dungeonbuster.bsky.social
Seeking adventures from the archives of the past, one story at a time. I love taking a look at the history of RPGs, the tales they spin, and in shining a light on these from time to time in my threads. Let's explore together!
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The cover for Black Magic's manual shows off Zahgrim's dark castle and the blind statue of Anakar the Wise whose six eyes were scattered throughout the land of MariGold. And you as our brave adventurer! A neat, challenging bit of action as a mage with an eagle's eye aim and a bottomless stomach.
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Exploration rewarded you with supplies such as arrows, food, and those valuable Eyes as long as you could weather the endless hordes ushering you towards an awesome death screen. Parchment supplied points for casting spells like one that could temporarily make you invisible leaving only your shadow.
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The interface below the action shows what "class" you are (which is your level), how many arrows you have, spell "points" (each spell costs one of those), your health and food reserves, and how many eyes you've found. The dashed lines next to "Spells" will show your spells when you want to cast one.
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As a former wizard-in-training who also happens to be good with a bow, doing things like killing monsters nets you XP eventually ranking you up from a lowly apprentice to higher tiers allowing you to access better magic. Finding food was also key! As the manual noted, "good nutrition is imperative".
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Despite its bumpy ride, the Destiny Knight would earn its own share of accolades and had even won an Origins Award in 1986 as the "Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game" as fans of the first game found a lot to like with this one, paving the way for one final climactic act.
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It would also be Cranford's last hurrah with the series. "Falling out" with Interplay co-founder, Brian Fargo, eventually led him to depart, returning in 1990 with Broderbund's sci-fi RPG, Centauri Alliance. However, both he and Fargo remained friends, later contributing to 2018's Bard's Tale IV.
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CGW's Scorpia reviewed the first game with an enthusiastic recommendation but found the second journey a bit rough for a few reasons. In the end, she still recommended it, though with "reservations" (see: Death Snares) that were laid out in her multi-page look in CGW's June/July issue from 1986.
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The hint book for the PC version was illustrated both with maps and art. And like the first hint guide, instead of dry steps of doing this and that, it told a story stringing all of the clues together as part of another tale being told beyond its pages.
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There was even a port for the Nintendo Famicom released only in Japan. It had a number of changes over the original including an introduction with some storytelling and, like the first port, a much smaller town to start in.
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The sequel was also ported to a wide variety of PC platforms such as the Commodore Amiga with enhanced visuals and sound, just like the first game.
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It also had new magic using classes and dungeon tricks such as the real-time "Death Snare' puzzles protecting a piece of the Destiny Wand. Depending on who you talked to, though, the "Death Snares" were either fantastic additions or awful ones. CGW's Scorpia was not a fan of these in her review.
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Like the first, it was a turn-based dungeon crawling RPG but instead of confining you to one city, there was a wilderness to explore with several cities and dungeons spread across it. Although each town looked and felt like any other, it created the illusion of a bigger, and more dangerous, world.
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Starting was easier on new parties! To help offset the brutal beginnings that slaughtered characters by the dozen in the first game, there was now a beginner's dungeon to help out. Ranged combat also added a new wrinkle. And you could always import a party from the first game or even Ultima III.
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Sadly, Mystic Ark was never officially released outside of Japan with a Japan-only PlayStation sequel in 1999 created as an adventure game instead. A neat, role-playing hurrah by a talented studio used to mixing puzzles in with its monsters weaving together a grand, worlds spanning quest!
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...although Gamepro, in their August, 1995 issue, seemed convinced it was actually going to be The 7th Saga II. However, other than a few design features, Mystic Ark's story had nothing to do with The 7th Saga, something that the fan translators at Aeon Genesis and Dynamic-Designs also pointed out.
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At one point, Mystic Ark was expected as a port for the English-speaking market in North America by publications such as Electronic Gaming Monthly in their July, 1995 issue which speculated that it might come over as The 7th Saga 2...
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Along with combat, puzzles from dungeon traps, riddles, to mind bending puzzles proffered by NPCs were also peppered throughout the adventure echoing Produce!'s previous, Enix-published efforts such as the puzzle-filled Brain Lord in 1994.
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Key to your quest were Arks that you needed to somehow find in each world. They can help solve puzzles, but they also had the power to restore others captured as figurines that could join you! And if they "died", they became figurines once more back at the shrine (you had to go back to get them!).
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Each world has its own self-contained and immersive story with unique NPCs and settings. As you push deeper into the story, links to other worlds reveal themselves as a part of the mystery surrounding why you and others were captured as figurines and placed in a hidden shrine.