Legend of Faerghail - Rainbow Arts RRP 29.99 Reviewed by MerC (Played on ST, virtually same on Amiga, PC rather different) The Legend Of Faerghail is a German RPG, with a games system very reminiscent of Bard's Tale l. On the ST it can be played in medium res colour or monochrome. It comes on 2-4 discs, depending on version (one of the PC discs is for graphics handling). You can install the whole thing on hard disc, very useful in view of the numerous disc swaps otherwise demanded. It is a large, rambling sort of game with plenty to explore and collect and with the very handy capability of detailed mapping on screen [C*y*t*l B*l*]. However, maps disappear as you leave the area or dungeon [Save]. You can Save up to nine immediately accessible games. These can be manually stored in folders, (outside the game) as many times as you like, becoming your archive and unlimited in number. To use them they are taken out of the folder and put on the disc, replacing those already there. There is the usual "multiple object" short cut, so skip the paragraph "Quick Method" in the hints section if you don't want to know the details. The translation is not always complete, and in the PC version it results in gobbledegook if you don't know German. This is only a minor flaw in the ST version. Vorsprung drch Technik ! Sometimes the language is a little strong - if your armour gets damaged or if your weapon gets stuck, you are heard to say a word which I once said (much to the amusement of the class of 14 year-olds I was teaching at the time) when I picked up a crucible I'd been heating for ten minutes by mistake for the cool one next to it. Until LOF, I'd never have thought of referring to mythical mercenaries as Bastards, but you meet plenty! There are hordes of different creatures to destroy before they do the same to you. Sometimes they appear once only, never to be seen again. [Don't kill Woodkeepers]. The fight sequences are animated (minimally) when you opt for the long-winded version. Swords clank realistically on metal armour or swish through the air. Spells reverberate musically. Creatures die with a scream of agony and wounding causes gasps of pain. Once set up, however, you have no control over the action, so you soon find you select Quick Combat most of the time. A blessing in LOF is that you do not need to fight the creatures you meet. You can try Greeting or Talking to them, (fat chance!) or even avoid confrontation altogether. They will follow you around, though, until you leave their vicinity. Combat outcome is based on random number selection, so a group which defeats you can often be killed off if you Restore and hit them again. [Final Dragon]. Rest often, and beware of prowling werewolves. Occasionally you will meet Elementals who require the answers to various riddles. They can sometimes be bypassed or ignored (I still don't know which flower blooms only in the cold and yet is of immense complexity). The game has excellent atmosphere, with especially good sound effects. A lone barn-owl hoots at midnight, a friendly cricket chirps merrily in the twilight and crows caw raucously in the daytime trees. Water drips in the Mine tunnels, a storm rages outside the Castle, something immense and dangerous groans in the Catacombs. The wind whistles through the forest as you crunch across the ground - rather like gravel underfoot, but have you ever thought what walking on grass should sound like? Magma bubbles menacingly in the "inactive" Volcano and though you sound like Long-John Silver in a hurry, your footsteps echo into the distance. Graphics are of a decent standard, the scene shifting realistically as you move, though monsters are not animated and Combat only minimally so, and then only for cosmetic purposes. (Monochrome graphics on the ST are not to be recommended). I'd like to have had a step-sideways-without-turning facility, as, for instance, in DM or Captive.