Name: Eberouge (54.00% in 5 votes) Type: STG Platform: WINDOWS Company: Fujitsu Release Release date: 1995 Reviewed by: Tamahome
Beyond Time and the distant Universe, there is a land by the name of Arie (not sure about the spelling of this one). Long ago, this land was saved by a Goddess from total destruction, but years later, anarcheologist among the survivors feel the balance of the land tipping again. So he created institutes, in efforts to train a student that can create magic as the Goddess did in the fairy tale Eberouge to save the land once more. For Love, Friendship and the future of Arie the storyunfolds.
The game is divided into two major parts. The first part deals with the life of the main character (named by the player) during the interval of two years from the age of 9 to the age of 10 after he was put into the institute by his father. The second part deals with the second half of the main character's life in the institute before graduation from the age of 14-16. The game ends with the graduation of the main character from the institute. The ultimate goal in this game however, is not just graduating, but become the one with the ability to create magic to save the Land of Arie from total destruction again. This game is similar to other SLG games like the Princess Maker series released by gainax, but there are different elements added to this game which makes it interesting for the players. One of thes eelements is the Love element in the story. There are 10 and a half girls (including your room-mate) studying in the same institute who you can pursuit and marry in the end. To get together with these girls however, the main character must be nice towards them as well as help them out with his abilities during certain points in the game. This is where the weekly schedule of classes kick in. There are four different field of studies. They are Martial arts which is fencing, basic courses which inc ludehistory, science, and art, Magic which includes healing, attacking, and creating magic, and finally others which include resting, adventuring, and club activities.
Clubs are important in this game. They can affect the outcome of the main character's attributes. Joining different clubs allows the main character to meet with people from those clubs. There are certain female characters in the game who only makes her appearance if the main character joins that particular club.
Another element that is added into thegame is the date of birth of the main character (chosen by the player). The main character who is a Virgo might repulse some of the female characters and thus making hera more difficult character to pursuit. You can found out more info about the status of the certain girl towards the main character by going to a particular character in the game.
The characters in the game are allanime style characters. The animation in the game is at a minimal. There might be 2-3 cut sce nes in the whole entire game. However, I must complement the music of the game, it sounds better than most of the other PC Slg games I've played since the music in this game is not made from Synthesis midi music. The music is actually recorded liveand put into CD tracks in the CD. The player can listen tothe music as many times as he wants in a CD player. The ending song is rather nice and is sung by a new starting JPOP singer, forgot her name though. If anyone can help me with this one it would be appreciated since I couldn't name her. Saying more about this game would ruin it for all of you. But I recommend this game for anyone who enjoys SLG games. I would also recommend this game as astarting point if you had not played a slg game before. There are currently three known releases of the game, PSX, Chinese win95 and Jwin95 versions.
Story: 7/10 The story is good but the game itself does not reveal too much of the story. The only mention of the story is in the intro and in theending.
Graphics: 8.5/10 The drawings in this game is well done. Each female characteristic is pretty in their own way. The gifs sample should give you an idea.
Gameplay: 8/10 The usual slg type game-play beginning with the plans for the week. However it gets rather boring after the first year. The scenes in between the week with the girls make up for it though.
Music: 9/10 Wonderful music, themusic is very good. The only thing I would complain is that the game plays several tracks too many times, which makes it rather dull.
Overall: 8/10 This game is a good game, although it tends to be repetitive but being a game with multiple endings, one would find himself compel to get them all.
