KMFDM (and other Industrial favs). Chocolate Cake (okay, maybe that one was a bit of a stretch). These are some of the things I think about when I think about some of the great treats we've had the luck of importing from Germany. Being as that RPG's also enjoy an immense popularity in Germany as they do here, I wasn't at all surprised to hear about the upcoming RPG, Gorasul: Legacy of the Dragon. Published by JoWooD productions and developed by Silver Style, Gorasul was quite recently translated from it's German origins. I'd already had the chance to sample one German PC import, Gothic, a little earlier this year, so I was eager to see what this title had in store for me.

Gorasul: Legacy of the Dragon casts you as Roszondas, who is suffering a bit of amnesia when you begin your journey. You begin by wandering about what you will discover to be your tower - uncovering bits and pieces of your past. You'll want to check out your surroundings to pick up potions, items, and the like... not to mention pieces of information that will allow you to find a way out of your tower. It won't take long before you realize your immense powers, acquired from your dragon mentor, and learn to wield and heed the advice of your rather "personable" weapon.

Speaking of dragon magic and weapons, you'll become familiar with these unique aspects of Gorasul before you take one step in the actual game realm. As you might expect, you will first have to choose a class. The classes include warriors, priests, magicians, a judge of swords, scout, ranger and banisher. If you're anything like me when you play an RPG, however, you don't look at the name as much as you let your stats do the talking. Next, after distributing your basic points, you will have several points to disperse in dragon magic, most of which are a sort of "critical" hit or last resort set of powers. These powers include Dragon Eyes (the only trait which is constant - revealing more of your map as you progress), Dragon Fear (repels enemies), Dragon Breath (fire-breathing super attack), and Dragon Strength (temporary power-up). Got that done? Now comes the fun part - picking your back-talking weapon. It's not just about picking a type of weapon, you have to care take it's attributes like you would your own, and deal with an ample "ego" to boot. Depending on what weapon you pick, you could have a side-kick who is a light and helpful as a proverbial Tinkerbell, or even more sarcastic and biting than that dreaded ex or in-law in your life.

Gameplay itself will unavoidably scream "Baldur's Gate" to PC RPG fans. Even the little directional targets and party formation choices will make you wonder just how they got away with making something so similar. Now this is not to say the game is a clone, in some ways, it just knows how to utilize more of a good thing. Battle can be done manually, or a battle strategy can be determined which allows your characters to participate in battle according to a specific formula. For instance, you can choose how much of a melee fighter your character will be, and at one point they will withdraw from battle. In the same token, if you have more of a mage-based character you can regulate their inclinations towards mana use. This is a nice touch and I certainly know gamers who fall on both extremes of these "control" types. There is also a running transcript of all character actions, attack, damage issued/taken, and other game events along the bottom of the screen.

The graphics in Gorasul are pretty par for the RPG genre, not quite hitting the pinnacle of more recent Black Isle titles, but still doing their fair share. Cut scenes and splash screens are on par for a game from about 2-3 years ago, but then again, graphics have never been the most important thing to a classic RPGer. Eye-candy is just the icing on the cake, and Gorasul paints the fantasy picture it needs to. A highlight of the graphics is the "monster compendium" you have access to outside of the game field. Each monster is rendered pretty nicely with stats, the weapon which inflicts the most damage upon in (some weapons have a greater animosity toward certain species), and other vital stats.

The dialogue in Gorasul seems to suffer some translation issues and it has a very disjointed feeling as a result. I've run into this from time to time in earlier titles of Japanese origin, and not only is this kind of hard on your ability to get into the game - but sometimes in the case of puzzle solving, you'll have a harder time figuring out what the sentence is supposed to say than solving the puzzle itself. The music alternates between a nice subtle orchestrated feel and sort of a more synthesized feeling. Once again, an issue that has to do with cultural differences. 

The only other real downfall of Gorasul comes into play in the technical arena. Sometimes saves and loads cause the game to freeze or not function properly. There are also some occasional snags from time to time in the midst of gameplay, so save often. If you don't you may not be too happy when you have to replay a hefty portion of the game. I'm sure there will be a patch to resolve some of these issues, so you may want to hold off until you get word on it's release.

All in all, Gorasul has some great potential, and some very enjoyable variations. If it wasn't for the unfinished feeling to the entire experience, I would have to say Gorasul is a great game for someone looking for something a little different in their RPG titles. 

Gameplay: 6
Gorasul feels, at the basic level, like an Icewind Dale/Baldur's Gate PC experience. It does add some nifty new features like dragon magic and weapon traits - along with the ability to contour the game more towards a hack-n-slash or questing experience. Some translation problems cause the dialogue to feel disjointed. There are some dreaded snags/freezes as you play along and sometimes this may cause more frustration than enjoyment.

Graphics: 7
Gorasul's graphics are pretty average, and occasionally seem a bit rough around the edges. Cut scenes, or splash screens, seem on par for a title created a year or two ago. You'll need to turn the brightness up in order to see some of the darker fields.
 
Sound: 6.5
Sound is mostly on the average, with some distinctly "imported" feel to some of the tracks. While this isn't necessarily bad, because after all, it is from another country, it may feel strange to the audio palette.

Difficulty: 7
You'll need to be familiar with the world of pen-and-paper RPG's to play Gorasul: Legacy of the Dragon. Unlike similar titles in this vein, Gorasul doesn't come with a 10 pound manual of rules - which is both a blessing and a curse, depending on your RPG experience level.

Concept: 8
At its core, Gorasul: Legacy of the Dragon is an RPG executed in the D&D-based style. It does add some unique ingredients into the mix, including dragon magic and weapon attributes. While it does look a bit like a Black Isle Studios title - it still doesn't become a carbon copy.

Overall: 6.5
As you play Gorasul, you will first be impressed by some of it's unique facets, but ultimately find yourself constantly finding ways the title could have been better.