Xena: Warrior Princess
Released on September 30, 1999 by Electronic Arts for the Playstation game system.
Plot[]
After centuries of imprisonment, Kalabrax, an evil sorceress walks the Earth once more. She seeks revenge upon the gods, as well as world domination. To that end, she has conspired to acquire the ultimate power. However, the spell that will grant her this power requires the sacrifice of a mortal Queen. Gabrielle, Xena's best friend, happens to be a Queen of the Amazons, which makes her a target for Kalabrax. After Gabrielle is captured by Kalabrax' evil co-conspirators King Valarian and Narsus, an evil renegade Amazon, Xena springs into action. Now, to rescue her friend and save the world, Xena must undertake an epic journey to find a way to defeat her immortal enemy.
Characters[]
Xena - Heroine[]
Xena is a skilled, mighty powerful and somewhat blasé warrior princess. She cares deeply for her friend Gabrielle and does not slow down until she saves and reunites with her at the end. Her relationship with the Olympian Gods appears to be neutral, with Ares, the God of War, appearing to Xena a few times throughout her journey with his true intentions remaining unclear.
Though apparently mortal, she is capable of wielding divine powers, various elements of magic and overcoming many impossible odds in the main plot of the game. Throughout the story, Xena battles ferocious pirates, a giant cyclops, and manages to make her way through an entire army with their swords, arrows and catapults all mercilessly pointed at her unscathed. Her most impressive feats don't end here, as she also manages to slay an underworld dragon, make her way out of the depths of Hades, kill the Three Gorgon Sisters and a supposedly unstoppable divine Kalabrax.
It is unknown how or why Xena is this powerful, as she is neither a deity nor a born daughter to one.
Gabrielle - Deuteragonist[]
Gabrielle is Xena's best friend and the plot device for all the events happening in the game. After Xena goes to save the village of Oebalus from the attacking pirates, she gets captured by King Valarian's men. It is later revealed that the destruction of the village was a setup to depart the two friends from each other, though the departure in of itself was rather convenient.
Despite the great dangers that faced Xena on her journey to save Gabrielle, she does not waiver on her close friend and manages to reunite with her in the end.
Kalabrax - Main antagonist[]
Kalabrax introduced herself to be the supreme master of black sorcery. Her plan required a queen to be sacrificed on her alter at the Temple of Pinnacles for her to attain such power that would make her stronger than Zeus, which would then allow her to establish a new world order, overthrowing the Olympian Gods in the process.
In the pre-final battle cutscene, it is shown that Kalabrax has "assembled the elements of ultimate power", with only the sacrifice of Gabrielle remaining. It is somewhat unclear whether Kalabrax meant that she had already gained ultimate power or not.
Nevertheless, Xena manages to defeat her, putting an end to her evil scheming and saving the world once and for all.
Ares - Friend or foe..?[]
Ares is the God of War and the most recurring Olympian character in the game. He reveals himself to Xena a number of times while on her journey to save Gabrielle.
The first time he appeared was on the Isle of Kronos, warning Xena about the real enemy she's facing and that she "has no idea what she is up against." Ares then disappears, leaving a riddled Xena to her own devices.
The second time, Xena was trapped and trying to escape from the underworld. When he appears, he simply remarks that he has no way of helping her escape before disappearing again.
The third and final time was on the pre-finale level. Xena angrily questions Ares about how his involvement with Kalabrax. Ares responds by saying that he "has no interest in them" and that Kalabrax is "getting on his nerves" before telling Xena that he will help her if she needs it. Ares then disappears for the very last time. After Xena solves the final puzzle that would allow her to reach the Temple of Pinnacles, Ares telepathically hints to Xena that the final step to opening the portal is to play the Lyre of Orpheus to it.
Despite the apparent friendly and helpful attitude towards Xena, he doesn't actually truly help her at all, particularly when she most needs it, rendering it all ultimately redundant.
One theory could suggest that Ares is the one leaving the scrolls to Xena, but that doesn't explain why Ares doesn't just assist Xena more directly, making Zeus a more fitting candidate since he's the one Kalabrax is mainly after.
Hades[]
Hades is known as the God of the Underworld. He appears to be helpful to Xena when she requests for him to return her to the surface world, though that might be purely out of self-interest as he reflects on the fact that Kalabrax was getting more and more powerful and could undermine the Olympian Gods. Hades then tells Xena to seek the Lyre of Orpheus before sending her back to the surface world, marking it as the first and final interaction between the two in the game.
Items[]
There are 5 items the player can collect in the game: Health potions, magic orbs, upgrades, scrolls and resurrection jewels.
Scrolls[]
Scrolls are items scattered around wherever Xena goes. They contain useful information, warnings, hints and even predict the future. It is unknown why Xena comes across those scrolls in the first place. One plausible speculation could be that Zeus is helping Xena throughout her journey to put at an end to Kalabrax' threat of dethroning him alongside the other Olympian Gods. While it is in no way confirmed, it makes more sense than assuming the developers are just needlessly helping the player with otherwise obvious objectives.
There are 42 total scrolls in the main game (excluding the tutorial), and there's always 2 scrolls to collect in each level. Collecting all scrolls is important if the player wants to unlock an extra cutscene at the end of the game. Fortunately, the task is rather easy.
Health potions[]
Description: Increases Xena's health!
Health potions are blue in color, scattered around the world and hidden in boxes and barrels. The drop rate when hidden inside objects appears to be random, while the scattered ones are guaranteed to spawn. They cannot be used manually and will only heal Xena when her health bar is dropped around 20%.
Super Chakram[]
Description: This Chakram will seek and destroy nearby enemies!
Super Chakrams can be used to slay up to 3 enemies at once.
Golden Shield[]
Description: Xena becomes invulnerable to attack!
Golden Shields are one of the most useful items in the game, blessing Xena with invulnerability to all threats, physical or magical, albeit for a short time.
Hand of Zeus[]
Description: Give your enemies the shock of their lives!
The Hand of Zeus is a very useful item for crowd control. It is most effective against Dryads that are for the most part unreachable.
Promethean Blade[]
Description: Give your enemies a lesson in firemaking!
Promethean Blades are most commonly found in the amazoness levels. When used against enemies, they burn and prematurely play their death animation even while their health bar is still full.
Frost Biter[]
Description: Freeze your enemies in their tracks!
Frost Biters can be used to freeze enemies and deal massive damage in the process.
Sword Upgrade[]
Description: Increases the amount of damage Xena inflicts upon enemies!
As the description suggests, Sword Upgrades increase the amount of damage Xena deals to enemies, though not by a staggering amount even if the maximum number of upgrades is collected. Xena can collect up to 4 Sword Upgrades. Any attempts to collect more in the upcoming levels doesn't work as Xena will just go through the item without interacting with it.
Armor Upgrade[]
Description: Reduces the amount of damage Xena receives from enemies!
Similar to the Sword Upgrade, Armor Upgrades increase Xena's defense against enemies. However, it is also not that much effective, but it is still recommended to seek them, nonetheless. Xena can collect up to 4 Armor Upgrades.
Resurrection Jewels[]
Description: Restores Xena's life and returns her to this location!
Resurrection Jewels work as a checkpoint should Xena get killed somehow. They are very useful in some levels, but it is unclear why some of them are peculiarly placed around where they would be considered useless. For example, in Rivers of Blood, the jewel is placed next to the gate leading to the next level, where the player would need to jump across a gap to reach it which would typically only work after killing off the ambush as the player would otherwise be severely risking falling into the waterfall and dying unnecessarily. And after killing the ambush, you can then just simply walk to the gate, requiring no additional steps.
Miscellaneous - Lyre of Orpheus[]
The Lyre of Orpheus is a key item in the game. It is used to unlock the portal gate leading to the Temple of Pinnacles after solving the final puzzle of The Challenge.
Intro[]
Figure (1): Eye of Kalabrax in beast form.[1]
Figure (2): A bright Greenland where Xena and Gabrielle can be seen walking.[2]
Figure (3): Xena hurrying towards the burning village.[3]
The intro begins with a full view of the Temple of Pinnacles, slowly zooming towards it. A mysterious beast can be seen slowly walking seemingly aimlessly before growling and turning its head to the camera with the screen fading into orange. Afterwards, the screen fades out to a delightful green scenery.
Xena can then be seen walking with Gabrielle, apparently narrating stories to Xena as they stroll through. After Xena's remark of Gabrielle's unflattering story, they stumble across a crossroads with a path leading to the village of Oebalus. Xena then tells Gabrielle that she's going to go say hello to her friend, Siras, who lives in the village, and to wait for her until she comes back.
Gabrielle is then seen going in opposite direction, reiterating the story from earlier to herself, briefly mentioning that she should've used the "minotaur" instead of the "buffalo" as the punchline.
As Gabrielle walks away, Xena notices black smoke emitting from the village. Worried about the happenstances, Xena hurries down the path to the village to investigate.
Levels[]
There are 22 total levels in the game (21 main levels if the tutorial is excluded). Each level loading screen describes what Xena is set out to do and the many dangers that await her. There are 10 main bosses and 7 minor ones for a total of 17 bosses needed to defeat to continue through the game. The main bosses are as follows: Pirate King Pactolus, The Giant Cyclops, King Valarian, The Amazoness Queen, Dyzan the Dragon, Yat the Druid Sorcerer, The Three Gorgon Sisters and Kalabrax. The other 7 minor bosses are all different variations of the troll monster.
Level 1 - The Road to Oebalus[]
"Xena senses trouble. She hurries down the path to the little seacoast village of Oebalus. Her friend, Siras has told many tales of pirates sailing those coastal waters. Ominous columns of black smoke rise in the distance..."
Xena arrives just at the outskirts of the village of Oebalus. While on her way to the village gate, she faces some trouble as rowdy pirates are patrolling the area, already anticipating her arrival. She eventually makes her way to the village gate to meet an unpleasant surprise; her friend, Siras, dying and barely holding on. Before Siras could explain what was going on, he expires. Xena, now enraged at the sight of her old friend, vows to punish whoever was responsible for this crisis.
Level 2 - Trouble in Oebalus[]
"Xena's friend Siras is dead! Pirates are sacking the town! The villagers are in chaos as the raiders attempt to take innocent hostages. But Xena has a score to settle..."
Xena passes the gate to find the village burning down and crawling with pirates. She rescues several hostage villagers using her Chakram and destroys the pirate ship anchored next to shore. After saving this part of the village, Xena proceeds to the next area through a locked gate using a key she found lying around.
Level 3 - The Pirate King, Pactolus[]
"The pirates have taken the remaining hostages away, and blocked a gate to prevent Xena from following, Xena must find a way to break through the gate, rescue the villagers, and settle the score with the pirate leader, Pactolus!"
Xena is met with a blocked, burning gate hindering her progress. She takes advantage of a water tower situated above the gate to force her way through by crashing it on top of it. Xena saves the remaining hostages and goes to confront Pactolus, who mocked her efforts as she pursued him.
After Xena defeats him, Pactolus tells her that they were paid by a king named Valarian to distract her while the king's men capture Gabrielle, and that she's being kept inside his castle at the Isle of Kronos. At this revelation, Xena points her blade high, asserting that King Valarian "better have a big army".
Pactolus' true fate remains unknown afterwards.