Butchery of the Ultima series aside... The storyline is pretty bad, making little to no sense in a lot of places. The voice acting is laughable at best... Hit detection is a right pain, menus are annoyingly designed, and even with the patches, it's packed with bugs, making some puzzles almost impossible to complete a lot of the time, scripts have a tendancy to hang for... my record was longer than five minutes just waiting for an NPC to actually talk after interacting (Not graphical lag, literally just standing there, animated, waiting, until the NPC speaks.) There's a number of other flaws I could list, but they've already been covered. The good points; the graphics are good, the soundtrack is pretty nice.. for a while anyway, and some of the quests were rather fun. Not a game I'd recommend if you enjoyed the ultima series, or if you're easily annoyed by repeated crashes, reloads due to gamebreaking bugs, and the suchlike, but if you're looking at a game you can laugh at, this is probably a game for you.
First: Throne of Chaos. From the first time I played this game, I have always enjoyed it. All four characters have different skills, and the options you have throughout, such as whether you bluff, run away, or attack in a couple of places, or go evil and kill everything, or do quests to gain the favour of people. The combat is good, and gives you the options to level any of your characters up as a fighter, mage, or rogue, depending on the choices of weapons. Patrick Stewart does the voice of King Richard, and of the intro, adding his awesoness to the game too. The storyline is amazing, the gameplay is, whilst dated, easy to understand, simple, and does not get in the way. The music is a good addition, setting the mood, and adding even more into the game. This game is among the top of older PC RPGs, and is worth every minute you spend exploring it. Guardians of Destiny: I will admit, when I played this one, I found it very different in style. Movement is a lot different, as is the interface. Also, you only play as one character throughout, and do not get to choose. You play as the son of the villain from Throne of Chaos, and as such, are not really on good terms with Gladstone. In movement, you walk forward without the forward-to-move-one-point-on-the-map style of ToC, allowing you to run or walk. The graphics are different as well, with a more 3D environment Despite the differences in gameplay, Guardians of Destiny still maintains the brilliance of the first game, continuing the story with a good plot, interactions which affect the gameplay significantly, and some of the most beautiful scenes and music I have ever seen in a game. Again, you can take the good route, or you can be evil and kill everyone you see. However, this game it matters a lot more, causing changes in the storyline, how other characters interact with you, even the ending. One of the most unique points of this game is a curse the main character has. At some scripted points, and at random, you will transform, either into a tiny (and rather weak yet powerful in magic) lizard, or a huge strong beast (which hardly jumps, can use no magic, but hits like a truck), which also affects your gameplay and tactics. Neither game has a grinding feel to it, you level up skills as you play the story, making it an immersive and entertaining experience, backup up by amazingly well done music, plots, and visuals. Overall, I would recommend both of these games to anyone, and suggest playing them as soon as possible. You will not regret it.
