Ishar: Legend of the Fortress
| Developer: Silmarils | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Silmarils | Sound: |
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| Year: 1992 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Role-playing game | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
8/10 | |
The Ishar trilogy will undoubtedly remain the greatest achievement of the French company Silmarils. It follows Crystals of Arborea, from which it borrows the same universe (and some protagonists). It is a series of first-person role-playing games in the Dungeon Master style, but with an open world. The story borrows all the clichés in vogue since The Lord of the Rings; expect to encounter elves, wizards, and slay orcs…
Despite a rather conventional form, beyond the pastoral landscapes, the developers took a few risks. Firstly, there is no character creation. Your initial avatar is imposed, and soon you will encounter new characters. Each of them is replaceable (there are 32 characters in total, but your group can only accommodate five at a time).
Moreover, your companions have personalities! They will develop affinities between themselves, or conversely, oppose the arrival of a recruit they dislike. You will need to show some diplomacy to manage the various sensitivities. You are not safe from one of your companions fleeing in the middle of the night after robbing everyone! And I won’t even mention the temptress who will turn heads among the male characters…
Finally, since you are not free to chase a group member without a majority vote, a radical solution will present itself: assassination! Beware of reprisals…
The real time combat system closely resembles that of Dungeon Master and its ilk, with icon clicking to strike in melee or at a distance. However, the arrangement of five portraits across the entire screen width makes rapid mouse movements to involve everyone difficult; even worse if there are spellcasters. Keyboard shortcuts are offered (the “F1” to “F10” keys), but spread entire keyboard length, they are not more convenient.
As for the controls, they take a little getting used to. There are only three things you need to figure out:
- The arrows for turning and moving laterally are inverted compared to most games of the genre.
- During combat, if you accidentally open the “action” menu, hold your head in your hands, scream loudly, then right-click to exit.
- To access the inventory screen, click on a character’s name (at the bottom).
There you go. No need for a manual. However, I recommend drawing a map on paper. The game area is very vast, very empty, and one gets lost frequently… That being said, travelling freely in an unknown land brings one closer to the atmosphere of heroic fantasy novels, and differs from traditional narrow dungeons.
Ishar does not skimp on dungeons, however.
In summary, Silmarils delivers a beautiful game, simple to access and original, if not in the scenario, at least in its developments. The only problems are various bugs and frequent crashes. Incidentally, I do not much like spending gold pieces to save, but the emulator remedies this.
Note: For more vibrant colours, download the 1993 AGA version. A few images for comparison: cric, crac, croc!
Note (2): One of the recruitable characters is called Targhan, the hero of the eponymous game. PArt of Ishar’s sound effects come from there.
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