Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader

"A fantastic epic marred by extreme difficulty"

[b]IN RETROSPECT[/b]:
I recently replayed Lionheart, and I've had a major change of heart. I do not believe I have docked the game enough for its faultsm, and do not want to give people deciding whether to buy it or not the wrong impressions. I will hereby reduce my gameplay score from 88% to 70%, and overall score from 92% to 81%. When you get deeper into the France portion of the game, everything goes to hell. Obviously the developers started rushing at this point, and it really shows with the excessive, constant, unfair combat in these areas with little story development or interesting quests.

From the same problem stems some more docks. Storyline and Lore has been reduced from 95% to 89% due to the lack of it later in the game. Overall score has such been reduced to 79%.

Original Impressions:

The demo was heavily flawed in that story of any kind was absent, only offering some little mini-quests. Combat was all that was offered, and even that was intensely hard and fast paced, you only had a chance at living if you used very focused characters. Unfortunately the final version still retains a very high difficulty, and only certain sections of the game are innately frustrating.

After playing the demo of Lionheart, my hopes were diminished. Thankfully there were statements from the developers floating around that explained the lack of quality, due to a leak in the demo by their publisher before it was up to par. Thankfully when I played the full version, my fears were mostly abated.

Graphics:
In the opinion of many, including my own, Lionheart accelerates the graphics quality of CRPGs everywhere. The combination of pre-rendered 2d environments (With nicely done shadows, I may add) with anti-aliased and blended 3d character models was pulled off very well. There are major flaws, though. Animations in particular are at fault, with jerky and still character movement animations, and slightly less flawed attack animations. Generally all of the animations seem to be much faster than they should be. Spell effects are average; nothing special, well-done and clean.

Sound:
Lionheart features very thematic and appropriate background music, which I enjoyed very much. Unfortunately problems with the program deciding when and what music to play causes major music looping and transition problems, and frequently a piece of music will restart when exiting specific menus or will replay the beginning more than once before playing the rest of the song. Also, during the first portion of the game you will notice the same background songs being played, which gets repetitive. Ambient sounds are well done and properly convey the feeling of the location you are in. The bustle of Barcelona or the dripping water of a cave, it’s all well done. Sounds are restricted to your average attacking and grunting, although they are well done and there is a very good variety to hear.

The voice acting is the very high point of the sounds section; it is absolutely spectacular. Almost all dialogue in Lionheart has a voice-over, from quality voice actors! I enjoyed every moment of the voice-acting, and many times I waited until it was finished, even if I had already read what the character had said. Listening to the alternate Shakespeare, DaVinci, and the other hilariously transformed historical characters was a treat.

Storyline:
The designers created a work of genius in this area. If you are not familiar with Lionheart, it is set in an alternate 16th century. The Inquisition still rules over much of Europe, although they now have a new enemy: Magic. A mystical and apocalyptic event known as the Disjunction shook the lands, and caused magic to make an appearance. This magic caused offshoots of humans to appear: The Demokin, a human with the face and horns of a demon, The Feralkin, a beast-like representation of the human race, and The Sylvants, children of magic who are still heavily bound to their roots.

The original martyr for magic was Christopher Columbus, and many others followed. Famous figures in our history such as Galileo Galilei and Nostradamus are now outlawed or imprisoned by the Inquisition for their heretical behavior. The only way to use magic is to have a spirit bound to you, whether it is a good-natured symbiotic spirit, or a powerful and evil-natured one. You are the ‘Scion of Lionheart’, and your spirit will guide you on a quest to your destiny.

The story in Lionheart is very rich and varied. Lore is seeping from every pore, and the colorful characters of Barcelona will be the most helpful in relaying it to you. From the Spanish opposing the English for their declaration of magic use, or the adventures of the alternate Cortes (Who happens to have lost one of his arms in the process, and needs a mechanical replacement from Leonardo DaVinci), you will find something interesting everywhere.

The factions you can join add another layer of storyline to the volumes you already have to take in. Various small factions such as the Thieves’ Guild provide small tasks to gain their fellowship, but you must eventually join one of the main factions in Barcelona. These factions include the Inquisitors, The Knights Templar, or the outlawed Wielders and Dark Wielders. Side- and mini-quests are everywhere, and are rarely boring.

Gameplay:
Gameplay is a mixed bag in Lionheart. The Fallout SPECIAL/Perks system that Lionheart is built on is completely suited for it, and fits in very well. Character creation could have been slightly more streamlined and self-explanatory, but that is a minor complaint compared to the problems that really dock this section.

The difficulty factor in certain parts of the game could drive any person to madness. I had constant flashbacks of Arcanum-like saving and reloading; as after every monster I killed in certain areas I made sure to save. Don’t attempt to play Lionheart without expecting a combat-heavy area or two that will make you want to eat your own face in agony from the difficulty factor. A turn-based combat option would have been very helpful, as the real-time combat frequently becomes too fast-paced and rushed, giving you little time to issue orders.

A huge variety of character options await you. While race/class combinations are not as varied as say, Shadows of Amn, you have the potential to create even more unique character than in the said game. Every few levels when you gain the opportunity to choose one of the many perks, you will be changing your character in a drastic way. Skills and spells are well balanced in usefulness against each other, although there are a few key skills, which are a little too essential to much of the game. (Namely ones such as lockpicking)

There are many ways to resolve most situations in the game, and it is rumored that you can complete the whole game without ever fighting once until the end. Diplomacy with other character plays a huge part in Lionheart, and an intuitive use of the Speech skill will get your character out of a lot of slippery situations.

The replay value in Lionheart is resonably good, as you have a resonable amount of player combinations to try. Due to differing side-quests each game, and the opportunity to join a different faction than in the previous game, the story will also be changed. Your actions in the game will affect events further along in the game.

Stability:
I had nary a crash or lock-up in my many hours of playing, even after one binge of 10 hours straight. A few quirks are apparent, but only a few of them could be qualified as bugs. A+ stability!

Ending words:
Overall, Lionheart is a treat that any patient RPG fan should check out. The colorful and flavorful story is alone enough to be worth the cost, as is watching DaVinci’s magical steam engine getting mad at you for ‘Pushing his buttons.’ Unlike other games in the genre and by this company, there do not seem to be any game-stopping bugs, so don’t worry about a patch. Be wary of the difficulty, though, there is NO difficulty reducing option. Happy bashing!

Graphics: 88%
Sound: 90%
Storyline and Lore: 89%
Gameplay: 70%
Stability: 97%
Overall (Not an average): 79%

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/22/03, Updated 08/28/03