Game #62: Dragon Warrior IV (NES) - Chapters of the Chosen

Game 62

Title: Dragon Warrior IV
Released: Oct. 1992 (Feb. 1990 JP)
Platform: NES
Developer: Chunsoft
Publisher: Enix
Genre: RPG
Exploration - Top-down
Combat - Turn based
Series - Dragon Warrior

It's not often I run into a classic game on a system I grew with as a kid. We rented most of the well known games, and owned our fair share of RPGs. The only reason I can think for overlooking this one is we had already upgraded to a SNES. We only rented the third Dragon Warrior. I don't remember beating it at the time. This one I have no recollection of playing or seeing before now.

That's not the name I chose

The game started with naming the hero; however, as detailed in the manual, there are four chapters to play through before the hero's. The first chapter is Ragnar's. He's a soldier of Burland. Mothers from the nearby town of Izmit reported their children vanishing. All the soldiers are gathered before the king, told of the situation, and ordered to investigate.

*Plop*1

The familiar menu system of the Dragon Warrior series has started to feel a bit antiquated. Including everything in one menu does simplify the question of where to look for a command, but two button presses for talk, and more for door and search is cumbersome.

Especially when there's no wrap around for any menu

Ragnar is a straight-up fighter. He came with decent equipment and a small amount of gold to spend on healing items. I prepared for the journey, and left town. On my way out, a woman named Flora mentioned her husband Alex was missing.

No, I did not... this makes the door command slightly more annoying

Izmet was on the other side of the river north of Burland. The cave I crossed through wasn't difficult. In town, I learned about some shoes one of the kids was playing with before he disappeared. I had to return at night to learn from the school master that the other children may know something about the incidents. A child outside mentioned a man named Alex was in jail for stealing some bread. I'm not sure how they learned his name if he's supposedly suffering from amnesia.

Maybe he just wanted to get away from his wife for a while

Alex directed me to a hidden spot in the woods the kids were using as their new playground. I followed a friendly voice all the way to a pair of flying shoes. I'm not sure how the kids were able to come all the way down here, and make it back out without fighting any of the monsters.

It definitely wasn't with the shoes

The flying shoes took me to a tower to the west where I witnessed a kid dragged away. Before getting too far into that though, I geared up in town to fully explore the cave. I met Healie, a friendly healer monster that joined my party. Thank goodness for him. I don't think I could manage the tower without.

This sounds like one of those cursed swords

It took a few tries to get to and defeat Saro's Shadow. I perished the first time because I didn't risk equipping the Sword of Malice (well, mostly due to Healie dying). A fallen soldier before the boss mentioned the Ruler of Evil was about to be resurrected. A hero prophesied to vanquish him was growing up now. With no lead about which child, the evil forces started grabbing as many as they could. With the kids saved, everyone was happy in the kingdom of Burland once more. Ragnar returned to his king. He requested to go on a quest to find the hero of prophecy. The king agreed. Ragnar left.

Each chapter has an obvious beginning and end

Alena, the princess of Santeem, is an adventurous young lady. Her first task was to sneak out of the castle. After a harrowing assault on her newly boarded-up wall, she climbed down from her second story bedroom and out the back garden. Her tutors, Brey and Cristo, joined her outside to keep her safe. She arrived in Surene to rumors of problems in the mountain town to the northeast.

*Plop*2

Alena is a standard fighter, Cristo a cleric, and Brey a standard squishy wizard. This was my first time having a nearly full party, and it feels good. Unlike Healie, I have full control over everyone. I did have to be careful about venturing too far from town as we were ill equipped for the long journey north.

I sense a slight bias no matter how true

The quiet mountain village of Tempe was plagued by a monster that demanded the sacrifice of young women. Alena, being the hero type, offered herself next. Instead of taking things lying down, she laid out the monster in due course. The village celebrated. Still no free gear.

A new day dawns...

An adventuring hero's work is never done though, so we headed to the next town, Frenor. Someone was impersonating the princess for all the free stuff. Wait, why don't I get free stuff?

I'm the real princess!

The townsfolk spoke of a golden bracelet hidden in a nearby cave. By coincidence, this is exactly what the kidnappers asked the town to hand over after they took the fake princess. I ignored the request for a bit, and traveled past the cave to the south. A bazaar was setup with some hefty gear. I confess; I grinded. I've rarely needed to grind like this in games of the era; however, Dragon Warrior seems to thrive on grinding to make progress. Especially this one, starting the game effectively five times. Mainly, either my gear was ineffective, or a certain level granted a key spell.

I'm sorry... a what?

A soldier from Santeem found me at the bazaar. He told me of trouble back at the castle. I found the king had lost his voice, stolen by some magic. We learned of a similar fate that befell a bard in Surene. To find the solution, I needed to gain access to a man behind a locked door in the castle. Why can't we just knock?

It's 3 against 2, what're we waiting for?

Back in Frenor, we handed over the gold bracelet in exchange for Mia. She gave use the Thief's Key, and departed with her companions. The old man at the castle told us the bard Marone had a similar ailment. Marone said the Birdsong Nectar was key to healing voices. Back at the bazaar, I couldn't find any. At night the merchants discussed how they had run out long ago, but I could get more at the nearby tower inhabited by elves. I think that's the first time I've heard of elves in the Dragon Warrior lore.

Anyone ever wonder who built all these towers?

The tower was difficult, but became manageable once Brey obtained the spell Snowstorm (group damaging). On top I interrupted some elves that fled, dropping the birdsong nectar. The king, voice restored, commended Alena, and allowed her to continue her adventure to Endor where a battle tournament was held. I took a warping well to the other continent.

Ragnar, searching for heroes before it was cool

The town of Endor was abuzz with the excitement of the tournament. A man named Necrosaro was apparently the big shot so far, but they've yet to witness Alena go at it. The bridges surrounding Endor were destroyed recently, so the tournament was the only option. I picked up an Iron Claw and some medical herbs in case it was a solo affair. It was, and I had just enough to see me through to the final match against Necrosaro. He never showed. The princess' hand in marriage was at stake, but since Alena was a woman she was off the hook.

There are a couple of unique portraits for the tournament fighters

At the behest of yet another soldier Alena returned home. This message was delivered shortly before the soldier disappeared before our eyes. In fact, all of the people of Santeem seemed to have just vanished. This mystery is still unsolved. Alena's chapter ended. Taloons chapter was next, the best chapter of the game.

*Plop*3

Seriously, who knew running a virtual shop could be so much fun. I was buying and selling weapons while saving up my commission to one day have a shop to call my own. I saved up enough money to gear up and branch out into the world. Rumors of an Iron Safe sent me north to explore a cave. Taloon, during this chapter only, has an incredibly high chance to find a treasure chest after battle. Unlike other chests, these contain weapons and armor at higher levels than possible otherwise.

Taloon can also push this old man to the House of Healing for some extra gold

The iron safe protects gold in case of a party wipe. I never needed to confirm it, but it eventually became a vault overseen by Taloon's wife, Neta. We'll hear more about her once Taloon is able to afford the shop in Endor. The bridge still required repair. The kingdom of Bonmalmo was preparing for war with Endor, buying up armor at inflated prices. I made a bit of cash selling to them while I looked for an architect to repair the bridge.

The prince had things other than war on his mind

The architect da Gardi was trapped inside a group of foxes illusory town. Freeing him required a dog to chase them away. Tom's (the old man) son had a dog, but he'd been away from home for a long time. Turned out he was stuck in Bonmalmo's dungeon. Instead of an elaborate jailbreak, he only needed a wing of the wyvern to return home. In thanks, he handed over his dog, which dispelled the foxes, and finally allowed da Gardi to repair the bridges.

Taloon also meets random merchants in the field

In the letter to princess Mia, prince Reed expressed his love, and informed her of the impending war. The king of Endor proposed a marriage instead, and the king of Bonmalmo agreed this would suffice as the prince would be next in line. Having successfully brokered peace, the king of Endor gave Taloon permission to own a shop in the city. While one was serendipitously available, it was priced a bit beyond my current funds.

I suppose I should return Tov at some point

A rich old man claimed price was no object  for a valuable silver statue. Following rumors of a cave to the north, I delved in and collected all the treasure. The statue (plus the bit of coin I'd made getting it) paid for the shop . The shop was a stepping stone to greater things though. I returned to Neta to tell her the good news. Taloon moved his family down. Neta manned (womanned?) the shop during the day, and wouldn't you know it, she was even more successful a merchant than Taloon. She sold nearly everything every day, and at a mark-up of 50% compared to regular shops.

Best... wife...

So, each day I spent all her hard earned money buying up equipment for Neta to gouge whatever sorry saps happened into our shop. While this was fun, it didn't feel like I was making enough progress to pay for an expansion to the nearby tunnel. An old engineer had started building it, but ran out of money. He estimated the cost to finish at 60,000 gold. It so happened that the king had need to outfit his army, and commissioned Taloon for 7 broadswords and 7 pieces of half-plate. Providing these rewarded me enough to pay the engineer, and finish the tunnel to the eastern continent. Taloon continued his quest for his mercantile victory of world domination.

Ever

The next chapter followed the story of two sisters. Mara, a dancer, and Nara, a fortuneteller, are seeking revenge for their murdered father, Edgar. They left their promising professions behind in Monbaraba. Balzack, Edgar's killer, wasn't exactly hiding out. He'd taken over Keeleon Castle and started collecting a harem.

*Plop*4

Their hometown was on the way, so they stopped there first. In Kievs they learned that their father's apprentice, Orin, was still alive. Rumor was he was gravely injured in the battle that took Edgar's life, but he escaped.

How goes the years of recovery at the bottom of a monster infested cave?

The sphere of silence was said to seal away the evil magical power of Balzack. Before heading to Keeleon, I decided to scout out the rest of the continent. I wandered into Aktemto, where I picked up some gunpowder, and Haville, where I learned I needed a pass to gain passage on one of their ships.

There's a lot of flavor text like this that I'm not sure will become important later on

The gunpowder keg was used to spook the chancellor in Keeleon. Following him as he fled led us to the secret thrown room Balzack had holed himself up in. The fight was simple with the use of the sphere. However, the evil source of his power, the king of Keeleon, showed up to stop us himself. They gloated about discovering the Secret of Evolution, apparently the source of conflict that caused Balzack to kill Edgar. Keeleon was unstoppable, and easily trounced the party in just a couple turns. We awoke in the prison where a fellow prisoner gave us his boarding pass for the ship about to depart from Haville for Endor. Orin sacrificed himself by rushing the guards so that we could escape. The sisters' story was done as soon as they boarded the ship.

*Plop*final

The real game began on an average day in the life of the hero. She's lived her 17 years in peace inside a small remote village where no one ever left or visited. That day though, a stranger entered the town, a portent for change. The day started like any other. CelTank took her father's lunch to him by the pond. She greeted her friend Celia lying in a field of flowers, the guard by the entrance who let in the traveling poet lost in the mountains, and her mentor who promised to teach her the spell Zap after lunch: a carefree day like the last 17 years.

Then the fire nation attacked

It's not really explained why the monsters found the village that day. All other villages seem impervious to the rampant monster infestation in the fields. As soon as a wandering poet arrived, it was all over. The entire town banded together to protect the hero. The entire town was wiped out for its efforts. After Celia's sacrifice, Necrosaro was overheard gloating.

The last momento of Celia where she laid just moments before, daydreaming

In a daze, I wondered south. Coming across a grouchy old woodsman, I moved on to Branca castle after raiding his wardrobe. I passed by a group of adventurers off to save the world. I would have joined them, but they were already full. Hearing of a fortuneteller in Endor, I made my way there via the tunnel dug by Taloon. It was Nara. She recognized the hero immediately. We picked up her sister in the casino, apparently already blew all the money they had, and began the journey to collect the rest of the chosen heroes.

Sounds like our next companion to find

Elapsed Time: 14h15m (Total Time: 14h15m)

Below the Cut: Gemfire (NES, SNES, Genesis)

(Source: GameFAQs)

Gemfire - Rating(6 RPP)
1) 2 - Character Advancement: practice/experience based advancement, stat or level increases, multiple classes or characters, customize characters
2) 1 - Combat: character stats used for combat, additional combat options, turn based
3) 0 - Items and Equipment: store to buy and sell, equipment decisions, item decisions
4) 1 - Story: main story at the forefront; world full of hints and lore; descriptions for objects, people, and places
5) 2 - Exploration: open world from the beginning, visited locations remain open
6) 0 - Quests and Puzzles: side quests not related to the main quest, puzzles and riddles to solve

It's well known that D&D has its roots in war gaming. So, it's understandable when a strategy game includes set characters, stats, and improvements that some might tend to call it an RPG. However, these characters are rarely influential to the story. In the case of Gemfire, a small country is at strife. The play selects a family to control as well as a scenario, which dictates how many territories are under the family's control from the start. As with most KOEI games, the player improves each land and conscripts armies to gain more land. The ultimate goal is conquest.

Characters lack advancement options. A land's stats can increase, so I gave it a point for that. Different families have different special units, but there's no customization. Character and land stats don't influence turn based combat as it's the armies that do battle. There's no store, items, or equipment.

The plot doesn't progress during the game. The entire world is rather small; however, it is fully accessible from the beginning. There are no additional quests or puzzles to solve.

It's a fine game, and on the shorter side compared to other KOEI strategy games. We'll have to wait until Dragon Force to get closer to a true strategy-RPG, although Langrisser did well. On paper, strategy games seem to fit neatly in as a hybrid of RPGs; however, there are so very few of them that accomplish full integration. Now, I glossed over a lot of details, and may have missed some aspects as I didn't play it. So, if any of this is misinformation, or there are missing details that might tilt the scale, do speak up.

Game #61: Ghost Lion (NES) - To Hope, To Dream (Finished)

Game 61

Title: Ghost Lion, Legend of the
Released: October 1992 (July 1989 JP)
Platform: NES
Developer: Kemco
Publisher: Kemco
Genre: RPG
Exploration - Top-down
Combat - Turn based
Series - Standalone

This seems like a strange choice by Kemco, localizing a three year old game denounced as a Dragon Quest clone. I wonder if they'd hoped to ride its success in the west as the fourth title was to release at the same time. The game wasn't well received; even the female protagonist (and the woman on the front) failed to sell the game. It also suffered an identity crisis as the manual, cart, and box list only Ghost Lion as the title, while the title screen shows Legend of The Ghost Lion.

This is another one of those thankfully short games

The story began with Maria's parents leaving on a trip to solve the mystery of the white lion that once attacked their small village. It was driven away by a young warrior that threw a spear at it. The lion fled into a cave east of the village, never to be seen again. Instructed to wait for them, Maria instead visited the village elders who told her to embark on her own journey.

It's dangerous to go alone, take this (this intro is really well done)

According to the manual, her parents were gone for mere days, while the game itself suggests they were never heard from again. The elders gave further instruction to search for a lamp. Providing her with a wood key as well, they sent her into the cave alone. Their last word of advice was that the lion was rumored to reside beyond the Gate of Evil.

*Plop*

So they trapped Maria inside a cave. A menu is used to select actions to take: Speak allows Maria to talk to anyone in front of her, Goods enable her to use or drop items, Look searches the ground (mostly to open treasure chests), and Vigor lists the current status of her and her spirits. The wood key opens up the only door visible. Further in the cave is a chest with the lamp, a dagger, and a second key that opens a gold door. (It's interesting to note this is the only time the game uses keys.) This cave seems intended as a safe area to play with the interface before plunging into the main game.

Literally

She awoke near a lake with three fairies. They explained the hope (level), courage (HP), and dreams (MP) values. There's no experience in the game. The only benefit to combat is money (called rubies). Instead, Maria finds fragments of hope inside treasure chests to level up. This increases her stats as well as the power and spells of the summons she calls upon. The spear summons the young fighter named Moja, and the lamp materializes an old magician called Twana. Maria isn't completely defenseless though, as she is able to attack with the dagger. Still, it's better to rely upon Moja or Twana to do the bulk of the fighting. Their power level acts as their HP and action points. Once it reaches 0 they vanish, but can be called once again as long as Maria has enough dream.

All summons have a defend option, which shields some of the damage done to Maria when she's the target of an attack -- multiple summons using defend can reduce the damage to 0

The game is seen from a completely top-down perspective. Towns serve as a hub for information on the main quest and the next goal as well as shops to buy restorative items: bread increases courage, tears restore dream, a blue ring increases Maria's defense, and a bomb that did decent damage in the early game. Dungeons are rather small compared to those seen in a Dragon Warrior game, even the first.

The first town also has a ship that can take Maria to different locations

Unlike Dragon Warrior, the game has a number of interesting side quests. Not mandatory to the game's completion, Maria can help a woman stave off hunger, find a music box, and exchange a magic horn for a broomstick that allows fast travel to any pixie lake. The rewards for each of these range from hints to the main quest that are easily discovered, or rare items like the broom or a rope that binds enemies. A good number of the dungeons are optional, but hold fragments of hope or summoning items.

Exited the cave above, and missed the town to the left hidden in the mushrooms my first time through

I've avoided going on about the main quest because it's rather rote if you've played RPGs before. Maria is set on finding the white lion (forget her parents). First she has to recover some stardust from a goblin that stole it. Returning the stardust to the Cave of Giants opened the path to Davis, a town hidden among mushroom. Werewolves infest the area. I missed Davis. Instead I discovered the lair of the KingWolf, and recovered the dog's eye before I even knew I needed it. Then in the very next battle I died. Death is barely a setback. Maria regains consciousness at her last save point (pixie lake) with all items she'd already obtained, but half as many rubies.

Finishing up the Bread side quest, I'd like to think this is a bread dagger

The Dog's Eye fit into a statue of a dog inside a cave west of Davis. My reward was access to a passage where I found a magical horn. Blowing the horn at some rocks further west opened the path to the town of Pixie. In an optional cave south of Davis, I found the Red Ring and Rapier, which allowed me to summon Hafling (a defensive summon) and Elf (magic based) respectively. Magic replaces a spirit's fight command. The elf became my most valued member as soon as she learned the hold spell. The halfling is obviously a defensive summon as his menu is swapped (defend first and fight second), and judging by how ineffective his attacks were in general.

Turns out this is a side quest as well, although it didn't feel like one at the time

In Pixie I was told of a pixie that was kidnapped to the south. There I defeated Hugeslug that became another summon. The pixie rewarded me with a rope, which at the time I mistakenly decided was just another quest item. I found out near the end of the game that you can use it to bind an enemy. Once bound they're tied down for the rest of the fight. Elf gets a similar spell called hold, but unlike the rope, she can hold any number of enemies at a time; there can be up to three per battle.

This'll make sense in a minute... maybe

I journeyed north to Ranya Tower where I found a water jug. A young girl told me about a music box she'd lost in the witch's forest; however, I wasn't able to locate it. I found a lake further north, slightly east, where I filled the jug with pure spring water. West of there was the witch's forest where I exchanged the horn for her broom. I doused a rainbow child with the spring water and restored her vigor. As a parting gift, she built the rainbow bridge across a river that allowed me to journey onward.

Strangely the remaining towns are all on top of towers

I continued to find interesting items. The Rockwing was another summon, the Wingman. As a straight up fighter, he was kind of a let down. I took the boat to Alko, but only found an arrow, which was by far the best weapon at that point. I retrieved some pixie wings from a man in Kapi Tower, but the pixie I returned them to only confirmed that I should retrieve a crown from an evil island. I really didn't know where else to go until I took the boat, and noticed a cave to the north of Kapi Tower. The crown was traded with some random man in that cave for access to the next continent.

How pertinent is this to the main quest?

Spirit's Tower held the Town of Hope. There I learned of some shoes that would help me cross certain terrain, and a statue that would allow me to defeat a dragon. The missing doll was rumored to be in Orange Moon, which lay beyond the dragon. I found the dragon to the south, completely immune to any attack. Batasa's Forest Town was near the dragon's cave. An old man there told me that the statue could only be used by one familiar in the ways of magic. I picked up some glasses for a friendly witch before departing. The store sold something called Aurora. It cost nearly all my money, but for that price I figured it must be a good weapon. It turned out to be a better defensive item than the blue ring. I should have gone north all along to get the ice shoes in a pyramid so I could get through two caves to the east and claim the statue. I also picked up a magicaxe that summons a dwarf.

The statue banished the dragon immediately

As soon as I used the statue, Twana appeared from the lamp, and with it confronted the dragon. In a bright flash of light both the dragon and Twana disappeared. The party definitely took a hit to overall power with that loss. While Elf was more useful, Twana's magic had a lot more utility. I returned the glasses to the witch, and she told me that I needed a klein jug to drain the lake that blocked the Gate of Evil. Further, she went on to suggest two statues were needed as well, but I don't recall them ever coming into play.

I happened across this innocent looking lake, which turned out to house a dungeon area where I had to fight a frog to gain it as a summon

I found a silver cup and gold rock in the cave with the witch: two additional summons (centaur and some useless mage). The frog was nearby, and I found him before I gained the hint from the town to the southwest: Orange Moon. I purchased a lightning whip there, and dug up the doll for the little girl. She rewarded me with her father's sword, which was actually weaker than the whip. I took a trip out to Mods Island, and picked up the crystal, which housed the last spirit (a giant).

Someone in town told me of a three-cornered deadlock created by the slug, frog, and hydra

Without the three-cornered deadlock in full effect, the hydra won't take any damage from attacks. I retrieved the klein jug, and used it at the lake to drain the water. The Gate of Evil was a big pyramid. At the end, the white lion lay there waiting for me. He was the toughest enemy by far. Before I could get any defenses in place he attacked for nearly 1/3 of my health. Things started to go smoother once I got Aurora up, Elf cast return (which has a chance to reflect an attack back), and summoned a number of spirits for defense. There aren't any healing spells. Restoring courage is limited to ingesting bread--50 courage at a time.

I should have known! Just look at him

So the white lion turned out to be my friend Twana who joined me since the beginning of the game. He had created these trials to encourage Maria to have hope, be courageous, and always dream of a brighter future.

For a second I thought maybe this wasn't the end of the game, but on reflection this may have implied a sequel that never materialized

Maria received a pendant as a parting gift, and then slowly drifted between consciousnesses. She awoke in her mother's arms. Apparently Maria nearly drowned in the river, and she was scolded by her mother for looking for them, proclaiming the white lion was only a legend. The pendant that still hung from Maria's neck proved differently.

Elapsed Time: 8h16m (Final Time: 8h16m)

See you in the sequel... not really

Combatant - The combat is challenging in the beginning, but tapered off quickly. As rubies became less important, combat really only served as a way to delay the inevitable win. Most of the interesting combat options disappeared with Twana, but I wasn't even using half of them at the time. The enemies are a standard fantasy fare. While Maria's strength didn't raise with each level, the summons did seem to have hidden stats that increased.
Rating: 5

This was the best combat, having nearly all my summons out

Admirer - Leveling up increases the spell selection and strength of each spirit, but it comes at a higher dream cost to summon. This higher cost encourages the use of newer summons, and is the main reason I used the Elf over Twana early on. There's no appearance adjustment or customization other than the choice of who to use more often in battles. Using a summon more often has no effect on their increases.
Rating: 2

The lion waits patiently as I moved to the beat of the music thinking I'd be able to avoid combat... it seemed to work

Puzzler - The main quest is well defined, but it centers around combat. There aren't any puzzles to solve, although the number and variety of side quests is surprising for the genre at this stage in development. Everything presented fits well with the world, although the rewards are sometimes merely hints for the main quest. As for multiple solutions, there's only one way through.
Rating: 4

There's no way to be better prepared

Instigator - There's not much to the main story. It's set in the beginning, and not really clear Maria is making any progress until we're near the doorstep of the Gate of Evil. NPCs are helpful in getting us there, but there's no development of a main plot. Descriptions of the world lore are lacking, and there's no decisions to influence. In the end, it was all a dream (or was it), so maybe the nonsensical nature was apt.
Rating: 3

Mom scolding Maria for doing exactly what she went off to do

Collector - There's a fun assortment of different tools beyond the ones used to call the summons. The economy gets broken near the end, but not until after the dragon. Once it does though, it makes combat pointless. There's nowhere to store items, but inventory space isn't too limited (there is a limit though). It's hard to tell what items do, or how powerful a weapon is without trying it out in combat. Collecting everything is difficult as well. Although summons fit nicely on one screen in combat, there's not a good way to tell Maria has all fragments of hope (26 seems like an strange number).
Rating: 3

I wonder what this magic pendant is supposed to do

Explorer - Developed and produced by Kemco, the music has a distinctive style reminiscent of Shadowgate (same composer). The graphics were well done, and the environments varied enough that I wasn't bemoaning yet another tower town. Exploration was closed off: progress made by finding quest items in dungeons that rarely made sense. It didn't detract from the overall experience.
Rating: 4

It'd be nice if it went through all the summons I'd found

Final Rating: 21 [35%]

Not a bad little game, and one I'd recommend to those looking for a different experience. It's a bit unfair to call this a Dragon Warrior clone when it did so many things differently. About the only thing they have in common is a top-down perspective and similar dungeon presentation. The summoning aspect is rather unique, although there aren't enough times when Maria can make effective use of the whole party.

Apparently only Moja and Twana matter though

Next up is Dragon Warrior 4. I've reshuffled the list to accommodate on-going hardware trouble. I've just recently acquired the tools to repair the system, and--with luck--I'll have a working system by the time I wrap up the next game. First though, a post to cut Gemfire. An interesting strategy game that employs enough statics to be mistaken for an RPG.