Defender of the Crown

[Kosta]

Feel free to comment and discuss this game here. Also, if you have any useful tips or tricks don't hesitate to share them with the others! Thanks!

Review and Download (if available) (http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/142)

[FreeFreddy]

I thought Amiga displays 4024 colors or like that, not 256... :?

[Kosta]

Hey, I just took a wild guess :P

There, fixed.... And I guess its 4096 since 4024 can't be achieved by a power of 2

[Danny252]

argh! So Many new games!
good thing I got to read the lastest reviews in my IT lesson at school!

[The Niles]

Yes and so many of them are unknown and very interresting games. The best kind.

[LotharGR]

Uh, i never wrote in my review that Amiga displays in the game 4096 colors :P To be more precise about technical matters of the Amiga ( 1000, 500, & 2000 models ), the only graphics mode that the machine could display 4096 colours, was in HAM mode. In that mode the pictures could only be static, not moving, and there was and a restriction about "placing" the colours ( they gave the impression of a rainbow ). In normal graphics mode with moving objects, colours could be up to 64. ( Amiga had "programmable" resolutions... from 150X100 to 640X480, with any number of colours between 2 to 64 ). Of course, later as programmers got to know the secrets of the machine, games appeared with 128 and 256 colours on screen, HAM mode moving pictures etc etc... :) All those things make the Amiga one of the best, if not the best, computer of the 16bit generation :)

[FreeFreddy]

Aha... :) interesting...

[Sl0vi]

Ehm.. I remember playing this game for the first time on Commodore 64. You sure it was first released for the Amiga?

[Dado prso]

Commodore that's it.And after C64 it came to ZX Spectrum. :wub: Ilove tzis game

[bohor]

It doesnt look interesting though...

[Yavor]

This game was one of my favourite when playing on my 286 IBM computer....which is funny couse I used this machine 2-3 years ago.I hadn`t the money to buy new computer. :rifle:

[shoes23]

I first remember playing a port of this game on the NES. I found it interesting at the time, but really couldn't understand everything that was going on (I was only 6 at the time), but played the original PC game and found it to be a great fantasy/strategy game. The remake this game on the PS2 (Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown) doesn't do this game any. Graphically evolved, but the gameplay just doesn't feel or play the same.

[Rogue]

There is also new port on Game Boy Advance. Wonder if is any good. :blink:

[Petersen]

I played this on an Amstrad with 512K for memory and two 5.25" floppies.

I used a joystick for the jousting and was pretty good at it, I always jousted for Land as it was a quick way to amas wealth.

My problem is that when I have downloaded this recently (not from this site yet) When the tournament stage comes , the game freezes just as the gameplay of the jousting begins.

any suggestion???

[shoes23]

I just got done running it through dosbox 0.63 and it seemed to run smoothly with no crashes. just make sure you have the newest version installed.

[JJXB]

i'd rather play the amiga version personally, still a good game :)

[Myther]

I remember playing this on my old comp AGES ago and it is quite easy to do the jousting. The usual counts to a definate win is 7 left arrow presses and 2 down arrow presses or 8 left arrow presses and 3 down arrow presses. Depends on where your lance starts off. You may need to slow the game down to be able to get the lance to the right spot tho. :)

[Guest]

One correction to:
"The tournaments are joust matches, and 99% of the times you play you always loose ( its the most difficult part of the game ), so at the choise that you are given at the start, about jousting only for glory, or for land, its better to always choose just fame :) "

It's incredibly easy to win the joust. Back in the 80's, my brother and I played it and he found out that you basically have three 'scenarios':
1 left 1 down (good)
3 left 3 down (avg)
5 left 7 down (bad)
The actual numbers are probably different (hey, it was almost twenty years ago...). But, the three saxons start according to their level and shift. Thus, geoffry longsword (or whatever) starts as bad and 'improves' whereas the good jouster (whoever) starts at good and moves from there.
Once you map the three scenarios, joust becomes a piece of cake, as does the game at one point. ..

Roy

Oh, and while loose is an English word, the author probably meant lose.

[deric]

i have been searching for this game for a very long time. :D

still remember the old time where can finish the game with all character in one sitting. unfortunaly i lost my grip here, so i need some guidance.

i dont know how to sword fight anymore. IIRC, i never lost before last time, but now, i dont know how to win.

what key to press? please do advice.

[Execution Style]

Wow.. I loved this game on the C64. Too bad PC version has the worst graphics of the lot.

Still, this is one of the hardest games to beat, which is why it kept me coming back. I wanted to point out that the reviewer had the opposite experience from me. Personally, I found the jousting to be the only way to win in a lot of games. Let me explain in detail because this is really tricky.

The tip of your lance bounces up and down with the horse's motion. It start down, bounces up and back down to the same spot. On the 4th bounce, when the lance reaches the bottom, that is the spot you will hit the enemy. You need to move your controller around so that at the bottom of the 4th bounce, the tip of your lance hits your opponent's shield, preferrably at the bottom.

I think I used to hit the fire button at that moment, too, although since I never had the manual (C64 days :D ) I really didn't know if that mattered.

You can win two chunks of land with every jousting tournament, so make use of this! You won't win at first, but with practise it will pay off :)

[Zach]

Yea, they got this game on the NES too. It's a lot of fun when you are first starting out. After you beat it a couple days and realize that there is a combination where you can never lose, and it takes only like 5 moves to win, it gets kinda boring, LOL.

Awesome game though!

Actually... I just took a look at the screenshots, and the countryside looks different... So I don't know if it's possible to win in like 5 moves on this version.

[Guest]

Originally posted by Zach@Apr 8 2005, 11:40 AM
Actually... I just took a look at the screenshots, and the countryside looks different... So I don't know if it's possible to win in like 5 moves on this version.
It's not. I know the "five move combo" you are speaking of on the NES. I tried it on this version and it didn't work.

[Microprose Veteran]

Don't torture yourself playing the PC version. :max:

Get a C-64 emulator (CCS64) instead. It has nicer colors and superb music! Not as pretty-looking as the Amiga version but more playable according to critics.

[AllOuttaAngst]

Originally posted by Execution Style@Mar 6 2005, 07:20 PM
I think I used to hit the fire button at that moment, too, although since I never had the manual (C64 days :D ) I really didn't know if that mattered.
Yeah I am pretty sure you had to hit the fire button - it thrusted your jousting stick.

The C64 version was the best I have played.

I must have played and won this game 1000 times.

[Christian IV]

:cheers:
The good things about this game said here have encouraged me
I have had the game for a while but have not palyed ityet,
so i will give it a try! thankx

:king:

[burt]

Used to be one of my favorite games. You get better after a lot of playing, but a win is never guaranteed. Now i found it again i keep playing it every now and then. (-:

Here are some tips:

___Jousting:

The 4th bounce story (posted by execution style) is not exactly true; in the first, second and third round, the tip of the lance ends on different places, making it quite hard to judge at what height the tip ends (the x-axis is quite easy, i believe it's usually 7, but you can hardly screw that up). There's no need to judge though.

First round: 1 down
Second round: 3 down
Third round: 5 down

I tested it in a lot of cases, i think the only exceptions are there when you fight 'red' knights, but even then it worked quite a few times. (Depends on their skill?)

(At my computer the game locks up at the tournament unless i play in DosBox)

___Sword Fighting (raiding and saving the princess):
I prefer playing with Geoffrey Longsword (or whatsisname), because he's good at that (and he's the only one that doesn't look like a complete idiot ;-> ). Walk up to the enemy and push down enter. Now he does look like an idiot, but you can't lose this way. (-:
I think you can win with other knights too, depending on the skill of the knight you chose and the skill of the one you attack.

Always save the princess when asked. It's an easy way to get rid of one of the red knigths; they usually become quite annoying once you've killed the first of the green knights.

Raiding is always a better alternative than passing your turn.

___the rest:

In my opinion, castles suck! If you defend a land with a castle, the whole battle starts off by you losing 15, 30 or 45 percent of your castle. I'm not sure, but i think that the breach in the wall made during the siege determines how much advantage you have while defending a castle, but usually there's more disadvantage than advantage. (plus it slows down the game play, because you have to watch every battle and if you have to reconquer the land, you have to siege first).

Anybody found a use for buying knigts in your army? I didn't. I estimate they fight like 2 men, but they 're 8 times as expensive. Why!? No idea...

Leave your catapult at home if you don't need it. If you get your behind kicked, you lose it and that costs you 15 gold. I doubt having a catapult gives you any advantage in battle.

___

Does anybody know the differences between "Ferocious Attack", "Stand And Fight", "Outflank" and bombard? I think the latter has to do with catapults, but i didn't really notice much difference.

Have fun!

[Doc Adrian]

Originally posted by burt@Jun 17 2005, 03:45 PM


Does anybody know the differences between "Ferocious Attack", "Stand And Fight", "Outflank" and bombard? I think the latter has to do with catapults, but i didn't really notice much difference.

Have fun!

Glad to help


Glad to help



A Ferocious attack is when you charge straight into the enemy and this is best used when you got more knights and troops..Catapults do nothing here
Stand and Fight is the best defense technique and catapults and knights really don't have a significant role
Outflanking is best used when you have plenty of knights and/or overwhelming troops, you basically try to find a weakness in their battle formation and can be costly based on your leadership ability
Bombard is used when you have alot of catapults, you basically blast them with catapults..the more the merrier

[Tom Henrik]

You should all have a look at these sites :)

The most comprehensible F.A.Q. / Manual on the net. (http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rlid=87269&rid=81096)
The page to use if you want to try different versions of the game. (http://panda.net.au/dotc/)
Cinemaware's 3D remake - Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown. Buy it! (http://www.capcom.com/robinhood/index.html)
:ok:

[Sebatianos]

Originally posted by Tom Henrik@Oct 9 2005, 05:29 PM
Cinemaware's 3D remake - Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown. Buy it! (http://www.capcom.com/robinhood/index.html)
:ok:
I got that game about a year ago. It's the same old game (including the gameplay actually). The story is just a little different (you don't get to choose your character, but are Robin Hood). There are other people there to help you and you also need to pay the ransome for King Richard.
All in all a great remake. The graphics have improved greatly, but the gameplay stayed equally fun (plus they added road robberies, where instead of swordfights you ambush with the help of your arrows and bows). :ok: :ok: :ok:
Great Stuff :kosta: :kosta: :kosta:

[Guest]

My nice Abandonia version doesn't have any "mouse" cursor/pointy bits.. I can't joust, or raid because of this. Any tips on what keyboard keys to use? Otherwise the jousting bits are just tedious listening or the music waiting for "A long day.. no prize".
D

[Floyd the Techno-Nerd Rat]

It seems to me that Saxon Ladies don't get kidnapped as often as in other versions of the game for other computers.

I have to play the DOS version several dozen times before a rescue attempt option comes up...

Am I doing something wrong?

:unsure:

[Still Big D]

Go on someone, tell me what keys I can use to do raids, rescues and jousting with the PC! Tough game otherwise. Castle sieges are REALLY tough, and I could swear that enemy castles repair quickly compared to your own ones.

D

[zxczxc]

this is great game on the c64 , even though the graphics on the amiga are nicer , the amiga is still missing a few things that the c64 version has.. i think the game in general is relatively simple to win , like that person said before , there is not much need for knighs etc ... the game is still good on the pc .

Actually one of the nicest versions of D.O.C i saw was on the mac! , it was much more complex in the battles with more options etc .. nice graphics, and just seemed like a better made game .

[mdeba]

I was expecting a lot more discussion of this game. Such a pearler..
This was my favourite game back in the 80s on the commodore 64. Not much more to say, really.

There has been a few attempts at remakes though.

The Robin Hood version was very cinematic and attempted to capture the mainstream attention.
The 'Heroes live forever' flash version was well made but a bit too nerdy.

<rant>

There was another cinemaware direct remake of the original that was just disgusting. I paid ~$20 for it this year, too. (as a loyal supporter) Yes, they had updated the graphics a bit (slightly better than amiga version), but they had lost the feel of the game all together!! The combat outcomes were perplexing, and the AI was downright stupid. (a lot of attacking with 0 men). The mini games (jousting etc) were best avoided, as well.

And they stuffed the music up as well..

</rant>

[kmonster]

It's too easy to play as it is, but the trained c64 version is great. Starting with 0 gold and 0 men is really a fun challenge.

[mdeba]

Yeah I'd agree the original was two easy. I remember winning it (when i was 10) with wolfric the wild (Average-Weak-Average) in the absolute minimum number of moves. I kept playing it though

But I guess I'm just a sucker for the medieval..

the map wasn't divided up enough i guess. you were two turns away from most enemies..

Changing the starting stats sounds interesting. Can you do the same with the normans?

[kmonster]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mdeba @ Aug 19 2007, 09:16 PM) 305545</div>. Changing the starting stats sounds interesting. Can you do the same with the normans? [/b]

Don't know how, the trained version only allowed to change your money and army at the start and unit prices.

[boomshanka]

every single friend of mine who had an Amiga had this game .

i've never won a joust . . . . .. .. . . bit like real life

:ph34r:

[Sebatianos]

OK, I've replaced the original screenshots - they were in 4 color CGA mode, and the game is fully capable of nice 16 color EGA graphics, which acctually still look passable today (although they are dated). Just start the game with DEFENDER (and don't press F1), instead of DOC file.

[ysorian]

i played this game continuously for many years and loved every second but i see from the other posts i dont need to espouse its virtues lol but im surprised the three stooges doesnt seem to be on this sight i loved the way it started with the DOTC title screen! and a slightly entertaining game for children (as i was)

when it comes to raiding it was made simple if u were "Longsword" all u had to do was hold down the enter key... no parrying for that man!

[gumpy]

The Amiga version of this game is the best IMHO. :)

[_r.u.s.s.]

definitely doesn't have the same feel as the original but here is a complete flash remake of this game http://www.cinemaware.com/browser/dotc/final.asp

[Maxor127]

Yeah, that flash remake has been around for a long time now. At least since the remastered versions came out. Sometimes I play it, but the main problem is that unit transfer seems bugged. There doesn't seem to be a way to leave troops in different territories. They all get sent to your capital or your army. So your other lands get left undefended.

[Aramazon]

I tried to play this game before, but I just did not get it. Maybe someone could give me some pointers on what to do when you start the game, just enough so I can get going and start to enjoy it?

I've heard that Conqueror was based off of this game, so I really wanted to try it. I just beat Conqueror again so I'd like to give this game another go!

Sometimes a couple small tips from people who have played it can go a long way.

[AndrewJFisher]

Here it is at GOG
https://www.gog.com/game/defender_of_the_crown

[AndrewJFisher]

Defender of the CLOWN starring you-know-who's lawyer