It's been some time since I posted a Forgotten oldie thread, since it is very hard to find almost completely forgotten games that offer something more than usual crap. Things that will not make you regret playing it. I believe all the games I mentioned so far in these threads are worthy of the title Forgotten oldie and I hope those who are willing to try old games will enjoy this new adventure which I have discovered not so long ago.
The game I am about to review is called Death Gate and it is based on the novels of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman known as The Death Gate Cycle. It was made by the legendary Legend Entertainment in 1994, who were most famous by Frederick Pohl’s Gateway and Terry Brooks’ Shannara. I might do a review on those games some other time. Anyway this game surprised me the minute I started playing it.
The story of Death Gate starts with the gathering of some mysterious mages preforming a dangerous ritual that sunders the world apart into 5 pieces/realms. Apparently there was a war between the Sartan and Partryn sorcerers years ago and the Partryns were close to victory. In their desperation the Sartans decided to resolve to drastic measures which resulted in the aforementioned sundering and the deaths of millions of people (humans, dwarfs, elves are called the menschs). The realms were later known as world of air, firy, earth and water and they represented the 4 elements. The Sartan “mercifully” imprisoned the Patryn in the fifth realm, known as the Labyrinth. During centuries of imprisonment, the Patryn struggled to survive in the harsh enviorment of the sentient Labyrinth, which had a will of it's own. It tortured them with harsh environments,deadly traps, monsters, etc..
The game starts with you (Haplo - the name sure is stupid in my opinion, but no big deal) escaping from the labyrinth with the help of Lord Xar. He then asks you to help him in his search for the missing seals which were the cause of the sundering, so he could preform the ritual of restoration to fix the world into it's original state. Apparently the Sartans have also disappeared over the centuries and he wants you to find out what happened to them so he could destroy them for what they did. He also wants you to learn any new spells and to bring the knowledge to him so he could exact revenge on the Sartans when the time is right.
What surprised me the most in this game is it's size, although the story is a bit meh. There is incredibly well layered plot based on the 5 seperete realms, since each world features unique experience. From realm to realm everything is different. From different geography and landscapes, different life conditions to different history and societies. Each realm has their own royal families, guilds, merchants, etc.. each with their own ambitions and goals which are not connected to the main story. Also most of the people you meet will not have any knowledge about the story behind the Sartans and Partryns, since they have been missing for a very long time. Most of information you will get from Lord Xar who is the plot progressor and few notible figures through out the game.
Death Gate plays like a traditional point-and-click adventure game but you play it from the first person. I am not a big fan of first person adventures, since you can very easily miss some location and get stuck if you don't notice a different curve on your pointer, but in Death Gate this is not the case. It really plays like point-and-click adventure game, but you see everything from first person. You also have a compass which shows you all the rooms you can enter, so there is no way you can miss some location. The puzzles are great and there is a nice balance between puzzles and conversations. The conversations are also incredibly well done, but tend to be very long sometimes, especially if you want to ask every single question available. But what makes the conversations above average than other adventures I have played is roleplaying elements. I haven't tested out all the options, but you very often you have the ability to act differently towards people you meet. For example in the world of air the dwarves are being oppressed by some glowing beings (I won't say more), who made them believe they were Gods. When you arrive to the world of air you can pretend to be a God, or you can decide to be honest. Each option leads to different response and although there aren't any consequences it is a nice touch. The number of dialog options is also very impressive and when you take into consideration every character has a voice and many, many lines you start to wonder how did they manage to put the whole game on 1 CD. There is quite a bit of narrative text, diaries, historical documents, and dialogues to sieve through. They are all well written and are rather fascinating, since everything is directly connected to the quests the player needs to complete or the puzzles the player needs to solve. There is a fine dose of humor in the game too, but nothing so unsubtle that may distract you from taking the main story seriously.
The puzzles in Death Gate are perfect! They are all logical, not too easy and not too hard which makes the game extremely enjoyable to play. There was one puzzle which was tough to crack, but you can ask for help from the game. There is a lot of quests, subplots and plot twists, so you will never be bored like in some adventure games. For example I loved Discworld Noir, but Goddamnit most of the times I was going from one location to another clicking on the journal entries while talking with people. In Death Gate there is a perfect balance of the quantity of puzzles with the quantity of dialogs.
You can die in Death Gate, but it will not happen too often. Just be careful not to expect the game to keep you alive. The interface of the game is fairly intuitive. On the upper left side you have options like take, put, look at, use, etc... and occasionally you will get special option on some objects like kick, push, etc.. In the lower left corner you have a compass which shows you the options where you can move. Under the main screen you have items and use magic icon which allows you to cast magic. Ahh, magic.. almost forgot about that which is a wonder since magic plays a vital role in the story and puzzle solving. Magic works similar like in Arx Fatalis, but don't worry, you won't have to draw signs in the air. You can do that too by putting together the magical symbols, but there is an easier way which lets you just click on the magic spell you want to cast and the symbols will come together automatically. Magic is also explained very originally (at least i found it so). Basically the magic works by making possibility come into reality. If you for example see a wall in front of yourself, there is a possibility there was once or will one day be a door there. Magic wielder makes that possibility into reality, or something like that.
You can also have your own party. Well not literally in RPG terms, but you will sometimes have to bring certain people with you because they have certain abilities you need to progress in the game. Quite a nice touch for a game made in 1994.
The graphic in Death gate is amazing. Everything is drawn to the smallest detail and although there are not many animations, the descriptions used when looking at things, as well as good writing and good music make a nice tasty soup I believe every adventure fan will enjoy. If codex would have scores I would give this game 9/10, since the last world in the game is a bit short and because of the lack of animations.
Here are some more screen shots:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/death-gate/screenshots
The game I am about to review is called Death Gate and it is based on the novels of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman known as The Death Gate Cycle. It was made by the legendary Legend Entertainment in 1994, who were most famous by Frederick Pohl’s Gateway and Terry Brooks’ Shannara. I might do a review on those games some other time. Anyway this game surprised me the minute I started playing it.
The story of Death Gate starts with the gathering of some mysterious mages preforming a dangerous ritual that sunders the world apart into 5 pieces/realms. Apparently there was a war between the Sartan and Partryn sorcerers years ago and the Partryns were close to victory. In their desperation the Sartans decided to resolve to drastic measures which resulted in the aforementioned sundering and the deaths of millions of people (humans, dwarfs, elves are called the menschs). The realms were later known as world of air, firy, earth and water and they represented the 4 elements. The Sartan “mercifully” imprisoned the Patryn in the fifth realm, known as the Labyrinth. During centuries of imprisonment, the Patryn struggled to survive in the harsh enviorment of the sentient Labyrinth, which had a will of it's own. It tortured them with harsh environments,deadly traps, monsters, etc..
The game starts with you (Haplo - the name sure is stupid in my opinion, but no big deal) escaping from the labyrinth with the help of Lord Xar. He then asks you to help him in his search for the missing seals which were the cause of the sundering, so he could preform the ritual of restoration to fix the world into it's original state. Apparently the Sartans have also disappeared over the centuries and he wants you to find out what happened to them so he could destroy them for what they did. He also wants you to learn any new spells and to bring the knowledge to him so he could exact revenge on the Sartans when the time is right.
What surprised me the most in this game is it's size, although the story is a bit meh. There is incredibly well layered plot based on the 5 seperete realms, since each world features unique experience. From realm to realm everything is different. From different geography and landscapes, different life conditions to different history and societies. Each realm has their own royal families, guilds, merchants, etc.. each with their own ambitions and goals which are not connected to the main story. Also most of the people you meet will not have any knowledge about the story behind the Sartans and Partryns, since they have been missing for a very long time. Most of information you will get from Lord Xar who is the plot progressor and few notible figures through out the game.
Death Gate plays like a traditional point-and-click adventure game but you play it from the first person. I am not a big fan of first person adventures, since you can very easily miss some location and get stuck if you don't notice a different curve on your pointer, but in Death Gate this is not the case. It really plays like point-and-click adventure game, but you see everything from first person. You also have a compass which shows you all the rooms you can enter, so there is no way you can miss some location. The puzzles are great and there is a nice balance between puzzles and conversations. The conversations are also incredibly well done, but tend to be very long sometimes, especially if you want to ask every single question available. But what makes the conversations above average than other adventures I have played is roleplaying elements. I haven't tested out all the options, but you very often you have the ability to act differently towards people you meet. For example in the world of air the dwarves are being oppressed by some glowing beings (I won't say more), who made them believe they were Gods. When you arrive to the world of air you can pretend to be a God, or you can decide to be honest. Each option leads to different response and although there aren't any consequences it is a nice touch. The number of dialog options is also very impressive and when you take into consideration every character has a voice and many, many lines you start to wonder how did they manage to put the whole game on 1 CD. There is quite a bit of narrative text, diaries, historical documents, and dialogues to sieve through. They are all well written and are rather fascinating, since everything is directly connected to the quests the player needs to complete or the puzzles the player needs to solve. There is a fine dose of humor in the game too, but nothing so unsubtle that may distract you from taking the main story seriously.
The puzzles in Death Gate are perfect! They are all logical, not too easy and not too hard which makes the game extremely enjoyable to play. There was one puzzle which was tough to crack, but you can ask for help from the game. There is a lot of quests, subplots and plot twists, so you will never be bored like in some adventure games. For example I loved Discworld Noir, but Goddamnit most of the times I was going from one location to another clicking on the journal entries while talking with people. In Death Gate there is a perfect balance of the quantity of puzzles with the quantity of dialogs.
You can die in Death Gate, but it will not happen too often. Just be careful not to expect the game to keep you alive. The interface of the game is fairly intuitive. On the upper left side you have options like take, put, look at, use, etc... and occasionally you will get special option on some objects like kick, push, etc.. In the lower left corner you have a compass which shows you the options where you can move. Under the main screen you have items and use magic icon which allows you to cast magic. Ahh, magic.. almost forgot about that which is a wonder since magic plays a vital role in the story and puzzle solving. Magic works similar like in Arx Fatalis, but don't worry, you won't have to draw signs in the air. You can do that too by putting together the magical symbols, but there is an easier way which lets you just click on the magic spell you want to cast and the symbols will come together automatically. Magic is also explained very originally (at least i found it so). Basically the magic works by making possibility come into reality. If you for example see a wall in front of yourself, there is a possibility there was once or will one day be a door there. Magic wielder makes that possibility into reality, or something like that.
You can also have your own party. Well not literally in RPG terms, but you will sometimes have to bring certain people with you because they have certain abilities you need to progress in the game. Quite a nice touch for a game made in 1994.
The graphic in Death gate is amazing. Everything is drawn to the smallest detail and although there are not many animations, the descriptions used when looking at things, as well as good writing and good music make a nice tasty soup I believe every adventure fan will enjoy. If codex would have scores I would give this game 9/10, since the last world in the game is a bit short and because of the lack of animations.
Here are some more screen shots:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/death-gate/screenshots
