![]() ![]() These weren't all TPKs, mind you, but having even one guy dead was enough for a restart (I can't resurrect at this level and I don't think it is possible at the temple either). Well, actually I had two guys still standing, but the battle was utterly lost at that point so I quit and started over. I had my first total party kill in Champions of Krynn. I hope I last long enough to at least finish one Gold Box game before running out of steam. Oh well, despite my rant, it still is quite a lot of effort these games require to play them. I find it so refreshing that this game doesn't feel like it was designed by a committee, that it wasn't designed to have RPG elements, that it wasn't designed to have cool achievements and whatnot to collect, that it wasn't designed to be played by exactly everyone (even those who don't actually like rpgs), and that it's not holding your hand every step of the way (your character can actually die in this game, you know). there's no mention of DPS with weapons, there's a god-honest dice roll instead). (OK, I might exaggerate a bit here…)Īlso I find it sooo great, that this game has no influence of MMOs in it (e.g. 20 years old game which requires a lot of effort to play is so much more fun for me, than any multimillion dollar AAA title of the last 5 years or so. They've been streamlined to offer little to no challenge and to practically play themselves with the player just watching the pretty show, that their essence, the very core of their being, has been lost. It just goes to show, IMO, that with all their modern bells and whistles, most CRPGs nowdays are quite hollow and soulless. Despite these limitations and the quite primitive interface and graphics, I'm having a blast. This is bliss! I'd have thought I'd get bored by the quite limited range of enemies (and gear) or become frustrated by the, erm, quirky AD&D 1st (2nd?) edition rules, but no. ![]() Turn- and party-based combat goodness! Oh, how I've missed true turn-based combat with a large party (6 members) against a large amount of enemies (10+) in RPGs. Anyway, it's a good reminder, that CRPGs don't have to be PST-like digital books to get their point across and story told. Now, if that's not a limping parable, I don't know what is. Now, they act like small spoonfulls of the story that give you enough to envision what the whole soup is like. Had there been more text in larger chunks, it would have felt more of a literary thing than it is now and I would have expected more from it, writing-wise etc. I'm convinced that this is partly because the terse text is in fact a spark for your imagination and you (sort of) fill in the rest. It is interesting how much the game conveys with so little narrative text (due to memory constraints back then). In order to not just chalk it down to old grognard's nostalgia for the yesterdays, I wrote down some observations of the game so far. Granted, one must approach these games with patience and a willingness to do handwritten notes and mapping, and be ready for a lot of page-flipping through the journal and/or manual, which all require a whole different attitude than modern games, but regardless I'm really, truly and honestly, having a lot of fun. So, with these requirements, I chose to go with the Dragonlance Trilogy (I never had any of the games in the trilogy back in the day), starting with Champions of Krynn.Īfter the expected steep learning curve (it's been ages since I last touched any of the Gold Box games, so I'm practically starting anew) and the stiff early game experience with the clucky interface and all, plus the technical hurdles (took me some head-scratching to get saves working, for example), I've really surprised myself how much I'm liking the game. I also wanted to try a game I had not played before, so POR was out because of that too. I know I should have started with Pools of Radiance, I know, but I thought I'd perhaps last longer if I started with one of the later games with their refinements to the engine (albeit small, but hey, every little bit counts). The idea is to go through them all, although I'm quite sure I will run out of steam well before I make it through all of them, but at least so far, after three evenings of playing, I'm really enjoying myself and going onwards with vigour. I got a crazy idea a couple of days back to go revisit the Gold Box games after long last. (Well, despite my best efforts this became a semi-rant, I guess, so I'm giving you fair warning: Old geezer semi-rant follows.)
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