One of the more interesting aspects of gaming is how two gamers
who like a particular genre can play the same game and experience
widely varying differences of opinion. So it is with Dragonriders:
Chronicles of Pern. During a conversation with Valerie Davis (she
who authors The JAVE) I discovered that while I found the game to
be languid and repetitive, she found it to be refreshing and full
of life. Rather than write two different reviews we thought it might
be interesting to combine and compare our impressions of Dragonriders:
Chronicles of Pern into one narrative for no other reason other than
to pinpoint how diverse two opinions can be on the same subject.

“It was the best of games, it was the worst of games,”
quote from the great, great, great grandson of Charles Dickens.

Randy: If Dragonriders: Chronicles of Pern (DCOP)
serves no other purpose, it again proves that the overall quality
of computer and video games are still light years beyond a well-written
novel or movie. In fact, the plot and rich characterizations are the
only reason to recommend this game and this is thanks to Anne McCaffrey,
the authoress and creator of the Pern Universe. The problem though
is that the game’s play mechanics seem to also have been designed
by Anne McCaffrey and not by anyone who had a clue about game design.

Valerie: Anne McCaffrey weaves wonderful stories in
the Pern Universe. Wait a minute, I’m agreeing with you.

Randy: How anyone could imagine that endless traipsing
back-and-forth on brain numbing, meaningless missions is entertaining
is beyond disbelief, but not only does DCOP feature well over
fifty instances of “Here is an object, take this object to another
character,” but as the game progresses the distances between
the to-and-fros becomes greater and the tedium seems to stretch into
oblivion. Yet, just when you think that the game cannot be any more
monotonous – well, think again. For every single, solitary time that
you must travel from one land to another you are treated to a four
minute cut-scene of D’kor, the game’s protagonist, donning his riding
habit, climbing aboard his dragon and then soaring above the clouds.
This was great the first one or two times, the next forty-eight or
so viewings were reason enough to throttle the programmers, especially
since they did not possess the common sense to offer a shortcut key
to escape from this cut-scene.

Valerie: Yes, there is quite a bit of “traipsing”
but I feel most of the errands added side stories to the game and
deepened the main story. I felt I was in the game and the fate
of Pern rested in my hands.
Shocking as it may be, Randy, you do have a point about the dragon-flying
cut-scenes. It did get tiring after a while. I did however notice
that the scenes changed slightly from time to time. They were not
all exactly alike. Still, it would have been nice to be able to skip
through them. Am I agreeing with you again?

Randy: Even this pales in comparison to the fact that
you cannot escape from a conversation with a character once initiated.
There are numerous instances when, after completing another to-and-fro
task, that you can only gauge your success by speaking to another
person. If you choose the wrong person, you still have to listen to
a lengthy dialogue that you have previously heard. Even if you choose
the correct person, you still may not have done all that was required.
You realize this immediately as you click on the character and begin
to hear the same old regurgitated speech that you’ve already heard
two or three times, but your blood boils in frustration as you begin
to realize what little consideration the programmers must have had
for the intelligence of their audience. It almost made me long for
the long-winded dialogues of Gilbert Goodmate where at least the option
to skip lengthy portions was available.

Valerie: Now Randy the dialogues were not that long.
You’re exaggerating just a bit.

Randy: The plot – and I will not bore you with details
as I am sure my worthy opponent will go on ad nauseum about the story
– boils down to this – the head Weyrwoman has kicked the bucket and
D’Kor is enlisted to search the land for ten worthy candidates for
the position. That’s right, the entire game is about finding contestants
for a beauty pageant. How far we have come. As D’kor finds these women
scattered about the land, they then line-up in a cave waiting to be
judged. The only person missing was Bert Parks.

Valerie: This is not a beauty contest! It’s a search
for a worthy successor to a very female-empowering position in a world
that depends on these Weyrs and their Weyrwomen for their very lives.
The Thread, the Thread! You’re as bad as the Hold people from the
game. Fifty years go by with no threat from the enemy and you’re calling
the Search a beauty contest?! Side note: A sequel should be made to
this game with a choice to play as one of these great Weyrwomen.
Anyway, the plot consists of what Randy mentioned plus while on his
quest D’kor discovers a mysterious illness that is quickly killing
the people of Pern. You must race against time before all of Pern
is dead! Deception is around every corner. You can trust no one.

Randy: For those who often complain that adventure
games are often a simple matter of choosing every item in the inventory
system until finding the correct object to use with another character,
fear not for DCOP rewards even the densest among us for as
long as you have an inventory item that is needed by another character
then all you need do is approach said character and he or she will
proclaim to the heavens, “Oh, I see you have the object I need!”
Does it get any dumber than this?

If there is a strong point (and lest I forget it is certainly not
the dumbed-down rpg system, nor the simplistic fighting sequences)
it has to be the variety of characters with which to interact. Even
this positive became an illusion once a library was discovered that
contained dozens of scrolls that explained in detail the land of Pern
and its inhabitants. For it was then that I realized that a good game
would have been able to convey such information through the nuances
and inflections of its characters and not by using scrolls to provide
material considered important to understanding the character’s personality
traits.

Valerie: I enjoyed the RPG bit of the game, simple
as it was. Having never played an RPG before I enjoyed watching the
different ways I could improve my Knowledge, Strength, Reputation,
and Health. I also enjoyed learning to Sneak, use a Crossbow, become
a Scribe and 5 other skills that came in handy throughout the game.

The combat was extremely simple yet while being attacked by Tunnel
Snakes or Wherry Birds my heart would always pump just a little faster.

Let’s talk about a few things Randy conveniently left out. The music
was oh so appropriate for this game. It added the right touches of
mood in all areas and was quite moving in some. From simple medieval-style
guitar pieces that made me want to walk around a village for days
to powerful orchestrated pieces that got the blood pumping. Somehow
the music reminded me of music from King’s Quest VIII Mask of Eternity.
I will be humming some of the peaceful tunes from DCOP for
quite a while.

The voice acting in the game was good. Not great in all areas but
solidly good. One could feel the emotion of the characters and their
plights further drawing you into the story. There was humor in some
of the dialogue that may escape people unless they have read some
of Anne McCaffrey’s Pern books. The Pernese have ways of swearing
using purely native words. Also, during some of the dragon flight
cut-scenes when D’kor landed he would seem to have an itch that needed
attention. I’ll say no more on that subject.

The scenery was beautiful for a 3D game. I for one still have a little
trouble getting used to the look of 3D games. The pointy-ness of things
still looks odd to me. The Weyrs, Holds, beaches, and oceans were
all nice. There were appropriate sounds for all the areas, too. Birds
singing, waves splashing. Most enjoyable.

Dragonriders is a keyboard controlled game but it didn’t bother
me. There are so many wide-open spaces that you’re not likely to get
stuck anywhere. There are a few options left out of the manual dealing
with camera angles, though. The keys on the number pad can change
your camera angle. Also, if you have several objects and people all
in the same area you can cycle through these choices by using the
“0” on the number pad.

Dragonriders Chronicles of Pern is more of an interactive
story than a point-n-click, inventory based adventure game that we’re
used to playing but what do you want out of a game? I want
enjoyment and fun and I certainly got that and more.

Randy’s Final Grade: Dragonriders: Chronicles of Pern – D
Valerie’s Final Grade: Dragonriders: Chronicles of Pern – B

System Requirements:
Pentium II 300 MHz or higher processor
Microsoft® 95/ 98/ ME
64 MB of RAM
(128 MB recommended)
600 MB of free hard disk space; additional 100mb of hard disk space
for swap file
12X CD-ROM Drive
16MB DirectX 8 compatible 3D video card
DirectX 8 compatible sound card