Lord_Potato
Arcane
I've been playing this for most of the week and I am really impressed.
Sure, the game's buggy as fuck, with regular freezes and ctds, that can be however mitigated by frequent autosaving. The visuals will not impress anyone, they were already dated when Prelude was released. There are places, where the game seems simply unfinished. Characters with almost no dialogue, buildings that noone occupies, even though they look like someone lives there.
But underneath all the problems, there is a hidden gem. Starting with character creation that will immediatly charm any true RPG fan. You create a party of 3 characters, with 3 more slots open for recruitment of NPCs you meet along your journeys. The options are numerous: you choose bloodlines (PtD version of races), backgrounds, base stats, skills. A classless system allows you to shape your heroes any way you wish. Then there is the first town, or rather a village you visit, Kellen. It's a small place, but filled to the brim with content: quests (some of them really complex and with many ways of approaching them), interesting characters, secrets to uncover.
Once you're done with Kellen - and you better spend some time there, gathering much needed experience and developping your skills - the whole Valley becomes open to exploration. That is, if you don't get killed in some random encounter. Prelude does not fuck around and will not hesitate to murder you at first chance you give it. So, keep your swords sharp and your wits sharper - for the enemies can be tough and the villains' plots even tougher to unravel.
Prelude to Darkness offers a good progression system, an intriguing world, and a dark plot with lots of opportunities for backstabbing, doublecrossing and switching sides (which you might want to take, because you too will often be backstabbed, doublecrossed and simply betrayed). It does not however offer AAA production values or even a slightest bit of polish. It is certainly a gem, but a rough one.
I still have a lot of game before me (hope my playthrough does not die because of some gamebreaking bug) but I can already recognize greatness when I see it. And Prelude is a truelly amazing RPG, which obviously came through development hell and was unable to fully realize its potential and receive recognition it actually deserves. Today however, we can do it justice. I think every fan of the genre should at least give it an honest try - after all, it's freeware now, so you risk nothing. Just go an play it! Here's the download link.
Sure, the game's buggy as fuck, with regular freezes and ctds, that can be however mitigated by frequent autosaving. The visuals will not impress anyone, they were already dated when Prelude was released. There are places, where the game seems simply unfinished. Characters with almost no dialogue, buildings that noone occupies, even though they look like someone lives there.
But underneath all the problems, there is a hidden gem. Starting with character creation that will immediatly charm any true RPG fan. You create a party of 3 characters, with 3 more slots open for recruitment of NPCs you meet along your journeys. The options are numerous: you choose bloodlines (PtD version of races), backgrounds, base stats, skills. A classless system allows you to shape your heroes any way you wish. Then there is the first town, or rather a village you visit, Kellen. It's a small place, but filled to the brim with content: quests (some of them really complex and with many ways of approaching them), interesting characters, secrets to uncover.
Once you're done with Kellen - and you better spend some time there, gathering much needed experience and developping your skills - the whole Valley becomes open to exploration. That is, if you don't get killed in some random encounter. Prelude does not fuck around and will not hesitate to murder you at first chance you give it. So, keep your swords sharp and your wits sharper - for the enemies can be tough and the villains' plots even tougher to unravel.
Prelude to Darkness offers a good progression system, an intriguing world, and a dark plot with lots of opportunities for backstabbing, doublecrossing and switching sides (which you might want to take, because you too will often be backstabbed, doublecrossed and simply betrayed). It does not however offer AAA production values or even a slightest bit of polish. It is certainly a gem, but a rough one.
I still have a lot of game before me (hope my playthrough does not die because of some gamebreaking bug) but I can already recognize greatness when I see it. And Prelude is a truelly amazing RPG, which obviously came through development hell and was unable to fully realize its potential and receive recognition it actually deserves. Today however, we can do it justice. I think every fan of the genre should at least give it an honest try - after all, it's freeware now, so you risk nothing. Just go an play it! Here's the download link.
