Die By The Sword + Limb From Limb

Maybe nostilga influences me somewhat, but this was a favorite classic adventure game for me. I spent many late nights sitting in the glow of my 14" CRT playing this game when I should have been in bed for school the next morning. The combat and dismemberment were always exciting. You could fiddle with the move editor for hours on end trying to make some absurd move that would probably never actually come in handy during the game but still you thought it looked awesome. The story is basic, your damsel is captured and you scurry off to rescue her. There's not a whole lot of depth to it but you're likely looking at it for the gameplay, and as far as action goes this was a gem, a bit with some drawbacks. The "VSIM" combat system was a great idea, if only we weren't restricted by a mouse. The problem is that a mouse is stuck to a 2d surface, you can't move a mouse like you can your arm, and this herein lies the main problem with DBTS's combat system and why most people who played the game and finished it, used the numpad VSIM control. It was just not suited well movement wise to the mouse, you would find yourself trying to mimic the hand holding the sword only to end up wrestling with it trying to orient it on a 3d lv but you couldn't that well. Instead I'd find myself just swinging the mouse left and right being about the only effective way to try this until I resorted to the numpad control scheme which provided a much tigther and quicker control method that I could actually kill people quickly and get on with the game. Even with this drawback the combat was bloody and fun, not necessarily in that order either. You could chop off limbs and body parts. Your character could have the same down to him as well. With lower health you would have visible wounds and damage. You could pick up limbs and other random body parts of your enemies and use them in combat as well. Overall it was just a fun and humours action adventure game with high idea's that it could not quite reach, When you're a kid though, fun gameplay can overcome many things that today you might let cloud your view.

I was excited about the mouse directed sword control concept in this game, and have tried a few other similar ones (mount and blade etc). Unfortunately it seems that no one has yet to create a game with this type of sword mechanic that works well and is not frustrating to play.

THis was a game I bought when it first came out, and followed that up with the addon "limb from limb" and it was crazy fun. Graphics are dated now, as you'd expect, and the story is the usual "orcs'n'kobolds" stuff, but that doesn't matter. Set yourself up with a mouse (or joystick) and use that to swing your sword, and you can be amazingly accurate with what you hit. But you don't have to use a sword, oh no. You can pick up loads of stuff and swing that about instead. Which is where the fun comes in. At this price, get this game: how many games do you know where you can cut someone's arm off with your sword, pick it up, and beat him to death with the wet end?

Absolutely incredible dark fantasy game However, does anyone know where I can get access to a PDF version of DIE BY THE SWORD Strategies & Secrets™ By Jonathan Mendoza ???

when i first played die by the sword i found myself one of the most entertaining games ever. Now it hasn't aged well. The graphics are bad, the controls are, by today's standards, awful. but the game is AMAZING! even if it has an unconventional control scheme you have to admit slicing up that kolbolt to shreds is without a doubt, one of the most satisfying things to do. Back in my day (god just looking at the graphics and thinking how cool they were makes me feel old) this game was one of the most violent games avalible and i had to get my dad to buy it for me the whole while the clerk was looking at us with utter contempt. She saw the case and said "you would let your boy be corrupted by this filth!?" my dad answered yes! overall its more towards the oldschooler but give it a try maybe you'll write your story like i had when i was little.