- What is it?
- An action RPG.
- 1988:
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- 1990: NES
- 1988:
- What computer or emulator will it run on?
- Any PC with 256kB RAM.
- Similar Games
- Drakkhen, The Immortal, Arena.
I got mainly interested in this game because it seems to be the first that used the strange view that was later used by Ultima VI, Ultima VII, and Bad Blood, all of them Origin games.
This view is basically top-down, with square floor tiles, but with walls drawn 45° to the top-left. Technically, it is quite a good view, you can have doors in vertical as well as horizontal walls (always a problem in the SNES-type view), and it gives a fairly realistic impressions. It just tends to give me a kind of vertigo, but I guess that's my problem.
The PC version had sound card support, and that's interesting in itself, in 1988! It is even said that this game was the only one that had decent music for the Creative Music Systems Gameblaster. And that's exactly where the problem is, too: This predecessor of the Soundblaster had a special music format that was not supported for long. You could (or maybe even still can) buy C/MS chips for the Soundblaster 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0, but not for the later models. And these early Soundblaster cards have become rare. DOSBox, however, has full Gameblaster support.
The company that made the legendary Ultima series made some other, rather good role playing games as well. One of those is Times of Lore, a game that lets you play as one of the three characters (a valiant Knight, powerful Barbarian or nimble Valkyrie; though it seemed to make precious little difference which one you chose) in search for magical items that will help the King to reclaim his throne. It's a bit of a problem 'cos barbarians are attacking from one side, various dangerous monsters on the other and there's plenty of internal feuding going on between the local nobles.
Times of Lore uses a slighly unusual interface for a RPG. You will have to use the "adventure style" icons to pick up items, use objects, talk to people etc. The game area is incredibly huge, taking about 5,000 by 8,000 screens! Enough to make you play for a very long time, trust me!
Perhaps best described as "light Ultima", Times of Lore is a pleasant RPG set in the land of Albareth. You play either a Knight, a Barbarian, or a Valkyrie on a quest to search for the magical artifacts that will restore High King Valwyn to power. The game is played in real-time, with adventure-style interface (Use, Talk, Drop, Equip etc.) similar to the Ultima series. Overall, it's a fun, short RPG that's not innovative in any way, but it does everything well and is a fun diversion from "heavy" RPGs, and does a much better job at introducing RPG newbies to the genre than the overly simplified Tangled Tales which was based on the same engine.
