Eamon Adventure Reviews
Reviewed by Nathan Segerlind (1st of 2 reviews)
MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: DIG, FILL, PULL, WEAR, REMOVE, DISPLAY Deleted Commands: none Special Features: 4-disks, WEAR cmd, it doesn't use your character, DISPLAY cmd, armor artifacts, SOLUTIONS pgm Playing Time: 10-20 hours Reviewer's Rating: 6
Description: Shipwrecked upon an unknown continent, you easily learn the language and are eager to get home. You decide the best way to accomplish this would be to go to the capital. When you reach the capital, the Prime Minister is eager to speak to you. He tells you that a month ago the king had traveled to a retreat in the northern district, and not a word has been heard from him since. He sends you off to find the king and report what you find.
Comment: The above is a VERY abbreviated version of the introduction. The real intro is EXTREMELY long, a trademark of Sam's adventures. You are not allowed to use your own character but must select a new one from an offering of 10 'bios'. Most of the important weapons are swords, so you would do best to pick a swordsman of some sort.
DISPLAY toggles between full room descriptions or just the room name. Armor is 'real' and includes magic stuff that only works in this adventure. The WEAR command is mainly for putting on armor.
One of two flaws that knocked it down from an 8 in my opinion was that it's just too long. There are 390 rooms, and the monsters are so tough that you must start over again and again. The other was short, dull descriptions and its resemblance to an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (c) TSR adventure. Many monsters had copy-cat descriptions and got tiresome by the fourth disk. The resemblance to AD&D was irritating (to me anyway) in its bland treatment of magic items, weird monsters, and direct reference to the game mechanics in descriptions (eg: 'this item will give you a +6% bonus to hit'). The monsters were OK, but does any 'real' fantasy hero have a '+2 sword' or a 'potion of extra-healing'? This aspect might not bother you or might even be a plus for you, but I disliked it.
I also disliked the numerous traps, which can be found and most of the time disarmed, but can kill careless people. Some were illogical or unfair, such as being killed by a drop of blood or not being informed that you were standing on the very edge of a cliff.
This had a solid plot and challenging nature. If you can stand the length and traps, you will enjoy it.
This adventure was reviewed by Nathan Segerlind in the June '89 EAG. As some of you know, Nathan has very strong opinions about what is right and wrong in Eamon, and he doesn't pull any punches. Sam wrote a strong protest concerning the low rating that Nathan gave this adventure (the letter is printed in its entirety in the 'Eamon Forum' column of this issue). Sam makes several good points; in the future I will monitor reviews more closely and will give the author the chance to respond before publication if the review seems excessively harsh.
The adventure itself is actually a series of 4 full Eamon adventures that are linked together. Each adventure must be completed in order to pass through a 'portal' that transports you to the next disk. There is no way to exit back to the Main Hall once the adventure is undertaken without completing all 4 disks.
I found the armor and AD&D stuff (that Nathan disliked) to be a plus in that it helped make this Eamon a unique adventure, unlike any that have come before or since. It did seem to me that the special weapons favored swordsmen, or at least heavy-duty fighters; I chose a magician as my character and had a LOT of trouble surviving.
I went back through my old notes and correspondence from mid-1987 to see just exactly what Pat Hurst and I thought about 'Elemental Apocalypse'. Here is a condensation (the second number of each rating is for difficulty):
Disk 1: Tom-(8:9) Pat-(8:10) (loaded with death traps)
Disk 2: Tom-(6:6)
Pat-(7:9) (1st half tedious & boring, 2nd half excellent)
Disk 3: Tom-(8:7)
Pat-(9:7) (best disk of the 4)
Disk 4: Tom-(8:9) Pat-(7:9) (sudden death
everywhere) Overall: (8:9)
My notes say: "It is an excellent effort. There was a definite thrill to completing each segment and going on to the next, causing an escalation of interest with each one. There is a big investment in time and effort by the player here, and you get well wrapped up in the story/plot as you proceed along." Further notes refer to the extreme danger of various traps and monsters, making the adventure extremely difficult to survive.