Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor
released on Dec 31, 1993
Eye of the Beholder III : Assault on Myth Drannor is an all 3-D, Legend Series computer role-playing adventure based on the popular Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition rules and on an original story created for this game . The action takes place in and around Myth Drannor, located in TSR's Forgotten Realms game world. Everything in Eye of the Beholder III is from your point of view . Watch the trees pass by as you move through the forest around Myth Drannor . Pick up items and take them with you. Open doors with keys, by pressing buttons, or by pulling release levers. See monsters draw nearer to you and close in for battle . Attack with the weapons your characters have in their hands. Cast spells with your clerics' or paladins' holy symbols and your mages' spell books . Those in the front of the party may attack with weapons such as swords and maces, while characters in the rear ranks may attack with spells, ranged weapons (such as bows and slings), and polearms.
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Apart from some good UI changes, it is a worse effort than the previous games with even some of the changes that would normally be a good thing (like larger environments) only making this game more of a chore to play.
Assault on Myth Drannor gets a new in house developer for the trilogy and adds a few positive gameplay mechanics such as a button that makes everyone who has an available weapon and toggled on attack together with one click, instead of having you need to click on every available active weapon, reach weapons like polearms can be given to your middle row for them to attack with (and there are some magical returning throwing weapons), the spell memorization system now allows you to more easily add or remove memorized spells with a plus or minus button as opposed to needing to redo everything if you made a mistake like in the previous games. Unfortunately, nearly everything else is worse to various degrees, even before this now being much less impressive in 1993 as opposed to 90 and 91. The opening is terrible and has no atmosphere, the music and sound effects that were a higher point before are now often bad or strange, the game is short and will see you gaining few levels if you imported characters from the last game (one location is actually missable content and is difficult even with an imported party), even importing characters is worse as the second game had you pick the four characters you wanted out of your potentially six member party while this game takes the two in your front and middle row so if you didn't know that you will likely have to go back to that game to alter your party formation. NPC companions now have a quest associated with them but once they join your party they never say anything and don't even react to their own goals being completed.
You can no longer rest anywhere you want. Previously enemies would have to almost be on top of you to prevent resting, now a larger area has to be clear of them which can be difficult when enemies respawn and due to the large environments in a single area or floor. With respawning enemies, not always knowing where enemies might be in an area, some areas seeming perfectly safe that the game says aren't, and the higher level gameplay now requiring even more defensive spell options now that effects like stat drains are in play this is not a welcome change. The larger environments make the design of the game worse with even more wondering around trying to find an item needed or a switch to pull. The GOG version as well as modern computers improves how the engine runs which is said to give the game a sluggish feeling from the physical editions due to memory issues.
Not much has changed visually, like the previous game you start out in an outdoor area and can find another small one later but are quickly back in dungeon like environments with those now tending to have even less variety than before on top of most of the monster design being less interesting. The sound effects often have an out of focus kind of background noise to them or are a mixture of effects that are like eating ok food with a bad aftertaste often starting of good or ok and resembling what it should sound like then ending in some strange way.
The ranger is still not a useful class, though the ranger NPC who joins you has high stats and an usual ability to transform into a weretiger when taking physical damage that enhances his offense and lowers his defense though he no longer has the use of magical weapons. That NPC has the primary focus in a short story in the game's manual written by Ed Greenwood . Thiefs no longer have any door locks that they can pick. Making a new party somehow still starts you off with the same kind of terrible equipment as the previous game, only now you are even high levels. Characters will be given +1 weapons, weak armor, and scrolls with level 1 and 3 spells like magic missile.
Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1747798453772865929
Assault on Myth Drannor gets a new in house developer for the trilogy and adds a few positive gameplay mechanics such as a button that makes everyone who has an available weapon and toggled on attack together with one click, instead of having you need to click on every available active weapon, reach weapons like polearms can be given to your middle row for them to attack with (and there are some magical returning throwing weapons), the spell memorization system now allows you to more easily add or remove memorized spells with a plus or minus button as opposed to needing to redo everything if you made a mistake like in the previous games. Unfortunately, nearly everything else is worse to various degrees, even before this now being much less impressive in 1993 as opposed to 90 and 91. The opening is terrible and has no atmosphere, the music and sound effects that were a higher point before are now often bad or strange, the game is short and will see you gaining few levels if you imported characters from the last game (one location is actually missable content and is difficult even with an imported party), even importing characters is worse as the second game had you pick the four characters you wanted out of your potentially six member party while this game takes the two in your front and middle row so if you didn't know that you will likely have to go back to that game to alter your party formation. NPC companions now have a quest associated with them but once they join your party they never say anything and don't even react to their own goals being completed.
You can no longer rest anywhere you want. Previously enemies would have to almost be on top of you to prevent resting, now a larger area has to be clear of them which can be difficult when enemies respawn and due to the large environments in a single area or floor. With respawning enemies, not always knowing where enemies might be in an area, some areas seeming perfectly safe that the game says aren't, and the higher level gameplay now requiring even more defensive spell options now that effects like stat drains are in play this is not a welcome change. The larger environments make the design of the game worse with even more wondering around trying to find an item needed or a switch to pull. The GOG version as well as modern computers improves how the engine runs which is said to give the game a sluggish feeling from the physical editions due to memory issues.
Not much has changed visually, like the previous game you start out in an outdoor area and can find another small one later but are quickly back in dungeon like environments with those now tending to have even less variety than before on top of most of the monster design being less interesting. The sound effects often have an out of focus kind of background noise to them or are a mixture of effects that are like eating ok food with a bad aftertaste often starting of good or ok and resembling what it should sound like then ending in some strange way.
The ranger is still not a useful class, though the ranger NPC who joins you has high stats and an usual ability to transform into a weretiger when taking physical damage that enhances his offense and lowers his defense though he no longer has the use of magical weapons. That NPC has the primary focus in a short story in the game's manual written by Ed Greenwood . Thiefs no longer have any door locks that they can pick. Making a new party somehow still starts you off with the same kind of terrible equipment as the previous game, only now you are even high levels. Characters will be given +1 weapons, weak armor, and scrolls with level 1 and 3 spells like magic missile.
Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1747798453772865929