A look back at: Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny

 

I'll say right now that I'm personally not a fan of the atmosphere argument when it comes to reviews. The thing that bothers me about it has to be what really constitutes atmosphere. Is it usually the places you go to combined with the music? Is it the feeling of immersion? For Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny, I certainly felt that atmosphere far more than I have any other RPG game so far.

The plot, at least the main plot here, is a simple case of "get plotline sword, go to orc chief and kick his ass" ordeal. And then the game sets up for the second game which I may play down the line. The gameplay combines the navigation of Wizardry/M&M in the field with tactical RPG-like setups which was actually quite interesting, especially when something dies it has a weird animation and scream effect which can be funny. Though since nearly everything costed move points, battles got a bit clunky. Thankfully, it only deviates to super hard territory only a few times when you compare it to Wizardry and M&M. Music is serviceable. The character customization is a key highlight this game has, although with so much, it probably could get overwhelming. However, the big key I got from all this is how many actions, attributes, and character traits could potentially be important. The possible cowardice of going over a bridge over troubled water can play an impact. The desire to feed your party with not just the right amount of food/drinks, but the right ones in general so as you don't get drunk or something was very interesting. The fact you could get attacked while sleeping and having someone on guard duty being necessary was very interesting. Attacking enemies in general can result in many ways to succeed or fail. The many different ways to earn money like being a good musician, or thief, everyone wasn't just a person you talk to once and they repeat their lines over and over again.

I think that's what made this game so atmospheric. While there are some static moments, the ideas of realism are showing in this old game and that was something that made me like it a little more than usual. On the surface, much of it is plain and average, but the ideas that I saw, in sidequests and elsewhere, can have a good impact. So yeah, I am using the atmosphere argument here because this game really felt like a perfect example of such.