Eternal League of Nefia

*Spoiler Warning*

A little background (do not include): I have been playing Elona since 2007-2008 after being exposed to it on a certain website and played it on and off over the span of eight years while playing ADoM, DCSS, DF Adventurer Mode, and NetHack, as well as revisiting some of Noa's older works, such as Shade. I have clocked in at 800+ hours of pure gameplay and have been getting my feet wet in Elona's ongoing mods, Elona+ and Elona+ Custom. I apologize if I am unable to catch up with all of Elona+'s features. Under any credits for the creation of this synopsis/review, please give credit to "Anonymous". Thank you Felipe Pepe for considering to include Elona into your CRPG Book!

 

Credits: Elona Wiki.

 

Elona is a free roguelike / role-playing game made in Hot Soup Processor by a Japanese game developer named Noa. Elona has many versions released in 2006 before being officially released on 31 August 2007. Noa halted the development of Elona around 2010. The game's name, "Elona", is an acronym for "Eternal League of Nefia", which will be further expanded later on. The story of Elona takes place in a strange land known as "Irva". On Irva, there are four continents: Asseria, Mar Nys Fara, Kardia, and - the main continent -, Tyris. The year is 517; Irva is currently in its 11th era, Sierra Terre. The prologue introduces an unknown weather phenomenon emanating from Vindale, known only as the Etherwind, which spreads rapidly and corrupts all organic matter in its wake. The Etherwind swiftly brings the prosperous nation of Karune to its knees, while Yerl, an advanced society with an emphasis on technology, struggles to keep its effects at bay. Meanwhile on Tyris, the monarchical Western Empire of Zanan, headed by Crown Prince Saimore, blames the destruction of Karune on Vindale's denizens, the Eleas (the stereotypical "Elves" in this setting), who are mysteriously immune to the effects of the Etherwind. The player character sneaks their way on a cargo ship called the Queen Sedona, which is headed to the sea-faring city of Port Kapul, but crashes into the shores of North Tyris after the Queen Sedona is assailed by Etherwind. Two Eleas, Lomias and Larnneire, find the player character passed out on a river bank and nurture him/her back to good health in a nearby cave. Lomias offers a brief tutorial before they leave you to explore North Tyris on your own.

 

Elona's character creation features eleven playable races, each with their own unique feats. The nation of Yerl hails the Yerles, who utilize one of the previous era's technology, such as firearms and computers, and are the obligatory human race. The Elea are also a playable race, granting the player character some innate resistance against the Etherwind due to their origin. The Juere is a hardy race from Tyris who often go without food for extended periods of time. The Dwarves come from a far away land with exposure to a plethora of different diseases and live their lives underground, so they are slightly resistant against poison and darkness. The Goblins, who are rather clumsy and ugly, share the same resistance to darkness as the Dwarves, but are far better at scavenging random materials from gathering spots. Mutants are unfortunate beings created after a Gene-Engineering experiment goes wrong, the manipulations of Chaos, the corrupting nature of the Etherwind, or perhaps a mixture of all three. A Mutant gains an extra body part every three Levels, for a cap of 16 limbs. The Golem, abandoned by their master, is slow-moving, but can take many hits due to their high HP pool and are immune to disorientation caused by excessively loud noises. On the more magical races, the Eulderna of Mar Nys Fara are a prideful race, with far more comprehension of casting and magical device usage than the more "primitive" civilizations, as well as a moderate resistance to raw magic. Those of the Fairy race are highly skilled and moderately resistant in different types of magic, though their frail bodies disallow usage of normal armors and weapons. Liches are great magicians who have attained pseudo-immortality by storing their souls in a phylactery, but have forgotten most of their memories as a part of the daunting task of lichdom. Liches have impressive resistances to cold, poison, and darkness. Finally, the joke race of Snails is provided for experienced players who are looking for a challenge, or people who are masochistic. Snails are the slowest of all of the races. Furthermore, Snails are weak to salt, which usually melts down a low-level Snail in the beginning town.

 

Classes are provided for players that want a head start in their method of playstyle; they do not affect anything other than the distribution of initial attributes (with the exception of the Tourist class, which gains no bonuses to initial attributes). Therefore, classes are insignificant in the mid- and late-game of vanilla Elona, as all players will eventually reach the same EXP plateau. There are classes for warriors, wizards, archers, claymores, warmages, thieves, priests, pianists, and tourists, though it is an open-class system, so to speak. There are no specialized skills tied to classes.

 

Finally, the Feat system allows the player character to select three beginning feats from a pre-determined list. You will also gain a Feat point for every five Levels up to Lv50, for a total of 13 Feat points. These feats increase various Attributes and Skills that will help the player in their adventure. Certain skills can only be unlocked using Feat points.

 

Elona requires an elementary background of roguelikes before play. Like every rougelike, it is best that the player is familiar with the controls in the in-game help menu, or otherwise manually bind the keys in the config.txt file. Death is not permanent in vanilla Elona, so the player can (and will) make countless mistakes during their playthrough. The player character is expected to eat, sleep, and maintain their Health Points, Mana Points, and Stamina Points lest they experience a large drop in combat performance, or even death. There are three main currencies in Irva: Gold, Platinum Coins, and the rare Small Medals. Gold functions as standard currency around Irva, which allow the player to buy equipment, potions, scrolls, and rods. Platinum Coins allow the training of Skills' Potentials (explained below) and is gained from doing sidequests in towns. Small Medals are dwarven currency that can be traded to a pair of dwarves living in Northeast Tyris for unique artifacts. Very little content is rubberbanded to Level in Elona; it is highly advised to level as fast as you can to avoid being minced by a random high-level encounter (unless, of course, one is playing a certain playstyle purposefully). Furthermore, Level, along with two invisible stats, Life and Mana, is a multiplier that determines max HP and max MP. To increase their overall Level, the player must keep track of their Attributes, such as STR and MAG, as well as their individual Skills, such as Evasion or Gardening. Speed is the most important Attribute, as it allows one to take multiple turns in direct comparison to enemies. An anti-grind system known to players as Potential determines the experience gain of an Attribute, Skill, or Spell, for a cap of 400% experience gained. Potential is decreased by 10% every time the Atrribute / Skill / Spell levels up. The Potential for spells are invisible, but present. The Potential system encourages players to travel to towns and seek a trainer to train Skill Potential in exchange for Platinum Coins, or try to find a vendor that sells a rare potion or scroll that increases your Attribute and Skill Potentials respectively. The game features a spell stock: every time a spell is cast, the experience increases while its spell stock is decreased by a randomized number between two values. The spell stock is replenished by reading a spellbook, and the player is allowed to have an infinite number of spell stock granted that he/she is wealthy enough to afford them and literate enough to read them. Cast chance is also an important feature for magic-oriented builds. The player will receive a reduction in a successful cast if they deviate too much from a typical wizard (i.e wearing Heavy Armor, Dual Wielding, using a Shield, etc.) Elona features an overworld travel system, in which the player can leave the map or dungeon to explore a much larger map. Enemies will ambush the player on random tiles while traveling on the overworld, much like random encounters in Final Fantasy or similar games; though, a player can escape from these battles should they reach the edge of the map. Every three months, the Etherwind blows. During this time, it is advised that the player character seeks shelter provided by the nearest innskeeper, or else he/she will spontaneously suffer horrible ether diseases and will eventually die of mutation.

 

The game primarily revolves around the player character as he/she leaves the initial home, the starting cave, and makes a name for themselves. This can be through completing the aforementioned side quests, such as reaping the harvest for an unable citizen, hunting monsters in the wilderness, performing an instrument for a crowd of celebrities, handing over a specific item, and much more. Alternatively, the player character may find themselves to be able enough to delve into Irva's many randomly-generated dungeons found on the overworld, where they must descend an unspecified number of floors to defeat the dungeon boss (which is a randomly-determined monster NPC). The player can own deeds to properties, such as ranches, farms, and storage houses, and can build them anywhere that isn't a preoccupied tile on the overworld. There are seven gods/goddesses to choose from, and each coming with their own perks to compliment a certain playstyle. The pet system allows one to raise NPCs to fight alongside the player. Pets can range from dogs, little girls, horrible Yith abominations, bells, and pretty much any NPC in the game, provided that they are not unique NPCs with a special bitflag. With countless references to other rougelikes, there are many easter eggs and allusions as an homage to these inspirations.

 

The story of Elona, however, revolves around the main dungeon, Lesimas. The player character wanders into this dungeon located near the center of North Tyris and unknowingly becomes a major catalyst in the events of Sierra Terre. He/she discovers a dying scout, Slan, who warns the player character of a lurking evil in the depths of Lesimas. The player character then returns to the surface to deliver the news to the capital, Palmia, to the current king of North Tyris, Xabi. King Xabi asks the player to assist in the investigation of Lesimas by consulting with Erystia for further information. Behind the curtains, Crown Prince Saimore schemes against the citizens of Irva, vowing to leave a scar on its history. Larnneire's audience with the King is disrupted after Saimore plays upon the negative prejudice of Elean presence and the current crisis of the Etherwind. Returning once again to Lesimas, the player character descends the floors to find another dying scout, Karam, who will recall the current events before sending you off again to inform the king. Upon returning to Palmia, the player character finds out that King Xabi has been assassinated after refusing to endorse the Eleas on their plight. Saimore takes the initiative and begins preparing his genocide of the Eleas and the destruction of the Vindale forest, using Xabi as a martyr to rally support for his cause. Saimore also places the blame on Larnneire and her party as the culprits for the assassination of King Xabi, forcing them to escape on boat away from North Tyris. While these events unfold, a formerly-powerful Zanan officer that is now addressed as Whom Dwell in the Vanity reveals his tragic backstory to Larnneire. After meeting with Erystia again, she tasks you with finding the three magic stones that seal the lower levels of Lesimas from the surface. These stones are located in three static dungeons: the Tower of Fire, where you must slay Quruiza and her dragon, Corgon, the Ancient Castle, which houses Wynan, the dullahan lord, and his personal army of chess pieces, and finally the Crypt of the Damned, in which the player will face Issizzle, an ancient and powerful lich. After returning the Fool's stone, the King's stone, and the Sage's stone, Erystia allows access to the inner-most sanctum of Lesimas to retrieve the Codex of Lesimas, which documents all history past, present, and future. During this time, Larnneire and her party reach an old Zanan facility, and is greeted by a Zanan official named Barius, who explains the downfall of the previous era, Rehm-Ido, and the function of the Etherwind as the immune system of Irva that staves off an even graver threat, the bacterial Meshera. He also explains the inevitability of the Vindale forest's destruction, and how the Zanan-Yerles alliance will crush all remnants of the forest and its inhabitants. Larnniere and her party travels back to Asseria to reach Vindale before all is lost. Meanwhile, the player character has reached the bottom floor of Lesimas. He/she is greeted by the protector of the Codex and the false prophet of Chaos, Zeome. In an epic duel that bards will spin tales and legends of, the player character triumphs over Zeome and receives the Codex. He/she is congratulated by a mysterious man, Orphe, who then smugly points out the player character's ignorance of the true power of the Codex. Showing the Codex to Erystia completes the main quest of Elona, and for now, the curtains close on your involvement in Sierra Terre. In Vindale, however, Zanan and Yerles forces are burning down the Heretical Forest, with most inhabitants evacuated. Barius is seen once again, commanding the Zanan army, although one detachment is trapped within the burning forest. Barius leaves them for dead, but Larnneire insists that she will save them. Whom Dwell in the Vanity, unable to lose another loved one, pleads her not to leave, but comes to terms that Larnneire refuses to change her decision. Larnneire is last seen venturing forth bravely in a collapsing Vindale forest, never to be seen again.

 

A few months pass, and a female Elea with blue hair stands before the Zanan court, now ruled by Barius. She tells the truth of the existence of the Meshera and the suppression of the bacteria via the Etherwind generated by the Heretical Forest. With the destruction of the Vindale Forest, Irva will become uninhabitable for living beings, and will be engulfed by the all-consuming Meshera. All was not lost, however, as the existence of a second Heretical Forest was being researched. The country of Zanan split, birthing the country of Rosuria and nurtured the growth of the Forest to become the utopia of Irva. Three years after these events, the world begins to change dramatically. Rosuria has become corrupted with wealth. Each country is now plotting against their neighbors during a time of omen and destruction. Rehm-Ido and its previous era, Naku Domara, was a time where Chaos and magic was brought to Irva, and holds the keys to the mysterious civilization of Nefia. To uncover the secrets of the Eternal League of Nefia, the player character travels to South Tyris, though, that story is for another time...

 

--Afterword--

As someone who has played this rougelike for quite some time, I give this game a solid 8 out of 10. Mind you, this is the highest rating that I have given a game, and is tied with Dwarf Fortress Fortress/Adventurer Mode. This may come off as a bit elitist, but my standards are so high that some of my favorite games can barely scratch a 6 in my book. What differentiates Elona from many of the other rougelikes I've played is the amount of freedom it grants you. Due to how many aspects of the game is randomly generated, the player will usually have a completely unique experience on each playthrough. As the player travels across the world, they will run into problems that usually require a short-term investment of their time to solve, and though it is easier to consult the wiki or the countless communities for help, it is more satisfying and rewarding to figure out the solution on your own. Additionally from short term goals, I really enjoy the long-term goals that you, the player, set for yourself and attempt to achieve. The progression from a nameless mook adventurer who dies from the common kobold to a martial arts master who challenges the gods themselves to a "no holds barred" wrestling match to the death in their own basement is extremely satisfying. Another aspect to enjoy is the grind. There is so much content in this game (even more true with the on-going mods, Elona+ and Elona Custom) that you wouldn't even notice that you've been grinding for a few, maybe even more, hours. Sure, you'll begin to see the same enemies over and over again, but a handful of spritesheets are maintained by the English community and it is rather easy to mod your game for a completely new look on the game. While on the topic of mods, there are countless sites dedicated with the intent of modifying sprites for both monsters, items, user interfaces, music, sounds, and more to spice up your gameplay should you feel the need. A game has never immersed me in its world before as much as Elona, where you are not the main character of the unfolding storyline. Even though I had to change my game to the Japanese version to even see the cutscenes, I salvaged a basic understanding of a complex storyline with my rudimentary knowledge of the language. This language barrier is alleviated with the development of Elona+ Custom, which fully translates the Japanese cutscenes into English. However, this translated dialogue isn't available in the original Elona. All-in-all, Elona is a very time-demanding game, and the effort that you put into it is the reward that you reap later in the game.

 

Thank you for reading my review on Elona. Please note that I do not represent the English community as a whole, and is merely the opinions of a single individual.