Seldom has a Blacksmith submission been so vastly ignored and underappreciated as the one I am presenting you this week, and I take full responsibility for this statement. It has been uploaded more than 8 years ago, and it stands out to me as one of the better RPG campaigns that our downloads section has to offer.
Despite the title that suggests an unpolished game,
You will notice at the beginning, as did I, that the plot is very Tolkien-ish, and you will probably think that this is yet another mediocre Lord of the Rings - inspired fantasy RPG, but that will soon change as you progress. The characters are alive, and so are all the NPC's you come across, humans, dwarves or elves, almost each of them having something to say to you. AOK's limited engine is used very well in order to create a believable medieval fantasy RPG setting. Map design is really great for the most part, with a variety of different landscapes and wonderful human and elven cities. Also, by exploring the land, you will come across more than a few clever ideas that will make the game all the more enjoyable: a moving forest, a ship that you will need to push into the sea to make it sailable, an active volcano... and the list goes on!
As is the case with most blacksmith submissions, there are a few shortcomings here too. For instance, if you don't tolerate profanity you might be turned off by some of the dialogues, and there are some spelling errors. However, this is a really small price to pay when looking at the big picture: six scenarios of RPG awesomeness, spiced up with plenty of cutscenes and a couple of fixed-force segments. Few RPG's have presented me with a more complete and fulfilling experience.
If you want to start off the new year by playing a really good Age of Kings Campaign, this will probably be the best half-megabyte of download that you will ever spend!
In closing, I would like to make an appeal to people who might have downloaded this game years ago, and who still have the sound files that went with it. If you would be so kind as to send them my way it would be great, and would allow people to get the full experience of the game, the way it was supposed to be played.
[This message has been edited by panel (edited 12-29-2011 @ 05:21 AM).]