Albion (computer game)

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Albion
Studio GermanyGermany Blue byte
Publisher GermanyGermany Blue byte
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 GermanyGermany1996 August 31, 1996
United StatesUnited States
platform MS-DOS
genre Computer role playing game
Subject Science fiction , fantasy
Game mode Single player
control Keyboard , mouse
system advantages
preconditions
medium 1 CD-ROM
language German English
Current version 1.38
Age rating
USK released from 12

Albion is a role-playing game developed by Blue Byte . It was in 1996 for MS-DOS - PC released. The game has been touted as the unofficial successor to Amberstar and Ambermoon due to the collaboration between the developers of the Amber games.

action

The player takes on the role of Tom Driscoll, a crew member of the Mining - spaceship Toronto. Before landing the Toronto on a still unexplored, apparently hostile planet , he is supposed to fly to the surface with an inspector of the Earth Government to investigate, but he dies in an accident. Instead, the scientist Rainer Hofstedt is instructed to accompany Tom. As the shuttle into the atmosphere plunges the planet, but fails the shuttle control and crash.

When they get off the shuttle, they discover that they have landed in a blooming jungle . Shortly afterwards the shuttle explodes, Tom and Rainer pass out. However, they are saved by the Iskai, feline humanoids who inhabit part of the planet. To find the Toronto landing site, the two embark on a journey through this strange world. In the course of this they discover that there are also people on the planet who are reminiscent of the Celts of the earth, but are gifted with magic.

Ultimately, Tom discovers that the Toronto is destroying the planet and tries to prevent it from happening. It is learned that the inspector found out that the planet was alive and that it was murdered by Toronto's Artificial Intelligence while attempting to contact Earth. In a final battle against the artificial intelligence of the spaceship, Tom and his companions are defeated, but a magical seed gets into the reactor of the Toronto. The ship is then overgrown by plants and destroyed. The people on board start a new life on Albion.

Gameplay

Albion is a computer role-playing game , but the player is not allowed to create their own characters. The main character Tom Driscoll and all accompanying characters added during the course of the game are given to the player by the program. After a character joins the group, however, the player has full control over the equipment and determines the further development of the character. The group consists of a maximum of six people.

Character development is based on experience points that can be acquired through successful battles, but also by solving puzzles. The points cannot be assigned directly to the skills, you need a teacher for this. The training does not improve the actual strength in the expandable skills such as close combat or long-range combat, but the accuracy. Attributes such as strength or intelligence can only be influenced with great difficulty and lengthy, they are almost invariably fixed for every character, but the number of attacks per round increases with leveling up.

The game is played alternately in three views: for overland maps and neutral locations v. a. from a two-dimensional isometric overview perspective and in dungeons from a 3D first - person perspective . Both sections are played in real time, there is a day-night cycle. For turn-based battles, a six by six square, chessboard-like playing field is displayed on which the tactics can be determined. Before each round, the actions of each person in the group are determined by the player. You can choose between close combat or long-range combat, sorcery, movement, flight or doing nothing. After the player has determined all actions for his round, these are carried out after confirmation by the computer. The order in which the actions are played results from the speed value of the own and opposing pieces. The round actions are visualized in the 3D dungeon view before the tactics screen is called up again to plan the next round.

The player interacts with the game world via a point & click interface . If necessary, the right mouse button calls up a context-sensitive menu in which various interaction options are available. Dialogs are displayed via a text box. Often the player has various predefined answer options available. In addition, the player can specifically ask for self-chosen terms. The input is made via the keyboard.

history

development

Albion was in 1994 for MS-DOS - PC developed by Blue Byte and published 1996th The game was distributed as the unofficial successor to Amberstar and Ambermoon , as the developers of the Amber games had worked on it. Albion was developed for DOS and Windows 95, for the bandwidth of PC hardware that was typical at the time.

developer

  • Producer: Thomas Hertzler
  • Project management: Erik Simon
  • Programmers: Jurie Horneman, Marcus Pukropski
  • Graphic designer: Thorsten "GOGO" Mutschall, Tobias Richter
  • Musician: Matthias Steinwachs

legacy

The game also runs on newer Windows operating systems, but with problems with performance or with the support of the latest graphics or audio hardware. Replacing the enclosed DOS4GW DOS extender with the alternative DOS / 32A can improve performance, as can the use of a DOS emulator such as DOSBox , which also solves the problem of hardware incompatibilities. For the Amiga there is only a free demo version of Albion.

In 2011, a version obtained by fans from the x86 version through static recompilation and adapted for the ARM architecture became available for the Pandora handheld . Builds for Windows and Linux followed later.

On July 29th, 2015, after years of unavailability , Albion was republished on gog.com in digital distribution .

reception

Petra Schlunk from Computer Gaming World awarded 3.5 out of 5 points. She described the game as a bit old-fashioned with a lengthy combat system and sometimes too large levels, but in contrast to The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall and Diablo , it offers an extensive and profound role-playing game in terms of content that is recommended for genre lovers.

The combination of sci-fi and fantasy elements in Albion, as well as the detailed elaboration of the individual races and cultures, was found to be particularly refreshing .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Harald Fränkel: Albion: Avatar anticipated the role-playing game of the inventor of the settlers. GameStar .de, May 3, 2020, accessed on May 3, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b Albion . BlueByte.de. Archived from the original on February 19, 2001. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
  3. ↑ a b c Ulrich Smidt: Albion . (Article scan) In: Power Play . No. 4, 1996. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
  4. ↑ DOS / 32A - Alternative DOS handler
  5. ↑ DOSBox, version 0.73 supports Albion . 2009. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
  6. ↑ Amiga demo from Albion
  7. ↑ M-HT: Albion ( English ) openpandora.org. November 6, 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  8. ↑ M-HT: Albion ( English ) repo.openpandora.org. June 11, 2011. Retrieved April 2, 2014: “ This is a port of the game's executable for Pandora (using static recompilation / binary translation). "
  9. ↑ M-HT: Albion ( English ) openpandora.org. November 6, 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  10. ↑ M-HT: Albion ( English ) boards.openpandora.org. March 16, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2015: “ Here is a version for Windows, in case anyone is interested. Unpack it into the directory where Albion is installed - read the Readme for more information (use Albion.cmd to run the game). "
  11. ↑ Albion - 1995 by Blue Byte (Source Port for x86 / x64) by SagaraS on letsplayforum.de (June 15, 2016)
  12. ↑ Exclusive to GOG: As of today, new Ubisoft classics are available on Winfuture.com (John Woll, July 29, 2015)
  13. ↑ Petra Schlunk: Space Quests . (Article scan) In: Computer Gaming World . 01/1997, No. 150, January 1997, pp. 156-160.
  14. ↑ Monika Stoschek: Albion . (Article scan) In: PC Player . No. 4, 1996, pp. 146-148. Retrieved October 10, 2011.