Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos

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Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos
Lands of Lore - The Throne of Chaos.PNG
Cover art
Developer(s) Westwood Studios
Publisher(s) Virgin Interactive
Designer(s) William Alan Crum
Composer(s) Paul Mudra
Frank Klepacki
Dwight Okahara
Platforms DOS, NEC PC-9801
Release date(s) 1993
Genre(s) Role-playing
Mode(s) Single-player

Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos is a role-playing video game developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Games for the DOS and NEC PC-9801. It was the first installment of the Lands of Lore series.

Gameplay

File:Lands of lore panels.png
Clockwise from upper left: (1) conversation with a dying character; (2) combat with several Pentrogs; (3) the automapper; (4) character panel showing equipment and stats

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The game presents a real-time, three dimensional view from the character's perspective that is similar to the interface used on the Dungeon Master game and the Eye of the Beholder series.[1]

The player has to choose among four playable pre-made characters:

  • Ak'shel: a Dracoid, an ancient race of dragon-lizard hybrid origin, specialized in magic.
  • Kieran, a Huline, an ancient race of human-feline hybrid origin, specialized in dexterity.
  • Michael, a human specialized in strength and fighting.
  • Conrad, another human, who is a well-balanced combination of all.

Plot

King Richard LeGrey is the leader and 40th heir of the Gladstone Keep and the White Army. Gladstone is the base of operations for all of the civilized areas. The White Alliance has been defending it from many threats for three generations. The King is worried about Scotia (Margarithe Fiston), an old witch and ruler of the Dark Army who has recently acquired a ring called the Nether Mask, which allows its user to assume any form of any power or capability. The King sends the player out on a mission to acquire the Ruby of Truth from Roland.

When the hero finds Roland, he learns that the Ruby of Truth has been stolen as Roland dies. When he returns to Gladstone, he sees Scotia poison King Richard and escape. It is now up to the player to save the King and defeat the evil witch Scotia.[2] He must visit the Draracle and obtain the recipe of an elixir that will save King Richard. Once they have the recipe, the party must travel the Lands of Lore to find the ingredients, while simultaneously learning as much as possible about the Nether Mask in the hopes of defeating Scotia.

Release

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The game was followed by two re-releases: a CD-ROM "talkie" version in 1994 which featured an additional narrative history of the Lore of the Lands by Patrick Stewart (who also voices King Richard), and a Special "White Label" European Release in 1996.

On November 15, 2011, the game was re-released on GOG.com, bundled with the sequel.[3]

Reception

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Computer Gaming World's Scorpia stated that Lands of Lord "breaks new ground in a number of pleasantly surprising ways". She approved of the graphics that improved on those of Eye of the Beholder, sophisticated automap, and simplified skill, magic, and inventory systems. While disliking the combat, Scorpia concluded that "Lands of Lore is a better-than-average game of this type [and] worth playing, especially" for Eye of the Beholder fans.[4] The game received 4 out of 5 stars in Dragon.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ New release: Lands of Lore 1+2
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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