sizeable in scope
and overflowing with enemies, and range from
unremarkable caves and sewers to lavish ruins and
high-tech control centres. The world itself is quite
large, with about 15 large outdoor regions and over
30 dungeons. Locales include the snowy mountains
of White Cap, the haunted Mire of the Damned, and
Dragonsand, a desert unsurprisingly full of dragons.
There are plenty of ways to get around: regions
can be reached either on foot or via ships or stables,
which can quickly move a player between towns. A
party with an advanced spellcaster has additional
conveniences: for instance, a Water Master can
save beacons to warp to at a later time, or instantly
teleport the party to certain cities. Air magic’s Fly
spell is my personal favourite: your party gains the
power to soar freely through the air, raining death
onto any unsuspecting enemies below.
The new M&M engine and gameplay style would
be used in two more games, Might and Magic VII:
For Blood and Honor (1998) and Might and Magic
VIII: Day of the Destroyer (2000). But while they add
polish to the engine, they don’t match M&M VI’s
nearly 100 hours of gameplay, meaty dungeon crawls
and emphasis on free-form exploration.
For these reasons and more, Might and Magic VI:
The Mandate of Heaven may well be one of the best
computer RPGs of its time. DH
The dungeons are
huge and filled
with hordes of
enemies. Luckily,
the automap is
excellent, and you
can rest inside
the dungeon if
you find a safe
area and have
enough food
remaining.
The GrayFace
MM6 Patch
fixes many bugs
and add new
features like key
re-mapping and
mouselook. If
you want more
adventures,
you can also try
the The Chaos
Conspiracy
mod, a new
fan-made
campaign.
The inventory is now grid-based, with nice equipment
artwork, a “paper doll” and – finally – item descriptions.
Dungeons are 3D, but shops, guilds, houses and other
internal locations are shown through charming 2D art.
241
Fallout 2
Fallout 1
and 2 were
both heavily
censored in
some countries.
The UK and
German releases
removed all
children from
the games,
making some
side-quests
impossible to
complete.
Fallout 2 has 14
recruitable NPCs
and allows you
some control
over their tactics
and equipment,
but they are still
very unreliable in
some battles.
“
Black Isle Studios, 1998
Windows and Mac
You will be able to prostitute your spouse in
New Reno!” Lost in the pages of a video
game magazine, these few words were the
first contact I had with Fallout 2. Needless to say, I
was thoroughly delighted with this statement: I was
young, my moral compass wasn’t quite functional yet
and – most of all – I did have hormonal disorders. The
same kind that seems to plague most boys of my age.
Naturally, I felt Fallout 2 was made for me.
Walking in the footsteps of its big brother barely
a year after its release, Fallout 2 had to answer a lot
of the player’s expectations. It did so, but in quite an
unexpected way.
First, you’re not the Vault Dweller anymore, but
his grandchild – a brahmin-herdin’ gecko-hunting
neo-tribal. As the “Chosen One”, you must find
the Garden of Eden Creation Kit, a terraforming
pre-war device that can save your village from starvation.
This GECK in itself is little more than a MacGuffin,
a pretext to send you on a trip through the ruthless
remnants of a post-nuclear West Coast. Fallout’s setting
in itself has always been the true star of the show.
Black Isle’s team made sure that you would roam
the wasteland in the right conditions: the game is even
more open than its predecessor and you will discover
new locations as you go through the desert and talk to
its denizens. The elusive nature of your quest will ensure
that you will go through most of the West Coast and its
broken, twisted communities before getting a lead on
where the GECK is located. The order of the locations
you visit is not set, and each town provides another
viewpoint of the conflicts playing out.
Decades have passed since you walked the
wasteland in the first game: communities have
somewhat evolved and human societies had enough
time to rebuild themselves. Though the rule of law now
seemingly governs many of those settlements, you will
quickly discover that these “laws” doesn’t necessarily
mean “greater good” and that man is still a wolf to man.
You will encounter countless situations where slavery is
perfectly accepted, and where people are experimented
upon with drugs in so-called “stables.”
When it comes to player freedom, open-worldness
is not the only thing Fallout 2 has going for it, for the
game is tailored to reward you for going your own way.
The early-game ammo scarcity, the frequency at which
you’ll end up outnumbered and outgunned, basically
encourages you to find ways to get your first decent
gear, often in undignified ways. Again, the world of
Fallout is ruthless and you might just have to take sides
in petty gang wars, pillage graves, sell slaves and rob
honest people’s homes in order to survive.
Always promoting the player’s agenda, the
way most of the skills are used is left to the player’s
discretion of when and how to use them. You’re rarely
prompted to use them at all, and no message will pop
up on the screen to tell you which quest can be solved
by sneaking into the criminal kingpin’s office.
242
“I think it [New Reno] presents a
lot of fun role-playing opportunities
and things to do, no matter what
‘type’ of character you are. But does
it fit in the setting? No, probably not.
It’s too sexually over-the-top, too
much profanity, and the look and
attitude of some of the characters is
too modern-day to complement the
feel of the Fallout world (...) But I still
think it was fun to play, and it was
fun to design.”
– Chris Avellone,
Fallout 2’s designer
By giving the player as much freedom as possible,
from the character creation screen to the quests and
dialogue trees, the developers entrusted the players
with crafting their own experience out of the game
and play it the way they wanted – all the way down
to the ending, which is intricately affected by their
actions during the game.
As for the combat, the game abides by the same
rules set by its predecessor: turn-based combat on
a hexagonal map. Each turn, you are limited by a
number of action points you must carefully distribute
between firing, aiming, running (away) or accessing
your inventory.
Fallout 2 proposes some tactical options but, in
all honesty, the most satisfying experience you’ll get
from its combat system is blowing up your enemies’
innards in a forceful shotgun blast and reading
hilarious message feedbacks after *intentionally*
popping up one of your enemies’ gonads.
Truth be said, humour is one of Fallout 2’s main
guideline. While Fallout 1 focused on delivering a
minutely-crafted and focused experience, its sequel
breaks a great deal of walls – fourth one included – in
order to let the players frolic at their hearts content.
You can blow up a toilet and smear a town of
starving farmers in shit, offer candy to a little boy, cut
raiders in two with a laser mini-gun, grow a sixth toe,
become a famous porn star, and get your ear bitten off
during a boxing match. Through its great variety of
locations and situations, Fallout 2 will provide you with
experiences, playlets and dialogue you’ll never see in
any other video game.
Even by today’s standards, Fallout 2 is too unique
of an experience to pass up. It is not only an excellent
RPG, it is also an exceptional game in itself. Its quirky
writing, legendary setting and inviting gameplay will
provide countless hours of entertainment, provided
you’re not adverse of wading through delicious postapocalyptic
filth. BC
Fallout 2’s
humour is dark,
witty and full
of pop culture
references. You’ll
talk like a smartass,
make jokes
on cannibalism,
quote movies and
may even pull out
prank calls.
In 2004,
Russian fans
created FOnline,
an unofficial
Fallout MMO
engine. Several
MMORPGs
derived from it,
such as FOnline 2,
FOnline: Reloaded
and FO:Ashes
of Phoenix. You
can play any of
these for free.
Guns, armour, drugs, explosives, sex toys, car parts and even
your own body parts are some of the items you’ll find.
Mods:
Killap’s Fallout 2 patch: A must-have, fixes +800 bugs.
Fallout 2 Restoration Project: Restores a lot of content
that was cut, including several locations and Kaga, your
“rival” Chosen One. Just be aware that not all of it is great.
MIB88 Megamod: A mod pack that adds new areas,
various features and allows you to visit Fallout 1 areas.
Oblivion Lost: A Russian mod that blends Fallout 2
with STALKER: Shadows of Chernobyl. It’s quite funny.
Fallout 1.5: Resurrection: A critically acclaimed
mod that offers a full 25-hour campaign. A great
RPG in its own right, it’s highly recommended.
Several total
conversion mods
for Fallout 2 exist,
such as Olympus
2207, Shattered
Destiny, Fallout:
Nevada and
Mutants Rising.
Sadly, most of
them are only
in Russian.
243
King’s Quest:
Mask of Eternity
Sierra On-Line, 1998
Windows
Shooting
enemies in
first-person
mode during
a platforming
section isn’t
exactly what the
fans expected
from a King’s
Quest game.
One of the three
endgame trials to
prove yourself a
worthy champion
is a sliding puzzle.
How exciting.
244
The fabled designer Roberta Williams had a big
problem in the late 90s. The gaming market
was booming, consoles and 3D action games
titles were selling millions, but adventure games
were considered a dead genre. Sierra, the company
she founded in 1979, was still a giant corporation,
but Roberta and her husband had sold it in 1996
(although they still worked there). And now Sierra’s
new owners were desperate for a big hit.
So Roberta took some of the most popular games
at the time – Quake, Tomb Raider and Diablo –, added
then-innovative 3D graphics and tried to create a new
style of adventure game, one that would attract this
modern gaming audience into her King’s Quest series.
The result is an Action RPG that can be played
in either first- or third-person mode, complete with
real-time combat, platforming sections and even a
grappling hook that allows you to climb walls. Many
RPG elements also were added, such as levels and
experience points, various weapons and armour and
even a Diablo-like toolbar of magical potions.
However, little from the previous King’s Quest
games is present. While occasionally you’ll come
across one or two puzzles – such as using an axe to
chop down a tree, so that it diverts the flow of a river
and stops a nearby mill – those are extremely rare.
And don’t expect a single dialogue tree either. Most
of the time you’ll progress by killing everything that
moves, and then clicking on everything that doesn’t.
All could eventually be overlooked had the rest
of the game been good. But it just isn’t. Moving and
jumping feels clunky (the infamous “tank controls”),
combat is nothing but clicking on enemies while
chugging potions, environments are dull and empty,
the writing is childish and the game simply never
manages to excite the player in any way.
Looking back, Roberta was in a difficult position
and tried her best to reach this new gaming audience.
It’s easy to criticise her now, but such wild bet made
sense at the time. In fact, Mask of Eternity was released
in the same year as the much revered adventure classic
Grim Fandango – and outsold it 2-to-1.
Does that make it a good game? Definitely not,
but serves as a cautionary tale about the whims of the
game industry and its trends. FE
Valkyrie Studios, 1999
Windows, Linux and Mac
Septerra Core:
Legacy of the Creator
With the success of Final Fantasy VII in 1997,
it was expected that companies would try
to imitate its formula. Sudeki, Anachronox,
Silver and even Lord of The Rings: The Third Age had
strong JRPG influences, but no game came closer to a
“Western-made Final Fantasy VII” than Septerra Core.
The game is set on Septerra, a planet composed
of seven layers, each with unique characteristics. You
play as Maya, a scavenger from the second layer who
saw her city destroyed by a general from the first layer.
Her adventures follow a decidedly JRPG-like
formula (especially those of the PS1 era) of gathering
companions, visiting exotic towns, exploring dungeons,
travelling across a large overworld and even acquiring
a late-game airship that allows you to travel freely.
That’s not to say there’s nothing new – Septerra
features adventure game elements, with topic-based
dialogues and puzzles that require you to combine items
in your inventory. Some are fun, but others are poorly
presented or require items that are very easy to miss.
Combat is similar to Final Fantasy’s ATB system,
where characters wait for a bar to charge so they can
act. Here the bar is divided into three segments – you
can act with just one segment, but more segments
allow more powerful attacks (similar to what FFXIII
would use). Sadly, combat is slow. Very, very slow.
However, what really exacerbates the flaws in
both the combat and puzzles are the game’s dungeons.
They are massive, packed with enemies that respawn,
and offer no challenge beyond pushing levers.
It combines terribly with the sluggish combat and
confusing puzzles: some events can only be triggered
by specific party members – going back to town to
switch characters and returning can take a lot of time.
And even if you know exactly what to do, you’ll often
be forced to cross the same dungeon multiple times.
All this stretches what could be a very enjoyable
20-30 hour game into almost 60 hours. To speed things
up, you can cheat to instantly win battles (and honestly,
I advise doing so) but, still, it’s an endurance test.
Overall, Septerra Core is one of those games that
those who found it in a bargain bin back then (and
had nothing else to play) might have good memories
of its flawed yet interesting story, but it’s hard to justify
spending so many hours on it today. FE
While the
character’s art
feels like a poor
emulation of the
Japanese style,
the pre-rendered
backgrounds
are nice and the
game’s dialogues
are fully voiced.
Magic and
Summons are
cast by combining
cards you find
during the game.
They require
mana, which is
shared between
party members.
245
Jagged
Alliance 2
Sir-Tech Canada, 1999
Windows, Linux (Mac and Android)*
*Since the
release of the
source code,
dedicated
modders have
managed to
create ports
of the game
for Mac and
Android.
More than just
fighting, you’ll
also have to talk
to the locals and
decide how to
handle the issues
they present.
246
Jagged Alliance 2 is an isometric turn-based
strategy game where you hire and command a
band of mercenaries in order to free a fictional
country called Arulco from the rule of its ruthless
dictator, Queen Deidranna. Or is it?
Reassessment and reflection occurs each time
I’m asked what JA2 is. I’ve seen people drawn to
this game for all possible reasons, from professional
soldiers loving its strategic layer to gun nuts drooling
over the immense arsenal available, expanded even
further by mods. Others praise the game for a creative,
alchemical approach to the RPG genre and its chesslike
tactical depth. Some just love the characters.
Aye, Jagged Alliance 2 is generous enough
to allow you to enjoy it from all perspectives and
playstyles. If you want to treat it as an isometric
shooter, one-man team, fine, there’s enough action
for every Rambo out there; if you want to instead
take an armed stroll and explore the country, you’ll
have a laugh and a whale of a great time too.
Such flexibility is achieved through this unique
blend of strategy and role-playing game.
You start by creating a custom avatar, then
recruiting a minimal team of mercs – each with their
own stats, gear, personalities and weekly salaries –
then go straight to work. Your team is inserted into
the Omerta village, where the army is about to assault
the rebel hideout. You are to clear the initial sector,
deliver your letter of credentials to Fatima, a local
contact, and be led to meet the rebel leader.
Your dialogue skills will be used for the first
time here, giving you the chance to recruit rebels into
your squad and place the sector under your control,
making it clear that JA2 offers much more than “just”
an incredibly deep tactical combat.
After Omerta, you gain acess to the world map
and can plan your next steps. There’s the “normal”
route of liberating the town of Drassen, gaining
control of its resources and assigning your mercs to
train a militia that will defend it from Deidranna’s
army (you can also find the local helicopter pilot and
weapons dealer there). But you can try alternative
routes, especially during a replay. A 7.62 mm bullet
might stop you, but the game won’t.
In each of the main sectors you also get to indulge
in a bit of RPG exploring and questing. Benefits can
lie hidden in any cupboard or dialogue option. It’s
where the kindred spirit with the Fallout series is
most evident in JA2 – whether you fight for cash in
San Mona or rescue a hooker from a brothel, quests
are fun, rewarding and not at all politically correct.
Depending on how close you get to the capital,
or how irate Deidranna gets with your actions, the
game throws at you a range of enemies, rising in
difficulty from “yellow shirts” – the local police –,
to army “red shirt” regulars, and ending with the
“black shirt” special forces, who bring everything to
the table: snipers, LMGs, mortars, even tanks.
“Even though it wasn’t the focal
part of the game, I found some
of the NPCs to be the coolest
part – especially watching people
theorise on how the game worked
in this respect. Whether it be Pablo,
Kingpin, Deidranna, or any other
NPC, there was more talk about this
aspect of the game than the actual
combat. And I’m happy with that,
the combat in JA is a given, so it’s
the ‘extras’ that I get off on.”
– Ian Currie,
JA2’s director and producer
The final layer of the cake is the amazing turnbased
combat. Powered by an elegant UI, a large pool
of action points per unit and many nuances like cover,
stances, aimed shots, morale, wounds, field of view,
multiple ammo types and even destructable buildings,
the wealth of options available is staggering.
The day-and-night cycle enhances stealth and
the game provides both the tools (knives, camouflage,
silenced weapons, wire cutters) and the skills required.
If that’s not your cup of tea, you can get a Dragunov
sniper rifle and pop heads from across the map. Or
set the world on fire with LAWs, mortars and LMGs.
Or maybe play Ironman (and/or solo!) and try to
carve your way to victory for massive bragging rights.
JA2 will keep bringing you back, no matter what.
Finally, if you’re looking for an alternative twist,
you can also activate the Sci-Fi mode, a special mode
where a new faction of enemies is added to the mix –
which can lead to chaotic 3-way battles.
More than just stats, gear and salaries, each unit has its
unique personality, delivered via hundreds of voiced lines.
Two years after the game’s release, we got the
JA2: Unfinished Business expansion. Its new campaign
was short and left you hungry for more, but the game
also brought a map editor, giving the official blessing
to a modding community that, many years after, still
produces fresh content for the game.
The sales of Unfinished Business failed to keep
Sir-Tech alive and ended prematurely one of the
greatest TBS/RPG series ever made. Yet, like the bite
of a vampire, it made the game immortal, leaving
its future to be safeguarded by its dedicated fan
community. SH
Mods for Jagged Alliance 2
JA2 v1.13: A must-have mod, v1.13 brings thousands of
new features and items to the game, changing the AI and
interface, adding weather, suppressing fire, etc.
It transformed JA2 into a mod-friendly game, leading to
many impressive new features, such as multiplayer.
JA2 Urban Chaos: The very first fan-made sequel of
JA2 offers a completely new adventure in Danubia, with
revolutionary changes to systems and tactics.
JA2 Stracciatella: An overhaul of the JA2 source code,
started by modder Tron, transforming the engine into a
true platform-independent piece of software. It allowed
ports of JA2 to Linux, MacOS and Android.
Mods for Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business
JA2UB Vietnam SOG’69: BecomingX’s campaign lands
you in Vietnam, together with some very interesting new
characters. One of the most played UB mods.
JA2UB Shady Job: This Russian mod turns JA2:UB
into a whole new game, with new tactical map, new
markets, new characters and new weapons.
You can control
multiple squads
at once, and
train militias to
defend liberated
sectors once
you’ve earned
the support of
the locals.
After Sir-Tech
closed, many
companies tried
to make sequels
to JA2, such as
JA: Back in Action,
JA: Flashback and
JA: Online, but
sadly none of
them come close
to JA2 v1.13.
247
Planescape:
Torment
Black Isle Studios, 1999
Windows, Mac and Linux
Planescape is an
award-winning
AD&D setting
written by David
“Zeb” Cook and
published in 1994.
It deals with
cosmic factions,
multiple planes
of existence and
the city where
they all meet –
Sigil, the City
of Doors.
The RTwP
combat is the
weakest aspect
of the game,
but the unique
spells and the
exotic monsters
help keep it
interesting.
248
Most fantasy RPGs follow the tried and
allegedly true formula, which strips them
of anything “fantastic” and grounds them
in the dull “reality” of the familiar. Sadly, the much
coveted instant recognition usually means instantly
forgettable. How many times should we save an utterly
predictable and generic world before it gets really old?
Why is that when we see a town on the horizon, it’s
not a place of wonder and strange customs, but a place
to restock on a FEDEX quest and trade in your loot?
Now compare it to Planescape: Torment. You
wake up in a mortuary. Dead. A gravity-defying
skull starts chatting with you, making it clear that
you aren’t in fantasy Kansas anymore. The rules are
completely different and you have no idea what they
are yet. Where are the familiar elves and orcs – the
foundation of quality storytelling? Why isn’t an
ancient evil stirring? Where is a kind lord of the realm
to send you on a mission of great importance? Why
isn’t your character a dashing young hero, destined
to be awesome, but a scarred, formaldehyde-soaked
corpse, cursed with immortality?
You open the door. Zombies are crawling
everywhere, yet it’s not a zombie apocalypse. The
zombies mind their own business; in fact, they are
nothing but indentured workers whose bodies were sold
to the Dustmen, one of the many colourful factions in
the game. You can attack the zombies if you’re a creature
of habit, but you can also walk around, studying the
undead, and even get very unusual items from them.
When you finally manage to leave the Mortuary,
you find yourself in a most unusual city. It’s a city of
doors, filled with hidden portals that can take you
anywhere, assuming you have the right key – which
can be anything from a jewel to literally junk.
You make your way to a bar: a familiar place
in this strange land. The very first thing you see is a
burning (yet still alive) man floating in mid-air – a
rather unusual conversation piece of decor. Some ugly
looking demons are having a drink, greeting you as an
old friend. The bartender casually informs you that he
still has your eye – it’s right there, floating in a jar like
a pickled egg – and if you have some coins you can
have it back.
You buy the eye, not because you need it, but
because it’s so shockingly different from the usual
selection of RPG goodies, wondering what the hell
one does with an eye that belonged to your earlier
incarnation. Guess what, you get an option to rip
out one of your current, perfectly good eyeballs and
replace it with the pickled one, because why not?
Somehow it works and your old memories start
pouring in. At this point you’re absolutely lost. You,
the player, are a stranger in a strange land and that’s a
rare and precious moment in gaming.
Overall, Planescape: Torment is a beautifully
written RPG that shines in every single area that
involves writing.
“I looked at all the RPGs I had
played up to that point, identified
all the things I was tired of seeing
and just looked for new ways to get
around them. It just seemed like
loading your game up after death
was a huge waste of time. Ideally
you just want the player to play
until they feel like quitting, and so
it occurred to me that if I made an
immortal character, and made death
a part of the game and mechanics,
that it would be a more enjoyable
experience for players instead of the
standard save, die, and reload.”
– Chris Avellone,
Torment’s lead designer
You’ll travel an interesting world (while the
setting is a licensed oddity, it takes considerable skills
and talent to turn an obscure, dusty IP into a one-ofa-kind
world ready to be explored). You’ll read a great
story with philosophical undertones – a rare treat
in video games. You’ll meet the best party members
I’ve ever seen in a computer game, and you’ll have
fantastic dialogues and complex dialogue trees
On the downside, despite featuring over 800,000
words, you have to fight a lot because apparently killing
things to level up (and grinding to put more points
into Wisdom and Charisma to unlock more awesome
dialogues) is what players can’t get enough of.
All this mindless slaughter is powered up by a
rather underwhelming RTwP system that comes with
the Infinity Engine. On the plus side, it has spectacular
spell animations inspired by Final Fantasy VII, so if
you get bored watching toons whacking each other,
cast one of the spells and watch the fireworks.
Speaking of Final Fantasy, it can be argued that
Planescape: Torment’s, um, homage to Japanese RPGs
goes a bit deeper than the spell effects and that it is, in
fact, a JRPG cleverly disguised as a WRPG to confuse
players who are too cool to play console games.
Fortunately, the story, dialogues, and characters
are so good that, even if you hate RTwP with passion or
laugh at people who cried when Aeris died, you’ll still
love the game and wish you could lose your memories
to experience it all over again for the first time. VD
Mods:
Ultimate WeiDU Fixpack: Fixes hundreds of bugs.
Bigg’s Widescreen mod: Allows you to run the game in
any resolution you desire. If you install this, then also get
Ghostdog’s incredible UI mod to fix the menus.
Qwinn’s Unfinished Business: Restores several quests,
items and dialogues that were cut during development.
Torment’s writing
is unrivalled in
gaming, offering
plenty of roleplaying
options,
memorable
moments,
funny lines and
overarching
philosophical
questions.
Black Isle tried
developing
two other
Planescape
games, both
of which were
eventually
cancelled. One
of them would
be a PlayStation
game inspired
by King’s Field,
to be directed by
Colin McComb.
You won’t buy armour in shops. Instead, you’ll get tattoos,
unlock memories, learn secrets and replace body parts.
It’s advised you play as a wise and intelligent mage.
Not because of his power, but because of his dialogues.
249
Ultima IX:
Ascension
ORIGIN, 1999
Windows
Around the time
Ultima IX was
released, Richard
Garriott hinted
at the possibility
of remaking the
entire Ultima
series using the
Ultima IX engine,
releasing them as
online episodes.
Shortly after,
Garriott departed
from Origin and
the project was
canned.
Ultima IX’s
inventory is still
based on multiple
containers, but
they are now gridbased,
making
them much easier
to organise.
250
Ultima IX, published over 16 years ago, is the
last single-player Ultima, and the conclusion
of both the Age of Armageddon trilogy
(which began with Ultima VII) and the story of the
Avatar. It’s also the most controversial entry in the
series; no other Ultima game has so sharply and
clearly divided the opinions of the fandom.
Development on Ultima IX began soon after the
release of Ultima VIII, with Mike McShaffry as the
project lead at the time. An enhanced version of the
Ultima VIII engine was selected as the technological
base for the game, which McShaffry soon converted
from a 2D engine to a software-accelerated 3D engine.
However, he was soon removed from the project.
It would have been after his departure that the
well-known Bob White Plot was written, likely based
on Richard Garriott’s own designs for the plot of the
game (a leaked version can be read online on websites
such as the Ultima Codex and the Ultima Wiki).
At the time, EA felt the game worthy of significant
investment; many of the CGI cutscenes used in the
final game were rendered around this time.
However, much of the team was reassigned to
assist with completing Ultima Online, and work largely
paused on Ultima IX until mid-1997. Much had
changed in the intervening months: hardwareaccelerated
3D had taken off, and it was decided that
Ultima IX should make use of this new technology.
A new team was hired, and Ed Del Castillo was
brought over from Westwood Studios to serve as
the game’s producer. He rewrote the plot treatment
significantly, but was soon dismissed from Origin
Systems. With pressure from EA to cancel the game
and focus on Ultima Online mounting, Richard
Garriott took direct control of the project, and the
plot was rewritten once more. EA gradually removed
funding and resources from the Ultima IX team, and
eventually imposed a firm release deadline which left
the team scrambling to complete a playable build of
the game. With only weeks to spare, a playable build
was achieved, and the game was greenlit for release.
Upon release, Ultima IX was – as might be
expected given the above – very buggy and unstable,
so much so that Origin Systems opted to re-release an
updated version of the game on new CDs to all who
had purchased it.
The game was also heavily criticised for paying
little heed to the canon of the Ultima series; the
ending of Ultima VIII and many other key events
from the series were ignored or rewritten, upsetting
fans who had followed the Ultima lore for almost two
decades. Other common complaints include that it
lacked party members, that the game world felt overly
small, that combat was crude, the plot limited, the
dialogue unpolished and the voice acting poor.
There is validity to all of these criticisms. There
was little time during the race to finish the game for
designers and editors to iterate the written dialogue.
“He [Richard Garriott] wanted
Britannia to come alive. And we did
our best to do that. We had birds
that actually flew out of trees and
went and had a place for their nest,
and they sat back in their nest. We
had all kinds of cool features to just
make the world come alive. And the
amount of effort that took robbed
us of the ability to put in a lot of the
more traditional RPG elements, like
a party, like NPC schedules, like who
owns what object, like crafting...”
– Bill Randolph,
Ultima IX’s lead programmer
The game’s plot
revolves around
the corruption of
the Virtues by the
Guardian, who
raised mysterious
black columns all
over Britannia.
Designers would often write a scene and hand
their first-draft script directly to the audio producer,
who would get the actor(s) involved to record it that
day. The game’s technology and scripting were very
complex for their day, and more polish was required
than Origin had time to apply.
And yet, Ultima IX was – and in some ways
remains – a technical marvel. It features a fully open
3D world, and offers some of the best dungeons to be
found in the Ultima series. Many objects in the world
can be freely manipulated, and container objects (e.g.
barrels) even have buoyancy. These are features that
largely disappeared from 3D RPG design for about a
decade after Ultima IX’s release.
Ultima IX also brings the story of the Avatar and
the Guardian to a satisfying end, and drives home
the now commonly accepted point that, ultimately,
it was the Avatar who was the cause of many of the
misfortunes that befell Britannia.
Despite its reception, Ultima IX is not without
a legacy. German RPG developers Piranha Bytes
drew significant inspiration from the game whilst
developing Gothic (2001) and, later, Risen (2009);
both games improve upon the formula that Origin
Systems never had the time to fully develop, and are
classics in their own right.
For me, personally, there was one other thing
that Ultima IX offered. You see, I grew up playing
Ultima. I love the series and its setting; Britannia was
my Narnia, my magical land hidden just out of view.
And in Ultima IX, finally, I could see its sky. KE
Mods:
Dialogue patch: A re-writing of the game’s dialogue, to
better fit the lore and continuity of the Ultima series.
Forgotten World: Provides several patches and
updates for Ultima IX, improving its performance,
fixing some of the remaining bugs and restoring some
of the content cut late in the game’s production.
Beautiful Britannia: improves the game’s textures and
adds several areas that were cut from the game.
Combat in Ultima IX is simplistic; most of the time
you’ll just hit the left-mouse button as fast as you can.
A screenshot of a modded Ultima IX, with enhanced
graphics, wide-screen support and restored content.
251
Might and Magic VII:
For Blood and Honor
New World Computing, 1999
Windows
The GrayFace
MM7 patch
adds features
like mouselook,
while the
Maestro mod is a
big pack with new
quests, classes,
races, bosses,
HD textures and
options for higher
resolution.
Your faction
choice greatly
changes the
game’s second
half, including
its interface.
Side with evil,
and you can even
become a lich!
The Arcomage
card game was
so popular it
got a standalone
release
in 2000. It also
inspired various
open-source
copies, such as
MArcomage.
252
A
fan of Might and Magic VII, such as myself,
might tell you that the game takes everything
the previous game did and improves on it.
Sculpting mechanics into perfection, tweaking the
skill system, adding depth and polish – all within a
world more vibrant and interesting than ever.
More traditionalist players will tell you that the
decline of the series began here, because while M&M
VII has more polished content, it also has less.
The game compromises on the magnificent
dungeons of the previous game by making its own
less prevalent and less sprawling. With less breadth of
content comes more depth, however. Everything you
do here is meatier, denser and more fine-tuned. There
is more monster variety, more mechanical complexity,
more diverse rewards for exploration and more ways
to customise your party.
You begin the game as in M&M6, creating
your blob of four adventurers, but with an expanded
catalogue of classes, races and skills. Then comes a
rare treat in an RPG: a genuinely interesting tutorial
area that ties naturally into the rest of the game.
Rather than shove you down a content-tube,
Emerald Island is a micro-cosmos of the actual game,
with its own dangerous swamp, a small township,
quests, dungeons, a choice that will affect you much
later in the game and even a menacing dragon!
The game also features perhaps the best minigame
in RPG history. Before Witcher 3’s Gwent there
was Arcomage, a decidedly deeper and more balanced
trading card game that is still played in online,
multiplayer lobbies today.
M&M7 even makes room for a bit of roleplaying,
among other things presenting you with a
game-changing fork halfway through: join the angelic
forces of Celeste or cast in your lot with the brutal
fiends of The Pit. Depending on your choice, your
characters earn different promotions and abilities,
and the main quest line changes completely. Even the
game’s UI alters to reflect your decision.
In short, Might and Magic VII: For Blood and
Honor might be the point where cracks start to
show in the series, but it is also the series at its peak,
developed using every lesson learned over the 10
years since it began. CG
Gorky 17
Metropolis Software, 1999
Windows, OS X and Linux
Gorky 17 (also known as Odium on American
shores) is a title I didn’t mind replaying in
order to write this review. The primary reason
being that it’s a short and sweet game.
The game places you in command of three
NATO Soldiers who are dropped in a secret military
complex somewhere in Poland, with limited supplies
and unsure about what they are getting into.
First thing to know: Gorky 17 is tough. Healing
consumables are very limited, and, if anyone in your
party dies, you have to restart the battle or reload. The
battle system is standard tactical phase-based RPG
fare. During your turn, each character gets to Move,
Select a Weapon/Item, Face a specific direction and
Act (Shoot, Defend, Heal, etc.) in almost any order.
Many objects can explode or be pushed to form
makeshift barricades, and the player must also consider
factors such as obstacles, armour type, weapon ranges,
directional facing and so on. For example, attacking a
target from the sides or back will grant bonus damage.
Additionally, various status effects eventually come
into play. Combatants can be made ‘Flammable’ and
subsequently be set aflame using a variety of weapons
– or simple matches.
Typical enemies appear to come straight out of
a cyberpunk nightmare. The AI is aggressive, but not
suicidal, and even just one of these mutant creatures
can be a serious threat. Then there are the monstrous
bosses, each introduced by a short cinematic, which
must be typically approached with different tactics.
Outside of combat, the emphasis is on semi-linear
exploration, character banter and item-collecting, as
you solve light puzzles to move forward or reach hidden
loot caches. Battles and events are all scripted, triggered
at certain locations, and resources were balanced to be
scarce, making exploration rewarding.
Your characters becomes more proficient the
more they use a weapon, and every experience level
grants five points to distribute in a handful of stats but,
unfortunately, there isn’t much gameplay deviation.
Still, Gorky 17 offers a creative mix that few game
publishers would dare nowadays, blending survival
horror, light puzzles, RPG elements and old-school
tactical combat in one tough, unforgiving package.
Definitely worth the 20-hour playthrough. MS
Two other
Gorky games
exist: Gorky
Zero and Gorky
Zero 2. Both
are a thirdperson
stealth
action games,
set around
characters
from Gorky 17.
The game has
several special
boss enemies,
all who have
unique abilities
and require
thoughtful
approach.
The mix of
pre-rendered
backgrounds,
light puzzles and
horrible monsters
gives Gorky 17
a very Resident
Evil-like tone.
253
Omikron:
The Nomad Soul
Quantic Dream, 1999
Windows and Dreamcast
David Bowie
and Reeves
Gabrels
composed
Omikron’s
soundtrack,
then later
included some
of the tracks
in Bowie’s
1999 album
“Hours...”.
The city of
Omikron is
divided into
gated districts,
but each area is
large and full
of locations
to explore.
254
The names of David Cage and Quantic Dream
games nowadays are deeply tied to “cinematic
experiences” – games like Fahrenheit (2005),
Heavy Rain (2010) and Beyond: Two Souls (2013), a
style of game so heavily focused on storytelling that
the gameplay almost vanishes, being mostly limited
to QTEs and similarly discreet player inputs.
A shame, really, for what’s arguably David Cage’s
finest offering lies in the exact opposite direction – in
his very first game, Omikron: The Nomad Soul. An
extremely ambitious amalgamation of several different
gameplay modes, it’s a title as bold as it’s flawed.
Omikron begins with a police officer shattering
the fourth wall and addressing the player directly. He
is Kay’l, and he begs for help, asking you to send your
soul through the computer to take over his body and
help him save the dystopian city of Omikron.
As soon as you agree (because why not?), you
enter the body of Kay’l and are transported to a dark
alley – then instantly attacked by a demon. Barely
surviving the assault, it’s your task to figure out what
the hell is going on around here.
Stepping out of the alley, players are met by the
cyberpunk vision of Omikron – a large, open city,
complete with apartments and stores you can enter,
driveable cars and even taxis – all this months before
Shenmue and two years before GTA III.
As players try to take this all in, the opening
credits begin to play, the camera travelling around the
city, accompanied by David Bowie’s eerie singing – a
small taste of the excellent soundtrack he and Reeves
Gabrels composed for the game.
While this all sounds ambitious enough already,
Omikron goes much deeper. At first it plays like a 3D
adventure game – you walk around the city, visiting
your apartment and other locations in search for
clues, trying to understand what’s going on.
You’ll talk to people, collect several items and
solve a few puzzles. Then you’ll be called to investigate
a robbery in a supermarket, and, as soon as you enter
it, the game shifts into a first-person shooter, with
several weapon types, medpacks and a mini-map.
As you make your way through the robbers, you
finally reach their boss – who disarms you, the game
suddenly changing into a Street Fighter-like hand-tohand
fighting game, with combos and everything.
If fighting is too difficult, you can train at home,
fight in arenas or buy potions to increase your stats.
Moreover, the game’s initial “soul transfer” isn’t just a
silly throwaway. You’ll later unlock the ability to freely
transfer you soul into the body of over 20 characters
across the city, each with their own stats, items (such
as their apartment keys) and usefulness.
For example, cyborg mercenary Jorg 722 might
be great for combat sections, but only Kay’l can freely
walk around the police station. The game also attempts
some moral dilemmas: as a soul in the body of Kay’l,
is it right for you to have sex with his girlfriend?
“Those [mixed gameplay genres]
were a young game designer’s
stupidities. Someone who had
never made a game before and
who thought: ‘Might as well do
everything, why wouldn’t we do
everything?’ That’s because we
had never done it ourselves so we
didn’t realise the scale of what we
were writing, because we just didn’t
have the experience. So it was an
extremely ambitious game, which
was incredibly painful to create
– in totally, totally unreasonable
proportions.”
– David Cage,
Omikron’s director
This unique soul mechanic is even used to avoid
Game Overs. Dying does not mean losing the game,
as you can often possess other characters to continue.
In fact, there are certain characters that can only be
obtained by dying in certain events.
Speaking of events, players exploring the city’s
many pubs might come across a virtual David Bowie
performing in choreographed concerts, singing songs
such as Survive and Something in the Air.
Together with great music, David Cage’s passion
for cinematography is already on full display, as the
game’s dynamic camera angles used during cutscenes
and dialogues feel very “cinematic”, ahead of its time.
Unfortunately, behind such a massive project
lie equally large flaws. Omikron has several gameplay
modes, but none of them is well-developed. The
fighting and shooting sections quickly grow repetitive,
while the adventure parts are too simplistic and fail to
explore the game’s soul-transfer mechanic.
While the presentation still holds, in part due to
the excellent voice acting, the controls and interface
are horribly dated. Mouse control is limited to the FPS
sections, leaving you with “tank-controls” and a clunky
keyboard-driven inventory for most of the game.
In usual Quantic Dream fashion, the story starts
out interesting, but eventually becomes an unintelligible
mess, adding to the disappointment later in the game.
As such, Omikron’s reception was lukewarm,
with critics enjoying its concept but not its execution.
David Cage was also frustrated by how people had
difficulty adapting to the multiple gameplay modes,
especially those new to gaming – a critical fact in his
subsequent decision to create accessible games.
Overall, Omikron is somewhat akin to Ultima I –
a passionate developer throwing everything he loves
into a game, pushing the boundaries of the medium.
While the end result many not be deep or cohesive, it’s
still a unique experience worth having. FE
While some
dialogue choices
may impact
future events and
dialogues, most
of the choices are
purely for flavour.
A sequel to
Omikron has
supposedly
been under
production
since 2002,
but few details
are know apart
from the fact
it would be set
“100 cycles”
after the
first game.
The FPS gameplay is very crude, with several different
weapon types but only two that are really useful.
Besides fighting for your life against faceless demons,
you can also put your fists to the test in arena battles.
255
System
Shock 2
Looking Glass Studios and Irrational Games, 1999
Windows, Mac and Linux
By demand of
the publisher,
SS2 has a
multiplayer
co-op mode.
But beware,
the developers
stated many
times that it’s
a game best
experienced
alone.
256
Besides
shooting, you’ll
also have to
hack, repair,
modify and
even research
stuff you find.
Who could forget playing System Shock 2?
Who could ever forget the mindless,
pipe-wielding mutants patrolling dimly
lit hallways. The ungodly sight of blood and bizarre
biological growths covering walls and ceilings while
a horrific symphony of terror created by computer
terminals, whirring security cameras and the ship’s
relentlessly droning engines plays in the background.
The cyborg midwives tending to their “little ones”
while rattling off motherly stock phrases of affection.
The exceedingly polite, if somewhat pushy and
accident-prone protocol droids, or the partially
vivisected monkeys rising up against their captors.
The creeping feeling that the very environment you
inhabit is your mortal enemy. How could anyone
possibly forget playing – no, experiencing! – that?
Whether the 1994 System Shock can be considered
an RPG is up for debate. The fact remains that, in an
age where games like Doom limited its content to
navigating mazes, finding keys and shooting stuff,
System Shock featured a complex (if convoluted) UI
that allowed the player to jump, crouch, peek around
corners, jack into cyberspace, read logs and manage
an extensive inventory. Sadly, in what would become
a pattern for Looking Glass, releasing a product that
was years ahead of its time didn’t pay off. System Shock
obtained wide critical acclaim, but sold poorly.
However, the game managed to develop a cult
following over the years. Among the select group of
aficionados was a young Ken Levine. His company,
Irrational Games, was granted the rights to work on
a sequel, allowing for a proper, triumphant return of
SHODAN, the devious rogue AI that had so masterfully
served as the first game’s main adversary.
Developed on a shoestring budget in an office
that can be aptly described as Looking Glass’s broom
closet, there was constant symbiosis between the two
companies. First and foremost, Irrational had access to
the Dark Engine, which would first come to use in the
1998 stealth classic Thief. As a result, System Shock 2
shares many of its strengths with the original Thief:
the player is able to hide in the shadows of the large,
intricately designed levels, with different surfaces
generating different levels of noise, potentially
alerting nearby enemies.
What truly separates SS2 from its predecessor
is the use of a complex character system, resulting in
a game that is both FPS and RPG in equal measure.
Early on, the player chooses one of three classes: the
gun-toting marine, the psionically-endowed OSA
agent or the tech-savvy navy hacker. Throughout the
game the player can customise his character however
he chooses: improving his attributes, selecting traits,
training the skills required to equip and repair more
powerful items, finding implants or learning any of the
35 available psi powers, that range from temporarily
buffing stats to firing mental projectiles and even the
ability to teleport yourself.
“For me, the important part of
System Shock 2 is the difficulty
and the resource scarcity. I would
probably describe it more as
being about tension than horror.
There’s a horror element to the
story and characters are terribly
disfigured or in pain or whatever,
but that’s actually less important
to me than the fact that the game
is really, really hard. It requires you
to constantly be very focused and
intense. There are a lot of things
that can go wrong.”
– Jonathan Chey,
System Shock 2’s project manager
and lead programmer
Resources are scarce though: weapons degrade
with every single shot and have a nasty tendency to
either break or jam during tense firefights. Enemies
respawn over time, and even areas which have been
previously cleared can become death traps. The high
difficulty crowns SS2’s unrivalled sense of danger.
To add to the atmosphere, the ghosts of the Von
Braun – the faster-than-light spaceship where your
descent into hell takes place – still inhabit the vessel.
Both figuratively – in the form of increasingly desperate
audio logs – and literally, as apparitions that recreate
the crew members’ final, ghastly moments.
System Shock 2 struck a nerve, but, despite an
overwhelmingly positive reception and the fact that
it would go on to inspire both FPS/RPG hybrids
and horror games to this very day, it sold below
expectations. And with Looking Glass going out of
business in 2000, the jarring cliffhanger that concludes
the rushed final levels remains unresolved to this day.
Irrational Games would live on to see the financial
success that Looking Glass was never allowed with the
2007 release of the popular Bioshock series, which – to
the disappointment of many fans – did not turn out to
be the next step in the logical evolution of FPS/RPG
hybrids they had hoped for.
System Shock 2 stands unchallenged both in its
seamless blending of genres and in its ability to truly
make the player feel like a pathetic creature of meat
and bone, panting and sweating as you run through
SHODAN’s corridors. NH
Mods:
An active community at www.systemshock.org still
offers advice and releases mods. Here’s a selection:
Shock Community Patch: A big collection of fixes from
the community. Highly recommended.
TF’s Secmod: Rebalance things, change enemy position
and add new content. Great for a replay.
System Shock Fan Missions: Fan-made adventures that
range from SS2 sequels to exploring medieval crypts.
Christine’s Ponterbee Station is a must-play.
Enemies roam
the halls and a
rogue AI watches
over your every
step. There’s no
safety in System
Shock 2.
SHODAN is
voiced by
Terri Brosius,
who not only
worked as a
writer and level
designer for
Looking Glass,
but was also
part of an early
90s rock band
named Tribe.
Managing the inventory, saving resources and keeping
weapons functional are mandatory for your survival.
Some fan missions, such as UNN Polaris, offer
new monsters and environments to the players.
257
2000-2004
The rise of the
modern gaming industry
If the 90s was a time of great technological jumps, then the start of
the new millennium was a time of drastic changes in the business side. It
was a period of consolidation that reshaped the gaming industry.
Previously, the successful fifth generation of consoles, led by the
PlayStation and the Nintendo 64, had sold millions and greatly expanded
the gaming audience. Now the PlayStation 2 was spearheading the sixth
console generation and breaking all sales records, eventually becoming
the best-selling console of all time. But the development costs for fancy
3D graphics still kept rising at an alarming pace – making games was a
highly profitable, but also extremely risky business.
While home computers were more popular than ever before, their
games were outshined by the outstanding success of the PS2. A few PC
companies like Maxis, Valve and Blizzard struck gold with hits such
as The Sims, Counter-Strike and Diablo II, but the top-selling list was
entirely dominated by consoles and handhelds.
Former PC giants like Sierra, Brøderbund and Origin had already
been sold in the late 90s, and the harsh climate of the early 00s saw the
demise of Interplay, SSI, Westwood Studios, DreamForge, Infogrames,
MicroProse, Acclaim and the 3DO Company, among many others.
EA and Activision acquired many of these, further consolidating
their position as rulers of the US market, while others had no choice but
to close their doors and declare bankruptcy. Many analysts weaved grim
prophecies about the “Death of PC Gaming” at the time, and while PC
games didn’t die, they definitely suffered in the 2000s.
In Japan, Square would merge with Enix and become Square Enix,
a attempt to fight the ever-increasing development costs. Even on the
hardware side things were getting tighter, with 3dfx suffering from
bad decisions and being acquired by Nvidia, leaving the graphics cards
market as the duopoly between ATI and Nvidia that stands to this day.
One of the biggest changes happened in the console market: SEGA
left the fight with heavy losses after the consecutive failures of the Saturn
and the Dreamcast. But a new challenger, Microsoft, rose in its place.
The first successful US console since the Crash of 1983, the Xbox
would have a major impact in the industry. Culturally and geographically
close to Western developers, the Xbox was the gateway for companies
eager to try their hand in the blooming console market. To ease them in,
the Xbox (a contraction of “DirectX Box”) was designed from the start
so that veteran PC developers could easily understand and work with it.
Signalling the start of a new era, the early 2000s was a time of change,
and companies either adapted or died.
258
Trends:
Casual Games: The Internet proved itself the “killer app” for PCs, finally providing
the perfect reason for every house to own a computer. Now people with no previous
background in games or technology had access to one – and they were playing! PC titles
like The Sims and RollerCoaster Tycoon were massive hits among casual gamers, but even
bigger were online communities like Neopets, Habbo Hotel and Club Penguin, as well as
browser games like Travian, Bejeweled and several hidden object games.
Neopets is a virtual
pet website that
was launched in
1999 and quickly
grew popular,
reaching 35 million
users in 2005.
The Dot-com Bubble: This is a tangential subject, but key to understanding the
insecurity that loomed over the early 2000s. With the birth and popularisation of the
Internet, several companies appeared out of nowhere and made billions, such as Yahoo,
Amazon and Google. Many tried to follow, creating online companies as a sure-fire path
to quick money. When the bubble burst in 2000, countless companies went broke, money
vanished and investors became weary of technological “gold mines” – such as video games.
The NASDAQ index
spiked in early
2000, fuelled by
speculation over
online companies,
then fell sharply.
Handheld Consoles: After Pokémon’s success revitalised the decade-old Game Boy,
Nintendo started to quickly develop new handhelds. The Game Boy Colour came in 1998,
followed by the Game Boy Advance in 2001. While these were successful, their big hit was
the Nintendo DS, released in 2004 and to date the best-selling handheld console of all
time. In 2004 Sony also released its PlayStation Portable – the PSP –, starting a rivalry that
continued with their successors, the 3DS and the short-lived PS Vita.
All Nintendo DS
models combined
have sold over
150 million units,
making it second
only to the PS2 in
popularity.
The PlayStation 2 is released.
It dominated the 2000s and
became the best-selling video
game console in history, with
over 155 million units sold.
The GameCube was a bet on
“family-friendly” consoles,
but the lack of third-party
games made it struggle.
It sold 22 million units.
The Xbox was Microsoft’s
entry into the console wars.
It would revolutionise the
gaming scenario in the US
and sell 24 million units.
Facebook is launched. Initially
only for students, it opened
up in 2006 and became the
world’s largest social network,
with over 1.8 billion users.
World of Warcraft is released
and becomes the standard for
MMOs. It peaked at 12 million
subscribers in 2010, but
remains extremely popular.
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
The Sims is a surprise hit,
selling 12 million units
and dethroning Myst as the
top-selling PC game. As a
whole, The Sims franchise
sold over 175 million copies.
Bejeweled is released, at first
as a browser game. Later it
would get multiple ports
and sequels. A success with
casual players, the series has
over 150 million downloads.
Grand Theft Auto III takes
the world by storm, selling
14 million units across all
platforms, popularising
open-world sandbox games
and leading to a new debate
over video game violence.
AMD creates the first 64-bit
processors for home use,
allowing for PCs to use more
than 4GB of RAM. By 2005,
AMD and Intel would also
introduce new multi-core
desktop processors.
Half-Life 2 brings in an
innovative physics engine
and a more cinematic
approach. It also comes with
Valve’s newly released Steam
and leads to popular mods,
such as Garry’s Mod.
259
Deus Ex
Ion Storm, 2000
Windows, Mac, PS2 and PSN
Warren
Spector began
planning Deus
Ex in 1993, first
under the title
Troubleshooter at
Origin, than later
as Junction Point
at Looking Glass
Studios. The
game only took
off when John
Romero invited
Spector to join
Ion Storm and
“make the game
of his dreams”.
Not only will you
have to choose
how to spend
money, mods and
upgrades, but the
inventory itself
offers limited
storage, forcing
you to pick your
gear wisely.
260
I’ll start with a confession: I didn’t play Deus Ex
until many years after its release. And, even after
I discovered it, I was skeptical at first. After all, it’s
an unattractive game with drab aesthetics, awkward
animations and uneven voice acting.
The first steps taken and first shots fired feel
clunky, and there’s a gentle irony about how a game
featuring brilliant AIs has NPCs that routinely run
into walls like mindless wind-up toys. And yet, like its
powerful nano-augmentations, Deus Ex has a habit of
getting under one’s skin and staying there.
I first tried Deus Ex out of historic curiosity, but
its dusty appearance belied a game that was (and still
is) vibrant and fresh. An immersive sim developed by
former Looking Glass employees, the game has much
in common with classics like Thief and System Shock,
yet Deus Ex remains one of a kind. But pinning down
exactly why it’s so compelling and relevant isn’t easy.
You may have heard fans talk about the game’s
player agency – the freedom to do things your way.
To my mind, however, this freedom is just one of
many features that contribute to what distinguishes
Deus Ex most: its verisimilitude.
Despite its low fidelity and awkward character
AI, I have never played a game in which the player’s
presence in a virtual world feels this authentic. Hub
areas such as Hell’s Kitchen and Hong Kong are
rich microcosms. These places may seem small in
comparison to open-world games, but they are dense
with detail in the form of secrets, newspapers and data
cubes to discover and study, as well as inhabitants that
philosophise, ask for your help, try to manipulate you,
and take note of your actions.
The game’s unmatched reactivity makes these
characters seem real. Rather than ignoring your
agency until some Big Binary Plot Decision like most
games, the denizens of Deus Ex will react to your most
minute actions and comment on the places you visited,
the problems you solved and the manner in which you
solved them, the people you met, killed, or let live.
The scale and complexity of the main missions’
maps is often mind-boggling; the plethora of ways
to move through them almost overwhelming. You
can blow up a door and go in, guns blazing; pick a
lock and sneak inside; stack crates or use your jump
augmentation to reach a high window or roof; crawl
through twisting systems of vents; hack security
panels to turn the enemy’s robots against them, etc.
Affordances depend on your character build and
inventory. Skill points are awarded for completing
objectives or finding secrets and can be invested in
weapon handling, hacking, lock-picking, swimming,
and more. Augmentation canisters target specific
body parts and offer a binary choice: do you want to
move quietly or quicker? Do you want to hit harder
with melee weapons or lift heavy objects? These
augmentations can then be levelled up, allowing
further specialisation, while weapon mods can add
scopes, increase accuracy or reduce recoil.
“Deus Ex was conceived with the
idea that we’d accept players as our
collaborators, that we’d put power
back in their hands, ask them to
make choices, and let them deal
with the consequences of those
choices. It was designed, from
the start, as a game about player
expression, not about how clever
we were as designers, programmers,
artists, or storytellers.”
– Warren Spector,
Deus Ex’s project director
From small
environmental
details to side
characters that
comment on
your actions and
grow as the game
progresses, Deus
Ex’s world feels
alive and real.
Replaying the game with different augmentations
and skills will show you new and surprising facets of
familiar places, yet, unlike spiritual successors such
as Dishonored, these decisions never restrict you to
either a stealth or combat-only playstyle. Instead, your
choices allow for new and interesting approaches to
each individual obstacle.
The missions you undertake and places you
explore are meaningfully embedded in a world and
story no less rich than these individual spaces. As
J.C. Denton, valuable asset of UNATCO with his
superior nano-technological augmentations, it’s your
task to untangle a web of conspiracies and lies in a
world suffering from widespread terrorism, political
oppression and a mysterious plague epidemic. Despite
its bleakness, Deus Ex deals neither in moral absolutes
nor cynicism. Instead, it offers an uncommonly
differentiated world where the lines between good
and evil are present but contested.
Instead of just offering dialog choices, Deus Ex reacts to
player’s actions, shaping the narrative around them.
Your enemies retain their humanity, and the
motivations of allies are never above suspicion.
Gunther Hermann, struggling against his outdated
augmentations, is a brilliant example of effective
characterisation through broad strokes. And if you
wish to go deep, you can read and discuss political
philosophy, religion, history and transhumanism.
The game’s central themes of paranoia, hunger
for power and thirst for knowledge are not only talked
about, but also evoked by the gameplay itself. World,
story and mechanics mesh elegantly, and playing
the game is an all-round cerebral and coherent
experience. Deus Ex is a vibrant masterpiece that not
only achieves what few games – then or now – dare to
attempt, but also makes it seem easy. AI
Mods:
The Nameless Mod: A long and elaborate campaign,
featuring great level design and two separate storylines.
A great experience, even if the setting is a bit silly.
2027: A fan-made prequel to Deus Ex, very faithful in
terms of gameplay, exploration and setting.
ZODIAC: An excellent set of six missions where you play
as Paul Denton, uncovering the game’s mysteries.
Deus Ex: Nihilum: Another great fan-made campaign.
GMDX: An award-winning mod that enhances the AI,
graphics, augs, skills, perks and difficulty, while staying
as faithful as possible to the original game.
Deus Ex: Revision: Similar to GMDX, but it takes more
“liberties” with its gameplay changes. Available on Steam.
HDTP/New Vision: Two mods that update the game’s
graphics. They are featured in both Revision and GMDX.
Shifter/BioMod: Two rather controversial mods that
make radical rebalancing and gameplay changes.
261
Baldur’s Gate II:
Shadows of Amn
BioWare, 2000
Windows, Mac (iOS and Android)*
*The Enhanced
Edition of
Baldur’s Gate II,
released by
Overhaul Games
in 2013, adds
new content,
wide-screen
support, bug
fixes and
new ports.
Dream sequences
allow you to
interact with the
villain, offering
insight into
his views and
atmosphere to
the game.
262
Baldur’s Gate II: Shadow of Amn for me was
more than a game; it was an unforgettable
journey throughout the world of Faêrun that
came alive before my eyes, with friends and villains
with believable yet interesting and unique histories
and personalities of their own. It was my first CRPG
ever, and one that I fell absolutely in love with.
BG2 continues the story of the first game, but
you can skip BG1 if you wish without losing much.
Set in the Forgotten Realms, rich in detail and history,
you assume the role of Gorion’s ward, one of the many
offspring of the deceased God of Murder, Bhaal.
The story unfolds as your unique heritage draws
the attention of a powerful mage, Irenicus, whose sole
motive is to “unlock your power” for his own use. I
loved how the villain’s true nature is cleverly disguised
with his seemingly unemotional nature in the
beginning and his powerful dialogues are delivered
with masterful voice acting which blew me away.
Ultimately, the story of BG2 is a personal one:
a journey of discovery and the protagonist’s struggle
against their own nature, mirrored by the villain.
Naturally, it is fitting that your companions play
a huge role in BG2, influencing your decisions as you
bond with them throughout your journey. The NPCs
are extremely well-developed, with their own unique
quests, personality and banter with you or with each
other, which was the biggest improvement compared
to its predecessor. Each NPC will remember their
previous conversations with you and react to your
decisions accordingly, allowing you to be their friend
or enemy, or even start a romantic relationship. This
is the part I enjoyed the most in BG2; it was such a
satisfying experience, to get to know them, help them
develop and even save their soul.
Most of your companions can be found within
the city of Athkatla, which functions as your base of
operations in the early game, where you are given
freedom to explore and experience the city and other
neighbouring regions. Athkatla is a delight to explore;
each part of the city is well fleshed out, populated by
townsfolk of different statuses or professions. While
it outwardly appears that the city is co-governed by a
merchant council and a sinister group of mages, there
are other powerful organisations that play prominent
roles and soon you will find yourself caught amidst
their struggle over control of the city. You also have
the chance to increase your standing within Athkatla
through the stronghold quests which vary depending
on your player character’s chosen class.
During your journey, you’ll find a wealth of sidequests;
so much that you might feel overwhelmed
at times. Most of the quests are varied, well-written,
and often incorporate puzzles, ranging from simple
riddles, to elaborate plots with you playing the role
of a detective – for example, one has you attempting
to prove your sanity by answering riddles in order to
escape from a prison where mental “deviants” are held.
“I have two primary memories
from the Baldur’s Gate days.
The first is the horror of crunch.
Shadows of Amn was an enormous
game with so many characters,
plots, items, spells and places that
it took a lot of work and passion
to get that beast out the door.
That leads to the second memory:
creative fulfilment. I think the stars
aligned for Baldur’s Gate II in a way
that they probably won’t again. We
had a finished engine that allowed
us to focus on content rather than
basic functionality.”
– James Ohlen,
Co-lead designer of Baldur’s Gate II
Your quests will take you to many different places
in Faerûn – from a pirate island, a beautiful Elven city,
the Underdark (where the most fearsome and terrible
creatures reside) – or even to different planes.
You will encounter interesting and often hostile
inhabitants of the places you visit, which adds variety
and fun to combat. You will have to come up with
different tactics to survive some tough battles. Just one
misplaced spell can make a battle extremely difficult
as some spells affect not only your enemies, but your
companions or even innocents in the area – and you
will have to deal with the deadly consequences!
Magical combat is engaging and strategic,
involving more than just blasting targets with fireballs,
and the high-level cap means you’ll see some of the
most powerful spells AD&D has to offer. Mages often
have layers of protection spells which will need to be
dispelled, and will turn invisible or even stop time
itself to prepare a devastating attack on your party.
The great artwork and item descriptions add a lot to the
game, and the UI is easily one of the best among RPGs.
Of course, your mages have the same abilities,
and making best use of the limited number of spells
they can cast per day can turn a nasty beating into a
thrilling victory.
For the non-casting classes, there is a huge
range of weapons available. The majority of weapons
come with their own history and lore (or sometimes
humorous conversations!), which are often interesting
and fun to read. There are also a number of legendary
weapons which can be forged using parts found
during your journey – most of the time it’s well worth
it to hunt for these parts!
Baldur’s Gate 2 is one hell of a journey; there is
so much to experience, so much to see, it is hard to
describe it all using words alone – you will have to
experience it for yourself! By the end of your journey
through both Shadows of Amn and the Throne of
Bhaal expansion, you will be as eager to share your
experiences with others as I am. SN
Mods:
Baldur’s Gate Trilogy-WeiDU: An excellent fan-made
alternative to the Enhanced Edition, it combines both
Baldur’s Gate games into one vastly improved game.
Sword Coast Stratagems: An elaborate tactical/AI
mod that makes combat really challenging.
Spell Revisions: Fixes and balances the game’s spells.
Ascension Mod: Created by David Gaider, one of the
game’s designers, this mod aims to make the ending
more satisfying, adding new content and challenges.
Big World Project: A massive compatibility guide on
how to install over 500 mods for BG without issues.
Comes with a handy automatic setup tool.
Baldur’s Gate 2
uses the Infinity
Engine, featuring
gorgeous isometric
graphics and realtime-with-pause
combat.
BG2’s game
manual is an
attraction by
itself, spiralbound
and
262 pages long,
describing all
the 298 spells
in the game.
263
Siege
of Avalon
Digital Tome, 2000
Windows
The first chapter
of Siege of Avalon
was released
in April 2000 as
shareware, while
later chapters
were regularly
made available
for download at
$9.95 each.
The final one
was released in
June 2001.
The game prides
itself on being
text-heavy.
Your character
himself writes a
detailed journal
describing his
adventures.
The inventory
is arguably the
game’s best part.
There are 12
layers of armour,
and you must
manage defense,
movement
restriction
and damage
absorption.
264
Years before Telltale Games became famous for
its episodic adventure games, a small studio
called Digital Tome created Siege of Avalon, an
“Episodic Computer Game Novel” told in six chapters.
The game is set in a generic fantasy world, but
under unusual circumstances: you’re trapped inside
a massive castle under siege. And despite being an
Action RPG, the focus here is on the characters and
story. Or at least that was the initial concept.
As you start the game, you’ll choose between
three classes: Fighter, Scout and Magician. Instead of
levelling up, you earn training points which can be
used to increase stats and skills or spent with trainers
to purchase spells and special passive bonuses.
The first chapter starts slowly, but is intriguing.
As a lowly peasant trying to learn the fate of your
brother, you’ll explore the castle, meet its many
inhabitants and trade favours until you’re given some
answers, enemies appear and the killing begins.
Combat, however, is the game’s worst part.
Enemies are mindless, path-finding is non-existent,
luck is far too important and there are huge balance
issues, such as archers dealing absurd amounts of
damage. You can later recruit up to two AI-controlled
companions, but they are equally stupid and easily
killed – permanently! As such, combat is usually won
by employing cheesy tactics and many, many reloads.
This wouldn’t be such a big problem in a storyfocused
game, but, after a good start, Siege of Avalon
loses its bearing and becomes a combat-focused title.
Chapter 2 is just a dull dungeon crawl inside a cave,
Chapter 3, 4 and 5 are optional and focus on one class
playstyle each (but aren’t exclusive) while Chapter 6
is the final showdown. They’re all mostly just combat.
There are satisfying moments, such as sneaking
into the enemy’s camp to spy, hunting rare gear and a
few branching quests, but it’s all buried under hours of
frustrating combat and excessive backtracking. Worst
yet, the initial tension of living under siege quickly
vanishes and NPCs become souless quest-givers.
Siege of Avalon’s concept was great, but its glaring
flaws and lack of focus made it a hard sell, especially at
a time when people still weren’t used to episodic games
– or buying them online. And it surely didn’t help that
Diablo II came out right after SoA’s first chapter. FE
New World Computing, 2000
Windows and PS2
Might and Magic VIII:
Day of the Destroyer
Might and Magic VIII tells of two doomsday
stories. The player’s in-game goal is to thwart
Escaton, an ancient planeswalker intent on
destroying the world. However, the game’s flaws and
rushed production schedule were early signs of another
tragedy – the bankruptcy of New World Computing and
its new parent company, 3DO, just a few years later.
The third Might and Magic title in less than three
years, MM8 would be the last game to use the ageing
MM6 engine, sporting an updated UI but few changes
to the graphics or gameplay of its predecessors.
The biggest difference is how party composition
works: instead of managing a fixed party, you create
a single main character at the start of the game, then
hire up to four additional NPCs to fill out your ranks.
Unfortunately for min-maxers, the initial attributes,
skills and appearance of these hirelings cannot be
customised without a save editor.
While previous games kept to a mostly generic
fantasy setting with some sci-fi elements, you now go
to Jadame, a continent populated by monstrous, albeit
well-meaning races. For instance, in the starting area,
Dagger Wound Island, you find yourself defending a
town of friendly lizardmen from human marauders.
Additionally, many traditional classes such as Archer,
Paladin and Sorcerer are replaced by Dark Elves,
Vampires, Necromancers and even Dragons!
However, the game’s new party system presents
some balance issues: a few overlevelled hirelings can
be obtained at an early stage in the game, and Dragon
characters are powerful enough to trivialise much
of the game’s content – they require no equipment,
breathe fire and can learn to fly, carrying the entire
party on their backs! On the other hand, some of
the new classes are underwhelming, offering little to
differentiate themselves from previous M&M classes.
New World Computing tried to give more focus
to storytelling, but the plot itself is not that interesting
and there’s no sense of urgency. Mid-game you’re asked
to make some choices when forming an alliance, but
they ultimately don’t make much of a difference.
While it’s not the strongest entry in the series,
Might and Magic VIII is still a good game that scratches
the same itch as MM6 or MM7 – a fan of those games
would most likely enjoy this one as well. DH
As in MM6 and 7,
GrayFace’s patch
fixes bugs and
adds features
like mouselook,
while the Choose
Party mod allows
you to start with
any party setup
you wish, and
it’s great for solo
players as well.
The interface was
improved upon
previous games,
but the graphics
remained mostly
the same, looking
outdated next
to other games
released in 2000.
Party size was
expanded to five
characters, but
now you only
create one at
the start – the
others must be
recruited. Yet,
despite being
pre-made, these
characters have
little personality.
265
Diablo II
Blizzard North, 2000
Windows and Mac
Blizzard still
provides
support for
Diablo II,
and in 2016
they patched
it to run better
on modern
computers.
Diablo II took
the concept of
magical items
from roguelikes
and expanded it,
creating the nowfamous
coloured
rarity tiers.
266
Released in June of 2000, Diablo II was the
highly anticipated sequel to the successful PC
Action RPG, , Diablo. All that anticipation
was well-rewarded, as Diablo II delivered a massively
expanded experience of the original game, including
five new character classes (seven, with 2001’s Lord of
Destruction expansion) and numerous features which
became ubiquitous to Action RPGs, such as Skill
Trees and the coloured Item Quality tiers (white for
common, blue for magical, yellow for rare, etc.).
Diablo II was a tremendous success, selling more
than 10 million copies across the early 2000s. It was
a pioneer of online multiplayer, taking advantage of
Blizzard Entertainment’s popular Battle.net service.
It also introduced an entire generation to the niche
roguelike genre, and to the concept of procedural
generation, an idea which has become massively
popular in contemporary games.
Like many iconic games that came out of the
1990s, the Diablo series was born of the collision of
multiple genres – mainly roguelikes and early Action
RPG titles like Ultima VIII: Pagan.
In the early 1980s, the cult game Rogue radically
reinterpreted the RPG genre. Rather than trying to
recreate the massive possibility space of tabletop RPGs
like Dungeons & Dragons, Rogue sought to strip them
down to just a few core ideas. Plot, towns and NPCs
were all removed or greatly reduced so that the player
could immediately start exploring a procedurally
generated dungeon. An entire sub-genre sprang up
from this model, in which players challenge an endless
variety of dungeons, dying suddenly, dying often, and
sometimes finding an amazing piece of treasure.
In the mid-1990s, Diablo creators David Brevik,
Max Schaefer and Erik Schaefer set out to create a
roguelike, but design compromises crept in almost
immediately. Their publisher, Blizzard, told them that
their game had to operate in real time – serendipitously
giving Diablo the frantic combat for which it is known.
The designers also added other non-traditional
elements to its roguelike core, such as character classes
and multiplayer support. The result of all these design
compromises is a strange and beautiful game, part
roguelike, part hack-and-slash, and entirely addictive.
Diablo II represents a refinement and expansion of
the original Diablo. All of the same core ideas reappear,
but the UI and core loop are streamlined. Virtually
every part of the game is greatly expanded, as well.
Instead of four dungeons spanning 16 levels, Diablo
II features dozens of sprawling dungeons, taking place
across five large “acts”. Instead of a few dozen unique
items to find, the loot tables contain hundreds of them.
The frantic action of the first game reappears, as players
hack their way through thousands of monsters and five
extra-tough, unique bosses. Multiplayer returns, and
raises the party size from four to eight players. Indeed,
multiplayer is the place where the real magic of the
game happens.
“We used the term ‘kill/reward’
to describe our basic gameplay.
Players continually kill monsters
and get rewarded with treasure and
experience. But the rewards don’t
stop there. We offer a steady stream
of goals and accomplishments to
entice the player to keep playing.
There’s always a quest that is
almost finished, a waypoint almost
reached, an experience level almost
achieved, and a dungeon nearly
cleared out.”
– Erich Schaefer,
Diablo II’s project and design lead
Diablo II’s classes
go beyond the
classic Warrior,
Mage and Thief
trifecta, with
Paladins enhanced
by powerful auras
and Necromancers
that can summon
armies of minions.
Diablo II was on the forefront of a new wave in
RPG design. The game takes players through five acts
and three difficulty settings. For casual, mainstream
gamers this amount of content is plenty. But, for the
truly devoted, the real game begins only after the
player beats the final boss on the hardest difficulty.
Loot is procedurally generated, augmented by
hundreds of rare, unique equipment pieces, meaning
the game can go on indefinitely. Even to this day,
Diablo II fans still spend hundreds – or even thousands
– of hours online with their friends, killing bosses and
clearing endgame levels. They search for the best and
rarest items, or the even rarer runes, which can be
assembled into equipment so powerful (and so full of
new, strange abilities) that it can change the experience
of the game entirely. And if a player’s sorceress finds a
few pieces of high-end barbarian gear, that player can
trade it – or decide to play a barbarian, gaining a fresh
perspective on the game.
Inspired by Civilization II’s tech trees, Diablo II created
skill trees, providing three specialisations to each class.
In this, Diablo II prefigures the kind of long
endgame that would become the norm in World of
Warcraft and many other MMORPGs. A veteran player
will spend far more time playing max-level content
than they will in getting to that point, and only a very
small group will ever get up to the character level-cap.
The endgame of Diablo II recalls the ultra-hardcore
roguelikes the developers enjoyed, especially Angband
and Moria. Yet, it still allows for more casual gamers
to squeeze some extra enjoyment out of the endgame
without having to commit to weeks of repetition.
The best judgment that a reviewer can offer about
Diablo II is simply to echo history’s own judgement.
It introduced an entire generation of players to both
the hack-and-slash RPG and the roguelike. If the sales
figures and continued enthusiasm for the game are
any measure, the game has something in it for every
kind of player. Most games cannot say the same about
one genre, let alone two. PNH
Mods:
Back to Hellfire: Aims to recreate the experience of the
original Diablo, changing classes, skills, music, etc.
Le Royaume des Ombres: A huge, total modification,
it offers a new world to explore, new skills, quests,
monsters, crafting recipes and over 2,000 new items.
Hell Unleashed: Enhances the game, increasing the size
of dungeons, adding new tougher enemies and making
boss fights more complex.
Median XL: One of the most popular Diablo II mods,
it completely change the skills, adds various new
monsters with reworked AI and new unique items,
plus “uberquests” and challenges for veteran players.
267
Vampire:
The Masquerade - Redemption
Nihilistic Software, 2000
Windows
268
Christof and
an ally battle
Cappadocians
inside the
catacombs
of medieval
Prague.
Vampire: The Masquerade Redemption has
always been overshadowed by its big brother,
Bloodlines. It might not be the best CRPG
ever, but it’s still a bloody good game. With a small
team, Nihilistic Software was able to build beautiful
environments and a compelling story.
While convalescing in medieval Prague, a young
French crusader called Christof Romuald falls in
love with one of the nuns taking care of him. His
overzealous attitude leads him straight into conflict
with local vampires and paints him as a worthy
candidate to undeath. Turned into a vampire by the
Brujah, a clan of warrior-philosophers from ancient
Carthage, our hero wanders through Prague and
Vienna by night to save his lost love and prevent the
awakening of an ancient wicked vampire. Halfway
through the game, Christof is projected through
time and awakes on the Eve of the New Year 2000 in
London to end his quest.
The story itself is simple and extremely straightforward
but the unique setting created by White Wolf
is well-explained and keeps its density.
A few occasional choices are given to the player,
but they don’t change much and only impact on
the ending. Through the two time periods, three
companions will join Christof on his desperate quest.
Entertaining and diverse, they will comment on every
place and every character encountered by distilling
interesting tidbits about Vampire’s universe.
While the Timeskip doesn’t really change
anything gameplay-wise (except the weapons, the UI
and the characters), the cultural shock felt by Christof
is pretty entertaining to watch. Putting aside the cheesy
love story, the cast and the writing are good enough to
keep your attention. Strangely enough, self-conscious
humour is also present and works pretty well.
Aficionados of the original pen-and-paper
game felt deeply betrayed by Redemption’s gameplay.
Indeed, while the profound political nature of the
vampires is quickly established, the game is exclusively
based around combat. Redemption plays as a deeply
narrative Diablo-like. Love it or hate it, but there is no
way to avoid it. If you accept it, it is an entertaining
and original experience.
On the surface, Redemption’s gameplay is very
similar to Diablo: click on enemies until extinction,
get loot, rinse and repeat. The vanilla formula changes
quite a bit once you become a vampire. Your PCs have
three bars: life, blood and frenzy. By draining humans
(or enemies), you get blood which allows you to heal
yourself and fuel disciplines – vampire magic. If your
blood bar gets low, your frenzy rises up, making your
character prone to enter a state uncontrollable rage.
Those simple facts become matters of life and
death in combat as a simple fight can turn into a
total party wipe with thirsty characters. Vampire
weaknesses, such as sunlight or fire, can make things
go south pretty fast.
“The game is scaled back from
the very early designs (as any
game is), but storyteller mode
was not something that we would
have considered cutting. This was
something that we wanted to
introduce to the RPG world, and
there’s no better property for this
type of moderated gameplay than
Vampire: The Masquerade.”
– Ray Gresko,
Redemption’s project lead
Storyteller
mode allows
for multiplayer
campaigns
controlled by a
human GM, in a
throwback to the
tabletop games.
Every vampire gets basic disciplines (such as
feeding) but also more exotic ones linked to his/her
clan. In Redemption, there are more than ten of those
and each one unlocks up to five different powers.
You get wolf form, fireballs, invisibility, summoning,
celerity, cauldron of blood, etc. Combinations are
pretty fun, and tailoring the disciplines used by your
characters usually ends up being as important as the
weapon they use, maybe more.
Items and enemies are pretty varied: swords and
spiked maces turn into guns and flamethrowers in the
modern era, each class of weapons affecting enemies
differently. Non-vampiric enemies range from humans
and ghosts to other monstrosities from the World of
Darkness – the Werewolf probably being the nastiest of
all. While the game isn’t very difficult, bosses are tough,
usually spamming high-end disciplines and draining
most of your resources.
The game offers a wild variety of powers, armour,
weapons and companions, both medieval and modern.
The polarising gameplay aside, Redemption
succeeded in offering a nice atmosphere through a
coherent art direction. Graphics have aged well, except
the blocky-handed characters, and offer a nice vision
of the World of Darkness. Sound design is creepy as
hell and the soundtrack is fantastic. Composed by two
different artists to follow the story’s division, music is
probably one of the best in the genre. The medieval
bits are dark and dreary while the modern elements
rely on techno and rap vibes.
Only experienced by a few people, Redemption’s
multiplayer was extremely original. More than a year
before Neverwinter Nights, it tried to recreate the
tabletop experience with an omnipotent storyteller
as a host. The storyteller could change everything
in the multiplayer sessions: add monsters, props,
give experience points, etc. Unfortunately, only two
scenarios were built within the core game and no userfriendly
toolkits were given to the players.
Redemption is a schizophrenic game using a
well-thought-out universe and a compelling narrative
to promote a Diablo variation. It is definitively a good
game and is worth a look. If you manage to bypass
the boring tutorial dungeon, then you will definitively
enjoy yourself. TR
Mods:
The Age of Redemption 2014: Allows you to play
the game’s single-player campaign in multiplayer.
Within the Darkness: A huge mod that attempts to
be more faithful to the source tabletop game.
More mods can be found at: www.planetvampire.com
269
Soulbringer
Infogrames Studios, 2000
Windows
At the right of the
screen there are
eight slots where
you can assign
combos, even
mixing spells and
melee attacks.
The interface is
overdesigned
and looks very
confusing, but it’s
easy to use once
you’re used to it.
270
With its isometric perspective, real-time
combat, simplistic character system and a
cliché story about a Chosen One, it’s easy
to dismiss Soulbringer as a yet another Diablo-clone.
You couldn’t be further from the truth, however.
While combat is real-time, it isn’t anywhere near
the frantic click-fest you’d expect from an Action
RPG. It actually strives for the very opposite – to
make its melee combat as tactical as it can.
Each weapon has up to five possible attacks, that
differ in a variety of areas like speed, reach, damage
type, etc. You can also combine those attacks into
combos, presumably tailored for different enemy
types. In fact, you are encouraged to do so, as it’s only
while performing a combo that your character can
dodge or parry.
Attacks are also aimed at different body parts –
or, more precisely, different height levels, as the game
takes the attacks’ trajectory and elevation into account.
Unfortunately, elevation seems to be the game’s
Achilles heel, as the AI, while quite competent in
other areas, just can’t understand it properly. This
manifests in a variety of ways – from some very weird
path-finding, to enemies not noticing you two steps
from them, to other enemies wasting all their spells
on a bump separating them from you.
Combat isn’t the only area where Soulbringer
tries to innovate. Its magic system has spells divided
into five standard elements which have associated
skills that grow with use. However, those skills
provide you not with spell power, but with protection
from said element – up to the point where enemy
spells start to actually heal you. The trade-off is, of
course, decreasing the skill with a subsequent element
– water takes away from fire; fire from spirit; etc.
In its less innovative areas Soulbringer is also
quite solid. Its story is well-developed and fairly
non-linear, if somewhat cliché and not without a
bit of signature French weirdness. Level design is
competent, with plenty of nooks and crannies to
explore and adventure-style puzzles to solve, and
visuals, while obviously dated, are quite atmospheric.
So if you’re able to turn a blind eye to the AI
quirks, you’re in for a very enjoyable and unique RPG
experience. VK
Grandia II
Game Arts, 2000
Windows, Dreamcast and PS2
The original Grandia, released in 1997 for the
SEGA Saturn (and later the PS1), is often listed
among the best JRPGs of all time, thanks to
its light-hearted story, the challenging, puzzle-filled
dungeons and, above all, its combat system.
While most JRPGs use turn-based combat systems
derived from Wizardry and Dragon Quest, the Grandia
series has an entirely new system, where battles happen
in real time, but follow an initiative order. During
battle, a gauge displays the order characters will act,
as their icons travel from left to right through three
phases – Wait, Command and Act.
During the Wait phase characters will, well, wait.
As each character reaches the Command phase, you’ll
give them an order and they will execute it at the end
of the Act phase – with each type of action requiring a
different amount of time to be executed. Not only does
it feel dynamic, but both the player and the enemies
can use attacks and skills to delay their foes’ actions
– or even cancel them all together, if timed correctly.
Grandia II, the only game in the series ported to
PCs, further improves the combat system by featuring
a fully 3D combat area. Now characters must move
close to their foes to attack, making position and
speed play a big role when timing your actions.
Unfortunately the whole system feels underused,
as the encounter design is quite poor and battles are
very easy. You characters all have multiple powerful
attacks, vast pools of mana and bags full of items,
overpowering most obstacles – even boss battles.
Grandia II puts you in the shoes of Ryudo, a
young mercenary hired to protect a priestess during an
exorcism ritual. Things go bad, the girl gets possessed
and they both set out on a journey to save her soul. It’s
a good premise, with a few memorable characters and
plot twists – but also many cliché JRPG tropes.
While it’s an entertaining title, Grandia II lacks
the impact of its predecessor. The plot works well and
will please JRPG fans, but the main attraction here,
the excellent combat system, is wasted on easy battles
and boring enemies. Overall, the game stands more as
a curiosity than a solid recommendation.
If you’re interested in the combat system, be sure
to take a look at its recent copycats: Child of Light and
Penny Arcade’s Precipice of Darkness 3 and 4. FE
Grandia II’s
excellent
soundtrack
was composed
by Noriyuki
Iwadare.
A few of the
game’s releases
came with an
additional CD
of his music.
Grandia II’s
dungeons are
very simple and
straightforward,
even displaying
a compass that
points the way
out. Enemies are
visible on the
map and can be
easily avoided.
The initiative gauge
at the bottom
corner shows the
order and stage
of the character’s
action. Attacking
someone during
their ACT phase
can interrupt them.
271
Breath of Fire IV
Capcom, 2000
Windows, PS1, PS3, PSP and PS Vita
Breath of
Fire IV’s
Windows port
was released
only in 2003
and can be
hard to run on
some modern
computers. If
you’re having
issues, try
using DxWnd.
The game’s
narrative is split
between Ryu’s
adventures and
Fou-Lu’s story,
offering a heavy
change of tone.
272
The Breath of Fire series began back in 1993,
gaining a lot of popularity among JRPG fans
in the SNES and PS1 eras. It then faded away in
the 00s after Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter, a highly
controversial (and innovative) tactical RPG designed
around dying and restarting multiple times.
Every game in the BoF series follows a similar
formula: a silent protagonist named Ryu – who can
transform into dragons – runs into a cast of colourful
anthropomorphic characters and embarks on an epic
adventure. However, Breath of Fire IV adds a novel
element: a parallel plot where you play as Fou-Lu, a
powerful ancient warrior who awakens from a long
sleep to retake his throne as Emperor.
While the story can be predictable sometimes,
especially the way Ryu and Fou-Lu’s fates intertwine,
it still offers a few surprises (some quite grim).
The graphics go in the opposite direction of
most PS1-era games, featuring animated 2D sprites
over 3D environments. This allows players to rotate
the camera 360º – which can be used to find hidden
items, but is quite troublesome in dense areas.
At first glance, BoF4’s combat is standard JRPG
fare, but it has quite a few unique characteristics. Only
three characters fight at the front line, but the other
characters stay in the back, recovering magic points.
You can instantly switch their positions, juggling the
party during combat to adapt to various situations.
This is especially important due to the combo
system, which allows you to chain attacks to create
more powerful spells – e.g. casting an Earth spell and
a Fire spell results in the mighty Eruption spell.
Speaking of magic, characters can acquire new
skills from enemies. When you defend certain attacks,
there’s a chance that character will learn to use them.
But there’s a catch: each skill can only be “equipped”
by one party member at a time, so you’ll have to
choose who can make the most out of it.
Another interesting aspect is how many enemies
have “gimmicks” to them, such as shields that must
be broken, immunities to certain elements and even
pacifist enemies that help you if you don’t attack.
Some foes can also change forms when hit by certain
attacks – a haunted tree stump will catch fire and
become more powerful when hit by fire spells.
Character customisation is also deep, especially
for a JRPG. You can assign your characters to train
under 12 masters hidden across the game. Each one
teaches new skills, offers a powerful passive bonus
and, most importantly, changes the stat growth on
level-ups, allowing you to customise your party. But
beware – some masters may decrease defence or HP,
turning your characters into glass cannons.
Each master must be found before agreeing to
teach you, and they often demand certain feats to be
performed, such as dealing more than 1500 damage,
chaining a 12-hit combo, donating all your money or
finding a secret treasure.
There are many masters your characters can train under,
each offering new abilities and stats change at level-ups.
The first hours are very linear, but after a while the map
opens up and you can freely travel between regions.
Each new area usually presents a unique challenge, which
can either be quickly solved or fully explored for treasures.
In combat the three front characters act while the back
ones rest, but you can instantly switch their positions.
Side-goals like those help to hide the linearity
of the game. The first few hours are straightforward,
but it opens up after a while, allowing players to freely
explore the (somewhat small) world, revisit locations
and engage in numerous mini-games.
These range from fishing, loading crates and
serving food to captaining a ship and races across the
desert. There’s even a mini-game where you manage a
village of fairies, ordering fairies to gather food, chop
trees, build houses and shops – like a simplistic RTS –,
which unlocks new equipment for sale and even more
mini-games to play inside said shops!
Oddly, these serve a bigger purpose, as you gain
Game Points for performing well at the mini-games,
and these are used to evolve Ryu’s dragon forms.
All this is mostly optional, as BoF4 is designed to
offer a pleasing pace, always fresh and free of grinds
or halts. Dungeons are a good example: they are quick
to explore and usually feature a unique mechanic or
puzzle, which can either be solved quickly to proceed
or throughly explored in exchange for extra loot.
Judging Breath of Fire IV is complicated. In the
context of the Breath of Fire series, it falls a bit flat next
to the excellent previous games. Some characters are
memorable, but the world feels dull and a lot was cut or
streamlined, from the dragon forms to the dungeon’s
complexity and even the overall game length.
However, on its own, BoF4 is a solid game that
adds some twists to the traditional JRPG formula and
keeps the pace always flowing, never overextending
its stay. The narrative split between two points of view
is also a novel feature that makes it stands out, even if
it surely could’ve been explored more.
Sadly, the Western releases suffered censorship,
with a few scenes removed. Other details were also
altered: Scias, the dog-like samurai, is an alcoholic in
the original – so drunk he can barely speak – but the
translations made him a simple stutterer instead.
Still, being chronologically the first game in the
series and the only one available on PC, Breath of Fire
IV is an easy recommendation to JRPG fans – just be
sure to check the rest of the series later. FE
Breath of
Fire IV’s story
was adapted
into a manga
by Ichimura
Hitoshi,
released
in 2008 only
in Japan.
273
Evil Islands:
Curse of the Lost Soul
Nival Interactive, 2000
Windows
Evil Islands:
Lost in Astral is
a stand-alone
expansion to
Evil Islands,
released in
2006 by Matilda
Entertainment.
It was very
poorly received
in Russia and
never released
in English.
Combat can be
very difficult, as
a lucky critical hit
from an enemy
can kill a character.
Since death is
permanent for your
companions, you’ll
reload often.
274
Like their earlier games, Rage of Mages 1 and 2,
Nival’s Evil Islands is an RTS/RPG hybrid
(or “Role-Playing Strategy”, as they called it),
this time leaning more towards the RPG side.
The game opens with Zak, our protagonist,
waking up amidst ruins on a mysterious island.
Having no recollection of his past, armed only with
a simple bronze dagger, he sets off to discover what
happened to him. He soon comes across a village
whose residents, awed by his metal dagger, proclaim
him to be the Chosen One foretold by legend.
The tutorial area does a good job of explaining the
mechanics behind Evil Islands – the combat system
is real-time-with-pause, with a heavy emphasis on
stealth. There are several kinds of movement: walking,
the default normal speed; running, which quickly
drains your stamina; sneaking and crawling, both of
which conceal you from most enemies – provided
you don’t get too close to their line of sight. Moving
stealthily also allows you to perform devastating
backstabs, essential for taking out solitary guards and
more powerful foes.
Many quests in the game hinge on you sneaking
past enemies that can kill you in a few hits, so taking
note of their positions and patrol routes is the key to
victory. However, this doesn’t mean the game is all
about evading fights. When attacking, you are given a
choice of targeting specific body parts: the head gives
you a big damage bonus, but is the most difficult to
hit; the torso is easier to hit but does little damage;
the arms decrease attack and the legs decrease speed.
Health and stamina – used both for running as
well as magic – regenerate over time and increase as
you gain XP by defeating enemies and completing
quests. The game use a classless character system,
where XP is used to buy skills, ranging from melee,
archery, magic, to speeding up health regeneration,
seeing better in the dark, being able to carry more
weight, etc. There are three levels to each skill, and
when you purchase one, all the other skills will
increase in cost, so it’s important to plan out what
kind of character you want to build.
Evil Islands features a robust crafting system that
will allow you to create your own gear and spells from
schematics and keystones. The quality of equipment
created depends on what kind of materials – bought or
gathered from defeated creatures – were used in their
construction. Crafted items can also be permanently
enchanted with spells, such as Haste or Night Vision.
The Spell Maker allows you to alter the effects
of spells, such as empowering them by adding runes
that will give them extra duration and extra range, or
changing them to only target enemy units, at the cost
of making them harder and more expensive to cast.
Unlike many RPGs where you’re soon drowning
in gold, money remains an issue up until the very end,
so making use of custom-made items can be vital,
especially if you are playing on the harder difficulty.
“Rage of Mages taught us one
important thing: that we tried to
pack it equally with both roleplaying
and strategy elements
but found out that many people
thought of the game as ‘a man
between two chairs, which didn’t
have enough of either in it. As a
result, we learned that we should
stress one element, e.g. roleplaying,
and enhance it with several
elements of other genres, which
would make its gameplay innovative
and more immersive.”
– Dmitry Zakharov,
Evil Islands’ lead designer
Quests will often
send you to
deal with much
stronger enemies.
You’ll have to steal
items from them
or sneak past them
– something rare
in RPGs.
Evil Islands’ world is divided into several large
and interconnected areas. They reset every time you
leave them, but some actions – such as killing a key
NPC – are permanent. The trick is that you can only
change equipment and party members, craft or level up
between areas, so you’ll have to prepare yourself before
heading out, then later head back to reap the rewards.
Over the course of the game, you will visit three
distinct islands in search of your identity – primitive
Gipath, snowy Ingos and desert-covered Suslanger.
Each island also offers several companions that might
join you, up to two at a time. Just beware that they won’t
follow you between islands and can die permanently.
While role-playing options are very limited, the
quests are varied and involve, for example, stealing a
Lizardmen holy relic, killing off a Cyclops’s pigs so he
will leave the area, charming a dragon to clear out a
nest of harpies for you, stealing a foreman’s ledger so
you can blackmail a trader, and many more.
This is helped in no small part by the quaint
writing – characters all speak in an over-dramatised
manner, and behave as if they are in a 1980s cartoon.
The voice acting is generally quite good and fitting,
with the unfortunate exception of the main character,
whose overenthusiastic and strange delivery will
probably soon start to grate on your nerves.
The graphics are clear and distinguishedlooking,
feature a dynamic weather system, day-andnight
cycle, wounds that are visible on the character’s
model and tracks left behind by enemies so you can see
which direction they are heading. Overall, it still holds
up today.
Even when released, there were objectively
better RPGs than Evil Islands. While there is nothing
revolutionary, it offers a vast, enjoyable world to explore,
many hours of gameplay, a challenging combat system,
and, most importantly, a fun-loving adventure when
games could still be whimsical without being ironic. VL
The core gameplay centres around acquiring quests in town
and then travelling to their specific areas to complete them.
Evil Islands also has a multiplayer mode, which allows you
to create a hero and do random quests with five friends.
275
Icewind Dale
Black Isle Studios, 2000
Windows and Mac
Despite having
the same name,
and setting, the
game bears no
relation with
R.A. Salvatore’s
The Icewind
Dale Trilogy
novels staring
Drizzt Do’Urden.
You’ll visit many
unique locations,
from slave pens
and a cursed
fortress to a
gnome village
and a giant
magical tree.
276
Playing a CRPG based on Dungeons & Dragons
is reason enough to make me smile. That’s
exactly the case with Icewind Dale, member of
a great Infinity Engine family of outstanding games.
It’s impossible to talk about Icewind Dale without
mentioning the Baldur’s Gate series. I first played
IWD days after finishing BG and BG2, two games that
completely changed my criteria and forged me as a
gamer. Believe me, playing a good game shortly after
experiencing two of the best games of all time makes
a lot of difference. But make no mistake, despite being
eclipsed by Baldur’s Gate II, which was released in
the same year (and by Diablo II, released on the exact
same day), Icewind Dale manages to hold its own.
The game employs an enhanced version of the
successful Infinity Engine – sporting some impressive
areas and enemies – makes thoughtful use of the rich
Forgotten Realms lore and offers players a full party
to customise. The campaign lasts from 60 to 80 hours,
with a new random loot system encouraging replays
and an elaborate story gracefully ornated by Jeremy
Soule’s soundtrack – one of the best in gaming.
Instead of customising the main character and
playing the role of Bhaal’s child (like in Baldur’s Gate),
Icewind Dale gives you the opportunity to create and
customise your entire group of adventurers – again a
party of six characters. This apparently simple change
has a deep impact on how the entire game flows –
sometimes for better, others for worse. The best thing
is the freedom to combine any classes and races you
want – for more strategic players, this is heaven. And
come on, isn’t it fun (and challenging) to play with an
entire group of spellcasters?
However, there’s a trade off. To offer this level of
freedom the designers sacrificed the personal touch
of playing a bigger role with the protagonist. Since the
entire party plays the main role, there’s no room for a
single character stand in the centre of the storyline.
Plus, the fun of finding new companions and trying to
make them happy is also gone. Of course, this doesn’t
ruin the game at all, but is something to be aware
of. The game is clearly more focused towards dungeon-crawling,
and works beautifully in this regard.
The game’s journey takes place at the eponymous
Icewind Dale, a sub-arctic region on the northernmost
part of the Sword Coast. It’s located near the Spine
of the World, a massive mountain range known as a
cold, deadly and evil-creatures-infested place. Your
party begins in the city of Easthaven, where you join
an expedition to investigate some strange happenings
in the eastern city of Kuldahar.
It doesn’t take long for the first of many
unpleasant surprises: the expedition is ambushed
by Storm Giants, who create an avalanche that kills
the entire company, except for the player’s party. The
path back to Easthaven is blocked, forcing the party
to venture forth to Kuldahar and start the main quest,
given by Arundel, an Archdruid.
“Icewind Dale was fantastic for me
because I had somehow stumbled
into my dream job. I didn’t know
anything about CRPG development,
but I knew more about AD&D and
the Forgotten Realms than anyone
outside of TSR/WotC should.
We didn’t have any leads on the
original title, so we sort of just...
did things... with Chris Parker [the
game’s producer] telling us when
we were being dumb.”
– Josh Sawyer,
Icewind Dale’s designer
Arundel is the first “mentor” found in the game,
an important character responsible for almost every
quest in the early chapters of the storyline. You’ll also
come across other interesting characters, like Revered
Brother Poquelin, the demon Yxunomei and the
Tempus Priest Everard.
Overall, the Forgotten Realms lore is very well
explored and, for D&D fans, it’s incredibly delightful
to travel between locations. Some places I just loved,
like the Severed Hand – not every game let you visit a
cursed ruined fortress that represents an unsuccessful
alliance between elves and dwarves.
The Heart of Winter expansion was released a
few months later, sending players to stop a barbarian
horde led by an undead warrior. The expansion
added a few new features, such as the “Heart of Fury”
difficulty setting, designed for hardcore players, and a
few rule tweaks inspired by the 3rd edition of D&D,
which had just been released.
Icewind Dale doesn’t have recruitable NPCs – instead, it
tasks players with creating a full of party of six characters.
While Heart of the Winter was well-received, fans
complained its campaign was too short. So Black Isle
released Trials of the Luremaster, a free downloadable
expansion. A radical departure from the icy regions,
it sent players to solve the mysteries of a large haunted
castle located in the Anauroch desert.
What stands out as one of the highlights of Icewind
Dale is the excellent choice of locations and also the
way the game makes you travel between interesting
places, exploring an amazing region of Faerûn.
That’s the main reason for me to play Icewind
Dale again. But it’s far from the only reason why you
should play it – the teams at Black Isle and BioWare
were like the mythic King Midas: everything they
touched was transmuted into gold. AO
Mods:
Icewind Dale Fixpack: Fix various bugs that weren’t
addressed by the official patches. Highly recommended.
Icewind Dale Tweak Pack: Contains a series of small
changes, from cosmetic details like hiding helmets to
various rule changes and new ease-of-use features.
Widescreen Mod: Allows resolutions over 800x600.
Unfinished Business: Restores content that was cut
from the game, including dialogue, quests and items.
Auril’s Bane: Adds a lot of new content, such as spells,
items, creatures, AI scripts, stores and a new quest.
Item Upgrade for Icewind Dale: Allows you to upgrade
some of the items in the game, like in BG2.
Icewind Dale in Baldur’s Gate II: A conversion
project that allows you to play Icewind Dale using
the more popular Baldur’s Gate II engine.
Icewind Dale
focuses heavily
on dungeoncrawling,
with
huge multi-level
areas and over a
hundred unique
enemies and spells.
In 2014, Beamdog
released Icewind
Dale: Enhanced
Edition, a remake
of the game
for modern
computers, with
new features,
widescreen
support and
an iOS port.
277
Summoner
Volition, 2000
Windows, Mac and PS2
Summoner
was a launch
title for the PS2
and was later
ported to PC
and Mac. Its
2002 sequel,
Summoner 2,
only came out
for the PS2 and
GameCube.
Combat is realtime-with-pause,
but based around
timing your
mouse clicks and
key strikes to
chain attacks.
Each character
has a variety
of attacks and
spells, but
some also have
unique skills,
such as Joseph’s
summoning and
Flece’s sneaking
and lock-picking.
278
The first RPG developed by Volition – known
today for their Red Faction and Saint’s Row
series –, Summoner is rather obscure and
forgotten for a variety of reasons. The game has
long loading times, awkward combat, flawed AI,
unfinished and unbalanced systems and not exactly
impressive graphics. However, the setting, story and
soundtrack reward you for getting through the long
and clunky introduction.
The game takes place on two different continents:
Medeva (inspired by medieval Europe) and Orenia
(reminiscent of China/Japan of the same period).
Instead of creating yet another Tolkien-inspired fantasy
setting, Volition tried to create its own, and while certain
races and designs resemble the familiar concept, the rest
of the lore remains rather original, which motivates you
to explore the world and learn about its history, events
and everyday lives of its characters.
Summoner’s story is centred on a young farmer
named Joseph. Nine years after accidentally destroying
his home village and promising to never use his
summoning powers again, Joseph is living a peaceful
life in the village of Masad. However, Orenian troops
attack the village in search of a boy with a mark of a
summoner. With his attempt to escape the village and
find his old friend, Yago, begins Joseph’s saga, filled
with enough twists to keep you entertained until the
final credits. Even if the story provides some genuine
“I’ve seen this before” moments, it uses them wisely and
sometimes pulls off rather unpredictable situations.
Even though the game is very linear and doesn’t
offer a lot of choices (which makes it feel like a JRPG
sometimes), it offers surprisingly good side-quests.
Some require thinking outside the box, and quite a few
lead to additional lore details, surprising outcomes and
hilarious situations, so don’t hesitate to take your time
and explore the world around you.
And last, but not least, Summoner moves away
from traditional fantasy RPGs by replacing orchestral
scores with an exciting electronic soundtrack.
If you can look past the exploitable combat
system, poor AI and a number of annoying bugs, then
give Summoner a chance. Its unique setting, interesting
story, inspiring soundtrack and well-designed sidequests
will pay off any frustration. ZZ
Wizards
& Warriors
Heuristic Park, 2000
Windows
When D.W. Bradley, the architect behind
Wizardry V-VII, left Sir-Tech and formed
his own company, Heuristic Park, the
first thing he released was Wizards & Warriors, his
preemptive response to the upcoming Wizardry 8.
Both games are very similar in many ways –
strong, traditional class-based character building,
an open world full of dungeons to explore, quests to
perform, characters to interact with and phase-based
combat. The differences are in the details, but those
details are what make these games.
The game's dungeons are excellent, some of the
best ever designed and certainly far better than any
in Wizardry 8. There are so many memorable and
cleverly designed areas, some favourites being the
Serpent Temple, Shurugeon Castle and the Boogre
Lair (which features a thrilling prison breakout).
The combat, a mix of turn-based and real-time,
is a fantastic answer to Wizardry 8's unbearably
cumbersome, fully turn-based phase system. You
can freely act or walk around and enemies’ turns will
happen concurrently. For everyone who's ever gotten
frustrated with Wizardry's painfully slow battles,
Wizards & Warriors will be a revelation.
The most frustrating quality of the game is its
world structure. The game presents large, non-linear
areas that the player is free to explore as they want –
until you end up where the game doesn't want you yet.
Wizards & Warriors gates off huge areas until you've
progressed far enough in the story to enter them,
similar to how the Grand Theft Auto games play, a big
step back from Wizardry VII’s fully open world.
The other major issue lies not in the game itself,
but in the difficulty in getting it to run on modern
computers – several steps are necessary, including
re-encoding its video files. It begs for a re-release.
Regardless, with great combat and level design,
a satisfying class and character customisation system
(earn advanced classes by performing quests –
why don't more games do this?) and a compelling,
whimsical world with charming characters, it’s at least
as good as its nearest neighbour.
Don't overlook Wizards & Warriors just because
Wizardry 8 gets all the attention – you’ll be surprised
at how frequently Wizardry gets shown up! ES
Getting the
game to run
on modern
PCs is a bit
tricky. Install
the Unofficial
Patch, the
Town AVI
Fix and use
dgVoodoo2.
The excellent
combat system
blends turnbased
actions
with real-time
movement, being
both tactical and
fast-paced.
There are ten
races and four
basic classes to
create your party
from, plus 11
hidden classes
you can unlock
by completing
certain quests
or acting in a
certain way.
279
Wizardry 8
Sir-Tech Canada, 2001
Windows and Mac
Sir-Tech couldn’t
find a publisher
for Wizardry 8,
so they made an
exclusivity deal
with EB Games:
the game was
only sold at their
stores, which
severely limited
its reach.
Wizardry 8 offers a
rarely seen depth
in its character
creation, and
its personality
system makes the
custom characters
more unique and
memorable than
many companions
in modern RPGs.
280
The release of Wizardry VII in 1992 was a high
point for the series, but also the beginning of
Sir-Tech’s downfall. Andrew Greenberg, one
of Wizardry’s creators, sued the company over unpaid
royalties – and the aftermath was chaotic.
Sir-Tech closed down and reopened in Canada,
while David W. Bradley left the company. A Wizardry
sequel started to be developed in Australia under the
name Stones of Arnhem, but the project got cancelled.
They then tried to diversify, publishing titles such as
Armed & Delirious and the Realms of Arkania series,
as well as creating Nemesis: The Wizardry Adventure
(1996) – a mediocre multimedia Adventure/RPG that
was Wizardry in name only. Things kept going badly,
and by 1998 Sir-Tech was nearly bankrupt. They closed
their publishing branch and kept working on two games:
Jagged Alliance 2 and a new, fully 3D Wizardry game.
The concept of a 3D Wizardry game – without its
original creators or Bradley – seemed doomed to fail.
Worse, the game was delayed for years, unable to secure
a publisher. Sir-Tech was so starved for funds that they
added in-game ads: every time you close Wizardry 8,
an ad for Falcon Northwest Computers appears.
Somehow, despite all this, Wizardry 8 is amazing.
You start by creating a party of six characters, using an
upgraded version of Wizardry VII’s already excellent
system. With 11 races, 15 classes, 40 skills and over
100 spells, it allows for countless party builds. It also
removed the need for dice-rolls – you just pick a race,
a class and then assign stats and skill points.
But what really sets character creation apart is
the personality system. RPGs like Baldur’s Gate allow
you to pick voices for your characters, but Wizardry 8
offers 36 personalities to choose from – such as Loner,
Kind, Burly, Chaotic, etc. You can, for example, make
an Eccentric Samurai Elf that talks in third-person, as
if he was the narrator of the story. And he’ll act that
way during the entire game, reacting to battles, events,
areas, deaths, etc. – all fully voiced! It’s an amazing
solution to allow custom yet memorable characters.
Once the game starts, you’ll see that Wizardry 8’s
transition to 3D was similar to Might and Magic VI’s:
the party now moves freely across a large 3D world and
enemies are visible in the distance, yet the game still
plays like a “blobber”, with the party moving as a single
unit. However, there’s now a formation system, which
greatly affects combat – if you place all your fighters
at the front, the party’s casters will be open to attacks
from the sides or the rear. And that will happen often;
true to its heritage, Wizardry 8 is unapologetically hard.
The first few hours, where you create your party
and explore the initial dungeon, are easily among the
best starting hours in any RPG. The atmosphere is
great, party banter is amusing, battles are challenging
and the dungeon is filled with traps and secrets that
feel natural in this new 3D presentation.
Sadly, as soon as you step out of the dungeon into
the infamous Arnika Road, the game’s biggest flaw will
hit you right in the face: the filler combat.
“We regularly sacrifice Wizardry
virgins here at the office to test
out new theories on them. Do they
get it? Do they understand what
we’re trying to do? Is this easy for
them or would it take 40 pages of
a manual’s help to comprehend?
So far in our design, the game is
clearly a Wizardry, believe me,
Linda [Currie] and I would be super
vocal if it weren’t, but it does have
new things, new touches, that
people have wanted for years.”
– Brenda Romero,
Wizardry 8’s designer
The game’s large, open world is connected by
several roads and paths, crawling with monsters that
not only respawn, but also scale to your level.
Moreover, while the phase-based combat does a
great job at updating the series’ formula, its animations
are excruciatingly slow. Do not play Wizardry 8 without
using mods to hasten the animations, or you’ll want to
rage-quit every time a large group of enemies appear.
These flaws, combined with a spike in difficulty, is
why many players never managed to cross Arnika Road.
A shame, as Wizardry 8 quickly recovers its brilliance.
Your goal is to reach the legendary Cosmic Forge
(a story that began back in Wizardry VI), and this can
be achieved by yourself or with the aid of some of the
NPCs and warring factions that inhabit the world.
Many quests offer multiple solutions, and the game’s
rich dialogue system provides plenty of flexibility – you
can even recruit friendly NPCs, expanding your party
up to eight characters. Just remember that they each
have their own personalities and objectives.
Wizardry 8 offers, but also demands, a lot from
players – if you’re clever, you can form a large alliance
or play as a double-agent; if you’re foolish, you might
end up hated by everyone and be forced to fight your
way through. It’s not easy, but it’s very rewarding.
Thus,Wizardry 8 was praised by critics and loved
by old-school fans, but never got popular. Regardless,
it was too late – Sir-Tech had dissolved. More than a
commercial title, the game became a farewell to fans.
For them, developers showed a great deal of care:
you could import your party from Wizardry VII,
starting in different areas depending on how you
finished that game. It even ties loose ends for those
who carried their party all the way from Wizardry VI –
a game released over a decade earlier!
While series like Ultima and Might and Magic
ended on a sour note, Wizardry 8 is for many players
the best entry in an already venerable series. It remains
a lone star – no other RPG ever followed in its footsteps
– but that only makes it shine even more brightly. FE
The dialogue
system is one
of the richest in
all RPG history.
It’s based on
keywords that
you can type in,
factors in your
reputations,
allows you to
trade, charm,
steal or recruit
NPCs and it’s
fully voiced.
Several mods
for Wizardry 8
were made
using the Cosmic
Forge tool. We
recommend
starting with
the Wizardry 8
Enhancements
mod, as it fixes
animation speed
and improves the
overall balance
of the game.
Combat feels like a natural evolution of Wizardry, adding
formations, movement and a much more agile interface.
Wizardry 8 gives detailed information to its players, with
inventory, stats, spells and skills spread across four pages.
281
Anachronox
Ion Storm, 2001
Windows
Anachronox has
such striking
storytelling that
its cinematic
director, Jake
Hughes, later
edited all the
game’s cutscenes
into a two-hour
machinima
movie, named
Anachronox:
The Movie.
Customising
your characters
comes down
to the use of
accessories and,
more importantly,
equipping
MysTech, which
provides unique
and powerful
abilities.
282
Is uncontrollable babbling a viable combat option?
Can a planetary object be a viable party member?
Is male exotic dancing a reliable way to earn
money in RPGs? How come one of the best Japanese
RPGs was developed in the West? Play Anachronox
and all of the above will be answered.
Released by Ion Storm studios right after
Daikatana’s massive failure and Deus Ex’s huge
critical success, Anachronox never got the attention
it deserved, despite the fact that it’s the second (and,
sadly, last) great game developed by the studio.
Designed and directed by Tom Hall, Anachronox is
a story- and character-driven Adventure/RPG with a
lot of humour, emphasis on exploration, and combat
reminiscent of Japanese console RPGs.
The game was built on the Quake II engine,
which was already outdated by 2002 and the character
progression system is nothing to write home about, yet
somehow Anachronox is one of my most memorable
experiences in gaming.
Why is that, you ask? Because interacting with
the world and its various characters is nothing short
of delightful.
As soon as I entered the universe of Anachronox
I was swept into an unforgettable cyberpunk world,
where danger, action and humour go hand-in-hand.
The presentation and art direction are excellent. Areas
ooze with atmosphere and variety. The camera work
is exceptional and certainly groundbreaking for the
time, while the moody electronic music offers some
really memorable tracks.
You play as Sylvester “Sly Boots” Bucelli, once
a hotshot PI, now a down-on-his-luck drunkard,
owing a big debt to the local crime lord. His only
companions are his deceased secretary (digitised into
a flying assistant, which also doubles as part of the UI)
and a robotic sidekick without batteries.
Trying to find a job worthy of his deductive skills
(and to prove that he’s more than just a bum with a
storage space for an office) he stumbles upon the elusive
MysTech, a technology left behind by an ancient alien
race. Along the way, Sly will meet a grumpy old man,
a heretic scientist, an old flame, an alcoholic ex-hero
and other, even more exotic characters.
The writing is brilliant, with enough sciencefiction
discussions to spur my curiosity about the
theories mentioned. More importantly, Anachronox
is one of the funniest games ever created, but it
knows when to break the chuckles up with its fair
share of heart-wrenching tragedy. The game’s biggest
accomplishment is that it manages to strike a sublime
balance between humour, cyberpunk-noir intrigue,
and dramatic space opera.
From the start you feel part of a grand space
adventure, where even the most improbable people
and places are believable. The depth of the characters
and lore are remarkable, especially for a game that at
the same time manages to make you chuckle or laugh
out loud every two minutes or so.
“I wanted to bring strong
characters and a bizarre epic story
onto the PC, really, a consolestyle
RPG to the PC. I was strongly
influenced by Chrono Trigger
– a classic game. I wanted the
characters to really have things
happen that were important
to them, and to create a new,
consistent universe.”
– Tom Hall,
Anachronox’s creator
Instead of random encounters, battles are all
scripted and tied to a believable world. The combat
system should be familiar to anyone who has played
Japanese RPGs, with characters facing off against
enemies on a separate field. There is a small bit
of tactical thought involved, since movement is
hindered by the limited size of the combat board.
An initiative bar gradually builds up for each
character and they can act once it’s full, just like the
classic Final Fantasy ATB system. Possible actions
include attacks, special skills or magic, the use of
items, moving to a different spot on the board or,
in some rare cases, manipulating the environment
to your advantage. There is hardly any enemy AI to
speak about, but it is still a great idea to protect your
weaker characters.
Outside combat, you explore the multiple worlds
of Anachronox from a third-person view, interacting
with its various seedy residents to receive information,
quests and lots of verbal abuse.
As you gather more companions you’ll find out
that each one has its own special abilities, which can
be used in combat, quest-solving and uncovering
secret areas. Lock-picking, hacking and aggressive
jabbering are only few of the skills that will be at your
disposal. These unique skills can be upgraded if the
right trainers/means are discovered.
Like any decent PI, you’ll also have to use your
camera to photograph clues and evidence needed
for your assignments. Anachronox is big and ripe for
exploration and as you move on through the game
you’ll eventually get access to space travel and other
planets. The game offers a huge world with a lot of
content and nary a dull moment.
It is obvious that Anachronox was a labour of
love, created under circumstances that allowed free
reign of creativity and encouraged ambitious goals.
It’s one of those unique games that takes you into its
world and leaves a lasting impression. In conclusion,
this is a fun experience you shouldn’t miss. GD
The combat system
is heavily inspired
by JRPGs, but
places a great deal
of importance
on movement.
For example,
melee characters
must move near
enemies to attack.
Anachronox’s
storyline ends
in a cliffhanger of
sorts, as the game
was planned to
be longer, but had
to be cut due to
time constraints.
A sequel/expansion
was planned, but
the game’s sales
were poor. Tom
Hall still often talks
about returning
to finish it.
You’ll come across several mini-games. Some are tied to
skills, like lock-picking, but others are much more usual.
Anachronox’s writing manages to achieve a great mix
of humour, drama, hard sci-fi and epic space opera.
283
Arcanum:
Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura
Troika, 2001
Windows
A sequel to
Arcanum
was planned,
titled Journey
to the Centre
of Arcanum.
Inspired by
Jules Verne’s
novel, it was to
be created in
Valve’s Source
Engine but
Troika failed
to secure the
necessary
funding.
Combat is the
weakest part
of Arcanum. It
can be fought
in real-time
or turn-based
mode, using
action points, but
neither really
works well.
284
Arcanum, in my opinion, offers the most
complete role-playing experience of any
CRPG ever created. The breadth and depth of
mechanics and content ensure that one playthrough
just won’t be enough. Two or three won’t cut it either.
The diversity of character options is immense,
not just at character creation, but through gameplay
and dialogue choices throughout the huge open
world of Arcanum.
Creating a character in Arcanum is a very involved
experience. The system is classless, so you won’t pick a
class, but there are no fewer than eight races and over
50 backgrounds to choose from, allowing you to tailor
your character to very specific tastes and also getting
the player into the role-playing spirit.
The effects of backgrounds range from the minor
to the extreme. If you just want to tinker a little or
add some flavour to your character, you could be an
apprentice to a shopkeeper or a halfling orphan for
some minor bonuses and penalties. But if you want
to go all in, you could be a supermodel, or an idiot
savant or even a Frankenstein’s monster with huge
bonuses and penalties across multiple stats and skills.
When you’re finished creating your avatar,
the opening cinematic plays. You are aboard the
IFS Zephyr, a zeppelin on its maiden voyage from
Caladon to Tarant, when it is attacked and shot down
by two “strange flying machines” (i.e. planes) piloted
by Orcs. At the crash site, you talk to a dying gnome
who gives you a silver ring and tells you to “find the
boy”. You are then engaged by a fellow named Virgil, a
recent convert to the Panarii religion, who claims you
are the reincarnation of the ancient god Nasrudin.
Virgil offers to accompany you to the nearby town of
Shrouded Hills to meet his superior, and your journey
through the world of Arcanum begins.
Arcanum boasts a huge number of quests with
several ways to resolve them, usually using the trio
of solutions established by Fallout – combat, stealth
and diplomacy. The complex character system adds a
lot of depth here, as a beautiful elf in an elegant dress
will have an easier time getting a murderer to confess,
but an ugly mage can still try a charm spell, or even
use necromancy to get a testimony from his victims.
The world is massive and very open, with few
gates to pass through. There are many optional
locations scattered across the map to stumble upon,
from altars of old and forgotten gods to ancient
dungeons, hidden villages and a few easter eggs.
A lot of smaller touches really add to the charm
of Arcanum. For example, every skill in the game has
an associated master. You’ll have to find them and
often do a special quest for them if you wish to be
trained. You will also see your own actions, or the
consequences of them, as headlines of the Tarantian,
the most popular newspaper in Arcanum. You’ll read
and hear various rumours as well, that serve both
as leads into obscure side-quests and as subtle hints
about future areas and the game’s antagonist.
“Leonard [Boyarsky], Jason
[Anderson], and I had made character
systems before, but, in the case of
Arcanum, we wanted the system to
reflect the setting. This meant that
not only would there need to be
magic spells and technological skills
of some kind, but there would need
to be a mechanic that measured the
character’s aptitude with each. We
wanted the struggle between the
magic and tech that was taking place
in the world to exist within every
character as well.”
– Tim Cain,
Arcanum’s project leader
and lead programmer
Arcanum’s setting is quite unusual for a CRPG.
It is high fantasy set during the Industrial Revolution,
resulting in a widespread conflict – the dichotomy between
Magic and Technology. This conflict is the lens
through which much of the game’s content is seen
and it is reinforced within the gameplay itself; your
dwarven technologist might craft swords and pistols
from scrap, but magic spells and potions aren’t going
to have much effect on him; and your highly magical
half-elf better learn to teleport, because he won’t be
allowed to board trains anymore.
The scope and scale of Arcanum is astounding, and
so it’s hardly surprising that it was shipped somewhat
unfinished and quite buggy. Combat suffered the
most of any element because of Sierra’s demands
that a real-time mode be implemented alongside the
intended turn-based mode. As a result, combat is quite
unsatisfactory and unbalanced, becoming a chore
during some of the larger, combat-filled dungeons.
On the bright side, Sierra did supply Troika
with the talents of Ben Houge, who composed one
of the most memorable, sophisticated and thoughtful
soundtracks ever produced for a game. His string
quartet pieces set a relaxed pace while managing to
capture a sense of the grand scale of Arcanum. This,
married with the 19th-century steampunk aesthetic,
creates a thoroughly enjoyable atmosphere.
Arcanum’s greatest achievement is giving the
player a real sense of agency. It is perhaps gaming’s
greatest strength but so few games, let alone RPGs,
deliver on it. There is conflict everywhere and you
have the power not only to solve these conflicts, but
to prey upon them or exacerbate them according to
your desires and skills.
More than any other title before or since, Arcanum
showed us what CRPGs could be. Although it did not
achieve all that it set out to achieve, the vision and
ambition of Troika’s debut is remarkable. JM
Arcanum’s world
feels alive and
believable, with
issues being born
out of political,
economical,
ideological and
racial conflicts,
not of “good
versus evil”.
The Arcanum
Multiverse
Edition is a
massive mod
pack with
some of the
best fixes
and changes
made by fans.
It’s highly
recommended,
even for a first
playthrough.
The character system is extensive, with various attributes,
skills, schools of magic and technological disciplines.
You’ll find a wild range of items, from ancient magical
swords to electrical top hats – all beautifully rendered.
285
Gothic
Piranha Bytes, 2001
Windows and Mac
Gothic supports
widescreen
resolutions
without the
need for mods,
but you must set
it directly in the
game’s .ini file.
Combat is quick
and deadly. You
can perform
front, left and
right attacks or
block. A trained
fighter can also
chain attacks
together.
286
Gothic came literally out of nowhere in 2001,
and, in my view, set a whole new standard for
single-character hiking simulators, aka “The
Piranha Bytes RPG”. Funny how the developers didn’t
even label it as an RPG at its release.
When talking about why Gothic was something
fresh and unique when it was published, it’s definitely
important to start with the setting and story, since it’s
essentially “Escape from New York... with swords!”.
You’re just a bloke, who’s nameless for all intents and
purposes because nobody even lets you introduce
yourself. You’re thrown into a prison mining colony
surrounded by a one-way-entry forcefield, where the
prisoners managed to rebel and take over the whole
establishment. After that, you are beaten senseless
(“baptised”) by a bunch of guards and left on your own.
The premise in Gothic is a very good hook because
it presents a mix of low-key matters with a fairly unique
setting. It also manages to uphold that to the end, as
even though bigger and more fantastical events start
happening, your character’s only motivation is basically
to get the hell out of the colony.
The general writing style, which would stick
with Piranha Bytes henceforth, also emphasised the
dichotomy between the vulgar and the fantastical very
well, as you’d be coming across various really colourful
characters, who are, on the one hand, rather typical –
pompous mages, brutal thugs, dumb peons -, but on
the other, extremely believable and amusing.
But Gothic’s biggest strength was not just showing
you this strange prison colony, but also letting you
visit its every nook and cranny. The world of Gothic
was simply massive, as well as beautiful, with tons of
places to check out, beasts to murder, secret caverns to
penetrate and ancient tombs to raid. And above all, it
was handcrafted, full of verticality and almost without
barriers, so you could just go off and explore whatever
you wanted – provided you could survive.
And that was where Gothic was tricky, because
surviving was a lot harder than in most games. You
know it isn’t fooling around when your first opponent
is a turkey that can horribly murder you in a few hits.
And it was this ridiculous brutality that gave the game
most if its unique charm. It simply didn’t cut you any
slack. If you wanted to get somewhere, you had to
work for it, and the simple thought that straying off
the beaten path could mean certain death made every
step into the wilderness something special. Especially
at night. Through a forest. With no map.
The key to thriving was to quickly get better
gear, beg people to train you in combat and master
the fighting system, which I consider one of the best
ones in Action RPG history. At first it seems clunky
and unresponsive, but, once you get accustomed to it
and take on harder opponents, every fight becomes
an adrenaline-pumping effort where every mistake
could mean death. Various enemies would also fight in
different ways, and force you to adopt new tactics.
“We wanted to create a living
world, so we decided to make it
small and interesting, rather than
very large and boring. And instead
of a bright fairy-tale atmosphere,
we preferred to create a dark and
gloomy setting. Combine these two
things and you end up with a prison
camp surrounded by a magical
barrier.”
– Alex Brüggemann,
Piranha Bytes co-founder
and Gothic’s designer
The final outstanding quality of Gothic was its
character system and how it tied into the game and
story themselves. Sure, you could gain massive XP
from monsters and quests, but once you levelled up,
essentially nothing happened. You only got a bunch of
skill points that required visits to specific trainers that
would teach you, but only to the best of their capabilities
– if they even respected you in the first place.
Furthermore, while your character started as a
classless bloke, to actually acquire a specific class you
needed to join one of the three very distinct factions,
each of which had its own agenda and quests. Not
only was this very neat because tying the levelling to
the narrative was a nice throw-back to P&P RPGs, but
also because it piled up many layers of choices and
consequences. You might agree with one faction, but
joining it will prevent you from learning something
from another, or completing quests for the third, etc.
Gothic allows you to climb on ledges, offering a level of
verticality and exploration that few other RPGs provide.
I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t not an obnoxious
fan of Piranha Bytes’ RPG formula. I remember how
amazed I was by the openness of the world, the feelings
of seclusion and the brutality of the entire setting in
just about all aspects when I played it for the first time.
I also remember how glad I was when they took all that
and made it even better in Gothic II. After that, both
the series and the developer would start meandering,
but, no matter what happened, it would never take
away the first two games from me.
And while the sequel very much improved
everything from Gothic, skipping this one “because it’s
the same but a bit less” would be criminal. Honestly,
both games are just parts of one great whole, and you
can’t have one without the other. DR
Mods:
Unofficial Patch: Fixes most of the few bugs left.
Player Kit: A handy tool that allows you to run and
manage Gothic’s mods. Required for some mods.
Textures Patch: Offers higher resolution textures,
mostly made based on Gothic II’s textures.
Golden Mod: Restores cut content, adding alchemy,
a few new quests, items and a new area, while also
making the whole game less linear. Great for a replay.
The Trial: Adds a new short adventure about a Count
accused of massacre and allows you to recruit NPCs.
Dark Mysteries: A fan-made expansion for Gothic,
with new areas, quests, items, NPCs and features.
Diccuric: A huge mod with an entirely new campaign
and world, both about the same size as the original
game. Uses improved graphics, taken from Gothic II.
To succeed, you
must not only
work for the
factions, but also
earn the respect
of individuals
as well, so they
might agree to
help or train you.
Gothic Reloaded is
an ambitious fan
project seeking
to completely
overhaul Gothic’s
visuals, new
models and UI.
It’s currently in
development.
287
Severance:
Blade of Darkness
Rebel Act Studios, 2001
Windows
An Xbox port
and a sequel
was under
development,
but Rebel Act
closed down in
2002 after weak
sales. Former
members founded
MercurySteam
and developed
the Castlevania:
Lords of Shadow
series.
The lighting
engine remains
impressive to
this day, a great
accomplishment
for a small
independent
Spanish studio.
288
Made by the Spanish studio Rebel Act
Software, Severance: Blade of Darkness
(also known as Blade: The Edge of Darkness)
is an interesting hack-and-slash game, with a very
strict sense of timing and a high difficulty, and which
heavily relies on CRPG aesthetics and conventions.
The story is pretty cliché but does the job: a dark
god is going to escape from his prison and it’s up to
you to put him back in his place, using the fabled
Blade of Darkness.
In a straight-up Gauntlet fashion, four characters
are available, each having their own strengths and
weaknesses. The Amazon is an extremely fast and
nimble fighter who specialise in bows and lances,
but she is also very frail. The Knight is a balanced
character using a sword-and-shield fighting style, and
can equip some of the best armour in the game. The
sluggish Barbarian is a powerhouse using gigantic
two-handed swords and has plenty of combos. Last
but not least, the Dwarf is an unsinkable tank, but
his lack of combos and his short reach make him the
hardest character to master.
On par with your health bar, your character
possesses a power bar which depletes after each attack
à la Dark Souls. The more powerful a weapon or combo
is, the more energy it will consume. Coming from a
very large bestiary (orcs, demons, tainted knights),
enemies are restless and won’t go down easily. To make
things worse, they use the same tactical array as you:
blocking, poisoned weapons and deadly combos.
Don’t be fooled by the hack-and-slash nature of
the game; cautiousness and tactical progression are
the only way to progress through the game. Tackling
more than two enemies, even weak ones, at the same
time is always a perilous task. Fortunately, you get
a few edges to fight the relentless hordes thrown at
you. Weapons start pretty weak but new ones can be
picked up along the way. Every class of weapon offers
different combos, so it’s always a good idea to keep
a spare mace to crush skeletons, for example. Few
ranged weapons are present but only the Amazon
will find them useful, puzzles notwithstanding.
Severance employs a lock-on system, similar to
Ocarina of Time. You can dodge and block attacks, but
range and durability are always an issue, so be careful.
A few types of armour are hidden through the levels,
making your character a bit harder to kill. A small
inventory allows you to stock a handful of health
and power-up potions for the most difficult passages.
The RPG aspect is limited to a levelling up system
automatically boosting your life, power and unlocking
new combos. Levelling up also refills your life bar
making it a godsend in the middle of a tense fight.
Blade of Darkness is divided into a dozen of
levels, with a first level specific to each character. The
level design is so-so, with some levels being pretty
labyrinthine while others are just a succession of arenas.
Fortunately, the general aesthetic is much better.
“I didn’t want a combat system
that required button-mashing to
defeat enemies, I wanted a system
that could turn every fight into a
test, where any enemy could be a
challenge, where you couldn’t
advance without being cautious.
I wanted feeling, not a simulation;
something that could transmit a
kind of adrenaline surge when you
see an enemy approaching [...]”
- José Luis Vaello,
Severance’s lead artist
The game will send you to very different and exotic
places such as Arabic oases, abandoned fortresses and
deep wilderness. Doors, gates and various mechanisms
will always bar your way so you will spend most of the
game looking for keys. Traps of all sorts are present at
every corner and levels are extremely long, so saving
often is always a good idea.
Once the titular Blade of Darkness is acquired,
you can either choose to proceed to the final boss’s
lair or backtrack to previous levels. Indeed the magic
weapon is weakened and its power needs to be
unlocked by using eight runes, hidden through the
entire game. It’s better to keep a lookout for those
early on because revisited levels are filled with highend
monsters. Collecting those runes will unlock an
additional level and the true final boss. He is pretty
tough, but at this point you should have seen worse.
Beyond its tough-as-nails difficulty, Severance’s
novelty at the time came from its use of lighting.
Completely coded in Python, the game engine
displays beautiful shadows and makes a clever use of
light sources. Some levels, like the Knight’s starting
level, offer a gothic and dreary atmosphere propelled
by torches and eerie sound design. Fire can also be
used to inflame wooden structures and solve a few
puzzles, which is a pretty cool feature.
The funniest thing about Severance, and one of
its most marketed features, is the omnipresent gore.
After a few exchanges, your character and the enemy
alike will be covered with wounds and the ground
repainted with litres of blood. Characters can be
brutally dismembered, and you can then use the body
parts lying around as weapons. It’s pretty satisfying
and completely ridiculous at the same time.
Mixing classic deathtraps of games like Dungeon
Master with hack-and-slash mechanics, Severance was
reconsidered these last years in light of the Demons/
Dark Souls series. While I doubt that there was any
influence from either side, the parallel is interesting
and made new players aware of Severance’s existence.
Harsh but fun, as it definitively should be. TR
Mods:
Severance has a great community, that created various
mods with new combos, levels, features and even added
new game modes. Here are some highlights:
BOD Loader: This exceptional mod manager makes
installing and playing mods a cakewalk.
Gladiator: A survival mode where you must fight
increasingly powerful enemies. Highly customisable
and replayable, with various maps. A must-play.
Fugitive: An excellent multi-chapter campaign, has
amazing level design and adds new RPG elements.
Dwarf Wars: You must protect a large fortress against
hordes of enemies, in a endless massive battle.
The Blade of Light mod uses ENB to add some heavy
post-processing. Pretty, but not for everyone.
The combat will
feel familiar to
Dark Souls fans,
but Severance
adds combos,
breakable shields,
weapon throwing,
mutilations and
blood galore.
If you have
an interest
in mods,
be sure to
check Arokh’s
Lair, where
Severance
modders and
fans still gather.
289
Geneforge
Spiderweb Software, 2001
Windows and Mac
The gorgeous
illustrations
featured in the
game (such
as the one
above) are
done by Brian
Snoddy, who
did numerous
works for RPG
books and
card games.
290
The writing
in Geneforge
is solid, and
choices you’ll
face never
have obvious
answers.
Geneforge, to me, is what an RPG game should
be about. A nameless protagonist walks into
the world, and chooses their destiny. Skills
are built, alliances formed, enemies made. You can
be the loyal ally, the backstabbing traitor, or simply
slaughter everyone before you have a chance to decide.
At the end, what you have is a personal experience,
something built by the choices you have made.
The first few steps in Geneforge did not grab
my attention. Being from a small studio, the game is
built with budget graphics, and the combat model is
relatively simplistic. What first started to pique my
interest was a well-crafted backstory.
The main premise of the game is a world in which
a ruling clan, the Shapers, uses magical (genetic?)
techniques to build servants, and retain tight control
over those powers with the premise that abuse would
be deadly. This creates, in essence, a ruling class, with
complete dominance over their sentient creations.
The moral questions raised by this situation continue
throughout the series, and to my dissatisfaction, is
never resolved in black-and-white fashion.
The combat, while simple, can play out very
differently based on character build and skill choices.
You can focus on combat skills, magic skills, or
shaping skills. Shaping skills tend to be my favourite,
as eventually your character ends up with a group of
creatures that gain strength as they survive combat.
Do you sacrifice the little guy, who has travelled
with you from the beginning, in order to create the
newest monster you discovered? Do you even care?
While battles can get repetitive, there’s a nice feeling
of the progression which I feel an RPG needs. As the
games progresses, the battles will play out differently
depending on your character build.
Shaping is what differentiates Geneforge from
a typical fantasy setting; you are creating and toying
with life, and, as the series progresses, the story reveals
a more technological approach to creating creatures.
The “art” of shaping often blurs the line between scifi
and fantasy. Shaping could be easily dismissed as
another word for summoning, but regardless of the
terminology, Geneforge allows for more control of
“shaped” creatures than other games do.
Shaped creatures consume a certain amount
of energy from your character, and an experienced
creature can be a valuable companion. The balance
between the energy used for maintaining old creatures,
creating new ones, and maintaining a reserve for spellcasting
can be more strategic than the actual battles.
This all sets the stage for a beautifully openended
style of game. Your character, arriving on an
abandoned island, meets different populations of
humans and Shaper creations that have radically
different views on the world of the Shapers. The world
is yours to explore, at times limited by game events or
necessary items, but mostly defined by the prowess of
your character and the allies you have made.
“The basic idea was that I wanted
a game where you could make
this horde of creatures to serve
you, and care for them or let them
get slaughtered according to your
whim. I had to think of what sort of
people could gain this power, and
how they would treat it. And then I
thought about how they would
interact with the world around
them, and, more importantly, how
they would interact with the creatures
they make. And that’s where
the plot came from.”
– Jeff Vogel,
Founder of Spiderweb Software
This, in my opinion, is where the game truly
shines. Your choices, both in character build and NPC
interaction, have tangible consequences in the game
world. What is one player’s hometown is another’s
enemy fortress. Do you consume power at all costs, or
do you try to do what you think is right? All options
are available, and power is yours for the taking if you
are strong enough or cunning enough. The sense of
power, as I mentioned earlier, is satisfying as your
entourage of creatures grows, your magic gets more
powerful, and your combat skills improve.
The choices continue to lead up to the ending of
the game. There are several endings possible, and not
just of the “last-minute good or evil” type. Your choices
throughout the game lead up to a set of ending slides,
which describe the impact of your choices. Again,
the game does not disappoint: “good” choices do not
always lead to the outcome that you might think.
For me, the first game was just a starting point
of a wonderful series. What creator Jeff Vogel has
done with this series is create a coherent story of the
Shapers that spans all five games. There are highs and
lows along the way, but taken in total they provided
me with a wonderful experience, and a fantastic story
of a strange world.
Throughout the series, the choices continued to
provoke my thoughts about the morality involving
the control of power, and whether ends of containing
deadly power or ending unjust slavery justify whatever
means necessary. By the end of the five-game series, I
had become attached to the world of the Shapers, and
sad to see the journey end.
The Geneforge games, like both Fallout and
Arcanum, impress me as games where not only does
the player explore the world, but the player shapes the
world. BL
You can use
Shaper magic to
create creatures,
in whatever
fashion fits your
playstyle best.
The Graphics
Enhancement
mod replaces
Geneforge’s
amateurish UI,
fixes graphical
inconsistencies
and updates
some of its
sprites.
Sucia Island is massive, and exploration is node-based.
You’ll have to search carefully to find hidden areas.
Combat is turn-based and somewhat simplistic,
but the enemy AI can often surprise you.
291
Pool of Radiance:
Ruins of Myth Drannor
If you’re
willing to try
the game, be
sure to patch
it to version
1.4 and install
the Speed
Control Utility.
Combat includes
features such
as attacks of
opportunity, feats
and even morale
checks, but the
slow speed and
bad UI remove
most fun out of it.
Even looting is a
dull process, as
items all look the
same and rarely
offer anything
besides a small
armour, stat or
damage increase.
Stormfront Studios, 2001
Windows
Search for the worst CRPG ever made and you’ll
likely find Ruins of Myth Drannor. As Ubisoft’s
attempt to ride on the success of Baldur’s Gate,
this infamous game promised to take the Infinity
Engine formula forward by employing 3D graphics
and the recently released D&D 3rd Edition ruleset.
Plus, it was developed by a team of Gold Box
veterans – titled and advertised as a fully turn-based
successor to the beloved classic Pool of Radiance!
Sadly, excitement became disappointment when
the game was released. You start by creating a party of
four characters (two extra NPCs can later be added),
but the D&D 3rd Edition rules are heavily defaced –
you can’t play as Gnome, classes like Bard, Druid and
Wizard are missing and the few skills and feats available
are all automatically chosen based on your class.
Set in the ruins of the long-lost Elven city of Myth
Drannor, the game doesn’t have many role-playing
options. It’s a combat-focused dungeon crawl, with
some of the largest dungeon floors you’ll see. But while
there are some nice outdoor areas later on, the game
first forces you to explore extremely dull underground
mazes, filled with hordes of the same few monsters.
Combat is a decent translation of D&D, crippled
by a horrible interface. You can’t see nor control the
character’s path, the AI is unstable and there’s a short
time limit on each character’s turn – a useful feature
in multiplayer, but a sin in single-player mode.
To make matters worse, the game plays glacially
slow. Characters all take forever to walk, cast or attack (an
undead group can take multiple minutes per turn) and
you’ll spend hours slowly backtracking gigantic mazes
with unreliable maps and even worst path-finding.
Luckily, fans managed to create a handy mod
to increase the game’s speed. With it, Ruins of Myth
Drannor becomes an actually playable experience,
and those desperate for a turn-based D&D dungeon
crawl might even find some enjoyment here – if they
can endure the sheer boredom of the initial dungeon.
To crown its reputation, RoMD came with a wide
range of bugs, including a legendary one: uninstalling
the unpatched game could erase some of your system
files, forcing you to reinstall Windows.
Objectively, there are worst CRPGs. But few can
rival the disappointment – or dullness – seen here. FE
292
ZanZarah:
The Hidden Portal
Funatics Development, 2002
Windows
Have you ever imagined a cross between
Quake and Pokémon? I bet not. And you
probably also never heard of ZanZarah, an
obscure German game about a teenage girl visiting a
land of fairies. What these things have in common?
Well, everything.
In ZanZarah you play as Amy, who goes from
London to a magical land of fairies, elves and wonder.
This enchanted world is threatened by an ancient evil,
your arrival was foretold by a prophecy, and all that.
Your quest here is to explore the land, help the locals
and gather a party of magical creatures to save the
world. To recruit these creatures you must first weaken
one in combat and then throw a special ball to capture it.
That sounds very familiar, no?
And it doesn’t stop there. ZanZarah offers over
70 magical creatures – including animals, dragons and
demons – spread into 12 types: Fire, Water, Nature, Air,
Stone, Ice, Chaos, Energy, Psi, Metal, Dark and Light.
Their attacks have the classic effective/non-effective
relationships, and in true Pokémon fashion you also
get to choose your initial fairy from three types. They
even evolve after reaching a certain level.
But here’s the big twist: unlike Pokémon, you
won’t battle in turn-based combat, but rather in FPS
arenas with elaborate layouts, firing magic blasts at
enemies while strafing, dodging and flying!
There are no guns, but each fairy can equip up to
four different spells – two offensive and two passive.
The game features 120 spells with a wide range of
effects, damage, fire rate and mana pool. Spells must
be charged before firing – some allow for quick bursts,
others are very slow – but charge too much and it will
backfire. All of this keeps battles interesting, as you’ll
have to figure out the best loadout to use depending
on the arena layout or the enemy type you face.
To crown everything, the soundtrack is great.
Composed by King Einstein, the combat music is
exciting, the exploration music is charming and the
main theme is a nice melody sung by Karina Gretere.
ZanZarah is a very obscure game, somewhat hard
to run on modern computers, and its mix of FPS arena
combat and fairies is so odd that is hard to say what
audience it’s aimed at. Regardless, whoever decides to
give it a try is likely to find something to enjoy. FE
ZanZarah’s
soundtrack is
freely available
for download
at the game’s
website www.
zanzarah.de
Wild fairies can
suddenly appear
while you explore
the colourful
world, and locals
may give quests
or challenge you
to a duel.
Your party can
hold up to five
fairies, and each
can have four
spells equipped,
that have varying
requirements
and affinities.
Some fairies can
also equip spells
from multiple
elements.
293
Divine Divinity
Larian Studios, 2002
Windows and Mac
Larian’s first
RPG was an
called The
Lady, the Mage
& the Knight,
developed in
partnership
with Attic
Entertainment.
It was cancelled
in 1999 and
salvaged as
Divine Divinity.
An early demo
and design
documents
were released
as extras on
the Divinity
Anthology.
Combat is very
similar to Diablo,
but you can pause
at any time.
294
Larian Studios’ Divine Divinity has got a lot of
undeserved reputation since its release. The
problem is that it was released in 2002, a time
when various Diablo clones were popping up left and
right. Furthermore, if you looked at various screens
or played it for half an hour or so, it really did seem
to be just another Diablo clone, so the moniker’s stuck
even today. Even though Divine Divinity was so much
more than that.
Sure, there are many elements of a generic hackand-slash
here. The UI, the randomised tons of phat
loot, hordes of monsters and similar core mechanics
are all something we’ve seen countless times already.
However, these are only superficial, and Divine
Divinity’s unique aspects only become apparent once
you spend a few hours finding them. The easiest one
to notice is the character system, which is much more
RPG-y than your average hack-and-slash. Not only is
it ultimately classless, since all characters can learn all
skills as they see fit, but it also has quite a few noncombat
qualities, such as pickpocketing, sneaking,
haggling or alchemy.
The game also tracks your reputation (influenced
by various events), which changes merchant prices
and people’s personal opinion of you, which may in
turn lock or unlock new quests.
But the most important difference that makes
Divine Divinity an actual RPG and not just a slasher
is the lack of procedural generation. All quests, maps,
events and conversations are hand-placed, the only
random element is loot. This is especially great when
it comes to exploration because the land map is simply
huge, while the dungeons and caves provide you with
plenty of puzzles and secrets. Puzzles and secrets that
employ Divine Divinity’s most unique feature – the
Ultima VII-inspired environmental interaction.
Literally every prop can be tossed around to
reveal hidden chests and passages underneath,
and various items can be activated to secret effects,
which rewards thoroughness and perceptiveness.
Sometimes this juggling can lead to rather interesting
discoveries, often bordering on bug-exploitation,
such as finding a bed that can be put in your backpack
because it weighs nothing. But running aimlessly
around the map simply looking for opportunities is
also rewarding for more technical reasons – Divine
Divinity’s graphics are really pleasant to look at, and
its soundtrack is simply amazing.
It is also important to note that Divine Divinity
very often focuses not only on combat, and some
chapters will have you not draw your weapon for
quite long periods of time. Instead, you’ll be running
around towns just talking to folks, doing various
quests, robbing them blind and chasing secrets, and
there are a variety of settlements in the game, all
with different themes and problems to solve. These
“pacifist” chapters are made even better by Larian’s
now-trademark witty writing.
“[...] The RPGs I enjoy the most
are all about good character
development. To achieve that I
figured certain things need to be
in place – the freedom to develop
your character in a way that fits your
preferred playing style (Freedom),
motivation to invest yourself in
that character (Motivation) and an
environment that reacts in a fitting
way to how you developed your
character (Universe/Enemies).”
– Swen Vincke,
Larian’s founder and CEO
Everything is not just generally well-written, but
the dialogues are often genuinely funny, employing
various tongue-in-cheek methods, poking fun at the
fantasy genre in general, and sometimes even going
into self-parody. This also makes all the otherwise
generic fetch quests much more interesting and fun
to do because you can always expect some sort of a
little twist to the tired old formula.
Unfortunately, it would simply be unfair to not
mention Divine Divinity’s biggest flaw, which is the
endgame. Apparently, the game was much bigger and
more ambitious than the developer and the publisher
could chew, which resulted in the final chapter being
terribly rushed. Most of the qualities that make Divinity
unique simply disappear in the last chapter, leaving
you with fully railroaded, non-stop mindless fighting
against annoying, health-bloated mobs of enemies.
Although at least you can just go ahead and run all the
way through, ignoring all opposition completely.
Ultimately, if you really dislike hack-and-slash
combat, Divinity might not be up your alley. I did
like, however, how it can even get pretty challenging
at times, and how the game’s systems leave you a
lot of room for personal customisation and ways to
shamelessly break them to your advantage.
What is left to conclude, then? Divine Divinity
is simply a neat game. Not flawless by any means, but
ridiculously absorbing and long enough to entertain
you for weeks. It’s one of those games that make you
think – “a combination of fetch quests and generic
fighting has no right to be this damn addictive!”.
It’s also the start of the whole Divinity series.
Beyond Divinity (2004) was a mediocre sequel, but
the next titles are definitely worth more than a casual
look (especially Divinity 2 and Divinity: Original Sin).
Because casual looks are deceiving and make you
think Divine Divinity is a Diablo clone. Which it isn’t.
Get that into your head once and for all. DR
The writing is
always amusing,
and has grown
to become
one of Larian’s
trademarks.
All the music
in the Divinity
series was
composed by
Kirill Pokrovsky,
the late Russian
musician,
whose mix of
orchestrations
and new age
electronics made
the soundtracks
an intrinsic part
of the franchise.
You select a class at first, but you can learn any skill
and use any equipment if you meet the requirements.
Beyond Divinity had your hero soul-bound to a sarcastic
Death Knight, with you both having to cooperate to survive.
295
The Elder Scrolls III:
Morrowind
Bethesda Softworks, 2002
Windows and Xbox
OpenMW is a
project seeking
to recreate
Morrowind
in a new
open engine,
allowing for
more mods,
improvements
and Linux and
Mac versions.
You can follow
them at www.
openmw.org
The interface is
the last in the
series made with
PCs in mind,
making great
use of tooltips
and multiple
resizeable
windows.
296
My first trip to Vivec City was an unforgettable
hour of confusion and awe. The Elder
Scrolls’ cavalier attention to detail, both
large and small, reached an apex there.
Vivec is like a cramped cyberpunk cityscape, but
it’s presented inside the brown sandstone of medieval
fantasy. Eight floating stone pyramids comprise
the city’s eight districts, with a network of gondolas
and bridges connecting them to each other and the
mainland. Each district has four explorable interior
levels each, containing innumerable businesses and
residences that house hundreds of named NPCs.
They all have their own inventories, their
own dispositions, jobs, haunts and hangouts that
combine to give each NPC their own personal little
story. The fictional economy that supports these
fictional lives is on full display – their houses, their
businesses, the farms that grow their food and the
sewers that funnel away their waste are not spared any
detail. Administrative businesses, libraries, treasuries
and offices take up space next to the rowdy taverns
and ghastly magic shops.
Vvardenfell, the massive island you explore in
Morrowind, is one of the few sandbox maps that feels
like it was built without any intention to turn it into
a game, as if it was designed and mapped to serve the
lore more than playability. As far as the player’s lofty
quests are concerned, all those administrative details
behind Vivec City’s economy aren’t relevant.
You can learn all about the process of how the
nearby Netch farms churn out Netch leather which
turns into Netch armour, and it’s only flavour text.
There are almost two hundred different books to
read (well, not really books so much as they are a
few paragraphs, but still) that document everything
from the world’s history to directories of the council
members that currently lead its political parties.
All this detail doesn’t really make or break the
game, mechanically speaking. It’s just there. It’s flavour
text the player can skip. But what this massive amount of
detail does do well (and indeed, its very purpose in the
game) is to reify Vvardenfell as a world that is almost as
complicated, ancient and dynamic as our own.
Look at how the game handles transportation,
for an example. Instead of pointing and clicking
on a map screen to fast-travel (like in the TES games
before and after Morrowind) you use Vvardenfell’s
public transit system instead. The people of this island
use animal mounts, ferry boats, and magic teleporter
booths to travel around. So, during the early game
you use those facilities too.
Critics during the game’s launch rightfully
bemoaned Morrowind’s slow walking speed and
constricting fast-travel system, but those caveats serve
as build-up for a divine pay-off later on. They build
anticipation for a revelatory moment that the player may
not experience for tens or perhaps hundreds of hours
later. Until then, Morrowind is a slow-burning game.
“I often liken Morrowind to
Moby Dick, while Oblivion is
Titanic, the movie. Morrowind
was a vast, overly ambitious
project, but glorious in many
ways — but tragically inaccessible
as a result. It had a much smaller
audience because it was odder
and less generic and less what
people expect. With Oblivion, we
knew what people expected and
deliberately made our product a
lot more comfortable for them.”
– Ken Rolston,
Morrowind’s lead designer
Transportation starts off slow. Combat starts off
incredibly awkwardly. Since the world seems like it
was designed before the gameplay was designed, it
doesn’t lead you through roads and villages that are
cleanly organised to funnel you in the right direction.
The names are hard to pronounce, there are no
omnipotent objectives prodding you this way or that
way, and wherever you end up there will be just way
too much stuff there.
What gives you guidance is your own sense of
adventure and a brilliantly self-aware main quest
that tasks you with becoming the omnipotent Godking
of Vvadenfell. Eventually some overpowering
stat progression happens after Level 10 that makes
combat and walking much faster, and during that
time your understanding of Vvardenfell will also
increase immensely. You’ll come to learn the hard-topronounce
names of its numerous towns and locations.
You’ll get to know its tribes, its council members,
its politics and its religions because the main quest
tasks you with meeting and manipulating every last
one of them.
Soon you’ll be able to teleport across the map,
fly from city to city, and sprint with blinding speed!
You’ll forget about the public transit system because,
just as all the flavour text of the main quest suggested
you’d do, you’ll become a godlike warrior-poet who
knows this island inside and out, whether you were
trying to pay attention or not.
The most brilliant twist The Elder Scrolls
III: Morrowind takes is that you’ll actually have a
mental frame of reference to know how great your
progression feels. It’s not about increasing numbers
on a stat sheet. It’s about thoroughly understanding
a large, intimidating and alien world that is almost as
complicated as our own. GW
Morrowind’s
dialogue is
very complex,
being affected
by both faction
and personal
reputation, and
featuring a robust
keyword system.
Bethesda
released The
Elder Scrolls
Construction Set
with Morrowind,
allowing for
many mods
to be created.
A good start
is Morrowind
Overhaul 3.0,
a compilation
of hundreds
of mods
bundled into
a convenient
install pack.
Morrowind adds the option to switch to a third-person
camera, although the animations are quite simple.
The landscape of Vvardenfell is exotic and fascinating,
going far beyond traditional fantasy clichés.
297
Arx Fatalis
Arkane Studios, 2002
Windows and Xbox (Linux and Mac)*
*In 2011 Arkane
Studios released
the source code of
Arx Fatalis as free
software. From
it was created
Arx Libertatis, a
cross-platform,
open-source port
of the game, with
various bug fixes.
The character
system is simple,
employing four
stats and nine
skills. There isn’t
much equipment
variety, but you
can enchant your
weapons.
298
Originally pitched as Ultima Underwold 3 by
one Raphael Conlantonio and rejected by EA,
Arx Fatalis was the result of Mr. Conlantonio
founding Arkane Studios to bring his pitch to life.
Much like its inspiration, the game takes place
entirely underground in an eight-level dungeon
involving both traditional dungeon-crawling and
social interactions in populated locations. The
reason for this particular setup is that an ice age
forced the survivors of this fantasy world to take
shelter in underground enclaves that hold what is
left of civilisation. Arx, a converted mine with many
politically divided species crammed together, is one
such place and the centre of the game’s narrative.
The early levels of Arx Fatalis emphasise
politics and investigative quests, such as dealing with
goblins and their troll workers, while later levels
offer adventurous dungeon-delving, such as a huge
crypt that manages to deliver a surprisingly tense
atmosphere. There’s even a level where the game
takes a trip into survival horror territory.
The quest design is sparse, with only a handful of
contextual side content, but with many non-specified
goals, like robbing a bank or following cryptic
scavenger hunts – player agency and exploration
being emphasised instead of direct instructions.
All of this results in an eclectic pacing which means
that, while the game is short for an RPG, clocking in at
about 20 hours, there is a great deal of variation. This is
reflected in the progress system as well, only three of the
nine skills that define the player’s avatar being decidedly
combat-focused. Since these can be increased without
any restriction, versatility is heavily encouraged.
Balance leaves a lot to be desired though; Ethereal
Link shows enemy statistics and boosts your magical
power regeneration, but, given the simple combat and
the high amount of potions available, it can be safely
ignored. In dire contrast, the indispensable Object
Knowledge is the only way to create, enchant, repair and
even identify items, which cannot be used otherwise.
While Arx Fatalis isn’t overly combat focused, the
moments where it does feature fighting for extensive
periods of time are decidedly one of its weaker parts.
Melee and range combat are decidedly mediocre
but stealth is surprisingly well-done with it having a
shadow-based detection gradient. A clear nod to Thief
by Looking Glass, the same studio that made Ultima
Underworld. Sadly the game in no way supports a
pure stealth approach. Still, skulking through the
shadows can be a pretty tense experience, especially
at early levels.
Now onto one of the game’s best aspects: the
magic system. Each spell is cast by using specific
runes, which need to be manually drawn using the
mouse, similar to Peter Molyneux’s Black & White.
The effects that can be achieved are quite numerous and
frankly outstanding considering this a studio’s first game.
“Extreme honour is definitely
what we feel whenever Arx is
mentioned as the successor to the
[Ultima] Underworld series. We’ve
always had a lot of admiration
for the Looking Glass spirit, so
the connection with Arx is not an
accident at all.”
– Raphael Colantonio,
Arx Fatalis project director
and Arkane Studios’ CEO
Levitation, telekinesis, invisibility, ignite/douse fire,
confuse, summon demon, create food and an invisible
eye to scout ahead are just a few of the spells. In fact,
there are so many such effects that the content can’t
match up to support their use – the game can be
finished using only the fireball spell and that is a
damn shame considering how much work must have
gone into making the 40-something spells, especially
since many of them are non-combat oriented.
What holds all these elements together is the
environmental manipulation that in many ways defines
Arx Fatalis. You can take flour, add water and then put it
near a fire which will cause it to rise, thus making bread.
Words cannot describe the child-like sense of wonder
this inspired. The interface recalls adventure games,
meaning that most interaction is done by directly
clicking on the environment, not navigating abstract
menus. This does wonders for making the world feel like
something that the player must actually engage with.
One particular quest remains memorable to me
due, where you have to go through a multi-step process
to make a sword, from mining the ore, getting it to the
smelter and then having to operate all sorts of machinery
to get the job done. The important aspect of this type
of interaction is not realism, since dough doesn’t turn
into bread in five seconds, but verisimilitude. Players
understand the world by interacting with it.
Arx Fatalis is a love letter to Looking Glass and Ultima
Underworld, with Arkane wearing their influence on their
sleeves. The financial risks and challenges of starting
a studio from the ground up makes Mr. Conlanonio’s
journey to create this game all the more commendable.
It is hard to say what is sadder: that Arx Fatalis
is one of the last design-focused representatives from
arguably the best period of PC gaming, or that more
that, a decade since its release, it remains unmatched
in certain depths. Regardless, it remains a must-play
hidden gem. LL
Arx Fatalis is not
your standard,
combat-focused
dungeon crawler.
You’ll spend a lot
of time dealing
with the various
races, solving
puzzles and
exploring.
Arx - End Of
Sun is a free,
fan-made
prequel to
Arx Fatalis,
currently under
development.
The game employs a simulationist approach, where you
use anvils to repair items, mix ingredients to cook, etc...
Spells are cast by drawing runes with the mouse, but
you can memorize some and instantly cast them later.
299
Icewind Dale II
Black Isle Studios, 2002
Windows and Mac
There aren’t
huge mods
for IWD2, but
Almateria’s
IWD2 Fixpack
solves some
bugs, and the
Tweak Pack
adds some
improvements
such as infinite
stacking and
extra merchants.
Enemies make
much better use
of tactics, building
barricades, setting
traps and even
riding worgs
into battle.
The 3rd edition
D&D ruleset adds
many changes
including the
ability to play as
sub-races like the
Drow, which are
more powerful
but have other
disadvantages.
300
Icewind Dale II was the last of the Infinity Engine
games, and one of the last titles published by
Interplay, developed during a time when the
company was imploding due to poor business choices.
The whole project was allowed just ten months
of development time, and, according to lead designer
Josh Sawyer, just two days to develop the story and
plot. Under these conditions, it’s quite a wonder that
such a complete product was ever shipped.
As the swansong of the Infinity Engine, IWD2
was (surprisingly) designed not for a new potential
audience but for experienced players, featuring
a pleasing difficulty level. Most encounters are
challenging and well-crafted, making clever use of
spells, terrain, abilities and positioning.
As in the previous Icewind Dale, you create a
party of up to six heroes, but IWD2 is one of the first
games to use the (then new) 3rd edition Dungeons &
Dragons ruleset, rather than the AD&D 2nd Edition
rules that had been featured in every other IE game.
This includes the addition of a more flexible multiclassing
system, sub-races, feats and skills – including
dialogue skills such as Intimidate and Bluff.
Given the development schedule this seems
more foolish than ambitious, but the change was well
implemented and gameplay remains just as smooth
and intuitive as the previous iterations.
The story begins in the harbour of Targos, one
of the Ten Towns of Icewind Dale, as your party joins
in the defence of the town against a siege by goblins.
From there, the adventurers will set out on a quest to
defeat the Legion of the Chimera, and restore peace
to the Dale, finding that the shadows of the past rest
uneasily in these harsh lands.
The detailed artwork of the game is brought
to life and enhanced by an evocative Inon Zur
soundtrack, which at points matches Jeremy Soules’s
masterful work on the original, and the atmosphere of
the game at points also matches its prequel.
Icewind Dale II is a flawed game of highs and
lows. The siege of Targos is definitely the former, but
there is a tiresome grind through the middle levels of
this game, which might be explained as padding put
there to assure longevity of play time. This remains,
however, a fitting goodbye to the Infinity Engine. NT
Might and
Magic IX
New World Computing, 2002
Windows
A
game is only as good as the ones you compare
it to. Nothing could be truer for Might and
Magic IX, a game I nearly overlooked due to
overwhelmingly negative reviews. I’m glad I didn’t!
To be clear: M&M9 is by no means the best game
in the series. Nearing bankruptcy, 3DO rushed out of
the door what lead designer Timothy Lang himself
described as “pre-alpha at best”. Bugs and crashes
were so frequent that it was almost unplayable, while
the game’s shift to fully 3D graphics lacked polish and
detail, with repetitive models and weird mirrored
textures. Nevertheless, it did many things right.
First thing you’ll notice is the new class system.
At character creation you can only choose between
Fighter or Adept, but 12 specialised classes are later
available by completing special quests. Skills and
abilities are still acquired via trainers scattered around
the world, but now some spells require two (or
even three!) different skills to be cast. Although the
levelling system is artificially capped at around Level
140 (as training becomes too expensive), it worked
well enough to keep me motivated to grind on and
reach insane levels of power, Might and Magic-style.
Combat was likewise overhauled. Gone are the
legions of goblins and other critters forming lines to
kill you. M&M9 focuses on smaller encounters, with
fewer enemies. As such, the AI is vastly improved:
flying enemies will circle around you, Grunts will
throw daggers, while stronger enemies revive their
fallen comrades. Most are simple, but still distinctive.
While the initial dungeons are forgettable, later
ones range from good to borderline great. One lategame
dungeon is especially memorable, with armies
of liches giving you a run for your money. Also, the
game features a huge array of new weapons, with all
kinds of status effects to equip and use.
There are also some funny side-quests, and the
non-existing story is almost Monty Python-esque in
its randomness, with an old hag casually giving you a
world-saving quest without any further explanation.
So, is Might and Magic IX worth a shot? That
depends. If you only play polished RPGs then no,
there are much better games out there. If, however,
you want to experience what the M&M series could
have become, then by all means give it a try. DF
Fans created the
1.3 community
patch to fix
M&M9. While
the patch is
excellent, some
of the game’s
issues remain
unsolved.
Combat can be
played either in
real-time or in
turn-based mode.
While both are
agile, casting
various spells or
using items is
cumbersome.
You’re limited
to two classes
at character
creation,
but can later
specialise into
12 other classes
by performing
special quests.
301
Neverwinter
Nights
BioWare, 2002
Windows, Mac and Linux
Beamdog
released the
Neverwinter
Nights: Enhanced
Edition in 2018,
adding improved
graphics, better
compatibility
with modern PCs
and promises of
constant updates
over time.
The game uses the
3rd edition D&D
ruleset and offers
an extensive range
of races, classes,
spells, weapons,
armour and items
for players to
experiment with.
302
BioWare carved its name in history with the
creation of Baldur’s Gate I and II, which are
frequently brought up as the best of examples
of transitioning RPGs from tabletops to computers.
Naturally, this lead to a great deal of expectations
when Neverwinter Nights was announced, especially
since it was another fantasy RPG, based on the 3rd
edition of D&D this time around. Most people
assumed it would be the successor to the venerable
Baldur’s Gate, but when the game launched it quickly
became apparent things weren’t so simple.
The mainstream saw it as BioWare’s greatest
achievement to date, streamlining gameplay for
accessibility while retaining what makes D&D great.
On the other hand, a large part of the RPG community
found it to be a dumbed-down sham which didn’t
only fail as a successor to BioWare’s previous works
but was a terrible game all around. To understand
these two perspectives a step back is required.
Parties are a core aspect of most tabletop RPGs.
Usually each player controls a single character, with
the exception of the Dungeon Master who controls as
many as needed for each scenario.
Since the majority of CRPGs are single-player
experiences, they solved this by placing the player
in charge of multiple characters at once. He/she is all
heroes at once, controlling them as they go through
the content made by the developers – which could be
considered an inflexible Dungeon Master.
Not every CRPG is like this but most are,
especially in the West. Baldur’s Gate falls squarely in
this category. Neverwinter Nights does not.
In NWN the player only controls a single character.
Combat is still real-time-with-pause, just like in
Baldur’s Gate, but companions are restricted to one
at a time (two with the expansions) and can only be
given general orders, which is more akin to shouting
directions than taking direct control.
The reason for this controversial change was the
ambition to emulate the true pen-and-paper experience
by creating of a multiplayer-focused RPG engine.
The project was built around the idea that the
player would make a character and go online, joining
a module where other players would meet and form
a party, while a human Dungeon Master controlled
their adventures. It was meant to be a 1:1 conversion
of physical role-playing games into digital form.
To make this possible, the tools not only had to
be powerful, but also simple to use. Anyone should be
capable of running a campaign, editing the content
on-the-fly and even creating entirely new campaigns.
This lead to an incredible engine with amazing
modding capability. Players could play with a handful
of friends online, but also create “permanent worlds”
– customisable micro-MMOs with up to 96 players.
Meanwhile, the Aurora Toolset allowed anyone to
create their own adventures, something which can
be attested by the absolutely stunning amount (and
quality) of mods that were made over the years.
“The toolset has affected many,
many decisions along the way. Tiles.
The entire reason to use a tile-based
system was for the toolset, for ease
of use in creation. We don’t want
people to have to learn to use an
app like 3D Studio Max if they want
to create an adventure. We want
people to go in, create an adventure,
jump, test it and have fun.”
– Trent Oster,
NWN’s lead designer
But all of this came at a cost – most of the five
years of development was spent on the engine itself
rather than the content. The result was that the game’s
campaign was phoned in, to say the least.
The story revolves around a devastating plague
gripping the city of Neverwinter – you must find the
culprits and defeat the mandatory ancient evil at the
end. The whole thing feels like a starting D&D module
that drags on for far too long, aggressively ordering
you to collect countless McGuffins. Combine this with
some absolutely abysmal encounter design, where the
vast majority of combat can only be described as filler,
and you have something closer to a tech demo.
Fortunately, BioWare released two expansions
in 2003 which showed them getting better at creating
quality content. Shadows of Undrentide begins a new
Level 1 adventure, as you hunt for a series of artefacts
stolen from your tutor. Competent but nothing special.
Hordes of the Underdark pits you against a Drow army
invasion lead by their queen, the Valsharess.
HotU can easily be described as one of BioWare’s
best works – each chapter is laser focused, whether
it’s dungeon-crawling through the legendary D&D
location Undermountain or exploring the mysterious
Underdark and its terrible denizens.
If you take the launch version of Neverwinter
Nights, bereft of all the content that came afterwards,
then it’s clear that it’s an underwhelming product.
But BioWare aggressively advertised that you weren’t
buying a simple game inside a box – NWN is above all
a platform for countless adventures.
And it paid off. While the original campaign
is best ignored, playing Shadows of Undrentide and
Hordes of the Underdark back-to-back will give a more
than satisfying journey from Level 1 to godhood.
From there you can jump to the smaller premium
modules or try some of the greatest mods ever made.
Just keep something in mind: they are that good
in part because BioWare sacrificed so much for them
to be possible. LL
While the
graphics have
aged significantly,
NWN’s camera
and interface are
still quite efficient
– an impressive
feat for an early
3D game.
Financial issues
at Interplay made
BioWare change
publishers to
Atari. This led
to big changes
in the game’s
plot. A leaked
document shows
it was much more
ambitious, with
a madness meter,
class-specific
tutorials and
an epic scope.
Fully employing D&D’s magic system, NWN has almost
300 spells, plus meta-magic feats and a few Epic Spells.
Combat is RTwP, as in Baldur’s Gate, but the 3rd ed. D&D
rules offer many new abilities, accessed via a radial menu.
303
Neverwinter Nights:
Aurora Toolset & Modules
The powerful
item editor allows
you to mix and
match several
pieces of armour
or weapons to
create unique
equipment, then
customise all its
stats and powers.
Part of what makes
the Aurora Toolset
special is how it
offers powerful
professional tools
that are easy to
use, such as its
Conversation Editor.
BioWare, 2002
Windows, Mac and Linux
Neverwinter Nights included a long campaign,
but also, and more importantly, the exact toolset
used by BioWare to make that campaign.
This was highly significant, but its importance would
be easy to overlook. It meant that owners of the game
were being given all the tools they needed to make a
professional quality RPG of their own, if they had the
talent and were able to devote the time.
In the years since, many have done just that,
producing thousands of modules, of which dozens
(at least) of the best compare quite favourably to
professionally produced RPGs. This makes the
purchase of NWN perhaps the best deal in the history
of RPGs since, by obtaining this one game, one gains
the ability to play a huge and still expanding number
of high-quality RPG campaigns.
Of course NWN is hardly the only game to
include some sort of toolset, map editor, or the like.
Frequently, however, these editors are too limited
in what they can do, not allowing users to make
fully fledged campaigns with all the features the
professionals can include. Others are too difficult
to use, requiring either greater technical skills or a
larger team than the typical amateur modder can be
expected to possess.
NWN managed to avoid both these extremes.
On the one hand, it was an enormously powerful tool
allowing one to do everything BioWare did to make
its campaigns, as well as making it fairly easy to alter
many aspects of play to create campaigns of a very
different type as well. On the other, learning how to
use it is relatively easy. This ease of use also extends
to the speed with which one can make content with
it, another crucially important, and easily overlooked,
feature for amateurs with limited time to devote to
what is after all a hobby, and not a full-time job.
The NWN toolset does of course have some
limitations, as, though extensive modifications can
be made, any modules made with it will at their core
be using the same fundamental system, one based
on 3rd Edition Dungeon & Dragons rules. Therefore,
for someone with creative game-related aspirations
attempting to make a fully fledged indie game would
certainly be an alternative to consider. NWN does
offer two advantages over such a course, however.
First is the aforementioned speed with which a
skilled toolset user can make content. In my own case,
this factor in particular was a crucial consideration.
I had ambitions to make a large, complex RPG
campaign, comparable in length and scale to major
commercial games, and I also wanted to release
something this decade.
304
The Neverwinter Vault:
The official Neverwinter Nights Vault was hosted by
IGN since 2002, but was shut down without warning
in 2014. Thousands of mods, modules and fan-made
content hosted there were only saved by the effort
of a group of fans, who now host them at the new
Neverwinter Vault – an invaluable resource, full of
excellent fan-made adventures. Here are some of the
best mods and modules you can play today:
Pretty Good Character Creator (PGC3) This handy
trainer allow you to freely level up, equip and customise
your character, testing it and preparing for other modules.
Aribeth’s Redemption by Daniel Muth is kind of
a sequel to NWN’s OC, focusing on Lady Aribeth.
An example of how RPG romances should be written.
Almraiven and Shadewood by Fester Pot are
extraordinary modules designed specifically for mages.
The Aielund Saga by Savant is a six-part epic module.
The NWN OCs should have been something like this.
Black Thorn by El Dano represents an innovative use
of the NWN toolset to make a murder mystery game.
Revenant by McV is another innovative, high-quality
module in which one plays as an undead revenant
attempting to solve his own murder.
Cave of Songs, Honor among Thieves and The Prophet
Trilogy by Baldecaran includes some of the best (if usually
grim and tragic) storytelling in NWN modules, and are
generally among the best the Vault has to offer.
Sands of Fate by John McA is a trilogy for epic
characters, which will take you from Level 25+ all the
way to 40. Great for those who completed Hordes of
the Underdark, or some other series taking you to the
beginnings of epic levels, and are wondering what to
do with their epic-level character.
Tales of Arterra by Kevin Chan is a high-quality two-part
module series, with many allusions to classic RPGs like
Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment.
Swordflight by Rogueknight333 is an ambitious,
ongoing series featuring challenging tactical combat,
old-school dungeon-crawling, extensive content and
side-quests specific to class, race, and alignment, and
numerous role-playing opportunities.
Defense of Fort Tremagne by Guthlac is an excellent
module combining good combat and role-playing.
Saleron’s Gambit by Tiberius209 is a series of five highquality
modules for low-level characters, notable for its
“low magic” approach. It is filled with Forgotten Realms
lore and allusions of other classic games in that setting
such as Baldur’s Gate.
Alazander’s three modules should also not be overlooked
by fans of the Forgotten Realms, with the second in the
series, Crimson Tides of Tethyr, probably being the best.
The Blackguard series by Steve B., Sapphire Star by
Yaballa, Shadows of Darkmoon by Commche, and
A Peremptory Summons and Siege of the Heavens by
Balkoth offer some very challenging combat to players
looking to test their tactical skills.
Numerous P&P modules have also been converted into
NWN modules. If there is a P&P adventure of which
you have fond memories, there are good odds of finding
an NWN version of it. Some of the best conversions are
C2: The Ghost Tower of Inverness and S4: The Lost
Caverns of Tsojcanth by SirOtus, N1: Against the Cult of
the Reptile God by Rich Barker, UK2: The Sentinel, by
Heresiologist, and S1: Tomb of Horrors by Ghool.
Persistent Worlds:
Some of NWN’s modules are designed to run online,
like a small-scale MMO, with up to 96 players and
a team of GMs that continuously directs play, adds
new quests and expands the game. These are called
persistent worlds. While it’s been over 10 years since
NWN’s release, there are still many persistent worlds
around. You can find a listing and status of all active
ones here: www.nwnlist.com
If you need
help installing
Neverwinter
Nights and its
mods, or want
further module
recommendations,
then check Lilura’s
excellent intro
guide and blog
posts.
Had I been making an indie game, those would,
realistically, have been mutually exclusive goals. Using
the NWN toolset allowed me to spend my limited time
working on the actual “meat” of the game, designing
quests and encounters, writing dialogue, etc., and not
waste it reinventing the wheel by designing a basic
game system from scratch.
Second is the existence of an established
community of players and modders who provide
a ready-made audience and source of feedback for
NWN toolset products, including many D&D players
who are accustomed to playing a modular and
customisable game.
This community is, alas, not as large these
days as it once was, but still has the potential to
greatly simplify the task of actually finding players
for one’s experiments in game-making. Players, too,
can benefit from having an established and welldocumented
game system that does not require them
to learn a completely new set of rules every time they
start a new game.
The toolset is, in short, an extraordinary tool that
has produced extraordinary results. You do not need
to take my word for this, as countless high-quality
modules can be found on the Neverwinter Vault. RK
305
Freedom
Force
Irrational Games, 2002
Windows and OS X
From January
to June 2005,
the story of the
first Freedom
Force game
was retold
in a six-issue
comic book
miniseries
published by
Image Comics.
The campaign
progresses
through several
missions, with
every three or
four featuring a
new “villain of
the week”.
306
In the early 2000s, superheroes and comic books
were an almost unexplored genres for computer
games. There had been a few lacklustre releases,
but they had failed to impress. All this changed with
the release of Freedom Force.
Published by Electronic Arts and Crave
Entertainments, it was developed by Irrational Games,
the team behind System Shock 2, featuring veterans of
Looking Glass Studios, as well as the Australian side
of the team who would co-develop it. The game would
be a moderate success in terms of sales but break the
“superhero game curse” and pave the way for much
more successful ventures in the field.
A blatant homage and love letter to the Silver
Age of comic books, Freedom Force featured a vibrant,
colourful, and extremely ambitious engine, and a
storyline that trod the well-travelled paths of comic
book conventions. The characters introduced were
based on classic archetypes from both the Marvel
and DC universes, simple heroes acting out heroic
fantasies where the good guys and the bad guys were
clearly defined and there were no blurred lines.
The storyline introduction will be familiar to
anyone who has watched Flash Gordon: the evil
alien emperor Lord Dominion contaminates Earth
with Energy X, a power source that grants amazing
superhuman abilities to anyone who is exposed to its
radiation. As Energy X canisters fall over Patriot City,
an age of superheroes and villains is born.
In terms of gameplay, Freedom Force features an
intuitive and accessible real-time-with-pause system,
with a variety of powers at the player’s disposal: one
can use basic melee attacks, area effects, projectiles
and beam attacks, as well as a number of special
powers. Each of these came with its own animations
and effect bubbles – POW, WHACK, WHOOSH, etc.
– making combat a colourful, exciting and instantly
gratifying experience.
More than just performing fancy attacks, heroes
can also fly, levitate, teleport, jump onto roofs, lift
cars and throw them at enemies, etc. “Do whatever a
superhero can do” kind of sums up the gameplay
The game is further enhanced by the addition of
the Prestige mechanic – a simple system where doing
good deeds and side-objectives like protecting citizens
and bringing the guilty to justice earns favour with
fellow heroes, allowing the player to recruit a larger
roster of superheroes, each with their own unique
abilities and uses. There are many little instances of
these objectives hidden away on every map, and they
add life and depth to the gameplay.
The imperative to protect the city and its
inhabitants while pursuing the villains and main
objectives also adds a pleasing level of complication
and difficulty to the game, with the player having to
split up their teams of heroes and oversee different
events on different parts of the maps, as well as find
the canisters of Energy X that litter the city.
“I think one of the most gratifying
things about Freedom Force was
the mod community, because it
was insane! I always wanted to do
something that was bigger than
we could track. We never had that
before, and it just got to become this
thing that stood on its own. People
made thousands and thousands
and thousands and thousands of
characters!”
– Ken Levine,
Freedom Force’s writer
Included with the game was an intuitive tool for
creating custom superheroes that could be used in the
main campaign, taken online or used in the game’s
challenge maps. The game was also released with a
suite of robust modding tools, leading to a massive
frenzy of content creation by the dedicated fans of
the comic book genre. Hundreds of Marvel and DC
superheroes were brought to life, and ambitious
projects began to appear on numerous fan-sites,
featuring custom animations, original maps, complete
modifications and entirely new campaigns.
The future seemed assured for the franchise,
however, as so often happens in this industry, legal
complications arose as to who owned the rights of the
intellectual property, the publishers or the developers,
and there was a delay with the release of the sequel.
In the meantime, City of Heroes was released,
a game covering much of the ground Freedom Force
had trail-blazed and stealing some of its glory.
In 2005, the legal disputes were finally settled
and Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich was released.
A homage to the Golden Age of comics books, it
featured a time-travelling plot where the heroes of the
first game had to face the villains of the Axis powers.
The game was self-published by Irrational themselves,
but unfortunately failed to sell well, reputedly moving
only about 40,000 copies.
Who can say why sales were so disappointing?
The game improved on many aspects of the original,
but a lot of the difficulty and little charming touches
were lost. Maps became less interesting and objectives
not so punishing or complicated, while combat played
a much larger role and heroics less of one.
While the second game ended on an intriguing
cliffhanger and concept art was made for a possible
third game set in a more complex Bronze or Iron Age
setting, to this day we still eagerly await the return of
Patriot City’s mightiest heroes. NT
Each hero has
unique powers,
but some can
cost energy to
be used. Once
or twice per
mission, heroes
can use their
heroic will to
restore energy
or health.
Fans not
only created
thousands of
custom hero
skins, but also
huge mods with
new campaigns
based on the
Justice League,
Suicide Squad
and the other IPs.
A good resource
for them is Alex’s
Freedom Fortress.
Character customisation uses a clever point-buy system
with attributes, disadvantages and customisable powers.
Freedom Force vs the Third Reich further expanded the
modding support, allowing for crazier superhero teams.
307
Dungeon
Siege
Gas Powered Games, 2002
Windows and Mac
Dungeon Siege
I and II are both
available on
Steam, but their
expansions and
multiplayer
modes were
removed. Guides
can be found
on the Steam
Community
Forum to enable
them and also
play in higher
resolutions.
Characters in
Dungeon Siege
will usually just
keep using the
same attack or
spell in every
battle. While this
makes the game
very accessible,
the player is left
with little to do.
308
Now a mostly forgotten game, it’s amusing
to recall that Dungeon Siege was an eagerly
awaited blockbuster back in the early 2000s
– a “Diablo-killer”, made by Chris Taylor, the man
behind the legendary RTS Total Annihilation.
Taylor’s pitch was powerful: an epic Action RPG
set in an huge, seamless world, with cutting-edge 3D
graphics and a large party of characters, but with an
intuitive RTS-like control that’s accessible to anyone –
be it a hardcore RPG fan or a total beginner.
Published by Microsoft Studios and promoted by
a massive marketing campaign, it was met with very
positive reviews upon release and sold almost two
million copies – an impressive feat in 2002.
So why isn’t Dungeon Siege celebrated among the
pantheon of classic RPGs? How can such a commercially
and critically successful title fall into history’s limbo?
The answer is simple: Dungeon Siege indeed had
great graphics, amazing soundtrack and was easy for
anyone to play – but it’s also a generic, repetitive and
utterly forgettable game that lasts so long and stretches
itself so thin that few players endure finishing it.
You start the game by naming your character.
There are no races, classes or even experience points;
everything revolves around three stats – Intelligence,
Strength and Dexterity. They increase as you use them:
fire a lot of arrows and your Dexterity will go up,
boosting damage and allowing you to use better bows.
The much-lauded seamless world is impressive;
you travel from forests to towns to mines without a
single loading screen. Sadly, you’ll soon realise the
world is a long and narrow corridor – you’ll just keep
marching in one direction and fighting for 40 hours.
The Legends of Aranna expansion only made things
worse, adding even more length instead of depth.
You’ll meet a few recruitable NPCs as you travel,
gathering a party of up to eight heroes. Sadly, they’re all
devoid of personality or relevance to the barely there
plot – even the main hero can be safely dismissed
or left for dead. The most memorable characters in
Dungeon Siege are the pack mules: they follow the
party around, carrying loot and kicking enemies.
Despite the large party size, combat is mostly
automatic. Due to the improve-by-use system, your
characters play limited roles – those with a bow will
just keep shooting arrows, while melee warriors will
always hack-and-slash. With no skills or special abilities
to manage, there’s little to do besides repositioning
characters and healing them with spells or potions.
The game has a multiplayer mode where you
can play with up to seven friends, each controlling
one character – which makes combat even duller.
Oddly, it takes place in an entirely new area that’s not
only bigger, but non-linear! It’s such a step up that
mods were created to make it playable in single-player.
Speaking of mods, the game had a powerful editor tool,
leading to many fan-made modules (called “siegelets”),
including the famous Ultima V and VI remakes.
“We failed to understand the
economics of game development.
Our budget was okay, but it wasn’t
the budget of the products we were
competing against. What happens
is that the quality of the experience
gets thin, you start to phone it in
a little bit on some of the levels
because there’s just not enough time
to do it right. We should have done
a shorter game – have people get
through the game, then say, ‘OK, I’m
done. I had a great time, now I’m
ready for the next one’.”
– Chris Taylor,
Dungeon Siege’s project lead
Dungeon Siege II arrived in 2005, adding a muchneeded
depth – it has several races to choose from,
classes, skill trees, item sets, pets, enchanting, puzzles,
town portals, side-quests, dialogue trees, companions
with more personalties, smarter enemies, etc.
Now there’s enough side-quests, magical items
and secret areas to make exploration worthwhile, and
the player has a more active role in combat, thanks to
special abilities. Sadly, the party size was reduced to
four heroes, but can grow to six if you finish the game
and start again in a higher difficulty – or use mods.
The game still suffers from a generic setting and
remains shallow next to rivals like Diablo II or Sacred,
but the pleasure of sending your heroes bulldozing
through armies of enemies reached its apex here.
While Dungeon Siege 2 is easily the best game
in the series, it failed to replicate its predecessor’s
impact. Microsoft dropped it, so Gas Powered Games
signed with 2K Games for Dungeon Siege II: Broken
World, a lacklustre expansion pack. After it, the series
jumped between various developers, abandoning the
“party-based Diablo” aspect that made it unique.
Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony (2007) was
a hack-and-slash for the PSP, similar to titles like
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. Then came Space Siege
(2008), a sci-fi spin-off that tried to be “Diablo with
guns”. It offered the choice of remaining human or
slowly replacing body parts with cybernetic upgrades,
but its combat never went beyond “stand still and
shoot”.
Lastly we have Dungeon Siege III (2011), developed
by Obsidian Entertainment. An Action RPG designed
for consoles, it allowed you to play as a fighter, mage, fire
elemental or gunslinger. While not a bad game, it stands
as Obsidian’s least interesting title – just another entry in
a series now synonymous with bland Action RPGs. FE
Mods:
Dungeon Siege had hundreds of siegelets and mods, but
many were lost when the official website went offline.
Fans still host several of them at www.ds.gemsite.org
We suggest the Lands of Hyperborea and Mageworld
siegelets, the Monty Haul mod, the Ultima V and VI
remakes and the Dungeon Siege II Legendary Mod.
While the game
was streamlined
to be accessible,
the large party
and the lack of
town portals
means players
will spend a lot
of time managing
several small
inventories.
In 2007
infamous movie
director Uwe
Boll made
In the Name
of the King: A
Dungeon Siege
Tale, a movie
staring Jason
Statham and
loosely based
on the plot of
the first game.
It was followed
by two direct-tovideo
sequels.
Dungeon Siege II is still somewhat bland but adds depth to
the systems, delivering a satisfying party-based Diablo-like.
A console-oriented single-character RPG made by Obsidian,
Dungeon Siege III has little to do with the first two games.
309
Gothic II
Piranha Bytes, 2002
Windows
Gothic II was
voted RPG of the
Year by German
magazines like
4players and
GameStar, but
the game was
heavily criticised
in the US for
its graphics,
difficulty and
slower pace.
You are free to
side with whoever
you want, rob or
even kill them,
but there will be
consequences:
they might refuse
to trade or train
you, and some will
attack you on sight.
310
I
will never forget reaching the city of Khorinis for
the first time and asking a local for directions. The
busy craftsmen, bored patrolling guards, drunken
layabouts and preaching mage made a simple walk
from the town hall to the harbour a lifelong memory.
Piranha Bytes already set a new standard for
what open-world Action RPGs could be with Gothic,
and the sequel took it further. From the mundane
animations of the urban inhabitants to the warning
growls animals give before becoming aggressive,
the Gothic formula has always been about creating
atmosphere through subtlety.
The game shows its dedication to this concept by
how spartan its details are. The minimalistic HUD only
has a health and mana bar at the bottom of the screen,
interaction cues are a floating name with a simple
brightening effect, while the inventory only takes a
small part of the screen and does not pause the game.
There is no flourish, only straightforward clean
function, because the world of Gothic II can speak
for itself. And what it reveals is a deadly world where
going from zero to hero has never been as satisfying.
Your character is a nobody that can barely take
on some oversized rodents, thus people will harass
or try to rob you, while running headlong into the
wilderness will result in an early grave. The solution
to this is to fight smarter, not harder.
Most of the early game takes place in the
aforementioned city of Khorinis and its urban
quests allow for different approaches. Impressing an
influential craftsmen by retrieving an Orc weapon
sounds impossible given the power of these creatures,
but going on a forest trip with a skilled hunter or
investigating the rumour about a limping Orc that’s
hiding in a cave after being shot by the guards
might reveal new solutions that weren’t apparent at
first. These alternatives are not hinted by original
quest givers, thus giving a wonderful sense of
interconnectedness to the entire experience.
Stumbling into new quests that are linked with
old or unknown ones makes the world of Gothic II
feels like a tightly knit believable adventure, rather
than the disjointed theme park with no quest overlap
that most RPGs indulge in. This is further reinforced
by the faction dynamic between the militia of the
city, the landowners’ mercenaries and the mage’s
monastery. All of this is complemented by the dry
German dialogue that, while no literary masterpiece,
does wonders when it comes to taming the generally
sanguine elements fantasy stories love to indulge in.
Just as the quests demand more from the player
than just following instructions from point A to B, so
does the combat encourage attention and observation
rather than button-mashing perseverance. Both the
player’s attack and defensive options are timingbased,
your block move only lasts for a fraction of a
second and attacks must be chained based on timed
clicks for a combo to be pulled off.
“The world of Gothic is much closer
to reality – the way people talk,
their motivations and surroundings,
even down to the colour palette we
choose, is all about creating a world
that is a step away from the highfantasy
fare that we see so often in
the genre.”
– Kai Rosenkranz,
Gothic II’s artist and composer
Given the diverse number of enemies, each
with their own animation sets, learning to duel
successfully feels like an earned skill by the end rather
than a reward for your avatar’s numbers going up.
Of course, the combat wouldn’t be half as effective at
feeling rewarding if it wasn’t for the world being filled
with expertly crafted locations and hand-placed loot
that makes it all the more satisfying when you finally
beat that enemy that blocked the path 20 hours ago.
Magic sidesteps a lot of the combat’s complexity,
usually devolving into slinging your favourite damage
spell or summoning an army of undead critters if you
want to avoid fighting altogether.
However, its merits lies in world-building and
presentation. You don’t just pick the Mage class and
start shooting fireballs left and right; you have to go to
their monastery, pay an exorbitant entrance fee and
then spend your time doing mundane quests before
being allowed to practise the mystical arts.
Just like its predecessor, Gothic II goes to great
lengths to instil the mysterious and esoteric nature of
magic and that it’s something that needs to be earned.
A word of warning: every English release of
Gothic II comes with the Night of the Raven expansion.
It adds a new region and quite a few quality quests to
the base game, but also raises the difficulty significantly
in response to fan complaints. Newcomers should be
aware that perseverance is key in the early parts.
I’d lying if I said that Gothic II maintains its
level of quality throughout; indeed, many fans like
me bemoan the fact the end tends to degenerate into
mediocre dungeon-crawling and exploration is a lot
less satisfying. But even with that in mind, the game is
still more than worthy of being experienced from start
to finish for its still-unmatched, harsh-but-fair exercise
in open-world design. One can only wonder how openworld
RPGs would look like today if Gothic instead of
The Elder Scrolls had shaped their progress. LL
The Gothic series
has less combat
than most other
RPGs, but every
single enemy is
meaningful and
can be deadly.
They are used
as objectives or
obstacles, not as
cannon fodder.
There’s a large
community of
Gothic players
creating mods,
but most are in
German, at www.
worldofgothic.de
Gothic II keeps its predecessor’s unique character system.
You’ll have to find trainers to improve your stats and skills.
Mods:
SystemPack: A patch that updates the Gothic engine,
allowing for better draw distances, higher resolutions,
more stability and the use of several mods.
D3D11-Renderer: A huge graphical update to the engine,
adding more vegetation, dynamic shadows, better
performance and other improvements.
L’Hiver: A large mod pack that adds new items, enemies,
HD textures, tweaks and features like hunger/thirst.
It brings some heavy changes to the game, so might be
better if kept for a second playthrough.
Velaya - Tale of a Warrior: A popular fan-made adventure
set after the events of Gothic II. It tells the story of a
women in search of glory and lasts about 40 hours.
311
Prince of Qin
Object Software, 2002
Windows
The crafting
system is very
unique. There are
only five types
of ingredients,
but each type
features a wide
variety of items
and abilities.
312
Prince of Qin is a fascinating game, with aspects
both familiar and alien to a Western gamer. It
seems to have been influenced by the Baldur’s
Gate series and Divine Divinity. Like Baldur’s Gate, it
is a real-time-with-pause, isometric CRPG in which
you form a party of adventurers from a number of
NPCs you meet along the way. Like Divine Divinity,
you can learn special abilities through skill trees
in order to later perform them in combat via an
expendable mana pool. Also like Divine Divinity, it’s
commonly mistaken for just another Diablo clone.
Despite these influences, Prince of Qin runs in
a completely unique direction, using a magic and
combat system based upon five elements (Fire, Water,
Wood, Metal and Earth). In this five-element system,
some elements are stronger or weaker against the
others, similar to rock-paper-scissors or Pokémon.
Each character in your party, and the enemies they
fight, has an element associated with them, and so
you have to keep this in mind in larger fights and set
characters against opponents whose element they
have an advantage over.
Exploration is interesting since the enemies are
fairly diverse up through the middle of the game, and
many of the side-quests are long and related to the
game’s historical lore. One aspect I found satisfying is
that you can fail a quest if you do not make the correct
decisions – it may frustrate some players, but it’s a
gutsy move by the game designers to forces player to
think about the consequences of the their actions.
A poorer game design decision was the inclusion
of respawning enemies in certain locations. I suppose
they added those so that players could grind for
experience if they so desired, but the creatures respawn
so quickly that you party might get overwhelmed.
The story itself is a revealing microcosm of ancient
and modern Chinese culture. You play a prince called
Fu Su, a historical figure from one of the many chaotic
revolutionary periods of ancient China. The actual Fu
Su died through nefarious political manoeuvres, but
the story twists events slightly to enable him to survive
and act against his conspirators.
The game is still somewhat of an educational
experience as the plot progresses based on true historical
figures and events, full of tragedy, hope, betrayals, and
regrets. At the same time, the reform-minded Fu Su is
sometimes made to be a sounding board of the writers,
criticising the plight of peasants and abuses of the
ancient mercantile system with a voice that resonates
more with modern liberal sentiment.
The character class system follows the same sort
of strange, but familiar behaviour as the rest of the
game. Fu Su is a Paladin in-game, but that does not
equate to the typical Poul Anderson sort of Paladin
of Three Hearts and Three Lions fame that D&D
ultimately adapted. Instead, a Paladin in Prince of Qin
is a warrior with artisan skills, allowing Fu Su to craft
special equipment through the game.
The story offers a glimpse into Chinese culture, but the
translation is wonky and the voice acting is quite bad.
Classes have a linear progression, but there’s a bit of
wiggle room to customise your attributes and skills.
It’s important to carefully consider the elements of each
character and enemy, as they’ll heavily impact battles.
The game features an excellent crafting system
in which Fu Su can produce magic-infused weapons
and equipment, often quite a bit more powerful than
many special items you find during the course of the
adventure. The decisions you make during the course
of the adventure will also create some variation as
the cast of NPCs available will be affected by your
choices. Due to the diverse cast of NPCs available,
and the randomness of dropped loot and created
artefacts, the final composition of the party is going
to vary incredibly from game to game.
There are four more character classes, such as
the well-named Muscleman, who specialises in melee
combat and the summoning of creatures to help fight
in battle. The Assassin character class is a helpful
ranged combatant with trap-springing skills, and the
Wizard is your elemental-based spell-slinger, firing
artillery blasts from the back of the party formation,
but in a twist he can also heal damage and status
effects. Finally, there is the Witch who can also fire
magical blasts from afar, but also has the capability of
buffing your companions in battle.
In Seal of Evil, the prequel, you play as Lan Wei, who must
find who killed her father and stop an impending war.
Although you are limited to five characters, you
are not forced to have each character class represented
in the party, and so you could have two Paladins, two
Wizards and a Witch if you really wanted to roll that
way. Without a Wizard, you have no healing magic
and must really on different types of food to replenish
health. Without an Assassin of appropriate skill, you
will not be able to open every chest and find some of
the uniquely powerful in-game.
Prince of Qin also came with a multiplayer
mode, where you could play a separate (and simpler)
campaign, which could support up to 500 players
playing in an MMO-like fashion. Its success, mainly
in China, led to the release of the online-only standalone
expansion Prince of Qin Online - The Overlord of
Conquerors (2003) – later renamed World of Qin.
Object Software would still release a great singleplayer
prequel called Seal of Evil (2004), with more
magical elements and a story showcasing events that
led to the creation of the Qin Empire, and World of
Qin 2 (2005), a fully fledged MMO. DT
313
Star Wars:
Knights of the Old Republic
BioWare, 2003
Windows, OS X and Xbox
SW:KotOR was
first released
for the Xbox. It
was the fastest
selling game
for that console
at the time.
The PC port
came out five
months later.
Combat is realtime-with-pause
and allows
you to queue a
set of actions for
each character.
314
Knights of the Old Republic not only is the first
Star Wars CRPG, but is also a turning point for
BioWare. It’s the moment when it abandoned
its PC roots in favour of more console-oriented games,
which led to deep changes and simplifications – from
the controls and UI to the combat and level design.
Thankfully, despite some rather awkward design
choices, KotOR provides ample entertainment with its
enjoyable story, teeming with a sense of an adventure.
The game takes place roughly 4,000 years before
the movies, an era documented in the Tales of the Jedi
comics. Here, the Republic is slowly losing the war
against the Sith Empire – led by Darth Malak. It’s an
exciting setting, but it’s unfortunate that BioWare chose
to use the modern Star Wars look seen in the movies,
instead of the brilliant, rustic aesthetic of the comics.
The player, a Republic soldier who discovers in
himself an affinity to use the Force, goes on a journey
during which the fate of the war will be decided. The
game is particularly famous for its plot twist, although
I think BioWare has failed to realise the full potential
of it, as it can feel underdeveloped.
Regardless, the plot and side-quests are great.
KotOR delivers that overall feeling of a Star Wars
adventure, both in content and themes, and does it
gracefully, offering many choices which move you
towards either the Light or Dark Side of the Force –
ultimately resulting in a change of appearance and stats.
During his adventures, the player will gather
nine companions, with whom he’ll travel the galaxy
aboard the starship Ebon Hawk – albeit only two of
them can accompany him at a time. The prologue
and the ending are linear, but the game opens up in
between, giving players the opportunity to visit four
planets and complete their quests in any order.
The game offers many interesting places, like the
planet Manaan, whose inhabitants are getting wealthy
from exporting medical resources to both sides of the
war. Fearful of showing any sign which may be seen as
a preference for either of them, they desperately try to
stay neutral in the ongoing conflict. We’ll also visit the
Sith Academy on Korriban, where every student learns
to betray another and those more advanced ones take
courses in the fleeting art of double-crossing.
Among your party members, certainly the most
interesting is the old, former Jedi, Jolee Bindo. His
positive attitude, wit, cynicism and wisdom comes
out as a perfect mixture for an engaging companion.
A fan favourite, the Assassin droid HK-47 is also
enjoyable, although in this first game he feels a little
like a one-trick pony. However, the main bad guy,
Darth Malak, rings hollow, like some expendable
villain of the week.
Sadly, the combat is KotOR’s weakest aspect. It
features real-time-with-pause battles, which allow you
to queue actions for each party member – but anyone
expecting complexity or tactical challenge similar to
Baldur’s Gate II will be gravely disappointed.
“I thought we managed to pull
off a twist that almost had the
same impact as when Darth Vader
revealed to Luke that he was his
father. We used The Sixth Sense as
a guide for how a good twist was
pulled off. One of the lessons from
that movie was that you had to
leave enough clues that a sizeable
percentage of the audience would
figure out the twist before you
revealed it. If you didn’t leave
enough clues, then the twist
would ring false.”
– James Ohlen,
Star Wars:KotOR’s lead designer
The role-playing
options are some
of the best among
BioWare’s games,
especially once
you learn how to
use the Force.
The game offers a few different skills, but their
choice is irrelevant, as any will work well enough
against the enemies, who lack strong resistances or
hard counters. Thus, there’s no need for a change of
tactics during encounters, and only sporadically will
you use some healing. All encounters practically play
themselves until the final boss, when there’s a radical
spike in difficulty. Keeping all weakness in mind, the
sword/lightsaber fighting animations are top-notch –
definitely combat’s strongest aspect.
The soundtrack was composed by the famous
Jeremy Soule and it’s full of pathos, yet subtly melodic.
It’s fitting for the game and manages to touch player
emotions while feeling very Star Wars-y.
Overall, KotOR achieves everything it wanted to
achieve. We may sometimes be disappointed that it
didn’t aim higher, but that would be foolish, as it does
provides a great experience. Besides, any desire for
something more ambitious can be sated by its sequel.
The feeling of Star Wars is very strong with this
one, and it’s a game I highly recommend for anyone
who prioritises story and dialogue above combat.
Knights of the Old Republic also serves quite well as a
first RPG, gently introducing new players to the genre
conventions and sensibilities. JMR
Mods:
Brotherhood of Shadow - Solomon’s Revenge:
An amazing fan-made expansion, adds tons of new
content, such as items, quests and even a companion.
Yavin IV Planet Mod: Adds a new planet for you to
explore, with a new dedicated storyline and quests.
Grif Vindh’s Roleplay Padawan Mod: Allows you
to start the game as a Jedi Padawan and skip a good
chunk of the game’s long tutorial. Great for a replay.
Lightsaber Forms: Adds the seven lightsaber combat
styles to the game, each with unique advantages.
The game is based on the Star Wars Role-playing
Game and uses D&D’s d20 system, plus a morality bar.
There are three mini-games in SW:KotOR: swoop racing,
space turret battles and the popular Pazaak card game.
315
The Battle
for Wesnoth
David White, 2003
Windows, Linux and Mac
You can read
more about
The Battle for
Wesnoth and
freely download
at www.
wesnoth.org
Attacks in
Wesnoth have a
controversially
high-percentage
chance of
missing, which
forces you to
adopt tactics
constantly but
might frustrate
some players.
Recent fan-made
campaigns such
as 2018’s To
Lands Unknown
greatly expand
the game, adding
new assets, rules
and innovative
mission types.
316
In 2003, David White released the first version of
The Battle for Westnoth. Inspired by two Japanese
titles, Master of Monsters and Warsong, White’s goal
was to create a free and open-source turn-based strategy
RPG with simple mechanics but deep gameplay.
Since then, the project received contributions
from hundreds of people, improving and adding to
all aspects of the game, from the engine, to musical
scores, art and several fully fledged campaigns.
The secret behind Wesnoth is its deceivingly
simple gameplay. Units move in a hexagonal grid, can
only attack adjacent enemies and the game has just
one resource – money, which you gain each turn by
controlling locations and use to recruit troops.
Depth comes from the underlying nuances.
There are terrain bonuses, multiple types of attacks
and damage, unique attributes and alignments effects
affected by the time of day. Units level up and can
graduate to advanced classes, and the player is generally
able to carry these units across multiple scenarios in
a campaign – provided they survive. Maps are welldesigned
and offer surprises, challenging limitations
and optional objectives. It’s an easy-to-learn game, but
very challenging to master.
Wesnoth currently offers 16 “official” campaigns
with over 200 scenarios, all set in the same timeline
but varying in difficulty and player perspective. For
example, In Heir to the Throne you take on the role
of Konrad, a young prince fighting for his life and
the restoration of his kingdom. In the difficult but
rewarding Son of the Black-Eye campaign you play as
Kapou’e, an Orc chieftain. And in Under the Burning
Suns you travel to Wesnoth’s far future in and guide
your Elvish cohorts to a new home as they struggle to
survive the rigours and danger of a hostile land.
The game also has a very large and active
multiplayer community and a truly immense collection
of user-made content: original campaigns, custom
factions, diverse multiplayer maps, etc. All these can
be downloaded directly via the game’s built-in browser,
although some content might require special setups.
For its accessibility, content, price (free!) and
support, The Battle for Wesnoth is a unique gem in the
crown of CRPGs and a must-have for any fan of turnbased
strategy RPGs or strategy titles in general. ZT
Reflexive Entertainment, 2003
Windows
Lionheart:
Legacy of the Crusader
Lionheart was the last RPG published by Black
Isle Studios, and many CRPG fans also know
it as the only other game to be based around
Fallout’s SPECIAL ruleset, but those are just some of
the unusual things about Lionheart.
The game is set in an alternate reality where the
execution of 3,000 prisoners by King Richard during
the Crusades caused the “Disjunction”, a dimensional
rift that brought magic and demons to our world.
The story itself begins much later, in the 16th
century. After being arrested by the Inquisition for
possessing magic, the player is attacked by assassins,
then saved by none other than Leonardo da Vinci,
here an Inventor/Wizard who shares a bond with you.
Indeed, the game used historical figures as
NPCs in crazy ways long before Assassin’s Creed made
it popular. Da Vinci is just one of them – Galileo,
Shakespeare, Machiavelli, Cervantes, Nostradamus,
Joan of Arc and many others make an appearance.
Players are eventually taken to New Barcelona,
where they’ll meet the four main factions: the Knights
Templar, the Inquisition, the Knights of Saladin and
the Wielders. As you decide which one to join, their
unique quests will allow you to briefly interact with
this rather unusual world, exploring its oddities.
It’s after the player leaves New Barcelona that the
game takes a turn for the worse. Everything becomes
a lot more linear, with the main quest turning into a
series of dungeons and repetitive battles.
Combat is real-time, similar to Diablo, but it’s
very simplistic and can be a hurdle for those who
didn’t carefully create their characters. This, combined
with poor level and quest design, makes the game’s
second half a boring path to a rushed conclusion.
So what is good? The soundtrack is great, and the
unique and beautiful art adds a lot to the atmosphere.
But it’s the game world that seals the deal for those
who enjoyed at least some portions of the game. Even
after the rise of Kickstarter and indie games, Lionheart
remains one of the wackiest CRPGs I’ve ever played.
Regardless, Lionheart is not a great game. It’s not
a good one either. It feels like a cancelled title that
somehow was released. Those with zero expectations
may be able to find some enjoyment, as I did, but it’s
not a game I’d recommend anyone. FAX
Modders made
a widescreen
patch for
Lionheart,
and those
experiencing
graphical
glitches can
use DxWnd
to solve them.
The unusual
alternate history
setting is rich
and filled with
historical figures.
While dialogues
have many
choices at first,
the game later
descends into
mindless killing.
The game is
based on Fallout’s
SPECIAL ruleset,
with similar stats
and perks, but
removes most
non-combat skills,
and adds magic
and four races.
317
TRON 2.0
Monolith Productions, 2003
Windows, Mac and Xbox
TRON 2.0 was
intended as the
official sequel
to the original
TRON. However,
Disney later
released the
TRON Legacy
film sequel and
tie-in TRON
Evolution game,
declaring TRON
2.0 to now be
an alternate
universe story.
Apart from the
Identity Disc, all
weapons use
energy to shoot,
requiring some
extra tactics and
thought when
using them.
318
TRON is a film that – despite being released in
the summer of 1982, during a time crowded
by other memorable science-fiction films and
only being a moderate success – has endured for
decades, inspiring many to become programmers, 3D
visual artists and, of course, game designers. It was no
surprise then when Disney used the 20th Anniversary
DVD release of TRON to tease a follow-up to the
movie – this time as a video game.
TRON 2.0 places you in the role of Jethro “Jet”
Bradley, son of Alan Bradley from the original movie.
Like Kevin Flynn, Jet is digitised by a laser and sent
into the electronic world, where he must learn to
survive this new environment while helping Ma3a,
the program responsible for digitising him.
Developed by the FPS veterans at Monolith
(Blood, No One Lives Forever, F.E.A.R.) most of the
game plays as an FPS, with the player using the iconic
Identity Disc and a variety of imaginative analogues
to the standard weaponry – shotgun, sniper rifle,
grenade launcher, sub-machine gun, etc. – all based
on geometric primitives (Disc, Rod, Ball, Mesh).
The Identity Disc stands out among the other
weapons – it ricochets, can block enemies’ discs and
the player is able to finely control it with the mouse,
guiding its launch and return paths, and how quickly
it returns. This allows for many satisfying trick shots.
The other defining feature of TRON 2.0 is the
character upgrade system. It introduces a role-playing
element, and often has fans referring to the game
as a “Deus Ex-lite”. As you play, you’ll come across
subroutines – the TRON 2.0 version of upgrades –
which can be placed in Jet’s “memory block” slots.
These subroutines range from protective armour
to new weapons, weapon modifiers (throw multiple
discs, drain health, deal poison damage, etc.) or even
utility skills (jump higher, walk silently, scan enemies,
etc.). Each requires a set number of memory slots,
but can be upgraded (from Alpha to Beta to Gold),
becoming more efficient and smaller in size.
Jet’s memory block slots constantly reconfigure
themselves in arrangement and capacity as he travels
through various systems, forcing players to strategise
and adapt their skills as they play. New subroutines
can be incompatible, empty blocks can become
corrupt and there’s always the danger of a virus
infection attacking them. To solve this, you can port,
defrag and disinfect the subroutines – all which takes
time and can be decisive during a firefight.
As Jet completes objectives, he continually
earns build points (the game’s version of XP). At
every milestone of 100 build points earned, Jet gains
a version number and the player can improve his
performance: increasing his health, energy, weapon
efficiency, processor (port, disinfect, defrag speed)
and transfer rate – the speed in which he downloads
permissions (keys), e-mails (that flesh out the story),
subroutines, health and energy from various sources.
“Without a doubt, the artists and
level designers on the TRON 2.0
team successfully captured the
essence of TRON. Not only do the
characters and environments look
like those found in the movie, but in
some cases surpass them. The art
direction of TRON 2.0 really stands
out as one of the primary attributes
of the game, especially with the
recent trend toward hyper-realistic
military games. TRON 2.0 is a fresh
alternative.”
– Frank Rooke,
TRON 2.0’s lead game designer
The continuous FPS action is occasionally broken
up by Light Cycle races that very closely emulate the
ones seen in the TRON movies. But it introduces
power-ups that can be picked up by the player on
the grid, adding new elements of strategy and luck in
helping to defeat AI Light Cycle opponents.
The environments brilliantly walk the fine line
between paying homage to classic TRON, while at the
same time updating them with a richer, more detailed
look. Monolith’s pioneering and extensive use of
Bloom here is more than just a gimmick, reproducing
the neon glow the film is known for. Two conceptual
artists from the original TRON movie, Richard Taylor
and Syd Mead, were consulted; and the movie’s
director, Steven Lisberger, had an (uncredited)
involvement in the creation of the game’s story.
The excellent soundtrack is also quite faithful,
with themes that use the work of TRON’s original
composer, Wendy Carlos, as a motif.
So if you’re looking for a title that’s not quite
an FPS, not quite an RPG – and a love letter to the
original TRON in every way – give TRON 2.0 a try.
Littered with computer jargon, clever puns and
direct references to the film, it’s a fondly remembered
favourite with most fans. Furthermore, thanks to its
setting and art style, it hasn’t aged or become dated in
the same way many other titles do. RTR
Mods:
The site www.ldso.net hosts a community forum, and
their team creates many of the mods for TRON 2.0 –
both for Steam and the original retail release.
Killer App Mod: Adds widescreen resolutions, restores
the broken online multiplayer, and many other features,
including content that was exclusive to the Xbox.
User Error: A fan-made series of original single-player
missions with new stories and protagonists.
Everything in
TRON 2.0 is
well-tied to the
theme. Instead of
looting items, you
download them
from archive bins
at the cost of
energy. Some of
those can even
contain a virus.
An expansion
for TRON 2.0
and a TRON
3.0 game were
planned, but
later cancelled
in favour of the
TRON Legacy
movie and its
tie-in game.
The System Memory screen, where subroutines
are managed and your stats are increased.
Light Cycle races are part of the campaign, but can also
be played in tournaments with customisable rules.
319
Temple of
Elemental Evil
Troika, 2003
Windows and Mac
Troika proposed
a sequel to ToEE
based on the
Queen of the
Spiders super
module, as well
as licensing the
game’s engine
to Obsidian so
they could create
Baldur’s Gate III.
Sadly, Atari never
followed up on
any of these
proposals.
From its gridless
movement to the
myriad of combat
manoeuvres
available, ToEE
offers plenty of
tactical choices.
320
The Temple of Elemental Evil (aka ToEE) is
based on the namesake classic pen-and-paper
module – written back in 1985 by Gary Gygax
and Frank Mentzer for the first edition of Dungeons
& Dragons – now translated to the 3.5E D&D system.
Aside from that, you can say one thing about Troika:
they did their darnedest to stay faithful both to the
P&P module and to the tactical turn-based D&D
system – for better and worse.
If there’s one thing ToEE excels at, it’s the combat
system – they nailed it almost perfectly. You get to roll
up your party, and deck them out with high-fidelity
renditions of the system’s basic classes – 11 in total.
Couple that with the myriad feats available to
customise characters and half the fun of the game
becomes concepting the members of your band of
adventurers: maybe create a Druid who specialises in
augmented summoning; an agile trip-focused Fighter;
a near-invisible Rogue archer who scouts ahead and
lands devastating sneak attacks while cloaked; or
perhaps an Evocation specialist Wizard (which spell
schools should I sacrifice? Decisions, decisions).
Once cast into the game itself, you are provided
with a wide variety of tactical manoeuvres: you
can play with your initiative to tailor your party’s
attack sequence, so you can milk that extra Attack of
Opportunity. Efficiently position characters to obtain
flanking bonuses (or negate the AI’s). Ready an action
vs. Approach as you anticipate and interrupt an
oncoming attack from a particular vector (before they
get to your squishy Wizard). Various levers and pulleys
that help you shift focus to something at the expense
of another – do I use Charge Attack to swiftly engage
in melee, at the expense of an Armour Class penalty in
that round? Or do I hold the line and Fight Defensively,
boosting my AC at the expense of my to-hit chance?
On top of that, you have the game’s vast library of
spells to complement your strategies: Enlarge Person
on that fighter so the chances of tripping opponents
become more favourable, not to mention that
increased reach which affords you those sweet extra
attacks from that Cleave feat. And the havok you can
wreak with those overpowered charm spells! YES!
Unfortunately, ToEE is also a very flawed game. For
one, it was very buggy on release – it took two official
patches and years’ worth of fan-made patches to fix
up and polish the game. The biggest disappointment,
however, is in the role-playing department.
Troika had, up until that point, a reputation for
brilliant RPG worlds: vast, open, fleshed out, rife with
plots and subplots and well-thought-out interaction
with the inhabitants, history and lore. These were the
guys who brought us Arcanum and Fallout, after all!
As it turned out, ToEE had very little of that, and
the threadbare story it did have pretty much dissolved
at the mid-game stage, when you were left with not
much to go on beyond “there’s this Temple here, uh,
kill it or something”.
“When the opportunity to do
D&D 3E came up, I sat down with
my entire collection (100+) of
modules and tried to decide which
one I wanted to do. The module
had to be one I enjoyed playing
(of course), but it also had to be
big enough to feel ‘epic’. Many of
the modules that fit the bill were
Greyhawk modules, which I had
grown up playing with AD&D.”
– Tim Cain,
ToEE’s lead designer
To be fair, ToEE can be credited for being very
free-form – you can ally with various factions,
backstab them, or just skip them entirely. It also made
a valiant effort at establishing party motivation via
short introductory vignettes/alignment-based plots,
and making companion NPCs have agendas of their
own. It just fails at properly executing these, and this
is one area that mods couldn’t save.
There is one other major strength to ToEE that
no review should leave out – it’s freaking gorgeous!
The 3D character models over beautiful pre-rendered
2D backgrounds approach proved itself back in 2003,
and it’s no wonder it has made a comeback in recent
Kickstarter RPGs, such as Pillars of Eternity.
Despite its botched release, ToEE remains dear to
many, having also been cited as highly influential by
developers like Larian Studios. Even now, more than
a decade after its release, fans continue hammering
away at it, creating and polishing mods.
ToEE is a game you would keep coming back to,
in no small part due to the game’s dedicated modders,
but honestly also because there weren’t many games
of its kind being released for a long period of time.
Overall, it’s great if you’re looking for a tactical
combat romp, but if you’re after a fully fledged RPG
experience, you may want to look elsewhere. SA
Mods:
Circle of Eight Mod Pack: This huge mod pack
includes countless bugfixes and improvements, plus a
great deal of extra optional content, including higher
character levels and content. Don’t play without this.
Temple Plus: This project aims to expand the game’s
engine, allowing for further modification and bug fixing.
Keep at the Borderlands: A total conversion mod
based on another of Gary Gygax’s classic D&D modules.
It has a heavier focus on the role-playing aspect, with
elaborate quests and many factions to deal with.
The village of
Hommlet is huge,
and some NPCs
have interesting
quests and
stories, but the
focus of the game
is the tactical
combat.
ToEE didn’t
get official
modding tools,
but the game’s
editor was
accidentally
released in the
Polish version
of the game.
D&D’s magic system is fully employed, with hundreds of
spells and even meta-magic feats like Empower Spell.
The Keep at the Borderlands mod adds many dialogue
checks and choices to ToEE’s combat-heavy gameplay.
321
Deus Ex:
Invisible War
Ion Storm, 2003
Windows and Xbox
Those who wish
to play DE:IW
can edit the
game files to
get widescreen
resolutions
and higher
FOV. We also
recommend
John P’s Unified
Texture mod.
Your missions are
delivered directly
to your screen. No
matter who you
side with, every
faction will be
constantly begging
for favours.
Invisible War
introduced a
shared ammo
system, where
all guns use the
same universal
ammo, but
in different
amounts.
322
Compared to the golden era that was the late
90s, the 2000s were somewhat deluded times,
especially for CRPG fans. It was a period
tainted by the “death of PCs”, the closing of beloved
studios and a shift towards multi-platform releases,
with console-oriented design trends taking over.
While these changes are noticeable in several
games, nowhere are they more notable and frustrating
than in the infamous Deus Ex: Invisible War.
Set 20 years after Deus Ex, you play as Alex D.
(who can be a man or a woman), an augmented agent
who escapes his/her training facility to investigate a
terrorist attack that destroyed Chicago.
Creating a sequel to one of the best games of all
time would be difficult in any scenario, but Ion Storm
began on the wrong foot – a multi-platform release.
Simply put, the Xbox couldn’t handle the large areas
of the original game, so they had to scale things down.
Replacing the large, open locations with small
areas interrupted by constant loading screens wasn’t
just disappointing – it killed exploration and made
the multiple routes feel like pointless cosmetic choices.
With no room for elaborate alternative paths, it boils
down to “pick locked door” or “go into air vent nearby”.
A lot of streamlining was done as well – items,
inventory and bio-mods were drastically reduced,
while the RPG-like skills were removed altogether.
Game director Harvey Smith later summed it
up best by saying they tried to fix what people didn’t
like in Deus Ex and forgot to focus on what they did
like. A good example is the plot. The original game
was elaborate and full of twists, although very linear.
Invisible War offers two competing factions and you
can pick sides, but the plot is an uninspired mess.
Moreover, any choice the player makes is quickly
forgotten in favour of “player freedom”, e.g. if you betray
a faction, it will send men after you. Once you dispatch
them, the faction goes, “hope you learned your lesson,
don’t betray us anymore, please do this new quest”.
Deus Ex: Invisible War is not a horrible game.
There are glimpses of creativity and the core gameplay
can still be fun, even in such limited scale. But it’s a
horrible sequel to Deus Ex, and became a poster child
for the compromises that PC games suffered when
transitioning into multi-platform releases. FE
Kult:
Heretic Kingdoms
3D People, 2004
Windows and Mac
Kult: Heretic Kingdoms (aka Heretic Kingdoms:
The Inquisition in the US) began with 3D
People developing an isometric Action RPG.
To stand out among the many “Diablo clones” of the
early 2000s, they partnered with International Hobo, a
game writing and design consultancy company.
This little backstory seems key to understanding
why Kult feels like two different games inside one.
Clearly influenced by Michael Moorcock, it tells
of a world where an ancient hero killed God. His blade
became infused with god-like powers, and later one of
his descendants used it to conquer the land, imposing
a brutal theocracy. He was eventually defeated, and to
stop another theocrat from rising, the sword was hidden
and an Inquisition was formed, seeking to destroy all
religions that might grow to oppress humanity.
You play as Alita, an apprentice to the High
Inquisitor – but also a descendant of the ancient hero’s
bloodline. During your adventures you’ll learn more
about these past events, of your own order and of those
seeking to resurrect God, in an morally ambiguous tale
with multiple endings (based on a last-minute choice).
Kult also has great world-building, with all quests
and NPCs having their own reasonable motivations.
You’ll hear about refugees from neighbouring countries,
tribal caste systems, prostitutes fleeing slavery, etc.
What dooms Kult is that all this is trapped inside
a very poor Action RPG. Combat is slow, tedious and
extremely unbalanced (some skills are plain broken),
map design is poor and monsters barely have any skills
or abilities – even the bosses just run at you.
The skill system is similar to some JRPGs, where
each equipment piece can teach a new skill if you use it
enough. Sadly, most skills are dull passive bonuses and
the few magic spells are all automatically cast, so you’ll
just right-click on enemies the whole game.
Kult is a game in conflict with itself – at one point
you’ll be playing a low budget Diablo clone; at another
you’ll be exploring a large city full of NPCs, uncovering
secrets of the past and taking sides in a faction war
between thieves, with barely any killing involved.
The good news is that Kult is short (6-8 hours),
and doesn’t overstay its welcome. As such, it’s worth
giving it a chance – you’ll likely enjoy most of its good
parts before tiring of the bad ones. FE
Kult got an
unexpected
sequel in 2014
with Shadows:
Heretic Kingdoms,
a party-based
Action RPG set in
the same world.
You learn new
skills from
equipped gear,
but they might
have special
requirements,
such as using
a fire-based
weapon and
no armour.
Your character
can freely shift
into a shadow
version of the
current area,
meeting ghosts
and battling
demons for XP
and skill bonus.
323
Sacred
Ascaron, 2004
Windows and Linux
Sacred 2 is
famous for
featuring the
heavy metal
band Blind
Guardian.
They provided
the game’s
main theme,
Sacred Worlds,
and upon
completing
certain quests
you can watch
them perform
it in-game.
Some characters
have very unique
abilities – the
Dwarf is the only
one that can
use guns, the
Vampiress has
two forms, the
Daemon can fly
over obstacles,
and so on.
324
In the early 2000s, a small German company named
Ikarion was developing Armalion, an Action RPG
based on the highly popular German tabletop RPG
The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge). The company
eventually went bankrupt, but the unfinished game was
bought by Ascaron, known for its soccer management
series Anstoss. Dropping the Dark Eye license, Ascaron’s
subsidiary Studio II continued developing the game
and published it in 2004 as Sacred.
The game is unmistakably based on Diablo 2. It’s
an isometric Action RPG with six heroes: Battle Mage,
Dark Elf, Gladiator, Seraphim, Vampiress and Wood
Elf (plus Daemon and Dwarf in the expansion). They
learn and improve passive skills upon levelling up, but
each hero’s unique powers is taught and upgraded by
runes. Instead of mana, these powers are all cooldownbased,
and can be connected to form combos.
There’s also multiplayer (though you’ll need to use
Hamachi now), five difficulty modes and, of course,
tons of loot to collect – normal, magical, rare, uniques
and item sets. This may sound like a generic Diablo
clone, but the charm of Sacred lies in the details.
Sacred features an extensive open-world map,
with most of it being freely accessible from the start.
It’s packed full with side-quests, towns, NPCs, caves,
dungeons and secrets to uncover. To explore this vast
world, you can buy horses and actually fight while
riding them – they decrease your attack speed, but
offer stat bonus and are great for ranged characters.
The graphics blends pre-rendered backgrounds
with fully 3D characters, and, while they may look
somewhat dated and pixelated up close, the 3D models
have great animations and enemies all wear diverse
weapons and gear, besides the usual palette-swapping.
This attention to details is constant, and the devs
also included many easter eggs, references and their
own sense of humour. You’ll hear amusing taunts from
monsters, read funny tombstones, meet developers and
beta testers, drag a runaway groom back to the church,
wield lightsabers and even visit a recreation of Diablo’s
Tristram. With all that, the shortcomings of its bland
story are almost forgotten. You’ll find yourself excusing
“just one more quest” or “just one more level-up”, while
addictively searching for more treasure.
Despite a rather buggy initial release, Sacred was
a huge hit, selling over two million copies worldwide.
This success rescued Ascaron’s finances and funded the
Underworld expansion, which adds two heroes and
many areas, items and enemies. Eventually, the sequel
arrived in Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (2008).
The game now uses fully 3D graphics, and while
the core gameplay was carefully maintained, there are
some big changes. Of Sacred’s classes, only the iconic
Seraphim was kept – the other six classes are all new,
such as the cybernetic Guardian, or the dark Inquisitor.
Two campaigns are now available, Light and Shadow,
which change your role in the game – either as saviour
of the land or as the source of its problems.
“In retrospect, it turned out that
the team that created Sacred 1
and Sacred 2 was some sort of
‘one in a million’. It is very rare
that so many different people are
forming a team that’s so balanced
and full of positive energy. Chaotic
creativity against analytical thinking,
boldness of the rookies against
coolness of seasoned developers,
everything in this team seemed
to be in equilibrium. Get a load
of this: we even had artists and
programmers talking to each other!
Mindboggling, isn’t it?”
– Franz Stradal,
Sacred’s project lead
Passive skills
are learned and
improved by
levelling up, but
to acquire and
upgrade abilities
you must find
special runes.
Sacred 2 was also released for the PS3 and the
Xbox 360. The gameplay became somewhat easier to
fit the consoles but Sacred 2’s real flaw is an apparent
lack of flow. The world is huge, but lacks a sense of
pacing and atmosphere, while the main quest doesn’t
convey the story very well. And, unfortunately, some
bugs also found their way back into the sequel.
Still, Sacred 2 expanded upon the previous game,
with more depth to character progression, more
loot, set items, mounts and multiplayer options. The
improved graphics and sounds are also pleasing,
though the camera can take some time getting used
to. Once again Ascaron’s typical humour is present,
with even more easter eggs, references, silly loading
messages and odd items like Jason’s mask. Overall,
you’ll find devout fans for both Sacred 1 and 2.
Sadly, while Sacred 2 sold well, Ascaron spent
far too much time and money developing it. They
would still release the Ice & Blood add-on, with two
extra regions and the Dragon Mage as new character,
but the company was dissolved soon after.
The Sacred brand was still strong, so Deep Silver
bought the series’ licence. Their first release was a
small spin-off project called Sacred Citadel (2013).
A side-scrolling beat ‘em up, its reviews were rather
mixed and the game had little to do with the Sacred
series, being quickly forgotten after its release.
Sacred 3 arrived in 2014, but sadly it was a huge
disappointment. Key features such as the vast open
world, countless quests and ample loot were dropped
(in fact, there’s no loot!) in exchange for a multiplayer
arcade-like hack-and-slash divided into linear stages.
The game’s dialogues are especially frustrating – a
poor attempt at replicating the series’ humour, they
end up as a barrage of witless, sarcastic quips that are
more disheartening than the game’s own mediocrity.
The game was widely bashed by reviewers and fans
alike, bringing the Sacred series to its lowest point.
Regardless, the passion for the first two games
remains, their light-hearted humour and open-world
design still a thrill. Anyone into Diablo should do
themselves a favour and give Sacred 1 and 2 a try. MHO
Sacred 2’s
Community
Patch is highly
recommended,
as it fixes
many bugs and
adds cool new
items. Also
consider the
Free Camera
mod and the
Diablo 2 Fallen
mod, which
overhauls the
game with
Diablo-inspired
classes and lore.
Sacred 2 went fully 3D and added more system depth, but
the game’s vast world isn’t as well-designed and paced.
Sacred 3 replaced the series’ formula with a multiplayer
arcade-like hack-and-slash and was very poorly received.
325
Fable
Lionhead Studios, 2004
Windows, Mac and Xbox
Fable was first
released in
2004 for the
Xbox. The PC
port came in
2005, renamed
Fable: The Lost
Chapters and
featuring extra
content.
Misbehaving inside
towns will result
in fines, and the
guards will try to
make you pay. But
you can ignore
that, murder
everyone and buy
their now-vacant
houses and shops.
326
Talking about Fable, unfortunately, is impossible
without talking about its creator, the famous
Peter Molyneux, and his ludicrous promises.
Fable was hyped to the high heavens as an innovative
RPG, an extensive simulated world where the years
would pass, your character would age, form a family,
the sons of murdered enemies would swear revenge
and, famously, you would even be able to plant an
acorn and see it grow into a tree in real time.
Unsurprisingly, the game didn’t deliver all it
promised, and more than a decade later that still
taints any debate about the title. Which is a shame,
since Fable is an excellent – if limited – game.
Designed for the original Xbox, Fable’s isn’t
aimed at hardcore RPG veterans. Molyneux set out
to create an RPG for all audiences, taking elements
from The Legend of Zelda, Knights of the Old Republic
and even from The Sims. The result is a streamlined
Action RPG, where players will make binary moral
choices and endure the consequences, while travelling
across a simulated fantasy world that, while not as
revolutionary as promised, is still quite reactive.
You begin as a child, just as your village is raided
and your family murdered. Rescued by a wizard, you
are accepted at the Heroes’ Guild, where you’ll learn
melee combat, archery and magic. These are tied to
three stats – Strength, Skill and Will, respectively –
which are the core of Fable’s character system.
Every enemy you kill or quest you complete
wields XP, but you’ll also gain extra points for how
you act. Using magic wields Will Experience, which
can only be used to improve Will-related skills. Thus,
by casting spells you’ll learn new ones and become a
better mage, and the game will reflect that visually.
You’ll exit the guild as a weak, skinny teenager,
but your appearance will change as you play. You’ll
grow larger as you raise your Strength, taller as you
raise your Skill and, if you focus on Will, arcane signs
will appear over your body and begin to glow. Even
more, you can grow fat by eating too much food, gain
scars as you get injured, get a tattoo, cut your hair and
beard, and even grow horns if you become too evil.
These details are where Fable excels. The game’s
simulation is in fact a collection of countless small
systems that, while shallow and unimpressive on their
own, bundled together create an immersive illusion.
For example, you can marry almost any NPC in the
game, by flirting with them, taking them to a house
you purchased and gifting a wedding ring. You can
even get divorced afterwards, and other NPCs in the
street will comment on how unfortunate that is.
It all sounds very impressive, but looking closely
you’ll see the obvious limitations of the system. You
can only interact with NPCs by choosing a limited
set of expressions, such as “Flirt” or “Sexy Hero Pose”,
getting married serves no purpose, buying houses is
almost useless and NPCs have just one or two lines to
say for every important action you perform.
“I think it’s fantastic that people
still remember Fable, and some of
them are really passionate about
it. For me, going back to Fable is a
terrible experience. I look at it and
at best I would call it fractured. I
don’t think the story is compelling
enough, the game mechanics
weren’t tremendously fun, the
pacing is totally off, the tutorials
were awful. I think the combat got
too ‘samey’ after a while. There’s
a whole list of problems that make
me grind my teeth.”
– Peter Molyneux,
Fable’s creator
This reactivity, while mostly illusory, can be fun.
It’s quite gratifying to come back from a quest and be
cheered and applauded as you walk into a tavern, with
NPCs commenting on how you acted. The excellent
soundtrack and the colourful art style add a lot to this,
giving a light-hearted tone to the game. Overall, it still
looks good, and natively supports HD resolutions.
What haven’t aged well are the small and linear
areas. Instead of offering in a huge open world, Fable
is divided into small interconnected areas, separated
by a loading screen. Another flaw is the save system,
which doesn’t record your progress mid-quest.
Fable also offers very few weapons and armour
to play with, and is quite easy and unbalanced. While
that will frustrate players looking for a challenge, the
game tries to compensate by offering plenty of secret
treasures to find and a clever “boast system”, allowing
confident heroes to add extra challenges to quests,
such as completing them without using weapons.
After Fable’s release, Peter Molyneux apologised
for over-promising and claimed it happened because
he was too excited with the project. The concept is
indeed exciting, and even with many parts of it being
underdeveloped – especially the stealth system and
the consequences to some of your decisions – it’s still
a unique, and often exciting, game to play.
While you won’t get the extensive role-playing
options of something like Arcanum or Fallout, Fable
offers an accessible, visually charming and instantly
gratifying RPG experience. It’s a good introduction
to the genre, while also offering a few secrets and
optional challenges for experienced players. FE
Fable: Anniversary Edition:
In 2014, Lionhead Studios released a remake of Fable,
called Fable: Anniversary Edition. It features a new
difficulty mode, better save system, updated graphics
and mod support. Unfortunately, the PC port is a
mess, with a confusing interface that has no mouse
support, longer loading times and an exaggerated
amount of post-processing. Unless you intend to play
with a controller or mod it, stick to the original game.
Interactions are
limited to a few
expressions and
poses. NPCs will
mostly cheer and
admire a good
hero or flee in
terror from a
dark hero.
Fable has a
very small mod
community,
but it made
some nice
new items and
rebalance mods.
You can find
them at www.
fabletlcmod.com
Boasts allow you to wager being such an epic hero you
can complete a quest with extra handicaps or objectives.
The remake adds heavy post-processing and a subdued
palette, which clash with the original’s colourful art style.
327
Space Rangers 2:
Dominators
Elemental Games, 2004
Windows
The European
and North
American retail
versions of
Space Rangers 2
came with a
expansion pack
called Reboot,
plus the original
Space Rangers
game.
I
have to hand it to the Russians – when they make
video games it feels as if they create something
they really wanted to play, rather than a soulless
product designed by a marketing committee.
Space Rangers 2 is solid evidence of this. A space
exploration RPG, it takes a kitchen sink approach,
tossing in arcade space fights, resource trading
managers, real-time strategy battles, a faction popularity
system, Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks and
more. Game design such as this shouldn’t work, as it
appears to lack a tightly woven, cohesive experience.
But how wrong that assumption is, and how fun is the
diverse open-world experience contained here.
The game is set in a fictional universe where
several alien races are fighting for their survival
against the Dominators – three factions of a robotic
species intent on ruling over all organic life. It’s not as
if the alien races are providing a united front, however,
as often each race runs its own defined territory, and
each planet inside these territories has its own focus
on industry and system of government.
Since the planets in the game are so diverse, the
prices of their goods and commodities also range
greatly from planet to planet, resulting in a significant
amount of trade in legal and illegal materials despite
ongoing interstellar war. Piracy is also a factor, and it
is not rare to see one trade ship with decent guns and
shields target a richer, but less armed trade ship.
Amidst this chaos, the aliens races create a
loose confederation in order to deal with both the
growing presence of pirates and the invading forces of
the Dominators, forming an interstellar police force
known as the Space Rangers. This is where the player
comes in, creating a character who is a trainee seeking
graduation into the ranks of the Rangers. After some
tutorial missions, the player is set loose into the open
universe in order to do... well, whatever the player
feels like doing really.
As mentioned before, Space Rangers 2 is quite
open-ended and full of diverse activities. Initially the
player will want to earn funds in order to beef up his
spaceship or to purchase a new and better vessel.
328
There are five races and five classes to play, and each
combination has different ships and relationships.
There are various ships, with lots of equipment, skills,
artefacts, personal traits and even trophies to pursue.
“One of the things we really enjoy
about it is the variety; it really
pulls something from just about
every genre out there and rolls it
up into one really great game. It’s
not just about turn-based space
combat, or RTS robot battles. It
is an RPG with you customising
your character’s abilities to create
just the character you want, it’s
an adventure game where you
explore an immense living and
breathing universe, it’s a game
that’s packed with hidden details
and things to discover!”
– David Mercer,
Space Rangers 2 producer
Space exploration
and combat
are turn-based,
and you can
contact allies and
enemies at any
time to trade,
make requests
or join forces.
To do this, the character can take missions to
hunt pirates or protect convoys. Alternatively, he or
she can decide to be a miner of asteroids, a trader
of commodities from planet to planet, or perhaps
engage in a little of that piracy action.
There are also elaborate “side-games” inside the
main space game. Ground combat missions hearken
back to the RTS games like Command & Conquer,
complete with vehicular combat, tower defense and
resource-gathering. And the several CYOA text-based
scenarios range from stealing a spaceship to escaping
from prison or simply managing a sky resort.
Since there are so many various factions in the
game and ways to interact with them, the player will
find his popularity changing through his decisions.
For instance, if he saves a member of a certain faction
from a pirate attack, then the aided faction will trust
the player more, while pirates will see him more as a
threat and may start attacking him on sight.
You truly get the feeling that the developers
were themselves gamers that worked passionately to
create something inspired by games that were popular
when they were in school.
There is a sandbox charm to Space Rangers 2,
as, despite the constant battles and invasions, the
Dominators will never completely conquer the galaxy.
Therefore, the player can take his time exploring,
questing, upgrading, fighting and enriching at his
own pace, enjoying this unique game, full of charm,
danger and a sprinkle of zaniness. DT
HD Version:
In October 2013, a new version of Space Rangers 2 was
released on Steam: Space Rangers HD: A War Apart.
It adds a lot of content, such as new text adventures,
quests, equipment, planetary battles and a new
sub-plot regarding a pirate threat to the galaxy.
You’ll face amusing Choose Your Own Adventure mini-games,
such as escaping prison or running an election.
When fighting RTS battles on planets, you can design
your own custom troops and even directly control them.
329
Sudeki
Climax Studios, 2004
Windows and Xbox
Sudeki was
first released
for the Xbox
in 2004, then
ported to PCs
in 2005.
The ranged
characters battle
in first-person,
while melee ones
fight in thirdperson.
Each hero
also has access to
unique skills and
powers.
Each level-up,
you can increase
one of your stats
or learn a new
skill. You can also
add runes to
your equipment,
giving it new
abilities.
330
The first time I heard about Sudeki, it sounded
like a joke on gamer stereotypes: Microsoft
wanted a big RPG for the Xbox audience, so
Climax Studios made them a FPS/JRPG hybrid.
Heavily advertised as a revolutionary title, this
now-forgotten game is actually a modest Action RPG
starring four young characters: Tal, a reckless knight;
Ailish, a princess with magical powers; Buki, a bestial
huntress and Elco, a gun-wielding scientist.
The game’s defining feature is its unusual combat.
During battles you control one character at a time, but
can instantly swap between them. The melee fighters
play like a third-person Action RPG, timing attacks to
create combos. The ranged characters, however, play
like a first-person shooter, with multiple weapons that
vary in damage, range and firing speed.
Outside combat, each hero also has an ability used
to solve puzzles: Tal pushes crates, Ailish dispels illusions,
Buki climbs certain walls and Elco has a jetpack.
Sadly, the game’s world is very small and linear,
with no real exploration. Areas are just long corridors
filled with loot barrels and maybe one dull NPC, plus
many obvious “combat arenas”: you enter them, the
doors close and some level-scaled enemies spawn.
Kill them all and the door opens. Rinse and repeat.
It feels underwhelming; a feeling that permeates
the game as a whole. Sudeki has a nice list of features
– two combat systems, magic skills, special summons,
equipment upgrades, large boss battles, secrets, etc. –
but they all lack in depth and quickly grow stale.
Luckily the game doesn’t overstay its welcome,
lasting only about 10-12 hours. This keeps things
always moving, but also accentuates how paper-thin
the plot is and how one-dimensional its heroes are.
If the writing is poor, the visuals are among the
best the original Xbox produced. Characters may have
an uncanny “Western anime” look, but everything else
has a pleasing, colourful art style. The landscapes are
especially pretty, and the soundtrack does a great job
at giving personality to the world. It’s a shame that it’s
such a small and limited world.
Much like Fable, Sudeki comes from a time when
many Xbox owners were just discovering RPGs. It’s
accessible, simplistic and definitely not made for CRPG
veterans, yet can still offer a fun little adventure. FE
inXile Entertainment, Inc., 2004
Windows, Mac, PS2, Xbox, iPad, etc
The Bard’s Tale
One of the big mid-2000s trends were hackand-slash
Action RPGs for consoles, such as
X-Men Legends, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance,
Champions of Norrath and Demon Stone.
They were such a guaranteed hit that Interplay
cancelled its PC-exclusive Fallout 3 (aka Van Buren)
to focus on Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (2004),
an infamously bad Action RPG for PS2 and Xbox.
By this time Brian Fargo had already sold Interplay
and founded his new studio, inXile Entertainment,
but he also joined the trend, releasing The Bard’s Tale.
That doesn’t mean that the game is devoid of
originality. While borrowing Dark Alliance’s engine,
The Bard’s Tale is actually a satire of fantasy RPGs.
You play as the Bard, an arrogant and lazy anti-hero
voiced by Cary Elwes (Westley in The Princess Bride),
who desires nothing but “coin and cleavage”.
The game has a very light RPG system, with
customisable stats and unlockable talents, but no
inventory – loot is automatically converted into gold,
and new weapons are auto-equipped. Certain dialogues
also offer the choice of being “snarky” or “nice”.
The humour is hit and miss. Some jokes are funny
and the songs are well-executed, but there’s also many
lazy puns and dated pop culture references. As much
as the game enjoys making fun of fantasy clichés, your
quest is as cliché as it gets. The only difference is that
the Bard does it while spewing snide remarks and
arguing with the narrator, voiced by Tony Jay (Judge
Frollo in Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame).
Despite being an Action RPG, combat is the
game’s weakest feature. All you do is attack in melee,
fire ranged weapons or use a magical lute to summon
allies. The interface, clearly designed for consoles, is
terrible on PCs, and the more you advance, the more
combat there is, ruining the pacing between jokes.
In the end, The Bard’s Tale’s biggest sin is its name.
By itself it is a decent light-hearted Action RPG for
consoles. Not as good as Champions of Norrath and
other popular hack-and-slash titles, but not as terrible
as Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel either. However, as
a game that carries the legacy of Brian Fargo and
shares his name with the classic Bard’s Tale series, it’s
underwhelming – a reminder of how disappointing
the mid-2000s were for classic CRPG fans. FE
The Bard’s
Tale was
remastered
in 2017,
adding higher
resolutions
and the original
Bard’s Tale
trilogy as
a bonus.
The game’s
controls are
simple, but
were made with
controllers in
mind and require
a lot of input on
radial menus.
Being a game
about a bard,
many songs are
incorporated into
the game, such
as the “Charlie
Mopps” singalong
song.
331
Vampire:
The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Troika Games, 2004
Windows
Bloodlines
features nine
licensed music
tracks, from
artists such as
Lacuna Coil,
Tiamat and
Genitorturers.
However,
these were all
chosen by the
publisher, with
no input from
Troika Games.
Bloodlines is
quite faithful
to the tabletop
version, including
the obligation
to respect the
Masquerade.
332
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines was the
third and final RPG from Troika Games, the
company founded by the Fallout veterans
Leonard Boyarsky, Tim Cain and Jason Anderson.
The game was created using an early build of
Valve’s Source engine, was rushed out by Activision
and suffered heavily from being released on the same
day as Half-Life 2, resulting in numerous bugs and
weak sales. However, over time it became a cult classic.
What’s so great about VtM:Bloodlines? A lot of things,
ranging from the overall storyline to minor details.
The game manages to expertly merge classic RPG
gameplay with modern FPS visuals. You experience
the game as one of seven different vampire clans, who
have different powers – allowing you to play Bloodlines
like a shooter, a stealth game, a hack-and-slash or for
a good part even as an adventure game, solving many
situations without force, but by lock-picking, hacking,
persuading, intimidating or seducing people.
Besides these various options, the game world
itself manages to bridge two other extremes: you get
large playable hubs that open up in the progression
of the storyline and offer dozens of unique side- and
main quests, but the quests themselves are more
linear in style and convey plot and atmosphere better
than any sandbox game could do.
Still, there are often multiple approaches possible
in a quest depending on your character, and other
characters will react accordingly to your behaviour,
coming alive due to the great facial animations of the
Source engine, some of the best voice-overs in gaming
history and the witty writing of Brian Mitsoda. He
created many very memorable characters and funny
dialogues for Bloodlines, especially for the mad Malkavian
clan that has entirely different dialogue options. Imagine
talking to a TV set or to a STOP sign! Imagine a thin
blood making references to the whole story that you can
only understand once you finished it!
There are other great moments in the game
where a character revelation may surprise you with
a depth unusual for a computer game, and some of
the different endings may make you laugh out loud,
showing at the same time that everything in the plot
made sense right from the start, but probably not
exactly as you suspected.
The beautiful handcrafted levels push the alpha
version of the Source engine to its limits and enable
you to visit the greater area of Los Angeles; the
windy beaches of Santa Monica, the busy skyscrapers
downtown, the fancy streets in Hollywood and even
the Far Eastern charm of Chinatown, with excursions
to several external locations like strange mansions or
dark caverns thrown into the mix as well.
Your adventures will vary from straightforward
fights against humans, vampires or other supernatural
creatures to solving the mystery of a haunted hotel
without any combat, a level that is regarded as one of
the spookiest locations in gaming ever!
“I like the characters to come
off like people actually do – they
don’t say ‘hi’ when strangers come
knocking, they say ‘who the hell
are you?’ or they’re expecting
you and know more then they let
on, or they don’t care. I don’t like
my NPCs to be standing around
as if their lives begin when the
character starts talking to them
and end when the player leaves.
Characters are the protagonists
of their own game, from their
perspective.
– Brian Mitsoda,
VtM:Bloodlines’ writer
Not only there
are various
dialogue skills
such as Intimidate
and Seduction,
but all dialogues
are completely
different and
twisted when
playing as a
Malkavian.
Combine this with the powerful music of Rik
Schaffer and the mature handling of adult themes and
you get an atmospheric dark RPG that fits the World
of Darkness setting perfectly!
Also impressive are the lengths the game goes to
honour the source material. Besides the aforementioned
Malkavians and their unique dialogues, there’s the
Nosferatu, hideous vampires that must avoid being
seen at all costs and cannot communicate with NPCs
normally, forcing you to make clever use of stealth.
Although Troika closed its doors after releasing
only two official patches, the community stepped in
and an Unofficial Patch appeared that fixed most of
the open issues and restored a lot of unfinished or cut
content, most of which was still hidden in the game
files. The patch is still being updated ten years after
the rushed release of the game and, with it, Bloodlines
finally becomes the last masterpiece of Troika it
deserves to be! WS
Mods and Patches:
Unofficial Patch: The basic patch fixes countless
bugs, and the optional plus patch restores a lot of cut
content, including dialogues, quests and even maps.
Mandatory for anyone trying to play the game.
VtM: The Final Nights: A fan-made expansion pack
that adds 7 new clans, new disciplines, NPCs, items,
quests, a haggle system and other surprises.
Clan Quest Mod: Adds a series of quests to the
game, including one quest specific to each clan.
VtMB: Camarilla Edition: Overhauls how Disciplines
work and other interesting changes such as making
you constantly need to drink blood to avoid starving.
Bloodlines: Antitribu Mod: A large mod that adds
seven new clans, new disciplines and weapons and
hundreds of new characters, plus several tweaks to
the combat and visuals. Highly recommended.
In 2014, a group
of fans began
Project Vaulderie,
an attempt to
port Bloodlines
over to the Unity
Engine. Sadly, the
project received
a Cease and
Desist letter from
CCP Games and
had to abandon
development.
Melee combat is done in third-person mode, but the
game switches to first-person when you equip guns.
The game offers various amusing side-quests, most of
them with various different approaches and solutions.
333
The Legend of Heroes:
Trails in the Sky
Nihon Falcom, 2004
Windows, PSP, PS Vita and PS3
Trails in the
Sky was first
released in Japan
in 2004, as a PC
exclusive. The
PSP port was
localised into
English in 2011
by XSEED Games,
and an enhanced
PC version was
released on
Steam in 2014.
The game has
several stats, but
levelling up is
automatic. Only
equipment and
Quartz will alter
your stats.
334
The Legend of Heroes series began as an offshoot
of the Dragon Slayer series by Nihon Falcom,
with its first entry, Dragon Slayer: The Legend
of Heroes being released in 1989 in Japan for the PC-
8801 computer. After five more releases throughout
the 90s for Japanese computers, The Legend of Heroes:
Trails in the Sky (also know as First Chapter or simply
FC) was released in Japan in 2004.
While part of The Legend of Heroes series, Trails
in the Sky’s story does not connect to previous entries,
and it acts (alongside its two sequels) as a stand-alone
trilogy within a larger universe of games.
Later games in the series do take place on the same
continent as the Trails games, including the Crossbell
duology (The Legend of Heroes VII: Zero no Kiseki and
The Legend of Heroes VII: Ao no Kiseki) and the Trails of
Cold Steel trilogy, but these latter two metaseries focus
on different countries and characters.
Trails in the Sky takes place in the country of
Liberl on the continent of Zemuria, and follows
Estelle Bright and her adopted brother, Joshua, as
they travel across the country training to be Bracers
– members of a guild which spans the continent who
help citizens in situations involving investigation and
combat, without ties to any governmental body.
At the same time, they are trying to find their
father, a highly ranked Bracer who disappears under
mysterious circumstances. The story begins at a
very small scale, before expanding to a grandiose
epic involving treason, shadowy organisations, and
characters who are not who they claim to be. The
entire trilogy benefits from a stellar localisation done
by XSEED Games, which retains the epic storytelling
and wry humour of the Japanese original.
Trails in the Sky presents itself from an isometric
perspective where the camera can be freely rotated.
The game’s art style combines cute “chibi” sprites,
hand-drawn 2D portraits, and 3D models for the
world geography and some enemies. Character and
enemy designs are reminiscent of other Nihon Falcom
RPGs, with a 90s anime-esque look for the characters,
combined with influences from steampunk and
European medieval styling.
The gameplay is that of a traditional JRPG. The
party travels from town to town, pursuing the main
quest and acquiring optional side-quests. These
range from monster hunts to fetch quests to longer,
story-heavy sequences that feel more akin to visual
novels or adventure games.
Here lies one of the series’ most celebrated
aspects: world-building. While RPGs like Skyrim
populate their world with generic NPCs running
on a script, Trails in the Sky has only handwritten
characters – be it a citizen, a traveller, or a shopkeeper,
they all have names, personalities and ambitions.
As your story advances, so do theirs. They’ll
start dating, get jobs, argue with their family, go on
a journey, etc. Instead of just blurting out exposition
or waiting to be helped by the protagonists, they each
have their own lives – and by following them you can
understand and immerse yourself in their world.
“Normally in Japanese RPGs, a lot of
time and effort is spent on the main
story. Trails in the Sky is unique in
the sense that we spent as much or
perhaps even more time and effort
working on character conversations
and additional elements. By doing
so, it really makes the world come
alive, and creates a setting that’s
both fantastical and realistic in
equal parts.”
– Toshihiro Kondo,
Nihon Falcom’s President
Combat in the Trails in the Sky series is turnbased,
set in a tactical grid. Besides traditional JRPG
commands like Attack, Item, and Run, there’s also two
types of special abilities: Art and Craft.
Art uses mana and closely resembles the Materia
system in Final Fantasy VII. Each character equips
gems called Quartz, which offer several stat bonuses
and can unlock magic spells depending on the colour
combinations currently equipped.
Craft, on the other hand, is inherent to each
hero and uses Craft Points (CP), which are earned
by dealing or taking damage in combat. By storing
enough CP you can unleash special attacks that can
be used any time – even if it’s the enemy’s turn.
This is important, as turn order plays a big role:
special buffs are granted every few turns, healing or
strengthening the active character, so it’s important to
manipulate the turn order to get those buffs.
FC was followed by two sequels: Trails in the Sky
SC (Second Chapter) in 2006 and Trails in the Sky: The
3rd in 2007. SC takes place immediately following the
events of the first game, with almost entirely identical
gameplay (save for a new Chain Attack feature).
Overall, FC and SC feel like one large game
broken up into two smaller chunks, and SC resolves
around Estelle and Joshua’s story.
Trails in the Sky: The 3rd follows a character
introduced in SC named Kevin Graham, a priest for
the Septian Church, and his old friend Ries Argent, as
they are sent to a mysterious realm called Phantasma.
There they must figure out the mysteries of this new
domain and escape it, while Kevin wrestles with his
literal and figurative demons.
The 3rd plays more like a hybrid of the traditional
JRPG stylings of the first two games mixed with the
dungeon-crawling and demonic/religious imagery of
the Persona series. It also seeks to tie up the loose ends
left behind at the end of SC, while setting up events
for later games like the Cold Steel series.
What makes the Trails series interesting is how it
feels like a classic 90s JRPG, with turn-based combat,
an epic storyline, anime art style, and a memorable
soundtrack (featuring influences from jazz, classical,
Japanese rock and pop, and progressive rock), all
while containing modern conveniences such as being
able to save anywhere, visible enemies on the map and
being able to run from any encounter. The excellent
PC port and localisation only sweeten the deal.
In my mind, the Trails in the Sky games are the
pinnacle of classic JRPG design, and a must-play for
any fan of Nihon Falcom’s other works and turnbased
RPGs in general. NB
Your party can
have up to four
characters. The
sidebar on the
left side of the
screen shows
whose turn is
next and when a
buff will appear.
Trails in
the Sky was
remastered for
the PS Vita in
2015, featuring
voice acting
and a reworked
soundtrack.
You can use the
Evolution OST
Mod to play the
Steam version
with this new
soundtrack.
Each character has an item they equip Quartz on. The many
colours and combinations provide stat boosts and new spells.
Trails in the Sky has an outstanding amount of dialogue,
most of it found when chatting with NPCs in town.
335
Star Wars:
Knights of the Old Republic II
The Sith Lords
Obsidian Entertainment, 2004
Windows, Mac, Linux and Xbox*
*The Sith Lords
was originally
released only
for the Xbox
and PC, but
Aspyr Media
developed
official Mac and
Linux ports in
2015, together
with a patch
adding Steam
Workshop
support.
The Sith Lords
introduces
lightsaber and
Force forms,
allowing you to
drastically change
your fighting
stance to best
counter a foe.
336
When Interplay closed Black Isle Studios in
2003, Feargus Urquhart teamed up with a
few veteran developers to form Obsidian
Entertaiment. They then used their connections with
BioWare to secure rights to produce a sequel for
the recently released Star Wars: Knights of the Old
Republic. Constantly stumbling on cables which took
over most of the floor and waging a treacherous battle
against deadlines, Chris Avellone’s team emerged
victorious, giving us a true masterpiece.
The Sith Lords takes places a few years after its
predecessor. The Sith had changed tactics and are
now attacking from shadows, while the Republic is
crumbling and the Jedi are either dead or in hiding.
In this grim scenario, players assume the role of a Jedi
exile, who has lost its connection to the Force.
Presenting rich personal stories and a mature
narrative enchanted with some great writing and deep
characters, The Sith Lords vastly outshines its prequel.
Carefully crafted, its charismatic villains, memorable
dialogues and dark setting are all accompanied by an
elaborate deconstruction of the Star Wars universe.
Indisputably, KotOR2’s greatest achievement is
the character of Kreia and her unique perspective on
the Star Wars universe. A former Jedi, now acting as
the protagonist’s mentor, she shares very original and
interesting opinions on the nature of the Force, alongside
with a questionable, but well-intentioned morality.
For her, not only does the concept of “the will of
the Force” negate any notion of personal choice, but
“the balance of the Force” makes the everlasting Light
Side versus Dark Side conflict completely meaningless
and unwinnable. Even the greatest good, achieved
by the greatest sacrifices will go to waste because
eventually a greater evil will have to emerge so the
balance may be preserved. Any goodness done would
go away, but its side effects, deaths and suffering will
stay, so the final score would always be negative.
Therefore, the Force influence on all living things
is negative, and the “good versus evil” battle brings
only destruction on an immense scale. Kreia expresses
a mix of Nietzschean/Spencerian morality, has strong
opinions on everything and loves manipulating
people to do her bidding.
Her voice actress, Sarah Kestelman, should also
be mentioned with great reverence due to her truly
outstanding work, without which the character
wouldn’t be half as endearing. She can pull of even the
subtlest hints of emotions, enchanting and expanding
the meaning of every spoken line. Her majestic
performance shows that voice acting can be an art,
as she her work is head and shoulders above not only
most – if not all – video games out there, but movie
and animation voice actors as well.
Kreia, born from Chris Avellone questioning the
founding concepts of Star Wars universe, is – simply
put – one of the best video game characters of all time,
and more than enough reason to play The Sith Lords.
“A lot of it came from deep-rooted
feelings and opinions about the
Star Wars franchise, both positive
and negative, and especially what
it would feel like to be a Jedi or Sith
in that universe. I’ve always had
an issue with the Force because
of its predestination aspects,
and I wonder if any Jedi or Sith
would ever want to rebel against it
entirely... and if they’d be willing to
give up their ties to the Force
(and all that power) to do it.”
– Chris Avellone,
KotoR 2’s lead designer
Kreia is one of the
most memorable
characters in
gaming, and
brings a unique
perspective to
the Star Wars
universe.
If writing is The Sith Lords’ highlight, combat is
its weakest aspect. It hasn’t changed much from its
predecessor, except that the new skills are massively
unbalanced – which has its good sides, as it enables
players to get through encounters faster. The crafting
system, on the other hand, has been greatly expanded
and polished, providing many customisation options
and allowing for power gaming, which manages to
squeeze some additional fun from the combat.
The soundtrack is nothing short of excellent.
Mark Griskey’s work successfully complements the
game’s dark undertones and manages to convey the
desired mood of every scene, all without losing that
distinct feeling Star Wars music should have.
Sadly, due to a sudden change of heart from the
publisher, Obsidian was forced to end development
prematurely, releasing an unfinished and buggy game,
cutting a big chunk of its content – which was later
heroically restored by modders after years of work.
If you value well-crafted characters, mature
plots and great writing in games, then you should
definitely give The Sith Lords a try. Even if you favour
combat-focused RPGs, the sheer strength of the
aforementioned aspects should make you consider
playing this gem, especially now that its technical
problems have been addressed by modders. JMR
Mods:
The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod (TSLRCM):
The team worked closely with some of Obsidian’s
developers to restore the game’s cut content, while
also fixing hundreds of bugs. A must-have.
M4-78EP: An optional part of the TSLRCM, it adds
a new planet to the game, which was cut during
development and had to be entirely recreated.
Revenge of Revan: A demo for a now abandoned
fan-made expansion, it offers some great moments.
The Sith Lords’ crafting system is one of the best in RPGs.
It’s very flexible and makes use of every skill in the game.
There are 12 companions in the game, with some of
them exclusive to specific genders or alignments.
337
2005-2009
The era of AAA
multi-platform games
The second half of the 00s saw the gaming industry almost entirely
dominated by a few giant publishers like EA, Activision and Ubisoft, plus
three console manufactures – Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft.
This oligopoly, coupled with the ever-high production costs, led to
stagnation. To maximise profit, every third-party game had to come out
on every possible platform, and avoiding risks was the rule of the day.
Successful games became “franchises”, to be followed by a schedule
of yearly releases. Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty are often held as icons
of this, but many series vanished after several repetitive releases, such
as Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Tony Hawk, Need For Speed, etc. A few, like
Tomb Raider and Mortal Kombat, only being salvaged by recent reboots.
The arrival of the seventh console generation raised the development
costs even further, and now marketing campaigns also required millions.
Very few companies could keep up with such costs, and those who could
began to sell their games as “AAA” – a way to set themselves apart.
To better fit this console-dominated world, many traditions from
PCs had to be adopted, leading to innovations such as Mass Effect’s (2007)
dialogue wheel, Gears of War’s (2006) slower paced cover-based shooting
and the use of paid DLCs instead of packaged expansions.
However, people weren’t interested only in cutting-edge games that
cost millions of dollars to create. With Steam starting to sell third-party
titles, GOG, Direct2Drive and Green Man Gaming being founded and
Microsoft creating the Live Arcade market, it started to become possible
for indies and smaller developers to reach a large audience.
But it was a slow process. Self-published games such as Freedom
Force vs. The 3rd Reich (2005) suffered heavily early on, as buying non-
AAA games during the mid-2000s wasn’t easy – few physical stores sold
them and digital distribution was still seen as confusing and unsafe.
Finally, while the financial recession of 2007-2008 didn’t affect games
as much as other industries, the crisis in printed journalism did. Several
established gaming magazines such as Computer Gaming World, PC Zone,
Eletronic Gaming Monthly and Computer and Video Games all went out of
business, unable to compete with freely available websites.
It was a time centred on massive AAA titles and casual crazes like
Angry Birds and FarmVille, designed to reach the largest audience possible. If
you enjoyed them, you had a steady stream of popular hits. However, those
interested in less popular genres and styles were left wanting, feeding off
niche Eastern European titles, a few surviving mid-sized studios and rare
indie titles like Cave Story and Nethergate: Resurrection.
Only at the very end of the decade, things started to change.
338
Trends:
Smartphones: Nokia had already shown the potential of mixing mobile phones with
games when it added the famous Snake game to its Nokia 6110 back in 1997. The company
would keep trying with the short-lived N-Gage, a mobile phone + handheld console hybrid,
as well as with the expensive N95 smartphone. But it was only in 2007, with the release of
Apple’s iPhone, that smartphones would take over the world, quickly followed by Google’s
Android OS and a frenzy of mobile games – such as the iconic Angry Birds (2009).
Apple’s 2007
iPhone and HTC’s
2008 G1 Mobile
– the first mobile
phone to run
Android OS.
Indie Games: While development costs for AAA games were as high as ever, new
tools allowed for daring independent developers to make smaller games on their own, and
the new digital distribution channels such as Steam and Xbox Live Arcade gave gamers
easy access to these titles. This allowed the rise of games such as Braid, Castle Crashers,
Spelunky and World of Goo – all released in 2008 – which proved there was a demand for
fresh, smaller titles and paved the way for a now-booming indie scene.
Castle Crashers
was released in
2008 and sold over
2.6 million copies
on Xbox Live.
Facebook Games: In 2007, Facebook began to allow other companies to develop apps
for its social network. What started with a very simple games soon led to a boon of social
network games, such as Zynga’s Mafia Wars and FarmVille. Like many browser games
before them, they were free-to-play but designed around addictive micro-transactions
systems – the “freemium” model. They conquered millions of players, with Zynga peaking
at 265 million monthly active users spread across all its games in early 2013.
For two whole
years, FarmVille
was the most
popular game
on Facebook.
Guitar Hero sparks a trend
of music rhythm games, with
over 30 similar games being
released in just a few years,
then quickly dying out.
The Xbox 360 is released, with
an improved (but chargeable)
Xbox Live service. Despite
initial technical issues, it sold
over 85 million units.
Playstation 3 is released,
offering Blu-ray playback, a
complex multi-core processor
and a free online service.
It sold over 80 million units.
Blu-ray Disc wins the war
against the HD-DVD and
becomes the standard for the
movie industry and, later, for
8th-gen consoles.
Minecraft’s alpha version is
released. It would become the
quintessential indie game,
insanely popular and selling
over 100 million copies.
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
YouTube is launched,
allowing anyone to easily
publish and watch videos.
A perfect fit for games,
it became a new form of
media and lead to extremely
popular gaming channels.
Steam, first released in 2003
as an update tool for Valve’s
games, begins to sell thirdparty
titles. It would grow
into the world’s largest online
game retailer, with over 125
million active users.
The Wii is released,
introducing motion controls
and targeting a broader
audience outside core gamers.
The most popular console
of the seventh-generation, it
sold over 100 million units.
Android OS is released,
created by Google based on
Linux. First used on smartphones,
it later jumped to
tablets and consoles, such as
the Nvidia Shield handheld
and the crowd-funded Ouya.
League of Legends is
released. Inspired by the
Warcraft III mod DOTA,
this free-to-play title became
the world’s most played
game, with over 100 million
players each month.
339
Super Columbine
Massacre RPG!
Danny Ledonne, 2005
Windows
The game was
released for
free, together
with a forum
dedicated to
debating the
Columbine
shootings.
Flashback
scenes provide
background to
the boys’ lives,
experiences and
frustrations.
Each flashback of
suffering relived
raises their level
as killers.
340
On April 20, 1999, senior students Eric Harris
and Dylan Klebold entered Columbine High
School and began a school shooting, killing
12 students and one teacher, plus wounding 21 other
victims. The two killers then committed suicide.
The United States was shocked by this tragedy,
and the aftermath was a frantic search for reasons –
and/or someone to blame –, be it guns, depression,
bullying, Goth culture, Marylin Manson or violent
video games – both boys were avid Doom players.
So, it’s easy to imagine the public outrage when
independent film-maker Danny Ledonne anonymously
released Super Columbine Massacre RPG!, a free game
where you play as Eric and Dylan.
First released on April 20, 2005, sixth years after
the shootings, the game initially flew under the radar.
However, about a year later it was reported on by gaming
websites like Gamasutra, and soon the mainstream
press was all over it, and the game eventually reached
over 700,000 downloads. Danny Ledonne’s identity as
the game’s author was then leaked, and so he decided to
come out and stand up for his creation.
An amateur game created on RPG Maker 2003,
Super Columbine Massacre RPG! blends 16-bit era
sprites with digitalized photos of the tragedy, in a
disturbing fusion of fiction and reality. The game
begins with Eric and Dylan preparing themselves,
sneaking into school to plant bombs and then
executing the shooting, killing dozens of victims in
JRPG-like battles. Said battles are almost entirely onesided,
with the victims mostly just cowering in fear,
while you select a gun or bomb to kill them.
While a brutal game, violence in SCMRPG! is
presented in a pointless, juvenile way, with lines like
“Dylan dodges Matrix style” and other silly boasts.
After the boys’ suicide, there’s a dream-like section
where they go to Hell and fight hordes of Doom
monsters, padded out to such length that even the
bloodthirsty players will tire and question its purpose.
As you explore the school, you’ll relieve the
events of that tragic day, as well as trigger flashbacks
of the frustration, anxiety and bullying that the two
boys lived. There’s a surprising and well-researched
depth here, with the game taking a documentary-like
approach and showing real facts of their lives, like
how Eric was prescribed drugs for his social anxiety
and those prevented him from joining the Marines,
or how he ran into a school “rival” before starting the
shootings, forgave him and told him to go home.
All these details provide a unique perspective
into the tragedy. SCMRPG! was often criticised for
trivialising the shootings, but in fact it humanises it.
It places players in the shoes of the boys and offers a
glimpse of why did they did it – and then lists them
among the tragic losses that day, not as monsters.
Not everyone agrees, of course, with activists like
Jack Thompson saying the game blatantly promotes
similar actions, training new killers.
“Beyond the simple platitudes
and panaceas of gun control,
media ratings/censorship, bully
prevention programmes, and
parental supervision remains a
glaring possibility: that the society
we have created is deeply moribund.
This game asks more of its audience
than rudimentary button-pushing
and map navigation; it implores
introspection.”
– Danny Ledonne,
SCMRPG!’s creator
Things got worse when in 2006 another school
shooting happened, this time in Montreal, Canada.
Ledonne’s game was brought once more into the
media’s spotlight, as it was revealed that the killer was
a fan of violent games, namely Postal 2, Manhunt,
Max Payne and Super Columbine Massacre RPG!.
A year later, SCMRPG! was chosen as a finalist for
the Slamdance Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition.
But, in a sudden twist, it was pulled from the contest
on alleged “moral obligations”. In protest, a group of
other competitors – including the developers of Braid,
flOw and Castle Crashers – wrote an open letter to the
Slamdance organisers, arguing that the decision was
“[...] hurting the legitimacy of games as a form of
expression, exploration, and experience”.*
Outraged by the removal of the game, the jury of
the Slamdance Film Festival decided to award the game
a Special Jury Prize, this time as a documentary. Once
again, the Slamdance organisers vetoed the award.
In the end, more than half of the finalists ended
up removing their games from the contest in protest,
and Slamdance never hosted a video game festival
since. Danny Ledonne further explored these events
with a 2008 documentary titled Playing Columbine,
focused on the controversy surrounding SCMRPG!
and the perception of games as children’s toys.
When covering the festival incident in 2007,
New York Times reporter Heather Chaplin elegantly
wrote “Video Game Tests the Limits. The Limits Win”.
In hindsight, that was only momentarily true.
Super Columbine Massacre RPG! may have lost
the Slamdance award, but it sparked a global debate
about the role and value of video games as media that
is still going on today, and inspired other developers
to use games to explore serious real-world issues.
SCMRPG! did break the limits on what games can
talk about, and in doing so became one of the most
important video games ever made. FE
There are multiple
references to
movies, books,
music and games
that were part of
Eric and Dylan’s
world, like
Apocalypse Now,
Doom, Marilyn
Manson and
even Nietzsche.
*You can read
the open letter
from the indie
developers to
the Slamdance
contest here.
The massacre victims are dehumanised through Eric and
Dylan’s eyes, seen as nameless stereotypes and cliques.
The game ends with various people speaking about the
tragedy, each with a different, external target to blame.
341
Jade Empire
BioWare, 2005
Windows, Mac, Xbox, iOS and Android
Jade Empire
was first
released for
the Xbox in
2005. The
Windows port
came in 2007,
called Special
Edition and
adding extra
features. In
2016, BioWare
also ported the
game to mobile
platforms.
The character
system is very
simplistic: there
are three stats,
upgrades to each
fighting style, a
morality bar and
gems that you
equip in your
magical amulet.
342
There’s a popular saying about good art being
about constraints, not about freedom. Jade
Empire sees BioWare freed from the constraints
of the Dungeons & Dragons ruleset and setting, as well
as from the looming presence of the Star Wars canon.
The studio had total creative freedom for the first time
since Shattered Steel, back in 1996.
The result? A mix of wonderful creative invention
and dreadful literary excess.
The most striking aspect on display is the game’s
“wuxia” setting. BioWare’s Far Eastern fantasy world
is ripe with lore and lush with colour. It’s a land of
travelling merchants, of martial artists looking to hone
their craft, where elements and spirits exert palpable
influence in the world. But in mixing and matching
from the rich source material, BioWare didn’t add
enough of its own. The world is a pastiche of influences
from Chinese cinema and literature. It is an unusual,
underused setting, but it never feels original.
Meanwhile, too many characters are far too eager
to dump lore on you for the sake of doing so. Jade
Empire’s world is likely to bore you into not caring
about it before you’re done with the first village.
If the world-building is tepid, the narrative is
anything but. What starts as a familiar “Chosen One”
quest leads to one of the best plot twists in gaming.
Good twists are the ones where you have the clues to
figure them out laid before you, but they surprise you
anyway. Twists like this are rare and hard to pull off
in games. Jade Empire manages it, in what is one of
BioWare’s finest storytelling moments to date. That
it shines despite the filler dialogue and weak voice
acting speaks to its strength.
Companion characters, the bread-and-butter
of BioWare’s modern output, are hit-and-miss. Most
talk too much while having very little to say – even
the romances feel like a bit of an afterthought. The
ones that stand out do so thanks to their quirky
personalities. In fact, Jade Empire is at its best when it
tries to be funny and tongue-in-cheek. But more than
any other BioWare RPG, this story is all about you.
Combat-wise, Jade Empire sees the company
abandoning its usual real-time-with-pause combat
for a full action-based system. This feels more natural
on a console and would serve as a stepping stone to
Mass Effect, but the transition wasn’t smooth.
When combat starts, the camera zooms out and
locks on an enemy. Then, it’s a matter of dodging,
strafing, blocking and attacking at the right time –
alternating quick, power and area attacks to create
combos – often against several opponents. Still, your
biggest foe will likely be the game’s poor camera.
During your journey you’ll learn over 30 fighting
styles. Some vary in speed and strength; others inflict
status afflictions. A few focus on weapons and elemental
magic, and there are even styles that transform you into
a giant Toad Demon or a Jade Golem. You can equip up
to four at one and switch between them during combat
– even midway through combos.
“One of the things that the designers
were looking forward to the most
was not having the restrictions of a
licence. A licence is really beneficial
when it comes to structure and the
framework of a game, and you can
take a lot from research. Star Wars
was a great example of that – we
were really able to reinterpret it all.
However, just to be able to do
anything you want, and know that
you’re not contravening the rules or
someone else’s idea of how it should
all go, is cool.”
– Diarmid Clarke,
Jade Empire’s project director
Knowing when to use each style makes up the
bulk of the combat. The way you finish your combo
will determine the kind of energy your defeated foe
leaves behind. It can either be Health, Mana or Focus.
The first is self-explanatory; healing and magic
attacks consume the second, while Focus fuels weapon
fighting styles and your character’s time-slowing,
Matrix-inspired ability. This Focus ability is one of the
most useful, as the floaty controls and sub-par camera
make fights against several opponents a harsh affair.
Character customisation is minimal. You start
with a choice of seven pre-made warriors to pick from,
and can alter their stats and initial combat styles.
Jade Empire only has three stats, each tied to your
resource pools. They also double as skill checks during
conversations. Loot and equipment management are
also heavily streamlined – all you’ll find are gems that
the main character can affix to their pendant, usually
offering simple stat boosts. That’s it.
As for exploration, Jade Empire is a linear game,
with very little to find off the beaten path. Some of
the main quests offer several, often diverging paths
toward a resolution. The way you choose, in turn, will
influence other characters and push you towards the
Path of the Open Palm or the Path of the Closed Fist –
two martial arts philosophies that aim high, but lack
nuance and play out as “good and evil” alignments.
Despite the weak mechanics, the need for an
extra dialogue passes, and a lore-dump approach to
world-building, Jade Empire still retains some charm.
Not only is it a chance to adventure in an underused
setting, but the art style hold up well, with each
area showcasing that Far Eastern mystique. And the
central narrative is still BioWare at its finest.
However, the many flaws that players stomached
years ago are became harder to forgive today. While
the rest of BioWare’s catalogue has aged somewhat
gracefully, Jade Empire has not. LM
Jade Empire
offers three
different dialogue
skills, each tied
to one of its
stats. The way
you solve quests
also affect your
alignment.
Those seeking
to expand
Jade Empire
can try the
Jade Empire
in Style mod,
which adds
several new
combat styles
and rebalances
existing ones.
Only one companion will follow you at a time. You can
order he/she to fight or to act as support during combat.
When travelling across the world by plane, you’ll have
the option to play a simple shoot ‘em up mini-game.
343
Fate
WildTangent, 2005
Windows and Mac
You can find a
handy archive
of Fate’s mods
and tools, plus
guides on how
to set them up
at www.surdin.
net/archive
Fate was
designed as a
casual-friendly
mix of Diablo and
roguelikes, with
an art style that
tries to be cute
without being
childish.
Each new version
keeps the core
gameplay but
adds content and
features, such as
more pets, new
player races and
recruitable NPCs.
344
Fate had humble beginnings, born an accessible
yet deep Diablo clone developed in a mere five
months. The game was quite successful, leading to
four stand-alone versions: the original 2005 game; Fate:
Undiscovered Realms in 2008; Fate: The Traitor Soul in
2009 and Fate: The Cursed King in 2011. Each release
adds new content and features, but the game itself is
basically the same: a Diablo-like dungeon crawler with
one town and an endless dungeon under it.
Each game offers a wide variety of monsters,
random dungeons and an endless diversity of suffix/
prefix-constructed loot. In each dungeon, you’ll need
to finish one random main quest to win (usually
killing a boss at a deep level), and in the process you’ll
complete many randomly generated side-quests.
Where differs Fate from the most Diablo clones
is the ability to adventure infinitely: there’s no level-up
limit and dungeons are endless: you can descend lower
and lower, gaining more and more powerful loot and
fulfilling new random quests. After finishing the main
quest you can retire your hero, creating an “inheritance”
to be given to his descendant in the next game.
The character system is quite straightforward,
with several stats and skills that can be upgraded at
level-up. The different races (added in Traitor Soul)
differ only in initial parameters and appearance.
What really determines your hero is your equipment
and spells, so you can tune your playstyle freely.
Other features include a gambler, an equipment
enchanter and a pet – initially a cat or dog, but you
can transform it into much more powerful monsters
by feeding it fish. Ah, yes, fishing! You can fish for
progressively more powerful fishes and items.
If all this feels familiar, it’s because Fate’s creator,
Travis Baldree, later also worked on Torchlight (2009),
taking most of Fate’s features with him.
Another shared trait is the extensive modding,
with fans adding a lot of content, gameplay tweaks,
changing monster density, camera controls, etc.
Unfortunately, Fate has one big issue: it’s not
pretty. Graphics are quite simple, muddy and have
barely been improved in the subsequent versions. Yet,
while Torchlight might be more polished, the infinite
randomness of Fate is worth trying for those who can
overlook graphics in favour of addictive gameplay. SS
Titan Quest
Iron Lore Entertainment, 2006
Windows
Mythological RPGs are surprisingly rare, but
Titan Quest does its best to make up for it.
As a Greek hero trying to find the source
of a monster infestation, you’ll travel across Greece,
Egypt, the Silk Road and China, then climb Olympus,
descend into Hades and cross the Bifrost into Valhalla.
No one can say this is “just another Diablo clone”.
Alongside the mythological setting, Titan Quest’s
defining feature is its character system. Instead of
classes, the game has eight masteries (ten with the two
expansions), each with its own skill tree. The trick is
that each character can learn up to two masteries. So
you can pick the Earth mastery, which specialises in
AoE spells, and play a pure caster; combine it with the
Defense mastery to increase survivability; or with the
Storm mastery for more single-target spells; and so on.
It’s a fascinating and deep system that allows for
55 different mastery combinations, plus the variations
from your choices inside each individual skill tree!
While this sounds amazing, Titan Quest fails to
fully take advantage of it. Combat is far too easy and
items don’t offer much more than simple stat bonuses,
making all that character-building feel underused.
Moreover, this is not a game that’s fun to replay.
Unlike other Diablo-like games, the world of TQ
isn’t random – enemies and areas are always the same.
This enables visually stunning landmarks like Athens,
the Great Wall of China or the Pyramid of Giza, but
most of your time will be spend on generic plains and
mountains, killing the same foes over and over again.
This is made worse by the game’s difficulty system,
where you must complete it twice to unlock the highest
difficulty setting (which has additional bosses and items)
– something that can take up to 40 hours per character!
This made sense in Diablo II, but Titan Quest’s world
simply doesn’t have the same quality and variety.
Iron Lore closed down after releasing the Immortal
Throne expansion in 2007, but THQ Nordic remastered
the game in 2016, then released the Ragnarök expansion
in 2017. These add even more length to a game that’s
already overly long, making them rather niche in appeal.
Instead, those looking for a fresh take on Titan
Quest’s mastery system might enjoy Grim Dawn (2016),
a great Action RPG by original TQ developers, which
employs the same engine and many similar features. FE
Titan Quest has
great support for
modding, leading
to popular mods
such as Diablo 2
Lilith, which adds
Diablo II’s classes
and a new world,
and Soulvizier,
which expands
the game with
new classes,
monsters and
items.
Titan Quest has
an amazing art
style and makes
great use of
iconic landmarks.
Sadly, most of
your time is
spent on generic
areas that drag
for too long.
You can spend
points learning
and improving
skills, or use
them to level
up the mastery
itself, earning
stat boosts and
unlocking more
powerful skills.
345
Dwarf Fortress
Bay 12 Games, 2006
Windows, Mac and Linux
Dwarf Fortress’
full official name
is Slaves to
Armok: God of
Blood - Chapter II:
Dwarf Fortress.
The game is a
“sequel” to Slaves
to Armok: God
of Blood, a crude
3D roguelike Tarn
Adams created in
the early 2000s.
In Fortress Mode
you assign tasks
such as “dig
this wall”, and
the dwarves
tasked with the
appropriate
professions
perform them.
346
In your typical Tolkien-esque fantasy world, plenty
of favour is given to the elves, the halflings, even
the humans. But Dwarf Fortress is a game that will
make you fall in love with the dwarves.
The game is freeware, developed almost entirely
by Tarn Adams, with help from his brother Zach.
The first alpha build released in 2006, and, after ten
years in development, it still isn’t exactly “finished”.
But while some games usually suffer for such a long
development time, Dwarf Fortress has only become a
greater, more complete experience over time.
There are two play modes to the game, and they
function very differently. The first is Fortress Mode,
which plays much like a real-time strategy game or
a management/sim game, where the player has the
run of an entire fortress full of dwarves, giving them
instructions of what to build and how to survive.
The other mode is Adventure Mode, in which
the player controls a single character (not necessarily
a dwarf) and freely travels through an open world,
taking quests, slaying monsters and collecting items,
much like a traditional roguelike.
What really sets Dwarf Fortress apart is the
staggering depth and complexity of its systems – it
may be the most mechanically complex game ever.
Take world generation for example. The first
thing a player must do upon starting the game is have
a random world generated. This world is formed with
surprising realism. Mountain ranges form in realistic
lines, rivers will flow across the land, carving out
fertile valleys, and rain shadows will form deserts on
the far sides of mountain ranges.
Then an extensive history for this world will be
generated, with civilisations rising and falling, titans
raiding towns, wars being waged, heroes appearing,
etc. This will all be reflected in the factions that visit
your fortress, and in the areas your hero can explore.
Physics also play a prominent role in the game’s
functionality. In a seemingly simple action, such
as a dwarf swinging a hammer at a goblin, so many
factors come into play. The game will consider the
force of the dwarf ’s swing, the quality and material
of the dwarf ’s hammer (a silver one would be heavier
than a copper one, and therefore more effective), the
thickness and quality of any armour the goblin may
be wearing (which is also dependent on the specific
body part struck), how many layers of armour and
clothing there may be, the thickness of the goblin’s
skin, muscles, and bones, and more.
Through all of this, the game subverts typical
damage-tracking in the form of hit points, and instead
uses a broader, somewhat more vague system in which
body parts may be bruised, cut, broken, mangled to
various degrees, or lopped off entirely. On top of all
that, the game also considers any cut arteries, severed
nerves and even the character’s personality.
Discussing all the game’s mechanics requires an
entire book (and indeed there are books and even
theses on them), but, thanks to the interplay between
these systems, one of the biggest draws to Dwarf
Fortress is that it’s a great storytelling game.
“We have story analysis stuff we do
to plan the game where we write a
short story, just some typical fantasy
story, and be like, ‘What makes this
story interesting? Where are the
inflection points that really turn it
into a narrative that pops out of
it?’ We want that to happen when
people are playing the game. We
want them to have something they
can hold onto and then tell their
friends [...]”
– Tarn “Toady” Adams,
Dwarf Fortress’ creator
This isn’t to say that the game has a well-written
narrative, or really much of a written narrative at all.
Rather, every person who plays Dwarf Fortress comes
out of the experience with their own unique story.
You may dig too deep, find an ancient beast, kill it, or
see your fortress infected by a disease spread by the
beast’s blood. Or perhaps play as a bold, brash Elven
hero that loses a leg in battle but still roams the land,
wielding a sword in one hand, a crutch in the other.
The game is also notorious for its graphics and
control scheme, which many new players find all but
impenetrable. By default, the game uses an ASCII
tileset, representing every creature and object in the
game as a unicode character, but the game is easily
moddable to use graphical tilesets.
The controls, particularly in Fortress Mode, seem
unintuitive at first, but this is due to the game relying
largely on hotkeys which are normally reserved for
more advanced players in a typical strategy game.
Dwarf Fortress’ astonishing depth comes from
over a decade of tireless development. The first release
didn’t even allow for multiple Z-levels; the whole game
was limited to a two-dimensional plane.
In 2011, Tarn Adams stated that the game could
very well be in development for another 20 years and
still not reach version 1.0. And even then, he would
probably keep updating it, in his pursuit of simulating
the “narratively interesting parts of existence”.
He receives enough money in fan donations that
he is able to live comfortably, and he has stated that
he intends to always keep those humble roots, never
signing with any publisher or development company,
funding the game solely through donations.
Although it may never be entirely finished, the
importance of Dwarf Fortress is undeniable. It stands
as a one-of-a-kind game that achieved a rare, perfect
balance between procedurally generated elements
and the importance of player input. TT
Adventure
Mode stands
out from other
roguelikes due to
its simulationist
approach.
Combat, NPC
dialogue and
even enemy
behaviour all
feel dynamic
and unique.
There are
several mods,
hacks, utilities
and graphical
tilesets made
for Dwarf
Fortress.
Beginners may
wish to start
with the Lazy
Newb Pack,
which includes
the most
popular tiles,
utilities and
customisation
options.
Modders have
created a wealth
of tilesets and
utilities, such
Dwarf Therapist,
an app for
managing the
dwarves’ jobs;
and Stonesense,
which renders
the isometric
graphics of your
fortress.
347
The Elder Scrolls IV:
Oblivion
Bethesda Game Studios, 2006
Windows, PS3 and Xbox 360
Oblivion was
among the first
games to use
the Xbox 360’s
marketplace
to sell DLCs.
It was harshly
criticised for
charging $2.50
dollars for a
set of cosmetic
horse armour,
which became a
term associated
with overpriced
DLCs in games.
An oblivion gate,
which leads to
one of the hellish
Daedric planes.
While interesting
at first, these
dungeons quickly
grow repetitive.
348
Oblivion represents a fundamental change in core
audience for the venerable The Elder Scrolls
franchise. While this was a franchise born on the
PC platform, Morrowind was a trailblazer that opened up
the console audience to a new type of RPG. Instead of the
generally linear and narrative-driven Japanese RPGs that
defined this type of game on consoles, The Elder Scrolls
were games about an open world which involved crafting
your own character and story.
To this end, Oblivion placed pumping up
production value as its first and foremost priority.
The game had a cutting-edge physics system where
objects could be moved around and thrown, very
high 3D graphical fidelity, full voice acting, a realistic
action combat system and many other features.
While none of the production value here was a
peak industry-wise, the fact that they managed so high
a quality across a game of such size was nothing short
of remarkable from a development perspective.
But this was also the time of soaring development
costs. Such investment enforces commercialism from
the top down without skipping a beat.
Gone is the unique oriental influence of
Morrowind that saw it being populated with alien
mushroom landscapes and complex political intrigue.
Instead we are back in the safe embrace of token Tolkien
European fantasy, complete with wolves, goblins and
evil demons to slay. If only this was the only misstep.
Voice acting meant that the text was pruned
extensively, much of it being to the point and related
to whatever current quest the player is on. The days
of stopping a passer-by to talk about the local news,
geography of the land and political upheaval are
gone. And though Patrick Steward was advertised as
providing the voice of the Emperor, this proved to be a
marketing ruse since he dies in the tutorial and the rest
of the game has a small cast which leads to uncanny
valley moments where people are having conversations
while having the same voice.
This stripping away of complexities applies to the
world and story as well: hellish portals appear across
the land due to the Emperor and his entire magical
bloodline being assassinated. But said land is mostly
unaffected by this event. The side-content focuses on
mundane dangers like bandits or other unrelated world
threats. It’s downright bizarre to hear the population
express just minor concern over what is supposed to
be the end of the world according to religious canon.
For all the those faults though, it must be said that
the quest design significantly improved; in fact, it’s one
of the areas where the title excels. While lacking the
context of Morrowind’s quests, which were more about
the setting and political intrigue, Oblivion provides
excellent opportunities for adventures, such as
exorcising a haunted manor bought cheap or travelling
through someone’s mind to wake them up. The Dark
Brotherhood assassination quests in particular are
some of the best in the series.
A radical departure from Morrowind’s customisable UI,
Oblivion’s interface is list-based and designed for consoles.
Oblivion added two mini-games: a reflex-based one for
lock-picking and a crude logic puzzle for speechcraft.
Many of the old-school RPG elements were streamlined,
but others were kept intact, resulting in an uneven game.
The Shivering Isles expansion moves away from generic
European fantasy, sending you into a plane of madness.
Gameplay-wise, Oblivion uses an action combat
system with realistic hit detection, a clear departure
from the statistical combat hidden by faux animations
from the previous games. While this leads to better
game feeling in all areas, it plays the same way from
start to finish. No longer are there enemies that drain
stats which require special medicine to reverse, nor the
annoyingly charming Cliff Racers of Morrowind that
would swoop down on the player. Outside of vampires
that can turn invisible, Oblivion’s combat is all about
smacking enemies and seeing their life bar go down.
Admittedly, the trap design of dungeons does try
to shore up fights by adding environmental factors,
and turning them against enemies is rewarding but it is
not enough to redeem the rest of the experience.
Every issue mentioned here gets amplified by the
invasive level-scaling system, which not only spawns
creatures appropriate to your current progress – e.g.
replacing a pack of wolves with a group of minotaurs –
but also levels up them up to match you, making every
encounter, again, fall into a rigid sameness quickly.
The game also sold itself on its Radiant AI, which
supposedly gave dynamic schedules to NPCs. However,
given the small population and the obvious moments
when they stop to execute their script, it mostly resulted
in generating the uncanny valley effect yet again.
Oblivion is and shall remain a controversial title.
The wonderment of console players first exposed to a
massive living world proves the game worthy of praise.
But just as genuine was the bitterness of CRPG fans
that hold Oblivion (along with Fallout 3) as the seminal
example of the trend to mutilate CRPG design into
palatable slop for the console mass market. LL
Mods:
Unofficial Oblivion Patch: fixes thousands of bugs.
DarNified UI: Offers an interface more suited for PCs.
Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul: A large mod that adds
monsters, items, quests and removes level-scaling.
Nehrim: At Fate’s Edge: A brilliant total overhaul
mod that often surpasses the original game.
Oblivion
received two
expansions:
Knights of the
Nine asks you
to collect a set
of relics to fight
the Sorcerer-
King, while
the critically
acclaimed
Shivering Isles
sends players
to the plane
of madness.
349
Dungeon Crawl:
Stone Soup
*The original
Crawl was
released in
1995, but the
Stone Soup
development
branch began
only in 2006.
How many games
allow you to play
as a stealthy
octopus assassin?
Far from a mere
gimmick, each of
the many exotic
races offers a
unique playstyle.
Robert Alan Koeneke, 2006*
Windows, Linux and OS X
A
huge part part of the roguelike’s appeal is
its mystery: random generation means that
no two games will be the same and makes
memorisation infeasible while the permanent death
of player characters discourages careless trial and
error.
As a result, the player is expected to learn the
game’s rules and adapt to different situations by both
in-game preparation (levelling up, collecting items)
and the knowledge of different strategies for dealing
with the inevitable appearance of something he/she
can’t face head-on. Failure to do so means their character
is lost forever, with no option but to start again.
The trade-off here is that the larger games in this
genre take an unimaginably large amount of failed
attempts to figure out. In fact, this can be such a big
time investment that learning games like NetHack
or ADOM by yourself is simply not expected and
the number of people who were able to finish them
without reading spoilers, watching other people play
or just asking more experienced players for advice is
very, very low.
One of the main design principles of Dungeon
Crawl: Stone Soup is to avoid this while still keeping
the game random, complex and difficult. To achieve
this, the developers made Crawl almost completely
free of instant deaths or difficult puzzles.
On the other hand, they’re actively fighting
against any sort of grinding and disproportionately
powerful tactics – even going so far as to remove the
ability to sell items in shops. In addition to trying to
make the game fall into the “hard but fair” category,
Crawl developers are also making their game as userfriendly
as possible by including graphical tiles and
full mouse support (old-fashioned fans can still opt
to play the game in ASCII mode. There’s even an
automatic exploration mode supposed to reduce the
tedium of uncovering everything on the map.
Crawl is generally considered to fall into the
“hack-like” tradition of roguelike games: it’s inspired
by NetHack’s persistent levels with special rooms,
multiple dungeon branches, focus on preparation
rather than levelling up, etc. However, it also features
large, scrolling levels reminiscent of Moria or Angband
and its complexity is not in the interactions between
items but in countless possible character builds.
There’s a large variety of races to choose from
– 26 to be precise – and, while the standard ones
differ mostly in stats, the more outlandish ones play
completely differently, such as Ghouls who must
devour corpses to avoid rotting or Formicid, humanoid
ants that can dig through walls. There’s even a race of
sentient housecats that can’t use weapons and armour
but get additional lives after levelling up.
There’s also a choice of class, although that
affects only starting skills and equipment – different
skills can be learned by using them and what started
out as a warrior might end up being a mage.
350
“My favourite gameplay mechanic
is roguelike permadeath: a
character who took hours to build
up can be destroyed forever by a
few poor decisions and a single turn
of bad luck. When you can’t just
reload a save from two minutes ago
again and again until you get past
any obstacle, decisions become
meaningful and the game stops
being a quasi-interactive movie and
becomes a game again.”
– Linley Henzell,
Crawl’s original developer
Crawl shines on
its attention to
details, such as
how using cutting
weapons on a
Hydra will spawn
more heads,
giving it more
attacks per turn.
Religion plays a very important role in Crawl
as your character can worship many different
gods, each providing different benefits while at
the same time requiring a specific code of conduct
– those range from simple, like Elyvilon wanting
you to destroy weapons and avoid evil magic, to
strange, like Ashenzari wanting you to wear cursed
equipment. Some of the gifts given by those gods
can be interesting too: followers of Dithmenos are
surrounded by darkness, high-level Jiyva worshippers
receive random mutations and those crazy enough
to become Xom’s playthings will turn Crawl into an
unpredictable, unfair and extremely difficult game.
The game begun its life back in 1995 as Linley’s
Dungeon Crawl, when it was still being developed
by a single programmer, Linley Henzell. It was first
released in 1997, then constantly updated until 2003.
The “stone soup” version was supposed to be a
temporary fork when the development team went on a
hiatus, but after some time it was clear that the project
was abandoned and DCSS became the official version.
Like many roguelikes, Crawl is light on the plot –
you search for Runes which will allow you to enter the
realm of Zot to retrieve a mysterious Orb. It’s not the
most fascinating premise, although religion-related
flavour text and some of the dungeon branches help
to flesh out the world a little bit. Still, it’s just a minor
complaint about an otherwise excellent and welldesigned
game.
While Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup might not be
my favourite roguelike, it’s a great introduction to the
genre before trying to get into titles like NetHack and
probably the best choice for those who find typical
roguelikes antiquated or too cryptic. MM
Playing in ASCII
mode is also
possible. Here
we abandoned
Trog, the God
of Violence,
in favour of
Nemelex Xobeh,
the Trickster
God. A terrible
punishment for
this betrayal
awaits us.
351
Gothic 3
Piranha Bytes, 2006
Windows
Gothic 3’s
release was
plagued by
game-breaking
bugs, which
led to bad
reviews and a
“Disappointment
of the Year”
award. The
Community
Patch fixed most
issues and is
now officially
endorsed by
the game’s
publisher.
Gothic 3’s combat
is fundamentally
flawed, as you can
stun-lock almost
any enemy simply
by attacking first.
352
Gothic 3 might be one of the most ambitious
games ever attempted, trying to rival The Elder
Scrolls for size but with the specific depth that
Piranha Bytes showcased in their much-lauded Gothic
series. But greatness is not made by ambition alone
sadly, and saying this game is a gem in the rough would
be an understatement.
Following on Gothic 2’s ending, the nameless
protagonist now reaches the mainland, where the
Kingdom of Myrtana is under Orc subjugation. While
Orcs in the previous games were just savages, the
mainland conquerors are less Tolkien and more Klingon.
They have an orderly warrior culture based on strength,
but also a meritocracy with a strong sense of justice.
This change was necessary to push the player towards
possibly thinking of the Orcs in a positive light, maybe
even allying with them, as Gothic 3 features one of the
most interesting reputation systems ever attempted.
The Orcs and the human rebels (as well as other
factions) have their own rating for the hero and raising
it will grant access to new quests, gear and areas.
Moreso, each town has its own individual rating, and
when it is high enough the hero is allowed to see the
town’s leader. From there he can decide to overthrow
the current establishment or crush the dissidents.
This system isn’t limited just to the Orcs and
human rebels in the temperate kingdom of Myrtana.
Gothic 3’s world is huge, spanning three regions and
over a dozen towns, with a similar faction choice to be
made regarding the Hashishin and Nomads who live in
the southern desert land of Varant. Unfortunately, the
northern arctic region of Nordmar only has quests that
allow siding with the local Barbarians against the Orcs,
as such, the whole area just feels unfinished.
Sadly, that feeling pervades the entire game. While
the idea of growing your reputation in each given city
is amazing, in practice it’s less so, since it mostly boils
down to performing fetch quests. Some of these are
well-contextualised, like playing spy for the Orcish
mercenaries, but for the most part they are menial jobs
like getting meat or killing wolves for each town and
village – an exercise in pure tedium.
To top this off is the fact that there isn’t much
interconnectivity between factions. You can complete
quests in all towns and need only decide which side
to take during the endgame, which makes it shallow
and much less replayable than previous Gothics, where
they forced you into a faction from the start. This is
further reinforced by the fact that if more than a few
towns are freed or rebellions crushed then the defeated
factions will attack you on sight, something which isn’t
explained to the player in any way.
But even with all that there’s a sense of wonder
to be derived from actually impacting the world by
deciding who will rule each town. The game doesn’t
hold your hand and allows you to go anywhere, do
anything and kill anyone from the start. And while the
story is almost non-existent for most of the game, there
are three possible endings based on the faction you
end up supporting, plus slides showing the fate of key
characters. Yet, Gothic 3 could have been so much more.
“What happens with the narrative
when a major character dies?
How can we tell a story without a
reliable narrator? In this point we
didn’t meet our own expectations.
The story is great but it slumbers
beneath the surface and cannot
really take off, because there is no
mouthpiece to tell it.”
– Kai Rosenkranz,
Gothic 3’s developer and composer
Some areas
like this desert
stronghold
can only be
entered after you
gained enough
reputation with
their faction. Or
killed the guards.
The other aspects of this game don’t have such
extenuating circumstances. Gone is the rewarding
exploration with hand-placed items, replaced by
progressive randomised loot where the contents of
chests you find are decided by the number of chests
previously opened. This results in situations where
the player manages to brave caves filled with monsters
only to be rewarded with junk, while finding the
better items in chests on the side of the road.
Combat is a shadow of its former self: melee is
decided by who manages to strike first due to stunlocking
– a far cry from the previous Gothics where
timing was essential. There’s also a new, completely
unnecessary endurance bar that quickly drains as soon
as combat starts and makes no sense in a game with
lengthy town battles. Archery, on the other hand, is
improved due to adding manual aiming and physics,
which made it feel much more satisfying.
Magic is relatively the same, but the progression
structure was changed for the worse. You don’t start
as a mundane character that has to prove himself if
he wants to become a mage – now you can focus on
magic from the beginning. Some of the higher level
spells are quite spectacular, like changing night into
day, but only the player has access to them since all
other mages are limited to basic offensive spells.
Engine-wise, Gothic 3 looks quite good for its
time, and the lack of any loading screen in such a
huge open world is an impressive feat. That said, there
are plenty of visual quirks that require some tweaking –
the draw distance especially, since it’s pitifully small.
The game is also too colourful and bright for the grim
atmosphere it wants to portray, something that its
predecessors did quite well.
It should be noted that Gothic 3 was bug-ridden
on launch and only after extensive patching by the
community was it truly finished. More than that, the
fans added an optional alternative AI and system
balancing to the game, but all it does, ultimately, is
smooth a broken experience. While the community’s
bug fixes are absolutely essential, breezing through
the game on Easy as a mage with the alternative
changes disabled is probably the most enjoyable way
to see what this game does well.
In its own twisted way, Gothic 3 is an endearing
game, thanks to its scope and ambition in creating a
living, breathing world – which was beyond the time
and budget Piranha Bytes had available. Even so,
there are a couple of unique elements here, and with
the proper patches it is a worthwhile experience. Not
necessarily one that needs to be finished, but one that
can offer some worthwhile moments. LL
In 2008
JoWooD
Entertainment
published
Gothic 3:
Forsaken Gods,
a stand-alone
expansion
developed by
Trine Games.
Sadly, it’s little
more than a
quick cash-in,
replicating
Gothic 3’s faults
without any of
its redeeming
qualities.
Gothic 3 offers an excellent map that tracks the locations
you’ve discovered, their quests and your reputation.
Mods:
Community Patch: Absolutely essential, it eliminates
hundreds of game-breaking bugs. It also offers optional
alternative balancing/AI, which makes the game harder
and more complex – thought arguably not better.
Questpaket: Adds a lot of new content to the game,
especially new quests. Has fan-made German voice
acting but a rather poor English translation.
Content Mod: Expands upon the Questpaket, adding
even more quests, items, equipment and new textures.
353
Neverwinter
Nights 2
Obsidian Entertainment, 2006
Windows and Mac
NWN 2 uses
an updated
version of NWN’s
Aurora engine,
called Electron.
Obsidian moved
it from OpenGL
to DirectX,
planning for an
Xbox 360 release.
However, due to
lack of funds
the port was
never made.
Obsidian’s second game, once again a sequel
to a BioWare title, Neverwinter Nights 2 is set
in the Forgotten Realms, based on a modified
Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 ruleset. The game features a
long single-player campaign, an elaborate toolset for
making custom content, as well as a multiplayer that
allow players to create persistent role-playing servers,
or just play through the game with a friend or two.
The most impressive feature of NWN2 is the
character system, sporting a very generous amount of
classes, races and build options, including the option
to pick multiple classes as your character improves.
Few games can compare when it comes to the sheer
variety of options for creating and developing your
character. You could be a gnomish cleric/rogue who
specialises in assassination, or perhaps a half-angel
warlock mowing down enemies with dark magic and
a fire-enchanted scythe.
Equally impressive is that the game features
several template builds for each class, providing ample
guidance on what to pick for players who, like myself,
have little prior familiarity with the D&D ruleset. It is
everything a power gamer could hope for, while still
being entirely accessible for the newcomer.
The only real flaw of the character system is a
slight lack of documentation, making external aids
like wikis a requirement for an in-depth planning
and understanding of your options, although this will
only bother those who really like the gritty details.
Sadly, combat does not live up to the promises
of the character system, featuring a messy real-timewith-pause
system and a clunky camera that makes
it hard to tell what is going on, further obscured by
fancy spell effects that block your view.
And cast spells you will, because there’s no limit
to resting, and therefore no limit to spell-casting and
health restoration. Combat is further hampered by a
generally poor AI and, in the campaign, a lack of good
encounter design, making tactics mostly unnecessary.
Overall, most battles will amount to little more than
watching combat rounds roll on while you wait for
the enemy health bars to deplete.
Outside of combat, NWN2 also features various
skill checks, both in-dialogue and while exploring,
and a crafting system, which works but isn’t exciting.
The enjoyment from these activities depends a lot on
the writing and dungeon design, which most of the
time works well enough, a few boring areas excepted.
354
Character creation fully employs D&D 3.5, with dozens of
races, sub-races, classes and prestige classes to choose.
Eventually you’ll get to manage a stronghold, rebuilding
its walls, training guards and making various decisions.
“The biggest problems during
development were an unrealistic
scope and a lack of focus on
quality/fun from the beginning.
It’s arguable that the former
resulted in the latter. With D&D
games, it’s easy to become
consumed by the idea of adding
every feat, class, and race you can
find in various books.”
– Josh Sawyer,
NWN 2’s lead designer
NWN2 makes
great use of skill
checks, especially
during some of its
dialogs, where it
presents multiple
approaches with
varying results.
NWN2’s campaign is split into three acts: the
first featuring low-level adventuring on the road
to and inside the city of Neverwinter, the second
revolving around an excellent trial, and the third
around gathering allies to stop the big bad.
The campaign as a whole is not bad or particularly
good, but the pacing of the first act is horrendous,
involving seemingly endless traipses to dungeons to
unlock plot gates. The trial in the second act is a great
example of how to do dialogue as a boss battle, only
slightly undercut by the fact that your failure means
nothing. The third act gives the player a stronghold to
manage, providing a much-needed breath of fresh air,
even if the decisions are mostly without consequence.
During the campaign, you are joined by four-ata-time
of 12 total companions (mostly at your choice,
sometimes imposed), one of every base class except the
Barbarian. This makes all PC classes relevant, but the
writing is spread a bit thin, and most of the characters
are stereotypes of their class. They will sometimes
interject during quests, allowing you to gain or lose
loyalty with them, which has consequences later in
the campaign when that loyalty is tested.
Overall, NWN2 is a very strong foundation for
a good CRPG, but the content is lacking, something
which was addressed in the expansions.
NWN2 features three different camera and control modes,
from third-person to top-down, but they all work poorly.
The first one, Mask of the Betrayer, featured a
new campaign with vastly improved writing, while
the second expansion, Storm of Zehir, introduced one
with much stronger gameplay. NWN2 also received
an official third-party adventure pack made by Ossian
Studios called Mysteries of Westgate, featuring a small
city with less but more significant combat.
With all this considered, Neverwinter Night 2 is
more successful as a foundation for a great RPG than
it is one itself, but it is still worth checking out, if only
for mods or as an appetizer for the expansions. JA
Mods:
NWN2’s toolset is very powerful, but lost NWN1’s
accessibility. Still, fans created some fantastic content:
Tony_K’s Companion and Monster AI Mod: Improves
the game’s AI, making it smarter and adding
many quality-of-life features and improvements.
Kaedrin’s PrC Pack: Adds many new races, classes and
prestige classes, plus new spells and cleric domains.
Baldur’s Gate Reloaded: A complete remake of the
first Baldur’s Gate, updated to fit the D&D 3.5 ruleset.
Wulverheim: A huge, open-world sandbox campaign,
heavily inspired by The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Pool of Radiance Remastered: An award-winning
remake of classic CRPG Pool of Radiance.
The Maimed God’s Saga: A brilliant module where
you play a cleric of Tyr sent on a quest that will test his
faith. Has great writing and a heavy role-playing focus.
Conan Chronicles: A multi-chapter campaign based
on various short stories from Conan the Barbarian.
Planescape - The Shaper of Dreams: An epic saga of
a woman trying save her husband from the Abyss.
Dark Waters: A three-part pirate campaign that
pushes the limits of the engine, adding new gameplay
modes such as naval battles and card collecting.
NWN2 offered
persistent
multiplayer
servers through
Gamespy, but the
service closed
in 2012. You can
still play through
community-hosted
servers, listed at
www.nwnlist.com
There are some
valuable resources
for NWN2 players,
such as the NWN2
wiki, which
offers extensive
documentation
on the game’s
mechanics,
and the online
Character Builder,
available at www.
nwn2db.com
355
Age of Pirates:
Caribbean Tales
Akella, 2006
Windows
By editing the
game’s .ini
files you can
unlock higher
resolutions.
In Age of
Pirates 2: City
of Abandoned
Ships you can
also unlock 15
new starting
characters.
Towns offer
taverns to hire
crew and hear
rumours, multiple
shops and NPCs
that can provide
you with quests.
Or they can be
captured and
pillaged.
356
The Age of Pirates/Sea Dogs series is what
happens when Russians play a lot of Sid Meier’s
Pirates and decide that they can do it better.
By Crom, they almost did.
The series began with Sea Dogs (aka Corsairs)
in 2000. Bethesda then signed to publish a sequel,
but renamed it to Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) to
take advantage of Disney’s popular movie series. In
2006, Akella released Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales,
changing the series’ name due to copyright issues.
Afterwards, other developers began to make
sequels. Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships
(2007) was a huge leap forward, adding three playable
characters, better combat and a deeper stat system for you
to further customise your characters. Years later came
Sea Dogs: To Each His Own (2012), a professionally
made mod released as a stand-alone game, it improved
the graphics and added a more involved story.
Each new game improved the engine and some of
the systems, building upon the assets of the previous
one, so the series’ core gameplay remained constant:
open-world sailing, fencing and swashbuckling.
You usually start the game choosing a character
(some games only have one, others have multiple), a
starting class (which defines your stats and initial gear)
and a nation (England, France, Spain or Holland). You’ll
then have to complete a starting tutorial, which ranges
from short and skippable in some games to somewhat
longer story-based intros in others. After that, you set
sail – the entire Caribbean now open to you.
You can sail in third- or first-person view, travel
the world-map in a overhead travel mode and explore
towns, forts and jungles on foot, talking to NPCs for
quests and rumours. You’ll trade, fight and generally
blunder your way across the Caribbean and, if you
wander enough, run into special quests that can
reward you with considerable wealth and rare ships.
Your character’s skills improve the more you use
them, and you can buy perks that add key benefits
to your playstyle. You can also hire ship officers and
fighters to cover whatever skill deficiencies you have.
Fighting on land or while boarding involves two
key parameters: health and stamina. You die when you
run out of health, and you can’t swat even a fly without
stamina. You and your opponents play by the same
rules, and while one-on-one combat is easy, getting
swarmed in a group can be anything from challenging
to tedious, depending on how well-stocked you are
with potions. You also have the emergency option of
firing a pistol, which, while handy in a pinch, takes
long enough to reload that swordplay remains the
chief means of fighting.
The first games have a button-mashing combat,
but the swordplay was upgraded after Caribbean Tales,
offering six moves: a light swing, a lunge, a heavy
overhand blow, a counter attack, a parry and a huge
swing that cuts at everyone in front of you. You can also
block attacks, and sidestep or dodge backwards.
You have to carefully manage your crew, morale and cargo,
as they will affect your efficiency while sailing and fighting.
Sea battles require you to pay close attention to the
wind and your cannon’s range, maneuvering carefully.
Age of Pirates 2 added the PIRATES stats system, which
was heavily inspired by Fallout’s SPECIAL system.
A nice abstraction when boarding a crew that
heavily outnumbers you: instead of facing vast
numbers beyond the engine’s capacity, you instead face
very tough opponents who are several levels ahead of
you. A nice touch, if a bit perplexing to new players.
Sea combat is an entirely different beast. It might
seem slow and ponderous (hint: the + button speeds
up the game) but is far more character-skill dependent
than fencing. You get regular cannonballs for allround
damage, grapeshots for greater hull damage,
chain-shot for sail damage and explosives for setting
ships on fire. All of them have their uses, no matter
your style of ship fighting. You can also command
a fleet of ships into battle, so you won’t always face
utterly terrible odds.
Due warning, this series is as Russian as they
get. Outdated graphics, indifferent writing, no handholding,
an emphasis on certain aspects of “realism”,
extremely obscure mechanics and quests that run the
gamut from simple “FEDEX quests” to utterly crazy
gigs that are the equivalent of looking for an ink-drop
in the entire goddamn Caribbean waters.
Long travels are done in a overhead world map. You’ll
have to keep an eye on food, morale and other ships.
It’s all very daunting to newcomers. Even if you
spend hundreds of hours playing, you’ll probably still
need a walkthrough to complete some of the more
unique quests, especially the endgame ones.
On the other hand, they offer an amazingly open
experience, similar to Mount & Blade (2008), and
you can definitely see your character progress from
landlubber to sea dog, master fencer, etc. There’s a lot of
RPG here, from choosing your character’s initial build,
to working for different factions, to getting a sustainable
economy going. Forget wooing the governor’s daughter
like in Sid Meier’s Pirates. Here you can BE the governor.
But you gotta take over the colony first. Good luck.
Since the games are all very similar, it’s hard to
point out which is the best one. Furthermore, every
entry in the series has one or two big exclusive mods,
so the community is quite fractured. Good starting
points are Sea Dogs: To Each His Own (the latest entry,
has a good story and better graphics) and Pirates of the
Caribbean with the New Horizons mod (huge amount
of content and options for free play). Just pick one and
set sail into a life of adventures. ER
357
Dark Messiah:
Might and Magic
Arkane Studios, 2006
Windows and Xbox 360*
*Dark Messiah
was ported to
the Xbox 360
in 2008, under
the title Dark
Messiah: Might
and Magic -
Elements, with
extra levels and
new multiplayer
modes to enjoy.
You’ll be joined
by the young
mage, Leanna,
and by Xana,
a spirit that
provides advice
and snarky
comments.
358
W
hen the 3DO Company went bankrupt in
2003, Ubisoft bought the Might and Magic
licence and did a complete reboot. Their
first new game, Heroes of Might and Magic V, presented
a new world called Ashan and followed the story of
a group of knights fending off a demon invasion and
uncovering the Prophecy of the Demon Messiah, who
would one day unleash chaos upon the world.
Twenty Ashan and three Earth years later, the
“kicking simulator” formally known as Dark Messiah:
Might and Magic details the adventures of Sareth, a
warrior sent to retrieve an artefact known as the Skull
of Shadows. He is aided by Xana, a spirit confined
inside his soul right in the game’s beginning cutscene.
While the story boasts four endings (really the
permutations of two major choices), it’s fairly simple
and linear. You can almost guess the plot points by the
first hour of the game, after the introduction of all the
roles. It’s quite cheesy and probably intended not to be
taken seriously, seeing that all characters can be easily
read and predicted – especially Xana’s voice steering
you towards conflict. Regardless, considering the
franchise’s large storyline background and its context,
Dark Messiah’s storyline is actually quite important to
the new Might and Magic universe.
The game blends this convoluted setting with
what’s possibly the best first-person melee combat
in gaming. It starts slowly, with a tutorial level that
dissects some of the arguably composite mechanics
of the game. But within minutes of the first chapter
you’re thrown right into action – and will understand
that combat here is not a matter of mashing buttons.
Dark Messiah’s combat is fast, deadly and offers
a solid array of options to inflict damage and defend
yourself, whilst demanding a careful approach to
enemies. You can equip swords, daggers and staffs,
attacking with stabs, slashes and lunges, depending on
your movement – these can be enhanced by holding
down the mouse button, unleashing a power attack.
Shields will block attacks easily but can be destroyed,
while parring is risky but allows for counter-strikes.
Thanks to the solid physics engine, you can also
employ the environment to your advantage – setting
objects on fire, triggering traps and destroying pillars
placed next to patrolling guards. Another option is
kicking enemies into spikes or over cliffs, a tactic so
powerful on release it could be used to “cheese” the
entire game and became the source of many jokes.
Being a game focused on action, Dark Messiah’s
RPG elements are simplified. Instead of gaining XP
and levelling up by killing, you’re given skill points
for each objective met, of which there are plenty per
chapter. There are three main skills trees to pursue –
Combat, Magic and Miscellaneous. Even though they
are small, it’s wise not to spread your points too thin.
Combat skills allow you to deal more damage,
disarm enemies and aim better with the bow, while
Miscellaneous skills include passive bonus and a few
Thief skills, such as lock-picking and backstabbing.
The stealth system isn’t always useful, but it’s quite robust,
based on light and sound like the Thief games.
“I clearly remember when we
discovered how creating an icy
surface made the orcs slip on it.
I think it was when we realised that
we were right in trying to create a
simulated world where everything
was possible. This was really fun.”
– Raphael Colantonio,
Dark Messiah’s creative director
The UI is simple
and elegant, with
a quick bar, a
small slot-based
inventory and
three talent trees
you can spend
skill points on.
The Magic skill tree features standard fare such as
fireballs and healing magic, but also spells to freeze the
ground, see in the dark, plus an amusing telekinesis
power that works just like Half-Life 2’s Gravity Gun.
While you’ll grow quite powerful during your
journey, equipment change will be sparse. Still, with
each new sword, dagger, staff, bow or armour you’ll
get visibly stronger, and some weapons have special
abilities that manage to make them fairly memorable.
Dark Messiah employs a 2006 version of Valve’s
Source engine, complemented by Havok’s powerful
physics engine. The developers managed to deliver
an outstanding presentation of medieval architecture,
with massive gates, churches, temples in ruins, Orc
constructions, a complete boat and much more. It’s
not without its flaws, though: walking and jumping
on narrow edges has to be executed with extreme
caution, light sources in some places may deter your
field of view and the chase in the third chapter can be
annoying with its twists and turns and rope climbing.
It also tends to crash sometimes, so save often.
While levels can be impressive, they are all too
linear – so much so, Arkane didn’t even bother to include
a map system. But there are plenty of the secret
item caches to find, which depending on your familiarity
with the game may decide if you live or die.
Multiplayer, although nearly dead at the time
of the writing, still can be enjoyed if you find some
friends and an available server. Game modes include
the classic “capture the flag” and “crusade”, where the
teams try to take control of the whole map and can
level up like in the single-player mode. The maps are
visually stunning and well-designed, with open arenas
for inexorable bloodshed and nooks and crannies for
sneaking around and setting up traps and ambushes.
Arkane’s concern for details is substantial even
on their least known game: there’s a forge that you can
use to make your own sword; a bow that allows you
to shoot ropes and climb them; mage apprentices that
tremble in fear once they see you; and a rewarding
“adrenaline boost” that activates after a certain
number of killings, allowing you to mangle enemies
with a single strike or beefed-up spell. A work of
passion, these details add a lot to the fun factor, even
if they are not very important or innovative.
Unfortunately, none of this was enough to make
this underrated game stand out among the other big
releases of 2006. Nonetheless, Dark Messiah should
be tried by anyone with at least a mild interest in
first-person RPGs – or that wants to experience the
best kicking physics of all time. There has not yet been
a foot stronger than Sareth’s. GZ
The game is focused on melee combat, but you’ll also
have access to 12 spells, from fireballs to telekinesis.
The multiplayer mode offers five classes with
unique skills and huge arenas for battle.
359
Mass Effect
BioWare, 2007
Windows, PS3 and Xbox 360
Mass Effect
became a
cross-media
hit, with seven
novels, ten
comic series,
board games,
action figures,
a theme park
ride and even
a movie in
the works.
The character
system in ME1 is
the most complex
of the series,
allowing great
customisation of
playstyle.
360
During the past 10 years, we had many popular
RPGs that conquered millions of fans and left a
mark on the entire industry. However, few will
dispute that Mass Effect was the most influential of all.
An epic trilogy that spanned six years – from 2007
to 2012 –, yet was still contained in a single console
generation, using the same engine. Hard to say if we’ll
ever see an ambitious project like this succeed again.
Mass Effect feels like the end goal of what began
back in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – the
scope, narrative and choices of a computer RPG, but
in an accessible form, easy to be played on controllers.
BioWare had tried using a real-time martial arts
combat in Jade Empire, but titles like Resident Evil 4
(2005) and Gears of War (2006) proved that thirdperson
shooters were a perfect match for consoles.
Yet Mass Effect is not just “KotOR with guns”; it
draws heavily from Star Trek and Babylon 5, as well as
classic space RPGs like StarFlight and Star Control.
You’re not a young farmer in search of adventure,
nor a lone mercenary who’s getting into trouble – you’re
Commander Shepard, soldier of the Human Alliance.
You have missions, commanding officers, a ship, and
must answer to the Citadel Council, a committee of
advanced alien races who rule the civilised galaxy.
You start by defining who Commander Shepard
is, choosing gender, background and one of six classes.
These range from the Soldier, a gun combat specialist,
to the Engineer, who focuses on tech (shields, hacking),
to the Adept, who uses powerful biotic abilities (like
telekinesis), with the three remaining classes being
hybrids of these archetypes.
Once you’re done, the game truly begins, and
you’ll immediately notice how BioWare did everything
to make the game as “cinematic” as possible, from the
camera angles during conversations to the film grain
filter the game uses. Another new feature is the Dialogue
Wheel. Developers always struggled to display the long
dialogue lines of PC RPGs on a TV screen: the solution
used here is to only display short paraphrases of the
dialogue lines, so the player quickly reads and chooses,
then sees his/her choice spoken verbatim by Shepard.
The game follows BioWare’s traditional formula,
starting with an intro mission then opening into four
locations the player must visit in any order to reach the
ending. The difference is that when the game opens
you also gain control of your very own spaceship and
can fly to various planets and systems to engage in sidequests,
which fits perfectly with the game’s concept.
As you travel to various planets, you’ll eventually
meet and recruit companions. Mass Effect 1 has six of
them, and they’re easily the best BioWare made since
Baldur’s Gate II. While they wouldn’t be fully developed
until ME2, the cast is charismatic and memorable.
As the game advances, you’ll get the chance to
make several choices, which often will award Paragon
or Renegade points, a simple morality system inherited
from KotOR. Most of them are rather superficial, only
changing your mission reward or some extra dialogue
line, but they create a decent illusion, thanks to some
actually meaningful choices woven in between.
“I can say that the reason ME1
was so immersive is that we had
the luxury of spending almost a
year thinking up and fleshing out
the universe (planets, technology,
aliens, political and historical
details) before we had to actually
start writing the game. It let us
really create something with a lot
of depth.”
– Drew Karpyshyn,
Mass Effect’s lead writer
Unique Paragon
and Renegade
dialogue
choices can
appear on the
Dialogue Wheel
depending on
your character’s
morality and
dialogue skills.
All this builds up to Mass Effect’s enticing call to
adventure – you choose a new destination on the star
map, travel there with your ship and go out exploring
with two squad mates, meeting new aliens, locations
and mysteries, all while making choices that define
your story and bring you closer to your final goal.
It’s here that the spirit of games like StarFlight and
Star Control are felt in force. You can survey planets
and asteroids for valuable minerals and relics, as well
as land on a few of them with the Mako, an all-terrain
vehicle, for side-quests that range from killing pirates,
bandits and aliens to trying to negotiate with rebels or
just hunting more relics and minerals.
Sadly, you cannot move freely in space – only jump
from planet to planet – and there’s no space combat.
Most of these side-quests are also very formulaic, being
set in similar locations and usually just boiling down to
brief combat encounters. But there’s a nice effort to give
them weight, as you learn about them by overhearing
conversations and news broadcasts, hacking terminals
or when fleet admirals directly contact you.
In fact, this is where Mass Effect 1 stands out from
the rest of the trilogy: the sense of scope. Shepard is not
the “Space Jesus” she/he would later become, but rather
the leader of a group of misfits working from inside the
system to solve a threat that the system can’t handle.
While ME2 and ME3 would greatly improve the
gameplay, adding a more engaging combat, enhanced
graphics and a much more polished overall experience,
the series also lost something important in the process.
It narrowed the setting, made everything revolve
around Shepard, Reapers and Cerberus. And only that.
So much so that Mass Effect: Andromeda (2017) had
to do a “soft reboot”, travelling to a whole new galaxy.
Mass Effect 1 still indulges in player-pandering
and some power fantasy clichés from time to time –
especially during its overly dramatic ending – but most
of the time it succeeds at painting an overwhelmingly
large universe. One where humanity is just a young,
second-class race who recently unlocked space travel.
Setting-wise, Mass Effect 1 is the series is at its best.
It presents a galaxy filled with possibilities, interesting
creatures and mysteries, all waiting to be uncovered by
those brave enough to reach to the stars. FE
Mods:
MEUITM: The Mass Effect Updated/Improved
Textures Mod greatly improves the game’s visuals,
adding high-res textures and new shaders.
A Lot of Textures (ALOT): A complementary texture
pack for MEUITM. Also available for ME2 and ME3.
You get your own spaceship and can freely explore the
galaxy, doing side-quests or searching for rare resources.
The Mako is an all-terrain vehicle you’ll get to drive when
landing on uncharted planets and hostile environments.
361
Puzzle Quest:
Challenge of the Warlords
Infinite Interactive, 2007
Windows, Mac, iOS, PS2, PS3, NDS, etc
Puzzle Quest had
an expansion
called Revenge
of the Plague
Lord. It was
released on
consoles, but
never reached
the PC. Fans
then made an
unofficial port of
the Xbox version.
The world map
expands as you
progress, and
there are usually
many different
quests to
choose from.
Puzzle Quest 2
trades the 2D map
for a beautiful
isometric dungeon
with various levels.
362
Steve Fawkner was once known as the man behind
the Warlords series. But for a new generation
he’s the creator of Puzzle Quest, the Puzzle/RPG
in which you battle foes in a Bejeweled-style game.
Combat in Puzzle Quest takes place on an 8x8
board where the aim is to match three or more tiles
of the same type. Each tile has a different function:
coins give you money, purple stars give XP, skulls
deal direct damage to the opponent and the coloured
globes serve as mana for spells. The satisfying aspect
of the game comes from the simplicity of the core
mechanic, combined with the skill required to chain
multiple groups together, deny your opponent access
to mana and earn extra turns.
There are four character classes available –
Druid, Knight, Warrior and Wizard – each with his
own set of spells and passive skills. Spells range from
dealing direct damage to altering tiles on the board
and even taking multiple turns at once. You unlock
new spells by levelling up, but can only equip a
maximum of six different spells. Choosing the right
loadout of items and spells to counter your foe is of
vital importance, and experimentation is encouraged.
Exploration is done through a 2D map with an
appealing, painted art style. There you can visit towns,
buy equipment, take quests and listen to rumours. The
world is limited at first, but as you progress new areas
are unlocked. Over time, enemies pop up and block
routes, meaning you must either find an alternative
way or fight them to progress.
The story itself is a little bit flat and your main
motivation for the various missions is really just
to gain XP and gold. There are four realms to visit,
focusing on different factions, and these introduce
new enemy types to fight or capture. Some quests
offer you choices, and you can gain companions who
provide handy support abilities, such as damaging an
enemy as the battle begins.
The big appeal of Puzzle Quest is taking an
already addictive puzzle game then adding depth and
RPG elements to it. Later in the game you can capture
monsters to use as mounts, learn spells from enemies,
hunt treasures, craft your own magical equipment and
even build siege weapons and conquer entire cities.
The formula became quite popular and led to a
number of follow-up games, including Puzzle Quest:
Galactrix (2009), which had a sci-fi setting and used
hexagonal tiles – akin to Hexic – and Puzzle Quest 2
(2010), a direct sequel with similar mechanics but
focused on dungeon-crawling. GE
Recettear
An Item Shop’s Tale
EasyGameStation, 2007*
Windows
One day Mr. Lemongrass left home, eager to
become an adventurer. However, Recettear
isn’t about his heroic deeds, but rather his
collateral damage. More to the point, it’s about the
huge debt he left after vanishing that must now be
paid by his daughter, Recette. She’s a naive young girl
that never worked a day in her life, and has inherited
the task of opening an item shop and making enough
money to repay the whole debt in one month.
With this very unique premise, Recettear places
the player as owner of a small shop in a typical RPG
town, full of adventurers and surrounded by dungeons.
Your job is to run the shop, purchasing items
and reselling them for a profit.
At its core it’s a very simple system, but has many
nuances that add to the experience. For example, if
you feature only expensive items and decoration, your
shop will be considered too fancy, attracting fewer
customers. There are also special events, such as days
when certain types of items are in high demand.
Over the course of the game you’ll meet various
adventurers. After gaining their friendship you can
hire them to explore a dungeon for you. Once you
do, the game changes into a isometric Action RPG,
where you explore randomly generated levels, defeat
enemies and collect treasure. Many items can only be
found inside dungeons, including ingredients to craft
powerful weapons – that you can either give to your
adventurers or sell at a high price. The dungeons have
few enemies and can quickly get repetitive, but at least
the boss fights every five levels are interesting.
Since there’s limited time to pay the debt you’ll
have to manage your schedule, setting time to run the
shop, buy supplies, explore dungeons and talk to the
townsfolk. Sadly, the latter is underused, rarely resulting
in anything besides one-note stories and jokes.
Recettear also features post-game content, with
extra dungeons and boss battles, two New Game+
modes and the hellish Survival Mode, where each
week you must pay increasingly high debts, trying
your best to keep the shop open as long as you can.
Of course, not everyone will have the urge to master
capitalism, or the patience to explore dungeons with
100 floors, but the main story is short, light-hearted
and a nice change of pace from other RPGs. FE
*Recettear was
first released at
the 73rd Comiket
in 2007, and
then localised
into English by
Carpe Fulgur in
2010. It’s often
credited as one
of the pioneers
in bringing
Japanese games
to Steam.
The combat is
very simple but
every adventurer
plays differently,
and some floors
have special
conditions.
A poor adventurer
asks for an expensive
item. Do you lower
the price to equip
him better, or
do you prioritise
your profit?
363
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:
Shadow of Chernobyl
GSC Game World, 2007
Windows
STALKER is
loosely based on
the Soviet sci-fi
novel Roadside
Picnic (1972), by
Arkady and Boris
Strugatsky. The
same novel also
inspired the 1979
film Stalker, by
Andrei Tarkovsky.
The Zone is filled
with anomalies,
such as unstable
gravitational fields
and clusters of
high temperatures.
To help navigate
around them, you
can throw metal
bolts as you walk.
364
Before Far Cry 2 and DayZ challenged players
with their unrelenting ecosystems, Ukrainian
studio GSC Game World created STALKER, an
FPS/RPG hybrid set in an alternate reality version of
the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
Struck by a second disaster, the Zone is now home
to mutants and anomalies that defy the laws of physics
– as well as valuable radioactive artefacts hunted by
“stalkers”. As the amnesiac Marked One, players will
be advancing through the Zone’s large open world in
their quest to hunt down a figure called Strelok. Each
of the Zone’s regions comes with unique obstacles and
points of interests, offering plenty of opportunity to
interact with NPCs, trade items or scavenge loot in
warehouses and underground labs.
STALKER blends several styles of gameplay, such
as FPS, RPG, survival horror and sandbox. During
combat it distinguishes itself with tactical elements
like stances, stealth and leaning, and by applying
realistic physics to every shot. Lifelike hit damage
and wide open spaces mean that the intense gunfights
can end as soon as they start, reinforcing the sense
of fragility. Players must leverage their resources
and play carefully if they are to emerge relatively
unscathed in the already hellish game world.
While there’s no RPG-style XP/level-up system,
equipment and inventory management are vital.
There are several types of weapon, ammo and armour
available, but their weight and durability must be
carefully considered. Players also have to deal with
hunger, bleeding, radiation and other types of hazards.
The artefacts scattered across the Zone can be used
to boost resistances, though usually with a drawback
(e.g. reducing radiation but increasing bleeding).
Sadly, interaction with NPCs is usually limited to
just accepting quests, trading or asking about rumours.
However, STALKER does offer several different
endings based on the player’s reputation with the
Zone’s factions and NPCs, as well as how they chose to
act in certain important story quests.
From bandits and mutants to pockets of radiation
and anomalies, the Zone offers many dangers, the
biggest of them being its systemic nature. STALKER’s
A-Life engine gives every NPC in the game a dynamic
routine set by personal goals. Whether it’s bandits
fighting lone stalkers or rabid dogs charging into
settlements, events can be spontaneously triggered
even when the player’s not around, giving the Zone a
sense of place and generating new quests.
In spite of its oppressiveness, the Zone plays host
to an eerie sense of wonder and beauty. From guitars
being played near campfires to the day-and-night cycle
that showcases striking lighting effects, STALKER’s
world acts as a picturesque allegory to Mother Nature
reclaiming her property. Soviet-era ruins stand out
from the fauna and flora, evoking a feeling of lost
history titles such as Metro 2033. Because STALKER
rewards constant exploration, the player gradually
becomes acquainted with their environment, allowing
them to take in the scenery and contemplate the Zone’s
threatening and alluring nature.
“...[the player] is not limited by
shooter-standard corridor limits;
he can act at his will and see how
the outer world reacts to his doings.
We are very glad we managed to
implement the unusual mix of FPS
and RPG, integrating the elements
of stealth and, horror, so as to
provide a unique playthrough to
each of the players.”
– Anton Bolshakov,
STALKER: SoC’s project lead
STALKER isn’t without its fair share of faults.
Combat can abruptly shift from challenging to
punishing with the slightest tactical misstep,
especially against humans whose resilience can prove
unfairly advantageous even when using the same
gear as the player. Backtracking can become a chore
when carrying too much loot, and technical oddities
can lead to broken quests and wonky AI. A fitting
metaphor to the Zone’s unpredictability, one might
say, but these issues can be easily eliminated with the
game’s numerous fan-made mods and patches.
Shadow of Chernobyl would go on to spawn
two additional games, Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat.
Clear Sky (2008) is a prequel that introduces gear
customisation and a faction system, allowing players
to take sides in a war and help capture strategic points
or remain neutral. Call of Pripyat (2009) is the most
polished entry, with improved AI, UI, quests and
stealth gameplay, but also the most streamlined.
As engaging as these games are, their atmospheres
fail to replicate the harsh oppressiveness of Shadow of
Chernobyl. Still, the STALKER series is known for its
extensive library of mods, and while the original game
remains the best “vanilla experience”, excellent mods
like Misery and Call of Chernobyl recently turned Call
of Pripyat into a must-own for fans.
The greatest achievement of STALKER: Shadow
of Chernobyl is its peerless transplantation of survival
horror to an open world. Like the Zone itself, the
game is foreboding and relentless, but beneath its
intimidating facade lies a captivating sandbox that
invites players to explore its nooks and crannies,
presenting an opportunity to bolster their gear and
unravel the mystery behind one of the eeriest locales
in both gaming and human history. MIS
STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl Mods:
Zone Reclamation Project: A large bug fix pack with no
further changes. Recommended for a first playthrough.
Autumn Aurora 2: Greatly improves the graphics, tweaks
gameplay and UI and includes the Zone Reclamation
mod. A good all-in-one pack if you want better visuals.
Lost Alpha: A free, fan-made stand-alone game based
on concepts STALKER had early in its development.
STALKER: Call of Pripyat Mods:
Misery: The most popular of all STALKER mods,
it turns Call of Pripyat into a hardcore survival game.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Chernobyl: Combines the maps
of all three games into one massive sandbox game using
Call of Pripyat’s engine. Also has many of its own mods.
The moody
lighting effects
and grim
soundscape lend
uncanny beauty
to the vast Zone.
Originally
announced in
2001, STALKER
suffered many
revisions
before being
released. Some
features, such
as a faction
wars system,
were cut from
the final build
and later
reintroduced
in the sequels.
Artefacts can give several types of bonus, like increased
burn resistance, but they usually come with a drawback.
Your PDA tracks quests and can also display information
about hidden caches learned by looting enemies’ PDAs.
365
Neverwinter Nights 2:
Mask of the Betrayer
Obsidian Entertainment, 2007
Windows
Many powerful
spirits inhabit
the Rashamen
lands. Diplomacy
is often possible,
but you’ll also
need to feed to
stay alive.
366
Mask of the Betrayer is the story-focused
expansion to NWN2. That’s not to imply
that it’s a graphic novel, but rather that the
changes introduced are all in service of the story.
It included extra content such as classes and
races that can naturally be used in modules and such,
but at its core it is a single-player product. While the
original campaign was about a group of adventurers
saving the world, MotB is about you escaping a curse
that threatens to devour your soul with the help of
people similarly driven by personal goals.
The expansion’s story is mostly unrelated to
the original’s, and while you will miss a reference or
two there is absolutely no requirement that you play
NWN2 beforehand – unless you want a tutorial, as
MotB begins at Level 20 and goes all the way to 30.
This can overwhelm those new to D&D rules, but
also provides a much wider variety of crazy character
builds, including new epic feats and spells.
Much like the original campaign, this one is
split into three acts. The first and last are fairly short,
consisting only of the introduction and ending,
whereas Act 2 is fairly large and open-ended, with
plenty of optional content. Unfortunately, thanks to
the inherent power of the “epic levels” (above Level
20), you’ll likely be fairly overpowered after Act 1.
While the challenge suffers after Act 1, it’s also
when MotB begins to truly shine, for it is here that the
Spirit Meter manifests. Put simply, it’s a measure of
how much spirit energy your character has – energy
that’s constantly being drained by a curse. As it drains
you’ll receive various stat penalties and eventually die.
To counteract this, you must suppress the hunger
with your will, or by consuming spirits. Spirits are
thankfully plentiful in the Rashamen lands where a
lot of the campaign takes place, but its inhabitants do
not take kindly to you eating their spirit friends.
Around the time of MotB’s release, the Spirit
Meter was the subject of much scorn from both press
and players. The chief complaint was that managing
the meter was very hard. This perceived difficulty is
blown out of proportion however. If you treat your
curse without due consideration, you will die or be
forced to sacrifice parts of your soul (XP) to survive.
But, treat it with the respect that the game’s setting,
lore and characters say you should, and you will
survive, even if you do not thrive.
The Spirit Meter is reason enough for MotB to
be remembered and studied (aside from its excellent
writing). With it, Obsidian succeeded at something
few game developers attempt: entwining the game’s
narrative and mechanics in a compelling way. In both
the story and the gameplay you are under constant
threat of succumbing to the curse, giving you ample
reason to push forward. This lends meaning to the
events of the game, as you feel yourself struggling with
the same problems that your character deals with.
The constant drain also limits the player’s resting,
preventing the constant replenishing of hit points,
spells and abilities – an issue that often plagues
D&D games. Unfortunately, the epic levels allow for
characters so powerful that resting rarely matters.
“On Mask, my goal was to make
the companions feel unusual and
different, partly to reinforce the
player’s impression of being a
stranger in a strange land. Okku
was mostly inspired by the giant
animal gods in Princess Mononoke.
When I first saw that movie in the
early 2000s, I wanted to *be* one
of those guys in a game… or failing
that, I wanted to travel with one.”
– George Ziets,
Mask of the Betrayer’s creative lead
You’ll journey
across the planes
to exotic places
such as the Wall
of the Faithless,
where those
without a god
are sent to suffer
after death.
Thankfully, Obsidian delivered a great narrative
alongside its Spirit Meter. While NWN2’s campaign
was a poorly paced save-the-world plot, MotB borrows
heavily from Planescape: Torment, presenting a short
and personal story of searching for answers to your
curse. The game graciously takes advantage of often
overlooked aspects of D&D’s settings, such as the
nature of the gods and the extra-dimensional planes.
This provides many interesting vistas and dungeons
to explore, from temperate forests to death vaults,
from shadow planes to the inside of dreams.
The characters that join you are also unique and
generally very well-written. You may travel with three
of five companions (two of them mutually exclusive):
a half-celestial cleric, a Red Wizard of Thay, a dreamwalker
shaman, an undead abomination made of
convicted souls and, last but not least, a Bear God,
king of animal spirits.
The companions will react to your actions and
choices – please them and they will impart various
boons, antagonise them and they might leave. They
very rarely ask you to pick sides amongst themselves,
but each has a personal goal which drives them. These
come with a suitably big influence swing, but may be
a suboptimal action for you. Just be mindful that they
may even attack you if you cross them.
You’re free to explore the world in search of clues, but
must pay attention to your Spirit Meter during travels.
Besides companion interactions and a healthy
amount of choices regarding quest resolution, a large
part of role-playing in MotB revolves around how you
choose to view the curse. It’s slowly sucking your life,
but it also bestows you the power to devour spirits
(and other abilities players might uncover by learning
to control the curse).
Sadly, the simplistic nature of D&D’s alignment
system largely removes around the moral depth this
choice could have had. Still, MotB has the most satisfying
evil path of any game I’ve played, and there are
multiple endings (and ending slides) to fit your choices.
Simply put, Mask of the Betrayer is brilliant. The
writing is of high quality and refreshingly original.
The way the gameplay and story is tied together by the
Spirit Meter is excellent, and I hope it is remembered
in the future. Building and planning your character is
as fun as ever. And even more nice things are hidden
in the details: a stellar bit of voice acting here, a cool
role-playing choice there, a powerful unique item
hiding behind that.
The combat may be too easy and the gameplay
mostly mediocre but, with so much other good stuff
in the game, does it even matter? JA
Mods:
MotB Makeover SoZ Edition: A complex mod that
adds features introduced in NWN2: Storm of Zehir,
such as full party creation (up to eight characters),
companion multi-classing and an expanded crafting
system. Save for a replay, as it changes the game a lot.
Rooster Cheat: Removes the party limit, allowing
you to travel with four companions. A mod for those
who value story and role-playing over combat.
Romance Pack: Allows you to romance some of your
companions, and adds extra scenes tying up possible
romances from NWN2’s original campaign.
TIP: use cheats
or mods to get
all companions
into your party
at the same
time. Combat is
easy regardless,
and there’s no
point missing
out on their
excellent
dialogue.
367
Agarest:
Generations of War
Idea Factory & Compile Heart, 2007
Windows, Xbox 360 and PS3
Agarest was
first released in
2007 in Japan
for the PS3. It
was localised
into English
for consoles in
2009, and then
ported to PCs
in 2013.
Choices you
make during the
game will affect
battles you face,
your alignment
and relationship
with the three
heroines of each
generation.
The orange dots
on the world map
are mandatory
“filler” battles,
which are far too
frequent and
will test your
patience.
368
A
very divisive title, Agarest’s main feature can be
either its main draw or an irredeemable flaw:
can you endure a journey that spans multiple
generations of heroes and over a hundred hours?
The game is a tactical JRPG where you control
a party of up to six characters, fighting in extremely
challenging turn-based battles. The game was clearly
made for hardcore players, so expect tons of stats and
equipment, an elaborate skill system, combo attacks,
crafting, enchanting, monster capturing, formations,
multiple routes, fan-service and a lot of grinding.
Along the way you’ll meet a colourful cast of
characters – including three romanceable heroines –
and make a few decisions which affect your alignment,
the battles you’ll face and which girl likes you more.
After a few dozen hours, you reach the climax,
battle evil, marry your girl of choice and have a baby.
However, instead of ending there, the game
flash-forward until your son is all grown up and you
take control of him, ready to meet new companions,
romance new girls and make a new stand against evil.
Agarest lasts for five generations, all working
towards a final goal. Items, spells and some
companions carry on, and the stats, weapons and looks
of each generation’s hero are determined by his parents’,
leading to some interesting long-term planning.
Inexplicably, despite being “five-games-in-one”,
the developers decided to pad Agarest’s length. Thus,
while the events and story battles are interesting,
you’ll waste an ungodly amount of time in pointless
filler fights. Moreover, the game is repetitive and really
starts to drag after the 3rd generation. I honestly can’t
imagine the patience required to replay it multiple
times to see all the routes and the secret “true ending”.
In 2009, a prequel, Agarest Zero, was released. It
follows the same basic formula but reduces the filler
combat and only has two generations. It also added
character creation for the first hero and a lot of great
post-game content – including an abridged version of
the first game that removed all filler and choices.
Agarest 2 arrived in 2010 with better graphics,
three generations of heroes and a new, more complex
(but confusing) combat system based around combos.
It’s hard to pick the best game – the first has
the best characters; Zero polishes the gameplay and
reduces padding while Agarest 2’s fast-paced numbercrunching
combat might interest more some players.
Regardless, here’s some advice: Agarest’s DLCs are
pay-to-win, so disable all of them except for dungeons
and extra costumes. Otherwise, you’ll start the game
extremely overpowered, ruining all the fun. FE
Elona
Noa, 2007
Windows
Elona, short for “Eternal League of Nefia”, is a free
Japanese roguelike with rather unconventional
design choices – such as its open-world nature
and the fact that death is not permanent.
Most typical roguelikes are about exploring a
single self-contained randomly generated dungeon,
restarting from the beginning if you die. Elona, on the
other hand, counts on the player holding on to one
save file for dozens, or even hundreds of hours.
At first sight, Elona may look derivative. Many
mechanics were borrowed from ADOM and it uses
art assets taken directly from RPG Maker and Stone
Soup. It also has a less serious tone, with chest-busters
from Aliens, Big Daddies from BioShock and even
Pokéball-like items you can use to capture monsters.
But there’s an undeniable complexity underneath it.
While the game is pretty sparse when it comes
to dialogue choices, its role-playing options go far
beyond the typical “melee, ranged or magic” tropes
seen in nearly every modern fantasy RPG.
For example, it’s perfectly viable to play focusing
on Charisma. Such characters may roam from town
to town performing as a musician and earning money
that way. They don’t even necessarily have to do battle
– it’s often possible to run away, but high Charisma
also means a greater capacity to employ hired
mercenaries. Not interested in the life of a travelling
musician? Charisma also makes it easier to get paid as
a travelling merchant, or even a prostitute.
The game provides so many varied mechanics,
random dungeons and side-quests that it’s very easy to
get distracted from the main quest and pursue other
interests. A player might run a farm, build a shop or
even set up a museum. Investments can be made, but
bills need to be paid every month. There are also allies
and monsters you can recruit – or marry – or breed!
Moreover, sudden events like being affected by a
dangerous mutagenic wind or having a town infested
by aliens can completely alter your game, enforcing
urgent objectives or unpredictable new powers.
This sandbox approach, the lack of permadeath,
its 16-bit JRPG-like graphics and controller support all
give Elona a very different appeal from other roguelikes,
but there’s more than enough freedom, depth and
challenge here to please most RPG fans. TM
Noa moved on
to work on a new
game but made
Elona’s source
code available,
leading to new
versions. The
most popular is
Elona+, which is
Japanese-only
but has an English
derivation called
Elona Custom.
Its Japanese
origins are felt:
early on you can
get a cat, dog,
bear or little girl
as a “pet”. In
Elona+/Custom
you can even
evolve the girl.
Elona offers ten
classes and 11
races, as well as
several traits and
feats, allowing for
characters that
can range from a
Lich Warmage to
a Fairy Pianist.
369
The Witcher
CD Projekt RED, 2007
Windows and Mac
In 2008, an
Enhanced Edition
of The Witcher
was released,
with countless
improvements,
new adventures,
an improved
editor and even
optional fanmade
mods. It
was a free update
for registered
owners of The
Witcher.
Geralt carries a
silver and a steel
sword, plus many
potions, oils and
bombs he can
employ against
certain enemies.
You must study
to know when to
use which.
370
The Witcher is a single-character Action RPG
based on Polish fantasy author Andrzej
Sapkowski’s series of novels, featuring Geralt
of Rivia, the eponymous witcher, a magically mutated
monster hunter for hire. The plot follows Geralt trying
to retrieve formulas and items required to create more
of his kind, which were stolen during an attack on
Kaer Morhen, a ruined fortress serving as a haven for
the few remaining witchers. However, this turns out
to be only one thread in a much more complex series
of events, in which the protagonist gets involved.
The game was created by CD Projekt RED,
development studio branch of Polish game publisher
and distributor CD Projekt. It was the studio’s first
release and clearly a work of passion, as it shows that
the creators were the book series’ fans. The Witcher’s
faithfulness to the source material and attention to
detail is remarkable, maybe even a bit too much, with
some characters, ideas and dialogues clearly recycled
from the books, sometimes with a different name.
The Witcher was created on a highly modified
version of Neverwinter Nights’ Aurora Engine, but you
probably would not notice that if it wasn’t written in
huge letters on the intro screens, as graphics are vastly
improved even compared to Neverwinter Nights 2.
Sound design is very good, and, while the bleak
music may not be very appealing to listen to outside the
game (unless you are trying to fuel your of depression),
it complements the game’s setting perfectly.
The world created by Andrzej Sapkowski is
a place, where happy endings are very few and far
between. Its inhabitants are usually savvy enough
to understand this, and try to cope using (often
dark) sense of humour and cynical attitude, only
emphasised by the fact that almost nobody in the
world cares about religion. This creates an interesting
mix of classic fantasy and mature themes with a semiserious
approach – even if CD Projekt failed to avoid
the trap of “mature equals sex, violence and profanity”.
This is a world where monsters roam the
countryside, with most people helpless against them.
Human dominance has forced elves and dwarves
exist to live in ghettos or take up arms as guerrillas
(or terrorists, depending who you ask). Mages reserve
their miracle-working magic for elites, who can afford
their services, while human and inhuman life is
valued highly only by a select few.
Geralt is one of those people, as much as he
wishes he was not. He tries to be a cold professional,
but more often than not he ends up helping people,
because nobody else will or can. He repeatedly tries to
remain neutral in the affairs of the world and just do
his job. In the novels he usually fails, in the game the
player decides which path is the right one – or rather,
the least wrong one.
While The Witcher is not an open-world game,
each chapter puts Geralt, in a fairly large area,
which he can explore, and interact with its various
inhabitants. Character progression is hand-waved as
Geralt regaining his skills and knowledge lost due to a
near-death experience and subsequent amnesia.
“We didn’t want the vision
of the game to be in any way
distorted or dampened. An odd
example of that occurred during a
conversation with a publisher who
said that, on account of their market
research, players overall want their
protagonist to be an Elvish woman
and that if we had changed The
Witcher accordingly they would have
considered negotiating a contract.”
– Michał Kiciński,
CD Projekt’s co-founder
When levelling up, Geralt earns skill points of
three types: bronze, silver and gold. These can be spent
to improve his abilities, with higher levels requiring the
rarer silver and gold ones to unlock.
As witchers are superhuman monster hunters,
Geralt is able to take on multiple enemies at once
from the very start, using one of his two swords – steel
against humans and their like, silver against monsters
– and a fast, strong or group fighting style (which
works well against agile, armoured and numerous
opponents, respectively). Using other melee weapons
is possible – but suboptimal, as Geralt’s kill only works
with his swords – but ranged combat is not possible.
The game offers two camera modes for you to
play in. Clicking on the enemy when in top-down
view will cause Geralt to automatically close the
distance and attack, while clicking on the ground
will move him away and/or evade attacks. Overthe-shoulder
camera makes controls more actionlike,
with manual, keyboard-controlled movement.
In both modes well-timed button presses will chain
attacks into combos, with increasingly more elaborate
animations and higher damage as the protagonist’s
abilities increase.
The Witcher features sex scenes and full-frontal
nudity, that were censored on the US version.
Geralt also knows five simple spells called Signs,
which can help him in a pinch and be upgraded by
spending skill points. The toughest fights, however,
require thorough preparation – learning about your
target via books and NPCs, then using alchemy to
brew potions that will temporarily boost Geralt’s
abilities and exploit the monster’s weakness.
Most of the time, however, is spent talking
to people living in the city of Vyzima and its rural
surroundings. Over the course of his adventure Geralt
will meet all sorts of characters, and it’s by interacting
with them that players will get immersed into this
rich world – solving many problems and pondering
over morally grey issues – but also hearing gossip,
fist fighting in taverns, playing dice and occasionally
getting drunk in the company of good friends.
Because ultimately, this is what The Witcher is all
about – becoming Geralt of Rivia and living his life
for a little while. And it does it very well. WM
Mods:
CD Projekt released a toolset with the game, leading
to some interesting fan-made adventures and mods:
Medical Problems I & II: A fantastic two-part saga
where Geralt must uncover the mystery behind a
strange illness. Features multiple endings and over 15
hours of gameplay, with great writing and design.
And a Curse, and Love, and Betrayal: One of the
biggest fan-made Witcher mods, you must cleanse a
mine and solve a lover’s curse. About 12 hours long.
Full Combat Rebalance Mod: Completely revamps
the combat, aiming to make it closer to the books.
It was developed by Andrzej “Flash” Kwiatkowski,
who also did Flash’s Witcher Mod, which adds higher
difficulty settings to the game, bug fixes and other
features. He was later hired by CD Projekt Red.
In combat you
must pick one
of three combat
styles best suited
to your enemies
and then carefully
time your clicks
to chain attacks.
The Witcher book
series’ popularity
in Poland is
incomparable to
any other fantasy
franchise. One
week after the
game’s longawaited
release it
was out of stock
everywhere. One
of The Witcher
short-stories
collections,
The Last Wish,
remains the only
Polish fantasy
book adapted
into a film (and
a TV series).
371
7.62
High Calibre
Apeiron, 2007
Windows
In 2008 Aperion
released 7.62:
Reloaded, a standalone
expansion
to High Calibre.
Unfortunately, it’s
only available in
Russia, but some
of its content was
included in the
Hard Life mod.
Although it was released back in 1999, Jagged
Alliance 2 still reigns alone – a highly complex
and detailed tactical game that to this day is
still played by fans, with many mods still being made
to keep the game alive and going. Many JA2 wannabe
games exist, but the consensus is that none can
compare to what was achieved in JA2 with mods, not
even the recently released Jagged Alliance Flashback.
It turns out JA2 also had a cult following in other
corners of the world, and in 2005 a Jagged Alliance
wannabe called Brigade E5: New Jagged Union was
developed in Russia. It didn’t do well with professional
critics but developed a loyal fan base. Two years later,
a sequel was released called Brigade E6 (known as
7.62 High Calibre in the US), featuring a more nonlinear
gameplay and other various changes.
By far the most interesting part of the game is its
combat system. Instead of using turn-based combat
like JA2, High Calibre features a unique real-timewith-pause
system. The easiest way to explain it is that
every single action takes time. For example, want to
turn around? It will take you 0.20 seconds. Want to
grab a med kit stored in your pockets? 0.89 seconds
are used for that!
Every action in the game takes time, including
the most basic ones like changing stance, picking up
objects and, of course, firing your weapon. While this
may sound clunky and messy, it actually makes the
combat really deep. The player must make intelligent
choices and calculate its time to play effectively.
The amount of depth underneath the system is
staggering – there are four shot types, six movement
types, customisable firing modes, a locational damage
system and multiple variables that alter the speed of
each action. Even adrenaline plays a big role, making
characters act faster, but less accurately.
Apart from the combat, another great feature is
the number of weapons available. From pistols to light
machine guns and sniper rifles, High Calibre features
over a hundred weapons, a number of which can be
further raised by installing mods.
Weapons have stats such as accuracy, magazine
size and damage, but also other stats like the time
it takes to aim them and their reliability. Unreliable
weapons like the Colt M16 must be kept well-repaired
and clean, or they might jam at the worst possible
moment – meaning some players might prefer the
legendary reliability of an AK-47 instead.
372
You can start as one of eight different mercenaries, each
with a set of attributes, but with customisable skills.
It’s vital to carefully maintain your guns, consider your
loadout and optimise your pockets for quick access.
“Each command performed by
your soldier takes some time,
real time. This time depends on
soldier skills, his condition, and
so on. All your soldiers perform
their actions simultaneously with
each other and enemy soldiers.
This brings realism to the combat.
Interruptions in turn-based systems
are but an attempt to simulate this.
Unsuccessful attempt, I should say.”
– Dmitry Ivashkin,
High Calibre’s lead programmer
Stats also vary between the classes of weapons.
Pistols are weak and inaccurate but are much faster
to aim and fire, making them very good close-range
weapons, when accuracy is not a problem. Some
weapons can even have their stock folded to make
them faster to aim at the cost of reduced accuracy.
There are also many weapon accessories, such as
flashlights, suppressors, foregrips, bipods, bayonets,
underbarrel grenade launchers, laser sights and
multiple types of scope. Some attachments also have
weaknesses – laser sights and flashlights can make
you easier to spot by enemies, and using long-range
scopes will reduce your field of view, making it easier
for enemies to flank you.
With so many options, combat feels rewarding
and fresh. This is fortunate because the rest of the
game is not so well-designed. Sadly, High Calibre
suffers from various bugs and a boring “FedEx quest”
storyline, filled with uninteresting characters and
saved only by its exciting battles.
You’ll start as a lone mercenary, hired to find a
Russian businessman that is currently hiding in the
North African nation of Algeria. High Calibre is an
open, non-linear game, so you can move around the
map to different cities, take multiple side-quests and
side with either the rebels or the government forces.
Later on you’ll be able to hire mercenaries to
help you in battle, partake in highly intense battles
to capture and control cities and other valuable areas,
and also create militia to defend your locations from
enemies. If they die, you will have to capture the area
again in more high-intensity battles – an activity most
JA2 players should be used to.
Unfortunately, 7.62 High Calibre isn’t the JA2
successor we all have been waiting for. However, with
the help of a few mods, those into tactical battles can
definitely still have a great time. SG
Mods:
Blue Sun Mod: The most well-known mod for the
game, it adds a new quest line, more mercenaries
to recruit, more maps, hundreds of new weapons,
stat balancing and many essential bug fixes. Highly
recommended even for first-time players.
Mercapocalypse: A merge of two popular mods,
adds new mercenaries and over 350 new weapons. It
also rebalances weapon stats and adds more diversity
to enemy weapon usage. Requires the Blue Sun Mod.
Hard Life: A Russian mod designed for 7.62 veterans,
it radically changes the game and adds lots of content.
Was recently translated into English and released on
Steam as an free enhanced edition for 7.62 owners.
Your stats,
skills, injuries,
adrenaline levels
and even in which
pocket you placed
an item will all
affect the speed
of your actions.
The Blue
Sun Mod is
endorsed by
the developers
and can be
downloaded
on Steam. Just
enable it in the
“Betas” menu.
There are various locations to travel to, and you can
buy a vehicle to go faster and store items in the boot.
Inside cities you can take quests, hire mercenaries, buy
weapons and even conquer or defend the whole city.
373
Eschalon:
Book 1
Basilisk Games, 2007
Windows, Linux and Mac
Eschalon:
Book I became
entirely free
in 2017, in
celebration
of its 10th
anniversary. You
can download
it here.
Light is very
important in
Eschalon, and
its pitch-black
nights and dark
dungeons make
torches essential
equipment.
374
When a lone developer started talking about
this old-school fantasy RPG that he was
working on back in 2005, most people
didn’t believe he could pull it off. Much to everyone’s
surprise, he not only released Eschalon: Book 1, but
also managed to release two more sequels.
“Old-school” describes the game pretty well, it
looks like it walked straight in out of 1992. SVGA
graphics, a clunky turn-based interface and very little
in obvious charm. But give the game a minute of your
time and its true magic will show itself. Eschalon
boasts an elaborate skill system that allows for several
solutions to various problems.
The game mechanics follow clear and simple
formulas and are easy to grasp, with special mention
of to how they seem to cater to thief-like characters,
which is uncommon in RPGs. Locks sport various
designs and levels of quality, but in many cases they
can also just be smashed open with brute force.
The setting feels unimpressive and clichéd at
first, staring with the tired trope of an amnesiac
protagonist that wakes up in a ruined house.
A cryptic chain of letters guides him onto the
main quest which involves four powerful gemstones,
and soon enough he’s travelling across the lands,
invading goblin strongholds and dwarven fortresses
in order to prevent a cataclysm from taking place.
Probably the greatest feature of Eschalon is the
freedom of exploration, there are very few artificial
barriers in place to force a player along a predetermined
path. Instead the game opts for the more
organic approach of giving travel advice via NPC
conversations and readables. Only rarely are gates
used to block further progress, and walking off the
beaten path is often rewarding.
To help with the exploring, Eschalon sports a
detailed automapping system, but asks that skill points
be invested in the Cartography skill to use it. Sadly,
there are no recruitable characters to help the player,
and while character dialogues aren’t badly written I
still couldn’t shake the feeling that NPCs were little
more than quest dispensers or shopkeepers. At least
some quests allow for multiple solutions.
But the bread and butter of the game is the
combat. The turn-based system allows for a tactical
approach, with the environment playing a vital role.
Gates can be slammed down on monsters’ heads
and traps can be laid down in tight passages. Light,
sound and line of sight also play a role, and, while
other games make darkness your enemy, here it can
be made an ally. With little effort, any character can
become a proverbial ninja, striking unseen.
But, unfortunately, Eschalon’s versatile system
is unbalanced to the point of being broken. Most of
the spells in Eschalon outright replace various skills
and equipment, rather than being sidegrades or
buffs. Mage characters become nigh-unstoppable
powerhouses as a result.
“What inspired me to start this
project was actually the sheer
disappointment that I have felt with
the design of most modern RPGs.
They are created with the idea of
targeting as wide a demographic as
possible, and, in doing so, they’ve
shut out the niche market that gave
birth to this genre in the first place.
[...]With the Eschalon series, we
hope to alleviate this lack of choice
by offering an RPG that is inspired
by the greatest ones of all time
rather than trying to reinvent the
genre all over again.”
– Thomas Riegsecker,
Eschalon’s creator
Character
creation features
all the standards,
plus options
like choosing
a home region
and a religion.
Skills also suffer from severe balance issues, as
some of them are only used in a handful of situations,
or maybe even on just a single map.
As can be expected, the game improves with the
sequels: Eschalon: Book 2 was released in 2010 and
strikes a good balance between having more of the
same and adding new things, like overhauling the UI
(so now it looks like a 1993 game) and adding in-game
weather. The neatest addition is the customisable
difficulty level; this includes options such as weapons
wearing down with use, and hunger and thirst meters.
In contrast, Eschalon: Book 3 (2014) feels like
it was rushed out the door. Sporting only minor
improvements to the game mechanics, the game
is clearly only half-finished as the ending comes
abruptly and the writing takes a nosedive in quality,
to the point of making the whole story anticlimactic
and disappointing.
The game’s ending goes so far as to make the
other two games in the series feel irrelevant, which
frankly is unforgivable. Combine that with overall
poor graphical support (none of the games support
widescreen resolutions) and it becomes clear that the
third game was neglected by the developers.
Sadly the poor performance of the third game
has all but killed further support and goodwill for the
Eschalon trilogy, leaving it hanging by a thread when
it needed a lifeline. ÁV
Fan-made Editor:
In 2008, an unofficial character and map editor was
created by Eschalon’s community member, xolotl.
Since then, the editor has been officially endorsed by
Basilisk Games, and modders have already created a
dozen of small mods for Eschalon: Book III.
Combat is turn-based and somewhat simplistic, but it’s
agile and helps with keeping the pace of the game fun.
The sequels add small but welcome upgrades, such as
difficulty customisation, item wear and a better UI.
375
Hellgate:
London
Flagship Studios, 2007
Windows
Those willing to
give the original
Hellgate: London
a try should use
the Revival Mod
for better game
balance and
more content.
And keep an
eye out for the
upcoming London
2038 mod.
Hellgate uses
London’s metro
stations as hubs
between random
dungeons, but
they only offer
goofy NPCs and
dull fetch quests.
Weapons follow
the classic Diablo
coloured loot
system and can
be upgraded,
but guns don’t
require bullets
nor reloading.
376
I
clearly remember myself watching the fantastic
trailer for Hellgate: London, awestruck by the
promise of a Diablo/FPS hybrid where high-tech
holy warriors fought hordes of demons in the ruins
of a post-apocalyptic London. I would shoot flying
demons with holy rifles, unleash spells from balconies
of gothic buildings and they would fall one by one,
spewing out incredible amounts of loot!
At a quick glance the promises were delivered.
Hellgate’s action is fast-paced, there are interesting
weapons with unusual mechanics, plus cool monsters
and bosses. The art direction is tight and consistent,
darkness is used cleverly in some areas, buildings
have several stories for you to traverse, and loot pours
out of monsters like there’s no tomorrow.
The game presents three archetypes to choose
from, each divided into two sub-classes. Blademasters
and Guardians are melee warriors; Summoners and
Evokers are spellcasters; Marksmen and Engineers are
ranged attackers. Depending on your weapons, you
can switch between a first- or third-person camera.
With these features, former Blizzard developers at
the helm and a fine marketing campaign, Hellgate was
highly hyped and sold nearly one million copies.
Then came the fall. It quickly became evident
to players that content was lacking – they were just
walking in the same corridors and fighting the same
monsters. The only thing that changed was their HP
and damage, plus a few poorly balanced skills.
Valuing quantity over quality, designers overrelied
on MMO-type fetch quests – everything was
based on “collect this artefact”, “kill this monster”,
“collect X body parts from X type of monster”.
Like Diablo II, the game could be played either
online or offline, but only those paying a monthly
“Elite” subscription of $10 (or a lifetime fee of $149)
would get content updates, such as new dungeons and
items. Regardless, all players had to deal with server
issues, character resets, crashes and bugs.
And so, a year after Hellgate’s release, Flagship
went bankrupt, closing the game servers soon after.
A Korean company then bought the game and
re-launched it in 2011 as Hellgate Global – this time
free-to-play and with new Tokyo areas. Criticised for
its “pay-to-win” progression, it lasted until January
2016 – with a Chinese company then buying the
rights and re-releasing it in China as Hellgate: Reborn.
Few games get this amount of hype and chances,
but, while Hellgate: London had a brilliant concept, it
failed to deliver. Borderlands (2009) would soon prove
just how well “Diablo with guns” could work. BA
Barkley,
Shut Up and Jam:
Gaiden
Tales of Game’s Studios, 2008
Windows and Mac
B-Ball. B-Ball never changes. The year is 2053.
Basketball is dead. Ravaged by the power of the
Chaos Dunk, the lives of countless innocents
were inadvertently taken by Charles Barkley.
Basketball became forbidden, putting the sport
into disarray. In the same year, the storm of dunking
came again – a mysterious player reduced Manhattan
to cinders. From the ashes of slamming devastation,
a veteran of basketball would struggle to arise. Life in
the Cyberpocalypse is about to change.
Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden is difficult
to describe. It’s a comedic RPG, and yet the world
and its characters take themselves very seriously.
Inspired by Chrono Trigger and Earthbound, the game
presents a bizarre trip around Neo New York and its
surrounding areas, with quests and characters that
can go in outlandish directions.
You’ll write poetry, uncover the long-forgotten
history of b-balls and realise the full potential of the
Chicken Dew. If a talking fuel pump lectures you on
the sublime nature of Chrono Cross, things have clearly
taken a turn for the strange. The writing is a strange
amalgamation of basketball references, allusions to
JRPGs, and just about everything else in between.
The combat is the traditional turn-based JRPG
fare, with up to four party members and several special
attacks. The combat also embraces the absurdity of
the setting. Clashing against Basketball spiders, Zombie
Referees, and Robotic Killer Gatorades is a slice of
what the developers came up with.
The special moves of your characters require
special input that varies wildly between one another
in terms of gameplay, and it makes each scuffle feel
unique instead of just another grind. Only in Shut
Up and Jam: Gaiden could you breakdance with Uzis
while curing a bad case of diabetes.
Graphically speaking, the comical design of the
characters, enemies and locales are a treat. And the
music delivers a serious Cyberpocalyptic atmosphere,
only occasionally heading into silly territory.
Any gamer with a sense of humour could find
nirvana here. Barkley, Shut Up And Jam: Gaiden is a
treasure trove for RPG fans both old and new, serving
as a reminder that some of the best things in life are
free – just like this game. GT
A sequel to
Barkley was
funded by a
Kickstarter
campaign in
December
2012, raising
over 120,000
dollars and
currently
scheduled
for 2018.
You’ll come
across all sorts of
characters, from
your old friend
Michael Jordan
to a cyberdwarf.
Mix and match
your abilities
with the varied
combat system.
Slam them from
downtown, or
have yourself
some chicken
fry – the choice
is yours.
377
The Last
Remnant
Square Enix, 2008
Windows and Xbox 360
The Last
Remnant was
released for Xbox
360 in 2008,
then received
an enhanced
PC port in 2009,
adding a New
Game+ mode, a
Hard Mode and
extra content.
A PS3 version
was advertised,
but sadly later
cancelled.
Some battle
commands are
only available in
certain contexts,
while others
depend on
hidden stats.
The character
system is very
different, as you
can’t directly
control the class,
skills or equipment
of units. The focus
are the formations.
378
The Last Remnant was a first for Square Enix,
in many ways. It was their first game using the
Unreal Engine 3, director Hiroshi Takai’s first
time at the helm, and their first big RPG designed from
the ground up to appeal to Western audiences (which
didn’t work, as reception in the West was lukewarm).
The result is a highly unusual JRPG with some key
flaws that prevent it from reaching greatness.
The game is set in a fantasy world divided into
city-states, all of which were built around Remnants,
mysterious ancient artefacts that hold great power.
Remnants have different shapes and sizes, going from
small hand weapons to colossal towers, monsters and
weapons. They can only be bound to one person at a
time, usually the ruler of each city.
The story begins with Rush Sykes, the son of two
Remnant scholars, having his sister kidnapped. In his
quest to rescue her, Rush finds himself in the middle of
political struggles, uncovering several mysteries and
makings allies in the process. It’s as bad as the typical
JRPG story, but with a slightly better supporting cast.
But make no mistake – battles are the focus here.
The Last Remnant’s combat system is the game’s high
point – as well as its most divisive aspect. Instead of
individual characters, the player controls “unions”.
Each union can have up to five units, and the number
of unions and units grows as the story progresses, up
to five unions and 18 units per battle.
The HP, stats and skills of each union depend on
its formation and the units comprising it. Instead of
directly choosing attacks, you give general orders like
“Use magic!”, “Heal yourself!” or “Charge!” to each
union, and its units then decide how to act.
There are many nuances like Battle Rank, morale,
engagement and hidden stats, all of which are poorly
explained. This makes combat artificially complicated
at first, but it becomes rewarding once you mastered
it, especially the large-scale battles near the end.
The game has many sub-quests, crafting, mining,
random unique monsters, challenging optional battles,
and sudden difficulty spikes which may lead players
to grind, but you’re actually punished for it. Enemies
scale up after you pass a certain threshold and some
can grow so powerful as to become near impossible.
As such, The Last Remnant has a sweet spot – you
should do all the side-quests and pursue its excellent
optional battles, but grinding or min-maxing too
much can spoil the fun. JRPG fans with the patience
to learn its mechanics will have a good 60-100 hour
experience with the game’s unique combat system,
great soundtrack and beautiful art. FAX
Valkyria
Chronicles
SEGA, 2008
Windows, PS3 and PS4
Set in a fictional version of Europe during a World
War I-like conflict, Valkyria Chronicles saw the
veteran Sega team behind the Sakura Wars series
deliver a breath of fresh air into tactical games.
The game’s outstanding feature is its blend of
tactical turn-based RPG with third-person combat.
When a mission starts you’re sent into a tactical map
and asked to dispatch up to ten units. Each turn
you’re given a set number of Command Points, and
by spending one you get to control a unit in thirdperson
mode, walking around for a set amount and
performing one attack. You may use a unit repeatedly,
but once your points are over, the turn ends.
The game offers five classes – Scouts, Engineers,
Shocktroopers, Lancers and Snipers – plus two types
of tank. Knowing where and when to use them is key:
a Lancer can destroy a tank with one well-aimed shot
at its engine, but it’s useless against regular troops.
Each character also has its own personality traits:
a “Loner” character, for example, gets a bonus when
far from the rest of the squad. After each battle you’ll
earn money and XP based on your performance,
which can be used to upgrade weapons, armour and
tanks, as well as level up each of the classes.
The main campaign offers 18 battles with a wide
range of goals – you’ll pursue an armoured car across
narrow streets, avoid enemy search parties in a forest
at night, defeat a massive tank, blow up a bridge, etc.
Some missions can take over an hour to complete and
allow many strategies, though the game pushes you to
complete them as fast as possible to earn an S rank.
You’ll eventually unlock extra side-missions,
such as repeatable skirmishes (where you can train),
special missions based around individual characters
and the DLC missions, which are included in the PC
port and allow you to play as other squads.
Between each mission you’re treated to story
cutscenes, which are surprisingly good. Characters
are quirky but down-to-earth, and the story is simple
but focuses heavily on racism and the horrors of war,
going as far as to include a concentration camp.
The fantastic art style helps to set the bleak yet
hopeful tone of the game, mixing expressive cellshaded
models with a charming watercolour style.
Sadly, the sequels Valkyria Chronicles II (2010)
and III (2011) remain PSP exclusives, while Valkyria
Revolution (2017) changed the series’ combat into a
disappointing fantasy Action RPG of sorts.
Still, Valkyria Chronicles remains one of the best
tactical RPGs of the 2000s, with a fresh take on the
genre, an involving story and gorgeous visuals. FE
Valkyria
Chronicles was
first released
for the PS3
in 2008, then
ported to PCs
in 2014. It also
got a remaster
for the PS4
in 2016.
The game is turnbased,
but you
control your units
in third-person
mode, manually
positioning them
and aiming shots.
Battlefields
offer several
obstacles and
opportunities,
such as high grass
troops can hide
in, minefields,
sniper towers,
elevators,
barricades, etc.
379
Fallout 3
Bethesda Softworks, 2008
Windows, PS3 and Xbox 360
Bethesda
hired various
Hollywood
actors for the
game, with
Liam Neeson
voicing your
father, Malcolm
McDowell
voicing Enclave’s
president and
Ron Perlman
reprising his role
as narrator.
Upon the announcement of Fallout 3, someone
new to the genre would be forgiven for
thinking that Bethesda’s previous RPGs, the
Elder Scrolls series, were some of the worst ever made.
I have rarely witnessed the sort of disappointment
and vitriol that long-standing Fallout fans displayed.
Their worry was that Fallout, known for its
branching paths, rich writing and complex character
development, would be turned into a vapid, firstperson,
post-apocalyptic reskinning of Oblivion.
Bethesda did indeed scrap the famous Interplaydeveloped
“Van Buren” Fallout 3 prototype and
decided to play to their strengths, with an enormous
open world and a first-person, single-character
perspective. Fallout 3 turned out to be more than
“Oblivion with guns”, with an identity and atmosphere
of its own – even if lacking the wit and dark sense of
humour that characterised its predecessors.
From your introduction to the Fallout mythos
via short slices of the character’s life as a child living
in a Vault, to dealing with the various factions and
survivors that populate the DC wasteland, the player
is immersed in a huge world, littered by odd groups
trying to rediscover and reclaim their place in it.
Each merchant caravan, each little settlement,
each small hut in the middle of nowhere or hidden,
highly secured Vault has its own story, its micronarrative,
either obvious or hidden, that helps
the player assemble a larger picture of this postapocalyptic
world. It doesn’t stand up to scrutiny,
especially when compared to the previous games –
things like food availability or the timeline don’t make
much sense when you think about it, so enjoying it
does require a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief.
The combat feels like an odd mixture of genres,
not quite skill-based first-person shooting and yet far
from stats-based RPG territory. Crucial to making
this approach work is the VATS system, which
allows the player to pause time and target opponents’
specific body parts, spending Action Points that vary
depending on target, range and weapon.
This allows the player to fall into a pleasant
rhythm of alternating between VATS tactical shooting
and finding cover or doing real-time shooting while
waiting for AP to recharge. Character development,
however, is a curt affair. At each level-up, you can
assign skill points that marginally increase your
efficiency at a variety of tasks.
380
You begin the game living with your father in Vault 101, from
birth to the day he leaves the vault – and you follow.
Fallout 3’s character screen, quest log and inventory
are all presented in your wrist-mounted Pip-Boy 3000.
“I think a lot of people assume
that we’re doing things to meet
some sort of demographic; they’re
like, ‘Oh, why is it first-person?’
I love first-person. [...] When you
step out of the vault, in first-person,
and see the [HDR light effect on
your] eyes come in... Dude,
that is a real moment.”
– Todd Howard,
Fallout 3’s director and
executive producer
The writing is
one of Fallout 3’s
weakest points,
presenting few
meaningful
dialogue choices,
dull companions
and failing to
capture the dark
humour of the
originals.
These range from hacking and lock-picking
mini-games to better handling of each specific class
of weapon. Each level-up, you can also choose a perk
that, in most cases, ultimately boils down to making
you hit others harder, or being harder to kill.
Meanwhile, exploring the game’s vast world
is hit- and- miss. Long treks into the unknown can
sometimes uncover interesting side-quests, cool
micro-narratives or even the treasured, permanent
stat-increasing “bobblehead” collectible figures, but
more often that not reveal just one more derelict office
building, a victim of copy/paste area design.
And while you can participate in acts that range
from blowing up an entire town to sharing water with
a dying man, choices ultimately matter little besides
nudging your karma meter one way or another. They
are accounted for, but don’t impact you.
Luckily, the game came with powerful modding
tools, allowing the community to improve on most
of these negatives through many different mods, the
most comprehensive of which is “Fallout 3 Wanderer’s
Edition” mod, an overhaul of nearly every mechanic.
To many, this is the “right” way to play the game.
Still, Fallout 3 is an interesting journey, with fun
set pieces leading up to a truly epic final showdown –
which, once again, doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
VATS allows you to pause and spend Action Points to
fire aimed shots, which are then shown in slow motion.
But storytelling was never a landmark of any
Bethesda game, and Fallout 3 is no exception. Instead,
it grips you with its vast open world, as you cruise the
wasteland listening to vintage records on the radio,
wondering what lies just beyond the next hill.
The first few hours remain the most engaging,
where, fresh to this new world, players must scramble
to find resources amidst the ruins, always fearing the
raiders or bandits that lurk around every corner.
After release, Fallout 3 got five DLCs, which sent
the player away to different regions, but most were
limited in scope. The two standouts, however, were
Point Lookout, a tour through an exceptionally atmospheric
bayou region, and Broken Steel, an additional
chapter to the main storyline that enabled the player
to continue playing past the game’s ending.
“War, war never changes” is the game’s opening
line. But Fallout, on the other hand, changed a lot.
And while it introduced a whole new generation of
fans to the series, it also left many of the old fans out
in the cold wasteland. LM
Mods:
Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch: Fixes hundreds of bugs.
Fallout 3 Wanderer’s Edition: A huge overhaul mod
that improves the game in every way, making combat
better, the RPG elements more relevant and adding
new weapons, items and features. A must-have!
Fellout: Overhauls the game’s weather and lighting,
replacing the green tint for a more natural look.
Fallout Overhaul Kit (FOOK): A big mod pack that
adds hundreds of weapons, armour and new textures,
together with some gameplay balance changes.
Flora Overhaul: Replaces the game’s environment.
Alton, IL: A fan-made expansion, adds an entirely new
area and a long and elaborate quest to the game.
381
Drakensang:
The Dark Eye
Radon Labs, 2008
Windows
A series of online
Choose Your Own
Adventure games
based on The
Dark Eye were
released alongside
Drakensang.
You can play
them at www.
tde-games.com
You can start by
choosing from
20 archetypes,
such as Human
Battlemage and
Dwarf Prospector,
or toggle the
“Expert Mode”
and customise
your character
using The Dark
Eye ruleset.
382
Drakensang adapts The Dark Eye, the popular
German pen-and-paper RPG, to a computer
RPG for the first time since Realms of Arkania:
Shadows over Rivia, way back in 1996.
A lot changed since then. Drakensang uses the
updated 4th edition rules and, instead of a blobber
with turn-based combat like RoA, plays as what its
developers described as “Baldur’s Gate in 3D” – an
epic real-time-with-pause RPG where you create a
character and gather companions to save the world.
This instantly brings Dragon Age: Origins (2009)
to mind, but Drakensang actually predates it. It also
goes for a very different tone, with a colourful, slightly
cartoony art style and a whimsical world, populated by
burlesque characters. It feels as a game born out of a
fun pen-and-paper RPG session between friends.
Its main feature, The Dark Eye ruleset, is both a
blessing and a curse. It’s a complex, classless system,
that offers a lot of freedom in character building.
Experience points are used to directly upgrade your
characters – improving attributes, spells and talents,
or being spent on trainers to learn new ones.
Such degree of freedom demands understanding
to be fully enjoyed. The developers added tooltips and a
nice manual, but it’s a system much more complicated
than Dungeons & Dragons. Some nuances, such as how
parry works, can be hard for newcomers to grasp.
A bigger frustration comes from how poorly
the game employs all these talents and nuances, e.g.
there are five Social talents, such as Fast Talk and
Seduce, but you’ll have very few chances to use them.
The majority of dialogues won’t even provide a single
role-playing option – you’ll just click on the only available
option and continue reading. Or just skip, since NPCs
have unique looks but dull, poorly translated lines.
In fact, Drakensang as a whole suffers from a poor
overall quality of content. Everything is linear and
railroaded – once you explore an area and finish the
main quest there, you’re sent to the next area, unable
to ever return to the previous one. Some quests have
creative premises, but too often they force you to walk
back and forth over large area, usually fighting the
same respawning enemies over and over.
The combat is also a mixed bag. It has great
animations and flows well, but lacks depth. During
most of the game, characters will only have one or two
combat skills, limiting your options. Worse, there’s no
collision detection – enemies can walk right through
your heroes, making positioning useless.
This is tolerable during most fights, but hurts
during the challenging boss battles – especially when
they overwhelm you with large numbers of enemies,
exposing the lack of tactical options available.
Overall, Drakensang has all the building blocks
required for a great RPG, but the content lacks in
quality and fails to take advantage of its strengths.
Playing it leaves you disappointed. It looks great and
has a rich system, it should be fun! But it isn’t.
“What’s really important to us is
creating a huge pool of clothing,
weapons and armour for the
player to choose from, so we
have something which I jokingly
call ‘Barbie dolls for men’, an
opportunity for adults to play dressup,
so to say. The variety of items,
a flexible equipment system and
upgrading your character are a lot
of fun and very important elements
in Drakensang.”
– Bernd Beyreuther,
Drakensang’s project director
Luckily, Radon Labs later released Drakensang:
The River of Time (2010), a prequel which took
player’s feedback to heart and improved upon every
aspect of the game. Exploration became non-linear,
talents more useful, fast-travel points were added, the
filler battles were replaced by engaging set pieces, etc.
It’s the same system, but with much better content.
Still, the most interesting change is the scope, as
The River of Time goes for a shorter and more intimate
story. Instead of being The Chosen One, here you join
a trio of charismatic adventurers – Ardo, the Warrior;
Cano, the Thief; and Forgrimm, the Dwarf – and play
as a their partner in a smaller, 30-hour adventure.
You’ll still be able to control them most of the
time, but in some moments they’ll act by themselves.
For example, when trying to invade a fortress, Cano
will try sneaking while Forgrimm will brute-force his
way in. You’ll decide who to help – playing either a
stealth section or a combat gauntlet.
The game delivers these moments in a well-paced
and humorous tone that fits perfectly with the colourful
art style. In a sense, The River of Time is perhaps the
closest we ever got to a The Princess Bride CRPG.
Sadly, Radon Labs had several issues publishing
the game outside Germany. Its English version arrived
almost a year later, as a $20 budget title that had no
marketing or press coverage. Radon Labs still put out the
Phileasson’s Secret expansion, but then went bankrupt.
The company was acquired by Bigpoint Games,
a German publisher specialising in browser games.
In 2011, they released Drakensang Online – a freeto-play
Diablo-like browser MMORPG, no longer
connected to previous games or The Dark Eye ruleset.
Drakensang: The Dark Eye might have been
underwhelming, but The River of Time remains a great
RPG. Few people got the chance to play it, but if you’re
reading this and enjoy games like Dragon Age, be sure
to embark on this joyful, full-hearted adventure. FE
Combat is realtime-with-pause,
with up to four
party members.
It’s very similar
to many BioWare
titles, but issues
such as limited
abilities and a
wonky movement
system stop it
from being great.
We suggest using
Ergo’s Fixpack
when playing
Drakensang, and
Ergo’s AddonPack
when playing
River of Time.
Both mods
feature several
bug fixes, balance
improvements
and other useful
tweaks, such as
faster movement.
The Dark Eye ruleset gives players a lot of options, but
they can be hard to understand and are often underused.
The River of Time features more choices that affect dialogue
and gameplay, such as helping Forgrimm or Cano.
383
Fortune Summoners:
Secret of the
Elemental Stone
Lizsoft, 2008
Windows
FS had a Deluxe
version released
in 2009 in Japan,
with additional
content and
voice acting. But
only the original
version was
localised into
English by Carpe
Fulgur in 2012.
You can switch
control between
the three main
characters on
the fly, as well as
customise their
behaviour when
being controlled
by the AI.
Characters
have four base
attributes,
and also learn
many spells and
abilities. Using
them correctly
without sticking
to just one or
two is crucial.
384
Fortune Summoners is a hardcore side-scroller
ARPG in the vein of “Metroidvania” games,
featuring three classes (combat roles) and a
strong emphasis on character stats and skills.
The main character, Arche, is a physical fighter
who is controlled in the manner similar to fighting
games, while her friends are magic-users – Sana’s water
magic is slow but diverse, while Stella is an aggressive
fire spellcaster, capable of freely moving around.
Generally, combat is what the game does best.
Enemies react to your moves, acting ahead if your
actions get too simplistic, dodging your attacks,
taking advantage of the pauses in your movement,
and inflicting status ailments. They also block, flank,
stun-lock you, fly, jump, do leap and ranged attacks,
cast powerful spells, heal themselves, float out of your
attack or spell range, and move faster than you do.
Much of the game’s difficulty comes from
managing your timing and momentum (which
may prove frustrating to some). The companion
AI is competent enough that the player might find
themselves worse at controlling the girls (in particular
Arche) than the AI, but also highly customisable.
Fortune Summoners never holds your hand.
Dungeons get labyrinthine and span many screens,
featuring puzzles that involve jumping, switch-pulling,
crate-pushing, and discovering hidden passages.
Unfortunately, exploration can get fetch quest-y and
linear, with a back-and-forth design that often expects
you to find the one NPC amidst a hundred of others
to advance the plot.
Starting off with Arche, the transfer student
on the way to her new school, the game’s story and
dialogue are nothing if not cliché-laden – luckily
treated playfully, not seriously. The pervading spirit of
light-heartedness and camaraderie, perfectly captured
by Carpe Fulgur’s translation, eases you into the whole
nonsense pretty well, too.
Fortune Summoners takes pride in its old-school
design, with good reason and to good effect. The
combat is engaging and challenging, the writing is
upbeat and charming, and the dungeon-crawling,
while at times artificially prolonged by backtracking,
is enjoyable with many secrets to find. As a result, it
remains one of my favourite. CB
Project Aon, 2008
Windows, Mac and Linux
Seventh Sense
In July of 1984 the first instalment of the Lone
Wolf gamebook series, Flight from the Dark, was
published, spawning a franchise that would sell
over ten million copies to date.
The setup is classic: you are Lone Wolf, the only
surviving Kai Lord – an order of holy warriors blessed
with psychic and physical powers that opposes the
Darklords. It’s a simple tale of good guys versus bad
guys, but the implementation is masterful.
Created by young musician Joe Dever together
with his artist friend, Gary Chalk, the series would
stamp upon young minds a narrative, a look and an
identity that would shape their idea of fantasy for
years to come. Sadly, by the late 90s the gamebook
market withered, prematurely ending the series.
In recent years however there has been renewed
interest in the series thanks to Project Aon, a fancreated
site that re-released the books in HTML, with
permission from Joe Dever, who approved the free
dissemination of his work online as a gift to the fans.
Seventh Sense is a free, fan-made playing aid for
the Project Aon versions of the Lone Wolf gamebooks.
It automates and aids the playthrough, tracking all
stats, rolls, skills, items and page-jumping, while also
allowing players to greatly customise the book’s rules,
art style and even seek special challenges.
The books are intended to be played in order, as
one huge adventure. In the first one you create your
character, rolling stats, choosing skills (Camouflage,
Hunting, Weaponskill, Healing, Mind Blast, etc.) and
your initial equipment. These choices will all greatly
impact the options available during your quest.
Each subsequent book allows you to keep your
current equipment and choose one extra skill, taking
Lone Wolf all the way from an apprentice to a Grand
Master with mythical weapons and powerful spells.
The series has 29 books, and at the time of writing
Seventh Sense supports up to book 17, The Deathlords
of Ixia, and it's regularly updated with more content.
To return to Lone Wolf after a few decades away
is a pleasurable experience. The adventures of the last
of the Kai Lords are short, sharp shocks: full of daring
escapes, sudden deaths, exotic locales, crazy plots and
fantastical elements that enchant young minds and
cloud old ones with a perfect miasma of nostalgia. NT
In 1998,
Joe Dever
published the
28th Lone Wolf
book. After an
18-year hiatus,
he returned in
2016 with a
self-published
29th book.
Seventh Sense
calculates and
tracks all your
rolls, skills, items
and choices.
This is especially
useful as you
carry your hero
from one book
to another.
Combat is solved
by taking your
Combat Skill,
subtracting the
enemy’s Combat
Skill and rolling
a dice. A chart
then indicates
the battle’s result.
385
Mount
& Blade
TaleWorlds Entertainment, 2008
Windows
TaleWorlds is
an indie games
studio based
in Turkey. In
2005 they were
founded and
released an
alpha of Mount
& Blade. From
that alpha they
gathered a fan
base, funding
for the full
game and a
publishing deal
with Paradox.
While travelling
in the world
map, you’ll often
come across
nobles, villagers,
caravans, bandits
and armies, each
with their own
objectives and
behaviours.
386
If you take visceral hack-and-slash combat akin
to that found in Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, add
in a smaller scale, more intimate taste of battle
management à la Medieval: Total War, and wrap it all
in the trappings of a medieval sandbox world with
RPG elements, your end result is the multi faceted
and engaging game named Mount & Blade.
Your start by creating your character, answering
questions about his/her background and ambitions,
which will affect your stats, items and social standing.
Then the game begins, and you’re in Calradia, a large
medieval world, free to do whatever you wish – hunt
bandits, recruit villagers for your army, fight nobles in
tournaments, offer your services for a king, etc.
But truly, the soul of Mount & Blade is its battles.
Whether you are a general charging the enemy’s army
from a snow-covered hill or just a soldier taking
part in a castle siege, the game just comes to life: the
landscapes, character, weapon and armour models,
sound of hooves, clash of blades and cries of battle all
work together to immerse you in that moment.
Combat is deceptively simple: by pressing the
left button and moving your mouse you attack from
left, right, overhead or thrust. Doing the same with
the other button leads to a block, but there are parries,
shields, weapon types, momentum and other nuances.
You may also issue instructions for your army –
if you manage to keep a sharp mind as battle erupts
around you. Clashing with targets of opportunity and
making snap decisions as the unpredictableness of
battle unfolds to achieve victory is deeply satisfying.
While roaming the lands of Calradia either, as
an avatar on the game map or while exploring one of
the towns or castles that dot its surface, you are able
to stop, rest your troops, and plan your next move
amongst all the chaos of a land contested by multiple
factions. This is when the sense of all of your battles
being small cogs in a larger wheel sets in – as you
interact with NPCs either through dialogue or at the
tip of a sword, other NPC units are likewise pursuing
their own objectives all around you.
Faction relations and interactions are evershifting,
and the armies are constantly on the move.
Fortunately, significant events you don’t encounter
yourself while roaming the land are flashed to you
in text and logged into the game’s bank of reference
material, providing general glimpses on the state of
the land when needed.
The lands of Caraldia are alive with more than
just the faction forces: army deserters, manhunters
tracking them down, sea raiders, villagers, trade
caravans and more all move about and interact,
making the otherwise sparse land come alive with the
simulated life of the population.
Conflicts, either small skirmishes or all-out
battles with hundreds of troops, are always occurring
throughout the land, and your role in it all is up to
you. At night, sight lines are reduced, and it may come
as a shock to find just how close an enemy force is
when dawn strikes. Fortunately, everything on the
land freezes when your force is stopped, giving you
time to plan your next move.
Mods for Mount & Blade
Battle Size Changer: Allows you to
increase the maximum number of
soldiers in battle at once, from the
default 100 to a max of 1,000.
The Last Days of the Third Age:
Lets the player fight on either side
of the War of the Ring, as one of
Tolkien’s various fantasy races.
Star Wars Conquest: A huge mod
set in the Star Wars universe that
allows you to explore, battle heroes
and conquer the galaxy.
Sword of Damocles Adds a complex
kingdom management system, over
100+ troop types and much more.
Mods for Mount & Blade: Warband
Floris Mod Pack: A compilation
of great mods created by the fans.
Highly recommended.
Anno Domini 1257: Set during the
Crusades and Mongol Invasions.
Brytenwalda: A complex mod set in
Britain after the fall of Rome.
Prophesy of Pendor: A popular
but challenging mod, with tough
enemies and deadly combat.
A Clash of Kings: Set in the world
of G.R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones.
Warsword Conquest: An amazing
mod based on Warhammer Fantasy.
The Last Days of the Third Age mod
allows you to defend Minas Tirith.
Conquer the galaxy as a Sith lord
in the Star Wars Conquest mod.
As a sandbox game there is no overarching
narrative guiding progression in M&B, so “winning”
falls to a player’s own particular interests. This could
mean aiding your faction in achieving dominance,
but could also involve more character -specific goals.
Perhaps you wish to aid a pretender to wrest
the throne from her rival and in turn be granted a
lordship. Both your Renown (earned in battle) and
your Relationship rating with lords and townspeople
will determine if they even acknowledge you, and are
impacted by quests and the decisions you make.
If combat is your main goal, the XP gained from
kills and completing missions increases your stats,
which in turn opens the door for higher skill levels.
Skills are all passive, and range from dealing more
damage with certain weapons to riding better horses,
tracking other groups, capturing prisoners, persuading
nobles and better training of troops.
Yes, your troops will also level up, following one
of several upgrade trees. Those Swadian farmers you
recruited might become powerful knights, while the
Khergit recruits can become agile horse archers.
The effort and care for detail put in by TaleWorlds
to create a faithful medieval experience rather than a
fantastic one is an endearing facet of Mount & Blade:
weapons and armour are more rugged than gaudy,
castles, towns and villages are made of hew wood or
stone, and the people of Calradia look and act the part:
the poor are unwashed and weary, while the nobility
are somewhat clean and focused on self -interest.
In 2010, a stand-alone expansion called Mount
& Blade: Warband was released, adding a new faction,
the ability to form your kingdom and multiplayer.
Then came historical packs: With Fire & Sword (2011),
Napoleonic Wars (2012) and Viking Conquest (2014),
adding guns, cannons, ambushes and much more.
Still, Warband remains the most popular version,
thanks to its amazing variety of excellent mods.
Ultimately, the core of Mount & Blade is reflected
in its name, giving a harrowing and entertaining taste
of being a medieval battle commander. But it does
so within a subtly immersive world of conflict and
choice shaped by your victories or defeats, by mount
and by blade. BW
The With
Fire & Sword
expansion is set
in 1600s Poland
and it’s based
on a famous
novel of the
same name,
written by
Nobel-winning
author Henryk
Sienkiewicz.
Characters don’t have much of a personality, but dialogues
offer many options, from serving kings to marrying nobles.
You can buy weapons, armour, horses, food for the troops
or even live as a trader, making profit on trade goods.
387
Neverwinter Nights 2:
Storm of Zehir
Obsidian Entertainment, 2008
Windows
The tight
budget on
Storm of Zehir
led to some of
the VA work
being carried
out in-house,
with the
developers
themselves
voicing some of
the characters.
Zehir allows
the entire party
to engage in
conversations,
with characters’
skills, races,
classes and
alignments
allowing for
distinct replies.
On the world
map, characters
pass skill checks
to run faster
through rough
terrain, spot
various hidden
locations and
avoid being
ambushed by
wandering foes.
388
Where NWN 2’s first expansion, Mask of
the Betrayer, wriggled free of the main
campaign’s tiresome Sword Coast heroics
to deliver a charmingly dark and offbeat fairy-tale
narrative, Obsidian Entertainment’s second add-on
offered the chance for its designers to get genuinely
creative with the series’ gameplay.
Storm of Zehir wouldn’t have the budget of
either of its predecessors, or the development time,
or the manpower. What it did have was an impressive
collection of art assets (including almost 120 unique
creatures), 24 sub-races, 15 base classes, 24 prestige
classes and 1,859 feats – plus a dozen-odd background
traits for anyone who wasn’t satisfied with those
character-building possibilities.
With this hoard of role-playing resources in
hand, lead designer Tony Evans and his team decided
that Zehir would be a throwback CRPG; a storylight
adventure with full party creation, a variety
of monsters, and heavy emphasis on skill checks. It
would take the player through the mysterious jungles
of Chult, founding a trade empire while attempting to
thwart a Yuan-Ti conspiracy.
It was a fantastic idea – and, in its efforts to reestablish
the delights of unfashionably outdated RPG
tropes, highly prescient. Sadly, the project’s ambitions
come up short against a pretty unassailable obstacle
– the game itself. Simply put, NWN2 is the wrong
vehicle for this kind of RPG. Its long loading times
and module-based gameplay become truly agonising
when applied to a constant series of random
encounters and tiny settlements, while the infamously
bad AI continues to wreck all hope of creating
legitimately tactical combat.
Other ideas simply feel half-baked; the
merchant empire-building amounts to little more
than trotting across the map collecting invisible
lumber and dropping it off at various towns. The main
plot itself is so lightly handled as to barely register.
There are genuine consolations, however. The
game’s dungeons, while often frustratingly small,
make full and inventive use of its bestiary. The
jungles of Chult (and their dinosaurs!) are a fresh and
welcome locale. And the grandest innovations – the
party-based conversation system and the world map
– deserve to have real influence on RPG design long
after memories of this expansion have faded.
Zehir, in short, is a real curiosity – albeit one
more likely to appeal to modders, designers and
Obsidian completionists than anyone looking for a
solid, entertaining dungeon-crawling good time. GT
Larian Studios, 2009
Windows and Xbox 360
Divinity II:
Ego Draconis
This is a game where you can (at will) turn into
a dragon, attack a flying fortress and the army
of demons protecting it, land in the courtyard,
kill the guards with a mix of fierce sword fighting and
spell-casting, subdue the fortress’s commander and
then read his mind to find out his deepest secrets. All
this 100% gameplay, no cutscenes involved. It has to
be one of the best RPGs ever made by man, right?
Unfortunately, no. Larian’s ambitious vision for
Divinity II included a multiplayer campaign and even
RTS elements. However, development issues, lack of
funding and the hardware limitations of the Xbox 360
forced them to make some deep cuts in their project.
While the end result is still an entertaining thirdperson
Action RPG, it’s also a very uneven one.
Starting as an apprentice Dragon Slayer, you are
sent on your first hunting expedition. Soon the tables
turn as you suddenly find yourself bound to a dragon,
able to shape-shift into a mighty flying beast, but on
the run from your previous companions.
Larian always set themselves apart by their clever
writing, and Divinity II is no exception. Some of the
dialogues are exceptional, the quests are highly creative
and the game overflows with interesting ideas, such
as the aforementioned mind-reading skill, the mighty
dragon form, an undead “pet” you can customise by
collecting body parts and even a personal battle tower,
complete with servants you must recruit.
The problem is that the game often doesn’t play
to its strengths, tiring players with dungeons full of
mindless enemies or repetitive battles against the
flying fortress, when the real treat lies in its dialogues
and quests. The combat isn’t bad per se, featuring
a nice range of spells and abilities, but it’s poorly
balanced. Worst, it’s often clear that you’re fighting
enemies just to artificially extend the game’s length.
The original release was plagued by bugs, but the
2011 Dragon Knight Saga re-release fixed most issues,
enhanced the graphics, redesigned some areas and
added the Flames of Vengeance expansion pack, with
about 20 hours of new content.
In 2012, Larian would release the Developer’s
Cut version, adding design documents, concept art,
a fascinating documentary about the development of
the game and the various obstacles they faced, plus an
optional “cheat mode”.
Read that as a developer’s confession that the
game works better as a crazy, light-hearted experience,
enjoying quests and skipping combat. Divinity II
could have been much more, but its humour and
clever writing still guarantee a good time. FE
Larian would
return for more
dragon battles
in Divinity:
Dragon
Commander
(2013), an
exotic mix of
RTS battles,
strategy maps,
dragon combat
and political
simulator.
Combat is simple
and cooldownbased,
but gets
the job done. The
real problem is
that there’s just
too much of it.
While impressive,
transforming
into a dragon
can get tiresome,
as you’re
mostly limited
to repetitive
battles against
a flying fortress.
389
Dragon Age:
Origins
BioWare, 2009
Windows, Mac, PS3 and Xbox 360
To help
promote
Dragon Age,
EA hired
Blur Studio
to create an
elaborate
4-minute CGI
trailer, titled
Sacred Ashes.
It is difficult to accurately portray what Dragon Age
represented at the time. While still independent,
BioWare had given us some of the most memorable
entries in the RPG genre. However, their recent
dabbling in Eastern martial arts with Jade Empire and
pulp science-fiction shooter-RPGs with Mass Effect,
had baffled as many fans as it had pleased others.
Dragon Age, then, when first revealed in 2004,
was seen as a return to form. A return to tactical
battles, to a high-fantasy setting, to game mechanics
uncompromised by console ports. While in line with
the company’s desire to create their own original IP,
it was a spiritual successor to the Baldur’s Gate series.
Rechristened Dragon Age: Origins, it held its
ambitions up proudly, with an intro chapter that
varied wildly depending on the race, class and social
standing of your created character. The game thus
sidestepped the usual memory loss trope beautifully,
giving you plentiful background into your character’s
life and possible motivations – before tying it in
smartly with an epic first chapter that demonstrated
both the scope of the threat facing the world of
Thedas, as well as the rich background of cultural and
political intrigue that tugged at its periphery.
Dragon Age stands to this day as a masterclass in
introducing players to a game, world and characters,
and sadly, few games have attempted beginnings in
such a scope. Origins, indeed.
Then came the combat that makes up much of
the game. An active, party-based battle system where
the player controls up to four characters in realtime-with-pause
combat. The game seamlessly went
into this mode from Exploration mode whenever
required, offering in both modes a good degree of
camera control. The PC version also included a third,
tactical bird’s-eye view with mouse-driven controls –
a clear nod to the Infinity Engine games.
The complaint, for many, was that, in deviating
from the rich Dungeons & Dragons ruleset, Bioware
had not created an equally compelling alternative of
their own, and the oversimplification of the system –
fewer classes, fewer abilities, simplified skill trees, and
even fewer party members – made for less compelling
encounters and less of a tactical challenge.
While there were highlights – one of the first
fights against a towering, ogre-like enemy, for
instance, or the dragon encounters – many of the
battles felt cookie-cutter and by-the-numbers.
390
Character creation is limited to three classes and three
races, but you can unlock 18 specialisations as you play.
Combat offers both a third-person camera and a tactical
top-down camera, similar to the Baldur’s Gate series.
“The problem with the ‘moral meter’
is that even though we’re offering you
choices, it forces you to choose one or
the other, and then you’re on a fixed
path [...] So, in Dragon Age, we don’t
have a good and evil meter, all the
decisions in the game have solutions
that are logical, where we thought,
‘let’s provide the player with solid
reasons for doing these things’, which
allows us to have a lot of room for
greyness in morality.”
– David Gaider,
Dragon Age: Origins’ lead writer
Spell-casting uses
a mix of mana
and cooldowns.
Some spells can
be sustained,
while others can
be combined into
powerful magic
combos.
Loot was similarly simplified. While equipping a
new piece of gear for your characters did have pleasant
visual impact, it was relatively rare to find items that
had a cool story behind them or a tangible mechanical
benefit. And the lack of variety often made players
wear the same armour set for dozens of hours.
The world, too, was missing the huge amount of
secrets and places to explore for exploration’s sake that
had left their mark on previous games. Some areas –
like Ferelden’s capital, Denerim – have their share of
nooks and crannies, but most other areas feel a bit flat.
It was the writing, then, that saved Dragon Age:
Origins. To this day it stands as some of BioWare’s
finest. The world was written with a scope and depth
that paints a much broader picture than the relatively
small setting of Ferelden where the plot develops.
Yet even this small corner of the world is rife with
political plots and cultural/racial tensions. Be it the
plight of the elves or the ostracisation of magic-users,
your character is given much to think about.
And think about it you should, because the
available dialogue options are much more nuanced
than those of modern BioWare games. Gone is the
duality that forced you to pick between demon and
saint in KotOR, or between good samaritan and hardassed
rebel in Mass Effect.
Armour offers set bonuses and weapons can be upgraded
with runes, but both are very limited and feel uninspired.
Here you can, as an example, really feel sorry for
the way mages are treated, because you know a few
and they seem actually quite decent people. But, on
the other hand, some of these decent people seem to
be involved in blood rituals and the summoning of
demons, endangering common folk and themselves.
The lack of a moral compass that defines your
character is replaced by relationships with your party
members – some of the most beautifully written
and complex party members in BioWare’s history.
Depending on how they view your actions and words,
they may either open up to you or even directly
oppose or betray you – a fascinating loyalty system
that can sadly be mostly cheated on via gift-giving,
but remains as one of the finest integrations between
writing, player choice and mechanics.
The game was further complemented by a huge
amount of DLC, most of which is story-driven and
of very high quality; a modding toolset that gave us
some great fan-made content; and a remarkably tight
– if somewhat brief – expansion in Awakening.
A mystery when first announced, Dragon Age:
Origins is today seen by many (myself included)
as BioWare’s last great RPG, before they turned
completely to a (still quite enjoyable) more
mainstream kind of game. LM
Mods:
Extended Community Canon Project: A series of
interconnected mods and campaigns that expand
upon the game’s world and lore.
Dragon Age Redesigned: Adds many subtle changes,
improving the visuals, environments and events.
JX - Dragon Age Extended: A big mod pack that adds
new classes, specialisations, bug fixes and tweaks.
Baldur’s Gate II Redux: Module 1: Allows you to
play through Irenicus’ iconic dungeon from BG2.
Dragon Age
had over
35 DLCs,
ranging from
stand-alone
campaigns to
extra party
members,
holiday gifts,
pre-order
bonuses and
merchandise
tie-ins. It was
highly criticised
for featuring
an NPC that
would advertise
and sell DLCs
in-game.
391
Warhammer 40,000:
Dawn of War II
Relic Entertainment, 2009
Windows Linux and Mac
DoW2’s co-op
and multiplayer
mode were
originally tied to
Windows Live,
but were moved
to Relic’s own
servers in late
2014. To this
day they remain
quite popular.
392
You control
your squad in
real time, using
tactics, cover,
skills and items
to best survive
the game’s
overwhelming
odds.
From dozen of
weapons and
accessories to
jetpacks, relics,
Terminator
armour and even
giving into Chaos,
there are a lot
of customisation
options.
The original Dawn of War, released in 2004,
was a very popular RTS based on the famous
Warhammer 40k license. Its sequel, however,
dramatically changed the gameplay into what can be
described as a unique real-time tactical RPG.
Gone are RTS elements such as base-building or
resource-collecting – you now control a squad of four
units, each with their own personality and skills.
The campaign casts you as Blood Angels trying
to stop a Tyranid invasion. There are many stories and
optional missions, all presented by great voice acting.
Dawn of War II can also be very hard – it has only one
save slot and failing a mission might lock you from
retrying it or give time for the invasion to advance.
Your units all gain experience as they battle,
allowing you to customise their skills and equip them
with the Diablo-like loot you find. This aspect of DoW2
is extremely satisfying – there’s a lot of freedom in how
to build your squad so their abilities complement each
other, and finding items such as Terminator armour
and Power Swords will have any 40k fan grinning.
The first expansion, Chaos Rising, improves upon
everything, especially the rather repetitive missions.
Besides items and enemies, it adds a corruption system
– optional objectives are presented and failing them or
choosing the easy path will taint you with Chaos.
Those seeking to remain pure not only need to
carefully approach each mission, but also refrain from
using tainted equipment – which is far more powerful.
Your corruption level also affects the game’s ending.
The other expansion, Retribution, is a mixed bag.
It features six factions: Space Marine, Eldar, Chaos,
Imperial Guard, Ork and Tyranid. Unfortunately, they
all must play the exact same dull missions and the RPG
elements have been heavily cut. These campaigns now
use the same system as the game’s multiplayer matches,
with resource-gathering and unit-building similar to a
“lite” version of Relic’s own Company of Heroes.
Retribution’s big addition is the Last Stand mode,
where three players pick a unit each and combine to
fight waves of enemies, earning XP and loot as they play.
With Dawn of War III returning to its RTS roots,
DoW2 remains a one-of-a-kind title, recommended for
40k fans and those seeking a quick-paced challenge. FE
Venetica
DECK13 Interactive, 2009
Windows, Xbox 360 and PS3
Venetica begins with a rather unique premise:
you are Scarlet, a young girl from the small
town of San Pasquale. Suddenly, the town is
attacked by assassins, your fiancée is killed and you
meet with Death himself – who reveals that he is your
father, and that you must help him save the world.
The game is a light Action RPG in the veins of
Fable, filled with side-quests to take and moral choices
to make, but more focused on story and exploration.
Most of the game is spent in a fantasy version of
16th-century Venice, divided into five large districts.
Venetica is no Assassin’s Creed II, but the team did a
great job, filling the city with stunning sights and a
few hidden side-paths, while using a colourful art
style to compensate for the small budget.
The combat is simple to a fault. There are four
weapon types – swords, spears, hammers and the
undead-slaying Moonblade. Each one comes with
different damage types, combat skills and combos you
create by timing your attacks right. Or at least that’s
the theory, as it’s too easy to get behind enemies and
stun-lock them by quickly mashing the attack button.
As the daughter of Death, Scarlet also has access
to some handy powers. First of those is the ability to
come back from the dead. As long as she has enough
Twilight Energy, she’ll always revive when slain.
As the game advances, you’ll unlock new powers,
such as the ability to speak with the deceased, see
through the eyes of ravens and briefly warp between
the land of the living and the realm of the dead.
It’s fascinating in concept and occasionally the
game allows you to make great use of these powers
– like casually letting a robber cut your throat, then
reviving and killing him. Sadly, those are very rare;
Venetica fails to explore its immortal character and
some powers are used only once during the story.
Scarlet is the main attraction of Venetica, being a
strong and charismatic character while still allowing
room for players to role-play her. You’ll be able to
choose Good, Neutral or Evil paths, as well as join one
of the three guilds in Venice: Warriors, Messengers
and Necromancers, each with a unique set of quests.
Unfortunately, while the game works as a whole,
its parts feel constrained and rushed. Elements such
as the combat, the interface, Scarlet’s powers and the
consequences for her choices all could use a few more
months of polish, and I can’t shake the feeling that
features were cut nearly at the end of development.
Despite these limitations and the poor combat,
Venetica is still a charming, casual Action RPG and
definitely worth a play for fans of games like Fable. FE
Venetica has a
morality and
a reputation
system, and
even tracks how
many people you
killed, but rarely
uses those in
interesting ways.
Combat is simple
and exploitable,
but the game
doesn’t overstay
its welcome or
tire players with
endless filler
fights.
393
Torchlight
Runic Games, 2009
Windows, Mac, Linux and Xbox 360
Mythos, the
game the team
at Flagship
first began
working on,
was acquired by
Korean company
HanbitSoft,
who continued
development
and released it in
2011. They have
since closed its
servers.
Torchlight
reintroduces
iconic features
from FATE, such
as Fishing and
a Pet that hauls
your loot back to
town to sell it.
394
During the development of Hellgate: London,
a team at Flagship Studios began working
on Mythos, a simple online “Diablo clone”, to
serve as a network technology test for Hellgate. The
project was led by Travis Baldree, creator of FATE,
and several former Blizzard North employees, who
all grew quite fond of it. However, financial issues at
Flagship led to the team being dismissed.
To stay together, the team formed Runic Games,
aiming to create a “spiritual successor” to Mythos.
Before tackling a full-scale MMORPG, they decided
to first test their concepts and polish their tools with
a smaller, simpler and more inviting game. Eleven
months later, Torchlight was released.
Despite the short development time, the team’s
experience in the genre shines through. Torchlight is
a charming and polished game that faithfully follows
Diablo’s core design, while adding several proven
concepts and improvements from similar games, plus
some fun new ideas of their own.
Torchlight is set in a steampunk world, where a
small mining town found trouble while excavating
magical ores. Like in the original Diablo, your task here
is to descend the vast dungeon next to town, reach its
lowest level and defeat the ancient evil within.
Spanning 35 randomly generated floors, this
deep dungeon contains several themed layouts that
change every few floors, such as mines, ruins, caves,
crypts, prisons. But these environments are far from
claustrophobic – they present a sense of scale and
verticality that’s rare in the genre, with large open
areas and distant levels visible as you explore.
Torchlight offers three heroes – the Destroyer,
focused on melee combat; the Vanquisher, a rangeoriented
rogue; and the Alchemist, specialised in
magic and summoning. Each has three unique skill
trees, with distinct specialisations.
There’s a great degree of flexibility here – skills are
diverse, heroes can wield (or dual wield) all weapon
types, and there are spells found while exploring that
can be learned regardless of class or stats. So you can
easily play as a melee Alchemist with two axes, or as a
gun-wielding Destroyer focused on spells. The tradeoff
is that some skills feel rather generic.
Feature-wise, Torchlight is like a collection of
some of the best ideas in the genre, presented in a
coherent and accessible package. The pets from FATE
return, fighting alongside you and hauling extra loot
back to town; the UI is efficient and friendly; you
can enchant items, transmute them, socket gems and
collect sets; there are side-quests and bounty hunts,
boss battles every few floors; a “retirement” feature for
those wanting to switch heroes; and even an endless
dungeon available once you beat the game.
The art style is another of Torchlight’s highlights.
It’s whimsical, with cartoony characters and painterly,
faux-waterbrush environments. Some of the enemies
are borderline cute, adding to the casual-friendly tone
of the game. However, the short development time
does rear its head here, for the lack of enemy variety is
quite noticeable after a few hours playing.
“We felt like Torchlight’s price
point was a magic price point for
that kind of game and we sold more
than we anticipated. So there’s a
market for a $20 AAA game. Our
idea was: let’s just make games that
feel like an AAA game and play like
an AAA game, but strip away all the
extraneous stuff and the expensive
marketing campaigns and all that.”
– Max Schaefer,
Torchlight’s designer
Most class skills in
Torchlight aren’t
very impressive
nor unique, but
the more generic
character system
does allow for
more flexible
playstyles.
A smart move from the developers was to release
TorchED, the editor for Torchlight. Highly moddable,
the game was flooded by mods – from small tweaks to
new features, classes and extensive overhauls.
Sadly, Torchlight’s biggest weakness could not be
easily fixed: it lacks multiplayer, for many players, a
must-have in games of this genre.
Despite limitations like this and a shorter overall
length, Runic’s decision to support mods and sell the
game at a $20 dollar price point made it a success.
With Torchlight selling over one million copies,
Runic decided to work on a sequel, expanding the
game and adding the much-desired multiplayer.
Torchlight II (2012) is pretty much that – a larger
and better game, with new classes, pets, enemies and
items; a longer single-player campaign that spawns
four acts all across the world, huge outdoor areas
full of events, mini-dungeons and side-quests, a new
game editor (GUTS) with Steam Workshop support,
cleaner UI and – finally – multiplayer co-op.
The game now contains four classes: Engineer,
Outlander, Berserker and Embermage – each with
its own Charge Bar, a unique resource that builds
up during combat to fuel their powers. And more
replayability features were added, such as New Game+
and Mapworks, a random map generator.
It’s quite telling that, although Torchlight II
was released just a few months after Diablo III, many
found themselves preferring the “clone” to Blizzard’s
new entry in their genre-defining series. Torchlight I
and II are both great games, highly polished, creative
and inviting. Their lower price and the extensive mod
library only add to their appeal. FE
Torchlight 1 Mods:
Wulf’s Beginner’s Mod Pack: Several mods to expand
the game without changing its core experience.
Emberfiend: Adds crafting, recruitable companions,
new quests, items and locations. Great for a replay.
Jarcho’s Class Compilation: Offers over 20 new classes,
such as Demonologist, Airbender and Ice Queen.
Torchlight 2 Mods:
Haknslash Essentials: A massive collection of mods,
it adds dozens of new classes, pets, items, enemies and
quests, plus a few small fixes and tweaks to the game.
SynergiesMOD: A total overhaul mod, it offers new
towns, rebalances most of the game, adds new classes,
enemies, items, maps and features like Respec potions.
Far East Pack I and II: Part of a now-abandoned fan-made
expansion, adds seven new classes and lots of great content.
After the release
of Torchlight II,
the Runic team
stated that
they would not
be creating a
Torchlight MMO
anymore, due
to burnout and
deep changes in
the MMORPG
landscape.
Each class has three skill trees they can level up, but there are
also spells that every character can use, regardless of class.
Torchlight II features four all-new classes, each with its
own specific Charge Bar, making them feel more unique.
395
Yumina
the Ethereal
Eternal, 2009
Windows
Yumina was
localised into
English by JAST
USA in 2013.
An expansion
and a sequel
have since
been released
in Japan.
Yumina packs
several unique
mechanics, stats,
equipment, skills
and systems. It’s
intimidating at
first, but very
logical and robust
once mastered.
As the game
progresses,
its gameplay
expands, adding
daily schedules,
affinities and
even first-person
dungeons full of
monsters.
396
Yumina the Ethereal is a perfect example of
modern PC-exclusive JRPGs. Very different
from popular console titles like Final Fantasy,
these are focused on a niche market, usually mixing
Visual Novel storytelling with challenging battles and
complex mechanics – plus erotic scenes.
But leave prejudice aside – Yumina is above all a
great, polished RPG, with clever mechanics and artful
use of 3D backgrounds with 2D sprites.
The plot starts (but doesn’t stay) simple: to avoid
failing in school, Yumina needs to become the next
Student Council President, so that she can change the
school rules. For this, she must win the Election War.
It’s all told through a typical Visual Novel style, with
humorous but long, overwritten dialogues. Thankfully
they can be skipped if you only care for the battles.
Indeed, the Election War is quite literal. You’ll
have to win “debates” that are in fact turn-based
battles, with rivals shouting arguments – such as
“Standardised testing is pointless!” – each time they
attack. You control four characters, their available
skills defined by their position: the front “debater”
usually attacks directly, while the three others act as
support, using skills as “counter-arguments” to the
actions of your front character and his foes.
In a very interesting mechanic, the mana pool
is shared between friends and foes. It’s locked at 100,
but divided into four colours. Using red abilities, for
example, reduces the percentage of red mana in the
pool and increases other colours. Managing mana
through skills, formation changes and special items
is the key to battles, as characters can’t use their skills
if there isn’t enough of their corresponding mana.
The game has various routes, leading to vastly
different endings and final battles. Each time you
finish the game, you’re offered the chance to play
again in a New Game+ mode, keeping your stats and
items, but also increasing the difficulty. Beat all three
routes and you’ll unlock the fourth route – a final
challenge leading to the “True Ending”.
Yumina is not for everyone. Few will stand the
anime-style art, insane plot, complex systems and the
presence of awkward hentai scenes. But those who try
it (there’s a demo) will discover a challenging game,
packed with content and unlike any other RPG. FE
Marauder
Apeiron, 2009
Windows
Aperion’s previous game, 7.62 High Calibre,
was a real-time open-world tactical RPG,
heavily inspired by the Jagged Alliance series.
While rather buggy and with a boring storyline, its
complex simulationist combat and highly detailed
“gun porn” conquered quite a few devout fans.
Marauder, also known as Men of Prey in Europe,
is instead a linear, story-driven game, based on a
book series of the same name from Russian author
Berkem Al Atomi. The game places you in the boots
of Akhmetzyanov, a common man trying to survive
an alternate-history Russia where the government
collapsed, anarchy reigns and the US is invading.
Don’t expect a pleasant story. Ahkmet himself
is neither a virtuous paragon nor a noble-hearted
antihero, but a man willing to do anything to keep
him and his wife safe. You will fight militias, raiders
and cannibals, but also desperate, starved neighbours
trying to take some of your precious food.
Marauder’s combat perfectly reinforces its harsh
atmosphere. The unique real-time-with-pause system
from High Calibre is still here, if slightly streamlined.
Every action takes a set time to be performed, and
each has its pros and cons. The shotgun is a sure kill at
close range, but it takes 0.42 seconds to ready it, while
a pistol-wielding enemy can fire in just 0.08 seconds.
You must take that into account in order to survive.
While I usually prefer turn-based tactical games,
Marauder’s intense and nerve-wrecking battles make
great use of the game’s elaborate real-time system. To
add to the challenge, Ahkmet can only see what’s in
front of him and must otherwise rely on hearing to
guess the enemy’s position. This is further accentuated
by the game’s overwhelming odds, pitting you alone
against dozens of looters or a full elite military squad
with nothing but a rifle, some mines and your wits.
The game keeps the extensive and highly detailed
armoury found in High Calibre, with almost a hundred
weapons, and adds a few more RPG mechanics to the
formula, such as character creation, a skill tree and
lock-picking. You’ll also get up to three companions as
the plot advances, allowing for more complex tactics.
Sadly, Marauder is extremely linear. Besides the
main story, you’ll only be able to visit a bazaar, do a
couple of side-quests and have one-line conversations
with a handful of NPCs. And the dialogues are all in
Russian, with poorly translated English subtitles.
Rough, challenging and intense, Marauder is
a unique low-budget tactical RPG. Its bleak story,
harsh setting, high difficulty and complex combat are
a sure treat for cold-blooded tactical enthusiasts. FE
It’s strongly
recommended
to manually
edit the
game’s config
files. That
way you can
unlock higher
resolutions and
better camera
controls.
Firing from the
hip is faster, but
aiming allows you
to target specific
body parts and
cripple enemies,
or go for a lethal
headshot.
Weapons can
be upgraded,
equipped with
accessories, fire
different bullets
types and even
have their stocks
folded. But they
also decay, break
and overheat.
397
Risen
Piranha Bytes, 2009
Windows and Xbox 360
Due to a deal
with publisher
JoWood, Piranha
Bytes lost the
rights to the
Gothic license
after Gothic 3.
This led to the
Risen series,
but the contract
expired in
2011 and the
licence has since
returned to them.
Gothic 1 and 2 established an open-world Action
RPG standard that, from certain perspectives,
still hasn’t been surpassed. They inspired a
devout fanbase, which was less than pleased with how
Gothic 3 turned out. While the game tried many new
things and had some merits, they got overshadowed
by the numerous faults – some due to design, others
due to publisher interference.
The fallout from the third instalment resulted
in the developers, Piranha Bytes, parting ways with
their long-time publisher JoWood and starting a new
franchise – Risen. But Risen is a Gothic game in all
but name; even the setting’s backstory is essentially a
follow-up to one of the endings of Gothic 3.
Set on a remote island occupied by three factions,
packing a challenging melee combat and the typical
blue-collar German writing, Risen made Gothic fans
feel right at home. Rewarding exploration and the
iconic trainer system were strongly present alongside,
sadly, some old flaws such as overly tedious dungeon
areas. While the world may not be as coherent and
atmospheric as Gothic 1 and 2, Risen’s improved
graphics and friendly interface make it a good entry
point for Piranha Bytes games.
Overall, fans were pleased. But the mainstream
audience had lukewarm feelings towards it, especially
on consoles. Risen 2: Dark Waters (2011) was a clear
attempt to rectify that, embracing a whole slew of
modern design trends for streamlining purposes.
Combat was heavily simplified, devolving into
mindlessly whacking at enemies. Guns were added,
but given their simplicity and lacklustre animations,
their only merit is speeding up fighting considerably.
Ditto for adding companions. This is relevant because,
for some reason, the developers decided to bloat the
enemies’ health to about double what it should be,
making battles a long exercise in tedium. Given that
melee fighting was one of the highlights of previous
games, it was disappointing how Risen 2 had fallen.
The skill system also got changed into a bizarrely
overcomplicated mess: you gain glory (EXP) to spend
on statistics that derived into sub-statistics and then
you go to trainers to unlock special abilities. Why?
In the previous games the player simply gained
Learning Points when levelling up, which were then
spent with trainers by paying gold. The fact that this
system was overcomplicated for no reason shows the
designers were aimless in their creative process.
398
Harbour Town is one of the three hubs in Risen. Its NPCs feel
alive, and most of its quests have multiple solutions.
Risen’s character system is almost a straight copy of Gothic,
as you use gold and level-up points to pay for trainers.
“If you ask three people what a
Gothic game consists of, you’ll get
five answers. That makes it very
difficult to realise what players
expect from a new Gothic.”
– Björn Pankratz,
Gothic and Risen series’ designer
In Risen you use
runes to freely
cast damage
spells, but all
the other spells
require scrolls
that you must
find or scribe
yourself, making
them a valuable
resource.
Several other issues also plagued Risen 2 – the
seamless world was replaced by small islands that
aren’t interesting to explore (some are just corridors),
the factions were reduced, the quests are mostly linear
and fetch-based, DLCs, fast travel and QTEs were
added and the game’s UI was redesigned for consoles.
If not a bad game, it was mediocre and forgettable.
The game’s only real highlight was its aggressively
advertised pirate theme. But, in the end, it was more
of a façade. You can’t freely sail your ship; merely use it
for fast travel; and the plot is about defeating a godlike
being with the use of magical artefacts. Beyond some
flavourful fetch quests, the game really isn’t all that
pirate-oriented – or, at least, it’s more Johnny Depp
than Errol Flynn in terms of atmosphere.
Risen 2’s adoption of modern gaming trends
renounced all the things that fans appreciated about
the Gothic series. Still, it did sell over a million units.
It’s hard to say if this was due the pirate theme or the
marketing, but probably a combination of both.
Risen 3: Titan Lords (2014) was Piranha Bytes’
attempt to pander to everyone – which resulted in
nobody being pleased. On one hand it sold itself as
“Piranha Bytes going back to its roots”, on the other
it added a mini-map with quest-compass, a binary
morality system and even a “detective vision”.
Combat was slightly better – no longer so rigid
and with a bit of flow reminiscent of the older games.
But, given the excessive reliance on rolling and on
charged blows, it looked ridiculously floaty. The game
also returned to having three factions, each leading to
different flavours of the Warrior/Mage/Rogue paths.
However, trying to be everything for everyone,
Risen 3’s world is a mishmash of pirate and medieval
influences from all other Gothic and Risen games,
which resulted in a frankly schizophrenic tone and
writing truly hitting rock bottom. It feels like a parody,
especially since the protagonist sounds like Clint
Eastwood doing an impression of Clint Eastwood.
Risen 3 may be marginally better mechanically
than Risen 2, but its lack of coherence and obviously
pandering design makes it far less redeemable.
Piranha Bytes first tried going back; then they
tried changing; and then they tried compromising.
All attempts at catching a flame that’s ever-fading
in the collective conscious of the gaming crowd.
The Gothic experience can’t simply be recreated for
a modern audience – it needs to be reintroduced.
Games like Dark Souls and XCOM show us that hardbut-fair
is something that can flourish even today.
Hopefully Pyranha Bytes can achieve this seemingly
Sisyphean task of getting back to their old glory. LL
There aren’t
any big mods
for the Risen
series, but
both Risen 1
and Risen 2
have unofficial
patches to fix
some minor
bugs. You can
also tweak
their .ini files
for improved
shadows and
draw distance.
Risen 2’s UI was redesigned for consoles. And while the
character system expanded, most additions are pointless.
Risen 3 tried to please Gothic fans while adding anything
that was popular – from kill-cams to a busty side-kick.
399
Knights
of the Chalice
Heroic Fantasy Games, 2009
Windows
Knights of the
Chalice uses
the Open Game
Licence, a public
permission that
allows anyone
to freely create
games based
on Dungeons &
Dragons 3.5 or
5th Edition.
You begin the
game by rolling
a party of four
characters using
D&D 3.5 rules,
here limited to
three classes and
three races.
400
To this day, the debate still rages over which
game can rightfully be called “the ultimate
Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 game experience”.
While sectarians wage this endless war, the critical
thinker will know that the answer depends entirely
on which a part of 3.5 you use to judge each game.
Looking for the most expansive implementation
of the character system? Then surely no competitors
can hold a candle to the amount of options in 2006’s
Neverwinter Nights 2. Are you instead looking for
strictly correct rules and combat implementation?
Then 2003’s Temple of Elemental Evil is the game for
you. If story and role-playing opportunities are what
you crave, Mask of the Betrayer is rivalled only by true
classics like Planescape: Torment.
If, however, what you want is a consuming
dungeon-crawling experience that harkens back
to the Gold Box days, then no games can challenge
2009’s masterfully crafted Knights of the Chalice.
Perhaps the most criminally overlooked RPG of its
era, it is no overstatement to call it one of the defining
D&D 3.5 video games.
Knights of the Chalice is a turn-based, tactical
combat simulator developed single-handedly by
Pierre Begue. It is a vast game with tons of dungeons
to explore and foes to battle. The game was developed
using the Open Game Licence – the “freeware”
version of D&D 3.5 – and stays relatively true to the
core rules. While you’ll only find a small selection
of races and classes, casters have a veritable library
of spells at their disposal, while fighters can grapple,
bull-rush and choose from a wide selection of feats.
In the story department, KotC offers only the
most basic of explanations for your adventuring
endeavours. The game’s art assets are simplistic but
incredibly endearing. The flat, top-down perspective
was the most immediate turn-off for players when
the game was released and remains so to this day, but
do not let such details deter you. Within 30 minutes
you’ll be completely used to the camera, which will
perfectly do its job in the fighting to come.
KotC is a dungeon crawler above all else, and as
such presents your party of four with a run-of-the-mill
adventuring quest, which soon turns into a sprawling
epic throughout the land. As you fight Orcs, giants and
dragons in increasingly exotic locations, encounters
remain handcrafted and take advantage of the strengths
of the systems on display here. More often than not, the
game forces you to shake up previously solidified tactics
to overcome new obstacles.
Combat is fought on tile-based terrain, which
will soon imbue you with the sensation of moving
miniatures during a pen-and-paper session. Mages
must be positioned correctly for Cone of Cold spells,
clerics must use their Righteous Might with care so as
not to block themselves from proper positioning when
they turn Large, and fighters must hurry to grapple the
enemy mage before he summons a deadly demon.
“If I was the dungeon master on a
tabletop game and you, as a player,
wanted to reduce the price of a
flaming sword by 20%, I would not
roll a D20 to see if you succeeded;
I would ask you to demonstrate
your own bargaining skill in talking.
[...] That’s why I don’t like the
‘talking’ skills very much; they are
a replacement for the player’s own
intellect.”
– Pierre Begue,
Knights of the Chalice’s creator
Throughout your tour of KotC’s world, you’ll be
greeted with ingenious design decisions that make
the adventure flow. Like how you can revitalise
your party completely by resting, but must do so at
limited campfires that put pressure on your resource
management. Or how the game presents you with
fights that are sometimes too difficult for your current
level, but hides useful resources like Arrows of Slaying
nearby. Or how you can compensate for the restricted
resting by crafting wands of healing or fireball scrolls.
The crafting system is also the game’s one, true
weakness, however. You can craft every single piece
of equipment your characters need, as long as you
can pay. This, in turn, means that the loot you gather
throughout your quest is only useful insofar as it can
be sold for gold, allowing you to craft something better.
Considering the game’s dungeon-crawling nature,
being rewarded with new, wondrous items now and
again could have been one of the game’s main draws.
The game is also balanced around a party of two
fighters, a mage, and a cleric, and so taking along
more casters will make the mid- and endgame easier.
In an effort that dwarfs almost every other game,
KotC is perhaps the most well-documented CRPG
in existence. Thanks to a hyperlink-based based
tool that describes every aspect of the rule system,
any clarification you might need is just a click away.
As such, not only does KotC have one of the most
complex rule systems of modern RPGs, but also
one of the most transparent. It stands as a testament
to the importance of good documentation and
brings into question why even AAA RPGs are often
incomprehensible and vague in this regard.
Knights of the Chalice is as classic an RPG as
they come. Its complexity and depth will appeal to
veterans of the genre, while its slick design and wealth
of documentation makes it easy to dive into for
newcomers looking for a tactical challenge. CG
Knights of the
Chalice’s crude
graphics are
secondary next
to the quality and
complexity of its
combat system.
Knights of the
Chalice 2 is
currently under
development.
It’s an ambitious
project, set in
a new world
and featuring
many new races,
classes and
spells, as well
as a module
editor tool.
If you’re ever in doubt about a stat, feat or spell effect,
just click on it and you’ll get a detailed rule explanation.
The game is heavily focused on combat, but you’ll also
come across a few puzzles and talkative creatures.
401
2010-2014
The freedom to play
(and create) any game
After years in the hands of a few giant publishers, the new decade
brought in a widespread democratisation of the gaming industry.
Digital distribution bloomed, with Steam dominating the market.
With its Greenlight system introduced in 2012, it became possible for
any developer to (try to) get their game on the platform. Introduced in
2013, the Early Access service also allowed developers to sell still-unfinished
games, thus gathering the necessary funds to complete the project.
Crowd-funding also empowered many developers to pursue their
dreams, with Kickstarter alone reporting over 10,000 game projects
successfully funded. Game engines and console development kits started
to get cheaper as well – or were even offered for free.
The rise of mobile gaming and indies also changed the way people
thought about game pricing and buying games. While $60 AAA releases
were still popular, it became common to have $5-10 low-budget indies or
$20 mid-sized games. This may seem like common sense now, but it was
a long process – as recently as 2009, Runic’s decision to sell Torchlight at
$20 was still seen as a bold pricing strategy.
The result is that a charming 2D indie can be as profitable as an
expensive cutting-edge 3D game. The massive monetary entry barrier
that surrounded the industry for years had now fallen.
Foreign markets also grew closer. The first Dark Souls was only
ported to PCs in 2012 thanks to an overwhelming public petition, but
it quickly became common to see games from major Japanese studios
on Steam, as well as indie titles such as Recettear and One Way Heroics,
courtesy of several new localisation companies.
This eventually led to what some call the “indie bubble” or the
“opening of the floodgates”, as more and more games are released
each year, making it harder for titles to get noticed. As a result, many
developers release a game, fail to profit and end up closing down soon
after. Players also had issues with some developers pitching their games
under Kickstarter or Early Access but failing to actually finish them,
leaving behind a graveyard of abandoned projects.
Still, it’s a much welcome change compared to the drought of the
mid-2000s, as the amount of choice players have is unrivalled.
Games now come from one-man indies, middle-sized studios and
big AAA studios. From the US and Europe, but also from Japan, China,
South America and Africa. From expert programmers and from those
with an idea in their head and a free engine on their PCs. From nostalgiadriven
projects and from those seeking to expand the boundaries.
Truly, what a time to be gaming.
402
Trends:
Crowd-funding: Online crowd-funding dates back to the early 2000s, with platforms
like ArtistShare helping fans finance their favourite artists. But everything changed
in 2012, when Tim Schafer went to Kickstarter to pitch an adventure game. Asking for
$400,000, he received over three million dollars, drawing everyone’s attention and starting
a boom of crowd-funded projects – from small indie games to multi-million dollar
entrepreneurships such as the OUYA console and the Oculus Rift.
Tim Schafer’s
Double Fine
Adventure project
was released in
2014, under the
name Broken Age.
YouTubers and Streaming: While YouTube was founded in 2005, the 2010s was when
gaming channels exploded – celebrities such as PewDiePie, Markiplier and TotalBiscuit
overshadowed traditional news websites, as people began to rely on YouTubers for
information. Streaming (and watching) games became a massively popular hobby, with
Twitch emerging as a dedicated platform, consoles adding built-in streaming features
and events like eSports tournaments reaching millions of viewers.
The 2014 League
of Legends World
Championship
finals were
watched by over
27 million people.
Motion Gaming: In 2010, both Microsoft and Sony released their answers to the
Wii’s surprisingly popular motion controllers: the Xbox 360’s Kinect and the PlayStation
Move. Both companies strongly pushed their accessories, but neither managed to connect
with their audiences and fulfil expectations. Microsoft still tried to force its new Kinect 2.0
alongside the Xbox One but eventually abandoned it, while Sony ended up integrating the
Move controllers into its PlayStation VR.
The Kinect sold over
24M units and the
PlayStation Move
about 15M units,
but neither of them
were considered
successes.
The iPad is released.
The middle ground between
mobile phones and dedicated
consoles, it became a popular
platform for indie games.
The Nintendo 3DS is an
evolution of the DS, packing
stereoscopic 3D effects and a
great library of games. It has
sold over 65M units so far.
PlayStation Vita was
released to compete with
the 3DS, but was quickly
abandoned by Sony. Estimate
sales were around 10M.
Steam Greenlight allows
anyone to submit their
games to Steam, “opening the
floodgates” to thousands of
smaller developers.
The PlayStation 4 is released.
In 2016, Sony would also sell
the PS4 Pro, a more powerful
version of the system designed
for VR and 4K gaming.
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Twitch is born, as a gameplay
streaming side-channel of
Justin.tv. Over the next few
years, its popularity would
explode, reaching 100 million
visitors per month in 2015.
Skylanders: Spyro’s
Adventure popularises the
concept of using collectible
toys to interact with video
games. Both Nintendo and
Disney would later release
their own line of toys.
Oculus Rift is presented via a
Kickstarter campaign, raising
$2.5 million and setting
virtual reality as “the next
thing”. In 2014, the company
was acquired by Facebook
for 2 billion dollars.
Wii U is released, keeping
its predecessor’s movement
controls and introducing a
new touch-screen gamepad.
Suffering from a lack of
third-party support, it sold
only 13 million units.
The Xbox One is released,
originally bundled with a
Kinect 2.0, which was later
abandoned. As of Jan 2016
it had sold about 18M units,
around half of the PS4’s
reported sales at the time.
403
Borderlands
Gearbox Software, 2010
Windows, OS X, PS3 and Xbox 360
Borderlands’ art
was changed
months before
release and
became nearly
identical to
a 2007 short
animation called
Codehunters.
Gearbox later
acknowledged
the inspiration,
but never properly
credited the
original artist.
Each character
has a particular
playstyle and
three unique
skills trees.
Mordecai, for
example, can
specialise in
pistols, in sniper
rifles, or improve
his pet’s attacks
and skills.
404
Ask someone to describe a Borderlands game
and the first things they’ll mention will
probably be the comedy setting and the faux
hand-drawn art style. These features set the series
apart in the crowded shooter market and make
Borderlands visually striking and unique.
The odd thing is that these attributes were
basically last-minute additions. The original
Borderlands began development as a grim game with a
serious art style, and didn’t become the Borderlands we
know today until the last few months of development.
This is a series where its defining attributes didn’t take
shape until the last possible moment, and it had to
overcome a lot of internal pressure to do so.
In Borderlands, you play as one of four Vault
Hunters (basically outer space treasure hunters)
searching for fame and fortune in the world of
Pandora. In your way stands a never-ending army
of psycho bandits, indigenous wildlife, and killer
robots. Each Vault Hunter has their own set of powers
that favour a particular playstyle. Some will lend
themselves to risky up-close engagements, some are
suited to using long-range weapons, and others are
stronger in support roles for those that want to play
co-op with their friends.
As you gun down waves of enemies, they drop
randomised weapons and gear. In a lot of shooters the
gameplay can eventually get stuck in a rut, with the
player eventually settling on one or two weapons that
suit their playstyle, to the exclusion of all else. But in
Borderlands the constant supply of absurd weapons
can keep the gameplay fresh.
Maybe right now you’re really attached to a
shotgun that shoots explosive rounds, but an hour
from now you’ll find a pistol that sets people on fire
and allows you to throw unused bullets like grenades
if you reload prematurely. After that you might fall in
love with an assault rifle that can melt through enemy
armour with corrosive damage and has a scope
attachment that allows you to use it like a sniper rifle.
They follow the traditional coloured rarity tiers
of Diablo II, with some of the legendary weapons
having more exotic abilities. The variations in
recoil, damage output, reload speed, magazine size,
accuracy, and fire rate are endless, so that every gun
feels unique. On top of this, the player levels up on a
regular basis, which means they’re always gradually
out-levelling their guns and thus need to be on the
lookout for replacement gear of higher levels.
While the comedy and art style give Borderlands
its unique personality, the gameplay is what sets the
series apart and keeps players interested for hundreds
of hours. The Borderlands formula is a marriage of
two vastly different genres that combine to become
more than the sum of their parts.
Half of Borderlands is derived from the lootdriven
Action RPGs like Diablo, where the player cuts
through waves of foes in search of rare items. Most of
the game is spent furiously clicking on monsters, with
the player stopping only to sort through their loot,
look for interesting items, and sell off the rest in town.
“The thing that compels us towards
growth, discovery and choice in
RPGs, that sort of long-range loop,
it’s not mutually exclusive with the
short-term, visceral, base-level joy
we get from moving and shooting
in a shooter. [...] if we marry them
together, there’s a real opportunity
there to pave new ground. That
was Borderlands from the very
beginning.”
– Randy Pitchford,
Gearbox’s co-founder
Besides
thousands of
weapons, you’ll
also have to pick
a shield and
grenade mods, as
well as manage
all the different
ammo types.
This shower of loot creates a cycle of anticipation
and revelation similar to luck-based games like slot
machines or loot boxes. Only instead of paying
money and opening boxes, the player is wiping out
clusters of foes. There’s always the promise that the
player might find something really special in the next
encounter. This system of randomised loot tickles the
reward and pattern-matching parts of the brain, and
is what gives these kinds of games a reputation for
being “addictive”.
The drawback with the Diablo-style gameplay is
that it can be a little monotonous and dry. Sure, the
player might get a little tingle of excitement every few
minutes when an item drops and they stop to see if
they got anything good, but between those moments
there’s a lot of mouse-clicking and pressing the same
few hotkeys. It’s not a terrible experience, but it
doesn’t really hold up on its own. Imagine playing a
Diablo clone with the random loot removed. It would
make for a game of very limited appeal.
The other half of the Borderlands experience
comes from your typical first-person shooter
mechanics. The player needs to shoot bad guys, dodge
incoming attacks, manage ammo and strike a balance
between taking cover and doing damage. It’s fast,
violent, and visceral.
The drawback of first-person shooters is that they
can suffer from a bit of “intensity fatigue”. If you’ve ever
tried to play a classic shooter like Doom or Quake for any
length of time you’ve probably noticed that the constant
redline action can become paradoxically boring. An
experience can’t sustain maximum action forever and
eventually the sound and fury can get to be numbing.
By blending these two genres, Borderlands creates
an experience that has the advantages of both while
mitigating their shortcomings. The wild gunplay is a
lot more engaging than Diablo’s mouse-clicking. At the
same time, the shower of loot and the ever-changing
selection of weapons is there to save the player from
intensity fatigue and from falling into the two-weapon
rut. In a world filled with clones and imitators,
Borderlands stands out as a unique franchise with a
gameplay style and personality all its own.
The two follow-up titles have refined the formula
without straying from the original. Borderlands 2 (2012)
zeroed in on a genre-savvy meta-humour, and Borderlands:
The Pre-Sequel (2014) introduced new gameplay tweaks.
Pre-Sequel has the stronger mechanics, while
Borderlands 2 had stronger jokes, characters, and story.
I think we’re still waiting for the ultimate realisation of
the Borderlands formula that takes the best parts of all the
entries and brings them together in a single game. SY
In 2014, Telltale
Games began
to release
Tales from the
Borderlands,
an episodic
adventure
game based on
Borderlands.
Borderlands 2 polished the experience with a slicker design,
new characters and a bigger focus on the meta-humour.
Pre-Sequel expanded the gameplay, adding double-jumps,
low gravity, a ground-slam and a better in-game economy.
405
Din’s Curse
Soldak Entertainment, 2010
Windows, Linux and Mac
Din’s Curse got
an expansion
in 2011, called
Demon War. It
adds a new class
(Demon Hunter),
plus new items,
areas, monsters,
quests and
events.
A log keeps you
informed about
what’s going on
while you play –
from NPCs in dire
need to monsters
levelling up.
Din’s Curse offers
seven different
classes, each with
three skill trees.
You can also
create a hybrid
that uses two of
any skill trees.
406
Back in 2007, Soldak released Depths of Peril, an
Action RPG where you led a barbarian tribe
and had to not only kill monsters, but protect
your town and deal with other NPC factions as well.
While it was a dynamic game, it was also a fastpaced
multitasking challenge. Miss one tiny bit, and
half of your tribe would dead with the other half being
raided while you’re out hunting savage monsters.
Seeking to improve upon this formula, Soldak
created Din’s Curse – a faithful heir to old roguelikes,
married with Diablo. The game controls like Diablo,
uses the same coloured loot system and also has an
unfortunate town built over a multi-level dungeon.
But there’s a key difference – the town and NPCs you
must protect are all active, evolving entities.
Citizens will use equipment that you donate,
buy items, go into debt, argue (and kill) each other,
be killed by monsters, die of starvation or simply flee.
They will also offer quests – from personal favours
like delivering packages and gathering ingredients to
helping the town by recruiting a new weaponsmith,
killing a monster leader, finding water, etc.
If all key NPCs die, it’s the end of your town. But
not of the game – you can try to save another town.
Monsters aren’t static either – they are all active,
with their own agenda and allies. Skeletons will get
along with zombies, but will kill hell dogs. They will
level up and grow in power, and the hell dogs can later
arise as undead! Bosses are even worse: they gather
minions to attack your town, build nasty things and
raise their own minions – which then scatter and start
to do the same, repopulating the dungeon.
And so you might be hunting a nasty orc mage
then have to immediately return to town to stop an
invasion from the dungeon depths, find out who built
this monster gate in the city, fight the guilty citizen,
help others with their health issues, then be asked to
destroy a weather machine that the aforementioned
orc mage has built while you were gone.
You get the picture. Din’s Curse always have
something for you to do. But, unlike Depths of Peril,
you can fully customise how you want to play it.
It’s you who sets the pace of quests, dungeon
depth, amount and level of monsters. You can make
the game easier, disabling town invasions altogether,
or make it much harder, speeding things up, buffing
monsters or handicapping yourself with restrictions.
All and all, Din’s Curse is a fascinating mix of
Action RPG gameplay and roguelike dynamics. If you
can handle its crude, dated graphics and the mediocre
interface, I wholeheartedly recommend it. OB
ArcaniA:
Gothic 4
Spellbound Entertainment, 2010
Windows, Xbox 360, PS3 and PS4
After the botched release and poor reviews of
Gothic 3, JoWooD Entertainment took the
series’ licence away from Piranha Bytes and
instead hired Spellbound Entertainment (known for
their Desperados series) to create the next Gothic.
However, ArcaniA: Gothic 4 is the result of more
than just a change of developers. The Gothic series was
never popular in the US, and JoWooD decided it was
time to change this, bringing the series to consoles and
tuning it to the tastes of this new audience.
What followed was a complete mishandling of
the franchise and an all-round failure, so contrived
and misguided it’s almost comical – as if middle-aged
European executives wrote a design document based
on what they think “American kids these days like”.
As such, you now play as a new, younger hero, and
the developers were thorough in removing absolutely
any complexity or nuance from the game.
The Gothic series has always been known for its
brilliant sense of exploration, cleverly designed open
world and amazing sense of progression. It had a
strong emphasis on verisimilitude, with things such
as alternate paths and solutions, the ability to spare
enemies, realistic schedules for NPCs, etc.
ArcaniA instead offers a series of minuscule and
artificially gated areas, each with a main quest and
3-4 side-quest – all clearly marked on your mini-map.
Finish the main quest, the gate opens and you advance
to the next area. These areas are pretty but uninspired,
mostly filled with generic forests, linear dungeons and
the same few enemies. Trying to explore outside the
narrow paths will either cause you to get stuck or fall to
your death, and you can’t even swim anymore.
Not only are the areas are dull – the whole game
is based on “kill X monsters” or “bring Y items” quests.
Your very first quest has you doing three of these
errands to “prove yourself ” to your fiancé’s father!
Sounds like a parody, but it’s a taste of the entire game.
Finally, combat and character progression lost
any charm or relevance. Attributes were all removed
and the iconic system of getting trainers to teach you
was replaced by a bland skill tree with “+1%” upgrades.
Combat is brain-dead – most enemies can be defeated
by mashing the attack button, while the “hard ones”
merely require you to dodge when they glow. And
magic spells were reduced to simply three flavours of
ranged damage (fire, lightning and ice).
For most, ArcaniA is just a forgettable game that
was reviewed poorly and got barely noticed by the so
desired US console gamers. But, for Gothic fans, it was
the death of a beloved series. FE
JoWooD went
bankrupt in
2011 and its
assets were
acquired by
Nordic Games.
The company
removed the
Gothic subtitle
from ArcaniA
and re-released
the game for
the PS4 in 2015.
The story brings
back many old
faces, as you
seek vengeance
against the
previous Gothic
hero, who
became king and
was corrupted
by madness.
A bridge guarded
by two soldiers.
Instead of talking,
swimming, killing,
sneaking, bribing
or going around,
your only option is
to do their quest.
407
Two Worlds II
Reality Pump, 2010
Windows, Mac, PS3 and Xbox 360
Two Worlds II
can sometimes
refuse to launch
depending on
your PhysX
driver. If you’re
having any
issues, install
Nvidia’s PhysX
legacy driver.
Two Worlds II
combat is solid,
but its console
focus limits
the number of
abilities on the
action bar to only
three at a time.
408
The first Two Worlds (2007) wasn’t a critical hit,
but some fans enjoyed having an alternative to
Oblivion and Gothic 3 in open-world RPGs.
Its multiple factions, huge world, classless character
system, Old English dialogues and Polish origins gave
it a distinctive flair, even if the game wasn’t very good.
An expansion named Two Worlds: The Temptation
was announced, but after years of delays it became a
full sequel – awkwardly titled Two Worlds II. While at
a glance it looks like the first game, a lot was changed.
The Old English writing was abandoned, as the
hero now sports a deadpan attitude, with occasional
snide remarks, self-aware jokes and bizarre situations
adding humour. Graphics have been greatly upgraded,
displaying flowing hair and cloaks, dense vegetations,
reflections and object physics with such prominence
that it seems like a (dated) tech demo sometimes.
While Two Worlds II is an open-world game, it
isn’t very big nor rich, and progression is often gated.
There’s a small introductory island, a large continent
dominated by Savannah and Middle Eastern towns,
a second continent with a Japanese-inspired city
surrounded by tropical jungles, and a third continent
that appears as a huge landmass on the map, but is
actually quite small in playable areas.
While there are several side-quests, the game
itself isn’t very lengthy – a completionist can likely see
everything in 30-40 hours. Instead, the real draw of
Two Worlds II is the diversity of things to do.
The game is a real-time Action RPG, with a
classless character system offering the usual Fighter/
Mage/Thief abilities, plus a few non-combat skills.
Combat is rather clunky but gets the job done, and
the physics engine makes hits feel satisfying.
During your journey you’ll create new spells,
race horses, sail a boat, upgrade weapons and armour,
dye your clothing, join guilds, battle in arenas, explore
dungeons, play songs, mine, gamble, pick locks, pick
pockets, set traps, etc. It’s a feature list that rivals some
of the best open-world RPGs, but packed into a much
shorter and fast-moving game.
Among these features, the magic system stands
out. Two Worlds II requires you to create all your
spells by combining magic cards. You mix an effect
card (Fire, Water, Life, Force, Thorns, etc.) with a
carrier card (Missile, Area Effect, Summon, Totem,
etc.) and then add modifier cards (Time, Damage,
Defence, Homing, etc.). Depending on your level, you
can stack several of these to strengthen their effect, or
even make spells with two or three different phases.
For example, you mix Fire and Missile to make a
Firebolt. Then you can add a modifier to make it split
into more missiles and/or ricochet between enemies,
plus add the Corpse card with the Enchant carrier to
hold enemies still for four seconds after being hit.
It’s an extremely interesting system, with all sorts
of novel powers like resurrecting yourself or creating
altars you can later instantly activate to heal or buff.
And it ties well to the character progression, as buying
more cards and levelling up your skill to mix more of
them into a single spell is quite rewarding.
You can dismantle you gear, then use their materials to
upgrade equipment, dye them and socket magical gems.
Dialogue is very simple, with few choices besides asking for
exposition and refusing side-quests. But it’s often funny.
You can mix effects, carriers and modifiers to create your
own spells, from walking on water to ricocheting fireballs.
There are numerous activities, such as a Guitar Hero rip-off,
sailing, playing dice, horse racing and building a village.
There are other good ideas, but poor design
choices end up diminishing them. The game has a
classless character system that promotes spreading
your skills, but requires wielding a staff when casting
spells and forbids you from using bows with heavy
armour or robes, limiting your gameplay options.
Similarly, equipment is mostly restricted by
level, limiting your effective choices to your current
level tier, as it will deal a lot more damage than the
previous tier (an issue Two Worlds 1 also had).
That’s not to mention odd choices like having
dungeon maps always fully revealed or how enemies
are all displayed on the mini-map, even “hidden” ones.
The game even promotes glaring AI faults: a loading
screen tip is to climb on rocks, so that melee enemies
can’t find a way to reach you and just stand still.
However, the worst sin of Two Worlds II is how
many of its novel features are criminally underused.
You can sail a boat, manually positioning the boom to
harness the wind, but there’s few places to sail to. You
get a horse, but can only use it on the first continent.
You can dye armour, but there are few colours and you
can only dye certain parts of it. You can make spells to
jump higher or walk on water, but there’s little reason
to use them. You can sneak, steal and assassinate, but
that’s rarely useful. Luckily, mods like Worldmerge
manage to salvage much of that, adding content to
better explore those features.
Multiplayer is also extensive. There’s a separate
co-op mode with a linear and combat-heavy 10-hour
campaign set sometime between Two Worlds 1 and 2,
plus modes like Deathmatch, Duel, Crystal, Capture,
Defend the Throne and even a Village mode, where you
build farms, mills, forges, guardhouses, shops and the
like, occasionally defending them from monsters. It’s all
very simplistic, but nice to have nonetheless.
Two Worlds II’s charm comes from this contrast.
It’s extremely ambitious – but, while it lacks depth,
the constant stream of new things to do leads to an
addictive experience, always asking “what’s next?”. It’s
not a game for everyone, but those willing to endure
some roughness and limitations will certainly find
themselves entertained for many hours. FE
Mods:
Worldmerge: The ultimate mod pack for Two Worlds II,
it fuses the main campaign, the Pirates of the Flying
Fortress expansion and the multiplayer maps into a
single world, with three new difficulty settings. It also
adds better AI, tougher combat, hidden secrets to
pursue, an expanded character creation, more armour
colouring options, the ability to cast spells with any
weapon and use bows with any armour, increased draw
distance, killable NPCs, new weapons, armour, quests,
boss enemies and much more. Highly recommended,
even for a first playthrough.
Two Worlds II
was surrounded
by controversy,
selling the 2017
expansion Call
of the Tenebrae,
which was
previously
promised as a
free update, and
disabling the
game’s console
commands
in order to
sell microtransactions.
409
Cthulhu
Saves the World
Zeboyd Games, 2010
Windows and Xbox 360
Cthulhu Saves the
World was first
released for the
Xbox Live. Zeboyd
Games then ran
a Kickstarter to
fund an enhanced
version and a PC
port, which was
released in 2011.
410
The game takes
elements from
various classic
JRPGs, such as
the multi-panel
cutscenes from
the Phantasy
Star series.
Combat is the
usual JRPG
fare, but with
a few twists.
For example,
each round the
enemies get 10%
stronger, forcing
you to kill quickly.
Cthulhu Saves the World is a small and linear
but content-rich RPG, put out by the prolific
Robert Boyd and Bill Stiernberg duo at
Zeboyd. The game is mostly notable for its retro
aesthetics and hilarious take on the Cthulhu mythos.
In terms of structure and gameplay, Cthulhu
Saves the World is a straightforward JRPG. Where
the game shines – the reason it is worthwhile to talk
about at all – is its plot, its characters and the obvious
love that the developers had for both. You begin the
game as Cthulhu, the Old One, being deprived of
your powers by an unknown force. In order to regain
them, you must first become a true hero – only then
may you resume your plans to destroy the world. It’s a
well-constructed and humorous story that most fans
of Lovecraft should be able to appreciate.
Ironically however, the game’s characters are also
the game’s biggest weakness. While you never get tired
of Cthulhu cast in the role of “grumpy and unwilling
saviour”, or some of his tag-along friends and the
sharp developer wit their personalities exhibit, other
characters are downright obnoxious and unnecessary.
Your first companion, Umi, is a tiresome groupie
whose shtick gets old really fast. Other characters like
the necromancer (October), the sword (Sharpe), or
the cat alien (Paws) are much more interesting and
switch between parodying tropes of the genre, being
cool characters in their own right.
As a game, Cthulhu Saves the World is a sufficient
but forgettable experience. You walk across a fairly
linear overworld or map with your band of ragtag
saviours, collecting items and fighting battles, both
random and hand-placed. The battle screen takes you
to the standard JRPG line-up, where enemies and
player characters stare each other down face-to-face,
taking turns to inflict damage upon each other.
You might think the game is bad or bogged
down from my choice of words. This, however, is not
the case. Cthulhu’s characters and enemies are varied
and you have plenty of different tactical options at
your disposal, thanks in part to a clever progression
system that offers a choice between different skills and
stats bonuses at each level-up.
Ultimately, Cthulhu Saves the World is more than
enough fun to justify the measly 2 dollars being asked
for the game on Steam these days. It is one of those
rare games, like the original Doom, where playing it
gives you a sense of who its developers were, what
they enjoyed, which time they were raised in, and
which culture produced them. For this reason alone,
the game is worth a glance from any would-be RPG
connoisseurs. CG
Faery:
Legends of Avalon
Spiders, 2010
Windows, Xbox 360 and PS3
Middle-of-the-road games have a certain
kind of difficulty attached to them it comes
to writing reviews. Calling them the worst
is disingenuous while lauding certain quirky aspects
can sound like undeserving praise. Faery: Legends of
Avalon is the quintessential example of this.
The game can best be described as a JRPG-lite
about adventures in the fairy realm. There are plenty
of generic elements that, while not exciting, are easily
digestible: you’ll engage in quests and dialogues with
binary good/evil paths, meet a few new companions,
collect simplistic gear and fight in straightforward
turn-based JRPG-like battles. But the how and why is
not of importance, but rather the where.
The plot revolves around an ever-increasing
magical cast of beings that goes journeying in curious
places – the World-Tree Nordrassil, the haunted Flying
Dutchman, an Arabic city on top of a giant beetle and,
of course, the titular Avalon. On top of all of this, there
is a simple feature which adds tremendously to the
exploration aspect: flying.
Being an enchanted fairy has its perks, one of
them is being able to travel by wings across the land.
There is a primal kinetic delight to zig-zag left and
right while going about with questing and combat.
Given how much of the time is spent on going from
point A to B in RPGs, you would think more thought
would be spent on how to make it more interesting.
Faery: Legends of Avalon is one of the few games that
actually tries to change this vital part and succeeds.
The only other feature worth mentioning is
the visual aspect of the game’s progression system.
When the main character gains a level, they must
choose between exclusive spells and abilities, each
with different visual representations – horns, wings,
tattoos, tails, auras, etc.
Thus the player might have a cat’s tail, dragonfly
wings and antennae on one playthrough, but looks
entirely different in the next, adding a lot of personality.
The fact that Faery stands out so much reflects
horribly on games. Mystery is one of the driving
forces of fiction and the fact this title impresses so
much in that department just shows how saturated
with Tolkien-esque fantasy the industry is. But even
in a world of gaming with endlessly diverse settings, I
would still recommend Faery, even for a short while,
just for its flying and visual level-up representation.
In the end, Faery: Legends of Avalon is a simple
6-8 hour game that shows players something new, and
that’s already more than can be said of some RPGs
that are ten times as long. LL
Combat is
clearly based
on JRPGs, and
extremely
simple. You just
need to learn
when to use
physical attacks
or spells.
Your choice of
skills also changes
your appearance,
such as the type
of magic you pick
deciding what
kind of wings
your character
will have.
411
Alpha Protocol:
The Espionage RPG
Obsidian Entertainment, 2010
Windows, PS3 and Xbox 360
Alpha Protocol
was ready for
a 2009 release,
but its publisher,
SEGA, imposed a
delay to build up
hype. The plan
backfired, as AP
was released right
after Mass Effect
2 and Splinter
Cell: Conviction,
leading to harsh
comparisons and
slow sales.
I
should clarify right at the beginning that, in my
opinion, Obsidian Entertainment’s Alpha Protocol
is one of the most underappreciated Action RPGs
of all time. Sure, the game has numerous faults, so it
is not entirely Game of the Year material, but it also
has several important and well-developed elements in
which it surpasses the competition.
As one can see from the subtitle, Alpha Protocol
invites you into the world of espionage, where you
encounter top-secret organisations, terrorists, rogue
spies, gadgets right out of a James Bond movie and,
of course, a secret agent who will save the day. The
hero I’m talking about is Michael Thorton, who was
just recruited into Alpha Protocol, a super secret
organisation in the United States.
After a brief introduction, you will start your
career with an easy tutorial, followed by your first
real assignment: travelling to Saudi Arabia to find and
deal with an international terrorist. Of course, this is
just the beginning, and soon you will figure out things
are not as they look. After a few missions, you will run
for your life, with half of the American government
breathing down on your neck, not mentioning the
Russian mafia, and some bad guys from China.
If you like the political thrillers of Tom Clancy,
or the hit TV show 24, you will feel right at home
in the world of Alpha Protocol, and you won’t be
disappointed by the events depicted in the game.
Obviously a good story cannot exist without
good characters, and Obsidian pulls this off quite well.
Michael Thorton is not a predefined character; it’s
up to players to decide what kind of person he is. An
important tool for this is the dialogue system, which at
first sight is very similar to the dialogue wheels used in
other RPGs. However, you won’t choose what you want
to say, but in what manner you want to reply. This way,
Thorton can be aggressive, professional, or suave – the
three agent archetypes, Jack Bauer, Jason Bourne and
James Bond – plus a few other choices, depending on
the context. There is a short time limit for choosing,
which gives dialogues a nice, natural flow.
Your decisions, your replies, the intel gathered,
all have consequences (some bigger, some smaller)
to a degree that few other games ever could match,
which in itself warrants several playthroughs. You can
even choose how to approach missions, such as trying
to infiltrate an airbase right at the start or going after a
local weapon dealer for intel first.
412
As you level up you’ll gain points that can be spent to
gain passive buffs or learn new skills and abilities.
Weapons and gear are customisable in a variety of ways,
thanks to upgrades that can be found or purchased.
“The story is gameplay – the
alliances/enemies you make in
the game affect missions, respect,
endgame choices, reactivity, and
also special perks for your character
as well. Interaction with a character
in the game is a game system and
gameplay in itself, which was our
goal. We didn’t want the story or
dialogue to be divorced from the
missions or gameplay.”
– Chris Avellone,
Alpha Protocol’s lead designer
There are several memorable NPCs in the game,
although, because the story is grounded in reality,
they are not as far-fetched as in games like Planescape:
Torment. I have to point out Steven Heck, who
must be applauded as one of the most memorable
characters in gaming. Every minute the player spends
with this psychopathic rogue agent is comedic gold.
Just don’t be surprised if the guy ties up the hostages,
pours some fuel on them and finally sets them on fire.
However, not everything is nice and good, thanks
to problems found in the game mechanics. By default,
the game is a third-person shooter, mixed up with
Deus Ex influences and fairly hectic cover mechanics.
You can sneak around, evade cameras and knock out
unalert guards, or just draw your weapons and gun
everyone down. Being an RPG, Alpha Protocol also
has a nice (although shallow) character progression
system, which lets the player upgrade Thorton’s skills
(weapons, martial arts, technical affinity, etc), as well
as offering unique passive perks that are unlocked
based on your choices, actions and playstyle.
The problem is that some of these abilities are
useless, while others are overpowered. For example,
using a Stealth skill which briefly turns you invisible
together with the Chain Shot skill allows players to
easily finish off anybody, even bosses.
Sadly, the game has some shortcomings in the
technical department as well. Controls were clearly
designed with controllers in mind, which makes the
camera movement with a mouse pretty frustrating
sometimes. It also has some texture streaming and AI
problems, and lacks some overall polish, with players
complaining about several minor bugs.
The mini-games are a controversial point, since
people are divided over whether or not they are designed
well. I personally feel that they are among the best of
their kind, because they require actual concentration,
hand-eye coordination, and they are not focused on
quick time events or trivial puzzles. During hacking, you
have to find matching lines of codes in a running matrix.
To disable an electric circuit, you must solve a visual
maze. And to pick a lock, you have to manually move
the pins of the lock. It is true that, because of the jerky
mouse controls, these can become somewhat difficult,
but, once you get used to how they work, they are quite
manageable. And if you get stuck, they can be bypassed
with a few EMP grenades.
With all that said, who is this game for? Well,
if you value good stories, like to experience the
consequences of your choices and love conspiracies,
then give Alpha Protocol a shot. You might find a
rough diamond under the technical difficulties. JC
You have a time
limit to choose
between the
various dialogue
options, and
they will all
have long-term
consequences.
Chris Avellone
revealed in a
2013 interview
that his plans for
a sequel involved
a wackier tone,
similar to Kill Bill
and the Saints
Row games, while
also featuring an
asynchronous
multiplayer
element, inspired
by Dark Souls.
However, due to
poor sales, SEGA
has no interest
in a sequel.
The cover mechanics are serviceable, but will occasionally
give players a hard time, likely forcing a reload.
The longer you keep your aim reticule over the target,
the higher your accuracy and the critical hit chance.
413
Fallout:
New Vegas
Obsidian Entertainment, 2010
Windows, PS3 and Xbox 360
A vast amount
of content and
usable items
create a satisfying,
complicated RPG.
414
People will never stop bickering over whether
Fallout 3 is better than New Vegas, and I love
that. It’s a sign of prosperous times, really. After
all they’re both excellent games that came out within
two years of each other, they both spin the same idea
and same franchise to cater to specific tastes, and
they both provide some of the most satisfying longterm
gameplay in the genre. Plus, that debate always
reminds me that New Vegas actually exists, which
makes me far too giddy to get bitter about anything.
Because, while I think Fallout 3 is one of the better
RPGs of this generation, I think Fallout: New Vegas is
the very best game of its generation!
I don’t even have to question myself. Out of an
entire console generation of RPGs, Fallout: New Vegas
had the highest standards in choices and consequences,
world-building that was most relevant to gameplay,
the funniest and most thoughtful writing, the most
impactful levelling and character progression, the most
pleasant tone and atmosphere. The list goes on.
It’s a dream-team collaboration between Bethesda’s
tech (a massively detailed open-ended world with a
meticulous level of player interaction) and Obsidian’s
writing (a complicated interactive political drama) that
combined the best qualities of the best modern RPGs.
And it certainly also helped that the Mojave
Wasteland presented in Fallout: New Vegas was more
contemporary, mature and bold. It evoked more
Game of Thrones than Road Warrior.
The Mojave Wasteland wasn’t really a wasteland.
The people around New Vegas have schools, jobs,
clean water, food, clinics and a few functioning
governments whose conflicts drive the action of the
story. New Vegas itself is a vacation spot for wealthy
retired folks coming in from out of state, and that
doesn’t feel post-apocalyptic.
Your character isn’t a lone scavenger grasping for
survival; he’s a gainfully employed courier trying to
make a delivery. This desert wasteland is covered in
power lines and plumbing pipelines, farms and busy
trade routes. The nonsensical fantasy of Fallout 3 was
turned into a fully detailed economy for New Vegas,
and the productivity of its economy gave actual stakes
to the factions vying over it.
Faction play is the star of the show, really. There
are an overwhelming number of possibilities for
each faction to intersect in and out of each other’s
storylines in different ways. Faction quests criss-cross
into other faction quests, the order in which you take
them can affect your possibility of taking others, and
the motivations and narrative wrappers surrounding
those quests always related to the complexities of the
world’s economy. The three biggest factions at play all
fight with a reasonable and realistic amount of selfinterest.
You can see where they’re coming from. Even
Caesar’s Legion, who had to have been the villains.
And what great villains they were! Caesar’s
Legion had an ever-expanding medieval empire that
revelled in slavery, torture, sadism and warfare. And
what made them truly terrifying is that they weren’t
moustache-twirlers.
“I guess the thing is, I don’t really
view RPG and FPS as separate
genres. FPS is the style of combat
that the game has outside of VATS.
But the RPG always influences
how you use that combat system,
whether it’s in VATS or in firstperson
real-time.”
– Josh Sawyer,
New Vegas’ lead designer
Fallout: New Vegas is a game about economics,
after all, so Ceasar’s Legion weren’t evil simply
because they enjoyed being evil, but rather because
they had created a fairly successful war economy that
required them to be evil. It required them to systemise
a banality of evil.
They rationalise the horrible things they do
with economics, victim-blaming and their sneering
superiority complex. If you lost track of your moral
compass, you could easily get talked into seeing
things their way. They were terrifying video game
villains because they didn’t resemble video game
villains. They resembled villains from real life. And
that was horrifying.
Outside of their torchlit war camps was a vast
American desert full of singing cowboys, lounge
lizards, mutated hulks and leather-clad anarchists
who had a vast number of stories to tell. The Mojave
Wasteland is built as a narrative-framing device for its
short stories, little Twilight Zone side-quests that tell
strange and wonderful episodes before the three-part
series finale of the main quest.
That’s how I was able to squeeze a gratifying
250 hours (that were rarely boring!) out of the game;
there’s simply an insane amount of enjoyably self-contained
stories to be found in the side-quests.
Travelling with certain companions may tear apart your
faction allegiances, if you choose to recruit with them.
You can see this same episodic storytelling
happening in the DLCs as well. As one of the few
games of its generation to do DLC right, New Vegas
sold four story add-ons that were each like mini
expansion packs, adding in a good chunk of extra
content while also exploring a new story in this
universe that had something interesting to tell. And
screw the haters, Dead Money was the best one!
Fascinating stories, meaningful choices and a
thoughtful awareness of its world are baked into nearly
every element of this game, and for those reasons it
is my favourite game of its generation. These are the
reasons why Fallout: New Vegas is one of the best FPS-
RPGs of all time, and deserves to be as highly regarded
as Deus Ex and System Shock 2. GW
Mods:
Fallout: New Vegas Mod Manager: Handy tool that
makes mod installation, update and removal easier.
JSawyer: Created by the game’s own lead designer,
this mod makes the game harder with various
tweaks, such as harsher survival conditions, less HP,
lower level cap and adding weight to stimpacks.
Project Nevada: The most popular of all New Vegas
mods, made by Fallout 3: Wanderer’s Edition’s team.
It’s a huge mod that adds new features, changes to
the balancing, new weapons and even implants.
Yukichigai’s Unofficial Patch: A huge bug fix mod
that aims to increase stability without changing the
gameplay or causing issues with other mods.
Fallout - Project Brazil: Offers a whole new campaign,
where a civil war erupts inside your vault.
Autumn Leaves: A professionally made new quest
where you’ll have to solve an exotic murder mystery.
No Auto Aim: This mod removes the dice rolls from
combat, so that gunplay is more similar to an FPS.
With VATS,
the player can
cripple specific
body parts,
damage enemy
weapons or shoot
unexploded
grenades.
Part of the team
that worked
on New Vegas
had worked
on Van Burren,
Interplay’s
cancelled third
Fallout. Many
ideas from
that game
were salvaged,
including
Caesar’s Legion,
the Hoover Dam
battle and the
Burned Man.
415
Mass Effect 2
BioWare, 2010
Windows, Xbox 360 and PS3
Writer Shamus
Young wrote an
extensive and
detailed analysis
of the Mass Effect
trilogy’s story and
world-building,
especially the
changes from
ME1 to ME2. It
can be found on
his website: www.
shamusyoung.com
Characterbuilding
has
been changed.
Dialogue and
non-combat
skills have been
removed, but
new powers can
be learned from
your companions.
416
The original Mass Effect was both a critical and
a commercial success, and the BioWare team
had three years to polish the sequel. Mass
Effect 2 ended up selling more copies and winning
more awards (Metacritic 89 vs. 94), so both BioWare
and Electronic Arts were surely happy. But is it really
a better RPG? My answer would be no.
A better game? Possibly. It’s a paradoxical game,
that suffers from what seems to be executive meddling
and a design-by-committee approach.
The best element to showcase this schizophrenia
is the writing. The main plot ranks among the worst
video game plots in existence – it starts with Shepard
getting killed, then resurrected and forced to work for
a terrorist organisation, gathering allies and resources
for a special mission. Its flaws are too many to list
here and I recommend readers to check the excellent
dissection by Shamus Young (linked to the left).
However, the companions and their recruitment
and loyalty missions, which form the majority of
the content, are some of BioWare’s best. While the
companions themselves are hardly unique and suffer
from the “sexier and edgier” treatment, they are
mostly well-written and the quests, first to recruit
them and later to ensure their loyalty, are excellent.
More races of the galaxy are represented in the
team than were in the first Mass Effect, and through
the companion stories the surrounding world is
expanded. Unfortunately the encyclopaedia from
the first game still exists and is utilised as a crutch
by the writers – however it’s unnecessary to actually
consult it, as all the information that the player needs
is conveyed by the companions.
Technically, the sequel has not made any notable
changes. To this day, the game still looks and sounds
good, though it is fairly obvious that the levels are
small and the obvious waist-high walls are always a
clear signpost that combat is about to start.
Which brings me to Mass Effect 2’s big change:
mechanically, the game has been turned into a cover
shooter, similar to Gears of War. It’s a puzzling change
as mechanically there was nothing wrong in the combat
of the original. It doesn’t work too well with the
special powers either, as aiming them is somewhat
cumbersome with this new stiff camera.
To further reinforce the similarities to shooters,
gone is the overheating mechanism – we’re back to
the safety of magazine reloads. Naturally, this change
required a nonsensical retcon of existing lore and it
really serves no purpose, as bullets are so liberally
spread around that there is absolutely no danger of
ever running dry, not even if you are a soldier and
thus use guns for every encounter.
The special abilities of various classes and their
skill trees have also been overhauled. They weren’t that
interesting in the original and now they are largely
meaningless. Every encounter is possible to complete
with any squad composition as your teammates are
largely useless, thus levels had to be designed to
accommodate every class that Shepard could be – a
similar issue that plagued Neverwinter Nights.
“We’re really highlighting the
shooter aspect of it. We haven’t
actually taken away any of the RPG
systems, but we want to package
it so that everything is a little bit
more intuitive, more streamlined,
and overall the experience is like,
‘Ah, I played through this incredible
story’. A typical BioWare story. But
how we played through it felt much
smoother.”
– Adrien Cho,
Mass Effect 2’s lead producer
Instead of trying to improve Mass Effect ’s clunky
inventory, BioWare axed it as well. Possibly a good
thing, because their replacement for Mako is quite
possibly the worst time-wasting mini-game in the
history of video games: the planetary mining.
In short, the player is shown a rotating picture of
a planet and then must scan for deposits by holding
one mouse button, then shoot mining drones with
the other mouse button. It’s insanely mind-numbing.
While the Mako driving segments of the original
suffered from certain issues, I cannot for the life of
me understand how a designer could think that this
scanning system is an improvement.
Thus gameplay is a strange mixture of the utter
boredom of scanning planets for resources to upgrade
your ship and gear, fluid combat that isn’t really
challenging but is quite entertaining, and talking
to people to propel the plot forward. As befitting a
BioWare game, that last part is where the game shines.
A new feature, the ability to interrupt some of
the conversations to take action – in either Paragon
or Renegade manner – is a novel concept and works
surprisingly well. Seeing Shepard punch an annoying
journalist or throwing a baddie through a window
instead of having to listen to their prattle is such a
guilty pleasure.
You must gather allies, tech and resources, but exploring
planets was been replaced by a dull scanning mini-game.
And what about the continuity between games
that BioWare so hyped before ME2 launched? It really
isn’t there. Yes, the game gives you little nods here and
there to some of the stuff that you did in ME1, but it is
all cosmetic and has zero effect on gameplay.
The ending of the game is a beacon of hope. The
entire party takes part in it and, depending on the
choices the player has made throughout the game,
certain companions can be permanently killed.
Sadly, Final Fantasy VI (1994) is still the reigning
champion in this aspect, as Shepard can still only take
two companions along in the actual combat while
the rest of party is assigned to various tasks in the
background. If only this mechanic had been used more
in the game and in more detail instead of this gimmick
that only happens in the last segment of the game.
Thus my reasoning for the opening statement of
Mass Effect 2 being a paradoxical game – the main
plot is awful but the companions are good. RPG
elements have been stripped out but gameplay is fluid
and entertaining. There is good in here, as well as bad
– it all depends on what you value more. GA
Mods:
Coalesced.ini Mod Manager: Makes modding easy
by handling changes made to the configuration file.
Better ME2: Adds some gameplay tweaks, a bit of
rebalancing, a cleaner HUD and gamepad support.
Hybrid Combat: Makes combat similar to ME1,
changing how reloading works plus other tweaks.
Flash’s Mass Effect 2 Mod: Aims to make the game
more balanced and faithful to the lore, e.g. it makes
that enemy’s shield regenerate, just like yours.
A Lot of Textures: A large pack with new HD textures.
Casual Outfit Beyond Normandy: A pack of casual
clothes that you can now wear even outside the ship.
Mass Effect 2
revamps the
combat system,
now focusing
on cover-based
shooting, much
like Gears of War.
Mass Effect 2
had over 20
DLC packs.
Two of those
introduced new
companions
and came with
new copies of
the game. Since
2013, those
characters
can be freely
downloaded.
417
Academagia:
The Making of Mages
Black Chicken Studios, 2010
Windows
An updated
version of
Academagia
was released
on Steam in
2017, featuring
a new interface
and including
all previous
DLCs.
Like in Princess
Maker you must
plan your daily
schedule, but
Academagia
offers more
options, such as
where to study
and how much
effort to put in.
Interactions
are all textbased.
Random
events will pop
up, offering
the chance of
a reward or
(on failure)
humiliation.
418
Academagia starts with the player character,
a 12-year-old child on the floating island
of Mineta, being invited to attend the
Academagia, a magic school. The player first customises
their character – choosing stats, traits, backgrounds, a
familiar, etc. – then is immediately presented with a
dizzying array of options for what to do with his or her
time during the school year.
The gameplay is a combination of RPG and Choose
Your Own Adventure book – each day is broken down
into three time slots where the player chooses what
to do. Their character can attend classes, study, make
friends and go on adventures, during which they’ll be
presented with various choices to overcome obstacles,
where success is determined by their stats.
The game includes one entire school year (the
developers are currently working on a sequel with
the second year), but it doesn’t give any concrete
goals beyond “pass all your classes”, so the player is
free to do pretty much whatever they want. The fun of
Academagia comes from a combination of exploring
role-playing options and interacting with the world,
learning how to navigate all the systems to accomplish
whatever goals the player sets for themselves.
There are a huge number of skills (over 300!), and
training them up will often unlock new actions. By
the end of the game they can have dozens of choices
of how to spend every time slot. They can train their
familiar, study illegal magic, go shopping, befriend (or
bully) other students, cast spells, go on adventures,
explore the school grounds and town, and more.
The writing and the freedom players have is the
strong point here. One of my favourite adventures
involved improving the school’s terrible cafeteria
food. My character burgled prize recipes, incited a
riot in the cafeteria, blackmailed the head chef, put on
a fancy dinner party for the school faculty, and finally
managed to get a new menu implemented. At the end
I was feeling a genuine sense of accomplishment.
Academagia does have some flaws – since it was
put together by a fairly small team, they didn’t have
the resources to make sure all the different systems
were balanced and useful. For example, shopping for
items is a pain since characters can only visit a single
store per action, rather than being able to browse
among all the stores at once.
However, if you can look past or work through
some imbalances in the gameplay, you’ll be rewarded
with an immensely rich, expansive game and the
ability to guide your young wizard from a novice to
an expert magician. JO
Dungeons
of Dredmor
Gaslamp Games, 2011
Windows, Mac and Linux
Dungeons of Dredmor is an interesting take on
the modern roguelike. While many other
games try to take elements of the genre and
mesh them into other models, Dredmor takes the core
roguelike formula and plays around with it to make it
accessible and customisable, but hard to master.
The game offers three difficulty levels, plus the
option to toggle permadeath and increase or decrease
the size of the dungeons. This allows people to play
Dredmor at their own pace and get a feel for the game
before going for the true roguelike experience. The
“No Time to Grind” mode is especially nice since it
speeds up the game, allowing for quick sessions. This
ease of access helps to attract those curious about the
genre, yet still offers a challenging experience.
Dungeons of Dredmor’s main objective is to
reach the bottom of the dungeon and slay the evil
Lord Dredmor. While it sounds run-of-the-mill,
everything else is goofy and light-hearted in nature.
The game has no qualms about taking common game
tropes and putting a ridiculous spin on things, such
as item vending machines, enemies shouting witty
remarks, countless pop culture references and some
humorous item and skill descriptions.
Another unique thing is the progression system.
Unlike standard roguelikes where there’s a focus on
stats and gear, Dungeons of Dredmor relies on skill trees
for character growth. Players pick seven out of the 20
skills (32 with the expansions and countless more
through mods) available to them and are dumped into
the game. The skill trees range from traditional ones,
such as “swords” and “smithing”, to humorous ones
like “emomancy”, “communist” and “tourist”. Each
skill influences things such as starting gear, passive
traits and active skills; however, players only get one
skill point per level, so its important to choose wisely.
Depending on what skills players have picked,
they can also craft various forms of gear from random
materials found in the dungeon. Crafted items can
range from the standard weapons and armour to
more exotic things such as potions, traps, wands and
– why not – a clockwork power-limb. This gives the
player an element of control they can establish among
all the random variables, allowing them to build
towards optimal victory or silly gimmick builds.
Dungeons of Dredmor’s skill system offered so
much flexibility that I personally kept coming back,
clocking more than 300 hours of game time. Its a great
alternative take on the roguelike model, a very acessible
introdution to newcomers, and it has something to
offer for anyone who’s willing to play it. JR
Dungeons of
Dredmor has
three DLCs that
add numerous
new items,
monsters
and classes.
The first DLC
was released
for free, as
a gift to the
community.
An unexpected
mini-boss can
suddenly end
an adventure.
Or not, if
you disabled
permadeath.
Dredmor offers
the rare chance
to play as a
dual-wielding
vegan geologist
pirate with
mathemagical
powers and
communist
leanings.
419
E.Y.E.
Divine Cybermancy
Streum On Studio, 2011
Windows
Before E.Y.E., the
developers created
a Half-Life mod
called Syndicate
Black Ops. It was
released in 2004
and set in the same
universe as E.Y.E.
Released in 2011, E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy is
the debut of French Streum On Studio. It is an
ambitious and unique shooter/RPG hybrid,
which is interesting, considering how shamelessly it
“borrows influences” from various sources, especially
from pulp fiction like Warhammer 40k, Shadowrun,
Lovecraftian horror and other video games.
The game takes place in an amalgam of various
settings that you might recognise immediately – a
dystopian future where humanity is ruled by feuding
megacorps, where contact has been made with
hostile aliens, and where the world is threatened
by the coming of the “metastreumonic force”, a
mysterious throng of beasts spawned from psionics
and nightmares. The player is a member of the titular
E.Y.E – an organisation of psionic cybercommando
warrior-monks. But E.Y.E is no exception to the rest
of the world – its once brotherly factions of Jian Shang
Di and Culter Dei are now at each other’s throats.
E.Y.E is a game about many things, but it is
primarily about confusion, chaos and betrayal. Make
no mistake, the paragraph above shows just about the
only things you can be certain of (or can you?) when
it comes to the game’s narrative.
Events that will make you question the entire
game start happening very soon, and accompany you
all the way to the “end”. The atmosphere crafted in
this game is superb, and it takes you on a true rollercoaster
of emotions and sensations. This is achieved
thanks to the mix of the mundane and the mystical.
On one hand, you have typical special ops missions
that require you to infiltrate various places, perform false
flag operations, etc. But on the other, everything is coated
with a layer of esotericism – unexplainable events take
place, your character suffers repeated bouts of amnesia,
delusion and insanity. As you keep playing, you realise
you simply have no one to trust, not even yourself, and
the game laughs in your face every time you think you
finally understood it.
All these aspects also contribute a lot to another
of E.Y.E’s highlights – the non-linearity. There are a
few moments where you need to take sides and make
decisions that influence the rest of the campaign. This
adds tons of replayability, but also further enforces
your paranoia. Do I betray the guy that is probably
betraying me as we speak for the other faction that
is shady as hell? Or maybe I should choose the third
dude who’s been acting suspiciously since the start!
420
The visuals vary between cyberpunk dystopias,
cryptic dreamscapes and windswept wastelands.
The character-building options are vast, including skills,
implants, psi powers and even a research system.
“We believe the role from the
developers is not necessarily to
please the player, nor to simplify
the games. Doing that might drive
to what is more and more frequent:
a standardisation of the market.
And in E.Y.E it is essential for the
dramatic tension to let the player
assume his own choices.”
– Streum-on-Studio
Nothing is certain
in E.Y.E., the weird
dialogues and
unusual narrative
will keep you
second-guessing
the whole game,
and there are
multiple endings
to uncover.
As for mechanics, E.Y.E manages to be both a
solid shooter and an RPG, which is an impressive feat.
It gives you plenty of guns that really feel like proper
guns, have various ups and downs, traits, recoil,
hitbox-varied damage, etc, including a 4-bullet hand
cannon and a miniature nuke launcher.
You can also use melee weapons and grenades,
set up turrets and grab a gun drone to follow you
around. The enemies obviously respond in kind,
rushing you en masse, sniping from afar or using
some seriously heavy ordnance like plasma cannons
and gunships.
The neat thing is that you can also toggle the
difficulty to your liking with sliders for the AI’s
accuracy, reflexes, etc. From the RPG side, you have a
lot of customisation available to you. Apart from guns,
you can also get a whole lot of psionic powers, cyber
augmentations and stat boosts, which are bought or
acquired from research and XP. You can also hack
everything (or everyone) you encounter in different
ways – destroy, leech stamina or even take control.
Just be careful you don’t get counter-hacked.
The differences between playing a melee beast,
a sharpshooter or a psyker are also fairly big and
support different playstyles well.
The technical side is also an important contributor
to the overall atmosphere. E.Y.E is running on the
dated Source Engine, but the developers still managed
to squeeze a lot of juice out of it, mostly thanks to
the art direction. The environments are fairly varied,
including futuristic cyberpunk cities, red dunes of
Mars, mysterious ruins and Asian-inspired temples.
Finally – and this is a funny point – E.Y.E
has been infamous since its release because of its
downright terrible translation. Indeed, the dialogues
and flavour texts have some seriously broken grammar
and bizarre choices of vocabulary, and are generally
confusing, although not to the point to make the
game unplayable. Interestingly enough, this botched
translation actually contributes a lot to the overall
feeling of estrangement, as the oneiric atmosphere
is only further strengthened when every character
sounds either like a mystical sensei or a raving lunatic.
E.Y.E is a very cool game, and one that I can
recommend wholeheartedly. It takes a while to get
used to, sometimes can be crushingly difficult, and
you’ll wonder what the hell is going on all the time,
but the ride is definitely worth it, and it can also be
played in co-op if you want to get confused with some
buddies. Just make sure you patch it properly. DR
The hacking mini-game has you selecting actions to
invade an AI that can – and will – hack you back.
Some of E.Y.E.’s inspirations are a little less subtle
than the others, such as this “cybernetic demon”.
421
Dark Souls
From Software, 2011
Windows, PS3 and Xbox 360
Initially
there were
no plans for a
PC port, but
fans created
an online
petition and
gathered more
than 93,000
signatures,
surprising the
developers.
The eccentric
NPCs in Dark
Souls present
an organic style
of side-quests,
as their stories
progressing as
you play, shaped
by your actions.
422
To talk about Dark Souls, one has to first talk
about Demon’s Souls. An Action-RPG released
on PlayStation 3 to little initial fanfare (to the
point of being passed over by Sony for localisation, , a
decision they later came to regret) it gradually acquired
a cult following. There are many reasons for its appeal,
but the most often cited ones are its unforgiving but fair
difficulty, methodical and balanced battle system, smart
level design, well-realised starkly gothic setting, and
unique, entirely novel asynchronous and synchronous
multiplayer features.
Dark Souls builds upon this foundation, adding
a seamlessly traversable, interconnected world with
even more content and multiplayer opportunities into
the mix, making Demon’s Souls feel like a beta test for
what would become Dark Souls.
In terms of plot, Dark Souls is minimalistic, and
it depends upon players piecing together background
information presented in item descriptions and
environmental clues to fully understand its lore. It
takes place in a universe where many humans are
cursed with the “Darksign”, forcing them to wander
the earth for eternity, reviving after each death, slowly
losing their humanity. Players are cast into the role of
the “Chosen Undead”, and must end this curse.
Over the course of this endeavour, they’ll
interact with eclectic – and often eccentric – NPCs,
many of which are involved in their own quests. Like
the main story of the game, most of these side-quests
and their outcomes are not immediately obvious, and
need to be discovered. In fact it could well be the case
that anyone playing the game for the first time and
without accessing third-party information will not
even realise that they are happening, and that their
actions might have changed some outcome.
Analysing Dark Souls in comparison with other
RPGs, it falls into the category of classless ARPGs
with an open story and world structure. While players
choose a starting class when creating their character, it
only serves to determine their initial stat distribution,
as well as starting equipment and spells. Afterwards,
every character can freely distribute points to various
stats at level-up, and use any given equipment or spell
as long as they meet its requirements.
The mechanics of saving and death are quite
unique, and linked intrinsically with the game’s
story. As in Planescape: Torment, you play a character
who is essentially immortal. However, unlike that
game there is a strict penalty for death, and saving is
constant and automatic, meaning you must endure
every choice you make. Upon death, the game returns
you to the last bonfire (serving as checkpoints) you
rested at, and all your Souls (the game’s currency, used
both to purchase items and to level up) are lost.
You may retrieve them where you died, but
dying again while trying to do so will result in them
disappearing forever. This rather unforgiving system
has earned the game its reputation for difficulty,
together with the requirement for careful exploration
and concentration in every battle, which we will
discuss next.
“I would like players to conquer
the difficulty and enjoy taking on
formidable enemies and going back
and forth in dungeons. The process
of overcoming the challenge and
the feeling of accomplishment
brought by breaking through each
difficulty is the value we would like
to offer to them.”
– Hidetaka Miyazaki,
Dark Souls’ director
Battles in Dark Souls are quite a different affair
compared to most other ARPGs. They don’t at all fit
with the Diablo clones and their hordes of enemies,
opting for a smaller number of more dangerous foes.
Neither are they trying to emulate pure action games
with their complex systems of combos. Instead, they
are comparatively slow and thoughtful affairs, where
careful positioning and choosing your weapons as
well as the field of battle wisely for each encounter is
at least as important as having fast reflexes.
A central component to the system is Stamina, a
replenishing resource used up when attacking, blocking
with a shield, evading and casting spells. Managing
Stamina is essential to being successful in battles.
Many of the game’s systems are carefully
designed in order to enhance the situational nature
of battles – e.g. using a polearm in a confined tunnel
is inadvisable, as collisions between your weapon and
level geometry are actually detected. This focus on
rewarding careful approaches is evident in another
major strength of the game: its exploration.
The world and its levels are deeply interwoven,
filled with secrets, deadly traps, and shortcuts which
make deeper forays from each bonfire easier. In
this context, Dark Souls’ asynchronous multiplayer
features need to be mentioned.
Almost every equipment piece in Dark Souls is a viable
choice, allowing for extremely diverse playstyles.
The game allows players to place messages in the
form of glowing runes on the ground. These can point
out hidden paths, treasure, traps, enemies – or they
can be false and made to lead trusting players to their
deaths. Similarly, player deaths result in bloodstains
in other players’ worlds, and can be touched in order
to see the dying player’s last moments as a phantom.
On the topic of phantoms, while Dark Souls is a
fantastic single-player RPG, it also features a multitude
of popular multiplayer options based on the concept of
phantoms visiting – or invading – the world of a host
player, neatly circumventing the plethora of continuity
or design issues which might occur when trying to fit
multiplayer into a single-player RPG.
Dark Souls’ combination of challenging battles,
exquisitely designed levels, deadly bosses and punishing
death mechanics had such influence that it gave birth to
its own sub-genre, with Dark Souls II (2014), Bloodborne
(2015), Dark Souls III (2016) and several others that
followed, such as Lords of the Fallen (2014), Salt and
Sanctuary (2016), Nioh (2017), etc. It’s a punishing but
rewarding experience, as all these dangers are almost
invariably fair and can be mastered – by learning the
game’s mechanics, carefully studying each environment
and always proceeding with caution. DU
Mods:
DSFix: Released the same day as the game’s lousy PC
port, this mod unlocks the game’s resolution and/or
frame rate, among other improvements. A must-have.
Prepare to Die AGAIN: This mod aims to give veteran
players the excitement and mystery of playing Dark
Souls for the first time by changing the location of
enemies, items and bonfires. Great for a replay.
Hyper-Agressive Enemies: Makes enemies able to see
you from afar and chase you anywhere. Use it with the
Self Gravelording mod for the ultimate challenge.
Dark Souls’ many
challenges seem
impossible at
first, but they
are all fair and
surpassable by a
focused player.
In 2018,
From Software
released
Dark Souls
Remastered
for PC, PS4,
Xbox One and
Switch, adding
improved
graphics, frame
rate and online
features.
423
The Witcher 2:
Assassins of Kings
CD Projekt RED, 2011
Windows, Mac, Linux and Xbox 360
In 2012, CD
Projekt released
The Witcher 2:
Enhanced Edition.
It added over
10GB of new
content, and was
a free update for
those who already
owned the game.
The inventory
was entirely
redone to better
fit controllers,
but feels rather
awkward when
using mouse and
keyboard.
424
A
sequel to the surprise hit The Witcher (2007),
Assassins of Kings puts Geralt of Rivia on the
trail of the eponymous assassins, who just
killed King Foltest of Temeria, for whom the protagonist
has been working as a bodyguard after the events
of the first game. Accused of regicide, Geralt needs
to seek out the real murderers to prove his innocence
and, with his usual luck, gets entangled in more than
one political and military conflict along the way.
The game’s differences from its predecessor are
visible at a first glance. It runs on an entirely new engine
(called REDengine), developed from scratch by
CDProjekt RED and was, at the time of its release,
one of the best-looking games on the market. Sound
and music follow suit, although the soundtrack by
Adam Skorupa and Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz has
more of a traditional orchestral flair than the folk-inspired
bagpipe music of the first game.
Gamelay-wise, the original’s unusual top-down
view and point-and-click movement are gone – the
camera is now fixed squarely behind Geralt’s back,
with his moves controlled by keyboard only, which
brings the player much closer to the action. There are
also significantly more cutscenes.
Most of the systems from The Witcher are still
present, although simplified or streamlined. Alchemy
does not require an alcohol base any more, and can
be performed anywhere, since meditation does
not require a bonfire any more. Inventory has been
switched from grid-based to list-based, optimised
for controllers. New additions include a rudimentary
stealth mode and Quick-Time Events, both appearing
a few times in the game. The fist-fighting and dice/
poker mini-games mark a return, and a new arm
wrestling mini-game was also added.
The character system has been reworked from
scratch and consists of three separate skill trees, one
each for sword-fighting, magic (witcher signs), and
alchemy, with the most powerful skills unlocking
after certain prerequisites are met. In addition, Geralt
will find rare items called mutagens, which randomly
drop from monsters and/or are created as by-products
of alchemy. These mutagens can then be inserted into
slots attached to some skills (13 in total, the most in
the alchemy tree), granting a permanent bonus.
The game is comparable in size to its
predecessor, with similar ratios of dialogue to combat
to exploration. The number of people that Geralt can
talk to is somewhat reduced, but they are a comparably
diverse and colourful bunch and usually have more
to say on average. It is perhaps worth noting that the
number of casual sex encounters has been reduced,
as Geralt is now in a more-or-less stable relationship
with sorceress Triss Merigold.
Wilderness areas are not as open as in the first
game and usually resemble a collection of intertwining
wide corridors. This makes the world seem smaller,
although Geralt will spend a similar amount of time
running around it, including some dungeon delving
into caves, mines and crypts.
“We really created an ambitious
game and we didn’t want to limit
our artistic expression. Nudity is
considered normal in the best TV
shows nowadays, especially when
it serves the story – so why should
gamers be treated like children?
The sex themes in The Witcher 2
are deeply rooted in the story, and
they are not there just to show off.“
– Maciej Szczesnik,
Lead Combat designer
Combat became
more actionoriented,
with
Geralt mixing
strong and fast
attacks with the
occasional (or
rather frequent)
dodge roll.
Combat has been changed from the mouse-driven
system of the original game to a more typical Action
RPG system with a third-person camera. The three
separate fighting stances are gone, with fast and strong
attacks instead just mapped to different keys. Geralt still
uses two swords – steel against normal and silver against
supernatural opponents – but he can now also throw
knives for a rudimentary ranged attack.
Other melee weapons, such as axes, hammers,
clubs and halberds are available, but, as in the first
game, much less effective than swords. Defensive
moves include rolling and blocking, the latter
consuming vigour, which is also the resource used for
casting signs – a kind of witcher magic. Signs work
more or less as before, except for Quen, which now
creates a magical armour that absorbs damage.
One of the strongest points of The Witcher 2 is
the plot, which in my opinion is significantly better
than the first game’s. What makes it truly unique is
the ability to experience the game’s second chapter
from one of two distinct perspectives. Depending on
a choice made in the previous chapter, Geralt will end
up either in a besieged dwarven fortress town or in
a military camp of the army laying said siege, with
both options providing unique quests, storylines and
points of view for the unfolding events.
This binary choice gives an incentive to replay
the game and allows for an additional insight into
the story and motivations of certain characters, if the
player plays through both of the paths.
In all honesty, if you expect a straight follow-up
to The Witcher, you might not like Assassins of Kings.
The differences are numerous and affect the game on
many levels, and there is no question that the sequel
is mechanically more shallow. On the other hand,
The Witcher 2 is still a great-looking (and sounding),
enjoyable Action RPG with great characters and
a deep, complex plot, just like its predecessor. It is
simply cut from a different mould. WM
Mods:
In 2013, CD Projekt released the REDKit, an editor for
The Witcher 2. Sadly, few mods were ever finished, most
being cosmetic changes, but here are two highlights:
Full Combat Rebalance 2: Mod created by Andrzej
Kwiatkowski, now a gameplay designer at CD Projekt.
The mod is huge and includes changes to the game’s
balance, tweaks to the combat and new animations.
Enhanced Mod Compilation: A compilation of minor
changes that offers quality-of-life improvements, like
reducing some items’ weight and adding auto-loot.
In May 2011,
the Polish
version of
Playboy
featured one
of the game’s
characters,
Triss Merigold,
on its cover.
Witchers are hunters, so being prepared is key. Potions,
for example, can make you see enemies in dark areas.
The game is full of choices that impact the story, including
one that splits the game into two entirely different paths.
425
Way of the
Samurai 4
Acquire, 2011
Windows and Playstation 3*
*Way of the
Samurai 4 was
first released in
2011 in Japan.
It reached the
West in 2012,
but the PC port
came only in
2015, released
by Ghostlight.
You can
sometimes talk
to enemies
during combat to
persuade them,
or use the back
of your blade to
knock them out.
426
Often one of the most talked about aspects of
RPGs is their size and length. Since the 80s,
magazine ads boasted lines like “30 dungeons”,
“over 200 monsters” and “dozens of hours of fun”, and the
trend only got stronger with the rise of gargantuan RPGs
like the Elder Scrolls or The Witcher series – games that can
take over 60 hours to beat, with some players enduring
over a hundred hours in a single playthrough.
However, keeping a lengthy, epic narrative on
track is very tricky when the game has to factor in the
player’s decisions, as many RPGs do. A very common
solution is for choices to branch out only for a while,
then quickly tie back into the main narrative. It’s what
games like Mass Effect do – choices are accounted for,
but even if you are the worst bastard who ever lived
you’ll still have to do X and Y to save the galaxy.
Going in direct opposition to this philosophy
is the Way of the Samurai series. The first game,
released in 2002 for the PlayStation 2, cast players as
a wandering ronin who enters a small remote village.
From there on, everything was up to the player – he
could get involved in a conflict between local factions,
try to protect a woman from bandits, kill everyone
he sees or just casually cross the village and leave,
“finishing” the game in under five minutes.
Way of the Samurai 4 was the first game of the
series released on PC (now also joined by Way of the
Samurai 3) and it’s arguably the best among them.
You create a ronin who arrives at the port town
of Amihama. The game is set in 1855, during the
Bakumatsu period, when the Shogunate was at its
end and the Japanese were suffering the incursion
of foreign warships into their waters – often on
unfriendly terms. This tension is portrayed in three
main factions: the Shogunate forces, a visiting British
ambassador and a group of anti-foreigner extremists.
As you arrive in town, a fight breaks out between
the factions, and it’s up to you to pick a side – or
simply walk away. It’s a game that trades length for
width; the town is tiny, with just nine small areas, and
there’s only a handful of key characters to interact
with. But within this limited setup you can explore
many possibilities, with entirely different outcomes.
Maybe you want to side with a faction, only to
betray it later. Or you’ll devote yourself to helping a
single character. Perhaps you’re in town just to fight
in a tournament, or to steal from shops. You can play
a silent character that refuses to answer any question,
or draw your blade during conversations and attack.
Way of the Samurai 4 is a game designed to be
replayed many times, learning about the characters,
the world and the consequences of your actions. Your
money, items, weapons and, better yet, choices will
carry into your next playthroughs in various ways,
from store prices to expanding your possibilities.
For example, your Japanese ronin won’t be able
to understand most foreigners at first. However, if you
help build a language school, it will remain there in
future playthroughs, so your next characters will now
understand the foreigners – and that will open new
story possibilities for you to explore.
“The last game was set during
the Warring States period in the
1500s, so we had been aiming for a
rough, cool feel, but for this one we
wanted flashy, ostentatious visuals
and therefore decided to set it at
the dawn of intercultural exchange.
[...] we did consider to some degree
that this era might be appealing
in the event that the game was
released overseas.”
– Tetsushi Saito,
WotS 4’s lead designer
The game plays
with the culture
shock between
Japan and
the West in a
humorous and
often over-thetop
tone.
There’s a strong meta-aspect to the game, as each
time you finish it you’ll gain points to unlock more
features, like playable female characters, harder difficulty
settings, new customisation options, and more combat
choices, such as dual-wielding or using guns.
Speaking of combat, Way of the Samurai 4 makes
great use of sword fighting. While you may fight large
numbers, battles are always one at a time. There’s
a strong and a fast attack button, plus a block, and
your attacks change with your directional input, from
lunges to overhead attacks, depending on your choice
of fighting style and your character’s mastery of it.
The trick is that you begin with a plain katana
and a basic sword fighting style, but you’ll collect
more weapons and fighting styles as you defeat your
enemies. There are over 70 styles to unlock, including
various sword stances, dual-wielding, spears, shinobi
style and hand-to-hand combat.
Enemies will always drop the weapons they use,
and you can equip or disassemble them and use the
parts to forge a new blade with special properties. Just
remember to repair them often, as they quickly break.
There are over a hundred weapons in the game, and
collecting exotic swords and styles can become a goal
on its own, as some are well-hidden and others are
only available on specific difficulty settings.
While a regular playthrough is very short, there’s
a large amount of side-content to explore, from the
aforementioned weapon and style collecting and postgame
unlockables to various side-quests and “kill X
number of people” challenges. You can even manage
a dojo, recruit students and create your own fighting
style. While most of these are tasks are fun and will
happen naturally, fully unlocking all the game has to
offer can be a rather repetitive task.
What can also be a bit too much is the tone of the
game. Previous games in the series always had some
silly Japanese humour and over-the-top characters,
but here it reaches extreme levels of wackiness, with a
Lolita-like ambassador, a knight named Megamelons,
a trio of sadistic sisters who love torture and an absurd
“night encounter” mini-game where you must sneak
into your lover’s bed at night.
Regardless, Way of the Samurai 4 is a fantastic
game that offers a fun and challenging combat, a cast
of memorable characters and an incredibly fresh take
on game design. Replayability and player freedom are
the key here, and it’s a joy to slowly get to know the
game’s characters, areas and events like the palm of
your hand, then disrupt its inner workings – helping,
rescuing and killing different characters, just to see
how the game adapts and weaves new stories. FE
WotS 4’s
excellent
soundtrack was
composed by
Noriyuki Asakura,
who also worked
on the popular
Rurouni Kenshin
(aka Samurai X)
anime, set in the
same period.
You can disassemble weapons you collect and use them
to forge entirely new ones, with various special abilities.
Your journal displays the various events and paths you’ve
gone through, and hints on how to unlock new ones.
427
The Elder Scrolls V:
Skyrim
Bethesda Softworks, 2011
Windows, Xbox 360 and PS3*
*In 2016
Bethesda
released
Skyrim Special
Edition, a
remaster for
Xbox One and
PS4. Later
the game
also received
a Nintendo
Switch port
and a VR
version.
There is a time early in a child’s life upon which
they discover a special power that children
have: the theatre of the mind. It is during this
time that common objects acquire the most delightful
properties. A broomstick flies. A trashcan is a shield,
a twig becomes a sword, and that shrubbery over
yonder is a forest begging to be explored in search of
treasure to gather and fiends to banish.
Yet it is the oddest thing, that as children grow
into adults they lose this special power. This happens in
such a quiet, demure way, that most of us never realise
it’s gone, or even that we ever had it in the first place.
Skyrim is the kind of game that makes us remember.
The uncanny valley is in full effect in this
grandiose epic: the vastness of its open world and the
density of its vegetation brings into full focus the fact
that there’s something off about that guy’s face. Or
that, given enough skill and darkness, a mischievous
player may very well steal the clothes a character is
wearing – without her noticing.
But Bethesda’s grand epic shrugs the uncanny
valley away with an eye for playfulness and a knack
for re-awakening that repressed power of imagination
dwelling somewhere within its players’ skulls.
This is first-person action role-playing by the
numbers, then. Press left to strike, right to block, both
for a shield bash, or hold for a charge attack. Ranged
combat is simpler even, while magic simply lets you
assign a spell to each button. There is a nice heft to
the clash of sword (or fang!) on shield, and an audible
tautness to the bowstring, but there is little more to
combat than sloppy timing.
Character development, too, feels slightly
underwhelming. Skyrim uses classic “skill up by
using” system, and it is well-implemented, but in
many areas improvement doesn’t seem to translate
to the screen well enough. On the other hand, there
are the powerful Dragon Shout spells to acquire by
exploring the world, and even several talent trees on
which to invest points. These are hit-and-miss, with
some very worthwhile and fun abilities to be found,
and several underwhelming ones.
It’s all about the world, really. Criticism can fairly
be levelled at nearly every other aspect of the game –
the swordplay feels floaty, magic is different flavours of
projectile combat, crafting is grindy and uninspired,
the enemies are mostly damage sponges rushing you,
and those ancient ruins all look strangely alike.
428
Once again you can play in both first- and third-person
modes, but this time the combat feels a lot more weighty.
The interface is slick and allows you to examine objects
in 3D, but it plays horribly on keyboard and mouse.
“We give the player a lot of credit,
we trust him. We give him all these
tools and we teach him this stuff
and he’s an excellent player-director.
He wants downtime, he goes to
town and talks to people. Says he
wants some challenge – ‘I’m gonna
fight that dragon I heard about’. It
becomes much harder to put the
game down. He is the director of his
experience.”
– Todd Howard,
Skyrim lead producer
And yet, these negatives seem small, pitiful
even, when standing at the edge of the Throat of the
World and looking down, past the fog and into the
green fields west of Whiterun, recognising that small
outcrop of rocks where you once stumbled into a
cadre of Redguard assassins.
The negatives float away when, low on health
and provisions, you find yourself running for your life
from a high-level dragon (and asking yourself: “why
did I install the mod that makes dragons deadlier?!”)
– and all of a sudden, into the legs of a mountain giant.
You then make your escape into a nearby cave while
the two behemoths clash outside – and venture into
whatever new discovery awaits inside. And there’s
always something to be discovered.
Skyrim is a game of moments, of small random
occurrences, of carefully orchestrated plans going to
hell because of stupid NPCs, of moments posing in
front of breathtaking views, of sitting by the fire, an
action with no gameplay benefits whatsoever, done
simply because you feel like hearing that bard sing
again about how Ulfric is the High King – and in his
great honour we shall drink and sing. It is this tapestry
of micro-experiences that breathes life into a player’s
sojourn onto the icy lands of northern Tamriel.
Skyrim is not meant to be a simulation, or a
twitch experience. It is, quite frankly, not even much
of a role-playing experience – unless you use your
rediscovered imagination to fill in the blanks. Then,
it shines like few others. LM
Riding a horse
across the vast
plains in pursuit
of a dragon is the
kind of emergent
experience that
Skyrim excels at.
Skyrim
had three
expansions:
Dawnguard and
Dragonborn,
which add
extra areas
and content,
and Hearthfire,
which adds
the ability
to build your
own house.
Mods:
SkyUI: Absolutely essential, this mod replaces Skyrim’s
default interface for one better suited for keyboard and
mouse, with sortable columns and other cool features.
Unofficial Skyrim Patch: There’s one of these for each
expansion, and they provide important bug fixes.
Skyrim Redone (aka SkyRe): A massive mod that overhauls
most of the game, altering combat, magic, stats,
perks, enemies, crafting and much more.
Alternate Start - Live Another Life: Allows you to skip
the long introduction and start the game in one of many
wildly different locations and situations.
Immersive Creatures: A huge mod that adds over 2,000
creatures, including new quests and bosses.
Immersive Weapons and Armour: Adds over 100 new
weapons and 50 new armour sets, all lore-friendly.
Climates of Tamriel: Changes the weather and lighting,
for more atmospheric visuals and darker dungeons.
Requiem: A hardcore overhaul mod, it changes Skyrim
into a harsh and more realistic game. For experts only.
Deadly Dragons: This mod adds unique dragons to the
game and makes them smarter and tougher to defeat.
Enderal - The Shards of Order: Developed by the same
team who made the excelent Nehrin mod for Oblivion,
this is an entirely new game created using Skyrim’s
engine, with a new world, new levelling system and a
much heavier focus on storytelling.
RealVision ENB: ENBs are graphical mods that heavily
alter the game’s visuals, adding effects such as grain and
depth of field. There are many, but RealVision is the
most popular, achieving results such as this:
If you want to
heavily modify
Skyrim, visit the
Skyrim Total
Enhancement
Project wiki, a
comprehensive
modding guide
available at
www.wiki.stepproject.com
429
Magical
Diary
Your character has
four attributes:
Smart, Strong, Cute
and Weird. The last
one is the funniest
to focus on.
Using clever
solutions, like
teleporting a
monster away
instead of fighting
it, awards you
school merits.
“
Hanako Games, 2011
Windows, Mac and Linux
What the hell?” – asks the reader, looking at
this page. Magical Diary, a visual novel/
RPG hybrid – I reply – a game with one of
the most interesting magic systems ever.
You’re a girl sent to a magical Hogwarts-like
school, where you must attend classes, make friends
and overall survive school life. It’s clearly inspired by
Princess Maker (1991) and Academagia (2010), but
with a more light-hearted and accessible presentation.
Each week you must decide your schedule,
choosing what magic classes to attend – and eventually
learn spells. The game features five magic schools,
each with 12 spells, plus 16 combination spells that
require a set number of points in two schools. So
you’re looking at over 70 spells to play with, such as
Find Spirits, Anti-Magic Field and Stoneshape.
These can occasionally be used to solve (or cause)
daily issues, but the dungeons are the real highlight
here. Once in a while you’ll have to take tests that
teleport you to a maze and require you to reach the
exit. The challenges range from a monster hunting you
to a rival wizard, or just a big chasm to cross. And the
solutions are all up to you. For example, to escape the
monster you can kill it with damage spells, teleport it
elsewhere, teleport yourself to the exit, distract it, scare
it away, blind it, put it to sleep, turn invisible or even
simply dig a tunnel across the maze. It’s an extremely
rich system that really offers you the proper range of
choices a spellcaster should have, instead of simply
being a range damage-dealer, shooting fireballs
everywhere, like in many “real” RPGs.
The big downside of Magical Diary is how short
it is. Even slowly reading everything for the first time
will take you only about five hours, and there’s simply
not enough room to explore its magical system. Many
spells only have one use in-game, so you’re likely to
end without even casting half of your spellbook. And
sadly, there are only seven dungeons in the game.
Still, the game is quite replayable. It’s fun to learn
different spells to try new solutions on the dungeons,
and the story can go interesting and unexpected
places depending on how you choose to act.
Don’t let prejudice put you off; Magical Diary is a
solid experience that brings a much needed breath of
fresh air into the genre. FE
430
BioWare, 2011
Windows, Mac, Xbox 360 and PS3
Dragon Age II
With the world-threatening invasion of the
Blight solved by the player in Dragon Age:
Origins, we now unexpectedly turn our
sights to the lives of those affected by the war.
A quick glance at the concept of Dragon Age II
and you’ll be in awe at how ambitious it is. This is the
tale of Hawke, a war refugee who just arrived with
his family at the dark city of Kirkwall, not a penny to
his name. Over the next years, he will have to find a
way to survive not an inhuman ancient evil, but the
worst of humanity itself – greedy slavers, desperate
thieves, religious zealots and a hateful mage-hunting
inquisition. To crown it all, the story is told by an
unreliable narrator: a sleazy companion of Hawke
under interrogation by a mysterious woman.
Unfortunately, this bold premise was met with
BioWare’s demand for a streamlined, fast-paced RPG,
to be released between Mass Effect 2 and 3. Thus, the
team reportedly had little more than a year to make
Dragon Age II; and it shows. While the art style is
vastly improved, the limited development time led to
cuts, reused assets and very few locations to explore.
This wouldn’t be such a big problem, if not for the
drastic simplification of the game’s systems. Gone are
elves and dwarfs as playable races, the prestige classes,
crafting, non-combat skills and even your companion’s
armour. What’s left is an action-heavy, console-friendly
combat system that has some interesting ideas, such as
cross-class combos and friendship/rivalry talents, but it
still gets repetitive fast – in part because it’s paired with
poor level and encounter design that just throws wave
after wave of respawning enemies at the player.
However, DA2’s true flaw is the execution of its
story. It spans a decade, showing Hawke’s life alongside
his family and friends in Kirkwall but, rare intimate
moments aside, it’s just a generic power fantasy.
The railroaded plot drags you from set piece to
set piece in contrived ways and clashes terribly with
the gameplay. Hawke will summon meteors and slay
armies during combat – with exaggerated animations
and huge blood splashes – then endlessly moan about
“being powerless” during dialogue. DA2 fans will say
the companions are the game’s saving grace, but while
Varric and Aveline are well-written, others seem to
exist only to further the plot or fulfil romantic fantasies.
To be fair, it’s impressive how much the developers
delivered in such a short time. Nonetheless, Dragon Age II
is a repetitive and schizophrenic game that promised to
revolutionise RPG storytelling with a personal tale about
coexistence, only to deliver yet another pandering tale
about saving the world and romancing everyone. FE
Dragon Age II
got four story
DLCs, which
added three new
companions. An
expansion called
Exalted March
was planned,
providing closure
on Hawke’s story,
but was later
cancelled.
The dialogue
wheel is similar
to Mass Effect,
but introduces
a Humorous
attitude, besides
Diplomatic and
Aggressive.
DA2 is entirely
set in the city
of Kirkwall and
its immediate
surrounding areas.
Although it spans
several years, its
locations barely
change.
431
Deus Ex:
Human Revolution
Eidos Montréal, 2011
Windows, Mac, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii U
Augmentations
empower your
playstyle, allowing
you to move
heavy objects,
hack computers,
see through
walls, persuade
NPCs, and so on.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution had a lot of things
going against it. It was the first game developed
by Eidos Montréal, and none of its developers
had worked on a Deus Ex before. Invisible War (2003),
though well-received by critics and commercially
successful, was a heavily streamlined sequel poorly
received by fans. When HR was announced by Square
Enix, many expected the same outcome or worse.
The new developers, however, loved the original
and wanted to stay faithful to its design, which proved
to be a remarkable challenge. The first two years of
development were focused on prototypes, as the team
struggled to find the Deus Ex gameplay they wanted.
Once found, the team ended up with roughly only two
years to make the full game. This did cause issues, but it
also makes its accomplishments look more impressive.
The team also wanted to preserve the series’ story,
so they made HR a prequel set in 2027, 25 years before
the first game. The protagonist is Adam Jensen, chief
of security at Sarif Industries, an advanced biotech
company. After an attack at Sarif ’s HQ in Detroit
by a group of mercenaries, Jensen suffers near-fatal
wounds. The company then saves Jensen with the most
advanced augmentations available, making him one of
the most heavily augmented humans at the time.
One of the narrative’s main influences is the
myth of Icarus, featured in some of the trailers and
the beautiful theme song. It’s a theme seen in both
DX1 and HR, along with conspiracy theories, megacorporations,
surveillance, liberty, technological
progress affecting social classes, and others. The
story suffers from a rushed ending, but its numerous
themes are well-explored, and the side-missions do a
good job fleshing out the setting.
Human Revolutions’s gameplay follows the
series’ pillars: a versatile combination of FPS combat,
stealth, exploration and social interaction, albeit with
a different execution. The level design also follows
similar principles, but areas are less open-ended in
favour of more detailed environments. A surprisingly
good hacking mini-game was added and plays an
important role, while the new dialogue system makes
conversations play out like a puzzle.
Combat as a whole is improved as well, but some
mechanics can make it a bit too easy, mainly the cover
system, takedowns, and the XP system. The game is
played in a first-person view, but entering cover switches
it to a third-person camera, allowing players to peek
around corners and see what’s behind them. It’s an
optional tool, but many areas were designed around it,
so some may find it awkward to avoid using it.
The takedown is the game’s only melee attack.
Available in lethal and non-lethal forms, it quickly
neutralises any non-boss target (or two, with an
upgrade) in a single attack, during which you cannot be
detected or harmed. The game plays fine without it, so
players wanting more challenge can ignore it entirely.
The game offers experience rewards for finishing
a mission completely undetected and without raising
alarms, but other rewards don’t feel so appropriate.
432
“Initially it was also very tough to
convince the team to be totally on
board, because you would have to
go to them and say things like, “OK,
you have to work on this piece for the
next two months, and and only 30%
of players are going to see that’. Most
games have the philosophy of ‘if we
spend money and time on something,
all players must see that’.”
– Jean-François Dugas,
Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s director
Some dialogues
are like a puzzle,
where you must
convince other
characters to
help you by
observing their
personalities.
For example, hacking always gives XP, but using
passwords you found doesn’t. It’s not a major issue,
as you’ll earn enough experience no matter how you
play, but the game clearly favours specific playstyles
and approaches. Similarly, HR’s most infamous flaw
is its boss fights. Due to time constraints, they were
outsourced to a different studio, and the result feels as
out of place as it sounds. The player is forced to fight
bullet-sponge enemies in small, closed areas, contrary
to all other missions in the game.
Luckily, the game received a Director’s Cut in
2013, which added stealth and hacking options to
allow for more playstyles. It also added an extensive
director’s commentary and Making Of documentary,
plus as all the DLCs and slightly improved graphics.
Speaking of which, the game’s aesthetic, heavily
inspired by cyberpunk themes and the Renaissance,
is perhaps its most memorable quality. These themes
are strongly reflected in the character designs and
environmental storytelling. The stark contrasts,
mainly between gold and black, often resemble a
chiaroscuro approach that sets a unique atmosphere.
The ever-present yellow filter was divisive, but
was toned down in the Director’s Cut. Overall it’s
an area where the game truly shines, and Michael
McCann’s excellent score makes it all even better.
Judged by itself, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is
one of the best AAA RPGs from the last decade. As a
Deus Ex prequel, it falls short of the first game in some
areas, but comes remarkably close. It is a rare triumph
among its contemporaries. A lesson that a modern
AAA reboot, despite being made by a new studio with
none of the original creators, can find success and its
own identity while staying faithful to its roots.
The same cannot be said about Mankind Divided,
HR’s direct sequel, released in 2016. The graphics are
prettier, hacking is more fun, and the hub area in
Prague is very nice, but it’s worse than its predecessor
at just about everything else.
The level design is way too simple, the story feels
like it was cut in half (possibly because Square Enix
had plans for a trilogy), the writing has a lot more
exposition, and the game as a whole is way too easy.
To make it worse, they added micro-transactions to
the campaign and a tacked-on multiplayer mode.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution was a best-seller
and won several Game of the Year awards. Mankind
Divided was well-received by critics, but it didn’t go
down well with the public, resulting in underwhelming
sales. Much like Invisible War, it did enough damage
that the franchise was put on hold by Square Enix,
tragically taking Deus Ex back into the fridge. FAX
Like in the original Deus Ex, the inventory is quite limited,
forcing you to carefully choose which items to bring along.
Mankind Divided includes a gorgeous and quite immersive
recreation of Prague, but the rest of the game is uninspired.
433
Mass Effect 3
BioWare, 2012
Windows, PS3 and Xbox 360
In addition to
difficulty levels,
Mass Effect 3
features the
“Action” and
“Story” modes.
The former
changes
dialogues into
cinematics,
while the latter
makes combat
extremely easy.
The character
system remains
similar to that of
Mass Effect 2, but
now most powers
can branch into
two different
playstyles.
434
Streamlining the original Mass Effect’s gameplay
systems allowed its sequel to reach much higher
commercial and critical success, so it was only
natural for the third game to follow the same path,
which is exactly what happened.
Mass Effect 3 is a very iterative addition to the
series, focusing on new content, polish and refinement
in certain aspects. It even introduces a fresh batch
of lore inconsistencies to supplement those already
present in ME2, and is equally shameless about this.
The story follows directly from Mass Effect 2’s
final DLC (Arrival), with Commander Shepard
grounded on Earth (having apparently returned to
active duty in System Alliance after his/her Spectre and
Cerberus episodes) and facing a hearing regarding the
warnings of an imminent Reaper invasion – which the
government still doubts is a threat or even exists!
Reapers show an ironic sense of humour and
invade at this exact moment, forcing our hero to jump
straight into action and once again travel across the
galaxy in search of a way to defeat the enemy, as well
as gathering allies and resources for a counter-attack.
As usual, Shepard is aided in this task by a team of
trustworthy companions, who are a mix of old friends
returning from previous games and a few new faces.
While there are way fewer squad-mates than in
ME2, they offer many skills to choose from and match
to your personal tastes. Almost all companions are
potential ‘love interests’, to the point where it seems this
feature was a priority when deciding on the cast. Sadly,
there’s no Krogan party member this time.
Being the trilogy’s finale, Mass Effect 3 offers
resolutions and follow-ups to various story arcs from
previous games. Some of them are an impressive display
of storytelling and attention to player choice, while
others are somewhat lacklustre, with near-identical
replacement characters showing up to take the place
of those who did not survive. Still, the sheer amount
of effort put into creating a coherent player-affected
narrative between the three games warrants respect.
However, it’s impossible to defend some plot
points, especially Cerberus’ ridiculous omnipresence
and Shepard’s unexplainable plan to stop the Reapers.
The contrivances felt in ME2 are back in force, as the
game often ignores previously established concepts or
forces players to helplessly watch certain events.
Gameplay-wise, Mass Effect 3 is basically the
same as ME2, but more polished in every way. The
action part feels better than ever with gunplay easily
on par with contemporary shooters and a variety of
characters’ abilities introducing another layer to the
combat dynamic. All the classes have been changed
and rebalanced, encouraging players to try out new
builds and allowing for vastly different playstyles.
In addition, Shepard is now much less restricted
when it comes to loadout, as every class is able to use
every weapon. Weapons can also be customised by
modifying them with various components, such as
extended magazines or accuracy-improving scopes.
These welcome changes allow for some very interesting
and fun combinations of guns and abilities.
“Mass Effect has been a
shared experience between the
development team and our fans
– not just a shared experience in
playing the games, but in designing
and developing them. An outpouring
of love for Garrus and Tali led to their
inclusion as love interests in ME2.
A request for deeper RPG systems led
to key design changes in ME3.”
– Casey Hudson,
Mass Effect series’ executive producer
Enemies now
have several
abilities and will
throw grenades,
deploy turrets,
use shields, buff
allies and pilot
mechs – which
you can steal for
yourself.
Level design is a noticeable improvement over
the linear corridors of ME2. There are more open
spaces, alternative paths and optional branches, which
usually net a loot cache or additional story elements
like datalogs (though the hacking and bypass minigame
were entirely removed). Sets of chest-high walls
and crates are also less obvious this time, so you are
not immediately alerted of an incoming firefight.
All this makes the “walking around” experience
more enjoyable, not just a downtime between combat
and dialogue. Environments are visually impressive,
with some truly awe-inspiring backgrounds, from
beautiful alien cities to war-torn battlefields.
Audio layer is worth mentioning too, with music
created by several composers, led by Hollywood
veteran Clint Mansell, and sound design rewarding
playing the game with good audio setups. Voice
acting is also superb, as per series tradition.
ME3 caused a certain controversy on launch, due
to one important squad member being locked behind
a “Day 1” DLC (From Ashes), which is (to this day) not
included with the base version of the game. Fans of the
series will definitely want to play the third game with
this and other DLCs, especially the final one (Citadel),
which serves as a send-off for Shepard and will cause a
surge of memories from previous games.
ME3 also adds separate multiplayer missions,
tied to the in-game galactic war. By playing these
missions (or the Mass Effect: Infiltrator game for iOS),
players earn additional “war assets” that are used in
the single-player campaign, influencing its outcome.
Regardless, the game’s – and therefore the whole
trilogy’s – ending(s) were deemed unsatisfactory
by many and led to an online uproar. BioWare later
released a free DLC (Extended Cut) addressing these
concerns, but some fans still consider it a letdown.
The Mass Effect trilogy stands as a landmark.
While some will always be disappointed by the
(many) unfulfilled promises, its successful blend of
cinematic Action RPGs with strong squad member
relationship elements ensured the direction of future
BioWare games – and of many other RPGs. MS
Mods:
Expanded Galaxy Mod: Adds new features, events,
items and several extra missions across the galaxy.
ME3Recalibrated: An unofficial patch, it addresses
many bugs, as well as some lore inconsistencies.
MEHEM: Gives the game a different, happier ending.
A Lot of Textures: A large pack with new HD textures.
After only
featuring a
male Shepard
in ME1 and
2’s cover and
promo material,
BioWare held a
vote to choose
the official
female Shepard.
She was voted
a redhead by
19k fans, and so
ME3’s box came
with a two-sided
cover art – one
male, another
female.
Weapon mods are back, and you can now customise your
loadout, restricted only by the weight limit of each class.
The endings change depending on how many war assets
you gathered, either in missions or in the multiplayer.
435
Tales of
Maj’Eyal
Nicolas “DarkGod” Casalini, 2012
Windows, Mac and Linux
Tales of
Maj’Eyal is
open-source
and freely
available for
download, but
it’s also for
sale on Steam
and GOG, with
its two recent
expansions
requiring a
donation or
purchase.
There are six
main stats and
each class has its
own unique skill
trees, but extra
skills (even from
other classes)
can be unlocked
by performing
special quests.
436
Since I first heard about roguelikes, I’ve always
wanted to love them. The concept of highly
complex RPGs with infinite randomly generated
adventures was exciting, but I never felt fully satisfied
by playing ADOM, NetHack, Angband, Brogue and
other classic roguelikes. Something was missing.
More than nice graphics or a friendly interface,
I missed a sense of place – all those carefully handplaced
details that give a special quality to dungeons,
towns, quests and NPCs – that offer interesting goals
and tease cleverly hidden secrets for players to pursue.
Luckily, I found all that I wanted in Tales of Maj’Eyal.
Also know as ToME4, its development began back in
1998 as Tales of Middle-Earth (or ToME1). A variant
of the classic roguelike Angband, it was constantly
expanded for over a decade until 2012, when the
team decided to release a fourth major version that
replaced the Tolkien-based setting for an original one
and changed the name to Tales of Maj’Eyal.
From a quick glance one can already see several
differences from traditional roguelikes – instead of
ASCII graphics, ToME uses charming 2D graphics
and an accessible, mouse-driven interface. However,
the biggest difference is how it blends the roguelike
formula with more traditional CRPG bits, becoming
an “RPG/Roguelike hybrid”, if that makes sense.
For example, there’s still permadeath, but you
can disable it or play in “Adventure mode”, where you
can die a few times before your character is erased.
ToME also makes selective use of randomness.
Its world map, towns, NPCs and quests are fixed,
allowing for a quality far beyond that of traditional
roguelikes. It even offers choices and consequences:
there’s a faction that hates magic due to past events and
will attack magic-users on sight – but also share secret
anti-magic techniques if your character renounces
magic forever. Another option is to ally yourself with
renegade mages and destroy said faction.
Dungeons blend random layouts, enemies and
treasures with fixed themes, key rooms and bosses.
This gives them a lot of personality – you’ll follow
giant sandworms as they dig tunnels, battle in space,
free slaves, dive underwater, race against time, etc.
Another unusual mechanic is how most races and
classes have unique starting points and quests, but must
be unlocked first. Say you start as a Dwarf Berserker –
you’ll begin your adventures in the Dwarven kingdom,
learn about their culture, do some race and class-specific
quests then venture into the world map. If you’re lucky,
by the time you die you’ll have done something special
and unlocked a new race or class, and can now, for
example, play as an Elven Archmage, which starts in a
different area with different quests.
The game currently has 16 races and 35 classes,
offering several widely different playstyles. Each
class has a set of skill trees that slowly unlocks as you
level up, providing direct damage skills and passive
bonuses, but there’s also many “utility” abilities:
teleporting, redirecting damage, raising walls, magic
shields, etc. Instead of random potions and scrolls,
you’re given a clearly defined set of versatile tools and
must manage their resources and cooldowns wisely.
“To me, accessible means that
any player should be able to start
the game and feel at home as fast
as possible. In this day and age,
this means having mouse control,
tooltips, hotkeys and so on. The user
should never have to fight the UI,
it’s the UI that should adapt. But
behind the simple UI is hidden a
beast. I tend to describe ToME as a
tactical RPG roguelike[...]”
– Nicolas “DarkGod” Casalini,
Tales of Maj’Eyal’s creator
The main towns
and dungeons
are always in the
same place on
the world map,
but there are
random optional
areas and
roaming parties
of NPCs.
This gives ToME a very rare quality which I
love: true power comes not from big numbers, but
from versatility. A Chronomancer can split time, test
multiple tactics for a few turns and then choose the
timeline that worked better; a Doombringer can take
an enemy with him into a demonic plane to duel; a
Necromancer can perform a dark ritual to turn into a
Lich and avoid (perma)death once, and so on.
It’s a game that’s always challenging (partly due
to enemies level-scaling up), but building a good mix
of abilities and equipment that can provide tactical
options is far more important than min-maxing stats.
If unlocking new classes/races, trying new quest
solutions and following the main story isn’t enough
to keep you motivated, ToME also offers over 1,700
achievements to pursue and special online events –
you might be happily playing when a developer comes
online and opens a portal to a mysterious plane!
The game is still in constant development, with
new features and expansions being introduced. Ashes
of Urh’Rok (2014) and Forbidden Cults (2018) added
more content to the main campaign, but the real
attraction is Embers of Rage (2016), which adds an
entirely new campaign where you play as Orcs and
their allies, using technology like pistols and steampowered
saw-blades, as well as a new crafting system.
ToME also has an Infinite Dungeon mode and an
Arena mode for those who care more about fighting,
so you can see why it’s a game I’ve spent hundreds of
hours playing – and will still keep playing.
If classic roguelikes never felt satisfying for you,
or even if you’re a long-time veteran, I recommend
trying Tales of Maj’Eyal. You can get the basic version
for free on the official website, but this is a game that
has more content, creativity and passion than most
big-budget RPGs out there. Don’t miss it. FE
There are several
fan-made add-ons
for download at
ToME’s website
and on Steam
Workshop, adding
new races, classes,
UI improvements
and translations
into Chinese
and Japanese.
ToME is a highly
tactical roguelike,
that gives players
many versatile
abilities, plenty
of information
and tests them
against all sorts of
challenges – both
random and fixed.
437
Legend of
Grimrock
Almost Human Ltd., 2012
Windows, Linux and Mac
In January
2014, a liveaction
web
series based
on Legend of
Grimrock was
funded on
Kickstarter,
made by the
same team
responsible
for Nuka
Break. Sadly,
the project
was never
concluded.
When the indie game scene took off in 2008,
I was hoping that some of the abandoned
game genres from yesteryear might make
a comeback. To my surprise, a group of Finns were
thinking just that and made Legend of Grimrock, a
game that honours the real-time grid-based dungeon
crawlers (aka blobbers) from back in the day.
In terms of game design and UI mechanics,
Grimrock picks up exactly where games like Stonekeep
and Anvil of Dawn left off in the mid-90s, and then adds
some new tricks of its own. The de facto standards of
a full-screen view, minimal UI, inbuilt automap and
easy inventory management are all present, but then
today’s standards of graphics and sound are added.
Realistic lights and shadows, full animations for the
monsters and even a Freelook view.
For someone like me who grew up playing many
of the predecessors to Grimrock, this felt like an old
dream coming true: playing an archaic game genre
with modern-day luxuries.
The plot is simple and non-intrusive: your party
is comprised of convicts that are thrown into the
eponymous mountain-prison with the promise that
your escape will grant you amnesty for your crimes.
A voice that speaks in your dreams urges you to
come find it at the bottom of the mountain, and you’ll
soon find journal pages of an adventurer that came
before you. For once the world doesn’t need saving,
it’s just a personal quest for freedom through a wellcrafted
dungeon filled with puzzles and monsters.
The game goes for the classical “four party
members” approach, but its bare-bones character
creation system is somewhat disappointing. With
only four races and three classes, three of the races are
custom-tailored towards each of the classes and then
humans are thrown in as all-rounders.
Further customisation is gained through the
skill system, where there are plenty of skills to learn
but not enough skill points to go round. As a result,
Fighters will have to choose a preferred weapon
and Mages must pick a preferred school of magic.
Obviously they could have done better with both
systems, but it works as is.
Another valid point of criticism is the interface.
Its minimal approach is a good thing, but its tiny size
leads to many unwanted misclicks, especially with
the keypad-esque spell interface, where players must
input specific rune combinations to cast spells.
438
While not a very difficult game, Grimrock makes clever
use of enemies and traps to create elaborate puzzles.
There’s a secret mode where you can enter the dungeon
alone as Toorun, a unique all-round character.
“We feel that puzzles and also
party-based gameplay to some
extent are lacking in modern RPGs,
and this is one of the factors that led
to the development of Grimrock.
But, more importantly, we are huge
fans of the genre and can’t bear
that these types of awesome games
are not made anymore. So, clearly
somebody had to step in and do
something.”
– Petri Häkkinen,
Almost Human co-founder
Mages not only
have to spend
skill points to
master the
various schools
of magic, but also
need to know the
correct rune
input, usually
found in scrolls.
One problem that has plagued games of this
ilk from the beginning is how easy it is to trivialise
combat with the so-called “combat mambo”. Attack a
monster, then quickly sidestep and turn to face where
the monster will move. Repeat until it dies.
Past games tried various monster AI routines,
which Grimrock also does but then goes one further
and subtly builds the levels around the monster’s
strengths, giving them the home-field advantage.
The game feels lonely at times as there is no
one around to talk to, but this benefits the overall
atmosphere as the sense of isolation adds an element
of survival to the game, making players rely more on
their supplies and the game’s crafting system.
Legend of Grimrock turned out to be a surprise
hit, selling nearly one million units and paying for its
development in less than a week. A sequel was therefore
inevitable, and Legend of Grimrock II roared onto
the scene in 2014. Instead of a mountain prison, the
party is now stranded on a remote island, allowing for
non-linear exploration in every direction.
The sequel is superior to the original in almost
every sense, adding underwater areas, boss battles,
smarter monsters and a stronger emphasis on vertical
movement... and yet it somehow failed to rival the
impact (and sales) of the first game.
The Grimrock games are first and foremost an
homage to a school of game design that is considered
outdated, but clearly not unwanted. Already, several
games have tried to cash in on their success by riding
in its wake, but so far none of them have matched
it. It’s not often that one game can revive an entire
gaming sub-genre, but that’s exactly what Legend of
Grimrock did. ÁV
Fan-Made Dungeons:
One of Grimrock’s high points is the dungeon editor.
As grid-based dungeons are easy to plan and build,
there have been plenty of fan-made dungeons made,
especially for the first game. Here are some highlights:
The Master Quest: The first game’s campaign with
extra content. Works very well and is highly enjoyable.
Mines of Malan Vael: A short dungeon with a new
mine tileset. Find out why all the workers in a mine
have disappeared.
The Master Key: A dungeon that’s heavily inspired by
Dungeon Master, a nice mixture of puzzles and combat.
The author also did a dungeon based on Chaos Strikes
Back, but it’s not as enjoyable as this one.
The Forbidden Halls: Your party discovers some
abandoned halls and decides to explore them.
It features some odd and annoying additions,
but overall it’s quite enjoyable.
The second game is set on a remote island, offering a huge
non-linear dungeon crawler surrounded by gorgeous vistas.
The level editor is easy to understand and provides
a great deal of freedom when in able hands.
439
Kingdoms of Amalur:
Reckoning
Big Huge Games, 2012
Windows, PS3 and Xbox 360
Alongside
Amalur, 38
Studios were
developing an
MMO set in the
same setting.
The game
had been in
development
for six years,
but, after the
company went
bankrupt, Curt
Schilling said
the game simply
“wasn’t fun”.
Amalur is very
reminiscent of
Fable, especially
in the art style.
But the camera
has a narrow FOV
and tilts down,
focusing more on
the floor than on
the environment.
440
In the current low-risk, heavily consolidated AAA
development scenario, it’s becoming increasingly
rare for companies to invest in new IPs. Small
projects aside, nowadays most AAA titles are sequels,
reboots, spin-offs or spiritual successors.
As such, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning took
the world by surprise. Not only was it an original
IP, but it was helmed by a dream team: Ken Rolston
(lead designer on Morrowind and Oblivion), Todd
McFarlane (founder of Image Comics and creator of
Spawn) and R.A. Salvatore, the best-selling fantasy
author famous for his Drizzt Do’Urden novels.
Behind this ambitious super-project was retired
baseball player Curt Schilling, who founded his own
game development company (38 Studios), purchased
Big Huge Games from THQ and then secured a loan
of 75 million dollars from the US state of Rhode
Island to develop Amalur and a tie-in MMORPG.
With R.A. Salvatore creating an original setting
and McFarlane directing the art style, Rolston set
out to create a new brand of open-world RPG. He
envisioned a game that offered Bethesda’s expansive
worlds, BioWare’s narratives and Blizzard’s addictive
progression systems, but focused on fast-paced action
combat inspired by games like God of War.
The game begins with your character dead. Then
he/she gets better. This rather Planescape: Torment-ish
event removes you from the Wheel of Fate and allows
you to interfere with other people’s destiny. But don’t
expect deep philosophical dilemmas – you basically
can kill people before they were fated to die.
To do so, Amalur offers a variety of weapons,
spells and skills, divided into three classic archetypes
– Might, Finesse and Sorcery. Every level-up, you get
three points to spend on the archetypal skill trees.
You can mix them however you wish, and the game
reacts to that by unlocking “destiny” bonuses you can
equip. For example, investing six points in Might and
six points in Sorcery gives you the Guardian destiny,
which boosts defense and converts damage into mana.
Combat is really the meat of the game, and it’s
a satisfying blend of arcade action and RPG. You
equip two weapons at once, each assigned to a button
(a controller is advised), and you can freely mix their
attacks. The nine weapon types all play very differently
and there are several moves at your disposal – dodges,
parries, timed blocks, 3-hit combos, charge attacks,
delayed attacks, damage spells, sustained buff, traps,
summons, etc... You can also sneak and backstab
unsuspecting foes, though it isn’t often useful.
The enemy variety isn’t big, but they all have very
distinct moves and skills. And, to seal the deal, Amalur
uses a Diablo-like loot system, with random items of
several qualities, legendary unique, item sets, gems
and even a salvage and crafting system. It isn’t deep, as
the item bonus lack diversity, but it’s addictive.
Sadly, the game’s balance is severely lacking.
Combat is a cakewalk unless you play on Hard, and
even then the respawning monsters and huge amount
of side-quests means you’ll eventually become too
powerful and breeze through it. A shame, really.
“A good RPG has four aspects –
exploration, narrative, advancement
and then combat. And, as it turns
out for the first three things, people
have been doing a pretty good
job with them. But the combat...
we really just haven’t been asking
enough of ourselves with that
and haven’t really known what
an alternative would be. So, we
decided; the world needs an RPG
with good immersive combat.”
– Ken Rolston,
Amalur’s design director
Choices you
make can unlock
unique “destiny”
bonuses, but
both the dialogue
system and the
rare use of the
persuasion
skill are very
simplistic.
Even though unbalanced, Amalur’s combat is fun
and the progression system is solid. What doomed it was
the decision to favour quantity over quality, delivering a
200-hour RPG that plays like a single-player MMO.
Amalur’s world is massive, packed full with quests.
But, while you can go almost anywhere from the start,
it feels railroaded and limited. You can’t jump, areas are
surrounded by jarring walls, dungeons are linear and
quests are very simplistic, lacking any sense of scale.
For example, you’re sent to find the Theatre of Fate – a
legendary place most people don’t even believe exists –,
yet all you really do is exit town and follow a short road,
guided by the all-knowing quest compass.
The NPCs are also poorly done. Entirely devoid
of personality, they are mere quest dispensers and lore
encyclopaedias, ready to dump monotonous lines on
how Gadflow, the Unseelie King, ordered his Tuatha
Deohn to destroy the Dokkalfar and please Tirnoch...
It’s uncanny how the lore is both incredibly generic
and dense, making it almost impossible to care about.
Non-combat skills like Persuasion and Lockpick
try to diversify the gameplay, and you can also own
houses, steal, pickpocket, kill NPCs, get arrested, etc.
However, it’s all very limited and robotic, closer to the
small-scale artificiality of Fable than to the immersive
living world Ken Rolston created in Morrowind.
Still, Rolston made his point. Amalur’s combat
is much more satisfying and deep than rivals such as
Skyrim or the Dragon Age and The Witcher games,
highlighting a flaw in modern RPGs. Its arcade-like
gameplay isn’t tied to the narrative as in the Gothic
and Souls series, but the mix of a satisfying arcade
combat with a massive open world is thrilling.
Sadly, any chances of a sequel improving the
formula are long dead. While Amalur sold over a
million copies, 38 Studios had severe management
issues trying to develop a tie-in MMORPG and the
company filed for bankruptcy shortly after.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is easy, limited,
unpolished and often dull. But it offered something
fresh, that no other open-world RPG did. That is, until
Dragon’s Dogma came along two months later... FE
Mods:
Widescreen Fixer: Allows you to increase the game’s
extremely narrow FOV and zoom out the camera.
HeartCore (aka YSA) Mod: A Cheat Engine file, it makes
the game harder by nerfing your hero, decreasing XP,
buffing enemies and increasing the game’s speed to 115%.
Reckoning Remapping Tool: Greatly improves the
poor port job on the keyboard and mouse controls.
Amalur had
several DLCs,
including preorder
exclusives
and an online
pass. Of note
are the Legend
of Dead Kel
and Teeth of
Naros DLCs,
which add new
monsters, items
and areas, plus
some interesting
quests to try.
The Diablo-like loot is addictive, with some cool-looking
unique weapons. Sadly, their bonuses are all very similar.
A special bar fills up as you fight, allowing you to slow down
time, power your attacks and execute foes for an XP bonus.
441
Dragon’s
Dogma
Capcom, 2012
Windows, Xbox 360 and PS3
Dragon’s
Dogma was
released
in 2012 for
consoles. The
Dark Arisen
version came
in 2013, and
only in 2016 did
Capcom finally
port the game
to PCs.
Equipment is
diverse, and can
be upgraded
by finding the
necessary items.
Tasks range from
mining rare ores
to breaking a
monster’s tusk
during battle.
442
Your lantern sputters to half-lit status, only
dimly illuminating the massive form of the
cyclops as it lurches towards your party.
Hearing your fighter pawn yell, you move closer and
allow yourself to be launched into the air, grabbing
hold of the cyclops’s arm and climbing to its armoured
head. As the cyclops swipes at you, it misses and
knocks its helmet to the ground below. Your mage
pawn casts a flame enchantment on your strider
pawn, who takes the opportunity to shoot an arrow
straight into its eye. Welcome to Dragon’s Dogma.
The heart of DD is its action-based combat
system, and the interactivity it allows. Inspired by
Capcom’s 1990s fantasy beat ‘em ups, it also encompasses
a great amount of more recent influence, from
the monster-climbing of Shadow of the Colossus to
the weightier realism of Demon’s/Dark Souls, as well
as Capcom’s own Monster Hunter and Devil May Cry
series (Dragon’s Dogma director, Hideaki Itsuno, also
directed Devil May Cry 2, 3 and 4).
In combat, characters may grapple a small opponent
to hold it in place, pick up and hurl an explosive barrel
at foes, or climb onto large monsters and hack away at
weak points. Frequently, they call out tactics to each
other, depending on cooperation for success.
Monsters, too, take advantage of interactivity,
and a player may find himself dragged into the air by
a harpy’s claws, bitten and held down by a wolf, or
seized and crushed by the hands of a cyclops or ogre.
Magic also possesses a rarely seen physicality.
Spells differ not only in elemental effects but also in
how they manifest themselves, from a wall of flame,
to a pillar of ice (which you can climb over), to a
maelstrom sucking up smaller foes and flinging them.
You play as the Arisen – a hero destined to battle
the Dragon. In a unique online component, you can
be joined by up to three AI-controlled pawns – a
main pawn that you create yourself, plus two others
recruited from a pool of pawns created by other players
(or randomly generated, if you’re playing offline).
Pawns are drawn from six vocations (i.e. classes),
each with access to a multitude of skills and categories
of weapons with only some overlap, causing each
vocation to play distinctly from the others. Rangers
have a more powerful and further reaching bow but
are less effective at melee than Striders; Sorcerers
sacrifice some of the healing and support magic of
Mages in exchange for powerful offensive spells;
and Warriors hit harder than Fighters but are less
defensive. The Arisen also has access to the hybrid
vocations: Mystic Knights combine melee ability with
magic spells, Assassins can mix the weapons of the
Fighter and Strider vocations, and Magick Archers
combine dagger-wielding with magical bow abilities.
There are interesting nuances in character
creation. Unlike other games where appearance is
purely cosmetic, in Dragon’s Dogma the choices you
make determine your height and weight class, which
has tangible effects such as making heavier characters
more difficult to knock down while smaller characters
can fit through small openings.
“One of our key concepts was
to give players around the world
the chance to feel like they had
genuinely encountered and taken
on these mythical beasts that we all
have in our collective consciousness.
Our art directors and designers
tried not to stray too far from the
imagery found in ancient legends
and iconography.”
– Kento Kinoshita,
Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen’s director
Combat is
refreshingly
tactile, from
climbing larger
monsters to
grappling with
smaller creatures
to cutting the
heads of hydras.
The story is somewhat rudimentary, linking
the Arisen to the Dragon from the beginning, and
thereafter following a largely linear series of main
quests. There are many optional noticeboard quests
of the type “kill 5 wolves”, but more interesting are
the side-quests initiated by talking with characters,
where decisions can lead to or block further quests,
sometimes even eliminating prominent NPCs.
Dragon’s Dogma contains an impressive but
poorly explained depth as features such as making
forgeries of important items (to keep the original for
yourself or to sabotage a quest, changing its outcome)
and the NPC Affinity system (which controls your
relation with every single NPC and determines your
romantic interest) have lasting consequences, yet the
game barely mentions them.
Initially intended to be an open-world game, the
scope was drastically reduced during development,
leaving Dragon’s Dogma with the vestiges of openworld
design but a setting too small to match. Aside
from the city of Gran Soren and the fishing village of
Cassardis there are no real settlements to speak of,
only a few forts or camps. The game’s many quests will
take the player across the map multiple times, forcing
unwitting players to waste time backtracking and
fighting the same respawning mobs of low-level foes.
Thankfully, the Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
version released a year later expands the existing
fast-travel system, greatly reducing the amount of
backtracking necessary. Although Dark Arisen also
makes various minor changes to the base game,
its real draw is Bitterblack Isle, a vast dungeon that
introduces new treasures and monsters – including
deadly necrophages that attack by surprise, attracted
by the corpses of slain enemies. Intended for highlevel
play, the Isle is separate from the main game and
can be ventured into as early or late as one desires.
Curiously, Dragon’s Dogma fails to play into its
strengths as much as it could have, with the larger
monsters – both climbable and featuring a range of
interesting behaviors – appearing only sparingly at
first, and a number of creatures emerging only in the
final stage of the game. Important systems such as
NPC Affinity and Pawn Inclinations (which control
Pawn behaviour) are opaque and poorly explained,
often resulting in frustrating outcomes and leading
wiser players to seek online sources of information.
Still, Dragon’s Dogma manages to recapture
much of the spirit of group adventuring. Those
willing to give it a try will not only encounter many
legendary creatures but also that rarest of beasts – an
RPG with action-based combat done right. ZD
In 2015, Capcom
released Dragon’s
Dogma Online,
a free-to-play
MMO spin-off.
The game is
only available
in Japan, but
Western players
can use VPN and
fan-made English
patches to play it.
Whether at night or in a dungeon, the realistic darkness
forces you to rely on your lantern, enhancing exploration.
There are five elemental enchantments, plus several status
effects such as slow, poison, silence, burning, wet, etc.
443
Of Orcs
and Men
Cyanide Studios and Spiders, 2012
Windows, Xbox 360 and PS3
The unusual
choice of
having a
goblin rogue
as protagonist
paid off, and
in 2014 Styx
got its own
spin-off game:
Styx: Master
of Shadows, a
stealth game.
Combat is realtime,
but you
can shift into
slow motion and
queue up to four
actions for each
of the characters.
Styx can sneak
around and try
to assassinate
guards, but he
can’t go very far
from Arkail.
444
Purely from a writing standpoint, this game is
one of the most overlooked gems of the RPG
genre. If you love story-driven RPGs, I highly
suggest considering this game. Tons of games talk
about “mature themes”, but this one really hits the nail
on the head – not just with the adult language (which
there’s a lot of, but it fits the game’s themes well).
The story covers racism, slavery, political
ambition, violence, and betrayal. This is not the
clichéd story of a hero setting out to stop a great
evil that threatens the world. The war between orcs
and humans has been decidedly one-sided and, in a
desperate bid to prevent the enslavement of all orcs,
an elite orc military unit receives orders for a suicide
mission: kill the human emperor.
In a bold creative choice, Of Orcs and Men puts
you in control of the “monsters” – Arkail, a brutish
orc, and Styx, a stealthy, smart-ass goblin. Both of
them are well-written and it’s interesting to see how
their interactions with each other change as the story
progresses. The plot also contains a few unexpected
and well-developed twists, which turns the original
plan into something much greater.
The developers have also done a good job
connecting the characters’ personalities to their
fighting styles. The combat is real-time-with-pause,
allowing you to switch back and forth between
characters and queue attacks – but before charging
into battle you can try sneaking around with Styx and
quietly assassinate as many enemies as possible.
The orc, Arkail, is a great embodiment of the
berserker-type warrior, and not just in the writing. He
sports a rage meter that fills when he takes damage.
Once full, he goes into a literally uncontrollable rage.
It can turn the tide of a battle in your favour due to the
damage boost, but can also cost you heavily thanks to
the lack of defence and its potential to accidentally kill
Styx. Some combo attacks are also available, such as
having Arkail throw the goblin into enemies.
Unfortunately, the game is extremely linear, with
almost no exploration or player agency. The maps are
repetitive, mostly long corridors full of combat, with
minimal detours to occasionally find some loot. There
are a handful of side-quests, but they usually just offer
more of the same. And there’s pretty much no choice
and consequence – the game is going to play out in a
certain way no matter your dialogue choices.
Of Orcs and Men is definitely not for everyone,
but if you enjoy story-driven RPGs there’s a very good
chance you’ll find yourself sucked in, wanting more of
the amazing characters and world. RR
Level Up Labs, 2012
Windows, Mac and Linux
Defender’s Quest:
Valley of the Forgotten
Defender’s Quest is simply a great game. This
is definitely not the type of game I would
normally play. In fact, I had never played
a tower defense game before or since. What really
appealed to me about the game were the RPG elements,
and it didn’t fail to deliver. The story combines with
the combat and character development to make a
surprisingly inspired game.
There is an actual story to this game that drives
everything forward. The main character, Azra, is
infected by a plague and thrown into a pit from where
she must escape. As the story unfolds, you’ll discover
the driving force behind the plague and seek to put an
end to it. I really enjoyed the writing, and, while the
humour was a bit offbeat, there were several occasions
where I literally laughed out loud. There’s the clichéd,
somewhat dumb warrior (who has some priceless
lines), a sarcastic archer, a noble knight, and a greedy
egotistical dragon. It’s a great mixture that allows for
all kinds of comedic interactions.
The game is fairly straightforward: you have to
protect your main character and defeat all the waves
of attacking enemy forces. This is achieved through
carefully positioning your characters at choke points
on the map. Adding some tactical depth to the
gameplay are the class system and magic spells. There
are six different classes, which all have unique skills
with varying areas of effect, so careful positioning is
the key to victory. As characters level up, you spend
points in their skill trees to unlock new abilities or
improve existing ones. Azra is immobile during battles,
but can spend mana to summon allies, upgrade them
or, on various spells, to assist in eliminating the hostile
hordes. Coming up with strategies to leverage your
army’s abilities towards victories – preferably flawless
ones – is the real beauty of the combat system.
All the maps have four levels of difficulty to
choose from (with the harder tiers obviously netting
better rewards), and there’s an NG+ mode that adds a
new type of currency for the best items. The game is
also surprisingly long, clocking around 20 hours.
Believe me, even if this isn’t something you’d
normally play, it is very capable of engulfing you with
its charm. I loved it so much I didn’t even hesitate to
pre-order Defender’s Quest II. RR
While the initial
challenges are
easy to complete,
some later stages
that may require
you to come back
stronger.
Besides the skill
trees, there’s
also a large
number of items
for you to equip
your characters,
including unique
weapons and
armour.
445
Diablo III
Blizzard, 2012
Windows, Mac, Xbox 360 and PS3
Among the
initial complaints
about Diablo III,
some players
thought it was
too cartoony and
colourful. They
created a mod
called DarkD3
to make the
game darker.
Blizzard replied
by making a
secret level full
of ponies and
colourful art.
Diablo III places
a premium on
mobility, as Elite
enemies fill their
surroundings
with poison,
lasers, lava and
other hazards,
then try to push,
pull or lock
you in place.
446
The history of Diablo III is one of immense
highs and lows. After the outstanding success
of Diablo II in 2001, Blizzard soon began
working on a sequel. Little is know about this project,
but reportedly it had fully 3D graphics and several
MMO elements, with a large open world.
However, disputes between Blizzard North and
Vivendi Games led to several key developers leaving
the company and, ultimately, to Blizzard North
being closed in 2005. Their version of Diablo III was
scrapped, and development began on a new one.
In May 2012, 11 years after its predecessor, Diablo
III was finally released. Expectations were impossibly
high, and the game broke PC sales records, selling
over three million units in the first 24 hours.
Superficially, the game’s core gameplay is very
familiar. You have five classes – Wizard, Barbarian,
Demon Hunter, Witch Doctor and Monk – who must
battle the forces of evil across four story Acts.
Highly polished, the game brought in fully 3D
graphics and a physics engine that makes each blow
feel extremely satisfying. Blizzard opted for a more
stylised art style and a greater focus on story, added
elements such as events across the maps and crafting,
then streamlined some aspects of the game, such as
removing the need to stockpile potions and scrolls.
The biggest change came in the character system.
While Diablo II was about picking stats and skills as
you level up, Diablo III focuses on flexibility, offering
a range of skills that can be freely changed at any time.
Each character has six slots for active skills and
three slots for passive ones (four with the expansion).
If at any time you’re unhappy with your character
build, you can easily change it. Each active skill can
also be equipped with a Rune, slightly modifying the
skill – reducing cooldowns, changing damage types,
adding more effects, making it last longer and so on.
A more controversial decision was that Diablo III
required an Internet connection, even for single-player,
which led to some huge server issues on launch.
Another disappointment was the game’s difficulty,
divided into four modes you had to unlock one at a
time. Many players (myself included) got burned out
by playing 15-20 hours of an incredibly easy game
before begin allowed to try a harder difficulty. And
there was no endgame besides a pointless grind.
Yet, what nearly killed Diablo III was a single,
greedy idea: adding an in-game Auction House.
It was made for players to sell their loot, not only
for in-game currency, but also for real money – of
which Blizzard would take a cut. To be sure people
would use it, rare items were dropped sparsely. You
could play for hours without seeing a single good
drop. And when you got one, chances were that it was
for another class, pushing you to sell it at the Auction
House for something you can actually use.
Furthermore, the damage of every skill and
ability was tied to your weapon and gear, making even
the best player useless without decent equipment.
Progression became inherently tied to the Auction
House, the best items selling for over 50 dollars.
Diablo’s “kill and loot” gameplay loop was broken.
“What happened is that players
started playing the Auction House
and not the game, because of how
stingy we were when we launched
Diablo III [...] In the process they
were wrecking their reward loop,
they were robbing themselves of
the magic of Diablo, of killing a
monster and seeing the legendary
drop and picking it up.”
– Josh Mosqueira,
Diablo III’s game director
It took two years for Blizzard to acknowledge the
obvious – the Auction House had to go.
In March 2014, they released the Reaper of Souls
expansion, removing the Auction House and adding a
revamped “Loot 2.0” system, dramatically increasing
item drop rates and making them more relevant for
whichever class you’re currently playing.
If Diablo III was a good game ruined by poor
decisions, Reaper of Souls is a cohesive pack of great
ideas. Together with a fifth story act and a new class
– the Crusader –, the expansion added an Adventure
mode, where you freely travel across all areas of
the game collecting bounties – brief missions like
“complete event X”, “clear area Y” or “kill boss Z”.
Completing bounties yields rare items, crafting
ingredients and is a good way to level up or gather
items without having to replay the campaign again.
Other key additions include legendary gems
with unique powers, a more robust crafting system,
enchanting and fully reworked difficulty settings,
offering players much more freedom in how to play.
Moreover, a solid endgame was finally added
with the Rifts – special dungeons where you must kill
a certain number of enemies to battle a tough boss.
On Greater Rifts you have a very strict time limit, and
the difficulty levels are virtually endless.
Together with the expansion came the Seasons,
which every few months reset the leaderboards and
add new content that only freshly made characters
can experience (at least initially), persuading people
to restart the game from Level 1.
This worked particularly well with the more
flexible skill system, as the steady addition of gems,
legendary items and armour sets with special powers
provides new playstyles to try every few months.
Also worth mentioning are the Set Dungeons,
hidden areas where players who gathered complete
equipment sets can test their skills with the powers
granted by the set in custom challenges.
Blizzard also added an abundance of cosmetic
rewards, such as portrait frames, pets, banners,
wings and unique appearances you can apply to your
equipment. Most of these are won by earning special
in-game achievements – Diablo III’s only DLC came
in 2017, adding the Necromancer class for $15.
While the Auction House heavily damaged the
game at launch, Reaper of Souls later managed to
turn Diablo III into a friendly, addictive and highly
polished package. It may lack the more hardcore
experience found in Grim Dawn and Path or Exile
but, for most mainstream players, Diablo III is all they
need until Diablo IV. FE
Diablo III packs
dozens of skills,
plus legendary
items, sets and
gems with unique
powers. With
more items being
added each
season, players
have many
possibilities.
Diablo III’s
always-online
DRM led to
several issues,
as players
were unable
to connect to
the servers
and play the
game for weeks
after launch.
The outrage
reignited when
Blizzard made
the console
ports able to
play offline, but
refused to do
so with PCs.
Reaper of Souls added the Adventure mode, where
you can freely travel the world completing bounties.
Rifts present an interesting endgame, as you must finish
increasingly difficult dungeons under a strict time limit.
447
FTL: Faster
Than Light
FTL was funded
by a Kickstarter
campaign in April
2012. Subset
Games received
200,542 dollars,
from an initial
$10,000 goal.
Some battles
can have special
hazards, such as
fighting against an
unmanned drone
ship while inside
an asteroid field.
Not only do you
have to choose
what systems to
upgrade, but also
how to distribute
your ship’s energy
between them.
448
“
Subset Games, 2012
Windows, Mac, Linux and iOS
Frustrating”, “thrilling”, “unique”. These are just
a smattering of the words used to describe the
brutally difficult, insanely addictive roguelike
RPG that is FTL: Faster Than Light.
FTL tells the story of a crew of Federation
soldiers fleeing the advancing hordes of a rebel force
across eight sectors of a galaxy, representing the eight
stages of the game, each more dangerous than the last.
Dogged at every turn by the insurrectionists,
your implacable enemy slowly moves from left to right
across each starmap, pushing your ship inexorably
toward the next sector, or doom, if you decide to turn
and fight. Your crew will encounter pirates, automated
drones, distress beacons, ion stars, ship fires, enemy
boarding parties and giant alien spiders, to name just
a few things that want to kill you.
What most wants to kill you, it seems at times,
is the game itself. FTL, like many roguelikes, has a
simple random number generator which determines
the outcome of every jump between the stars, every
shot fired from your Burst Laser II, every time you
send a crew member into harm’s way. While certain
crew skills and upgrades to your ship increase the
percentage chance that the randomly generated
number will come up on your side, there’s always the
possibility of an extraordinary string of bad luck that
ends an otherwise successful run prematurely.
Another roguelike element is permadeath. When
your ship is destroyed, your run ends and you must
start over again in Sector 1. This adds real weight to
every decision you make, and how it will affect your
ship and crew.
RPG elements abound in FTL: in order to
overcome the Rebel flagship at the end of Sector 8, a
prudent commander must upgrade his or her ship’s
systems, find, purchase, or salvage new weaponry,
as well as recruit and train crew members. These
elements contribute directly to a successful run, and
it is almost impossible to win without them.
Finally, many mods await the experienced
commander. The Captain’s Edition mod installs a host
of new features including new weapons, random events,
space station battles, and sector hazards, to name just a
few. Turning the Tide, another mod, allows a courageous
(or perhaps foolhardy) FTL captain to turn and face the
demons in pursuit, and not only escape, but push the
rebels back. All of these mods and more are compatible
with Advanced Edition, a completely free DLC which
adds a new ship and race, new weapons, subsystems, and
a few tweaks to the game.
Don’t be daunted by FTL’s difficulty – dying is
half the fun. No, really, it is! JU
Ultra Runaway Games, 2013
Windows, Linux and Mac
Paper Sorcerer
Paper Sorcerer is a throwback to the glorious
1980s, paying homage to great blobbers of old
and to the point-and-click adventures from the
MacVenture series, such as Shadowgate.
The most evil of sorcerers has been up to some
usual naughty shenanigans, terrorising innocents and
wreaking havoc, so a group of heroes has been forced
to imprison this danger to society inside a magical
book. You play as that evil sorcerer (or sorceress) who
must now find a way to break free and exact revenge
– an obvious connection to Wizardry IV.
The monochrome visual style is original and
beautifully minimalist, with the sleek ink design
illustrating the central theme of a world within a book.
The core gameplay of Paper Sorcerer consists of
3D first-person exploration and puzzle solving with
2D turn-based combat. The game’s dungeon is made
of different levels within the magical book prison,
each having three floors followed by a boss area.
You’ll encounter enemies as floating black clouds, and
combat begins once you approach them.
As in Wizardry IV, you can summon minions
to help you, creating a party of up to four characters.
You may choose from creatures such as skeletons,
witches, ghosts, vampires, cultists, werewolves, trolls
and other nasty monsters, each one possessing a wide
variety of skills and magic, giving you plenty of party
compositions and battle strategies to play with.
Battles can be very tense, as you’ll have to plan
for the long run. All characters have Defense points,
which block physical damage but decrease with each
blow. Health can only be recovered by casting spells,
resting or using potions, but you always begin battle
with full Defense points. This leads into an interesting
dynamic, where you’ll have to weigh up which stat to
invest in and what sort of restoration spells to use.
Beside the main dungeon there’s also a safe zone
called the Sanctuary, with a room to rest, a trainer to
learn skills, a creepy house that leads into an optional
dungeon and a store to buy equipment and potions.
Paper Sorcerer comes with four difficulty settings
available: Easy, Normal, Hard, and the super brutal
“1980s mode”. The downside is that the random
loot drops can be rather unfair, especially on higher
difficulties, punishing players and promoting savescumming
(loot is generated when you open a chest).
All in all, Paper Sorcerer is a lovely crafted game
with superb artistic presentation. While some bugs are
present, it’s nonetheless a very admirable effort from
Jesse Gallagher who, by himself on Unity, created this
parchment world for us to discover. CV
Paper Sorcerer
was made by a
single man, Jesse
Gallagher, funded
by a Kickstarter
campaign in 2012.
Jesse received
13,151 dollars,
from an initial
$5,000 goal.
Characters have
an energy pool,
necessary for
casting most
skills. It slowly
regenerates each
turn, so resourcemanaging
is key
in battle.
The dungeons
hold many secrets
and interactive
objects, often
cleverly hidden
by the game’s
unique art style.
449
Shadowrun
Returns
Harebrained Schemes, 2013
Windows, OS X, Linux and Android
Shadowrun
was a popular
tabletop RPG
during the 90s,
with hundreds of
source books, its
own magazines,
two console
games, trading
cards and over
40 novels. Its
latest version
was released in
2013, called
Fifth Edition.
There are five
races (human,
elf, dwarf, orc
and troll) and six
archetypes to pick
from, but you can
also create your
own, mixing the
game’s various
skills and stats.
450
In 1989, Shadowrun entered the tabletop RPG
market, one year after Cyberpunk (not yet 2020).
Shadowrun brought with it a different angle on
the genre: in addition to the grimy futuristic hellscape
of tech and corporate rule, it also wove in the return
of magic to “our” world, placing orcs, mages, and
dragons alongside cyberdecks and street samurai.
Two video games hit home consoles in 1993 and
1994, for the SNES and SEGA Genesis respectively.
The two were vastly different; the latter was an openworld
action RPG with roguelike elements. The SNES
game was a more linear, plot-oriented Action RPG.
After this, the video game licence languished in
North America until 2007, when Microsoft released
a lacklustre first/third-person deathmatch game for
Windows Vista and the Xbox 360 which has thankfully
mostly fallen from memory. At the time, it seemed like
the death knell for this part of the franchise for fans of
the earlier console games.
Enter Kickstarter. In 2012, Harebrained Schemes
put up a campaign proposing Shadowrun Returns, a
single-player isometric turn-based RPG for PCs and
tablets, designed by the original creator of Shadowrun,
Jordan Weisman. They asked for $400,000. What they
got was over $1.8 million.
The game dropped in July 2013 with the promised
campaign, called Dead Man’s Switch. It was... fine.
Not perfect; the licensing agreement with Microsoft
caused a to-do about the DRM (later resolved),
and the game had no ability to save manually. This
wasn’t terrible, but the campaign was heavily combatoriented,
with long levels, and the turn-based battle
system was heavily reminiscent of the new XCOM,
with RNG lurking around every turn.
The campaign escalated stakes awkwardly,
featuring a cult that was secretly a front for bug
spirits that threatened to destroy Seattle. When the
storytelling was personal, it was decent, but it strayed
too often into combat and cameos from godlike
NPCs from the tabletop game. Promised ties to the
console games proved to mostly be the return of the
main character from the SNES game as an NPC, and
otherwise the cast was lacklustre. But the game played
OK up until the final level, where you were forced
to use inaccurate, low-damage weapons in order to
defeat the otherwise endlessly respawning bug spirits.
If that had been everything Shadowrun Returns
had to offer, it would have been a decent, but not
exceptional game for long-time fans. However, as a
stretch goal in the Kickstarter campaign, they promised
an entire second campaign, set in a city of backers’
choice. Polling settled on the Flux State of Berlin.
Dragonfall hit as an expansion in 2014, and
blew expectations set by Dead Man’s Switch out of the
water. The PC was still a player-generated blank slate,
but you were given more leeway in dialogue options
to define your character. Also, you were given a team,
rather than a rotating mass of hired shadowrunners
that filled out your party during fights. The flow of the
game changed from being wholly linear to hub-based,
with a slate of missions you could choose from.
“Shadowrun mixed the cyberpunk
meta-theme of the dehumanisation
of humanity and the destruction of
nature with the optimism of nature
reasserting itself via the return of
magic and all the flora and fauna that
comes with it. Where as cyberpunk
can become a monochrome of grey,
Shadowrun became a universe of vivid
contrasts, with everything from mage
wage-slaves to troll biker gangs.”
– Jordan Weisman,
Shadowrun’s creator
Combat is
turn-based and
plays similarly to
the new XCOM.
Characters have
only 2-3 action
points and can
use cover, but also
have access to
spells, summons
and drones.
The story was complex, with sharply written
dialogue trees with decisions that deftly avoided clear
“best” options. This made for a dark mood – maybe a
little too dark in the end; there were multiple endings,
but they all led to the canon ending laid out by the
Shadowrun metaplot, which left the impression that
there was no real way to win in the end.
Still, Shadowrun is a setting that prizes getting
personal victories where you can, while you watch the
world go to hell around you.
Dragonfall was so much better than the original
campaign that the developers re-released it later
that year as an expanded stand-alone title, named
Dragonfall: Director’s Cut.
The good bits became better; you got the chance
to delve deeper into your team’s stories, they gave
you better customisation, and expanded the already
great soundtrack. The bad bits improved: the combat
system was overhauled, making it more tactical, and
the UI was redone. You also finally had save slots.
Overall, Dragonfall would have been a fantastic sendoff
for the series.
Yet, there was still more to come. Berlin had won
the original poll, but Hong Kong was an extremely
close second, so Harebrained launched another
Kickstarter in 2015 – this time raising $1.2 million.
Shadowrun: Hong Kong dropped later that
year, featuring even more system refinements
and gameplay tweaks. Whether it was better than
Dragonfall is mostly a matter of taste – Hong Kong
had a larger, mostly less close-knit cast on your team,
and though the stakes were of a similar scale, they felt
smaller, closer, part of the family-oriented plot.
The developers followed it up yet again by adding
Shadows of Hong Kong, a whole extra campaign set
after the first, along with the usual fixes and polish,
releasing Shadowrun: Hong Kong - Extended Edition.
Harebrained is on record that they’re done with
making games on this engine, leaving Shadowrun:
Hong Kong as the capstone for the series for the time
being. With Dragonfall and Hong Kong in particular,
they’ve done what few have been able to do: take
classic video games and not only give respect to
players’ nostalgia with new entries, but in many ways
surpass the originals. TAB
Editor and Steam Workshop:
Harebrained released an editor for each of their Shadowrun
games, allowing players to create new adventures and
share them via Steam Workshop. We suggest Antumbra,
The Price of Conviction and From the Shadows.
After Shadowrun,
Harebrained
kickstarted
BattleTech,
another setting
created by
Jordan Weisman.
They raised $2.7
million in 2015,
and the game
is scheduled
for 2018.
The original game assigns specific NPCs each mission, but
Dragonfall offers a BioWare-ish cast of fixed companions.
You can hack into terminals, sneaking past security to steal data.
Originally turn-based, this became real-time in Hong Kong.
451
Hyperdimension
Neptunia - Re;Birth 1
*The game
was originally
released for the
PS3 in 2010 as
Hyperdimension
Neptunia. The
2013 Re;Birth
version for
PS Vita and
Windows is
a complete
remake.
Dialogues are filled
with references,
puns and 4th-wall
breaking jokes that
were well handled
by the translation.
A 2D world map
gives you access to
various dungeons,
which can later be
“re-programed” to
have new monsters
and items.
Idea Factory, 2013
Windows, PSP Vita and PS3*
A
game that no one expected to see on PCs,
Neptunia is set in the world of Gamindustri,
where four nations – Lowee, Lastation,
Leanbox and Planeptune –, are locked in an eternal
conflict called the Console War. The first three
nations clearly represent the Wii, PlayStation and
Xbox consoles, while the last one is a reference to the
SEGA Neptune, a cancelled console from the 90s.
In one of the most bizarre industry metaphors,
the game begins as the “console goddesses” join forces
against the Planeptune goddess and remove her from
the Console War. And so you must help Neptune, a
powerless and amnesiac personification of a cancelled
console, to return to her rightful place and save all of
Gamindustri. Hard to find a weirder premise.
Neptunia as a whole is a light-hearted tribute
to video games, especially the Japanese indie scene.
Your first two companions, Compa and IF, are the
personification of Compile Heart and Idea Factory,
the game’s publisher and developers, respectively.
You’ll meet more characters alluding to Japanese
companies and series, as well as countless other video
game references in the form of enemies, dungeons,
attacks, items, jokes and even entire game mechanics
– like how you can burn game discs with status boosts
of your liking and equip them as accessories.
The unusual setting aside, Neptunia is a standard
yet solid JRPG. The story is told via 2D cutscenes (with
its fair share of puns and fan-service), while the simple
dungeons are explored in a 3D third-person camera.
Touch an enemy and you enter turn-based combat,
where characters can freely move a certain distance
and each weapon/skill has a different range. The game
shines on the impressive amount of depth underneath,
with a robust equipment and crafting system, special
goddess forms, diverse enemies, multiple status effects
and many companions to use (even more with the
DLCs). You can customise their powers, attack types,
appearance, battle formation and pair them with other
characters to gain special bonuses and combos.
Battles can be very tough, so you’ll have to grind
at some points, usually by doing side-quests at the
guild and revisiting dungeons in pursuit of XP, items
and materials for crafting. An interesting feature here
is the ability to “re-program” dungeons, adding new
monsters, different item drops or raising the difficulty.
A huge hit, the game quickly got three sequels (and
three remakes), manga and anime versions and a series
of spin-offs, such as a turn-based tactical RPG and an
idol-raising sim. Neptunia is an extremely niche game,
but one that perfectly resonates with its audience. FE
452
Crystal Shard, 2013
Windows and Linux
Heroine’s Quest:
The Herald of Ragnarok
Crystal Shard is not new to adventure games.
This indie studio has been developing them
since 2001, but most of them are made with
Adventure Games Studio and, on top of that, they are
all free. So I didn’t expect much of Heroine’s Quest.
I was wrong. Imagine a parallel universe where
Sierra released Quest for Glory in 2013, with the same
VGA graphics, but bigger, with more RPG stats, and
tuned to the Norse mythology. That’s Heroine’s Quest.
Yes, it’s that good.
Any fan of QfG will immediately feel at home.
It’s all very familiar: the similar graphics, the good old
Sierra interface, the three classes – Warrior, Sorceress
and Rogue – and the distinct battles with monsters.
But it’s a parallel universe, remember? So, apart from
some jokes about Harry Potter, The Hobbit and other
modern references, the game is quite original.
Your heroine arrives in a small town during an
unusually long winter. As it happens, this winter is
unnatural, a sign of the forthcoming Ragnarok – the
end of the world at the hands of monsters and frost
giants. And, of course, it’s up to you to save the world,
regardless of your initial less-then-average physical
conditions and zero equipment.
The Adventure part is quite solid: most tasks are
logical, and very rarely require guessing. Moreover,
key tasks are marked on your map, so you’ll never lose
track. Most quests can be solved in several ways, and
each class has their own personal quests and goals.
As a result, playing each class feels like a distinctively
different game that follows the same plot and setting,
so you could easily play it at least trice.
The role-playing aspect is also very well-thoughtout.
Your success in certain puzzles is determined by
several stats and skills, which improve during your
adventures while you use them, quite naturally.
Thus, climbing a tree will raise the “Climb” skill
and also the “Strength” stat; casting “Fire shield” will
raise the correspondent skill and the “Magic” stat;
while battling with random monsters will raise almost
everything – if you live to tell the tale.
Finally, there’s also a day-and-night cycle and
three conditions you must constantly monitor: Cold,
Sleep and Hunger. Sadly, while they offer some
challenge at first, later they become simply a distraction
that prevents you from finishing the game too fast.
Regardless, Heroine’s Quest is great, and I fully
recommend it to any adventure lover – especially to
those fond of the Quest for Glory games. SS
Heroine’s
Quest is free,
available for
download on
Steam or on
the developer’s
website: www.
crystalshard.net
Battles are very
similar to those
of Quest for Glory
I-III, but can offer
a lot of options
depending on
your class, skills
and items.
The game uses
an icon-based
interface similar
to that of classic
Sierra games like
King’s Quest V
and Quest for
Glory III.
453
Path of Exile
Grinding Gear Games, 2013
Windows and Xbox One
Path of Exile’s
business model
relies on selling
cosmetic items
and quality-oflife
features
such as extra
stash room or
character slots, as
well as supporter
packs with
physical rewards
and perks like
designing
an item.
Some of the
game’s maps
make extensive
use of puzzles
and traps, which
can be as deadly
as any boss fight.
454
Designed from the ground up as a Free-to-Play
Action RPG that “will never be pay-to-win”,
Path of Exile began with 250,000 players
during Beta, grew to over 11 million registered players
in 2015 and keeps expanding to this day.
One of the things that drives such impressive
numbers and keeps the community active to this day
is Path of Exile’s tireless pursuit of innovation and the
developer’s attention to player feedback.
Clearly inspired by Diablo II, the game captures
what many fans felt was missing in Blizzard’s third
entry in the series: atmosphere and complexity.
Expertly mixing old and new design trends, Path of
Exile brings back that experience of spending hours
pondering over abilities, items and stats, trying to
create your own perfect build.
The game has seven classes: Marauder, Duelist,
Ranger, Shadow, Witch, Templar and Scion. There
are only three base stats – Strength, Intelligence and
Dexterity –, and that’s reflected in the class roles.
Three classes focus on one stat (i.e. the Ranger relies
on Dexterity), three are “hybrid” classes such as the
Templar (Strength/Intelligence), and the Scion is an
all-rounder. However, any character can use any item
or skill, as long as they meet the stat requirements.
Most Action RPGs usually focus on two main
features: abilities and loot. In Path of Exile these two
are intertwined, as all abilities come from Ability
Gems which are socketed into your equipment.
Moreover, you can use up to five Support Gems to
modify a single ability. You could make a Fireball
jump between targets, split into multiple projectiles,
freeze enemies, drain HP or auto-cast on critical
melee hits – perhaps even all of these at once!
This allows for a great degree of customisation
which is perfectly complemented by the game’s
defining feature: the Passive Skill Tree.
Path of Exile features a huge, daunting skill tree
composed of 1,325 nodes! These provide all sorts of
passive benefits, from increasing stats and damage to
more radical changes, such as converting all Evasion
into Armour, using Health to cast abilities, or having
only 1 max HP but being immune to Chaos damage.
All classes share this same tree, they just start at
different points. As such, players can focus on the
nearby nodes, which provide bonuses associated with
his class, or travel all across the tree, mixing bonuses
from several different classes.
It may be overwhelming at first, but, no matter
how good or bad your build is, you’re always learning
and evolving – the next character will be easier to
make, and you never feel like you wasted your time.
Which is great, since Path of Exile is designed
as a replayable, long-term experience. It features an
extensive and challenging endgame, which constantly
grows bigger. As of late 2017, the game had seven
expansions, adding new features such as challenge
leagues, new NPCs, player hideouts, corruption, etc.
The downside of this is that the game has a bit of
content-creep and can be intimidating at first, but the
developers keep a close eye on the community.
“The problem that we found was
that, because of this classless system,
you kinda only needed to play one or
two characters – you know, the one
you like, and maybe a second one.
It wouldn’t be this cool thing that they
had in Diablo, where you intend to
play every other class. [...] People had
no need to make a Ranger because
they just played a Witch with a bow.
That’s why we added the Ascendancy
classes.”
– Chris Wilson,
Path of Exile’s producer
and lead designer
Initially Path of Exile had only one chapter, then
grew to four, which had to be done on all three difficulty
settings to reach the endgame. The developers listened
to feedback saying it felt repetitive and overhauled
the entire system. They removed the difficulties and
instead doubled the number of chapters – reusing
the same assets and locations, but adding some visual
changes and new, much more difficult battles.
Other recent changes are the Ascendancy classes,
endgame specialisations that provide powerful new
playstyles but are restricted to each class, thus giving
players more incentive to try out all classes, despite
the game’s mostly classless nature. To unlock an
Ascendancy class you must beat The Lord’s Labyrinth,
a roguelike-ish experience where you delve into a
maze full of traps, treasures and extremely difficult
boss battles, and must finish it without dying.
These are joined by other creative mechanics,
such as the lack of currency, a rich crafting system,
random maps with special modifiers, buff potions that
refill as you kill, etc. Everything in Path of Exile feels
familiar, but offers interesting new twists.
The game is always online, with other players
being visible when inside towns, so you can trade, create
parties or jump on a PvP match. This makes the game
feel alive even when playing alone, but those seeking an
even bigger challenge can lock themselves off from all
online interaction in Solo Self-Found mode.
In the end, all these mechanics and features serve
Path of Exile’s main strength: player choice. Even with
the best build and items, no character will be able to
excel at everything. Every choice brings trade-offs,
and the end result is an experience that’s unique and
memorable for the player. TF
Path of Exile
tries to innovate
in every aspect,
including loot.
Even “white”
tier items are
valuable, as they
can be used to
craft powerful
unique items.
Since the game
doesn’t have
a currency,
online trades
are based on
bartering. The
developers
intentionally
avoid adding
an auction
house, so
players often
use services
like www.poe.
trade to index
their trades.
The massive
passive skill
tree features
1,325 nodes.
Some offer small
stat bonuses,
while others
will radically
change how your
character plays.
455
Cataclysm:
Dark Days Ahead
Kevin Granade, 2013
Windows, Linux, Mac and iOS
Cataclysm:
Dark Days
Ahead is based
on the original
Cataclysm, a
2010 roguelike
by Zachary
“Whales”
Jenkins that
was later
abandoned.
Crafting is a key
feature of DDA,
allowing you
to cook, farm,
craft weapons,
build walls, set
traps, board up
houses and even
repair (or build)
vehicles.
The character
system is highly
complex, with
four stats, dozens
of skills, positive
and negative
traits, over 100
professions,
locational
damage and
much more.
456
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead could be best
described as a lovingly crafted amalgamation of
Fallout, Minecraft and Deus Ex with a heaped
spoonful of Lovecraftian horror. A free roguelike, DDA
is still recieving daily updates and is a long way from
finished but, while it needs some polish, that hasn’t
stopped me from sinking hundreds of hours into zombie-
(and other abomination)-infested New England.
DDA has multiple starting scenarios, but the
default one drops you into an emergency shelter with
some winter clothing, a knife, a lighter and a bottle
of water. From there, you can craft, hunt, scavenge,
steal or murder your way from just another (un)lucky
survivor to a being of near-godlike power.
Just don’t expect it to be easy. The learning curve
for DDA is quite steep and dead bodies litter the
conscience of every veteran player, but each one had
a reason and each taught a valuable lesson for how to
survive. Or just how to not die.
There are dozens of distinct locations to explore,
hundreds of items and thousands of things to do. You
can spend your time sneaking past a zombie horde to
get that last can of beans, spelunking through a science
lab for untold treasure or even just cooking yourself a
nice meal with the finest apocalyptic ingredients.
Sounds very Fallout, doesn’t it? But you could
also cut down some trees with your trusty chainsaw
to build a log cabin, or take some morphine and
jam second-hand bionic implants under your skin
until you glow in the dark. Grab some mutagen and
grow yourself some wings and a tail. With plenty of
skill and certain books you could even put together
your very own laser cannon. DDA is a deep ocean of
content for you to explore, and the tap of open-source
development is on and making it deeper by the day.
The game also has no set goals. Presumably the
player would like to survive and grow in strength
until they can slaughter their way through hordes
with impunity, but they don’t have to. Some choose to
simply turn off cities and zombies to play the game as
a wilderness simulator, or they pick specific starting
scenarios to role-play as a knight, schoolgirl, scientist
or even a lost BDSM practitioner. Wandering NPCs
might give you a quest or stab you in the face, and you
can follow quest lines to help fellow survivors.
While most games offer a story and some tools
to apply in order to reach them, DDA offers a huge
range of tools, and you must supply your own goals.
It’s a brutal playground and will bring you hours of
fun – if you can get over the initial difficulty hump. D1
Aarklash:
Legacy
Cyanide, 2013
Windows
Inspired by the Confrontation desktop miniature
game, Aarklash: Legacy is a highly tactical realtime-with-pause
RPG. It’s set in a world engulfed
by war, with every race is fighting for supremacy of
the continent. You control a group of debt collectors
called Wheel Swords, who have been wrongly accused
of crimes they did not commit and thus need to fight
to reveal the conspiracy that threatens their order.
It must be said that Aarklash is not very deep
in terms of RPG elements. There is no choice and
consequence, level design is linear and the story and
characters are but a means to an end. Where it really
shines is in its smart and complex combat system,
that mixes genres in challenging and interesting ways,
with a relatively long learning curve.
Your party is composed of four characters from
a panel of eight heroes. The standard MMO trinity –
Tank, Healer, DPS – applies here, but each role has
been tweaked to be interesting, highly customisable
and useful in more ways than one.
Wendaroo for example, one of the two healers
available, can heal and do damage – but won’t
regenerate mana. To keep healing the tank, he must
steal life from other party members, potentially
leaving them vulnerable. Every character plays with
risk and reward, which makes each feel very unique
and fun to play, making you think before every click.
Aarklash is entirely linear, pushing you across
several maps with nothing but battles and some
story bits. An advantage to this approach is that each
encounter is handcrafted, without any trash mobs.
Fights work like a puzzle, providing new challenges
that keep the game fresh. Each enemy has its own
active and passive skills which the player must learn
how to react to. Knowing which enemy must be killed
first is very important, and positioning is crucial.
You’ll have to micromanage all four of your
characters, use buffs, debuffs, heal, silence enemies,
increase defense, and so on. One wrong decision
during battle – whether that be your positioning,
focusing the wrong enemy first or mistimed ability –
can and will kill you.
Still, every time I died I managed to understand
exactly what I did wrong. It is tough, but fair.
Aarklash is not a Diablo-like loot fest – you won’t
even find new weapons or armour, only accessories.
It’s not an RPG with significant story or reactivity
either, but don’t let that turn you off. I didn’t expect
much going into it, but Aarklash: Legacy proved itself
a hidden gem for those who want good tactical combat
and don’t mind the fact it doesn’t offer much else. RI
Confrontation was
a popular tabletop
wargame released
in 1997 by French
publisher Rackham.
The company
closed in 2010, but
Cyanide acquired
its IP to produce a
PC version of the
game in 2012 and,
later, Aarklash.
The RtwP combat
will be familiar
to fans of games
like Baldur’s Gate,
but it requires
much more
micromanaging.
Each hero only
has four abilities
and can’t change
their equipment,
but they can be
customised via a
skill tree or just
swapped anytime
for other heroes.
457
Card Hunter
Blue Manchu, 2013
Windows, Mac and Web Browsers
Card Hunter was
first released in
2013 as a web
browser-based
flash game.
In 2015, it also
got stand-alone
Steam client for
Windows & Mac.
Some battles
have special
objectives, such
as controlling
victory points,
surviving X turns
or defeating the
enemy’s leader.
You build
your party of
three heroes
choosing from
three classes,
thee races and
countless spells
and equipment.
458
If AD&D and Magic: The Gathering had a baby, it
would be Card Hunter. Jonathon Chey, co-founder
of Irrational Games, hired Richard Garfield, the
creator of Magic, to help him develop a tactical roleplaying
card-based free-to-play game. The end result
is unlike anything else out there – quick, funny and
deeply tactical, without taking itself too seriously.
A recent trend in game design circles is to eschew
RNG (and therefore luck) in favour of other mechanics.
Card Hunter is a giant stride forwards in this direction.
Stats, abilities, skills, and perks have all been eliminated
by simply making everything a card. Equip a pair of
Boots of Buttkicking? Some movement and armour
cards are added to the character’s deck. Removed a
Perplexing Mirror trinket? Its spell cards come out.
The game still has some dice-rolls but these are
only for some cards and only to enact their special
power. A good example is armour, which is played as a
“counter”. Some armour always slightly reduces damage,
while others reduce more but only on a successful diceroll
of, say, 3+. It’s a well-balanced system that feels right
even when the dice-rolls are not in your favour.
Thus, equipment upgrades are agonising choices
compared to the obvious DPS increases found in so
many games. One weapon gives you two great attack
cards and one lousy one, while another weapon offers
three good attack cards. Which is better? You decide.
Battles follow an original formula: at the start of
the round each character draws up to their hand limit.
Then each side takes turns playing cards: attack cards
to attack, movement cards to walk or run X squares,
and counter cards (like armour) to cancel opponents'
cards. When you have no cards left to play, or don’t like
your remaining cards, you pass. Once both sides pass,
a new round begins. Characters keep up to two cards
into the next round, with the remaining discarded.
There’s strategy in when to play and when to pass.
Adventures are played in self-contained modules,
much like classic D&D modules. The campaign map
provides increasingly diverse modules to choose, plus
shops to buy cards and taverns to recruit/replace heroes.
A free-to-play game, Card Hunter is constantly in
development, with new expansions and features (such
as co-op) being added at regular intervals. Players can
use real money to buy adventures, cosmetic changes,
gold, loot chests and club membership – which offers
an extra piece of loot in every chest for a period of days.
An anomaly in today’s RPG scene, Card Hunter
is a shining example of what a few seasoned AAA
developers can do if they go indie. With a little help,
they can turn a genre upside down. TH
Spiders, 2014
Windows, PS3, PS4 and Xbox 360
Bound by Flame
French studio Spiders is one odd developer. Their
first RPG, Faery: Legends of Avalon (2009), was
an extremely unusual title, where you would
play as fairies, battle in JRPG-style turn-based combat
and freely fly across maps such as the giant world tree
Yggdrasil or the Flying Dutchman.
They followed with Of Orcs and Men (2011), a
more “standard” kind of CRPG with RTwP combat,
yet bold enough to cast players as the monsters – an
Orc and a Goblin tasked with killing the human king.
Then came Mars: War Logs (2013), an Action RPG
about a veteran soldier and a boy escaping prison in a
dystopian sci-fi society ruled by Technomancers.
All these games were very unusual and creative,
but suffered heavily from tight budgets and some
poor design choices: small and linear areas, repetitive
combat, extremely limited exploration and character
progression, rushed endings, etc.
Bound by Flame is an attempt to fix all that,
polishing the systems from Mars: War Logs and
solidifying their BioWare influences. The game is still
divided into hubs, but they are larger than before. The
combat has been greatly enhanced, featuring three
fighting styles (Warrior, Rogue and Pyromancer),
varied weapons, five romanceable companions, and a
very well-done crafting/customisation system.
However, the story became a clichéd medieval
fantasy hero’s journey. You’re struggling against the
world-destroying Ice Lords and their undead scourge
when something goes wrong and you’re possessed by
a fire demon. You’re granted power, but must often
choose whether to keep your humanity or allow the
demon more control in exchange for power.
For the first two hours or so, Bound by Flame is
an impressive game. But, sadly, as you go on, the same
old problems begin to rear their heads.
Combat and enemies quickly grow repetitive,
there’s too much backtracking, few choices matter,
the pacing is inconsistent, it lacks polish and the
game’s quality declines as you advance, up until an
abrupt ending to what should’ve been an epic saga.
Thus, Bound by Flame is hard to recommend. While
arguably the best Spiders title gameplay-wise, it feels
lacking next to most RPGs and, worse, it lacks that
bold, exotic creativity that their previous games had.
Plainly put, it’s generic and underwhelming.
Still, it might be interesting for those just looking
for a story-driven Action RPG with decent combat,
romances and all that – a low-budget BioWare-like
game. But if you’re looking for something fresh, then
I suggest giving Of Orcs and Men a try instead. FE
Combat is in real
time, but you
can freely pause
to cast spells,
use items or give
orders to your
companion.
The crafting
system stands
out and allows
you to add or
replace parts of
your weapons
and armour to
customise them
to your playstyle.
459
Might and
Magic X
Limbic Entertainment, 2014
Windows and Mac
M&M X only
got one DLC,
entitled The
Falcon & The
Unicorn. It adds
a post-game
dungeon that
strips your
party of all its
high-level gear,
and is much
harder than the
core game.
The game offers a
segmented open
world with some
gorgeous vistas.
The day-andnight
cycle also
plays a role in
some puzzles.
You’ll collect
several rare relics
and artefacts, as
well as blessings
that allow you to
enter previously
unreachable areas.
460
After the failure of Might and Magic IX in 2002,
Ubisoft bought the series and kept making
Heroes of Might and Magic games and spinoffs
like Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (2006) –
but never returned to the main RPG series.
However, the unexpected popularity of Legend
of Grimrock in 2011 led to passionate developers at
Limbic Entertainment to propose to Ubisoft an oldschool
RPG revival: Might and Magic X - Legacy.
You begin by creating a party of four heroes,
choosing from Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Orcs,
each with three unique classes. Faithful to the series,
you can later hire up to two NPCs to help you with
passive bonuses, learn additional skills and perform
special quests to earn a class promotion.
Surprisingly, M&M X abandons the free 3D
movement of M&M VI to IX, replacing it for a very
old-school grid-based system, with the party moving
square-by-square. In spite of this dungeon crawler-ish
gameplay, the game features an open world, with
towns, forests and mountains to explore.
Compared with other open-world titles, it’s
closer to Gothic than Skyrim, as you can wander freely
(some road blocks aside), but enemies in certain areas
will tear inexperienced parties apart.
While exploring the world you’ll come across
monsters, side-quests, merchants, optional dungeons,
secrets, puzzles and the series’ usual trainer NPCs,
which are necessary to improve your skill tier.
In line with its old-school ambitions, the game
also returns to turn-based combat. Battles can be very
challenging, and there’s plenty of skills, spells and
status effects to handle, making M&M X arguably
the most tactical game in the series, despite a rather
annoying over-reliance on unfair ambushes.
From a graphical point of view, the whole game
was built on a tight budget, reusing many assets from
Heroes of Might and Magic VI. And it shows, alternating
very pleasant landscapes with really bad textures. On
the whole, however, exploring the various areas and
environments is a satisfying experience.
Unfortunately, the game is very badly optimised,
leading to frequent frame rate drops and graphical
issues, plus other annoying bugs. Ubisoft’s Uplay store
and invasive DRM can also be a hassle.
Overall, Might and Magic X - Legacy is a good
and surprisingly old-school RPG. Clearly developed
by fans of the series, it offers modern accessibility
improvements, but also high difficulty and complex
systems. Sadly, it sold poorly, so Ubisoft pulled the
plug and another sequel is unlikely. AM
The Banner
Saga
Stoic, 2014
Windows and Mac
The Banner Saga is the first game in a planned
trilogy of story-driven, tactical RPGs with a
nice smattering of choice and consequence
and beautiful hand-drawn artwork.
Banner Saga is built around the concept of an
ongoing apocalypse, told from the perspective of two
different groups and their respective caravans, and
the developers had no problems presenting the harsh
choices that such an event would entail. Although the
story is fairly linear, which characters remain alive
depends greatly on player choices throughout.
Since the world is ending, supplies are limited
and required to prevent your caravans from starving,
NPCs from leaving, morale plummeting, and battles
becoming more difficult as a result. You can buy
supplies with Renown, gained from battles, but it’s
also needed to upgrade troops or buy items.
The combat is turn-based, and there’s a variety of
classes with specialised skills, offering a wide range of
tactics. You can also move your characters’ stat points
around between six different attributes, allowing for
greater customisation of roles and playstyle.
For example, you can spend points making a unit
into specialised armour breakers or boost the number
of times they can perform a special ability. One of said
attributes is Will Power, which dictates a unit’s ability
to go above and beyond their typical limits, moving
further than normal or boosting an attack.
A unique mechanic that separates Banner Saga
from other games is the shared health/strength pool
for units: damaging an enemy reduces their damage.
However, outright killing a unit might not be in your
best interests since the game uses an “I go, you go”
system. Therefore, it can be valuable to leave weaker,
heavily damaged units alive to prevent full strength
units from getting more turns.
The big drawback of Banner Saga’s combat is the
limited number of enemy types, many of which lack
special abilities, which does erode the tactical depth.
Despite that and the linear nature of the main story,
I thoroughly enjoyed the game and its mechanics.
The artwork also deserves a lot of praise, providing a
unique look, with elegant hand-drawn animation and
gorgeous Eyvind Earle-styled landscapes.
Banner Saga 2 arrived two years later, continuing
the story and adding improvements such as more
enemy types and less arbitrary choices. It also allows you
to import your saves – along with all the consequences
of the choices you made. If the final game manages
to properly concludes this dark, but engrossing story,
then Banner Saga could become an all-time classic. RR
The Banner
Saga was one
of the first big
Kickstarter games,
raising $720,000
in 2012 and
inspiring many
similar titles.
After self-funding
Banner Saga 2,
Stoic returned to
Kickstarter with
Banner Saga 3
in 2017, raising
$410,000.
Upon achieving
enough kills,
all basic classes
can level up and
later upgrade
into one of
three specialised
classes.
You can use skills
to attack your
enemy’s health,
reducing their
HP and strength,
or attack their
armour, reducing
their damage
absorption.
461
NEO
Scavenger
Blue Bottle Games, 2014
Windows, Linux, Android and iOS
From a quick glance, NEO Scavenger is just a
Flash-based roguelike developed by a one-man
team. However, like an expert scavenger, it
knows how to make the most of its limited resources
and manages to create something truly valuable.
You start by choosing your character’s traits. The
game uses an advantage and disadvantage system that
should be familiar to GURPS fans, allowing you to gain
points by picking negative traits (Insomniac, Feeble,
Myopia, etc.) and spend points on positive traits
(Tough, Hacking, Tracking, Botany, etc.). While not as
complex as other character systems, these will heavily
alter each character’s choices and playstyle.
Once that’s done, you wake up from cryogenic
sleep, only to find out that the world went to hell. Now
you’re in the middle of a post-apocalyptic Michigan,
wearing only a medical gown, a weird amulet and a
wrist strap labelled “Philip Kindred”, and it’s up to you
to figure out what happened, why you were frozen and
find some clothing and food – but not in that order.
NEO Scavenger’s defining feature is being a rather
experimental game, mixing a survival roguelike gameplay
with Choose Your Own Adventure segments, plus as
a unique approach to presentation.
Combat, for example, is turn-based and doesn’t
feature a single frame of animation. Instead, you select
commands, such as “shoot”, “kick” or “sneak towards”,
and the combat log will describe what happened.
While this may seem crude, it allows for actions that
even triple-A games find too complex to animate,
such as head-butting, leg tripping and even grappling
(with mods) – all while pushing a shopping cart.
Still, the most interesting aspect of the game is
how it obfuscates its stats. NEO Scavenger never tells
you how many hit points you or your enemy have,
how much damage a weapon does or to what extend a
concussion or a fever affects you. Everything is up to
your own judgement. You don’t replace your baseball
bat for that machete you just found because the game
says it does +10% fire damage, but rather because you
– the player – feel safer with it.
These are some very bold design decisions,
especially in this graphics- and DPS-driven era. More
importantly, they succeed in transmitting a unique
sense of tension, as you mentally visualise yourself
rolling in the mud, tired and wounded, attacking
another desperate survivor with a tree branch and
wondering who will drop dead first.
Items degrade, plastic bags rip open and there’s never
enough room to carry everything you want – or need.
The crafting system is very elaborate and intuitive,
which is good, because using it is vital for your survival.
462
“I think some folks prefer stats,
and stats definitely have their place.
But I wanted to see how it felt
hiding that stuff to make it more
about judgement calls and play
experience. That, and the absence
of information makes us fill in the
gaps with our own interpretations.
Usually those are cooler than
anything I could come up with!”
– Daniel Fedor,
NEO Scavenger’s creator
The game’s CYOA
segments have
great writing
and atmosphere,
but can kill you
without warning,
forcing a restart.
Every aspect of NEO Scavenger follows this
logic. The game features a robust survival system that
requires you to regularly eat, drink, sleep, treat your
wounds, protect yourself from the cold and medicate
against diseases. Of course, not all water you find is
safe for drinking, and eating meat without cooking it
might be a bad idea. Even something like wearing two
right-foot boots can result in blisters and affect you
negatively. Is it worse than walking around barefoot?
It’s up to you to figure it out.
Along the way, you’ll die – a lot. But it’s OK, the
fun in NEO Scavenger lies precisely in learning how to
survive this harsh post-apocalyptic world. The many
characters you create will never gain experience nor
level up, but after a while you – the player – will learn
how to scavenge, craft items, assess risks and survive
for a few days without dying of hypothermia.
At that point, you might then be ready to begin
searching for answers, to discover out what happened
to the world, to explore its borders, interact with its
inhabitants and follow whispered rumours towards
the game’s cryptic main quest. Or become a cannibal.
It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there. FE
Mods:
Extended NeoScav: Expands the game in every way,
adding new traits, crafting recipes, combat moves,
factions, items, quests, locations and even a rideable
bicycle, plus a few well-thought-out balance changes.
Mighty (mini)Mod of Doom: Despite the name, it
also adds a huge amount of content and rebalancing.
Science & Sorcery: This WIP mod aims to give a
Shadowrun-ish feel, adding magic to the game.
The abstract
combat screen
allows for
unusual and
elaborate scenes
to take place,
such as kicking a
religious fanatic
while pulling a
plastic sledge.
463
Blackguards
Daedalic, 2014
Windows and Mac
The game
excels on its
diverse combat
scenarios, like
battling zombies
on a crypt lit only
by occasional
lightning strikes.
The character
system is complex
and allows for a lot
of customisation,
but Blackguards
is sadly lacking in
equipment variety.
464
Known for old-school point-and-click adventure
games such as Deponia and Edna & Harvey,
German developer Daedalic took gamers by
surprise by releasing Blackguards – a tactical turn-based
RPG based on The Dark Eye tabletop ruleset.
While the story sells itself as a dark narrative
where you play as outlaws, it’s rather cliché and heroic.
The Dark Eye ruleset is the true drawing point. While
some of it was cut, such as most non-combat talents,
it remains a solid and complex (if rather intimidating)
classless system, offering ample freedom when creating
your character. It’s a joy for hardcore players, but very
poorly explained for newcomers, and the forced party
members end up limiting some of your party-building
possibilities – sometimes even forcing a restart.
Blackguards knows its limitations and uses some
unconventional design choices to compensate for them,
betting everything on its battles – cities are presented as
simple animated backgrounds with stores and NPCs
to talk with, exploration is limited to a 2D world map
full of icons, dungeons are but a semi-linear sequence
of battles without rest, and the story is told via simple
cutscenes, with an occasional decision to be made. This
leads to a unique “Western Final Fantasy Tactics” feel,
and while the game's first hours are very linear, it later
opens up to a wide range of interesting side-quests.
Daedalic’s background as an adventure game
developer is felt here in an unusual way. There are no
random battles in Blackguards, meaning that every
encounter happens in a unique arena specifically
designed for it, often with unique challenges or tactical
puzzles. There are traps, time limits, holes that spawn
enemies, movable and destructible objects, healing
orbs, falling chandeliers, mechanical blades, flying
dragons, swamp gas, giant tentacles, mind-controlling
plants, drawbridges, collapsing passageways, a giant
cage on a crane, etc. There’s not a single RPG out there
that offers so many interesting combat scenarios.
This alone makes Blackguards a must-play for
any tactical fan – or RPG designer. Unfortunately, the
game stretches out for far too long (40 to 60 hours),
and the limited variety of enemies and equipment
results in a rather stale second half of the game.
Even more unfortunate was Daedalic’s failure to
realise what made the game fun. Blackguards 2 (2015)
streamlined the RPG elements to focus on an ambitious
strategic campaign, and the tightly crafted encounters
were replaced by poorly balanced battles against hordes
of respawning enemies. It pleased reviewers, but not
players, selling at only a fraction of the first game and
likely ending the Blackguards series. FE
Transistor
Supergiant Games, 2014
Windows, PS4, OS X and Linux
Role-playing games usually try to find a balance
between world-building and game mechanics,
but very few of them try to merge them.
Transistor is an intriguing attempt at doing so. At
first glance, it uses the same concepts as Bastion, with
an ominous narrator, real-time combat and a strong
reliance on music for storytelling. But it quickly
demonstrates its own individuality.
The story revolves around Red, a singer living in
the retro -futuristic city of Cloudbank. Escaping from
a murder attempt, she comes into possession of the
Transistor, a tremendously powerful sword. With this
blade in hand, your goal is understand the mystery
behind it and stop the Process, an army of robots bent
on destroying Cloudbank. Confusing in some aspects
but very straight forward at heart, the storytelling
succeeds in creating a touching experience.
Programming terminology cleverly parallels every
game concept and shapes Cloudbank into a unique
setting. Music, in particular, is the key of Transistor’s
identity, tying to Red’s character, evolving according
to the situation and retelling the story through songs.
Needless to say, the soundtrack is gorgeous.
Using an isometric point of view, you guide Red
and her huge blueish sword through the gorgeous
landscapes of Cloudbank, fighting various units of
the Process on your way. Combat is in real time and
four functions (special attacks) can be equipped, from
quick shots to massive area attacks. The catch is that
enemies are fast, possess various types of annoying
abilities and some might even respawn.
This is where the Transistor’s powers become
useful. By activating a power called TURN(), Red can
stop time to plan and queue actions in advance. Once
ready, your plan is instantly executed and a cooldown
starts to use TURN() again.
Experience expands Red’s powers by opening
secondary slots or obtaining new functions. The latter
can be equipped as direct attacks, as improvements on
other functions or as passive bonuses. For example,
Red’s initial function CRASH() is just a powerful blow,
but in an upgrade slot it stuns enemies, and used in a
passive slot it makes you immune to slowing effects.
There are 16 functions in total and experimenting
is super fun. Some combinations are overpowered, but
you can also use handicaps, which make the enemies
stronger but assure you some nice experience bonuses.
The most compelling aspect of Transistor is how
everything blends together: its beautiful soundtrack,
gorgeous art direction, interesting world-building and
surprising battles. Even if it’s a short game. TR
The beautiful
world is shown
through an
isometric view.
Combat is in
real time, and
you can equip
up to four active
skills at once.
When TURN()
is activated the
game pauses,
allowing you to
plan and instantly
execute a short
sequence of
actions.
465
Divinity:
Original Sin
Larian Studios, 2014
Windows, OS X, Linux, PS4 and Xbox One
D:OS was
crowd-funded
on Kickstarter
in 2013, raising
$900,000. The
sequel was
also funded
by Kickstarter,
raising 2 million
dollars in 2015.
You start the
game by creating
two characters.
The game offers
a few classes
to choose, but
you can fully
customise them,
editing stats,
abilities, spells
and talents.
466
The Divinity series isn’t the story of a world, but
an ambition. Since 1999, Larian Studios and
its CEO Swen Vincke have had the dream of
not merely walking in Ultima VII’s mighty footsteps,
but finally surpassing it.
It’s been a bumpy road, with 2002’s Divine Divinity
biting off more than it could chew, and subsequent games
being marked by fantastic, original ideas – be soulbound
with an evil knight! Turn into a dragon! – often undercut
by more mundane concerns like shaky core foundations,
and simply trying to keep the lights on.
With Divinity: Original Sin, however, all the pieces
finally came together. Kickstarter proved the thirst and
funding for classic-style RPGs was there (though D:OS
was far from old-school), while a new approach to
development provided the much needed foundation for
Larian’s crazier ideas, such as elemental-focused combat
that swiftly turned any battlefield into a flaming hellscape,
letting you cast rain for everything from putting out a
burning ship to extinguishing enemy bomb fuses.
That twist was to focus on multiplayer first – not,
as Neverwinter Nights had done, necessarily with the
goal of prioritising that in the final game, but forcing
the team to create systems and scripts capable of
anything the player might do.
Murder everyone in town? Abuse teleportation
and other spells? Divinity: Original Sin had to be
ready, without taking cheap cop-outs like just ending
the quest if a particular NPC died, or breaking in the
event of a sequence break.
Instead, that Ultima VII inspiration came back
in full force. Ultima VII and D:OS actually have
very different design styles, with D:OS enforcing a
fairly linear route versus Ultima VII merely strongly
suggesting it, but what they share is a commitment
to an open world that works naturally. Bosses, for
instance, aren’t immune to tricks like being teleported
out of their arena into one of your choosing. In one of
the cooler interactions, you can even run a two-man
con on the NPCs by engaging one in conversation and
having another sneak behind them and steal things.
The result was a triumph. Divinity: Original Sin
instantly validated and justified Larian’s hard work in
the eyes of its critics, as well as delighting fans who’d
been there for the long haul.
If it had issues, it was that the overall plot was a
bit of a mess, and the company’s love of comedy made
it feel a bit *too* silly. The linearity was also an issue,
with a strict intended path. These were subsequently
fixed with a major free update/re-release, the Enhanced
Edition which, amongst other things, tweaked the plot
to make more sense, altered the ending, and added
controller support and a full voice-over.
Luckily, one thing nobody can say about Larian
is that it sits on its laurels. At first glance, Divinity:
Original Sin 2 (2017) looks like much the same game.
Under the hood, however, it takes everything that the
first game tried and cranks it up to 11.
Now you have up to four player characters, often
with competing objectives in each location, and all
after the same thing – their shot at godhood.
“During a demo, I think at the
German magazine Gamestar, I was
told that we’d probably have to
re-educate players because they’re
not used to this type of gameplay
anymore, conditioned as they seem
to be by all the streamlining games
go through nowadays.”
– Swen Vincke,
Divinity: Original Sin’s director
and Larian’s CEO
Combat is turnbased
and uses
action points, but
its defining feature
is how you can use
spells, objects and
the environment
to your advantage,
such as igniting
a pool of oil, or
freezing wet
enemies.
It’s a game that outright encourages you to split
up the party, pretending to play nice while really
sabotaging each other with tricks like dyeing a
green poison potion "health red" and slipping it into
another party member’s backpack.
On top of this, each character has their own
unique story, the world is packed with encounters
and decisions, and the interaction density is almost
ridiculous. The first Divinity: Original Sin offered a
trait called "Pet Pal" that allows you to talk to animals,
mostly for jokes, but sometimes for hints and hidden
quests. The sequel not only has that, but characters who
respond differently based on your race and other traits,
magic that makes it possible to camouflage yourself as
something else, and the ability to talk to the ghosts of
the dead. Then eat their souls for magic points.
The result is a fantastic experience. The humour
and imagination is still very much there, just more
deftly handled, while the plot is simple enough to
keep humming along under the action but big
enough in scale to take in any short story that an area
designer wants to tell – anything from epic dramatic
battles at sea, to the tale of a chicken corrupted by
primordial magic, or a magic statue unimpressed by
RPG heroics and the idea of the ends justifying the
murderous means.
The linearity remains a nuisance, and sometimes
the mass of scripting does fall over itself (especially in
the final map), but with so much good stuff to find, it
matters much less than it might.
As said, though, Divinity has been a path as much
as a series. It’s as notable for how it started as what it’s
become, and its evolution a credit to both Vincke and
his team over the years. While "beating" Ultima VII is
likely an impossible goal for any RPG, simply because
they’re not so much fighting the reality of Ultima VII
as the Platonic ideal of it in the world’s memories.
There's no arguing that, in following its lead, Larian
has done its legacy proud.
More importantly though, regardless of nostalgia,
it created a series that can proudly stand in the top tier of
modern RPG development, and proved that, wherever
they head next, it’s going to be worth following. RC
Toolset and Game Master Mode:
Alongside Divinity: Original Sin, Larian also released
the Divinity Engine, a toolset to create your own maps
and adventures and/or edit the game’s main campaign.
This was greatly expanded in the sequel, adding the
Game Master Mode – where one player can prepare
adventures and act as GM for up to four other players.
D:OS offers a rarely seen level of freedom, allowing players to
steal and kill NPCs, freely move objects around, craft, etc.
D:OS2 added new races, plus the option to play special pre-made
characters that have unique stories, goals and skills.
467
Lords of
Xulima
Numantian Games, 2014
Windows, Mac and Linux
Lords of Xulima
raised $35,000
on Kickstarter in
2013. Backers got
the Talisman of
Golot DLC, but
beware that this
can make the
game too easy.
Combat can be
very challenging,
with monsters
destroying your
party with nasty
status effects.
Use the Deepest
Dark mod for
the ultimate
challenge.
Xulima uses two
mini-games for
lock-picking and
trap-disarming.
They require
character skill,
player reflex and
scarce resources.
468
With the rise of crowd-funding, developers
began to cater to a nostalgic audience by
making “spiritual sequels” of classic RPGs.
Sadly, many of these projects became hollow copies:
games that mimic visuals, mechanics and themes, but
fail to deliver that intangible quality of the originals.
Numantian Games, a small six-man studio from
Spain, did exactly the opposite. Lords of Xulima doesn’t
look like any classic RPG, but definitely plays like one.
The game tells the story of Gaulen the Explorer, a man
chosen to travel to the land of Xulima, cleanse the
sacred temples and help the gods return to the world.
In an unusual twist, you don’t create or customise
Gaulen – instead, you create the five party members
that will accompany him, choosing from nine classes.
Combat is turn-based and in first-person, similar
to Might and Magic, but with some tweaks. Characters
position themselves in a small 2x4 grid and can only
attack adjacent units, resulting in a “tactical blobber”.
It’s also quite challenging, and makes heavy use of
status effects – wounds reduce stats, bleeding does
damage every turn, stuns delay characters' actions, etc.
This depth is combined with a large bestiary to create a
nice variety of encounters, keeping battles interesting.
Exploration, however, is Xulima’s main strength.
You walk around controlling Gaulen in an isometric
perspective, exploring huge and cleverly designed
maps. Each area has its share of mazes, treasures and
hidden passages, all covered with a thick fog-of-war
that makes exploration feel rewarding.
The diversity of environments is staggering, and
every area has its own gameplay trick: a labyrinth of
poisonous mushrooms; a frozen tundra that quickly
exhausts your food; a dungeon full of Tesla coils; a
deadly monster that must be avoided; a burning forest;
a teleporter maze; a lava lake; a massive desert; etc.
These are complemented by bold design choices.
The world is huge and mostly open, with tough enemies
serving as “progress gates”. Random encounters are
finite and occur only in some areas, with other areas
reserved for special puzzles (where saving is disabled).
The constant need for food keeps exploration tense,
and money remains important during the entire game.
However, too much ambition can be a bad thing.
Xulima is far too long – over 70 hours – and declines in
the second half. Character progression stagnates, areas
feel empty, recoloured enemies appear in volume and
the narrative never goes beyond “purify all temples”.
Regardless, Lords of Xulima remains impressive –
it’s a passionate tribute to classic old-school RPGs, but
it achieves this while being its own, unique game. FE
Lords
of the Fallen
CI Games and Deck13, 2014
Windows, Xbox One and PS4
Despite developer’s efforts to state otherwise,
the best way to describe Lords of the Fallen
is “Dark Souls clone”. The game is a real-time
Action RPG focused on intense battles, which require
thoughtful approach, patience to wait for an opening
and careful management of your Stamina bar.
Everything, from the controls to the deadly boss
battles and even how enemies respawn when you die
will remind you of From Software’s Souls series.
That’s not to say the game doesn’t try new things.
Most notably, it features a defined protagonist – you
always play as Harkyn, a brutish prisoner released to
help battle an invading army of demons. All you can
choose is his starting class (Warrior, Rogue or Cleric),
plus one of three magic types, which are very limited
and entirely secondary in this melee-oriented game.
One of the game’s best twists is the XP multiplier,
which increases with each kill and remains until you
rest, challenging players to push as far as possible.
Other additions include a combo system based
on timing your strikes, runes you can socket into
weapons, a magical gauntlet that fires projectiles, and
challenge rooms you can complete for special items.
The visuals also stand out, as the graphics are truly
impressive. The art-style is gritty and intentionally
over-designed, clearly inspired by Games Workshop’s
Warhammer. The game’s first enemy is already a huge,
armour-clad demon. While cool, it can feel contrived,
as the endgame foes look much weaker, ruining the
usual “from rats to dragons” RPG progression.
Regardless, the graphics can’t make up for how
limited the game is. The story is forgettable and just
an excuse to kill stuff, but the real sin here is how there
are few unique weapons and movesets, few enemies
to fight, few areas to explore and, above all, very few
reasons to ever replay the game once you’re done.
Lords of the Fallen isn’t a bad game by any means,
but it’s impossible not to compare it with the Souls
games and notice how flat it falls. The core elements
are present, but they lack the depth, scope, polish and
unique flair that Hidetaka Miyazaki and the team at
From Software adds to their games.
Of course, it didn’t help that Lords of the Fallen
came with a new type of DRM that, while it made the
game uncrackable for months, also led to instability
and performance issues for many PC players.
In the end, if you have a powerful PC and enjoy
the combat of the Souls games, you’ll have a good
time with Lords of the Fallen, admiring its graphics
and battling some interesting foes. But you’ll quickly
go back to waiting for the next Dark Souls. FE
In 2017, Deck13
would release
The Surge,
another Dark
Souls-inspired
game, but this
time with a
sci-fi setting.
There are a
few NPCs and
dialogue choices
in the game,
but they are
forgettable
and of little
consequence.
There’s a good
selection of
equipment, but
it follows a linear
progression,
limiting your
effective choices.
469
Dragon Age:
Inquisition
BioWare, 2014
Windows, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and One
Alongside DA:I,
BioWare made
the Dragon Age
Keep, a website
where you can
import DA:O and
DA2 save games
to use in DA:I.
Even if you lost
the save files or
never played the
previous game,
you can use
the website to
craft a custom
world state.
Combat can be
played in the realtime
Action RPGlike
mode of DA2,
or in the tactical
top-down RTwP
mode of DA:O.
470
The Dragon Age series is undoubtedly one of
BioWare's flagship franchises, and considered
by many to be one of the stronger fantasy RPG
settings ever created. Dragon Age: Inquistion is the
third instalment of the series and takes place after the
events of both Origins and Dragon Age 2 – you can
even import your old save files, carrying choices you
made in the two previous games.
Players will see all of the familiar races and
classes available to choose from upon loading up the
game but, unlike in Origins, their choice will have no
impact upon the opening sequence. Upon finishing
the introduction, players will learn that they are the
leader of a newly formed faction: the Inquisition.
Your main goal will be to seek out breaches (portals
that allow demons to enter the world) and close them
using a magic that only your hero possesses.
The faction aspect is not new to the series, as
the Grey Wardens played an integral role in DA:O.
The series has a history of highlighting politics and
its impact on the world around you, however none
have made it such an integral part of the game. One
of the more satisfying aspects of DA:I is growing the
newly formed Inquisition faction from a small band
of followers into a true power in the land of Thedas.
By exploring the massive zones and completing
the countless hours of side-quests, you are rewarded
with both influence and power, tools vital to the
expansion of the Inquisition and unlocking new
zones. As your Inquisition grows in reputation, choices
that you make will affect how the story unfolds and
how those around the world see you. Do you execute an
enemy or simply banish him to join the Grey Wardens?
These choices provide an impact on how the story plays
out and provide significant replay value. Your choices,
no matter how little they may seem, matter.
Graphically, DA:I takes the series to another level.
The game uses EA’s Frostbite Engine and, despite a rocky
development process and still having to support lastgen
hardware, it sports vastly improved player models,
environment, combat and skill effects. Some of the most
satisfying moments in the game will be taking a break
from slaying bandits and fade the demons to simply
appreciate the environment around you.
And there’s certainly no shortage of environments
to marvel at. Inquisition dwarfs both its predecessors
– it’s divided into multiple zones, with a single zone
being nearly as large as all of DA:O. Each zone is
unique and beautiful in its own right, and contain
enough secrets, loot and battles to keep even the most
experienced DA veterans busy for days.
The loot system in Inquisition is quite traditional,
but where the game stands out from previous
instalments is its greatly improved crafting system.
This makes rewards from questing and looting more
meaningful and provides depth that lasts throughout
the entire game. No more will you have to wear the
same armour for half of the game, as it is easy to both
find and fashion upgrades. These upgrades provide
noticeable differences in combat, allowing you to feel
the growth in power of your character as you progress.
“Inquisition was bigger than it
needed to be. It had everything but
the kitchen sink in it, to the point
that we went too far... I think that
having to deal with Dragon Age 2
and the negative feedback we got
on some parts of that was driving
the team to want to put everything
in and try to address every little
problem or perceived problem.”
– Cameron Lee,
Dragon Age: Inquisition’s producer
The Dialogue
Wheel was
expanded,
displaying new
emotions and
choices that
require money,
specific perks or
classes/races.
The combat in DA:I will prove satisfying for both
those who enjoyed the more tactical approach of DA:O
and those who preferred the more action-oriented
DA2. Encounters are normally played in real time,
with the ability to perform basic attacks, cast spells,
use abilities and switch in real time between your
party members. At any point, combat may be frozen
and a tactical overhead view will allow you to plan
the attacks of each of your four party members. Once
you are satisfied with your tactics you may return the
game to live action. Both modes are extremely fluid
and transitioning between them is seamless.
Joining you on your quest will be a mix of
familiar faces from previous games and a stout cast of
new companions. As with all Dragon Age games (and
BioWare games in general), the voice acting is topnotch
and creates some very unique and memorable
characters. Dorian and Cole in particular stand out
and provide some of the best storylines and dialogue
throughout the journey.
Fans of the series will also be excited for guest
appearances of some of the more popular characters
from the previous two instalments.
Yet, despite several familiar faces from previous
games, Inquisition’s story is a far cry from the
beloved first instalment, Dragon Age: Origins.
While it has its moments, it fails to properly
create a sense of urgency or really allow you to become
properly invested in what is at stake. Compelling
individual character storylines are present, but they
don’t seamlessly fit into the grand scheme.
The same could be said about some side-quests,
which can feel like busy work. There are hundreds of
them, which can unlock mounts, powerful items and
help grow your forces. Some players might find them
repetitive and just skip them, but others will be able
to ignore the main story for hours upon hours of play.
The game had several DLCs and three expansions
– Jaws of Hakkon, The Descent and Trespasser. The
first two simply add new areas with more content, but
the last greatly expands the game’s ending and story.
DA:I is also the first Dragon Age game that
features a multiplayer mode, where you and four
other players battle your way through increasingly
difficult levels of randomly generated monsters.
Ultimately, Dragon Age: Inquisition builds upon
the strong foundation of the series and other BioWare
RPGs, by adding tons of content and replayability.
While it may lack the charm and polish of DA:O and
some of BioWare's early RPGs, it’s still a game you
can easily sink over a hundred hours on your first
playthrough – and still be eager for more. CHR
DA:I's first
expansion,
Jaws of Hakkon,
was released
for all platforms.
The following
ones, however,
abandoned the
older consoles
and were
exclusive to
PC, Xbox One
and PS4.
The War Table allows you to manage your Inquisition,
dispatching advisors and doing missions to earn resources.
Crafting expands the series’ usually limited loot, featuring
multiple materials that imbue items with unique bonuses.
471
Wasteland 2
inXile Entertainment, 2014
Windows, Linux, OS X, PS4 and Xbox One
Character creation
mixes stats, skills
and perks to offer a
lot of possibilities,
but not all of them
are viable. Some
stats, like Strength,
aren’t very useful,
and there are stat
thresholds which
punish some builds.
472
In the innocent days of 2012, game designer
Tim Schafer (Full Throttle, Psychonauts, Grim
Fandango), using a little-known platform called
Kickstarter, went directly to the public to raise funds
for the development of a new computer game. His
hope was to avoid the necessary evil of publisher
oversight, freeing the developers to work their
creative magic entirely by their own rules. Schafer
asked for $400,000 but ended up raising 3.3 million
dollars, changing crowdfunding forever.
On the heels of this accomplishment, producer
Brian Fargo saw his opportunity to do the same thing,
and revive a project that had been burning in the back
of his mind for nigh 20 years. Wasteland 2 was to be
both (officially) a sequel to Fargo’s 1988 top-down party
RPG, Wasteland, and (unofficially) a spiritual successor
to Fallout and Fallout 2, the isometric single-character
classics. Fargo’s proposed team roster was filled with
heavyweights: Alan Pavlish, Jason Anderson, Ken St.
Andre, Michael Stackpole, Liz Danforth and others,
many of whom worked on the original games.
More important than the names, Fargo’s company,
inXile Entertainment, promised to revive a style of game
that had lain comatose for all that time. They raised over
$3,000,000 – including an important $30 of my own.
I grew up on Wasteland, and the announcement of
this project represented a chance to relive an uncritical
childhood joy. Ultimately, even filtered through the
cynicism of adulthood, my gamble paid off.
So what did we get, exactly? Wasteland 2 is the
story of a quartet of newly minted Desert Rangers,
post-apocalypse cops somewhat in the vein of Mad
Max, with a more cowboy feel.
Who are these Rangers? Wonderfully, that
is up to you. Sincerely helpful protectors of the
innocent? Disinterested mercenaries doing the bare
minimum? Hardened killers who solve every problem
by butchering both perps and victims? Professional
soldiers in leather and fatigues? Drunken lunatics in
gorilla suits and lingerie? There’s even a path for players
who don’t want to be Desert Rangers at all. Blow off
missions, attack the innocent, steal, raid, and kill your
boss; you will find that there are scripted consequences
there too, with a full alternate ending.
Wasteland 2 hangs its hat on substantial choices,
and it delivers. Side with a paramilitary organisation
intent on bringing order to a chaotic trade route, and
you’ll be forced to battle the cult that currently controls
the region; or you can side with the cult and do a
completely different set of missions, or play the two
against each other, or fight them all. These decisions
may have resounding effects on your game.
Part of W2’s deep commitment to player agency
includes the ability to fail. Try to save a drowning boy
and you might end up killing him. Investigate slaver
activity in an attempt to rescue an innocent girl and
your actions might lead to her suicide. Resounding
success in one mission might mean another becomes
unsolvable or irrelevant, imbuing your choices with
true consequences. Tanking a mission never means a
“game over” unless your squad is wiped out entirely.
“One of the things we liked about
Wasteland 2 is there were multiple
endings along the way. You didn’t have
to play the game all the way to the
‘normal’ ending to win. Because what’s
a ‘win’? It’s a narrative, right? You’re
telling your own story. So we redefined
what winning means.”
– Chris Keenan,
Wasteland 2’s director
Dialogues allow
for several kinds
of choices and
skill checks, but
also features a
keyword system;
a call back to the
first Wasteland
which feels oddly
out of place.
“Failing forward” is a foreign concept to many
gamers but, for those of us who appreciate the concept,
the freedom on offer here is rare and precious.
Missions range in tone from deadly serious to
outright goofy. You’ll battle an organised gang of
murderers by assaulting their fortress in an hours-long
campaign of blood and horror; then save a man from
being executed for the crime of dandruff by donating
Earth’s last surviving bottle of medicated shampoo.
W2’s areas are connected by a sprawling world
map, replete with lethal radiation, random encounters,
and secrets. Once inside an area, the game assumes
a ¾ perspective reminiscent of Fallout’s, now fully
rotating in 3D. Combat is turn-based with light tactical
elements, focusing more on statistics than strategy. The
addition of “called shots” in the 2015’s Director’s Cut
edition gave combat more depth than simple hit point
attrition: one Ranger might shoot an enemy’s arm to
spoil his aim, buying the others time to kill him.
Character-building includes not only stats and
skills, but Perks à la Fallout as well. My team featured a
Bloodthirsty Opportunist who received a bonus when
attacking wounded targets and scored extra Action
Points for finishing off enemies, and a Thick-Skinned,
Hardened, Weathered melee Slayer who moved with
the grace of a buffalo but was virtually indestructible.
Which brings us to the issue of balance. It isn’t
great – by the end of the game on “Ranger” (Hard)
difficulty, all my characters had a 100% chance to
hit every shot, and an outlandishly steep gear curve
meant my armour shrugged off any attacks short of
nuclear weapons. I still had fun, but for a substantial
challenge, “Supreme Jerk” difficulty is recommended.
The game is packed with content; a typical
playthrough may take 40 or 50 hours. This is a doubleedged
sword in that it makes W2 hard to replay, which
in turn makes it difficult to appreciate the choices
you’re making and the consequences unfolding around
you. Who knows how things might have turned out at
the end if I’d made different decisions at the beginning?
Is it worth another 40 hours to find out?
Still, not seeing all the outcomes made my choices
feel more my own. One doesn’t read a CYOA book from
cover to cover; that misses the point. Meeting friends,
making enemies, deciding who lived and who died –
my journey was not quite like any other. I uncovered a
lie and spread the truth, and a whole region descended
into violent chaos. I shot an innocent man and let a
guilty one go free, and covered up my crimes for what
I thought was the greater good. Did I do right? Could
I have done better? Maybe some day I’ll tell the story
again in a different way and see what happens. RJS
The UI features some poor design choices, but also quality-oflife
improvements such as automatically distributing loot.
You explore the wasteland via a 3D overworld map, dealing
with radiation, random encounters and limited water supplies.
473
South Park:
The Stick of Truth
Obsidian Entertainment, 2014
Windows, PS3 and Xbox 360
The Stick of
Truth was
censored in
Germany for its
Nazi imagery,
and in some
other countries
due to scenes
involving anal
probing by
aliens.
You control your
kid and a friend
during combat,
using melee
attacks, ranged
weapons, skills,
items, summons
and farts to beat
your foes.
The menus are
displayed as
if they were a
Facebook page,
with characters
adding you as
a friend and
commenting on
recent events.
474
The first time I saw The Stick of Truth, it felt like I
was watching the TV show – maybe something
like their famous “Make Love, Not Warcraft”
episode. This was partially because the visuals of the
game perfectly match those of the show, and all the
voices and even some of the writing is done by the
show creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker.
However, what truly makes The Stick of Truth
feel like the show is its pacing. RPGs have a tendency
of being long, overwritten and full of pointless filler
(something Obsidian often struggles with), but here
you have a game that is short, concise and fast-paced –
just like the TV show. It’s a comedy about kids playing
an RPG, and all its rules, stats, battles and other genre
tropes are used as tools to deliver jokes.
You play as “the new kid”, who just moved into
South Park and joins Cartman and his friends in
playing an elaborate RPG-like game. The entire town
is available for you to explore, and it’s a fan-service
overload, packed with jokes and references to the show.
As your kid explores and completes quests, he’ll
make friends (who can join him in battle) and find new
equipment, allowing you to customise his look and
skills. Each area is short and only has a few battles, most
of which can be skipped by using the environment –
such as farting on a candle to burn nearby enemies. This
helps keep the pace tight and avoid repetition.
Combat is turn-based and very similar to the
Paper Mario series, where you can empower attacks
and block with timed button presses. It’s easy and
unbalanced, but its goal is not to challenge players
– it’s there to deliver jokes, allowing you to listen to
funny taunts, use farts as magic, dodge giant testicles
mid-battle and summon Jesus to kill your foes.
Lasting only about 10-15 hours, the game ends
before becoming repetitive or running out of ideas –
something that more RPGs should do.
The sequel, South Park: The Fractured but Whole
(2017), ditched Obsidian in favour of Ubisoft’s internal
studio, which brought several changes. Now the kids
are playing as superheroes and parodying Marvel and
DC movies, but the game lacks the novelty and tight
pacing of its predecessor. It adds a more complex
character system and grid-based tactical battles, which
pleased some players, yet feels somewhat misguided.
Spending a lot of time fighting tactical battles in a
comedy game is a bit like playing Doom for the story.
Nevertheless, both titles are a joy to South Park
fans and will please those interested in a funny and
short adventure. But if you’re looking for a deep RPG,
there are way better options out there. FE
UnderRail
Stygian Software, 2015
Windows
UnderRail is, quite simply, one of the greatest
CRPGs created since the turn of the century.
It exemplifies the concept of building living,
breathing worlds, popularised once upon a time by the
old Origin Systems tag line: “We create worlds.”
A post-apocalyptic game clearly reminiscent of
the original Fallout, UnderRail certainly pays homage,
but also manages to stand as its own unique game.
The character system is very traditional: there
are seven base attributes; over 20 skills divided into
Offense, Defense, Subterfuge, Technology (itemcrafting),
Psi (mental powers), and Social; and loads
of feats tailored for various paths and playstyles.
Players can create just about any type of character:
a blockhead who wears tailored heavy armour and
swings an electrified sledgehammer; a blaggard who
sneaks around with a poisoned serrated knife; a psiuser
who traps enemies behind force walls and pulps
their brains with a thought; a commando who uses
his customised assault rifle, flashbangs, and grenades
to blast his way out of everything; a ranger who uses
stealth, deadly traps, and a silent crossbow to eliminate
his enemies one by one; a diplomatic sniper; and many,
many more viable combinations.
Yet, for me, the exploration aspect of UnderRail
is its greatest achievement. Rooms are packed with
interactions, from the usual boxes and crates to vents
you can peek or crawl through, locked doors to pick,
ladders to climb and hidden nooks to uncover. The
game’s level design makes clever use of intricate,
interconnected, multi-level rooms and terrain featuring
dead ends, one-way passages, and so on, in such a way
that navigating the environment is a challenge by itself.
It’s also rewarding, thanks to the Oddity system,
which awards XP for exploring and uncovering hidden
items – an alternative non-combat experience source.
Heavily inspired by Fallout, UnderRail’s combat
is turn-based, isometric, and based on action points.
It’s simple but challenging – and highly satisfying, thanks
to the sheer variety of weapons, skills and enemies. The
denizens of UnderRail have many unique tricks that the
player must learn to recognise and counter in order to
survive. Many times during some of my playthroughs,
I’d inch my way into a room, toss a flashbang in a likely
direction, then dash back out again, hoping to flush out
possible lurkers and avoid being back-stabbed.
UnderRail isn’t without flaws, lacking in intricate
dialogue trees and meaningful choices and consequences.
Still, considering that it was mostly made by one man,
these are understandable shortcomings. UnderRail is a
massive incline, and no CRPG fan should miss it. JBH
UnderRail was
first released
in 2012 on
Desura, where
fans could
buy the alpha
version to
help fund its
development;
it was a popular
crowd-funding
system before
Kickstarter and
Steam Early
Access.
While you
control only
one character,
the combat
succeeds at
providing plenty
of interesting
options and
challenges.
The crafting
system is very
detailed; you can
create almost
anything that
can be equipped
or used, and
the wide variety
of materials
offers plenty of
customisation.
475
The Witcher III:
Wild Hunt
CD Projekt RED, 2015
Windows, PS4 and Xbox One
After
Witcher III’s
release, CD
Projekt created
16 DLCs,
including new
quests, items,
and a New
Game+ mode
– all freely
available for
download.
Monster-hunting
is an immersive
experience.
It requires
learning about
the monsters
then preparing
yourself, and
rewards you
with powerful
mutagens.
476
After the success of The Witcher II and the
positive buzz about its post-release support,
expectations about the Witcher III were high.
The development team abandoned the linear structure
of its predecessor in favour of an open-world approach,
yet managed to make it a world worth exploring.
The player revisits the role of the eponymous
witcher (a monster hunter), Geralt of Rivia. Early
on, he learns that his adopted daughter, Ciri, is being
pursued by the otherworldly Wild Hunt. The story
unfolds through hundreds of main and secondary
quests, some of which let you play as Ciri, allowing
you to explore the story through her point of view and
utilise her latent magical abilities.
The game takes place in three main areas, of
generous size. Life is poor, nasty, brutish, and short
for the inhabitants of rural Velen, where folklore is
more than old stories. The bustling city of Novigrad,
and its environs, offer all the lures and insidiousness
of a more civilised region. Finally, the isles of Skellige
are rough, wild places inspired by Norse sagas.
The combat and movement mechanics have
been refurbished since the second game. Geralt is
more agile and he can ride horses, use boats and swim
to explore the massive game world.
He can specialise in three distinct skill trees
and equip various items although, due to lore,
swords remain the most effective weapons. The
crafting system is useful without being overbearing
and weapon degradation is well-balanced. Reflexes
remain important in combat, but alchemy can offer
an extra boost. Preparing oils and potions to hunt
the larger beasts helps the player inhabit the role of a
witcher, especially in harder difficulties.
Geralt can also use his witcher abilities to track
prey and provide guidance for quest purposes. Said
tracking skills also provide an in-world justification
for being uniquely equipped to tackle certain quests.
There is horseback combat, horse races, and Gwent,
a card game along the lines of Magic: The Gathering,
which follows a tradition of excellent card games in
RPGs, such as Arcomage in Might and Magic VII or
Triple Triad in Final Fantasy VIII.
The Witcher III is technically accomplished and
mechanically sound, but its biggest accomplishment
is the quality of its quests. Side-quests never feel like
they’re padding out the game’s length, as the game
deftly sidesteps those cookie-cutter quests that ask you
to gather a number of items or kill a number of enemies.
Secondary quests serve to advance storylines
or provide insight into the world; monster hunts
are tied to everyday life or to the ecology of an area.
Even treasure hunts may lead to interesting locations
or uncover personal stories. The sheer length of the
game invites shades of déjà vu, but quality remains
high throughout the hundreds of hours of the game.
The Witcher III is the rare game that lets you
memorise lines for a play you produced, and chastises
you for not keeping court protocol. You won’t help
the bard Dandelion for a reward, but because he’s that
kind of friend who tends to get in trouble.
“In Poland a different style of
[tabletop] RPG was popular –
where a story is told and throwing
dice is less important. What’s
important is the psychology of the
characters, the way of telling the
story and simulating the world.
This way of thinking is also visible
in The Witcher.”
– Marcin Blacha,
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt’s
story director
The Witcher
III’s dialogue
is excellent,
having a natural
writing and great
animation. Some
dialogues also
allow you to use
your skills, while
others enforce
a time limit for
replying.
Taking the time to flesh out characters and
Geralt’s interactions with them makes the game world
feel more concrete and lends weight to the efforts of
the player. Combat is an integral part of the game and
a pacifist run is not an option. However, this concern
for the life of daily folk brings the Ultima series to
mind despite the obvious differences.
The incorporation of elements of Polish folklore
helps distinguish the game from run-of-the-mill
fantasy worlds. Certain sequences evoke an uncanny
feeling, draw misplaced anger or make the player feel
sympathy for the circumstances that turned someone
into the monster they are about to face. Some of the
choices have outcomes that are hard to discern, and
yet, bad outcomes may not force a reload since they
make an impression either way and feel satisfying
from a narrative point of view.
Sequences with very mature themes take place
is in the same game where you are solemnly tasked to
retrieve a favourite pan, or where you can opt to have
a snowball fight before the climax of the game.
It is not the first game that lets you take a break
from questing, but it takes pains to create the texture
that makes it worth helping a villager or cutting
down a monster. The game also features a fitting
denouement for the main game and the expansions.
The first expansion, Hearts of Stone (2015),
upends the trope of virtually invincible endgame
characters by casting Geralt against an immortal and
a being that can control time. There are the usual
opportunities to fight, track, and explore, but at its
best moments there’s a melancholic, philosophical
sheen when exploring the toll of power and the
circumstances of the new characters. Bosses have left
their kid gloves at home, too.
The second expansion, Blood and Wine (2016),
places Geralt in Toussaint, a new region inspired by
France’s Provence. This meatier expansion offers a
range of quests straight from chansons de geste and
epic poems. Geralt can join tournaments, help a
cowardly knight fight an ogre, acquire an estate, etc.
However, darker undertones soon become apparent.
A certain quest with spoons is a best-in-class dark
folk tale, and the game’s new advancement system
keeps things interesting mechanics-wise.
The Witcher III is the culmination of a long journey
for CD Projekt. Their skills have increased to match
their ambition and many will be saddened Geralt’s
saga has come to an end. However, its achievements
will remain with us: presenting an interesting world,
relevant side-quests and streamlining that does not
necessarily sacrifice depth or texture. AB
If you want a
more realistic
experience, try
The Witcher 3
Enhanced Edition
mod. It overhauls
the entire game,
changing stats,
NPCs and combat
by removing
levels and XP so
that the world
feels more
consistent.
The in-game card game of Gwent became very popular,
eventually being released as a stand-alone game in 2016.
Despite all its polish, the game has some interface issues.
Especially the inventory, which can get very confusing.
477
Age of
Decadence
Iron Tower Studios, 2015
Windows
If you’re
unsure about
the game, try
its excellent
demo on Steam.
You can later
bring the save
file into the
full game.
AoD has six main
attributes and 23
skills, divided into
Social and Combat
skills. Instead of
classes, it offers
eight starting
backgrounds.
478
It’s not often a game spends 11 years in development
and comes out well. Age of Decadence however,
did, and it’s far from the only way it defies
convention and expectation.
Heavily inspired by Fallout 1 and 2, the game
takes place in a post-apocalyptic Roman-esque empire.
The populace has descended into a sort of cut-throat
barbarism, and those that would prey on strangers are
more common than those who would help.
The once glorious empire fell into conflict with
a rival nation and both sides called gods and men to
fight and die in droves. At least that’s what you learn
at the start of the game. What actually happened and
how must be discovered over multiple playthroughs
by skilled characters. Uncovering the backstory of the
world is very enjoyable, even if the final result is a bit
inconsistent.
Graphically, the game is not impressive at all.
The Torque engine would not have been remarkable
in 2004, and certainly is not today. That is not to say
the game is wholly ugly; some locations have enough
art design and tricks to them that they feel impressive
when you first see them. This is also helped by the
difficulty of getting there and the exoticness that
certain places are imbued by the setting.
AoD is not a game that is kind to completionists.
If your lock-picking skill is not up to the task, you will
not get to see what’s behind a door. The same holds for
combat, dialogue and other forms of environmental
challenges. This difficulty and approach to stat/skill
checks requires adjusting to. In most RPGs, a decently
built character will be able to beat every combat
encounter, charm the crown of off every king and
steal all the gold in the land.
In AoD, a skilled player might be able to mix
two distinct skill sets, but more likely you’ll invest
everything into a particular method of progress and
still occasionally struggle.
For the turn-based combat, this is actually a
plus. There are plenty of viable strategies, and, despite
being essentially locked into your first choice of
weapons and defence (block or dodge) there’s plenty
of customisability. For the melee weapons, you have
daggers that are fast and weak but great with aimed
strikes, swords/hammers/axes which can cause
bleeding/armour breakage/mini-crits and rounding
out the melee weapons there are spears which have high
range and can interrupt enemies moving close to you.
For ranged combat, there are bows, crossbows
and throwing weapons. Crossbows differ by requiring
an action to reload and not scaling with your strength,
while throwing weapons are just kind of bad.
Beyond weapons, there’s also a decent amount
of combat tools and consumables – including crafting
and alchemy – to round out your options. Many of
these are exceptionally powerful and can easily turn
the tide of a whole fight when properly applied.
While in some fights you might wish you had a
full party to control instead of AI allies, the combat in
AoD is nonetheless excellent and incredibly satisfying
once you achieve some level of expertise.
“Combat difficulty is integrated into
the setting. You can’t say that the
world is harsh and unforgiving and
then allow the player to kill everyone
who looks at him or her funny. The
game has to be hard, dying should
be easy, and you should have
reasons to pick your fights.”
– Vince D. Weller,
Age of Decadence’s creator
Combat is
turn-based and
uses action
points, offering
several types of
attack with each
weapon.
Sadly, the same cannot be said for environmental
challenges and dialogue. Often, they fall into the trap
so many other RPGs fall into: you can simply pick the
options with the [tags of] skills you have invested in,
rarely needing to actually read the text.
In most RPGs, failing a dialogue skill check
will simply put you into a combat that anyone with
moderate skill can beat. Instead, AoD will just kill
you mid-dialogue and send you to the main menu to
reload or make a new character; sometimes it might
also throw you into a fight that’s absolutely impossible
for your build. In some ways this is frustrating, in
others it’s pleasantly brutal and unapologetic – the
world will not bend to keep you from breaking.
The sins of the dialogue gameplay are really just
the same designs flaws essentially all RPG dialogue
suffers from. There are, of course, good parts, as there
are multiple ways to resolve many quests peacefully.
In fact, that’s one of AoD’s strengths, as it’s possible
to play pure “talking characters”, going through the
entire game without ever entering combat.
Some of your choices will also have long-lasting
consequences, such as betraying a faction and joining
another, or scheming to change the leader of a faction
(which changes later quests as they are not likely to
have the same agenda).
An interesting part of the dialogue design is the
frequent use of “teleports” to reduce walking around.
You’re routinely offered the option to just immediately
go to the person/place that is your goal. If it makes
sense in the story, you may even be forced to do so.
Sometimes it may feel like you don’t have agency, but
it’s mostly just removing the illusion of agency.
In general, a single playthrough of AoD will create
more questions than it answers. Each character will
typically join one of the six major factions and then
be responsible for making events unfold in favour of
that faction. However, events will occur even without
the player, and learning the reasons behind them will
require playing other factions as well.
Of the factions, one is dedicated to pure talking
characters, two focus heavily on combat while the
remainder generally allow for both types of characters
to get through as long as you make the right choices of
who to support and who to betray.
Age of Decadence is frequently frustrating, obtuse
and a bit constricting. But, with an excellent combat
system and Choose Your Own Adventure dialogues
that often present interesting non-combat gameplay,
it’s also a very good RPG. Regardless, it’s worth playing
simply because it ignores many deeply ingrained design
conventions and offers viable alternatives. JA
Iron Tower used
Age of Decadence’s
assets and combat
system (now with
party members) to
develop Dungeon
Rats, a combatfocused
RPG
released in 2016.
There are several qualities of weapons and armour, as
well as items needed for crafting, alchemy, disguises, etc.
Some segments play like Choose Your Own Adventures,
entirely based on dialogues, items you carry and skill checks.
479
Undertale
Toby Fox, 2015
Windows, PS4, PS Vita, Linux and Mac
Undertale
raised $51k on
Kickstarter in
2013. It went
on to sell over
two and a half
million copies.
Undertale uses
the medium itself
as a narrative tool.
Battles, UI, music
and even the save
files are used for
characterisation
and storytelling.
Dialogue with the
charismatic cast
of monsters is
easily Undertale’s
strongest point – it’s
consistently funny
and well-timed.
480
Undertale was originally pitched on Kickstarter
as an RPG “where no one has to get hurt".
It drops you, a human child, alone into an
underground world of hostile monsters, but gives you
the choice to spare them instead of killing them.
And the game makes a strong case for it – the
monsters are endearing, with simple desires like being
a pet, or some laughs for their bad stand-up comedy. If
you give them what they want, they’ll leave you alone.
While some RPGs present nonviolence as a series
of choices in a text tree which might let you sidestep
combat, Undertale integrates them into its turn-based
battles. You can attack, but for each monster you can
instead perform various actions, like “Compliment”
and "Threat", which might help pacify them.
During the enemy’s turns you control your Soul,
a tiny red heart, and must dodge monster attacks in a
brief bullet-hell sequence. Boss battles often change the
mechanics of dodging by painting your Soul a different
colour – when it’s blue, for example, your Soul is subject
to gravity and can jump. It’s a simple enough system,
but manages to stay fresh for the whole game.
The morality of Undertale leaves no room for
ambiguity or nuance, but the game’s dedication to it is
what stands out. Forming deeper friendships with the
strange and entertaining monsters of the underground
is interesting and rewarding; killing them feels terrible,
and the rest of the cast won’t let you forget.
The game even reserves a special kind of hell
for any player who would go out of their way to kill
everyone “just to see all of the game’s content...”
While the game’s art is rather simple, the music
is outstanding. It’s a memorable and catchy mix
of chiptunes and piano, weaving various themes
throughout its tracks in many different styles. Having
made the game all by himself, Toby Fox manages to
fully utilise every visual, audio and technical aspect
available to convey the desired narrative and tone.
Knowing more beforehand would spoil the fun.
Undertale is not a long game – you’ll beat it in about
five hours – but it’s an immensely clever game, full of
surprises and worth replaying. It’s a worthy successor
to its clear influence, the Mother/Earthbound series,
and I can’t wait to see what kind of games will inherit
Undertale’s influence after its stunning success. MAS
Mystery Chronicle:
One Way Heroics
Spike Chunsoft, 2015
Windows, PS4 and PSP Vita
In 2010, a roguelike called One Way Heroics was
released in Japan. Developed by SmokingWOLF,
it added a clever twist to the genre: instead of
exploring deep dungeons, your goal is to march east,
running from an all-devouring darkness.
The game plays much like a traditional roguelike:
it’s turn-based, has permadeath, unidentified items, etc.
But, like an old-school side-scrolling game, the screen
automatically moves right – if you’re slow, you die.
This adds a whole new dimension to the game.
Not only must you worry about items and enemies,
but also consider terrain and time – “can I get in and
out of that house and grab the treasure chest before
the screen reaches me? If not, can I break its wall?”
Initially your goal is to walk east until you find
the Demon Lord and defeat him, but things get more
elaborate as you play. Every time you finish the game
(or die) you’re rated on how many enemies you killed,
levels you gained, distances you walked, money you
gathered and feats you performed. This score earns
you points used to unlock new classes, perks, NPCs,
quest givers and other metagame features.
This mitigates the frustration of permadeath, as
even in death you get a sense of accomplishment. Your
first playthroughs will also be quite short and simple,
slowly expanding as you pursue harder challenges.
Each world is randomly generated, but you can
note down their code, visiting the same world multiple
times or sharing them with friends. Each day the game
offers special worlds, with events like 3x Experience
or secret NPCs, that are available only for a limited
time. You can also customise the difficulty, with four
settings and the option to disable the metagame aid.
The game was quite successful worldwide, and in
2014 it received the Plus expansion, which added new
classes, items, terrains and UI improvements.
In an unusual turn of events, developers from
Spike Chunsoft saw the game and loved it, cutting a
deal with SmokingWOLF to remake One Way Heroics
as a spin-off of their Mystery Dungeon series.
The result is Mystery Chronicle: One Way Heroics.
Extremely faithful to the original, it offers 25 classes,
great artwork and some slight changes to the story and
mechanics. It also added a competitive multiplayer
mode, but sadly it’s very rare to find anyone online.
Despite these upgrades, some fans still prefer the
original game with the Plus expansion, disliking the
remake’s balance changes and weaker soundtrack.
Regardless of version, One Way Heroics remains
an excellent game, accessible and challenging while
offering a new twist to the roguelike genre. FE
The original
One Way Heroics
had an excellent
soundtrack.
You can use the
OWH Music
mod to play the
remake using
these songs.
A thick wall or a
monster with a
lot of health can
be deadly, locking
you in place
until the screen
reaches your
character.
The game
uses stats as
a resource:
hiring NPCs as
companions costs
Charisma, while
learning spells
cost Intelligence.
You can boost
stats by choosing
Perks at the start.
481
Tale of Wuxia
Heluo Studio, 2015
Windows
Jin Yong is a
highly acclaimed
contemporary
Chinese author.
He wrote 15
books based
on wuxia (martial
arts and chivalry),
which together
sold over 100
million copies and
were adapted
into over
90 movies and
TV series.
Legend of Wulin
Heroes was also
never translated
into English, but
it’s known as
one of the best
Chinese RPGs
ever made.
482
In 1996, Soft-World – a gaming publisher headquartered
in Taiwan – tasked one of their teams,
Heluo Studio, to make a game based on the novels
of famed wuxia writer Jin Yong.
They created Heroes of Jin Yong ( 金 庸 群 俠
傳 ), a tactical role-playing game where the player
gets to roam China in an age of honourable martial
arts heroes, populated by a mix of all Jin Yong novels'
characters and plots. During your travels it’s possible to
change certain storylines and recruit over 30 characters
to brawl it out with various villains and heroes.
Five years later, the same team made a sequel
titled 武 林 群 侠 传 – loosely translated as Legend of
Wulin Heroes (not to be confused with the tabletop
RPG of the same name), and set one hundred years
after the first game, with new characters and an
original plot. It retained the open world and tactical
RPG elements of its predecessor, but also introduced
a new Princess Maker-like sim-raising mode, where
your character’s growth is determined by a weekly
training schedule set by the player, presented in a
humorous Chibi art style.
You play as a nobody who dreams of becoming a
martial arts hero. He is guided by your hand in training,
with up to 32 stats (not including hidden ones)
being available for the player to improve. All of them
are useful in one way or another – if perhaps not in
battle, then surely interwoven into various events.
You’ll be able to learn several Kung Fu styles,
categorised into Saber, Sword, Staff, Palm/Fist,
Finger, Leg, Hidden Weapon, and Music, with their
corresponding stats affecting the techniques that
your hero finds during his journey or learns from his
master when he is pleased with his pupil.
The hero’s many base stats also affect his overall
battle competency in battle, such as Flexibility
providing a passive boost to damage and enhancing
most sword techniques. In fact, some techniques
have a third stat to boost its power, such as alcohol
the for the Drunken Fist style. Yes, you can learn to
become skilled in alcohol in this game!
Aside from preparing the hero for combat, you’ll
also have chores like chopping wood or cleaning, and
can choose to indulge in activities like fishing, hunting,
smithing, herb-gathering and gardening – each with
its own respective list of diverse mini-games.
Your performance in these mini-games will
determine the skills gained and add rewards such
as rare meat from killing a bear while hunting, or a
treasure chest as a no-error bonus when mining.
You can also learn more about different aspects of
Chinese culture, such as Chinese Chess, Calligraphy,
Acupuncture, Music and even Gardening. A lot of care
went into these, and not only will you get interesting
lessons, but you’ll later be asked to identify songs,
calligraphy styles, acupuncture points or decide upon
a chess move – with your performance impacting the
bonus your character receives.
Tale of Wuxia offers a large variety of mini-games, from
lock-picking to blacksmithing. Most of them are excellent.
You roll your character at the start of the game, with
three passive talents and over 20 stats to consider.
The training mode is presented in a Chibi art style and
it’s filled with events and lessons on Chinese culture.
After a certain amount of weeks has passed, the
hero will be tasked with plot-related missions. While
some will only be a series of battles, others allow you
to freely roam around town for a time (such as until a
ceremony begins), and you’re able to explore, talk to
NPCs, buy items, do side-quests and find secrets.
There are often long-lasting consequences based
on your actions and, depending on which faction
you wish to side with, it might even be good to “fail” a
mission, although generally not by losing in battle.
These missions also serve as a good wake-up call
to let the player know if the hero’s Kung Fu is lagging
behind – if battles are too difficult you can catch up
during the next weeks of training.
Players are given the freedom to exercise their will
upon each event and their actions will affect future events
one way or the other. Up to 30+ NPCs can be befriended
through events and gifts, and they will greatly contribute
to your success in future endeavours and possibly unlock
certain events that lead to treasures and new Kung Fu
teachings. Furthermore, six of these fellow companions
are romanceable heroines with unique events for you
to pursue!
The game can be difficult for those who neglect
to train their hero, but the versatility of approaches in
each playthrough and the amount of freedom to raise
your hero makes replaying the game highly enjoyable
and part of the charm.
Combat is turn-based, and was expanded in the remake
to feature hexes and some impressive animations.
Overall, there’s enough variety of Kung Fu styles,
skills, events, routes, endings, NPCs and achievements
to guarantee at least three full playthroughs.
Regrettably, Heluo Studio was later disbanded,
a victim of the large shift in the Chinese publishers
(including Soft-World) towards MMOs and online
gaming. However, Legend of Wulin Heroes remained
a cult classic among the Chinese fanbase, motivating
its original creators to reform Helio Studio with a new
publisher and create a modern, fully 3D remake.
Released in 2015 as 侠 客 风 云 传 , it was the
first game of the series to be officially translated into
English, published on Steam in 2016 as Tale of Wuxia.
Besides the many graphical upgrades, the remake also
gave the developers the chance to refine and expand
the game’s story and events, improve its mini-games,
upgrade the combat to a hex-based system, add a new
day-and-night cycle with timed NPC schedules and
increase the number of romanceable heroines.
The remake was soon followed by Tale of Wuxia:
The Pre-Sequel (2017), which abandons the raising sim
aspect for a more traditional JRPG-style, with full party
control and a fixed protagonist.
Tale of Wuxia and its prequel still have some
annoying bugs, and the crowd-sourced translation is
rather uneven and messy, but they’re definitely worth
playing. It’s a truly one-of-a-kind wuxia experience
that you aren’t likely to find elsewhere. NY
The Chinese
version of
Tale of Wuxia
received
several DLCs
after release,
adding more
content and
new romances,
but they
were never
translated
into English.
483
Fallout 4
Bethesda Game Studios, 2015
Windows, PS4 and Xbox One
Fallout 4
received six
DLC packs,
released once
a month from
April to August
2016. They
add new areas,
new items and
more options
when crafting
or building
settlements.
Stats, skills and
perks were all
combined into
a single system.
Each level you
gain one point,
which can be
used to increase
stats or unlock a
new perk.
484
Role-playing games have always been hard to
judge and categorise due to their hybrid nature.
In essence, RPGs are the genres that most aim
towards the maxim “better than the sum of its parts”.
With this in mind, Fallout 4 is the superlative example
of the opposite.
There is not a single element in the game that
can be pointed out as utterly sub-par, but the issue
here is one of legacy and focus. The venerable Fallout
franchise started out as the seminal isometric RPG
that offered world reactivity in regard to player’s
character build. In the old games, a low-intelligence
brawler was going to have many differences in their
experience compared to a smooth-talking pistolero.
All of this being wrapped in a post-apocalyptic
50s retro sci-fi atmosphere where the old-world
saccharine consumerism contrasted with the realistic
struggle for survival in a radioactive wasteland.
Fallout 4 shows its inability to understand the
basic premise of its origins right from the get-go. The
game begins with a pre-war couple going about their
daily lives and answering the door to a salesman before
the nuclear bombs hit and they must take shelter in one
of the iconic Vaults, where they are cryogenically frozen
for two centuries before beginning their adventure.
This is a woefully improper scene due to the
old world being the Mr. Rogers to the new world’s
Mad Max. These people were meant to be depicted
primarily through their unnaturally gleeful cultural
artefacts – demystifying them undermines the entire
premise. It should also be mentioned that the salesman
is encountered again as an immortal ghoul that did
not change his clothes or disposition in 200 years. The
original Fallout games could be ironic, post-modern
or just plain irreverent, but never outright stupid.
Sadly, this salesman ghoul is indicative of the entire
writing quality Fallout 4 displays.
These changes should come as no surprise, since
the franchise's systemic identity is no more. The
process Bethesda began in Fallout 3 was somewhat
halted by Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas, but is now
complete in Fallout 4. Character builds have been
reduced from being representations of good and
bad traits that affect the game world to a single
character build that may deal more damage with
some weapons than others. There are no skills such as
“Repair”, “Scientist” or “Doctor” that get checked in
conversation or during encounters anymore. Instead
you have a system where one point per level is invested
in perks which focus almost entirely on combat or
loot, with a few scatter-shot nods to exploration.
Given the prestige of the developer, conversations
are now a depressingly low-budget affair, where
every player response must have four options since
that is how many buttons there are on a controller.
This results in yes/no answers being accompanied
by absolute filler, usually marked "sarcastic", or the
occasional charisma attribute check that might unlock
new options but mostly gives a small experience
boost. In short, Fallout this is not; and even more
alarmingly, an RPG this is not.
“We do like to try new things and
we have some successes. I think the
shooting in Fallout 4 is really good –
I think it plays really well. Obviously
the way we did some dialogue stuff,
that didn’t work as well. But I know
the reasons we tried that – to make a
nice interactive conversation – but [it
was] less successful than some other
things in the game. For us, we take
that feedback. I think long-term.”
– Todd Howard,
Fallout 4’s creative director
Fallout 4 goes
for a cinematic,
BioWare-like
dialogue system,
with fully voiced
dialogues and
their own, poor
take on the
Dialogue Wheel.
But even ignoring this series’ roots, the most
recurring element within this open-world shooter
masquerading as a role-playing game is the complete,
almost desperate, lack of direction when it comes to
how it is put together. It chases after modern trends,
instead of chiselling them into a coherent product.
The more polished shooting mechanics – greatly
improved since Fallout 3 – are contrasted with the
statistical nature of the combat, which Bethesda
inherited but doesn’t know how to handle. The
result is dreadful game experience, where you’ll keep
pumping the same enemy with dozens of head shots
which the animations try to meaningfully sell.
One of Fallout 4’s most publicised features,
the ability to build your own settlements, is entirely
disconnected from the rest of the game. You could
rebuild the entire wasteland and nothing would
change, relegating the entire affair to a bloated minigame
rather than something that was meant to work
in tandem with the game’s other elements.
The main quest tries so hard to come up with
dramatic hooks regarding one of your loved ones or
the nature of being human, yet they fail so completely
due to existing in a sandbox designed for the player
to run for hours on end from building to building,
shooting and looting everything in sight.
The entire experience of travelling the wasteland
that this game presents is one of mixing a dozen
different puzzle sets and then trying to make them fit; it
is an experience of witnessing developer exasperation as
they work on something that works against itself.
My personal feelings are that all of the elements
in Fallout 4 could be part of a great game, but no great
game can come from the way these elements are used
– only digestible mediocrity, which has been achieved
in spades here. LL
Mods:
Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch: Fixes hundreds of bugs left
by the developers. A must-have for any player.
Full Dialogue Interface: Makes dialogue options display
the full text characters will say, not just short lines.
DEF_UI: Similar to Skyrim’s SkyUI, it greatly improves
the game’s UI to work with mouse and keyboard.
Armoursmith Extended: An excellent mod that gives
players more options and control over their armour,
allowing you to mix and match multiple layers.
Sim Settlements: Overhauls how settlements work,
making settlers build and expand it by themselves.
This massive mod has its own expansion packs.
In August
2017, Bethesda
released the
Creation Club, a
service that sells
mods curated
by the company.
Weapons and armour now have multiple parts and can
be customised using scrap and the new crafting system.
You can build settlements using scrap collected all over
the wasteland. While initially engaging, it lacks in impact.
485
Sunless Sea
Failbetter Games, 2015
Windows, Mac and Linux
Sunless Sea is
set in the same
universe as
Failbetter
Games’ Fallen
London, a freeto-play
CYOA
browser game
from 2009.
Not every danger
is unseen – you’ll
need to upgrade
your ship to
survive pirates
and monsters
in real-time,
cooldown driven
battles.
While exploring
you’ll have to
manage food
supplies, fuel
reserves, cargo
slots and an everincreasing
terror
driving you mad.
486
The dark and the ocean. Sunless Sea’s title contains
the most potent metaphors for the unknown,
and it very much hinges upon the two reactions
that the unknown elicits: fear and curiosity.
As a captain in Failbetter Games’ Fallen London
universe, it’s your task to explore the strange islands of
the vast Unterzee. Every trip is accompanied by risks
and costs. Traversing the waters consumes rations and
fuel, while your crew’s fear grows. Of course, there are
creatures lurking in the dark that might weaken you
further, damaging your hull and killing your crew.
Once your ship enters a port, Sunless Sea reveals
its text-heavy nature: its strange places are described
in vivid prose that oscillates rapidly between innocent
whimsy and macabre terror.
Torn between fear and curiosity, the player
will have to make choices – will you open the sealed
coffin? Will you give the stranger a ride to the next
island? Will you dare eat the sea monster’s meat?
The likelihood of success for some actions depends
on the strengths of your attributes; many others will
be available if you’re willing to pay a price: gold, fuel,
food, crew members, treasures, Fragments of Secrets
(i.e. experience points), or even attribute points.
If you manage to return to London alive, you
can collect the bounties for your accomplishments
and hope that the sacrifices made allow you to come
out ahead. On your next trip, you may be able to
undertake actions that were previously locked to
you. If, however, you perish among eldritch horrors
and cannibals, the game will have to be played from
the very beginning and the Unterzee’s islands will be
randomly redistributed. But you may play as your heir,
cashing in on heirlooms you have left to yourself.
Sunless Sea is inarguably an RPG, but one that
isn’t tied to conventions. Most RPGs are structured
around progression and exploration; Sunless Sea
subverts both. Despite an ultimate goal to achieve,
there isn’t a linear sequence of main quests that leads
you to it. Instead, you have countless small "storylets"
that are only vaguely interdependent. Also, progression
isn’t fixed, and whatever rewards you gain can easily
be lost. Exploration, a major part of the game, is never
free, neither of care nor cost. Sunless Sea imbues the
journey into the unknown with danger and mystery.
Sunless Sea is one of the few games that lives
in the mind as much as on the screen; its secrets
aren’t just there to be ticked off, but to be savoured.
Sometimes, imagining what lies in the Zee is the best
way to enjoy the game. How fitting for a game about
the dark and the ocean. AI
Hand of Fate
Defiant Development, 2015
Windows, Linux, OS X, PS4 and Xbox One
Hand of Fate is a rather peculiar roguelike.
Not only because its places, objects and
characters are drawn from a deck of cards.
Nor is it because the dungeon takes the form of a
tortuous path made of these face-down cards, where
one moves card after card while keeping an eye on a
quickly diminishing stock of food.
Hand of Fate is very special because it puts the
player in front of a game master – literally. It is this
odd, masked wizard surrounded by magical objects
who gives the game its edge. With his melodramatic
gestures, he turns into an epic narrative what would
otherwise be nothing more than yet another medieval
fantasy adventure. With his sizzling, masterfully
voiced comments, he gives depth to each game.
A Hand of Fate playthrough is not a series of random
events and encounters – it is a duel of resilience, the
clash of two wills that collide.
In this fight, the player’s only weapons are the
new cards he earns and adds to his deck when he
solves a situation in an optimal way – for instance,
saving an old man attacked by Lava Golems grants
a new event card that will be advantageous to come
across in the dungeon. As the stock of cards increases,
the player can therefore build a deck to suit his needs,
made of the most beneficial encounters possible. And
threaten the game master’s supremacy.
To beat the game, you also have to master what
is perhaps its weakest mechanic: its combat system –
either triggered by a bad choice or automatically by
certain cards. This simplified imitation of the battles of
the Batman: Arkham Asylum series is based on beating
your opponents by clubbing the mouse button, and
remains far inferior to the rest of the game. It would be
a shame, however, to give Hand of Fate a miss because
of its combat system.
Persevering leads to terrific moments: a narrative
that gets closer and closer to perfection (thanks to
quality music, meticulous writing and a darkening
atmosphere), cards that turn out to be complex quests
(completing the first card grants the second one, to be
added to the deck), and a game master who is thrown
into a foul mood at the prospect of defeat.
While the sequel, Hands of Fate 2 (2017), doesn’t
improve the combat system, it expands the campaign
considerably, adding longer and more diverse subintrigues.
Unfortunately, the returning game master is
a little more restrained. The almost total absence of his
threatening figure turns the game into something that
one simply wants to complete, rather than a duel of
egos that one is desperate to win. IZ
Hands of Fate
was crowdfunded
on
Kickstarter in
November
2013, raising
AU$ 54,095.
Each card has
multiple options,
and solving it
correctly provides
rewards and
possibly a new
card that advances
its quest.
Combat is the
weakest part of the
game, forcing you
fight in a Batman:
Arkham Asylumlike
manner using
the equipment
cards you own.
487
Pillars of
Eternity
Obsidian Entertainment, 2015
Windows, Mac and Linux
The Pillars
of Eternity
Kickstarter
launched in
September 2012
and raised over
4 million dollars.
A documentary
called Road to
Eternity later
revealed the
crowd-funding
saved Obsidian
from closing.
The inventory is
very nostalgic,
but offers modern
conveniences like
mouseovers and
neat details like
secondary weapons
appearing on the
character’s model.
488
The emergence of crowd-funding in the early
2010s created a new class of games between
mainstream AAA titles and shoestring budget
indies. Among these were Obsidian’s “Project Eternity”,
which hit Kickstarter in 2012, promising to bring back
the glory days of the Infinity Engine games, citing
Planescape: Torment, Baldur’s Gate, and Icewind Dale.
A public that had been disappointed time and
again ate it up. The game reached its funding goal in
under 24 hours, and its success took Obsidian by surprise.
They scrambled to come up with stretch goals
and backer rewards to keep the pledges rolling in. This
exhilarating but chaotic campaign left its mark on the
game: the world is peppered with out-of-place vanity
NPCs with exotic looks and frankly stupid nameplates,
tombs are full of backer memorials and the game has
a tacked-on mega-dungeon and stronghold that would
have worked better as a Durlag’s Tower-style expansion.
Regardless, Pillars of Eternity delivers the big
game promised in the campaign. There are two large
cities and two smaller quest-hub villages; wilderness
maps, dungeons, caves, ruins and castles aplenty; 11
character classes; dozens of monster types, spells, and
talents, hundreds of items and enough quests for a
single playthrough to soak up many weekends.
It took a while for all this complexity to settle
down, as Obsidian spent two years iterating upon it via
post-release patches, but this smoothed out the rough
edges and allowed the system to come into its own.
An Infinity Engine game veteran jumping into
Pillars of Eternity will feel immediately at home. The
sounds and visuals, complemented by Justin Bell’s
beautiful musical score, are just like they ought to be;
the moment-to-moment feeling of commanding units
is just right, and quests and dialogues behave exactly
like they used to – or even better, thanks to qualityof-life
improvements like mouseovers, a Fast-Forward
function and a “loot all” button. Only after a few hours
playing do the differences start to become apparent.
While Pillars of Eternity’s combat is still of the
RTwP variety, its original ruleset has more in common
with 4th edition D&D than the old AD&D which
powered the IE games. All character classes will acquire
a broad selection of abilities selected on level-up, many
of which will have per-rest or per-encounter uses.
Combat also features an engagement system,
where melee combatants lock each other in position
and can’t move under the risk of taking an opportunistic
attack. Unless you go out of your way to build a mobile
party with mainly passive abilities, fights will be more
static than in the Infinty Engine games, and you will
pause more to fire off those per-encounter abilities.
It’s also much easier to hold a line or block enemy
movement, and a good deal harder to run through
enemy lines to get at their back-row casters.
Pillars is also markedly easier than Baldur’s Gate
or Icewind Dale. Players enjoying a challenge are well
advised to go straight to Hard or Path of the Damned
difficulties, and avoid going into the White March
expansion until the very end or risk out-levelling and
out-gearing the second half of the game.
“If you want to make a Muscle
Wizard, who is mighty and powerful
and a stupid idiot, you can do that.
Mechanically what happens is that
you’ll do a lot of damage, but their
durations and areas of effects will
be very small. Then, in conversation
they’re total idiots. [laughs]”
– Josh Sawyer,
Pillars of Eternity’s lead designer
Combat looks
similar to the
IE games, but
plays very
differently due
to additions like
the engagement
system and
per encounter
abilities.
The story starts you off with a magical catastrophe
that sends you after a mysterious villain operating
ancient machinery to nefarious ends, while you deal
with local problems ranging from personal tragedies
and village disputes to a magical plague affecting
the entire realm. It unfolds through traditional RPG
quests, punctuated by Choose Your Own Adventurestyle
interludes with beautiful ink illustrations.
The world of Eora features elves and dwarves,
undead haunting ancient ruins, dragons lurking in
remote corners of the world, and gods meddling with
mortals. However, it has a Renaissance feel, rather than a
dialogues one. Adventurers tote arquebuses and pistols;
caravels ply the seas carrying explorers, merchants,
and colonists to new frontiers, and societies struggle to
come to grips with transformational discoveries.
Accompanying you are eight distinct companions
(11 with the expansion) hailing from all corners of
Eora, from Sagani the Boreal Dwarf huntress to Kana
Rua, the jolly chanter from seafaring Rauatai. They are
for the most part well-written and characterful, and
their banter provides welcome levity in a story that
would often take on perilously dark tones. You can also
complement – or, if you wish, entirely replace – these
companions with custom adventurers you can create
from scratch at inns.
Overall, Pillars of Eternity fails to live up to the
best of the originals in some respects, but surpasses
them in others. While competent enough, the writing
does not come close to Planescape: Torment’s; Defiance
Bay and Twin Elms feel empty and static compared to
Athkatla or Baldur’s Gate, and even the best encounters
do not quite match the likes of Firkraag’s Dungeon.
The character system, however, is a major step
forward. Pillars’ 11 classes and highly flexible talent,
ability, and attribute system allow massive scope for
variety, from relatively obvious variants like a ranged,
alpha-striking back-row Paladin, to specialised builds
making use of a particular item’s unique properties.
Pillars of Eternity’s lead designer Josh Sawyer’s stated
goal was to support as many character concepts as
possible, from smart barbarians to Muscle Wizards,
and the system accomplishes this well.
Pillars of Eternity carried heavy expectations. It was
supposed to revive a beloved subgenre, and represented
a new direction for Obsidian Entertainment, at the
time struggling for survival.
Warts and all, it succeeds. It delivers a big, broad,
beautiful, and deep game, with massive replayability, a
lush, rich world, at the same time familiar and fresh,
and gameplay that feels like a natural evolution of the
originals it emulates. PJ
The IE Mod
allows you to
customise the
game to be
closer to the
Infinity Engine
games, changing
its interface,
disabling
engagements
and more. It also
includes some
tools to help
modders.
Dialogue is extensive, often presenting multiple choices and
skill/attribute/reputation checks, but the story is very linear.
While scarcely used, the CYOA-like segments provide
interesting role-playing options and are a great addition.
489
490
Further
Adventures
While this book is dedicated to single-player
CRPGs officially released in English, it
would be foolish to only talk about them
and ignore the relevance and entertainment value of
the thousands of games outside this definition.
As such, this section is devoted to a brief listing
and commentary on various games that didn’t fit in the
main timeline, such as early Japanese RPGs, CRPGs
unreleased in the West, unofficial fan-translations and
even cancelled games we might never get to play.
Crono, Lucca
and Frog battle
against Magus
in Chrono
Trigger. Artwork
and character
design by Akira
Toriyama, of
Dragon Ball fame.
491
1982-1987:
The birth of the Japanese RPGs
Where does one begin when talking about the first Japanese RPGs? Well, with some game from 1982/1983.
The problem is, no one knows which.
Dragon and Princess / ドラゴンアンドプリンセス is often pointed to as the first RPG made in Japan,
and it’s particularly interesting for being a party-based game with top-down tactical turn-based combat (before
Ultima III popularised such combat systems), but at its core it’s a text-adventure game.
One cannot write about this subject without mentioning Seduction of Condominium Wives / 団 地 妻 の 誘 惑 ,
Koei’s erotic RPG about a condom salesman visiting an apartment block, where he must knock on doors trying
to “sell his products”, while battling Yakuza and ghosts who roam the halls.
Several other early titles existed, such as Mission: Impossible / スパイ 大 作 戦 , a spy-themed adventure
game; Genma Taisen / 幻 魔 大 戦 , based on a manga of the same name, King Khufu’s Secret / クフ 王 の 秘 密
(which claimed to be a "Role-Playing Game”), Arfgaldt / アルフガルド, another text-adventure, etc.
It’s interesting that many of these games already called themselves “Role-Playing Games”, even though few
have traditional features like stats, XP, level-ups, classes, etc. This quote by Tokihiro Naito (creator of Hydlide),
found in The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers Vol. 2, best represents the spirit that dominated
Japanese game development at the time:
“Back then, Japanese people didn’t have a well-defined sense of the RPG as a game genre. I suspect that,
because of this, the creators took the appearance and atmosphere of the RPG as a basic reference, and
constructed new types of games according to their own individual sensibilities. In my case, I never had the
opportunity to use an Apple II, so I was completely unaware of Wizardry and Ultima.”
Even those who knew Western games were making titles that were more experimental in nature. Nihon
Falcom began in 1981 as Apple importers in Japan, so they had access to the Apple II and its games. Later
becoming developers, they jumped into the genre with Panorama Island / ぱのらま 島 , an exotic title that uses a
hex-based overworld full of traps, plus wire-frame first-person dungeons (with automapping!).
While it sold itself as a “Fantasy Role-Playing Game”, it lacks core elements like stats, XP, level-ups. You
only have to manage your food and money. Overall, it plays more like a mix of platform and adventure games.
Still, there are some early games that are undeniably RPGs, such as Legend of the Holy Sword / 聖 剣 伝 説 ,
Sword and Sorcery / 剣 と 魔 法 , and Poibos / ポイボス, but they are very obscure, their release dates are uncertain.
As such, the least controversial starting point might be Koei’s Dungeon.
It’s by no means the first CRPG made in Japan, but it’s undeniably an RPG (heavily inspired by Ultima),
has a commonly agreed release date (December 1983) and was popular enough to actually impact players and
other developers. This elevates it over early obscure pioneers that had no influence in the genre.
Thus, starting with it, the next pages will examine 15 games that shaped the early JRPGs.
492
Dungeon
The Black Onyx
Tower of Druaga
ダンジョン (1983)
ザ・ブラックオ ニ キス (1984)
ドルアーガの 塔 (1984)
An Ultima clone where you
pick a class (Warrior, Thief, Cleric,
Wizard or Ninja) and explore a
large island in search of El Dorado.
Developed by Koei, it’s a
simple RPG, but features great
graphics (including solid walls!),
a large overworld and a massive
dungeon underneath it – which is
over 250x250 squares in size!
Clearly made in the image of
Western RPGs, it also has monsters
taken directly from D&D books, like
Mind-Flayers and Demogorgons.
Henk Rogers was an RPG fan
who moved to Japan and noticed a
lack of games like Wizardry. So he
decided to create his own.
While not “Japan’s first RPG”,
as it’s often claimed, it was their
first popular CRPG, selling over
150,000 units, spreading the genre
and influencing many developers.
It also pioneered allowing
players to customise the character’s
appearance, displaying equipment
the character’s avatar and using
coloured bars to indicate health.
Namco’s “Fantasy Pac-Man”, this
deceptively simple arcade game asks
you to climb 60 floors of a tower.
On each floor, you must grab a
key and recover a hidden item, which
requires a specific action – e.g. killing
Slimes on Floor 2 wields a pickaxe,
which can destroys walls.
Combat is done by “bumping”
into foes, but some require special
items or strategies to be beaten.
While it’s not an RPG, Druaga
is a cornerstone for Japanese Action
RPGs, as well as their puzzle design.
Dragon Slayer
ドラゴンスレイヤー (1984)
Hydlide
ハイドライド (1984)
The Screamer
ザ・スクリーマー (1985)
And here’s the first Action
RPG ever. If Tower of Druaga was
about uncovering secrets, Falcom’s
Dragon Slayer is about grinding.
You’re tasked to slay a dragon
and locked inside a huge dungeon,
but you start too weak. Your only
hope is to slowly explore, finding
treasures and bringing them back
to your home to increase your stats.
Combat uses the same “bump”
system of Druaga, and there are
many useful magical items as well.
T&E Soft took Tower of Druaga
and brought in colourful graphics,
a fluid pace and a (tiny) open world
for players to explore, “bumping”
into foes in search of magic items
required to rescue the princess.
A massive hit in Japan, it’s one
of the most influential JRPGs of the
80s, often credited for introducing
quick saves and regenerating health.
However, it’s also often bashed
for its heavy mandatory grinding
and frustrating difficulty.
Set in a dark, cyberpunk world,
The Screamer sends the player alone
into an abandoned military lab full of
mutants, robots and horrors.
A hardcore dungeon crawler,
it plays much like Wizardry, except
for its combat: you fight monsters
in real-time – shooting, jumping,
ducking and blocking their attacks
in very simplistic 2D battles.
It also features eight unique
NPCs, who roam the dungeon and
each has their own agenda.
The Screamer’s
characters
were designed
by manga
artist Shohei
Harumoto,
who also made
a short manga
that came
with the game,
showing the
hero’s origin.
493
Xanadu
Heart of Fantasy 2
The Legend of Zelda
ザナドゥ (1985)
夢 幻 の 心 臓 II (1985)
ゼルダの 伝 説 (1986)
To this day,
Xanadu is
Nihon Falcom’s
greatest success;
a PC-exclusive
that sold over
400,000 copies in
a time when PCs
were rare and
expensive.
While a sequel to Dragon Slayer,
Xanadu changes almost everything,
and influenced almost everyone.
It adds a town where you can
train individual stats, buy items and
talk to NPCs. Beneath the town lies
a large cave, which you explore in
a platform-like side-scrolling view.
When you touch an enemy
or enter a dungeon, the game goes
into a top-down “arena-like” view.
Combat is still “bump-based”, but
now there are spells, several items
and even giant boss battles.
The original Heart of Fantasy,
released in 1984, was one of Japan’s
many early Ultima clones.
The sequel plays like a blend
of Ultima III’s exploration and
Wizardry’s combat, but stands on
its own achievments, featuring
three large interconnected worlds,
colourful artwork, tough battles and
a great UI entirely based on menus.
It’s a title that could’ve easily
rivalled most Western CRPGs
from 1985, but sadly was only
released for Japanese computers.
Shigeru Miyamoto and his
team at Nintendo mixed Hydlide
with Xanadu, removed all the RPG
elements and focused on the most
important – the call for adventure.
They added an attack button,
created a huge world full of secrets,
designed clever dungeons, puzzles
and boss battles, made magic items
altered gameplay and got rid of all
the time-wasting grinding.
In doing so, Zelda created a
new genre: the Action-Adventure,
where the series rules unrivalled.
Dragon Quest
Ys
Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei
ドラゴンクエスト (1986)
イース (1987)
デジタル・デビル 物 語 ストーリー 女 神 転 生 (1987)
In 1990, Enix
published a
manga retelling
Dragon Quest’s
development,
titled ドラゴ
ンクエストへ
の 道 . It’s a fun
read, and details
the developer’s
admiration for
Wizardry and
Ultima.
Enix’s Dragon Quest was the
perfect game at the perfect time.
Created by Yuji Horii, a CRPG
fan who wished to reach wider
audiences, it blended Wizardry’s
first-person battles with Ultima’s
NPCs and open world, wrapped
in a friendly menu-based interface
that allowed anyone to play RPGs.
Amplified by Akira Toriyama’s
unique art style, it sold over two
million copies in Japan and defined
the entire JRPG genre.
A team at Falcom thought
RPGs were getting too demanding,
so they created an Action RPG
focused on fun and adventure.
The result is a light-hearted
RPG that’s memorable, accessible
(thanks to its “bump combat”),
and packs an amazing soundtrack.
While overlooked in the West,
in Japan it stands tall as one of the
landmarks of the genre.
You can read a more detailed
review of the Ys series on page 88.
Based on a novel of the same
name, Megami Tensei stars Akemi
Nakajima, a teenage hacker who
uses his PC to summon demons.
When the demons run out of
control, it’s up to Akemi and his
girlfriend to stop them. Besides
fighting, players can also try to
recruit the demons, and then fuse
them into more powerful demons.
A cult classic by Atlus, it would
receive great sequels and spin-offs,
including the Persona series.
494
Final Fantasy
ファイナルファンタジー (1987)
Sorcerian
ソーサリアン (1987)
Phantasy Star
ファンタシースター (1987)
A young employee at Square,
Hironobu Sakaguchi was frustrated
with his job and decided to bet
everything on a final adventure,
that would either sink or swim.
Building upon the Dragon
Quest’s formula, Final Fantasy is a
massive game, where four custom
“heroes of light” had to travel the
world – by feet, boat and airship –
to purify the four elemental orbs.
While not selling as much as
Dragon Quest, it still became the
world’s best-known JRPG series.
The End of an Era
The fifth title in Falcom’s huge
Dragon Slayer series, it focused on
the side-scrolling gameplay.
Greatly expanding its RPG
elements, it included a very odd
profession system, added complex
magic, impressive battles against
large bosses, and a party of up to
four custom characters.
The game was module-based,
and in the following years many
“Scenario Packs” were released,
some including content made by
fans in official design contests.
As the game starts, a cutscene
shows Ali’s brother being killed
by soldiers of Lord Lassic. And so
she swears to begin a revolution.
Along the way, she’ll gather three
companions: Odin, a brutish warrior;
Lutz, a presumptuous sorcerer; and
Myau, a magical cat-like creature.
Developed by SEGA for the
Master System, Phantasy Star was a
title ahead of its time, that pointed
towards the future of JRPGs with
its amazing graphics, memorable
cast of heroes and evolving story.
Nintendo’s Famicom arrived in 1983 in Japan, followed by the SEGA Master System in 1985. After massive
hits like Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and Phantasy Star, the consoles became the definitive platform for JRPGs,
– and for Japanese games overall – a complete reversal of the situation in the US and Europe.
Even with the popularisation of 16-bit computers later on, the PC was left for niche titles which made use
of their amazing capabilities to render high-res still images – mainly Strategy games, Visual Novels and Eroges
– including erotic JRPGs like Rance and Dragon Knight. Falcom would be one of the few remaining companies
focused on producing PC JRPGs, which helps explain why they are barely known in the West.
As such, Western CRPGs lost all relevance to the Japanese players and developers – Dungeon Master,
Wasteland, SSI’s Gold Box series, Diablo, Daggerfall, Baldur’s Gate, Fallout, System Shock 2, Deus Ex, Morrowind
and other classics either never made it to Japan or failed to leave an impact. Even Ultima Underworld (1992), so
influential in the West, was barely noticed in Japan – with Software’s King’s Field series being the closest thing it
ever got to an Eastern descendant (although Ultima Online would have quite an impact years later).
Wizardry, on the other hand, would gain new life in Japan. While Sir-Tech crumbled away in the 90s,
Japanese companies would acquire the series' licence and produce over 30 Wizardry games, remakes and spinoffs,
plus novels, manga series, anime, toys, mobile games, tabletop RPGs and even an MMORPG.
Note, however, that these games and their clones all follow the classic formula, up to Wizardry V (1988).
The changes made in Wizardry 6-8, such as having an open world or going fully 3D were never embraced.
For those interested in this subject, there’s unfortunately few good sources of information on the early
days of JRPGs – your best options are Hardcore Gaming 101 or asking around at the RPG Codex or NeoGAF.
However, if you can read Japanese, then the OLD GAMERS HISTORY Vol. 3 & 4 books, published in 2013 by
メディア・パル, are essential reading, covering over 200 RPGs from 1983 to 2000.
An expanded version of this article can be read at 1982-1987 - The Birth of Japanese RPGs re-told in 15 Games.
495
Fan-Translations
This section will cover games that were never officially translated into English, but had translation patches
made by dedicated fans. More than just releases from big publishers that never got translated, there’s an entire
market of indie (or doujinshi) PC games that most Westerners aren’t even aware of – such as the Touhou games.
Twice a year, a massive event called Comiket (Comic Market) is held in Tokyo, with over half a million
attendees over three days. Besides comics and movies, a huge amount of indie games are also presented. Just in
Comiket 83, held in December 2013, there were over 300 games being presented to the public.
While Japan is the first country that comes into mind when talking about foreign RPGs, there are plenty
of interesting games from other countries, such as Chinese Paladin (China), The Fall: Last Days of Gaia
(Germany) and Brány Skeldalu (Czech Republic). Sadly, the steep language barrier means most of those are
nigh unplayable for the average gamer. Luckily for us, there are groups of kind souls that pour much effort into
creating fan-translations for some of these games.
One of the most famous fan-translations is Mother 3, a Game Boy Advance sequel to the famous
Earthbound. The game was released in 2006 in Japan, but never reached Western audiences. In 2007, a
professional translator named Clyde Mandelin organised a team to fan-translate the game into English. After
16 months of work, they release the patch and quickly got more than 100,000 downloads, showing just how
much interest in the game there was. However, even after the group offered the entire translated script for free
to Nintendo, there’s still no announcement of an official English release of the game.
It’s truly a shame that anyone trying to legally play games must go through such a hassle. Some of these
games are real gems that are sadly kept away from people that would love to buy and play them. On the next
pages we shall list some of the most interesting fan-translated games a curious CRPG player can find, and hope
that someday they receive a proper English release.
496
SD Snatcher
Konami, 1990
MSX2
Back in the 80s, right after creating the very first
Metal Gear game, Hideo Kojima developed
Snatcher (1988), a Blade Runner-like adventure
game/visual novel. Set in a cyberpunk future, you play
as Gillian Seed, an agent sent to investigate the rise of
“snatchers” – biological machines that are disguising
themselves are humans.
Filled with memorable characters, gripping plot
twists and Kojima’s exotic style, Snatcher was a huge
critical and commercial hit. In its wake, instead of a
sequel, came SD Snatcher – a remake of Snatcher, now
as an RPG with cute “super deformed” art.
Sporting a slightly different story, the game
now plays as a typical JRPG. You walk around town,
looking for clues, talking to NPCs, then delve into
dungeons and fight foes in turn-based FPS combat.
Yes, turn-based FPS combat! Each turn, you
choose a weapon and use the reticule to aim at a point
on the screen – you can fire at the enemy's body to
deal damage, or at specific points to decrease its stats
and eventually cripple it. For example, attacking its
eyes/sensors will reduce its accuracy, while attacking
its weapons will decrease its attack.
The twist is that, before you fire the enemy will
likely move, meaning aiming for small areas is tricky
– you’ll have to anticipate its move or stop it from
moving by destroying its legs. Different guns also
have different speeds and damage area, so choosing
your equipment is important.
It’s an extremely original system that suits the
game perfectly. It even throws some curveballs, such
as enemies using shields or hostages. Unfortunately,
the system isn’t well-employed and ends up being
slow and repetitive – battles happen too often and
take a long time to beat, requiring you to first weaken
the enemy and then slowly damage it.
Overall, SD Snatcher is more of a curiosity for
die-hard Kojima fans. Still, its novel combat system
and the fact it was one of the first Japanese games to be
fan-translated more than earns its reputation. FE
The combat
has a novel
presentation,
as you aim and
shoot in turnbased
battles,
but it’s simplistic
under the hood.
You’ll go to the
cinema to watch
Godzilla, visit a
bar named Outer
Heaven and own
a Metal Gear. Yup,
this is a Kojima
game.
497
Chinese
Paladin
Softstar, 1995
MS-DOS, Windows and SEGA Saturn
The Windows
version of Chinese
Paladin is now
freeware. Those
interested in
playing it should
also download
SDLPal, a mod
which adds a
few very useful
features.
Combat is turnbased,
with up
to three party
members. During
battles, powerful
attacks can leave
permanent marks
on the ground.
While translating
from Chinese
required some
compromises
(especially in
poems), the
excellent story
remains perfectly
enjoyable.
498
No matter how globalised and connected the
world might be, there are still some local
products that never seem to reach other
lands, no matter how popular they are in their native
region. Chinese Paladin is one of such hidden gems.
Developed in Taiwan, it’s a game known by
several names – 仙 劍 奇 俠 傳 , XianJian QiXia Zhuan,
The Legend of Sword and Fairy, Chinese Paladin or
simply “PAL” (the name of its .exe file).
You play as Li Xiaoyao, a young man that visits
an island of fairies in search of a cure for his sick aunt.
There he falls in love with a girl named Zhao Ling’er,
who gives him the medicine. He leaves, promising to
return and marry her once his aunt is well.
On his way, he loses his memory, and from there
unfolds a fantastic journey, full of romance, comedy,
tragedy, mystical creatures, powerful martial artists,
gods and demons. It’s a gripping tale, that feels like a
Chinese epic poem in video game form.
The game plays much like a typical 90s JRPG:
you follow the story in a linear fashion, travelling
from town to town, talking to characters, exploring
dungeons and facing enemies in turn-based combat.
Unfortunately, while the story is excellent and flows
smoothly in the first hours, it’s later broken by
massive dungeons and endless repetitive battles.
This is made worse by how easy and uninspired
combat is. Your character’s skills are very limited
and they regenerate HP and mana outside combat,
so you’ll likely just keep casting your most powerful
skill. Even boss battles don’t amount to much, mostly
requiring you to heal every other turn, outlasting the
enemy rather than outsmarting it.
The game was remade in 2001, changing the
pixelated art for pre-rendered graphics and adding
two new endings. However, it reduced the dungeons
to linear areas filled with monsters – not really an
improvement, as they are still needlessly long.
A massive hit, Chinese Paladin is considered
the most important RPG ever made in China. Its
immense popularity led to several sequels, spin-offs,
and even a 2005 live-action TV series. After decades
as a Chinese-only treasure, the English fan-translation
finally broke the language barrier, allowing anyone to
experience this hidden classic. FE
Enix, 1990
PC-98
E.V.O.:
The Theory of Evolution
One of the hidden gems of the Super Nintendo
was E.V.O.: Search for Eden (1992), an unusual
side-scrolling Action RPG based on evolution.
You began as a primitive fish over 300 million years
ago and slowly evolved across the ages – first into more
advanced fish, then into amphibians, dinosaurs and
mammals, ending at the Ice Age and the first humans.
What few people know is that E.V.O. was actually
a remake of an earlier game released only for PC-98:
46 億 年 物 語 -THE 進 化 論 – or “4.6 Billion Year Story:
The Theory of Evolution”. Now fully fan-translated as
E.V.O.: The Theory of Evolution, it’s worth a look.
Like its SNES counterpart, you begin playing in
the ocean, millions of years ago. But the first difference
quickly appears: combat is turn-based and very simple.
As you defeat enemies you earn EVO points,
which can upgrade your stats: Vitality (hit points),
Endurance (defence), Wisdom (special abilities) and
Attack (damage). Each has a threshold, so, once you
invest enough points in a stat, your creature evolves.
The stat screen shows a graph with all possible
evolution forms in each era, but it’s a very confusing
system, since stats are presented as cardinal directions
but don’t work as such, e.g. Wisdom points north, but
sometimes it leads to an evolution that’s south or east
of your current one, making it hard to plan ahead.
As you evolve and complete quests – which
usually require talking to a certain NPC or visiting
a certain area – you’ll jump millions of years into the
next chapter, where new evolutions and perils await.
The game is divided into six chapters, and here
we see another big difference from the SNES remake:
the story is much larger in scope, going all the way into
the far future. And it involves not only the goddess
Gaia acting as your guide, but also aliens controlling
Earth’s evolution under orders from Lucifer!
In the end, Theory of Evolution is an amazing
concept stuck inside a simple and heavily dated RPG.
There’s no doubt that the SNES remake is the superior
game, but the original still manages to stand out by
offering a much weirder and far-reaching story.
If evolving all the way from Cambrian creatures
to future humanoids sounds like a cool idea, then give
Theory of Evolution a try – it’s always good to see that
RPGs can deliver much more than medieval fantasy. FE
You can get
the fan-patch
to E.V.O. at the
46 Oku Men
website, which
also contains
a great guide
on how to
emulate the
PC-98.
Combat is
turn-based and
very simple.
There are few
possible actions
and stats are
very important,
making highlevel
enemies
unkillable unless
you grind.
Each chapter offers
several playable
creatures, some
of them historically
accurate, others
not. If you reach an
evolutionary dead
end, you’ll get one
of many humorous
bad endings.
499
The Legend
of Cao Cao
Koei, 1998
Windows
Dozens of mods
have been created
for Legend of Cao
Cao, from more
campaigns around
Three Kingdoms'
characters to
entire new games.
The Legend of Lu
Bu mod is highly
recommended,
and also available
in English.
The game retells
Cao Cao’s role in
the Romance of
Three Kingdoms
novel quite
faithfully, despite
adding some bits
of humour.
The massive
roster of heroes in
the novel makes
for interesting
battles, as enemies
have their own
personality and
fighting style.
500
I’ve been a sucker for Romance of the Three
Kingdoms ever since playing it on the Nintendo
back in the early 1990s, later reading the story in
its huge entirety back in 2000. I’m not the only fan of
this historical epic, since there is quite a long list of
movies and games based upon this Chinese classic.
The Legend of Cao Cao is one of these many
games, a turn-based Strategy RPG similar to the Fire
Emblem series, published by Japanese developer Koei.
You play as the legendary general Cao Cao, from
his rise as a young officer helping to control a peasant
rebellion to his gradual climb to power. The game
requires you to make important moral choices, and
if you follow the power-hungry path the story follows
events from the novel. However, if you choose to
neglect power in pursuit of what is morality correct,
then the game goes on a completely different path in
a quite awesome way.
No matter what way you choose, you will find
yourself having to defeat enemy armies with troops of
varying capabilities. Your primary units are infantry,
cavalry and archers, but adding to the fun are also
other units, such as barehanded brawlers, chariot
riders, and spellcasters that can boost abilities, heal
injured allies, or cast status effects on enemies.
Equipment can be purchased and characters also
increase in levels and combat skills through fighting.
Special events can also occur in battle, usually when
two opposing officers meet in a battle where they
historically fought each other.
There are also different ability scores, based
roughly on who appeared stronger or more tactically
brilliant than peers in the novels.
The graphics are simple, with well-designed
pixelated animations to denote units on static terrain.
Some of the animated scenes are beautiful, like when
rival warriors face off against one another or during
conversations that Cao Cao will have while speaking
to members of his court or war council.
Legend of Cao Cao is actually the third game
of Koei’s Legends series ( 英 傑 伝 ). The previous two
titles focused on Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao’s
rivals during the Warring States period. However, the
Legend of Cao Cao is widely considered the best and
it’s the one I recommend playing. DT
Labyrinth
of Touhou
偽 英 国 紳 士 団 , 2009
Windows
People play CRPGs for various reasons. Some
do it for the story, others for atmosphere or
immersion. These, however, aren’t valid reasons
to play Labyrinth of Touhou. Try it, rather, if you
enjoy party-building or the idea of playing a dungeon
crawler with the most flexible and challenging firstperson
turn-based combat to date.
Like Touhou itself – originally the setting of
cult classic shoot 'em ups full of anime girls with
magic powers (complete with an obsessed fandom)
– Labyrinth of Touhou is nonsensical. Thankfully, you
do not need to care about Suwako’s affinity for frogs
or Reimu’s duties at the Hakurei Shrine to enjoy it.
What you need to care about is combat and
character development, and what you need to know is
that this game and its sequel are two brutal dungeon
crawlers that have you navigate a massive dungeon,
presented as an abstract network of passages, and
fight in random and scripted encounters, during
which the game switches to Wizardry-like combat.
I said “Wizardry-like combat", but that’s a
simplification. Labyrinth of Touhou lets you manage a
cast of 20+ characters that you recruit as you explore
the dungeon, with an active party of 12 (four of them
in the front row). You need to swap active characters
in and out during combat, taking everyone’s Speed stat
and combat role into account. This becomes crucial, as
enemy attacks are varied and deadly, necessitating you to
keep track of every character every turn to survive. The
open-endedness and the tactical diversity a large party
offers lies at the heart of the game’s appeal.
Each character comes with her own stats,
abilities, and weaknesses (all represented by numbers
you can tinker with), while leaving enough room to
experiment with alternative builds, given the plethora
of stats, skills and equipment to choose from.
Labyrinth of Touhou takes first-person party
combat and brings it to new mechanical heights.
The importance it places on a large party roster is
unrivalled, and no other RPG of this type has been
able to achieve this level of synergy between stats,
skills, and combat mechanics.
Newcomers might want to start with the slightly
more accessible sequel, Labyrinth of Touhou 2 (2013).
Just be ready to die. A lot. CB
You fight with
four characters
at once, but can
bring eight more
and swap them
during battle.
If you find this
map exciting,
then Labyrinth
of Touhou is the
game for you.
Otherwise, stay
far away.
501
Sword of Moonlight:
King’s Field Making Tool
From Software, 2000
Windows
Visit www.
swordofmoon
light.com, where
you can find
the game’s fantranslation
and a
small community
creating their
own games.
Moratheia, by
Ben Connolly,
is a great game
created using
the Sword of
Moonlight. A bit
more fast-paced,
it plays like a
cross between
King’s Field and
Demon’s Souls.
The editor allows
you to create
your own games
or fully modify
the included
King’s Field 1
remake, but it’s
too outdated and
limited to be of
any real use today.
502
Dark Souls took the world by storm in 2011,
awing gamers with its gothic atmosphere, high
difficulty, rewarding exploration and cryptic
lore. While it was the game that made From Software
go mainstream, many fans will be quick to point out
that Demon’s Souls (2009) already had these elements.
However, very few will recall that From Software
had been following a similar design philosophy since
their very first game, King’s Field, released in 1994.
It’s impressive: Ultima Underworld had just come
out two years earlier in the US, yet From Software was
already taking the revolutionary concept of a fully 3D
first-person RPG and adding its own, dark twists.
But a word of caution: don’t expect the fast-paced
combat of Dark Souls or Bloodborne. King’s Field 1 was
a launch title for the original PlayStation. Its graphics
have aged terribly and the gameplay is slow and clunky
– something that From Software cleverly subverted to
turn the game into a zen-like, introspective experience.
The King’s Field series fully embraces its slow speed.
Combat is challenging, but it takes a backseat to the
atmosphere and exploration. Above all, these games are
about carefully delving into a desolate world, collecting
items, solving puzzles and piecing together the story.
The series had four main games – all for consoles.
But in 2000, From Software released Sword of Moonlight,
a toolset for making King’s Field-like games on the PC.
It even came with a remake of the first game that you
could play or open in the editor and modify freely.
It was released only in Japan, but fans eventually
translated it and began to create games in English.
Today there are a few fan-made guides and tools to
help people make their own games but, honestly, the
heavily dated editor and engine stands as little more
than a curiosity, and the remake of King’s Field 1 isn’t a
good introduction to the series.
If you want to experience the lineage that led to
Dark Souls, it’s better to start with the fourth title in
the series, King’s Field: The Ancient City (2001), or with
Shadow Tower Abyss (2003), a horror spin-off game.
However, if you played those and still want more,
there’s enjoyment to be found in the Sword of Moonlight
fan-made games, such as the short tales of Dark Destiny
and Return to Melanat, the puzzle-based challenge of
Trismegistus, or the epic adventure of Moratheia. FE
Sengoku
Rance
AliceSoft, 2006
Windows
The Rance series of erotic RPGs began back in
1989, following the adventures of a man named
Rance in search of money and sex. The series is
over a dozen titles long, each different from the previous,
but Sengoku Rance is the best of the bunch.
It’s a tricky game. The plot starts off simple enough:
Rance is given control of the Oda clan during Japan’s
“Warring States” era and must unite the land into one
nation. The goofy opening hints at a casual Eroge RPG
and the first battles are simplistic.
However, a few turns in and the others begin to
see your rising power as a threat. Inevitably, you’ll find
yourself fighting on several fronts, having to make
hard decisions on where to send your few officers.
Defeat becomes inevitable and you restart the game,
wondering how such a game became so complicated.
That’s because Sengoku Rance is actually a very
complex turn-based Strategy/RPG, centred around a
massive cast of officers. Each of them has a skill set
that fits them into a role, such as being a tough melee
attacker with decent defence or an archer that targets
from a back row. The more troops the officers have,
the more damage they inflict. If they lose their troops,
they are either killed off, captured, or flee. Rance can
try to hire, release, or execute officers he captures,
adding a great diversity to your potential roster.
Besides attacking and defending territories, you
can also purchase troops and materials, interact with
officers, engage in events and explore the provinces or
dungeons for treasures. There’s a lot to do, and you’ll
have to consider each officer’s stats to succeed.
The storyline also tricks you. Rance is meant as
a parody of the RPG hero, who travels with scantily
clad females, uses violence as a solution to everything
and always sees himself as a hero – even as he rapes
women or slays monsters while they beg for mercy.
But what starts as a comedic parody seamlessly
transitions into a game about responsibility to friends
and allies as Rance slowly shows compassion, and
closes out in grim horror, with the tolls of war taking
him into a cycle of depression that affects gameplay
Packing a surprising story, challenging battles,
great artwork and multiple endings, Sengoku Rance is
quite the work. I highly recommend everyone giving
it a try, even if Eroge is not your thing. DT
MangaGamer
has been
working
on official
translations of
several Rance
titles. And if you
enjoy Sengoku
Rance’s strategic
combat you can
try Daibanchou
-Big Bang Age,
which uses a
similar battle
system.
You’ll fight in
battlefields, but
can also take
your officers into
dungeons, though
that might leave
your provinces
vulnerable.
The huge amount
of provinces,
officers, treasures,
dungeons, items
and events makes
every playthrough
different.
503
Kamidori
Alchemy Meister
Kamidori is a
spiritual sequel
to another of
Eushully’s games,
called Himegari
Dungeon Meister,
which was also
fan-translated.
When characters
clash on the
battlefield, they
get to hit each a
other a number
of times based on
their speed, traits
and attack range.
Your store is
where you
perform alchemy,
crafting items to
sell, complete
requests or
strengthen your
party members.
Eushully, 2011
Windows
Kamidori Alchemy Meister / 神 採 りアルケミーマ
イスター is a Japanese Eroge CRPG where you
play an apprentice alchemist setting up shop
and moving up through his guild’s ranks.
During this journey, you’ll meet a large cast of
characters asking for alchemical services, while old
conflicts with foreign factions slowly come to fore.
Since this is a CRPG, your quest to promote peace,
love and understanding is mostly done via battles.
You explore areas on a 2D turn-based overhead
map, similar to games like Fire Emblem, but areas here
have a more dungeon-like design, with many tight
corridors, hidden paths and treasures, locked doors,
traps, areas only flying/swimming/digging characters
can reach, tough optional enemies, etc.
Combat occurs when friendly and enemy units
collide, with their stats, traits and skills determining
how many attacks each side will perform, in which
order and how much damage they’ll deal. Ranged
and magical attacks work in a similar way, though
then can be entirely one-sided if an opponent has no
retaliatory ranged attack of his or her own.
By exploring dungeons and defeating monsters,
you gain alchemical ingredients, and this is where
the real core of the gameplay lies. With these raw
materials you can create equipment for your everincreasing
party of adventurers, as well as saleable
items to help fund your store and crafting rooms.
The more you craft, the better your crafting rating
becomes, allowing you to design truly valuable items
and equipment, as well as furniture, workbenches,
and other tools that further improve your skills and
how much you can charge for items.
It’s quite the gratifying cycle, and the game’s
dungeons all have optional objectives that award rare
items, encouraging you to return for more ingredients.
The game’s supporting cast is also diverse, with
a large assortment of monsters and heroes that will
join your fight as you progress (with even more
heroes only available in New Game+). This being an
Eroge game, many of these heroes will be generously
proportioned young women.
Yes, while the first chapters of the game are
merely "romantic", there’s sex and nudity in the later
portions, leaning into a “harem” kind of story. The
game also has three different routes, depending on
which of the three main heroines you romance.
While this aspect might turn some players away,
Kamidori Alchemy Meister is an addictive game with a
lot of replay value. Try it, especially if you enjoyed the
old Shining Force series. DT
504
Gates of
Skeldal
Napoleon Games, 1998
DOS, Windows, Android and iOS
Brány Skeldalu (translated as Gates of Skeldal) is a
hidden gem from the Czech Republic. Originally
an MS-DOS game, it was later released as freeware
and ported to Android and iOS thanks to a successful
2013 fundraiser by one of the game’s original developers.
The game also got an English translation but, sadly, it’s
mostly a crude, poorly made machine translation.
Regardless, the game is still worth a closer look.
Your three starting characters wake up almost naked
and with no memory. A parchment nearby explains
that you were summoned from another world as a last
attempt to stop a great evil from taking over the land.
From there, the game follows in the spirit of old-school
dungeons crawlers: exploration, puzzles and combat.
Gates of Skeldal has three defining features. First,
its hand-drawn art style, which looks good even today.
Second, it came with a map editor, allowing players to
easily mod it. Third, it has a unique combat system.
Exploration is done in real time, but once you reach
an enemy it becomes turn-based. Your party will grow
up to six characters, and each can move separately. For
example, you can move to attack the enemy from sides,
or shoot over your front-line warriors. At your turn's start,
you plan what each character will do – attack, cast spell,
use items or move to a different tile. After planning the
turn, you click on “execute” and watch the actions play out.
The game uses a classless system where the player
distributes points between four attributes, with weapon
skills adding additional bonuses. Weapons, armour
and spells all have different requirements, but hybrid
characters are still possible. Spell-casting is based on
35 magic runes, each with three levels of casting power.
However, you need to find or buy the runes first. Some
interesting spell combinations can be used in combat,
and you must also keep an eye on your character’s
exhaustion, food and water supplies.
The game was followed by two sequels. Brány
Skeldalu 2 (2002), also known as The Fifth Disciple,
surprised fans by being more of an Adventure game with
light RPG elements. In 2016, Napoleon Games released
the third game in the series: 7 Mages. Inspired by Akira
Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai movie, the game returned to
the series' roots of dungeon-crawling with a party of seven
characters. A good game on its own, it was also the first in
the series to be officially translated into English. PE
You can get
the English
translation
and many tools
and fan-made
adventures at
www.skeldal.
vyletnici.net
Despite being
a first-person
blobber, Gates of
Skeldal allows the
party to be split
during combat
and for puzzles.
The warrior
behind the ghost
is actually one of
my characters.
The game’s English
translation was
done via Google
Translator and is
very uneven, leaving
some menus and
texts still in Czech.
505
Games we’ll (likely) never play
Talking about cancelled games is a difficult and frustrating task. There’s little concrete information, a lot of
rumours and, sadly, enough cancelled games to fill an entire book.
Restricting ourselves to CRPGs, there are numerous infamous titles such as Deus Ex: Insurrection and Deus
Ex 3, Alpha Protocol 2, Betrayal at Krondor’s original sequel Thief of Dreams, Arcanum 2, Ascendant, Armalion,
Stonekeep 2, Tannhauser Gate, Witchwood, Lord of the Rings: The White Council, etc…
There are also cancelled MMORPGs, such as Ultima Online 2, Shenmue Online, Blizzard’s Titan, the World
of Darkness MMO and Fallout Online/Project V13. Plus all the countless Kickstarter projects that never made
it, including Guido Henkel’s Deathfire. Even fan projects, such as the recently cancelled Project Vaulderie – a
remake of VtM: Bloodlines. The list goes on and on and on, and those are the ones we know about. Most of them
go silently into the night, with developers spending years of their lives without the audience ever seeing their
work or even being aware it existed.
Those which we hear about lead to a special kind of fascination and desire, as usually all we get to see are
teasing screenshots, exciting features and ambitious statements. Cancelled games have no bugs, no rushed
parts, no balance issues, no boring battles – they live as enduring, perfect promises, made of both announced
features and of those perfect details that fans dreamed the game could have.
Thus, this isn’t an absolute, extensive list, nor a best-of rank, but rather a collection of some of the most
interesting ones that we know about. And a small tribute to those that worked so hard on games that never saw
the light of day.
Meantime
A mock-up
screenshot of
how Meantime
might have
looked like
(courtesy of
8 bitweapon).
Wasteland was a big hit back in 1988, so a sequel
was the next logical step. Unfortunately, EA held the
trademark and went on to make the horrible Fountain
of Dreams (1990), but Brian Fargo and Interplay had a
plan of their own – titled Meantime.
The game would involve time travel and feature
historical characters such as Albert Einstein, Wernher
von Braun and Amelia Earhart, as well as fictional
ones. Fargo and his team worked a year and a half into
the game, but the game was never released.
However, a recent trademark of “Meantime” by
a company linked to Brian Fargo’s inXile has brought
back hope to frustrated wannabe time travellers.
506
Champions
Why there are so few superhero RPGs? Hero
Games tried to answer that in 1992, but and never
made it. They attempted to adapt their tabletop ruleset,
Champions: The Super Role-Playing Game, into a fully
fledged CRPG that allowed you to customise your
powers, one-liners, spandex and everything.
It even made it to the cover of April 92’s
Computer Gaming World magazine, with a preview
praising the conversation system – but that’s the last
we heard of it. All that remains are these screenshots.
The Black Hound
First announced in 2001 and commonly known
as Baldur’s Gate III: The Black Hound, it actually bears
no relation to the plot or characters of the previous
Baldur’s Gate games. It wouldn’t even be developed by
BioWare or use the famous Infinity Engine.
Instead, it was a Black Isle project, designed as
a fully 3D RPG, powered by the newly developed
Jefferson engine and using D&D 3rd Edition rules.
Led by Josh Sawyer, the game would have players
being haunted by the eponymous black hound – a
physical manifestation of guilt. This would allow the
player to see and interact with the guilt of others, but
would also place them in the crosshairs of a cleric
named May Farrow, from whom the hound originated.
While there were plans for a full trilogy of games,
The Black Hound was cancelled in 2003, reportedly
being about 80% complete at the time.
Fallout 3 / Van Buren
The project was having issues with the D&D
licence but, regardless, the financial crisis of Interplay
would close the Black Isle Studios shortly after.
While Freedom
Force delivers
on many of
Champions'
concepts, these
screenshots are
just too charming.
The only known
screenshot of
The Black Hound
came from Josh
Sawyer’s desktop
background.
The only other game to use the infamous
Jefferson engine, Black Isle’s original Fallout 3 was
code-name Van Buren, and was far into development
when Interplay closed the studio down in 2003.
It would tell the story of a fugitive prisoner in the
American Southwest, featuring both turn-based and
real-time combat modes.
The project was canned, but some elements
came back in Fallout: New Vegas, such as Caesar’s
Legion and the Burned Man. A tech demo was leaked
and can still be downloaded online.
It’s a title that still carries the dreams of those
frustrated by Bethesda’s Fallout. As such, a fan-made
remake using is currently in the works.
It may look dated
today, but this
screenshot was
the dream of
many RPG fans in
the early 2000s.
507
Ultima VIII: The Lost Vale
One of the few
surviving images
of Lost Vale,
showing the three
imprisoned gods.
Guardians: Agents of Justice
An expansion for Ultima VIII: Pagan (1994), The
Lost Vale would allow take the Avatar to a fortress
in the clouds, where he would have to release three
ancient gods that might help him return to Britannia.
Unlike the other games listed here, it was 100%
finished, ready to be copied and shipped. But then
someone at EA changed their mind (probably due to
Ultima VIII’s poor sales) and the game was shelved.
Or rather, it wasn’t – Lost Vale wasn’t archived
in any way, and all its data was eventually lost. The
only thing that survived was the game’s box art, some
screenshots and scarce details about the plot.
The previews
promised players
would be able to
pick up enemies
and throw then into
fully destructable
buildings, thanks to
the X-COM:
Apocalypse engine.
Stormbringer: Elric of Melniboné
Guardians is another entry into the apparently
cursed realm of superhero RPGs.
Developed by Simtex, the company responsible
for strategy classics like Master of Orion (1993) and
Master of Magic (1994), and published by MicroProse,
it would use the powerful X-COM: Apocalypse engine
to allow players to control their very own team of
superheroes and save the day from evil-doers.
Other features include multiplayer, destructible
environments and custom hero creation, with 46
superpowers, 17 skills and eight attributes to tinker with.
Sadly, the company closed down in 1997, and the
game was never finished.
A screenshot
from Snowball
Interactive’s
Stormbringer, an
ambitious blend
of genres starring
the last Emperor
of Melniboné.
508
The White Wolf. Last Emperor of Melniboné,
white as a bleached skull, fated to wield the runeblade
Stormbringer. Created in 1961 by Michael Moorcock,
Elric of Melniboné is one of the most influential
characters in fantasy literature.
Elric has been featured in several books, songs
(Hawkwind, Blue Öyster Cult, Diamond Head, Blind
Guardian, etc), comics and tabletop RPGs, but oddly
his video games seem cursed to be cancelled.
The first attempt was simply title Elric, and it was
an Action RPG for the PlayStation made by Psygnosis.
Mixing Diablo and Legacy of Kain influences, it was
scheduled for a 1998 release, but never made it.
The second was Stormbringer: Elric of Melniboné,
by Snowball Interactive. An ambitious title, it would
mix several genres, allowing you to explore the world
in real time, talk to NPCs, make story choices and
fight individual foes with Elric, but also command a
legion into large-scale RTS battles.
Unfortunately, the game was cancelled in 2000, as
the developers couldn’t secure a publishing contract.
Thus, the only White Wolf in CRPGs is Geralt of Rivia
– who Michael Moorcock claims is a rip-off of Elric.
Aliens: Crucible
SEGA announced this Alien-based RPG back in
2006, to be developed by Obsidian Entertainment.
It had a clear Mass Effect influence and would
focus heavily on survival, with real-time squad combat,
lots of dialogues and even some base-building.
According to a post by developer Anthony Davis,
it was a game of limited resources and permadeath, to
create a sense of tension, of fearing the environment,
instead of relying on the horror of the alien monster.
For example, if a companion was attacked by a
face-hugger, players had to decide whether to mercykill
them, put them on stasis or just keep playing,
knowing he/she will eventually burst and die.
Torn
The game was quietly cancelled in 2009, but a
gameplay video preview showing various features
surfaced in 2013 and can be seen on YouTube.
Crucible played
as a third-person
shooter/RPG
hybrid, with a
party of three
other characters
you could give
orders to.
Torn is one of those games that shows just how
important Black Isle Studios was back then.
Made by the team behind Planescape: Torment, it
was a real-time RPG set in an original setting, using
a modified version of Fallout’s SPECIAL ruleset. It
would also be the company’s first 3D game.
However, the team was unfamiliar with the new
technologies and struggled with the Lithtech engine,
while Interplay’s financial issues got worse and worse.
In the end, Torn was announced in March 2001,
shown at E3, and then quickly cancelled in June 2001.
Yet, to this day, it’s still remembered.
Newcomer
Players would
control a single
character,
cursed to bring
misfortune to
those around
him/her, and
would be aided
by up to five
companions.
This one is listed here, but it’s actually released.
Kind of. In 1990, a group of Commodore 64 fans
decided to develop their own RPG. For the C64,
naturally. After four years of work, they released
Newcomer, a mix of Wasteland with Neuromancer and
Dragon Wars, released only in Hungary.
In 2001, an English version was finally released,
again only for the C64, and in such limited scale it’s
impossible to find anyone who actually played it.
Furthermore, this version contained a game-breaking
bug, which led to the development of a new version,
titled Ultimate Newcomer – this time aiming for a
Windows release as well.
Work on this version started in 2003 and still
isn’t finished. A 2012 release date was announced, but
only silence followed once it passed.
While there isn’t a playable version of the game
out yet, Newcomer sums up to almost 30 years of total
development time, probably the longest in history.
Newcomer is
quite pretty,
considering
it’s made for a
computer system
released in 1982.
509
The Broken Hourglass
While The Broken
Hourglass used
it own engine,
it was clearly
inspired by
Baldur’s Gate.
The Bard’s Tale IV
Created by a group of long-time Baldur’s Gate
modders, The Broken Hourglass was supposed to be
an indie successor to the Infinity Engine games.
Set in a Byzantine-inspired fantasy setting, the
whole game occurred inside a city under siege. Like
Baldur’s Gate, it used an RTwP combat system and
had various recruitable (and romanceable) NPCs.
Introducing its own original ruleset, it had a
very interesting magic system, where characters had
a limited energy pool and had to allocate it among
offensive, defensive and curative spells, as well as
power their equipped magic items.
The game was under development from 2005,
but got cancelled in 2011, with developers claiming
that it was “infeasible to deliver the game promised”.
510
Scanned
images from
the September
1992 issue of
PowerPlay,
showing EA’s
Bard’s Tale IV.
By the end of
the 90s, EA’s
Bard’s Tale IV
project had
become a 3D
Action RPG with
multiplayer.
This one had many, many incarnations. 1989’s
Dragon Wars was originally intended to be Bard’s
Tale IV, but due to licence issues with EA, Interplay
couldn’t use the name anymore and had to change the
whole game just a few months before release.
In 1992, German magazine PowerPlay featured
a preview of EA’s own Bard’s Tale IV. According to
project manager Rick Lucas, the game was already
two years into production and it was huge – the
biggest RPG ever. So big that they were considering
releasing it in two parts. Dungeon-crawling would
still be in first-person, but the rest of the world would
be explored through a 2D bird's-eye view camera.
Yet, for all this excitement, the game mysteriously
vanished, and was never spoken of again.
Over the years, other attempts followed. A leaked
internal presentation video shows footage of a 3D
Bard’s Tale IV, planned for a 1999 release. It features
multiplayer, random environments and arguably the
most ridiculous “boob armour" design ever.
Former Interplay programmer Rebecca “Burger”
Heineman revealed in an interview that she tried to
pitch a BTIV project to EA and never got greenlit.
Another case was Devil Whiskey, a 2003 blobber
that began as “Bard’s Tale IV project”, changed names
to Bard’s Legacy: Devil Whiskey after a while and then
competently dropped the “Bard” part in the end.
By then, Brian Fargo managed to get the licence
back and released The Bard’s Tale (2004), a parody
Action RPG with barely any resemblance to the classic
dungeon-crawling series.
It was only in June 2015, through a Kickstarter
campaign (which raised $1.5M), that Brian Fargo and
inXile finally began making the “true” Bard’s Tale IV
– a first-person dungeon crawler with part- and turnbased
combat.
Citadel of the Black Sun
There’s not much information on this story, but
it is quite a fascinating one. According to developer
Teut Weidemann, in 1988 SSI asked German studio
Rainbow Arts (famous for Turrican), to create a new
game for the IBM PC, targeting the US market.
They came up with Citadel of the Black Sun, an
RPG that looked way ahead of its time. It was fully
mouse-driven, with a command bar on the side of
the screen, and its inventory had a “paper doll” of the
characters, displaying the actual weapon and armour
they were wearing (something new at the time).
Furthermore, it used an isometric point of view,
complemented by a line-of-sight system – indoor areas
were dark unless you were near a door or window.
Teut tells that SSI loved the prototype and wanted
it to use their AD&D licence, going as far as saying
that there were plans to make all future SSI RPGs be
based on Citadel of the Black Sun’s engine.
However, a love triangle among the developers
resulted in Teut departing the company and the project
being cancelled soon after. Today, all that remains is an
alpha build on his computer and conjectures about the
impact such game could have had in the genre.
Despite the
16-colour
limitation of
EGA video cards,
Citadel had
striking visuals.
The isometric
view was rarely
used at the time,
except for ZX
Spectrum games
like Knight Lore
(1984).
Wizardry VIII: Stones of Arnhem
The history of the Wizardry series is shrouded
in mystery, lawsuits and Japan, but this one takes the
biscuit. In 1992, D.W. Bradley had delivered Wizardry
VII almost by himself and left Sir-Tech. For some
(likely legal) reason, the company then hired a team
in Australia to develop a sequel: Stones of Arnhem.
Supposedly, this Australian team included
people such as actor Max Phipps and film-maker
Phil Moore. According to an interview with Robert
Sirotek, after some years of development the project
was going nowhere. Sir-Tech threatened to close
the project, but a “crackerjack” programmer named
Cleve Mark Blakemore stepped in with a plan to save
the project. In the end, it still failed and the game was
canned. An entirely different Wizardry 8 was later
released by another team in 2001, and so Stones of
Arnhem was all but forgotten.
More than 15 years later, an innocent user at the
RPG Codex opens a thread asking a simple question:
“Why did Sir-Tech go bankrupt?”. To answer his
question, one Cleve Mark Blakemore emerges and
starts wild rants about his work on Stones of Arnhem,
Sir-Tech’s bad management, the mental state of the
team and on how the artists were designing oddly
sexual creatures – including a “Penissaurus”.
His claims were ignored, often ridiculed, some
doubting that Arnhem had even existed.
But, years later, an eBay seller named “hotalibl”
appeared on that same thread with a bundle of design
documents and floppy disks from Stones of Arnhem.
And they indeed featured Cleve. And they indeed
featured art of “dubious taste”.
The auctions were in progress, some items being
bid on for more than $1,000, when suddenly everything
vanished. It turns out that former Sir-Tech employee
Brenda Romero and The Strong Museum contacted the
seller, directly acquiring all the documents.
Thus, Stones of Arnhem continues to be a mystery.
Or, perhaps, it’s more of a mystery than ever.
Some of the
concept art
featured in the
Stone of Arnhem
eBay auctions.
511
512
Lists &
Further Reading
Everyone loves lists. So we selected some of the
most interesting “Best RPG” lists out there, as
well as preparing some of our own. We didn’t
only list RPGs, but also other sources you can consult
when looking for information on CRPGs.
There’s much more gaming knowledge out there
than this book can possibly ever hope to contain, so
we listed other books, websites, YouTube channels
and resources. There’s also a handy glossary, for those
new to the genre and, finally, an index to help you
quickly find what you’re looking for.
A gypsy from
Ravenloft:
Strahd’s
Possession reads
the future of
the player’s
characters.
513
Lists
RPG Codex’s Top 72 CRPGs
From May 10, 2014
A voting conducted with 234 members of the RPG Codex. Each could freely distribute 25 points among
what they believed are the best CRPGs ever. The top 72 games are listed bellow, with a few ties.
Available here - www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=9453
1. Planescape: Torment
2. Fallout
3. Fallout 2
4. Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn
5. Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
6. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
7. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
8. Fallout: New Vegas
9. Gothic 2
10. Wizardry 8
11. Deus Ex
12. Neverwinter Nights 2 - Mask of the Betrayer
13. Jagged Alliance 2
14. Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition
15. Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant
16. Betrayal at Krondor
17. Baldur’s Gate
18. Darklands
19. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II-The Sith Lords
20. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss
21. The Temple of Elemental Evil
22. Icewind Dale
22. System Shock 2
24. The Witcher
25. Might and Magic VI: Mandate of Heaven
26. Gothic
27. Knights of the Chalice
28. Might and Magic: World of Xeen
29. Alpha Protocol
30. Realms of Arkania II: Star Trail
31. Dark Sun: Shattered Lands
32. Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge
33. Dragon Age: Origins
33. Ultima VII: The Black Gate
35. The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
36. Pool of Radiance
37. Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor
37. Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
39. Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle
40. Icewind Dale II
40. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
42. Wasteland
43. Quest For Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness
43. Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny
45. Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra
45. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
47. Anachronox
47. Arx Fatalis
47. Geneforge
47. Pools of Darkness
51. Albion
52. Drakensang: River of Time
52. Risen
54. King of Dragon Pass
54. Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds
56. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
56. Divine Divinity
56. Mount & Blade: Warband
59. Dungeon Master
59. Mass Effect
61. ADOM - Ancient Domains of Mystery
61. Neverwinter Nights 2
61. System Shock
64. Wizardry I: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
64. Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna
66. Champions of Krynn
66. Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos
68. Star Control II
69. Dark Heart of Uukrul
69. Heroine’s Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok
71. Divinity 2: The Dragon Knight Saga
71. Wizards & Warriors
514
Rock Paper Shotgun’s The 50 best RPGs on PC
From July 10, 2015
An excellent and broad listing of PC RPGs, as voted for and organised by RPS’s staff.
Available here - www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/07/10/best-rpg
1. Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition
2. Planescape: Torment
3. Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn
4. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
5. Ultima VII: The Black Gate
6. Deus Ex
7. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
8. System Shock 2
9. FTL
10. Fallout
11. Dragon Age: Origins
12. Divinity: Original Sin
13. Legend of Grimrock II
14. Ultima Underworld II
15. Dwarf Fortress
16. Mass Effect 2
17. Pillars of Eternity
18. Zanbgand
19. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
20. NEO Scavenger
21. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
22. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
23. Anachranox
24. Fallout: New Vegas
25. Avernum: Escape From The Pit
26. UnReal World
27. Din’s Curse
28. ADOM - Ancient Domains of Mystery
29. Sunless Sea
30. The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
31. Banner Saga
32. Titan Quest
33. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
34. Darkest Dungeon
35. Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
36. Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director’s Cut
37. Wasteland 2
38. Wizardry 8
39. Betrayal at Krondor
40. Darklands
41. Eye of the Beholder
42. Brogue
43. Torchlight 2
44. Pool of Radiance
45. Space Rangers 2
46. Recettear: An Item’s Shop Tale
47. Diablo II
48. Risen
49. Dungeon Master
50. Hand of Fate
PC Gamer’s The best RPGs of all time
From October 12, 2017
PC Gamer’s list values fun over historical relevance, focusing on games that are still fun to play.
Available here - www.pcgamer.com/the-best-rpgs-of-all-time-1
1. Planescape: Torment
2. Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn
3. Fallout 2
4. The Witcher 3
5. Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition
6. Mass Effect 2
7. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
8. Deus Ex
9. Ultima VII: The Black Gate
10. System Shock 2
11. Dragon Age: Origins
12. The Witcher 2
13. Dark Souls III
14. Fallout: New Vegas
15. Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
16. Diablo III: Reaper of Souls
17. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
18. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II
19. Divinity: Original Sin
20. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss
21. Pillars of Eternity
22. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
23. Gothic 2
24. Neverwinter Nights 2
25. Mount & Blade: Warband
26. Darkest Dungeon
27. Path of Exile
28. Tyranny
29. Undertale
30. Arx Fatalis
31. Legend of Grimrock 2
32. Grim Dawn
33. Anachronox
34. South Park: The Stick of Truth
35. Divinity: Original Sin 2
515
XP4T’s Best RPGs of the 1980s
From February 5, 2015
In this poll, over 1,000 visitors voted on five games from a list of great RPGs from the 1980s.
Available here - www.xp4t.com/the-best-rpgs-of-the-80s-the-results
1. Pool of Radiance
2. Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
3. Wasteland
4. The Bard’s Tale (Tales of the Unknown: Volume I)
5. Curse of the Azure Bonds
6. Dungeon Master
7. Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny
8. BattleTech - The Crescent Hawks Inception
9. Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World
10. Star Command
11. Might and Magic I: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum
12. Ultima III: Exodus
13. Wizardry I: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
14. Phantasie III: The Wrath of Nikademus
15. The Bard’s Tale III: Thief of Fate
16. Magic Candle
17. Rogue: The Adventure Game
18. The Bard’s Tale II: The Destiny Knight
19. Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom
20. Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness
XP4T’s Best RPGs of the 1990s
From March 2, 2015
Once again over 1,000 visitors voted on five games from a list, this time composed of RPGs from the 90s.
Available here - www.xp4t.com/poll-best-pc-rpgs-of-the-1990s
1. Baldur’s Gate
2. Planescape: Torment
3. Fallout 2
4. Fallout: A Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game
5. Diablo
6. System Shock 2
7. The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
8. Ultima VII: The Black Gate
9. Betrayal at Krondor
10. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss
11. Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven
12. Final Fantasy VII
13. Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant
14. Neverwinter Nights (AOL)
15. Might and Magic: World of Xeen
16. Dark Sun: Shattered Lands
17. Eye of the Beholder
18. Darklands
19. Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds
20. System Shock
RPG Codex’s “Age of Incline” – The best RPGs from 2012-2016
From Februrary 8, 2017
A vote with 800 fans on the best releases of the past few years. A very different list from mainstream websites.
Available here: www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=10535
1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
2. Age of Decadence
3. Divinity: Original Sin
4. Underrail
5. Dark Souls
6. Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director’s Cut
7. Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
8. NEO Scavenger
9. Legend of Grimrock II
10. FTL
11. Fallout 1.5: Resurrection
12. Dark Souls III
13. Shadowrun: Hong Kong
14. Valkyria Chronicles
15. Expedition: Conquistador
16. Dark Souls II
17. Dungeon Rats
18. Xenonauts
19. Heroine’s Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok
20. Legend of Grimrock
21. Tales of Maj’Eyal
22. Invisible, Inc.
23. Pillars of Eternity
24. Wasteland 2
25. Lords of Xulima
516
Editor’s Picks
CRPG History Abridged:
The genre’s evolution in 35 iconic games
Highly influential titles that best showcase the advances, trends and changes in the genre over 40 years.
Original, revolutionary games were favoured over their often improved sequels.
D&D (1975)
Rogue (1980)
Wizardry I: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (1981)
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (1985)
Dragon Quest (1986)
Starflight (1986)
Dungeon Master (1987)
Pool of Radiance (1988)
Wasteland (1988)
Quest for Glory: So You Want to Be a Hero? (1989)
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1992)
Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992)
Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos (1993)
The Elder Scrolls I: Arena (1994)
Diablo (1996)
Final Fantasy VII (1997)
Fallout (1997)
Baldur’s Gate (1998)
Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven (1998)
Jagged Alliance 2 (1999)
Planescape: Torment (1999)
System Shock 2 (1999)
Deus Ex (2000)
Gothic (2001)
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2001)
Neverwinter Nights (2002)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003)
Fable (2004)
Mass Effect (2007)
Fallout 3 (2008)
Dragon Age: Origins (2009)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011)
Dark Souls (2011)
Divinity: Original Sin (2014)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015)
Deep Cuts:
35 hidden gems you should play
7.62 High Calibre
A Dance with Rogues (Neverwinter Nights mod)
Age of Decadence
Albion
Anachronox
Anvil of Dawn
Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden
Blackguards
Chinese Paladin
D&D: The Rise of Warduke (OpenBOR fan game)
Dark Heart of Uukrul
Dungeons of Daggorath
Drakensang: The River of Time
E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy
Freedom Force
Geneforge
Knights of the Chalice
Median XL: Ultimative (Diablo II mod)
Mordor: The Depths of Dejenol
NEO Scavenger
Nehrim: At Fate’s Edge (TES IV: Oblivion mod)
Princess Maker 2
Prophecy of Pendor (Mount & Blade: Warband mod)
Realmz
Return of Heracles
Sengoku Rance
Star Control II
Tale of Wuxia
Tales of Maj’Eyal
The Maimed God Saga (Nevewinter Nights 2 mod)
Underrail
Way of the Samurai 4
Wizards & Warriors
ZanZarah: The Hidden Portal
v1.13 (Jagged Alliance 2 mod)
517
Further Reading
The goal of this book is to be a complete CRPG guide, that touches on as many related subjects as possible.
This doesn’t mean trying to be a definite source, but rather knowing when something is outside our
scope, page count, knowledge or qualification – and pointing to those who can better provide that
content. Thus, here are some of the best sources of information on our beloved genre:
Neal Hallford (2001) Swords & Circuitry: A Designer’s Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games
If I could only recommend one book, it would be this one. Neal Hallford is the legend behind
Betrayal at Krondor, Planet’s Edge and M&M III, so when he talks about RPGs, you should listen.
The book is full of great insights and is a pleasure to read for designers and fans alike. Plus it offers
interviews with key game developers and even some design documents from CRPG classics.
Matt Barton (2008) Dungeons and Desktops: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games
The inspiration for the book you’re currently reading, but with a different focus. Here, Barton
goes for a more academic approach, dividing and examining CRPG history into seven eras,
then personally describing hundreds of titles. The reviews are a bit short, and its few images are
all black-and-white, but there’s interesting content to be found here, especially on 80s titles.
Tristan Donovan (2010) Replay: The History of Video Games
If you’re interested in gaming history as a whole, this is the best book around. Donovan
covers everything: arcades, the Apple II, Nintendo, Richard Garriott and Akalabeth, MUDs,
MMORPGs, indies, local scenes and much more. Almost 50 pages of references and an elaborate
“Gameography” makes this a wonderful book for any video game fan.
Steven L. Kent (2001) The Ultimate History of Video Games
If you want to learn about the early gaming history, from Pong to the late 90s, get this book.
The focus is clearly on consoles and arcades, with computers barely being mentioned, but the
content is still extremely rich and interesting. There are thousands of quotes from key people
in the industry, providing a backstage look at the history of how gaming came to be.
Rusel DeMaria and Johnny L. Wilson (2003) High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games
Do not judge a book by its (poor) cover. This is an extremely well-researched and well-written
book on gaming, focusing heavily on 80s and early 90s PC titles. There are great sections on
Cinemaware, SSI, Ultima and Might and Magic, and the entire book is filled with rare photos,
concept art, box covers and screenshots that will bring a tear to the eyes of nostalgic gamers.
518
Jon Peterson (2012) Playing at the World: A history of simulating wars, people and fantastic adventures
The most in-depth title in this list, Jon Peterson wrote a 700-page book on everything you could
ever want to know about the early history of role-playing. From wargames in the 18th century
to Tolkien’s influence on fantasy to detailed rules analysis and even fanzine letters about the first
CRPGs on the PLATO mainframes. It’s an incredibly dense, but rewarding read.
Shannon Appelcline (2014) Designers & Dragons
Originally released as a 300-page book in 2011, Designers & Dragons has since been expanded into
a large 4-volume set, each dedicated to one decade of tabletop RPGs. While Playing at the World
focuses heavily on Dungeons &Dragons and the historical origins of role-playing, this one is packed
with information on modern releases and non-D&D games, serving as a great companion piece.
David L. Craddock (2015) Dungeon Hacks: How NetHack, Angband, and Other Roguelikes
Changed the Course of Video Games
This book comes to fill an important gap, focusing exclusivly on the first roguelikes and the
history behind them. It covers Rogue, Hack, ADOM, Moria, Angband and other early entries,
providing context to their origins and valuable interviews with their creators.
Brad King (2008) Dungeons & Dreamers: A story of how computer games created a global community
Written like a script for a documentary, the book tells the history of selected games, together with
the lives of their developers. It focuses heavily on Richard Garriott and the Ultima series, but you’ll
also read amusing stories behind Colossal Cave, MUDs, Doom, Counter-Strike and others.
Kurt Kalata (2011) HardcoreGaming101.net presents:The Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures
The definitive guide for adventure games, this book by the folks at HardcoreGaming101 is an
impressive 780-page monolith, with long and detailed reviews of over 300 games, including
CRPG hybrids such as Quest for Glory, Neuromancer, Circuit’s Edge, BloodNet and others.
Jason Schreier (2017) Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories behind
How Video Games are Made
A veteran Kotaku reporter, Jason explores the stories behind the development of 13 recent games,
including Pillars of Eternity, Diablo III, Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Witcher 3. It’s the best
book on the market to show the challenges and complexity of game development.
CRPG manuals
If you want to understand classic CRPGs better, take a look at the manuals of games such as Eye of the Beholder,
Darklands, Fallout, Arcanum and Baldur’s Gate; they went far beyond simply explaining the game mechanics. Dusk
of the Gods gave lessons on mythology, the Ultima guides felt like they came from Britannia itself and Redguard had
the amazing “Pocket Guide to the Empire”, a description of the entire world of The Elder Scrolls games. You were in
an adventure even before turning on your computer.
For a modern example, Ni no Kuni (2010) has easily one of the best and most immersive game manuals ever made.
519
Abandonia - www.abandonia.com
A massive database of over one thousand abandonware MS-DOS games. Each game is accompanied by a review
and a few high-quality screenshots, plus a link to where you can buy or download it. Also hosts a collection of
gamebooks, music from various games and a selection of recommended software for the retro gamer.
Computer Gaming World Museum - www.cgwmuseum.org
The legendary CGW magazine ran from 1981 to 2006, and all the issues are available freely for download on the
website. Reading them is like travelling back in time, and it’s fun to see all the ads and reviews games had at release.
Gamasutra - www.gamasutra.com
A website oriented towards game developers, it hosts articles written by upcoming indies and industry veterans alike.
But its highlights are the dozens of post-mortem articles, offering a great behind-the-scenes look at classic games.
GOG.com - www.gog.com
Part of CD Projekt and formerly known as Good Old Games, it’s an online store dedicated to DRM-free games, with
hundreds of classic games available – all in handy installation packs that configure them to work on modern PCs.
Hardcore Gaming 101 - www.hardcoregaming101.net
Live since 2004, the website offers thousands of in-depth articles on less mainstream games and series, while also
publishing quality books on gaming. Be sure to check out their Wizardy, Might and Magic and Ultima articles.
Internet Archive - www.archive.org
One of the most important websites on the Internet, not only does it allow access to literally billions of now-unaccessible
web pages, but also provides free access to countless texts, videos, images, music and software. Since 2015,
it even allows for in-browser emulation of thousands of MS-DOS games.
Matt Chat - www.youtube.com/user/blacklily8
If you’re a fan of classic games, Matt Chat is one of the best things on YouTube. With over 200 weekly episodes, it
interviews designers such as Chris Avellone, Richard Garriott, John Romero, Brian Fargo and many others.
MobyGames - www.mobygames.com
Founded in 1999, MobyGames is an extremely useful database containing reviews, ratings, high-quality screenshots,
box pictures, release dates, trivia and credits of over 100,000 games from about every platform in existence.
Mod DB - www.moddb.com
A huge modding website that dates back to 2002 hosting Half-Life mods, it still has a very active community, with
regular contests and awards. Offers thousands of new mods, as well as classic mods from the 2000s.
Nexus Mods - www.nexusmods.com
A popular website featuring thousands of mods for modern games, such as The Witcher, Dark Souls, Dragon Age,
Fallout and Mass Effect. It also offers an open-source mod manager to help you install and organise your mods.
520
PC Gaming Wiki - www.pcgamingwiki.com
A wiki devoted to helping people run PC games and fine-tune them. You’ll find detailed information on system
requirements, retail versions, save-game locations and graphical, input and audio settings for several PC games.
There are also guides on which patches to use, useful config tweaks, helpful mods and how to solve common issues.
Replacement Docs - www.replacementdocs.com
Offers scanned versions of manuals, quick-reference sheets, maps and copy-protection codices of pretty much every
game out there. Because remember kids, winners always read the manual.
RogueBasin - www.roguebasin.com
An extensive wiki/database entirely dedicated to roguelikes. There you’ll find detailed entries on virtually every
roguelike out there, plus articles on the genre, guides for aspiring developers and community-hosted events.
RPG Codex - www.rpgcodex.net
“The site that makes developers shiver," as Brian Fargo said. The Codex was founded in 2002 by CRPG fans that were
tired of seeing their posts deleted from official forums. So, expect a blunt tone and harsh, but honest opinions from
some of the most passionate CRPG fans you’ll ever see. The lengthy reviews and interviews here are top-notch.
RPG Watch - www.rpgwatch.net
The Watch is a smaller and more “civil” CRPG forum. Founded in 2006 by editors from the now-extinct RPGDot,
its posters have been playing games for decades, and it shows. They are a tight group of veterans that will warmly
welcome new posters, debating newer games and impressing you with their knowledge of the old ones.
The CRPG Addict - www.crpgaddict.blogspot.com
In 2010, Chester Bolingbroke began a blog to records his ambitious project: to play every single CRPG released.
He’s still going strong, writing detailed posts about each game, with screenshots and trivia, rating the games in
various categories and occasionally even attracting comments and discussions with the games' developers.
The Digital Antiquarian - www.filfre.net
Jimmy Maher is the author of The Future Was Here: The Commodore Amiga, a 2012 book on the history of the Amiga.
After finishing the book, he began this blog, where he regularly posts well-researched and in-depth articles about classic
games, such as Oregon Trail, Dungeon Master, Ultima, Wizardry, Zork and many others.
Vogons - www.vogons.org
An extremely useful forum dedicated to helping people get their games running correctly, be they old MS-DOS
titles, early 3D games or even modern AAA productions. Its users are very experienced and helpful, but be sure to
search the forums before spamming simple questions.
521
Glossary
AD&D: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, a more complex
version of Dungeons & Dragons. It was first published in
1977, had a second edition in 1989 and ended in 2000,
when the 3rd Edition D&D combined AD&D and D&D.
Action RPG (ARPG): CRPGs where player reflexes and
skills can be just as important as the character’s stats, e.g.
Diablo and Dark Souls.
Alignment: A categorisation of the ethics and morals of
characters. The most well-known one is the Dungeons &
Dragons alignment system, which is divided into two axes:
Good, Neutral or Evil; and Lawful, Neutral or Chaotic.
Alpha: An early development stage where content and
features are still being implemented.
AoE: Area of Effect, a term used to describe attacks and
skills that affect multiple targets inside an area.
Beta: A development stage where all content and features
are present, but they still contain several bugs and issues.
Blobber: A slang term for party-based games with firstperson
view, such as Wizardry, Dungeon Master and Legend
of Grimrock, where the entire party moves as one, as if it
was an amorphous blob.
CGA: Colour Graphics Adapter, a display standard
created by IBM in 1981. It could display up to four colours.
CGW: Computer Gaming World, one of the world’s most
popular and influential video game magazines. It was
published in the US from 1981 to 2006.
CRPG: Computer Role-Playing Game. Term used to
differentiate computer RPGs from tabletop RPGs.
CYOA: Choose Your Own Adventure, a series of books
where readers make choices that will determine the
outcome of the story. The first book, The Cave of Time, was
written by R.A. Montgomery and published in 1979. The
series is still ongoing, with over 180 published books, and
became synonymous of the entire gamebook genre.
D&D: Dungeons & Dragons, the popular tabletop RPG by
Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, first released in 1974.
DPS: Damage Per Second.
Dungeon Crawler: An RPG where you spend most (or all)
of your time fighting inside dungeons. Combat is usually
the main focus, e.g. Wizardry and Darkest Dungeon.
EGA: Enhanced Graphics Adapter, a display standard
created by IBM in 1984. It could display up to 16 colours.
Emulator: A software that simulates a specific hardware,
e.g. DOSBox will mimic a computer running MS-DOS,
allowing users to play games that only run on MS-DOS.
FMV: Full Motion Video, a style of storytelling based on
short clips of pre-recorded video, usually with real actors.
Enabled by CD-ROMs, it was very popular in the mid-90s,
thanks to games like The 7th Guest and Phantasmagoria.
Freeware: Software which is 100% free, without any
licence or purchase being required.
Game Master (GM): A person who prepares and executes
an adventure for a group of players, presenting challenges,
acting as referee and directing the overall experience.
Gold Box: A series of CRPGs developed by SSI, based
on AD&D. The nickname comes from the golden boxes
they were usually packaged in. From 1988 to 1993, the
Gold Box engine was used to create 14 titles.
Grind: Derogatory term for the act of repeatedly fighting
the same enemies in order to gain experience or gold.
Infinity Engine: A game engine developed by BioWare
in 1998. It was used on the Baldur’s Gate games and
licensed to Interplay’s Black Isle, who used it to created
Planescape: Torment and the Icewind Dale series.
LARP: Short for Live-Action Role-Playing, a type of RPG
played by a group of people physically enacting their roles,
usually involving costumes and props.
McGuffin: Derogatory term for generic, poorly explained
plot devices that the protagonist must pursue – saving
a princess, recovering an artefact, etc. The term was
popularised in film-making by Alfred Hitchcock.
522
MIDI: Musical Instrument Digital Interface, an audio
standard. While MP3 carries audio recordings, MIDI files
are actually a series of notes and instructions that will be
played by the computer’s virtual instruments. This was
used to save space, as MIDI files are much smaller.
MMORPG: Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing
Game, online RPGs where thousands of players share the
same world. The term was coined by Richard Garriott to
differentiate Ultima Online (1997) from previous online
RPGs, which only supported a few dozen players at once.
MUD: Multi-User Dungeon, online virtual worlds where
multiple people play together. They are usually text-based,
and range from RPGs to adventure games to educational
titles. The first MUD was created by Roy Trubshaw in 1978.
ROM: Read-Only Memory, a type of computer memory
meant only to be read, such as the one on game cartridges.
In the context of emulation, it means a copy of a game’s
ROM, created in order to be played on an emulator.
NPC: Non-Player Character, refers to all in-game characters
not controlled by a player, such as enemies or shopkeepers.
Open-World: Term used to define games that allow
players to freely roam a large world, instead of progression
through linear levels.
Permadeath: If a character dies, he/she is deleted – you
can’t reload. A core feature of roguelikes, often presented
in other games as “Hardcore Mode”.
Phase-Based: Also know as “We-Go”, it’s a turn-based
combat system where both players give orders to all their
characters at once, then the results are calculated.
Player Character (PC): The character(s) which are
controlled by the player, as opposed to NPCs.
Power Gaming: Playing a game just to win in the most
effective way possible, ignoring the characters and story.
Also known as “min-maxing” or “munchkin”.
Point-Buy: Often used to refer to RPG systems which give
players a set number of points in order to “purchase” their
stats, skills, talents, etc. – such as Drakensang – as opposed
to games where these are determined by dice-rolls.
Prestige Class: A specialisation that is available once the
character meets certain requirements, e.g. in order to
become a Blood Mage in Dragon Age: Origins, a mage
must first make a pact with a demon.
Procedural Generation: Content that’s created based on an
algorithm. While often confused with randomly generated
content, it’s not necessarily random; games like Telengard
and No Man’s Sky use it to create massive, fixed worlds.
QA: Quality Assurance, the team responsible for testing a
software to ensure it’s working as intended and free of bugs.
QTE: Quick Time Event, an in-game event where players
must press the correct buttons at the correct time, usually
during a cutscene or cinematic sequence.
RNG: Random Number Generator, the algorithm used to
simulate dice-rolls and other random in-game events.
RTFM: Short for “Read The Fucking Manual”.
Real Time with Pause (RTwP): A combat system first
introduced in Darklands (1992), where battles flow in realtime,
but can be paused at any time for the player to issue
commands. It was popularised by Baldur’s Gate (1998).
Roguelike: A sub-genre of RPGs that share many core
features with Rogue (1980), such as permadeath, random
maps, turn-based combat, grid-based movement, etc.
Roguelite: A definition created to separate “full” roguelikes
from games that only share a few features with Rogue, such
as permadeath or random maps, e.g. The Binding of Isaac,
Rogue Legacy and FTL: Faster Than Light are roguelites.
Save-Scumming: A slang term for frequently saving and
reloading in order to win a battle or get a rare item.
Shareware: Software which is distributed freely, but
comes with some restrictions that are only unlocked
by buying the full version, i.e. the shareware version of
the original Doom (1993) only had the first of its nine
chapters – players had to purchase it to play the rest.
Shovelware: Derogatory term for flawed, low-budget games.
THAC0: To Hit Armour Class Zero, a system from the 1st
and 2nd editions of D&D, used to calculate if an attack will
hit. To score a hit, one must roll a value equal or greater
than their THAC0, minus the target’s Armour Class (AC).
Example: If a character has a THAC0 of 8 and his target
has an AC of 2, then 8-2 = 6. He must roll 6 or more to hit.
Text Parser: An input system where the player types
actions or keywords to interact with the game. It was very
common in early Adventure games and RPGs, before the
popularisation of the mouse and graphical UIs.
UI: User Interface, the means through which the player
and the game interact – menus, information displays,
controls, etc.
Vancian Magic: A system where magic-users must read
grimoires to memorise spells, which are forgotten once
cast (e.g. D&D and Baldur’s Gate). It was inspired by the
Dying Earth book series, written by Jack Vance in the 1950s.
VGA: Video Graphics Array, a display standard created by
IBM in 1987. It could display up to 256 colours.
XP: Short for Experience Points.
523
Index
#
7.62 High Caliber, 372
A
Academagia: The Making of Mages, 418
ADOM - Ancient Domains of Mystery, 194
Aaklash: Legacy, 457
Agarest: Generations of War, 368
Agarest: Generations of War 2, 368
Agarest: Generations of War Zero, 368
Age of Decadence, 478
Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales, 356
Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships, 356
Akalabeth: World of Doom, 44
Al-Qadim: The Genie’s Curse, 196
Albion, 214
Ali Baba and the Fourty Thieves, 62
Alien Fires 2199 A.D., 87
Aliens: Crucible, 509
Alpha Protocol: The Espionage RPG, 412
Alter Ego, 86
Alternate Reality: The City, 74
Alternate Reality: The Dungeon, 75
Ambermoon, 173
Amberstar, 172
An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire, 225
Anachronox, 282
Angband, 61
Anvil of Dawn, 218
Apventure to Atlantis, 41
ArcaniA: Gothic 4, 407
Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura, 284
Arx Fatalis, 298
Autoduel, 80
Avatar, 33
Avernum, 209
Avernum: Escape from the Pit, 209
B
Baldur’s Gate, 238
Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn, 262
Bard’s Tale, 331
Barkley, Shut up and Jam: Gaiden, 377
Beneath Apple Manor, 38
Betrayal at Krondor, 182
Betrayal in Antara, 232
Beyond Divinity, 295
Birthright: The Gorgon’s Alliance, 224
Blackguards, 464
Blackguards 2, 464
Blades of Exile, 209
BloodNet, 181
Bloodwych, 120
Borderlands, 404
Borderlands 2, 405
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, 405
Bound by Flame, 459
Breath of Fire IV, 272
Brigade E5: New Jagged Union, 372
Brogue, 51
C
Captive, 132
Card Hunter, 458
Castle of the Winds, 113
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, 456
Champions of Krynn, 133
Champions, 507
Chaos Strikes Back, 97
Chinese Paladin, 498
Citadel of the Black Sun, 511
Circuit’s Edge, 129
Cobra Mission: Panic in Cobra City, 142
Cthulhu Saves the World, 410
Curse of Ra, 42
Curse of the Azure Bonds, 103
CyberMage: Darklight Awakening, 205
524
D
Dark Messiah: Might and Magic, 358
Dark Queen of Krynn, 133
Dark Souls, 422
Dark Sun Online: Crimson Sands, 187
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands, 186
Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager, 187
DarkSpyre, 159
Darklands, 168
Death Knights of Krynn, 133
Deathlord, 90
Defender’s Quest: Valley of the Forgotten, 445
Demise: Rise of the Ku’tan, 213
Depths of Peril, 406
Descent to Undermountain, 229
Deus Ex, 260
Deus Ex: Human Revolution, 432
Deus Ex: Invisible War, 322
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, 433
Diablo, 222
Diablo II, 268
Diablo III, 446
Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, 494
Dink Smallwood, 236
Din’s Curse, 406
Disciples of Steel, 146
Divine Divinity, 294
Divinity II: Ego Draconis, 389
Divinity: Original Sin, 466
Divinity: Original Sin 2, 466
dnd, 31
Dragon Age: Origins, 390
Dragon Age II, 429
Dragon Age: Inquisition, 468
Dragon Quest, 494
Dragon Slayer, 493
Dragon Wars, 73
Dragon’s Dogma, 442
Dragon’s Eye, 56
Drakensang: The Dark Eye, 382
Drakensang: The River of Time, 383
Drakkhen, 109
Dungeon Campaign, 40
Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup, 51, 350
Dungeon Hack, 189
Dungeon Master, 96
Dungeon Siege, 308
Dungeon Siege II, 309
Dungeon Siege III, 309
Dungeon, 493
Dungeons & Dragons: Shadows over Mystara, 219
Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom, 219
Dungeons of Daggorath, 57
Dungeons of Dredmor, 419
Dunjonquest: Temple of Apshai, 42
Dwarf Fortress, 346
E
E.V.O.: The Theory of Evolution, 499
E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy, 420
Eamon, 48
Elona, 369
Entomorph: Plague of the Darkfall, 211
Escape from Hell, 139
Eschalon, 374
Eschalon: Book 2, 375
Eschalon: Book 3, 375
Evil Islands: Curse of the Lost Soul, 274
Exile II: Crystal Souls, 209
Exile III: Ruined World, 209
Exile: Escape from the Pit, 208
Eye of the Beholder, 140
Eye of the Beholder 2: Legend of Darkmoon, 141
Eye of the Beholder 3: Assault on Myth Drannor, 141
F
FTL: Faster Than Light, 448
Fable, 326
Faery: Legends of Avalon, 411
Fallout: A Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game, 226
Fallout 2, 242
Fallout 3, 380
Fallout 4, 484
Fallout: New Vegas, 414
Fallout: Van Buren, 507
Fate, 344
Fate: Gates of Dawn, 145
Final Fantasy VII, 230
Final Fantasy, 495
Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures, 190
Fortune Summoners: Secret of the Elemental Stone, 384
Fracas, 62
Freedom Force vs the Third Reich, 307
Freedom Force, 306
Futurewar, 33
G
Gates of Skeldal, 505
Gateway to the Savage Frontier, 151
Geneforge, 290
Gorky 17, 257
Gothic, 286
Gothic II, 310
Gothic 3, 352
525
Grandia II, 273
Grim Dawn, 345
Guardians: Agents of Justice, 508
H
Halls of the Dead: Faery Tale Adventure II, 95
Hand of Fate, 487
Hands of Fate 2, 487
Heart of Fantasy 2, 494
Hellgate: London, 376
Heroine’s Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok, 453
Hexplore, 237
Hillsfar, 112
Hired Guns, 185
Hydlide, 493
Hyperdimension Neptunia - Re;Birth1, 452
I
Icewind Dale, 276
Icewind Dale II, 300
Ishar: Legend of the Fortress, 162
Ishar 2: Messengers of Doom, 163
Ishar 3: The Seven Gates of Infinity, 163
J
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Vol. I, 130
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two
Towers, 131
Jade Empire, 342
Jagged Alliance 2, 246
K
Kamidori Alchemy Meister, 504
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, 438
King’s Quest: Mask of Eternity, 244
Knights of Legend, 116
Knights of Xentar, 143
Knights of the Chalice, 400
Kult: Heretic Kingdoms, 323
L
Labyrinth of Touhou, 501
Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos, 188
Lands of Lore II: Guardians of Destiny, 228
Legacy of the Ancients, 67
Legend of Grimrock, 438
Legend of Grimrock II, 439
Legend, 158
Liberation: Captive 2, 132
Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusaders, 317
Lords of Xulima, 468
Lords of the Fallen, 469
M
Magical Diary, 430
Marauder, 397
Mass Effect, 360
Mass Effect 2, 416
Mass Effect 3, 434
Meantime, 506
MegaTraveller: The Zhodani Conspiracy, 134
MegaTraveller 2: Quest for the Ancients, 135
Menzoberranzan, 207
Might and Magic I: Secret of the Inner Sanctum, 82
Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World, 83
Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra, 148
Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen, 156
Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen, 156
Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven, 240
Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor, 256
Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer, 265
Might and Magic IX, 301
Might and Magic X, 460
Might and Magic: Worlds of Xeen, 156
Moebius: The Orb of Celestial Harmony, 119
Moraff ’s World, 144
Mordor: Depths of Dejenol, 212
Moria (PLATO), 32
Moria, 60
Mount & Blade, 386
Mount & Blade: Warband, 387
Mystery Chronicles: One Way Heroics, 481
N
NEO Scavenger, 462
NetHack, 92
Neuromancer, 99
Neverwinter Nights, 302
Neverwinter Nights: Aurora Toolset & Modules, 304
Neverwinter Nights 2, 354
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, 366
Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir, 388
Newcomer, 509
O
Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure, 41
Of Orcs and Men, 444
Omikron: The Nomad Soul, 254
One Way Heroics, 481
Oubliette, 32
P
Paper Sorcerer, 449
Path of Exile, 454
pedit5, 31
526
Perihelion: The Prophecy, 177
Phantasie, 76
Phantasie II, 77
Phantasie III : The Wrath of Nikademus, 77
Phantasy Star, 495
Pillars of Eternity, 488
Pirates of the Caribbean, 356
Planescape: Torment, 248
Pool of Radiance, 102
Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor, 292
Pools of Darkness, 103
Prince of Qin, 312
Princess Maker 2, 178
Prophecy I: The Fall of Trinadon, 108
Puzzle Quest 2, 362
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, 362
Quest for Glory I: So You Want to Be a Hero, 114
Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire, 115
Quest for Glory III: Wages of War, 115
Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness, 174
Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire, 175
Questron, 66
Questron II, 67
R
Rage of Mages, 234
Rage of Mages 2: Necromancer, 235
Ravenloft: Stone Prophet, 206
Ravenloft: Strahd’s Possession, 207
Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny, 152
Realms of Arkania II: Star Trail, 153
Realms of Arkania III: Shadows over Riva, 153
Realmz, 198
Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale, 363
Return to Krondor, 233
Rings of Zilfin, 81
Risen, 396
Risen 2: Dark Waters, 398
Risen 3: Titan Lords, 399
Rogue, 50
S
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, 365
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, 365
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, 364
SD Snatcher, 497
Sacred, 324
Sacred 2, 325
Sacred 3, 325
Sea Dogs, 356
Sea Dogs: To Each His Own, 356
Seal of Evil, 313
Secret of the Silver Blades, 103
Sengoku Rance, 503
Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator, 245
Seventh Sense, 385
Severance: Blade of Darkness, 288
ShadowCaster, 176
Shadowlands, 170
Shadoworlds, 171
Shadowrun Returns, 450
Shadowrun: Dragonfall, 451
Shadowrun: Hong Kong, 451
Siege of Avalon, 264
Sorcerian, 495
Soulbringer, 270
South Park: The Fractured but Whole, 474
South Park: The Stick of Truth, 474
Space Rangers 2: Dominators, 328
Spirit of Excalibur, 136
Star Control 2, 166
Star Saga: One - Beyond The Boundary, 104
Star Saga: Two - The Clathran Menace, 104
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, 314
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith
Lords, 336
Starflight 2: Trade Routes of the Cloud Nebula, 85
Starflight, 84
Stonekeep, 216
Stormbringer: Elric of Melniboné, 508
Strife: Quest for the Sigil, 217
Sudeki, 330
Summoner, 280
Sunless Sea, 486
Super Columbine Massacre RPG!, 340
Superhero League of Hoboken, 197
Sword of Moonlight: King’s Field Making Tool, 502
SwordThrust, 49
System Shock, 258
System Shock 2, 258
T
TRON 2.0, 318
Tale of Wuxia, 482
Tale of Wuxia: The Pre-Sequel, 483
Tales of Maj'Eyal, 436
Telengard, 58
Temple of Elemental Evil, 320
The Banner Saga, 461
The Banner Saga 2, 461
The Bard’s Tale I: Tales of the Unknown, 72
The Bard’s Tale II: The Destiny Knight, 73
The Bard’s Tale III: Thief of Fate, 73
The Bard’s Tale IV, 510
527
The Bard’s Tale Construction Set, 150
The Battle for Wesnoth, 316
The Black Hound, 507
The Black Onyx, 493
The Broken Hourglass, 510
The Dark Heart of Uukrul, 118
The Elder Scrolls I: Arena, 200
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, 220
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, 296
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, 348
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, 428
The Eternal Dagger, 71
The Faery Tale Adventure, 94
The Immortal, 121
The Last Remnant, 378
The Legacy: Realm of Terror, 184
The Legend of Blacksilver, 67
The Legend of Cao Cao, 500
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, 334
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC, 335
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - The 3rd, 335
The Legend of Zelda, 494
The Magic Candle, 110
The Magic Candle II - The Four and Forty, 111
The Magic Candle III, 111
The Return of Heracles, 62
The Screamer, 493
The Summoning, 159
The Upper Reaches of Apshai, 42
The Witcher, 370
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, 424
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, 476
Titan Quest, 345
Torchlight, 394
Torchlight II, 395
Torn, 507
Tower of Druaga, 493
Transistor, 463
Treasures of the Savage Frontier, 151
Tunnels & Trolls: Crusaders of Khazan, 128
Two Worlds, 408
Two Worlds II, 408
U
Ultima I, 54
Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress, 59
Ultima III: Exodus, 64
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, 78
Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny, 106
Ultima VI: The False Prophet, 124
Ultima VII: The Black Gate, 160
Ultima VII - Part 2: Serpent Isle, 161
Ultima VIII: Pagan, 192
Ultima VIII: The Lost Vale, 508
Ultima IX: Ascension, 250
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, 154
Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds, 155
UnderRail, 475
Undertale, 480
V
Valkyria Chronicles, 379
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, 332
Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption, 268
Veil of Darkness, 180
Venetica, 393
Vengeance of Excalibur, 137
W
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, 392
Wasteland 2, 472
Wasteland, 100
Way of the Samurai 4, 426
Wilderness Campaign, 41
Windwalker, 119
Witchaven, 204
Witchaven II: Blood Vengeance, 204
Wizardry 8, 280
Wizardry II: Knights of Diamond, 53
Wizardry III: Lecagy of Llylgamyn, 53
Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna, 91
Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom, 105
Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge, 126
Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant, 164
Wizardry VIII: Stones of Arnhem, 511
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, 52
Wizards & Warriors, 279
Wizard’s Crown, 70
World of Aden: Thunderscape, 210
Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams, 149
Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire, 138
X
Xanadu, 492
Y
Ys: The Vanished Omens, 88, 494
Ys II: The Final Chapter, 88
Yumina: The Ethereal, 396
Z
ZanZarah: The Hidden Portal, 293
Zeliard, 98
528
529
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