@~I was very undecided where to put this excellent review from
@~Steven as it goes into so much more depth about CRPGs in general
@~that I felt it really warranted being given a place as a special
@~feature as well. I hope you'll all enjoy it as much as I did.

       Eye of the Beholder II - SSI - RRP œ34.99
         (RPG for PC; Amiga version due soon)

          Reviewed by Steven David Fleischaker

Strategic Simulation's Eye of the Beholder II "The Temple of
Darkmoon" fulfilled all of the promises it made in its
pre-delivery phase (and manages to provide some unexpected
surprises along the way).  The dungeons are, indeed, built on a
much grander scale.  Its denizens are, indeed, smarter (with very
few of them to be trusted).  And the ending more than makes up
for any lack of fanfare in the first EOB.

The opening sequence, with lightning, thunder, and rain, is
absolutely fantastic.  Up to the point that you are transported
into the Darkmoon Temple region, everything is as it should be.
And then it gets better.  This is clearly a game that was
well-designed, and the attention to detail and playtesting were
exceedingly thorough.  To a well-designed and aesthetically
pleasing system, EOB II also brings in some of the best 3-D arcade
sequences I have seen (floors with an attitude).

This is not to say that EOB II doesn't have its flaws.  It's just
that EOB II is head and shoulders above most CRPGs on the market
today.  Graphics, sound, and storyline are all near the leading
edge of games today.

Nevertheless, the product has several unfortunate (and
correctible) weaknesses.  To begin: early in EOB I, you were
presented with a writ which gave you the right to retain all
treasures fought for and won in the tunnels beneath Waterdeep.
However, in transferring from EOB I to EOB II, the money is lost
in the transfer.  Also, in EOB I, you were immediately locked in
the sewers, so there was no reason to feel bitter that there was
no interaction with a wide variety of NPCs to spice up the game.
However, in EOB II, you have escaped the sewers with gems a
plenty.  Yet for all your success, there is no bazaar to purchase
a finely wrought cloak.  No ill-tempered mage has established a
shop where you can purchase one of the many spells you did not
acquire in EOB I.  There is no gambling den, no house of
ill-repute, no temple of worship.  No pockets to pick, no guards
to drink with, no relatives to visit.  In short, you are thrown
from the frying pan into the fire.

To EOB II's credit, early in the introduction there is mention of
a fair where a good time was had by all, but there should be some
material benefits to having successfully survived EOB I.  Even
knowing that your gold and gems are accruing interest in some
musty bank vault would be preferable to having been stripped of
your hard-won gains with nary a smile or a nod!

Now, I should be honest and say there there were a few fringe
benefits for having completed EOB I.  There are times in EOB II
where having a few residual wands of lightning (which do carry
over), a Cure Poison potion, or a Create Food scroll make all the
difference between survival and an early death.  So your journeys
to date have not all gone for naught.  But there's no chance to
form a strategy early in the game (spend funds on a seeress, or
more effective weaponry, try to bring some of your less fortunate
spellcaster's spellbooks up to snuff, or just give all your
money to the temples and hope the gods smile on you).

Of course bringing a +5 sword and some good armour over from EOB I
doesn't hurt either.  Which leads (coincidentally) into another
mild grievance I have with both EOB I and EOB II.  Several magical
implements, such as "Slicer," a +5 long sword from the first game,
lose their names in translation between EOB I and EOB II.
"Slicer" becomes a "+5 long sword," or some such.  Personally, I
would rather have a +3 elven long sword that played a decisive
role in a battle and was named "Firesong" than a "+5 long sword,"
although the latter is technically more effective.

For example, although the sceptre found in EOB II, Starsfire,
clearly had some depth of history behind it, none of the Elven
characters in the party uttered a word on finding it.  This
comment shows an incredible lack of gratitude, of course, since
throughout the game, the party members spontaneously speak up,
providing hints and comments that are in character (Paladins
refuse to desecrate graves, Rangers notice strange trails, Elves
note hidden doors and strange walls, characters make foreboding
statements).  But there is no question that this game (and many
others) would be immeasurably improved if some sense of history
and culture were added.  EOB II does a wonderful job of
developing its dungeons.  It does not develop the worlds and
cultures of the characters.  Which is a real pity, because TSR has
such an incredible depth of material to draw from in this area.

To make a point (not a direct criticism of EOB II, although EOB II
is not innocent of this flaw):  say you are in the midst of a
fantasy CPRG.  After many an hour, you have battled your way
through dozens of the Denizens of the Dark Demesnes, blasting and
clawing your way through a small army, outwitting traps and
outthinking puzzles, and come to a majestic hall at whose center
rests a sword in a glass case.  Do you just smash the glass, take
out the +5 sword, exchange it with whatever weapon you happen to
be carrying at the time, and walk off into the damp cavern in
search of the Twenty-Seventh Tool in the Grand Puzzle?  Or do you
want to marvel at how you've found Elvenfire, a sword whose blade
is cobalt blue, in whose pommel is embedded a diamond that blazes
forth at the approach of Trolls?  A blade that your Elven
characters recall from legend, that slew ninety-six Trolls in the
Twilight Wars and was lost in a final battle?

The EOB II blade Talon is a good case in point.  What special
properties does it have?  Is it exceptionally light or fine of
blade?  Is the balance exceptional or the gem murky and filled
with strangely moving shadows?  Or is it just a momento for having
gotten through a door, of no particular significance?  A blade
that flashes green at the approach of enemies, a talking
(occasionally argumentative) sword, a gem that is a gateway to
strange (perhaps largely irrelevant) worlds, these are things to
risk life and limb to see (and acquire)!

Do any of these possibilities get explored after you traipsed
through half of creation to assemble Talon?  No.  Does the
graphic sequence that follows the assembly make it all worth
while?  Yes.  I was damned impressed.  But I would rather the
blade had been destroyed in the opening of the ward than to have
it sitting there, mute and unresponsive, for me to carry along
henceforth.  Granted, I missed a few areas in EOB II because I
committed a Disintegrate spell to an underachieving mage, but I
don't think I have invalidated my criticism of EOB II, therefore.
But does this exclusively reflect on EOB II?  No.  In fact, EOB II
has some scenes in it (an ancient wizard trapped in an experiment,
a treacherous drow, a plant-like being, a falsehood) that flesh
out the story line.  EOB II has many moments that make a good,
perhaps even a great, game.  It would have been slightly more
enjoyable, given its tremendous size, if there had been some
motivating force (a prophecy hinting cryptically at the elements
you will need to collect to make it through the gauntlet).  Less
random hunting and seeking and wondering "What have I overlooked?"
while you pull your hair out.  But lacking that, let me provide
you a hint: if it's magic, shiny, or magical and green, keep it.
Also, shieldbreaker is green, but unlike most named magical

weapons, shieldbreaker is not referred to by name but as "green
crystal hammer +2" or somesuch.

The moral of the story?  Great CRPGs come alive in the
imagination of players because of great storytelling.  Graphics,
sound boards, animated sequences... all of these will sometimes
enhance a good game.  But no amount of special effects will make
up for those extra touches that make you feel you are in a
living, breathing world, with diverse cultures and civilizations,
built on top and beside other civilizations, where relics from a
bygone era await to discovered and searched for...  A computer
game is, at best, an interactive story in an alien land (not
necessarily hostile).

EOB II comes the closest to achieving this magical blend of
storyline depth, revolutionary graphics, and eerily real sound
that the CRPGs have been intuitively hunting for.  That is, more
than most other graphically-based role-playing games have come
thus far.  But they have a ways to go.  TSR, frankly, should know
this.  Their fantasy novels (Dragons, Twins, the Icewind Dale
series, et. al.) all hinge not on whether Drizzt or Tanis can slay
a dragon or demon, whether the Kender can steal a ring, but on
character development!  In fact, many adventures in these series
occur outside the novels.  We don't need to go on every scouting
party, put our characters to sleep every night!

Simply put: the sum of a perfect rendition of life's mechanics
does not closely resemble living!

Enough said: another issue that I might take with the design of
the game relates to spell books.  If a character reads a spell
book, any spell book, he will always read HIS/HER/ITS spells.
Each text is not unique, but rather provides the character the
ability to tap into the collection of spells he has accumulated
in his lifetime.  Find some unknown mage's book of spells, his
most valued treasure, and you gain nothing because that book will
only show you the spells you know.  Also, while I can understand
the point of requiring the mage to hold a book while memorizing
his spells, requiring him to hold it while casting a spell which

requires complex hand movements is ridiculous!  Not to mention a
real annoyance to us fighter/magic-user types...

On a positive note, the bits of parchment found in the party's
travels (especially the maps) are a source of tremendous
pleasure.  When the burnt map of a section of the maze was shown
on the screen, it was like a bell going off.  At that moment, with
VGA-quality graphics, CRPGs had achieved some of their early
promise: to bring the imagination of the games' creators to life.
The opening scenes of EOB II were a pleasure for much of the same
reason.

But EOB II is sometimes maddeningly linear, and it is terribly
frustrating when scenes rest more on brute force than on
imagination and creativity.  For instance, a puzzle which you
must solve to open a critical door states that you must leave
"Many Objects Behind."  (Hint:  Plates can be either up or down.
Weighting the plates with more than one object is useless.  You
have to step on the plate before the door, so in the final
combination, this plate must be down.  This leaves you eight
plates that must be assigned either an up or a down position.
Having racked my brains over this for a long, long time, it is
clear that you must go through the various combinations to
resolve which plates must be up and which down.  You will have to
deal with fewer combinations if you start with the plates loaded
and start taking weights off from the side away from the door you
are trying to open.  You will also get attacked less often if only
the central external door is open).  Another suggestion is to have
some lightning bolt spells ready before you open the door, and
once you open it to close it damned fast.  Better to deal with
one supernatural horror at a time.

Don't get me wrong, EOB II is a great software package.  I enjoyed
it immensely .  I hope that they make dozens more (I am looking
forward to this Tales of Magic, whatever it is).  And I buy this
software, because I want them to be able to make dozens more
(rather than pirate it and put these people out of business).  But
there comes a point when you've killed thousands (if not tens of
thousands) of these creatures with various spells and swords, and
where the drive no longer lies in overcoming this ungodly horror
in front of you, but from a desire to learn what is over the next
hill, or beyond the next door.  What does this sword do?  And does
it get angry because you chipped it on the nigh-impenetrable
scales of a red dragon (which, by the way, has made the dragon
none too pleased with you, as well)?

An opinion: Gold, platinum, gems... these are all well and good,
and killing scores of monsters of wondrous description and powers
can be entertaining, but adventure and exploration is the heart
of CRPGs.  One can only go through the motions of creating so many
unstoppable death machines before the process begins to pall.

If a CRPG kept in a character file a record of images (VGA images
of the Sea of Stars, or of the Crater of Fire in the Northern Ice,
or of the Black Well, or the Gates of Thorbardin, or a Faerie
Ring...), records of what the character has seen and done,
character development would be nearly infinite.  Current issues
of CRPGs having to start from scratch as characters grow too
powerful could be bypassed.  Human beings (not meaning to exclude
Elves, Dwarves, and the rest) do not develop skins as durable as
tanks, reflexes faster than a humming bird's wings, etc.  But we
can do and see amazing things!

Too many games are based on the idea that all you need to keep
people coming back for more is more swords, more armour, more
spells, etc.  These games are written for Little Donald Trumps.
When I have played a character for a while, I wish to know how
much gold they have and how many creatures they have killed, yes,
but these are secondary things and game design should never force
these to be prime motivating factors for purchasing the next in a
series.  Where have the characters been?  What have they seen?
What have they conquered?  What tales could they tell and who
have they studied under?  Tell me that my alter egos have worlds
to explore, either as a unit or separately!  Have the elves
summoned home to fight a border war and have the dwarves summoned
home to fight the same border war on the opposite side!  Have them
resolve the conflict!

Meanwhile, have the human characters establish a fort, or castle,
defending themselves against the attack of a Baron, or the Regent
for a child-Prince!  And when they come together again, a year or
two years later, have the characters compare sights and tales!
Each character should carry with him images of victories and
defeats (being bound in chains in a galleon, the sight of a young
child playing a harp in a castle, winning an archery competition
or duel)!  Or have the separate adventures timed, where completion
of each adventure in a timely fashion affects when that team
member can come to the aid of the others!  When a character slays
a dragon, and if they can carry the head back with them, add to
their names the title "Dragonslayer"!  Names, of all the uses that
can be made of words, are the most powerful!

I more than felt I got my money's worth with EOB II.  In EOB II,
SSI gave me a few brief moments where I felt that they had
realized that the storyteller's art is the heart of CRPGs.  The
storytelling in EOB II is better than nearly anything I have seen
to-date in graphics-dependent CRPGs.  But there is still so much
more, so many places to go and things to do!  And the focus must
shift more onto What I Can See and Remember and Do as a Measure of
Success.  It is possible that my Elven Fighter/Magic-User/Thiefs
will no longer advance past level 12/13/12, or somesuch, but a
character this proficient (when compared to the norm) should be
able to outwit and outdare almost anything!  And with their
lifetimes, what sights will they see?  With their monies from
adventuring, what will they build?  What will they do with their
lives?

Postscript: If SSI has any intention of keeping these games at
this size and level of complexity, an Automap feature is going to
become a necessity!  This will save quite a few trees.