From: ccastbh@prism.gatech.EDU (Brad Hamlett)
Newsgroups: rec.games.video
Subject: [TG16]  Review: Order of the Griffon
Summary: yet another TG game review
Date: 13 Nov 92 02:03:30 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology



	Here's another in a series of TG/PC Engine game reviews.
	
	NOTE:  I recently posted reviews of Cosmic Fantasy 2, Lords of the
	       Rising Sun, Exile, and Lady Phantom.  I haven't received any
	       feedback, so I was wondering: did the posts make it out there?
	       does anyone care?  Please let me know if there are any TG
	       games you'd like to see a review for.  

			--Brad.

	Order of The Griffon (TG)

	Order of the Griffon is SSI's first role-playing game for the
	TurboGrafx.  OotG is based on the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing
	game made by TSR inc. (NOT based on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons).
	Anyone who has played any of the "Gold Box" D&D games for PCs such
	as Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, ... will notice
	similiarities immediately.  In OotG you control a party of four
	characters that you choose out of twenty-one...you can't generate
	your own.  There are seven races/classes to choose from and three
	choices per class.  Characters advance from 1st level to 8th during
	the course of the game.  Parts of OotG were borrowed from the eye
	of the Beholder series...in fact, the character portraits were
	the same.  While in a town or dungeon, the view is from a first
	person perspective...wilderness travel is from an overhead view.

	One of the best things about the SSI series of RPGs is the "tactical"
	approach to combat.  Instead of a simple menu-based system, you can
	actually control the movements of your characters.  During combat,
	monsters and characters alike move according to how fast they are
	and how much they are carrying.  When a character's action comes
	up, you can position him/her and choose what you want to do.  Fighters
	move adjacent to enemies and swing away with weapons, Spellcasters
	cast spells, thieves fire bows, etc.  Many spells and items have
	an "area of effect" so you can catch multiple enemies (i.e. fireball).
	As you kill more enemies and complete mini-quests, your characters'
	levels will increase giving them more hit points/spells etc.
	One improvement over the SSI "Gold Box" games though....there aren't
	endless random encounters.  The combats aren't so frequent as to be
	frustrating.

	The sound and music for the game are average.  One annoying note:
	the combat music cuts out with the first sound effect.  As soon as
	you cast a spell or hit a monster in combat, the music quits.
	The graphics are average, but you can easily distinguish your
	characters and monsters....I would hate to see the game on a
	TurboExpress though.  The game offers both a password save feature
	and a memory save (with 4 save slots).  One word of warning...the
	memory save feature uses up a lot of the backup RAM.  You won't
	be able to play OotG in conjunction with another RPG, so the password
	feature is kinda nice, if a little cumbersome.

	The biggest flaw is the interface.  In combat, for example, one button
	uses whatever is in your right hand, and the other uses your left.
	Also, equipping character with armor and memorizing spells is awkward.
	It would've been better to use a simpler menu or a pointer-type of
	interface.

	Overall, the game is a good one and I hope that SSI plans to do more
	TG RPGs in the future.  The game took awhile to complete so it's
	not a very good rental...it'd probably take 4 or 5 nights of heavy
	game playing to finish (probably took me about 25-30 hours to finish).

	The manual for the game is pretty decent, it explains the weapons,
	items, and spells of the game fairly well.  It could've done a better
	job explaining character stats though.  Note:  TTI is no longer
	shipping card games with the CD jewel cases anymore...OotG is no
	exception.  If you do not like this, please call TTI's 800 number
	and express your opinion.


		Gameplay:	7.5 (The interface is the reason for an
		Graphics:	7    average gameplay rating, otherwise the 
		Sound/BGM:	7    game is good.)
		Challenge:	8.5
		Manual:		8.5
		Overall:	7.5

	Key to my ratings:

		Gameplay:	How fun is the game?  Do the characters/ships
				control well?  Is there enough variety?
		Graphics:	How does the game look?  Are the intermissions
				interesting? (if any).
		Sound/BGM:	Are the sound effects cheesy?  Do they cover
				up the music?  Is the music so bad that you
				wish the sound effects would cover it up?
		Challenge:	Can the game be solved/won in a night? a
				weekend? ever?
		Manual:		How is the manual arranged?  does it tell you
				everything you need?  Is it in color?
		Overall:	Is the game worth buying?  renting?  feeding
				to your dog?

	Some of my favorite TG games include:  Military Madness, MotoRoader,
	Ninja Spirit, Cadash, Silent Debuggers, Ys(CD), Sherlock Holmes(CD),
	Cosmic Fantasy 2(CD), Valis III(CD), BomberMan, Order of the Griffon,
	and Aeroblasters.  Some of my favorite PC-Engine games include:
	Dead Moon, Vasteel (CD), Super Darius (CD), Ranma 1/2 (CD), Lady
	Phantom (SCD), Spriggan Mk. 2 (SCD), and OutRun.


Brad Hamlett
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
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