Soulbringer

I first got this game as a gift for christmas. Since there were several other interesting games that came out at the same time this game was left unplayed for quite a while. When I finally got around to playing it, I was left extremely frustrated. A couple of weeks later I decided to give it another try, but first I would look through the manual properly. So let my say this first, this game does require some effort on your part. You should definitely look through the manual to get some information on game concepts. Finding an online faq could also be useful. If you stick with it as I did, I am confident that you will find that effort repaid more than you could imagine. This game blew me away! I absolutely loved every second of this game. I found myself immersed in the story immediately. The atmosphere is wonderful and exploring the game world truly feels exciting and scary. I replayed this game more times than I can remember and I loved every single playthrough. If you want to try an old crpg that will challenge you, then this is indeed a game to try. It is one of my fondest memories from that time and immediately bought this now when gog released it. This game is not perfect by any means, the interface in particular was something I needed time to get used to, but it makes up for that in just about all other aspects.

It’s a RPG developed by Infogrames and Gremlin Entertainment and released by Interplay in 2000. I didn’t hear it’s name until 2004, a friend of mine knew my fondness to RPGs and brought the game to me as a gift. I didn’t install it by that time, and four months ago when I was browsing in my archive I decided to install it to my machine. The graphics can be identified as terrible according to today’s standarts. It’s developed under Dx6 standarts, so think of it. At least some snow effects, and mocaps can save the day. And, there is this narrow sightseeing like in the old games such as Dark Stone, Wizards&Warriors and such. And no automap by the way. But graphics are minor distract to me, since I see them as a simple make-up above all other game elements. Most terrible thing about the game is waiting times. I don’t know it’s a modern rig issue, but when you click your inventory or other menus game just pauses for a second or two. It is annoying but also can be accustomed to. At least you can access to most of your inventory from your quick menu. When you can pass these minor distractions there is a delicious cake under the cream though. A slowly opening story, convincing NPCs and professionally written dialogs, decent quest system, rewarding structure for exploring. Also there’s the good old nonscaling monster system which was common around those times. For ex, you can find pretty interesting places at the beginning of the game, but only to find out there’re monsters in these places easily can cleave you into two with one strike. Game begins at a slow pace, but with enough perseverence, your character can be developed into a powerful man slowly. And, that is the part that I rarely can find in today’s RPGs where level 1 newbie characters can be seen as gods. The part where Soulbringer truly shines is the unique combat system. One can easily define the game as an action RPG (Diablo type) at first glance, but game’s combat system is more than that. You click an enemy to target him, then from the attack menu, you select the desired attack and click on it. Different attack styles have different effects. Attack styles also have variabilities according to the weapon. For ex, with knife simple cut action strikes the enemy directly, while cut low strikes the enemy’s legs. Combat moves have been done by mocap system, and they’re not for just eye candy. For ex, you strike and if enemy’s weapon is in your weapon’s path they clash. If you’re in the highground then your enemy, your normal strike usually cuts the air, while your enemy’s strikes easily cut your legs. Weapons and armors have durabilities. To strike a plate armor with a knife means complete destruction for the knife. You can also determine combos for your chracters. So, under the curtain there’s a complex, and innovative ideas. So, an advice to the RPG veterans. Find this game (you can find pretty cheap copies from Ebay) and play it. Note: dx7 graphic modes make the game crashes at certain maps. So, use dx6 instead. It can be played in both XP and Vista. And also completely netbook compatible (if you have the isos or the nocd crack of course).

Bought this without having any prior familiarity with the title out of unvarnished RPG withdrawal alone. It didn't work on my win7-64bit box upon purchase, and after two months, I was beginning to worry I'd bought a lemon. Happily, GOG patched the installer sometime last week, and all I can say after a morning of play is: this is a surprisingly playable, entertaining game. Why surprising? Because it has less than subtle design flaws that would kill most games. I know every snobby game review features a perfunctory complaint about the camera (even if they're writing about Zork), but let me assure you that this game truly does have camera issues. Glaring, safety-orange camera issues. Perhaps because the camera is so bad, however, constant correction on the user's part (to make sure enemies or destinations remain in frame) becomes an element of gameplay. Add to this the pathfinding code they use, which is rarely capable of so much as an "L" shape trajectory (which frankly does become tiresome in cramped spaces, when you can't even click on an adjacent room without coming to a dead stop). Pathfinding is also hard for the player, who must play by memory or pen-and-paper maps to navigate frequently "samey-looking" areas. You also get a tiny inventory, limited save slots, irritating targeting, and a fairly linear story arc. In spite of all these amateur-hour shortcomings, the game is a pleasure to play. The combat is fun, the story tries to build upon the cliches of fantasy RPGs, and the sound-design and sound-track are well above average. Anyway... I'm only 6 hours in, so take this review with a grain of salt, but I'd already rate it higher than the only other game this reminds me of (in terms of game type, graphical shortcomings, and general pain-in-the-assy-ness) : Neverwinter Nights 2. If you're fiending for some turn-of-the-century RPG play and don't want to load up a game you've beaten a million times already, give this little rough gem a shot.

I have this on CD and I spent hours playing this game and almost enjoying it. The mechanics work, the game wants to engage you, there's something here. The problem I had was that the game never clicked with me. I kept feeling like the fun would start any time now and kept pushing forward because I was almost there - almost, but not quite ever. It's a hard feeling to explain; I wanted to like the game, I played the game, I didn't dislike the game - but it never felt like it was getting good. Everything remained lackluster for me until I gave up after a few days of picking at it and trying to find the fun inside. It might be there for other people. I can't say "Stay away from this game" nor can I say "Wow, you've got to play this" ... thus the '3' rating - neutral.