| Doom Moon II: Dragon’s Revenge | |
| by Andres Gonzales | |
| Alcritas’ Review | |
Doom Moon II : Dragon’s Revenge is a... large scenario, to say the least. With its more-than-ample custom graphics file included, its file size easily surpasses any previous BOE scenario. It would be an impossible task to attempt to address the scenario holistically, so I shall instead endeavor to break down the scenario into many smaller pieces, and address them as such.
The Plot :
In Doom Moon (One), your party ended up killing a Dragon, and now the Dragon’s siblings are out for revenge. They’ve threatened to destroy the kingdom unless you are sacrificed to them, and, as it turns out, they intend to destroy the kingdom regardless of whether they kill you or not.
To facilitate their plan of destruction, the Dragons have unleashed three plagues upon the land. (Where have I heard this before..?) Your party must end the plagues, and then seek out an stop the Dragons. Of course, there are about 32 different plot twists prior to the conclusion.
The plot comes off as somewhat middling. Early on, much of it feels forced (and a bit unoriginal), but it does grow on you a good deal. Unfortunately, far far too many advances in the plot are accomplished by Stupid Party Syndrome (tm), especially near the end. At one point, it’ll be so obvious that your party is the incarnation of stupidity you’ll have to refrain from laughing. Oh well.
Scenario Mechanics :
I’ll be blunt — they’re amazing. Doom Moon II is the most technically advanced use of the scenario editor yet accomplished. This takes many forms, the most notable being the inclusion of NPCs in your party. You start out with 1 NPC — a character you saved in Doom Moon (One), and can gain up to four others, from a selection of seven. The NPCs act as rewards to many of the various side quests, and provide a far better motivation to undertaking them than most other scenarios. While the NPCs aren’t universally present, they do show up in pretty much every major battle, and are a major asset.
Aside from the NPCs, Doom Moon II also employs a wide arrangement of special spells, some used by enemy NPCs, many used by the party. I also do believe that the use of party-based special spells here is the first in any scenario, further establishing Doom Moon II as a groundbreaking advancement of BOE technology.
Scenario Aesthetics :
A mixed bag. The custom graphics are, generally, VERY well done, and occur all over the place. They add quite a nice touch, and make the scenario, in many places, a pleasure to behold.
However, this pleasant viewing experience tends to be balanced by the mediocre, at best, town design, a design which seems to be repeated in virtually every major city. Spelling and grammatical errors aren’t a major problem, but are a bit too common to be totally ignored. Finally, in many major combats you’ll get a “Scenario Error” message often — the result of the “Explosion on Space” special killing an NPC. It’s not a fatal bug, but it certainly hurts the aesthetics of the scenario.
Logic :
Just a brief note here — Doom Moon II has many many illogical puzzles, but always offers (often) strained explanations for them. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s enough to keep me from griping endlessly about them.
Playability :
This is scenario is, shall we say, barely playable. Its designed for Very High level parties, and I suggest you follow the author’s suggestion. An average *WANDERING MONSTER GROUP* might consist of 11 Vampires and 7 Liches. And it only gets worse from there. In many cases the NPCs are vital, as without them your party would be slaughtered without cause. You can find the special spell “Mass Resurrect” — and, take it from me, it’s a very useful special spell. Anyone managing to make it to the final battle will find a whole new experience of combat awaiting them. Doom Moon II is not for the faint of heart.
One Final Aside :
There’s a sequence near the end, when your party gets trapped inside a village, that is utterly brilliant and amazing. I don’t really know where it fits on the above schematic, but it’s clearly the highpoint of this scenario, and would be the high point of most others as well. Come to think of it, I can’t think of even a single other scene in any scenario that has effected me more....
Summing It All Up :
Doom Moon II is the natural evolution of scenarios like Spy’s Quest and Demon Island. For some reason, the evolution of BOE mechanics seems to occur most in absurdly hard scenarios. (Anyone with a decent theory explaining why this is, please share it!) I think Doom Moon II is the first of these scenarios that manages to redeem itself with features that overcome the absurd combat.
More than any other scenario, Doom Moon II defies the traditional 1 to 10 scoring system. I simultaneously want to give this scenario a 4, a 7, a 15, and a -12. Scoring this scenario has been an exercise in frustration to say the least.
I score this scenario with a warning attached — I do NOT want to see another Doom Moon II. You won’t catch the lightning in the bottle again, and I have every expectation that future scenarios along these lines will be more Demon Islands, and less Doom Moons.
Doom Moon II is for Very High level parties, and is rated G. (An oversight)
My Score — 9