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Review of RuneSword II
RuneSword II (RS2) is an unusual CRPG in that it comes with several adventures (we call them tomes) of varying sizes instead of one, and an RPG construction set called the Creator. The effect of the game is meant to be an homage to pen and paper role playing games, right down to the rolling dice.
The initial interface in the Create Character section is spartan, but functional. You don’t get to roll up your stats or even assign them from a pool of stat points,. The skills list makes up for it though. Once you choose a race, you get a huge list of interesting skills to choose from with 60 skill points to spend. The best skills like weapons or spells cost 20-25 points, but there are a bunch of cool lesser skills that are cheap. There’s 40 skills in all, a few are Sword, Lustspell, Pick Locks, Heroism, Arcane Lore, Whirlwind, Perfect Hit, Backstab, Cleave, Acrobatics, etc. These are like feats in D&D. There’s enough there that you can make lots of completely different characters. The skills make the combat part of RS2 really shine, but more on that later.
Instead of one large tome, you have two medium size tomes that take 20-30 hours each to complete, and 3 smaller tomes that can be finished in a few sessions. All of the adventures are set in a specific game world. This game world is somewhat unusual for a CRPG in that characters have vice ratings – lust, lunacy, wrath, revelry, greed, and pride. These vices can affect character reactions in roleplaying situations. I remember a somewhat similar system in the a pen and paper RPG called Pendragon. You do control your characters still, but they can get angry or lustful or whatever and amusing encounters soon follow. Moreover, there is a spell school based on each vice, and vices are the “saving throws” against hostile spells. Note that vices are not like alignment in D&D, they’re not about good vs. evil. Vices are more of an issue of self-control in RS2.
The graphics in RS2 aren’t what you’d call cutting edge. The map is an isometric interface, like Civilization or similar games, which the characters are painted miniatures. It’s meant to look like minatures on a landscape (ah, just go look at screen shots and see for youself). The other graphical parts of the interface and the items in the inventory sections are more standard fare. RS2 also resizes nicesly to whatever resolution your desktop is running at. It’s not in the same league as Baldur’s Gate, Pool of Radiance, or any big name CRPG title in the looks department.
The music is very good classical fare. The MP3 tracks match the adventuring or combat mood, and it really does the job. You can also drop your own MP3’s into combat and adventure directories, so you can score your own game if you want. The mouse interface is good for both movement and combat. The Land Beyond has a few tips at the beginning from the Dungeon Master, but no real “training” area.
The combat deserves a special mention, because that’s where RS2 is really like pen and paper RPG’s. It actually rolls a d20 to hit, and other dice for damage… nice touch. But what’s really nice is that the combat zooms in on a special screen, and those skills you have really come into play in a nicely done turn based system. It’s one of the best combat systems I’ve seen in a CRPG. Monsters act in somewhat unpredictable ways, they say stuff (in text) occasionally, and the feel of it is very good. Now some people don’t like turn based systems, and if you prefer Baldur’s Gate style combat, where you just interrupt things occasionally, you may not like RS2’s.
RS2 is not a hack n slasher, though (unless you make a hack n slash tome). The plot wasn’t trite in The Land Beyond, there are a few good puzzles to make you think, and I’ve played it for about 20 without a bit of boredom. You can find your way around pretty easily, and there is an automap if you get disoriented in a dungeon. Crosscut has one additional tome called “Too Many Words” that’s based on the work of Jorge Luis Borges. Too Many Words has no combat whatsoever, it’s more of a surreal puzzler. Also, there are several fan-developed tomes that are available for downloading.
There are several AVI format videos on how to use the Creator on the CD. The Creator is very open-ended. You can go “lite” and simply auto-generate tomes by answering a few questions, or you can get down and dirty and make original material. Unlike most CRPG’s there is no problem with magic items working in different tomes.
A few more notes:
* No multiplayer * Character advancement is fun, you can boost your skills to righteous levels * Monsters can also kick ass, though, so the challenge is there * There is a difficulty setting for easing combat * There are a bunch of option settings for the game, which is very nice for customizing. I liked being able to change the look of the interface and the dice (got my lucky dice). * You can edit your characters very easily with the Creator, no hassle cheating * The scripting in the Creator is “pick list” style, so there’s no syntax hassles. The scripting language itself is specialized and simple, unlike a C or Java subset language * There is an active community of Creators who give tips and exchange additional content * The system is very open. If you want to, you can create your own alternate world, go into sci-fi or other genres, create new skills, spells, items, monsters, maps, music, etc.
Summary
On the negative side, RuneSword II is $40 and not a looker. On the positive side, it’s deep and fun, with a lot of play value. It doesn’t take up much hard drive space, so RS2 is excellent for a “fire it up for some fun sometimes” games. Combat’s really good, and there are so many tweaks and adjustments you can make that it’s hard to resist.
Baldur’s Gate 2 is a Lexus parked in front of a mansion. RuneSword II is a Honda Civic parked in a garage -- that has the engine on a lift, aftermarket speakers, and a paint gun. It runs a little rough in places. Download the demo game before you buy, because this is definitely not a game for everyone. If you’re a tinker type, you’ll like it for sure.
RS2 is only available by ordering by phone or on-line. Try before you buy; there is a demo and links to real reviews at the web site: www.runesword.com
