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E3 2001 Hands-On: Gorasul: The Legacy of the Dragon

Jowood has playable build of its upcoming RPG on the show floor at this year's E3.

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One of the games in Jowood's extensive lineup at this year's E3 is a new role-playing game named Gorasul: The Legacy of the Dragon. The game follows the adventures of a character named Roszondas, who was left on the doorstep of a dragon's lair by his mother because of his severe illness. The dragon takes Roszondas in and cures him by blowing her dragon breath over his ailing body. However, as Roszondas begins to age, he finds that the dragon breath has given him special powers that no other human has. When he reaches adult age, he's recruited by the gods to help fight against a group of powerful demons that have waged war on the gods as well as mortals. Roszondas beats the demons back but unfortunately dies in the battle--his soul is taken to the underworld, where it rests for more than 10 years. During Roszondas' absence, the demons come back, and the gods are not strong enough to fight the resurgence of evil, so they resurrect Roszondas from the dead. Unfortunately, his soul has been resting for so long that he no longer has all of his memory and can't remember what kind of abilities he has.

The character creation process in Gorasul is pretty standard, as you can select from different classes--including some unique ones like executioner--and adjust different types of characteristics such as strength, intelligence, and courage. Interestingly, character creation doesn't stop with the actual character. Gorasul also lets you select a starting weapon that has its own unique attributes, but it also has its own personality. The personality of your weapon plays a very important role in the game because sometimes it will not obey your orders to fight. And sometimes it will fight without asking your permission. For example, if you come across a creature that is peaceful but happens to be the archenemy of your weapon, the weapon will start to go after the creature. Fortunately, you're given three weapon slots, so you can replace your primary weapon if you find that it's out of control or it's fighting random creatures. So don't be surprised if your weapon strikes up a conversation with you at some points.

Roszondas still has a few dragon-specific skills since coming back to life. The first is dragon fear, which can cause enemies to run away in case you're overwhelmed. The second spell is dragon breath, and it's primarily an offensive spell used for taking out entire groups of enemies in a single shot. The third and fourth dragon-specific spells--dragon strength and dragon eyes--are used for boosting character stats. Obviously, dragon strength increases Roszondas' strength so that he can lift heavier objects. Dragon eyes enhance sight so that the fog of war in the game is much less pervasive. There are quite a few other spells at your disposal, and you'll learn them as you progress further into the game.

There are two major types of gameplay in Gorasul--action and questing. The action elements of Gorasul are fairly straightforward: You fight groups of enemies and level bosses scattered throughout the land. A very useful option in the action portions of the game essentially lets you switch between controlling the attacks yourself, like in Diablo, or automating all melee attacks to give you time to focus your attention on using spells. The questing portions are mostly made up of riddles and puzzles that you have to solve. One of the first puzzles in the game is to find out how to get Gorasul out of his tower because he has sealed the entrance with a spell, but he simply can't remember the spell anymore, so you have to look for clues.

Gorasul: Legacy of the Dragon has quite a few interesting features. The fact that your weapon has a personality that intertwines itself into the gameplay is a nice twist, and it gives a whole new dimension to weapon use other than just raw stats. Visually, Gorasul looks very much like the Baldur's Gate series with its prerendered backgrounds and characters--even the clicking icon looks identical to the one in Baldur's Gate. Jowood says that Gorasul will have more than 50 hours of gameplay, but the overall length of the game depends on whether or not you participate in some of the side quests. Gorasul: Legacy of the Dragon is scheduled for release in September.

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