Customer Reviews

Lands of Lore: Throne of Chaos

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If ever a game begged to be recast into modern design this is it. Patrick Stuart of STNG adds his elequent voice to the game as the king and the effect is like being in a real setting. The storyline is well crafted and the introductory film is beautiful. It's because of games like this, which showed that real artistry formed the foundation of the RPG game world, that Westwood is sorely missed in gaming. Please bring it back, Sony, or someone with real artistic skill!.

I bought this game back in 1995 on a whim... little did I know how it would impact my future as a gamer. Back then the graphics, music and sound effects were wonderful and the story line entertaining. The feeling of adventuring in the "lands" was remarkably atmospheric and engrossing. The games "fun factor" was a match with the best of what computer RPG gaming had to offer at the time. This masterpiece from Westwood Studios is still the benchmark by which I judge all RPG's that I play. What this game did right was offer the player a dynamic world to explore in, charismatic characters were peppered along the adventure and helped to bring the game to life and often offered some comic relief, and there were some darn cool spells to bring your enemies to their knees. There are challenging mazes, creepy dungeons, murky swamplands and other varied environments to keep the sight seeing fresh and some interesting items with simple interaction to help spice up your adventure along the way. Many creatures you'd encounter were menacing looking and some would show "battle wounds" as you proceeded to dispatch them. You could, at times, even effect your surroundings(the "freeze" spell in the swamplands.. as an example) A bunch of little details and a few "cinematic" events all helped the story along and contributes to time well spent experiencing this game. While today's games offer many of these features, and more, with bigger production values... very few do it with such charm. Westwood Studios/Virgin Interactive called this an "Inspired RPG Adventure"... that was an excellent way to start describing it. A play thru of this game is highly recommended even today.

My role playing is a very important part of my leisure time, I lost this game when it first came out, and happened to run across it some time ago on other gaming web sites. I really missed not playing the game and decided to buy it again, so glad I did. Lands Of Lore is a puzzle that challenges your wits and makes you super aware of your surroundings. Graphics are great,story line is very interesting and the eploring, and hunting and fulfilling quest makes this and excellent game for all ages, I am 60 years old and love his game.When I finish with Kerin I have other characters to experiment with, that too is great.

This is the game that got me into RPG's WAY back when I had a 486. Most people won't understand what that means, but that's alright. In any event, I saw the review earlier, mentioning DOSBox for vista. There is also a program called PDOSBox, for any windows mobile using PDAs. Back when I had my little HP PDA (don't remember the model number) I downloaded this game from somewhere on the internet, and installed PDOSbox. Although a little tricky, this game played very well on the PDA, full graphics and everything. This is one of the best games available, in my humble opinion, and I just wanted to let everyone know that now you can play it on your hand-held device as well. Unfortunately there is no dosbox for blackberry yet, but hopefully soon!

I've never played the game outside of an emulator, so I don't know how it runs on a normal DOS computer, but on dos-box it's so buggy it drives me nuts.

As for the game itself, outwardly it looks like a turn-based RPG, but the fighting dynamics are different. The enemy does not "wait" for your turn and you can get attacked from the three sides you can't see while fighting what's in front of you. This can get very aggravating. Westwood really wanted a 3D engine before one existed, and you can see the attempt at such a game here. Unlike previous RPG's like "Wizardry" this has more than endless brick walls and you can often see several steps ahead, so there's some added depth perception. Unfortunately for those of us used to playing "WASD" with a right-hand mouse, this game is not going to work. The movement is either click-based or arrow-keys. So your mouse has to be left-hand controlled or you have to used your left hand on the right-side of the keyboard. The keys are not customizable.

The quest is strait-forward, you find out where you need to go, go there, do what you need to do and go to the next place. The story is okay and does offer background if you've played the two sequels first.

All in all I say the game needs a Windows Update. If WestWood was still around I'd start a campaign for a 3 DVD set of all LOL titles compatible with Windows. That would be a lovely Christmas present!

All in all I say play it if you like RPG's and absolutely if you liked LOL II & III. I think "LOL II Guardians of Destiny" Is the best and will load on any 86x Windows system. Let's get these software guys to re-release these classics for Windows!

Lands of Lore - The Throne of Chaos - Retail Box

Voices and choices
In this release of LOL no doubt you will all recognize the voice of Patrick Stewart of Star Trek/Captain Picard fame. Whilst he and the other actors definitely add to the appeal of this title it is, nevertheless, very good to see that the written text is still around. So, if for any reason you don't want to listen to the dialogue, you can turn it off and still follow what is going on by reading the text. And the controls in this game give you lots of different options such as separate adjustments for the level of music, sound and dialogue. Other good features include heaps of save games slots and three levels of difficulty.

Yes, you can adjust the strength of the creatures you must face which makes it perfect to recommend for less experienced players. Just access the game controls and you can choose either wimpy, normal or ferocious.

I say that this game is suitable for newer players, however I do have one reservation in this respect. There is a fighting sequence, namely in the White Tower, level 3, which is particularly difficult, even on the wimpy level. Other than that it would make an excellent introduction to Role-playing games. To play you don't have to grapple with loads of statistics, the story is developed very well and your tasks are clearly defined, and the mapping feature is as good as they come, maybe a little too good for some players. For instance you can't possibly miss a secret room or passage, they are clearly marked on your map, and it is very easy to find your way around by following the unmapped paths.

Involving storyline
You begin this game by selecting one of four pre-determined characters with various skills. You then find yourself at the doorway of Gladstone Keep and must immediately pay your respects to King Richard. Of course, all is not well and the good King has an important quest for you. Scotia, the wicked witch of the story, is misbehaving. She has gotten her hands on the Nether Mask and is preparing to assert her dominance over the lands. Your first task is to go and fetch the Ruby of Truth from Sir Roland, but it isn't all plain sailing.

Alas, when you arrive Sir Roland's estate has been attacked and the Ruby stolen. Soon after, Gladstone Keep suffers a similar fate. Sir Richard is poisoned and it is up to you to save him. And so the story grows as you seek out a cure and, all going according to plan, come face to face with Scotia.

The long trek
Your journey is a long one. In learning about the cure and finding the ingredients you must seek out other characters and gain their confidence and help. There are forests brimming with foes to fight, a dangerous swamp where a wrong step spells doom, a maze like mine with plenty of keys to find, holes to fall through and levers to pull, not to mention the tricky White Tower and your final destination, which presents another set of puzzles to for you to negotiate.

This game is perhaps not for the 'serious' role-player who has progressed from the pen and paper games and who can't get by without stacks of stats, but it is nevertheless lots of fun. It lacks some of the sophistication of more recent role-playing games and the inventory is a little unwieldy, but it is still eminently playable.

Publisher: Virgin Interactive - Westwood

Year: 1993

Media: CD-Rom

Operating Systems: MS-DOS

I just wanted to add some highlight on this game and how to make it work on your Windows Vista, don't worry LOL will work perfectly on your Vista and all you need here is an emulator called DOSBox since the game is only DOS based.
In other words, DOSBox is an emulator that recreates a MS-DOS compatible environment (complete with Sound, Input, Graphics and even basic networking). This environment is complete enough to run many classic MS-DOS games completely unmodified.
Furthermore I did experience a problem with DOSBox when you try to maximize the emulator to fit it to your screen everything will simply freeze so you will play it on a windowed mode unfortunately.

[...]

I hope this will answer many questions!

This game, the original in the trilogy, is great for younger kids. It's storyline and gore level make it appropriate for those who want a challenge yet want something that's not gonna give them nightmares. However, for adults, if we can get past the old old graphics, then you'll find a game that carries a challenge and storyline that progresses surprisingly well. Just remember these games weren't made yesterday (well, way way way yesterday LOL!) It's a great game, and a great starter for kids who just wanna tap away at the keys and have fun that's safe and doesn't promote psycho killing and stuff.

Don't bother buying any other RPG of this kind. This is the best. I have never found another RPG to equal the game play of LOL. At this point the graphics are a bit dated, but who really cares. You won't find a better playing experience anywhere. Unfortunately the sequels to this game never even came close to the original.

It can be hard to get this thing setup and running (it's DOS based), but it's well worth it. [...]