Evergrace

Evergrace (エヴァーグレイス, Evāgureisu) is a 2000 Japanese action role-playing game (RPG/JRPG) developed by FromSoftware for the Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2) and published by Agetec in North America (Ubisoft and Crave Entertainment in PAL territories). The game was a launch title for the PS2 in North America.[2]

Evergrace
North American cover art
Developer(s)FromSoftware
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Yūzō Kojima
Composer(s)Kota Hoshino
Platform(s)PlayStation 2
Release
Genre(s)Action role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

IGN gave some praise to the game for its innovations at the time, including its full use of the DualShock 2 controller's buttons and the unique "paper doll" system in which the player's avatar actually visibly wears the armor and clothing assigned to it.[3] But the IGN review said most aspects of the game were fairly "run-of-the-mill" without being egregiously bad. GameSpot criticized the game for its dated visuals and laggy gameplay during battles. The GameSpot review said that the interesting features do not overshadow the fact that the "core gameplay is awkward and uninteresting".[4]

Gameplay

Evergrace features two main characters, Darius the swordsman and Sharline the homemaker, with two distinctly different storylines and different battle techniques. The game allows players to switch between characters at any save point, and uses an experience system dependent on items and equipment rather than statistical upgrades. Another feature is the Palmira Action System which allows players to improve the physical abilities of their characters by combining specialized crystals with their armaments.

Evergrace also features a bonus dungeon that is named after Shadow Tower, another game by FromSoftware, a company often known for including past game references in their games. The Moonlight Sword, for example, a weapon that originated in their flagship series, King's Field, also appears in Evergrace as well as its follow-up, Forever Kingdom.

Plot

The continent of Edinbury once held the largest and most powerful empire of all time: the Rieubane Empire. This empire was primarily ruled by Morpheus, a powerful magician, and his servants and clients. Morpheus became devoted to studying the Crest, a series of markings on one's hand, and are considered cursed due to the misfortunes that happen to the Crestbearers. Morpheus was fascinated with the Crest and performed several experiments, thus creating the powerful Palmira Armaments and the man-made AI Crest. After capturing a renegade soldier who had the Crest, Morpheus ordered the Empire to invade Toledo, a nearby independent village in the Billiana forest, because they worshiped the Crest and were supposedly a threat to the balance of Rieubane. The Empire would never have agreed with Morpheus if they knew his real reason for invading the Toledans: simply to acquire more test subjects. In the end, the Empire effortlessly crushed Toledo, but as the flames grew higher, the Rieubane Empire, Toledo and the Human Research Lab suddenly and completely disappeared. People came to call Rieubane "the Lost Kingdom", and the land became overgrown with Billiana Trees. Hundreds of years later, four villages once part of the empire banded together to establish the empire of Fontraile, but this was not to last...

Development

From Software intended Evergrace to be released onto the PlayStation 2 in its earliest stages of development. However, even after this had begun, the development team decided to try developing a version for the original PlayStation. The project proved to be too ambitious, and it was quickly cancelled.[5]

The musical score for Evergrace was composed by Kota Hoshino. He stated in an interview that voices are used as the primary "instrument" in the game's soundtrack.[6] Hoshino recorded samples of his own voice and edited them with Soundforge, then recorded more voice samples to create what he considers to be an ethnic sound.[6] Japanese instruments such as the shakuhachi and the shamisen were also added. All the score's percussion was synthesized.[6]

Reception

According to Famitsu, Evergrace debuted on Japanese sales charts at fifth place, selling 75,083 copies.[16] It fell to seventh place the following week, selling an additional 11,886 copies.[17] After continuing to fall on the charts, Evergrace sold 134,865 copies in the region by the end of 2000.[18]

Evergrace received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[7] IGN praised the game for its innovations, including its full use of the DualShock controller buttons and the unique "paper doll" system in which the player's avatar actually wears the armor and clothing assigned to it.[3] GameSpot criticized the game for its dated visuals and laggy gameplay during battles.[4] Steven Frost of NextGen said, "Evergrace's 32-bit beginnings really hurt its ability to provide a true next-generation experience. Only die-hard RPG fans will have the patience and persistence to finish this adventure."[13] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of two sevens, one eight, and one six for a total of 28 out of 40.[8]

References
  1. "手に入れたものはすべて装備できるRPG" (in Japanese). From Software. Archived from the original on April 15, 2009. Retrieved April 11, 2009.
  2. IGN staff (October 16, 2000). "PS2 Games Hit Store Shelves Early". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  3. Zdyrko, David (October 24, 2000). "Evergrace". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  4. Bartholow, Peter (June 13, 2000). "Evergrace Review [Import; date mislabeled as "October 25, 2000"]". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  5. Zdyrko, David (May 11, 2000). "Evergrace (Preview)". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  6. "RocketBaby's video game and anime music journal: Interview with Kota Hoshino". Rocket Baby. 2003. Retrieved April 11, 2009.
  7. "Evergrace for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  8. Kanzaki, Sumire (April 23, 2000). "RPGFan News- Sunday News". RPGFan. RPGFan Media, LLC. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
  9. "Evergrace". Game Informer. No. 91. FuncoLand. November 2000.
  10. Weitzner, Jason "Fury"; Ngo, George "Eggo"; Mylonas, Eric "ECM" (July 2000). "Ever Grace [sic] (Import)". GameFan. Vol. 8 no. 7. Shinno Media. p. 13. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  11. 2 Barrel Fugue (October 20, 2000). "Evergrace Review for PS2 on GamePro.com". GamePro. IDG Entertainment. Archived from the original on December 28, 2004. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  12. Romendil (April 13, 2001). "Test: Evergrace". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). Webedia. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  13. Frost, Steven (January 2001). "Evergrace". NextGen. No. 73. Imagine Media. p. 82. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  14. Gillen, Kieron (April 2001). "Evergrace". Official UK PlayStation 2 Magazine. No. 6. Future Publishing. p. 120. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  15. "Evergrace". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. No. 37. Ziff Davis. October 2000.
  16. IGN staff (May 18, 2000). "Famitsu for You". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  17. IGN staff (May 25, 2000). "Famitsu's Top Ten". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  18. "2000年テレビゲームソフト売り上げTOP300". Geimin.net (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
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