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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Man, first you knock Final Fantasy and then Darkwing Duck? I felt that Darkwing was as well rounded as Rebecca from Talespin, love both shows by the way, yes he self promoted but I think he did that in part to help take care of his adopted daughter Goslyn. He also used non-lethal means to fight villains, like Batman. I’m surprised that you guys didn’t talk about the video game counterparts to Talespin and Darkwing Duck.
One last thing about why I back any kickstarter game, there is a game Sword Coast Legends being made by N-space. The companies president, Dan Tudge said “I think that consumers have proven by voting with their wallets that not everyone wants to play a hundred-million-dollar blockbuster, though we certainly all enjoy them,” said Tudge. “There’s a place for really creative story-driven RPGs that do things like remain isometric, do things like party-based-tactical combat with pause-and-play.”
To me that statement validates my backing games like Pillar’s of Eternity as a vote for those kinds of games to be made. I had thought it was very oddly coincidental that this game was coming out along with PoE and the others.
@Lenovo: People like him are one reason why I like building my own computer and staying away from pre-built “brand name” computers. Having some companies unnecessary software is bad enough but to put in underhanded adware and spyware is just ridiculous.
@FCC and Net Neutrality: This is one of those things I know people debate about whether or not the Government should be regulating this sort of thing. From what you guys have outlined it certainly seems like something that needs to happen. I know my own internet seems to get throttled or some sites not work at all for no apparent reason.
@Capcom and Modders: I love Modders, always defying what Companies state can or can’t be done.
@Star Trek tribute to Spock: I was born after the show had aired but I grew up with the movies so I have an attachment to the old cast of sorts. TNG and DS9 is still my favorites and even there Spocks’ presence was felt in episodes he showed up in like Unification. I love how the gaming community can honor their fallen icons, much like WoW did with Robin Williams and now Nimoy in STO.