I miss old SSI games and all the beauty and wonder they brought me as a child. Perhaps it’s more of the feeling of playing old MS-DOS games and that no worries feeling of playing games all summer long when your parents are out working; no cares in the world but that of the evil dragons and goblins of an RPG world. Secret of the Silver Blades arrived in May of 1990, developed and published by Strategic Simulations Inc (SSI), a company we covered in our gaming history back in TD Gaming Podcast Episode 9.
Secret of the Silver Blades is actually the third in a four-part game series which was eventually packaged in the Gold Box editing of the SSI games. It was a continuation of the game Curse of the Azure Bonds and the first in the series: Pool of Radiance. The cool part of the series was the leveling system where each would let you level to a certain limit just like most modules in D&D games, this game let you get to level seven which means a Mage could use the cool Delayed Blast Fireball spell which was one of my favorite magic spells in D&D (yeah, I’m a dork.)
The graphics were a whopping 16-colors, with slight graphical improvements over the other two prior games. This game didn’t have an overworld map like the others, going full first person for the length of the game. Another great enhancement was the ability to use the arrow keys to navigate menu’s without the need for “hot keys” like older SSI titles, given the game is very much menu-based for combat, equipment and inventory management it was very handy to have the use of those nice little arrow keys.
You create your party and start adventuring in a game engine very similar to all the games before it, so introduction to game mechanics was minimal, you could advance your characters further in level and, most importantly, import characters from previous games. The D&D world is really a character-driven game environment and you grow fond of your characters and understand the best ways to battle with them, importing is key and still, today, is a big part in well done RPG expansions (Guild Wars is a great example). Unfortunately, many games fall short of character import and it kind of blows away some of the magic of an RPG.
One of the frustrating issues with Secret of the Silver blade is the limitation on levels for the Cleric, because they can’t level up past 7 they can’t get the good ressurection spell, only allowed to use Raise Dead which lowers your characters constitution by 1 (much like the traditional D&D rules). However, given its a video game and not a paper-dice based game, the raise dead penalty is annoying, so it was easier to save often and re-load when you died to try again and avoid the penalty. I do recall their being some scrolls or something to get back your constitution penalty… but it’s been awhile I might be making that up.
Anyway, a well done series, classic RPG and helped build a foundation for games like Morrow Wind and Oblivion in my opinion.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
@Wii U priced at $300 for basic, $350 for deluxe
I heard a lot of criticism towards the console after the pricing was announced. This doesn’t look good.
@Obsidian unveils Kickstarter title Project Eternity, raise $1M in 24 hours
I don’t get it, Dr. Evil … Studios going to Kickstarter for money instead of going to producers? I take it they no longer want to cope with the pressure of the producer?
Thing is, “One million dollars” doesn’t keep a studio running for too long, so what’s going on there?
@“no disc based games” next-gen
That’s quite some bandwidth required right there. For this reason alone (and the fact that I’m using a 3G modem) I say that CD/DVD is good, me likes them 🙂
@QOTW:
Not much. I played Shadowrun for SNES during my Internet-less vacation, and I found that game to be surprisingly entertaining.
@Wii U
Not sure. I also think having 2 versions is stupid, considering the Deluxe version is way superior to Basic. The price is not so bad. But in the current economic situation I don’t expect it to sell out like the Wii. Personally, I will play it safe and get it early next year. I will wait for reviews, new title announcements and to see how popular it will get. Don’t need another Nintendo branded brick on my hands.
Especially if it mostly plays Xbox 360 games
@Guild Wars 2
I kind off fell out of the whole MMO world. Level grinding is just not my thing. Usually I get to LvL 20 and loose interest. That’s why I play F2P stuff. Not sure if I should invest into Guild Wars. It has no subscription but does it provide enough content to make me play it long enough? MMOs are just to repetitive these days.
@QOTW
Just finished Yakuza on PS2. Currently playing Witcher. It’s funny. Jonah says he is playing Mass Effect and completing all the quests. I have done that on my first playthrough. Then I did it for the second time as an asshole. I usually play games very thoroughly. I only reached chapter 3 on Witcher but already played over 30 hours. I prefer to do everything on the first attempt. Although, in an RPG that means that I max level half way the game and then kill the final boss with a backhand slap.
@Wii U priced at $300 for basic, $350 for deluxe
good job on the guess guys! i think this price is ok for a console of that caliber, it might be “a couple of wiis taped together” but it will fufill the gamer’s needs for a few years without a doubt (i hope)
@Obsidian unveils Kickstarter title Project Eternity, raise $1M in 24 hours
well, they really do have a history with good games! they deserve it!
@QOTW
mostly Borderlands 2 and Battlefield 3: armored kill. as of now, i am a lvl 19 assassin focused fully on the melee tree… oh god, the carnage! :3
now time for my question: wich classes and wich builds are you guys doing on BL2? and wich you made for BL1? i made mordekai as a kick ass sniper, also 100% focused on the sniper tree.