Dungeons & Dragons: Order of the Griffon
| Order of the Griffon | |
|---|---|
| Studio | Westwood Associates |
| Publisher |
Turbo Technologies SSI |
| Senior Developer | Joseph B. Hewitt IV |
| composer | Frank Klepacki |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1992 |
| platform | PC engine |
| genre | Computer role playing game |
| Subject | Dungeons and Dragons |
| Game mode | Single player |
| control | Game controller |
| medium | Cartridge |
| language | English |
Dungeons & Dragons: Order of the Griffon is a computer role-playing game developed by Westwood Associates for the PC Engine game console . It is a licensed product to the role-playing rules Dungeons & Dragons ( D&D ).
action
The action takes place in the fictional state of Karameikos in the campaign world Mystara . There are reports of a vampire gathering evil beings and monsters around him. Therefore, Lord Korrigan, the ruler of the fortress Radlebb Keep, instructs a group of adventurers to investigate these rumors. The hero troop put together by the player begins to collect information in the classic detective manner and actually comes across the prophecy about the return of an old vampire and a group of conspirators operating in secret. This tries to get rid of the Caramerican elite and also has the possibility to turn people into the undead. The heroes try to prevent this. The settings include the three Caramerican cities Specularum, Radlebb Keep and Kelvin as well as various ruins, fortifications, caves and forests in the surrounding area.
After a fight with a wolf pack, led by Schattenwolf Collum, the heroes can Staff of Life (dt .: staff of life to make sure). Thereupon the group of heroes receives support from the eponymous Order of the Griffon (German: Order of the Griffin ). This organization can be found all over Karameikos and has paladins, knights and fighters among its members. As a powerful adversary, however, the Iron Ring occurs (dt .: the Iron Ring ) in appearance. This criminal organization, consisting of bandits, cutthroats and lycanthropes, tries to carry out the sinister plans of their leader, the vampire Korizsegy. With the help of the Staff of Life, who can give the owner access to Koriszegy's crypt, the heroes must stop the vampire from building an army of the undead. To do this, they must come into possession of four precious stones (ruby, onyx, death stone and diamond) and the staff of Halav. In the end, the heroes go into battle against Koriszegy himself.
Gameplay
For Order of the Griffon , Westwood used the basic set of rules Dungeons & Dragons and not the extended set of rules Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ( AD&D ) such as for Eye of the Beholder . At the beginning the player chooses four group members from a pool of 21 ready-made characters. These are divided into the seven archetypes fighter, dwarf, magician, thief, halfling, cleric or elf. For each of these archetypes the player can choose between three variants that have different strengths and weaknesses. As usual in role-playing games, the further development of the character is at the core of the game. The characters receive experience points for killing monsters and completing orders, which they can level up and improve in their experience level. Each character starts at character level 1, the maximum level is level 8.
In cities and dungeons, Order of the Griffon presents the game from a first-person perspective ; on the overland map and in combat, the program changes to a perspective from above ( bird's eye view ). A turn-based combat system similar to that of the Gold Box series (including Pool of Radiance ) is used for the fights . The game offers a free memory function and uses the battery-backed RAM or alternatively a password system.
Soundtrack
The music comes from Westwood's house composer Frank Klepacki . In a 2006 interview, Klepacki described the soundtrack as the low point of his career because he had difficulties with the limited musical possibilities of the console's sound engine.
reception
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“A D&D story in the usual guise of such SSI products. You can be more than excited about a Super CD version from this manufacturer. "
"In summary, this is a simple detective adventure in fantasy garb, proving to be a good intermeditate-level RPG"
"The bottom line is that this is a simple detective adventure in fantasy guise that turns out to be a good medium-difficulty role-playing game."
Web links
- Order of the Griffon at MobyGames (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/goodoldreviews/12248-The-History-of-Dungeons-Dragons-in-Video-Game-Pt-1.6#&gid=gallery_3164&pid=1
- ^ A b Robert Reischmann: Order of the Griffon . In: Play Time . No. 03/1993, 1993. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
- ↑ Gamers With Jobs Radio: Interview with Frank Klepacki ( English ) In: Gamers with Jobs . March 21, 2006. Retrieved August 22, 2006.
- ^ Howard H. Wen: Order of the Griffon . In: TurboPlay . No. August / September 1992, 1992. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
