Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun
Sega Genesis
Developer: Westwood Associates
Publisher: Sega
Release Date: 1992
Attempts to bring the complex D&D pen and paper role-playing system to video and computer games have always been a mixed bag. In order to fit within the constraints of the mediums, many concessions are often made, resulting in games of varying quality.
One such game is Westwood's Warriors of the Eternal Sun, an early attempt to bring D&D to the Sega Genesis. Westwood were certainly no strangers to computerized D&D games, having released their wildly popular and excellent Eye of the Beholder games and the lesser-known but equally awesome dragon combat simulator, DragonStrike on the PC. In their capable hands, one would expect a game of similar excellence.
Alas, Warriors of the Eternal Sun is purely an average game and nothing more, and it's easily eclipsed by any number of other RPGs the Genesis has to offer.
Don't get me wrong, Westwood's D&D title isn't a horrible game. In truth, I have a lot of fond memories of it. It was released during the height of my D&D-playing days, and as such it helped fill the void during the times when my friends were unavailable to continue our campaign. It adheres fairly well to D&D rules, and takes place in the little known, but unique Hollow World setting.
What little story there is in Warriors of the Eternal Sun is forgettable. Strange, considering the pen and paper adventures are usually heavy on the story. Here it exists as motivation to walk around and kill beasties for experience points and treasure.
The game is divided into two distinct styles. Adventuring in towns and the wilderness is done in realtime from a top-down perspective. Just like it real D&D, you will occasionally be engaged in random encounters. If enemies get too close, they'll have the advantage, but should you initiate contact you'll be able to get the jump on them. Combat is turn-based, and usually involves little more than hanging back and firing ranged weapons or spells at enemies in the overworld.
Entering a dungeon switches the game to a first-person perspective, similar to that of Eye of the Beholder, which also causes combat to occur in realtime as well. Dungeons are often laden with traps which can only be discovered and disarmed by a thief.
The overworld graphics are strikingly colorful, but quite cartoony and lack detail. The color palette in the dungeons is more subdued, but the visuals receive a boost in detail. Overall, it's a decent-looking game, but certainly not one that shows off the power of the 16-bit Genesis.
The game's music, however, still ranks among some of my favorite. Though most of the songs simply repeat endlessly as you traverse different areas of the world, all of them are catchy and use plenty of synthesized woodwinds. Sound effects aren't quite as solid, but most of them are crystal clear, including the limited voice samples.
The biggest problem with the game is that it can simply get too boring wandering around, grinding levels. Since it uses 2nd Edition AD&D rules, the experience points needed to gain levels - especially early on when fighting weak creatures - take a while to accumulate, and since the combat isn't all that thrilling, the game can get tiresome quickly. You'll also spend a lot of time in the game's cumbersome menu system, resting to heal your party and memorize spells - especially in the game's early stages when magic-users only have one spell at their disposal.
That said, I still have a lot of nostalgic love for Warriors of the Eternal Sun. I may not have the patience for it that I once did, but I still find myself coming back to it time and again for an hour here, an hour there. If nothing else, hearing the amazing soundtrack is reason enough to turn it on every once in a while.
One small correction. This game used the original (not even "advanced") D&D rules,in which dwarf and elf were classes rather than races. The point about grinding still holds, however.
Posted by: D | October 15, 2014 at 06:26 PM