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Epic Fantasy Warrior Quest IV: Machinations of the Hell Emperor

Also known as Wizbits Worlds IV: Adventures in the Afterlife in America, this game was released in March 1990 for the Sega Genesis. Originally marketed as a kids game, the marketing strategy was later changed when complaints of nightmares and mental breakdowns among children flooded in to the Phonics customer service center. Phonics quickly re-engineered the marketing scheme to be directed at adults who would hopefully not have the same issues as children had with the game. The main issue lay with the convoluted and frankly disturbing storyline used in the game. Young children could not follow the plot's twists and turns much less the mental assault of the storyline, if they managed to follow the actual plot line. Adults seemed to have fared better though and the game went on to be acclaimed among critics for its rich, if convoluted, plot development.

Story

The story begins with the main character waking up in a strange land. The main character can neither remember his name or who he is but he is greeted by another creature who calls herself Eva, who reveals herself to be a CENRA in the service of Jiang Shi. Before Eva can explain anything else the two are thrown into another dimension. From here on out the plot line becomes rather convoluted and confused as the pair seems to switch planes at random. While they are on each plane they are challenged to cryptic puzzles and riddles each of which gives a piece of information. This information while relevant to their current situation is not directly apparent to the two as they don't have enough other information to go on to fill in the gaps. If the player has enough patience and a keen intellect they will find that as the game goes on the information given begins to become easier to understand in light of the previous information that was given.

Eventually the two are placed on a plane with the name of Demon Gate. Here the two characters face off against a powerful god (who if you were paying attention and figured out the clues given you is En Ya). The two characters must then use all the information that they were given to stop the plans of this deity. As it turns out the main character is actually the spirit a dead peasant from Battal and Eva was told by Jiang Shi that this normal man in life would become the key to stopping the Hell Emperor in death. The random plane shifts for the two were caused by En Ya attempting to capture the spirit of the dead peasant in order to come into the mortal world. Each plane was a different afterlife for each race but warped into a sinister, psychedelic facet of its former self. The puzzles were the denizens of each plane trying to inform the two of what was going on and how to stop it. After preforming a complex set of actions the player can defeat En Ya and the player's spirit is taken off to paradise to live with Eva. If the player fails however, which in most cases they do, they are used as a conduit by En Ya who enters the mortal world with his minions and ushers in a new era of pain and fear on Battal.

Gameplay

The gameplay is rather different from previous EFWQs. The game is made up mainly of puzzles, mazes and riddles and not of actual combat. In fact fighting anything is a markedly bad idea as most of the enemies will destroy the party in one round. While game advancement appears to occur randomly, there is a built in timer for each plane that the party transports to. Since one must solve the puzzles in order to get all the information about the storyline it is best to solve them before the plane shift occurs. Game perspective varies from third person to first person depending on puzzle and situation. The graphics are well done but most are disturbing and rather hard to get one's mind around. It is highly advised to play this game through with a guide as interpreting some of the puzzles and riddles on one's own is next to impossible.

A 2006 remake on the Nintendo DS added in a more traditional combat system and two optional characters that could be recruited, and thankfully toned down the difficulty on the puzzles.

Characters

Party Members

• Dead Peasant: A Dead Peasant from the Wang Kingdom
• Eva: A CERNA in the service of Jiang Shi
• Ri-La: In the DS remake only, an optional party member who is later revealed to be the main character's long lost, deceased sister.
• Gui: Only present in the DS remake. An incredibly stupid, dead barbarian who got lost on the way to Hoenheim. Joins with Eva and the main character because he has no idea what's going on. Switching to Gui during the game effectively activates an easy mode where the other characters assist him in solving the puzzles, at the cost of getting a shorter (but more humorous) ending.

Trivia

This game was used for some time by MENSA as a intelligence test for its applicants. Needless to say very few people got in to MENSA in those years. The game is also rumored to be easier under the influence of certain drugs, but these rumors are unconfirmed.