I'm starting this blog with the big daddy, the game that started it all... Dungeon Master!
Released in 1987 this grid-based RPG became the biggest selling product of all time for the Atari ST. It was also released on the Commodore Amiga, PC and a few other platforms over the years.
Without Dungeon Master there would have been no standard set for later RPG titles like the Might & Magic series or the popular Elder Scrolls saga. I would also say that this game is the main reason I love this genre even after all these years.
An ancient and powerful wizard named Greylord has begun a magical experiment which will quite literally tear him apart! Within the bowels of his massive dungeon his personality has been split into the lawful Lord Order and the demented Lord Chaos... and his apprentice must save the day!
You must revive four of the lands greatest fallen heroes and set off into the depths of Greylord's dungeon which is now filled with Lord Chaos' ghastly minions and deadly traps. If you survive long enough you must find Lord Chaos and turn him back into the man he once was...
Gameplay
Dungeon Master uses a very early but rather effective method of 3D gameplay. To this day there are still games that quite deliberately emulate this style. Sadly there was no WASD interface back in the day. You either moved by point-and-click or the arrow keys. Most fanatics used a combination of both!
Dungeon Master was certainly the first RPG that took place in real-time. Previous fantasy titles had been turn-based, allowing you to get your potions & spells ready at your own pace. Dungeon Master took that security blanket and fed it to a dragon! You'd be fumbling through spells while mummies bashed your heads in. You'd be running down corridors praying for a door to hide behind. This game really did make you panic. Even in Skyrim the game conveniently pauses while you rummage through your backpack but with Dungeon Master you could suddenly find out you've been fire-balled by the annoying monk dude.
On top of all that you actually had to find food and water. If you didn't find chests full of food or kill something edible you'd start running out of stamina... and then health! Not many games dared to do this afterwards. Eating seems to be some kind of optional extra nowadays.
What really made Dungeon Master special was the unique and innovative magic system! Your chosen spellcaster had to make up the spell from a series of runes that created different effects. As you explored the dungeon you would find scrolls which explained the meaning of the runes and how to use them effectively.
Graphics and SFX
Being released in 1987 the graphics will obviously look very dated to modern gamers. But at the time the full 16-Bit visuals were incredible! No other game had dared to literally put you in a dungeon and let horrible things attack you face-to-face like this before!
Also it got dark if you had no torches or spells handy! It was an early method of lighting which was used very well to aid the atmosphere of the game.
The sounds were rather basic but they did their job. The mummies would scream, the beasties would grunt, the sword swingers would swoosh. To this day I always regard the rattle of the dungeon doors in this game as the definitive portcullis noise.
Anyone who claims to be a true RPG fan should play through this game at some point. You can get it free online. Later gamers may find it hard to get into due to the dated graphics and interface but I'd advise you to stick with it. By the time you're a few levels in you really won't care anymore!
If you get Dungeon Master on download feel free to share your own experiences with the game. It may have aged a lot (and some of us are guilty of donning our nostalgia goggles) but seriously folks, without this game we may not have got the RPG titles of today.
Upon the 1987 release I certainly would have given this game a full 10/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment