''The Eternal Dagger'' is a top-down

role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

published by

Strategic Simulations Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) was a video game developer and video game publisher, publisher with over 100 titles to its credit from its founding in 1979 to its dissolution in 1994. The company was especially noted for its numerous wargames ...

in 1987. It is a sequel to ''

Wizard's Crown ''Wizard's Crown'' is a 1986 top-down role-playing video game published by Strategic Simulations. It was released for the Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, IBM PC compatibles, Apple II, and Commodore 64. A sequel, ''The Eternal Dagger'', was released in ...

'' from 1986. Demons from another dimension are invading the world, and the only item that can seal the portal is the titular dagger. Players can transfer their characters over from ''Wizard's Crown'', minus whatever magical items they had on them.

Gameplay

Reception

SSI sold 18,471 copies of ''The Eternal Dagger'' in North America. ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

''s Scorpia in 1987 described the gameplay as very similar to that of its predecessor, with a few changed spells and in-battle options. She praised the use of a single character to represent the party, but disliked dungeon combat because of the extra step of maneuvering party members into attack positions. Scorpia also felt the game did not have the same balance as the previous, with magic being a much more effective option overall. She also found combat to be more difficult, with wide discrepancies between the "quick combat" option and tactical combat, and monsters that generally take much longer to kill. Scorpia also criticized the new fatigue, which decreases weapon skill as party members go without rest, for lengthening travel time and slowing down the game. She concluded that ''The Eternal Dagger'' was not of the same quality as its predecessor, and recommended patience when playing the game. In 1993 Scorpia reiterated that ''The Eternal Dagger'' was "not as good as the previous game" and, despite the "interesting plot idea, this game is only for the patient". In his column for ''

ANALOG Computing ''ANALOG Computing'' (an acronym for Atari Newsletter And Lots Of Games) was an American computer magazine devoted to the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. It was published from 1981 until 1989. In addition to reviews and tutorials, ''ANAL ...

'', Steve Panak criticized the game's "overly complex and poorly designed setup procedure and difficult-to-use command structure", but stated that the time needed to finish the game and its predecessor "is 50 hours well spent indeed". The game was reviewed in 1988 in ''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

'' #129 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 1 out of 5 stars.

References

External links

''The Eternal Dagger''
at Atari Mania * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eternal Dagger, The 1987 video games Apple II games Atari 8-bit family games Commodore 64 games Role-playing video games Strategic Simulations games Video games developed in the United States