Spirit of Adventure - Review @ CRPG Addict

[HiddenX]

CRPG Addict has reviewed Attic's dungeon crawler from 1991 called Spirit of Adventure. Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny utilizes the same game engine:

Spirit of Adventure: Won! (with Summary and Rating)

Spirit of Adventure's roughness around the edges is illustrated in how much I left undone despite winning. After getting the final screen, I consulted some German message boards and found that I'd missed one entire dungeon (Segan's Tower) and one entire town (Turmalin), each with their own quests. I never finished Rialdo's Castle. I never found 3 of the 18 runes, which is fine because I only ever mixed 5 spells and cast an offensive spell in combat less than a dozen times. I never upgraded to the best equipment, never found out what some of my equipment was for, and only tried a few magic items in combat during the last battle of the game.

And despite all of this, I kept a fondness for the game until the end. It had some fun quests, a couple of interesting puzzles, a decent twist in the plot, and better combat tactics than I really found time to use. That I could miss a few areas means that it had genuine side-quests, something that remains rare in the early 1990s. It was a good foundation for Attic's later offerings.

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More information.

 

[Myrthos]

According to Guido Henkel, they do not share the same engine.
https://twitter.com/GuidoHenkel/status/949748659721089025

@RPGWatch There's a flaw in your coverage. "Spirit of Adventure" did NOT use the same engine as "Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny." The ROA engine was written from scratch but used many of the elements and lessons we learned while making SOA.

 

[HiddenX]

Okay - Wikipedia is not always right.

 

[Silver]

Its a shame there is no automap. I am never able to dedicate myself to these type of games when I have to map things out as well.

 

[Carnifex]

Mapping out the area explored is something I've always appreciated. Harkens me back to pen and paper role playing games, plus some really great yesterday computer programs. If the game is worthy, a little extra effort on my part is not an issue.

 

[Silver]

Mapping out the area explored is something I've always appreciated. Harkens me back to pen and paper role playing games, plus some really great yesterday computer programs. If the game is worthy, a little extra effort on my part is not an issue.

I wish I could do that but I find it takes me out of the game too much. I am envious of all the old school rpgs available for you to play no sweat through.

 

[screeg]

Wow, that's some comment on the combat and systems: I never bothered to learn any tactics and only cast spells five times, but I still finished the game.