Sword of Vermilion

"A Sega RPG that time forgot...for a reason"

Back in the days, near the end of the 80s, Sega initiated the 16-Bit era with their Genesis console in order to break through Nintendo´s domination of the market, and one of the very first system sellers for that console became "Phantasy Star 2", the continuation of the Master system classic. While it´s still debatable whether or not the classic RPG holds up that well these days or not, there´s at least no doubt that it had quite an impact on the market and helped Sega to establish the Genesis as a worthy competitor for Nintendo. And the immense popularity of "Phantasy Star 2" obviously was reason enough for Sega to give it another try with the RPG genre, but instead of delivering the third Phantasy Star, Sega instead created a completely new adventure, titled "Sword of Vermilion". Released only one year after "Phantasy Star 2" and hyped by fans and the media, the title has disappeared into obscurity these days and remains forgotten by the majority of RPG fans...and there´s a good reason for that.

Let´s start with the story first. As the game starts, we´re being treated with some exposition in form of an opening crawl, telling us about the peaceful town of Excalabria being viciously attacked by the army of Cartahena under the leadership of the fiendish Tsarkon, but before the castle of Excalabria can be taken over by the enemy troops, King Erik V gives his only infant son into the care of his most trusted warrior named Blade as well as the family treasure called "the ring of wisdom", and indeed, Blade manages to escape the castle with the child and raises him as his own son in the years to come. The real game starts 18 years later with you taking the role of the nameless son of the king (you can give him whatever name you like), who finds out that his supposed father Blade is dying. From his deathbed, Blade tells the hero with his last words the truth about his origins as well as his destiny of defeating Tsarkon. That already sounds quite generic, but unfortunately...things will only get worse and worse the further you get into the game. There´s virtually NO character development whatsoever, and not even the more important NPCs are given any interesting character traits or personalities to speak of. Don´t even get me started on the hero, as he remains a faceless and pale protagonist, and the fact that he doesn´t utter a single line in the entire game is no excuse, since characters like Crono or Link have given proof that mute protagonists can have charm and a personality as well. Oh, and don´t expect any plot twists, charismatic villains or meaningful dialogue - you won´t find any of that here, and I doubt that it´s just the bad translation that ruins the story. The fact that the game has been released near the end of the 80s and can be considered to be an early RPG does not count as an excuse here, seeing that Sega themselves did a vastly superior job one year earlier with "Phantasy Star 2" in terms of story. In the end, that leaves us with a story as generic as those found in the early Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games, making "Sword of Vermilion" outdated in that regard even for a title from 1989.

So the story is, in a word, awful, but there are games that can make up for that with engaging and interesting gameplay. Not so in this case. At first, "Sword of Vermilion" appears as a quite typical RPG. There is, for example, a strict town-dungeon-town-dungeon formula, with virtually no exception being found anywhere. You´ll always visit a town first, find out about a certain problem there, visit a nearby dungeon and solve the town´s problems...then cut to the next town. That wouldn´t be a problem if there were at least some interesting episodes to be found in the towns, but there isn´t anything even remotely intriguing. But things get even worse, since you have to travel over a world map in order to reach the next town or dungeon, which can turn into a terrible chore at times. Why? Well, you´ll have to explore the world map from a fist person point of view, which makes proper orientation quite a problem, since the environments practically don´t feature any variety that could make it easier for you to know where you are. Fortunately, there´s a small map on the right side of the screen whenever you´re on the world map, but you´ll have to get this map from a townsperson first before you can see anything there - otherwise, everything will remain dark on this supposed little helper, and so you can easily get lost on the world map. The same goes for the dungeons, even though they have an even bigger problem: in order to even see anything from your first person point of view, you´ll need to buy some candles in a town shop, but their light will vanish rather quickly, so you can use a lantern later in the game that provides the dungeons with light as long as you´re inside them. I am still wondering why on earth Sega had to include such an annoying feature, as I just can´t see what it is there for...as far as I can tell, it doesn´t enhance the challenge of the game, instead it makes the title even more frustrating. If you thought that was bad...then just wait until you´re entering a battle. Instead of a turn based, strategic battle system, "Sword of Vermilion" features an action based combat system that is definitely among the worst I´ve ever seen. There are practically two things you can do: either hacking at your enemies with your sword or equipping your character with a magic spell. As far as attacking them with a sword goes, it´s a completely ridiculous and annoying affair due to the fact that your hero is S-L-O-W. Not only his walking speed is incredibly lame, but also the speed with which he´s swinging his sword, making it impossible at times to see whether or not you actually hit an enemy or not. Tactics? Nope, there are none you could use, other than hoping that the enemies won´t crush you completely, as you can´t even use heal items during battles. The boss fights are being played in a different fashion, as you have to battle them from a 2D point of view, reminiscent of a platform game, but even though it sounds like an interesting idea at first, it turns out to be an utter mess, since all you can do is moving back and forth and swinging your sword - other than hoping for you not to get hit by the enemy. Consider it to be the epitome of anticlimatic boss fights. In case you should die on the battlefield, it´s not Game Over yet, though, as you´re being sent back to the church (the only place where you can actually save your fame) where you saved your game the last time, with your progress you´ve made till your death remaining...but alas, you´ll lose half of your money! The final nail in the coffin for "Sword of Vermilion" probably is the screwed up shop system that does not show you the stats of weapons and armors you´re about to buy, so you simply have to rely on sheer luck, hoping that your new equipment will be useful. What else can I say? "Sword of Vermilion" really is an awful mess in the gameplay department, and from today´s point of view, the game is nearly unplayable and ends up being a chore instead of fun.

Okay, so the gameplay is terribly flawed and the story is as uneventful and boring as it can get...but at least on the technical side, "Sword of Vermilion" has to offer some positive aspects. The graphics, on one hand, are a definite improvement over earlier Genesis games, and especially when compared to "Phantasy Star II", the first RPG blockbuster for the system, it is easy to notice that SoV is far more colorful and detailed, visibly making use of the 16-Bit power of the system. Especially the town graphics are indeed on par with some of the early Super Nintendo RPGs, and to even enhance the visual pleasure, SoV also features 3D graphics for the world map as well as the dungeons reminiscent of the first Phantasy Star for the Sega Master System, which means that you will explore them from a first person perspective. Of course you can´t expect the 3D visuals to be extremely detailed or varied, but considering the age of this title, they look absolutely stunning for such an early Genesis game. Apart from the 3D exploration parts on the map and the typical town visits, there are two more different visual realms in this game. The battles, for examples, take place on a plain, limited battlefield after you encounter them on the map or in a dungeon, featuring a look similar to the actual town graphics. And then there are the boss battles. Surprisingly, they take place on a "real" 2D plane, which does not sound reasonable as far as the gameplay goes, but at least looks excellent, thanks to some impressive boss enemy sprites. To cut things short, "Sword of Vermilion" is easily one of the best looking first-gen Genesis titles, but alas, graphics don´t make a good game...

The same goes for the music. Considering that quite some Genesis games are featuring truly awful and tinny tunes, the music in "Sword of Vermilion" is truly amazing. Sure, the tracks themselves are not exactly worth remembering, with none of them standing out in any way, even though most of the time, the soundtrack manages to be quite catchy and fitting. What really makes the music so impressive is the sheer audio quality that even reaches a Super Nintendo level, and seeing that SoV has been released in 1989, this almost comes off as a miracle. However, the sound effects are rather dull and annoying and ironically fit the actual quality of the game. But at least the music is extremely well done in this title, no doubts there.

It really is unfortunate to see how the potential of this game has gone to waste. The technical aspect of "Sword of Vermilion" really is impressive, but what difference does it make if the gameplay hidden underneath is disastrous and the story just plain boring? The title might be interesting for RPG completists or players who have played through the better Genesis RPGs and want to see something else...or you could simply buy the "Sega Genesis Collection" for either the PSP or the PlayStation 2, as "Sword of Vermilion" is part of the collection. In fact, you should buy the collection for the sake of games like "Sonic the Hedgehog", "Shinobi 3" or "Phantasy Star IV" instead, with this failed attempt at exploiting the success of "Phantasy Star 2" should remain a curiosity for you to play just in order to see how far RPGs have come these days...and maybe you´ll appreciate some of the modern titles even more. In the end, it really is not a tragedy that "Sword of Vermilion" has been forgotten by RPG fans today...there really are tons of better 16-Bit RPGs.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 01/29/07