I hope that this is an element that will be integrated into similar games in the future, depicting the progress of a mortal from apprentice to adept, not Conan the Barbarian. In keeping with this, your skills increase with use, so if you always employ physical weapons and brute force, you will find your strength growing over time, while if you use magic as often as possible, your magical level and manna will increase accordingly. Fortunately, you only need to swap CDs when moving from one entire area of the game to another, so there is not much of a hassle involved. Full-motion video is integrated well into beautiful dynamic backgrounds to good effect. As you trudge through the sewers, water drips and oozes as expected, and monsters do not simply appear standing on the water.
Secret passageways are all evident in some way, although hidden.
Some will be cracked or discolored, while others will be pointed out by another feature in the room. There are many optional items and tasks, and the plot is nonlinear. Although there are times when a certain object is needed for a certain task, for the most part, you often have several choices as to where to go next. There is an auto map feature that keeps track of where you have been, and you can use different colors and text to mark areas, hints, monsters, puzzles, or whatever you wish. In addition, your character keeps his own logbook of the journey, and will often notice small subtleties or make connections that you may miss.