Ishar: Legend of the Fortress
| Developer: Silmarils | Graphics: |
 | |
| Publisher: Silmarils | Sound: |
 | |
| Year: 1992 | Difficulty: |
| |
| Genre: Role-playing game | Lastability: |
| |
| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
8/10 | |
The Ishar trilogy will undoubtedly remain the greatest accomplishment of the French company Silmarils. It follows Crystals of Arborea, from which it borrows the same universe (and certain protagonists). It’s a series of role-playing games with a first-person view like Dungeon Master, but set in the open air. The story employs all the clichés in vogue since The Lord of the Rings; expect to encounter elves, wizards, and slay orcs…
Despite its rather conventional form, beyond the pastoral landscapes, the developers ventured into one or two bold choices. First, there’s no character creation. Your starting avatar is imposed, and soon enough, you’ll meet new ones. Each of them is replaceable (there are 32 characters in total, but your group can only accommodate five at a time).
Moreover, your companions have personality! They will develop affinities with each other, or conversely, oppose the arrival of a recruit they don’t like. You’ll need to show some diplomacy to best manage the various sensitivities. You won’t be safe from seeing one of your sidekicks flee in the middle of the night after having robbed everyone! And I’m not even mentioning the resident flirt who will turn the heads of the male contingent…
Finally, since you’re not free to expel a group member without a majority vote, a radical solution will be available to you: assassination! Beware of reprisals…
The real time combat system closely resembles that of Dungeon Master and its ilk, with icon clicking to deliver melee or ranged attacks. However, the arrangement of the five portraits across the entire width of the screen makes it difficult to quickly move back and forth with the mouse to involve everyone; even worse if there are spellcasters. Keyboard shortcuts are offered (the “F1” to “F10” keys), but spread across the entire length of the keyboard, it’s not any more practical.
Regarding the controls, they require an adjustment period. Ultimately, there are only three things to understand:
- The arrows for turning and moving laterally are inverted compared to most games of the genre.
- During combat, if you accidentally open the “action” menu, grab your head with both hands, let out a scream, then right-click to exit.
- To access the inventory screen, click on a character’s name (at the bottom).
There you go. No need for a manual. Even so, I advise you to draw a map on paper. The game area is very vast, very empty, and one frequently gets lost… That being said, travelling freely in unknown territory brings you closer to the atmosphere of heroic-fantasy novels, and it’s a change from traditional narrow dungeons. Ishar doesn’t skip dungeons, though.
In summary, Silmarils delivers a beautiful game, easy to access and original, if not in the scenario, at least in its developments. The only problems are various bugs and frequent crashes. Incidentally, I do not much like spending gold coins to save, but the emulator remedies this.
Note: For more vibrant colours, download the 1993 AGA version. A few images for comparison: cric, crac, croc!
Note (2): One of the recruitable characters is called Targhan, the hero of the eponymous game. Part of Ishar’s sound effects come from there.
|
