Knights of Legend is a little-known RPG that was released by Origin Systems in late 1989. The idea behind the game was to make a very realistic, multi-part RPG. The first installment was to cover the land of Ashtalarea, and future expansions were planned for other lands called Salynn, Bamidor, Tsadith, and Astrikan (according to the manual) However, Knights of Legend didn't do so well, and the future expansions were never released. If the reviews I read were any indication, people didn't really warm up to the system and thought it was too complicated.
Knights of Legend is a little-known RPG that was released by Origin Systems in late 1989. The idea behind the game was to make a very realistic, multi-part RPG. The first installment was to cover the land of Ashtalarea, and future expansions were planned for other lands called Salynn, Bamidor, Tsadith, and Astrikan (according to the manual) However, Knights of Legend didn't do so well, and the future expansions were never released. If the reviews I read were any indication, people didn't really warm up to the system and thought it was too complicated. It's a shame, because once you get past the learning curve, Knights is a really great game. Even to this day, over 15 years later, I have yet
to see an RPG combat system that comes even close to the level of depth and detail in Knights of Legend.
So why bother with a Knights of Legend FAQ now? Partially because it's one of my all-time favorite games, but also because despite how good the game is, there really isn't much in the way of information about it out there. I was able to find one very old FAQ floating around out there that was written about the time the game was released, but it was somewhat limited in scope and inaccurate in a few parts too. Hopefully this FAQ will generate interest in the game so that people will give it a whirl; it's one of the best games ever made in my opinion.
In terms of where to find the game...eBay is probably your best bet. (I've seen it there a couple of times in the recent past, usually the Apple II version though) You might be able to find it at abandonware sites, but you really need the manual--and more importantly, the map--to play the game effectively, so you'll be better off finding a real copy, if you can.
A.02 KNIGHTS OF LEGEND VERSIONS
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There are two versions of Knights of Legend; one for the Apple II, and one for DOS. I've played both versions; the Apple II version I played to death during high school, and the DOS version I found more recently at a garage sale. The two versions are virtually identical, but this FAQ is primarily based on the DOS version, as that's the one I was playing as I wrote it, and information on the Apple II version is mostly based on memory.
In terms of which version to play, there are advantages and disadvantages to each. The DOS version has substantially better graphics, (the portraits, character icons and paper dolls especially are a lot nicer than the Apple version) but there are gameplay elements in the Apple version that are missing from the DOS version. Here's a quick overview of the non-graphical differences I've noticed:
The DOS version can be installed to the hard drive, whereas the Apple version
requires extensive disk swapping.
Missile weapons act more realistically in the Apple version; your arrows and bolts can hit any character in line with your target. In the DOS version, when you fire an arrow, it will always hit the square you target.
In the Apple II version, characters will only be frozen in terror when attempting melee attacks on "terrible" enemies; missile attacks and spells are not penalized. In the DOS version, ANY non-movement action can result in a character being frozen in terror when facing "terrible" enemies.
Fewer enemy types in the DOS version are "terrible" than in the Apple II version.
In the Apple II version, spell customization is broken; when you go to customize a spell the screen freezes up with weird graphic artifacts and you have to restart. Or it could just be that I was extremely unlucky (I thought my disk was bad, so I exchanged it at the store but the new disks did the same thing)
