Realms of the Haunting--First Impressions

[Alan Jay Dion]

I picked up this game two days ago at EB. We
had heard good things about it in posts from
Great Britain where it was released months ago.
The game is an adventure with some RPG and/or
action elements. The player character can't be
changed and there does not seem to be any
advancement in skills or life (no HP) but there is
combat, Doom style.
One of the first things I noticed was a
sense of deja vu. This game is not really new.
Gameplay is OK but there is nothing I can see,
after playing only a short while, that is inventive
or unique. In fact, the feeling that I had played
something just like this years ago wouldn't leave.
Then it came to me...the beginning of this game
is very similar to Legacy (Micropose). Has anybody
else noticed the similarity? Of course the graphics
are better in ROTH but the whole idea of starting
out in a haunted house with mazes an dungeons
in the basement and locked doors in the house with
mystic symbols on them is exactly the same as
Legacy.
I'm not disappointed but I would have liked
something more fresh and original, plus Legacy
had true RPG qualities like selecting and rolling
a character, HP and skill advancement, etc which
ROTH has removed.
Well thats my opinion.

Alan

[K A]

In article <01bc39dd$268f1c40$4201b8cd@default>, "Alan Jay Dion" <alan...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

>Then it came to me...the beginning of this game
>is very similar to Legacy (Micropose). Has anybody
>else noticed the similarity? Of course the graphics
>are better in ROTH but the whole idea of starting
>out in a haunted house with mazes an dungeons
>in the basement and locked doors in the house with
>mystic symbols on them is exactly the same as
>Legacy.
> I'm not disappointed but I would have liked
>something more fresh and original, plus Legacy
>had true RPG qualities like selecting and rolling
>a character, HP and skill advancement, etc which
>ROTH has removed.

Legacy comes to mind for me also. Though I liked Legacy,
the role-playing elements seemed "tacked-on" to the rest of
the game. I really felt Legacy's designers forgot about the RPG
elements until after a good portion of the game was "designed."

ROTH embraces an adventure game aesthetic with
combat elements and pumped up visuals. I pretty sure I dont
miss RPG stuff in ROTH, though I agree with you that ROTH
is not hugely original. It is definately fun to play.

[Keith A]

Alan Jay Dion wrote:
>
> I picked up this game two days ago at EB. We
> had heard good things about it in posts from
> Great Britain where it was released months ago.
> The game is an adventure with some RPG and/or
> action elements. The player character can't be
> changed and there does not seem to be any
> advancement in skills or life (no HP) but there is
> combat, Doom style.
> One of the first things I noticed was a
> sense of deja vu. This game is not really new.
> Gameplay is OK but there is nothing I can see,
> after playing only a short while, that is inventive
> or unique. In fact, the feeling that I had played
> something just like this years ago wouldn't leave.

> Then it came to me...the beginning of this game
> is very similar to Legacy (Micropose). Has anybody
> else noticed the similarity? Of course the graphics
> are better in ROTH but the whole idea of starting
> out in a haunted house with mazes an dungeons
> in the basement and locked doors in the house with
> mystic symbols on them is exactly the same as
> Legacy.
> I'm not disappointed but I would have liked
> something more fresh and original, plus Legacy
> had true RPG qualities like selecting and rolling
> a character, HP and skill advancement, etc which
> ROTH has removed.

> Well thats my opinion.
>
> Alan

Have you noticed that there are HUGE pauses and choppy graphics when
entering a new area. I have a P200MMX with 64 MB of memory and a 4 MB 3D
Blaster. If you have, i guess it;s the game but im wondering if it's my
system! I have tried it in DOS iwth a smartdrive and win 95. Ant ideas?

Keith