Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone

Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone is a video game that was released in 2004 on many consoles, including the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It is set in the fictional Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, though the gameplay style is only vaguely modelled on Dungeons & Dragons. The story was written by R.A. Salvatore and features the voice of Patrick Stewart as Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun and Michael Clarke Duncan as Ygorl.

The hero of many of Salvatore's novels, the Drow Elf Drizzt Do'Urden, makes an appearance in the game.

Demon Stone was nominated for awards by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and BAFTA.

Story
There are three different characters in this game that you can play with, a human fighter called Rannek, a sorcerer called Illius and the half drow, half woodelf character called Zhai.

There are two evil villians in this game, one is named Ygorl, he is the lord of the Slaad, the other is named Cireka who is the general of the Githyanki. The two villians oppose one another, they both aim to take over the relms, they meet in combat, the winner will surely be the one who will take power over the relms. But the mage Khelben (wielder of the blackstaff) saw this threat and sealed both warriors in a demon stone to stop them from going ahead with their plan, this is the story that happens before the game starts.

The three main characters meet in a battle against orcs ravanging a town, they are forced into some mines by a great winged beast sent by Ygorl (who is still trapped within the demon stone). The three stubble upon the bones of the two villians, their presents activates the two evil villians power and returns them to their original forms, with the two villians released upon the world it falls upon the three main characters to undo what they have done before the relms are ravanged by the two evil forces.

Story Line
Zhai, Rannek and Illius manage to escape the mines, Zhai then leads them to her hometown Cedarleaf, they arrive to find that it is being attacked by Cireka's army, Ygorl turns up saying that he wants Cireka's weapon the silver sword. The town is quickly destroyed but the three heroes manage to save as many elves as possible and escape.

The three characters go to Illuis mentor; Khelben, he tells them that they must get hold of a demon stone held by the Yuam-Ti people, unfortunatly Ygorl turns up seeking revenge on Khelben. The three manage to escape using a portal that leads them to somewhere in the jungle, sadly it seems that Khelben did not escape. Through the jungle they travell through and come to the Yuam-Ti temple where the demon stone is.

After an ecounter with the Yuam-Ti tribe they manage to get to get hold of the demon stone there, they then go seek the Ygorl and Cireka they find them and try to seal them in the demon stone but Ygorl sends Cireka through a portal stopping them from being sucjed into the demon (apparently both need to be present for the demon stone to work.

The three warriors follow Cirka through the portal and come to the dragon lair where Cireka fights with Ygorl's red dragon, she dies, thus rendering the demon stone useless, but Rannek takes up Cirka's Silver Sword and with it kills the Red Dragon.

The three warriors then go to the mines where they first found the two warriors, they then go to the Chaotic Plane using a portal there. They then engage combat with Ygorl, in battle it is revealed that it was Ygorl who controlled them into coming togeather and using them to bring him the Silver Sword, despite this they kill him. The warriors return back to Cedarleaf to find them recovering from the horrible effects that happened, then Khelben returns and brings them news that the King is very greatful and has given them command of "an un-tame" relm, this is where the game ends.

Gameplay
You have control over all three characters from the game and can swap from character to character any time in the game (apart from the beginning until each character arrives). There are many fighting moves, in order to play the game you will need to use the different skills of the characters. Rannek can use a sword and break things apart with his gauntlets, Illius uses a staff and uses magic that you will need to hit certain targets that you cannot reach by foot, Zhai uses two short swords and has the ability to become invisible in the shadows which can be useful to sneak up on enemies and kill them. The bosses would overpower one character but with the combined power of all three you can beat them, although some have very annoying attacks that can leave a character pinned to the floor. There are many tasks in the game, it is not simply a hack and slash game but you have to destroy certain objects and protect certain objects as well as lots of other tasks, you also get to control the great warrior Drizzt in one of the level.

Characters
Rannek Illius Zhai Khelben Ygorl Cireka Drizzt

Reactions
A lot of people have said that this game is very similar to the Lord of the Rings games, there are alot of similar moves and the combat almost the same, although in this game you have control over three different characters while in the Lord of the Rings games you only have control over one character.

Voices
Zhai - Vanessa Marshall

Rannek - Dan Riordan

Illius - Chris Nissley

Kelben - Patrick Steward

Ygorl - Micheal Clark Duncan

Cireka - BJ Ward

Drizzt - Robin A. Downes