Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Sun Series

This is one of the best CRPGs ever made in my opinion. Though the graphics was already outdated in the late '90s I never really cared about it as there are tons of pros that counteract this. It's difficult to mention game titles that introduced such cool items for you to equip as this series. It was one of the very first games that used items that could bear enchantments on them. As it is based on AD&D, it includes many spells that we got to know in other great games like the Eye Of The Beholder series. Imagine a sword that casts magic missile on a successful hit. Or a magical armor that has the permanent effect of Aid / Prayer / Protection from Evil. Or a magic shield that gives you Fire Shield. It's all there in this series. Even bows and arrows may have enchantments. And if you want to try something knew, then try psionics! Items can also grant you psionic abilities or you can have a psionist in your team. You can have characters with multiple classes, like being a cleric and a psionist at the same time. Of course that character will level up slower as experience points are distributed evenly among these classes, but in many cases it's still worthwile. There are also many challenging puzzles along that give you many experience points not to mention the fact that in some cases it's better to use your wits instead of pure strength. Why? Because you benefit more from using your head, i.e. more EXP, better items etc. Another cool feature of the game is that it lets you bring your characters from Shattered Land to Wake of the Ravager, that is - all your skills / spells / most of your items are preserved. The game auto-adjusts game difficulty in this case to give you some challenge. After playing a few hours you realize one of your characters suck? No worries, you can send him on vacation and bring another custom character in ANYTIME. Pretty neat, huh? Summary: this game offers tons of great items, secrets, spells puzzles that you don't want to miss! Trust me!

First GOG review, long-time member! This just goes to show how much this game is special to me. I'll keep this review brief, since if you have ANY interest whatsoever in computer RPG's and/or fascinating worlds, just buy this now. A game that, for its time, was forward thinking and often offered multiple choices to resolve problems, without guiding the player with straightforward A or B scenarios. A quick example to best demonstrate this; non-story related spoiler coming. At one point mid-game, your party gets captured by a raider group, who intend to sell you as slaves to the arena. Your party is within a small prison compound, surrounded by a bone fence. The raiders, roughly a dozen plus in strength, are well-armed and armored, with military-grade equipment. After waiting a while, I simply bashed the fence's gate (I was young! Bashing was an easy way out lol), a nearby guard screamed for help, and my party slaughtered the raiders after a prolonged and hectic fight. Content, I saved and quit. The day after, I mention this to my cousin, who was also playing the game at the time. He came over and asked me to load the game right to the point where I was still in the raider's prison. Curious, I did so. Now remember, as mentioned in the game's description, your overall goal is to assemble a vast army from the myriad of peoples living in the wastelands, Up to now, my alliance was a rag-tag group of barbarian tribes, nomadic people and refugees, none of which could be considered military-ready. Upon loading the game and still within the prison compound, my cousin makes me call out the raider leader, who comes promptly. After lengthy negotiations, not only was my party freed without any bloodshed, but the raiders ACTUALLY joined my army. They were the first truly battle-ready people I had recruited. This short story just goes to show how this game offers multiple far-reaching choices, far ahead of its time. Grab it now, overlook the dated graphics, and have a blast.

While not technically of the same engine as the Goldbox games, Shattered Lands can safely be regarded as one of the premier titles during that era. Sounds laughable today, but it brought an advanced user interface including right-click abilities, quick spell slot, and a highly configurable party. The art is fantastic for DOS and still enjoyable. The sound effects may be annoying, but the experimental rock music totally makes up for that. The plot and general writing (a few buggy side quests aside) are fantastic. In my mind, the first Dark Sun was THE precursor to Baldur's Gate, just overlooked. Wake of the Ravager is a bit of a different story. They changed the perspective slightly and consequently reworked the art so all the sprites look stiff. The sound effects were carried over and the music was translated but buggy. Writing was ok, plot was ok, everything else pretty decent. What killed it, like many sequels, were bugs. You CAN finish the game but save often and strategically.

Shattered lands ushered in a new era of gaming. It was the first D&D game to use a new 16 bit engine. This mean more colors, more control, more of everything. I fell in love with this game from the first moment I played it. You get to live out one of the greatest story beginnings: Rising up from a slave compound and fighting your way to freedom. There were a couple of bugs, but this game will always be one of my favorite games of all time. I wish I could say the same for the sequel but they did something to botch up the perspective and graphics. It is still worth playing, but the true gem here is the first one.