Albion
Description official descriptions
The year is 2227. The powerful DDT Corporation has sent a factory ship called the Toronto to harvest minerals and resources from Albion, a newly discovered world which is supposedly barren of life but rich in resources. The space pilot Tom Driscoll is sent to take some atmospheric readings on the planet, but crash lands after an apparently accidental systems failure of his shuttle. Upon recovering from the accident he is shocked to discover that Albion is in fact a rich, life-filled world inhabited by various races with their unique cultures. It then becomes his task to explore the strange new world, helps its inhabitants, and eventually find his way back to Toronto.
Albion is a party-based role-playing game and a spiritual successor to Amber games. It features two principal exploration modes, 3D and 2D. The first-person 3D mode, similar to that of The Elder Scrolls: Arena, is used for most towns and all dungeons. The 2D mode takes place in the overworld, in smaller locations, and inside buildings, and uses a top-down perspective similar to Ultima VII: The Black Gate. Mouse or keyboard can be used to navigate the protagonists and interact with the environment.
The player controls a party of up to six characters in the game, all of which can be recruited in various locations in the game world and join the protagonist for plot-related reasons. Each character has his or her own unique fighting styles, abilities, and in some cases magic spells. Experience points are acquired by defeating enemies or solving puzzles; in addition, the player receives a set amount of training points that can be used to raise the characters' skills (such as close or ranged combat, magic, etc.). Enemies can be encountered in both 3D and 2D areas; a battle initiates when the protagonist comes into contact with an enemy. Combat is turn-based and takes place on a 2D 6x6 square grid. Topic-based dialogue system is used to obtain information about the game world, receive assignments, and advance the plot.
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Credits (DOS version)
36 People (19 developers, 17 thanks) · View all
| Producer | |
| Project Manager, Graphics, Scenarios | |
| Main Programmer | |
| Graphics | |
| Editor Maintenance and Scenarios | |
| Music and Sound Effects | |
| 3D Engine | |
| Combat Screen Effects | |
| Additional 3D Graphics, Combat Backgrounds, End Sequence |
|
| Intro | |
| Monster Graphics | |
| Manual Illustration and Pictures for Graphical Sequences | |
| Manual, Preparation of Graphical Sequences, Best Boy | |
| Philiosophical Coaching and Texts of the Cultures of the Kenget Kamulos and Dji Cantos | |
| Testing | |
| Installation Program | |
| Special Thanks (from the entire team) | |
| Erik wants to thank | |
| Jurie wants to thank | |
| [ full credits ] | |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 77% (based on 21 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 62 ratings with 5 reviews)
One of my all time.. no, my all time favourite RPG there ever was!
The Good
I absolutely loved the Iskai race. They have their own language, way of living, and it's all explained so clearly! Also, the battle system was original, I just couldn't help just wandering around fighting :). Also, you could talk to all of your team members as each other, and have one of your team lead, and some could cast magic and others couldn't, (which was annoying at times). The artwork was spectacular, even in the world of 3D animation, the whole thing was so smooth, and pleasing to the eye. You also had the 3D bits in the game, and my eyes couldn't stop looking at the 2D sprites moking around on them. It was funny watching the people walk backwards :P. And also, the inventory/equip system is so easy to use! Wow, I'm ammassing quite a few likes. Just one more.. please? The conversation system! It describes, in detail, what the charactors do and how they react, and you can even get them to say some funny stuff. All in all, I like ALL of Albion!
The Bad
The only gripe I have about Albion is that its too short. Come on, Blue Byte, MAKE A SEQUAL!! Yay o_O
The Bottom Line
An instant classic, with plot depth and a mysterious storyline, Albion is the perfect game for you RPG fanatics! BUY IT NOW! (Or suffer the consequences)
DOS · by Jamie Harris (2) · 2003
Awesomely awesome game. Blue Byte pulled it off well...
The Good
It's great. The layout is creative for the battle, the exploring, the map. It's all good. The 3D "dungeon exploring" was great. Never boring. Few faults if any. The story and graphics put this game up there with some of Squaresoft's classics. I was surprised that such an un-advertised, un-popular game could be so much fun.
The Bad
I found it hard to heal my party. You can rest in lots of places but only if your party is tired and if you have rations. I found myself buying lots of rations because the enemies are so tough. It's rare to win a battle with all of your party members alive early on in the game.
The Bottom Line
Overall it's a great game. Blue Byte did amazing work with this one. One of my all time favorites.
DOS · by Dason Rise (17) · 2003
The Good
The fact that this game has proven to be one of the best RPG's I've ever played. This game felt so realistic due to the character's personalities, I'm a bit like Tom, a fool sometimes but a helpful supporter at others. Albion has rich detail, from the plains of grass to the well built indoors - homes and caves/dungeons. I’ve enjoyed interacting with people and getting interesting and unique remarks/comments back. Blue Byte have had a great idea of space and adventure and somehow combined them into a great game. The music brought the whole game to life.
The Bad
The monsters, sorry to say that, but the monsters scared the hell out of me. Agrim's cave was the worst; monsters kept repeatedly kept coming at me. Although this is not really negative I could not figure out what Tom's dream meant and I kept wondering what it was about.
The Bottom Line
One of the best RPG's of all time; it is a shame a sequel was not made. It would have been a nice follow up to see what the "Albion" group were up to in modern times.
DOS · by Everett Lamb (9) · 2004
Trivia
Controversy
There was originally some objection to the game due to the cat-like Iskai having no taboo against running around in their birthday suits. An early in-game cut-scene shown when Tom awakes was a particular sticking point, showing the (female) village healer - bare-chested except for a backpack strap.
Inspiration
Lead Programmer Jurie Horneman about the game's inspiration:
Albion is not 100% copied from the Amiga RPG Ambermoon as claimed in another comment (which has since been deleted -- Ed.), but it is a sequel of sorts. We (the Albion team) were developing a sequel to Ambermoon when the company we were working for, Thalion Software, closed its doors. We subsequently moved to Blue Byte. The most logical choice was to do another game in the same style since we had the know-how. We started from scratch on the setting and storyline (which became a lot more coherent), but stuck to the same game format. Albion took two years to make. For various reasons it didn't become as popular as we would have liked, but in general the people who took the time to get into the game have enjoyed it. I still consider it to be the best game I've worked on.
References
There are some rather funny references at the beginning of the game, such as a character named "Inspector Snoopy Beagle" and "The Gates Peace Prize".
Additional information contributed by Dark-Star 1988 and Jurie Horneman
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Alan Chan.
Windows added by Evolyzer.
Additional contributors: Daniel Saner, Patrick Bregger.
Game added November 24, 1999. Last modified October 1, 2024.