Forums > Game Forums > Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession > My impressions and a question
St. Martyne (3648) on 8/24/2007 8:11 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
Another underrated gem pleading for a second chance.
This is the first one in series of fantastic first person party -based RPGs by Dreamforge and arguably the best. I've just completed it yesterday and enjoyed every bit of it. Cool characters, involving unconventional story, great writing style and fantastic interface, certainly the best interface among the early DOS rpgs.
If you liked or at least played through Lands Of Lore, Might & Magic, Eye Of The Beholder or the Ishtar series there is a very good chance you will love this less known title.
One question I do still have. Is the world of Ravenloft a part of Forgotten Realms and is there a pen&paper RPGs based on it? I suspect it relates to the Faerun the same way the world of Planescape does but I'm not that sure.
Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 8/24/2007 11:22 PM · Permalink · Report
Dude, someone was able to get this game to run? What was your trick?
Ravenloft's precise position vis a vis the mid-'90s AD&D universe is a bit peculiar. Every main game world has its own fragment of Ravenloft, in addition to which there are domains in the mists not associated with any existing campaign worlds. Barovia, Strahd's domain, is associated with an area in NE Faerun (the Forgotten Realms world), though that's more of a kind of one-way dimensional overlap than an actual physical location. It's complicated.
St. Martyne (3648) on 8/25/2007 9:05 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]Dude, someone was able to get this game to run? What was your trick? [/Q --end Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]
Nothing a good ol' DosBOX couldn't handle.
[Q --start Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--] Ravenloft's precise position vis a vis the mid-'90s AD&D universe is a bit peculiar. Every main game world has its own fragment of Ravenloft, in addition to which there are domains in the mists not associated with any existing campaign worlds. Barovia, Strahd's domain, is associated with an area in NE Faerun (the Forgotten Realms world), though that's more of a kind of one-way dimensional overlap than an actual physical location. It's complicated. [/Q --end Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]
Yeah, it does sound a bit confusing. Even the article at Wikipedia didn't help to clear the matter for me much. Anyway, I've just started to play Ravenloft: Stone Prophet CD. It seems to feature a Egyptian setting as opposed to the Slavic feel of the first game. Is such kind of stylistic incoherency is also a part of Ravenloft's pocket dimensions?
Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 8/25/2007 10:21 AM · Permalink · Report
Ravenloft: Stone Prophet CD. It seems to feature a Egyptian setting as opposed to the Slavic feel of the first game. Is such kind of stylistic incoherency is also a part of Ravenloft's pocket dimensions?
Ravenloft is more of a mood than a setting. Epic fantasy scenarios always have some slim chance for redemption, which the noble heroes engage and succeed at. Ravenloft just removes that chance; take any setting imaginable, remove hope, and add foreboding. You beat the monster? Congratulations: you're the new chief monster.
St. Martyne (3648) on 8/25/2007 1:29 PM · Permalink · Report
Playing more through the second part of Ravenloft makes me understand your point more clearly. The feeling of despair, lack of any hope, broken destinies all of that are shared between both games and I presume is attributable to the whole Ravenloft campaign setting as well. Quite unusual for the mid-90's fantasy RPG. I haven't expected that kind of complexity from the RPG I've decided to try only because of the nice interface.
So far the Stone Prophet seems to be the better one of two, because the whole horror theme has unique twist devoid of Transylvanian cliches that unfortunately plagued the Strahd's Possesion.