Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession

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Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession
Composer(s)
Jamie McMenamy
SeriesRavenloft
Platform(s)
Release1994 (DOS)
1995 (FM Towns, PC-98)
Genre(s)Role-playing video game
Mode(s)Single-player

Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession is a 1994 fantasy role-playing video game developed by DreamForge Intertainment for Strategic Simulations for DOS. Ravenloft: Stone Prophet is a sequel to this game.

Plot

The game is based on the

Barovia
.

The player characters are servants of the Lord Dhelt, leader of the land of Elturel. After an assassin assaults the Lord and steals his Holy Symbol of Helm, the PCs are sent in pursuit of the thief. Instead of catching the criminals, however, they somehow manage to transport the entire party to the mist-shrouded land of Barovia, ruled over by the vampire Count, Strahd von Zarovich.

As Barovia is surrounded by an impenetrable poison mist, the PCs have no choice but to explore the dark land of Barovia, which is crawling with undead and many more nasty things. Strahd, himself, seems interested in the characters' quest for the stolen amulet and invites the party to his castle. The characters' quest is to survive this hostile land long enough to unravel the mystery of the stolen amulet and somehow arrange safe passage out of Barovia.

Gameplay

Enemies attacking

The game used

SSI title Menzoberranzan. Generally, the keyboard or mouse-driven directional arrows were used to move around or change perspective. As an early 3D game engine
, it moved slowly and could appear cumbersome. However, there was an omnipresent map in the top corner which helped gamers from becoming too disoriented by the slow and cluttered progress of the game.

The fighting system involved using the mouse to pinpoint enemies and click to attack, at which point party members would take turns attacking. This unique combat system presented some logistical problems for gamers, and seemed to involve quite a learning curve.

A review in Game Bytes Magazine said: "Characters with weapons in hand will use them one by one [...] However, since the characters have a go one at a time from left to right, and they take a varying amount of time to ready their weapon again after using it, depending on their dexterity, one often finds that characters who are ready to use their weapons cannot do so because the computer is waiting for the character whose turn it is to ready and use his weapons before going to the next one. Hence, one may be anxiously clicking away but no one is using their weapons".[1]

Sound

Eastern European accent of the central characters did much to improve its believability. The acting was generally well received, but in the case of Strahd, Game Bytes magazine wrote that "the attempt to make him sound suave yet menacing (which is as it should be) didn't quite come off".[1]

The music of Strahd's Possession was highly atmospheric and was critically acknowledged as a vast improvement of

SSI's previous offerings. Game Bytes magazine said that "the music superbly brings out the mood and atmosphere, and is reminiscent of those found in gothic horror movies, with the organ being the central instrument".[1]

Publication history

This game was later included in the 1996 compilation set, the AD&D Masterpiece Collection.[2] In October 2015, the game was re-released on GOG.com with support for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux pre-packed with DOSBox, bundled with the sequel.[3][4][5]

Reception

In

pathing, and erratic movement speed, and reported frequent crashes, but liked the graphics, sound, dialogue, and character creation system. Schlunk concluded that "aside from a few technical problems and a somewhat cumbersome interface, Ravenloft is a solid, thoughtfully designed and enjoyable game", not so long as to discourage a replay to finish it again more efficiently.[9]

Strahd's Possession was nominated for Computer Gaming World's Role-Playing Game of the Year award in May 1995. The editors remarked that the game's "subject matter and new 3-D look enhance the solid background universe created by TSR's AD&D team".[10]

According to GameSpy, "Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession was a welcome return to form for SSI".[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c Sir Launcelot du Lake (1994), "AD&D RAVENLOFT: STRAHD'S POSSESSION CD from SSI", Game Bytes Magazine, vol. 21
  2. ^ Butcher, Andy (January 1996). "Games Reviews". Arcane (2). Future Publishing: 80.
  3. ^ "Release: Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Krynn Series". GOG.com. CD Projekt. 27 October 2015. Archived from the original on 29 October 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  4. ^ Shearer, Stew (28 October 2015). "GOG Crits Again: Adds Seven More Dungeons & Dragons Classics". The Escapist. Archived from the original on 29 October 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  5. ^ Sykes, Tom (27 October 2015). "GOG adds D&D: Ravenloft, Dark Sun and Krynn". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 29 October 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  6. ^
    PC Gamer US
     (1): 72.
  7. ^ a b Brenesal, Barry (June 1994). "Ravenloft". Electronic Entertainment (7): 101.
  8. ^ a b Honeywell, Steve; Perry, Kevin; Chapman, Ted (June 1994). "Things Get Eerie When the Sun Goes Down...". Computer Game Review. 3 (11): 32.
  9. ^ Schlunk, Petra (June 1994). "Exorcising The Madness Of Strahd's Possession". Computer Gaming World. pp. 74–78.
  10. ^ Staff (May 1995). "The Computer Gaming World 1995 Premier Awards". Computer Gaming World. No. 130. pp. 35, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44.
  11. ^ Rausch, Allen (2004-08-17). "A History of D&D Video Games - Part III". Game Spy. Retrieved November 17, 2012.

External links

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