Its so crazy how you're a fairly low sub channel. Watching your videos is like when you find a coffee shop in an alleyway that isn't well known and has just a few regulars but gives you amazing coffee every time.
Putting permanent level drain in a game with limited enemies is absolutely evil and Wraiths can take TWO - with bad RNG you could ostensibly be resting after every single encounter if you have trouble with the movement which is entirely possible. Opening a door into a room with fifteen Wraiths and slamming the door shut is a good memory. Finding those 15 coins was ughghghghghghghghghghghghgh - I was a silly and used a full party, so I was also a little on the weaker side for the last area. Stone Prophet is really really good. I enjoyed it a lot more mechanically, but I liked some bits in Ravenloft more.
@@ThisismineIguess I surprisingly didn't have too hard a time with the coins, I thought I would but I just relied on the map and anywhere that looked like it had a void I would wall hump and scour the walls for secret buttons until I got them all. Still took awhile though. I'm looking forward to stone prophet, it looks pretty good.
I really liked this video AW. I love the smooth scrolling games. I've played my fair share of grid based games. Wizardry V heart of the maelstrom for SNES actually got me into the grid based dungeon crawling scene. It's easier for me to understand the map on a smooth scroller. I'm not always in the mood to map out a grid based manually if the game doesn't have a map and even if I do, one wrong turn has led to many game overs from getting lost. I also wanted to mention how much I love your transition screens. Give the editors a treat for me, they did an excellent job per usual.
That was my big thing with it as well. I love the grid dungeon crawlers but find I'm just obsessing over the map the whole time to keep track of where I am. Something about those sharp turns is super disorienting. The smooth mapping here wasn't perfect, but I found I didn't need to look at my map nearly as much to know where I was. The cat swarm are going to earn themselves a new cat tree for Christmas at this rate.
Yo AW. Here for the algorithm for now. I'll be back after I watch ! Looking forward to this ! Always wanted to play this game when I was younger but it always evaded me.
I remember trying Strahd's Posession a long time ago, probably the SNES version, and getting beaten to a pulp by those worgs. I somehow made it a little further and met the fabulously dressed peahen, she lives rent free in my head. But uh... yeah, I stopped playing shortly afterward. Glad I watched Kikoskia RP his way through an LP of it, that was a much more enjoyable experience for me than actually playing it.
I had a good time with it, but it's a very specific kind of enjoyment that comes from methodically clearing out a map. I'm actually playing another Dreamforge game for my next video, and it has a lot of that same type of repetitive enjoyment for me.
"Maybe they made it home at least." Vladislav was already home, since he's Strahd. It's never cleared up what happened, but I fear the worst for the Cleric.
Buffing constantly is a problem in a lot of games, even modern ones. I really wish developers would just let a buff be active constantly in exchange for some type of cost. For example, that protection spell is always active, but it takes up one spell slot, or in other games, a buff that’s left on reduces max mana or something. Speaking of modern games, the Legends of Amberlands games are pretty good. I think you might enjoy them.
@@CptSamel it's funny because Dragon Age Origins did that exact thing with your modes you could activate at the cost of max stamina/mana. It was a great buff/debuff system and you don't see it often. I had never heard of Amberlands, I just looked it up and it looks like a dungeon crawler for the switch. I may give that a go, I've been looking for something new to play handheld!
It's sad we didn't get a Ravenloft RPG trilogy on PC. It's criminal that Ravenloft RPGs are overshadowed by the infinity engine Dungeons and Dragons games. What's even more criminal is how underrated and overlooked the Dark Sun games were. The Dark Sun trilogy never even got completed because the third game is now a lost media MMORPG.
@@Se7enBeatleofDoom I love infinity engine games as well, but it's a shame they seem to have wiped classic D&D dungeon crawlers like these off the map. Would have been nice to see more like Ravenloft developed alongside the infinity games. It's such a cool setting would have loved to see it expanded on. Dark Sun needs to get on my list to play sooner rather than later, I think it's the game people are recommend most and I'm guilty of not ever playing it.
I'm pissed that I didn't get the chance to play it when it was out, somehow missed most of the genre. My dungeon crawling started with Might & Magic 6, quite late. But this is such an impressive game for its time, I can see how it would've blown my mind.
@@aquawalrus Also, as far as Strahd's plan goes, maybe he went full meta and that portal crash at the start was part of it. After all, he almost made you give up on the game altogether. Imagine how many other hero parties he managed to poof out of existence just like that. Without ever dirtying his hands. Oh yeah, I guess I somehow triggered youtube's defense system, so my comment under Bioforge got wiped. I just wanted to suggest a couple of games: Alien Odyssey (it's bad but a curiosity), Entomorph: Plague of the Darkfall, and Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse. Maybe also Zenfar: The Adventure, which is objectively the worst game ever.
Thanks YT recommendation for this one ! It's cool to see someone doing review of games I always wanted to play but didn't had the machine to play them back then and the patience to play these nowadays ! Nice video, +1 Sub ! Have you ever played the Dark Sun games ? They were quite good if I remember well (hope my nostalgia isnt lying to me right now lol)
@@XyNoST glad to have you here! I haven't played Dark Suns yet, but it's definitely on my list. I've had quite a few recommendations for it so I don't think it's just nostalgia, it's still got quite the fan base.
Damn is ridiculous how many interesting and niche old RPG games are lost in time and in need of a Daggerfall unity kinda remake like don't take me wrong I'm interested in giving this dinosaur a shot but MAN it would be so nice for it to have modern controls and iron out the bugs ಠ◡ಠ
@@keiko431absolutely right. Like this game was amazing but the whole playthrough I was on pins and needles afraid the whole thing would crash and I would have to scrap the video idea again. It's crazy how good some of these classics are, and it's sad to think how much more difficult to play they will be in another 20 years.
I'm super stubborn when it comes to rebinding in DOSbox, I feel like I would rather struggle through the original controls rather than try to fix them. I think it's a personality flaw haha.
Nice one. I have never played this particular title, and it looks like I missed out :o I might actually try it but currently I have one of my classic master of magic phase again :D Looking forward to your take on eob3 I remember it was a bit controversial, but I enjoyed it a lot.
I'm excited to finish out the EOTB series, but I've heard 3 is the most controversial of the bunch, but it's also a totally new dev team for that title so there will always be changes. I'll be playing to with an open mind.
Always wanted this game!! I think i had one ssi game. Can't remember the name but you could build your own campaigns, but i was too young to make anything cool lol.
@@lawfulstupid643 just looked it up, if nothing else it looks like a really interesting game. Onto the list it goes. The cover art for that game is the same as the background art for memorizing spells in Ravenloft funnily enough.
Its kinda weird because on 1 hand, smooth movement gets rid of the tile based dancing you can do to get through encounters easily but on the other hand, its takes a bit of used too after you've adjusted to grid movement and smooth movement combat tends to lend itself to spamming hits and trying to overpowering everything.
@deathnotehell1 I agree, compared to that high control you get from the traditional grid based dungeon crawlers it can feel a lot more spammy. I still sort of like it, it makes the game a bit more frantic, but found myself longing for the tighter control of older games.
@@aquawalrus I mean if nothing else, it does add a bit of chaotic flair to combat which is more realistic than two people dancing around a gnoll like their playing a retro Dark Souls fan game.
@@deathnotehell1 haha, I feel like I want to make a super low quality animations of that now. You're right though, the strafe Dodge dance from EOTB and it's like is a special kind of wonky gameplay.
@@aquawalrus Has nothing to do with 'Burgers'. He is not a Master of Burgers. There neets to be a 'ü' (umlaut) there :D Would be a cool D&D Class: The Burger Master
Oh this game yeah I remember the nightmare fuel of playing this one mind you I've never been a fan of this style of RPG still think it's Graphics look good even for today I wouldn't mind more games like this just turn it up a little bit
@@orcwarchiefreviews yeah it's a very nice looking game all things considered. Compared to Menzoberanzan even, the difference is wild considering they were released the same year on the same engine, this one is just so much nicer looking.
I got to ask maybe you actually played this I vaguely remember a Wolfenstein like game werewolves vampires and other creatures you would happen to have ever played that it was in one of those bootleg compilation disks you could buy back in the day
@orcwarchiefreviews damn, I have to say I don't recognize it by the description, but it sounds like a good time. If you think of the title let me know, I would love a game in that style.
@@joshuakanapkey6570 I like the setting here more for sure, the dark fantasy is much more interesting than the desert theme from Stone Prophet for me. That said, Im super stoked for a higher level adventure.
@@aquawalrusI get it, but trust me - the desert can be crazy scary, too! 😉 It will be a treat, though admittedly, I am an extreme-weather-setting STAN! Gimme deserts and gimme Arctic!
@joshuakanapkey6570 Believe it or not I actually lived in the Arctic for a time so I super vibe with the setting. Now I wonder if there are any arctic themed dungeon crawlers, that would be really interesting!
I had this on cd rom in the mid-nineties. Compared to EOB II, the monster sprites look like ass and the game ran slow on my computer. I couldn’t get into it but it actually looks like an enjoyable game from this play through.
@@Bren71319 I can see that. I feel like changing from the more "static" movement with EOTB things could be pixely and still look nice, whereas here with the more free movement things could get really muddled when on the move. I think this game is very good looking when standing still, or when in dialogue, but yeah in motion it could get blurry really quick.
It's always fun to see D&D take on a slightly different setting. I'm excited for the sequel, it's got an Egyptian theme that can be really interesting if done right.
@@aquawalrus If only it had "mordern-ish" controls, I think I'd be able to stomach most of these RPGs myself. Nothing fancy or super modern, System Shock 2-style is enough.
@@DudeWatIsThis you aren't wrong, I've gotten pretty used to them but even so they leave something to be desired. It's a shame because there are some real gems out there, I would love to see a rework just to update the controls, visuals and the rest are just fine so far as I'm concerned.
When you brought up how the game often kills new players before they can save I thought you'd be talking about the first fight against the assassin which I haven't been able to get past yet and I have no idea why. I know the controls, I built the characters with literally maxed out stats (maybe the game adjusts the difficulty if you max out your ability scores idfk), and for some damned reason I can't seem to kill this one friggin' guy. Guess I just suck since apparently the wargs are the real newbie trap lol
@@conanmaolcheann5088 that's legit sort of strange! I almost wonder if it's a bug or something, I've never heard of him being a problem. The worgs are a nightmare though haha
@@aquawalrus My assumption is that there's something about the game I'm just not getting but I'm pretty sure I know how to do everything the game would require for me to get past him. I'm familiar with the old rules from the tabletop, I'm pretty sure I know the controls of the game and how to actually play it, yet every time I try to start up a playthrough (given there hasn't been too many times, I usually give up for awhile after a handful of deaths) I can't seem to get past this one guy
It's always one way or the other with thief characters isn't it? Either every single chest in the game is locked and trapped and locked again or there are like 2 in the whole game. 😄
I'm playing The Game since they 90s and I think I only played with 2 charácter once. Is slow, annoying and kinda boring. The Game was design to play with a party. If it's your first playtrought or your second or your third... Play with a party. There are some fun companions in The Game. This last couple of years The community insist in playing with only 2 characters but thats just for powergaming reasons. It's not a JRPG, You don't need to be max level to finish The Game. Just try to chose two companions and keep them for The rest of The Game. But never play without a cleric from The start. By The way You can actívate The "eye of The beholder style" movement but it doesnt work that well, The forniture and things get in The way. I normally play with The numbpad in normal movement and only actívate it when I want to Cross long distances in some places.
@@lordcabrito to be honest, it wasn't even so much for the experience I kept the party small, it was more for the buffing, like I didn't want to try and keep plane protection on the front 2. If I were to play again I think I might try a 3 man group, 2 rear and 1 front. Maybe take the bear mage with me. It's such a good dungeon crawler I can definitely see myself playing again before too long, maybe I'll do a challenge run with a thief or a ranger.
@aquawalrus The problem with rangers Is that You need to Take back every arrow You fire after a Fight and can be annoying, but You can kill them from The distance.
@@lordcabrito yeah, I found in my EOTB playthrough I would get so tired of going to get arrows that I would just stop having my archer shoot at all unless it was a really desperate fight. The rebounding ranged weapons in Ravenloft were nice, if a tad weak.
@@lordcabrito my secondary was a cleric/mage, the problem was I didn't find burning hands until late game as I missed it in the burgomasters house. Oops.
You're right, I've got automatic chapters set on UA-cam, but I don't think it works very well. I've been meaning to go and add chapters to all my videos manually I just need to stop being lazy about it!
I definitely prefer the setting of Ravenloft, but I am super excited for Stone Prophet regardless, it just looks excellent, and I find good high level DND games are so rare.
@@bigbangerz5856 I'm aware, maybe I should have said Ravenloft 1 vs 2 have completely different settings, I worded it poorly. I'm more into the medieval fantasy vs the deserts and mummies, but I'm still excited for 2 regardless.
@@NickAndWolf I'm fairly certain you can, though to be honest I feel like the design of these games lends itself to using the controls intended, changing them too much tends to work against you. It'll never be a WASD fast paced FPS.
Honestly given old DnD rules a third or fourth character is generally better. Level ups are absurdly slow and advances are limited especially after 9th level outside of spellcasters. An extra meat shield and attacker is huge as is more spell attacking\defenses. At best going it alone nets 1 or 2 extra levels for a single class character in most old DnD games by the end. Which isn't a whole lot really. Gygax was kind of a douchebag but there is a balance of sorts in old TSR DND rulesets. And 2nd edition took out some of his dumber things or at least sanded the edges down. I'm not gonna say he was a genius nor was he an inept racist misogynist either. He was a nerd born in the WW2 era in the US Midwest who liked pulp fantasy and was in one of the more Fun hating Christian denominations. Credit and blame where it's due I say. So yeah. Keep it in mind more characters equal more attacks and hit points which can more than make up for the XP reduction. It took me a long time as a tabletop gamer to learn quantity is a quality of its own...
I think more than anything in this title I was swayed by the fact that everything level drains, and keeping both front rank members buffed with plane protection tends to be difficult. I suppose you could keep a second one there as a pure meat shield and just let them get drained, that just seems mean though haha. I think if I were to play through again I would definitely take a third, to have a secondary rear member, but otherwise would leave the front rank alone.
@aquawalrus more attacks means less likely to get hit back. Depending on how fast on the controls you are. I suppose macros could help there. Or slow the cycle count in the emulator...
Its so crazy how you're a fairly low sub channel. Watching your videos is like when you find a coffee shop in an alleyway that isn't well known and has just a few regulars but gives you amazing coffee every time.
Your comment has made my day, I will strive to continue to serve the best coffee I can!
I found hilarious even back then how the Turn Undead spell made the monsters literally turn around in place.
@@Lobisomen oh no! A cleric! I better make myself dizzy! That'll help!
Putting permanent level drain in a game with limited enemies is absolutely evil and Wraiths can take TWO - with bad RNG you could ostensibly be resting after every single encounter if you have trouble with the movement which is entirely possible. Opening a door into a room with fifteen Wraiths and slamming the door shut is a good memory.
Finding those 15 coins was ughghghghghghghghghghghghgh - I was a silly and used a full party, so I was also a little on the weaker side for the last area.
Stone Prophet is really really good. I enjoyed it a lot more mechanically, but I liked some bits in Ravenloft more.
@@ThisismineIguess I surprisingly didn't have too hard a time with the coins, I thought I would but I just relied on the map and anywhere that looked like it had a void I would wall hump and scour the walls for secret buttons until I got them all. Still took awhile though.
I'm looking forward to stone prophet, it looks pretty good.
That cat is getting smugger by the video.
@@ArbiterLibera she's getting smugger in real life too.
@@aquawalrus don’t take her fish away!
@@vannthybun2546 don't worry she's a master manipulator, not only did she keep the fish, she talked me into giving her an extra ham.
Amazin series of games. Relatively unique. I've enjoyed all 2 Ravenloft games and Menzoberranzan.
They are all great, I'm excited for the 2nd one!
The sprite work in this one is great as well. 😊
Some of these old dungeon crawlers are worthwhile for the amazing artwork alone.
I really liked this video AW. I love the smooth scrolling games. I've played my fair share of grid based games. Wizardry V heart of the maelstrom for SNES actually got me into the grid based dungeon crawling scene. It's easier for me to understand the map on a smooth scroller. I'm not always in the mood to map out a grid based manually if the game doesn't have a map and even if I do, one wrong turn has led to many game overs from getting lost. I also wanted to mention how much I love your transition screens. Give the editors a treat for me, they did an excellent job per usual.
That was my big thing with it as well. I love the grid dungeon crawlers but find I'm just obsessing over the map the whole time to keep track of where I am. Something about those sharp turns is super disorienting. The smooth mapping here wasn't perfect, but I found I didn't need to look at my map nearly as much to know where I was.
The cat swarm are going to earn themselves a new cat tree for Christmas at this rate.
Yo AW. Here for the algorithm for now. I'll be back after I watch ! Looking forward to this ! Always wanted to play this game when I was younger but it always evaded me.
@@not_jon_vendi it's one of the better dungeon crawlers out there, that I've played anyhow. Super unique vibe!
I remember trying Strahd's Posession a long time ago, probably the SNES version, and getting beaten to a pulp by those worgs. I somehow made it a little further and met the fabulously dressed peahen, she lives rent free in my head. But uh... yeah, I stopped playing shortly afterward. Glad I watched Kikoskia RP his way through an LP of it, that was a much more enjoyable experience for me than actually playing it.
I had a good time with it, but it's a very specific kind of enjoyment that comes from methodically clearing out a map.
I'm actually playing another Dreamforge game for my next video, and it has a lot of that same type of repetitive enjoyment for me.
"Maybe they made it home at least."
Vladislav was already home, since he's Strahd. It's never cleared up what happened, but I fear the worst for the Cleric.
@@Gotcha444 I like to imagine she is living her best life, free of Ravenloft and finally able to remove her COVID mask.
Buffing constantly is a problem in a lot of games, even modern ones. I really wish developers would just let a buff be active constantly in exchange for some type of cost. For example, that protection spell is always active, but it takes up one spell slot, or in other games, a buff that’s left on reduces max mana or something.
Speaking of modern games, the Legends of Amberlands games are pretty good. I think you might enjoy them.
@@CptSamel it's funny because Dragon Age Origins did that exact thing with your modes you could activate at the cost of max stamina/mana. It was a great buff/debuff system and you don't see it often.
I had never heard of Amberlands, I just looked it up and it looks like a dungeon crawler for the switch. I may give that a go, I've been looking for something new to play handheld!
They probably try several approaches to magic and buffs on the mechanical level. I certainly would if I were a developer
It's sad we didn't get a Ravenloft RPG trilogy on PC. It's criminal that Ravenloft RPGs are overshadowed by the infinity engine Dungeons and Dragons games. What's even more criminal is how underrated and overlooked the Dark Sun games were. The Dark Sun trilogy never even got completed because the third game is now a lost media MMORPG.
@@Se7enBeatleofDoom I love infinity engine games as well, but it's a shame they seem to have wiped classic D&D dungeon crawlers like these off the map. Would have been nice to see more like Ravenloft developed alongside the infinity games. It's such a cool setting would have loved to see it expanded on.
Dark Sun needs to get on my list to play sooner rather than later, I think it's the game people are recommend most and I'm guilty of not ever playing it.
So much atmosphere in this one
I'm pissed that I didn't get the chance to play it when it was out, somehow missed most of the genre. My dungeon crawling started with Might & Magic 6, quite late. But this is such an impressive game for its time, I can see how it would've blown my mind.
@@Maggerama yeah it is technologically far ahead of other titles of the day. Cool setting too.
@@aquawalrus Also, as far as Strahd's plan goes, maybe he went full meta and that portal crash at the start was part of it. After all, he almost made you give up on the game altogether. Imagine how many other hero parties he managed to poof out of existence just like that. Without ever dirtying his hands.
Oh yeah, I guess I somehow triggered youtube's defense system, so my comment under Bioforge got wiped. I just wanted to suggest a couple of games: Alien Odyssey (it's bad but a curiosity), Entomorph: Plague of the Darkfall, and Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse. Maybe also Zenfar: The Adventure, which is objectively the worst game ever.
Thanks YT recommendation for this one ! It's cool to see someone doing review of games I always wanted to play but didn't had the machine to play them back then and the patience to play these nowadays ! Nice video, +1 Sub !
Have you ever played the Dark Sun games ? They were quite good if I remember well (hope my nostalgia isnt lying to me right now lol)
@@XyNoST glad to have you here! I haven't played Dark Suns yet, but it's definitely on my list. I've had quite a few recommendations for it so I don't think it's just nostalgia, it's still got quite the fan base.
Wish I had managed to play this one back when it came out. Think I would have liked it.
It's one of the higher quality dungeon crawlers out there. If you can make it through the first hour the game is really accessible even today.
Damn is ridiculous how many interesting and niche old RPG games are lost in time and in need of a Daggerfall unity kinda remake like don't take me wrong I'm interested in giving this dinosaur a shot but MAN it would be so nice for it to have modern controls and iron out the bugs ಠ◡ಠ
@@keiko431absolutely right. Like this game was amazing but the whole playthrough I was on pins and needles afraid the whole thing would crash and I would have to scrap the video idea again.
It's crazy how good some of these classics are, and it's sad to think how much more difficult to play they will be in another 20 years.
I like this channel. The creator is neither a stinker, nor a scapegrace
I rebound the dosbox keys to make the controls wasd+qe and it improved the experience 100 fold.
I'm super stubborn when it comes to rebinding in DOSbox, I feel like I would rather struggle through the original controls rather than try to fix them.
I think it's a personality flaw haha.
Nice one. I have never played this particular title, and it looks like I missed out :o I might actually try it but currently I have one of my classic master of magic phase again :D Looking forward to your take on eob3 I remember it was a bit controversial, but I enjoyed it a lot.
I'm excited to finish out the EOTB series, but I've heard 3 is the most controversial of the bunch, but it's also a totally new dev team for that title so there will always be changes.
I'll be playing to with an open mind.
Always wanted this game!! I think i had one ssi game. Can't remember the name but you could build your own campaigns, but i was too young to make anything cool lol.
That would be really neat! Would be cool to see what you could make with it.
I'm gonna guess Unlimited Adventures? I think it was one of the off-shoot Gold Box games.
@@lawfulstupid643 just looked it up, if nothing else it looks like a really interesting game. Onto the list it goes.
The cover art for that game is the same as the background art for memorizing spells in Ravenloft funnily enough.
You def picked the coolest Dwarf Face for your Dwarf, lol.
@@EonEsper-Kriz he's a handsome fella.
MOOOORE WALRUS!!!❤
Unleash the power of the Walrus.
@aquawalrus *HONK*
What do you think? Do 90's dungeon crawlers work better with the smooth movement, or is grid based the way to go?
Its kinda weird because on 1 hand, smooth movement gets rid of the tile based dancing you can do to get through encounters easily but on the other hand, its takes a bit of used too after you've adjusted to grid movement and smooth movement combat tends to lend itself to spamming hits and trying to overpowering everything.
@deathnotehell1 I agree, compared to that high control you get from the traditional grid based dungeon crawlers it can feel a lot more spammy. I still sort of like it, it makes the game a bit more frantic, but found myself longing for the tighter control of older games.
@@aquawalrus I mean if nothing else, it does add a bit of chaotic flair to combat which is more realistic than two people dancing around a gnoll like their playing a retro Dark Souls fan game.
@@deathnotehell1 haha, I feel like I want to make a super low quality animations of that now.
You're right though, the strafe Dodge dance from EOTB and it's like is a special kind of wonky gameplay.
Grid is more fun imo
"Bürgermeister" is nothing else than a Mayor of a Town. Same Thing.
@@Zargkhon they also need to have a minimum 2 years experience in cooking hamburgers. 🍔
@@aquawalrus Has nothing to do with 'Burgers'. He is not a Master of Burgers. There neets to be a 'ü' (umlaut) there :D
Would be a cool D&D Class: The Burger Master
I'm starting a new D&D tabletop session tomorrow, maybe I can convince my DM to let me play a master of burgers. It would boost morale I'm sure of it!
@@aquawalrus If you pronounce 'Burgers' differently and tell him that it is an elfish Word nad he doesn't understand it, then it could work.
Oh this game yeah I remember the nightmare fuel of playing this one mind you I've never been a fan of this style of RPG still think it's Graphics look good even for today I wouldn't mind more games like this just turn it up a little bit
@@orcwarchiefreviews yeah it's a very nice looking game all things considered. Compared to Menzoberanzan even, the difference is wild considering they were released the same year on the same engine, this one is just so much nicer looking.
I got to ask maybe you actually played this I vaguely remember a Wolfenstein like game werewolves vampires and other creatures you would happen to have ever played that it was in one of those bootleg compilation disks you could buy back in the day
@orcwarchiefreviews damn, I have to say I don't recognize it by the description, but it sounds like a good time.
If you think of the title let me know, I would love a game in that style.
Love this game, though I still think Stone Prophet is the superior Ravenloft game from SSI.
Both are amazing, though!
@@joshuakanapkey6570 I like the setting here more for sure, the dark fantasy is much more interesting than the desert theme from Stone Prophet for me. That said, Im super stoked for a higher level adventure.
@@aquawalrusI get it, but trust me - the desert can be crazy scary, too! 😉
It will be a treat, though admittedly, I am an extreme-weather-setting STAN!
Gimme deserts and gimme Arctic!
@joshuakanapkey6570 Believe it or not I actually lived in the Arctic for a time so I super vibe with the setting. Now I wonder if there are any arctic themed dungeon crawlers, that would be really interesting!
@@aquawalrus Well, there was Icewind Dale...
@@joshuakanapkey6570 true enough! And I'm super overdue for a playthrough, it's been years since I've played the series.
I had this on cd rom in the mid-nineties. Compared to EOB II, the monster sprites look like ass and the game ran slow on my computer. I couldn’t get into it but it actually looks like an enjoyable game from this play through.
@@Bren71319 I can see that. I feel like changing from the more "static" movement with EOTB things could be pixely and still look nice, whereas here with the more free movement things could get really muddled when on the move.
I think this game is very good looking when standing still, or when in dialogue, but yeah in motion it could get blurry really quick.
Apparently, Eastern Europe exists in the Ravenloft setting.
It's always fun to see D&D take on a slightly different setting. I'm excited for the sequel, it's got an Egyptian theme that can be really interesting if done right.
@@aquawalrus If only it had "mordern-ish" controls, I think I'd be able to stomach most of these RPGs myself. Nothing fancy or super modern, System Shock 2-style is enough.
@@DudeWatIsThis you aren't wrong, I've gotten pretty used to them but even so they leave something to be desired. It's a shame because there are some real gems out there, I would love to see a rework just to update the controls, visuals and the rest are just fine so far as I'm concerned.
@@aquawalrus Oh of course! I'd play a 4-colour CGA game anytime, no problem. It's just the controls that put me off.
When you brought up how the game often kills new players before they can save I thought you'd be talking about the first fight against the assassin which I haven't been able to get past yet and I have no idea why. I know the controls, I built the characters with literally maxed out stats (maybe the game adjusts the difficulty if you max out your ability scores idfk), and for some damned reason I can't seem to kill this one friggin' guy. Guess I just suck since apparently the wargs are the real newbie trap lol
@@conanmaolcheann5088 that's legit sort of strange! I almost wonder if it's a bug or something, I've never heard of him being a problem.
The worgs are a nightmare though haha
@@aquawalrus My assumption is that there's something about the game I'm just not getting but I'm pretty sure I know how to do everything the game would require for me to get past him. I'm familiar with the old rules from the tabletop, I'm pretty sure I know the controls of the game and how to actually play it, yet every time I try to start up a playthrough (given there hasn't been too many times, I usually give up for awhile after a handful of deaths) I can't seem to get past this one guy
Strahd von Zarowich 🧛🏻♂️
@@1man_crowd Strahd von Sandwich
Hey! Give me back my Strahd sandwich! 😂
@@1man_crowd it's bursting with the flavors of Barovia, you'll never get it back!
It's always one way or the other with thief characters isn't it? Either every single chest in the game is locked and trapped and locked again or there are like 2 in the whole game. 😄
Some day an RPG will release with proper balance.
I'm playing The Game since they 90s and I think I only played with 2 charácter once. Is slow, annoying and kinda boring.
The Game was design to play with a party. If it's your first playtrought or your second or your third... Play with a party. There are some fun companions in The Game.
This last couple of years The community insist in playing with only 2 characters but thats just for powergaming reasons. It's not a JRPG, You don't need to be max level to finish The Game. Just try to chose two companions and keep them for The rest of The Game.
But never play without a cleric from The start.
By The way You can actívate The "eye of The beholder style" movement but it doesnt work that well, The forniture and things get in The way. I normally play with The numbpad in normal movement and only actívate it when I want to Cross long distances in some places.
@@lordcabrito to be honest, it wasn't even so much for the experience I kept the party small, it was more for the buffing, like I didn't want to try and keep plane protection on the front 2.
If I were to play again I think I might try a 3 man group, 2 rear and 1 front. Maybe take the bear mage with me.
It's such a good dungeon crawler I can definitely see myself playing again before too long, maybe I'll do a challenge run with a thief or a ranger.
@aquawalrus The problem with rangers Is that You need to Take back every arrow You fire after a Fight and can be annoying, but You can kill them from The distance.
@@lordcabrito yeah, I found in my EOTB playthrough I would get so tired of going to get arrows that I would just stop having my archer shoot at all unless it was a really desperate fight. The rebounding ranged weapons in Ravenloft were nice, if a tad weak.
@@aquawalrus Oh, and next Time try having a Mage. Burning Hands Is a nuclear bomb against Half The enemies in The Game.
@@lordcabrito my secondary was a cleric/mage, the problem was I didn't find burning hands until late game as I missed it in the burgomasters house. Oops.
You could have divided the video by thematic segments with timestamps, would be easier to navigate
You're right, I've got automatic chapters set on UA-cam, but I don't think it works very well.
I've been meaning to go and add chapters to all my videos manually I just need to stop being lazy about it!
Imho the successor Stone Prophet was far superior to Strahds Possession in their Ravenloft line
I definitely prefer the setting of Ravenloft, but I am super excited for Stone Prophet regardless, it just looks excellent, and I find good high level DND games are so rare.
@ Stone Prophet is set in Ravenloft dude
@@bigbangerz5856 I'm aware, maybe I should have said Ravenloft 1 vs 2 have completely different settings, I worded it poorly.
I'm more into the medieval fantasy vs the deserts and mummies, but I'm still excited for 2 regardless.
Can you review Might and Magic 7 sir?
@@PadanFain836 I did buy the whole set of them, I'm for sure starting that series soon.
Woohooo!
Portrait of a character you played, it's just a Romanian guy XD
His moustache is unmatched.
I mean, can’t you just rebind the keys using dosbox?
@@NickAndWolf I'm fairly certain you can, though to be honest I feel like the design of these games lends itself to using the controls intended, changing them too much tends to work against you. It'll never be a WASD fast paced FPS.
Moist Manatee
@@BenWard29 water bound buffalo
21:30 uuuh yeah it's a sword. Kinda how they work. I guess im just not getting it
Honestly given old DnD rules a third or fourth character is generally better. Level ups are absurdly slow and advances are limited especially after 9th level outside of spellcasters. An extra meat shield and attacker is huge as is more spell attacking\defenses. At best going it alone nets 1 or 2 extra levels for a single class character in most old DnD games by the end. Which isn't a whole lot really. Gygax was kind of a douchebag but there is a balance of sorts in old TSR DND rulesets. And 2nd edition took out some of his dumber things or at least sanded the edges down. I'm not gonna say he was a genius nor was he an inept racist misogynist either. He was a nerd born in the WW2 era in the US Midwest who liked pulp fantasy and was in one of the more Fun hating Christian denominations. Credit and blame where it's due I say. So yeah. Keep it in mind more characters equal more attacks and hit points which can more than make up for the XP reduction. It took me a long time as a tabletop gamer to learn quantity is a quality of its own...
I think more than anything in this title I was swayed by the fact that everything level drains, and keeping both front rank members buffed with plane protection tends to be difficult.
I suppose you could keep a second one there as a pure meat shield and just let them get drained, that just seems mean though haha.
I think if I were to play through again I would definitely take a third, to have a secondary rear member, but otherwise would leave the front rank alone.
@aquawalrus more attacks means less likely to get hit back. Depending on how fast on the controls you are. I suppose macros could help there. Or slow the cycle count in the emulator...
"open world survival horror" dude, it's just a CRPG
@@BADC0FFEE 🙀
Burgemeester. ("Burger" - citizen + "meester" - master, chief.)
Groetjes uit Nederland.
Hallo uit Canada!