Destiny Of An Emperor (Capcom 1990)

Role Playing Games normally fall into two categories. There are those that take place in the far flung future such as Phantasy Star or those that take place in a mythical past ala Dragon Warrior. With "Destiny of an Emperor," Capcom has tried to offer something unique by basing the storyline on the historical age of turmoil in China's past. This means the game is filled with real Chinese generals and towns and those that know their Chinese history will know exactly what's going on. Of course there is still plenty to satisfy RPG fans that have little interest in history and just want to play a fun and challenging game.

While not much different from your average Top Down NES RPG, "DOE" can appear a bit daunting at first due to a couple of factors. The staple of a good RPG, magic, is still present but is now called Tactics and you'll have to appoint an intelligent strategist to employ them. Unfortunately Capcom has left the names in Chinese so you'll have to keep the manual nearby to check that you are casting the right spell during battle. Trust me nothing sucks more than accidentally casting "Tui Lu" during battle causing your troops to retreat. You'll be using tactics a lot though so you'll soon learn to separate your "Huo Shen" from your "Shui Long". All the towns and people's names are also Chinese which can be a bit confusing but nothing that can't be rectified by taking a few notes.

Progress in the game is pretty linear and although some of the towns are spaced quite far apart it's really hard to actually get lost. The entire game also takes place on one continent so there is no sea travel. Encounters are still random and take place with alarming frequency. Instead of the usual monsters and mutants you'll find yourself battling rebels, brigands and pirates. There are also loads of enemy generals roaming about and defeating them in battle gives you the option to set them free or try to convert them to your side with a cash bribe or nice horse. Unfortunately there is no option to execute the scum that refuse to join.

 You can have up to five members in your active party but can keep a reserve of up to 64 back home. This may sound like a lot but considering there are over 200 generals in the game you'll still have to pick carefully who you want to keep around. The battles are turn based and very strategic and with troops (HP) of over 40 000 in later battles, which means these can go on for quite some time. Even worse some generals love casting "Wan Fu" which instantly replenishes all their troops or worse still "An Sha" which instantly kills one of your generals regardless of the amount of troops he has left. On the good side "DOE" gives you an "All Out" option in battle which speeds up combat by automatically picking choosing the attack command every turn. Very useful considering the amount of weaker foes you'll encounter. I've also noticed that your party members seem to walk a lot faster than the usual RPG speed which helps on those long travels.

Graphically "DOE" won't win any awards appearing functional rather than dazzling. There are some nice touches though and every general has their own portrait. Towns look pretty much like they do in every other NES RPG and are also the only place you can save, rest and equip your characters. While the game focuses more on combat than puzzle solving there are a few spots where you can easily become stumped. The game also places the level cap at 50 which considering the amount of random battles you fight is quite low and attainable in no time. After that the random battles only become an annoyance since you'll have all the money, food and experience you can have.

One area where Capcom did not disappoint was the audio and "DOE" has quite a few memorable tunes. The sound effects on the other hand are about what can be expected of the NES. The controls should also feel familiar to anyone who has played a Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior title.

While this isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea I think Capcom should be applauded for converting this title to English. It makes a nice change from the usual NES fare and while I won't want to finish it again any time soon it was way better than I expected considering the subject matter. Sure to garner a cult following.

[8]