ld school role playing games (RPGs) are making a resurgence thanks to the many successful Kickstarter campaigns spearheaded with Wastelands 2 (inXile Entertainment) and Pillars of Eternity (Obsidian Entertainment). And what the term ‘old school’ mean is that, it’s mainly referring to the mid to late 90s with isometric viewpoint plus turned based combat. So with this revival, you have to be careful as there could be some duds along the way. Thankfully AntharioN from Orphic Software isn’t one of them. Yet the entire game doesn’t display anything new for which is a shame, it does provide an average experience at best.
The plot is your stock standard storyline and it’s pretty sad considering it promises all things epic. The scenario goes something like this – your town has been decimated and your party has been thrown to jail only to be tortured. You escape and now the world is open for your picking. Should you go on a crusade or simply cause havoc. Actually going havoc will limit yourself so your best option is to go on a crusade – it’s easier that way. Also the beginning plot plays upon this ‘mysterious’ attack however if you read the Kickstarter blurb, you know exactly what’s going on. And as a matter of fact, your first main quest (The Codex) has the exact same text as the Kickstarter’s blurb. Pretty disappointing.
So, as mentioned before, the gameplay is based on turned based viewed in isometric. What this means is that, basing on the party’s statistics governs who goes first and what action each person / enemy can make. Each action is based on action points (AP) and the more APs, the more actions the character can take. Yet before embarking on your adventure, you need to create a party of four. I guess you can create less than that however it’s highly advisable to take all four character slots otherwise it will be a very rough ride (more on that a little later).
On the onset, there are seven races to choose from however, in the long run, they all can perform exactly the same – that is it only affects the starting stats allocation (similar to Divine Divinity). I was hoping that certain races have natural attuned benefits however it wasn’t the case. It’s all of a matter of whether you like the race or not and having a slight edge during the onset. Also the game doesn’t explain well enough about the mechanics like what is the maximum stat number or the maximum skill amount? Is it out of 100? 18? 20? However it does tell you what score you need to have to perform a certain skill task (e.g. if you locate a hidden door it tells you what lore skill is required to open it). Lock picking, on the other hand, tells you how difficult is it – i.e. low / medium / hard however what skill amount governs the difficulty rating is a matter of trial and error.
And what’s a fantasy game without magic? Well there’s three schools of magic being white / grey and black. They are all pretty obvious what each done does. For example: white magic governs healing and buffing, black mainly involves destruction and grey those miscellaneous types like silence, teleport and so on. Plenty of spells to choose from however there are some spells I used a lot more than others; but that’s pretty expected I guess as it depends upon your playing style. Also you can dabble with alchemy (for which I love) as it creates that all important mana potions as mana along with health does not regenerate over time, for which is a positive in my eyes. Only sleeping regenerates both however it requires 1x food per hour of sleep or if you happen to find a bed, no food is required period.
How to improve your character is by earning experience points. You level up by gaining a certain amount of experience points and each level earns you five points for stats and five for skills. However the law of diminishing returns will kick in after level fourteen so allocate wisely. Also there’s no turning back once you have allocated your points. However fear not as if you make a mistake, just reload your last save however ensure you save the game just before allocating your hard earned points.
How to earn points is by killing mobs, doing quests and successfully performing skills. The latter I really love as finally skills plays a very important role when it comes to earning experience points. So for instance, if you have a magical item to identify and your lore score isn’t high enough, don’t get it valuated by a vendor, (who incidentally will charge you a very high price if your barter skill is low) just wait until you have enough lore to identify it as it will earn you a bucket load of experience points. This goes for all skills like alchemy as making potions earns you experience and so on. Pretty awesome I say. Also experience points are equally shared among the party. Also because there’s no respawning monsters, gaining XP through this way will definitely benefit you. Yet this even has the law of diminishing returns as the higher your skill level, the easier the task meaning less XP.
Combat is turned based meaning, basing on certain scores determines who goes first. Also it dictates the success rate of hitting, damaging and casting spells. Here it’s a bit of a hit / miss (excuse the pun) as it seems that miss-casting spells happens a little too often even though the success rating is very high. So it puts a damper on the magic system thus placing more reliance on melee (as spells requires mana and no mana means no spells unless rested). Yet this eventually changes once you hit the success rate of 98%.
Also the controls are a little too clunky as you get stuck often (especially if a tree is next to a wall). The game can be controlled using the WASD keys however it’s pretty messed up. Instead use the mouse or the controller. Also you cannot open say, a chest unless you are very close to it and no, there’s no auto run to the chest once you clicked on it. You have to click very close to it to open it. Inventory management can be a pain too as there’s no auto arrange button so, at times, your inventory can be a mess and requires sorting manually.
There’s plenty of quests to do and the game does encourages exploration. Early on the piece, you can buy a boat and go sailing as there are lands awaiting to be discovered (i.e. doesn’t appear on the map). Plenty of loot to find and the terrain has a wide range of flora like forests, deserts, snowy regions dotted with caves / dungeons. The world even has day / night cycle however the cycle is a little too fast for my liking as the night, nothing happens (as expected) as the stores are closed (for obvious reasons) and it’s really dark – not even lanterns / torches can illuminate it well enough and because monsters don’t respawn, the night will become bore fest real fast. Your only option here is either walk it out or simply sleep it off. However, be warned that food plays an important part as per hour of sleep equates to one piece of food, unless you find / own a bed therefore no food required. I don’t mind this as it places realism and besides, food has more meaning than just healing one hit point of damage.
Because of the limited budget, don’t expect AAA graphics. Actually it’s quite fine considering the vibrant colours with varied landscapes. The character models are decent and it even changes according to the gear they wear. Yet it does need walking animations as they all look like they are floating about. The musical scores are definitely A+ as they are well composed. It’s even that good to listen to in isolation to the game. Other sounds like crickets chirping, waves lapping on the shoreline is mediocre at best but it’s still nice to hear regardless.
Since the game’s release, there were nine patches in total that mainly involves balancing the game. This certainly shows dedication on behalf of the developers to ensure the game plays well as intended instead of exploiting any bugs / features. For example: previously with the barter skill, you can sell higher than the buying amount if you got a decent amount in it (as it wasn’t too hard to do) hence the characters can always get the best gear pretty much during the onset of their adventures. This naturally has been nurfed now however it’s a bit odd considering the game advertises that barter is an awesome yet overlooked skill to have.
As mentioned before, AntharioN doesn’t produce anything new to the ‘old school RPG’ genre. It is indeed a grand game filled with a decent array of main / side quests (however the desert / tundra regions feels like an afterthought), its shortfalls is a fair amount to fathom. It’s not a bad game however it can do a lot more especially educating the player the game’s mechanics. This will be extremely useful to those who is new to this type of genre however it seems that it’s more tailored to the ‘old school’ fans than gaining a new crowd. If you are a fan of turned based with isometric viewpoint, it’s a fine game to play only if you have nothing else better to play. Newcomers best to look elsewhere before tackling this. But with a budget of $22k (with the asking price of $10k), it's passable.
5.5 / 10