God Bless the ...dungeon?

Ya ever hear of the neigh impossible to pronounce, let alone spell, Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring? If not, it's a 3D fighting game developed by Squaresoft around 1997. Its primary claim to fame is that it stars Cloud, Tifa, and Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII as starting characters, with Yuffie and Vincent as unlockables. I'm no fighting expert, but the game is kinda mid. It's very fast, though, I'll give it that. You can also wield a unique weapon for everyone, and it being an early 3D game might make it worth checking in on for those who consider themselves the fighting game equivalent of myself. 

But...

That's not all it has! 

There's also an RPG dungeon crawler. I remember getting confused with this side game when I rented Ehegriz back in the late 90's. But the fact I remember it all from my one rental means something right? Considering I've confused it for another game... no. 

Endless Dungeon is a barebones hack and slash dungeon crawler. There is a concept of a story and several shockingly thought out mechanics, though. Most of them are annoying, but that's for later. 

The story involves an archaeologist, Kenji, and his student, Claire, discovering an old ruin in Germany that might hold the key to immortality. The two go to the pyramid and explore, but then suddenly pass out and wake up in another dimension. They're in a town's inn, saved by the owner. Why does a trapped village have an inn? But the owner tells us the ruins beneath the town are mysterious and magical. He also gives us the layout of the town and all its shops. There's a weapons and potions shop, diner, blacksmith, and magic shop. You buy gear, food, combine weapons, and magic stones for materia (magic). There's also a wine stock market for other reasons... The innkeeper gives us starting gear from the last idiot to wind up here, and the game begins.

We can play as either Kenji or Claire, and there are subtle differences between them, but I won't get into them here. You'll probably need to use both of them at some point, though. If one dies, you can revive them by finding their corpse with the other. Ultimately, it won't matter until floor 21. 

Reaching that floor involves walking through the same looking rooms, finding similar enemies, and collecting gear, food, and recipe books for the only side quest, which just unlocks tips. All the weapons have different animations and combos, and you're gonna need to use all of them. You see, weapon and armor degradation is a thing here. What you use will break, and often quickly. It wouldn't be so bad, but inventory space is painfully limited.

Food is also a thing. It's almost an interesting mechanic, as what you eat will alter your stats at level up, but you also need to eat to survive. There's a hunger bar, and you lose HP when it runs out. And it drains quickly. With the weapon HP and hunger, you're constantly worrying about everything. 

There are only three exits to the dungeon, so you also might be too afraid to go too far in. There are quick escapes, dragon wings, but they feel too rare. I just felt on edge too often. This isn't a game for people with anxiety. 

But there's more! Greek gods and goddesses appear in the game to bless your weapons. I don't know what they do! You can offer an item to them at an altar, but it's a crap shoot if the offering will be accepted. There are thirteen, so good luck with this. Assuming it's even worth it. 

The setting never changes op much. It's different colored rooms, though enemy variety is weirdly high for this. Music changes every few rooms, and the soundtrack is probably the best part about the game. 

But, surely, there's plot down here! Nope. Twenty one floors of tedium with no story to break it up. The residents try to add something, but there's nothing to sink your teeth into. Until you reach the final boss, there's only dungeon crawling. There are four endings depending on who and what you do when you get there (twice), but it's not worth it. 

But, believe it not, that's not the worst part. You have to pay to save. And those prices get high fast. I struggled to afford it and had to save state more often than not. 

I'll be honest. I didn't finish Endless Dungeon. I'm bored! There's a basic framework of an interesting game here, but I don't know why Ehegis was made. A part of me misses random nonsense like this, so while I hate this game, I'm glad it exists. Still; don't play it. 

22/50 - 44%.