"Not as good as Diablo II but still one great game!"

Story
Take control of a mysterious redheaded warrior from the past, resurrected by the great mage, Wart. You are on a quest to find warriors to destroy the goddess of evil, Kardis. She will be resurrected soon unless you and your friends stop the evil that's resurrecting her.

Graphics/Sound - 8
The graphics are all in 3-D. Everything is very detailed except the characters. Definitely not the best graphics you'll see on a Dreamcast game but hey your not going to stop playing a game just because of graphics are you? Like Diablo II whenever you equip something new it will change your appearance. Each armor/sword/boots/etc. have a different look and it definitely makes it more appealing. FMVs are of pretty good quality though not on par with SquareSoft's FMVs.....though they SPOILED EVERYONE!

The music is nothing really out of the ordinary in these kinds of games.... When you're in battles or near an enemy, battle music (always the same BTW) goes on and the regular orchestral music you hear when nothing else is happening. There are all types of sound effects ranging from thunder, footsteps, monsters shouting and allies shouting. The voice acting is really good.... a lot better then Shenmue though there is really little talking in the game...most of the speeches are in text and when they do speak its usually just one sentence spoken.

Control - 10
Really easy controls...B to attack, A to pick up items, Y to use items, etc. not really complicated.

Gameplay - 9
Hack and Slash game.... exactly like Diablo II.... If you didn't like Diablo II you probably wont like Record of Lodoss War. There is a lot of customization to your sword, armors, helmets and shields. If you don't engrave anything (Strength, Durability, Armor, HP, MP, fire-resistance, cold-resistance, etc.) you'll most likely die a lot. Its has a very easy learning curve and you will get how to do everything before an hour has gone by...There are banks to hold many items and a Smithy helps you transform your weapons, armor, helmet and shield if you want him too. You have many places to equip items...you can hold one weapon, one shield (unless your holding a two-handed sword), one helmet, one earring, one necklace, two rings, one belt and one pair of boots. Magic is pretty easy to use. Hold X and a menu will come up with all the magic spells and you must do a combination of buttons to get it on your side-menu. And to use it all you got to do is push X. You will get allies to join you in your quest (they leave sooner or later) and meet many foes. I hate where they put your life because you will be mostly hacking away at your enemies while you keep your eyes on the HP bar above. Record of Lodoss takes 30-50 hrs. to finish and is great playing but I don't have that play games over and over personality...(another reason why I don't like fighting games as much)

Replayability - 7
There are many places to go and many items to find to keep you playing though if it were online it would be so much funner. You will probably at least go through this game one more time before you sell it or put it in storage.

Overall - 8
Great game would of gotten a lot higher if it was online but still kept me playing till the end. Definitely recommend this to any Diablo II fans...Love the sound effects, how there's so many possible ways to customize everything and one of the few games you can do over 9999 dmg...(hehehe...I like high numbers...errr....) One of the funnest games for the DC while it lasts definitely!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/29/01, Updated 08/07/01