
Iron & Blood: Warriors of Ravenloft
Released October 31, 1996 · consists of 1 releases.
A 3D fighting game set in the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy universe, more specifically the dark Gothic-horror setting of Ravenloft.
Released October 31, 1996 · consists of 1 releases.
A 3D fighting game set in the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy universe, more specifically the dark Gothic-horror setting of Ravenloft.
First release date | October 31, 1996 |
Platform | PlayStation , PC |
Developer | Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. |
Publisher | Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. |
Genre | Fighting |
Theme | Horror , Fantasy |
Franchises | Dungeons & Dragons , Ravenloft |
Aliases |
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Iron & Blood - Warriors of Ravenloft is a 3D dark-fantasy fighting game developed by Take 2 and published by Acclaim for the Sony PlayStation on October 31, 1996. It was later ported to the PC (running MS-DOS) on January 7, 1997.
Based on TSR's Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing series, Iron & Blood takes place in the gothic-horror Ravenloft campaign setting. The story is set between two factions: a band of heroes manipulated by ancient vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich and the chaotic assassins of the dreaded death knight Lord Soth.
Along with the traditional gameplay of 3D fighters at the time, the game includes persistent character-specific stats (including unlockable super moves) and a unique team-based game mode (known as Campaign Mode). It is known for being originally developed as an exclusive to the 3DO M2 (under the title "Ironblood").
Iron & Blood plays like a traditional 3D fighting game (with stages of different sizes, enclosed by damaging Rune Walls). Along with a standard joystick for walking, jumping, and crouching, players have four attack buttons at their disposal: Fast Attack (X), Normal Attack (⬜), Strong Attack (△), and Misc. Attack (O). Players also have two buttons for guarding against attacks (L1 for Stand Block, L2 for Crouch Block) and 3D dodging (R1 for Dodge Towards, R2 for Dodge Away).
Some techniques include running (by double-tapping back or forward on the joystick) and 3D sidestepping (by pressing either Dodge button while walking, running, or performing a certain attack). Using a special technique (back, forward, back + Misc.), players can perform an attack that hits opponents who are knocked down (known in most fighting games as a "Down Attack").
Each fighter has three combos (high, medium, and low) and up to three special moves. By winning with each fighter in Campaign Mode, players can unlock two powerful special moves: their Magical Ability (which can be used three times per match, and can be upgraded twice) and their Arcane Power (which can be used once per match, sometimes giving that fighter a persistent effect).
The game also includes an experience system, where players level up a character (after every five wins, on any mode) to gain slight combat buffs (the stats of which are unknown). If a character is defeated in Campaign Mode, their unlocked moves and experience points are lost.
Along with the traditional Arcade and VS. modes (under "Head to Head") and a "Training" mode (which is a one-round match against a CPU), the game features a team-based Campaign Mode, which can be played in either player-vs.-CPU or player-vs.-player modes. Players pick from a set number of combatants (the number of which can be chosen from the Options menu) on their chosen faction (which is picked when a player chooses their first character). The first player to eliminate all enemy combatants wins the game.
Prior to each match, the game determines (and proclaims) the match's "objective", which can be one of the following:
Players then choose a character from their current roster and, if available, an artifact that they may possess. At the end of the match, the defeated character is removed from that player's roster (unless they have the Ring of Resurrection item) and the winning character remains (with their health amount retained from the match). All characters who didn't participate in that match has some of their health amount restored (up to the maximum amount).
During Campaign Mode, players can perform special moves on specific stages to acquire a special artifact, which can be used (one per match) at the character selection screen prior to a match. Each Artifact grants a special power. Losing the match while having an artifact equipped destroys it.
In the Artifact Selection screen, players can choose to enter the match without an artifact by pressing either Block or Dodge buttons.
The game includes 20 playable characters, split into Order and Chaos factions. In one-player Head-to-Head mode, the player's opponents will always come from their chosen character's opposing faction. In the Campaign Mode, factions are set up by the first character chosen (for either player), and players can only compose their roster from the characters in their faction.
The game's four boss characters can only be fought against in Head-to-Head mode on the Fighter difficulty and above. They can also be chosen by any faction when playing as them.
Paul Good, former game designer and President of MAGFEST, detailed a port of the game for the Sega Saturn on an episode of Encyclopedia Bombastica [1:16:22]. He noted that Nym Pymplee's mouth, on the PlayStation, was "modelled out [to] every single, individual tooth as a cone", using about four hundred polygons, an unrealistic use of the console's resources. Good rebuilt the mouth "with about ten polygons", expounding that his team's version of the game ran at sixty frames per second, "significantly better than the PlayStation version". The port, nonetheless, never released.
Specific release details
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Iron & Blood: Warriors of Ravenloft |
Platform | PlayStation |
Region | United Kingdom |
Developer | |
Publisher | |
Release date | November 1996 |
Product code | None |
Company code | SLES-00386 |
Rating | |
Minimum Players | 1 |
Maximum Players | N/A |
Resolutions | N/A |
Sound Systems | N/A |
Single player Features | N/A |
Multi player Features | N/A |
Widescreen Support | No |
Notes | N/A |
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