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.

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Previously, in Secret of the Silver Blades:

The heroes from Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds were just hanging around bored when they were magically yanked over to a small mining town with a monster problem. Unfortunately their clothes and weapons didn't make the trip, but the people there have been really nice to them. Mostly because they want them to reclaim the portal hub at the Well of Knowledge, and slay the monsters crawling up from their mine tunnels.

The group hasn't actually done either of those things yet, but they have gotten some level ups and found some loot. Plus they even killed a dragon and stole it's cash, so that was pretty hardcore. But the Well remains lost, the portals are inactive and the giant labyrinth within the ruins of Old Verdigris remains unconquered. For now.

And now, the continuation:

I decided to be really brave and go free the Well of Knowledge at the centre of the portal hub like I was told to right at the start of the game.

It turns out that the place is guarded by dragons! Lots of them. The centre of the map is surrounded by rings of fences and every successive ring contains an even more dangerous battle.

I'm starting to feel a lot better about my 'screw around doing other stuff and then come back to deal with the main problem later' strategy. At least now I have a few extra levels and some better equipment than I would've had.

I've also had a brilliant idea: if I know that I'm going to be fighting fire-breathing dragons, why don't I cast 'resist fire' on everyone before the fight!

And 'bless', I'll cast that as well. All it does is increase 'to hit' rolls by one, but being more likely to hit enemies can't hurt. Well, it can't hurt me.

Once a spell has been cast it disappears from the caster's spell list and I have to re-memorise it again when I next rest. And I mean I have to manually select it from the list, the game doesn't automatically restore spells I've used. This is the fourth Gold Box game, you'd think the developers themselves would've gotten sick of this by now!

Oh damn, that's a big dragon!

I was concerned that this was going to go badly for me... but it turned out to be fine. It got one shot off, my characters were barely singed, and Kaylee got her revenge by zapping it with an ice wand. I didn't expect it to be so effective! I've been collecting these wands and never using them, but maybe it wouldn't be so bad to spend a couple of charges every now and then to get tougher opponents off the board faster.

Turns out my team got 9301 XP for that fight! The loot wasn't so amazing though; a composite long bow, a potion, some bracers. I was expecting more somehow. 

But I did get another reward: screaming, from all over the map. Seems like freeing the Well of Knowledge from the dragon just killed every random encounter in the area, permanently. Now it's safe to have a nap!

So I have finally reached the Well of Knowledge, and it's more talkative than I expected for a pool of water. 

That's fine though, after all those battles I'm ready to relax and read a bit of exposition.

So the Black Circle are actually the ones who released the monsters and they're attempting to wake the Dreadlord, who's trapped inside the frozen castle on the title screen. Somehow though I don't think anything I do is going to prevent them from releasing the final boss... because he's the final boss.

The Well of Knowledge is what dragged us into this situation to begin with (without our kit), so we didn't have a great introduction. But now it's being a lot more helpful.

Though there's a catch: it's a wishing well, so I have to buy its assistance with gems. Lots of gems.

It's a typical 'the ancient device in the ruins is happy to help but its helpfulness is arbitrarily limited for story purposes' scenario. Like the Guardian of Forever in that Star Trek episode.

I chose to sacrifice some gems and it gave me an important hint about an object I must acquire. It scared me for a moment because I thought it was sending me to the dragon hoard I'd already raided, as I'd sold all its treasure ages ago. But nah, it wants me to go after a different dragon with a different hoard down in the bottom left of the maze.

The Well has even provided a map on a parchment scroll! Soggy, but intact. The map all seems very straightforward, I just have to head through 53 doors and archways without losing track of where I am, and I'm there.

I am going to get right on that, but first I need to go to the New Verdigris market and get all this heavy money into the vault so my characters are able to move more than three squares in a fight again. Also I just realised that it's been ages since I checked Marcus the Wizard's magic shop, maybe I can afford a new wand now.

Uh, sorry guys I was just trying to fill in all the squares on my map, I didn't think anyone would mind if I started walking around the magic shop!

But it is kind of suspicious how many guards this place has. I know they've got the most expensive items in the market, but this is a bit much. Seems like something worth investigating further...

These guys weren't kidding about how much they desire their privacy. Though I've seen through their clever ruse, as their unit names give away that they're part of the Black Circle! Marcus the Wizard needs to be more careful when hiring staff.

And I need to be more careful with this interface. The fight was going well until I accidentally selected 'Target' instead of 'Manual' and fired a fireball on the heads of my own team. Manual is aim, Target is fire, how am I still forgetting this?

I loaded my last save and this time I cast 'enlarge' on all my fighters to give them 22 strength before starting the fight. I don't think they've invented steam trains in this world yet, but these guys are about to find out what it feels like to be hit by one. Plus I'll be throwing around a bit of 'hold person' and 'slay living' just to keep things interesting.

Ow.

I defeated the guards and went exploring the back rooms, but there was a trap at the door that took off a third of everyone's health! Come on Jayne, you're the thief, you should've spotted this.

Hey Marcus, are you in here? Do you need any help?

Dude, what is even happening right now?

I just came here to see what the prices on wands were like before I went off into the ruins, I didn't expect this to turn into a whole side mission.

Marcus sent out monsters that can turn my dudes to stone! I don't even know if I can fix that.

Fortunately I do know exactly where to target fireball so that I can catch a bunch of them in the blast. I'm just going to keep fighting under the assumption that I'll be able to un-petrify Simon afterwards and I'll not have to load a save game to get him back.

Damn, I got 22,431 experience points for winning that fight! Plus I'm absolutely loaded now, with all the gems the Well could ever want. Though I'm still one person down.

I've found a place in town called the Temple of Gond - if anyone has a stone to flesh spell for Simon it's these guys. And I don't even need to pay because everyone here likes us so much. I just hope he doesn't lose any stats.

Alright, my team is back to full strength. Plus I've got a clear objective and a map to lead me there. But I'm not quite done with Marcus' magic shop yet. There's still one room I haven't looked in yet.

It's the assassins that attacked me in the mayor's house! Turns out that the magic shop is their base.

They probably weren't expecting their targets to come to them. Fortunately I expected trouble and buffed my whole team before coming in. Enlarge doesn't make my heroes huge like a Mario mushroom, but these folks are about to get stepped on anyway.

Oh no, they poisoned and killed my dude! That's not fair! Now I really do have to reload a save. That's spoiled the whole mood.

Damn, someone found Marcus' inventory before I did. At least I can still buy them and I think they may even be a little cheaper now.

Seems that Book's ready for another level up after all that fighting. The game doesn't actually tell you when someone's ready, I guess you're supposed to keep track of your XP and compare it to the tables in the manual. 

Fortunately Gold Box Companion adds a little experience bar that turns yellow when it's full, so I never have to think about it. All I need to do is go find the training hall.

Turns out that he has access to first level druid spells, so I'll give him 'entangle'. Another new toy to accidentally cast on my own people. Okay, time to go hike through the ruins maze and find this dragon to get this crucial item. 

17 MINUTES LATER

Oh no, Kaylee! She's not just knocked out, she's dead! I'll have to load my last save.

It's my own fault for forgetting to cast 'resist fire' on everyone before the fight. At least I remembered to save the game! The next time around I buffed my team and survived his first turn. He did not get a second turn and the Amulet of Eldamar is now mine.

There was an inactive portal here that came to life once the dragon was defeated, so I was able to step through and return to the Well of Knowledge! I've got no reason to ever come back to the dragon hoard, but it's nice to unlock a fast travel option. 

I'll just have to mark where the portal goes on the map, because the game doesn't tell you.

Unfortunately paying the Well for my next objective wasn't as helpful as I hoped. The Amulet reveals the presence of keys hidden within the dungeon... what dungeon though? I haven't come across anywhere leading to a dungeon. Man, I need that button that Hillsfar has that reminds you where you need to go next.

Okay, I feel like now's the time to sort out the Black Circle Headquarters in the ruins. No one's told me about it but I can see it on the map in the clue book and I know now that they're the bad guys.

It's going to be a bit of a hike though.

BACK IN THE RUINS OF OLD VERDIGRIS

This is what it looks like walking from the Well of Knowledge to the Black Circle HQ. I don't even know why people at the time criticised the game for being a maze of dull hallways and empty rooms!

I did edit out a random battle about halfway through though, which was solved very quickly with the help of my fireball spell. Some spells lose their usefulness over time, but fireball's damage is based on the caster's level so it never goes out of fashion. Seriously, the spell is really overpowered and I love it; the only negative is you have to aim carefully or else you'll catch your own people in the blast.

(The trick is to press space to centre the screen on the cursor so you can better visualise its blast radius).

BLACK CIRCLE HEADQUARTERS

Alright this place doesn't look any different to the ruins maze, but I'm certain this is the Black Circle Headquarters.

The place is great because it's a regular 16x16 level and I can use my automap again! Though I'm pretty much just going into barracks and offices, and finding nothing useful. Nothing but the personal items of Black Circle officers that may have meant something to them but are worthless and meaningless to me.

I'm hoping that I can find an office or a cupboard or something that's sleep in. Because I'm a long way from anywhere friendly and backtracking through the maze to the safety of the Well of Knowledge is far too much of a pain in the ass for me to consider. It can be really frustrating when you need to sleep to get your health and crowd control spells back and it won't let you. It's like playing an FPS and it won't let you reload!

Hey, I found a note.

The "clerk from Phlan"? 

So hang on, the Black Circle have got the unnamed City Council clerk that gave me my commissions in Pool of Radiance and they're going to sacrifice her to a dragon?

Pool of Radiance (MS-DOS)

It's funny how she's one of the only returning characters I've met so far in all these games, as she wasn't exactly a character to begin with. Well at least she's probably not bored any more.

There have been a lot of D&D games between this and Pool of Radiance, but it's only been two years and graphics haven't improved much. In fact all that's really changed visually is the frame. My character stats have gotten way better though, I mean look how much health I used to have!

SOON

Wow, I was wrong, they actually have improved the visuals! The artists were still working with the same EGA colour limits but they've done well with them.

Unfortunately the clerk doesn't actually remember us from the other game and she's not happy to see another group waving swords at her. I chose to "soothe her", which made her calm down a bit and give me a map of the circle's inner sanctum. She's still not happy though!

I continued through the Black Circle base, hiding in cupboards to rest and collecting loot from fights.

Well, I looked through the loot at least. I can use 'detect magic' to reveal the quality magic stuff in the list, but it doesn't matter as I'm too overloaded at this point to pick any of it up and I can't be bothered to go all the way back through the maze to sell anything. The money wouldn't be much use to me anyway.

I don't even know why I'm not just dropping everything that's worse than what I have equipped. Or the money I'm dragging around! It kind of sucks that finding rewards in this game is so unrewarding a lot of the time. Unless it's a +3 frost brand sword or something.

LATER, AT THE END OF THE BLACK CIRCLE BASE

A glowing pool you say???

Oh hang on, this isn't a pool of radiance, I've accidentally wandered into the dragon sauna! It's a cool looking place though. EGA gives artists some distinctive limitations and they've gone wild within them.

I defeated the dragon hatchlings along with the last of the Black Circle, so now I guess I've achieved something! I've definitely opened another portal back to the Well of Knowledge hub. Man, where were these portals when I needed them back in Curse of the Azure Bonds?

I checked the clue book for a hint and it said I should be going to the mine next. The entrance is just a little to the west of the Well of Knowledge, so I figured it wouldn't take me long to get there. Not when I have the map in the clue book to follow.

But then my greatest fear came true: I got into a random encounter and lost track of where I was! I've been wandering around lost for ages, trying to find a room distinctive enough to recognise on the map, but I can't find any of these places. It's like I've wandered off the map entirely.

EVENTUALLY

Well it turned out that I had wandered off the map. I'd accidentally walked out of the maze and back into the Black Circle HQ.

But I'm back on track now. I've found the mine entrance and now there's no mystery about where I should be going next. I'm going down.

On the first level I found a temple, which is a bit of strange thing to come across underground in a mine.

Inside the temple I found a grumpy old dwarf cleric called Derf Strongarm. For real, that's his actual name. And it turns out that he knows the Secret of the Silver Blades! Yay, I did it, I solved the title! They were a group of heroes who fought the Dreadlord. Unfortunately he's the only one of them left, so he's given us a test to complete to prove that we're worthy of becoming the next Silver Blades! We're to find the eight pieces of Oswulf's staff, which are hidden on each of the first eight levels of this mine.

Okay, first, I'm a little disappointed that 'Silver Blades' didn't turn out to be the name of the mountain range. Second, I don't really want to search the mine for eight pieces of a magic key. I just want to slay bad guys and get loot.

At least I found a cache of Silver Blade-brand gear here, along with another portal! These portals have become the most amazing reward I can find, as every one of them is another part of that bloody ruins maze or the mines that I'll never have to walk through again.

Alright I need to quickly race back to the vault before I carry on. I've got 76,583 platinum saved up now, so I'm in no danger of running out of 1 GP arrows in the foreseeable future, but it doesn't hurt to have a little more money in there just in case.

It turns out that the mine is a bit of a maze as well, using the same clever trickery and repeating rooms in order to extend beyond the normal 16x16 boundaries of a map. The good news is that it's a lot less of a labyrinth. The bad news is that there are 10 floors.

Man, I miss my Gold Box Companion automap.

Fortunately the clue book is here to save me once again. As long as I can keep track of where I am in these long tunnels made from identical repeating rooms.

The trouble with the ruins maze was that it was too big to even think about exploring everywhere, but the trouble with the mines is that it's not. In fact the game wants you to visit all the dead ends. It's just too big to have much fun doing it.

I remember whining about the Nashkel Mines in Baldur's Gate, which was a similar mess of tunnels. But at least that had an overhead view and an in-game map, and involved much less walking. I'm so bored right now that I've been reading the notes next to the map, even though they spoil where the treasure is.

Bloody hell, I'm glad I checked the clue book now, as the game's given me no hint about this. None that I remember anyway. Seems a bit harsh for the canary though.

Okay, where am I? I got turned around again. It wouldn't be so bad except the battles here aren't really worth my attention, in challenge or XP. The game has started asking if I want to talk to these monsters, and I keep saying 'yes', because sometimes it actually works and I avoid another fight.

This is one advantage that real-time-with-pause RPGs like Baldur's Gate have over turn-based RPGs, as they let you kill trash mobs and enemies you've outlevelled very quickly, letting you race towards something more entertaining.

Whoa, what's this thing that's just burst through the wall? And why does it have disco eyes? Or are they disco ears?

These Umber Hulks are a more interesting challenge than a lot of enemies down here as they can cast 'confusion' on my characters. I can still cast 'fireball' on them though, so they're not that interesting.

Wow, who could've foreseen this outcome?

I'm auto-battling low XP enemies in a confusing and tedious maze of featureless mine caverns, throwing away all the loot I'm finding as I drag myself from one dead end to the next in order to find the piece of staff I need to pass some dude's test. And this is only the first floor of eight.

But aside from that, the game's not actually so bad.

Alright I have found the first part of the Staff of Oswulf! Yay. Only seven more to go.

Do I get a portal back home? No? Well... screw it then, I can't be bothered walking all the way back down this tunnel to the lift at the centre. Turns out I'm not just worthy to be a Silver Blade.


CONCLUSION

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When I wrote about Pool of Radiance a few months back, I mentioned that I'd never played the Gold Box RPGs before. They were an almost complete unknown for me. It may seem a bit weird that a BioWare fan who has a site full of '90s games would've missed such an important chunk of RPG history, but there's actually a really good reason I hadn't tried them out:

Magazine reviews said that they were bloody terrible.

Well, the ones I read did at least. Amiga Power in particular was giving them scores around 50% or below, in a tiny little review at the back of the mag, wedged in above some other game. But Secret of the Silver Blades stood out from the other Gold Box RPGs they covered.

Because Secret of the Silver Blades got a review score of 8%.

That makes it the 27th worst game in the magazine's history, down next to Dangerous Streets, Rise of the Robots, Last Action Hero, and the terrible port of Outrun. At least according to Stuart Campbell, who apparently spent ages trekking around without any idea what he was doing, trying to find any kind of action or characters to talk to. (Though according to a comment on a Kim Justice YouTube video he was actually given just two hours to review it when another reviewer missed the deadline).

UK publisher U.S. Gold was apparently so pissed off that they cut Amiga Power off from preview info and review copies after this, and honestly I'm with the publisher this time! I'm not going to criticise someone for playing a game for two hours, getting confused, and quitting, as that's basically my entire gimmick. But you don't stick a score on it afterwards and call it a review!

I think Stuart would've had a better time if he could've used Gold Box Companion, which adds extra info on units, a combat overview, and even an actual soundtrack if you download the latest version from its website. Plus it's got a much better automap, which lets you have fun filling in every square like in a Metroidvania.

Unfortunately that automap feature doesn't actually work in Secret of the Silver Blades, due to the way the game builds levels. It's cleverest innovation is also its worst feature, as it uses copied rooms and teleports to break the Gold Box engine's 16x16 tile limit and make an epic 84x61 tile mega-labyrinth. But Gold Box Companion doesn't see the final map, it only sees the pieces, so it doesn't work.

I can't really blame the developers for breaking the automapping feature of an add-on released decades after the games came out, but they broke the in-game automap as well! You'd struggle to even draw these mazes on graph paper, they're so damn big.

The game does actually give you a bit of help, in fact the route from New Verdigris to the Well of Knowledge and the mines is actually printed at the start of the Adventurer's Journal. Trouble is that they forgot to write 'Ruins of Old Verdigris' on it, so I don't know how many people realised what it was. I certainly didn't pick up on it.

But even if you're following a map, getting around the identical repeated hallways is a tedious waste of time. You can't explore all of it, it's too big, and there's very little reward for trying. It's also really easy to lose where you are after a random encounter. And the place doesn't even look like ruins! You do get something in exchange for all this hassle: you get ten floors of mines afterwards, which replace the maze with long winding featureless tunnels. Then you get completely sick of it.

Pool of Radiance's biggest issue for me was that it has you fighting too many enemies. Curse of the Azure Bonds liked to lock me into quests without being able to return to town to identify new weapons and get a level up. Secret of the Silver Blades hasn't had those issues, instead its biggest problem is its level design, and that's a problem big enough to put me off.

Though I think I actually enjoyed the combat in this more than in the other games. Granted I've only played the first third of them maybe, but Silver Blades starts a new team around level 8, which gives you plenty of spells to have fun with. Plus the heroes will often actually hit what they're swinging their swords at! The downside is that it's been very combat focused, without as many conversations or scripted events to break it up. The random encounter rate is fine, but the battles are unrelenting enough to either tempt you to turn auto battle on, or leave you desperate for a safe place to rest. Either way it can become a slog.

Otherwise the game is basically just more of the same. The Gold Box combat is still pretty solid, the EGA graphics have barely improved, and it still doesn't re-memorise spells when you rest. Unfortunately its flaws mean I'd have to rank it as the worst of the four Gold Box games I've seen, and that's not great when you have to play through it all to bring a team into Pools of Darkness.

Though it's still my fourth favourite D&D game so far.

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Next on Super Adventures, it's another Gold Box RPG... unless it isn't. Whatever it is, it seems a little bit sci-fi this time. See if you can figure it out from the clue on the left.

Or if you just want to talk about Secret of the Silver Blades, that works too.