Preliminary: Wow, I went in thinking this would be a low-quality text adventure... and it's the earliest example of a Metroidvania I've come across so far, has actual guides on GameFAQs which is nostalgic for me, and has advanced features like level editor, multiple characters, etc. Reading through this guide has got me so excited, it sounds so much like later action-adventures and platformers I so love like LoZ, Tomba, etc. The way previously undoable parts become doable reminds me of RPGs and Metroidvania too of course. Such a well-written guide too, the author should get half the credit for my excitement ha. I have not figured out multi-disc games for Commodore 64 yet, so I'm gonna try this on Apple II. Prayers the controls are good and the gameplay proves as exciting as it's described as. If it turns out to be due to the platform, I will have to suck it up and learn more about the C64. Oh, and wow I love this map

Look: 9/10 Full-body sprites, beautiful colors (I was playing the Apple II version, but all versions seem to look nice), surprisingly functional say with Items that can be collected. Right off the bat I knew I was gonna like the Look

And wow I love love love the Look of this secret room

Sound: 7/10 Can't claim to love the music (really just random jingles/sound effects), but I liked the jingles when you'd find a "secret room"-feeling Spirit Power screen ha. Very Zelda-esque. And as per usual, the Apple BEEPs are overbearing, but when turned down enough, some of the clicks and sound effects (and like I said, some of the jingles) become quite nice. Oh, and the jingle when you finally get into the caverns "below the root" indeed (the underground part of the game).

Play: 9/10 Quite solid controls (can only attest to the Apple II version), surprised to see a duck feature--if only there were more buttons on the C64/Apple/etc. joysticks back then (but also glad they weren't Intellivision style haha). Ostensibly, the menu system (largely due to the one-button, but also by choice with the huge menu) is tedious, picking up each of those 3 tokens on the first screen of Herd showed me that already heh. But I reminded myself this was before even the first Dragon Warrior or Final Fantasy, both of which I consider loved games and now I'm over here questioning patience for menus ha. Just a part of transitioning from the pre-NES/my-era part of the project to "my era" where I actually devote hours and hours to every game >.< Not that I'm in love with the jump mechanic, but it's surprisingly well-done considering the joystick limitations. I usually hate the necessity to eat and rest in games, but so farrrr (Day 1) it's relatively well-done. It helps encourage a "home" feel to your house as well as people you Pense as safe/trustworthy. Plus, it does a better job of adding the adventure feel it's meant to than early text adventures' annoying use of food/rest heh. Really the only clunky parts I can think of is navigating in houses sometimes the "running into" ceilings and walls gets a little tacky.

Day 2: The surprise drops (often there are little breaks in the branches or subtle gaps that you fall through) are annoying/tedious, but it's nice how forgiving the damage/death mechanic in this game is--truly about adventuring/questing, not just brutal frequent permanent deaths like so many early adventures heh.. And there's some truly secret-based puzzles that are both reasonable and exciting, reminding me of the first few Zeldas but a bit more reasonable and forgiving. This game just keeps impressing me... To think this has all been just one of the possible characters.

Feel: 10/10 This is the closest to my beloved RPG games I've come upon so far. Even though earlier RPGs definitely had the important parts, there's something about having a guide say all the items available ina room for me to make sure I get every item I can get (not just the obvious). The rooms with the Spirits that give you Spirit Powers had succcch a Zelda feel

Each of the Powers got me genuinely excited. Imagine how exciting it must have been to first get the Pense Power and start to be able to discern who can be trusted, get hints for the usual adventure game frustrations, etc. That power is desperately needed in all early adventure games imo haha. Crazy cool that you can fall and glide between screens! So advanced for its time I'm flabbergasted! In fact, you not only can, but you must. Awesome. I love that when you run out of food, you don't just arbitrarily die permanently--instead you start back at home (a bit too forgiving, but hey, forgiving is sorely missing from most early adventure games). That also reminded me a lot of first Zelda, but also Ocarina of Time. Not that I've played through Ocarina, but I remember it having a strong "back-home" mechanic. The gliding between branches reminded me of KH Jungle world. I had read about this but indeed it was a very interesting addition: you normally have to ask to grab items from people's homes. I thought it sounded tacky, but it was implemented quite well! For some reason reminded me of Pokemon, for no good reason tbh lol, but also of Zelda when you could thieve from the store. Wow I could go on and on, but very interesting how race affects your treatment by different characters. So advanced for its time!!! I'm blown away.

Day 2: The clouds part where you meet D'ol Nesh-om gave me Super Mario secrets feel. Like how you'd find secret higher up places in the clouds. To top it off, it required a Zelda-esque secrets-type puzzle (you have to sleep in that hut, even if your Rest is full. Then when you come out, you're in the clouds and can follow the clouds to D'ol Nesh-om. And wow right after that, the Spirit Bell reminded me SO MUCH of Tomba (Bells, after all!!) not to mention how high up it was, the secrets/puzzles required to get to it, and how you could easily miss it if you just dipped after talking to D'ol Nesh-om.

Attachment: 9/10 I'm absolutely blown away. This was just one of the characters. Not to mention one of the ways I could play it (there are so many self-limitations you could explore, plus I didn't go to every screen in the map). This is a game to return to and to play and play and play. Tho I have to move on now, I have to return to this to play as the other race and see if I can navigate the differences. It would be like playing as Leon in RE2 (I always did Claire ha). Ah! Plus there are bugs/secrets to fine, apparently a hidden Level Editor too, it's frankly overwhelming. Such a truly impressive game. It's at least worth a playtest and read-up about it, if not worth truly investing some time to giving it an earnest shot! Now Imma have to read the book this is based on too... Plus the way you don't need it till a separate area (underground). Ah! So much like Tomba! Forget Metroid and Castlevania ha (I say that now, but I'm also so excited for the quality of Nintendo-era games... this Below the Root game is truly on par with that I'm so impressed. The Windham Classics company seems to only have made quality games, even if I couldn't engage with Swiss Family Robinson, it was undeniably very well-done)

Day 2: Another sign this is a forever-game and an instant-favorite is, I actually chose to do the Optional sidequest type stuff (a la Final Fantasys and most RPGs)! I pensed all the animals even though I would've been fine not doing so. But I was truly enjoying the game so much, and the controls didn't get in the way as these early games often have happen. So I could fully engage with it!! Not to claim I did all the characters and explored every screen--but I did the optional sidequests in the guide, like I used to love doing for Final Fantasy/other RPGs/Tomba etc. Michael's almost home, so I will have to save most of it for tomorrow. But I'm truly excited for the optional parts! To think, with all the games ahead, and how long 1984 has taken me, yet I still want to engage deeper into this game... Says a lot! And getting to "secret"/hard-to-reach platforms like this that we were vaguely able to see from other screens reminded me of so many later platformers with RPG elements, I couldn't even begin to list them all ha

Day 3: In so many ways this is one of the first open-world action-adventure games (harkening Zelda 1 indeed). Not just "open world" in the sense that you can go anywhere--as many early action-adventures had--but open world in the sense that there was a whole world, actually realized, and yes, able to be explored in any order with areas difficult or impossible to access until after unlocking certain items or abilities. The spiders reminded me of Paramites in Oddworld And wow, only now did I realize higher Stamina means slightly farther jumping. That's sort of like "leveling up"/RPG elements in a platformer! So early. This game just keeps impressing.. When reading about playing as the other characters, so cool to see some have super low Stamina that you have to build up but higher starting Spirit Power. So, for instance, the concept of Kiniporting yourself (normally you use Kiniport to move an item from one spot to another--but you can do it to yourself, which solves a lot of the issues of being one of the lower-Stamina characters). And ahhhh reading deeper into the guide, now that I'm near the end of the game as Herd, the glitch Level Editor sounds so cool--and it sounds like you can explore the Intro screen--something I sooooo dream of in every videogame. Something so "secret", nostalgia-inducing, and inimitably videogame-y to get "access" to actually being a playable "agent"/someone with will in an Intro/Menu screen. Love it.

Day 4: Getting the D'ol Falla's Key would have been so hard to figure out without a guide. And there's admittedly some poor level design near the end, like where you run into the gate as soon as you return back from the Cahmber of the Forgotten. BUT, none of it detracts from the overall vibe from the game--I can only imagine if running into walls caused permanent death, instead just stunning. That's how I like it.. Plus, there are plenty of bad level design moments like that in the first few Zeldas and so many early adventure and 3D games--understandable for an early action-adventure platformer to have some clunkiness. Considering the other early 80s games I've played, this one is relatively un-clunky, so I forgive its few faults :-p

Day 5: For some reason this screen reminded me of Manic Miner, probly cuz the title of the screen is integrated into the graphics ha

The game continues to impress. I'm so close to the end, proud of how high my Spirit Level and Stamina are (really, thanks to the guide ha). Lots of close calls and precise jumps required at the end, especially with those darn spiders, which starts to highlight some of the clunkiness (like when you have to time coming down from a ladder then jump immediately--the "getting off ladder" mechanic especially in houses and the caverns is, indeed, clunky... but cmon, for an '84 action-adventure platformer, like I've said, I really can't criticize just a couple clunky mechanics...). Plus it makes sense for the end of the game to exploit a lot of the more frustrating or difficult mechanics. And the well-done secrets continue, like the Spirit Bell telling you where the invisible door is in the caverns--sooooooo alike Zeldas and other later action-adventures--this game deserves more credit! Even tho I had no need for extra Spirit Energy etc., I still Pensed the unnecessary-for-me Lapan/bunny thing on the second-to-last screen. Really shows how enjoyable the game is, plus the drop-then-glide wasn't so bad (I could have just Kiniported myself to it, but that seemed too easy ha). Welp, here I am at last--at Raamo at the end of the game right before I Kiniport to him. Figured I'd screenshot my status to show my Stamina and Spirit Limit/Level, which highlights how much I enjoyed doing the optional/unnecessary stuff. Time to go hook Raamo up so he feels confident getting out the cavern and end the game!

Kind of a disappointing/lame ending, but it makes sense--I plan to read the book this is based on so it'll probly all be more poignant then. Certainly more poignant and meaningful than the first 2 Zeldas! Ha. (Tho there's something to be said about just jumping into a quest because it's a quest and no context ha). I said I wouldn't do the Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 etc format for reviews anymore cuz they get so sloppy--but this game was just too good! And thoughts/connections kept coming to my mind! Plus, with this busy schoolyear, and my continued crusade against Xfinity for ruining my streaming hobby, I think summer will probly be a better time for me to readjust my review format ha. Sorry for the messy lengthy review, but to sum it up: this game deserves more credit as an early action-adventure platformer Metroidvania-style, and you should give it a try!

Completion: Beat game as Herd in 5 Days earning Master Quester title (the game counts days in time, I also ironically beat it in 5 irl days ha) Playtime: ~5 hours