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EFWQ XIV: Legend of the Mule Queen

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Epic Fantasy Warrior Quest XIV: Legend of the Mule Queen

The fourteenth game in the award-winning Epic Fantasy Warrior Quest videogame franchise, and the first to be released under the Epic Fantasy Warrior Quest name in the US, as all previous installments had their titles translated as Wizbits Worlds - although re-makes of the earlier titles on the Nintendo DS and PSP have restored the series' original names.

It was praised for having a relatively simple but enganging story, unlike the previous five games - each of which had no less than three gigantic plot twists in the middle of the game in which the player learned that they had been fighting for the bad guys, then switched to the good guys, who turned out to be the bad guys once more.

The art-style was odd compared to previous games, with everything cell-shaded so as to appear as flat and cartoony as possible. It was thought that this was carried out because the PlayStation 2 was not able to handle the awesome power of truly detailed textures that the artists were originally working on - in which they took the time to individually map each pore on each character's skin.

Voice Acting

For unknown reasons, the voice acting in the game was all done by people with heavy Hindu accents. Apparently the sound director wanted an all-British cast to give the game a feel of being authentic high fantasy. Unfortunately, the voice caster happened to pick out Hindi immigrants to Britian for each and every role, confused as to what the director desired.

Story

A confused and penniless Vander Eyemless is hired as the only palace guard on staff to protect Castle Frogginham in the small kingdom of Frogginham on The Sickle. Of course, King Frogginham's Vizier; Kafkaesque Backenstabben, betrays the king, stealing the Red Dwarf Wand and going on a world-wide killingspree to collect all of Battal's Wands. A visiting monarch from the south side of the Sickle was somehow transformed into a mule during the attack on Frogginham, and she must be restored to her true form (hence the game's title). Vander mounts the queen (in more ways than one) and heads off in pursuit of Kafkaesque, who is attempting to assasinate the descendants of The Kings Council.

Gameplay

The party system in EFWQ XIV had been retooled once again, expanding the amount of playable in-field characters to four, but reducing the amount of total party members in the game to six.

A cooking system was added, allowing players to mix restorative items and teach each character how to cook. The restoritive items are much less effective than the simple ones bought from shops, and cost more, but it adds "replay value".

There's also a large subquest to collect a number of Summon Tokens, but none of them can actually be used in battle.

At random times during each battle, the player can tap the X button to make rainbow colors flash across the screen. This has no effect whatsoever, but its simply meant to keep one awake during the drawn-out battles.

Characters

Party Members

Vander Eyemless: Standard clueless moron who waves a sword-around.
Jackpot: Eccentric, money-hungry, slot machine Furniliar.
Jarrakas: Vander's hulking Ogre sidekick and the story's narrator.
Tabitha Phansoivice: Sulty elven sorceress/aristocrat/prostitute.
Pinkly Twitchit: Dashing, effeminate swordsman.
Warg XI: A young Werewolf who desires to be an Arteest, but has no thumbs, and is thus ever tormented.

Other Characters

Jenna Eggshell: Queen of the Cluckrin who has been transformed from a chicken to a mule.
Kafkaesque Backenstabben: Insane evil dude with tons of nifty black magic and a fetish for clowns.
Leon: Vander's pet Electric Rat.
Booboo Twitchit: Pinkly's evil twin.
Pippin and Merry: Goofy comedy relief Tribbits named as a homage to Lord of the Rings. Possibly in parody of the Lord of the Rings as well, since mid-way through the game they are raped and killed by Rabid Bears.

Trivia

This is the first and only game in the entire EFWQ series in which an Elemenstor is not a recruitable party member.

Harpies made their return as enemies in this game, after a two-game absence due to the demands of fans in regards to their ridiculously frequent appearences in the first 11 games. Happily, their frequency is turned down much compared to their earliest appearences.