Starfield (PC) - Part 1

Developer:

Bethesda

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Release Date:

2023

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Systems:

Win, Series X|S

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This week, Bethesda's infamous Starfield is getting a free update to coincide with its launch on the PlayStation 5! It's a huge upgrade that apparently makes the game better in every way.

But I won't be covering that.

I actually played Starfield way back in January 2025 and never finished writing about it. Because I somehow keep forgetting that trying to do seven things at the same time always leads to nothing getting done. So this week on Super Adventures, I'm opening a time capsule containing my opinions on the game as it was.

It's a shame I couldn't have been more hyped about Starfield, as I love the 3D Fallout games and Mass Effect, and space games like TIE Fighter and Freelancer used to be my thing. So "A new space RPG by the makers of Fallout 3" was right at the top of my 'dream game list', just underneath "A new space RPG by the makers of Fallout: New Vegas". I can't believe I actually got both of them in the end, though it wasn't a huge shock to me that both turned out kind of flawed.

Still, it's a new IP from the developer that gave us the Fallout sequels and the Elder Scrolls sequels and nothing else in two decades besides IHRA Professional Drag Racing, so that on its own is interesting. Though it wouldn't have been so bad if they had used an existing IP for their space game... like that Star Trek licence that Bethesda Softworks had at one point. "A Star Trek RPG by the makers of Fallout 3" is even higher on my 'dream game list'. 

Alright, I'm going to go on an expedition into Starfield to see if there's any joy in there to find. It's a big universe so this will be the first part of two.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 16: Gold Box - Secret of the Silver Blades (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing a little more of the MS-DOS version of Secret of the Silver Blades.

That's actually the title screen from the PC-98 version up there, that's why it looks so dithered. They took a picture made to fit into a tiny EGA palette of 16 colours and then squeezed it down to just 7. Still, it could have been worse - the Macintosh version is black and white. I don't mean it's monochrome like the Game Boy, I mean it has two colours: black and white.

The game was released on five systems, MS-DOS, PC-98, Mac, C64 and Amiga, and they'd all gotten the previous two games as well, so anyone playing through the saga on one of those machines was in luck... for now. People who'd been playing on the Apple II or Atari ST were less fortunate as those computers got dropped here, and I doubt it was possible to get the saves working on another system. Their heroes had to all retire at game #2, never levelling up past level 12... or past level 4 if they were a halfling fighter with low strength (1st Edition AD&D is weird).

Okay, if you want to jump back to part one, CLICK HERE.

If you want to view the Dungeons & Dragons games I've played, CLICK HERE.

And if you want to keep reading, be aware that there will be SPOILERS beyond this point.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 15: Gold Box - Secret of the Silver Blades (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

SSI

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Release Date:

1990

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Systems:

DOS, C64, Mac, Amiga, PC-98

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Today on Super Adventures, I'm playing the 11th Dungeons & Dragons video game, Secret of the Silver Blades! 

I'm playing the DOS version to be precise and I can already tell from this title screen that the game isn't going to be supporting 256 colour VGA graphics. That's fine though. 4 colour CGA was no fun for anyone, but Tandy and EGA hardware allowed artists a large enough palette to come up with something distinctive. They gave us a style tied to a specific time and place in history that otherwise would have never existed. A style with lots of magenta and cyan.

(I hope the VGA era isn't too far off.)

Secret of the Silver Blades is the third game in the Pool of Radiance saga, following on from the events of Curse of the Azure Bonds. This means I've finally made it back to the Forgotten Realms campaign setting after a surprisingly long stay in the Dragonlance universe. I'm also back to the Gold Box engine, so I already have a good idea of what this is going to be like.

Anyway, I'm going to be playing the game for a few hours, so there may be SPOILERS here for this and earlier games in the series.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 14: DragonStrike (MS-DOS) and DragonStrike (NES)

This week on Super Adventures, I've finally got another excuse to Photoshop together a title image. The weird thing is, I started adding the ripped cover effect to it before I noticed that the Amiga version's cover already uses a torn paper effect (you can see it the top left behind the dude). That's such a weird coincidence. Their effect is better, but I think mine came out looking okay.

Anyway DragonStrike came out in 1990 and is the 10th Dungeons & Dragons game. Meanwhile DragonStrike (NES) came out in 1992 and is the 21st Dungeons & Dragons game. It was pretty common at the time for different systems to get wildly different games that all shared the same title, but in this case it's only the NES release that just had to be awkward.

Covering both games at the same time requires breaking the timeline a bit, but doing it this way means I get to compare them, so you're getting double dragons this week.