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Review
Review by  Ben Kimmett
Reviewed on 2007-02-05
"Quest for Excalibur" is a simple RPG, focused mostly on fighting monsters. I think it is a good game, but could use more to it, as well as some more implementations of things.

Gameplay: 7/10

The game was a nice little game that goes Fight. Spend your gold. Fight. Spend your gold. etc. Get challenged by the Great Dragon. Fight the Great Dragon. And, because the dragon has 125 HP and you have 10.... Get Creamed. This, while not making for the best RPG in the world, gave something to keep me from being bored... At least at first. (See Replayability)

Graphics: N/A

This game is text-based and has no graphics.

Speed: 10/10

Again, this game is text-based and has none of the speed issues that graphical programs can have.

Replayability: 3/10

This game is mostly about battling monsters, and you don't have control over the battle: You just select "Fight" from the menu, then you're told either that "You beat your opponent into a puny pulp of nothing" or "You have been defeated, Your enemy spares you, allowing you to live a life of shame". And after a while, battling monsters that don't have anything but a name and HP number gets B-O-R-I-N-G!

Style: 3/10

The game wasn't too stylish. The descriptions of places and enemies were as you might expect for a small BASIC RPG: basic. However, the addition of the "Great Dragon" at the end was a nice stylish touch.

Ease of Use: 10/10

The game was VERY easy to use, since it was made out of TI-BASIC menus. All I ever had to use were the arrow keys and Enter.

Gut Intuition: 8/10

When, I started the program, I wasn't sure what to expect. It turned out to be a nice little RPG, with lots of monster battles (and not much else). While the game was good, I had a few things I just HAVE to ask. Such as, what does Wisdom DO anyway? Or, how do you defeat the great dragon, as there's no way to actually increase your HP? (I also think that the great dragon should challenge you AND THEN you should have time to go prepare at the healer, etc.) And, where are the spells mentioned on the intro screen? All in all, though, I think this is a nice little RPG that will entertain you for a little while.

FINAL SCORE: 6.666667/10

If I had to say what could be done to make this game better, I would say

1) Add more variety. Some suggestions would be: Spells, more bosses, fighting that you can actually control (a turn-based battle system, in short), a way to increase your HP.

2)Keep on programming!

Other than that, you've got nothing to worry about!

Review
Review by  Miles Raymond
Reviewed on 2004-11-22
Attention span: 3/10 After about one game, you loose interest rather quickly.
Controls: 9/10 Controls are the standard for a BASIC game. The most commonly selected item (ie: Path:Swamp) should have been placed at the top of the menu.
Implementation: 6/10 It is rather bulky due to beginner's BASIC
Overall: 5/10 A good starting program to learn from.

Excalibur BETA is a text-based RPG-type game where you are a warrior in a small town. Excalibur takes place in the Middle Ages, where you are to defend your village from the fate of a devastating monster.

Although Excalibur is a BASIC beginner game, it does have good points. What Excalibur lacks in graphics, it makes up in beginning storyline. Excalibur is also a very good example of clean, understandable code, and thus makes it good for beginning programmers to take a look at. Excalibur makes use of some of the features of the TI-89 OS, such as dialogs.

But being a good BASIC beginner's program has it's bad sides. The program is relatively larger than it needs to be. Much of the code is repetitive and could be either left out, or changed to take up less space. Excalibur is very repetitive in itself as a game also. As with most RPGs, Excalibur is mostly fighting monsters. You are only given 25 battles before you fight the Dragon. The Dragon is the boss at the end of the game.

As many times as I have played Excalibur, the only bugs I have found are when purchasing Wisdom or Strenght from the Wizard. Your gold is reduced by the price with no bottom limit. This means that you are able to purchase as many Wisdom or Strength that you wish. I do not think that the author intended for the player to be able to go into debt, and therefore consider this a bug.

Overall Excalibur BETA is a good program to look at if you are considering becomming a programmer for the TI-89, but is not a very appealing game.

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