Lands of Lore III

aka: LOL3
Moby ID: 849
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Description official descriptions

Copper is the bastard son of Eric LeGré, brother of King Richard and commander of the White Army who had a relationship with a half-dracoid dancer, Copper's mother. On a pig hunt with his father and brothers, who resent him because of his mixed blood, some rift hounds appear from another dimension and kill everyone but Copper himself. He is able to escape, but the monsters take his soul with them. It is Copper's task to prove himself in a world where everyone suspects him of having killed his father and brothers to claim the throne. His second task is to find out how to get his soul back.

Lands of Lore III is the third and final part in Westwood's Lands of Lore series. Just like the previous game, it is an action RPG played from the first-person perspective. It introduces features such as mouse-look and inventory quick spots, but is otherwise similar to its predecessor in basic gameplay mechanics. Copper can jump, crouch, and attack any creature encountered in the game with melee and ranged weapons or magic spells. Unlike the previous game, polygonal objects and characters are used, and pre-rendered 3D cutscenes replace live action movies.

After the introduction the player is free to join one or more guilds in the city of Gladstone: Fighters, Clerics, Magicians and Thieves. Each guild comes with different abilities, upgrading Copper's rank three times within each chosen path. These abilities include, among others, requiring less time to swing a weapon, becoming a sniper, drawing mana from the environment, reviving companions, etc. By using actions linked to the guild (fighting with swords, using magic, healing, lockpicking), the player character's expertise improves. The protagonist is also offered a familiar, a creature that helps him during the quests. These familiars come with their own abilities, which include identifying various types of objects, protection from certain kinds of damage, picking locks, etc.

Copper has a large inventory, room for spells, a compass, a map, a journal and meters for health, mana and hunger. There is a fairly large amount of freedom; the player can opt to kill innocent NPCs and choose different ways to finish the game, with many side-quests. The locations include a volcano world, a frozen world, the underworld and various caves, woods, lairs and castles.

Spellings

  • 黑暗王座 III - Traditional Chinese spelling
  • 黑暗王座III - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

166 People (160 developers, 6 thanks) · View all

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Reviews

Critics

Average score: 67% (based on 27 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.4 out of 5 (based on 29 ratings with 4 reviews)

Better than LOL: Guardians of Destiny

The Good
It's more playable, more interesting, more spectacular than the second game. (It doesn't mean that it was bad). Graphics: The screens are very colorful, and the sprites are nice. Spell effects are really nice. The in-game videos are beautiful, just like in any other Westwood title. Music is good, Westwood-quality, it adds a great feeling to the scenes. Interface: You have the opportunity to customize all the controls, but the game can be handled easily anyway (mouselook, spell shortcuts, etc). Gameplay: There are a lot of cleverly hidden secrets, items, buttons. There are 4 guilds you can join. These add some replay value. To explore all secrets, you will have to join all 4 guilds, but you will develop very slowly. However, you can train at the local fighting arena, even to the maximum. The journal system is really great and necessary, description of all monsters, items you encounter, the texts of previous dialogs/videos (especially for people whose native language is not English), automap, pharmacopia items, etc. The storyline shows some non-linearity: if you complete a quest first then another, you may not get the third quest, but a fourth one. The mirror worlds don't have to be completed linearly, but there's some kind of sequence. There are a lot of reference to the previous LOL titles: characters, items, storyline. Draracle's chambers is from the first and the second LOL!!! And finally, I was very surprised, that in the last mirror world, I had to explore the Temple of NOD! (after a nuclear war... maybe after Command & Conquer: Tiberian Twilight?) And you will have to defeat Cabal... Should I say more? C&C fans should check it out.

The Bad
You almost always have to change disks when you enter a new level. Since you repeatedly have to return to the starting 'hub' levels, it seems to be irritating. Graphics: The engine is a bit outdated, it's Doom-like so-called 2.5D, however the sprites are rendered from a lot of directions, so they almost look like 3D. It isn't true 3D however. Gameplay: You roam lonely in most of the game. You may choose a familiar to join you, but it's not the same if you had a whole party. The control over the familiar is very limited, you can tell her/him to collect items, fight, stay, but that's not too much. Unfortunately, some bugs remain, even with the latest patch (1.07A). Completed quests NOT always get crossed out; graphical glitches; and sometimes the game freezes/hangs.

The Bottom Line
If you liked LOL: Guardians, it's a must for you. Otherwise, it's a nice game, but consider it before purchasing.

Windows · by ^LutheR^ (117) · 2002

Newer but not necessarily better

The Good
When I first realised LOL3 is coming up next I was totally on the edge of anticipation, knowing what Guardians of Destiny did to me. The graphic was now up to full usage of 3d accelerator and lighting and spells were clearly enhanced, but the game also remained fair to those who still had older cards with no accelerator support. The background story during installation gives you a nice idea of what's to be expected, as the game casts you in a role of young Copper, part human part dracoid, but prince nonetheless. Alas, king's "real" sons do not fancy the idea of having the bastard brother, but they don't live long enough to do anything about it as the Draracle's departure opens mysterious portals spawning rift hounds who take care of them and cost you your very soul. Now, with the king and your brethren dead, you are the only heir to the throne whether anyone likes it or not. The game does spawn a rather intriguing story with new and familiar worlds and characters, you get to meet Luther, Dawn, and other familiars. Soundtrack is twice as brilliant as of prequel, but alas, no soundtrack was released like it was the case with Guardians of Destiny. The cool new part is that you get to have companion on your journey as you join one of the five guilds, which will also play role in your character profile and abilities. There's also a cool part that takes place in the Hand of Nod which was as a small overture to an upcoming C&C Renegade.

The Bad
The game seems a bit rushed, spawning across four discs yet being released in about a year and a half after LOL2. The side-effects are that graphic had some problems and game was slow no matter the cache, often forcing you to exit the game and start again.

The Bottom Line
First one was Westwood's first attempt on reviving the glory days of Eye of the Beholder with their own title, and they did one heck of a job there. Second one was a true masterpiece setting the new limits for the word 'journey', while the third, and the last one, was great for LOL and WS fans, but as standalone might not be the best choice to enter the realm of such RPGs. It may not have provided cutting edge tech for the time being, but the journey was more than accepting with breathtaking cutscenes only to be expected from Westwood Studios.

Windows · by MAT (240747) · 2012

A bitter disappointment. What happened, Westwood?

The Good
There were a number of innovations that should have made the game better (but they didn't, necessarily). The familiar you can choose, the guilds you can choose. The obstacle course in the warriors' guild was really cool. The pharmacopoeia system is interesting, although, like LOL2, it is rather expansive and the inventory capacity is not. The cutscenes, the hallmark of Westwood games, were nicely rendered, although Dawn just looked stupid. What happened to hottie Dawn from LOL 1 and especially 2? You get to eat rat meat of the giant walking rats you kill, if you like that kind of thing.

The music was pretty good. The score was done by David Arkenstone, again. Not as good as LOL2, but good.

The Bad
It will be necessary to compare this game to LOL2, as that is the point of view I come from. A parallel between LOL 2 and 3 would be between Star Control 2 and Star Control 3.

Where to start? The storyline. Let me sum up the game: The draracle from LOL2 has left this world, leaving Jakel to watch things. Jakel was the annoying ghosty-guy from LOL2.

You go into some NOD base toward the end. Kind of dumb. Let's just turn the last half of the game into an advertisement for our successful C&C franchise, shall we? I have no problem with capitalism and product placement if it does not distract from the game. This did distract from the game.

The graphics are better in a technical sense from LOL2, but there is little worth looking at. There is no video capture that really endured me to LOL2 and the C&C games. The resolution may be higher in this game, but it just wasn't made with the love and creativity, the way LOL 1 and 2 were. Some of the scenery and buildings were nice, but the NPCs and enemies just looked like poo.

Like LOL2, fighting was entirely non-fun. This is a point that maybe they should have improved upon. There was no noticeable improvement in the "3-D" engine. Also like LOL2, you get to enjoy hours of disk-swapping fun!

The Bottom Line
There are some interesting things to see, but this is a game strictly for fans of the other LOL games, if just to satisfy your curiosity. It's not very good. It certainly seemed to drive the stake into the series' heart. I don't blame the writers, developers, and other talent. I expect it has more to do with lack of resources and other upper-level decisions.

It's hard to make a really good, memorable game. Westwood just didn't do it this time.

Windows · by Thohan (17) · 2004

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Trivia

Bugs

Next to the main quest, there is a large amount of secrets, trading, hidden items and loose threads in the storyline. The initial release was plagued with bugs, later fixed in a patch, but there are still bugs that can halt the gameplay completely.

References

  • The paintings on the walls in the Draracle's chambers are actually shots of cinematics from Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny.
  • The base that you enter in the final portal world is actually a base used by the Brotherhood of Nod from Command & Conquer. You can tell because there are symbols on the walls showing the scorpion's tail logo and the Mainframe boss and voice you hear is actually Cabal, also from Command & Conquer.

Information also contributed by Nicholas Smith and Sciere

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by MAT.

Additional contributors: Jeanne, Qlberts, CaesarZX, Paulus18950, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger.

Game added February 11, 2000. Last modified February 13, 2024.