Amazonian Saga
by Haneda Yoshiyuki
Drakefyre’s Review

When I decided to review the Amazonian Saga (By haneda@dragon.mm.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp), a scenario I had never played, I thought same old, same old with a different setting. Boy, was I wrong. This scenario has excellent node mastering, and a wavering plot line. You don’t need all of the allies for the final battle, but they sure help.

The first thing you notice, is immediately you see a sweet cake on the table next to you. The reason is because of the superior quality of the graphic to any Spiderweb food graphics. The graphics and new monster types do take a while to get used to, though, but they are good to have.

You start out with a choice. You can play the scenario, or leave the island. Doing the mission however, is much more intriguing. The use of the Amazonian Flute is remarkable. It is a special item that enables you, when in Olgada, to open all the gates in the town. You blow the flute, and the guards know to open the gates. It is easy to miss a crucial starting-point in the plot line. So you don’t miss it, I will tell you to visit the middle of Parke immediately after leaving Olgada. It also is a little fuzzy after that. Go to Igor for metallurgy, and then follow the instructions. Then find Gomez. That is really all the hinting I will give you.

My next topic is, DON’T MESS AROUND WITH THE SCENARIO IN THE SCENARIO EDITOR! The effects of this can be devastating and permanent. I tried to see what I should do, but everything was sooo confusing! It is like trying to look at Tatterdemalion through the Scenario Editor. You don’t get anything from it unless you are very far in the scenario, and in that case, why cheat? You may even get bad effects, as is usually the case. I have tried to hack it, but it was hard. The best I could do was put in some secret passages, and that still messed the game up. That skips you nodes that you need to activate to win the game.

Now back to the review. I have a few gripes, as you may have noticed. One I have not mentioned, is that the weapons and such are horribly weak. You can buy weapons weaker than Steel Greatswords for a greater price, at the same merchant! You need more powerful weapons for later on. That brings me to my next point. You need an old party. That may not mean much to those BoEers who carry a party of every level, and every amount of PCs. But to those who, like me have only a few or even one party, it is hard to come up with the exact party for the scenario. I have figured it out, however. Parties with 5 PCs work the best. The level should be between 8 and 15, to start. This covers about every kind of BoEer except the cheater who runs through with Doomguard Armor and Level 50 PCs.

As I shift away from gripes, I shed some light on the good parts of the scenario. As I will always say, the graphics bring you to a new world. It is very challenging for a low party, as some monsters have high armor and all resistances or immunities. The game edges you along with hints, sometimes telling you what to do next. I don’t want to spoil the ending, as there is a hard battle with a level 7 mage. She can wipe out your allies in a flash. It is excellent, and I give it the rating of 8.5

Lastly, it is rated PG, and is in medium difficulty range.

— Drakefyre

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