Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of the Lance
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of the Lance is a side-scrolling action role-playing game that was developed by British developer U.S. Gold on behalf of Strategic Simulations, Inc.. It was first published in 1988 and appeared for the platforms Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, FM Towns, MS- DOS, MSX, NES, PC -88, PC-98, Sega Master System and ZX Spectrum.
Plot and gameplay
The game is set in the game world Krynn of the campaign sets Dragonlance and is based on the campaign module Dragons of Despair and the first half of the novel Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, in the German published as Dragon Twilight ( The Chronicles of Dragonlance, Volume 1 ). Looking for the discs of Mishakal (German: Slices of Mishakal ) the player controls an eight-member group of adventurers through the underground ruins of Xak Tsaroth. In the eight hero characters are the characters in the novel of the series: Raistlin Majere, Caramon Majere, Tanis Half- Elven (German: Tanis Half - Elf), Gold Moon (Gold Moon), Riverwind ( Riverwind ) Tasselhoff Burrfoot ( Tas Barefoot ) Bright blade storm ( storm fire blade) and Flint fire Forge (Flint fire blacksmith ). These are symbolized by two rows of four portraits at the bottom of the screen. However, the player controls only one character at a time through the side-scrolling game world representation. This is representative of the entire group of heroes and can fight as a single.
The marching order of the heroes, symbolized by the order of the portraits, can be freely set in an option menu and plays a tactical role during the run in real-time battles. To be able to cast spells must be positioned, for example in the first row are both powerful magic characters ( Raistlin and Gold Moon ). To cast spells, the player must also switch to the option menu to select him there. Death of a character, the character set in second position automatically moves on to the lead character. The aim of the game is to kill the black dragon Khisanth who brought the desired discs in itself. Are all the characters dead, the game is over. There is no memory function to pause the game and then continue at a later time or to return to after a game over at an earlier game section.
Development
Heroes of the Lance is one of the first AD & D titles from SSI. In 1987, the Company entered into a license agreement with AD & D TSR manufacturer. While SSI himself worked on the Gold Box series, the British developer U.S. Gold has been entrusted with the development of Heroes of the Lance. This marked the beginning of a series of externally developed AD & D spin-offs, which was often referred to as Silver Box series.
Reception
" Heroes of the Lance is a quality product thatwill leave most players with the strong conviction did TSR selected the right company to produce the computer versions of AD & D products. [ ... ] If you like to action / strategy blend in a fantasy game, this product is for you. "
" Heroes of the Lance is a quality product that is most players to leave with the firm conviction that TSR has chosen the right company & D products for the computer implementation of its AD. [ ... ] If you like a Action-/Strategieeinschlag in a fantasy game that should predict the product. "
The game was considered very difficult, sometimes frustrating, among other things, aggravated by the lack of memory function. The game has been rated in retrospect as a full side-scroller, the opposite of self- developed by SSI gold box series but could not excel.
2011 Heroes of the Lance was one of the three Sega Master System games, which proposed the Smithsonian American Art Museum for its exhibition The Art of Video Games as examples of the artistic design of adventure titles this console. After public voting, however, it was subject to Phantasy Star.
Successor
Was released in 1989 with Dragons of Flame is a direct successor, based on the second official Dragonlance campaign module. Followed in 1991 with Shadow Sorcerer, the third Dragonlance title of U.S. Gold, similar to a previous implementation of the third and fourth official campaign module, but who had a significantly deviant gameplay.