The Scout is also the fastest and has the ability to double jump over enemies...

...Oh wait, wrong game.

Ah, the best thing about that game is the music. It's so relaxing.

Good to see you learned how valuable bows are early on - if you try and melee through the game, you just take way too much damage, and you'll be running back to Anaks constantly for revives.

Can't wait for part 2.

Also, I'd like to point out that the Dragon Sword you showed cost 1 million jade. Not 10 million.

There is actually a hidden tavern in the forest area not far from the first castle that is a merchant's place and you can buy stuff there whenever you want, at cheaper rates than the wandering merchant. Don't miss out on this.

You forgot to mention that PHYSIQUE is an important stat for all the characters, especially the Fighter. The higher your Physique, the better your character keeps his armor from breaking. Of course, you can't know about this without reading the game booklet. Force Ring is used to increase Physique, which is useful in early-mid game. As your characters level up, they will gain more Physique by themselves and will rely less on the Force Ring, which means you can equip them with other beneficial rings instead. I like to give the Fighter a War Ring and an Earth Staff, which increase his Power and reduce taken damage by half.

Weapons can't break, unlike armor. Always give your Fighter the most powerful weapon you have, because he's the only one capable of dealing massive critical damage and kill the nearly impossible to kill late game bosses and enemies in the desert.

The Magician may be a wimp, but after learning Fireball and acquiring a Magic Staff (very important item), he can be MONSTROUS. His MP will regenerate much faster and near mid-game he will be solely responsible for killing most of the monsters you encounter. He becomes very powerful very fast, though his weakness remains his frailness. The highest level armor he can wear is Heavy Armor and Heavy Coat, which are mediocre. A Sage's Ring can make him even more deadly.

The Priestess's only significant role is to heal/support the others. Otherwise, she gets the Fireball spell like the Magician, but her lower Knowledge stat means that she will deal less damage with her spell. On the other hand, she gets to wear better armor than the Magician: Power Cuirass, Hyper Greaves, Heavy Robe. I think that at a certain level she learns Resurrection, so she can resurrect dead characters even inside dungeons (not 100% sure about this).

The Scout is, for the most part, just like the Fighter, except with useful spells. It's a good idea to give him a Wind Ring, which increases his Agility and makes him a more efficient fighter. Bow and Arrow is a standard weapon for him throughout the whole game, since he doesn't need to go full contact with enemies.

For those who are interested, it's a good idea to go here and learn about the different items and game mechanics: http://uk.faqs.ign.com/articles/497/497675p1.html

Can't wait for Part Deux and your conclusions for this game!

I love how you named your characters. But why is Rollo T a priestess? Is that a corollary to your D&D game?

The one thing I remember about this game is that our dog, Max, used to freak out whenever we played it, because of the music.
Also that the music sounds like Lagoon.

Did you have a heart attack at the start video?

I obtained bows from scorpions. One can be found (and respawns?) in the very first castle at the start of the game. There's also a way to trigger an infinite spawn of spiders and obtain a load of rings.

My biggest problem with this game was the CONFUSION! You could take a wrong step and bump into a strange marker on the ground, causing a gigantic panther head to emerge. You had to press the L&R buttons on the controller RAPIDLY to run away, or you were wiped out. This insta-gib could happen at the very beginning of the game.

Another insta-gib was the water. You touched water? Your characters appear on screen and begin to drown! What do you do? If you didn't know the L&R trick to run away; you were a goner.

Finally, some of the enemy encounters would be way too hard. Some fights were too easy while 3 seconds later; BAM! Insta-gib! Some monster attacks you and you're dead, randomly. Now that I know this game had several iterations to get it right, I feel annoyed.

Wow, that game looks like a major pain in the ass.

Hi lordkat, I've been playing drakkhen a bit since you announced you were going to do it for the next UWW. Previously I had nothing but horrible memories of this game but I was able to figure out a lot more this time(Even though I didn't realize there was even a map to the overworld, which makes this game so much easier to figure out, until I saw it in your review). One thing that bugged me though is you say that the wizard is absolutely useless and reiterate it over and over. I have not found this to be true, in fact, quite the opposite. You didn't mention this in your review either but every single character starts with the offensive spell "Strength" once cast your next melee attack will do ~100 damage literally 1 shotting everything the game can throw at you early on. I even used this spell to kill the giant panther heads and a few other things you don't seem to be meant to kill. One faq I read before posting this mentioned that if you use the strength spell you don't gain any jade or items and I found this to be false in my experiences. I used the spell constantly to get through the early game portion and almost every fight rewarded me with jade and sometimes items.

Poor Joe, I hope you'll find a better use for him later on.

Also, I like it when you throw a bit of humor in there, great review so far. :)

There was a monster in one of the castles.
It says:
"Something is left unburned, in the fireplace."

no matter how many anti-matter spells and hacks you dish out to it, it won't die.

I do hope that in your 'part two' you mention this somewhere.

I did beat this game, but it took a lot of grinding because I did buy that 1mill sword (it's not 10mil).

and I got really lucky on the 1 of 3 re-rolls you get. Anyway, as mentioned, the "physique" is a good stat to increase due to armor wear, but I know you cannot cover everything in one episode.. plus I'm willing to bet that round 2 will be you explaining the steps you need to take in order to beat the game.

I do hope you will mention the constellations that attack you. It really freaked me out when I saw the stars suddenly move, and a heavenly object then descend down to kill me. And this can happen as early as level one, so I really do hope you mention it.

draken was a game I bought a a Flee Market, late in the SNES ear (1997), but still I had enjoyment out of the game, but knew my friends would not like it.

@ xenxander: That little monster thing in the fireplace is just there to fuck with you. I remember that it can be killed, but you don't gain anything from killing it. Complete waste of time.

It's worth mentioning that some bosses are weak against certain spells and items. You will notice that most of them cast spells on you, thus making the Air Staff a good item to have for extra survivability. There is also one high-level spell that can disable bosses for a short while, but you need to grind good to get it.

I decided to start playing this after seeing your video here. I haven't gotten far but I have discovered things that I dunno if you noticed since they were not mentioned. In that the first castle area you enter the items keep respawning if you exit and go back in. That is one thing which you probably knew and probably hold's true for future places.

Now the big thing that @UltimaAvatar mentioned there about that Scorpion and Spider in the 1st castle. Might be a bit of a pain to save before trying, do that, if he fails to drop it but you are fine, try again. If not you'd load and try again. Trying to get one for everybody. You probably knew and did that though.

Another thing is that the dragon before that Scorpion room drops many Staff items and even a Medium Robe and Heavy Cuirass and Power Helmet, it's pretty crazy. And of course that Spider that drops every Ring as well.

Also once I got the bow and put it on my magician he was leveling up rather fast and first even. Maybe he is not as bad as you said in the video. Others have said he is not bad either. But I am not too far in the game yet just grinding up in the first castle.

Anyway I just had to say that. Good stuff like always from you.

this game was always bizarre to me as a kid. I'm glad someone is finally making some sense of it. Review blaster master 2 and eye of the beholder. Those were really difficult. Would like to see those beat.

Damn. I got this at a garage sale by accident. I totally forgot about this damn thing. It has a lot of charm for what I can remember about it. I had no idea it was ported so much, although you can tell it had to have been made for a computer. Somehow this reminds me of radical dreamers and other tower puzzle games. I remember you had to search every damn thing and there was no real direction to plot.

Not as memorable for me as other ports. Kat if you review an rpg again you gotta do a review of beating the shit out of DnD warriors of the eternal sun. One of a few games I cared enough about to make my own maps and roll up stats for hours just to start. It's not incredibly long either if i remember. I'd challenge you to review a wizardry rpg but I bet it's not so fun to watch.