Napalm Riot

My ratings may just come from my obsession with older RPGs so don't put too much stock into them. Either way, if you consider playing a game simply to collect the most powerful stuff available, then this is an awesome game for you. I've tried playing through several times, and did manage once, but then noticed the expansion didn't run properly on that computer. I think I nearly had heart failure. The question was definitely, "how many hours did I put into finishing just that last boss alone?!" Regardless of my disability to finish this game, I think it's an excellent play.

graphics
This really is a difficult topic to scratch with this game. The box itself warns you to have a windows 95 or later model. If that doesn't tell you how old this game is, then nothing will. Because of this, I chose to score the graphics based on the game's age and not by today's standards. Back in the late 1990's some games were still trying to break free of 50 pixel main characters. this game never managed that. However, what they used, they used well. Certain classes and races all have the same body model, but at least you can customize colors. Every Character has a portrait, and if you know how to do everything right, you can make your own.

Sound
Sound is completely different from Graphics. In my opinion, the gaming community's taste in music and sound is all that's changed within the last few years. Sound quality has only barely improved. Therefore, I must say that some sounds in SoA get repetitive and you can get tired of hearing them. "Yarrr!", "I must rest if we are to continue" etc. The good thing about those is that you can turn them off. however, I get lonely when I do that, so I never do. It's nice to have someone screaming "DEATH TO YOU ALL!" at 2:30 in the morning when it's totally silent otherwise. As for music, I really enjoy the music files for dungeons and nature. Even in cities there is a small mask of large scale communication. (lots of people talking to each other in the background.)

Controls
Ah, the good 'ol point, click, and go mechanics. I love them. Also, to retain the fast paced action of battle, the game flow is very quick. To counter this, you can pause the game at any time to hand out orders to your entire party. This was well done, because I never felt like it was subtracting from the game's pace.

Story
Some would probably disagree with me on this one, but I thought the story was okay. It never blew me out of the water, but it certainly kept occupied. The story was probably so good because it was so simple that I could predict what was going to happen next. However, there were several twists that totally threw me off. Falling into a dungeon I wasn't even expecting and wanting to see if I could get out without reloading my game was the best. I know that's not really story, but It was the little surprises that I really enjoyed.

Fun
I love being able to start a quest with junk and coming back out with entirely pwn equipment. I never really liked having to decide what to keep and what to leave behind because I didn't have the space to hold it all though. Battles, especially the ones I would have to try over and over again because I was so outmatched were great. I would get so frustrated at one group around one certain corner that I would stomp off to go plan ways to bring them down. Of course I would come back with a strategy that worked and stomp there face in. I'd have a re-equipping party after that. Everybody gets new stuff! Yay!

Replay
It's difficult. It's addicting. period.