Look: 9/10
I loved the graphic for the Magic Shield, well really all the magic equipment. I know it was added later but I love the look of the automap and the coloring in general.
Play: 9/10
A lot of aspects remind me of pedit5 (sleep always works on lvl 4 and earlier), the spell names, etc., though I'm sure that is true of the subsequent PLATO games I'm about to play. I was so grateful it was back to turn-based, unlike Moria, so I could go back to the afk as needed mindset. It was a helluva grind, and noticeably so real early. Data Driven Gamer's posts, particularly
https://datadrivengamer.blogspot.com/2018/11/demons-n-datspells.html are invaluable--this particular one to know what to use on different enemies. The gameplay was so addicting! I had to force myself to stop training ha, after getting into the zone. I may not have killed the Dragon, but that was largely due to a simple mistake (these PLATO games are harsh about death ha) and I know I still enjoy the game and want to kill the Dragon someday (and totally could have :-p ).
Feel: 10/10
I love how the level of the enemies works, and that they're always level 1 on level 1 regardless. I wound up absolutely obsessed with this grind, I love it so much tho the difficulty and tacky pitfalls etc are a bit much. But once you have completed maps, and the basic understanding of the spell system, this is so much fun. Plus there's a very thorough helpfile. What's nice is, with only 20 levels, you actually get to know the maps, you get to know the spells to use against whom, etc. etc. I even fell in love with the magic equipment, which I normally don't find that critical in these early PLATO games. It was awesome how the magic equipment was rare (tho apparently not as rare as in Orthanc, I should say, after having played that) and also upgrades in a linear way, just an incredible game -- I can tear up just thinking about how good this game is ha. But in the end, I conceded to the game (for now). It was definitely harder to give up than Moria, because I was so close to the goal and a simple mistake caused my death. I'm so grateful I took the screenshot after getting magjc armour +2 or +3 whichever it was, because little did I know it’d be my last screenshot despite knowing the system (truly simply just forgot to stash my gold when I planned to, all on me, the game has a flawless determinable system that I was really enjoying). Heh, it was so dramatic; my students and coworker/best friend kept asking why I seemed so down for the rest of the day. Oh but that does bring up another thing I loved: a clear linear progression of equipment. I'm nervous about avatar and oubliette in case there are too many options: imo, for each character class I want there to be basically just armour +1 +2 +3, at most I want a couple niche ones to protect from specific ailments from specific bosses but even that gets a bit tacky. I always remembered Legend of Dragoon being linear like that, and I loved that, though I know that's not entirely true. Once you get into, like what got me to quit runescape 2 then quit osrs, the desire for way too many options and an unclear progression.
Attachment: 9/10
I definitely will be replaying this, it irks me that I didn't quite finish it ha. Great game, very replayable, truly fun--but decidedly a grind. So not one you try 5+ long-term characters in ha. But the very fact I'm eager to try it again, despite the grind, says a lot.
