Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession: Summary and Rating

 

        

Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession

United States

DreamForge Intertainment (developer); Strategic Simulations, Inc. (publisher)

Released in 1994 for DOS, 1995 for FM Towns and PC-98

Date Started: 14 August 2026

Date Ended: 30 October 2026

Total Hours: 36

Difficulty:  Moderate (3.0/5), but with a lot of variance across maps.

Final Rating: (to come later)

Ranking at time of posting: (to come later) 

      

Summary:  

    

Based on early 1990s revisions to the classic 1983 module, Ravenloft starts with an Eye of the Beholder template (first-person, four-characters, action combat) but adds some upgraded features, including continuous movement, voiced dialogue, more complex graphics, and an excellent automap. Though lacking the puzzles of Beholder (and thus moving further away from its Dungeon Master roots), it exceeds the earlier game in lore and atmosphere. 

   

****

       

Since I started this project, I've played plenty of games that were flawed. (I suppose you might even say that all of them were flawed, none of them managing to earn a score of 100 on the GIMLET.) Some games are flawed in their very conception; they introduce elements or mechanics that never had any hope of being any good. They took a wrong turn and hit a dead end.

       

Other games are flawed because even though they're on the right road, they just weren't able to go far enough. That's Ravenloft. There's nothing about it that by itself is a bad idea. It has a storied, atmospheric setting, and interesting blend of created PCs and joinable NPCs, decent mechanics for character development and equipment, "banter" from the party members, visuals that enhance the ambience, and a fast, exciting approach to action combat. Reading through that list, you probably wanted to say, "Okay, but . . ." a few times, and I agree with you. There are ways in which the combat doesn't really work well. The NPCs stop being personalities once they join the party. The "banter" is not customized to the speaker. The inventory system is a bit of a mess. Perhaps most important, the graphics and sound aren't quite where they need to be to realize the developers' vision. But almost all of these deficiencies are matters of improvement on good foundational elements. If anyone wanted to remake Ravenloft, they would need to enhance, not start over.

       

A grand step up from the bland textures of previous RPGs.

           

Over the years, I've suggested a few modifications to the GIMLET that have never really stuck, such as the Bolingbroke Outcome-to-Hours Ratio (BOTHR) and the Range of Suffering to Enjoyment Score (ROSES). Ravenloft has a low BOTHR; stuff is always happening. It also has a low ROSES score; its worst elements aren't much worse than its best elements. Lower in both cases is better. Here's a metric in which higher is better: the Bolingbroke Expectations-to-Experience Range (BETER), or the distance between what I expected when I started the game and what I rated it at the end. Going into Ravenloft, I expected something like 35, solely on the basis that it doesn't seem as well-known as Eye of the Beholder (1991), which I rated a 41. But aside from its approach to mechanical puzzles (which I can enjoy but don't consider central to my RPG experience), I find Ravenloft reasonably BETER than Beholder, with an expected a GIMLET of around 50. That won't hit my Top 10 list or anything, but it's always nice to beat expectations by 15 points. [Ed. Or 9, as the actual result turned out to be.]

   

One of the elements that I enjoyed about Ravenloft is its epistolary storytelling. It's one of the most compelling reasons to explore. No longsword +3 excites me as much as a scroll or journal that fills in some part of the game's lore. Even better is when a game can combine epistolary storytelling with visual storytelling. Think of the edict against spreading "rumors" about Sergei's murder and Tatyana's suicide coupled with the painting in which a man's head has been scratched out. The only thing that would make it better is if the graphics had been clear about what the painting was showing.

       

My bread and butter.

             

It really is too bad that this was one of the final SSI/TSR pairings. I would have liked to see where they went with it. But even without any enhancements, I enjoyed this game enough that I'm really looking forward to Menzoberrranzan later this year and Ravenloft: Stone Prophet in 1995, which I understand use essentially the same interface.

    

I took a look at the official cluebook for the game, and it doesn't appear to me that I missed anything significant. I met all the NPCs, explored all the maps. I was curious how I was supposed to get into one missed area of the Old Church, Lower Level 1, but the guide wasn't any use there. It did tell me that the only thing I missed on the other side was "a number of useful cleric scrolls."

   

The guide did inform me that there were significant differences between the CD-ROM and floppy disk versions of the game. The entire paladin side-quest was missing on the disk version, as well as two NPCs: Velika and Ryszard. There were fewer graphical distinctions between monsters of the same basic type (e.g., zombies and zombie lords looked exactly the same) and items of the same type, when dropped on the ground. The disk version had no digitized voices, more limited cinematics, no wandering villagers (not that they added much), and no "atmospheric rats, bats, and crows," which I have to admit I barely noticed. The disk version did have one advantage: a scroll of "Improved Identify" near the beginning of the game.

          

Cut for space.

       

I either missed a scroll of "Invisibility" somewhere or one of the mage NPCs that I didn't take had it natively. It apparently trivializes the game, allowing the player to kill enemies with impunity with missile weapons.   

      

I'm curious whether it's at all possible to defeat Strahd without the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind. My attacks were doing 1 damage to him. That should make it theoretically possible to winnow him down to 0 as long as the party can survive that long. Maybe he regenerates, though. 

      

I still don't like writing the long GIMLET paragraphs, but fine, I'll concede to everyone who doesn't like the table by constructing it like this:

   

1. Game World: 7 

    

Assets

• An evocative setting with a full backstory made relevant by the game's encounters, such as the skeletons on stakes and the villagers huddled in their homes. 
• Solid epistolary and visual story telling.
• Something different from the standard high fantasy setting.
• Clear role for the characters in the story. 

Liabilities

• Requires some knowledge out outside materials to fully appreciate
• World doesn't change much based on player decisions. 

2. Character Creation and Development: 4

    

Assets

• Fairly standard AD&D character creation process, which is reasonably good.
• Nice selection of character portraits.
• Typical experience point/leveling development, though see negatives.

Liabilities

• No gameplay elements or dialogue specific to character classes.
• Not much for a thief to do.
• No quest experience. 
• Leveling is the same non-event as a typical D&D game for non-spellcasters. 

3. NPCs: 5

    

Assets

• NPC encounters offer full-sentence dialogue.
• A variety of joinable NPCs to compensate for character weaknesses, each with a backstory and goal.
• Joinable NPCs and PCs have in-party dialogue throughout the game. 
• Other NPCs really flesh out the game world.

Liabilities

• NPCs lose personality once they join the party. No particular acknowledgement of their goals or the completion thereof.
• Full-sentence dialogue options are not really "options," just an exhaustive list of things you can say. No choices = no role-playing.

The NPCs have unique personalities, at least until they join the party.

      

4. Encounters and Foes: 5

    

Assets

• The D&D bestiary always has interesting monsters with a variety of strengths and weaknesses.
• Each foe is well-described in the game manual. 
• A few non-combat encounters like the priest trapped in the mirror and the banshee in the cemetery. 

Liabilities

• The way that enemies just charge right at the characters limits the tactical possibilities inherent in their strengths and weaknesses.
• Most non-combat encounters are essentially NPC dialogues and thus rewarded there.
• Not many puzzles except for the lock-and-key type. 
• Enemies respawn, but not enough to allow for any significant grinding. 

5. Magic and Combat: 4 

    

Assets

• Fast and exciting.
• Terrain offers some tactical possibilities. 
• Usual solid combination of D&D offensive and defensive spells. 

Liabilities

• Action combat doesn't work terribly well with D&D rules.
• Offensive spells tough to use in combat.
• No restoration spells in a game with level-draining undead. 
• Most "terrain" possibilities feel like cheating. 

6. Equipment: 5 

    

Assets

• Good variety of items to find/equip.
• Generally easy enough to evaluate items, but see "weaknesses." 
• Equipment from dropped party members automatically transfers to replacement. 
• Sensible encumbrance system.

Liabilities

• Could have used more spell scrolls.
• Lack of identification options other than a single "Improved Identify" makes it hard to evaluate stuff. 
• Items all appear at fixed locations. 

7. Economy: 0

 

There is no economy.    

 

8. Quests: 4 

    

Assets

• Compelling, somewhat low-stakes main quest.
• A few side quests along the way.

Liabilities

• No role-playing opportunities in quests.
• No alternate endings. 

      

Solving one of the side quests.

      

9. Graphics, Sound, and Interface: 5 

    

Assets

• We're past wall textures. Graphics help make the world feel more real with furnishings, decorations, and details (this asset also contributed to "Game World").
• An excellent, detailed automap with the ability to make notes.
• Smooth movement with step movement as a possibility. 
• Some decent atmospheric sound effects. 
• Developers tapped as voice actors try their best. 
• Quick save/Quick load. 

Liabilities

• Graphic quality is typical mid-1990s, in the unfortunate valley between high-quality abstract graphics and high-quality immersive graphics. 
• The 3D environment is very basic—no up/down, no slopes. Can't put items on top of things.
• Voice acting is pretty bad.
• Sound has no sense of modulation or direction; some effects get repetitively annoying.
• Interface could have used more keyboard shortcuts.
• The game really needed to pause when the spellbook was invoked. 
• Annoying to transition to and from inventory during combat.

      

Some of the cutscenes were quite nice.

       

10. Gameplay: 5 

    

Assets

• Some mild replayability with different character classes and NPC choices.
• Just about a perfect length for its content.
• Good average difficulty. 

Liabilities

• Mostly linear except in a few minor ways.
• Not very replayable. 
• Significant difficulty range. It mostly comes down to individual battles, since the game is a bit too generous with resting.

Final score: 44

      

Well, that was a surprise. I really thought it would rate significantly higher. I actually thought it was possible that I'd give every category a 5. I guess I was forgetting the lack of economy, which some of you wouldn't have included at all, but I wouldn't have minded if the game had offered fewer potions on the floors and gold instead. Barovia should have had a little shop where the player could identify items and perhaps buy magic scrolls. It would have also been nice if the church had offered healing services, including resurrection (with no constitution loss) and restoration. 

 

But I don't see anything I want to adjust, so 44 it is. It still rates higher than any of the Eye of the Beholder games, which I agree with. A rating of 50 would have put it on the same level as Betrayal at Krondor or Dark Queen of Krynn, and yeah, I guess that would have been a stretch.

      

Ads at the time went in heavy on the graphics. They were good for 1994.

      

For the past few years, every time I've opened an issue of Computer Gaming World, I have been relentlessly mocked by the same ad for Wolfenstein 3D: Spear of Destiny (1992), making me feel like I'm making no progress. Finally, for the issue that I go to consult for a review of Strahd's Possession (June 1994), it is gone. It has been replaced by an ad for Disciples of Steel, which I played eleven goddamned years ago. Yes, I realize the DOS port didn't come out until 1993, but still.

   

I was a bit disappointed to see that Scorpia hadn't covered the game, but I agree with the reviewer that did, Petra Schlunk, about 75% of the time. That nudges up to about 80% given her review of Strahd's Possession, and to the extent I don't agree with parts of it, it has more to do with the intervening 32 years than the literal text. For instance, she mentions all the positives of NPC dialogue but none of the lack of role-playing, but then again, not many games were giving true dialogue options in 1994. She enjoyed the graphics and sound more than I did because she didn't know that better versions of both things were just a few years away. She complained about a couple of technical issues that have been solved since then. Otherwise, her review reads so closely to my GIMLET that I'd forgive you for thinking that I cribbed from it.

    

Reviews accompanied by ratings tended to place Strahd's Possession in the low B range, which I think is fair. T. Liam McDonald gave it 82% in the inaugural issue of PC Gamer (June 1994, which I'd better keep at hand because it also includes a review of Pagan). "In terms of graphics, cinematics, story, and sound effects," he wrote, "It is an ambitious and satisfying endeavor—one of [SSI's] best yet." The worst he could say is that AD&D mechanics (weapons, spells, attributes) were getting kind of old. Computer Game Review, which I'm not sure I've ever consulted before, had three competing reviews in its June 1994 issue, with ratings at 85%, 83%, and 77%. Graphics and sound rated highly among the reviewers; interface and playability had no consistency; "replay value" was universally low. The reviews are interesting because at least two of them were familiar with the tabletop module and were judging the game by how well it evoked that experience. "It is a game only for reminding yourself of what might have been," said the worst reviewer; the top reviewer was a bit optimistic: "Some of its ideas will help usher along the next generation of CRPGs." 

         

One of an increasing number of games with endgame credits.

         

The primary designers of the game are listed as Thomas J. Holmes and Christopher L. Straka, the co-founders (along with James Namestka) of Event Horizon/DreamForge Entertainment. Both had worked for Paragon Software before jumping ship around 1990. We've seen their early work with DarkSpyre (1990), Dusk of the Gods (1991), The Summoning (1992), and Veil of Darkness (1993). My understanding is that DreamForge had a bad experience publishing their first two games and approached SSI with The Summoning and Veil of Darkness. SSI was impressed enough that when they sought a new developer after parting ways with Westwood Studios, DreamForge was the obvious choice. Their first job was developing Dungeon Hack (1993) based on the Eye of the Beholder interface. That experience must have proven vital for the later development of Strahd's Possession, which feels very little like DreamForge's early titles.

    

Strahd's Possession apparently sold well enough to justify two more titles using the same engine: Menzoberranzan (1994) and Ravenloft: Stone Prophet (1995), the latter of which would be either the penultimate or final D&D title from SSI (I'm not sure whether it came before or after DeathKeep). The Ravenloft setting would have one more incarnation, in Take-Two's Iron & Blood: Warriors of Ravenloft (1996), but I'm given to understand that it's a pure action game. Apparently, next year's Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons will feature some Ravenloft (or at least Demiplane of Dread) content, but again as an action-adventure.

      

Strahd's Possession wasn't an epic experience, but it was a solid one, and it occurs to me that I might say the same thing about a lot of 1994 games so far, including Al-Qadim, Yendorian Tales, and The Elder Scrolls: Arena. Maybe that will turn out to be the theme for the year: games that don't seem to be well-remembered but don't deserve to be entirely forgotten.

    

****

   

Previous entry in this series

   

Further reading:    

• My "Index of Games by Lineage" has both all licensed Dungeons & Dragons games and all Dungeon Master clones. 
• The original Ravenloft module. 
• Saintus's coverage of the game at CRPG Revisiting Old Classics. 

Pagan: Won!

 

The final screen. It doesn't feel much like a "victory" screen. Nothing does.

          

The subtitle is a complete surprise. I figured that once I finished the sorcerers' quests, I would be entering the final act, not immediately on the threshold to victory. 

       

I begin this session petulantly refusing to create any more sorcery spells. I march into the tests expecting that I can use running, jumping, glitches, and lots of reloading to get me past whatever tests the game wants to throw at me. It's a stupid attitude, and it doesn't get me very far.

     

All right, maybe the spells are necessary.

      

Sighing, I start over and patiently create items for almost every spell I've learned in the sorcery school—or, at least, every spell I didn't already mix in Bane's place. I didn't realize during the last session that when you mix spells, you automatically get multiple copies. I thought I'd have to put all new reagents down for additional copies.

       

Hopefully, I won't need any more of those.

        

Even so, it takes me a good hour of dragging things around, which as per last time often doesn't work. The game is finicky about where the reagents are placed, and it often decides not to register my double-clicks on the pentagram. If this weren't an Ultima game, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

 

I can only find one "talisman" (which looks like a horned skull), and I need these for "Summon Daemon" and "Banish Daemon." I decide that I can just kill any daemon that would otherwise need to be banished, and so I don't create that spell right now.

     

They were right, just one pixel off.

      

When I'm ready, I head north to a small room and I'm teleported to a platform in a much larger cavern. There are multiple exits from this central area, each leading to snaking tunnels with some kind of test in them, each preceded by a plaque telling me what spell I'll need. Ghouls come out of the ground and kith wander around the area, but I mostly ignore them unless I can't help it.

     

Starting from the north and working counter-clockwise, I encounter:

     

• A plaque that says: "Endure Heat." There are a lot of pillars and rocks in this area, difficult to navigate through. It leads to a river of lava, where I have to cast the indicated spell and make my way across by jumping to the semi-solid parts of the lava. Walking or jumping into the liquid lava, as I learn repeatedly, is still death. At the end, I find a demon guarding a chest. I kill him the regular way. The chest contains a blue pentagram symbol and a suit of magical armor that's worth 2 points more than what I already have. The passage on the way back is choked with enemies, including little girls. It takes me a while to get through them. The Recall Item doesn't work.

     

The Avatar endures.

        

• A room with a sorcerer and a pentagram on the floor. I kill the sorcerer with my sword. Some reagents and items are scattered about, including another talisman. Some of the items have spells already cast on them. The existence of the pentagram is good, because I'll need "Banish Daemon" before the end. A book in a chest teaches me "Conflagration."

      

I think I'm making "Banish Daemon" here.

       

• "Extinguish." I cross a bridge with fireballs shooting at me, pass a kith and a troll, and come to a pentagram surrounded by fire. The game won't let me get close until I put the fire out. This takes me a while, because what's not obvious is that you have to cast "Extinguish" on yourself, not the fires. In the middle is a magic helm that improves upon my existing (regular) helm by +2 and saves me a couple of pounds. There's also another blue symbol.

     

Would "Aerial Servant" have worked? I wish I had tried it then.

         

• "Armor of Flames." These corridors shoot fireballs at the Avatar constantly. This is annoying because even when they don't do damage, they stagger me and prevent me from effectively fighting, navigating, or picking things up. I run past kith to a final room with a Demon Shield in one area and a blue pentagram symbol in another. I ignore a daemon in this area, snatch up the items, and flee. The shield adds 5 to my armor. 

     

The Avatar's final kit.

         

• "Flash." This is an authentically useful spell that teleports the Avatar to any place within a line of sight, though not through walls. I use it to get past exploding mushrooms and rolling spiked balls. There's a magical weapon called Flame Sting that I reluctantly pick up, but I'm now carrying four magical weapons that all sound equally good. The blue symbol is on the other side of a large exploding mushroom patch, guarded by one of those flying eyestalks. I ignore him, grab the symbol, and "Flash" out of there.

        

Flashing across a mushroom patch.

        

I can't think of anything to do but return to the central platform, which teleports me back to Arcadion. He congratulates me on making Acolyte and tells me that the teleporter will now take me to Master Malchir.

  

Malchir greets me by another pentagram—man, do these people love pentagrams—and says he'll be administering the final test. He tells me to cast "Flame Bolt," "Explosion," and "Summon Daemon" at him. I already have all those spells prepared, so it's easy. He then summons his own daemon, which I have to "Banish," only I haven't prepared that spell. I try to kill it with my weapon, but I think he's immune to regular attacks. So I have to reload, prepare the spell, and do it again.

      

Good thing the game gave me so many places to prepare spells.

        

Malchir then teleports me to something called the "Ritual of Flame." We're at a huge pentagram, with all the other acolytes. He orders them all to light their candles. I refuse (just to see what happens). Malchir attacks me. I kill him and his summoned demon with my sword. After that, all the other acolytes call me "Master."

      

Malchir's last words.

       

This is satisfying, but it leaves me with no idea what to do from here, and still none of the sorcerers have anything to say about countering Hydros, so I reload and agree to put a candle down. Malchir then commands us to light them, and unlike every other candle in the game, I can't light it by double-clicking on it. I have to cast "Ignite," which I thought I prepared, but the game won't let me cast it. It will just let me tell Malchir that I don't have it. He calls me a "fool" and lights it himself.

   

He then demands that we kneel to Pyros, which of course I refuse, so he attacks again. On a reload, I follow his orders. The subsequent ceremony and cinematic are long, and I have to replay them a couple of times to get everything, particularly since the game doesn't caption spoken dialogue. 

        

I'm sure there's some canonical reason that Pyros looks a lot like the Guardian but none of the other titans do.

     

"For what pathetic reason have you summoned me, mortal?" Pyros grumbles. The gist of it seems to be that Malchir wants Pyros's knowledge of the great fire that used to hang in the sky—the sun, which Malchir has never seen. Pyros—who is appropriately terrifying, much more so than the Guardian—brushes off his request, alternately insulting and threatening him. Malchir then demands that Pyros give him some of his power.

     

Pyros tries to break the bonds that hold him. "I have found a weakness in your defenses!" I guess it's me, as Pyros then points at me and sends me sprawling to the ground. Malchir waves the artifact called the Tongue of Flame and banishes Pyros back to wherever he came from. 

        

Malchir looks for a scapegoat.

       

Afterwards, Malchir is pretty annoyed at my performance ('cause I didn't have "Ignite"?), so he blasts me with "Flame Bolt" and stalks off. 

   

Back in town, Bane has moved into Vardion's old house. The plaque on the door has changed to "Bane, First Acolyte." Vardion's dead and horrifically mangled body is still on the floor of his old house. Bane has nothing to say to me. Beren also has nothing to contribute, and Gorgrund won't talk to me because I was part of Vardion's demise.

      

Lady, you need some therapy.

        

I head back to the Obsidian Fortress. Arcadion is gone. Malchir isn't happy to see me; he says I need to die for entering his sanctum without an invitation. I kill both him and his summoned demon.

        

Consider that my version of the "Calling."

        

On his body, I find the Tongue of Flame (it was not on his body when I killed him earlier) as well as a book called The Tongue of Flame. It says that the Tongue has been the secret to binding and controlling Pyros since the time of the first Master Sorcerer. It warns that if it enters the Great Pentagram, Pyros will be freed and he will destroy the world. So I guess Stratos really is the only cool titan.

   

I assume this is what I was supposed to do, but I start using a different save slot just in case. Obviously, the first thing I do is wander into the Great Pentagram with the Tongue of Flame. I get knocked down; there are explosions; there are roars in the distance; the screen turns red and meteors fall from the sky.  Is this what I was supposed to do? I thought freeing Pyros would be bad. For the rest of this session, misty screens alternate with red screens with meteor showers as I go about my business. The meteors never damage me so I assume they're just cosmetic.

       

Given the way the rest of the game plays out, I'm not sure that this was even necessary.

       

I make sure I'm using yet another save slot as I continue. Everyone calls me "Master." Bane wants to be my First Acolyte. I would give it to Beren, but he doesn't offer. Gorgrund is contrite. I forget where the dumb guy's house is.

   

I can't think of anything to do but check in with Devon and Mythran. Devon has nothing new to say, so I guess releasing Pyros didn't counter Hydros's threat. Mythran, however, has some new dialogue. He thinks the Tongue of Flame is "part of the obelisk in the Ancient Temple." He tells me to read a book on the matter.

       

I head upstairs to look for the right book, and I see a book at the top of the stairs that wasn't there before. What a ham-handed way to ensure that the Avatar finds it. It's titled The Destruction of the Temple, by Nadayr of Tenebrae. It relates how the Guardian instructed the Zealans to construct a great temple on Mount Morgaelin. They expended "tremendous magical forces" to collect Blackrock and shape it into an obelisk. This obelisk focused their thoughts and apparently created the four elemental titans. Then the Destroyer came and blasted the temple with lightning bolts. The four titans appeared to "challenge the invader," their battle ruining the landscape.

         

The game puts the book directly into my path.

       

In the aftermath, rumors grew that pieces of the obelisk had survived, each aspected to one of the titans, each keeping the others in check. Lithos put the Heart of the Earth in the Pit of Death; Hydros set the Tear of  the Seas on the ocean floor; the Breath of Air is somewhere on Argentrock Isle; and the sorcerers came to possess the Tongue of Fire. There is speculation about a fifth fragment, but no one knows its location. The book ends by noting that if all five fragments were reunited near the site of the original temple, the obelisk could be recreated.

   

When I return to Mythran, I have a new dialogue option: "I want to recreate the obelisk." Apparently, I think I can use its power to leave Pagan. Mythran agrees and says that I'll need the "Ethereal Travel" spell, though he doesn't say precisely why. He intimates that it will allow me to visit the titans and perhaps fight them. He wants 250 obsidian pieces for the spell, which I don't have because I left all my money at Daemon's Crag. I teleport back there. I have this premonition that it won't be in the chest where I left it, that I'll have to spend some time in the late game grinding against skeletons for coins, but it's right where I left it. I retrieve it and return to Mythran for the spell.

    

I should mention that Mythran has given me several other Thaumaturgy spells, including "Confusion Blast," "Meteor Shower," and "Summon Creature." All are cast, I believe, by double-clicking the appropriate spellbook with the right reagents in my possession. For the most part, I haven't had the right reagents, and I'm not particularly interested in casting those spells anyway. 

       

Mythran sells me a spell that I will never use.

        

I clearly needed "Ethereal Gate," though. The spellbook is cagey about what reagents it requires, but I gather that it's probably five pieces of Blackrock, as represented by the five pieces of the obelisk. I don't know where the mysterious fifth one has gone, but I already possess one and have leads on the other three. I decide to start with the Breath of Wind. I teleport to Argentrock Isle. None of the theurgists are any help, so I take my case directly to Stratos. It takes me a while to remember how to reach her; I forgot about "Air Walk."

      

"I must have the Breath of Wind," I say. She refuses: "Many would pay the price for your quest for power." I can't say anything else but "Bye," so I leave for now.

    

For the Tear of the Seas, I can't imagine how I'm going to get to the bottom of the ocean. [Ed. Microsoft wants me to replace this with "understand the underlying cause of the ocean." That would be cool, too.] I figure Devon might have some idea as the chief Tempest, so I return to him. He's confused at first when I ask about Blackrock or the Tear of the Sea, but he says that he did once recover an unusually hard stone while casting his nets. It's in the locked room in the southwest corner of the palace. He gives me the key. He also says that if I need a place to stay, I can use Salkind's place. I can even loot it. If only it had a teleportation pad.

     

This offer costs him nothing given what happens next.

        

The Tear of the Seas, plus 400 obsidian coins, are in a chest where Devon said it would be. That one was easy. This game holds your hand so closely that if you managed to make it this far in the game without making any money, you can buy the "Ethereal Gate" spell anyway.

     

I have an idea where the Heart of the Earth must be: that large, locked room in the Pit of Death. I know I'll need my earth reagents, so I retrieve them from Daemon's Crag, then teleport to the Hall of the Mountain King, then make my way to the Pit via Stone Cove. In the Pit, I find that commenters were correct and I can cast "Create Golem" through the door on the little patch of mud visible if I walk right up to the door. I then order the golem to open the door. 

     

Unlike most spells, "Create Golem" turned out to be useful twice.

     

The mud patch has a gravestone in its center: "BURIED WITHIN THE VERY BREATH OF LITHOS IS THE HEART." It doesn't take me long to figure out that I need "Open Ground." The earth crumbles, and the Heart of the Earth is revealed.

     

Lithos, you really could have hidden this better.

       

This experience makes me wonder if the secret to finding the Breath of Wind isn't to cast some kind of air spell on Stratos. Maybe "Hear Truth"? Back I go to Argentrock Isle. Again, I "Air Walk" to Stratos. I cast "Hear Truth" before talking with her, but it doesn't offer any new options. Standing on the platform, I go through the rest of the air spells. "Divination" tells me where I am. "Aerial Servant" is useless; I have nothing to fetch. Maybe I need to do more "Air Walking"? There are other platforms in the area, after all. I try jumping to the platform to the southeast of where Stratos is, but I end up in the drink. I reload and try again, and again I fall into the water. After a couple more tries, I realize that this isn't just the usual interface problem; the Avatar is actually hitting an invisible barrier when he tries to jump to that platform. I try "Reveal," which I was going to try next anyway, and sure enough, a pedestal with the Breath of Wind appears on the platform. I cast "Aerial Servant" to bring it to me. For some reason, it's called the Breath of Air when actually in my inventory.

     

My servant snatches the artifact.

        

I'm hoping that now that I have four of the objects, Mythran will have something to say about where I can find the fifth. He has no new dialogue, so I decide to consult what the book has to say again. I don't learn anything new, but I soon note that the book is now glowing in my inventory. I go to open it again, and this time, I'm teleported elsewhere. Is that how thaumaturgy works? If you read the book with all the reagents in your possession, the book is empowered, and then after that, it actually casts the spell? Either way, what was the fifth piece of Blackrock? I have to search my own entries to remember that little Blackrock pyramid I got from the tomb of Khumash-Gor. 

    

Why is this place floating in a void instead of just on the side of the mountain?

      

So, great! No more searching. The place to which I've been teleported seems to be a platform floating in the void. There are lanterns decorated with large skulls in the corners. I find a giant stone pentagram in the center and paths leading off in the four cardinal directions. There are changelings wandering around.

   

I try the east path first. It leads to a doorway that brings me to a cave. "Yes, Avatar, seek a way home!" the Guardian says. The caverns wander about interminably, broken only by a note found on a skeleton that seems to give advice for overcoming obstacles, though I never use its advice. I run past ghouls, skeletons, and trolls. "Endure Heat" gets me across a lava patch.

     

"Endure Heat," Avatar. Not "Armor of Flame."

         

It takes me half an hour to get up onto a particular ledge. Unable to do it the first time, I explore the entire rest of the dungeon, backtracking across the lava fields. I try to "Flash" my way to the top, which doesn't work. The problem is that the Avatar is obscured by the ledge, so you can't see which way he's facing as you try to jump. Also, if the Avatar gets too close to the ledge, he can't make it. I have to watch a video online just to confirm that it can be done before redoubling my efforts and finally getting to the top.

     

The game nearly ended for me here.

         

The caverns rumble and shake violently as I near the final chamber. Lithos's face comes out of the rock. "You have betrayed me, live one," he growls. "And for that, you shall die." A couple of rock golems appear from the ground. I open my backpack, find the Heart of Earth, double click it, and point the cursor at Lithos. "No! I have been defeated! No mortal could have done this. I shall return for you, live one!" Then he's gone, and I'm teleported back to the original platform. The Heart of Lithos is now glowing. 

      

Lithos just after his defeat. I didn't get a shot while he was trying to menace me.

       

I move to the north exit and the portal at its end. This is clearly Hydros's domain: threads of earth surrounded by water. I thread my way through them, ignoring ghouls and changelings, jumping across rocks and stone bridges. I fall in the water and drown a couple of times, necessitating reloads.

      

The Avatar's jumping technique continues to suck.

        

Finally, a white stone bridge leads to a platform with a crest of a dolphin in the center, just like the one in Carthax Lake. Hyrdos's tentacle appears. "Do not be so foolish as to think you have the power to defeat me," her voice warns, seconds before I wield the Tear of the Seas and do exactly that. "You will regret this day," she threatens as she sinks beneath the waves. I reappear on the platform.

   

West exit next. "Perhaps I should destroy you now," the Guardian intones as I enter the portal to what turns out to be Pyros's domain. I cross strands of earth surrounded by lava before reaching a strange glyph on the floor: a 10-pointed star with blinking lights in the corners.

       

Why does this domain alone have some weird puzzle?

       

A nearby skeleton has a journal titled Journeys through Hell by Robin Dudley. It indicates that the key to crossing the lava lies in a bunch of spheres scattered about the level. The corpse has one of them. When I place it on one of the flashing lights, it disappears. Naturally, it occurs to me to try to cross the area by just casting "Endure Flames," and it works fine. 

   

There are a bunch of corpses splayed on the ground on the walkway leading up to a cauldron. Pyros emerges. "You have impressed me with your impudence," he says. "I shall reward you with eternal torment." Something like that. He activates two daemon statutes nearby, but I hit him with the Tongue of Flame before they can do much damage. "This is not possible!" he cries, sinking back into the lava. And once again, I'm back on the platform.

      

This should have been scarier than it was.

         

Finally, I head south towards Stratos's domain. Of the four titans, she's the only one that doesn't seem to be evil, so I'm not looking forward to killing her, or whatever it is I'm doing with these objects. 

   

Stratos's domain is small, just a bunch of rock platforms leading in a near-direct line to the titan. There's a full suit of magical equipment off to the side, on a platform that falls apart if I leap to it. I could cast "Aerial Servant" to fetch the items, but I already have all-magic gear. Instead, I keep going. There are similar collapsing platforms along the way, so I just have to save every couple of jumps. 

     

Any player who wastes a lot of time collecting these items is about to feel like an idiot.

         

"Oh, wicked, wicked child," Stratos says as I reach her. "You have tried my patience, and now I shall punish you." Some little whirlwinds appear to harass me. That makes me feel less bad about hitting her with the Breath of Air/Wind. 

     

You used to be my favorite, Stratos.

        

Back on the central platform, I'm not sure what to do. There isn't a fifth exit. I root in my backpack for a while until I find the Blackrock pyramid. I try double-clicking on it. A cursor appears, so I click on the pentagram. Nothing. I do it again and try clicking on myself. "You feel very powerful," the game says. Did that work because I'm the fifth titan? Did I somehow steal my own power?

  

But I still don't know what to do, so I start arranging the pieces of the obelisk around on the pentagram, fighting off a few changelings as I do. The Tongue of Flame sparkles when I place it on the western point, which gives me the clue I need. I place the other pieces at their appropriate points, with the Blackrock pyramid going in the one point that isn't oriented to a cardinal direction.

      

Looks like that one's in the right place.

        

Lightning strikes, claiming each of the objects. Then a tall black obelisk rises from the center of the pentagram. Ghosts, daemons, and other creatures are seen (and heard) howling inside its facets. I step forward and enter.

     

I would say that nothing about this screams "gate," but we do have the precedent of the Blackrock prism in Ultima Underworld II.

           

The endgame cutscene shows the Avatar walking for a while through a white landscape with tall, round columns.

      

Ah, yes, this familiar place, that in all the world-hopping I've done in this series has definitely appeared before.

          

Then the scene shifts to show the Avatar standing on top of a jutting piece of stone, the screen red and fiery, the area around him a wasteland of rubble. He is wearing a completely different outfit than the one he sported throughout the game, this one consisting of a plumed helmet and a brilliant white tunic on which the yellow (orange?) fringe and sash create an ankh shape. There are pterodactyls or something flying through the sky.

     

Oh, great. I'm in Morrowind.

        

Hearing a chuckle, the Avatar turns around to find himself confronted by an enormous stone head representing the Guardian. Roll credits.

    

This whole time, I've been holding out hope that the game would at least offer a compelling ending. That was certainly dispelled.

   

Let's ponder some questions and points as I put together the final entry:

   

• It's not that I would have wanted the developers to prolong the game, but the four confrontations with the titans were pathetic. The player just has to make his way to them and double-click. That's it. Why in the name of all that's holy would the authors not require the player to make extensive use of the spells he's just spent all that time learning, either in navigation or battle?

• Where the hell was I supposed to use "Withstand Death"!? I carried it for the entire game after learning that I'd only be able to use it once, and I'd know it when I saw it.

• Why is the obelisk a gateway, exactly? Was it a gateway back when the Zealans used it? Why does it go to an area with white columns? How did I get out of this area? Could this series at least offer some consistency when it comes to interplanar travel?

• What was the purpose of offering all that magical equipment at the end? To fight changelings? 

• Would it have been too much to get some denouement on the matter of Pagan? Were the titans imprisoned forever? (Are they imprisoned at all?) Did the Zealan gods return? Like, if I had written this game, I would have had the three Zealan gods appear when I created the obelisk and offer some explanations and assurances that with the titans gone, things would get better for the few remaining people, then maybe had them use their powers to send me home.

     

Why make this an image of a daemon instead of an image of Pyros?

      

• I particularly love how after disrupting each faction to master their particular approaches to magic, I simply abandoned them. Vividos must be wondering where the hell I am.

• A lot was made by the Zealans about the Avatar becoming the Titan of Ether. I guess thaumaturgy is supposed to be associated with ether given the name of one of its spells ("Ethereal Gate"). But I only ever cast one ethereal spell. I'm not sure I really qualify for "titan." The game might have made more sense if the Avatar had to use the Blackrock pyramid on Mythran.

• Where did the Avatar's change of clothing come from?

• Most important, is that final shot supposed to be Britannia? (I already know from online sources that it is.) I mean, it just looks like a generic ruined landscape on a red world. How is the final shot supposed to really hit the player if there's nothing visibly Britannian about it? [Ed. Apparently, online sources are wrong. The official cluebook says that the Avatar has appeared on "the Guardian's homeworld. Of course, the Guardian's homeworld was given as Pagan in an earlier game, so it's not like Origin deserves a lot of benefit of the doubt here.]

    

When I started this entry, I had no inkling that it would be the final one. I figured there would be a host of new quests after I became the master of the four elements. I thought there would be stuff going on in Tenebrae. I thought I'd meet the Zealan gods again. I thought there were more places to access from the Catacombs, even. So the only good thing I can say is that the ending came a lot faster than I expected. 

    

Final time: 51 hours 

    

*****

   

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11/11/2026