Evergrace

Infobox VG
title = Evergrace


caption =
developer = From Software
publisher = Agetec
released = vgrelease|JP=2000-04-27|NA=2000-10-24|PAL=2001-03-30
genre = Role-playing game
modes = Single player
ratings = vgratings|ESRB=Teen
platforms = PlayStation 2
media = 1 DVD
requirements = 130 KB on Playstation 2 Memory Card
followed by=

"Evergrace" is a action role-playing game for the Playstation 2 created by From Software.

Features

Evergrace has 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. Evergrace uses an experience system depending 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 a game from the same company. From Software released a first person action RPG back in the PSone era called Shadow Tower. This title appears as a secret dungeon in Evergrace. From Software is often known for including past game references in their latest games. The Moonlight Sword, for example, a weapon that originated in their flashship series, King's Field, also appears in Evergrace as well as its sequel/prequel Evergrace II otherwise known as "Forever Kingdom" in the US.

Legend

The continent of Edinbury once held the largest and most powerful empire of all time: the Rieubane Empire. This empire was mostly run by Morphius, a powerful magician, and his servants and clients. Morphius became devoted to studying the Crest, which are odd markings on one's hand, and are considered cursed because of the misfortunes that happen to the bearers. Morphius 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 mark, Morphius ordered the Empire to invade Toledo, a nearby, independent village in the Billiana forest, because they worshipped 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.

The Empire crushed the village effortlessly, but as the flames grew higher, suddenly the Rieubane Empire, Toledo and the Human Research Lab completely disappeared. People called it the Lost Kingdom, and the land became overgrown with Billiana Trees. Many hundred years later, four villages once part of the empire banded together to establish the empire of Fontraile, but this was not to last...

Present Story

Darius and Sharline grow up together on the continent of Edinbury, in the village of Solta of the Fontraile empire, home to a population of people with strange marks called crests. Darius has this mark, which he secretly conceals. Solta, one of the four villages that make up Fontraile, was currently in conflict with a neighboring village, Morea, over the issue of Billiana Trees that covered the continent.

Morea considered the trees to be sacred, but Solta claimed the trees depleted the land of its resources by sucking up the energy. That's when the Billiana War began, and a tragedy occurred in Darius and Sharline's family. Darius' parents were killed by the crest. Sharline is transported out of the world by the power of Darius' crest...

Sharline's Story

When she awakes she finds herself in a small hut in a secret, "lost" world called Rieubane, which was sealed off long ago by magic. A woman called Sienna tends to her, saying she was found lying in the woods. Sienna warns her to remain in the hut until she returns. Sharline's curiosity gets the better of her, however, and she sneeks a peek through the door.

Sienna stands outside with a gnarly-looking old magician, who is in the process of interogating her. But the man, Morphius, sees Sharline and realizes that Sienna is hiding someone, which is against the laws of the Rieubane Empire. He kidnaps her before Sharline's eyes, as well as sending a firebolt into the house, rendering Sharline unconscious.

When Sharline awakes, she decides she must find Sienna and ask her about where she is and how she got here. She arms herself with a bow and starts off through the Royal Commons. Sharline takes down several monsters on the way. Then she encounters a robed woman, who states that she is in the Rieubane Empire and that no one can leave or enter. But Sharline is determined to do so. She is told of Saramad Hill, supposedly the last inhabitable place in the empire for citizens to live. She travels there, and meets an old man who gives her a special leaf in turn for a flower to place on a grave. Sharline then sees a stray dog and follows it to a field area. There she encounters a ghost, which she defeats with her bow skills. The old man tells her about the Door with three heads back in the Royal Commons.

Sharline returns and inserts the leaf she was given into the slot. The door rumbles open and she finds the robed woman once more beside a statue. The woman then tells her that the statue can transport her anywhere she wishes, and it does so. Sharline is teleported to a large lab called the Human Research Laboratory, which is where Morphius studies the Crest and holds all his captured and twisted test subjects. Due to his research, Morphius created the powerful Palmira armaments as well as the man-made AI crest.

Sharline makes her way through the dim halls of the facility, slaying various test subjects that run rampant through the halls. She reaches Morphius' room, where she angrily tells him to release Sienna. Morphius agrees, but only if she'll defeat Ammit, a gigantic genetically-twisted beast that Sharline is forced to fight.

After slaying Ammit, Sharline opens all of the secret doors and continues through to a lab room. There, she combines the Billiana fruits and extracts she finds and creates a Transport Palmira. Then she returns to the center of the facility and places the transport Palmira in the Transporter. Sharline is transported to another area on the other side of the lab, looking for Morphius, who had disappeared shortly after she defeated Ammit.