Dragonsphere

I wonder if I'd enjoyed this as a kid. As an adult it's almost unplayable - and proof of how hard it is to make an adventure game based on logic and reasoning. Here (as in many other cases) they just threw in tons of trial & error as well as items no one needs. So get ready to spend most of your game time going through the motions... until you consult a walkthrough. Kinda crazy that they were able to charge money for something like this back in the day...

Well, no wonder Sierra was the king of this kind of adventure games (as the manual itself rightfully says). This game was a 'nice try', but nothing more. It is not very bad per se, but has quite a few flaws that make for a subpar experience: - All the pixel hunting. Even after the game explicitly tells me where my goblet is, for example, it took me at least a minute to spot it. And that goes with all the other stuff lying around; you never know what is part of the background and what is significant. - Everything has a description (which is nice BTW), so once again, the important stuff do not really stand out. - The gameplay is tedious. It is so boring watching the protagonist move from one end to the screen to the other. At one point, he climbs a cliff for like a minute! And while it is possible to skip these animations with the space key, it is only allowed about 50% of the time. The rest of the time, zzz... - Speaking about tedium: the game with the caliph; the sprite puzzle. Seriously? - The puzzles seem sometimes a bit random, especially those that involve conversation. - The end of the game, if you collect all 250 points. I mean, seriously? Why would a young king do that?! TL;DR it is nice having such a program for free here, but I guess there is a reason for that too...

Point-and-click adventure where you play as a newly crowned king who needs to stop the evil sorcerer who is about to break free from his seal. Although the setup is trite, the actual game is anything but. It's very KQ1 in that you're given minimal direction and allowed to freeroam. You can even go straight to the bad guy's castle from the starting town if you want. (Obviously you will not be at all prepared). And the races--fun-seeking fairies, Arabian space aliens, and shapeshifters who can not only look like anyone they want but anyTHING ranging from a tree to a swamp to a tentacles monstrosity--are a welcome departure from typical fantasy stereotypes. Overall, A+ for the story. Unfortunately, the actual gameplay just kind of sucks. Minimal guidance is one thing, my family spent years of enjoyment trying to beat Conquests of Camelot (a game that can be speedrun in 12 minutes with no skips). But there's lots of pixel hunting, especially for items you aren't even aware you need or can find. And the puzzles... ugh... one of the first puzzles you run into involves 8 tiny fairies (small glowing Tinkerbell balls) that rotate between three colors, and each provides a different piece of information based on what color they are. The end goal is to talk to the correct fairy when it is the correct color--basically knights and knaves on steroids. Hopefully you can see how this would be difficult if you were just given the 24 pieces of information but when you add in tiny, indistinguishable sprites it's just not even fun. There are just too many puzzles like that that take fiendish difficulty and then add in poor interface and it's too much. I gave it a couple hours using a guide and wasn't feeling it enough to finish.

The Good: * The game does not take itself seriously at all - And that is why it is not a bad game, even though it got 2 stars from me. * Because of the previous mention, the game is quite funny and you will find yourself chuckling more than you thought you would be. * Animation and art are still nice today so it is not a chore to look at. * The voice work - It's just sooo BAD that it is just GOOD. It's so over the top... It's awesome! * Environment does not hide important items for you! This is a great thing for an adventure game! Since a lot of hours can be lost just looking for that rock that looks exactly like any other rock in the mountain and is a pixel big. This game does not does it, instead it even tells you that there is something there. All adventure games should do it much more often. The Bad: * The music is complete crap - It's feels like it was an after thought and thrown to the game just about they were to release it. Just some sounds clips mashed together... * The story too basic and lack any real meat. Having too little interactions with environment or people is the cause of it. * Conversation makes no sense sometimes because you choose a different order of dialog making the whole conversation process redundant. Don't allow the player to pick dialog options if they will screw up with how a conversation should go. * Items.... 80% of them are not needed and are just there as points to your game score. Think about having 10 items and only 2 are usable it game... Yea... That is annoying. * Small size - The game is small in size... Only few locations to visit with each having 3-4 explorable screens. It doesn't feel like a kingdom at all. * Puzzles and minigames - Some of the most annoying things you can imagine. Examples - learn a special language in game, luck based mini game that you must play large number of times and a few more. The Ugly: * I will mention the music again... So horrible!