Game 9: The Magic of Scheherazade (NES) - Finished!

Picking up where I left off, I need to locate the Holy Robe in order to gain access to Lava town, which is located in a lava flow. I found the man who has the robe; he was captured by Salamander and left unarmed in an unlocked room. Not really sure why he couldn't have left captivity. Equipped with the Holy Robe I'm able to gain access to Lava town where I find Rainy (the companion need to defeat the boss). Rainy is too scared to go alone, and one of the townspeople helpfully inform me that I need a brave fighter in my party.

Who do I have to find now?

At this point I'm thinking there's another party member I need that will encourage Rainy to come along, so off I go to explore the nearby palace. I do find some interesting things, but no other characters to join me. During my exploration I notice how weak I am compared to the current enemies, and someone in chat suggests I'm suffering for having chosen Saint as my class, so I change to a Magician, which allows me to continue searching the palace. Some time later I come to realize something... I can be a Fighter.

Wait I minute! I'm a brave fighter!

Changing class once again to Fighter allows me to get Rainy into my party. Then I make the trip to Salamander to face off with the most annoying boss yet. He only has a short window where he can be hit until he retreats into the fire field. Rainy uses his rain magic to draw Salamander back out again, but each time this happens Salamander regains some HP. This constant back and forth regeneration makes the battle last much longer than I would deem necessary. It doesn't help matters when Salamander stays out of the line of fire. To make matters worse, I was forced to retreat from my first attempt because Rainy ran out of MP.

Only the top of his forehead is vulnerable as he shifts left and right

Once defeated, we find King Feisal was being held by Salamander instead of the love interest Scheherazade. Again we begin the chapter with a fetch quest for some legendary armor that this time will unlock a legendary sword. Both are needed to enter the final area (I'm not sure why these are necessary). They're not terribly difficult to get, and after collecting them I head off to the end game. Finally I get to confront Sabaron!

You're going down Sabaron... what do you mean you're sorry?

It's an anticlimactic encounter though, as Sabaron throws his hands up in surrender as I enter the room, apologizing for what he's done. I'm told Scheherazade's form was change through magic, and she's been with me since the beginning. I must guess her new name to set her free; if I guess wrong, then we all die. Seriously, Sabaron, why don't you just tell me since you know? It's an easy guess, as there's only been one other character with me since the beginning. After this I'm giving the final rod, and told to find the demon Goragora who Sabaron summoned to be his pet.

Inside his mouth means instant death

Goragora is a short ways away through an empty maze, and behind a final puzzle. The answer to this puzzle was given back when we retrieved the legendary sword. If you don't remember though, the game helpfully just gives you the answer again. Oh, and to make it a little easier, tells you exactly how to defeat Goragora so you don't have to figure it out yourself. I wonder if in playtesting or translation the game was thought to be too hard, so the final area was dumbed down a bit.

Enter END as a password, and it'll play the ending sequence

There's a nice ending sequence where the hero gets welcomed back by the king and four princesses. Finally, we get to settle down with our love that we fought so hard to find. Oh wait, no, we actually liked adventuring so much that we're going to leave Scheherazade to find an even greater cause. I wonder why she doesn't join the rest of the group. It's not like she wasn't helpful. It seems there was a planned sequel that was canceled during development. In any case, on to the next game after a short review.

Session Time: 3h13m (Total Time: 8h15m)