Lands of Lore

[7eve70rd]

Anyone play Lands of Lore?

Let's take a look Westwood Studios' answer to Ultima Underworld and Dungeon Master: Lands of Lore.

The series debuted in Sep. 1993 and sold over 250,000 copies by '96. Westwood already had a great reputation (Eye of the Beholder, anyone?), so there was a great deal of buzz about the title. However, unlike EoB, LoL abandoned the D&D license in favor of a more accessible ruleset.

Did Westwood's in-house system dumb down the EoB mechanics? You betcha, but perhaps it doesn't always make sense to try to replicate the tabletop on the desktop.

Let's summarize the key differences:

1. Ditched the character creation--here, you just choose one of four pre-made heroes.
2. Combat is real-time and driven by cooldowns.
3. Progression relies on a straightforward skill system: using weapons hones the requisite skill on a skill tree (one for fighter, rogue, and mage), etc.
4. Stats are mostly hidden from the player.
5. You don't need to memorize spells to use them.
6. Put away the graph paper. There's an auto-mapper.

In short, yes, these are definitely easier to pick-up-and-play than EoB or the other games mentioned, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The focus is on story and exploration; there are plenty of secrets and variety in the environments to keep you hooked (the second game emphasizes exploration even more). The story features a villain named Scotia, and it's well-integrated into the gameplay. If you're tired of grim, dark fantasy, you're in for a treat. LoL is more The Princess Bride than Game of Thrones.

These games are known for their visual polish, with some of the best 2D artwork of the era. Great environments, animated monsters--the hand-drawn visuals really shine compared to the crude 3D of contemporary games. They blurred movement for a pseudo-3D effect.

And how about that CD-ROM version that came out a year later? Patrick Stewart voiced King Richard and did the intro. Be sure to savor it: Jean-Luc was paid $10,000 per hour for the 3-hour session. Talk about an enterprising dude!

 

[99nereids]

I picked the first 2 up on GOG years ago & forgot about them lol. played about an hour or 2 of the first one some months ago & it was pretty fun! Definitely feels like an eye of the beholder game with a different coat of paint, but i like how lived in the world felt in this one. The voice acting iirc was pretty good too. i always pogface when i see fully voice acted games from the 90s, even if it is compressed to hell & back
would have liked the ability to create a custom character but i thought there was some variety to the available selection at least (isnt one of them a furry?)

 

[mlastes1987]

Oh yeah, got all 3 games. Good stuff, definitely a top tier CRPG.

 

[job32]

I played one of these years ago. It was very forgiving compared to most CRPG's which was a good thing in my opinion. Can't remember if I saw it through to the end, probably not. Really enjoyed it eitherway.