''Dragon Lore: The Legend Begins'' (), is a point-and-click adventure game released in 1994 by Cryo Interactive for MS-DOS, 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 version was released for

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and

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in 2013.

Gameplay

''Dragon Lore'' is a point and click adventure game seen from the first person perspective. The player character must interact with various characters in a fantasy atmosphere, solve puzzles, and fight enemies. Fighting with enemies depends largely on equipment found and some enemies are not defeated in face to face confrontation, but by solving puzzles.

Plot

Werner Von Wallenrod, a farm boy uncovers that he is the orphaned son of 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, speakers, and a large bundle of multimedia software, including games and educational titles. Besides ''Dragon Lore'', this kit featured another Cryo Interactive game, '' MegaRace''. 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

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, it was originally marketed in an edition with Spanish texts and English voices. In 1996 it was re-released by Planeta DeAgostini as part of the ''Juegos CD-ROM'' collection together with '' Cyclemania'', in a new Spanish dubbed edition. GOG.com released an emulated version for

and Mac OS X in 2013.

Technical issues

The PC version had relatively high

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requirements, which made the game difficult to run unless the user first edited the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files and/or created a boot disk.

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 praised the game for its "tremendous graphics" and "meaningful game options" but criticized how the game world appeared "too empty and non-interactive" GamePros 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. RPG 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 * *
Dragon Lore
' at IGDB.com {{Authority control 1994 video games 3DO 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