Elvira II - Final Rating

By Deimar

I don’t think you really know how happy I am of finally being able to click there...

And the second Elvira game, the third for Horrosoft, is in the can now. Finally, I might add. I was reviewing my opinions of Elvira I, as comparisons between them are inevitable, and I can say that it is better than this one.

I thought that the first one was a game that didn’t know if it was an adventure game or an RPG. The second one tends more to its RPG side, but it is simply not very interesting. The spell system is almost completely useless; there is no reward for exploration (beyond looking at more brown walls); at no point you feel like becoming more powerful; and there are no opportunities to really role-play you character. And all of that goes in detriment of its adventure side, which is roughly less than one third of the game. And although I really like how it is presented, I can also see the sacrifices made to integrate the RPG side.

Summing up, Elvira II feels a bit disjointed. It wants to be an RPG but it is not. Let’s see how this affects its PISSED rating.

Elvira II - Won!

Written by Deimar

Dirk Gentley Journal Entry #6 "Finally, after way too much bait and switch, I have managed to rescue Elvira. And I only had to kill a real vampire, although a bit old-fashioned; re-animate and de-animate a monster made of human parts; resurrect a dead priest; bring some magic mumbo jumbo to the crazy Indian janitor; and kill one of the major demons in hell. And all of that in the span of a night. Go me? I certainly hope Elvira’s reward is worth all the personal nightmares I am going to have from now on."

Finally, after many hours of dungeon crawling, I see the light at the end of the tunnel. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, as the game still has one last curveball to throw in my way. But first a recap. Last time we had cleared both the catacombs and the spider nest, having “rescued” two Elviras. I was still lacking the one in the haunted mansion. The only rooms I had not cleared there were the attic with the vampire and the basement with the Frankenstein’s monster, which had a door behind it.

From my previous playthroughs and the hints in the library I knew I had to re-create the Frankenstein experiment, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember how to defeat the vampire to set the experiment in motion. And I tried everything. Every spell which could remotely be related, every weapon and several deaths trying to desperately click on things in the room. I even faced dead-ending myself by taking a stake in the catacombs behind a destroy magic spell and nothing worked. The library was of no help, and it only noted that primal vampires have very few weaknesses. I was starting to fear I had missed or used an item I should not have, but after my initial RfA in my first post my fears were dissipated. I’ll try my best here for a clickbait title: You won’t believe what happened after.

Elvira II - Arachnophobia

Written by Deimar

Dirk Gentley Journal Entry #5 "Dust on my boots, on my cap, on my jacket… Even in parts where the sun doesn’t shine. And not the good kind of dust. The one that reminds you of the journey you have left behind. No, bone dust from killing an army of undeads. And avoiding ghosts. And travelling through a dungeon of traps. And even convincing a powerful necromancer that his food had made me sick. And here I thought I had finally rescued Elvira, it was just another spawn of hell. I went to the earth’s core and I only got a lousy Indian holy lance. Well, I guess it is time to stop complaining and go back to work."

After all the work done to get to the lance, the dungeon still had a surprise for me. Just after going back to the church, an evil force prevented me from moving and something that looked like an skeletal angel with a scythe killed me. So much for finishing the catacombs. Reading the library entry for this monster, it is an angel of death that can kill with just one touch. Apparently I really pissed someone off down there because it is supposed to be one of the most dangerous evil entities. As there was no information regarding how to kill it or protect me from it, I took a look at the spell book just to discover the Unholy Barrier spell, that protects you from these eventualities. The price? A simple prayer book. I took good care of not using the one dedicated to the deceased father Callahan but the one I found in the mansion.

Not so intimidating now, are you?

Elvira II ‐ Warlock

Written by Deimar

Dirk Gentley Journal Entry #5 "So after the burns, butcher’s knives, vampires, succubi and even Dr. Frankenstein himself, I finally got the memo and got my ass out of the haunted mansion. My only prize was an indian peace pipe which I got from the house’s safe, but it didn’t seem to be especially magical. Let’s hope the next haunted set is a bit more welcoming than the last one..."

Time for a change of scenery. But first, I decided that I would prepare a kit of the all­-around spells. We will begin mixing the brainboost spell, which increases intelligence. This is important because intelligence determines how many copies of a spell you get when you create it. There is only one ingredient needed, something that stores information. I have tried many things such as books, a movie reel, a document filer... but the only thing that is capable of mixing this spell is the diskette we found back in the office. The spell doesn’t last too long, so I started mixing quite a few spells:

Just because of the use of the diskette I think this is my favourite spell so far

• Fireball - A combustible substance - Every single piece of paper I have found in the game 
• Protection - A metal band - Buckets, cans, etc…Sadly nothing from the Black Sabbath altar was allowed... 
• Resist Fire - A fire extinguisher - Well… what do you know? I used several fire extinguishers. Although those could have been used for the protection spell also 
• Mindlock - A padlock and a book - I found the padlock inside a drawer in the desktop at the haunted house’s office. For the book I just used one found in the nursery 
• Breathe underwater - Something edible - FOOD! GIVE ME MORE FOOD! 
• Telekinesis - A magnet - The radio cassette contains a magnet to read and write on tapes. I don’t know I would have solved this one on my own, as I remembered it from my previous tries to complete the game. 
• Courage - A vial of alcohol - There were a lot of bottles in the offices 
• Magic muscles - Three metal objects - Every metal object in the house’s kitchen 
• Glue - An adhesive - I found glue inside a metal box in the kitchen 
• Fear - The eye of a witch - What a coincidence that I happened to be carrying one since the very beginning of the game 
• Revive - Some strong smelling item - A cheese from the pantry 
• Detect trap - Any shaped glass - There are a lot throughout the game 

Elvira II ‐ Young Frankenstein

Written by Deimar

Dirk Gentley Journal Entry #4 "I wonder how did we manage to get someone to fund a set full of so many horrors. There are rooms in fire, magically contained to the interior of the room as an added bonus, succubus, vampires, ghosts, poltergeist, a very ugly cook… I am dying to get out of here. I hope it is not literal. Oh, and no clue about Elvira’s whereabouts."

Time to solve some puzzles. First order of the day: the poltergeist at the sitting room. Bypassing this phantom is easy after Elvira’s hint. It wants something to play with, we just happen to have found a nursery full of toys. Leaving one of those toys in the floor makes the specter stop blocking the door and go to take it. The problem is to leave it in the same square it is in, as we won’t have enough time to go inside. Therefore, the solution is dropping one toy in the next square, giving us access to the library, the official hint guide for this game.

Have you noticed the flying books? Who you gonna call? Copyright infringement!! 

Elvira II - House on Haunted Hill

Written by Deimar

Dirk Gentley Journal Entry #3 "My luck had run out. As per usual. My careful exploration of the studio offices yielded nothing. Except for a encounter with a witch. In the literal sense, with lightning bolts, molts and all the complete package. Lucky for me, she was allergic to steel. Unlucky for me, that meant more brain matter across my new security jacket. In any case, I will have to follow the clue the janitor gave me and try to find those magical items in the cursed sets..."

Having finished the exploration of the studio offices, it is time to delve into the real meat of the game: the three cursed studio sets. Access to each one of them is granted through security doors in a hall in the first floor of the studio offices. And when I say security I really mean it, as opening each one requires introducing a value from the anticopy wheel of doom™. The door number 1 hides the set of “Kiss of the spider”. Right after entering this set, Elvira appears to warn us (and mock us, of course) about the dangerous nature of the place.

What’s behind door number 1?

An Elvira!! Glad the game is over so fast. I thought it would last longer but I appreciate the brevity (and the pun)

Bait and switch. No Elvira, just your regular insect-infested dungeon

Elvira II - Witching & Bitching

Written by Deimar

Dirk Gentley Journal Entry #2 "The red liquid dripping off the tip of my new jacket was a giveaway of the mess Elvira had gotten me into. A 20-foot tall doggy from hell has taken her. His friends are running amok the Black Widow studios, focused on reading the entrails of any human being they cross paths with. While they are alive. And here I am, in front of the studio doors thinking about fighting this demonic horde. I hope she is really a dame to kill for..."

Last time we ended in front of the main door to the Black Widow studios. Upon entering, we are greeted by a fairly common and boring office entry hall. There are some posters making fun of known B-movies and a fire extinguisher that we can take, but otherwise the room is fairly inconspicuous.

Elvira II: The jaws of office space

Elvira II - Let me in

Written by Deimar

Dirk Gentley Journal Entry #1: "The night was cold like the mackerel that was served on the plane. Just another week on the job. A tough negotiation with some Wall Street wackos and a new ampliation for the study later I was back in California to reach another kind of agreement with the mistress. Ah, Elvira. The lingering smell of Elvira still emanated from the ruby necklace and the book she had left one week before in my car. A reminder of the nights we had spent rocking the desolated bars of the nearby town. A reminder of why I have stopped chasing unfaithful husbands and other low grade scum to start a career in The Business. The only business worth its capital letters: The Show Business. And a reminder of why I was freezing my ass in this cold night waiting for Elvira outside the Black Widow Studios."

We start Elvira II just outside the Black Widow Studios with a choice, the career of the protagonist. I chose being a detective, as it is not only quite cool (and I grew up watching Remington Steele and Moonlighting) but it is also the most balanced character with a 8 or 9 in all 8 attributes. For reference, in Elvira I there were just 5 attributes, hence this game should be at least twice the RPG the first one was. Pure maths!! The strength and weapon skill attribute maintain their meaning. That is, strength indicates how hard you hit and your carrying capacity while weapon skill improves how lethal you are with your weapon. The only difference is that in this game weapon skill is not dependent on your weapon and does not improve with its use. In summary, I am screwed.

Behold our inconmensurable powers!!

Game 68: Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus - Introduction

Written by Deimar

The sassy lassie with a classy chassis is back!! And being a non-native english speaker I don’t even know what I just said. But it sounds cool and serves as introduction for our next game: Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus.

Fetch the bone, doggy!! Fetch!!

Just one year after the release of the first game, Horrorsoft came back to Elvira to milk the license a bit more. The company increased its size during that time, almost doubling the staff involved in the second game, especially in the play testing department. It will be interesting to see if their efforts managed to solve the problems the first game had.