Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft Series

Man, before Baldur's Gate, D&D games came with almost no handholding. There's only 3 years between Stone Prophet and Baldur's Gate, reflecting a huge leap in graphics and a huge shift in game design and player aesthetic. But despite being more primitive, these games have atmosphere no Isometric RPG has been able to match, and they're absolutely worth your time. The first-person view of the games creates suspense, and tactical challenges all its own, such as enemies approaching your party from multiple sides, and needing to rapidly maneuver so that you can control monsters' access to the rear ranks of your party. The cluebooks for these games are both good, and there are some useful maps online - but the old fan walkthroughs tend to be incomplete, primitive, or just plain incorrect. Be aware! First of all, they'll tell you to play this game with multi-classed characters - some combination of Class/Mage and a Fighter/Cleric. You can do this but you don't have to. A single-classed character is always going to attain a higher level in a class than a multi-classed character. That means more spells, higher level spells, and more powerful abilities like turning undead. Second of all, the Stone Prophet guides will all tell you Piotra the Thief is useless. This is 100% incorrect. Piotra's ability to pick locks means you won't have to spend time hunting for keys. Second, as their levels go up Thieves can use most spell scrolls and magic items. If you don't bring a Wizard with you (there's no Wizard NPC in the game) there are a number of powerful scrolls and items ONLY Piotra can use. Between the two games, Strahd's Possession is harder, but it's worth playing through it at least partway to gain a few levels and obtain some powerful magic items like the Dagger of Throwing and the Paladin's longsword and dagger, then transfer your characters to Stone Prophet. IMO, the best combo of characters is a Paladin and a Single-Class Cleric.

Played it when it first came out, but it might still work. After Strahd's Possession I saved the "slay undead arrows" and carried them over to "Stone Prophet". When I met the boss one of the characters shot him with those arrows, it killed him in one shot. Obviously the programmers did not think of this, because the game would not end after the one shot kill. That is why it's important to have multiple saves. ;)

Both Strahd's Possession and Stone Prophet were amongst my first forey into Dungeons and Dragons, and I remember having a blast! I recently got an old school AD&D itch, and found out GOG had them both, so I decided to give it a scratch, and found out both stand the test of time! Even after being pampered by the likes of Skyrim and other 'recent' triple A fantasy titles, I found I still had an amazing time playing through both of these old school games. The atmosphereic music, the gorgeous pixel graphics, voiced NPCs, the old school 90's CG cut scenes, all took me back to a time of pure, fantasy adventure immersion. Both games feature lots of interesting locations to explore, both rich with lively characters. A lot of in-game lore help build the world in both games as well. Having thoroughly enjoyed both tales again in 2021, I have to say I would absolutely recommend this set. Thank you GOG for putting this all together in a neat package that runs on a modern Windows 10 system!

I enjoyed the blast from the past, though I found the interface clumsy. Until I got used to it, even low level enemies killed my characters. But overall, it's far too buggy. I eventually gave up in frustration and failed to finish.

I loved STARHD'S POSSESSION when it came out and played it through twice. RAVENLOFT basically is AD&D's version of Bram Stoker's Dracula from which it steals quite a lot. While the story is quite predictable, the atmosphere is the best aspect of STRAHD'S POSSESSION - it's DARK fantasy. There are some gripes however: the graphics are terrible and very VERY blocky. Even when the game came out in 1994 the graphics were outdated (it came out after DOOM and looks gar worse). The voice acting and dialogue is cringeworthy and sometimes just terrible. And lastly the controlls are clunky and slow. Forget the optional 90 degrees step by step movement - it does not work. Enemies are quicker than you and move fast, while it takes your party forever to turn around. Movement in general is like driving a tank. A word of warning though. STRAHD'S POSSESSION is kinda hard. You fight mainly undead creatures, some of which can drain experience levels - the only way to get them back is by loading an old save. Also, when this happens, there is a very brief message that is way too quick and small to read, so you're probably gonna miss it. Check your characters' levels after every fight ( I told you the controls are not great). STRAHD'S POSSESSION is saved by it's unique atmosphere and therefore scores a solid 4 out of 5. STONE PROPHET is the second RAVENLOFT game (MENZOBERRANZAN using the same engine but not being part of the series). Here Dreamforge have made improvements with graphics and controls (still clunky though). I wish they had come out the other way around, as I would have liked to see the first game with these graphics. Instead of AD&D Transylvania, STONE PROPHET takes place in AD&D ancient Egypt with pharaoh mummies, cobras and scorpions replacing werewolves and vampires. It also is a good game with a unique setting but I prefer the first game. Still a solid 4 out of 5.