Gemfire

Longplay Information

Author(s):
R
Reinc
System: Mega Drive / Genesis
Region:
Language:
Subtitle Language:
Additional Info: No information available
Publication Date: 18/08/2018
YouTube Release: 08/03/2023
Duration: 08:47:40
File Size: 1027.01 MB (1051661.91 KB)
Downloads: 277 downloads
File Links:

Screenshot

Player's Review

Once upon a time, on the isle of Ishmeria, six wizards, each wielding a unique brand of magic, used their powers to protect the island and maintain peace. This was disrupted when they were collectively challenged by a Fire Dragon. The sea-dwelling dragon of peace known as the Pastha charged the six wizards with the task of fighting back. They succeeded, sealing the Fire Dragon away into a ruby at the top of a crown, and themselves became the six jewels around the crown's base. The crown, called Gemfire, was a symbol of utmost power and authority. When Gemfire fell into the hands of the now current King of Ishmeria, Eselred, he sought to abuse the object's power, using it to embark on a tyrannical reign, instilling fear within his oppressed subjects. Ishmeria fell into despair as his power flourished, until princess Robyn released the wizards trapped within Gemfire.

Gemfire (released in Japan as Royal Blood or Super Royal Blood in its Super Famicom version) is a medieval fantasy war game for the MSX, NES, SNES, FM Towns, Mega Drive, MS-DOS, and later Windows, developed and published by Koei. The Mega Drive version was made in 1992. A sequel, Royal Blood II, was released in Japan for Japanese Windows.

The object in the game is to unify a fictional island by using military force, sabotage and diplomacy. Players use infantry, cavalry, archers, as well as fantasy units such as wizards, dragons, etc. in order to capture towns needed to control a particular territory.

This game is more simplistic and shallow than Genghis Khan II: Clan of the Gray Wolf, but it still is enjoyable. I like the music and the medieval fantasy atmosphere. I personally found that music and sounds in the SNES version are worse than in the Mega Drive version. Surprisingly, the NES version has more fluid animations for movement and attacks, and more pictures for harmful events, although the Durahan and the Airial events seem to be absent in this version. It also seems that in the NES version, only gargoyles can go on a rampage, while in the 16-bit versions this event can happen with many savage fantasy creatures.

All scenarios were completed. The family you choose only affects difficulty, so I played as the Blanches, the strongest family, in three scenarios and used the Lyles in one scenario just to show how battlefields of Blanche towns look like. The ending for each scenario and each family is the same, so I edited it out the first three times, so it plays only after the last scenario. During the playthrough, I messed around a bit to show as much of the game as possible. Still, some minor things can be seen happening in a playthrough of one version, but not happening in others.

For example, when a character reaches the age of 75, they die. Character stats will increase slightly each year until the age of 60. After 60, a character's stats will start to decrease until they die. Characters also have a small chance of suddenly dying at any point in the game.