If I were but a small child living in the 1990s (or for that matter, the early 2000s), this game would have taken up a lot of my time. However, these days the game has aspects that make it boring, grindy, and repetitive. In short, it's just not fun to play. Let's take a look at why.
1) Ugly graphics: I do not mean primitive graphics. I grew up as a retro gamer, and I'm OK with old graphics. And in fact, a lot of the art in this game is quite impressive, even today. I can only imagine how good the pseudo-3d environments looked in 1992 (keep in mind that this was a full year before DOOM; the only competitor was Ultima Underworld as far as I know).
However, today these graphics are less impressive, and not just for technical reasons. First, the art style is corny and cartoony. Every enemy looks like it stepped forth from a hideously ugly Saturday morning cartoon. Character portraits start to look like comic-strip characters whenever your character has a status effect. Every other NPC (and there aren't very many) looks silly. Combine this with the corny and decidedly non-fantasy names (one of the first NPCs you hear about is "Joe") and the lackluster "jokes" (comedy in gaming needed to be smothered in the cradle) and it becomes an unpleasant experience. How can I take the game seriously when it doesn't take itself seriously?
The second and more grave problem with the graphics is the repetitive environments. While the game might have looked impressive in the early 90s, it no longer does, and the drab nature of the environments becomes very apparent. The first dungeon, for example, is eight floors of the same exact textures and sprites. This quickly becomes repetitive. I can't even chalk this up to the game being old; older games with more primitive graphics or no graphics at all (e.g. text adventures) actually work better in this regard, because they require you to use your imagination to fill in the details. Worlds of Xeen sits in an awkward spot where the graphics are detailed enough that you can't really use your imagination to fill in the gaps but ugly and primitive enough to where you can't become immersed in the game.
2) Grinding blindfolded: There are some quality of life issues with this game that make it slightly irritating for someone accustomed to newer games (e.g. having to unequip a weapon before you can equip a new weapon); however, the biggest quality of life issue is one that has nothing to do with the game's age--namely, the way the game hides important stats from you. Worlds of Xeen is a turn-based RPG, not an action game. Being able to see the numbers in the game is important--and yet, the game hides important numbers from you. Your party members' HP is displayed onscreen by a gem that moves from green to yellow to blue (KO'd). You can view party member's HP in the information screen, but not in the heat of battle. Is my character 100% healthy or barely healthy? Should I use a healing spell or can this character in the yellow afford to stick around another round? Who knows? Similarly, enemy HP is only telegraphed by the color of the enemies names. Did my "Magic Arrow" spell do a lot of damage or a little? Who knows?
But the absolute worst offender is the fact that nowhere in the game are you told the stats for weapons and armor.
Let me repeat that. The game conceals the stats for weapons and armor!
This is an absolutely insane design decision, made even worse by the fact that this game was released before the internet. What is the point in grinding for new gear if you don't even know whether or not it is worth equipping?
This is combined with a combat system that is barebones, both tactically and visually. There are really only three options for battle: use attack, use item, and cast spell. Since you can't really know how much damage is done by any one of these, you might as well just stick to attacks and healing spells, which makes the game's combat brain dead.
Combat is visually uninteresting as well. There are no indications that you've landed a critical strike or inflicted a negative status, and, of course, you can't see the numbers, so combat becomes a boring slog of clicking the attack key and occasionally casting "Cure Wounds."
3) Did I mention that this game has no storyline?
Overall, these factors make the game not worth playing for me. Unless you have a lot of time to kill, are addicted to CRPGs, or have some sort of nostalgia for the game, avoid Worlds of Xeen.
1) Ugly graphics: I do not mean primitive graphics. I grew up as a retro gamer, and I'm OK with old graphics. And in fact, a lot of the art in this game is quite impressive, even today. I can only imagine how good the pseudo-3d environments looked in 1992 (keep in mind that this was a full year before DOOM; the only competitor was Ultima Underworld as far as I know).
However, today these graphics are less impressive, and not just for technical reasons. First, the art style is corny and cartoony. Every enemy looks like it stepped forth from a hideously ugly Saturday morning cartoon. Character portraits start to look like comic-strip characters whenever your character has a status effect. Every other NPC (and there aren't very many) looks silly. Combine this with the corny and decidedly non-fantasy names (one of the first NPCs you hear about is "Joe") and the lackluster "jokes" (comedy in gaming needed to be smothered in the cradle) and it becomes an unpleasant experience. How can I take the game seriously when it doesn't take itself seriously?
The second and more grave problem with the graphics is the repetitive environments. While the game might have looked impressive in the early 90s, it no longer does, and the drab nature of the environments becomes very apparent. The first dungeon, for example, is eight floors of the same exact textures and sprites. This quickly becomes repetitive. I can't even chalk this up to the game being old; older games with more primitive graphics or no graphics at all (e.g. text adventures) actually work better in this regard, because they require you to use your imagination to fill in the details. Worlds of Xeen sits in an awkward spot where the graphics are detailed enough that you can't really use your imagination to fill in the gaps but ugly and primitive enough to where you can't become immersed in the game.
2) Grinding blindfolded: There are some quality of life issues with this game that make it slightly irritating for someone accustomed to newer games (e.g. having to unequip a weapon before you can equip a new weapon); however, the biggest quality of life issue is one that has nothing to do with the game's age--namely, the way the game hides important stats from you. Worlds of Xeen is a turn-based RPG, not an action game. Being able to see the numbers in the game is important--and yet, the game hides important numbers from you. Your party members' HP is displayed onscreen by a gem that moves from green to yellow to blue (KO'd). You can view party member's HP in the information screen, but not in the heat of battle. Is my character 100% healthy or barely healthy? Should I use a healing spell or can this character in the yellow afford to stick around another round? Who knows? Similarly, enemy HP is only telegraphed by the color of the enemies names. Did my "Magic Arrow" spell do a lot of damage or a little? Who knows?
But the absolute worst offender is the fact that nowhere in the game are you told the stats for weapons and armor.
Let me repeat that. The game conceals the stats for weapons and armor!
This is an absolutely insane design decision, made even worse by the fact that this game was released before the internet. What is the point in grinding for new gear if you don't even know whether or not it is worth equipping?
This is combined with a combat system that is barebones, both tactically and visually. There are really only three options for battle: use attack, use item, and cast spell. Since you can't really know how much damage is done by any one of these, you might as well just stick to attacks and healing spells, which makes the game's combat brain dead.
Combat is visually uninteresting as well. There are no indications that you've landed a critical strike or inflicted a negative status, and, of course, you can't see the numbers, so combat becomes a boring slog of clicking the attack key and occasionally casting "Cure Wounds."
3) Did I mention that this game has no storyline?
Overall, these factors make the game not worth playing for me. Unless you have a lot of time to kill, are addicted to CRPGs, or have some sort of nostalgia for the game, avoid Worlds of Xeen.
2 Comments
Thanks for the detailed reply. I'll address some of your points.
The game telegraphs status effects pretty well; my beef with it is that it doesn't tell you exactly how much HP your characters have. Wizardry 1 does this, so "It's old" isn't an excuse here.
I had a gear sheet open in Chrome when I played the game. I know for a fact that older games than this displayed gear stats for weapons, so again, this is not old game design, it's bad game design.
I did not know about the identify monster spell; knowing about this might add a few more hours to my play time, so thank you for that info. It's not my favorite design choice, but it makes sense.
I don't have a problem with the 2D first-person perspective; I have a problem with the fact that the graphics are not good enough to be immersive but not bad enough to where I can use my imagination. Wizardry and the early Ultimas have more primitive graphics, but I can use my imagination in that game.
I meant "grinding" in the sense of "doing repetitive actions in order to gain resources such as EXP." Enemy placement in MM4-5 may be handcrafted, but the fights are still very repetitive.
I do have the manual, although I skipped over the story part to jump to the instructions--fair point on your part. Still, the story is not nearly as deep as, say, Ultima 7, and is nothing compared to newer CRPGS, which is kind of my point--why play an older game when there are so many newer games that do the same thing, but with more quality-of-life options, better graphics, better combat, etc.
I have played some games that have design philosophies inspired by old-school CRPG design, specifically Buriedbornes and Grim Quest (both mobile games), and I've messed around in Ultima IV and VII, though not enough to write a review. I've also read a ton of the CRPG Addict's blog. So I'm not 100% unfamiliar with 80s/early 90s CRPG design; I just didn't particularly like a lot of the choices made in this particular game.
The game telegraphs status effects pretty well; my beef with it is that it doesn't tell you exactly how much HP your characters have. Wizardry 1 does this, so "It's old" isn't an excuse here.
I had a gear sheet open in Chrome when I played the game. I know for a fact that older games than this displayed gear stats for weapons, so again, this is not old game design, it's bad game design.
I did not know about the identify monster spell; knowing about this might add a few more hours to my play time, so thank you for that info. It's not my favorite design choice, but it makes sense.
I don't have a problem with the 2D first-person perspective; I have a problem with the fact that the graphics are not good enough to be immersive but not bad enough to where I can use my imagination. Wizardry and the early Ultimas have more primitive graphics, but I can use my imagination in that game.
I meant "grinding" in the sense of "doing repetitive actions in order to gain resources such as EXP." Enemy placement in MM4-5 may be handcrafted, but the fights are still very repetitive.
I do have the manual, although I skipped over the story part to jump to the instructions--fair point on your part. Still, the story is not nearly as deep as, say, Ultima 7, and is nothing compared to newer CRPGS, which is kind of my point--why play an older game when there are so many newer games that do the same thing, but with more quality-of-life options, better graphics, better combat, etc.
I have played some games that have design philosophies inspired by old-school CRPG design, specifically Buriedbornes and Grim Quest (both mobile games), and I've messed around in Ultima IV and VII, though not enough to write a review. I've also read a ton of the CRPG Addict's blog. So I'm not 100% unfamiliar with 80s/early 90s CRPG design; I just didn't particularly like a lot of the choices made in this particular game.
Khvostik
1 year ago
You can see gear stats in shops, for a price. If you think its annoying for you, and you can't memorize base items and modifiers (you can look at how your character stats change when you wear them), you can find a sheet list of the gear.
Identify monster stats is actual ranger-druid classes spell, its a feature you need to get for them. Same as automappnig and mini map, abilities to walk on water and across desert and mountians are things which you need to obrain or learn.
The game 2D first person presentation is something which was absolute norm for CRPGs since 70s. From dungeons of Ultima to Labyrinths of Wizardry. While Might and Magic 4-5 were more at the end of this era, it was far from the last games like this. Classic games such as Lands of Lore 1 by Westwood studios and Anvil of Dawn from Dreamforge will be made using same classic scheme later and were quite big titles.
This game, same as Might and Magic 3, don't really have grind. At the time it was still a norm in CRPGs to have "encounter" system where monsters appear from nowhere as much as they want. JRPGs do this to this day. Might and Magic series was one of the first games to have completely hand placed monsters in completely open world to explore. Balancing such amount of hand crafted content is not an easy task.
Visuals are awesome and they sort of evolve. Dark Side and its cutscenes are much more advanced. I liked wacky tech-fantasy style of Johnatan Gwyn. Might and Magic was always not that serious, and combined light narrative with fun world of high fantasy with technology of popular science fiction at the time. If anything, Might and Magic, esp the Xeen, captures that "sword and sorcery" theme perfectly, borrowing from stuff like He Man cartoon etc.
Story is quite present in this game, but I must say that:
At first, this game is still requres you to read manual accurately. CRPGs and games of that era expected player to read book attached to it first. On story, game mechanics, tips, maybe even hints. Go a bit years older and you could not start the game even without starting from manual.
At second, CRPGs at that time were not story-driven. They had story, and you'll find it if you play it xeen, but it was never the main front of the game. Those games were about exploring, about their mechanics, action gameplay. While story driven games like SSI gold box series started to make their influence, same as adventure-like elements of Ultima, majority of titles at that time had story as secondary. Something as a bonus or something which player should "fight" for and search himself.
Sad that you had such confusing first experience with classic CRPGs, maybe you will have more luck with mentioned Lands of Lore 1, or with Pool of Radience (1989) one. Good luck!