Record of Lodoss War,
a thread.
Lodoss began as a #DungeonsAndDragons 1st edition campaign, the one where Dwarves and Elves were their own class.
The campaign was serialized as a "replay", as was kind of common at the time, essentially outlining the sessions so people could follow and even play along.
Before long, its popularity spurred its own spinoff game for the #PC98 and its own tabletalk game...
#Lodoss 2
The PC game was a success, despite some issues stemming from an unexperienced game studio (like very slow load times), and some ... interesting takes on Deedlit (CW nudity).
This same year, the dungeon master of the campaign from '85 (Mizuno Ryo) began publishing novels, which would be serialized initially into 7, conveying the adventures of their team...
#Lodoss 3
These would prove to be immensely popular, and many ports plus a sequel to the PC game were ordered.
The second PC game, called "The Five Dark Dragons", continued the story of the novels through the final 7th book, which wasn't to be released for several years (though the story was known through the tabletalk books).
The PC games were unique in that you can make your own party and choose whether or not to bring the heroes along...
#Lodoss 4
Around this time the OVA began to serialize! This is the 13-episode gambit that we all remember.
As with the PC games, only the outline of the story for the second half was available at the time and not the detailed novellas, so the second half of the OVA had details different than the books.
It was also assumed that many watchers were familiar with the source material, since it was so popular, and didn't spend a lot of time with introductions.
#Lodoss 5
What happens to successful #PC98 games? They get ported to the #PCEngine of course.
Both Lodoss 1 and 2 were "ported" to the PCECD2, but much was lost - you can no longer make your own characters, the plot sticks closer to the OVA instead of the TT books, and dungeons were simplified from first person blobbers to simplified top-down mazes...
#Lodoss 6
BUT, these games featured voice acting, excellent music, graphics glow-ups, automatic/fast combat, etc. which make them overall WAY more enjoyable to play (especially nowadays).
The unfortunate problem - they were #PCEngine releases, which were rare, even in Japan. They unfortunately didn't get as much attention as they deserved...
#Lodoss 7
A few years later, interest waning, they tried a Megadrive CD version of the OVA - unfortunately, it played very slowly and awkwardly. Uniquely, though, it displays all sprites from whatever perspective they are being attacked from during combat. Not very helpful, but special for the time.
It unfortunately does not save it from being a bad game.
#Lodoss 8
The book serialization had been completed by now, so the whole of the character story had been released. No effort would be made for a few years to retell it, however.
In the meanwhile, a unique game for #SFC #SuperNintendo would come out - one with 3/4 view dungeons, goofy sprites, featuring a different retelling of the story and a chapter you can actually play as Beld.
#Lodoss 9
Finally in 1998 we got Chronicles of the Heroic Knight, a massively convoluted retelling of Parn's story, connecting into Spark and Nice.
If I understand correctly, the first 9 episodes of the OVA are canon, and from there it switches over to the 27-episode anime, skipping the content of book 2 completely. But who can say for sure? Rocket scientists are on it.
(They also coincided this with a #GameBoy card battler, but it was pretty lame.) #anime
#Lodoss 10
The #anime sparked re-interest, and even a 16-episode radio drama was produced, concluding the story of "The God of Wind and Fire", something once intended for the OVA.
Wikipedia even says there was a TCG but I can't find any photos of it.
In 2000, we get the weirdest game of all: a #Dreamcast action RPG where you are a nameless hero. Despite taking place on Lodoss and having Carla and Leilia, I have no idea what it has to do with Lodoss. I played it once, it was bad...
#Lodoss 11
And then we get to the empty period - twenty years where the only thing Lodoss related that is released are reprints of the novelizations (they never stop selling!) and a few mobile games which are so dead you can't even find screenshots of them.
And today, we are lucky little beans to have Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth - an excellent reminder of a once-great series.
Not sure why I wrote this thread - go play #DnD, or touch grass!
Oh, right - the replays are translated into english!
Go check them out!
#DungeonsAndDragons #dnd #retrogaming #ttrpg #lodoss
https://archive.org/details/record-of-lodoss-war-comptiq-magazine-english-translation/mode/2up
child of baphomet
Scribblemacher