We’ve reached the end of our second spell (no pun intended) with Epyx’s wonderful Temple of Apshai Trilogy; this time we take on the final part, Curse of Ra, on the Atari ST.
Westwood’s 1986 port ofΒ Temple of Apshai TrilogyΒ for Atari ST is one of the more convenient and enjoyable ways to play the game. The mouse controls and menus work well, the ability to get the room descriptions with the tap of a key is wonderful — it would have been nice to have the treasure descriptions, too, but I guess there was only so much text they could squeeze in!
It’s impressive how much BioWare has fallen from grace in recent years, but that’s what being taken over by EA and completely gutted will do to you.
On Retro Select this week, we look back at an era when BioWare were actually still good. Very good, in fact;Β Neverwinter NightsΒ is probably one of my favourite games from them, for its sheer flexibility if nothing else. It’s well worth checking out even today — and still has a very active community!
We return once again to The Temple of Apshai Trilogy for Atari ST, this time to explore the first “expansion” section: The Upper Reaches of Apshai.
The Upper Reaches of ApshaiΒ is noteworthy in that it takes a rather more light-hearted and experimental approach to the game’s core dungeon crawling; it has you picking berries and cleaning up rampant tomato patches rather than battling your way through vanilla-scented ant-men. And the Atari ST version is a great way to experience it!
The Temple of Apshai and its later Temple of Apshai Trilogy “remaster” are best known as 8-bit titles, but the latter actually got a port to Atari ST in 1986 — by Westwood, no less.
The ST version is, as it turns out, pretty good. It not only incorporates all the classic gameplay into a friendly GEM interface, it also includes all the room descriptions from the Book of Apshai into the game itself, making for a much more convenient way to play.
If you ever wanted to know who or what to blame for the endless rereleases of Skyrim on every platform under the sun… well, today I’ve got the game where it arguably all started.
Legend of ValourΒ is a supremely ambitious first-person texture-mapped role-playing game that Todd Howard has specifically cited as being a key influence on the development of theΒ Elder ScrollsΒ series. Up until quite recently, I had thought it was an MS-DOS PC exclusive — but it turns out there’s an Atari ST version, too.
Well, there’s noΒ wayΒ we’re not checking that out, is there? Let’s do just that in the video below. Don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
When I was a kid, I was kind of scared of trying out RPGs because they looked too complicated. Returning to them today, however, makes me feel like I would probably have been fine!
Here’sΒ QuestronΒ from Strategic Simulations Inc, who at the time were better known for their wargaming software. This was their first RPG release and proved to be a big success for them. The company would later go on to be extremely well-known for their excellent array of licensedΒ Dungeons & DragonsΒ computer RPGs, so this was the just the beginning of something wonderful for them!
Our adventures in the Temple of Apshai Trilogy are finally coming to an end as we delve into the third part: Curse of Ra.
This particular module is designed for adventurers who have spent a bit of time gaining experience and gathering equipment inΒ The Temple of ApshaiΒ andΒ The Upper Reaches of Apshai,Β and as such is pretty tough.
It does, however, present some of the most interesting, well-crafted dungeon designs in the whole series, though, so it’s worth exploring if you think your character is up to the challenge!
Today we delve once again into the Temple of Apshai Trilogy as we attempt to unravel the mystery of what on Earth is going on in the innkeeper’s back garden.
Yes, it’s time forΒ The Upper Reaches of Apshai,Β the second part of the trilogy and a title that was originally released as an expansion pack for the first version ofΒ Temple of Apshai. Sporting a rather more light-hearted feel — mostly thanks to the excellent, witty writing in the companionΒ Book of Apshai, intended to be carried alongside you as you play —Β The Upper Reaches of ApshaiΒ makes use of familiar mechanics to tell a distinctly unfamiliar emergent narrative.
There’s still a hell of a lot to like about this game, it seems — and it says something that I’ve been continuing my adventures off-camera ever since I started playing!
MoeGamer 