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[Reup]

Feel free to comment and discuss this game here. Also, if you have any useful tips or tricks don't hesitate to share them with the others! Thanks!

Review & Download

[Borodin]

An excellent game, set in a universe that blessedly doesn't duplicate or depend upon AD&D. Throws some curves at the standard RPG: plenty of doesn't herbs with various effects to factor into combat; spells whose copies must be learned in realtime, from books; inhabitants that maintain their own schedules (well, to the extent they pop from home to one other location, and back ); and parties that can be split to take several actions at the same time.

It was made by the four Atabek Brothers. One, Ali, continued with the Mindcraft business and made two more games in the series, along with Bloodstone, arguably the best of the lot. Though they did get a few more features, the graphics didn't really change to meet the jump from icon-based graphics to realistic ones, initiated by Garriott in Ultima VI. This hurt sales, and they declared bankruptcy.

I met Atabek about a decade ago at an E3, and complimented him on the series. He was working at the time for Interplay and said he'd ask his bosses if they had any interest in doing a modern version of The Magic Candle, but I guess it never panned out.

[guesst]

Wow, I somehow thought that a game of this clout in the milestone department would have been chosen more carefully. I mean, number 800 by not be as bit a deal as 100, or 1000, but still, a game that the reviewer gives a 3.5/5.0? Not that I'm asking that for this land mark they make some deal and got System Shock 1/2 on the site, but surely they could do better.

[Borodin]

Originally posted by guesst@May 23 2006, 08:57 PM
Wow, I somehow thought that a game of this clout in the milestone department would have been chosen more carefully. I mean, number 800 by not be as bit a deal as 100, or 1000, but still, a game that the reviewer gives a 3.5/5.0? Not that I'm asking that for this land mark they make some deal and got System Shock 1/2 on the site, but surely they could do better.

Apparently they had standards that haven't been revealed to us. I'd consider 3 1/2 an only slightly better than average title, 3 being the median, and the reviewer really liked it a good deal. Oh, well.

I think it's a rather good milestone game, actually. It has several features that are unheard of in games that age (the one that comes immediately to mind is the ability to split up one's party to accomplish several tasks at once, including learning spells, training, working at jobs to make money for the training and learning..) and a few of those haven't really made it into any other RPGs that I can think of, despite being rather nifty.

Also, despite being a high quality game, it hasn't received the critical or fan attention of things like System Shock, Ultima, etc, and thus is, imho, worthier of highlighting than yet another game that everyone knows and loves. (and has, thus, played to death already.)

[MarkieUK]

I echo Malkav11's post: the game had a number of innovative features (such as the ability to split your party and good character interaction for the time) that made it a cut above the rest. These features, coupled with a good storyline, make it easily as good as the Ultimas of the time, and the fact that it's not a well-known game certainly make it worth playing. It's a bit of a hidden gem - I'd say it was worthy of being the 800th game on the site. I gave it 3.5/5 - which I thought was a good score! Notice that the editor has given it a rating of 4 though.

MarkUK

[Reup]

Well, the current implementation of the website doesn't allow a 3.5 editor rating. Only the visitors-rating is in 2 significant digits. So, I had to round your score to a single digit.

I wished I had the time and patience to play such remarkable game like this through to the end. In spite of it's aged interface and graphics, this game should get at least a 4 out of 5. I'm told, however, that the actual gameplay required to complete The Magic Candle is well over 100 hours. What an epic, especially for its time. Perhaps one day when I retire and have nothing better to do in the 24 hour day, I can pursue my life long ambition of completing The Magic Candle.

[Blank_box]

This is real gem for RPG realm. k: A lot of innovation that still progressive even for today RPG game.

Aren't there any manual of this gem? I have a little confuse in this game.

[Borodin]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Guest @ May 30 2006, 02:06 PM) [snapback]233287[/snapback]</div>

I'm told, however, that the actual gameplay required to complete The Magic Candle is well over 100 hours. What an epic, especially for its time.[/b]

Eh? RPGs back in the 1980s routinely offered "75-100+ hours of gameplay" and advertised this on their boxes. Conversely, it's modern developers who are aiming for the younger console market that produce PC-based RPGs with 30 hours of gameplay or less.