Game Review

Graphics (n.) The use of animation and visual effects to stimulate the senses	vv (Average)	Average. When walking around the fields, Konrad has a "tileish" look that doesn't try to make a 3D effect or the illusion that the game doesn't use a tileset. It's also a little strange that everyone's orange and the game takes place on an orange background with a contrastingly red and tiny font, which certainly does take a little while to get used to. The other part about Konrad the Warrior is the battle sequences. From a graphic perspective Acid Works did a pretty good job nestling some animation sequences despite the fact that the action takes place atop a black background. Unfortunately, the extra animation detail wasn't really to the advantage of this game because it makes the action during battle very slow! I don't understand why it takes more than eight seconds for Konrad to walk up and hit an enemy.
Sound/Music (n.) The smooth blend of atmospheric sounds and original harmonies	N/A	Konrad is not a yelling kind of warrior; his game offers no music or sound.
Gameplay (n.) The precision of control and involvement of character within its universe	v (Poor)	Konrad the Warrior is a town-to-town game. The game centralizes at a main town much like Hyrule in Zelda 64. A typical day of adventure involves Konrad departing this main town, entering a dungeon, finding riches, and returning to the main town to purchase better weapons. The last step can be skipped though; I noticed that the strength of weapons and armor don't vary that much within this game and the money you save can be used to purchase better healing items.  The area of gameplay that hurts the most for Konrad the Warrior is the battle screen. When fighting, Konrad has his choice of blitzing, attacking, using an item, or trying to run. Items are expensive and don't really help Konrad very much. Running is illogical because experience points are mandatory if you expect to win, which means Konrad has to participate in many battles.  The remaining two battle options open a series of attack animations that take so long to fully animate that this simple-looking RPG somehow finds a way to match the sluggish pace of Final Fantasy VIII. Personally, I recommend blitzing everything you see, since it saves you a lot of time. But even the auto-attack feature is relatively slow.
Story (n.) The creativity and presentation of the game's critical plot	vv (Average)	Konrad the Warrior follows the typical role-playing game formula. Every big RPG needs a hero, so in this case the mighty Konrad the Warrior is chosen. For someone in need of the hero, the king was hired for the job. Finally, a villain is needed... ah! An army of snakes will do. Then, Acid Works threw in a typical quest, but with a couple of subquests to keep the game interesting. All in all, an average job.
Replay Value (n.) The timelessness of the gamer's delight, such that the experience can be repeated again and again	v (Poor)	The slowness of this game is what will turn off most brave adventurers from this game, especially during the battle sequence. When Konrad is walking around the world, there is really very little interaction with the game's villagers, and the only important person you can speak with is the mighty king at the beginning of the game. Otherwise, a lot of the game is walking around and experience gathering, so once you know Konrad's tale it gets a little monotonous.
Challenge (v.) To strike the mental nerve in such a way as to stimulate human thought and reflexes	v (Poor)	There are very few puzzle elements in Konrad, and a lot of the challenge relies on your patience. You have to be patient enough to gather experience levels, and you have to be pretty patient to wind through a maze of tunnels that lack the atmosphere that only music and sound effects can offer.  Enemies and bosses don't require much strategy (I auto-attack them) and the mazes range from easy to moderately easy. A big reason this game will take a while is because the mazes are pretty big, therefore making your journey a little longer.
Fun Factor (n.) The overall entertainment value as maintained throughout the adventure	(Very Poor)	The one thing that Konrad the Warrior is most famous for is the acclamation that it is possibly the very first complete QB role-playing game ever made, or at least that it is the first publically-released QB Role playing game on the Internet. The attention paid to this game because of that feat was astounding, with every major QB publication at the time tossing their two cents about how amazing this achievement was for Acid Works Software, along with how great this game was for QB's reputation. Ever since then, a few years have passed, and this legendary game has started to show some age. While the graphics of this game are noticeably better than other QBRPGs that were released shortly after its time, the overall look of this game is average now, especially with the plethora of Final Fantasy look-alikes that have been put on the QB board. This leaves Konrad's fun factor to contribute to its replay value, and because this game focuses so much on experience gathering and catacombs, I felt like I was doing busywork in Konrad. It got a little boring having to walk this way and turning back the other way.
Players	1 player	Genre: Role Playing Game
Rating		To solve: 4-5 hours Final Rating: 7/35

Download

To download Konrad the Warrior (471KB), click here. wTo play Konrad The Warrior, unzip the file, then run "KONRAD.EXE".

Back to RPG Page

The Highs: The first complete RPG ever programmed in QB, with many items and treasures to be found.
The Lows: Slow-paced battles. Also, more balance is needed between too much maze-dwelling and too little story-telling.

V Planet! Archive
This is an archive of V Planet, circa November 2004, when the site was last active. This is read-only, and preserved here as part of the QB Zines Archive at Pete's QB Site.

Site Highlights
2004 QB Gaming Gold Awards Almost Set To Begin!
Get ready for this year's Gaming Golds! After a long hiatus, this year promises to be one of the biggest galas in the history of the QB world. Who will take home the gold this year?

Site Watch
Pete's QBasic Site
The original king of QB reviews is back with a vengeance! Check out the new and improved version of his website and don't forget to upload your latest QB projects to Pete's new download section!

Affiliates
Antz Entertainment
GBGames QBasic
HyperRealistic Games
InnerMark
NeoBasic
Jocke the Beast
Pete's QBasic Site
Pickers Games Website
Piptol Productions
Programmer's Heaven
QB Colony
QB Chronicles
QB: Cult Magazine
QB45
QBasic/QuickBasic News
QBasic Contest
Central
RPG-Dev.Net
Statto Software

Links

---