"A game with an excellent storyline."

Graphics - Some of my friends complained to me that the graphics are terrible. However I find it to be acceptable when I first play the game in 1991. That was three years after it was released. After playing it in 2003 I still find the graphics to be acceptable. My only complaint is that there were too few icons. Thus many of the characters looked to similar. I would give the graphics a 6/10.However do note that I do not usually care about graphics unless it is really terrible. Personally I find that it looked better than the graphics of Ultima IV. Also that comparison was after I used the 256 colour patch on ULtima IV.

Gameplay - 9/10
This is one of the most carefully thought out RPG. There are tons of secrets to discover. There are 8 dungeons and 8 shrines. However to enter them you may need to talk to couple of people who happened to live in different towns.

There are also a couple of other spells and items to discover which can be challenging too. There are also many secret places where there are many hidden treasures. My only complaint here is that the secret doors and rooms behind fireplaces is a bit overdone.

Another fun part of the game involves travelling from one place to another place. There are 3 types of place that you can travel to. The world where the towns are located, the dungeons which act as a link between the world on top and the underworld. The underworld is a place that you would need to go to in order to finish some of your tasks.
There are many ways that a person can move. He can use a skiff which is a small boat, a frigate which can travel across oceans. He can even find a magic carpet which can travel across swamps and rivers. He can cast spells to trasport himself across impasable mountains and cast spells that teleport him to other places. There is even a mooonstone which allows the user to travel to many places without the use of magic spells. Lastly there is the grapple that allow you to climb mountains.

This game was made in 1988 but it allows you to form a party of 6 characters. I simply cannot stand RPGS where you are forced to only use 3 characters in your party.
There are about 14 characters for you to choose from. However there are only 3 classes Mage, Bard and fighter.

This game is very open ended. In that it is not linear at all. Although you are required to fulfill some tasks you can finish them in any order you desire. Although there are pros and cons to each of the different orders. I was unable to beat the game in 1991 when I first played it because I was basically trying to use 1 guys's method. When I played this game in 2003 I basically use methods from 4 different Faqs and also some methods that I have discovered.

Another cool aspect of this game is that the towns folk actually have a schedule. They will eat and sleep according to the time of the day or night. In fact some towns can be entered or left at certain times. Also some people will only be awake at certain times. This makes this game incredibly realistic. I mean how unreslistic can an RPG be if the NPCs never move and are always at the same place. Also the NPCs will tell you more stuff if you ask them the correct questions. But how do you know the correct questions ? The key is to speak to other people who will tell you the correct question to ask.

Okay I have mentioned all the great things about this game.
Now onto some of the bad things about this game. Its extremely difficult to level up in this game. If you have a habit of letting weaker characters hide behind and allow the stronger ones to fight, you will be in for a shock. Your only gain experience for successful hits. A freerider in a party gets no experience points. Also there seems to be the problem that if you cast spells to kill enemies you seem to get little or no experience.

Another bad thing about this game is that you need to really level up to level 8 in order to have a fair chance of beating the final dungeon. I was able to get there with my Avatar on level 7 and my other characters on levels 4 -6. However I was forced to leave and level up in order to beat the final dungeon.

Story Line - 9/10
The story may seem empty and simple in the begining. However you will appreaciate the storyline once you start talking to the various people. Infact sometimes you will find more secrets and appreciate the storyline after you piece the puzzles of the jigsaw together. Yes storyline is like a jigsaw and you can only appreciate it after playing it for some time. What I like about the storyline is that the storyline starts from being simple to being interesting. It also does not get confusing at all.

Sound Effects/ Music
I understand that there is a patch for this game that gives it midi music. I would recommend people to download it. However I played this game on a Laptop and is unable to configure it. But I believe it should work and it might give this part of the game a better score.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/06/03, Updated 06/06/03