84 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
84 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
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SWORD OF VERMILLION
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SWORD OF VERMILLION is a good, easy role-playing adventure game with some
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outstanding elements. (This review is based on the Sega Genesis version.)
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You play a young man raised in a remote village. The dying words of the man you
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believed was your father reveal your real identity and destiny. Your true
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father, King Erik of Excalabria, was destroyed (along with his kingdom) by his
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neighbor, the evil King Tsarkon of Cartahena. To avenge your father and banish
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evil from the land, you (the prince) must collect the eight rings of good, and
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then defeat Tsarkon.
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VERMILLION is similar to Sega's previous RPGs in many ways, with the greatest
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exception being that combat is arcade-style rather than menu-driven. You have
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experience levels, and points for hits, spells, strength, intelligence, luck,
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armor class, and dexterity. The weapon you wield affects your strength, and your
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armor and shield affect your armor class. Otherwise, statistics only vary with
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experience level. Magic is not acquired by level, but bought in stores. You are
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limited in the number of spells (books) that you can carry.
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Cities and towns are shown in a one-quarter view, much like in PHANTASY STAR
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II, but in VERMILLION you can enter and explore buildings. Here, you talk to
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people to gain clues about what's going on and what to do next. You'll also find
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shops for items, weaponry, and spell books, as well as inns, churches, and
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fortune tellers. While exploring the countryside and caves, you'll have a 3-D
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forward view, plus an overhead map view. If you don't have a map for the area
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you're in, the map view only shows the immediate area. Maps for the surrounding
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area can usually be acquired from people in towns and cities; cave maps can only
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be found in the cave itself.
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When you encounter regular monsters, you'll switch to a one-quarter overhead
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view. Here you'll be limited to your sword and one magic spell (which you choose
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before combat). Combat with bosses is viewed horizontally. When dealing with a
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boss, you're unable to run away or use magic. If you die, you'll be resurrected
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at the last church you visited, at the cost of half your money.
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When not in combat, you can access your statistics, items, and magic through
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menus. _Not_ mentioned in the manual is the ability to set the scroll speed for
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messages (just push the Start button to get the speed menu).
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The graphics are very good. Especially notable are: the large and well-drawn
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bosses; the begin- and end-game sequences; and the amount of detail in the
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cities and towns -- inside buildings you'll find fireplaces, dressers, tables,
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bookcases, and even stairs to higher floors!
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The music is also superior, mixing medieval themes with modern instrumentals
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(one of the cave themes even reminds me of the "Peter Gunn" music). The guitar
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riff/bolt of lightning in the opening screen lets you know right away that
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you're not playing ZELDA!
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The most outstanding feature of this game is the narrative. The story line is
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sensible, detailed, and varied. The dialog is of such quality that personality
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is discernible in the people you meet. It's also possible to read between the
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lines and guess what the prince is saying and asking the people he meets. The
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English spoken in the game is very good, too (often not the case in Japanese
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imports). I strongly applaud the storyline's designers and translators.
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The countryside consists solely of roads, mountains, and trees. A little
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variety in the form of rivers, deserts, snow, and oceans would have been nice.
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In the 3-D view, mountains and walls show up simply as cylinders. While this
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makes 3-D scrolling possible, it just doesn't look very good.
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The combat is weak, particularly the swordplay. You have only one swing, in
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whichever direction you're facing; I'd have liked more sophisticated moves. This
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problem is most noticeable when fighting the boss monsters.
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VERMILLION is probably too easy to finish. Despite the claim on the back of the
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hint book for "hundreds of hours of adventure gameplay," I finished in less than
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40 hours. Combat is too simple and too easily won, even with the bosses. Also,
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as in other Sega RPGs, there's no intellectual challenge, no puzzles to solve.
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And despite the great strengths of the narrative, it suffers from extreme
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linearity.
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With its detailed but linear storyline and ease of play, VERMILLION feels more
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like a graphic novel than an RPG or arcade videogame. It's enjoyable, but I hope
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that future efforts by Sega in this direction will increase the detail and
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challenge of the combat and intellectual tasks to match the quality of the
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narrative.
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SWORD OF VERMILLION is published and distributed by Sega.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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