[Review] Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage

Today I'm going to be reviewing Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage, an RPG for the Nintendo 64. I know what you're thinking. "Holy shit, N64 has an RPG?!" Sure does, and it's surprisingly good. It features 14 different characters, hours of gameplay, very in depth story line, a huge world to explore, fully customizable character development with few limitations, 3D strategic combat, and potentially insanely hard battles with PERMADEATH. So why the hell haven't you heard of this game? I don't know, it has one of the longest titles ever. But seriously, I can't really tell why this game isn't popular. Maybe because the first hour is boring and hard to figure out, I don't know. Let's get into it then. It's long so be prepared.

[Review] The Temple of Elemental Evil

The Temple of Elemental Evil is a D&D based computer RPG created by Troika Games. It's created based of the pen and paper D&D adventure version. The game was published by Atari in 2003.

Even if you're into D&D games like Baldur's Gate, Neverinter Knights, or Pool of Radiance, there's a good chance you haven't played this game. It became super popular and isn't mentioned all too often. Why is that? Well, I'll get into that.

First, let me start with why this game is awesome. It features detailed 2D character models and very fluid animations. The maps and ambient effects are very well done.

It has by far, the best adaptation of the D&D ruleset and gameplay out of any D&D based game as of yet. If there ever was a game that truly emulated the pen and paper feeling, it's this game. The battle system is very in depth and allows very strategic gameplay.

So why isn't the game well known? Where do I start?

Like linear RPGs? Try this game "The Linear RPG"

Taking the term linear to an extreme level, the Linear RPG cuts out all the crap that bogs down normal RPGs (like graphics and gameplay and characters) and just gives you a story line and a line to follow. And by line I mean a line. There's no exploring, just follow the line. The game knows you just want to know how the story plays out. It also fights the random battles for you.

Controls are simple. Right progresses the story, left backtracks. HP meter is the top left, EXP is the top right, and your level is at the bottom. The text you can barely see in the background is the story line. The dots are inns that restore your HP.

Have fun grinding levels by pressing left and right a bunch of times.

http://www.sophiehoulden.com/games/thelinearrpg/

[Review] Haven and Hearth

I wanted to do something on this game for a while now but I never got around to it before, so I figure I'd do something quick about it before I spaced it completely.

Haven and Hearth is a java based MMO in development. It's unique in that there are MANY different aspects that meet and merge into one game. Basically it's a farming-hunting-fishing-crafting-village building-survival-fully PvP game, quite a mouth full. The game is in what the devs describe as "playable alpha" so it's still under a lot of development, which is both good and bad. The client and some game aspects are unstable and there are a lot of imbalances, but on the other hand, the game gets updated and changed fairly often.

Watch their outdated trailer, it'll give you a better idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v72vZb2FL5M&

A landscape screenshots of my fort before it was destroyed.

Everything in the game is player driven. There are no quests, no NPCs (outside of hostile animals) and no shops. Players start off in random spawns and need to find resources and learn skills to survive, and it's tough. You're expected to lose a few characters in the trial process of starting out before getting settled. After learning to feed your character and survive, the next step is to build shelter. Building a house and surrounding it with a palisade wall will keep out animals. Once you have a safe spot, you need to CLAIM the land around your house. This will make it so other players can't steal your things without learning the PvP skills and leaving traceable scents. Once all that is set up, you're ready to explore and find other players and make your mark on this digital world. Not all players are friendly however, so be careful.

All in all, this game is amazingly genius. I personally can't wait for it to blossom into a finished game. If you wanna check it out here's the link. Just don't get too attached to your creations, as they reset the maps for testing periodically.

http://www.havenandhearth.com/portal/

The world needs more D&D based games.

It's my theory that games based off D&D rules instantly makes them classic. Seriously, has there been any that sucked? Some of the greatest RPG games have roots into the classic dice rolling system. Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, KOTOR, and Planscape Torment. Games almost always found on any "top 20 RPG" lists, all using the core rule sets.

So what happened to them all? Black Isle kicked the bucket, but it's about time someone carries their torch. Bioware has done a bit, the last one seen was Neverwinter Knights 2. But that was a few years back and it's about time we see another epic game that can take us back to the days of pen and paper game play, without suffering the same limitations.