It is the most successful role-playing game on the German market, outselling Dungeons & Dragons. Many years of work on the game have led to an extremely detailed and extensively-described game world. Droemer Knaur dropped the project in early 1989; after the bankruptcy of the Schmidt Spiel & Freizeit GmbH in 1997, publishing was continued by Fantasy Productions (which had already done all the editorial work). Since the game's launch the game system has gone through three editions, making the rules and background more complex. The basic rules of the fourth edition of The Dark Eye were published in 2001, and was the first edition to be released in English (in October 2003). The fifth edition of the game was released in August 2015, with an English translation planned for early 2016.
Aventuria (the continent on which the game is set) was first introduced to the English-language market through a series of computer games and novels and later under the name Realms of Arkania. The trademarkRealms of Arkania was owned by the now-defunct Sir-tech Software, Inc., which spurred the name change to The Dark Eye; Fantasy Productions was unable to obtain the trademark. In April 2007, Ulisses Spiele assumed the TDE pen-and-paper licence from Fantasy Productions.
The Dark Eye is a computer game of the horror genre, released in 1995 for the PC by the now-defunct software company Inscape. Upon its release the game attracted little attention from either critics or consumers, though it has received some attention since and, arguably, cult status.
The game featured combined 3-D graphics, stop motion animation and video segments. With its unconventional interface, storyline, and characters, the game's peculiarity became its selling point. The characters are largely lifelike in appearance except for their clay-modeled faces, which are often distorted or feature grotesquely exaggerated features. This near-realism, sometimes referred to as the uncanny valley, contributed to the game's ambience of unease and anxiety.
The character animation is stop-motion. Inscape did the art design of the puppets (lead artist Bruce Heavin) and had a Hollywood house actually make them. Inscape then hired two stop-motion animators and Russell Lees spent many, many hours in a hot, dark warehouse directing the animations. The working hours were from 7 am to 7 pm for about a month. They created computer-generated screenshots of the environments and shot against blue-screen, and they had a director of photography light them to match the environment.
The Dark is the second full-length album released by Metal Church. It was released on 6 October 1986 and was the last album featuring the group's classic lineup of David Wayne, Kurdt Vanderhoof, Kirk Arrington, Duke Erickson, and Craig Wells. 1999's Masterpeace album reunited the former four, with John Marshall replacing Wells.
Album information
The Dark talks of somber themes, such as assassination, death, struggle, rituals, and the supernatural: the lyrics from "Line of Death", for example, were based on Libyan hostilities in the Gulf of Sidra. "Watch the Children Pray" became the band's first music video. The album was dedicated to the late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, who died nine days before its release. In order to promote The Dark, Metal Church supported Metallica and Anthrax on the Damage, Inc. Tour. They also opened for King Diamond.
Reviews for The Dark have been mostly positive. Allmusic's Eduardo Rivadavia awards the album two-and-a-half stars out of five, and states that it "contained some of the group's best material." In 2005, the album was ranked number 389 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.
While in Wales visiting her husband James (Sean Bean), Adélle (Maria Bello) tries to fix her relationship with her daughter Sarah (Sophie Stuckey). By the side of a cliff, they see a strange memorial with evidence of a plate missing and with the name "Annwyn" marked on it. A local man Dafydd (Maurice Roëves) explains that, according to traditional Welsh mythology, Annwyn is a sort of afterlife.
Later, Sarah vanishes on the beach, and another similar looking girl, named Ebrill (Abigail Stone) ("Ebrill" is Welsh for "April"), appears in her place. Ebrill is the long-dead daughter of a local shepherd who also served as the town's pastor fifty years prior. When Ebrill, who was a sickly child, died, her father gave her to the ocean, sending her to Annwyn. He then convinced his followers to throw themselves into the ocean, claiming that it was the way to Paradise, while he privately hoped that their sacrifice would return Ebrill to him from Annwyn. Ebrill did come back, but, something came back with her. Her father tried to draw the evil out of her, through trepanning and locking her in her room. Dafydd was one of the followers who did not throw himself off the cliff, though both his parents did. Ebrill's father took him in, and when Dafydd could no longer bear witnessing the shepherd hurting Ebrill, he set her free, which in turn allowed the evil within her to lash out and shove her father over the cliff.
Flow through my mind love sometimes I forget Tall tales of once upon a time we might regret Bug-eyes monsters universal fear In the mirror he finds himself for real And the world keeps on return In the cradle where it lies Ten years of fire burns Into the eye A hand around my eyes lead me I am blind Still I am delight of everything I find Animation of souls expressed in dance Thirty white norses on a red hill in trance And the world keeps on turnin In the cradle where it lies Ten years of fire burns Into the eye Repeat 1st verse
THE APPEARANCE of dark-eyed juncos is often thought of as a harbinger of winter’s onset ... But no, we are the dark-eyed juncos’ Florida ... Since reclassification they are all four called “dark-eyed junco.”.
Union Leader
02 Dec 2023
Union Leader
02 Dec 2023