Legend of the North: Konung

Rating:
Summary: Great game for the money....
Review: This is a fun fantasy RPG from our friends in Russia, in which your character is searching for the Bracelet of Lordship in order to rule the world. Unfortunately the bracelet is guarded by a golden dragon, so what is a hero to do? Well there also happens to be an amulet that gives you control of the dragon, but it has been broken into three parts (of which you start with one) and scattered to parts unknown. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to travel the Northern Lands (Russia circa 600AD)seaching for the rest of the amulet with which to confront the dragon and aquire the Bracelet of Lordship.

You can play as one of three characters; Eric the Viking, Wolf the Slavic Hunter, or Konstantin the Byzantine. After choosing your hero you then select his type. You can be either a warrior who is great in melee combat, a hunter who is a supperb archer, the merchant who can carry more stuff and take more damage than others, or lastly the leader who can initially command more retainers than the other characters, but at the expense of being virtually useless in combat himself.

You start out in a small village, the location of which will vary depending upon the character you choose to start with. In the village are people such as the Healer, Blacksmith and Merchant who can provide you with various services and barter with you for stuff. Since you control this village, the healer will heal you and your party for free, and the blacksmith will repair all weapons and armor whenever you ask. You can also talk to the village elder who will most likely give you a quest to fullfil or just some tidbit of local gossip.

The first thing you should do is get one or more retainers (you can eventually control up to nine) to join your warparty. The reason for this is that your character starts out with nothing but a dull butter knife and very little skill in using it. Sure, it would be great to purchase that huge battleaxe or a fine longsword, but the more powerfull weapons require greater abilities in things such as strength, dexterity, and vitality than you currently have.

The controls are very simple. Left click your character to select him, right click on where you want to go, or on what you want to interact with. Villagers and even some monsters (over 30 types) will chat with you, which can be more humorous than intended due to the translation from Russian to English. You have the obligatory control panel on the left side of the screen which cannot be moved out of the way. On this panel you find portraits of your character and his retainers. Below that are buttons for your inventory, map, journal, etc.

Combat is realtime and very simple, just click on your target and your selected party members will attack until the victim is destroyed. The problem is that you are usually heavily outnumbered, and you suffer severe penalties if someone attacks you from your non-shielded side or behind. Therefore many skimishes will involve a series of hit and run attacks. Charge in, get in a few whacks and retreat before the bad guys surround you. Repeat as required until all enemies slain, or their morale breaks and they run away.

Magic. There is none. Well, at least there is no spellcasting in the game, although you can aquire many various magical artifacts, of which there are more that fifty different types, as well as magic weapons and armor. You can also buy assorted potions from the healers in the various villages, or make your own once you learn how.

There is a stratigic element of the game in that you can take control of villages, either peacefully by completing whatever quest the elder assigns to you, or resorting to force of arms and killing all the defenders. There are many benefits that come from controlling a village. First of all, you get tribute in the form of cash (always a nice thing). Also, you get the free services of the healer and blacksmith, and you can ask the warriors in the village to join your party. You can also ask the various tradesmen (ie blacksmith) to train apprentices. These trainees can then be used to replace the ones you killed when you conquered that neighboring village. Speaking of that neighboring village, you travel to diferent locations by walking or teleportation orbs that you can purchase. You will be purchasing alot of those orbs because the game world is quite large and it will take you forever to walk everywhere, having to fight the respawning monsters along the way.

The graphics in the game are pretty standard fare, with the overhead isometric view similar to Baldur's Gate. While they will not win any awards, the graphics are crisp and clean, accurately depicting the forrests and swamps of northern Russia. My biggest complaint about the graphics is that there are only about six different styles of human characters, so it can be a little disconcerting to walk into a village and find that everyone looks the same.

Oh yes, before I forget. The is no printed manual with the game. I guess that for $20.00 they could not afford to include one. There is online documentation that is barely adequate, but there are many things you are going to have to discover for yourself.

So, If you are looking for a new RPG to while away a few weeks and not blow your budget, this one may fit the bill.