Matt Barton goes back in time with a retrospective of Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos.
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More information.
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Lands of Lore - Matt Chatt Retrospective
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Avantre
Sentinel
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"Plus, how many other CRPGs have Patrick Stewart as a voice actor?'
A decent handful, actually. Oblivion, X-Men Legends 2, and Castlevania and Forgotten Realms Demon Stone (those two are on the edge of rpgs, but still…)
A decent handful, actually. Oblivion, X-Men Legends 2, and Castlevania and Forgotten Realms Demon Stone (those two are on the edge of rpgs, but still…)
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D
DArtagnan
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A wonderful game, though I personally prefer Eye of the Beholder 2.
Lands of Lore 2 had a great story, but was a letdown in the gameplay department.
Loved Westwood Studios back in the day.
Lands of Lore 2 had a great story, but was a letdown in the gameplay department.
Loved Westwood Studios back in the day.
Kordanor
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Next to Stonekeep Lands of Lore was my favorite Dungeon Crawler and one of the very few games I actually finished a couple of times.
Loved that you got a full screen picture of your hero in the end and the credits were also nice when all the different enemies came "onto the stage" made their move, went went away again.
Was also the first RPG I remember which didn't throw anything in your way which almost made a printed walkthrough mandatory. You could almost call it the first RPG which was also suitable for more casual players.
Can still hear Baccatas "It do-es not fit!" in my ears and regularily listen to the soundtrack of the game.
Loved that you got a full screen picture of your hero in the end and the credits were also nice when all the different enemies came "onto the stage" made their move, went went away again.
Was also the first RPG I remember which didn't throw anything in your way which almost made a printed walkthrough mandatory. You could almost call it the first RPG which was also suitable for more casual players.
Can still hear Baccatas "It do-es not fit!" in my ears and regularily listen to the soundtrack of the game.
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JonNik
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Nice!
Love the series (Although I too had a preference for the EotBs) as a whole.
Tempted to do a replay one of these days even knowing that I have MMX (and eventually Grimrock 2) to scratch some of that itch…
Love the series (Although I too had a preference for the EotBs) as a whole.
Tempted to do a replay one of these days even knowing that I have MMX (and eventually Grimrock 2) to scratch some of that itch…
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Kordanor
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EotB had the advantage of having 3 games in a row where you could take over your characters and it felt more dynamic with resurrecting skeletons and so on.
It's a shame that EotB is still not available on gog.
Didn't like the LoL sequels.
It's a shame that EotB is still not available on gog.
Didn't like the LoL sequels.
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Gloo
Sentinel
The throne of chaos was a very good game, for sure but for me, I would add more precisely that it was half a great game ! Roughly the last third of it was pretty boring, seemingly finished in a hurry by Westwood. As someone else said, I prefer the EoB series best, as the second and third issues in the Lands of lore series were mostly flawed games.
Lands of Lore is a good dungeon crawler.
I liked it back then, I replayed it some years ago only to notice that it doesn't age so well.
I liked it back then, I replayed it some years ago only to notice that it doesn't age so well.
Farflame
SasqWatch
Lands of Lore - great game of my youth. I liked it more than EoB series. Probably because all the polish and graphics, story and bigger scope (both underground + ground level maps).
I still remember some animated effects… like swarm of bees which fly out of hive in your inventory.
I still remember some animated effects… like swarm of bees which fly out of hive in your inventory.
I love Matt's reviews. And I also like his beer sequences.
For me, Land of Lore 1 is still in my overall top 10 RPG list. I played the first version (floppy disk) before the CD version with Patrick Steward came out. If I replay, I'm gonna get some nice audio voices I never experienced when I initially played the game.
I'm assuming the GOG version I have is also the talky version
For me, Land of Lore 1 is still in my overall top 10 RPG list. I played the first version (floppy disk) before the CD version with Patrick Steward came out. If I replay, I'm gonna get some nice audio voices I never experienced when I initially played the game.
I'm assuming the GOG version I have is also the talky version
Farflame
SasqWatch
Hey, EotB2 and especially EotB3 also had ground level maps
EoB2 - not much
EoB3 - I know but it wasnt on the same level as Lands of Lore.
LoL has different feel. Like game with proper story and bigger world located mostly on the ground.
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Throne of Chaos, I adore it. Love the music so much. I play it every couple of years. Oh that white tower is soooo hard.
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JuliusMagnus
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I never played it but was always intrigued thanks to a trailer that could be found on the Red Alert cd-rom. Although that might have been Lands of Lore 2.
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I'd love to see another style of game similar to the first Lands of Lore game. It had a nice colourful and adventurous vibe to it. Something that seems to be hard to come by these days or maybe it is that nostalgia kicking in again.
I hear ya. The closest to LOL as far as colors was Might and Magic. But I too loved the color palate of Land of Lore. One current game out that has an unusual (and nice)color palate is Deus Ex HR. And with an expansion supposed to come out tomorrow, well, I am pleased.
But back to Land of Lore 1. I don't know why so many games fail to capture that "colorful and adventurous vibe". Well actually, if you want to check out some colorful and adventurous game design check out some of the latest platformers. Just within the past couple of years I've seen more experiments with color and adventurous design than anywhere in the gaming genre. Unfortunately I typically can't stand platformers, so I just look and admire.
Still, I had a lot of fun with Land of Lore 1 and now, after Matt's retrospective, I find myself trying to figure out a way to throw in a replay into my gaming schedule
Is it just me, or does Matt look like he's doing a Wahooka impression in the above frozen image…oops, wrong game.
Lands of Lore is definitely an old favourite and brings back many memories. It was incredibly accessible, evidenced by the fact that my little sister even managed to beat it back in the day and she was never a cRPG fan. I finished it with all four characters. I never did manage to get through the sequels; the FMV sequences and general gameplay style of Lands of Lore 2 is quite grating in contrast to the classic dungeon crawling of the original game.
Similar to Kordanor, I remember many choice jokes from the game. Timothy's "I…think you mean sconces"…after a party member describes a torch holder as a scone, is a favourite. Whenever I encounter a locked door or chest in any old game, I can still hear Baccatta's accented cry of "lawked!" as clear as day.
Lands of Lore is definitely an old favourite and brings back many memories. It was incredibly accessible, evidenced by the fact that my little sister even managed to beat it back in the day and she was never a cRPG fan. I finished it with all four characters. I never did manage to get through the sequels; the FMV sequences and general gameplay style of Lands of Lore 2 is quite grating in contrast to the classic dungeon crawling of the original game.
Similar to Kordanor, I remember many choice jokes from the game. Timothy's "I…think you mean sconces"…after a party member describes a torch holder as a scone, is a favourite. Whenever I encounter a locked door or chest in any old game, I can still hear Baccatta's accented cry of "lawked!" as clear as day.
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Westwood Studios were amazing. I loved a lot of their games, even old Nox (an underrated game I'd say). They always managed to make their games interesting, and with fairly solid gameplay.
As for the Lands of Lore series - I only recently found out about the C&C reference in it. Decades after it's released I still find out something new about it. That's pretty cool.
As for the Lands of Lore series - I only recently found out about the C&C reference in it. Decades after it's released I still find out something new about it. That's pretty cool.