In Gorasul, you are Roszondas, a hero recently brought back to the world of
the living ten years after his death. The transition back has not been
easy on Roszondas, and he suffers from huge gaps in his memory of his former
life. Of course it does not help matters any that the world has changed
significantly in those ten years. An ultimate evil has been let loose on
the land, and foul creatures are laying waste to everything. If anyone can
do anything to combat this evil, it is Roszondas. As a child he was given
to a dragon who raised him to adulthood. During his time spent with the
dragon, he acquired certain instinctive dragon powers which he now reverts to in
times of great duress. These are Dragon Fear, which makes enemies flee,
Dragon Strength, which gives Roszondas a boost of strength, Dragon Breath, which
unleashes a blast of fire on enemies, and Dragon Eye, which allows Roszondas to
see further around him on the map.
When starting a new game of Gorasul, players must select a class for
Roszondas. There are six choices for this: warrior, priest, magician,
spell worker, sword bearer, and woodsman. These classes roughly correspond
to the traditional RPG classes, with woodsmen resembling rangers. Some of
the differences between the classes are not too apparent, though. Sword
Bearers are supposed to be masters of two-handed swords, but they do not get such a
weapon at the start of the game, and if these weapons actually exist in the
game, then they are difficult to find. Once a class is selected, the
player can add bonus points to his basic stats and to his Dragon Skills.
An interesting and original feature of the game is the inclusion of a magical
weapon with a personality. Players name their weapon and can customize its
attributes. The weapon will also gain experience in battle and will advance in levels
during the game, giving the player the chance to further improve the weapon's
stats. The weapon is also empowered with the ability to speak, and will provide advice to the player during the
course of the game. There are various weapon types available for selection
for Roszondas' special weapon, and each weapon type has a most hated and most feared enemy. When
facing the most hated enemy, the weapon will perform better at combat.
Come across the most feared enemy, and you'll often find the weapon hiding in
your pack.
Unfortunately, the interest generated by the Dragon Skills and personal
weapon soon evaporates as the game begins. Gorasul was originally released
in Germany, and the translation is of a quality usually reserved for Japanese
ports. Characters will often speak nonsensical phrases, and some of the
game's puzzles make no sense. Thankfully, these puzzles are presented with
multiple choice answers, so the player can just keep guessing until the game
accepts his/her random answer. None of the voiceovers made it to a
translator, outside of the booming and irritating voice which plays during the
game's introduction. However, with the poor quality of this voice, the
lack of voiceovers is actually a blessing in disguise.
Gameplay is of the RPG/Action school, with the player presented with quests
that move the story along, while battling foes in real-time. Gameplay is
very linear, with the player performing numerous fetch the special item and
other familiar types of quests to unlock new areas of the map and move the story
along. Players are required to attempt to speak with every NPC they come
across in an attempt to find a particular item or nugget of information.
Unfortunately this is an often tedious process, as most NPCs have nothing useful
to say. For example, early in the game, the player must rescue a child
from a well. To do so, a length of rope must be procured. To get the
rope, the player must visit everyone in town and ask if they have a rope.
One person has a rope that turns out to be too short when the player returns to
the well, so he'll need to keep asking until he finds the right one. An
exercise in tedium.
The game's combat is a microcosm of the game's problems. The sounds are
minimalist and poorly done, and it is often hard to tell what is going on.
Players click on an enemy and then watch as the poorly animated foes hack at
each other. Sooner or later somebody dies (early in the game it is usually
you) and you can thankfully move on.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 56%.
Poor translations and uninspired gameplay serve to make Gorasul too frustrating
for most players. Players with a lot of patience and a strong interest in
the genre are about the only ones we can recommend this game too.
System Requirements: 350 MHz Pentium III CPU; 64 MB RAM; 8 MB
Video RAM; 4x CD-ROM; 600 MB Hard Drive Space; Mouse.
