Hi AoD players,

I'm considering buying this one. It looks right up my alley, but can you tell me whether the combat is realtime or turn-based? I love games of this type, but didn't get too far in Lands of Lore due to the combination of realtime combat and clunky spellcasting. Ideally it would work like Might & Magic 3-6.

I don't mean to derail this thread, but I wonder if this is related to the sound card settings? If the music is done in MIDI then it will sound different based on which exact hardware is generating the sound, because MIDI only tells a soundcard what notes to play and what "instruments" to use, and then the card itself synthesizes the music as you play. A different card may have been used to generate the downloadable soundtrack than you are using in DOSBox. What sound settings are you running? Do you remember what card you used in 1996?

Thanks Sonata, I think I will take a pass until I play more of my backlog. I was disappointed not to continue with Lands of Lore, with its immersive environment, compelling story, and high production value, but I just couldn't get the hang of navigating the interface at the speed I needed. Maybe there were keyboard shortcuts I missed? It felt like a case of design coming between me and my party's array of tools.

Further to what Walt says, I've noticed some of the older soundtracks here on GOG seem to be MIDI-generated, and not quite match up to the in-game music. If I prefer the in-game version, I'll turn off the sfx and do a DOSbox recording to wavefile, then edit & convert to mp3 for my personal playlist. If the game doesn't use DOSbox, Windows apps like Roxio Easy Audio Capture record exactly what you are hearing from your sound card. Not a lot of effort IMO to hear the music you love.

I don't really remember. I think I let the game use Sound Blaster settings instead of MIDI music. Which, in my personal opinion, still sounds best. Yeah, that's the way I do it, too. I have already recorded the Anvil of Dawn tracks up to the level I'm playing at the moment. (Back in the day, this is how I also recorded the music of many games, such as the Monkey Island series, Zork Nemesis, Sanitarium and many more.)