Deathlord

Deathlord
Developer(s)	Electronic Arts
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Platform(s)	Commodore 64 Apple II
Release date(s)	1987
Genre(s)	Role-playing video game
Mode(s)	Single player

Deathlord is a 1987 role-playing video game created by Al Escudero and David Wong^{[disambiguation needed ]}. It was published by Electronic Arts for the Apple II and Commodore 64 computer systems. The game set itself apart by its Japanese flavor, immense game world and length of play.

Deathlord boasts a world of 16 continents, 128 unique monsters, and twenty dungeons, yet fits on only 2 double-density 5¼" floppy disks as it compresses blocks of identical squares on a map.

One of the game's unique characteristics is that there is only one savegame slot, and the game frequently autosaves, by design, if the party moves to another location, or a party member dies. A party, once killed, needs a new party to resurrect them. This makes for frustratingly difficult gameplay.

Story

The Emperor's kingdom is under attack from the Deathlord's forces. The party must venture into Hell, defeat the Deathlord, and return. According to the box, seven words, six items, and the adventurers' incompetence stands in the way.

The plot is nonlinear and once the party fulfills the Emperor's initial quest of defeating the wizard beneath the castle, the party has no set activity. They must find items to protect themselves from acid, fire, darkness and magic walls, along with a special weapon that can defeat the Deathlord.

Game credits

• Software Design and Programming: Al Escudero and David Wong
• Dungeon Design: Dirk Bester and Al Escudero
• Producer: Shelly Safir
• Assistant Producer: Roland Kippenhan, Mike Kawahara
• Testing Assistance: Sheila Rowen
• Technical Support: Steve Shaw
• Software Title and Final Screens: Mike Kosaka
• Documentation: Zina Yee
• Art Director: Nancy Fong
• Package Design and Lettering: Lance Anderson/Triad
• Package Illustration: David McMacken
• Package Copy: Steve Emerson
• Screen Photography: Frank Wing

Reception

Home of the Underdogs' Sarinee Achavanuntakul calls the game "One of the best, largest, and most underrated RPGs ever made" and goes on to say it, "offers a unique gameworld inspired by Japanese myths, plenty of traditional exploration-based fun, and the largest map ever made for an Apple II and Commodore 64 game."^[1]

A review in Computer Gaming World described the game as "A mediocre effort at best." Criticisms of the game included poor documentation, poor class balance, and meaningless character alignment. The game hid the townspeople with important pieces of information, making mapping necessary, and frequently the player had to search many squares in an area for an important item. One dungeon, described as "one of the most idiotic dungeons ever", featured a two-level maze of locked and fake doors, with a diagonal passage full of teleports and fake walls above. Without a lack of mapping aids, this was very difficult, especially in sixteen-level dungeons that did not contribute to the story. The game's setting was described as "a compendium of standard CRPG features glossed over with a tinge of pseudo-Orientalism by pasting Japanese names on as much as they could."^[2]

References

1. ^ http://www.homeoftheunderdogs.net/game.php?id=4848
2. ^ Scorpia (April 1988), "Deathlord", Computer Gaming World: 44, 48–50 

External links

• Deathlord at MobyGames
• Deathlord at GameFAQs
• Images of Deathlord package, manual and screenshots from C64Sets.com