Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon

The Good
Legend of Darkmoon was probably the first computer roleplaying game that graphically told a story. While other rpg's had storylines there where often nothing more than a prelude and a prologue and a great deal of hacking in between. Others had a continuing storyline, but it was just text, no visuals to support it. LoD starts with an animated introduction, as you progress you encounter NPC's that only adds to the mystery around the old temple Darkmoon. Even further you encounter notes staggered around, telling you more about the truth. You also experience several cutscenes about whats happening inside and outside of the temple as your adventure continues towards the at-the-time original ending.

Besides the storyline, Legend of Darkmoon was also the first rpg that was actually put into a crafted location. It doesnt take place in this humongous dungeon, or forest, or whatever. It all takes place in a huge temple with a underground system and three tall towers.

It is also one of the first rpg's that isnt entirely linear. You will travel downwards or upwards, and each new thing you find might be your key to unlock a new part of the temple.

Today the graphics is a bit dated, but if you can ignore the fact that the game is ten years old, you will love it. Its one of the few games from this time that is worth a try.

The Bad
Its difficult alright. I played the game with a party imported from Eye of the Beholder 1, and I really cannot see anyone having an easy time with fresh new characters. Some of the puzzles are really difficult and it does require a whole lot of thought, or a walkthrough, to finish it. Also, there is one part of the game that can only be passed if you have an thief in your party. There is a thief you may recruit, but if you dont do it right, you might be stuck and forced to restart the entire game.

The Bottom Line
History about the game: Back in 1986, Dungeon Master revolutionized the role-playing genre as it was the first real time computer rpg game with a 3D view and mouse control. Other companies where not late with trying to copy the success of Dungeon Master. One such company where Westwood Associates and their Dungeon & Dragons licensed game "Eye of the Beholder".

Even if "Eye of the Beholder" blasted the competition out in the orbit, it was still 'only' a classic dungeon hack. The Sequel, "Legend of Darkmoon" released in 1991, raised the bar of role-playing games, forever.

Where Eye of the Beholder lacked in story, Legend of Darkmoon had a rich and intriguing storyline, from start to end.

Story: The heroes of Waterdeep are sent to investigate strange disappearances from villages north of the city. Reports have been made of discoveries of human remains in shallow graves. The clues seem to lead to the Temple Darkmoon, which appears to be a peaceful sanctuary, run by divinely-inspired priests. Alas, as often happens, appearances are deceiving, and the TempleÂ’s dark secret is up to the players to unfold.

The Good
The story is simple, but a step up from the previous game.

Exploring the dungeons is a lot of fun and there's a strange sado-masochistic sort of joy in not having an automap. I really enjoyed mapping it out on gridpaper. There were too many parts where the walls would keep moving or the player would be randomly teleported, though.

The Bad
Some parts of the game are extremely difficult, including a part near the start.

The combat is as bad and annoying as in its predecessor.

Despite the Dungeons & Dragons core of the game, the game lacked a distinct sense of progression. Characters didn't really feel like they were getting more powerful and there wasn't a lot of interesting items to be found.

The Bottom Line
Most of The Legends of Darkmoon doesn't really step away from its predecessor. The story is a bit better, you get some outdoor parts (which are still gridlike blocks), but nothing revolutionary. So worthwhile only if you liked the first game in the series.

The Good
Eye of the Beholder II is one of the classic CRPGs that set the standards for years to come. I have been trying to complete this game for over ten years now - ever since I first played it, and without success... until today. This goes to prove two things: the first is that EOB2 is an incredibly good game, and the second is that EOB2 is an incredibly tough game to beat.

So what's so good about it? The first thing that comes to mind is the brilliant graphics. Between the great 2D drawings that are so very typical of Westwood (as is clearly evident in The Legend of Kyrandia, for instance) and the very detailed psuedo-3D engine, the game really looks gorgeous; not having real freedom of movement - remember this game came out a full year before what I believe is the first realtime raycasted shooter, Catacomb Abyss - means that the artists had much more freedom than usual creating very detailed textures and sprites.

The interface is great - it is easy to learn and easy to manage. It is not perfect - some things could have been done better, for example the ability to see the compass and cast a spell at the same time, or being able to see character statistics at the same time as changing items (so one can see the immediate influence of the items), but despite these shortcomings the interface is extremely well designed and makes even intense battles easy to manage.

The music in the PC version is not as good as the Amiga version (despite having more sound channels) for obvious reasons, but it is still terrific, having being made by Frank Klepacki (later to make the music for both Dune 2 and Kyrandia).

The story is not particularly deep, but is very characteristic of the D&D or AD&D adventures that were commonly sold when these gaming systems were prevalent.

Finally, gameplay is extremely long (even someone deeply familiar with the game will probably need a few days to finish it), the environments are varied and the game is very satisfying over all.

The Bad
Like I said before, Eye of the Beholder II is incredibly difficult - occasionally ridiculously so. Some battles require dozens of reloads, and on occasion I just couldn't figure out a puzzle and had to use a walkthrough (I wish I could say this happened only once...). Kudos to anyone who's managed to finish the game without any outside help.

The Bottom Line
An incredible game, worthy of the title "An Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition computer product".