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.
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@THQ finally dissolved, assets auctioned off
RIP. I’m curious as to how Metro will do, I saw them as a possible lifeboat for THQ.
Jonah, I think the release date for the games in development will be delayed. Those devs rely on money from the publisher, and even the ones that did get bought, their HR/payment systems will be disrupted.
We have a similar saying, going “Each kick in the arse forces you to take a step forward”.
@League of Legends Team Solo Medbi players receive lifetime bans for anti-Semitism and abuse
Ok, it’s a start. But as I said in a previous discussion, it won’t change that person. Sure, it makes the LoL garden cleaner, but it won’t do much for the real world.
@Sony fined 250K GBP for April 2011 hacker intrusion
Well deserved fine. I’m curious how the appeal will work. I agree with Jonah, the fine is small, but Sony has to appeal, even so that it doesn’t appear to be giving up. ‘Cause if they do, they’ll find themselves drowned in lawsuits.
@QOTW
Anything that can be obtained also by grinding. If it can’t be obtained by grinding then it must be a temporary upgrade, like EA’s Battlefield Heroes renting weapons.
Now I know I keep mentioning World of Tanks, but that visit at my brother’s was quite an eye opener. The microtransactions there revolve around buying ingame credits for fuel, ammo and repair points.
Now, you can also obtain those credits by playing the game. So what my brother does is to use a medium class tank for grinding up credits – it’s cheaper to operate – then fight a few battles using the high end tank. And although this sounds tedious, he enjoys a lot even the matches that he plays with his medium class tank. So, in his case, the experience provided by playing free is very enjoyable.
That flu made Jonah sound his age. How strange.
@THQ no more
A bit sad. They published some good games. A decade of gaming history down to the archives. Hell, we lost a lot of studios since the crisis. Midway. Ensemble. 3D realms. Let’s just hope once the next gen kicks in there won’t be just EA and Valve out there.
@Gears of War 3 microtransactions
Oh I am sorry? Did I spell Dead Space wrong? Silly me. I understand when a free 2 play MMO needs microtransactions. Servers and all that. But Dead Space is a full retail game and you will have to shell out full price for it. Mooching more cash of you once you pay them is just ignite.
@Disney
Don’t care. I want Kingdom Hearts where you can play as Darth Vader and Spider-man.
@Court slightly inconveniencing Sony for gross incompetence
Man that’s bad. I hope that slap on the wrist won’t turn into a bruise. I mean, it’s all the subscribers fault anyway. If they wouldn’t subscribe for PSN there wouldn’t be any account details to steal in the first place.
@QOTW
I prefer cosmetic microtransactions. When you pay for your character to look fancy but not actually be any better than an average player. Microtransactions can ruin competitive games. I have been playing Dust 514 recently. It’s unfair when you get dominated by a kid whose daddy has a fat wallet. In the end, it puts you off playing the game.