Feda: The Emblem of Justice

at September 20, 2023

 

Feda: The Emblem of Justice (フェーダ エンブレム・オブ・ジャスティス) is a tactical role playing game developed by Max Entertainment and published by Yanoman Games that was originally released for the Super Famicom in 1994. The game centers around two soldiers forced to fight against the now-corrupted empire they used to serve. A version for the Sega Saturn, titled Feda Remake!, was released in 1996. Both versions were released exclusively in Japan.

Vagrant Story

at September 20, 2023

 

Vagrant Story (ベイグラントストーリー, Beiguranto Sutōrī) is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the PlayStation video game console. The game was released in 2000, and has been re-released through the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita consoles. Vagrant Story was primarily developed by the team responsible for Final Fantasy Tactics, with Yasumi Matsuno serving as producer, writer and director.

The game takes place in the kingdom of Valendia and the ruined city of Leá Monde. The story centers on Ashley Riot, an elite agent known as a Riskbreaker, who must travel to Leá Monde to investigate the link between a cult leader and a senior Valendian Parliament member, Duke Bardorba. In the prologue, Ashley is blamed for murdering the duke, and the game discloses the events that happen one week before the murder.

Vagrant Story is unique as a console action-adventure role-playing game in that it features no shops and no player interaction with other characters; instead, the game focuses on weapon creation and modification, as well as elements of puzzle-solving and strategy. The game received critical acclaim from gaming magazines and websites, with some calling it one of the greatest games ever made.

Terranigma

at September 20, 2023

 

Terranigma[a] is a 1995 action role-playing game developed by Quintet for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), with manga artist Kamui Fujiwara acting as the character designer. The game tells the story of the Earth's resurrection by the hands of a boy named Ark, and its progress from the evolution of life to the present day. The game is considered the third and final entry in an unofficial trilogy of action RPGs created by Quintet, also including Soul Blazer (1992) and Illusion of Gaia (1993).

Terranigma was published in Japan by Enix on October 20, 1995, and in Europe and Australia by Nintendo starting in December 1996; the game was not released in North America due to Enix having already closed its U.S. branch by the time localization had finished, and has not been re-released due to complicated issues relating to its rights. The game has been met with critical acclaim for its presentation, gameplay, and story, although it has been criticized for its difficulty.

Shining Force (1992)

at September 02, 2023

 

Shining Force is a 1992 turn-based tactical role-playing game for the Sega Genesis console. It is the second entry of the Shining series of video games, following Shining in the Darkness. While primarily a traditional fantasy-themed game, it contains some science fiction elements.

The game has been repeatedly re-released: in Sega Smash Pack Volume 1 for the Dreamcast and Sega Smash Pack 2 for Microsoft Windows, in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and as a standalone game for the Wii Virtual Console and Microsoft Windows via Steam. Additionally, in 2004 a remake was released for the Game Boy Advance under the title Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon and in 2010 the game was released for iOS but was discontinued in 2015. It was re-released again on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack in 2021.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997)

at August 27, 2023

 

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is an action role-playing game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn.It was directed and produced by Toru Hagihara, with Koji Igarashi acting as assistant director. It is a direct sequel to Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, taking place four years later. It features Dracula's dhampir son Alucard (returning from Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse) as the protagonist, rising from his slumber to explore Dracula's castle which resurfaced after Richter Belmont vanished.Its design marks a break from previous entries in the series, re-introducing the exploration, nonlinear level design, and role-playing elements first experimented with in Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.

Symphony of the Night initially sold poorly. However, it gradually gained sales through word-of-mouth and became a sleeper hit, developing a cult following and selling over 700,000 units in the United States and Japan. The game garnered widespread acclaim, often cited by critics as one of the best video games of all time, praising its gameplay innovations, atmosphere, visuals and soundtrack. It is also considered a pioneer of the Metroidvania genre, inspiring numerous exploration-based action-adventure games. Symphony of the Night would have a lasting impact on the Castlevania series, with numerous subsequent mainline entries adopting its gameplay model.

Sword of Vermilion

at March 09, 2023

 

Sword of Vermilion is an action role-playing game developed and published by Sega for the Mega Drive console in 1989.[2] It was released in 1990 in North America and 1991 in Europe. It was the first console exclusive game designed by the Sega AM2 studio. The game is part of the Sega Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable, and was available on the Wii's Virtual Console. In 2021, it was added to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack.

Sword of Vermilion is about the son of Erik, king of Excalabria, who takes on a quest of revenge to defeat Tsarkon and free the world of Vermilion from evil.

King Erik V and King Tsarkon were close friends who sought the 8 rings of good and evil to bring peace and balance to the realm. However, the rings of evil changed King Tsarkon and he led his army from Cartahena to invade Excalabria. The defenders were overwhelmed and the castle of King Erik V collapsed. Erik V summoned his bravest, strongest and most faithful warrior, Blade, to entrust him his infant son with an ancient family heirloom, the Ring of Wisdom. King Erik ordered

Atria II: The Resurrection

at June 08, 2022

 

If you haven't played Atria II: The Resurrection or want to try this role-playing (rpg) video game, download it now for free! Published in 1998, Atria II: The Resurrection (aka Atria II: Buhwal 아트리아2~부활~) was an above-average japanese-style rpg (jrpg) title in its time.

https://oke.io/a8bIIO

Ancient Evil (1998)

at June 08, 2022

 

In Ancient Evil a master magician named Alaric constructed a big crypt of 24 levels. Everyone who dares to enter and survives has the opportunity to find gold and valuable items. Naturally, the player character doesn't let this chance pass.

Amulets & Armor

at June 08, 2022

 

Vaporware-game from a virtually unknown artist.

A terrible threat hangs over the next fantasy state, and therefore hordes immediately rush to it for profit ... mercenaries, one of which will be us.

There are many different classes to choose from - 11 pieces! - With quite different statistics. We put here three almost non-overlapping schools of magic, a system of runic casting and mission-by-mission gameplay, we get a wild hybrid from HeXeN and System Shock. It is these two games that our current patient reminds us the most.

Each mission is reduced to a walk through a given piece of space (fenced, as always, by impassable thickets or mountains), with the incidental destruction of everything and everything. It seems that the authors dragged here all the ideas that they saw in nature - the hero needs to eat and drink, the inventory is limited to both the size and weight of the objects, the monetary system is multi-stage (so many gold ones are equal to one platinum ruble ... and one gold is worth so many silver coins...), the "recipes" of spells are scattered here and there on other people's pieces of paper - and there are also scrolls that, in full accordance with traditions, can be used by any classes ...

All this confusion is equipped with medium lousy 2.5D graphics, hopelessly outdated at the time of the game's release, medium-sized music and a pseudo-non-linear plot (missions are issued in packs, so to pass the plot of the game, it is not necessary to go through them ALL). At the same time, this is vapourware, that is, the latest version of the game, created at the time of the developer's bankruptcy and never saw the light of day in the form of a full-fledged release. There is also no hope for patches.

There are only three saving moments: this is the only proud contender for the title of System Shock from fantasy (because Ultima Underworld is still somewhat different), there is multiplayer (including with desmatch), and the game process is still, the villain is so, addictive.

Summary: The game is not for everyone, but it will appeal to many who are not afraid of difficulties with running under XP and learning the interface. The faint of heart and impatient please don't worry.

https://oke.io/gDCCo

Bioware Baldur's Gate The Original Saga v1.3.5521

at May 04, 2022

 

Baldur's Gate: The Original Saga combines the original Baldur's Gate and its expansion, Tales Of The Sword Coast, into one package.

Baldur's Gate utilizes Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules, and sends you on an epic journey throughout many areas, where an iron shortage is threatening all trade. To make matters worse, the iron that does get through happens to be tainted. It's up to you, foster child of the wise Gorion, to find out the truth beyond the iron shortage and save the Sword Coast from a war.

https://oke.io/cJzk4D

Alt.Links

https://oke.io/hEcV

https://oke.io/epbH0f4Z

https://oke.io/vLwT

Trulon: The Shadow Engine

at July 09, 2020

Enter a world of steampunk and magic by experiencing the debut title of the Trulon series. The adventure RPG is based on a new novel from Jak Koke, an award-winning author who is known from the best-selling Shadowrun trilogy, The Dragon Heart Saga.

Featuring a unique card combat system that combines traditional deck management with random elements, the tactics are intuitively activated using over 50 cards in an easy to play way. This makes both RPG veterans and new players feel immediately at home.

Unravel the threads of an insidious plot and meet many multi-faceted characters. Led by the enchanting Gladia, you take control of four characters with different abilities each. They team up to adventure through the Trulon Universe where a mysterious disease has spread through the kingdoms of Tripudia and Maelon. Using magical tactics, they try to survive the action packed battles against enemies mutated by magic and exciting steampunk machines.

To let you enjoy the atmospheric music of the game beyond the game, its soundtrack will be included as a free download.

FEATURES
First spin-off story from the original Trulon novel
Beautiful setting featuring a mix of steampunk and JRPG
Unique card combat system with a deep strategy
Battle enemies using a collection of over 50 unique cards
Four unique playable characters with individual strengths and play styles
Over a hundred multi-faceted NPCs to interact with
Solve challenging puzzles
The package contains the complete soundtrack as well as two bonus tracks

First sketches of the game world already showed up in 2007, before game designer Johan Lillbacka got in touch with Jak Koke for writing a novel placed in the Trulon universe. That novel, ‘Shadow Gears’, will be released in 2016 as well. After the universe was set, Johan developed the stories of different characters for his game. He always loved sci-fi and fantasy, so the result was a beautiful setting featuring a mix of steampunk and JRPG, with fantastic machines that run on magical energy.
Release date
1 March 2016
Minimum Requirements*
OS:Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10
Processor:1,8 GHz
Memory:1 GB RAM
Graphics:DirectX9 compatible with Shader Model 2.0
DirectX:Version 9.0c
Storage:800 MB available space

https://filepost.io/d/6D75qhTZJC

Wonder Boy in Monster World

at September 13, 2018

Wonder Boy in Monster World, known in Japan as Wonder Boy V: Monster World III, is a side-scrolling action role-playing game originally developed by Westone and published by Sega for the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1991. It is the fifth game in the Wonder Boy series and the third game in the Monster World sub-series, following Wonder Boy in Monster Land (Super Wonder Boy: Monster World on the Japanese Sega Mark III) and Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap (Monster World II: Dragon no Wana on the Japanese Game Gear).

Versions for other platforms were also made. In 1993, Sega released a Master System version of the game specifically for the European market, while in 1994, Hudson Soft remade the game for the TurboDuo under the title of The Dynastic Hero (超英雄伝説ダイナスティックヒーロー Chō Eiyū Densetsu Dainasutikku Hīrō), featuring an all-new theme and cast of characters. In 2007, the Turbo Duo and Mega Drive versions were re-released on the Wii Virtual Console download service.

"Monster World was once a peaceful region. Then, the peace was shattered by an invading army of monsters. A young man named Shion vowed to defeat them and make his land peaceful again."

Cadash

at September 13, 2018

Cadash (カダッシュ Kadasshu) is a sword and sorcery video game which combines elements of both the role-playing video game genre of games and the platform genre of games. The game was originally an arcade game released by Taito in 1989, later ported to home video game consoles such as the TurboGrafx-16 in 1991, and the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in 1992. The game was included in Taito Memories Volume 2 which was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2005. It was also included in the Xbox and PC versions of Taito Legends 2 which was released in 2007.

The game setting is a medieval fantasy world similar to that of the high fantasy seen in The Lord of the Rings. The demons and abominations of nature who reside in the underground kingdom of Cadash have not forgotten that, thousands of years previously, they once shared the light with humans. Then one rose among them who was especially powerful, a demonic wizard born of a human woman – the Balrog (Baarogue or Baalogue in the arcade version, and Barlog in the TurboGrafx version). The Balrog promised his followers they could, in time, emerge from their subterranean prison and rule the world of men, taking revenge on humans for their prior defeat in battle and subsequent exile, if the Balrog could mingle his blood with that of a human king. The Balrog and his demonic armies gathered in force over the centuries, and are now powerful enough to emerge to the surface and make war with the unprepared human kingdoms which had not known war for millennia, all of which quickly fall to the Balrog. The human world is almost entirely laid to waste by the Balrog. However, this was not enough for the Balrog, whose prize is the mightiest of all human kingdoms, the Kingdom of Dirzir. One night, the beautiful Princess Salassa is kidnapped by the Balrog from the Keep of Deerzar, the capital city of Dirzir, and taken underground to the dreaded Castle Cadash. There the Balrog plans to initiate the ritual which would magically bind himself to the human princess, becoming all-powerful and invincible. Dilsarl, the distraught and helpless elderly King of Dirzir, has vowed to give his entire kingdom to the one who would rescue his beloved only daughter, and many brave heroes have disappeared into the depths of Cadash on this quest.



Cadash is an early example of what would become a fairly common trend in Japanese-made arcade games of the early 1990s: the "platform-RPG". Cadash borrows many principles of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link's gameplay, combining side-scrolling platform action with an RPG system of statistics, levels, money and magic.

Four characters can play at once in the arcade version, and up to two players may select from four different characters in the console versions: fighter, mage, priestess, and ninja, each with different attacks, statistics and skills. Players then proceed through each level, killing monsters and bosses, collecting keys to unlock doors and collecting gold and experience. Gold is also taken from slain foes and treasure chests. Villages sell items, weapons, armor and (in the console versions) extra lives, with each village encountered providing better equipment. Some villagers and benevolent creatures will also provide information. The arcade version has a limited game time, which can be extended by buying progressively more expensive hourglasses at shops, or by picking up rare bonuses. In shops, and in hidden places, are medicinal herbs which restore 10 HP if brought to zero, and antidotes which cure poison inflicted by specific foes. There are also two elixirs in the game that act like medicinal herbs, except that they restore all HP.

There are five stages in the game. Stages one, two and four consist of two worlds, above and below ground. Stage three consists of three worlds. Stage five is set entirely within Castle Cadash. The environments differ significantly, from pleasant meadows to caves, and from forests to underwater environments. Some foes encountered in these levels are derived from common mythology while others are completely made up for the game.

In both the arcade and the TurboGrafx-16 versions, there are four playable characters. However, the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis version only has the fighter and mage as playable characters, as the priestess and ninja characters are missing. In all versions of the game the characters vary significantly in terms of power and abilities.

The arcade version supports a four-players "link" mode using two Cadash cabinets, with some limitations, such as each player having to pick a different character, and characters playing on the same machine being forced to keep up with each other, unable to venture "off screen". Two-player mode is available in the console versions. The characters are:

Fighter: identified as "Toru" in some game manuals, the otherwise unnamed fighter is a Conan the Barbarian-style warrior who lives by his muscle and his sword. The fighter has powerful melee attacks, the highest defense and the highest agility in the game when using a particular weapon. However, compared to the other characters, he is unable to use any magic spells. Being a close range fighter, he is initially disadvantaged against ranged attacks and flying enemies due to the short reach of his weapons. To combat ranged attacks, the fighter can purchase and wield a shield to block most enemy projectiles, including dragons' fire. The fighter's quick movement and attack speed, especially with his end game weapons, allows him to make short work of most enemies and bosses once he closes the distance.
Mage: the silver-haired, bearded and green-robed, unnamed mage, with a slightly hunched back, is the court wizard of Dirzir and chief advisor to the king. The mage draws on the wisdom and magic of the ancients who were able to banish the demons to Cadash in the distant past, and can also rely on his magic staff when his magic reserves need to replenish themselves. He has the most powerful offensive capability in the game through his spells, but is also physically the weakest and slowest character. Among all the characters, the mage requires the lowest amount of experience to gain levels, being able to reach the maximum level as early as the halfway point of the game. As the mage gains levels he learns new and more powerful spells, calling upon the elements and the very forces of nature to assist him; after obtaining the Wizard Staff, he is able recover 1 mana point per second and cast spells at half the original mana cost. However, his spells do not work on certain creatures, including the undead, forcing him to evade them or fight with his limited melee capability. The mage's devastating spells allow him to be a powerful boss killer; he is the only character who is able to take down the final boss easy and fast.
Priestess: the young warrior-priestess is the most appropriate character for beginners, who have yet to learn the game's differences and enemy arrangement, thanks to her defensive spells which allow her to heal and negate damage. Offensively, she is competent against normal enemies due to the long reach and penetration of her final weapon. However, her weapons are the slowest among all the characters in both attack and recovery, making her the weakest boss killer in the game. Defensively, she is able to cast a highly useful protection spell that absorbs 32 damage and removes the knockback from getting hit. The priestess also has the ability to add more playing time in the arcade version of Cadash (30 seconds in the Japanese version, and 60 seconds in all other versions). In the Japanese version of Cadash, the priestess is a much less effective character overall: she is the least suitable character to bypass the second level and fight stone golems for lucrative experience (which is a well-known and critical strategy when playing optimally) since she cannot compensate for her weakness at that point in the game with the much cheaper medicinal herbs sold in the overseas versions, and she cannot exploit staying at inns to increase the playing time due to the exorbitant inn prices in the Japanese version.
Ninja: the mysterious ninja is a master of ranged combat who has excellent agility, the highest natural defense, and exclusively uses concealed projectiles (shurikens and throwing knives) to attack with. He is the only true long range character in the game, being able to kill enemies as soon as they appear on screen. The priestess eventually gains a weapon that travels a long distance, but the ninja outclasses her in terms of attack recovery, projectile speed, and raw damage. The ninja's attack takes the fewest frames to come out compared to the other characters; he is unparalleled when it comes to taking down normal enemies, and is also a very efficient boss killer. When wielding certain weapons, he has some special abilities such as spreading fire and being able to penetrate enemies and walls with projectiles. The ninja's sole disadvantage is that he has the highest experience requirements to gain levels, and so it may take longer to progress the character, but this is largely overcome by the fact that he gains the most status points per level and his ability to dispose of enemies, and hence gain experience, is the quickest among the four characters.



In the early 1990s, Cadash was ported to the TurboGrafx-16 (in 1991) and the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive (1992). Both home console versions of Cadash eliminated the time limit that existed in the original arcade version.

The Turbo Grafx 16 (PC-engine) version of Cadash, which was translated into English by Working Designs, implemented many changes to the original game, including agility, defense, spell costs and damage, to better balance the characters. Formerly challenging characters such as the fighter and mage were greatly enhanced to rival and even surpass the priestess. To accommodate the differences in hardware power, the levels were divided into large rooms and halls connected by doors and corridors, whereas the arcade game used large, seamless levels. The PC-engine version features colorful, new designs and graphics that are a sharp contrast from the darker shades used in the arcade and Genesis versions. The PC-engine version does not allow any continuing in one-player mode, although dead allies could be revived at inns in two-player mode.

The Genesis port excluded two of the four playable classes, keeping only the fighter and mage. The port was not entirely accurate although the graphics were similar, albeit with a much darker palette. The giant kelp boss was removed entirely from this version. The healing value of herbs, damage from enemies, enemy AI and many more aspects of the game were altered. This is the only version of Cadash where the player can buy elixirs, which serve as extra lives, in item shops.

The Japanese and US versions of the original arcade game are much more difficult than the other versions. The most noticeable changes are that the player can only carry half as many herbs and antidotes, and herbs are considerably more expensive to buy. The price of sleeping at an inn increases from 50 to 200 to 1000 to 6000 to 30000 gold with each subsequent stay, while in the overseas versions the maximum price for staying at an inn remains at 5,000 gold. The hidden Dragon Amulet only rewards 10,000 gold, as opposed to the maximum amount of 65,535 in the other versions. As for differences in character gameplay, the priestess's Recover Time spell adds only 30 seconds to the game's timer, as opposed to a full minute in the other versions. Finally, bosses have much more health in the Japanese and US versions of Cadash, which is easily apparent by comparing the number of attacks (such as the Mage's Explosion spell) required to defeat the bosses.

Blood Omen 2

at August 30, 2018

Blood Omen 2 is an action-adventure game developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Eidos Interactive, and the fourth title in the Legacy of Kain series. It was released for the PlayStation 2, alongside Xbox, Microsoft Windows and GameCube ports developed by Nixxes Software BV, in 2002. It is the sequel to the first game in the series, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, with Blood Omen's protagonist, the vampire Kain, returning as the central character.

Blood Omen 2 chronologically bridges the stories of the original Blood Omen and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, but it takes place in an alternate timeline created by the events of Soul Reaver 2. Centuries after Blood Omen, Kain is opposed by traitorous vampires and the minions of The Sarafan Lord, and sets out to continue his ascent to power.

While Crystal Dynamics' Soul Reaver team began to produce Soul Reaver 2, a secondary crew started work on Blood Omen 2 in 1999. They sought to create a more action-focused entry in contrast to the Soul Reaver games' emphasis on puzzle-solving. The final product was a commercial success, becoming a Sony's "Greatest Hits" title, but received average reception, with critics citing its lower production values and lack of innovation relative to the Soul Reaver games as flaws.

Bloodwych

at August 26, 2018

Bloodwych is a dungeon role-playing video game, a dungeon crawler, developed for the Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum. Its box featured artwork by Chris Achilleos. The plotline identifies the player as a champion of Trazere who, after recruiting up to three fellow champions, travels through dungeons and mazes fighting creatures along the way to find and destroy the evil Zendick, and banish the Lord of Entropy.

All of the champions fall into the four classes of Warrior, Mage, Adventurer or Thief, each with their own particular capability. Within each class there are four characters available, each with their own colour of Red, Blue, Green or Yellow. Each colour also has its own particular advantage, largely with respect to the families of spells the character will be most adept at casting and developing. However, that colour is also important when it comes to matching up coloured rings later in the game to magnify the effects of spell-casting.

Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance

at August 26, 2018

Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance is a 1997 strategy video game developed by Synergistic Software and distributed by Sierra On-Line. The game is based on the Birthright campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons and is available for MS-DOS and Windows.

Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance is a turn-based strategy game where the player is one of the heirs to a throne, a descendant of the royal bloodline on a quest to take over the world.

Players take on the role of ruler, or regent as they are called in Birthright, of a nation in the Land of Anuire on the continent of Cerilia. The objective of the game is to gather power and influence while the other regents try the same.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain

at August 26, 2018

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was an Intellivision game, one of the first Advanced Dungeons & Dragons games to be officially licensed by TSR, Inc.. It was later retitled to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain to distinguish it from the sequel, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin. It was also the first Intellivision cartridge to use more than 4K of ROM.

In Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the player must collect necessary items like a boat and keys to cross difficult terrain, to reach the resting place of a broken crown and restore the crown. During the game, the player will cross randomly generated rooms and corridors, and fend off monsters. The player's main weapons are arrows, which are launched by pressing the number-pad keys on the Intellivision controller.

In Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the player must collect necessary items like a boat and keys to cross difficult terrain, to reach the resting place of a broken crown and restore the crown. During the game, the player will cross randomly generated rooms and corridors, and fend off monsters. The player's main weapons are arrows, which are launched by pressing the number-pad keys on the Intellivision controller



The gameplay involves exploring a series of randomly generated scrolling mazes, looking for treasures and weapons with which to defeat monsters, and recovering the two pieces of the Crown of Kings.

Players begin the game on one side of a large wilderness in a cabin, with a huge mountain (Cloudy Mountain) topped by clouds and a slumbering dragon on the other side. In between, a number of smaller mountains and geographical obstacles bar the way. On this map the player is represented as a trio of flashing white dots, which correspond to the number of lives the player has left. Each time the player loses a life, a dot disappears until all have gone and the game is over. According to the manual each dot represents one of a trio of adventurers who are on their quest to recover the Crown of Kings.

To complete the game, the player moves the white dots across the wilderness. Rivers, forests, gates, and small mountains bar their path. However, many of the mountains contain caves that can be traveled through and explored. When the dots move adjacent to a mountain, the mountain will change color to represent whether or not it can be entered. The new color corresponds to the type of monsters and what item are found within. Some will contain boats, which can be used to cross rivers, some keys for passing through gates, and others axes which can be used to pass through forests.

Upon entering a mountain, the main part of the game begins. The player is represented by a black figure armed with a bow. The player must guide the figure through a maze, which is initially shrouded in darkness. As the figure explores, the shroud disappears, revealing more of the maze. This idea of a "shroud" continues to be used in many role-playing games produced since, including Dungeons and Dragons games.

The figure moves through the maze until he finds the exit or is killed (except in Cloudy Mountain, the final maze, where the game immediately ends on gathering both pieces of the Crown). While in the maze, monsters attack the player. The difficulty of each mountain determines how many monsters are on the map and also which "boss" monster is present. The player can kill the monsters by firing arrows with the bow (using the numbered key-pad, in a similar manner to the Tron: Deadly Discs game), which can ricochet off walls to hit their targets and potentially injure the player. Rats, bats, and spiders are killed with a single hit, but "boss" monsters take two arrows to kill. These boss monsters include giant snakes, demons, and dragons. It is possible for several to be present in one maze. The "final bosses" are a pair of winged dragons within Cloudy Mountain, each of whom guard one half of the Crown. These winged dragons take three arrows to kill. Indestructible and slow-moving "blobs" are also often present.

The player only has a limited number of arrows, although more can be found within each level. The player has no form of melee attack, so it is advisable to always attack from a distance.

Players are damaged by physical contact with monsters. As they are injured, their color changes from black, to blue, then red; a third injury causes death.

Sound is an integral part of the game. Although most of the map is in darkness, when approaching certain adversaries it is possible to hear them before seeing them. Snakes make a hissing sound, for example. However, every cave contains a number of bats; although harmless to the player, bats create a loud flapping sound with their wings that obscures the sound of any other monster, making it more likely for the player to run into one and be taken by surprise. One particularly troublesome adversary is the giant spider, which makes no noise at all but it has the ability to consume the player's arrows.

Upon completing the game, the screen reverts from the final maze to the wilderness map, where the dragon's purring no longer sounds.

Several different difficulty settings are available, which determined the number of arrows the player might find and the speed of the monsters the player encounters.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - Pool of Radiance

at August 26, 2018

Pool of Radiance is a role-playing video game developed and published by Strategic Simulations, Inc (SSI) in 1988. It was the first adaptation of TSR's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) fantasy role-playing game for home computers, becoming the first episode in a four-part series of D&D computer adventure games. The other games in the "Gold Box" series used the game engine pioneered in Pool of Radiance, as did later D&D titles such as the Neverwinter Nights online game. Pool of Radiance takes place in the Forgotten Realms fantasy setting, with the action centered in and around the port city of Phlan.

Just as in traditional D&D games, the player starts by building a party of up to six characters, deciding the race, sex, class and ability scores for each. The player's party is enlisted to help the settled part of the city by clearing out the marauding inhabitants that have taken over the surroundings. The characters move on from one area to another, battling bands of enemies as they go and ultimately confronting the powerful leader of the evil forces. During play the player characters gain experience points, which allow them to increase their capabilities. The game primarily uses a first-person perspective, with the screen divided into sections to display pertinent textual information. During combat sequences, the display switches to a top-down "video game isometric" view.

Generally well received by the gaming press, Pool of Radiance won the Origins Award for "Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1988". Some reviewers criticized the game's similarities to other contemporary games and its slowness in places, but praised the game's graphics and its role-playing adventure and combat aspects. Also well-regarded was the ability to export player characters from Pool of Radiance to subsequent SSI games in the series.

Pool of Radiance is based on the same game mechanics as the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rule set.As in many role-playing games (RPGs), each player character in Pool of Radiance has a character race and a character class, determined at the beginning of the game. Six races are offered, including elves and halflings, as well as four classes (fighter, cleric, wizard, and thief).Non-human characters have the option to become multi-classed, which means they gain the capabilities of more than one class,but advance in levels more slowly.[citation needed] During character creation, the computer randomly generates statistics for each character, although the player can alter these attributes.The player also chooses each character's alignment, or moral philosophy; while the player controls each character's actions, alignment can affect how NPCs view their actions.The player can then customize the appearance and colors of each character's combat icon.Alternatively, the player can load a pre-generated party to be used for introductory play.These characters are combined into a party of six or less, with two slots open for NPCs. Players create their own save-game files, assuring character continuation regardless of events in the game. On an MS-DOS computer, the game can be copied to the hard-disk drive. Other computer systems, such as the Commodore 64, require a separate save-game disk.

The game's "exploration" mode uses a three-dimensional first-person perspective, with a rectangle in the top left of the screen displaying the party's current view; the rest of the screen displays text information about the party and the area.[8] During gameplay, the player accesses menus to allow characters to use objects; trade items with other characters; parley with enemies; buy, sell, and pool the characters' money; cast spells, and learn new magic skills. Players can view characters' movement from different angles, including an aerial view.[9] The game uses three different versions of each sprite to indicate differences between short-, medium-, and long-range encounters.

In combat mode, the screen changes to a top-down mode with dimetric projection, where the player decides what actions the characters will take in each round. These actions are taken immediately, rather than after all commands have been issued as is standard in some RPGs.[8] Optionally, the player can let the computer choose character moves for each round.[9] Characters and monsters may make an extra attack on a retreating enemy that moves next to them. If a character's hit points (HP) fall below zero, he or she must be bandaged by another character or the character will die.The game contains random encounters, and game reviewers for Dragon magazine observed that random encounters seem to follow standard patterns of encounter tables in pen and paper AD&D game manuals. They also observed that the depictions of monsters confronting the party "looked as though they had jumped from the pages of the Monster Manual."

Different combat options are available to characters based on class. For example, fighters can wield melee or ranged weapons; magic-users can cast spells; thieves have the option to "back-stab" an opponent by strategically positioning themselves.As fighters progress in level, they can attack more than once in a round. Fighters also gain the ability to "sweep" enemies, effectively attacking each nearby low-level creature in the same turn.Magic-users and clerics are allowed to memorize and cast a set number of spells each day. Once cast, a spell must be memorized again before reuse. The process requires hours of inactivity for all characters, during which they rest in a camp; this also restores lost hit points to damaged characters.This chore of memorizing spells each night significantly added to the amount of game management required by the player.

As characters defeat enemies, they gain experience points (XP). After gaining enough XP, the characters "train up a level" to become more powerful.This training is purchased in special areas within the city walls.In addition to training, mages can learn new spells by transcribing them from scrolls found in the unsettled areas.Defeated enemies in these areas also contain items such as weapons and armor, which characters can sell to city stores.

Brandish: The Dark Revenant

at March 28, 2018

Bounty hunter Ares is trapped in the ruins of a cursed underground city, and must work his way up to freedom through over 40 floors of unimaginable danger. All the while, his arch-rival -- a powerful sorceress -- is hot on his tail, determined to capture him before making her own escape. Solve brain-busting puzzles, battle unique enemies and forge ever onward in this reimagined action RPG classic!

Vittoria: A medieval kingdom banished deep underground a thousand years ago, brought down by the hubris of its ruler upon the slaying of a god. Lost and forgotten, a new kingdom was built upon the empty hills that mark its grave -- but its ruins are still populated by the vengeful, twisted spirits of its once-proud people, and whosoever falls into these depths is most certainly doomed to suffer a torturous demise at their hands.

Bounty hunter Ares, however, is not quite so willing to accept this fate. In this reimagining of a golden-era classic, Ares must work his way up to freedom through over 40 floors of unimaginable danger while his archrival, Dela -- a powerful sorceress who fell into the ruins with him -- is hot on his tail.

Solve brain-busting puzzles, battle unique enemies and forge ever onward in this contemporary dungeon-crawling action RPG from the makers of Ys and The Legend of Heroes!

Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse

at November 03, 2017

Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse is an action role-playing game for the personal computer set in the Al-Qadim campaign setting of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. The game was developed by Cyberlore Studios and published in 1994 by Strategic Simulations. The game combines role-playing game and adventure with a simplified interface; the player's character is a young corsair trying to clear his family's name, rescue his betrothed and determine who has been freeing genies from their masters. The game was released in 2015 on GOG.com with support for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

A genie has been freed from his master's control by mysterious forces which are liberating genies for the Nameless Masters.As the story begins, the player character (the son of sultan Zubin Al-Hazrad of Zaratan) is a young corsair who has just completed his training.The corsair is betrothed to a caliph's daughter.The caliph and his daughter are involved in a hurricane-induced shipwreck, which sweeps the girl overboard.The corsair and his family are blamed for the shipwreck;[2][3] he must find his bride-to-be and restore his family's honor.[2][3] The character can interact with his family (including his parents and sister), working to save them from execution;[4] they must also explore the mystery of who has been unleashing genies on the land,[3] and investigate the Genie's Curse.