Towers: Lord Baniff's Deceit

Towers: Lord Baniff's Deceit is a first-person role-playing video game originally developed and published by JV Enterprises for the Atari ST in 1993. It is the first entry in the Towers series. In the game, players assume the role of adventurers tasked with finding Lord Baniff in his Tower, who has not been heard from by the people of Lamini. The title was later ported to both MS-DOS and Game Boy Color, each featurin various differences compared to the original release. It was met with mixed reception from critics across all platforms. A sequel, Towers II: Plight of the Stargazer, was released in 1995 for the Atari Falcon.

Towers: Lord Baniff's Deceit
Developer(s)JV Enterprises
Publisher(s)JV Enterprises
Game Boy Color
SeriesTowers
Platform(s)Atari ST, MS-DOS, Game Boy Color
ReleaseST
MS-DOS
Game Boy Color
Genre(s)Role-playing video game, first-person
Mode(s)Single-player, co-op
(via link-up)

Gameplay
Atari ST version screenshot.

Towers: Lord Baniff's Deceit is a role-playing video game (RPG) that takes place from a first-person perspective similar to other games in the genre such as Dungeon Master in a three-dimensional environment.[2][3] Players navigate through a large, multi-level castle tower in which the entire game is set to find Lord Baniff. A freely movable mouse cursor is used to interact with the environment and the icon-based interface on the heads-up display (HUD) when not engaged in combat.[3] On every version of the title, up to two players can play co-op via link-up.[4][5][6]

Progression of through the game is linear, with puzzles and secrets to be found scattered within the tower.[3] Before starting, players can choose between any of the four characters at the beginning of the game, each one with their own class.[3] Players can save their progress at any time during gameplay and resume on the main menu.[3] Enemy encounters occur in real-time when players engage in combat and they can use either a melee or ranged attack with their currently equipped weapon and magic attacks, which drains its mana meter and no further action is possible until the meter is fully filled again.[3] Weapons, armors, shields, magic scrolls and other items can be either found from killing enemy non-playable characters (NPCs) or laying on the ground during exploration.[3] At the beginning, the player starts with a limited inventory space that can be further expanded by picking up bags. By participating in combat, the player's character gains experience points and when certain amounts of experience points are accumulated, their character levels up, gaining additional hit points and mana.

Synopsis

During their journey to help in a battle against Sargon, a crew of four adventurers encounter a storm that opens a hole in their ship but managed to reach Lamini safely, also known as the Land of Towers.[3][4] The people of Lamini offer help to repair the damaged ship and the adventuring crew meet with the Mayor of the town during their lookout for a job, as the Mayor is in need of messengers. The Mayor tells that Lord Baniff has not been heard from in weeks and the crew needs to search him on his tower to bring word of his current condition. After entering the Baniff's tower, the entrance doorway collapses, forcing the crew to find their way out.

Release

Towers: Lord Baniff's Deceit was first released for the Atari ST in 1993 by JV Enterprises. The game was then ported to MS-DOS computers in 1994. The title was also later ported to the Game Boy Color on June 2000, featuring battery save support.[1][5][6]

Reception

Towers: Lord Baniff's Deceit was met with mixed reception from critics and reviewers alike since its release.

Sequel

A sequel, titled Towers II: Plight of the Stargazer was launched in 1994 for the Atari Falcon and was later ported to the Atari Jaguar and Microsoft Windows.[12][13][14]

References
  1. "Game Boy Color Games" (PDF). Nintendo. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-04-15. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  2. "Towers". ST Magazine (in French). No. 84. Pressimage. April 1994. p. 68.
  3. Towers: Lord Baniff's Deceit Instruction Booklet (Game Boy Color, US)
  4. Forrester, Simon (August 1994). "Reviews - Independent: Indies Corner - Towers". ST Format. No. 61. Future plc. p. 46.
  5. "Towers: Lord Baniff's Deceit - An RPG that started on the Atari Jaguar continues on the Game Boy Color". IGN. Ziff Davis. September 3, 1999. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  6. Davis, Cameron (April 28, 2000). "Towers: Lord Baniff's Deceit Preview". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  7. "Towers: Lord Baniff's Deceit for Game Boy Color". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. 2019. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  8. Provo, Frank (May 17, 2006). "Towers: Lord Baniff's Deceit Review - The average gamer just isn't going to find Towers' quest all that engaging or exciting". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  9. Cleveland, Adam (June 17, 2000). "Towers: Lord Baniff's Deceit - Dungeon exploring hits the Game Boy Color -- a Jaguar classic goes portable". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  10. Andy; Nate; Ed; Scott; Arnold (October 1999). "Now Playing: Game Boy Color - Towers: Lord Baniff's Deceit". Nintendo Power. No. 125. Nintendo of America. p. 132.
  11. Jay (April 1, 2001). "Towers : Lord Baniff's Deceit (US) (par PVG24)". Pockett Videogames (in French). ACBM. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  12. Forrester, Simon (May 1995). "Screenplay - Game Review - Towers II: Plight of the Stargazer". ST Format. No. 70. Future plc. p. 37.
  13. Powell, Wes; Halliwell, Clay (March 27, 1997). "Vince Valenti Interviews - The programmer of Towers II begs". Jaguar Explorer Online. Vol. 1 no. 1. White Space Publishers. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  14. IGN Staff (July 28, 2000). "Towers II: Plight of the Stargazer - Once isn't enough for the Towers series on the Game Boy Color -- another one's coming this fall". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
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