Originally published December 21, 2015
This episode refers to video games (Ultima V, Ironsword) discussed in this post:
https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2015/01/21/influences-behind-the-thirteenth-hour-part-3-video-games/
Check out this cover art for Ultima V!
Unfortunately, the inside of the game looked like this:
But there's a remake/mod for Dungeon's Seige: http://www.u5lazarus.com/
Gauntlet, also featured on this episode, at least the 1985 PC version, has an entry on wikipedia.
Gameplay and picture above courtesy of old-games.com. I've included links on old-games.com for the games below:
Incidentally, my brother wrote about Quest for Glory in his blog, as well as many of the games of that era, here. (His experience playing games was much different from mine - more positive). He also followed that post up with discussion of fan-made remakes of QFG, Quest for Infamy and Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok.
We have recently been playing the game Magicka, which has a similar sense of humor to some of the above games, as well as The Thirteenth Hour.
As always, thanks for listening!
More about The Thirteenth Hour
An impossible quest to the ends of the world. An unlikely hero. And ... a little magic.
If an optimist sees opportunity even in disaster, then Logan, the sole surviving member of an ill-fated military expedition to the ends of the world, is most definitely an optimist. You’d have to be to continue on without supplies, ship, or crew. But to someone who’s daydreamed of seeing the world since childhood, perhaps disaster actually hides freedom. And, besides, who ever said adventures were supposed to be easy?
Of course, every hero on a “desperate quest against incredible odds” can use a little help. Enter Aurora, Logan’s best friend from childhood, whose fate collides serendipitously with his, a magic collapsible hover board, three bumbling wizards, and the elemental forces from the lands of wind, water, fire, earth, and dreams.
These characters and many more collide in an illustrated fairy tale fantasy inspired by enough 1980s fantasy, scifi, and teen movies that an original retro 80s synthesizer soundtrack, Long Ago Not So Far Away, was created to accompany the novel.
Enter a whimsical world of what reviewers called “creative, fast paced adventure” best “described as a fairy tale for anyone who grew up on old school fantasy movies in the 80s.”
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