Moonstone: A Hard Days Knight - Multiplayer Gem

[kad3t]

Hey,

Moonstone hold a special place in my memory. I used to play it with couple of friends back in the day and it was all of us against the Dragon. Not that we ignored each other on the map and didn't take any opportunity to one up another but each of us really aimed for that Dragon kill the most. It's a fun title that looks like it's been cater made for a small, few friends and some beers, sit ups, that plays as good today as it did years ago.

Come to think of it, when I played it I was like 10 maybe 11, so by todays standards way too young to intake such amounts of gore onscreen at once, but back in the day no one cared really. And all of us just had a blast in this gem of a game and somehow grew up to be semi-decent citizens.

Anyway, have a look, let me know what you think. And if you have memories of it as well, a share would be nice too. Yeah... Enjoy!

[ Show youtube player ]

[TCD]

Did you know my old avatar? I'm a huge Moonstone fan. I will watch the video in a bit and post my feedback. So far your choice of games is excellent

[kad3t]

Originally Posted by TCD

Did you know my old avatar? I'm a huge Moonstone fan. I will watch the video in a bit and post my feedback. So far your choice of games is excellent

Cheers, it seems geek minds are alike. We just like good games, that's all.

[gimbal]

I like the game.

But the game does not like me.

[TCD]

Good review again The game is quite hard without the upgrades because there's so much RNG and like you said the controls aren't that snappy. I have no idea how often I died to that swamp thing within the first minute of playing the game. Also the game is way more fun with friends indeed. The weird thing is once you get past a certain point in the game is does become a lot easier and you get hooked onto the interesting mix that you describe. For me one of those games that never got a spiritual successor and thus felt very 'Amiga' to me (even if it has a MS-DOS version).

[Catflap]

Fantastic game - when it didn't crash on you near the end. Going up against several of those big blue guys at once was a nightmare.

I remember it was not a good idea to kill the dragon early, better to wait until it had amassed a decent amount of treasure.

[kad3t]

Originally Posted by gimbal

I like the game.

But the game does not like me.

There's a lot of randomness in it. Sometimes the dragon just seems to follow you around and never lets go and other times barely every gives you time of his day. That said, it's important to remember that you can come back to your home village to recover one life. You can do it more than once but alternating with other activities like visiting huts and such. Can't camp there. I know, I tried for this recording at some point when I had a little trouble with double enemies in most huts.

[kad3t]

Originally Posted by TCD

Good review again The game is quite hard without the upgrades because there's so much RNG and like you said the controls aren't that snappy. I have no idea how often I died to that swamp thing within the first minute of playing the game. Also the game is way more fun with friends indeed. The weird thing is once you get past a certain point in the game is does become a lot easier and you get hooked onto the interesting mix that you describe. For me one of those games that never got a spiritual successor and thus felt very 'Amiga' to me (even if it has a MS-DOS version).

Imma look for the remake or some kind of a rehash as there seems to be a lot of those these days. There's even one for Ports of Call, and I just got it. So who knows, maybe somewhere, hidden in the depths of the world wide web, there is a hidden gem in the form of a Moonstone's spiritual successor.

If I find anything, I'll update this post.

[kad3t]

Originally Posted by Catflap

Fantastic game - when it didn't crash on you near the end. Going up against several of those big blue guys at once was a nightmare.

I remember it was not a good idea to kill the dragon early, better to wait until it had amassed a decent amount of treasure.

Yeah, you gotta let him feed on the other knights. He always carried what he picked of them and he picked a lot. It was especially fun when one of your mates started at the top part of the screen and was just constantly bothered by him and you knew that he kept grabbing stuff off him. That said, he was a nightmare to defeat so, you, know, I knew, but not that I could do a lot about it.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by kad3t

If I find anything, I'll update this post.

That would be great Also have a look if you find a MegaLoMania clone out there while you're at it

[Lineof7s]

A great modern Moonstone implementation is "Gunman Tales".

https://fobti.itch.io/gunman-tales
https://store.steampowered.com/app/760320/Gunman_Tales/

From the description:
"Gunman Tales is an old-school action adventure game for 1-4 players set in the wild west and inspired by the legendary game from Amiga Moonstone: A Hard Days Knight and Cabal"

It's great fun with its 4-player local multiplayer, though still difficult (for me, anyway).

[ Show youtube player ]

[TCD]

Thank you! I actually have the game Must have picked it up in a bundle and never checked. Installing it now

[Muzkat]

I loved Moonstone and was able to complete it on one occasion. But I could never defeat the dragon, and would just avoid it as best as I could.

The game was brutal and I loved it.

[dreadnought]

It was one of these games I absolutely loved for a week or two - and then never touched again. Probably was a bit too actioney for a me, and without the manual I couldn't figure out what the point of it really is too. Definitely need to revisit it again soon.

[kad3t]

Originally Posted by TCD

That would be great Also have a look if you find a MegaLoMania clone out there while you're at it

It didn't get funded but they seem to be working on it anyway.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...bute-to-mega-l

[kad3t]

Originally Posted by Lineof7s

A great modern Moonstone implementation is "Gunman Tales".

https://fobti.itch.io/gunman-tales
https://store.steampowered.com/app/760320/Gunman_Tales/

From the description:
"Gunman Tales is an old-school action adventure game for 1-4 players set in the wild west and inspired by the legendary game from Amiga Moonstone: A Hard Days Knight and Cabal"

It's great fun with its 4-player local multiplayer, though still difficult (for me, anyway).

[ Show youtube player ]

Map looks like taken out straight out of Moonstone but the rest is more Cabal-like. That said, it looks really interesting. Thanks a lot! I'm wishlisting it on Steam now and waiting for the Summer Sale in two weeks time.

[kad3t]

Originally Posted by Muzkat

I loved Moonstone and was able to complete it on one occasion. But I could never defeat the dragon, and would just avoid it as best as I could.

The game was brutal and I loved it.

That's basically what I did for the video. Avoided the dragon, did not get anywhere near the Guardian and just found the Moonstone and visited Druids at Stonehenge at the right time.

It did felt like it lacked at least one more player though.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by kad3t

It didn't get funded but they seem to be working on it anyway.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...bute-to-mega-l

How could I have missed that Here's hoping that they'll manage to make the game (even if the presentation could do with a bit of shoe-shine )

[kad3t]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

It was one of these games I absolutely loved for a week or two - and then never touched again. Probably was a bit too actioney for a me, and without the manual I couldn't figure out what the point of it really is too. Definitely need to revisit it again soon.

I have over 3000 games now between my Steam, Origin, UPlay, GOG, Epic Games Store, XBox Game Pass and Switch. All originals. And I wouldn't touch a pirated one.

But back then... I probably had three, maybe four original games and all of the rest were copied from friends. It seemed to be a common practice so hardly anyone had manuals. And if you didn't had one, and didn't know someone who knew particular game well, you either had to try to learn everything alone or just give up as some of them had those "secrets" or "strategies" we shared between each other that later proved to be things explained openly in manuals.

[demoniac]

The dragon is beatable towards the end of the game after one powers up the character. I always found it annoying when the game crashes when hovering the mouse over a moonstone, IIRC.