Most of Alon D'ar's story unfolds through cut scenes. The development team at Stormfront Studios has taken a somewhat different approach in creating one of the latest PlayStation 2 RPGs, The Legend of Alon D'ar. While the execution and progression of the story will seem familiar to any console RPG fan, the character building in The Legend of Alon D'ar is almost completely open-ended, letting you decide which skills to enhance your character with. The game also features an interesting battle system that benefits those who take the time to learn about enemies and their weaknesses against specific types of weapons.

　　New characters join your party later in the game. Alon D'ar begins with a CG introduction of the main character, Jarik, as he dreams of an incredibly evil being that has recently hatched from a cocoon. You quickly learn that this being has been released so that he can take over the world. Jarik wakes shortly thereafter and wanders outside of his dwelling to find his town under attack from the Dagani, a race of amphibian-like warriors. However, Jarik's encounter with one of these warriors reveals that they may have no involvement in the raid at all, so after the battle, Jarik sets out on a journey to solve the mystery behind the attack and to prevent his people from going to war with the Dagani.

　　Before leaving the village to explore the countryside, you'll have an opportunity to become familiar with some of the basic elements of gameplay in Alon D'ar. One such element you encounter early on is the side quest, such as when one of the townspeople asks you to find five drinking horns hidden in different locations around the village. Of course, you can completely ignore the request and simply head out of the village, but it's an easy way to earn some gold without engaging enemies. Most of the early side quests involve characters that have lost items--such as the silver acorn hunt--but some are actually spread out over vast portions of the landscape, so you'll be able to undertake other important tasks while attempting to complete the side quest.

　　If you look around certain parts of Jarik's village, you'll probably notice some of the plants growing in the area. Another resident of the village explains that Jarik can actually use some of these plants--or at least those that grow directly next to rocks--to heal himself and that these plants can actually grow back after time. A source of health that renews itself sounds great, but in fact it takes an incredible amount of time for these plants to regenerate, and generally, your inventory of healing plants is depleted within moments of your first battle with two or more enemies. Fortunately, you can exchange the plants for stronger healing potions, but to do so, you have to constantly travel back and forth from the village--it's not difficult, but it takes some time.

　　Your last task in the village is to seek combat training. In most RPGs combat training might seem rather pointless, but that's certainly not the case with The Legend of Alon D'ar.

Basic Training

　　Combat requires you to use a number of different skills. Combat is one aspect that sets The Legend of Alon D'ar apart because it's so closely linked to character building, but before acquiring any new skills, you need to learn the ins and outs of the combat system. Thankfully, in Jarik's village, there's a character waiting to teach you what to do when you encounter an enemy. Instead of using random encounters, Alon D'ar displays all enemies on the screen, so if you're walking across the plains and you see enemies off in the distance, you can avoid them completely. In some cases, you'll have no choice but to fight, and in others it'll look like you have enough distance, only to then see the enemy, or enemies, turn around and run toward you. When you actually engage an enemy in battle, the camera perspective slightly changes and Jarik enters into a battle stance, but otherwise, the transition between exploration and combat modes is seamless.

　　It's incredibly difficult to take on groups of enemies by yourself. The combat itself is a mix of real-time and turn-based gameplay, somewhat similar to the Final Fantasy series, except the time in between attacks depends on the type of attack you use. For example, a punch--the weakest attack in Jarik's arsenal--lets your attack meter recharge quickly. Conversely, if you use a stronger weapon to attack, like an ornate ax, it takes much longer for your attack meter to recharge. This adds a tremendous amount of strategy to the combat system, particularly in battles with multiple enemies because you have to decide if you want to go for the knockout blow and risk receiving serious amounts of damage, or if you want to slowly wear down your enemy and heal yourself in the process. The spell system--which includes spells based on major elements, like earth, water, and fire--functions similarly to the combat system with low-level and high-level spells.

　　The strongest weapon might not always produce the strongest attack. One of the first lessons in your combat training is that some enemies are more susceptible to certain types of weapon attacks than others. An enemy that can resist sword attacks is probably weaker against blunt attacks. There are plenty of situations where you have to experiment, which is actually quite easy to do since you'll have access to a menu with a listing of all your weapons, so you can easily switch between them during each turn. Weapon experimentation can be dangerous, so it's always a good idea to speak with other characters to find out if they have any knowledge on the local enemies.

　　After defeating an enemy, you'll receive gold or items as well as proficiency points that you can use to train Jarik in certain skills. In the menu screen, you'll have access to a number of different options including a list of skills listed under different types of weapons, such as dagger attack and sword attack. Spells are listed in separate categories. At any time, you can use the proficiency points to increase Jarik's ability to use certain types of weapons, or you can use them to learn new spells. Although not recommended, it's certainly possible to have Jarik focus on one skill and ignore others completely.

　　The Legend of Alon D'ar's combat and character-building systems are the most interesting aspects of the game. At this point, the graphics engine isn't incredibly spectacular, but it creates a convincing landscape and series of characters. The music and sound mix well with the overall theme of the game. The Legend of Alon D'ar is scheduled for release at the end of October.