Difference between revisions of "Times of Lore"

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[[Image:Times of Lore - DOS - USA.jpg|thumb|256x256px|Box art.]]
 
[[Image:Times of Lore - DOS - USA.jpg|thumb|256x256px|Box art.]]
  
'''''Times of Lore''''' is an action adventure game developed and published by [[Origin Systems]] and first released on the [[Commodore 64]] in 1988, and later ported to several other platforms. The game was sold as an role-playing game, but it's far more an action-adventure.
+
'''''Times of Lore''''' is an action adventure game developed and published by [[Origin Systems]] and first released on the [[Commodore 64]] in 1988, and later ported to several other platforms. The game was sold as a role-playing game, but it's far more an action-adventure.
  
 
I first played Times of Lore after renting the [[NES]] version in the early mid-1990s. I didn't get too far in it before having to return the game, but I found it to be quite interesting. About 15 years later, I replayed the game and ended up beating it. I later found that it had been released for several other platforms, and while each usually had better graphics, I found their interface and audio to be far worse.
 
I first played Times of Lore after renting the [[NES]] version in the early mid-1990s. I didn't get too far in it before having to return the game, but I found it to be quite interesting. About 15 years later, I replayed the game and ended up beating it. I later found that it had been released for several other platforms, and while each usually had better graphics, I found their interface and audio to be far worse.
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* '''Overall:''' 2/10
 
* '''Overall:''' 2/10
 
* '''Best Version:''' NES
 
* '''Best Version:''' NES
 +
 +
Overall, the game has some novel features, but is pretty awful. It could have been made more tolerable with a few relatively simple fixes.
  
 
===Good===
 
===Good===
 
* The game world is enormous and seamless. This was a very impressive feature for 1988.
 
* The game world is enormous and seamless. This was a very impressive feature for 1988.
* The music is quite nice.
+
* [[Martin Galway]]'s composed a couple nice tracks for the game and impressively used a randomizer in the title music. [[Katsuhiro Hayashi]] nicely arranged his songs for the NES and added some good tracks of his own.
 
* The appearance of the icon-driven interface is good, too bad it functions terribly.
 
* The appearance of the icon-driven interface is good, too bad it functions terribly.
 
* The day-night transition and hunger factor really makes you feel like you're on a real journey.
 
* The day-night transition and hunger factor really makes you feel like you're on a real journey.
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===Bad===
 
===Bad===
 
* The graphics are pretty dull, and the top-down perspective makes them difficult to identify.
 
* The graphics are pretty dull, and the top-down perspective makes them difficult to identify.
* Combat is tedious. Enemies have different graphics, but they all fight in pretty much the same manner, and attacking is just button mashing without any strategy whatsoever. And picking up treasure is a pain.
+
* The map, though it is enormous, is very repetitive and empty which makes navigation quite difficult.
* The map, though it is enormous, is very repetitive and boring, and it makes navigation quite difficult.
 
 
* In every version except the NES, music only plays at the beginning and end of the game, never during the game, and the sound effects are pretty bad.
 
* In every version except the NES, music only plays at the beginning and end of the game, never during the game, and the sound effects are pretty bad.
* There are only three weapons in the entire game, you start with one, and you get the second shortly after starting the game.
+
* There are only three weapons in the entire game, you start with one, and you get the second shortly after starting the game. The third can be bought fairly early in the game, and you're stuck with it until the end.
 
* The usable items are uninspired. They're just scrolls and potions of differing color that have basic effects.
 
* The usable items are uninspired. They're just scrolls and potions of differing color that have basic effects.
 
* You're given the option of choosing a class, which is nice, but it's pointless because they all function identically.
 
* You're given the option of choosing a class, which is nice, but it's pointless because they all function identically.
* Walking beings at a slow speed and gradually becomes faster and remains faster as you don't bump into anything or reverse course. This is neat at first, but quickly becomes a tedious. It's best to seek out the magic boots as soon as possible.
+
* You can kill non-violent NPCs (which can be an asset to a game when handled properly), but the story never takes advantage of this. Instead, you often accidentally hit an NPC causing the others to become violent against you.
  
 
===Ugly===
 
===Ugly===
* The interface is pretty awful. There are very few items in the game, and you always want to pick them up, but rather than just picking them up by walking over them, you have to open a menu, highlight "take," select it, highlight the item from a list, and select the item. Other options are similarly tedious.
+
* The controls for the whole game are awful and could have easily been simplified.
 +
* Movement begins painfully slow and takes too long to get up to speed. At first I thought this was a neat feature, but I quickly became annoyed with it. The magic boots fix the movement problem, but, unless you already know about them, you won't get them until late in the game.
 +
* Combat is also tedious. Enemies have different graphics, but they mostly fight in the same way. Attacking is just button-mashing without any strategy.
 +
* The menu interface slows everything down. For example, there is never a time in the game when you wouldn't want to pick up and item left behind by a monster. Rather than adding it to your inventory when you walk over it, you have to stop, open the menu, choose "pick up," and finally select the item from the list. The other menu options are similarly tedious. Talking could have be initiated by simply walking up to an NPC and hitting a button, etc.
 
* Other than the NES release, every version of the game, especially the DOS port, has a tiny display window to see the action. This makes bumping into things a common problem, and with the sluggish walking speed, an extreme annoyance.
 
* Other than the NES release, every version of the game, especially the DOS port, has a tiny display window to see the action. This makes bumping into things a common problem, and with the sluggish walking speed, an extreme annoyance.
* In the PC ports, you have to pick up the dagger every time you throw it, which is painfully annoying.
+
* In the PC ports, the dagger is an especially annoying weapon because you throw it to attack with it, but you have to find it and pick it up using the slow menu system every time!
  
==Box Art==
+
==Media==
 +
===Box Art===
 +
Every release uses this box art with minor layout differences. I really like [[Dennis Loubet]]'s work here. The axe-wielding barbarian walking through the doors of the dark castle into the bright world outside gives a perfect indication of what you're going to experience in the game, and the molten gold logo is very nice.
 
<gallery>
 
<gallery>
Times of Lore - DOS - USA.jpg|Every release uses this box art with minor layout differences. I really like [[Dennis Loubet]]'s work here. The axe-wielding barbarian walking through the doors of the dark castle into the bright world outside gives a perfect indication of what you're going to experience in the game, and the molten gold logo is very nice.
+
Times of Lore - DOS - USA.jpg|Standard art.
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
  
==Documentation==
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===Documentation===
 
<gallery>
 
<gallery>
 
Times of Lore - DOS - Manual.pdf|DOS manual.
 
Times of Lore - DOS - Manual.pdf|DOS manual.
 
Times of Lore - NES - Manual.pdf|NES manual.
 
Times of Lore - NES - Manual.pdf|NES manual.
Times of Lore - ZXS - Map.jpg|ZX Spectrum map.
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Times of Lore - ZXS - Map.jpg|ZX Spectrum map by [[Denise Therrien]].
 
Times of Lore - UK Ad.jpg|UK advertisement with horrible artwork.
 
Times of Lore - UK Ad.jpg|UK advertisement with horrible artwork.
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
 +
 +
===Maps===
 +
<gallery>
 +
Times of Lore - DOS - Map.png|DOS map.
 +
Times of Lore - DOS - Map - With Labels.png|DOS map with labels.
 +
</gallery>
 +
 +
===Videos===
 +
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vziAU8vsBIY youtube.com/watch?v=vziAU8vsBIY] - Longplay, NES.
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* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lufvWzzkcQ youtube.com/watch?v=6lufvWzzkcQ] - Longplay, ZX Spectrum.
 +
 +
==Titles==
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
! Language !! Native !! Transliteration !! Translation
 +
|-
 +
| English || Times of Lore || ||
 +
|-
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| Japanese || タイムズオブロア 失われたメダリオン || Taimuzu Obu Roa: Ushinawareta Medarion || Times of Lore: Lost Medallion
 +
|}
  
 
==Links==
 
==Links==
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* [http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Times_of_Lore vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Times_of_Lore] - Music.
 
* [http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Times_of_Lore vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Times_of_Lore] - Music.
 
* [http://www.thealmightyguru.com/Games/Hacking/Wiki/index.php?title=Times_of_Lore thealmightyguru.com/Games/Hacking/Wiki/index.php?title=Times_of_Lore] - NES Hacker Database.
 
* [http://www.thealmightyguru.com/Games/Hacking/Wiki/index.php?title=Times_of_Lore thealmightyguru.com/Games/Hacking/Wiki/index.php?title=Times_of_Lore] - NES Hacker Database.
 +
* [https://tcrf.net/Times_of_Lore_(ZX_Spectrum) tcrf.net/Times_of_Lore_(ZX_Spectrum)] - The Cutting Room Floor.
  
  

Revision as of 11:20, 8 February 2019

Box art.

Times of Lore is an action adventure game developed and published by Origin Systems and first released on the Commodore 64 in 1988, and later ported to several other platforms. The game was sold as a role-playing game, but it's far more an action-adventure.

I first played Times of Lore after renting the NES version in the early mid-1990s. I didn't get too far in it before having to return the game, but I found it to be quite interesting. About 15 years later, I replayed the game and ended up beating it. I later found that it had been released for several other platforms, and while each usually had better graphics, I found their interface and audio to be far worse.

Status

I do not own this game, but I have beaten it on the NES.

Review

  • Overall: 2/10
  • Best Version: NES

Overall, the game has some novel features, but is pretty awful. It could have been made more tolerable with a few relatively simple fixes.

Good

  • The game world is enormous and seamless. This was a very impressive feature for 1988.
  • Martin Galway's composed a couple nice tracks for the game and impressively used a randomizer in the title music. Katsuhiro Hayashi nicely arranged his songs for the NES and added some good tracks of his own.
  • The appearance of the icon-driven interface is good, too bad it functions terribly.
  • The day-night transition and hunger factor really makes you feel like you're on a real journey.
  • Almost the entire map is open to you from the beginning making the game feel less like following a script, and more like real exploration.

Bad

  • The graphics are pretty dull, and the top-down perspective makes them difficult to identify.
  • The map, though it is enormous, is very repetitive and empty which makes navigation quite difficult.
  • In every version except the NES, music only plays at the beginning and end of the game, never during the game, and the sound effects are pretty bad.
  • There are only three weapons in the entire game, you start with one, and you get the second shortly after starting the game. The third can be bought fairly early in the game, and you're stuck with it until the end.
  • The usable items are uninspired. They're just scrolls and potions of differing color that have basic effects.
  • You're given the option of choosing a class, which is nice, but it's pointless because they all function identically.
  • You can kill non-violent NPCs (which can be an asset to a game when handled properly), but the story never takes advantage of this. Instead, you often accidentally hit an NPC causing the others to become violent against you.

Ugly

  • The controls for the whole game are awful and could have easily been simplified.
  • Movement begins painfully slow and takes too long to get up to speed. At first I thought this was a neat feature, but I quickly became annoyed with it. The magic boots fix the movement problem, but, unless you already know about them, you won't get them until late in the game.
  • Combat is also tedious. Enemies have different graphics, but they mostly fight in the same way. Attacking is just button-mashing without any strategy.
  • The menu interface slows everything down. For example, there is never a time in the game when you wouldn't want to pick up and item left behind by a monster. Rather than adding it to your inventory when you walk over it, you have to stop, open the menu, choose "pick up," and finally select the item from the list. The other menu options are similarly tedious. Talking could have be initiated by simply walking up to an NPC and hitting a button, etc.
  • Other than the NES release, every version of the game, especially the DOS port, has a tiny display window to see the action. This makes bumping into things a common problem, and with the sluggish walking speed, an extreme annoyance.
  • In the PC ports, the dagger is an especially annoying weapon because you throw it to attack with it, but you have to find it and pick it up using the slow menu system every time!

Media

Box Art

Every release uses this box art with minor layout differences. I really like Dennis Loubet's work here. The axe-wielding barbarian walking through the doors of the dark castle into the bright world outside gives a perfect indication of what you're going to experience in the game, and the molten gold logo is very nice.

Documentation

Maps

Videos

Titles

Language Native Transliteration Translation
English Times of Lore
Japanese タイムズオブロア 失われたメダリオン Taimuzu Obu Roa: Ushinawareta Medarion Times of Lore: Lost Medallion

Links