Customer Reviews

Demon Stone

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a long-time fan of the Forgotten Realms, I was eagerly awaiting this game. The visuals looked absolutely stunning, and the fact that R.A. Salvatore wrote the plot seemed to lend the game a good deal of credibility.

Unfortunately, Demon Stone is quite disappointing. The visuals ARE stunning, I've got to give Atari that, and the fight moves are wonderfully choreographed.

However, there are serious gameplay issues. For one, as the previous reviewer mentioned, the lack of a multiplayer option is bizarre considering that, with three characters, the game is practically begging for team play. This is even more of a shame since the AI for the two characters you are not currently playing isn't very impressive--there are many cases where the character you control is madly attacking and the other two kind of sit there until something wanders in range. Second, I found the forced perspective absolutely infuriating. Rather than going for the bird's eye view like previous such games (D&D Heroes, Dark Alliance, etc), Demon Stone has a shifting perspective depending on where your character stands. Sometimes the view is long, sometimes very short, and sometimes the "camera" actually sits in the middle of the available ground. This means that you are forced to fight enemies who are actually off-screen, or that your entire view can be blocked by your own charactert (or even, *groan*, by an AI-controlled character). A third-person camera would be wonderful, if only you were able to control it yourself instead of being pinned to a single, often very frustrating, perspective.

Gameplay aside, even the game design is a little lacking. Levels are relatively short, so the game is over more quickly than I would like. They are also extremely linear, mostly lacking hidden areas, sub-quests, or the ability to explore. The characters advance in terms of greater equipment and abilities, but for the most part these minimally change the game experience. For example, Illius gains new spells throughout the game, but you basically have three choices: attack, protect, incapacitate. Despite using spectacular D&D spell titles (power word kill, meteor swarm, cone of cold), his ranged attack is still basically a dart he shoots out of his staff, affecting only one enemy. Finally--and its possible this is just a personal thing--I found that many levels have a situation in which the heroes are trapped and must accomplish their mission under pressure. For example, in the Underdark level you must battle githyanki warriors at the same time as you fire at their wizards so that you can break down an ice wall. It sounds kind of exciting, and for a few minutes it is. But these kinds of "get past the obstacle through a never-ending stream of enemies" is really just tedious, especially when some of the enemies (wizards) continually work to repair the wall. Few games are made better by those kinds of battles, and Demon Stone seems to use them quite often.

As a last note, I wanted to comment on the game's faithfulness to the Forgotten Realms. Caveat: Honestly, this didn't impact my enjoyment of the game at all, and it probably wouldn't for the vast majority of gamers. Its really just the satisfaction of seeing whether the developers get it right. Sadly, Atari's score here is moderate at best. For example, they seem to place Nesme in the Galena Mountains rather than near the Spine of the World (a few thousand miles apart; see the manual p. 18). The geography is similarly confused for Zhai. Some of the visuals are a little off as well. Khelben Arunsun, Demon Stone's "narrator," looks more like a medieval dutch burgher than the many drawings that been done of him; and his tower is inexplicably located in the middle of the wilderness, rather than in the center of the Metropolis Waterdeep. Drizzt's inclusion in the game is a nice touch, but even there some of the details are innacurate: Drizzt's scimitar's (referenced by name in the game manual, so the guys have done some research) magically bristle with flame, and the battlerager Thibbledorf Pwent, rather than impaling and shaking his enemies to pieces, single-handedly fixes the gate winch?!

I really tried to like Demon Stone, and but for the gameplay issues I still would have enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the weirdly shifting perspective, the lack of other players to enjoy the game with (which has always been the strength of other D&D games), and the proliferation of certan tedious scenes killd my enthusiasm quite early. To anyone interested in Demon Stone, I would recommend instead that you go out and buy Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance.

I bought this today, and been playing it, and I seem to be enjoying it very much.
This game combines both the graphics (graphics for this game are better although) and hack n slash game play of the LOTR 2 Towers game. Then combines it with the story of Baldurs Gate and The Forgotten Realms world.
Another way to think of this game is Baldurs Gate up close 3rd person view, instead of the over head view that made everyting in the 2 Baldurs Gate games look small.
If you enjoyed the Baldurs Gate games and the LOTR games, this is a must have game. The story is written than none other R. A. Salvatore himself!

Rannek, a forlorn warrior with a haunted past, walks along a lonely path. He believes he is alone in the world and has nothing to live for. A dragon's shadow passes overhead. Are those orcs he hears stalking him? There is a cry for help.

Without even a moment to consider the danger, sword drawn, Rannek thrusts himself into a battle for which he is destined.

Thus began one of the best written video games I've ever seen.

Yeah, it's short. Seems that every bad review out there has this as their top complaint. You can finish the game in 5 to 10 hours. (Probably 10 unless you are good at this sort of game.) Since this game was originally sold for half the price of other games, I failed to see the point of this criticism back then, since "short" is meaningless except in the context of how much you get for your dollar. Now that you can buy the game used for a few bucks, this criticism is entirely meaningless. Even the worst reviews of this game admit it's got good graphics, nice action, and an interesting story. But they just couldn't see past the short play time -- which never did turn out to be an issue. Heck, you'll probably want to replay the game more than once.

The other main complaint about this game is it's lack of multiplayer. Okay, that would have been awesome. But isn't that a bit like complaining that High Noon just isn't a very good Sci Fi movie?

This game is what it is. It's hands down the single best example of how to integrate narrative with action game play and RPG elements. (There are plenty of places where the narrative was ill adapted to multiplayer, so the choice to be single player only isn't merely an oversight.)

This is a living breathing world populated with believable and sympathetic characters. Not a word of dialog is wasted. By the time I was done, I felt like I knew the characters and cared for them. I felt more connection to Rannek, Zhai, and Illius then I ever did for the characters of my favorite RPGs. And this was with only 5 hours of game play! Oh my gosh, the game industry needs to hire the writer(s) and let him (them) do something of some length. This is no small feat we are talking about and it's sad that people "didn't get it."

Many of the levels are just breath taking. I know, I know, graphics don't matter. Oh, except that they do. And this is on an old style x-box and ps2, no less. It still puts many xbox 360 and ps3 titles to shame.

But it's not really the graphics that mattered so much as how they integrated so well with the world, the action, and the narrative. For example, my heart stopped beating when I realized the "cutscene" dragon -- that looked so real -- was attacking me. He transitioned from "cutscene" to "boss" seemlessly. And the digital actors show real emotion. Moments like this kept happening.

And the game has real emotional impact that is so often lacking in games. I nearly got up and cheered when Drizzt entered the fray. (Then I realized I was controlling him!) But that was nothing to all the other poignant moments where the characters shows us what they are made of and display what's in their hearts through their actions. I still remember the moment where Rannek finally gives a nod to Zhai as they decide to help Drizzt fight and the music swells as the leap from the wall into battle. I truly felt Rannek's anger as my own at the trolls who had destroyed his town -- and I felt true companionship for his friends helping him come to terms with his past.

And who could forget the moment where Rannek decides to take up the silver sword -- and to seize control of his life and take responsibility for his actions.

And I loved the ironic ending where Ygorl (ably performed by Michael Clarke Duncan) realizes that he sowed the seeds of his own destruction.

Do yourself a favor and buy this game. If you don't like it as much as I did, don't worry, you can always sell it used for basically the price you bought it for, so this is risk free people. But don't be surprised if you end up keeping this one for the collection.

While I will agree that the graphics in this game are pretty good, overall the game was boring and I felt it left a lot to be desired. The only thing I found similar to any form of D&D was that the setting was in the Forgottem Realms and the "Good-Guy-Mentor" was Kelban Blackstaff (a character actually from the Forgotten Realms). Other than that it was nothing like playing D&D and I felt more like I was playing Guantlet, which gets boring after the first 10 minutes of killing things off. If you're looking for a roleplaying experience this isn't it. The game should be reclassed from "role-playing" to adventure.

This relatively unknown game for Xbox is extremely fun, highly recommended. Good voice talent by several known actors (including Patrick Stewart) and good story, along with arcade-style gameplay (a precursor to the combo system used in Conan, so this might be the same studio, not sure), 3rd person perspective. You can switch among the 3 characters in your party, while the other two do a pretty good job on their own in a big fight. I tend to stick with the sorcerer and let the warrior and rogue tank for me. After each big level you get to upgrade skills and gear. There are plenty of more detailed reviews but I just wanted to chime in, that I bought this game only recently (late to the game), and enjoy a medium-complexity RPG that doesn't require too much of a learning curve or time investment. It is fun to upgrade skills and watch how they immediately impact the battles. The graphics are top notch for the old Xbox. I suspect it's available for other systems from that generation. This was not intended as a hard-core, complex, deep RPG, so those complaints about it are unfounded, due to incorrect expectations. Sometimes "Gauntlet" style RPG gameplay is just right for a game night when you don't want to think too hard and just want to have fun.

This game is decent but a big dissapointment because it is made by the developers of the two towers game. I will start with the hits.

this game has the third person veiw and not the stupied overhead of dark alliance of D&D heros. this game has good graphics and an interesting storyline. each character has there own abillities which you use at diffrent times.


now the misses. My biggest problem is that there is NO MULTIPLAYER!! what the heck where they thinking?? Anotherthing is that even though the story line is interesting it gets a little odd at times. The characters dont really carry on conversations. for example here is one. they go into this cave which they think is abandoned and then they find out its not and the knight says "I thought this place was abandonded" and then the wizard goes "(someone} is activating the portal we havent muvh time" and then the girl goes "its dark down here...i like it." that does not sound like a conversation to me. Also your team members dont help you. you will be trying to hit these archers ect. with illius and enemies will be attacking you and your team members will be off in some corner alone. and even though the camera is close up you cant control it so you cant see whats behind or on the side of you, and sometimes it will be zoomed in on these two bad guys fighting far away so you can barely see your person. and finally i wish you could travel to the next destination instead of just appearing there. and i wish you could explore villages ect. if you want a better game thats multiplayer get king auther or if you want a singel player get fable. this game is fun but dissapointing.

Demon star is a good game if you like magic concepts. If not, this game will be a highly new change for you. If you have absolutely no interest in magic, combat, and RPG's, do not play this game. It has great graphics, good handling, and so on and so forth. The game is a good game if you like RPG adventure games.