Swords and Sandals II: Emperor's Reign

Swords and Sandals II: Emperor's Reign
One of the biggest gladiator RPGs ever.
Genre(s): Role-playing Platform(s): Browser (original) Microsoft Windows macOS Release Date: January 7, 2007 (original) June 29, 2017 (Redux) Engine: Adobe Flash (original) Developer(s): Oliver Joyce Whiskeybarrel Studios Publisher(s): 3rdSense (Browser) Fizzy (PC; original) eGames (Redux) Country: Australia Series: Swords and Sandals Predecessor: Swords and Sandals I: Gladiator Successor: Swords and Sandals III: Solo Ultatrus

Swords and Sandals II: Emperor's Reign is a role-playing game developed by Oliver Joyce and released on January 7, 2007. It is the second installment in the Swords and Sandals franchise.

A redux version of the game was released on June 29, 2017.

Plot

There was one prisoner trapped in a dungeon guarded by the Slave Driver. One day, he was able to be freed from chains, but he had to duel with another prisoner, where the winner would be free. After defeating the prisoner, the protagonist eventually starts his journey as a gladiator to become the arena champion by defeating Emperor Antares.

Why It's An Arena Champion

1. The graphics are once again great for 2007 standards, despite most being repurposed from the prequel. However, since the sequel was intended to be bigger, there are newer graphics that make the game much more unique and different from the prequel.
2. Phenomenal soundtrack that uses a combination of some songs from the prequel and entirely new songs. Once again, the soundtrack was composed by Oliver Joyce himself, the game's developer, which itself is very impressive that most (if not, all) work was done by just one person.
3. Much longer than the first game; Emperor's Reign has 18 bosses instead of 7, and there are duels before reaching the right level to go to a tournament, making the game not that short in comparison to the previous game.
4. The taunt. Basically, you just increase your charisma to a high level and then rapidly use your taunt to defeat the enemy with a breeze if they get hit. This is a bit less fun and broken in the Steam version however, as the taunt uses some of your stamina bar.
5. A new type of weapon is introduced; bows. This includes slingshots, shurikens and bows, which are used in ranged combat. You need agility to gain them, and if you get one of them, you can camp on the other side, which can be important when playing save.
6. The Redux version allows you to select three bonuses instead of just getting gold when winning. You can get either a weapon or the opponent hat if you don't feel like getting more gold, which is a very neat idea.
7. Decent A.I. in general. When having magic, they use the strongest one first until the weakest, followed by some random items.
8. Up to 10 saved gladiators (PC version only), allowing you to create a good amount of gladiators that can have their own stats and playstyles.
9. Choosing a skin colour from cyan to white has some small detail on your gladiator, such as a pigman when your skin is green, having one eye when your skin is orange, or being a demon if your skin is red. This alone adds a good amount of variety to the game before you can even start.
10. A new type of stat is introduced; magicka. Increasing this will allow you to unlock items in the magic shop and potions in the church. The items can allow you to give yourself a temporary advantage (such as making yourself faster via Swift Sandals, increase your strength via Bloodlust at the cost of some defense being reduced or have unlimited stamina or health via Boundless Energy and Regeneration, respectively), hit the opponent anywhere via fireballs, lightning bolts or Molten Deaths, or simply restore some of your HP, armour or stamina via potions.
11. The crowd mechanic is very interesting; normally when you start your gladiator, the crowd will be very bored, but if you use the "Win the Crowd" option several times (less if you have more charisma), or some items like the offensive ones or Adulation, the crowd will become more interested. This is especially notable once you reach higher levels.
12. Some neat and funny names for your opponents, such as "Galen son of Galen", "Zounds Castelwine", "Croshaux raj Ahten", and more. These are always randomized so it can add to variety.
    • Sometimes the opponent does not have a name at all, resulting in either a blank space or a name like " son of ", " raj Ahten", " of the North", and more, which can be quite funny as if you're fighting someone that never even earned a name.
13. The general plot itself is a very interesting detail that is probably better than the first game's (which in turn had a good plot); a prisoner gets freed from a dungeon after killing another prisoner and has a chance to become a gladiator. Additionally, the intro is not the only time the Slave Driver is seen, as he later returns as the seventh arena champion.
14. The seventeenth arena champion is arguably the most interesting one - yourself. Yes, an evil version of your gladiator is the seventeenth arena champion, having everything you do, being the same stats, items, armour and weapons. This can add to nice difficulty, especially if you played the game via cheats.

Bad Qualities

1. The Browser version does not have the save feature despite the option being present, making the feature pointless in the Browser version. This also means if you die in a tournament just once, your progress is completely removed beyond return. Fortunately, this issue is not present in the PC version.
2. Some effects tend to randomly disappear in the Redux version for no reason. This is especially notable if you kill your opponent in the tournament and their blood shows up before disappearing.
3. While the A.I. is decent, it is not without its flaws;
   • Despite being good at using items that attack the opponent, they're mostly poor when it comes to using other items;
     • Sometimes if they have two Swift Sandals and two Adulations and you have four Molten Deaths, they will just use their items without attacking you, allowing for a rather cheap and effortless win. This is especially notable with Archangel Sandalphon in the original version, as he'll use four Adulations in a row for the most part after around 3-4 turns, which can allow you to defeat him with Molten Deaths if you have them.
     • If they have a ranged weapon and use Command to pull you, they will most likely walk away from you in their next turn, pretty much wasting it for no reason.
   • Sometimes they do not even attack you at all and just run around the arena or jump around for no reason.
4. In the original, for some reason, starting from the fourth tournament, your opponents can have a sword or a bow even if they do not have the required amount of agility, which can add to cheap difficulty if you have low vitality.

Tips

• When you start your new gladiator, make sure you first buy the brigard graves and shoes, and then enchant your rusty knife. That way, you can safe for a weapon you want to buy later to easily win the first tournament.
  • Also, if your opponent has a ranged weapon and/or more armour than you do, do not accept the duel, and leave it until you get the one you can pass easily.
• Make sure you do not use the same item while the effect is ongoing, such as Bloodlust or Swift Sandals.
• When you start getting into the fourth tournament, make sure you start adding more vitality as the opponents will have stronger swords.

Reception

Due to the original version being released and played mainly via Browser, there are very little-to-no reviews. However, the game was still critically acclaimed by players for its gameplay, soundtrack, graphics, and many more. Notably, on Newgrounds, the game has a 4.28/5.00 score from users. Many people consider II to be the best game in the franchise.

The Redux version was also positively received, although a bit weaker, having 77% of positive reviews from users, most of which are Polish. Despite this, the Redux version is still considered to be a great remaster.

Trivia

• Some weapons from Swords and Sandals I: Gladiator are still present in this game, and can be accessed via cheats (usually the Cheat Engine). They can even be enchanted and function just like how they did in the first game.
• The comma glitch is overall the reason why the game and the franchise received a massive popularity, with many people uploading videos about the glitch on YouTube, most of which erroneously said it was a cheat. Oliver Joyce, the creator of Swords and Sandals, has stated that the glitch was completely unintentional and that it was bad coding when using the Actionscript programming language for Flash.
  • This glitch appears to be patched in the Steam version via Swords and Sandals Classic Collection, making it only possible to be performed in the Browser version.
• The game, along with the franchise, is massively popular in Poland, mainly thanks to sites like Wyspagier and Polish YouTubers who played the game.

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