Golden Land E3 2004 Preshow Impressions

Don't let the screens fool you; Golden Land may look like another Diablo clone, but it's not. First off, the game's combat is turn-based and not real-time, which means you'll be able to sit back and plan your moves instead of mashing on the left mouse button. And second, it's being designed to be an epic, full-scale role-playing game packing between 100 to 200 hours of gameplay. That's comparable to the sprawling Baldur's Gate games.

The initial story is a bit complicated, but your character is tasked with an important quest in order to save the people of the Golden Land from the evil Drah-Shu. The game promises a huge virtual world to explore, with more than 200 unique locales split among three gigantic nations. The world is also populated with more than 1,000 unique non-player characters, and they'll share a wide range of attitudes toward your character, ranging from like to dislike and more.

And no fantasy role-playing game would be complete without magic and lots of stuff to collect. The intricate magic system packs more than 70 spells, divided into six distinct schools of magic. You can create your own items, and there's a dizzying number of possibilities, as the game will have more than 800 special object properties you can imbue into an item.

However, at the heart of the game will be the role-playing experience. Golden Land touts an advanced character system that should let you develop a unique character. And since role-playing is about making decisions, the game will feature different endings depending on the path you carve out for yourself.

The game is being developed by Russia's Burut Software. Strategy First hasn't committed to a release date yet, but we'll keep you up to date with developments on Golden Land.