Questron 2
| Developer: Westwood | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: SSI | Sound: |
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| Year: 1988 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Role-playing game | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
5/10 | |
The sequel to Questron (1984), released on the old generation of computers (8-bit).
The previous episode left you holding an evil grimoire, snatched from the hands of the wizard Mantor, and you have no idea how to get rid of it. The grimoire is indestructible, and Mount Doom, in the sorry state we’ve all known since the landlord’s departure…
Never mind, your mate, the kind magician Mesron, sends you back in time to eliminate the six evil sorcerers who co-wrote this troublesome book. Naturally, he also strips you of your gear, your gold, your titles, and all the skills you’ve painstakingly acquired—cheeky bugger!
You find yourself, so to speak, in an Arnold Schwarzenegger-style situation: all naked in a dodgy neighbourhood, forced to knock on doors asking “Sarah Connor?”. The slight difference is that you look more like a wet noodle than Mister Universe. I’m not sure if I created my character the right way, but with 200 health points, he gets slaughtered by the first monster that comes along, and I haven’t found any way to progress in the game other than cheating at the casino. Combat doesn’t reward you with experience points, just gold—and not nearly enough to cover healer fees.
Aside from this little issue, the game is simple to control, but also very limited. There’s only one playable hero, controlled via the keyboard or mouse, in a pseudo-turn-based style (the computer won’t wait if you don’t play fast enough). The interface is clear and easy to use, combat is just a matter of mindlessly clicking a button; the dialogues are reduced to a few lines, or even just a few words. The villages and their residents all look the same, by the way.
The map features the usual landscapes (plain, forest, mountain), each hosting specific monsters, supposedly vulnerable to a particular weapon (I don’t survive long enough to confirm this). There are about ten weapons, none of which offer any real differentiation except in terms of stats. Spells are more effective, but they’re also bought, and you need to know where to find them. Gold, the essential resource in this game, takes forever to accumulate, especially at the start. I feel like I’m forced to spend my life in the casino, which should be an optional activity, not the main draw!
You level up (and earn “ranks”) only by talking to Mesron (the mischievous magician) after completing tasks that move you forward in your quest (usually bringing him a unique item), and only once you’ve leveled up will merchants around the world offer you new equipment.
From what I’ve read, there are “3D” dungeons (featuring a mini first-person view in a window that takes up a third of the screen), even including an automatic map system. Don’t get too excited, though, the first dungeon only appears after hours and hours of wandering, somewhere on the second continent. I didn’t make it that far.
Finally, I didn’t come across any proper puzzles, other than asking myself what the game was expecting from me, and why I was still playing it.
If you’re still tempted by the adventure, I recommend you get a manual. Not that the controls are hard, but without some semblance of a plot, you’ll be going around in circles, clueless about what to do. I suspect 90% of the story is actually explained in the manual, as is often the case with these old RPGs where memory space was precious.
Other images here, here, and here.
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