"Basic Story Outline: You are a young adventurer who has been more or less forced to join a group of shady characters, will you help them or will you find the Empire's ever-growing reach pleasing?"
CommentaryI was in the mood for a good RPG and went hunting through the relatively small list within the allegro depot.
Legends of Thantil caught my attention because it has both a unique name, but yet, so common amongst RPG titles. After loading it up and getting used to the controls, I got crackin'.
SummaryLegends of Thantil is about a boy or man (not really sure...) named Javez. Thumbs up on the main char's name, unique but not too unique, just like the title. The world seems to be in somewhat of a turmoil as mages are being slaughtered by the Empire (who seemingly trains mages of their own…), this time, a very cliche'd term. Nonetheless, you have the basic grasp of what's going on.
And for the rest of the game, you will always have that basic grasp. I have to say that development is lacking in Legends. There are several plot holes and unresolved mysteries. I kept waiting for those dang Flaming Kurtis guys to do something! Story-aside, it's not that bad of a game. If anything, I'd put it near Final Fantasy II (not IV, I'm talking Japanese version via FF Origins). You often have no idea where you are going, why you are going there and/or how to get there, but it still functions and progresses.
Transitions and Bugs
The problem with the game is transition. Everything transitions poorly. The background music changes every time it finishes a song. You run into battles very unexpectedly. Characters join the party out of the blue. The whole game follows a chaotic linear plot, meaning it may seem like you can go wherever, but you're going to end up following the same exact line of progress every time.A game that has so many issues that is obviously trying to fall back on dialogue really needs to make that dialogue good. And, as I mentioned, it isn't. The battle system is interesting, but it loses its veneer after becoming so repetitive.Legends still has a lot bugs. You can walk right off the edge and cry when the program crashes and you forgot to save. There are plenty of misspellings and other such nonsense.
Start ‘er up!
The one transition that is done well is the flow of concept in the game. It starts with a very simple cut-scene (one of about three for the entire game) to give you an idea and a practice battle to get use to the controls. You are then allowed to go to a town or a cave. The battles get slightly more difficult and you get a good core understanding of what the rest of the game will be like. So, um, where do I go now?
After getting out of the camp grounds, there are a few places you can go. Of course, touching the big icon (Thantil) does nothing and the Orc won’t let you in the Orc village. Really, you can go to Nordor or Summervale, either choice will eventually lead you on the same trail. During this long time of talking and trying to figure out where to go, there are no battles and it is slightly boring.
And the best city/village/town award goes to…
Tridor. It was a close race between Tridor and Ciiskin (the sky city), but Tridor was just such an interesting little place that somewhat (although not very clearly) explained some things about the game. Plus, the only way to get in or out of it was by means of teleportation or death. J
Can I run away? No? Then I shall use magic! Oh…nevermind…
In combat, there’s really only three things you do: Move, attack and end your turn. There’s a choice for magic and fleeing, but as far as I could tell, they don’t do anything…
I broke the damage limit!
You know games like Final Fantasy and many other RPG’s where you can do mega loads of damage, sometimes going over 10,000 damage? Not in
Legends. In this world, you’ll be excited to break into the double digits. Don’t get me wrong, I actually was excited. My best hit was 15 damage at the final battle.
I want to buy it, but I can’t…
There’s a small list of items available in the game, enough for you to mix and match to your personal taste. Careful though, there is an exact set of monsters that you can run into (battles are not random), meaning there is a precise amount of money you will get. Only the later battles provide you with a decent amount of money. At first, you only get about 5-8 gold per battle, just enough to buy a potion or rest at the inn to prepare for the next battle.
Argh! That blasted treasure!
I was able to get the treasure in the underground cave of Nordor, but there was another treasure that merely laughed at my futile attempt. Hidden in the trees is a treasure box on the southeastern part of Nordor. I searched the trees around it and found I could walk through some. Unfortunately, nothing ever led to the tempting treasure. If you can get it, please let me know!
Whoa, what did you just say?
“WHO IN THE NINE HELLS ARE YOU!?” Ah, Illthuian, what exactly crawled up your…
Legends features some pretty graphic language. Sometimes its crude, sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it is meant to be funny and other times it is offensive, but never seems fitting. I have to say, if you have an Orcish Slut in your game then you’re probably going too far (warning: don’t read what she/it has to say too closely).
Who are you, Teliana?
One of the "features" of this game includes getting a second person on your team. This is when the game gets fun because now you have to shop accordingly and battles take more strategy (if either person dies, the whole game is lost). I must admit though, the transition of her coming to your party is a complete surprise. It's almost like the author was making a NPC and decided "and here's where Teliana joins!" Of course, she leaves the party just as randomly. ;)
Battle with the Harpy
For me, the best part of this game is the battle with the Harpy in the Sky town of Ciiskin (I think that's what it was called). First off, you have the mystical setting of traveling through a town hovering in the sky. Second, you get a few good battles along with some peace on the north side. Third, the challenge with the Harpy herself. The Harpy isn't too difficult, but rather the entire battle. It's a 2-vs-8 scenario and your two characters don't start next to each other. If you don't move right, then the enemies could all gather on one person. That's not necessarily bad, being that once the enemies get close, they tend to forget what they're suppose to do. Nonetheless, the battle was relatively intense and exciting.
Finally made it to Thantil!!!
The city/castle pair of Thantil doesn't come till the very end of the game. It's a big icon on the world map that you can't enter until the end. Obviously, since Thantil is the evil empire, you've got to expect some resistance upon entering. Fortunately, it's only one battle (on possibly the largest battle field). Then, you can talk with Thantillian citizens. At first, I hated everything in this town (not because of its evilness, but more because of its construction). Eventually I realized the blatant stab at mass commercialism. The city has an Ad company filled with idiots who think their ideas are ingenious. I'm not sure if it is a stab at Tobacco companies or at the Truth.com (Tobacco companies rival), since the dialogue feels like Truth.com with a touch of over-dramatization. Stay away from the church unless you want to hear the typical and over-exaggerated stabs it typically gets.
Then you get to the castle. Everything goes haywire here. The drama and buildup has all led to this moment and then it definitely gets a little crazy. The ending result is quite unexpected as well. It makes more sense when you think of the entire game as a whole, but you probably won't like it the first time through.
And how long will this take?
For the average gamer, I’d say between 2-3 hours. This is if you save it regularly, because you never know when you’re going to run into a battle that turns out bad.
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And now to formulate this review into its different topics, judging this game on its different elements.
Graphics 4/10
The graphics aren't so bad that you can't tell what is what. You can say that is a tree and that's a building. Sometimes you'll go "is that suppose to be a chair of some sort?" All the sprites animate, but only in one direction. *Sigh* However, I've seen worse and think the author did a fine job. It's not terribly horrible to look at and he even notes that this is an Old-Style RPG. These graphics are just what you get. I'd give it a higher score, just out of personal choice, but in relation to other games out there, that'd be just blatantly unfair.
Sound Effects 4/10
There's so much more room for sound effects in this game. Perhaps a battle cling or wind sound. Unfortunately, about the only sound effect I remember was when you bought something at the store. However, that sound fits perfectly and that's why I'm giving it a 4. I just hope more sound effects are added to later versions to liven up this game a little.
Music 7/10
I think the music in this game is almost dead on perfect. With the current setting of graphics along with slow pace movement and despair-like theme, the music really adds to the feel. The songs just need to be organized a little better. Having them play like a randomly sorted playlist takes away from that feel. Plus, they're only half-songs. Fortunately, the author notes that the music is really just a place-holder for the time being and since the potential is there, I'm currently giving it an 7. I would like to see music for certain things in the future, like battle sequence song, a town song, a last battle song, etc.
Story/Plot/Purpose 7/10
Here I was ragging on about the story of this game and yet, I'm giving it a 7? Truth be told, the plot is there, it's just muddy. And yes, it is somewhat cliché, but it still has its unique feel to it. Every once in a while, you're lucky enough to run into a NPC who actually talks some sense. And it's a good thing too, otherwise you most likely wouldn't be willing to sit through it.
Controls 7/10
Simple. That's all there is to it. Simple is a good thing, though. You can learn them quickly and get into actually playing the game. The layout of the controls works nicely too. The only negative thing is sometimes you want to do something and you can't. Like press up at the top of any inventory list and make it loop to the bottom.
Replay Value 1/10
Once you play through this game, you're pretty much done. Since the path is so linear and you can't really expect new challenges, most likely you'd probably not play again, unless you wanted to figure out how to buy one of those expensive ethers. If the game were a little more lively (and more logical), then possibly you'd come back just for a fun revisit.
Difficulty 8/10
I never felt over-challenged. The curve of learning is pretty balanced and doesn't put you in difficult battles from the beginning. In fact, there's a nice training fight at the beginning that shows you the ropes. Although it’s simple, its sufficient.
Originality 3/10
It's only original in itself, but a little too cliché to win points here.
Artificial Intelligence 5/10
It's really a good thing the enemies are so dumb. It doesn't take long to figure out how they think and how you can somewhat manipulate them to your desire. Of course, if they were any smarter, it'd be really difficult since most battles you're way outnumbered.
Pointless Opinion 8/10
So...what's good about the game? Believe it or not, it has a nostalgic value to it. Although most people can't see past the graphics, I enjoyed the simplicity of them. Sure, I'd always ask for a graphics upgrade, but to not play the game solely because of that is just a sin! I kept coming back to
Legends because I kept waiting for it all to connect. It's also pretty difficult to figure out where to go, so I enjoyed trying to manage my way through and figure out how to beat the battles.
The Author is pretty cool too. He helped me out with some buggy situations.
******* Overall Rating: 54/100 *******Click
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