My First PC Game

Special Edition box & booklet cover.

Lords of Magic was a turn-based strategy game in the high fantasy genre, and it was released in November of 1997. Not long after, they released the expansion called Legends of Urak which included 5 campaigns with specific objectives which each told a unique story within the world of Urak. Lords of Magic: Special Edition included Legends of Urak. It was the Special Edition I unwrapped on my 15th birthday, and it was my first real PC game.

Prior to that wonderful birthday present, I had been limited to a variety of games available at school only -- Oregon Trail, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, a Muppets learning game, and a scant few others I don't even remember now because of how little I was able to play of them during the after-school Computer Club times. I didn't have a computer at home until the summer prior to me starting high school, and there I had been limited to Minesweeper, Solitaire, and this weird match game with mutant creatures -- it came with our Dell software package, so don't ask me any questions!

My dad had been the one to gift me Lords of Magic, and my mother heartily disapproved -- I still don't know the reason why. Reasons could have ranged anywhere from her mindset being determined to detest video games because of stereotypes, to the simple fact that my dad had given it to me and they were divorced and that inherently obligated her to be displeased. The game wasn't taken from me, though, and I dove right into it.

I'm not writing about this game from memory, either -- I still have the game, have always kept it installed on my computers, and played it today simply to get the screenshots to support this blog entry. (Note: I used some cheat codes to expedite the game today so I could get the screenshots, but I advise against using the codes if you ever wish to truly enjoy the game.)
 

Sierra's logo from Lords of Magic.

I don't know about you, but my favorite game company for many years was (and in some ways still is) Sierra. One of my other favorites from them was Torin's Passage, but that's another blog entry altogether. They brought us games like the King's Quest series, Diablo, Half-Life, and many other titles. They also came to possess the copyrights for dozens more through mergers -- including Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon. Alright, so maybe I'm getting a little off track -- my point is that they are special to me and for good reason!

Getting back to Lords of Magic, the game itself is pretty simple in both story and mechanics. The game world is called Urak, and there are 8 separate faiths the inhabitants can follow (you might consider them factions, but in the game these faiths are represented as religions complete with great temples). The faiths are arranged in a circle, with cardinal opposites being hostile to one another by default. They include: Death, Air, Order, Fire, Life, Earth, Chaos, and Water. When you start your game, you select one of 3 classes for your Leader: Warrior, Mage, or Thief; and then select which faith. In conferring with an old review posted by Gamespot, I agree that you only ever want to choose Fire if you want a challenge. Nearly every other faith is biased against Fire for some reason, and they're tough to build up in strength as a result.

 

Three classes to choose from.

Warriors

Mages

Thieves

When I was playing the game as a teenager, I often chose Life or Chaos (pretty apropos for a teenage girl, eh?), but sometimes dabbled with Water or Order because of the units available. Eventually, I had played every faith -- including Death, which becomes unlocked once you've beaten the game story's bad guy, Balkoth, who is the Death Lord. The generic start, if you don't use the available editor, has your opposite faction revved up to oppose you and with their Temple already secured. What does that mean? I'll explain.

Order's default beginning.

Each faith has a section of map that's designated for their faith, including styled land textures and unique buildings. Each faith also has a Temple which contains a 2-part battle with some heavy duty mobs to fight against in order to claim it for your faith. Having the Temple claimed means the faith can level-up their capital and buildings, and once their mage tower is level 3 they can summon legendary creatures from the Temple. These creatures have unique powers and can make a big dent in your enemies when used appropriately. The wisest course is to keep them close to the Temple as part of its defense.

   

That may sound complicated, but the game does a very good job of explaining the situation when you start, as well as explaining what changes when something momentous happens -- like when you liberate a Temple, or free Champions, or even when you defeat another Lord. If I could figure it out as a teenager without any previous experience with strategy games, I think just about anyone could figure it out.  
 

 

One thing I did not bother to get a screenshot of is the combat map itself once you enter into a dungeon area. You can scale down the world map to see things well, but you can't do so inside a dungeon. The most you can see is part of one of your own groups and can't even get your own and the enemy into one shot -- so I didn't bother. 

Map editor.

One aspect of the game I never spent any time with is the map editor. It lets you build your own map -- everything on it, however you want it -- and then you can play on it. I can't recall if you were able to use the custom maps for multiplayer games since back then I didn't have anyone to play games. I imagine multiplayer in this game would have been rather entertaining and I'm sorry I missed out on it.

Hidden Legends of Urak campaign.

The Legends of Urak campaigns in the Special Edition were another facet I didn't really do much with. I played each of them through exactly one time and was satisfied knowing I had finished them. Four of them are shown on the selection screen as their featured Champion in the faith circle. There is a fifth that is hidden and you reveal it by clicking the very middle of the faith circle - as seen in my screenshot. This fifth one is the only one that is terribly engaging or challenging and it involves defeating the dragon Fafnir.

As many times as I have played this game, I don't think I've ever uncovered all of the available spells or artifacts without the aid of codes or the Lord editor. That in itself lends itself to the quality of the game, in my opinion. I've read that the original game had a lot of bugs and shortcomings, not all of which were corrected with the release of the Special Edition. I suppose with the sheer number and varying quality of games I have played over the years that I easily overlook any problems in this older game that is so very near and dear to my heart.
  

Credits screen.

If I've intrigued you at all, there's good news: You can still purchase this game for $5.99 over on GOG.com's website. You even get the manual with it (which covers all of the artifacts and spells!) as well as detailed trees for tech and units. I might also be jealous of the HD wallpaper, though I have no idea what it even looks like. If you feel inspired enough to make the purchase, I encourage you to let me know!

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Thanks for reading. I encourage you to comment with any feedback or questions. And as always, please consider making a donation to Extra Life to help me be a hero #ForTheKids!

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