Review by: Robert Janney
Published: December 31, 2002

In the three years since Asheron’s Call was released, swarms of role-playing fans have answered the cry to battle. Microsoft and Turbine held the interest of players with monthly episodes and an expansion pack, all of which kept the gameplay fresh and exciting. Is the second chapter in the story of Dereth a worthy successor? To answer this, one must consider the many aspects of Asheron’s Call 2: Fallen Kings. The first of these, the setting, remains the magical world of Auberean, but concerns a time many years after the events of Asheron’s Call.

In Asheron’s Call, the great magician Asheron called waves of humans to Dereth, first, to defend it from Olthoi invaders, and then to reseal the fallen Empyrean Bael’Zharon in the void. All rejoiced when these evils were finally defeated, and a Golden Age reigned in Dereth for many years. The darkness came once more, however, climaxing in a titanic battle between Asheron, Bael’Zharon and the mysterious Imperator. The Battle of Kings unleashed unimaginable forces that rocked the world to its very core. Vicious monsters spawned out of the chaos, and the twisting effects upon the land forced the inhabitants of Dereth into underground shelters. The so-called Devastation changed the face of Auberean forever, raising new landmarks and sundering the continent of Dereth into three islands. The scale and length of the destruction was such that the denizens of the world remained in their underground shelters for ten generations. In this time, the three civilized races put aside their petty quarrels and forged an alliance to reclaim the world and rebuild Dereth to its former glory.

Asheron’s Call 2 opens with the arrival of the first Human, Tumerok and Lugian scouts upon the surface of Dereth. As one of them, the player takes part in the quest to find out what happened during the Devastation and the battle to reclaim the lands for civilization. Who won the Battle of Kings? What changes has the Devastation wrought upon the world, and what evil beasts now roam it? Can Dereth be reclaimed? These questions and more are left to the survivors.

Now that the surface is habitable, the player is instructed to explore the world in search of lost knowledge and to help reclaim the settlements of the three races. As a Human, Lugian or Tumerok survivor, the player’s primary task is to search for vaults spread throughout the three islands of Dereth in order to find out what happened in the Devastation, and to determine what can be done to set right the course of the world. Shards of knowledge and power await discovery within the deepest recesses of each vault, unlocking hidden secrets and bestowing great rewards upon those adventurers brave enough to find them. The game uses shards as the central story device, with each one revealing a bit more about the hidden history of Dereth and the struggles of the survivors to rebuild their ancestral homes.

Joining the search is as easy as selecting a name, race, sex and appearance; the development path one’s character takes will work itself out as the game progresses. Rather than classes, each of the three races has distinct skills that reflect its tendencies: Lugians tend to be slow and powerful; Humans are cunning and flexible; Tumeroks are fast and rhythmic. As the player prepares to emerge from the underground, drudges, ancient enemies of the three races, attack the shelter. The ensuing quest to defeat the drudges and escape introduces the player to the world of Auberean.

Characters are provided with three starter weapons: melee, missile and ranged, each of which enables a basic combat attack. Suitably armed, the player learns the basics of movement and combat as part of defeating the drudges. Once the player overcomes the immediate threat and escapes the confines of the shelter, he or she is rewarded with a cutscene that depicts the start of the rebuilding and the need to reclaim the rest of the world.

The character development system utilizes the standard experience-based level system, but makes use of skills rather than classes. Moreover, the three races of Asheron’s Call 2 offer unique appearances as well as race-specific items and gameplay. The strong and solid Lugians tend to sacrifice speed and cunning for the sake of powerful melee, missile and magic attacks. With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that their weapons include mighty hammers and thrown boulders. The quick and rhythmic Tumeroks prefer to press their opponents with flurries of blows rather than concentrate their power in slower attacks, and therefore wield light weapons such as spears and claws. In contrast, the dexterous Humans rely more on positioning and agile weapons like bows. The Human backstab and peripheral blow skills exemplify the need for careful positioning by requiring the player to be behind or to the side of the intended victim. Health and vigor are the basic measurements of a character’s well being, with vigor representing both physical and mental stamina. Thus skills consume vigor upon use, whether they are melee, missile or magic skills.

A tree-based skill system offers structure and progression when compared to the independent skills of Asheron’s Call. Considerable customization is possible, with nine different skill trees for each of the three playable races as well as common crafting and kingdom-based skills available. Each race supports three general skill trees based on attack type and six specialization skill trees that resemble classes. A player may train any combination of skills from the general skill trees, but only one specialization skill tree can be chosen. Each specialization offers a package of skills that focus primarily, but not exclusively, on melee, missile or magic, and pertain to a common theme. For example, a Lugian player wanting to focus on hand-to-hand combat might select the Berserker melee specialization, which contains many skills that increase attack rate and damage while sacrificing defense. Combining specializations with skills from different general trees can create diverse characters such as a Human with the Enchanter magic specialization and general missile skills. To facilitate experimentation, skills may be untrained to recover the training and experience points used to raise them, but they’ll be untrained only as experience is gained. Additional special skills can be gained as players complete quests and increase their kill ratings.