Rings of Power (video game)
| Rings of Power | |
|---|---|
 Mega Drive cover art of Rings of Power | |
| Developer(s) | Naughty Dog |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Director(s) | Jason Rubin |
| Producer(s) | Christopher Erhardt |
| Programmer(s) | Andy Gavin |
| Artist(s) | Jason Rubin |
| Composer(s) | Alexander Hinds Jon Medek |
| Platform(s) | Mega Drive |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing video game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Distribution | Cartridge |
Rings of Power is an isometric role-playing video game released on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis The game was developed by Naughty Dog and published by Electronic Arts. The player takes on the role of a young sorcerer whose quest is to collect 11 Rings of Power and use them to remake the Rod of Creation to defeat the evil god, Void, and bring about the fabled Golden Age. It was never made for PC (according to Naughty Dog's page, it actually was designed for PC until EA decided at the time that Genesis games made more money).
Background story
A great battle was fought between the holy Nexus and the demonic Void — who battled over the Rod of Creation, which created the world of Ushka Bau. Their battle was so immense, the rod broke into two pieces, and both gods fled with half. This then took the form of eleven rings.
These rings were then entrusted to representatives of each of the six classes (Sorcerer, Knight, Archer, Necromancer, Enchanter and Conjurer). All of the rings have been lost, and the story of the rings has turned to a legend. Master Thalmus has requested the presence of a young sorcerer named Buc, his most promising of students. You must attempt the quest of finding the rings, restoring the Rod of Creation, and destroying the evil Void once and for all.
Gameplay
Unlike most role-playing video games of the time, such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, Rings of Power has a style that shared many similarities to PC role-playing games such as Dungeon Master, Wizardry, and A Bard's Tale. The game is very open-ended, contains hundreds of non-player characters with many different dialog choices, and dozens of quests and random events. Practically every location is available from very early in the game.
Because the in-game map did not have any locations marked and there was no quest journal, many players criticized the game's difficulty as the goal of the game was achieved through careful attention to detail and constant exploration.
There was a glossy paper map sold separately from the game itself that aided in gameplay.
Reception
| Reception | ||||||
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The game was poorly received. MegaTech magazine criticized the controls and difficulty.
References
- ↑ MegaTech rating, EMAP, issue 6, page 77, June 1992
Trivia
- Rings of Power is the 30th Level in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, a game which Naughty Dog developed.
- If you press and hold a certain combination of buttons on the second controller (down, right, A, B, C and start) and then reset your system and continue to hold the buttons, the image of blonde woman in the game intro will be a different image of her topless.
- The titular character from another Naughty Dog game, Keef the Thief (released two years earlier), appears in Rings of Power as a non-player character.
External links
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