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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This week we’re on vacation but Don is not, so he took the time to build out a cool mashup of some of the podcasts most memorable “moments.” Of course, most of them are the strangest bloopers and oddities that we had a couple lol’s re-listening to them. Consider this the greatest moments in the last sixty episodes wrapped up in a 4-minute time period. Holy crap.
@Kickstarter – still not over.
I liked the Splinter Cell game. My problem with it was that I was still under the influence of Quake 3 and UT, so my skills at stealth were only matched by the the elegance in movement of an elephant placed in a shop for porcelains …
Still, I liked the concept behind it and I struggled to the best of my abilities to play it as it was intended. I didn’t finish it, but still, I enjoyed the concept behind it.
@Blizzard facing class action lawsuit over Battle.net security
You see, this happens when you start to require more and more personal data …
Moral of the story: if you require a lot of data, then better make a damn good job at protecting it.
Jonah, I’m with you, I’m also glad that there’s a lawsuit going on.
@Molyneux skeptical about tablet/TV gaming
I’m not with him on this one. As far as I am concerned, gaming started on TV with the NES. I enjoyed the experience, so from my experience TV gaming has its share of success.
About tablet gaming – as long as you adapt your user input scheme, then it will work.
Now, what I am skeptical about is overpriced consoles or overpriced dedicated gaming tablets, and shoddy user input schemes implemented by inexperienced or plain bad developers.
Using both displays? No, don’t think so. Most likely the tablet will be used as input device, and the TV as display.
@Halo 4 makes $220M in first day
Good for them. If the overall feedback is that the game is good then sure, enjoy the moneyz 😀
Paul, I also don’t like Halo. I didn’t like the association between (1) a team of humans waiting for my help to succeed in defeating (2) enemies that fight like muppets and look like them, (3) and then add epic music to make you believe you’re the savior.
@Analyst: Grand Theft Auto V will sell 25M units
And I say it’ll sell 35M units in its life time. So? Does that put money in the pockets of the devs/publishers?
Boys are stupid and smell funny? Really? This coming from the gay guy?
As for the binoculars, it’s more about adjusting/improving an existing old binoculars. And to quote myself, if you’re into stargazing then you’re probably “standing in the yard, all lights out, binoculars in hand. I think it’s too late by now to worry about being labeled as either geeky or pervy.”
The music, is that from GTA 1/2/3/4 ?
Nintendo details Wii U network ID system: I will reserve any judgement until I’ve got plenty of experience with the system. Although I do agree that the previous Friend Code system was hilariously bad. Hopefully they’ll be able to pull it off this time.
Molyneux skeptical about tablet/TV gaming: Oh poor me, I can’t even look at the borders of the screen or I will get confused, let alone look quickly down to another screen to select an item. I wonder how I will manage. Seriously though, Peter Molyneux is full of crap. Just because you can’t design a decent game doesn’t mean that others won’t be able to use tablet/TV gaming to make a better game.
P.S. I would love a copy of Dungeon Defenders.
@Molyneux skeptical about tablet/TV gaming:
i guess he never heard of a portable console named NINTENDO DS (and it’s sucessors). of course there are 2 screens, but one is the support of the other like in “play/pause” (bad stupid example), in the DS game “New Super Mario Bros.” the lower screen showed the “map” (linear progression trough the stage) and the extra power up, nothing that will definatelly need your attention at all times! if someone has the attention more focused on the tablet than on the movie, i guess the person is already bored by the movie and looking for other things to do!
@Halo 4 makes $220M in first day, Forward Unto Reach garners 46M viewers:
halo game series are always good games (forget halo wars fiasco) and 343 deserves the finantial feedback from the public, since halo 4 looks impressive for a 7yo console.
@podcast recorded on sunday:
does that mean that it will be released one day earlier as well?
@paul playing MLP on the iPad:
brohoof! /)
BTW, homophobia is a wrong word
“people are not afraid of homosesxuals! they are just assholes” – internet
@Splinter Cell
I used to despise stealth. Especially when they stick it in as a special stage in an action game (The Hulk, Spider-Man, XIII and far to many more to name). But Splinter Cell was surprisingly good. If you spend some time learning the stealth mechanic, it will be an interesting and rewarding experience. I even managed to complete it. I remember the graphics was spectacular. Even though I played it in 2010.
@Square+Enix
I played Square, Enix and Square Enix games and didn’t notice much of a difference in quality. Maybe because they all produced mostly JRPGs which are uniform in quality and experience by default. It really is a matter of opinion whether the merger failed or not. I thoroughly enjoyed FFX and don’t think that it is any worse than FFVII.
@Nintendo ID
Tried to play an on-line game of Monster Hunter Tri with a friend. Failed miserably. It is easier to build a space shuttle out of chewing gum, matchsticks and a used condom than it is to connect to a friend on the Wii. That is why I won’t buy a Wii U any time soon. For me the on-line component is important. They need to sort it out first if they want my moneys.
@Peter Moyle… man he probably has to spell his surname to every person he meets
It all depends on how developers implement the second screen. I don’t think they will have you play two different games at the same time. Gamers nowadays can’t even use both R1 and R2 on PS3 at the same time. Let alone two different screens.
@Halo 4
I understand that people are entitled to their own opinion and respect it. All I want is for Paul to know that his opinion is wrong and he should be covered in chocolate and thrown to the lesbians. Anyways, I am not surprised Halo sold lots. It is a solid entry in the series regardless of what all the griefers and haters say.
@ QOTW
If you have any leftovers I will gladly take them of your hands. However, it kind of sucks winning without a competition. It’s like an election in Zimbabwe. Not very democratic.