Knights of Legend was the first game that ever took my life and imagination away and converted it into characters, adventures. It was like a blank page for my imagination, though looking back on it the game of course determined many of the decisions that are taken. The quests are delightfully dark and mysterious. Somehow the fact that the game often crashed in the middle of switching out 5 1/4 inch disks while trying to kill twelve goblins to retrieve a flute for some inn owner was fantastically exciting.
Though I could never advance far in the game because one of my disks was slightly ripped, many of my formative hours were spent in the pursuit of obscure quests.
I love the feature where you can talk to everyone in a town, and ask all about Pindar, of course. I also love the graphics that show the different things your character and characters can wear, such as the "jerkins" and chain mail. The enemies were truly terrifying and some like the hill ogre to be avoided at all costs. The big walrus monsters reminded me of Lewis Carroll.
Of course, many of the "races" had these fascinating back stories, like the sad elves of the south woods who had been the target of genocide, and the northern
flying people. I loved the ability to name and customize the characters, it was a springboard for storytelling. I remember often traveling around the world of Knights of Legend with no particular direction or intention, just to find creatures and slay them and experience "camping" in the woods or on the road.
There was no content, and accumulating gold coins didn't mean much. I wanted to master the broadsword, or the long bow, or the war hammer, but really I just looked for stories, for the possibility of teamwork between the characters, for the chance to tell the story of the time I killed six skeletons with only a long bow and a spell against undead and my dwarf was killed by a skeleton's short sword in the gut. It didn't require a lot of knowledge, but its looseness demanded imagination.
This is how Knights of Legend captured so many afternoons of my young life and crashed my Apple II GS more times than I could count. Thanks to "origin" for the memories. And thanks for making this available.
