Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara
| Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara | |
|---|---|
| Studio | Capcom |
| Publisher | Capcom |
| Senior Developer | Alex Jimenez |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1996 |
| genre | Beat 'em up |
| Game mode | Single player , multiplayer (co-op, up to 4 players) |
| control | Joystick , 4 buttons |
| casing | default |
| Arcade system | CPS-2 |
Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara is the second arcade game by the Japanese developer Capcom based on the role-playing game rules Dungeons & Dragons and is based on the storyline of the predecessor Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom . As before, the game is set in the campaign world Mystara and was released in 1996. It was one of Capcom's last 2D side-scrollers, with only Battle Circuit following in 1997 . In 1999 both series titles were released for Sega Saturn under the title Dungeons & Dragons Collection .
action
After defeating the Arch Lich Deimos in Tower of Doom , the heroes continue their journey through the ruined land of Glantri. They realized that Deimos was only part of a far bigger sinister conspiracy and that it was ultimately only used by a mysterious warlock named Synn. Synn appears as a young woman who, however, commands tremendously great magical powers. She plans to take control of the kingdom of Glantri and subdue the Darokin Republic. But Synn has sworn revenge on the land for Deimos' death.
Only at the end of the game it turns out that Synn is actually a centuries-old red dragon who wants to use the forces of the conquered land to awaken a far more destructive power that is only known under the name The Fiend (German: The devil ) is known.
Gameplay
Like its predecessor, Shadow over Mystara combines the game principle of a side-scrolling beat 'em up with role-playing elements . The game contains numerous game mechanics that are rarely used in arcade games. While things like collecting and equipping new items are a common pattern in computer and console games, it has rarely been seen in arcade games. In Shadow over Mystara , players can choose from a wide variety of weapons and armor, although this choice is limited by the choice of player character. There are also a variety of magical and hidden objects. In combination with variable end credits and branched storylines give the game a high replay value.
Characters
In addition to the original four characters in Tower of Doom , the cleric, the dwarf, the elf and the fighter, Shadow over Mystara adds a thief and a magic user to the selection. In addition, there were now two different sprite sets for each character , so that, unlike the predecessor, two players can choose the same character. In this case, there are also slight differences in the spells among the characters who know the magic. Upon completion of the first level, players will be asked to enter a character name. Unlike many contemporary arcade games, Shadow over Mystara allows you to enter six letters instead of three. There are also two standard names for each character, which are automatically used if the player does not insert a name or vulgar terms such as "SEX".
- cleric
- Canonical names: Greldon, Miles
- The cleric assumes the role of healer and support wizard, but is also an acceptable fighter who has the best charge. He can still drive away the undead, killing skeletal enemies and ghouls instantly, and can heal his allies from a selection of cleric spells, strengthen them with protective spells, and weaken or injure enemies. In accordance with the classic D&D rules, the cleric cannot use bladed weapons, but uses a morning star, through which he also receives certain special attacks.
- dwarf
- Canonical names: Dimsdale, Hendel
- The dwarf is a particularly resilient character and has the most life points. It can cause the most damage in a very short time. His small stature enables him to undermine enemy projectiles unscathed. The dwarf's strengths lie in its special attacks rather than its normal attacks. He also has the unique ability to smash open chests to reveal additional money and other treasures.
- Elf
- Canonical names: Lucia, Kayla
- The Elf is a combat mage who combines the offensive skills of a fighter with the spells of a magician. Although her skills in the respective areas are inferior to the respective specialists (warriors or magicians), she is a very versatile character. Its disadvantage is its low constitution and defense, and it has the lowest close combat range. The hit box of elves remains the same throughout, even if they used weapons with greater range than its standard short sword. Similar to the dwarf, she reaches the highest character level very quickly, which on the one hand gives her an early advantage, on the other hand it abruptly ends her character development and thus reduces the efficiency of everyday objects such as the Efreet bottles.
- warrior
- Canonical names: Crassus, Jarred
- The warrior is a close combat character with an excellent movement set, long weapon range, great endurance and the best armor class, which is why he is suitable for both beginners and advanced players. He can wield almost any weapon in the game, including a two-handed weapon, and is the only character with the ability to wield a second hand weapon. The searchable in the game "Sword of Legends" (German: Sword of legends ) is for the best warriors in the high score list named.
- Spellcaster
- Canonical names: Syous, D'Raven
- The spellcaster is the master of destructive spells, but physically the weakest character in the game. Because of its low constitution, the lack of a shield and its comparatively weak melee attacks, it is therefore particularly challenging to play. To compensate for his low health points, the spellcaster has mastered the magic of temporary invulnerability and teleportation . With the latter he can dodge all physical attacks and carry out sophisticated, damaging combo attacks. The Spellcaster is a difficult but fulfilling character who requires prior knowledge of the game and effective spell management. His offensive spell can use the "Staff of Wizardry" (German: Staff of arcane lore ) be further strengthened, making it the most powerful character in the game.
- thief
- Canonical names: Moriah, Shannon
- The thief is a quick and agile warrior with unique acrobatic skills. Among other things, she can do double jumps, wall jumps, backflips and jumps across the width of the screen. She can open locks, discover traps, pickpockets and inflict particularly severe wounds on opponents through devious attacks. The thief also has an inexhaustible supply of stones for her slingshot and uses bottles of fuel oil for some of her special attacks. In the absence of a shield and due to her mediocre constitution, she has only poor defensive qualities.
control
It is controlled with the help of the joystick. There are also four action buttons for the attack, for jumps, a button for the selection menu for inventory items and the application button for the pre-selected item. The cleric, the elf and the spellcaster also have a second selection menu for their respective spells
Shadow over Mystara introduced a series of special maneuvers that were triggered, similar to Street Fighter, by moving the joystick in conjunction with certain button combinations. All characters except the spellcaster have a Smash Attack and a Rising Attack, which can be combined to form combo attacks that can knock monsters through the air. With the exception of the spellcaster and the cleric, all characters also have a particularly powerful special attack typical of Capcom-sice scrollers. It damages all nearby opponents, but at the same time also deducts life points from the player character.
Loot can be picked up as in the predecessor with the help of the attack button. However, since this could lead to the problem in the first part that the character instead of attacking the opponent picked up an object that was nearby, the so-called sliding function was also introduced. As soon as a character ran over an object, it was automatically picked up.
Functions
The game contains a selection of arcane spells (for spellcasters and elves) and cleric spells that come from the D&D set of rules. As specified by the rules, Shadow over Mystara also uses the so-called Vancouver magic system, according to which only a predetermined number of spells is available per game level. However, these can be topped up with scrolls that can be found as loot items. In some cases, the spells are also restored after certain battles with intermediate opponents. If a spell has been activated, the game pauses briefly to play the spell effect; in some cases, the spell can be controlled by the player during this period.
In the course of the game, the players come across a wide range of looted items and treasures. These can be collected in chests, left behind from killed opponents and final bosses or as random finds in the game world. Another possibility is pickpocketing, which is restricted to the thief. Most treasure finds are made up of gold and silver that can be used to purchase equipment. Other options are weapons, equipment or valuable gems that increase the hero's experience points.
Each character begins with armor that is tailored to the character and remains unchanged throughout the game. In addition, a helmet and a shield contribute to the defense, whereby the spellcaster and the thief cannot use shields. Special magical objects are very fragile, boots, gloves and rings are therefore destroyed after a few hits. There is also a slot for special items, which can be dropped by bosses, for example, and which can give you special abilities. Two particularly powerful weapons that can be found in the game are the “Staff of Wizardry” and the “Sword of Legends”, which have a special meaning in the final battle with the red dragon Synn.
Between the game levels, players can stock up on their standard equipment such as arrows, fuel oil, throwing knives and healing potions at vendors. Items can also be sold or, in some cases, exchanged for special magical items. In a special case, players can also come across a gnome village whose inhabitants ask for help in the fight against a chimera.
Glitches
In the first hardware version of Shadow over Mystara , a program error caused by certain naming could lead to glitches . As a result, the players received powerful items right from the start. This exploit also had the side effect of causing numerous image errors (flickering or missing sprites, text errors), program restarts or even the program freezing. The error was finally fixed in a second hardware revision.
Another glitch that was never fixed was what's called Highlander Mode, named after the movie Highlander - There Can Only Be One . When the spellcaster and the thief equip each other's standard headgear, they became largely immune to most types of damage and could only be wounded by special attacks.
End sequences
After the characters have defeated the final boss, each group member receives a brief epilogue describing their future deeds. There are four variations of this epilogue for each character. The credits are identified with a simple code: the first letter of the character, followed by the number of the credits. The guy variant 2 of the Cleric (English: Cleric ) is therefore "C-2", the optimal end of the fighter (English: fighter ) Accordingly, "F-1", etc. The end shown is calculated on the basis of various factors, and takes places, also refers to the style of play, such as whether the player character landed the decisive blow at the boss or which weapons he owned.
Ports
In 1999 Capcom released Shadows over Mystara together with its predecessor Tower of Doom in a compilation on two CDs for the Sega Saturn game console . The compilation, which was only released in Japan with a long delay, was sold under the title Dungeons & Dragons Collection and also required the 4 MB RAM expansion for the console. It was also one of the last Capcom titles for the discontinued Saturn hardware. Because of the poor sales of the console in North America and Europe, Capcom decided not to publish it for these markets. The port had some small changes in the game principle, such as the adjustment of the damage values and the correction of some bugs, and the number of players was limited to a maximum of two instead of the original four due to the limitations of the Saturn.
In January 2003, the company MCB Interactive released a Windows port of the game on CD-ROM that was limited to the South Korean market.
In March 2013 Capcom announced at the PAX East trade fair a new release of both games for June 2013 under the title Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara for Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 , Wii U and Windows . The revised version by the US developer Iron Galaxy Studios includes, among other things, higher-resolution graphics and the option of playing online with three other players as in the original. The other players can join or leave seamlessly running games. The co-op is supported by a matchmaking function, which suggests suitable game partners by analyzing the preferred style of play, and highscore tables . A challenge mode provides the player with various playful tasks, the fulfillment of which is rewarded with a virtual currency, which in turn can be used to unlock various bonuses. Another new function is the adaptation of the original rules of the game according to your own ideas.
reception
According to Allen Rausch from the US online game magazine GameSpy , Shadows Over Mystara was “an outstanding game in the days when arcades were still the best place to discover the hottest games. And it's still fun even today ”. IGN's Levi Buchanan described it as an "arcade wonder" on the one hand, but also as "strange that one of the more addicting D&D games should end up so far outside the role-playing genre". He praised the high level of replayability due to the motivating search for magical objects and the branched solutions as well as the different characters with their numerous movement sets. In 2011, GameSpy named the game number 50 on their list of the best arcade games, calling it “one of the most entertaining titles ever released for a platform” and “possibly the pinnacle of scrolling beat 'em ups ever hit the arcades graced ".
GameSpot author James Mielke described the Dungeons & Dragons Collection , published in 1999 for Sega Saturn , consisting of Tower of Doom and Shadow over Mystara , as merely average and particularly criticized the very long loading times despite the mandatory use of the 4 MB RAM console extension. which can sometimes interrupt the flow of the game. In 2005, the US online gaming magazine counted IGN the Dungeons & Dragons Collection , however, best of the ten co-op games.
Web links
- Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara in the Killer List of Videogames (English)
- Dungeons & Dragons Collection at MobyGames (English)
- FantasyAnimes D&D section - covers both D&D video games with full character bios, multimedia downloads, and an interview with one of the developers.
- JonC's Shadow over Mystara website
- Shadow over Mystara Shrine
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b James Mielke: Dungeons & Dragons Collection Review ( English ) In: GameSpot . CNET . March 17, 1999. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
- ↑ Neo-Arcadia.com: Metal Slug PC ( English ) Archived from the original on May 29, 2004. Retrieved on January 3, 2003.
- ↑ Product Info: Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara ( English ) Retrieved on March 28, 2013.
- ↑ http://www.capcom-unity.com/gregaman/blog/2013/03/22/announcing-dungeons-dragons-chronicles-of-mystara
- ↑ http://www.4players.de/4players.php/spielinfonews/Allgemein/34584/2130538/Dungeons__Dragons_Chronicles_of_Mystara%7CRueckkehr_zweier_Arcade-Klassiker.html
- ^ Allen Rausch: A History of D&D Video Games - Part IV . Game Spy. August 18, 2004. Retrieved June 15, 2006.
- ↑ Levi Buchanan: Dungeons & Dragons Classic Videogame Retrospective . In: IGN . News Corp . March 6, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
- ↑ GameSpy's Top 50 Arcade Games of All-Time
- ↑ IGN Staff: Game Help Editors' Picks Co-Op Games ( English ) In: IGN . June 13, 2005. Retrieved February 15, 2008.