''Dragon Lore: The Legend Begins'' is a

point-and-click adventure An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...

game released in 1994 by

Cryo Interactive Cryo Interactive Entertainment was a French video game development and publishing company founded in 1990, but existing unofficially since 1989 as a developer group under the name Cryo. History Cryo was formed by members of ERE Informatique ...

for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few oper ...

, and later ported to the 3DO video game console. The game was a commercial success, with sales of 300,000 units by 1997. An

emulated In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use peri ...

version was released for Microsoft Windows and

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...

in 2013.

Gameplay

''Dragon Lore'' is a point and click adventure game seen from the

first person First person or first-person may refer to: * First person (ethnic), indigenous peoples, usually used in the plural * First person, a grammatical person * First person, a gender-neutral, marital-neutral term for titles such as first lady and first ...

perspective, with static backgrounds and a few animated objects. The inventory system and general atmosphere of the whole game feels very much like an

RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...

, despite the fact that character progression of any kind is almost non-existent. Fighting with enemies depends largely on equipment found and some enemies are not defeated in face to face confrontation, but by solving puzzles.

Plot

The player character is Werner Von Wallenrod, a farm boy who must interact with various characters in a fantasy atmosphere, solve puzzles, and fight enemies. Eventually the protagonist uncovers that he is the orphaned son of the late Axel von Wallenrod, a "Dragon Knight." Werner sets out to uncover his past and reclaim his heritage. Werner's ultimate goal is to earn the favor of enough of the current Dragon Knights so as to be voted into their order. He also has to deal with his rival, Haggen Von Diakkonov.

Release

The game was bundled with multimedia kits such as the Reveal kit that featured a SC400

sound card A sound card (also known as an audio card) is an internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under the control of computer programs. The term ''sound card'' is also applied to external au ...

, speakers, and a large bundle of multimedia software, including games and educational titles. Besides ''Dragon Lore'', this kit featured another Cryo Interactive game, ''

MegaRace ''MegaRace'' is a racing video game developed by Cryo. It features pre-rendered 3-D graphics and over twenty minutes of full-motion video of fictional game show host, Lance Boyle. It was released for DOS in 1993. It was then released for the ...

''. At the time, many personal computers were not equipped with CD-ROMs and sound cards out of the box, and users wanting these features may have chosen their kit based on the pack-in software. In

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, it was originally marketed in an edition with Spanish texts and English voices. In 1996 it was re-released by

Planeta DeAgostini Editorial Planeta-DeAgostini is a Spanish- Italian publisher and a subsidiary of Grupo Planeta and De Agostini specializing in collectable books, sold periodically in pieces through newsstands (partworks). It has its headquarters in Barcelona.< ...

as part of the ''Juegos CD-ROM'' collection together with ''

Cyclemania ''Cyclemania'' is a motorcycle racing video game developed by Israeli studio Compro Games and published by Accolade in 1994 for MS-DOS. Gameplay Each of the game's five race tracks uses digitized full motion video footage of Israeli public ro ...

'', in a new Spanish dubbed edition.

GOG.com GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through its ...

released an

version for Microsoft Windows and

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

in 2013.

Technical issues

The PC version had relatively high

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered ...

requirements, which made the game difficult to run unless the user first edited the

AUTOEXEC.BAT AUTOEXEC.BAT is a system file that was originally on DOS-type operating systems. It is a plain-text batch file in the root directory of the boot device. The name of the file is an abbreviation of "automatic execution", which describes its funct ...

and

CONFIG.SYS CONFIG.SYS is the primary configuration file for the DOS and OS/2 operating systems. It is a special ASCII text file that contains user-accessible setup or configuration directives evaluated by the operating system's DOS BIOS (typically residin ...

files and/or created a

boot disk A boot disk is a removable digital data storage medium from which a computer can load and run ( boot) an operating system or utility program. The computer must have a built-in program which will load and execute a program from a boot disk meeting ...

Reception

''Dragon Lore'' was a commercial success, with sales of 300,000 units by 1997. A reviewer for Next Generation applauded the game for its fast-moving rendered graphics, captivating plot, and gratifyingly difficult puzzles in its later sections. He added that the inclusion of fighting segments, in addition to being satisfying of themselves, serve to break up the monotony that puzzle adventure games sometimes suffer from.

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through t ...

praised the game for its "tremendous graphics" and "meaningful game options" but criticized how the game world appeared "too empty and non-interactive"

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

s brief review of the 3DO version stated, "Smooth, rendered 3D animation and voice clips accompany the great mythological storyline to make up a well-rounded game.

fans will enjoy the attention to detail as well as the intuitive motions and menus ... slow access time is one of the few setbacks."

Legacy

Cryo Interactive released a sequel named ''Dragon Lore II: The Heart of the Dragon'' in 1996.

References

External links

*
Dragon Lore
' at

Giant Bomb ''Giant Bomb'' is an American video game website and wiki that includes personality-driven gaming videos, commentary, news, and reviews, created by former ''GameSpot'' editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. The website was voted by ''Time'' ma ...

* *
Dragon Lore
' at IGDB.com {{Authority control 1994 video games 3DO Interactive Multiplayer games Adventure games Cancelled Sega CD games Cryo Interactive games DOS games Fantasy video games Games commercially released with DOSBox Single-player video games Video games developed in France Video games scored by Stéphane Picq Video games with pre-rendered 3D graphics Mindscape games