Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 25: Gold Box - Gateway to the Savage Frontier (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm still playing the DOS version of Gateway to the Savage Frontier!

Though I decided to show the title screen from the Amiga port this time and I really shouldn't have bothered. It turns out that the only difference between the two is that some of the dots are purple in the Amiga game and green in the PC game.

There's no flashy PC-98 version to show off this time and I already showed the C64 title, so that's it really. We're past the days where there were a dozen competing computer formats, and they didn't go wild and port it to the Phillips CD-i or Atari Lynx or something.

Still, they did alright on PC, at least according to a chart I saw in Computer Gaming World issue #89 which said it was the best selling MS-DOS game in North America in August 1991!

Okay, this is part 2, so if you want to read part 1 you should CLICK HERE. Otherwise carry on reading what you're reading, though I'm getting deeper into the story now so beware of SPOILERS.

---

Previously, in Gateway to the Savage Frontier:

My team of six heroes woke up in an inn to find that they'd fallen victim to an evil scheme. It wasn't azure bonds this time, that was a different group of heroes, these guys just got drugged and robbed. 

After a bit of shopping to cheer themselves up they headed out only to run into more thieves, these ones harassing a guy called Krevish! So they kicked their asses with their brand new discount swords and a grateful Krevish introduced them to an angry friend of his who lurks behind a secret door.

The man had a mission for them, but I accidentally skipped that bit of the text. All I know is that it involves this guy in the picture and we're heading to Nesme!

And now, the continuation:

We were met with a really impressive view when we arrived in Nesme, at least that's what the text said. Unfortunately there's been a rebellion here and barbarians are currently roaming the streets as random encounters. The shops are still civilised enough though, so I can restock on arrows, and darts for my magic-user.
I carried on through the town until I reached the gate at the south wall.

Turns out that there's a sign on the door saying to be careful going into the ruins because they're full of trolls. But that's exactly what I didn't want to fight! Alright, I'm putting a pin in the ruins to the south for now; I'll come back once I'm higher than level 2.

There are plenty of other doors I can try, so I'll keep checking around Nesme .

It's funny how comfortable I am with walking around these towns in tiny flick-screen 3D now. I used to bounce right off games like The Bard's Tale and Might and Magic, but something's changed.

(Gold Box Companion bolted an automap to the side of the DOSBox window that I can make notes on, that's what's changed).

SEVERAL BARBARIANS LATER

Frog attack!

At least this random encounter makes a change from all the roaming barbarian gangs I've been fighting.

The thing that's annoying me most is how it feels like every attack anyone makes ends in a miss. It's like I'm playing Morrowind again.
 

I can live with my AC being a bit low for an area, but when my THAC0 is too high that's just frustrating. Wait, did I get that the right way around? AC is armour class, THAC0 is chance to hit. Low is good, high is bad.

Well I've searched all the streets and I'm quickly running out of tiny one-tile warehouses to barge into, but I've found nothing so far. Oh hang on, Sonic the Hedgehog just spotted a secret passage in a building next to the Waukeen Temple! 

Good observation skills there buddy. Time to burst in and catch the villains by surprise

Oh, we just burst into a Waukeen priestess's personal chamber. Uh... it was Krevish's fault!

The priestess is actually fairly happy to see us as she had no idea this door was here and she's sure the bad guys were going to use it to sneak into the temple and slaughter them all. That's a bit dark!

She reckons that someone called Longtresses was behind it, just like she's behind the barbarians roaming the city. The woman wants control of Nesme and will do anything for power! Allegedly.

By pure chance I broke into Longstresses Alaruan's building shortly after and it turns out that she's got the exact same portrait! Well, almost.

She actually admitted that it is her fault there are barbarians wandering the streets, but she explained to us that she's trying to save the city from the corrupt priests of Waukeen!

It's a bit early for things to get so complicated, I haven't even levelled up yet!

A FEW SECRET PASSAGEWAYS LATER

Aha, I found the dude that Krevish's angry friend sent us to find!

Oh crap, they just cast 'curse' on a whole bunch of my guys and now they have a countdown timer on them. Either that means that the curse wears off in five turns, or it kills them, or worse, I honestly don't know!

Fortunately this fight ain't going to last five turns, as I had one cast of 'sleep' left to pull out of my hat and I just used it to hit six of the enemies simultaneously. Always target enemy clerics and mages first, though if you can disable everyone in one turn, that works too.

Alright, I actually got a good haul from that fight! Banded armour is basic gear in the other games, but I haven't seen it for sale in this yet, so it'll look nice on my fighters. Plus I got a mysterious ring!

Hey, secret documents, nice. Lots of spy business going on in this game.

Most of their papers got destroyed, but I can check my journal to see what the surviving page says.

248 words this time! They could've at least broken them up a bit with some pictures, that's always worked for me.

To summarise, by killing the Banite bad guys I just foiled their plan to stop the even worse Zhentarium bad guys. In fact the Zhentarim prisoners they've been holding were "laughing unnaturally" at us for being idiots. 

The prisoners found it less amusing when they slipped out into the street and got caught by the barbarians outside. Made me laugh though.

(From the Hillsfar manual)

Hang on, these guys are from Zhentil Keep? That's just down the road from Phlan and Hillsfar! I guess you can take these games out of the Moonsea region but you can't take the Moonsea region out of the games.

On the plus side, we've got a main quest now. It's up to us to save the Northern Realms! 

First, I need to stop at the shop to offload my loot and holy shit the stuff the Banites had is worth a fortune! I'm still looking for 1000 gold to pay for Mario's first level up, and this ring alone could pay for it 15 times over.

I decided to pool my character's pitiful cash and spent 200 gold to ID the ring. Turns out that it's a ring of protection +2 that boosts a character's armour class. If the enemies were frustrated trying to hit my paladin before, they're going to love this. Aww, but that means I can't sell it! Sorry Mario.

Alright I'm out of better ideas (and I'm not going into the ruins to fight trolls), so I'm returning across the world map to Yartar to see if I can report my success to Krevish's mysterious angry pal.

Damn, I forgot about the basilisks out here! They can apparently be defeated with silver mirrors, but I don't own any, so I'm just going to have to load a save again.

Returning to Yartar didn't actually help at all, I can't even pay for Mario's level up yet. So I checked the cluebook that came with the Steam version and it turns out I should already know what to do. The hint was in that huge block of text that I picked up after that fight with the Banites, where it said their agent in Silverymoon has a hidden temple behind a shop.

Next stop, we're going to the city of Silverymoon!

SOMEWHERE IN THE SAVAGE WILDERNESS

Getting anywhere in this game means crossing the wilderness and fighting random encounters, which isn't really a huge problem to be honest. In fact I was counting on it, as I'm trying to raise some funds. My team is the first group of heroes in Gold Box RPG history to be struggling for money.

Unfortunately these fights are mostly giving me XP, which means that half the party is ready for me to buy them a level up now!

Okay, new plan. I'm going to put Silverymoon on hold for a while and see if the game has any side-quests I can do to earn some cash Seems to me that the best place to look is a major city, somewhere like... Neverwinter!

NEVERWINTER

I suppose it's going to be a few more years before video game graphics can do the city justice.

Though Neverwinter looks different to how it used to, apparently. New buildings in almost every direction. I appreciate the developers pointing out that it's changed in-universe, they didn't just give it a visual reimagining and ask players to go along with it, but... this is Savage Frontier Vol. 1. And you never visit Neverwinter in the Pool of Radiance saga.

I soon stumbled across Lord Nasher's magnificent castle, which was a breathtaking sight. You'll have to take my word for that though, and I'm taking the game's word for it. Hey, should I try walking right in and asking Lord Nasher for a job? I feel like that usually works in fantasy RPGs. Maybe there's a princess he needs retrieving.

Damn, I'm glad Lord Nasher didn't mistake me for a burglar, because he looks ready to club somebody's head in.

Maybe he's just worried about all the monsters lurking around town recently. Journal entry #17 explains that the inner areas of the city were becoming a haven for criminals, so they did some redevelopment and converted several blocks to indoor gardens. Which then became a haven for monsters.

This sounds like a job for a team of heroic adventurers! A job that pays, hopefully.

First though I need to spend a night in Neverwinter to recover my health and spells at the inn.

My team had a rare case of good fortune here as the room I chose has a secret. The top wall can be bashed open for a shortcut into one of those indoor gardens! Or, if you look at it another way, I've got a shortcut for a free room at the inn.

But I really do need to get some rest and heal up before I do anything else.

Oh bloody hell, that's not what you want to see over your bed. Especially as I'm in the inn! I pay to sleep here because I know it's the place where I won't be attacked!

I defeated the gnolls, went back to sleep, got attacked again, then decided to leave the inn a bad review on Yelp before going somewhere else for the night. The worst part is that they didn't even drop much money.

I'm getting attacked in the street now! What even is that thing? Lord Nasher's right, this neighbourhood's really going downhill.

Though I do like how classy and grand the city feels otherwise. Sure it looks just like everywhere else, but having the shop signs say things like 'Neverwinter Fine Hand-Crafted Weapons' instead of 'Angus Crapsmith's Discount Used Sword Shack' does a lot of heavy lifting. Oh and 'Hall of Training' sounds better than 'Training Hall'.

Incidentally, I'm glad that they've put training halls everywhere in this one so I don't have to hike across the map whenever I want to level up. I just need to make a lot of money. 

EVENTUALLY

Awesome, I have paid for Mario to have his level up at last! But I took so long that he's right on the verge of having enough XP to level up again. Exactly one more fight should do it.

That's not a coincidence, from what I've read characters stop getting XP when they reach the verge of being able to level up twice. Seems like an unnecessary waste to me, especially as I'm the one doing all the work to earn the experience points it's throwing away. It just makes me more anxious about getting everyone's names back from purple to blue as soon as possible.

Anyway, Mario's my cleric and he just got a new level of spells to memorise, so I think I'll give him... 'hold person'. Making up to three enemies completely helpless is a pretty good move if you can pull it off.

Person held!

I'm in one of the indoor gardens right now and I've been mostly fighting manticores and displacer beasts (which are even harder to hit than regular beasts). But this guy is a Zhentil fighter! Seems like the strange arrival of these creatures may be part of a Zhentarim plot. I should report this to Lord Nasher when I go collect my reward and see what he has to say about this interesting development.

Oh, he said nothing at all. He didn't even give me any money! I dunno, maybe I missed one of the gardens. Or maybe this game just doesn't have side-quests and I'm wasting my time here.

Fine, I'll go somewhere else and leave Neverwinter until later.

Actually, no, wait, I have a better idea!

---

1991: NEVERWINTER NIGHTS (MS-DOS)

Developer:

Beyond Software

|

Release Date:

1991

|

Systems:

DOS

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm also playing Neverwinter Nights!

I said in my intro to part 1 that Beyond Software were RPG veterans, but there was a lot of text there so I decided not to go into detail about how they started off as pioneers in online gaming, working with AOL in the '80s. I also didn't mention that Gateway to the Savage Frontier was their second Gold Box RPG... probably. I'm pretty sure this came out in March 1991, but Gateway's a little hard to pin down.

Anyway, by the time that Beyond started making D&D RPGs with SSI they'd already had all that experience making online games, so they were the ones to realise that the Gold Box engine could be used to create an MMO with graphics. In fact Neverwinter Nights was the very first online RPG to have more on screen than just text. And it was a huge success as well! It held the record for the top earning MMO until Ultima Online came along in '97.

The thing is, Ultima Online may still be running to this day, but Neverwinter Nights isn't. The only way I can get a glimpse at how it used to play is to run an offline hack.

The game starts the same as any Gold Box game, pick your class, roll your scores, and so on. It has the same set of races and classes (dwarf, elf, gnome, half-elf, halfling, human). Though you don't get to modify your scores afterwards, so you gotta keep rerolling if you want strength above 18.

Hang on, that's the same border that Gateway to the Savage Frontier uses. That's no good, the frame is the only way I can tell these Gold Box games apart! Well, I suppose the font has changed a bit too.

Though Neverwinter looks different to how it used to, with new buildings in almost every direction. Hang on, is that why they mentioned things being changed in Gateway? Because the game came out after this and they needed to explain it?

Hey, Lord Nasher! I haven't seen you in ages. You're looking a bit more... EGA since last I saw you.

I've heard you've got important missions for adventurers from time to time, perhaps you have something for me to do now? No? Oh, okay, fair enough.

It'd be fair to say the game plays a little bit like the other Gold Box RPGs. Or it did anyway. Right now there's no MMO and not much RPG that I could find either. Not that you would've seen people walking around the streets back in its heyday. Nearby players apparently showed up in the list of names on the right, like party members do, and then you could chat to them.

Oh no, no indoor gardens for me thanks, I'm only level one!

Despite what they said about the buildings being different, this layout is actually pretty similar to how it is in Gateway to the Savage Frontier. There's Nasher's castle in the top left, exactly where it is in the other game. The biggest change is that there's more city now. If I leave this 16x16 city centre map I don't go straight to the world map, I end up in another block of buildings.

In fact I went looking for the overworld and never found it. Even when I walked out of town I was still travelling in first person view. And then I got wrecked, because I ignored the guard's advice and travelled outside without a group of strong players backing me up.

Trying to take on a gang of enemies with only one character is really hard!

I was wondering how Gold Box turn-based combat would work in multiplayer. Turns out that a timer appears on the bottom right of the screen and if you don't make a move in time the game moves on without you.

Overall I found the disconnected Neverwinter Nights to feel a lot like playing a regular Gold Box game, making a single character party and then going off to somewhere you're not supposed to be yet. I wandered around looking for quests or NPCs to chat to, but it was a real ghost town, and any fight I got into ended with my guy lying in his own blood.

I think I'm ready now to get back to Gateway to the Savage Frontier and go visit Silverymoon. After I've checked out Port Llast.

---

PORT LLAST

Turns out that Port Llast is a port, huge shock. In fact every town in this game seems to have docks and boat repair shops everywhere.

This is the first time I've found a haunted ship though! I spoke to one of the locals and it turns out that the Gallant Prince still be anchored in Port Llast Harbor because ain't no one fool enough to board her and tow her to sea. The ship went missing until a fisherman found her adrift a mile off the coast. He towed her in, went below decks and was never seen again. I guess he found the rum.

I went in and encountered the most cliché opponent I could've expected: undead pirates. Hang on, I already did this quest in the last game, Death Knights of Krynn!

Though my cleric is too low level this time to have any luck using turn undead to turn/explode them. But skeletons take half damage from sharp weapons and he's the only one with a mace, so I still appreciate having him around. Maybe I should go buy maces for everyone and see if that speeds this along.

Unfortunately my expedition into the haunted ship was ended when I reached a door I couldn't open. 'What say ye to the captain?' It cackled, but I didn't have an answer to that. I suppose I'll come back later then.

LUSKAN

The first thing I did when I arrived at Luskan was check out the magnificent palace. The game did such a good job of describing how awesome it was that I wanted to see it for myself.

Unfortunately it was packed full of pirates and they'd brought a pair of Margoyles. I can handle undead pirates, so the live ones didn't make me sweat too much. The Margoyles though, they seem to be immune to non-magical weapons. All I've got is this one mace +1 and that's equipped on my cleric, not my badass fighters.

I tried my spells and I tried hitting them a lot, but in the end this wasn't a battle I could win. Okay I suppose I could've tried my 20 +1 arrows, but the rate I've been burning through regular arrows during the game, I feel like they'd be gone in a blink.

Arrows are sold in packs of 10 and darts are even worse, so I have to press the buy button over and over, switch to the inventory to join them into a single stack to free up slots, and then press the buy button some more.

Then they're all used up before I know it and my mage is back to trying to kill things with her dagger again.

EVERLUND

I loaded my last save and decided to go check out Everlund next. I'm glad I did as I ran into some owlbears! I love these weird things, they're like an owl that's turned into the Hulk, but I don't think I've ever actually seen them in a game before.

Well Guybrush is down. Don't worry, it happens a lot. The important thing is I've learned that 'stinking cloud' works on these things, so if I can lure them into it then there's a good chance that one or both of them will get paralysed.

Oh, hang on, Guybrush isn't lying on the floor dying or unconscious, Guybrush is dead. That mean bird bear just hugged my thief to death! And people say that this is one of the easiest Gold Box games! I could try to take him to a temple and get him resurrected, but I've heard that permanently reduces their constitution score and a permanent loss of stats just isn't what I'm into.

Plus I wouldn't be able to afford it anyway.

Alright I'll load my last save and go somewhere else. This place was mostly full of undead anyway and fighting skeletons takes too damn long. It's like you're supposed to leave the game on auto battle and go make a cup of tea. Or get a level up and acquire some magical weapons, that would also work.

Hey I know what I could do! I could give up on trying to find side quests and go visit Silverymoon already. I'm in Everlund right now so it's basically right next to me.

But if I'm going to start a next chapter I should save it for a next part, so I'll come back to this next time.

TO BE CONTINUED

---

Yeah, sorry this is going to be another three-parter. In my defence I did stop and write about a completely different game halfway through.

If you've got anything you want to say about Gateway to the Savage Frontier or Neverwinter Nights (the first one), please feel welcome to leave a comment.