Lands of Lore...

S

Shipgate

Rear Admiral
I know I've mentioned this game on and off before. Right now though I was hoping to get a little more in-depth about it and talk about all the things I loved about this game and why it is so sad that the series is seemingly discontinued forever.

The first one that was the CD-ROM version I remember coming out right around the time Privateer did. So I was playing each of these games in turn, on and off. I seriously thought that Lands of Lore was the fantasy game answer to Wing Commander. The plot was very good. The dialogue was well written and had good voice talent as well. I liked the way you moved around click the arrows in the direction you wanted. It was just a good solid game and I can play it over and over and never get tired of it. Ak'shell was my favorite guy to be.

Then a few years later I think the second one came out. And you were Luther, son of Scotia. He had this curse that made him turn into a lizard or a huge beast. There was actually a really good reason why too. I won't get too detailed about the plot since there's many other things I wanna mention. That game you moved around like in Doom and I thought that was the greatest. Once again, the plot was really well written and the cutscenes in that game were just awesome. The music in it was really great too.

Then Lands of Lore 3 came out. Probably my least favorite of the series, but nevertheless a fun game. This game had really incredible cutscenes too. The story wasn't as solid as the first two but I still really enjoyed it overall.

I think what happened in with these games was similiar to how Ultima sort of replaced the whole Wing Commander thing. In this case is was that Command & Conquer that got so popular and eventually shadowed Lands of Lore.

But Lands of Lore had such a good background story and was set on a good foundation for future games. I always dream of a new Lands of Lore game that is an immense multiplayer game and in the style of Morrowind/Fable. With all the different races in the game and history, I really was saddened that it all had to end. I want to discuss in detail more things I like about this game but I should probably talk my comment off the air and get some feedback.
 
Ah, Lands of Lore. And EOB - after all, you can't talk about Lands of Lore without mentioning EOB 1 and 2, to which Lands is as direct a sequel as they could make without the license :p.

The thing I really loved about the Westwood games from the early 90s was their cutscenes. In terms of cutscenes, they were just so much better than anything else made at the same time, Origin games included.

I've always wondered what a game like Morrowind would feel like if it was massively multiplayer... but I always reach the same conclusion. It would suck. I mean, single-player Morrowind already is like a massively multiplayer game, minus all the idiots. I don't think I'd like to play Morrowind if I had to deal with "LOL U LOSR! U SUX!" all the time. What I'd like to see is some kind of invite-only system, where you play in a (semi?) persistent world, but only with people that you invite.
 
Hm, then take a closer look to Garriott's new game, Tabula Rasa, Quarto.
The functions you mentioned are in an other way represented, but it is good enough to filter out the plebians. Oh, the new "Ultima X" (personally I dislike the pulpy design of the game) provides this also as an indentical function.

I remember that each games have its own crossover/multiverse affinity:
C&C - Lands of Lore (LoL3, the Nod Temple)
Wing Commander - Ultima (U7, Kilrathi Bloodfang Prototype in retro look & a eaten (!) Kilrathi ; Ultima Underworld, some "degenerated" Kilrathi offsprings).
 
What is EOB?

Yeah, I know what you mean about other people on online games. Like whenever I would play Diablo or Warcraft online and try to say fairly pertinent things, all they would say is like, "sup" and "sweet cuppin cakes". You know, just like they had no social or typing skills. Occasionally I'd met a really cool person and not want to play and just sit there and chat.

But certainly an online game for Lands of Lore would've been so wonderful. I would definately be a Dracoid. I love in the first game watching that Lore of the Lands segment with Patrick Stewart's voice. I never got bored of that scene.
 
Yeah, you gotta love Patrick Stewart's voice! Does anyone know who did the voice talent in LoL2 for when you'd select an item? I still to this day quote things like, "Great Sword, Dark storm," or "Reaver of the Great Orc." Ah, memories, that nag champa incense still reminds me of playing that game.
 
Precious memories indeed.

Ahh, and do you remember Jim, in the ruins there was that mysterious light at the other side of the water that we tried so hard to get it. Several different ways we tried it. There was even a snake charm that was supposed to make you float on the water for a longer period of time. Even with that we still couldn't get to it.

I seriously felt like the secret to life was on the other side of the water down there. I recall having anxiety dreams about trying to cross that lake to get to that light before Luther drowned. I wonder if the makers of that game had any idea people would react in such a way...
 
I do remember that light, and I also remember daydreaming in my classes on ways to get over all that water, remember how when you got so far out that that giant fish thing would come and eat you?

I'm sure they did have some idea what people would do, just as I'm sure that to this day the creators of that little light still chuckle mischeviously whenever they think about all us suckers out there trying to reach the light...perhaps it's some sort of symbolism or philosphy on life, or perhaps it is in fact only a cruel joke. :p
 
In answer to Shipgate's question, EOB is Eye of the Beholder. Before making Lands of Lore, Westwood made EOB1 and 2 for the AD&D license (which they didn't have - their publisher, SSI, did). In 1992, however, Westwood merged with Virgin's gaming division, and started publishing their own games - presumably, this is why SSI ended up making EOB3 by itself, while Westwood went and made Lands of Lore. I'm not sure if Lands uses an improved version of the EOB2 engine or if was programmed from scratch, but in any case, it's made by just about all the same people.

I think Westwood games had some of the best puzzles ever seen in computer games. I miss that in today's RPGs a lot, actually - I love games like Morrowind, but it still seems like every single quest is just you killing stuff. Well, they did have a few puzzles in Bloodmoon, but nothing especially memorable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top