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Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon Through a clearing in the haunted forest, three massive towers rise into the night sky - the dread Temple Darkmoon is. Curse of the Azure Bonds After you saved the entire city of Phlan and located the Pool of Radiance, a simple trip to Tilverton should have bee. Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon Through a clearing in the haunted forest, three massive towers rise into the night sky - the dread Temple Darkmoon is. Curse of the Azure Bonds After you saved the entire city of Phlan and located the Pool of Radiance, a simple trip to Tilverton should have bee.

Eye of the Beholder is a role-playing video game for personal computers and video game consoles developed by Westwood Associates. It was published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. in 1991^[3][4] for the DOS operating system and later ported to the Amiga, the Sega CD and the SNES. The Sega CD version features a soundtrack composed by Yuzo Koshiro.^[5] A port to the Atari Lynx handheld was developed by NuFX in 1993, but was not released.^[6] In 2002 the game was an adaptation of the same name was developed by Pronto Games for the Game Boy Advance.

The game has two sequels, Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon, also released in 1991, and Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor, released in 1993. The third game, however, was not developed by Westwood, which had been acquired by Virgin Interactive in 1992 and created the Lands of Lore series instead.

• 4Reception
• 5Legacy

Plot[edit]

The lords of the city of Waterdeep hire a team of adventurers to investigate an evil coming from beneath the city. The adventurers enter the city's sewer, but the entrance gets blocked by a collapse caused by Xanathar, the eponymous beholder. The team descends further beneath the city, going through Dwarf and Drow clans, to Xanathar's lair, where the final confrontation takes place.

Once the eponymous beholder is killed, the player would be treated to a small blue window describing that the beholder was killed and that the adventurers returned to the surface where they were treated as heroes. Nothing else was mentioned in the ending and there were no accompanying graphics. This was changed in the later released Amiga version, which featured an animated ending.

Gameplay[edit]

Eye of the Beholder featured a first-person perspective in a three-dimensional dungeon,^[7]very similar to the earlier Dungeon Master.^[8] The player controls four characters, initially, using a point-and-click interface to fight monsters.^[7] This can be increased to a maximum of six characters, by resurrecting one or more skeletons from dead non-player characters (NPC), or finding NPCs that are found throughout the dungeons.

The possibility to increase the size of the player's party through the recruiting of NPCs was a tradition in all of the Eye of the Beholder series. It was also possible to import a party from Eye of the Beholder into The Legend of Darkmoon or from The Legend of Darkmoon into Assault on Myth Drannor; thus, a player could play through all three games with the same party.

Development[edit]

The graphics for the DOS version were created using Deluxe Paint. Over 150 Adlib sound effects exist in the game's audio.^[9]

Reception[edit]

Critical reception[edit]

Eye of the Beholder was reviewed in 1991 in Dragon #171 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in 'The Role of Computers' column, who gave it 5 out of 5 stars.^[10] It was #1 on the Software Publishers Association's list of top MS-DOS games for April 1991, the last SSI D&D game to reach the rank.^[13] Dennis Owens of Computer Gaming World called it 'a stunning, brilliantly graphic and agonizingly tricky' 3-D CRPG. The magazine stated that the game's VGA graphics and sound card audio finally gave IBM PC owners a Dungeon Master-like game.^[14]Scorpia, another reviewer for the magazine, was less positive. Although also praising the graphics and audio, stating that they 'really give you the feeling of being in an actual dungeon', she criticized the awkward spell user interface and the 'outrageous' abrupt ending. Other areas that needed work included the combat, plot, and NPC interaction; nonetheless, she was hopeful that with such improvements 'the Legend series will become one of the leaders in the CRPG field'.^[15] In 1993 Scorpia called the game 'an impressive first effort that bodes well for the future'.^[16]

According to GameSpy in 2004, despite the issues in the first Eye of the Beholder, 'most players found the game well worth the effort'.^[17] CRPG Addict in 2015 gave it a 41 out of 100 score, six points lower than the score for Dungeon Master. He criticized the combat system and lack of in-game economy, but approved of the graphics, sound, user interface, and gameplay, concluding with 'I enjoyed it ... It just wasn't as good as it could have been'.^[18]

Hailing the game as 'a dream come true' for Dungeons & Dragons fans, Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the Super NES version a 6.2 out of 10, praising its 3-D graphics and variety of characters.^[12] They gave the Sega CD version a 7.2 out of 10, this time praising the ability to create custom characters but criticizing the audio. They also remarked that the game has a difficult learning curve.^[12]

IGN ranked Eye of the Beholder No. 8 on their list of 'The Top 11 Dungeons & Dragons Games of All Time' in 2014.^[19] Ian Williams of Paste rated the game #8 on his list of 'The 10 Greatest Dungeons and Dragons Videogames' in 2015.^[20] In 1991, PC Format placed Eye of the Beholder on its list of the 50 best computer games of all time. The editors called it a 'classic romp through dungeons dealing with monsters, puzzles, traps and things mythical.'^[21]

Commercial performance[edit]

SSI sold 129,234 copies of Eye of the Beholder. By mid 1991 over 150,000 copies had been sold worldwide.^[22]

Promotion[edit]

Eye Of The Beholder Gamefaqs

In January 1991, SSI participated in Computer Gaming World's Top Ad contest and their cover art for Eye of the Beholder came in first place among voting readers, despite the magazine publisher's objection to the piece.^[23] From February till October 1991, SSI started up a contest 'Beholder Bonus', which required players to find a bonus feature (easter egg) in each level of the game, indicated by an onscreen message. The first 50 PC players and 50 Amiga players to discover all 12 features would win $100 worth prizes.^[24][25]

Legacy[edit]

Sequels[edit]

There were two sequels:Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon used a modified version of the first game's engine, added outdoor areas and greatly increased the amount of interaction the player had with their environment, along with substantially more 'roleplaying' aspects to the game.

Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor was not developed by Westwood, the developer of Eye of the Beholder and The Legend of Darkmoon, but rather in-house by the publisher SSI.

Eye of the Beholder Trilogy (1995, SSI) was a rerelease of all the three games for DOS on CD-ROM. Interplay released the three games along with a number of other AD&D DOS Games in two collection CDs: The Forgotten Realms Archives (1997) and Gamefest: Forgotten Realms Classics (2001).

Related games[edit]

Several modules for Neverwinter Nights (2002) have been created by fans as remakes of the original Eye of the Beholder game.^[26][27] A team of Indie game developers led by Andreas Larsson did a fan conversion of the game for the Commodore 64.^[28]

References[edit]

1. ^Petersen, Sandy (April 1994). 'Eye of the Monitor'(PDF). Dragon. No. 204. TSR, Inc. p. 35.
2. ^'Eye of the Beholder (Sega CD) - IGN'. IGN. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
3. ^Minelli, Frank (1990). 'The Rumor Bag'. Computer Gaming World (79):16
4. ^'CES previews'. QuestBusters. February 1991. p. 1. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
5. ^Barton, Matt (23 February 2007). 'Part 2: The Golden Age (1985-1993)'. The History of Computer Role-Playing Games. Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 30 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
6. ^Atari Lynx Catalog. Atari. 1993. p. 2.
7. ^ ^abTresca, Michael J. (2010), The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games, McFarland, p. 143, ISBN078645895X
8. ^Owens, Dennis (June 1991). 'Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder'. Computer Gaming World. p. 14. Retrieved 17 November 2013. This personalized combat perspective undoubtedly earned much of the praise for FTL's CGW Hall of Fame member, Dungeon Master. In a very real sense, Eye of the Beholder (SSI's first entry in the 'Legend Series,' a new line of AD&D computer role-playing games) is Dungeon Master meets veteran storyteller George MacDonald.
9. ^Brenesal, Barry (24 September 1991). 'SSI Challenges Your Intellect and Your Senses in a New Game'. PC Magazine. Vol. 10 no. 16. p. 498.
10. ^ ^abLesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia; Lesser, Kirk (July 1991). 'The Role of Computers'. Dragon (171): 57–64.
11. ^'Computer and Video Games Issue 114' (27). May 1991: 28–29. Retrieved 18 January 2016.Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
12. ^ ^abc'Review Crew: Eye of the Beholder'. Electronic Gaming Monthly (59). EGM Media, LLC. June 1994. pp. 33, 36.
13. ^Maher, Jimmy (31 March 2017). 'Opening the Gold Box, Part 5: All That Glitters is Not Gold'. The Digital Antiquarian.
14. ^Owens, Dennis (June 1991). 'Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder'. Computer Gaming World. p. 14. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
15. ^Scorpia (June 1991). 'Scorpion's View'. Computer Gaming World. p. 51. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
16. ^Scorpia (October 1993). 'Scorpia's Magic Scroll Of Games'. Computer Gaming World. pp. 34–50. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
17. ^Rausch, Allen; Lopez, Miguel (16 August 2004). 'A History of D&D Video Games - Part II'. Game Spy.
18. ^Bolingbroke, Chester (14 June 2015). 'Eye of the Beholder: Final Rating'. CRPG Addict.
19. ^Johnson, Leif (5 February 2014). 'The Top 11 Dungeons & Dragons Games of All-Time'. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
20. ^'The 10 Greatest Dungeons and Dragons Videogames'. Pastemagazine.com. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
21. ^Staff (October 1991). 'The 50 best games EVER!'. PC Format. No. 1. pp. 109–111.
22. ^'Gold - The Mark of a Winner'. Computer and Video Games. No. 117. EMAP. August 1991. p. 3.
23. ^'Top Ad Winners Announced!'. Computer Gaming World. No. 86. September 1991. p. 42.
24. ^'The Rumor Bag'. Computer Gaming World. No. 79. Software Publishers Association. February 1991. p. 16.
25. ^'Scorpion News'. Computer Gaming World. No. 87. Software Publishers Association. October 1991. p. 54.
26. ^'NWVault search for 'Eye of the beholder''. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
27. ^Watamaniuk, Jay. 'Neverwinter Nights: The Eye of the Beholder Project'. Archived from the original on 31 March 2009.
28. ^'Eye of the Beholder - Work in progress C64'. Indie Retro News. 16 June 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2012.

External links[edit]

• Eye of the Beholder at MobyGames

Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon

DOS - 1991

Also released on: Amiga

Download extras files
Manual available

Description of Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon

Westwood's Eye of the Beholder 1 and 2 remain today two of the best real-time RPGs ever produced. They feature great graphics for their time, tons of cool weapons and devious real-time puzzles that mysteriously make you come back for more traps and pressure plates to push.

The plots are typical kill-the-big-foozle fare, but the games are so well implemented that you'll be glued to the screen for hours on end. The graphics and animations are both top-notch, and excellent sound effects add to the incredible 'you are there' atmosphere that is rarely achieved in RPGs of that time.

Although EOB 2 feels at times like a poor rehash of its predecessor due to awfully similar graphics and monsters, it does feature more expansive and varied outdoor levels, as well as less frustrating endgame boss (defeating the Beholder in EOB 1 is nearly impossible if your party is not at maximum levels).

They're both very challenging games that are definite must-play for dungeon-adventurers, especially fans of book-based AD&D. Too bad SSI's own EOB 3 doesn't measure up to these classics.

Review By HOTUD

External links

Captures and Snapshots

Screenshots from MobyGames.com

Comments and reviews

pav2018-04-241 point

1 at all i really want to say thank you to all of you.for give me the opportunity to play one of my favorites games of all time.those kind of games keep us i lot of time outside of the real life.the nostalgia of my side is huge and i am really happy to play tha game one more time.thank you thank you thank you

the guy2016-11-141 point

to attack right click your weapon

The Guy2016-04-08-2 points DOS version

To attack, I think you click your attacking hand, and click the monster you want to attack. It should say on your attacking hand whether you missed (or not).

KungFU2009RIP2016-01-29-1 point

ok...for the most part I HATE these type of games, but this one I might be willing
to invest some time and effort in.....IF ONLY I COULD FIGURE OUT HOW TO ATTACK ENEMIES????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
so I am standing there while first enemy keeps taking swings at me, with each swing things are looking bad for my party(who by the way don't seem to know to fight on their own) frantically I am pressing keys TRYING to find the ATTACK key but to no luck, does anyone know how the hell you fight back in this game?

Eye Of The Beholder Walkthrough

Whimp2015-12-050 point DOS version

If u fall down in the pit (location 20B) on catacomb level 1 to catacomb level 2 sub level 1 and go up the stairs to sub level 2 in catacomb level 1, they have forgotten to add the stairs to catacomb level 1 location 1:(((( You have to restart the game.... very frustrating....

fdisk2015-11-101 point

HQ clue book (eng) + rule book (eng) + data card amiga:
EDIT: Thx fdisk!

Dungeons And Dragons Eye Of The Beholder

fdisk2015-11-101 point

manual, german:
EDIT: Thx fdisk!

VASCR2015-03-021 point DOS version

Eye Of The Beholder Gamefaqs Cheats

This game is the best RPG I have ever played on Amiga including the Dungeon Master. I still remember sketching the maps in order to find the way down to dungeons.

Kmuzu2014-10-311 point DOS version

Westwood still lives on at Petroglyph Games

JtotheOost2014-05-282 points DOS version

Agreed. Best rpg i've ever played. I wish today's games were half as good.

markegiani2013-04-050 point DOS version

The best RPG ever !!

me2012-06-290 point DOS version

The best game ever.

oznerol2012-04-110 point DOS version

I agree, this game had everything: good atmosphere, all DnD classes, loads of weapons and objects, varied locations. Not too difficult, not too easy... just a perfect RPG

Licurg2012-03-150 point DOS version

This game is better than 99% of the RPGs made after it. R.I.P Westwood. F*ck EA!

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Game Extras and Resources

Eye Of The Beholder Manual

Some of these file may not be included in the game stores. For Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon, we have the following files:

Other Releases

Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon was also released on the following systems:

Amiga

• Year:1992
• Publisher:Strategic Simulations, Inc.
• Developer:Westwood Associates

Eye Of The Beholder Gamefaqs Game

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