Menzoberranzan
| Menzoberranzan | |
|---|---|
| Studio |
 DreamForge Intertainment
|
| Publisher |
SSI
|
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1994 (DOS) October 27, 1995 (PC-98) January 1996 (FM Towns) |
| platform | DOS , FM Towns , PC-98 |
| genre | Computer role playing game |
| Subject | Dungeons and Dragons |
| Game mode | Single player |
| control | Keyboard , mouse |
| medium | Floppy disk , CD-ROM |
| language | English |
Menzoberranzan is a computer role-playing game published in 1994 for MS-DOS based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules , developed by DreamForge Intertainment on behalf of SSI . Set in the campaign world of the Forgotten Realms , the game is the second of three games based on Dreamforge's game engine for Ravenloft: The Count's Curse . The game has been ported to FM Towns and PC-98 .
action
The setting for the game is the underground city of Menzoberranzan, introduced two years earlier in December 1992 with the boxing set Menzoberranzan: The Famed City of the Drow by Ed Greenwood , RA Salvatore and Douglas Niles . The city is inhabited by the evil people of the dark elves, the drow. One of the main characters of the game is the fictional character created by RA Salvatore, the dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden who fell from his people . In search of the fugitive Drizzt, a squad of drow warriors raids a village on the surface of the continent of Faeruns where the player characters are staying. Since the drow kidnap some of the villagers, the group of heroes set off for the underworld.
Gameplay
Menzoberranzan plays similarly to Ravenloft, developed by the same studio : The Count's Curse, and has parallels to Ultima Underworld and Westwood Studios ' Eye of the Beholder . The action is presented in a 3D environment from the first person perspective , the battles are fought in real time. The player generates two player characters at the beginning and can take on two more companions in the course of the game, including Drizzt Do'Urden and his panther Guenhwyvar. The player controls his characters either with the keyboard or the mouse . If desired, he can choose to scroll or move in blocks. Like Ravenloft: The Count's Curse , the game has an automap with the option of labeling and printing it out. New combat options include the ability to levitate the group of heroes.
development
The game was originally released for MS-DOS in 1994, in two slightly different versions for floppy disk and CD-ROM. The CD-ROM version contained more dungeons and quests . On October 27, 1995, it was ported to the PC-98 and in January 1996 to the FM Towns . Also in 1996, Menzoberranzan was released as part of the AD&D Masterpiece Collection .
Republication
On August 20, 2015, GOG.com re- released many Goldbox games after years of non-availability in digital distribution , including Menzoberranzan in the third "Forgotten Realms: The Archives" collection.
reception
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The game only achieved restrained ratings.
Michael Hengst from the game magazine Power Play awarded 70% for the disk version of the game. Against the background that SSI had published more than 20 AD&D titles since 1987, Hengst attested to the "recurring character system" and the "always the same magic spells" clear signs of fatigue: "As appealing as the Menzoberranzan scenario is [...] and so loving the designers have ironed out a few wrinkles in the new AD&D look [...], the times for AD&D computer role-playing games seem to be over now. " Hordes of cool monsters and an extensive dungeon network ”.
Tester Ian Cole from the online magazine Quandaryland awarded 3.5 out of 5 stars, criticizing in particular the slow flow of the game compared to Ravenloft: The Count's Curse . Too many locations are also just empty. On the other hand, he praised that it was not about the usual hack and slay , but also worked a lot with character statistics and puzzles. John Terra from Computer Shopper, on the other hand, described the game as "outstanding" and described it as a "must-have".
In retrospect, the developer was mainly accused of having insufficiently exhausted the rich potential and offer of the scenario template. Allen Rausch from the online game magazine GameSpy judged in a retrospective: “ without a great plot and exciting monsters that truly utilized its setting, Menzoberranzan ended up being less impressive than it was in players' imaginations ” (German: “Without a great plot and exciting monsters who took advantage of the truly spectacular scenario, Menzoberranzan turned out to be much less impressive than in the imaginations of the players. "). According to Matt Barton of Gamasutra , it was above all the endless number of boring fights that permanently interrupt the flow of the game, especially in the first few sections, and require great patience from the player before anything interesting happens. But according to Andrew Park and Elliott Chin from GameSpot , the game failed to include the defining characteristics of the drow scenario - the all-determining intrigue of the ruling families and the deviousness of this people - in the rather linear plot. A major bug that made it impossible for some players to quit the game did the rest. Menzoberranzan was therefore unable to reverse the trend in the increasing number of mediocre AD&D implementations of SSI.
Web links
- Menzoberranzan at MobyGames (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ RA Salvatore , Ed Greenwood , Douglas Niles: Menzoberranzan: The Famed City of the Drow, Revealed At Last! . TSR Inc. , 1992, ISBN 1-56076-460-0 .
- ↑ a b c John Terra: Menzoberranzan Archived from the original on June 11, 2014. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: SX2 Media Labs (Ed.): Computer Shopper . April 1, 1995. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
- ↑ a b Andrew Park, Elliott Chin: Gamespot's History of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Menzoberranzan ( English ) In: GameSpot . CNET . Archived from the original on November 10, 1999. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
- ↑ a b c Michael Hengst : Menzo… what? - Menzoberranzan . (Article scan) In: Power Play . No. 02/1995, February 1995.
- ^ Andy Butcher: Games Reviews . In: Future Publishing (ed.): Arcane . No. 2, January 1996, p. 80.
- ↑ Forgotten Realms: The Archives brings 13 D&D classics to GOG on PC Gamer Jordan Erica Webber (Aug 20 2015, English)
- ↑ Forgotten Realms: The Archives - Collection Three on gog.com (English)
- ↑ Ian Cole: Menzoberranzan . quandaryland.com. February 1995. Archived from the original on March 5, 2004. Retrieved on April 18, 2008.
- ^ Allen Rausch: A History of D&D Video Games - Part III . In: GameSpy . August 17, 2004. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
- ^ Matt Barton: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games Part III: The Platinum and Modern Ages (1994-2004) ( en ) In: Gamasutra . UBM plc . April 11, 2007. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
