Commodore 64 Longplay (SSI) Curse of the Azure Bonds 1989

Curse of the Azure Bonds is a fantasy role-playing game for the Commodore 64, developed and published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) in 1989. It is the second Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box adventure set in the Forgotten Realms, following Pool of Radiance. The C64 version was also distributed in Europe by U.S. Gold. The game begins with the heroes travelling to Tilverton, only to be ambushed and rendered unconscious. When they awaken, they have lost their equipment and memories and discover five mysterious blue symbols embedded in their arms. These magical Azure Bonds can seize control of the characters, forcing them to obey the commands of the evil powers that placed them there. The party's objective is to discover who created the bonds and break the curse. The adventure takes the heroes through the Dalelands, including locations such as the Elven Forest, Zhentil Keep, Yulash and the Citadel of Hap. Eventually the quest leads to the ruined city of Myth Drannor, where the final confrontation takes place. Like Pool of Radiance, the game uses SSI's detailed Gold Box role-playing system. Players can create or import a party of AD&D characters, manage their weapons, armour and spells, explore towns and wilderness areas, converse with NPCs and undertake numerous encounters. Character development and tactical decision-making are central to the experience. Combat takes place on top-down tactical maps, allowing each character to move independently and perform attacks, cast spells, turn undead or use special abilities. The increased range of character classes and abilities gives Curse of the Azure Bonds considerably more flexibility when constructing a balanced adventuring party. Contemporary reviewers particularly praised the tactical combat and depth of the game. The C64 conversion was programmed by Keith Brors, Paul Murray and Jim Jennings, with additional C64 programming from Westwood Associates, Raymond J. Hughes, Peter Schmitt and Eric Nickelson. The conversion retained the extensive Gold Box gameplay despite the C64's limited memory and disk capacity. The C64 version was very well received. Zzap!64 awarded it 86%, while Commodore User gave it 89%. Reviewers praised the deeper storyline, improved character options and tactical combat, although the frequent disk access made the C64 version slower to play than versions running from hard disk. Curse of the Azure Bonds is also an important part of the wider Forgotten Realms continuity. It follows the events of Pool of Radiance and was itself followed by Secret of the Silver Blades in 1990. The adventure was based on the TSR novel Azure Bonds by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb, as well as the AD&D adventure module of the same name. Notable people George MacDonald — Project leader and co-creator of the scenario. Charles J. Kroegel Jr. — Project manager. Keith Brors — C64 programmer. Paul Murray — C64 programmer. Jim Jennings — C64 programmer and playtester. Westwood Associates — Provided additional Commodore 64 programming. David Shelley — Developer and encounter contributor. Michael Mancuso — Developer and encounter contributor. Oran Kangas — Development team member. Tom Wahl — Artist and graphic designer. Fred Butts — Artist. Mark Johnson — Artist. Cyrus Lum — Artist. Susan Manley — Artist. David Warhol — Composer and sound designer. Jeff Grubb — Co-author of the Azure Bonds novel and co-creator of the AD&D adventure scenario. Kate Novak — Co-author of the Azure Bonds novel. Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) — Developer and publisher of the game. U.S. Gold — European publisher/distributor of the C64 release. ---------------------------- This is a game i played on original release and it took me about 2 months, mostly because of the disk swapping/access. Quite a difficult game, largely as this game (as well as Pool of Radiance) does not have the ability lower the difficulty level where enemy hit points are halved. I really dont know how i beat the bits of moander in the first instance. Each unit had 140hp, and all weapons do half damage, so that means they had 280hp!!! Unending random encounters in parts of Zhentil Keep (according to clue book, and my perception when i played), made this game really challenging. That aside, it had a LOT of content, 5 bosses, each with their own story lines and how they affect your party, makes this a very robust adventure. I had read the novel back in the day, and this adventure is very faithful to it, and it has all the main characters in the game. 10/10 for this one. 0:00 Intro 06:02 Character Creation 25:41 Tilverton City 43:23 Tilverton Guild of Thieves 02:00:13 Fire Knife Hideout 02:18:35 Village of Haptooth 02:46:58 Cave of the Dracolich 03:03:24 The Wizards Tower 04:08:35 Yulash 04:11:26 Pit of Moander 05:17:46 Zhentil Keep 06:37:13 Standing Stone 06:37:44 The Burial Glen 07:19:30 The Ruins of Myth Drannor 07:46:33 The Grand Ruined Temple