Ishar II - Messengers of Doom (1993)

Note: I decided to bring the second part here too, sorry if the way the images looks isn't very good.

The second game does take the whole thing to a new level, its a much improved version with superior graphics that tries a lot of new things and that also misstep a lot more, but still, it's a huge leap.

You now take the role of Zubaran, which recieve a vision from Jon the Alchemist, urging him to take action and face the new threat of the sorcerer Shandar, much like in the first game if you remember how Aramir (the first game main character) meet Azalghorm..

From there, with this single character, you quest starts. But also you are thrown in the middle of nowhere and all you can see is some npcs in the distance (this is somewhat also like Ishar I, where the first thing you could see is some npcs), but that is a fight that right now, you can't win. What you need to do (but not know), is avoid it and instead find a settlement to recruit some character and bought a few things, so then you go face them.

On Jon's Island, the game apply this trick to give you illusion that you are climbing or descending the mountains, despite still in a flat 3D first person perspective.

Now, let's be clear, the manual of the game gives you a general idea in form of rhymes (in fact many old crpgs did that, while in the surface they looked "complex" or "harder" as more modern crpgs, most of this complexibility came from period limitations, and many of this games came with manuals that kind almost spell everything to you), but even with this you can still get very lost.

One of the major difference is that the world you will explore is divided in islands (each one named after one of Jarel's companions), there was a even greater effort to make each island unique and some very cleaver tricks applied. Specially in Jon's Island, which is most made of ice and mountains, there they used very smart effect to give you sensation that you are climbing the mountains despite the fact that you still moving in a flat simple 3d first person perspective.

Meanwhile Thorm's island is all about forest with bridges and buildings on top of trees (saddly this is also the most confusing area to navigate), Zach's island is the one with the game major city that even features a night club which is operated by Shandar's followers (that avoid all troopes that you might expect, in fact the only night club related stuff show is a poster for the "the gates" show),also the cicle of day and night does affect the town as shops and other places close up at night.

Irvan's Island is the first one you start the game and it's mostly plains an swamps, while Akker's and Obtar's Island are dungeons.

The game even manages to avoid te confusion that might have arise from having all this island to visit but no idea where to start, since you need to find maps first, but still there is a lot of back and forth between them at key points. This means that you feel a lot less a sense of going from point A to B like in the first game, but kind fell like running in circles.

The overall quest is much larger with many more step and some nice new ideas, however, in many times you might don't know when, why or where you need something, and at certain points you need do perform very specific task that can be very vague. To make things complicated, it is very easy at certain points to break the quest by missing quest items and just got locked with no way to progress.

Below I will highlight a few moments in the main quest:

• In Zach's Island you can buy (and to be more exact you need) several pets, that will use during the game, problem is you don't might exactly know when or where you need them, nor their use is very clear. At one point you got locked in a prision and will use a raven to pick the keys (without you are stuck there), later you use a monkey to find a secret door, also at other point you a use a eagle after talking to a wizard. At the very end you need a parrot. Problem is, that you might totaly miss the pet shop if you don't know before and unless I am mistaken you can use this pets before the right time.
• Early on you can find a lot of gold, but you might have no idea that you could do it, because the trick is that behind the bank in Zach's Island there is a couple of monsters and behind a vault with a lot of gold that can make the game a lot easier and reduce the grind.
• Talking about gold: at least two moments you need to have certain quanty of gold in hand that you simple have no idea that you need it. One time you need give to a wizard 10,000 pieces and other time you need to go a specific part o Zach island in a specific time to meet a npc that after you hand him a lot of gold will give you one of pieces of the druid's body.
• During game at least twice moment I needed to reload because I might have broken the main quest, one by my own accident, one puzzle require you to put a certain mount of gold coins in some pedestals, they hint you the actual amount since you find some pedestal which already have the need gold, but my instincts lead me to pick all the gold only to find later that I had no idea on what to do. The second time was a puzzle where I need several skulls, somehow one of them vanish from my inventory or I lost it, since inventory space is scarce.
• On Jon's island which is most mountains and ice, you need buy furs (to avoid damage from cold) and a rope to tie your character to each other(to avoid them falling over the edges). This is quite cleaver, but you still might don't know you actually need any of this, specially the rope (well, the fur is quite obvious)
• In Zach's island you need to visit the Blue Veltet club twice, but one time without the night outfit so you get arrested and have to escape (but you might no idea you need to do this) and later with the night outfit and some pendants this time to actually visit the place and learn where Shandar hideout is.

The Ishar party system issues which I mentioned in the previous article (I mean the fact that the party votes if they want someone in or out) kind play hard here, twice you need main npc in your party: First the the daughter of one the two druids which tried to face Shandar (this is told in the rhyme in the manual) and later her father himself, which was killed by Shandar but you can join all his body parts (scattered around in form os relics). But might be unable to peacefully remove any of your party members, which mean the only way will be left people die in combat or try the dangerous act of order one character to attack another.

The overall game is much better and the athosmpere is much richer thanks to the improved graphics and even the day-night cycle, however you still don't know even how exactly Shandar is or what he is doing, the best hint you got is from some npcs.

While the main quest itself is very good, there still very vague moments that you might have you no idea what to do and while you can list to rumors in taverns, many times they are the same ones and can be very strange due weird translation.

However, despite this, Ishar II is much better game and much like the first have it's own atmosphere and feeling, maybe even more that the first game.I would recommend, as its improvements made easier to get on despite the confusing and vagueness that happen in some part of the game.

In case you wonder - why this game is called Messagers of Doom? I have absolute no idea why. It kind sound like a heavy metal album.

Once finished you can import the save to Ishar III, which will be our next stop - Ishar III: Seven Gates of Infinity (1994)

Note: This might take a while, Ishar III appear to crash from time to time and while I could import my save, character faces appear bugged. So I still need to figure if I will use a new party and find the right mood to play it.

More Screenshots:

About the game:

Release date: 1993

Developer: Silmarils

Platforms: PC, Amiga, Macintosh, Atari

Version I played: Ishar Compilation from Good Old Games (http://www.gog.com/game/ishar_compilation)