Memories of Krondor

[Evil Taco]

#11080

Sierra offered the game for free on their website in 1997. This was often interpreted as the game being now released as freeware, and many places (for example computer magazine BBSs) redistributed the game. I believe this wasn’t Sierra’s intention but I haven’t looked into it.

Back in the day I downloaded this release from somewhere that was not Sierra’s website, and played it on our DOS PC. The machine had fallen behind the curve, so I was very happy of such releases.

I remember enjoying it, exploring the 3D world, figuring out some puzzles, fighting battles and repairing some equipment. I was reading fantasy novels at the time and I think I enjoyed what I at least interpreted as a low fantasy atmosphere that really felt like a fantasy novel world rather than a CRPG or a JRPG world. The photography-based character and cutscene graphics must have contributed into it.

I have just finished setting up the game in DOSBox Staging and I do feel some nice nostalgia tingles. I either didn’t play the game with music or didn’t quite appreciate the AdLib sound back then, but the music is good.

I also wonder if I had the patience to read the pages and pages of text, but I was a reader and practicing my English so.. maybe! I remember word lock puzzles for treasure chests and I can’t remember if I got stuck in those or stopped playing some other reason. I played through a substantial chunk of the game (maybe a third?) and probably just fell off because it was a longer game.

Not sure if I have time to play much this December, but it’s nice to just fire it up and reminiscence about 1997 or so!

[Evil Taco]

#11117

I sure did fire the game up, and I was impressed with the amount and quality of text on the offer. Sure, it’s the same clues and side quests as in comparable games, but the way the prose is character driven and introduces you to the setting (and/or references it) I find impressive!

I felt the urge to reach for the notebook and the pencil pretty much right away and now having visited the first town on the way to Krondor (cool town music!) I’m afraid the game might be getting its hooks into me..

I’m continuing to wonder how carefully I was reading all the text 30 years ago! Some of the scenes I certainly remember, such as the intro and the first few encounters on the road, but I didn’t remember the characters and conversations in the first town, although I certainly remember the “menu town” screen itself.