Anybody know Eternal Quest for the PS2?

[Tatsu]

I've seen this game used and it looks like an hack'n'slay RPG that could interest me. The story is basic (go through all the dungeons to save the world and so on) and I guess it's a PAL only release since I didn't find anyhting on IGN or Gamespot. Has anybody played it? I don't want to buy it blind, even if it is rather cheap.

For those that don't know what I'm talking about, here is a link:

http://www.gameseek.co.uk/productdetail/PS28vk61pg9yac50wt9/

[KJN]

I have it. Eternal Quest is the European release of Simple 2000 Series Vol 20: The Dungeon RPG, best described as a simple Rogue style game with a ninja. Basically you start up at floor 0 and the end boss awaits you down at floor 50. There is no town, just you, a limited inventory and the dungeon. The floors are randomly generated as are some weapon and equipments.

Unfortunately the random dungeon generator isn't that advanced and the floor layout is mostly nine rooms layed out in a 3x3 fashion with corridors between them. Rogue limited itself with nine rooms because it had to fit them all on one screen but even then it had some dead end corridors. The lightening is a bit random as well so floors can end up with a mix of purple and green lightening (reminds me a bit of the time when colored lights was new and every pc game just had to put in as many different colored lights as possible for the sake of it). Music is quite good and the game has a 60hz mode.

Also there aren't many different models for the monsters so this game has some extreme amount of palette swapping. For example there is one model for a magic user bad guy and it's used for at least ten different enemies (ice user, summoner monk, blizzard master, etc) and if that sounds bad that's nothing compared to the minotaur which is used for over 20(!) different types (Bull Overlord, Plague Brute, Massive Minotaur, etc). Actually they don't really change collor much, they mostly just look the same with different names.

The most interesting thing is that you can reverse status condidions. For example you can let an enemy cast a slow down spell on you, then eat some poison and then use an item that reverse the effects so that the poison will heal you and the slow down increases your speed. Of course some enemies can reverse your status conditions as well.

If you die you go back to level 1, loose all items and start over at floor 0 so it's pretty much the same as starting a new game. There is an item that returns you to the top floor without loosing your items but you are still returned to level 1. Having said that the game isn't that difficult, the basic healing items will increase you max hp if you use them when your health is full so you will soon have quite a lot of hp (you pretty much have to since you dont get many hp when you level up). You can also save the game and the the save is permanent (unlike som other Rogue style games) so you can just reload if you don't feel like starting over when you loose.

As long as you're not expecting anything spectacular it's an ok game to play in short bursts once in a while.

For more info read this faq (copy/paste the link): db.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file/eternal_quest.txt

[Tatsu]

Thanks for the info, that's exactly the kind of things that I wanna hear. I'll check out the link but maybe I'll give this game a try. Nothing special but if I like the gameplay it might be good enough for me.

And another questin: how is the battle mode? I'm reading the walkthrough and I'm not sure if it regular hack'n'slay battle or with a lock-on modus.

[KJN]

And another questin: how is the battle mode? I'm reading the walkthrough and I'm not sure if it regular hack'n'slay battle or with a lock-on modus.

It's the same as in other games of this type like Chocobo's Dungeon 2, Nightmare of Druaga, etc. In other words if you take a step/attack, enemies take a step/attack, if you do nothing, enemies do nothing. No lock on, you hit the enemy in front of you (or around you depending on what weapon type you use).