- Release Date: March 14, 2001
- Genre: Role-Playing
- Style: Isometric Action RPG
- Similar Games: Skies of Arcadia (Dreamcast), Grandia II (Dreamcast), Silver (Dreamcast)
Game Description
The early 1990s "cult classic" series of anime movies and shorts is the inspiration for this adventure game, orginally designed by the Japanese developers atPlayers take the role of a hero who, at the game's beginning, has very little to his name aside from a mission to do good and vanquish evil. The game has been compared to the PC hit Diablo for its simple but effective combat interface, its item-based character development, and its similar third-person perspective, but Record of Lodoss War is a true console game, with action designed for
By guiding the hero through detailed underground and outdoor environments, players will encounter vile dungeon denizens to smite and informative NPC's to query. Through his travels, the hero will also find equipment and special items to help him become more powerful and better able to face the increasingly deadly challenges ahead.
~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide
Review: Overall
Record of Lodoss War is very similar to Diablo, which means it has the same addictive gameplay. Dungeon after dungeon, area after area, you'll eat up hours of time in the blink of an eye. So if you're a big fan of the Diablo games, where the emphasis is placed on combat, this will be a nice addition to yourThis game is based on a Japanese anime, and takes place five years after the end of the series. Your character is resurrected from the dead with no memory of the past. Each person you run into seems to recognize you, as if you were once something more than just a great warrior. Part of the game is to find out who you were and the other part is to stop Kardis, the evil goddess of destruction. Who you are will be apparent to anyone who has ever seen Record of Lodoss War, but never fear, no spoilers here.
Record of Lodoss War begins with a nicely rendered FMV sequence that recaps part of what happened in the past and shows you what is currently happening. You are brought back from the dead by Wart and told your task. A tutorial on how to use the controls is available, after which you get to wander around the environment before setting off on your quest. Since you've been dead for so long, it'll take a while for you to regain your powers, which means you need to fight everything you can.
The menus and interfaces are simple to use and can be mastered in a matter of minutes. Equipping yourself is a simple matter of placing the item on your character's picture (such as armor on the body, a helm atop the head, and so forth). When you equip your character with an item, it also changes how you appear on the screen. There is also a vertical bar on the right side of the screen where you can keep your quick-use items like healing potions (a must), lockpicks, magic gems and other objects.
There are many things to find in this game, but you never have to actually find all of them to advance. After a while you'll get the ability, through the blacksmith, to enhance your statistics by transforming the weapons you already have. This costs mithril, however, which is the coin of the land. When you've collected enough money, you can engrave magical inscriptions onto your weapons and armors that can increase damage, defense, spell points and much, much more. These inscriptions can be found throughout the land, so you'll need to do some exploring.
One benefit to this system is that once the inscriptions are found, you never forget them and they can be used over and over again with no limit. If you find an inscription that increases the damage on your sword by +4 but takes 100 mithril to engrave, as long as you have the money, engrave away. Of course the more you engrave, the greater the cost. So when it becomes too costly to engrave the +4 damage increase, select a new one; the old enhancement still remains.
Depending on what's engraved on your weapon, if you hold down the attack button you might shoot fireballs, holy photons and a lot more. The power you can place on your equipment is only limited by the amount of money you can find, which gives the game added replay value. But remember, you have an actual mission to complete.
Casting spells is very different. The first spell you are given is a teleport spell that works just about everywhere and returns you to your base. Any other spell will have to be found or won from an enemy. Before casting a spell, you must first bring up the spell listing. Each spell has a certain button sequence to press in order to use it. It can be a simple as tapping the A button three times or it can consist of a series of different buttons and commands.
Once you've got the right combination down, the spell is prepped for use. Casting the spell is a simple matter of pressing the X button and away it goes. Remember that you are a warrior and not a spell caster, though, so the action is more hack-and-slash based than using magic. You will, however, pick up allies that cast spells. This will be extremely useful later in the game when you're taking on rooms full of enemies.
The graphics use an isometric viewpoint similar to Diablo or Darkstone. Unfortunately the camera doesn't move by itself, so if you get too close to a tree you'll need to move it. This can be a bit frustrating at times when enemies are quickly closing in. Fortunately, have a lot of area to explore and plenty of enemies to fight and run from!
Speaking of enemies, they are varied and numerous. The AI the enemies have is generally solid as well. They come after you, sometimes in groups of 30, casting spells, shooting arrows and hacking away. This can get very intense but it's also where the game experiences its greatest downside: periods of slowdown. It can drive you nuts when you're trying to run away or simply trying to hack through the crowd. This may not sound like much of a problem, but when you're trying to time certain combo attacks, you may consider putting your fist through the television screen.
While the camera and frame rate could be improved, the game offers huge levels to explore and is incredibly addictive, especially considering the customization you can do with your weapons and items. Plus, there is the engrossing narrative. It's the kind of story that makes you want to complete the game and then go back and play again to see what you might have missed. If you're an action RPG fan, you won't be disappointed.
~ Jason White, All Game Guide
Review: Enjoyment
With all the adventuring and side quests to experience this game can go on for a while. Don't forget all the things you can do to you items via engraving.~ Jason White, All Game Guide
Review: Graphics
The graphics are pretty standard for this type of game. Low polygons with a lot of depth and varied monsters and environments.~ Jason White, All Game Guide
Review: Sound
The music and sound effects are great, especially the voice acting.~ Jason White, All Game Guide
Review: Replay Value
There is a solid ending to the story. However, with the depth this story has you'll want to play it again.~ Jason White, All Game Guide
Review: Documentation
It tells you all you need to know about how to play. The back story is a bit lacking though. You need to run the game to get most of that.~ Jason White, All Game Guide
Production Credits
Written by: Ryo Mizuno; Director: E. Jun; Character Designer: Masato Natsumoto; Game Production: Entertainment Software Publishing Inc.; General Producer: Youichi Miyaji; Lead Product Coordinator: Akinobu Kuroda; Game Development: Neverland Company Co., Ltd.; Manager: Makoto Takada; Game Designer: Sinya Tougo; CG Effect Director: Juunichi Kashiugi; Lead Assistant Director: Takashi Miyasaha; Assistant Director: Naori Taguchi; Planner: Tomonari Matsumoto; Main Programmer: Takion; Programmers: Sinya Sato, Nariya Takemura, Akina Yamazaki, Tsuyoshi Kaneko, Tomoyuri Nasu, Hiroyuki Oda; Chief CG Designer: N. Kasyahuma; Character 3D Modeling Designers: Yoshimasa Ikeda, Kouji Shinozaki, Erika Kamezaki, Sinichi Shibazaki, Kouji Harada; Character Motion Designers: Manabu Sato, Yoshimasa Ikeda, Kouji Shinozaki, Erika Kamezaki, Sinichi Shibazaki, Toyoki Itoi; BG Map 3D Modeling Designers: Thru Sato, Kouji Harada, Masari Kurosawa, Kouji Shinozaki, Keiji Takahashi, Kouichi Yabata, N. Kasyakuma; CG Effect Designer: Yoshimasa Ikeda, N. Kasyakuma; Item Object 3D Modeling Designers: Mamiko Hatta, Erika Kamezaki, Toyoki Itoi, Kouichi Yabata; Game Sound Composed by: Akiko Ishibashi, Tomoko Morita; Special Thanks: Akihiro Suzuki, Naoyuki Ukeda, Kumi Akatsuka; CG Movie Director: Junichi Watanabe; CG Movie Scenario Written by: Atsushi II; CG Movie Concept Designer: Shinichi Shibazaki; CG Movie Production: Visual Science Laboratory Inc.; Supervisor: Masaru Yoshioka; Executive Producer: Kazuo Nakamura; Producer: Hideki Watanabe; Designer in Chief: Kazuya Sakagami; Chief Designers: Takasi Yanagi, Ken Ueno; Designers: Junchi Hirose, Shigenao Hirasawa, Yoko Nishirimi, Takanori Fujikura, Ayao Mochizuki, Hiroshi Fukazawa; CG Movie Production: Xeoonix Co., Ltd.; CG Movie Sound Director: Yoshikazu Iwanami; Composer: Kuniaki Haishima; Coordinator: Shouji Hata; Sound Effect Creator: Daisuke Jinbo; Recording Operator: Hideki Matsunaka; Manager: Ryouichi Uchikoshi; CG Movie Sound Production: AC Create Co., Ltd.; Sound Studio: Rakuonsha Co., Ltd; European and American Versions: Swing! Entertainment Media AG; CONSPIRACY CEO: Sireus Ahmadi; VP: Peter Bergstrom; Executive Producer: Dan Jevons; Director, Creative Services: Richard Germinaro
~ Keith Adams, All Game Guide
