THE BOOK OF THREE

The Book of Three is a novel... (and I did not know that!)
but it's also a Rmk game by Lys86. Yes, this is a game by the Lysander86 of "A Blurred Line"!

But yes, as I said in the beginning the Book of Three is first a high fantasy novel by American writer Lloyd Alexander, the first of five volumes in The Chronicles of Prydain. The series follows the adventures of Taran (a name strangely similar to Talan from a Blurred Line!) the Assistant Pig-Keeper, that's also the player alter-ego. Taran is raised by Dallben the enchanter, and he is forbidden from leaving the farm there they live, unfortunately when Hen Wen, the oracular white pig, escapes, Taran follows her into the forbidden forest.
Of course, since this is an rpg, Taran will meet several characters and some will join him (becoming party members), like the prince Gwydion, the hairy humanoid Gurgi, the sorceress Eilonwy, the bard Fflewddur Fflam and the dwarf Doli.


Ow, thanks a lot! Very flattering!

Ok, let's see, we have many different characters and I am really suprised how Lys86 made them also play differently: Taran has several ability sets that are named dreama, they are for example "dreams of glory" and "dreams of freedom", and can be changed every time he sleeps. Gwydion instead is a swordsman with different stances that emphasize defense or attack, Eilonwy is a typical mage but she learns new spells absorbing elemental power from enemies or particular locations. Fflewddur Fflam, being a bard, can write songs about the enemies he meets, unlocking different special abilities (or songs). I was impressed, usually characters have just different equipment and abilities, here instead there is much more work to make them work differently, and the game also clearly explain how they can be improved during the adventure.

Oh, yes the adventure! I admit I never read the novel because it seems it's not popular at all, where I live, but I saw many players confirm that the game is rather faithful to the book, and that's a good thing! In any case I liked the story very much, the pacing is good, dialogues are well written, and the adventure is really nice! It's linear but you can move freely around the map, and I admit I have fun playing this game, even if it looks like the an old classic fantasy rpgmaker adventures of the early 2000 (nothing new here, but it's made in a professional and thorough way).

Graphically the game us no portraits and many edited rm2k3 classic charsets (like "a Blurred Line"). They're not bad even if some sprites from Bahamut Lagoon (I am talking about you, Fflewddur Fflam!) do not fit very well with the rest, and some edits (like Gurgi) would have been better replaced by some totally different sprites. It's not exactly bad, but it could have been better, and same goes for the mapping, chipset selection is flawless, but maps could have been better structured and detailed.
Instead I liked a lot the monster selection, sprites comes from different sources (some from Final Fantasy games) but they all fit the setting and also look good (better than those in "a Blurred Line").


Taran heroically spies the minions of the Horned King...

Combat is classical front view rm2k3 standard, and for the most part is quite easy.
There are random encounters in this game, but you can often escape easily, and loot is rather generous (there are lots of chests lying around, and there will soon be more than enough equipment available to choose from). But the game isn't only exploration and combat, there are also some stealth sections, optional subquests, and everything merges well with the rest.

Verdict
Book of Three is not a perfect game but its really good for the time it was released and unfortunately it's also not very popular. Despite some minor issues like few typos, very functional maps (but I have seen worse and uglier maps) and an old style gameplay that involves random encounters and save points (things that some players may not like but it was rather common in the past), this game is a solid fantasy adventure with humorous and serious scenes, well written dialogues and a balanced difficulty. Two rather singular characteristics are the different gimmicks possessed by thevparty members and the fact that this game is based on a novel. For this reason I guess it was not easy to make (having to follow an already established plot).

Final rating for me is 4. A great game.
I am probably nostalgic of this kind of games, adventures and fantasy tales, but I enjoyed this adventure a lot (and I am sure that fans of the book will like it even more!).