On the one hand, creating a character from scratch is better from the RPG aspect as you get to customise them as you wish. On the other hand, having premade characters join you is better from the story perspective as each as a unique personality. But thanks, as I was looking for some new good blobber to play after LoL, AoD and M&M, something that has an epic feel and a good measure of interactivity with the environment. I'll also look into Stonekeep, though they say it's not as good.

Fair enough. I'd say the biggest difference is that between them character wise is that eotb has a more nerdy feel to it. You get deeper into creating the perfect party and squeezing every bit of power out of them (if you're into that of course), while LoL just have you accepting whatever, and it being good enough to complete the game.
As for the RPG aspect of getting attached to the characters, I really don't think LoL did a good job of getting you invested in the story of each character. Let's face it, you didn't really care (or at least I didn't) about the main character, and much less for whomever you took with you along the way. Whatever stats and abilities they had really didn't matter at all, where in eotb each character plays a huge role to survival, and you tend to get more excited in getting upgrades in terms of new spells or weaponry.

At least that's my opinion on it.

Im playing thru this game for the 1st time since it came out and am just amazed how good this game is still. It even beats many new modern games for enjoyment imo, due to its complexity, vast dungeons, puzzles, combat (how you need to change out weapons and spells based on the mob etc).

just pure dungeon crawling enjoyment and you dont see such large games anymore that arent tied behind micro transactions or DLCs. honestly, its taking me weeks to finish this game, my spouse who is playing W3 for the second time keeps asking me if Im still playing that same 'old' game.

havent had any bugs or glitches either, just amazing.

It was released in a golden age of gaming. Developers were creating whole new genres and original game designs. Westwood was well known for making really great games around that time. They even arguably invented the modern RTS with Dune 2, though there were a few games with a more primitive version of RTS gameplay before it.

Even though EoB and LoL were derived from Dungeon Master, Westwood was one of the best game development shops at that time and pretty much everything they made was a huge hit. Then EA bought them and the original staff slowly left the company. They slowly ploughed downhill into irrelevancy at that point.

thats interesting to read. I have witnessed other games lovingly created by a handful of devs;which become a big surprise hit with gamers, then are cashed out to big corporations (sometimes willingly, sometimes not), next thing you see is an exodus of the original devs/team as the games name goes downhill replaced with short sighted profit optimizing and quality gouging.

I'm a bit peeved at myself for missing EotB buried in the bundle pack sale, I saw the bundle and wasnt interested in the cover game and glossed over the games listed without links, thinking to look them up later and then forgot. I most definitely would have gotten that based on everyones recommendations here. I'm sure the bundle sale will come back around and I'll be sure to get it then .

how did you get it to run on dosbox turbo android im wracking my brain nm found it in other thread

Totally agree with the OP. I replayed this recently (first time I played was around 1995) and did not put down until I finished it. It is very rare that I am able to finish RPGs released recently. Many are too long, or feel like a chore to play, or are just dull, boring and uninspired.

One thing that surprises me is how much better LOL 1 is than the Grimrock games IMO. I played Grimrock 1 and got tired after about 5 levels. I tried to get into Grimrock 2 a couple of times and while better than the first it just doesn't engage me for long.

LOL 1 is fun to play, has charm, great pacing, simple interface, great artwork, music (play with a good synthesizer like Roland Sound Canvas), engaging story, varied environments and monsters. Grimrock is severely or completely lacking in most of these aspects and it surprises me how much praise they got. They just feel dull and boring compared to LOL. I am thinking of replaying Anvil of Dawn soon to see how it compares to LOL and new dungeon crawlers.

Don't forget Patrick Stewart. :) Too bad he's so expensive they only recorded several lines at the beginning and end of the game.

I haven't played Grimrock, but from what I've seen in let's plays, it's kind of soulless. Maybe it has well-designed mechanics, but that's not enough for a good blobber. Anvil of Dawn is much more atmospheric, albeit with a mood that's on the other side of the spectrum – bleak and despairing.

Westwood Studios... RIP
One of the best game dev studios of all time, imo. Everything they touched was gold... Adventure games, Strategy games, RPGs, Hack'n'slash, Platformer (Lion King was awesome), it feels like there's nothing they couldn't do, really.

Part of it went on to form Petroglyph and it's sad that their games are very underrated.
The Empire at War game, Universe at War, Grey Goo...great RTS games, imo.

They also worked on the C&C remaster (since they're the original devs ^^).