Codex Interview RPG Codex Interview: Ion Hardie on Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader

Lurker King · Jan 19, 2017

Interplay was a mess.

Iluvcheezcake · Jan 19, 2017

I dont think i was ever so dissapointed by any game as much as with Lionheart. Especially after the Barcelona part. I also remember the official forums before the release, there was a user called drunkdwarf who tried to convince everyone about the shitty state of the game, but the hype train pretty much ran him over (until after release day ofc).

There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth

FeelTheRads · Jan 19, 2017

Nazrim Eldrak said:
The endboss is an Islamic State looking guy who transforms himself into a Dragon and if you are not prepared he will fuck you up! No kidding

spoiler lul

Anyway, in theory you can rat diplomacy him, but you'd need to put so much in speech that you couldn't even get past half of the game because you'd suck at everything else.

Shovelware gaming, the RPG edition.

karfhud · Jan 20, 2017

Fairfax said:
Interplay at the time couldn't tell what was risky and what had higher chance of success. As Ion said, they saw Lionheart as an opportunity to make a quick buck. As for Icewind Dale, IWD2 was still being developed when the Lionheart contract was signed.
One big issue is that they weren't counting on their stock going to shit for good. By Dec 2001 it was being sold for ~$0.50. NASDAQ delists companies with a share price below $1, but they give companies time to recover. Interplay stock went from ~$0.50 in early 2002 to ~$0.08 by the time it was delisted in October 2002.

Thanks for that insight

Darth Roxor · Jan 20, 2017

Hilarious clusterfuck.

Baron Dupek · Jan 20, 2017

I still don't understand how they gave up past Barcelona, yet made game with 10 chapters long...

thesheeep · Jan 20, 2017

Iluvcheezcake said:
I dont think i was ever so dissapointed by any game as much as with Lionheart.

I think the game was the first true disappointment for many gamers.
If it was just shit, it wouldn't be as bad. That it had and even shows promise actually makes it worse... if that makes any sense.

Fredward · Jan 20, 2017

This was the first RPG I ever played, I can still quote bits of it verbatim. People say it sucked after Barcelona but nah, Toulouse was still good and so was meeting Nostradamus. Where it tanked hard and fast was after you get teleported and the English have invaded. Awful, awful slog. The Crypt was also pretty bad wrt endless hordes of tedious enemies (those regenerating skeletons, blegh) though I did like the story going on in there. I liked that you could talk/trick your way past every Daeva and beat the game with a conversation instead of a fight. And joining Relican and being an evil necromancer was nice too, you can intimidate the Inquisitor in Toulouse that way. Can't do that as a Wielder. Not that you really get anything out of it but w/e. Lucius and the memory cannibalization quest was nice, I remember being vaguely miffed cuz the game wasn't giving me a clear right/wrong answer, ah youth.

What I liked the most though was the setting. I wish magical alt-history was more of a thing.

Also, you can romance Shakespeare and he writes Sonnet 130 about you which, I mean... come on.

Fenix · Jan 20, 2017

Dropped it after I have found some demon, probably in Barselona, after I pass some walls, and this demon or who it was was able to change all thing that set in character generation/
I remember I set all stats on 10, exit game and never looked back...

Iluvcheezcake · Jan 20, 2017

thesheeep said:
Iluvcheezcake said:

I dont think i was ever so dissapointed by any game as much as with Lionheart.

Click to expand...

I think the game was the first true disappointment for many gamers.
If it was just shit, it wouldn't be as bad. That it had and even shows promise actually makes it worse... if that makes any sense.

Nailed it.

CyberWhale · Jan 21, 2017

MotherMachinae said:
I still don't understand how they gave up past Barcelona, yet made game with 10 chapters long...

Fairfax: Yes, most reviews focus on how the game got worse after Barcelona, and I agree, but the game deserved more credit.

Ion: We should have just made the game shorter, cut out England entirely and focused on the ending scene. We tried to do too much in the time we had. Black Isle was going under and was late with just about every milestone payment...we had to hire people that we didn't have their first paycheck for, which is always fun.

Kev Inkline · Jan 21, 2017

Iluvcheezcake said:
before the release, there was a user called drunkdwarf who tried to convince everyone about the shitty state of the game

Sounds like a true Codexian at heart.

:obviously:

Saduj · Jan 21, 2017

Bought this on GOG a while ago. I remember skimming over a review that strongly suggested making a range combat character. Ignored that. Played all the way to final dungeon with a melee character despite the game sucking after first chapter. Final dungeon has a "teh floor turns into lava, lol" area, which is a gimmick I fucking loathe. Without going into the shiity details, that area would be much less annoying with a ranged build. Couldn't bring myself to slog through it and quit there.

Finding out that the people making this game weren't being paid on time explains a lot.

Filthy Sauce · Jan 21, 2017

Ion: I played a lot of D&D as a kid. Heck, we were even working with Atari for a while on a Ravenloft game that, honestly, was looking pretty good before it got cancelled because Temple of Elemental Evil didn't perform to expectations.

Whaaaat?
:negative:

Average Manatee · Jan 22, 2017

Interesting stuff. Is the game still worth playing as a partial demo of a full game?

Nazrim Eldrak · Jan 22, 2017

Average Manatee said:
Interesting stuff. Is the game still worth playing as a partial demo of a full game?

If you are interested, I found a site where you can download a Demo, but I didn´t test it myself:

http://www.gamepressure.com/download.asp?ID=3289

Also you can find the game on GOG. I don´t know which country/continent you live, so I can´t say if the price is fair enough for you:

https://af.gog.com/game/lionheart_legacy_of_the_crusader?as=1649904300

Drog Black Tooth · Jan 25, 2017

The game had p awesome isometric graphics, sadly capped at IIRC 800x600 though. I think they actually used the very same engine Reflexive's been using for their numerous shareware office games at the time.

I remember even making a basic high resolution patch for this game, lol.

Drog Black Tooth · Jan 25, 2017

Also that main menu track, so fucking good.

Infinitron · Jan 25, 2017

Drog Black Tooth said:
The game had p awesome isometric graphics, sadly capped at IIRC 800x600 though. I think they actually used the very same engine Reflexive's been using for their numerous shareware office games at the time.

I remember even making a basic high resolution patch for this game, lol.

Not this one? http://www.moddb.com/mods/lionheart...heart-legacy-of-the-crusader-widescreen-patch