Many millenia ago, the world of Domus was inhabited by several races. First to truly emerge were the Druids, followed by Elves, Dwarves, and Men. Other races emerged as well, but were not as widespread, keeping mostly to themselves.
Everything changed the night that fire fell. Thousands of meteorite landed on the world, causing widespread panic. The fear soon faded after the Embers emerged from the meteorites. Embers were living rocks, able to communicate with the druids. The Druids watched over them in turn, becoming companions with them. Eventually, the druids became known as Lightbringers.
The other races grew jealous of the bond between Embers and Lightbringers, and waged war on them. After heavy losses on both sides, and a betrayal from within their ranks, the Lightbringers were wiped out.
Life continued for the other races, who plundered the knowledge of the Lightbringers, but forgot that Embers were sentient. They used the glowing rocks as power sources, as decorations, and as whatever else came to mind.
But Embers were a finite resource. And with Domus running out, doom was certain to come to the world ...
Ember is an isometric RPG made by N-Fusion Interactive. It was created as an homage / throwback to the RPG days of yore (more akin to Baldur's Gate than to Fallout, though). It plays like a much better looking, but more simplified Infinity Engine game.
This show provides examples of:
- Absurdly High Level Cap: Players can cheat to get levels higher than 50. The game can be beaten (with all content completed) by around level 25 or so.
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Given how prevalent they were in late '90s RPGs, it's no surprise that one shows up here.
- Artificial Stupidity: Neither companions nor enemies are smart enough to avoid area attacks.
- Back from the Dead: You, the Player Character. You're a resurrected Lightbringer, with some fun amnesia to explain why you don't know any of the lore.
- Chain of Deals: You bet, and crossed with Your Princess Is in Another Castle!, too. One large section of the game is spent tracking down your own heart. The quest points you to a major city, where you find a person who points you to another person, who has you do a task before he tells you information, which points you to another person with another task, and it goes on like that several times.
- Fighter, Mage, Thief: How armor and weapons are divvied up. Strength for heavy armor and melee weapons. Dexterity for leather armor, bows and crossbows. Intellect for cloth gear, staves, and wands.
- Even the main companions fit into this at first. Corren starts as a warrior, Cora starts as a mage, and Zorran starts as an archer. Of course, nothing prevents you from reassigning their stats points for a fee.
- Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Short? Check. Underground and mining? Check. Scottish Accent? Check.
- Our Elves Are D Ifferent: They started out similar to Tolkien elves, but diverged in two ways. Firstly, they got a bit decadent with their access to Ember. Secondly, they've recently been plagued with a disease that darkened their skin and uglied their visages. It's not deadly, but it shortens their lifespan. Before, it was well over 1000 years. Now, most elves last between 600 and 700 years.
- Real-Time with Pause: It wouldn't be an homage without it.
- Shoot the Mage First: Given that they're capable of laying down some painful area attacks, it's a good idea to kill them first, before they manage to down your companions.
- Sidequest: There's a few scattered around. Typically they involved simple tasks, and avert both the Chain of Deals from the main quests and the 20 Bear Asses that are prevalent in other games.
- Status Effects: Bleeding (DoT), Poison (DoT), Silence, Slow, Stun, and Weaken (take more damage).
- Tier System: Done by levels instead of rarity. Level 1 gear uses copper, level 5 uses iron, level 9 uses silver, level 13 uses steel, level 17 uses Mithril.
