| Legends of Valour | |
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Cover art for Legends of Valour |
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| Developer(s) | Synthetic Dimensions |
| Publisher(s) | U.S. Gold Strategic Simulations, Inc. Ving Co., Ltd. |
| Designer(s) | Ian Downend Kevin Bulmer |
| Composer(s) | Ben Daglish Martin Walker |
| Platform(s) | PC DOS (1992), Amiga (1993), Atari ST (1993), PC-98 (1993), FM Towns (1994) |
| Release date(s) | 1992 |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing video game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Media/distribution | Floppy disk |
| System requirements
CPU 386 series, 640 KB RAM |
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Legends of Valour is a role-playing video game developed by Synthetic Dimensions and released by U.S. Gold and SSI in 1992 for the Amiga, Atari ST and PC DOS systems, with the additional FM Towns and PC-98 versions in Japan only. Todd Howard cited the game as an influence on Bethesda Softworks' series The Elder Scrolls.[1]
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The game is seen in first-person perspective, being one of the first RPG games (after Ultima Underworld) to use a smooth-scrolling three-dimensional environment engine in the style of Wolfenstein 3D. The game also features a point-and-click interface, an either automated or realtime combat, and day/night cycle. The game's system is quite complex and realistic for its time. For example, the player character can become drunk (impairing movement and vision), and be arrested for this, undernourished characters (the players need to eat, drink and sleep regularly) are more likely to catch a disease, and a passing guard may overhear an illegal conversation. Fantasy world of Legends of Valour is inhabited by humans, elves and dwarfs, and the player can choose which of these races he wishes to play as (the chosen race influences relations with other characters), with player-customized face and body build for the character.
The game takes place in a walled capital city called Mitteldorf, where the player can explore the streets, buildings and a massive network of dungeons and sewers connected through a natural cave system, while completing various missions given by its numerous citizens, all while looking for his/her missing cousin Sven (named Gareth in the early version), which is the starting point of the game's main quest (to restore the king to power and slay an evil demon). Mitteldorf is over a squared mile in size and among its many building are several taverns, hostels, shops, guilds, temples, prisons as well as other places of interest (well over 100 locations in total). The guilds and temples offer the player career paths with unique missions; through the game, the player's character can even become a vampire or a werewolf.
Computer Gaming World called the game "a stimulating new perspective on fantasy role-playing",[2] but strongly critcized its "general lack of atmosphere";[3] it received only 2 out of 5 stars in Dragon.[4] According to VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, "Legends of Valor is an ambitious attempt that couldn't get itself out of the starting gate."[5] The Amiga version was received much better, including the scores of 91% in Amiga Format and 88% in CU Amiga and Amiga Power.