| Demon Island II | |
| by Ross Yancey | |
| Alcritas’ Review | |
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice,...
Waaaaaay back when, when the scenario review archive was still at Malkeera, I reviewed Demon Island the first. For those that don’t remember, I stated:
“Quite honestly, I’m shocked that this scenario was created. On one hand, the author displays an excellent command of the scenario editor — the opening is fast and dramatic and there are many well executed special nodes — including one very impressive cinematic sequence, something I thought impossible within the BOE editor prior to witnessing it here. But on the other hand, the scenario suffers from a VERY fatal flaw, [Too many demons.]”
Well, frankly, as shocked as I was at the creation of Demon Island the first, I am ever more shocked that Ross Yancey (yancey@bmi.net) has now created as released Demon Island II. This guy’s got too much skill and too much time to be making these kinds of scenarios. I can’t believe, after the very poor reception Demon Island the first got, he came back to program more. Given Demon Island II’s reception, I’d expect he’s gone for good now. Hopefully, I will be proven wrong, and he’ll come back to design something a bit more player friendly.
Alright, let’s get right to the heart of the matter — DI2 suffers from the same fundamental flaw as DI1 — too many demons, too much combat, too many illogical puzzles, and too little redeeming features.
Soooooo much combat. Better than the first — it’s variety is changed a bit (there are now fire demons, and you’re periodically attacked by various items/objects), but it’s still constant, and it’s still extremely hard, and it still grates on your nerves. If you didn’t find the combat in Doom Moon II or Spy’s Quest tedious, you’ll love this scenario. If you did, stay away as if it were the plague!
Speaking of Doom Moon II, Demon Island II bears a great deal of similarity to that scenario, even beyond their similarly poor choice of names. Apart from the constant overwhelming combat, Demon Island II, like Doom Moon II (boy, is that going to get confusing.), is littered with illogic puzzles. Once again, if you don’t mind them, play ahead. If you do like them, flee fearless friend, flee!
The problem with Demon Island II is that, while the technology is competent, it’s not an earth-shattering leap forward like DM2. In DM2, the combat problem was overcome by the great features of the scenario — you wanted to keep playing to see what great new feature would appear next. But there’s really not all that much that is new in DI2, and it’s just not worth fighting through another three hundred Haakais to see things you’ve seen a dozen places before. (Incidentally, since writing the review for Demon Island the first, I have discovered there is a way to repeatedly cast “Ravage Spirit”, or any other spell, without pulling up the select spell menu. Typing a capitalized “P” [or “M] will cause the PC to cast the exact same priest [or mage] spell she/he previously cast. You probably all know this, but it’s a relatively recent discovery for me, and trust me, I used it a lot!)
Spelling errors/bugs have been cut down dramatically from Demon Island the first, although there is a fatal bug at the end, that requires an additional scenario file to complete. It’s a pain, but if you insist on playing through this giant demon infested scenario, you might as well see the finish line.
Leaving all that I’ve just said aside, however, there is one overwhelming positive of Demon Island II. Early on, you’ll return to a castle you visited (that is if you happened to play Demon Island the first), to find it overrun with — wait for it — Demons. Okay, nothing special there. But the sequence in you climbing the castle to find the big bad and kill him is truly spectacular, highlighted by what I believe is the first use of truly 3D graphics in the Blades engine. Honestly, my recommendation is that you play the scenario to this point — the combat is worth trudging through for this early encounter. At that point, you’ll be able to decide whether to keep going or not. If you like lotsa combat and strange illogic puzzles, you’ll love Demon Island II. If you’re like me, and you play Blades mostly for the plot, it’ll be time to cast “File: Exit”.
My score — 6.4
— Alcritas