Way ahead of its time. This game has a lot of what you wish you would see in mmorpgs today.
Simply put, this 1993 RPG is enjoyable, featuring multiple ways to complete quests, a large world to explore as well as enough diversity and side-quests to keep players coming back for more.
Ive run into multiple fans even today who will still sometimes dust off the old box and play. While the graphics today may seem to some "unacceptable". Players from back in the day remember the "great graphics" from back then and we still see them as such. The music... well great music will always be great. A fan of the book or not, its definitely worth trying if you can handle the primitive graphics. As with most old games people who did not play them back in the day will find them hard to look at.
This game was made freeware to promote the sequel return to krondor, which was disappointing, and lacked everything good about the original. Personally, they could have made the new one freeware and the original $50, and I would have been willing to go back and buy the original had I not already owned it. In the end for me this game was, and still is the greatest RPG experience, and my favorite rpg of all time.