Preliminary: Wow, will this be the first early RPG / CRPG that gets me to push through since the super early PLATO era? Ultima, Wizardry, none of em did it. But this one seems to have the right amount of expansiveness--plus, joystick control thank goodness. It might be too complex and unforgiving for my taste, but hopefully, with frequent saves and the facts CRPGAddict blog and GameFaqs has info about this, I hope this'll be the one that gets me to re-engage with the many hours needed for RPG games! I had accidentally playtested with a decently-developed character that was already in the Land of Evil with Plate Mail, etc., and was confused and lost. Once I realized, that was like a quarter way through the game, it got me excited to try to build my own character to that point, and hopefully the end. So I started my new character, fun to see JORDAN as the character name and used so prominently in-game--such a classic role-playing feeling I hadn't felt the urge to fulfill in a while--and in classic RPG fashion, describing how I just sold my oxen for 57 gold ha and starting with damn near nothing (unlike the developed character I had playtested with...) here goes nothing! heh

Look: 7/10 Has a lot of the later Dragon Quest/RPG Maker looks that I look forward to. And, as far as awful early CRPG menus go, this is one of the better looking ones. Mostly just tacky and functional, but one of my favorite of these early CRPGs' looks.

Sound: 6/10 Mostly annoying.

Play: 7/10 There's so much to this game, the fact the Ultima guy got credit for any of this is so silly. Dude didn't invent the concept of top-down RPGs >.< The Dexterity mini-game was a surprisingly nice touch--a little arcade-style action minigame heh, that corresponds with the stat it increases-- . Pro-tip: you Hold Item for Holy Water (healing HP), then Operate. The commands aren't always very clear and tbh, the manual doesn't help much in that regard heh.

Feel: 8/10 Wow this is an addictive game (at first... in the end, gambling for money, repetitive training methods, and the dexterity minigame were really the only addictive parts). Despite the usual menu reliance and slow mechanics of early RPGs, this one somehow still shined. It reminded me so much of the best parts of the PLATO RPGs, it was hard to put it down the first night. The HP mechanic where it goes up basically indefinitely via purchasing Holy Waters reminds me of the PLATO RPG, what was it, dnd I think? Where HP was the most important stat and you could build up super high amounts. It also brought to mind Final Fantasy Legends II (I think it was that one) where one of the character types was robot and you buy your level upgrades. Not usually my favorite means of grinding/character development, usually I prefer XP grinds, but this type has a nostalgic feel to me from this backlog project. This is cute and a good feel. The Kill Self command tho o.O >.> Even as disappointed as I wound up with this game, it set many precedents (and with better execution than Ultima etc.)

Attachment: 6/10 Welp, in the end, the Food mechanic was pointless and annoying; the dungeons are the Ultima style that I don't care for; and the switching disks aspect gets tedious... getting to the Castle was tedious after being called to it... yea, I tried out both the Land of Evil and really deeply exploring the original Questron continent--and tedious is the word for it. Darn, I was hoping this would finally be the CRPG that helps me break my dislike of em. Still, this is by far the best among the Ultima, Wizardry, etc. group.

Completion: Called to Royal Castle, gave up on way there Playtime: ~3 hours