Chronicles of the Sword

Chronicles of the Sword
US cover of Chronicles of the Sword (PC version)
Developer(s)	Synthetic Dimensions
Publisher(s)	Psygnosis
Designer(s)	Kevin Bulmer
Composer(s)	Ben Daglish
Platform(s)	DOS, PlayStation
Release date(s)	May 31, 1996 (USA)
Genre(s)	Adventure game
Mode(s)	Single-player
Media/distribution	CD-ROM

Chronicles of the Sword is a sword and sorcery video game developed by Synthetic Dimensions and released by Psygnosis in 1996 for the PC DOS and Sony PlayStation platforms; there was also a planned Mac OS port which got canceled. The game's story is based on Arthurian legends; this was the second Psygnosis game that was based on this theme, the first being The Legend of Galahad.

Gameplay

It is a third-person, mouse-based point-and-click adventure game. It also features a few action elements of combat sequences that are interactive only on Regular difficulty level (automated on Easy setting).

Plot

The story is set in King Arthur's mythical court of Camelot, located in Albion, Sub-Roman Britain, circa 420 A.D. The player takes on the role of Gawain, a young knight of Arthur struggling to uphold virtues of the kingdom. Gawain's quest is to stop the sinister sorceress Morgana La Fay, Arthur's half-sister, before she can wreak destruction on Camelot. Morgana plots to reveal Lancelot and Lady Guinevere's affair to the world, planning to overthrow Arthur and seize the throne. The game begins with Lady Morgana murdering the priest of Camelot just as Gawain was about to be given his knighthood. Early during the course of the game, Gawain discovers her plan and warns the king. Having been banished from Camelot, Morgana then attempts to kill Arthur before vanishing, prompting the court wizard Merlin to send Gawain off to get rid of her once and for all. The young knight ventures to ferret out various objects to give himself the ring of protection from Morgana's spells. This task completed, Gawain finally goes off on the journey to the island Lyonesse on the final mission to kill the witch. Once in Morgana's castle, Gawain has to find not only a way to defeat her and he also to find a way to dispose of her lover and personal guard, a vampire named Ragnar. Ultimately, Gawain is unable to end Morgana's life even after he has destroyed Ragnar, but she gets her soul trapped by the Fairy magic. In the end, Gawain returns to Camelot as a hero to join the Order of the Round Table.

Main characters

• Gawain has left his father, King Lot, and mother, Morgause, and ventured to Camelot just the previous night, after having been nominated by none other than Sir Lancelot himself to become a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and to serve God and the country. Soon, he becomes Merlin's emissary and instrument of Morgana's destruction. She will be doing her best to kill him, so he needs to be nimble, quick and ruthless, as the future of the kingdom now rests squarely on his shoulders.
• Morgana is the King's evil half-sister and a Queen in her own right who desires only one thing - power. She has made many attempts on Arthur's life and is rumoured to be behind many mysterious deaths and disappearances, but never has left any trace of her involvement. She is a very strong witch of great power and learnt much of her sorcery from Merlin himself, but now she and Merlin are bitter rivals and their past intimacy means nothing to either of them. Morgana is very beautiful and has many male followers as men find it difficult to resist her. She is a master of intrigue and deception, and even without her magical powers she would make a formidable and dangerous adversary. When threatened, she can be either ferocious or servile, depending on the power of her enemy and nature of the situation. Like Merlin, she is only semi-mortal.
• Merlin (Merrdyn) is a powerful warlock who is several hundred years old and may have been born in Atlantis. Merlin has been an influential figure for a very long time, working towards a greater goal known to no-one but himself. He was advisor to Vortigern, the last truly great British King. When Ambrosius Aurelianus and Uther Pendragon killed Vortigen and stole his throne, Merlin appeared to change his allegiance and support Ambrosius until his death, and then Uther when he succeeded him. It is rumoured that he and Morgana had a short, explosive affair which may explain the bitterness of their current relationship. Merlin is hard drinking and often sounds callous, even malicious when dealing with other people - but only because he is irritated by the shortcomings ofothers and resents the need to waste breath explaining himself to those of a lesser intelligence.
• King Arthur (Arthus) is noble and chivalrous, cultivating the ideal of the chivalrous knight operating under an honourable code of conduct. He started the fellowship of the Round Table after drawing the sword from the stone, thereby fulfilling a prophecy and proving his right to rule. Years ago, Merlin informed Arthur that the woman with whom he had lain was actually Morgana, disguised by a spell, and the issue of this union was to be the instrument of Arthur's death, and so he sent out his knights to rid of all male children born on the first day of May. This event has left Arthur with deep psychological scars which manifests as an occasional over-assertiveness and sometimes as a frightening hesitancy. He loves his wife, Guinevere dearly, but projects onto her an ideal which she cannot possibly live up to.
• Queen Guinevere, the King's wife, is a very attractive young woman who dresses and walks in a way which would tempt most men at court. She enjoys flirting with young knights, a habit the King finds irritating. Lady Guinevere is intelligent but too young and inexperienced to offer Arthur help and be a confidant.
• Lancelot Du Lac is Gawain's sponsor and the most famous knight of all, completely fearless, with legendary fighting prowess and exploits. The other knights of the Round Table defer to Lancelot and treat him with a respect verging on awe.
• Ragnar the Vampire is a sadistic guard at Lyonesse who is entirely is devoted to Morgana. Ragnar is a creature of pure evil, dangerous, unpredictable and, like all vampires, extremely difficult to kill.

Development

Chronicles of the Sword has been originally being developed by Synthetic Dimensions (then functioning under the name Dimension Creative Design) as King Arthur: The Quest of The Fair Unknown. In an early 1994 version, as shown to the Edge magazine, the player character was the titular Fair Unknown (Gingalain), sent to a Welsh castle to rescue a queen who has been turned into a serpent by an evil sorcerer. Upon reaching the castle, the player had to battle various enemies, including a giant serpent, a pair of mages and undead skeletons (swordfights against an enormous snake and skeletons were actually featured in the final version, towards the end of the game in Morgana's castle). This initial mission completed, the player would return to Camelot, "where the real meat of the game begins" (Chronicles of the Sword begins in Camelot), also featuring Merlin and Morgana. The game was supposed to be released only for the PC CD-ROM platform and on just one CD (the final game is contained on two discs).

Reception

The game was mostly poorly received, its PC version receiving the average score of only 41% in five reviews featured at Game Rankings. According to the GameSpot review, "Chronicles of the Sword does have some nice elements, most notably the richly detailed background art and the excellent musical score. But the positive features only manage to distract you from the fact that the game is confusing, frustrating and—worst of all—excruciatingly dull." GamePro also praised the game's graphics and especially its audio (featuring "great vocal talents"), but concluded: "This sword is dull." NowGamer gave it an overall score of 4.3/10 and the final verdict of "Dull and painfully S-L-O-W".

References

• Chronicles of the Sword PC game manual.

External links

• Official website (archived)
• Chronicles of the Sword at MobyGames
• Chronicles of the Sword at GameFAQs