I have talked about this game many, many, many, many times in the past, and anybody who has seen a little bit of my posts throughout the years knows how much I adore this game. Well, I decided to pay tribute to one of the two granddaddies of RPG games. Warriors of The Eternal Sun was released on the Genesis/MegaDrive, and along with Order of The Griffon on TurboGrafx16, those two games are GEMS. I will be focusing on Warriors of the Eternal Sun this time.
WoTES is a RPG game based on AD&D rules. The plotline of the game is that during the Goblin Wars, the humans were nearly wiped out, and a vortex of some kind opened in the sky and sucked everybody in. The castle is transported in the heart of a valley with impossibly high cliffs and a permanant burning sun. Basically, the humans were saved but they are trapped in this valley, and the game begins with Duke Eltan sends the party in search of allies.
Character creation is straightforward. Pick from one of the classes -- Fighter, Dwarf, Cleric, Halfling, Elf, Thief, Mage -- then roll your stats. You get infinite rolls for stats, and I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO TAKE YOUR TIME ON THIS PART. Rushing through the creation can lead to a flawed party, and this makes the game MUCH more difficult. Here is a quick guide about which stat is useful for which class(es):
- Quote :
STR -> Fighter, Dwarf, Cleric
DEX -> Everybody, but CRUCIAL to the MAGE. As this class cannot wear armor save one that is found late in the game, you want your Mage to have as low AC as possible!
CON -> Everybody, again, CRUCIAL for Mages.
INT -> Mages, of course, but not as important as in true D&D, as to my knowledge, the INT score doesn't affect the number of spells that can be learned.
WIS -> Clerics, of course, but again, this one isn't as relevant either.
CHA -> This stat is totally useless. Seriously. Your CHA score has NO impact on how the people will react to you.
For a first party, I would recommend either two fighters, two dwarves or a combination of both. Fighters and Dwarves are equally capable fighters, but Dwarves have a higher resistance to poison, and that can come in handy a couple of times in the game. Also get a Cleric as a healer, and is you are lucky and roll good STR/CON stats, the Cleric is a capable fighter as well... In WoTES, Cleric = Holy Warrior. Also get a mage. You could also swap one fighter for a Thief, and while you do not NEED a thief, it's abilities will come in handy later in the game as well, and a properly built Thief can be pretty deadly with Backstabs. At higher level, they can also use spell scrolls. Thieves CAN use spell scrolls, but they DO NOT learn magic!
More advanced players will be interested in the Elf class. This class is an hybrid Fighter/Mage which does both very well. The catch? Elves level up SLOOOOOWLY, and even a max-level Elf will NEVER have access to 6th level spells. This level has some of the best spells in the game, so ponder this well.
The halfling class is supposed to be a Hybrid of a Thief and a fighter, but it does both very poorly. AVOID this class.
This pretty much covers character creation.
One bad thing I could say about this game is that it's slow to start initially. Your party begins at level 1, and while that is fine, leveling up at the beginning of the game is a long and tedious process. The monsters across the bridge are WAAAY to powerful for a level 1 party, and unfortunately, the only monsters that you CAN kill give but crumbs of XP.
The objective is to level up your cleric to Level 2. Now your cleric has access to a spell book, and one of those spells will allow you to tackle the stronger monsters. But DON'T go rushing head first once your cleric has spells, try to isolate one stronger enemy, use the spell, pound him senseless and kill his ass for BIG XP. Do so until everybody has gained a level or two, equip yourself and head out to explore the valley.
On the world map, you have a bird's eye view of your party. Dungeons are in first-person, and while the window isn't very big, it gives depth to this game by having FP dungeons. The said dungeons are mapped, but the map resets when you leave the dungeon, and that sucks to have to find your way all over again. I know those levels nearly by heart so I do not need the map as much, but this still sucks.
This game is all about secrets, as well. Take the time to explore, and you might find one or several boons to aid you on your quest.
In conclusion, if you still own a Genesis/MegaDrive and if you find a copy of this game, BUY IT, it is GREAT. The soundtrack of the game is downright awesome as well, I used to find it VERY CREEPY when I played the game as a kid -- yes, I played this game as a kid, English came NATURALLY to me.
This game looks crude by today's standards, but fuck today's standards. Better graphics don't make for a better game, and while it has some flaws, Warriors of The Eternal Sun is still a very fun and enjoyable experience, albeit it can get mind-blowingly frustrating at times, especially in one specific dungeon.
Here are a couple of screenshots taken from my various games.
- Spoiler:
This was taken from a 2-mage party I made. All the leveling up was made by exploting the dungeon respawn trick.
- Spoiler:
Cave automap. Nothing special.
- Spoiler:
Here is the character sheet, along with the inventory.
- Spoiler:
Creating a new party. Like I said, TAKE YOUR TIME ON THIS PART!