Game #55: Order of the Griffon (TurboGrafx-16) - The Order of Things (Finshed)

Game 55

Title: Order of the Griffon
Released: 1992 (US only)
Platform: TurboGrafx-16
Developer: Westwood Associates
Publisher: Turbo Technologies; Strategic Simulations Inc.
Genre: RPG
Exploration - Top-down + First-person
Combat - Tactical Turn-based
Series - Standalone

Was the group from Warriors of the Eternal Sun  still remembered?

It's the lesser known games that I'm usually more excited about playing. Yet often times those are the ones that seem to disappoint the most. Obviously there's a reason they're not well known, but I had hoped it was due the console they were on. Order of the Griffon was exclusive to the TurboGrafx-16, and only in the US. It mixes first-person exploration and tactical combat similar to the gold box games, but the strategic depth is on the same level as Warriors of the Eternal Sun. With rules based on original Dungeons & Dragons, the simplicity is evident from the first combat. Try as I might, I could never reliably protect my spellcasters, and ranged combat options were limited.

These classes look familiar

Fighters, dwarfs, thieves, and halflings are all very similar. Elves are like fighters with less HP, but able to use mage spells. The drawback being they level slower. Clerics can turn undead, and eventually cast unique spells (mostly healing and hold person). Unlike Warriors of the Eternal Sun, spells go up to level 4, although my elf never reached high enough to cast them.

Summary text lies, and all spellcasters memorize the same number of spells

The selection of characters is limited to three pre-made characters per class. There's a summary text for each character that doesn't reflect the reality of each character's ability. Falcone memorizes the same number of spells as any elf or mage of the same level, and another elf that claims to cast spells more quickly usually ended up going last each turn. I figured that once again thieves would be completely useless. I decided on a dwarf, elf, cleric, and mage.

The story begins

The party was hired to investigate a rumor of  a vampire in the area. While Lord Korrigan doesn't believe the rumors, he is concerned about the rising number of undead. He offered a 200 gold advance on promise of full payment once the situation was resolved. The party was rushed out of his room.

*Plop*

As I turned around to speak with Lord Korrigan again, my way was blocked by a guard. After a short speech I was given the option to leave or attack. At my level I didn't dare attempt it, but later on (when I was stuck) I found there were two battles and a reward of a ring of protection; however, Lord Korrigan was nowhere to be found inside. Radlebb Keep had a number of such encounters, many of them not so friendly.

Purchasing some gear at the armory

The characters came with melee weapons, but lacked shields and armor. I purchased some slings as well, but ranged weapons are a bit cumbersome to swap out on the spellcasters. They are permanently equipped with their respective sources of spell power. Swapping weapons took a trip into the inventory screen each time per character. Most of the time I didn't bother with melee weapons at all for them.

This option never succeeded, but I wonder what the party gets out of it if it did

A tavern offered little more than random events. The magic shop sold spells, but I gathered more scrolls than I could scribe in two spell books. The shop had a couple of strange options: "look around" did nothing all game in either shop, and "identify" is listed in the manual as identifying magical items but neither it nor detect magic do much of anything. Magic items are always identified. The temple offered healing, raising dead, as well as potions. Strangely the potions were the most expensive, but the least helpful.

Joining the Order of the Griffon and getting my first quest

Most of the other buildings were unmarked, and I stumbled into a number of combats with rats, skeletons, and thieves before I finally found the titular Order of the Griffon. Before I headed out to slay some wolves, I finished up my survey of the keep. I ran into a group of guards angered by our presence. There was a locked door I decided not to tempt open. A plot to poison the duke was averted when I stumbled upon some ne'er-do-wells in the kitchen.

The riddle sounds interesting, but wasn't necessary to solve any quest

I made my way to the wolves' den without much incident. The overworld display is a top-down view where random encounters occur without warning. There are two ways to save in the game, either via a password or using a console with a RAM expansion. The password only works while outside. Luckily I had the later, and saved often. Dungeons only offer fixed encounters. Although, random encounters can still occur while the party rests to restore spells. Falcone and Chanda had such little HP that they'd often die to a single blow.

As always, sleep is a powerful spell at low levels

The fixed encounters in the wolves' den included a few patrols of men and wolves, a group of prisoners (adventurers on the same quest), and a hidden cache of items. The prisoners told me of an old village beyond a door in the back of the cave. There I would find the staff I sought. In a large hall was a wolf with a key around his neck; the key to the door. He was meeting with humans working for the vampire. They disputed an agreement concerning a rival group of wolves. The bandits claimed to have killed the leader, but the wolf Collum wanted the entire pack wiped out before he would relinquish the key.

I seem to have found a bug while trying to equip a scroll during battle in order to attempt to read from it; equipping outside of battle merely attempts to scribe it in the character's spellbook

A passage beyond the door led to the old village of Koriszegy. In addition to some magical equipment, there were encounters with skeletons, bug bears, and devil swine. The last of which held a key to a door with a dragon emblem. Beyond it was an easy riddle to choose the center door of three, followed by some undead, and then the staff of life that I sought. Attempting to take the staff caused my party damage three times before I was finally able to take it with me. The third was too much for Falcone, and he keeled over.

I'm not sure who's voice this is, or where the place is\

I quickly returned to the Order's Guild, and became full fledged members. Our first real mission was to take the staff to the crypt of Koriszegy. I was told the staff would open one of three doors, and recover two gems. I then raised Falcone, and headed to the crypt. Inside was a mural with a slot to place the staff. Doing so caused a faint blue light to glow, but I strangely found myself unable to enter any of the three doors. I was thoroughly stuck, unable to progress, and I had already saved over my game slots. I tried each slot to no effect. With no way to progress I tried to speak with Lord Korrigan again.

For anyone curious, this is the password for the save outside the crypt where this issue happened

I restarted with another party, ran through all of the above once more, and two hours later arrived at the crypt with a working staff. The only difference this time was ensuring all my characters were alive before I spoke with the Order, and a different set of characters. Beyond the first door was a pool of red. Dipping the staff there unlocked the red mist door. Another series of chambers led to a green pool, which turned out to be fake. In a side passage was a blue pool that allowed access through the blue door.

I'm glossing over most of the encounters, but the above obvious trap was the most interesting

Beyond the blue door was a rather annoying maze, followed by a second maze filled with teleporters. The lack of random encounters made it a bit less cumbersome walking through the maze many times, but at the same time there was nothing to break up the monotony. Eventually I came upon a statue where I placed the staff and gained a diamond. A final teleporter in the middle of that room led to an area where I found the death gem, a lot of fixed encounters, and a dragon.

By this point, Lhaeros had learned web, which apparently no one is immune to, not even dragons

Upon my return, the Order took the gems and destroyed them. Next quest was to infiltrate the vampire's keep through his cellar. However, before I set off into another dungeon, I had thousands of gold pieces and nothing to spend them on at the keep. I made my way to Specularum to the east. There I stocked up on all the magical equipment I could afford. The manual had a map that showed a third city to the northeast. The store had the same equipment as Specularum, but there were a number of encounters that offered great treasure and experience without combat.

The over world offers random battles while the party walks about

The cellar door locked behind the party as they entered. There were many were-creatures such as rats, bats, and boars that required magical weapons to kill. Stand out spells were sleep, hold person, turn undead, and web. I didn't quite have fireball yet, and third level cleric spells were useless as always. I fought a Nosferatu, apparently not the vampire I sought. Web works on any enemy with no saving throws. It stuns them so they can't act, but unlike sleep they don't die to a single blow. Strangely, hold person works similarly.

Cleric spells, level 3 consists of only curse

The Order then directed me to Duke Stefan in Specularum. His daughter was kidnapped by a group called the Iron Ring. They requested as ransom the staff of King Halav, which is apparently one of three items necessary to kill the vampire. I was provided a pass to see Master Higgins at Stefan Manor. The duke was suffering from some malady that he directed I ignore until his daughter was safe.

Web is also effective on spectres of all things

The duke's daughter was easily rescued from a cave deep inside the forest of Radlebb. My elf reached third level spells and started slinging fireballs nearly every battle. There was one difficult battle with four mages that resulted in a few resets. Charm person is very effective against my party as well as web. On the other hand, I found my silence spell was completely useless. Returning with his daughter, I was informed by the duke that he needed king Halav's chalice to cure his ailment. The tomb was an easy task to complete. It dragged on for quite a while as I collected the chalice, shield, and then four keys to escape.

"Oh yeah, have this staff" -- Order of the Griffon

The chalice and shield unlocked the final battle with the vampire, and the staff was used to kill him once he retreated to his coffin. His lair had a lot of difficult battles including a number of dragons. A couple of webs locked them down individually, but more than one made for difficult adversaries. There were three levers to pull once I entered the vampire's inner sanctum. This unlocked the path to the final battle, which wasn't the most difficult battle I'd faced. Defeating all enemies led to a short sequence before ending on the final screen shown at the beginning of this post.

This the second game to use the trope of a vampire retreating to its coffin

Elapsed Time: 19h06m (Final Time: 19h06m)

Combatant - Combat is relatively satisfying, even into the mid-game where the party slowly becomes nigh unkillable. Magic is really influential on the outcome of battle, and in turn so is initiative. There's rarely an easy battle that includes multiple mages. Enemy AI is lacking when it comes to pathing, and most of the strategic options revolve around magic. It would have been nice to get more utility out of spare scrolls and certain spells like silence. By the end of the game I was running from nearly every random encounter since the rewards were pitifully small. It's too bad only elves and mages could use wands.
Rating: 6

Half of the final battle group, the vampire chills with his pet red and green dragons

Admirer - Pre-generated characters are rarely customized, and this is no expcetion. Every character in a given class is the same. Each has different stats, but they seem so poorly implemented that differences are hard to distinguish. Equipment doesn't change appearance, but each character has unique art. Controls are a little awkward, especially swapping weapons, and how combat spells initially target the caster. There aren't any advancement options, and equipment boils down to relatively simple options.
Rating: 2

You've reached this point in the plot, time to kill a vampire

Puzzler - There are some encounters, but most of them lead to combat no matter the option. The main quest is well laid out, but there are no side quests per se, merely side encounters. The world is nicely built, but only a single solution exists. All of the riddles and bits of story presented as clues don't have any bearing on how to approach the encounters.
Rating: 2

You fools! You have played the game!

Instigator - The story is acceptable, but it's the detail in the odd side encounters that carry it into a believable active world. Descriptions are lacking, but there are enough NPCs to ensure the direction to the next plot point isn't hanging. There aren't any decisions to make though, as most are rendered ineffectual soon after.
Rating: 3

A random bit of story from the very beginning where none of it really matters

Collector - There are a good number of items in the game, but most of it boil down to a basic piece of equipment with a +. The problem is there's no way to tell the difference between weapon types in the game. The economy only peters off after the staff is obtained near the end of the game. Inventory space is limited, but not enough to make it an issue. No massive collection, but even so, I did carry around the Sword +1, +3 vs dragons just because it had cool art.
Rating: 4

That final battle loot I'll never use because the game doesn't let me play anymore after this

Explorer - While the world is completely open from the beginning, it's so empty and devoid of reason to explore. At least one town offers some nice early equipment if one can avoid all the random battles along the way. The music has a glitch where it cuts out after the first action in combat. Very little eye candy or unique areas to explore leave the game feeling underwhelming.
Rating: 4

Final Rating: 21 [35%]

Much like my enthusiasm for this game

Overall I enjoyed the encounters. The game dragged on for a bit longer than necessary, especially the filler near the end that was hardly balanced for high character levels. I'd always thought I'd find a hidden gem on one of the more obscure systems, but (while not terrible) this game is hardly what I'd recommend to others. It's a curio of the time. By today's standards it's hardly worth a play unless you're like me and enjoy delving into this type of game. I think having a second mage instead of the second fighter wouldn't have made much of a difference.

Moving on, I have an Ultima game to cut that's not really an Ultima game. Then we can finally get to Might and Magic on the NES. We'll be in for the long haul on that one. It's predicted to be the longest RPG on the system. Actually, I got a bit excited. See, I've already beaten Knight Quest, so I'll write a bit about that as well before getting to Might and Magic.

Game #53: Pool of Radiance (NES) - Getting My Feet Wet

Game 53

Title: Pool of Radiance
Released: April 1992 (June 1991 JPN)
Platform: NES
Developer: Marionette Co., Ltd. (Originally developed by Strategic Simulations, Inc.)
Publisher: FCI / Pony Canyon
Genre: RPG
Exploration - First-person
Combat - Turn based
Series - Standalone (on console)

Come to Phlan they said, see the sights they said

Now it's time to return to another childhood classic. Of course, instead of the DOS version I played hundreds of times (not beaten, just played), I'm diving into the console port on the NES. I haven't completely decided how I feel about it yet, but suffice it to say it's definitely lacking. A single save slot is available, and luckily the battery still works in my cart. I bade farewell to the previous adventuring party. There were three default characters, not quite enough to fill the party of five, but I always enjoy the character creation process (it's probably the reason I played this so much).

Instead of choosing class, race, and gender separately, the game lists all possible combinations

I decided on a dwarf fighter, a cleric, a fighter/magic-user, a fighter/magic-user/thief, and a magic-user/cleric. One of the greatest drawbacks of the NES version is the inability to modify stats. I was left to re-roll stats for nearly 2 hours before I settled for slightly above average. My dwarf did max out at 18 (99) strength, but the other two fighters settled for 17. Adjusting the character's combat model is also missing (the aspect I enjoyed the most as a kid).

At least Rolf is still here, although he looks a bit worse for the transition

There's no grand world saving plot in Pool of Radiance. Some time ago, the city of Phlan fell to an invading monster horde. More recently, a group of enterprising individuals have retaken a portion of the city, dubbed New Phlan, and have sent a call to all adventurers whether interested in fame, treasure, or good deeds. They've established a council, have shops, a tavern, training hall, and multiple shrines. The party found themselves working together for the good of the city (or themselves). Rolf ended the tour by showing us the way into the slums; the first area to clear in our quest.

*Plop*

The first thing to do was properly equip the party. They started with no gear and a mere 540 gold to their collective names. I managed shields for everyone, long swords for the fighters, maces for the clerics, and a mix of banded, chain, and leather armor. I bought a couple slings to have some ranged weapons, and found clerics weren't able to equip them. Seems I needed something called a staff sling for them. The council is the hub for quests. Three quests are given at a time by the clerk; to start I was commissioned to clear the slums, clear out Sokol Keep, and recover some old books on old Phlan. I memorized my spells, and headed off into the slums.

You forgot the "yet"

Memorizing spells is a necessity in old D&D. Spells must be selected for memorization each and every time. It's a shame this game doesn't recall which spells were previously memorized. It gets a little tiresome, and I recall it in the PC version. It can only be done while camping, and requires a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. Clerics have access to the full assortment of spells if they're capable of casting a particular level, but mages must seek out scrolls to scribe into their books. To offset this, each level gained grants a magic-user one spell to scribe from any spell level they're able to cast. All mages start with detect magic, read magic, shield, and sleep. Detect magic in this version is not useful at all as no non-magical items are ever found outside stores. Sleep is over powered in the early game, and I'm glad to have the ability to cast it three times.

The mix of voice makes this strange to read; stopping by the friendly tavern

The slums proved relatively easy. The game limits the number of random encounters per map. Once cleared I was free to explore the area unhindered. I discovered a number of treasures that allowed me to deck out my party with long swords +1, some chain mail +1, some magical shields, and banded mail for everyone. I'm saving a dust of disappearance for when I really need it, as well as a necklace of missiles (fireballs) that I gained by retrieving a potion for a mage named Ohlo. Most battles were limited to 3 or 4 enemies in the beginning, and easily taken out with sleep. However, I avoided the troll battle in the lower left. From previous experience,  I knew it was going to be trouble.

I didn't bother to argue with this scary looking man over the 1,000 gold price tag for every level

Taking a break from the slums, I headed over to Sokol Keep. In front of the gate I found the skeletal remains of an elf. He had a scroll on his person that the party thoroughly memorized. Using the words from the scroll allowed me to avoid fighting the patrolling undead (a rough battle for my low level party). In the main hall I encountered a large party of goblins and hobgoblins led by a couple ogres. The keep was mostly free after taking them out. The had a letter that ominously referred to "the boss." I learned that the old guard of the keep were bound as undead; their leader had long ago locked them to this fate. Speaking to the head cleric, Ferrann Martinez, I told him of the current reconstruction effort, and he imparted the names of those that destroyed it long ago: Tyranthraxus, Edranka, and Torath. Before departing, he told me of an armory behind an illusionary wall, and of Mendor's library with records of the attack.

Nothing I could do with the floor lamp... the pile of treasure next to it was nice though

With Sokol Keep wrapped up, and a couple more levels under my belt, I decided to have my hand at the troll fight back in the slums. Trolls are harsh enemies at such a low level. I suspect the developers intended a party to use the necklace of missiles or dust of disappearance to make it manageable, but I'd rather save both for later. Capable of attacking three times, and regenerating hit points every round, it's nearly impossible to do on the first visit to the slums without additional magic.

Unlike the DOS version, there are kobolds (instead of ogres) capable of being slept to block the trolls, which are immune

It turned out I was worried for nothing. The trolls were paired with kobolds that I slept, trapping the trolls at range. I took them down with well placed arrows and staff slings, and cleaned up the kobolds before the trolls regenerated back to life. I fulfilled another commission, and then headed to the library. On the way was Kuto's Well, which I'll come back to later. I left the well alone, but rescued some woman in the area. More importantly I gained some treasure hidden in her cell.

Searching randomly for books; ACTUALLY random whether any useful books are found

I fought a basilisk in the library. I recalled this fight, and had brought brass mirrors, but they didn't reflect the gaze of this beast. I shamelessly restarted the fight rather than walk back with a statue for a party member. There was also a madman trapped in the library, but he ran off when I tried to take him back to town. I refused to make him go by force. A garden took up a corner of the library, but it was covered in green acidic slime that I could find no way around. So, I gathered as many books as I could, and went on my way; however, my way was blocked by the specter of Mendor.

Give it up man, you're already dead

I recalled having a way to avoid this fight in the PC version, but could find no way of doing so here. I was stopped every time I attempted to exit the library. The fight took place without any option to parlay. Most encounters give the party the option to attack, flee, wait, or parlay (this has additional options for tone as well). I reloaded this fight a single time as I was completely unprepared the first time, which resulted in a few level drains.

I came away with a number of good items, including a manual of bodily health, which I have yet to see a benefit to having read

One of the biggest gripes I have with the game is the limited inventory. At just 8 items per character, it leaves little room to collect all treasure in an area. This is especially true as I continue to collect useful scrolls, and other items that I'd rather save for later. I haven't fully searched the town, but I don't recall any kind of bank or storeroom. I returned for my fulfilled commissions, and was given three more: discover what item was to be auctioned at Podol Plaze and who wins it, discover who now resides at Kovel Mansion, and assist Braccio with a special task. In addition to those, another council member, Cadorna, had a side task to recover a package from the old overrun textile house.

Braccio ordered Dirten to join me in restoring the Temple of Tyr that was now overrun by followers of Bane

Since I was kind of following the order of commissions, I dragged Dirten along to Podol Plaza. Along the way I cleaned out Kutos Well. Apparently, an infamous thief named Norris the Gray resided under the well. I picked up some new gear, including a ring of warmth.

I didn't even know this was a thing to do

Podol Plaza was rather sparse. Most of the buildings were run down stores or abandoned houses.

Sorry, I mean, "naban doned" houses

I found a hidden shrine of Il-Mater where I was able to rest and recover. I based my exploration of the area from here, but only found an inn called The Pit, and a temple of Bane that I trashed. The auction was held in the central yard. When first entering Podol Plaza, I had the option of disguising the party as monsters, but either my charisma wasn't high (or low) enough to pull it off, or I was really unlucky because any encounter with monsters would reveal myself. Instead, I chose to hide, and only could listen to the auction proceed. A strange man bought a wand of illumination for 5000 gold. The auction ended peacefully, and everyone went their separate ways. I was rewarded for my report.

The price of healing is steep in the beginning, but isn't too bad by the mid-game

The next area I cleared was Kovel Mansion. It was filled with thieves, but most encounters were a single 6th level thief that would try to run away. The mansion was filled with traps, and locked treasure troves. I left them for later as my thief had no way to open them, and my mages hadn't learned 'knock'. I fought a couple tough battles against six 6th level thieves and a bunch of 1st level thieves, but with stinking cloud and hold person now in my arsenal, I easily dispatched them. Actually, my biggest enemy was fighting the limited inventory; usually finding treasure enough to fill me up before I had depleted my combat resources.

This letter found on the thieves' leader didn't seem to alarm the council or the party that Cadorna might betray them

In the wealthy district I ran into a group of orcs with Bane's crest. I picked up a leather symbol of Bane off their bodies, which allowed me to enter the temple without raising the alarm. One quick battle later against their head priest, Mace, and I had removed the evil aura surrounding the temple. I'm not sure how lucky it was, but I landed a silence spell on Mace, so I didn't have to worry about hold person from him. Dirten stayed behind to look after the temple while I looted the room. Good riddance; his AI was terrible. He'd often burn through hold person on enemies already held, and only cast cure light wounds on himself.

There were three treasure hoards of this size that each filled my inventory

Combat is the standard AD&D fare, initiative based turns with THAC0 (hitrate), and the lower armor class the better. Strength gives a bonus to hit and damage. Dexterity reduces AC and a bonus to hit with missile weapons. Constitution gives an additional bonus HP each level. The last three (Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma) are either class specific or don't factor into combat. Spells have a casting time, although sleep and magic missile are instant. Buff time for spells like empower (bless renamed), meditation (prayer renamed), and protection from evil seem to last less than they should. In fact, I had slow poison going on my front line to prevent poison attacks from frogs and scorpions, but it didn't last more than an hour. I have a feeling a few of these spells are bugged. Also, ranged weapons seem to have a higher chance to hit compared to melee attacks, but that could come down to randomness.

Dueling myself in the training hall as I'm short 100 experience

So far, having a thief doesn't seem worth it. Combat lacks critical hits, and more importantly backstabbing seems non-existent. There's no way to distract an enemy; they always turn towards their attacker. I haven't tried it while invisible yet, so I'll report if that changes things. The only use I've gotten from my thief is attempting to disarm traps, which is about as useful as it was in Warriors of the Eternal Sun. There was a section in Cadorna's Textile House where a thief was useful, but I'll get to that next post.

How every battle begins

Elapsed Time: 15h12m (Total Time: 15h12m)

Game #52: Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun (Genesis) - This Spot Is Reserved For (Finished)

Game 52

Title: Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun
Released: 1992 (US/EU only)
Platform: Genesis
Developer: Westwood Associates
Publisher: Sega (of America)
Genre: RPG
Exploration - Top-down / First-person
Combat - Turn based / Active combat
Series - Standalone

Is there any game I can import these characters into?

It's sad to see a fairly good game setup for a sequel that never materializes. While Warriors of the Eternal Sun had its flaws, the overall game was a nice change of pace from the grueling slogs the last few Genesis RPGs have been. Strangely using the Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition ruleset rather than the AD&D rules might have been a contributing factor. It balanced well the first-person dungeon crawling with over-world battles. While not exactly tactical, it was enjoyable.

The opening scene depicts the goblin hoard encroaching on a human settlement

The game opens with a battle between a goblin army, and the good humanoids. Duke Hector Barrik has retreated to his castle where he plans to make his last stand. Just as the goblins are seen coming over the ridge, the sky rips open. The entire castle is torn from the ground into the rift above. The castle and its inhabitants find themselves in a valley with impossibly high cliffs all around. Blazing above them is a red sun that never sets. The duke entrusts four adventurers with the task of exploring this new land to find allies to his plight.

Creating a new party

The ever present dilemma: use the default party or create new characters. I enjoy character creation. I decided on a group of four humans: a cleric, a fighter, a magic-user, and a thief. The demi-humans (dwarf, elf, or hobbit) offer a couple unique abilities, but level up slower than humans. A dwarf is strangely a worse fighter with no special ability. An elf is a fighter with magic-user spells, and the ability to detect secret passages. Hobbits cross fighter and thief without the ability to disarm traps. Magic-users and clerics have separate spell lists; while clerics have access to all spells each level, magic-users need to hunt down scrolls to scribe in their spell books. Thieves (and hobbits) have the ability to hide in shadows, but this was never successful for me, and I soon gave up trying. Clerics have the ability to turn undead (or damage if high enough level) as well.

*Plop*

The game began with a vague quest: find allies. The castle is in the middle of a valley surrounded by a river. Spattered around the valley were various cave entrances. There's a bridge that connects the small island to the rest of the valley. On this island I found a small encampment of beastmen, and a cave behind a waterfall that I explored thoroughly many times.

Note the caves to the southeast, northeast, and many to the northwest

The encampment seemed like a set encounter, but there was no description before or after the battle, and no special reward. The townsfolk continued to speak of the beastmen to the north even after clearing the camp. A cave behind the waterfall contained a variety of enemies: giant toads, flying vipers,  beetles, and more D&D-esque creatures with owlbears, trolls, and carrion crawlers. At end of the cave was a passage that led out to the top of the cliff, but little to discover there. Attempting to cross the only bridge produced a dialogue warning of the uneasiness felt by a couple party members. I felt stuck.

To exit this dialogue I would wiggle right, then back left, triggering it 5 or 6 times in a row before I gave up

I still don't understand why a piece of flavor text needed to trigger every time I tried to cross that bridge. The manual warned of the increasing difficulty of monsters across the water, so I stayed, thinking I needed just another level or two before my characters would feel fit for crossing. I grinded in the waterfall cave with many fatal attempts. The best way to approach combat in the dungeons was to use ranged weapons, and only melee for 2 or 3 swings before maneuvering around the monsters. Enemy movement and attacks are on an internal timer that's fairly easy to judge. All characters are capable of reaching enemies with melee weapons, but only enemies to the sides of behind can reach the back two.

That's a good summary of my experience

Oh, I wasted (well, I was gaining levels, so not a total waste) 3 hours more than necessary exploring that cave. I also spent some time exploring the town, although not enough to find the secrets until after it was destroyed. Gaining those levels somehow stocked the weapon and armor shops with more appropriate gear for adventuring. Spells from the magic shop were overpriced, and magical equipment was also outside my conceivable price range.

Apparently I truly am my people's last hope

Eventually I decided that I had done all I could in that blasted cave, the city stopped producing new equipment, and something was fishy about the bridge. Once I finally stopped wiggling, and merely pressed a button after the dialogue to continue, I was on my way. It was smooth sailing (minus actual sailing). In the cave network to the northwest, I fought a beastman named Uklangor, and a woman named Kacantizu identified as an Aztacan. The duke berated me for my lack of success, and sent me away. Marmillian, the duke's advisor, was very interested in the artifacts I'd found in the cave. He provided a withered vine to clear another section blocked by a tangle of living vines. I noted some heavy rocks that blocked some passages, but I never did figure out how to move them.

I came upon a lizardmen encampment in the swamp beyond the cave

The gold skinned brethren were the Aztacan, which made their home beyond the cave to the northeast. To gain access, I needed to find a combination in the beastman cave. This new cave provided a ring of regeneration, which was too slow to abuse, and some third level magic-user spells. My mage wasn't quite able to scribe them. I saved my game outside a giant pyramid hidden in the jungle on the other side of the cave. Saving can be done anywhere except in dungeons, and full party death requires loading a saved game (or starting anew). Characters can only be revived in the town, or special locations in the jungle (a rejuvenating pond) or swamp (a special tree).

One of the few scripted outdoor battles

Combat outside is turn-based, and uses the standard initiative method of D&D. Only two weapons or abilities are readied, but it doesn't cost anything to switch. Characters move within a certain radius, and use attacks based on the range of the weapon, ability, or spell. Some spells have been modified to work within the confines of the engine. Fireball radius is much smaller, and lightning bolts don't bounce (they seem to be exactly like fireballs). I found most spells to be underwhelming due to limited availability, and the requirement to rest in order to restore them. Resting is easy outside, but in dungeons it's limited to areas where the enemies have been cleared within a certain number of squares away. Enemies respawn when changing floors, so it's necessary to clear a certain area on a floor before the party can recover.

I took this guy out with ranged attacks, never saw if he had a unique sprite

The pyramid was lousy with traps, and my thief disarmed maybe three of them. Both my mage and thief soon died due to them, and my inability to let only my cleric nap to regain healing spells. I obtained four rings of fire resistance, which then allowed me to cross the lava path impeding my progress to the larger northwestern cave. I returned to town only to be forcefully removed by the duke for my failure. He declared this as my last chance to find an ally in the fight with our growing number of enemies (even though I'd been doing well clearing them out solo).

Well that was easy

The fire cave, as I'll refer to it, was guarded by a red dragon. I grinded on the dragon for a bit, but those levels were drained quickly by the undead below. I came away with numerous magic items to sell back in town, and the honor of an Oltec merchant willing to provide support to our cause. Unfortunately, by the time I'd returned, the madness had completely set in. The whole town was destroyed, and the people scattered into the forest. Only Marmillian remained to tell the tale. He provided me with the scroll of Ka, and told me of a strange creature called the burrower that was causing the madness. To the southeast was his cave, and I proceeded to clear it out in search of this beast.

An example of the automap that retains only a single floor until exited

Dark elves were the main adversary in the cave, up until the final floor where it was a strange assortment of one off D&D monsters. I suppose it makes sense as Marmillian called the valley a kind of zoo, where rare creatures or civilizations near the end of their time were taken to live on as evidence to their species. The final battle was... non-existent. I approached the burrower, and watched a scene play out: the party summoned Ka, who saved the day.

Ka is a T-Rex?

We were greeted as heroes upon our return to town. The duke apologized for his actions, and made each character a leader of their respective guilds. (What if we were all the same class?) The credit roll followed. Overall a fun game. It doesn't do anything exceptionally well, but it isn't very punishing. It was a nice break between two rather long RPGs. A party full of clerics could do just as well, or at the very least swap out the useless thief for an elf.

Elapsed Time: 13h46m (Final Time: 13h46m)

I wonder if he ever found his cat

Combatant - Combat was challenging in a way that required abuse of the mechanics. Kiting around enemies was necessary because the alternative was almost always death. Enemies were a hodgepodge of monsters from the D&D manual, plus some humanoid tribes. While stats do come into play, it's really the ability to dodge back in forth in dungeons that wins the day. Experience varied by enemy, but only the character that killed the enemy gained the majority of experience. Gold was only gained from outdoor combat with humanoid enemies.
Rating: 5

This final battle was fought only by Ka

Admirer - The controls worked well for this style of game. The character selection had a nice range, but the only customization option was choosing one of four colors for each character. Equipment wasn't displayed on the characters. No advancement options (no dual classing), but any party could easily beat the game. Well, maybe not thieves and magic-users solo.
Rating: 3

What's the point in a thief that can't disarm a trap

Puzzler - I honestly had trouble following the main quest in the beginning, but only due to one piece of dialogue that dissuaded me from crossing a bridge. There were a couple of necessary points to hit that could confuse some players. Without an elf the required secret doors had me thinking I was stuck in the pyramid. There weren't any puzzles to solve, and a single solution to the game. While there weren't exactly any side quests, there are a lot of secret areas and hidden caves to explore.
Rating: 1

Hey dude, I found your cat

Instigator - The game responded to my actions, but the main story was a bit light. The NPCs are hardly helpful in progressing the game, and definitely weren't helpful with the main quest (except for Marmillian). There weren't any descriptions, and I had to name most locations on my own.
Rating: 2

Apparently we have caravan routes to our enemies

Collector - There are a lot of items, but they're difficult to collect. Inventory space is limited, and there's nowhere to stash them. Dropped items appear on the ground or dungeon floors, but disappear as soon as the map changes. The economy is always useful for upgrading equipment up until the point where the town gets destroyed. Judging the best equipment is done automatically for armor (seriously, the game auto-equips the best armor), but difficult with weapons. (Sure +2 is better than +1, but is a spear +2 better than a sword +1?)
Rating: 3

8 items max each, including all equipment

Explorer - It's a nice world to explore. A bit too open and empty, but at the same time most of what's to be found is hidden. I enjoyed my treks back and forth from town to cave. Random enemy encounters appear while exploring. There isn't anything that stands out as extraordinary, but it's cool to see such an open world. The caves do tend to have plot locks unfortunately.
Rating: 6

Final Rating: 20 [33%]

We came; we saw; we died

I'm not sure if I was being kind to this game because it wasn't Wizardry, or if it really deserved the praise I gave it. The score doesn't really reflect my enjoyment. It's an interesting game, but I can see why it might not have done well enough to garner a sequel. It's a solid game engine, and could have been reused to bring other first person dungeon crawlers to the Genesis.

Now it's time for a couple RPGs from my youth. Of course, I played the PC version of Pool of Radiance, so we'll see just how much has changed. I'm expecting another long one in any case. Then we'll cut The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past before heading into Arcana.