All right, enough of the port/licensed game softballs. For the next few weeks I'm going to focus on what I intended to do with this feature from the very beginning: look at some weird computer games created in Europe that are more befitting a mouse and keyboard platform. That means games with more complexity, specifically CRPGs and strategy games. This does lead to a minor problem with how best to present such layered games in only a scant few dozen screenshots, but fortunately we're talking about the late 80s and early 90s for the most part. While something like the original Ultima is almost impenetrable to a CRPG fan spoiled by modern conveniences like myself, it isn't necessarily because of the number of working parts to monitor or features to demonstrate. More because it's all awkward keyboard-heavy text user interfaces that make my eyes glaze over.
While perusing information for today's game, I did come across a site I've had to bookmark for later: The CRPG Addict. I'd visited his Blogspot briefly before - he's part of the "chronogaming circle" that includes the likes of Jeremy Parish (of Game Boy World, as well as the EiC of USGamer) and Doc Sparkle (of Chrontendo) - but if I'm going to keep spelunking the dark depths of the Atari ST's CRPG library, his measured and intelligent appraisals are going to be some useful research material down the line. Naturally with a title like that, he's on the longest of quests to play every CRPG from the dawn of the genre to modern day (though I have a suspicion that he intends to end his run somewhere in the late 90s). I'm especially enamored with his overly elaborate scoring system; germane for a fellow who has the tolerance for those obtuse old RPGs.
I can't help but feel the urge to start my own chronogaming series, but the only thing that would interest me beyond the Atari ST would be the SNES/SFC (I'm still in November '94 regarding the Wiki Project, thanks for asking) and I've seen enough of that console's immense library to know that I'll never be able to muster more than a sentence or two to say about its vast number of pachi-slots, baseball and mahjong games. Maybe I could be The JRPG Addict? I'll see if I have the two decades to spare for that project lying around somewhere.
Dragon's Breath/Dragon Lord
Today's game skirts the line between RPG and strategy game, and far more the latter than the former. It has RPG elements (and hey, what doesn't these days) but it's a turn-based game about resource management first and foremost. And also dragons. Let's back up a little.
Dragon's Breath (Dragon Lord in the US) is set in the fantasy world of Anrea. Anrea enjoys a level of prosperity and industry of the odd sort of steampunk/medieval overlap more commonly seen in early Final Fantasy games, where people live in feudal or monarchical societies but appear to have airships and steam technology. In the center of this world is the enormous Dwarf Mountain; either ironically named for its size or an allusion to the Lonely Mountain of Tolkien lore. At the top of the mountain is a fortress containing an immense power so evil and corrupt that it actively makes life worse for the villages that are situated closer to the mountain, bringing wars and famine. However, if someone were to take control of that power, they would be immortal. All they need is three pieces of a talisman to open its doors. That's where you come in.
The player can select one or more of three playable characters: Bachim, Oureod and Ametrin. All are talented alchemists with their own strongholds, but more importantly is that all three are capable of breeding and raising dragons. These dragons are sent out into the world to wreak havoc, conquer settlements and, one way or another, raise money for their masters. Money is essential, as the player's dragons need constant upkeep, and the heating bills to incubate new dragon eggs is astronomical. The player needs at least three dragons to win, however, as they have to sit and guard the three pieces of the talisman. Finding and procuring these talisman pieces is how you win the game.
There's some other fine details I'll get into once we start, like creating spells by experimenting with alchemy ingredients and keeping track of new developments in the world of Anrea to find opportunities for big cash rewards. Suffice it to say, though, that while the game can be a little too leisurely paced for its own good, there's something about wrecking shop with an army of dragons that sat right with a younger me.
Coming back to Dragon's Breath after all this time, with years of additional wisdom and all the knowledge of the internet at my command, is a little surreal. I feel like I understand this game far better in the few hours I spent with it this afternoon than I did playing it for years as a pre-teen who just wanted to make the dragons fight each other (which they can totally do. I should've capped that, dang). That said, my appreciation for a game willing to give you the full Daenerys Stormborn experience (with the exception of that extended diarrhea sequence in Dance of Dragons) is tempered a little by the game's many faults, including its slow pace and ludicrously Byzantine alchemy system. I do still think it's a pretty game for its era, though, and here's a bit of the game's music I was talking about earlier. (I sadly couldn't find the better in-game menu music, at least for the Atari ST version. You'd think 25 year old computer game soundtracks would be more accessible.)
If you've ever wanted to raise dragons and burninate the peasants, then by all means try it out. I doubt it'll pop up on GOG any time soon - it collectively has fewer than a hundred votes on its wishlist entry - but there's no harm in waiting for it to patiently arrive. That patience will serve you well in the game itself.