Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos

The Good
When I first tried out it, I almost "fell in love" with it. Beautiful, hand-drawn characters, colorful items, nice backgrounds. FMVs (actually, not full-motion) are great, just like in any other Westwood title. In-game spell effects are spectacular. The enemies vary, there are usually more types of them on one level.

The music is dashing, full of life; I can enjoy it in itself. Voice acting is pretty good! They're professionals. (At least Patrick Stewart)

The scenes are different enough: mines, forests, a city, dungeons.

Interface can't be simpler: one-click fighting, two-click casting, and cursor keys for movement. Found items can effortlessly be put in the invertory; while sorting items or equipping PCs the game pauses. World-objects in the view-port can easily be operated. Practically everything is logical. Auto-mapping makes the life easier, especially in the large levels.

Clever puzzles; you'll need to observe everything carefully, or else your progress will be harder. E.g. there is a hint in the King's library that ghosts cannot stand emerald. (So, ghosts on the top of the White Tower or the Castle can be defeated quickly using emerald blades)

The Bad
Nothing important. There are only some minor bugs in the CD version.

On the castle levels are a number of items i couldn't use for anything and a number of doors I couldn't open. It's not bad, but exasperating.

At the completion, the game generates a LANDS.SAV file, just like at the end of EOB2 (FINALE.SAV). I'm sure it was meant to be imported in the next game. It's a shame it eventually didn't make it to LOL2.

The Bottom Line
Consider it a technologically improved EOB or Dungeon Master; outdoor levels, better graphics, animation, music, storyline. Wonderful.