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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INFOCOM??!?! You already DID that one a few weeks ago!
http://gamingpodcast.net/2009/03/31/gaming-podcast-116-we-cant-get-to-the-cloud/
INFOCOM??!?! You already DID that one a few weeks ago!
http://gamingpodcast.net/2009/03/31/gaming-podcast-116-we-cant-get-to-the-cloud/
Oh yeah, oops.
Wow, March 31st was a few weeks ago!? Man… I’m living in some alternative universe 🙂
Oh yeah, oops.
Wow, March 31st was a few weeks ago!? Man… I’m living in some alternative universe 🙂
– Natal … well, it’s a chicken vs. eggs dilema: nobody would by Natal because there are no games for it, and game producers won’s make a Natal based game because there are not enough people having Natal.
Making a game for Natal or not is a decision that might turn into a financial error.
– how many PSP versions are there anyway?! Jennifer is right, people will get confused. Heck, I’m confused …
Numbers are not that bad though, they help me with PC parts; having different names for almost-the-same products however is confusing.
(I know the differences between GeForce 7300 GT, GeForce 7300 GS, GeForce 7300 LE, GeForce 7300 SE but it is so damn confusing!)
– Blizzard and consoles? Sounds more like the Activision side trying to make more money by limitting PC piracy.
What’s funny is that Blizzard already has a way arround piracy (WoW anyone?).
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3138816
Oops! >:)
– @Take Two: Derrick, you’ve made a good point there.
– @BlueRay3D: dunno about replaying stuff in 3D. You’d need to send one set of images to just one eye, and another set of images for just the other one.
Without special glasses that will not be possible.
From this being just an attempt to create a market, well, this sounds a lot like Natal …
But who knows, as bad (or good?) as it sounds, the adult movies intustry made VHS tapes a success, maybe they’ll pick up this 3D vision thinggie.
What wow-ed me in 2009? A move made by Epic:
http://udk.com/launch.html
I get it, they’re doing it to gain market share. In worst case they make no money and gain market. Best case scenario they make a truckload of money out of the games using it, without lifting a finger, and they gain market.
Anyway, I didn’t expect that move. Congrats Epic!
– Natal … well, it’s a chicken vs. eggs dilema: nobody would by Natal because there are no games for it, and game producers won’s make a Natal based game because there are not enough people having Natal.
Making a game for Natal or not is a decision that might turn into a financial error.
– how many PSP versions are there anyway?! Jennifer is right, people will get confused. Heck, I’m confused …
Numbers are not that bad though, they help me with PC parts; having different names for almost-the-same products however is confusing.
(I know the differences between GeForce 7300 GT, GeForce 7300 GS, GeForce 7300 LE, GeForce 7300 SE but it is so damn confusing!)
– Blizzard and consoles? Sounds more like the Activision side trying to make more money by limitting PC piracy.
What’s funny is that Blizzard already has a way arround piracy (WoW anyone?).
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3138816
Oops! >:)
– @Take Two: Derrick, you’ve made a good point there.
– @BlueRay3D: dunno about replaying stuff in 3D. You’d need to send one set of images to just one eye, and another set of images for just the other one.
Without special glasses that will not be possible.
From this being just an attempt to create a market, well, this sounds a lot like Natal …
But who knows, as bad (or good?) as it sounds, the adult movies intustry made VHS tapes a success, maybe they’ll pick up this 3D vision thinggie.
What wow-ed me in 2009? A move made by Epic:
http://udk.com/launch.html
I get it, they’re doing it to gain market share. In worst case they make no money and gain market. Best case scenario they make a truckload of money out of the games using it, without lifting a finger, and they gain market.
Anyway, I didn’t expect that move. Congrats Epic!
Well, 30 weeks ago, but that’s still no excuse :p
Well, 30 weeks ago, but that’s still no excuse :p
Things that wow’ed me: being at E3 and playing games well in advance like God of War III, The Beatles: Rock Band, and Dragon Age. The Brink demonstration there wow’ed me the most, as did attending the introduction of Project Natal and the Milo demo.
As for games, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Assassin’s Creed II were big surprises, as was Halo 3: ODST’s co op multiplayer.
Things that wow’ed me: being at E3 and playing games well in advance like God of War III, The Beatles: Rock Band, and Dragon Age. The Brink demonstration there wow’ed me the most, as did attending the introduction of Project Natal and the Milo demo.
As for games, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Assassin’s Creed II were big surprises, as was Halo 3: ODST’s co op multiplayer.
Biggest highlight of 2009 was sony losing the Exclusivity of its exclusive title Final Fantasy XIII =] =[) XD
Biggest highlight of 2009 was sony losing the Exclusivity of its exclusive title Final Fantasy XIII =] =[) XD