Game:

Loren the Amazon Princess (2012)

Duration: 0:00

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We’re sent back to the world map, and while I could go back to Camp and talk with Loren some more I decide to head straight to Grimoire. I re-click the Grimoire icon on the map, and we’re immediately notified that we’ve completed the quest of reaching the city. Both Loren and Saren earn 100 XP as a result, which is enough to boost them from Level 1 to Level 2. That means we now have some decisions to make. In this game, every time a character gains a new level, he or she receives three “attribute points” which can be distributed among the three stats of Strength, Skill and Will as the player chooses. In addition, and more notably, at every two levels a character will receive a “skill point” that can be used to buy a particular skill from that character’s “skill tree”. Each character in the game has two distinct skill trees, one for their class (Warrior, Thief or Mage) and a second for their category within that class (Blademaster and Hero for Loren and Saren, respectively). These skill trees have numerous unique abilities that support that character’s basic style, and unlocking them can dramatically enhance that character’s value in battle. Exactly what skills and attributes to invest in is entirely up to the player and the number of points available, allowing for plenty of customization and choice within gameplay.

For this level-up, I start by putting one of Loren’s attribute points into Strength and the remaining two into Will, giving her 16 Strength and 10 each of Skill and Will. Then I head to the Blademaster skill tree and note that Loren already has the passive skill Dual Blade I. It’s actually possible for any character in the game to have an extra sword equipped in their off-hand, but by default the extra sword only inflicts 25% of normal damage. Since Loren’s a natural Blademaster, though, she’s better at it than most, and Dual Blade I reflects this; it reduces the penalty to 50% of regular damage rather than 25%. I decide to upgrade this by purchasing Dual Blade II, which further reduces the penalty to 75% of regular damage. That’s it for Loren, so I head to Saren. I allocate two attribute points to Strength and one to Skill, giving him 16 Strength, 8 Skill and 12 Will. Which ability to buy is a bit of a tough choice, since as a Hero he has some great healing and protective powers in his skill tree. He already has Heal I, which instantly heals an ally by 50 health or 25% of their maximum, whichever’s more. Heal II would make this ability even more powerful, but I decide to invest in Restore I instead. With this ability, Saren can now revive a KO’ed ally (which Heal at any level cannot do) at 25% health. Since I’m playing on Hard difficulty, I suspect that we’re going to need that ability in our toolbox.

After completing the upgrades, we return to the story. Loren and Saren manage to make it into Grimoire. Loren isn’t impressed, and I use a Friendly dialogue option to have Saren say that it’s simply different from the Citadel, not necessarily inferior. From there, the game gives us five tabs representing five distinct locations in the city. Four of them—the Marketplace, Combat Arena, Guard Tower, and Castle—are places we can go in search of clues for the missing queen, while going to the Tavern ends our search and continues the story. We could actually go to the Tavern now and skip the looking around—none of the four locations actually have any clues and Loren is only going to make a fool of herself in each one--but I decide to check each location anyway because they give us a chance to mold Saren’s personality with the Forceful/Friendly/Joking dialogue choices.

We begin in the Marketplace, where Loren’s loud declaration that she’s on a search for her mother earns her gawking looks, but not much else. Saren takes her to a merchant to ask him personally for information, but he simply offers her apples. The friendly Saren apologetically says they’re not buying anything, and we leave. Next up is the Castle, where Loren asks the guard for an audience with the Empire’s queen. They don’t have one, naturally, but we learn they don’t have a king, either—the Empire is governed by a Council instead of a single figure. Regardless, the guards laugh off Loren’s request for an audience with the Council, and after they threaten to eject Loren we leave empty-handed. The next spot we visit is the Guard Post, where Loren tries speaking to the guards on duty. Unfortunately, the troops are flabbergasted to learn that the misandrist Amazons are real—and being men, they immediately become angry and hostile towards us, so we leave. All that’s left is the Combat Arena, where Saren gets mistaken for a new gladiator. Loren angrily says that he’s not for sale, and we once again leave empty-handed. This search isn’t going well.