Wow tateril thank you for the reminder about Super Metroid! I will put that on the to-do list after A Link to the Past.

Thank your two for your comments. I will start working on The Legend of Zelda: a Link to the Past in a few days and then begin doing the Dragon Warrior games that I am familiar with. .

“Judgment time with the Duel Blade has come.”

-Arek
the Absolute

Lufia 2: The Rise of the Sinistrals
is an RPG that was developed by Neverland, and came out on the very last leg of
the Super Nintendo back in 1996. At this point, the N64 was out and there were
not many games produced for the SNES. In my opinion, this game did not get the
reception it deserved, because this game is a SNES gem and will steal not only
hours of your time, but your heart as well.

I first discovered this game from
renting it from a local video store. I came into this game already biased, by
being a HUGE fan of this game’s predecessor, Lufia & The Fortress of Doom.
I instantly fell in love with this game and became addicted to its game play.
It was fun battling monsters, solving all the puzzles, and learning about the
characters and a massive world and story unfolded before me. With the cartridge
and future ROMs, I have sunken in more hours than I care to admit. I agree with
what Roo from Clan of the Grey Wolves has stated in his Lufia 2 review, that
this game is not an innovator but a perfecter of all the JRPG elements.

Lufia & the
Fortress of Doom and Lufia: Rise of the Sinistals

 Lufia 2 is a sequel prequel, meaning that you
play as the characters in the VERY beginning of the first Lufia game. In the
first Lufia game if you are unfamiliar or have not played it yet), you start of
playing as Maxim, Guy, Artea and Selan and you defeat the four evil Sinistrals,
and then fasts forward to the “present” time where you play as the “Hero” which
is a dependent of Maxim. In Lufia 2, you play as Maxim as you travel to defeat
the four Sinistrals. Playing the Lufia games in order is like watching the first
Star Wars trilogy, and then going to watch episodes I, II, and III. You know
how it ends, but you wonder “HOW” it happens. Except in Lufia 2, when you get
to the very end of the game (and the end of the game in Lufia 2 is ALMOST
identical to how it is depicted in Lufia 1), there is a twist that will
delight, sadden, and entertain you.

Story: The
story begins with lengthy but enjoyable scenes right when you turn the game on
and wait. You will then be introduced to several characters and the general
back story to the overarching premise of the game…before you even start a new
game.

You begin your journey as Maxim, a
modest monster hunter in a small town. After first learning how to explore a
cave, you are tasked with the mission to investigate the cause of a series of
earthquakes in another small town. After finding and destroying the monster
responsible for the earthquakes, you are confronted by a mysterious and magical
woman. She explains that your destiny is to travel and fight. You then travel
through a series of towns, pick up a few companions, learn the game mechanics
and explore some caves, shrines, and a tower that you come across. These events
do not seem to fit into the big story at this time and some may be turned off
by this. However, you are learning more mechanics of puzzle solving, fighting
mechanics, and further developing the personalities of the characters and the
world and do fit into the overarching story as you will find out in the future.
You eventually run into the first Sinistral, and are completely obliterated by
him. This sinistral then appears in a tower that has the capability to sink the
whole continent. Maxim and 2 of his friends at the time then climb the tower
and defeat him. This is what hikers would call a false summit. By this I mean
you think you beat the game, and you get a long ending-like scent. But little
do you realize the game is about to start. 
You get what appears to be a 10-15 min story scene lasting about one
year in the game’s story. Maxim and another character get married, train,
travel, and eventually have a son.

All seems well until your son gets
abducted and you must go and save him. The mysterious woman appears and informs
you that you SHOULD have died in the last great battle to save the continent.
She then informs you that more evil beings are appearing and you must gather
your friends and stop them. Your travels take you to many interesting places
and you discover more Sinistrals and actually defeat them. You find they keep
coming back to life for some reason. Along the way you help advert warring
countries, save women, save the environment, travel under the sea, visit and
save mermaids, help build a steam powered ship, stop a country from taking over
the world, learn the truth about who you are, explore a volcano, and fly
through the air. You will make tons of friends, meet funny and interesting
(nonplayable) characters, chase after and confront evil. In this game, you get
the impression that the Sinistrals are a real threat to the world. I did not
get this impression in Lufia 1. In Lufia 1, the Sinistrals destroy one town,
and that is it. The rest of the game you are fight to prevent their return and
they do not seem to do anything to the world. In Lufia 2, the Sinistrals appear
to pose a real threat to the world and are manipulating  kingdoms, and you have to oppose them.

 You eventually make your way to Doom Island
and defeat the Sinistrals…with a slight twist at the very end. Lufia 2’s game
ending is about 20 min long. Sit back and enjoy it, because at this point you
have earned it.

Characters/characterization:  This game does an excellent job of
developing the personalities of the entire roster of main and sub characters.
Everyone has colorful personalities and quirks that make watching their interactions
with each other very entertaining. This is a quality I do not find in many RPGs
in general. I have never seen this in any of the first 6 Dragon Warriors, the
first 3 Final Fantasy games, or ANY Sega Genesis RPG. I have yet to find a game
I have come to care more about than Lufia 2, I have only found its equals. You
will find the useless banter and conversations entertaining and cheesy at the
same time!

Music Lufia
2’s music is a mixed back of average and super-fantastic-awesome music. There
are a few ways you can look at Lufia 2’s music, one is as a stand-alone game
and the other as compared to Lufia & the Fortress of Doom.

                Music on its own: Most of the music in
Lufia 2 is average. The over world music is catchy but  nothing too spectacular. I have never been a
fan of the cave or shrine music, but they are still good at setting the mood
and they do not detract from the game experience as a whole. The music conveys
what is it supposed to convey and goes along with the general mood of any
particular scene. Whether the scene is goofy, exciting, depressing or scary;
the music and the scenario have a good harmony. This is one the strengths of
both Lufia games.

Music compared to Lufia & The Fortress of Doom: Most of the
Music in Lufia 2 is not as high quality as music from Lufia 1. The over world
music for both games is the same, but Lufia 1 has the better rendition. I also
prefer the Doom Island music in Lufia 1 to Lufia 2.

Favorite Tracks: If you have played Lufia 2 or Lufia: Curse of the
Sinistrals, then you already know of the music I am going to comment on. There
are three boss tracks and all three of them get the job done. When you fight
the Sinistrals, you are fighting to some of the best boss music 2^nd
only to One-Winged Angel. This track is done with guitars and sounds like the
heavy metal rendition of traditional boss music. The track “The One Who Saves
the Earth” is one of the highlights of the entire game. It’s a shame you only
hear it at the very end of the game. The Doom Island renditions are fantastic
and help enhance the experience. If the SNES wanted to show off its music
capabilities, these tracks could easily be used.

Graphics
The graphics in this game are average to above average for the SNES. The
sprites are detailed enough and do not leave me wanting more. The monsters are
detailed in the battle screen. The Sinistrals look terrifying and intimidating.
They take up most of the battle screen and are very detailed.

Addictiveness
I became addicted to this game because of the puzzle elements, the battles, and
the involved story. I always was asking “what happens next?” You eventually
come to the Ancient Cave, practically an entire game in and of itself. I will
explain the Ancient Cave later in this review.

Difficulty:  Any difficulty in this game caused by monsters
or bosses can be solved by grinding and leveling up. There is depth to using
elemental weapons, armor and spells, but it is not as useful as other games. The
Ancient Cave, casino, Egg Dragon, and Most Difficult Puzzle in the World will
give plenty of challenge for all the players who want a hard core challenge.
Most of the puzzles in the dungeons can be solved with enough trial and error. In
addition, lucky for us there are gamefaqs and You Tube to help us solve any
puzzles we are given us any trouble.

Game Play:
Lufia 2 is still a standard JRPG. There is a top down view of you and your
surroundings. On the over world, you will encounter random battles that
initiate fights with monsters. In a cave, tower, shrine, mountain or volcano
you are able to see your enemies. You have to touch these enemies to initiate
battles. This also adds to depth of game play and strategy. You can choose to
fight more monsters, or pass them by. Monsters move only when you move. There
are many different movement patterns for monsters. Some monsters move away from
you, some move randomly, some move directly towards you, some move 2 or 3 steps
for your 1 step, and some move 1 step for every 2 of your steps. Also HOW you
touch the monster has implications. If you touch the monster’s back, you will
initiate a surprise attack and have one free turn of attacking. If they touch
your back, they will initiate an ambush and get one free round of attacking.

The more monsters you fight, the more experience and gold
you obtain. When you get enough experience, you advance in levels. Advancing in
levels you increase you HP,MP, strength, vitality, magic, agility and so forth.
If you find you are getting your butt kicked by monsters or do not have enough
money to buy weapons, armor or magic, then a little monster hunting or grinding
will cure what ails you.

Battle System The battle system is standard turn bases fighting
system. A character performs an action usually based on their agility. Thus
faster characters/monsters move sooner, while slower characters/monsters are
last to move. There is also IP powers. When a party member is struck by a
monster, your IP meter goes up. This is very similar (if not identical) to
Final Fantasy 7’s limit breaks. However, you spend your IP points by using
special actions that are attached to weapons and armor. This gives depth to
choosing your weapons and armor, as the most powerful equipment does not always
have the best IP ability. Your IP abilities could be a special group attack,
individual attack, a spell, some kind of healing, or a stat boosting ability.
You will have fun picking and choosing your equipment and experimenting with
different IP abilities.

Magic Magic in Lufia 2 is different than most other games for two
reasons. One, some characters come with magic, but magic is not gained by
leveling up. Magic is bought from magic stores in town. Later in the game,
magic spells can be quite expensive. I have found there are several spells I
end up using a lot, while others I either never touch or even buy. Two, there
are no spells that directly target an individual, group, or entire party. Every
spell can be made to target ANY amount of characters or monsters. The fewer the
targets of the spell, the more powerful the effect of the spell. Higher numbers
of targets for a given spell diminishes the effects of the spell.  This alone adds to much depth and strategy in
the game play.

Puzzles: This game plays like a Zelda game and the first Lufia game
hooked up and produced the love-child that is Lufia 2. You progress through
dungeons much like a Zelda game, and that is finding keys and solving puzzles
to get through the next door. You find several tools to use and the game
progresses, and puzzles will be based around the use of these tools. You will
be able to shoot arrows, fire arrow, a hook shot, a heavy metal ball, swing a
sword, and drop bombs. Sometimes I think Lufia 2 was not trying to rip off
Zelda, but they were unapologetically and deliberately ripping off Zelda. In
any case, they pulled it off very well with fun and progressively challenging
puzzles. These items can also be used to strike the monsters you see to stun
them, allowing you to walk past them or touch them in a way that gives you an
advantage in battle.

Capsule Monsters A fun and worthwhile mechanic that deliberately
rips off Pokémon are the capsule monsters. You can find 8 different capsule
monsters throughout the world that will join you. They play as an extra,
non-controllable party member that fights with you in battles. They have their
own little battle personalities, with some fiercely attacking, while other run
away or defend a lot. These capsule monsters can also evolve (really?! This is
turning into a blatant rip off hahaha). You can feed your capsule monsters
weapons and armor to help their feed meter points. Once the meter is full, your
Pokémon…I mean capsule monster evolves. You can evolve your capsule monster
three times to a level 4. Typically, the higher the evolution, the better the
stats and power moves of the monsters. You can then feed a capsule monster a
certain fruit to evolve them into their master class.

Bugs: You will discover several bugs playing this game. These bugs
do not break the game or experience, but it does suggest a lack of polish. The
first bug I have discovered was in the menu screen, when you equip a weapon or
armor with a long name, then press the L or R button to switch to another party
member who is equipped with a weapon/armor with a shorter name, you will still
see the other weapon’s/armor’s letters. Next, if you are playing the American
version and you come to the area under the sea where you are in the room where
you find the Duel Blade, the whole room is a jumbled mess of graphics. This can
make getting the Duel Blade VERY, VERY challenging. This is not game breaking,
just annoying or frustrating.

Side Quests

Ancient cave: The Ancient Cave side quest could be a game on its
own. When  you enter the cave, you start
back at level 1, and lose all your weapons, armor, items, and magic. You travel
down 99 floors of a randomly generated cave. In treasure chests, you can find
weapons, armor, items, magic spells and Iris items which are used only for
display in your trophy room. Around floor 20 you will find an item that will
allow you to escape from the Ancient Cave. Only items found in blue treasure
chests can be taken out of the Ancient cave, or brought back into the cave. As
you progress through the Ancient cave, the enemies will become progressively
more difficult. Eventually you will fight the toughest monsters in the entire
game. These monsters are no joke, and will devastate your entire party very
quickly. On floor 100, you will fight a big slime monster. You have three
rounds to defeat him, otherwise he will kill himself and you get no reward. If
you defeat him, you get a slime trophy and bragging rights, but nothing else. You
can easily spend more time here than ANYWHERE else in the entire game, and then
some. You will find this challenge of survival, endurance, and strategy worth
your time.

Casino: For some reason this game has a casino side quest. You can
convert your gold to the casino currency and play games to increase your money.
You can use your money to buy some of the best weapons and armor and items in
the game. The conversion rate from gold to the casino currency is extremely
steep so the items for sale here are ridiculously expensive. I never spent too
much time on the casino games, but I did strive for some of the items here.

Forfeit: This is a unique town that I forgot to mention in my Lufia
& the Fortress of Doom review. This town has many unique shops, including a
shop that has ALL of the weapons/armor/items you have sold in your adventure.
In case you sold something for whatever reason, you can get it back here for
the right price.

Retry Mode: When you beat the game, you will have the option of
Retry mode, where you gain 2 to 4 times the experience and gold than in the
original game. This makes grinding unnecessary, and you will be able to breeze
through bosses and even defeat bosses that are normally supposed to kill you
for the story to progress. Here you can speed through the game and enjoy the
story and buy all the most expensive weapons, armor and magic as well as buy
extra stuff to fee the capsule monsters.

Gift Mode: Finish the game in Retry, and you can play in Gift mode.
I do not remember if you get the same benefits of Retry mod or not, but what is
mode does is allow you to play the Ancient Cave with ANY party of your
choosing. You can Do a solo run, or pick one, two, or three other party
members. Without this mode, you can only play the Ancient Cave with whatever
party members you happen to have at that point of the story when you enter the
Ancient Cave.

Dragon Eggs: Like in the previous game, collect 8 dragon eggs in
treasure chests around the world; bring them to the Egg Dragon a wish, which is
1 of four options. After you get your wish, the dragon eggs are scattered
around the world in somewhat random locations. There is an item you can buy
that counts the number of treasure chests in a dungeon. This item is helpful in
finding unopened treasure chests only. I will let you figure out how to use it
to find dragon eggs. Nonetheless, return all the dragon eggs to the Egg Dragon
four or five times, you will be given the option of fighting the Egg Dragon.
Like Final Fantasy optional battles, this will be the hardest boss battle in
the entire game. Your party members will have to be around level 90 to 99 in
order to defeat him.  There are some good
prices once you do defeat him.

The Most Difficult Puzzle in the World: You will encounter this
puzzle towards the end of the game. As its name implies, is the most difficult
puzzle in the entire game. I have not solved this puzzle without
internet/youtube help. You get amazing rewards when/if you solve this puzzle.

Conclusion: I
hope you have enjoyed my review of Lufia 2: The Rise of the Sinistrals. This game
is a must for any RPG fan, and a game you will probably fall in love with. I
hope you have a chance to, not just play the game, but experience the game for
all that it is.  

I am having semi-mental blocks on which game(s) to review next. I would
like your feedback from the list of games provided or possible
suggestions I have not listed. Please note I cannot review a game I have
not played. But if I have played it, then it's fair game.

1. Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals, snes
   
2. Parasite Eve, playstation
   
3. Parasite Eve 2, playstation
   
4. Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse, nes
   
5. Super Mario Brothers 3, snes
   
6. Contra 3: Alien Wars,snes
7. Final Fight 1 or 2 or 3, snes or arcade
   
8. Paladin's Quest, snes
9. Killer Instinct, snes
10. Secret of Mana, snes
11. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, playstation
12. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
13. some Casltevania or Zelda ROM hack
14. Something Else, you decide.

I am having semi-mental blocks on which game(s) to review next. I would like your feedback from the list of games provided or possible suggestions I have not listed. Please note I cannot review a game I have not played. But if I have played it, then it's fair game.

1. Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals, snes
   
2. Parasite Eve, playstation
   
3. Parasite Eve 2, playstation
   
4. Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse, nes
   
5. Super Mario Brothers 3, snes
   
6. Contra 3: Alien Wars,snes
7. Final Fight 1 or 2 or 3, snes or arcade
   
8. Paladin's Quest, snes
9. Killer Instinct, snes
10. Secret of Mana, snes
11. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, playstation
12. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
13. some Casltevania or Zelda ROM hack
14. Something Else, you decide.
    

Good for you. I think the challenge would  be if you use any outside resources or not. It would be a challenge to figure out what to do on your own!

Thanks a lot for you compliments. I am glad you got the reference!

Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest is a direct follow up to Konami’s
Castlevania and is a sequel in terms of story. It seems like Konami, like other
developers, attempted to do something creatively with their sequel instead of
rehashing the same Call of Duty/Halo/Madden game all over again (No offense
Call of Duty/Halo/Madden fans). Here in American, Super Mario Brothers 2 was
radically different from Super Mario Brothers 1. Additionally Zelda 2 was completely
different from Zelda 1.  Likewise, Konami
decided to do something different now, which I think paved the way for games
like it and for the direction the series would eventually take in the future.

Story: After Simon Belmont defeated the evil Count Dracula
in the previous game Castlevania, Simon discovered that Dracula placed a curse
on him before he died. This curse would cause Simon to quench in excruciating pain,
until his eventual and early death. Simon now has to travel the countryside of
Transylvania (I think), find the five different pieces of Dracula’s body  which are residing in different mansions,
take them back to Dracula’s castle, resurrect Dracula and then defeat him once
again. I think this story is explained in the old instruction booklet, but I do
not remember. The in-game story is not well explained. In fact I always thought
the in-game story never made any sense.

Music: There are only a few tracts in this game, but boy did
they get them right! The famous “vampire killer” came from this game. This song
itself is worth the price of admission. This song continues itself down the line
of Castlevania games and has MANY official and unofficial renditions. I am
aware this game gets a lot of hate, but if this thing does anything right, it
is the music.

Game Play: This game is a 2-d side scrolling adventure in a
similar fashion to Metroid, and thus makes it the first “Metroidvania” game
(even before Symphony of the Night). Right from the start, you are allowed to
go almost anywhere you want with little direction as to where to go. There is a
general series of events and items to be obtained before progression can be had
at certain points of the game, but you are free to do things in any order. You can
go to any of the mansions in any order you want. You will be obtaining a white
crystal, which can be exchanged for a blue crystal and this crystal is necessary
for you to get into one mansion. This blue crystal has to be exchanged for a
red crystal which is needed to call a tornado to pick you up and take you to
another area of the game. If that all sounded weird and cryptic, then you are
normal. I have played this game so many times that all the secrets are second
nature to me. However if I were new to the game, I would be completely clueless
without a Nintendo Power magazine or Gamefaqs. This game also has several sub weapons;
all but two of them are optional. The required sub weapons are the holy water
which is used to break blocks and locate pitfalls, and the other is an oak
stake which is used to throw at an orb in one of the five mansions and turn it
into one of Dracula’s body parts. All of Dracula’s body parts also have a
function. The eye allows you to see hidden objects. The heart allows a ferry
man to take you to different path to another mansion. The rib acts like a
shield and will probably be the most used passive item in the game. I think the
nail allows you to whip blocks that would normally be taken out with by the
holy water. I do not believe the ring has any function.

This is also one of the first games to have multiple endings
depending on how fast you beat it. One quick note; time stops while you are in
the mansions. This makes any supposed grinding in the mansions more worthwhile.

Speaking of grinding, this game also has minor RPG elements.
Defeated monsters drop hearts. Hearts act as both monetary currency and ammo
for sub weapons. Money can be used to buy oak stakes, whip upgrades, and other
items.

Difficulty: This game is on the easy sides of gaming. It is
only difficult if you do not know what to do. Other than that the plat forming
is easy, all three (yes, only three bosses) bosses are ridiculously easy, and
traversing the countryside is easy. You will occasionally run into some small
blobs which can be a nuisance.

Addictiveness: I found this very addictive and I have tried
to make up different rules/objectives for beating the game for fun. I go
through binges with Castlevania 2/Castlevania 2-type games.

Final Thoughts: This is one of those games that it seems
everybody loves to hate on…but I never understood them. I have ALWAYS had a ton
of fun playing this game whether it be as a youth, teenager, or as an adult. This
game is not as bad as everybody says it is. Just like Super Mario Brothers 2
(American version), this game is fun, innovative, and overall brings a lot to
the table.

I agree. Regardless of everything else about the game, it is just a super fun game. It was fun  just playing around.
This game may have been the black sheep, but it is now cannon, at least in America.

Castlevania is as classic as you can get in video games and
video game references. Playing this game is like learning Latin or Greek… you
finally learn where things come from.

Castlevania is 2-d side scroller where you work your way
through five stages Dracula’s castle.  Make your way to the end of the level, defeat
the boss, and move on to the next level.

I honestly never actually beat this until my mid 20’s. But I
have played. I played the first game as a youth but never beat it. Side
scrollers are my not forte in games. My brother or other friends were much
better than I was at this game. At my best I could get to Death I think, but
never even to the last level.

Graphics: At the time, these graphics were amazing. I still
think they are amazing. In my opinion, the graphics have aged well and are
still fun and interesting to look at. The main character Simon is detailed…enough.
The back grounds are stunning and with an obvious Gothic inspiration.

Sound: Beautiful and classic. This game’s music is
wonderfully scored and very recognizable. This game’s music is still being
remixed into current renditions of Castlevania. The very first song you here
sets the mood and momentum for ALL of the NES Castlevania music. Every track in
this game fits with the level and is catchy. The developers did not hold back
with quality music. You still here this game’s music event today.

Story: Count Dracula is causing a raucous and it is your
job, as Simon Belmont, to take Dracula down with your trusty vampire killer
whip, and aided by a few sub weapons like a cross boomerang, ax, holy water,
stop clock, and throwing dagger. You fight your way through 5 increasingly
difficult levels that are located within Dracula’s castle. You will confront
some of Hollywood’s most favorite movie monsters such as a Frankenstein’s
monster & Igor, Death, a giant bat, and a pair of Mummies.

Game play: You walk the level from beginning to end. You
start with a short weak whip that can be upgraded twice. You whip candles to
get point items, sub weapons (such as the ax, cross boomerang, stop clock, ax,
or dagger), hearts (which are used as sub weapon ammo) or whip upgrades. There
is a slight delay in your whip once the button is presses, but that is quickly
overcome. Once you jump, you are committed to the jump. Whether you jump, up,
left, or right; you cannot change your direction mid-jump. You have a power
meter, so you can sustain several hits from enemies. As you progress through
the levels, the enemies will do more damage.

Difficulty: This game is well known for is unmerciful
decimation of poor newbie gamers. I could not beat it without an emulator. This
game is one of the few old school games that epitomize old school difficulty.
Like The Game Overthinker would say “move correctly, do not die.” With A LOT of
practice, you too can defeat Dracula and earn your bragging rights.

The story of Dragon Ball GT is fun and interesting. There are well flushed out characters, and plenty of other fighting games and Dragon Ball games to pull from. With all the ingredients for an awesome beat-em-up, the developers decided to pillage the trash can.

I was not even able to finish this game. After the first few levels (which was a chore in and of itself), I could not even force myself to continue playing it. Maybe the target audience was  for a younger crown, and this is why I did not like it as much. But when I was younger we had the Final Fights, X-Men, Streets of Rage, TNMTs and a slew of other memorable beat-em-ups. The difference between this game and the others, is that the others were FUN. In addition, the others STILL ARE FUN. The monotony of this game is just a chore. I think this is a perfect way to describe this game. CHORE.

Story: This game somewhat follows the story of Dragon Ball GT. I am not going to go into it here. However after the first few levels, you have the option to choose your own destination. At this point in the game, who cares?

Graphics: The graphics are pretty good and represent their characters very well I have no issues with the graphics.

Depth: I didn't find any real depth with the fighting system, just boring and unvaried.

Addictiveness: Chore.

Difficulty: This is not a very difficult game. I only died once while playing it.

Music: I did not find anything bad, or good about the music. It is lackluster at worst and average at best. Completely forgettable

If you are looking for a Dragon Ball game, go elsewhere. I do not know how many Dragon Ball GT games there are, but in any case, stay away from this one. .

I am new to posting things. I wanted to post it as a review of Zelda 2.

Did you get the Spartacus reference???
Contra is a classic NES title that always brings fond memories to all the retro gamers. This game is fun while playing alone, but even better with a group of friends. My fondest memories were playing this game with friends all the way through, and then playing again. I hope the current generations can experience this for all its glory.

Contra is a 2-d side scrolling platform shoot everything in sign game. Everything wants you dead, and in turn you can kill almost everything. If you see something move there are 5 things you have to do. These are
1. Dodge
2. Duck
3. Dip
4. Dive
5. Dodge...

Or shoot it back.
Get to the end of the level, defeat a boss. Rinse, repeat. All my little scores may be low but my overall score is high. If a game is fun, then it is fun.

Story: Aliens come to take over the world. The world sends only 2 shirtless men with a gun a piece to flip through the jungles and kill everything in sight. This is the EXACT OPPOSITE of Metal Gear. Run and gun.This is pretty much the story. Nothing too deep, but that is ok by me. There are only about 5 or 6 levels in this game and it can go by really quickly.

Controls: This game is a prime example of how controls should be on a game. If you die in this game, it's your own fault. The controls are tight and responsive. There are countless games that could be made so much better if their controls mimicked Contra's controls.

Music: The music is notable and catchy. Mini-Bosses  have done  excellent renditions of the sound track. The music is fast and upbeat. If fits the action perfectly.

Depth: There are several different kinds of guns you can pick up. There is the classic spreader gun which will probably be your number 1 choice Machine gun, a power up that makes you shoot faster, a crappy but powerful laser weapon, and a fire gun which shoots a bullet in a spiral motion. Just stick with the spreader.

Addictiveness: I don't think I would call this game addictive. But this is just my personal tastes. It is very fun while it lasts and I when I play this game, I play it to the end.

Difficulty: I cannot beat this game without the Konami code. There are some people that are, and that is quite the accomplishment.
This game is beatable with the Konami code, but ridiculously unmerciful without it.

The last level's inspiration was the movie Alien or Aliens. This is why many of the enemies look like xenomorphs. When you get to the final boss, there are 4 egg type things that spawn face huggers. The music in the last stage is different from the others as it is more spooky and creepy than the others. However it is still fast paced.

Anyone who follows IGN, Gametrailers, or Screw Attack should become acquainted with this game as it is referenced a lot.

Lufia & The fortress of Doom is a standard Japanese RPG
produced by Taito. This game came out in the early 90’s for the Super Nintendo.
You take control of the Hero (I believe he is ultimately nameless, save the
name you give him) and gather 3 friends to fight some super evil destructive
beings called Sinistrals. Along the way you will meet interesting characters,
save cities, make lot of other friends, and ultimately save the world. Along
the way you will travel the world, navigate the sea, dive underwater, and fly
in the air. You will meet old heroes, meet new heroes, become heroes
yourselves, stop human sacrifices, liberate the kidnapped, build bridges, and
unwittingly help resurrect evil beings.

I must preface this review on the fact that I am SUPER
FREAKING BIASED about this game. I love the whole series and this game in
particular has a special place in my heart. I will try my hardest to not be a
fan boy, but I may fail in some instances. My prior RPG experience was playing
Dragon Warrior start to finish several times. I have rented Dragon Warrior 3 or
4 or something for the NES. This was the game that got me into RPGs and helped
me develop a love for the genera. My brother rented it, and I sat down and
decided to play it from beginning to in and I was instantly hooked. I
eventually got about half way through before I had to return the game. I
eventually bought the game and played the game through several times over the
next several years. I have since gone back to replay and had as much fun. I
still have a fondness for the story, characters, and the whole experience as a
whole. I have followed in Beard Man’s example a while ago and completed this
game as much as I was able too at the time by leveling ALL my characters up to
level 99, and collecting all dragon eggs. With my current knowledge, I would
attempt to find all the treasure chests and all the other secret items in towns
and suck hidden in bushes, houses and castles.

Graphics: The graphics of this game remind me of an anime.
They are bright, colorful and fun to look at. Some of the caves can get boring
to look at and the towers are not well detailed. But the character sprites and
enemies are detailed enough.

Sound: The music in the game is amazing. The soundtrack sets
the mood wherever you are and is catchy. You will find yourself grinding quite
a lot, so it is nice listening to. Any of the music around Doom Island is fantastic
and I believe is an excellent source for remixers. The over world music is
classic and has continued on through future games. For some reason, the volume
in this game is set to high, VERY HIGH. If I keep my TV set on a volume of 12,
whenever I put this game on I had to turn the volume down to 6. This is not a
big deal, but something to mention.

Right when you turn the game on, you get gloomy and intense
music eluding you to the seriousness of the situation. There is happy music,
sad music, and everything in between. There is something to fit the mood of the
game. My least favorite track is the cave music. This is bad because there are
a lot of caves and you will be spending a lot of time in caves hunting around
for treasure and finding people.

Addictiveness: This sucked me in the first time I played it.
I always wanted to know what came next and what more I can learn about the story.
Since then the novelty has subsided. There was this great mystery of what these
evil beings were and how they would return. I feel this would get you sucked
in, but after the first or 2nd time through playing and beating this
game, it may not be as engaging.  

Story: This game brings us to the very end of the first Doom
Island conflict where you play as Maxim and friends, on Doom Island and defeat
the 4 Sinistrals. Your characters are very powerful with all the best weapons and
armor. The game then fast forwards to about 100 years later to our young Hero
(who is a descendant of Maxim) is a knight in the Alekian guard. A neighboring
castle is decimated by monsters and you go to investigate. You find one of the
Sinistrals has risen and destroyed  the
town. At this point you and your childhood friend Lufia undertake a quest to
find and destroy the Sinistrals. Early on you find one of the heroes of Doom
Island named Guy. He tells you to go find Artea, and that Artea has an
apprentice they should seek, right before he dies. Our heroes find the
apprentice who tells them how to find the Elf town of Elfria. After finding
Artea, he tells you to find a professor because he will help you find Doom
Island and the Duel Blade. After another long series of quests you find the
Duel Blade, and one of the BIGGEST M. KNIGHT SHAYMALAN TWISTS in video game
history. I will not spoil this ha ha. Doom Island is now resurrected and you continue
your quest to get on Doom Island and Defeat the Sinistrals. After beating the
game, prepare yourself for a nice 20 minute long ending.  There are a lot of games that take a long
time to beat and have short or crappy endings. This is not one of those
endings. The ending is both somber, melancholy, and happy. I am sure you will
enjoy it.

Depth: There is a balance with the weapons between attack
power and weight. If you are too weighted down, it affects your agility and
order of combat. But at the end of the game, this is all sorted out. I found
myself using the same spell TONS of times, while other spells I hardly ever
touched. There are rings or accessories that can help enhance stats or magic
abilities you can find. These do not make  dramatically huge change in game play though. Once I found a good ring for a character, I stuck with it for most of the game. The only two side quests that exists are Dragon Egg collecting and the Ancient Cave. I will explain these further later in this review. After beating the game, you have the option of the "retry," which will also be explained later in this review.


Difficulty: In retrospect, this game has an unbalanced
difficulty level. Some parts are moderate difficulty, while others along the
story were extremely difficult. In the beginning of the game, you will fight 2
boss battles against some demons on a dock and trying to save a boat. Both of
these times will require some grinding. Later you will have to fight an
apprentice. This is a very difficult one-on-one battle.  If you are unprepared you will get massacred.
For this instance, I would skip the tower he is in, and travel to the next
castle to buy stronger equipment. Later in the game you will have to save a
professor from some pirates. This is another unbalanced fight and requires
quite a bit of grinding and top notch weapons and armor. With all the
difficulty, any real troubles can be solved with grinding, and upgrading
weapons and armor.
Another note on difficulty/story. I found it frustrating at times on my first few play throughs progressing the story. It is that common RPG trope where you have to talk to the RIGHT person in the RIGHT sequence in order for something to happen and/or someone to appear somewhere. The game is not always clear at times where you should go or do. This may be a turn off to some people.  This section I will just post notes and observations I decided
not to mention in the above sections.

·        
On the over world/caves/towers, your characters
move a normal JRPG pace which is annoyingly slow. However, in towns your
characters move at sprinting pace which is such a relief. This feature is
further expanded upon in the sequel/prequel Lufia: The Rise of the Sinistrals
where all the walking is at a very brisk pace. There is a Lufia & the
Fortress of Doom ROM hack that corrects this and allows your character to walk
fast in all settings.

·        
After you beat the game, there is a 2nd
quest of sorts. You will be given the option to play on “Retry” mode, which
doubles to quadruples the experience and gold you obtain from enemies. This is
fun because it means you can breeze through the game and now worry about the
required heavy grinding. You will be able to buy all the most expensive weapons
and armor whenever you encounter new towns.

·        
I find it difficult to explain the battle
system. It is kind of turn based, and not turn based. For most of the game, it
will appear turn based. The order in which each character gets a chance to
perform an action is based on agility, weight, and probably something else.
Towards the end of the game, if you go back to the beginning and fight the
beginning monsters, you will find your characters will be able to have multiple
chances for attack before the monsters will have a chance for action. I do not
have a solid explanation for this phenomenon.

·        
There are several things introduced in this game
that has become a staple of the series. One of these is the Ancient Cave. In
the Ancient Cave, you can access the each new level by going up 5 levels. You
go into the nearby town of Grenoble, get your assignment, then enter the
Ancient Cave to the appropriate floor of the cave, find the above mention item
(and anything else you can find), take it back to the guild, and get your
reward. There are a total of seven levels. This has gone on in grander heights,
becoming almost it’s own game. The other staple has been the Dragon Eggs.
Throughout the game you will find 8 Dragon Eggs in treasure chests. You take
these Dragon Eggs to the Egg Dragon and you will be granted 1 of 4 wishes.
These could be the Might Bow (the strongest bow in the game), a Might Shield
(the strongest shield in the game), a bundle of stat building potions, or to
advance your party members by 5 levels. I never increased my party members by 5
levels because I always found this uses, since I can just defeat more monsters to
gain levels, and money. I never got the potions because you get pick them up
from fallen monsters. I usually got the Might Bow or Might shields. After you
take the Dragon Eggs to the Egg Dragon, the eggs are scattered across the world
to different predetermined locations. There are a total of three batches of
Dragon Eggs. This game is does not innovate or bring anything new to the JRPG table in my opinion compared to other Super Nintendo contemporaries like Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy 6, Chrono Trigger or Tales of Phantasia. But what this game does is perfect a formula of standard JRPGs. In other words, this game is basic algebra, done beautifully.One thing that distinguishes this game from many others, is the script of the game. I feel like I am connected to the characters and I learn who they really are and what they are about. I have never felt this way about any Dragon Quest game (only 1-6). Not even Breath of Fire, or Secret of Mana. The characterization of this game is amazing and everyone has their own little quirks and issues. The useless banter between characters is amusing and funny at times. This game has it's serious moments, but also light and funny moment. It plays out like some kind of anime. On your second or third time playing, you will probably skip lots of this banter, but on your first play through, I recommend enjoying all that it has to offer.

I hope you have enjoyed my review of Lufia & the Fortress of Doom. This is a bright and colorful game that I recommend to any lover of RPGs or JRPGs and this one should definitely not be passed up. Happy Gaming!

Super Mario Brothers 2 (American version), is a fun and
entertaining game. The control is tight, the game play is fun, the music is
fantastic, and the colors are bright. The Irate Gamer did an entertaining rant
about this game, but as entertaining as his video was, I completely disagree
with his opinions. As a youth, we did not care if the game was really called
Doki Doki Panic with text and palate swaps of all the characters. For us, it
was the ability to play separately as Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess. These
characters were not clones of each other, but each had his or her own strengths
and weaknesses.

Super Mario Brothers 2 is a side scrolling platform game.
You run either right, left, up or down to get to the end of the stage.
Sometimes there is a mini boss, sometimes not. All the stages are divided into
8 worlds, and there is a main boss at the end of the world. There are several
warp point scattered throughout so you can finish the game quicker. Unlike the
previous Super Mario Brothers from the vantage point of an American, you cannot
jump on an enemy’s head to kill them. In this game, if you jump on an enemy,
you just stand on their head! To kill them, they must walk off the screen, you
pick them up and throw them off screen, throw and enemy into another enemy,
throw a vegetable at an enemy, or get an invincibility start and touch an
enemy. There are day levels, night levels, air based levels, ice levels, and
desert levels. Eventually you make your way to a big from named Wart.

My friends, family, and myself had a blast playing this game
back in the day. Upon revisiting this game, I find that it still stands strong
as a game and has aged well.

Graphics: I think the graphics still hold strong today. Even
in the super HD updated versions, the graphics are relatively unchanged. They
are cartoony, bright, colorful, and easily recognizable. They are fantastic in
any generation.

Sound: The music is fun and catchy and fits the mood well. Good
job Nintendo!

Addictiveness: This game is very fun and I remember playing
this game over and over again with my friends. Currently, I did not find this
game as addictive, but no less fun.

Story: As typical with Mario games, not much story. I do not
remember the story well, other than you free some fairies after you beat the
last boss. But maybe it was just a dream.

Depth: You have four characters to choose from. Mario is Mr.
Average at all the skills of speed, jumping high, digging/picking up, and
jumping distance. Luigi can jump very high and remains in the air but is a
little harder to control in the air, and is a slow digger. Toad is the weakest
jumper, but can pick up/ dig things super fast, but can also run fast. The
Princess can’t jump very high, but can hover a long distance. She is the
slowest runner and slowest picker upper/digger. If you know what’s coming, you
can choose the most appropriate character for the situation. If you are on a
heavy digging level, Toad. Lots of jumping? Luigi or Princess. I have noticed
the Princess does well on the Ice Levels.

Difficulty: This game is not the most difficult. I had no
problem beating this game as a youth, or even now. But this game is not meant
for experienced adult gamers, but for children. I think the difficulty is where
it should be.

This game introduced a lot of game play mechanics and enemies
that have since become staples in the Super Mario Brothers universe such as
Birdo and throwing veggies at enemies. Playing this game is always nothing more
than fun and entertaining. You cannot go wrong with this game!

You are right , it is an underdog of a game. But it is still enjoyable to that niche crowd. There is a place for this game in some people's library. However, my initial comments were supposed to be more comical. I also like Honey boo boo hahahah. Not THAT is embarrassing!   

This is a game that is hard to categorize in my opinion. There is an over world where you drive a boat between 2 ports. It is done RPG style where you run into random battles, or even into  a grey shark fin which is where you enter your first fight with jaws. When you go into a random battle (with or without Jaws), you enter into a side scrolling shooting type game, but there is no actual side scrolling. You are able to move up and down as you control a human diver who shoots little harpoons. You can kill crabs, jelly fish, and mini sharks. You are rewarded with points, conch shells, and something else that increases your human's speed. Conch shells act as currency, and when you go from port to port you can get a radar, then increase your strength (your diver's harpoon damage). Be careful about getting too many speed boosters, because your diver's control will become slippery and you will run into a jelly fish or crab and die. One it deaths, that's right. You get the radar, acquire more conch shells, build up strength, run into Jaws, widdle down his life to 0 and then you enter the final stage where you must press the A button that supposed to emit a sonic wave and cause Jaws to jump out of the water, then the B button to use a boat to stab forward. You have three attempts to impale Jaws. If successful, you beat the game. If unsuccessful you return to the over world where you have to defeat Jaws again to get the final stage.

Graphics: Blue. Lot's of blue. Other than that, graphics are average.

Sounds: There are a only a few different tracts in this game, and none of them are catchy or anything special.

Addictiveness: This game can be beaten in 30 min or less. It is fun while it lasts.

Story: You are humans, and you want to kill a big shark. Why? It is never explained. This movie tends to follow the plot to Jaws the Revenge, which takes place in the Bahamas (a place where great white sharks are not indigenous).

Depth: In this game, you can collect more conch shells to increase your strength, or just look for Jaws and take him out that way. However each action scene lasts a short time, and Jaw's life regenerates after each encounter. If you collect enough points, a special submarine will appear in one of two places on the over world map. The sub is pretty fast, has powerful shooting projectiles, and can drop cannon balls However, after one hit, it's gone.

Difficulty: This game can be more tedious than difficult. If you are sloppy, you will die. It's that simple.

Overall this game is not as horrible as certain retro game critics would claim. On the other hand, it is not that good either. It is a unique game that tried to do something different. I think it did do something different, but lacked a lot of polish. Give this game a try.

To be honest, I didn't even get past the first level of this game. I just couldn't stand it that much to play it. The game box art work is enticing and the fact the main weapon is spear, and not a sword or gun is appealing. With all the developers could, they decided to be as basic and uncreative as possible.

This game is a 2-d side scroller. I did not find any power ups. I died often. The enemies respawed  very quickly, and the controls, although responsive, just felt odd. Who really cares about crouching and walking backwards at the same time?

Graphics: Bland. Nothing special. I wish I could say more on graphics, but the overall appeal of the game repulsed me from it.

Sound: Bland. The Super Nintendo is capable of sooo much more. This game is already sounding like the AVGN episode of Independence day. The same criticisms could be made with this game.

Addictiveness: None existent. Like I stated above, I did not even get past the first level.

Story: I am sure there is a cool story to this game, but who really cares!

Depth: I experimented as much as I could with the spear weapon and was only disappointed with what I was able to do, and what I couldn't do. I rather enjoyed Castlevania Bloodlines' Erick Lecarde spear action much better.

Difficulty: Enemies took waaaaay too many hits. I got hit all the time and dies often from stupid little creatures. The protagonist moves really slow and jumps awkwardly.

There are many other better games out there for the SNES. Do yourself a favor and skip this one. Go play Ninja Warriors..

The 7th Saga: The new classes is a few remake of the original 7th Saga for the Super Nintendo. Like in the description, all of the apprentices are given new classes, learn slightly different spells and can hold a few different weapons. I will start this review comparing this version with the original 7th Saga, and then I will copy/paste my 7th Saga review at the end, since the is still 95% similar and the graphics/music/story remained unchanged.

New Classes: I find the new classes do not add anything new to the game. Just changes in text.

Weapons/Armor: I have noticed a few changes is what an apprentice can hold, but not enough to matter in the end. One HUGE change is that all the weapons and armor have received major boosts to their attack/defense points up to doubling or tripling their value.

New Item shop: very late in the game after you have gone back in time and are investigating the old Melenam, there is a town that sells power/vitality/magic/defense/etc potions that boosts your stats permanently. At this time I was able to grind for levels and use the extra money to further beef up my characters and max out on stats. This changed my game play style as in the first 70% of the game I am not worried about dieing as I would just grind for gold. Now I was conscientious about NOT dieing so I can save up money for extra stat boosts.

Leveling: It seems there is less experience needed to gain levels, especially in the later levels. It is not as noticeable in the beginning of the game, but towards the end I am gaining levels VERY quickly.

Monsters: appears unchanged.

The Verdict: I found this as an enjoyable hack of the game 7th Saga.The subtle nuances I feel enhanced it and I still got my 7TH Saga fix from this version. If you are 7th Saga fan, you will enjoy this version for a change of pace.




My 7th Saga review:


     The 7th Saga is a
unique game that came out in the early to mid 90's for the Super Nintendo. I do
not remember many people other than myself, my brother, and one of my friends
actually playing this game. Due to the online community, it appears that still
not a lot of other people have played it. This game never was as popular as its
contemporaries such as the Final Fantasy games or Chrono Trigger. However I
would consider this an amazing 16 bit gem, and I hope other people would
consider this game a 16 big gem as well. Hint hint.



     The 7th Saga is a turn based JRPG.
You move, enemy moves, rinse and repeat. Defeat enemies to gain experience and
gold. Buy weapons and armor, defeat bosses when then cross your path. This game
is part of an unofficial trilogy of games by Enix for the Super Nintendo, with
other two being 7th Saga 2: Mystic Arc, and Brainlord. However
Mystic Arc is considered the true sequel (but it’s really a prequel I think).
There is a Mystic Arc 2 for the Playstation 1, but I do not have any information
on that game. All three of the games have similar graphics and even names of
characters. Mystic Arc has an identical fighting system. A review on that game
will come later. There are some speculations of how these games are connected,
but I will not go into those in this review.



Graphics: Honestly, the graphics are nothing special for what the Super
Nintendo could have offered. The best way I could describe this game
graphically is average, or bland. There is nothing special about the over
world, and the towns and dungeons do not distinguish themselves from each
other. There are a few outliers though. Some of the bosses look amazing, and I
think the final boss is stunning, as he takes up most of the screen and looks
terrifying. I think a remake of this game with better graphics would do this
game justice.



Addictiveness: I have a special hypothesis about this games addictiveness. If
someone is a big fan of the Dragon Warrior/ Dragon Quest games, then they would
be a fan of this game. In the Dragon Warrior/ Dragon Quest games, one must
level grind for most of the game. After the long hours of grinding, one will
finally see the fruits of their persistence in the ability to dominate
enemies that were prior so the grinding, dominate them. There is a very notable
difference between one's current level and the levels prior to the grinding.
Increasing one's strength or defense with by 10 points may mean the difference
between victory and defeat. I really enjoyed the old Dragon Warrior/Dragon
Quest games. This game shares a spiritual RPG lineage in my opinion. The answer
to MOST (I use the word MOST for reasons I will explain later) of this game's
difficulty can be solved with more grinding.



Story: The legendary King Lemele recruits 7 apprentices and trains them for
five years. After the training they are set to search the world in an attempt
to find and collect the 7 magical runes. By doing so, they will obtain wondrous
powers. You play as one of the 7 apprentices. Because of the ability to choose
between 7 unique characters, this adds a lot of replay value to this game.
Additionally, as you play the game, you will be able to choose another
apprentice to join your party. Each character has their own unique
characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses. Kamile is your basic overall
fighter, offensive magic user and defensive magic user. He can use a variety of
equipment, but overall he is a jack of all trades and a master of none. He is
always a good choice as a companion. Lux is a robot who is a power house in HP
and defence. He is also a good fighter and usually receives high stat boosts
with levels. Lux is a poor magician, although he can use thunder magic (but his
magic is so low that it is still useless) and his agility is low. Lejes is a
unique demon character who can be characterized a almost purely offensive. He
is fast, has above average attack and can use most swords and is a strong
offensive magic user. However this character is not the strongest fighter nor
strongest offensive magic user, and he is very weak in defense and you will
find that you will die quite often with this character unless you over level
quite a bit. Olvan is a power house dwarf who is the fighting specialist. He
can use the best weapons and can destroy most enemies with a single blow or a
defense/attack blow. Unfortunately he is the slowest character, and his
offensive magic is terrible. He has a few good defensive and healing spells
though. Valsu is your typical defensive magic user and can use every single
defensive and healing magic spell. He can be a good companion to the offensive
characters. Wilme is an alien of some kind, but in my opinion looks like
and attacks like an enemy called Flame in the game. He probably receives the
best stat boosts per level, with overall high stats except for MP and magic. He
is fast, tough, a powerful fighter, and just a cheap character. Playing as
Wilme you will accumulate a lot of gold. He can only use 1 weapon that you
obtain late in the game as an item drop from an enemy. Finally there is Esuna,
the bipolar elf-mage who is the stereotypical offensive magic user. She is
fast, uses the weakest mage-related weapons and armor and has amazing magic
spells.



The story begins after being given a crystal orb with will alert you to
surrounding enemies, nearby runes and treasure chests. You can then talk to the
other apprentices and learn a little about their personalities. Your first main
objective is to defeat the vengeful dead dog spirit of a ruined old
castle. Then you will obtain the Gate of Earth Key which will allow you to pass
a gate to your next 2 towns. In these towns you will be able to find another
apprentice to join you in your quest. The apprentices will either reject you,
challenge you to a fight, or join you. Here you will also discover the ancient
civilization of Melanam and obtain your first rune. After traveling through
some underground tunnels you will find yourself on the South side of the main
continent. You will help a village get some water and be rewarded with another
rune. Then you will run into the city of Patrof, which has been taken over by
one of the other apprentices. Defeat him or her to receive the third rune. Then
you make your way over to the town of Bone where you will take 1 (or 2 ) of
three paths, depending on your character or your companion. You will either go
to an underground lake, go to the Tower of Grime to be transported to another
tower, or help a child  and then be transported via boat to the north half
of the continent. In this part of the game, the world opens up and and the next
three runes can be obtained in any order. Here is also you will do a lot of
grinding. There are a few optional things you can do like a secret cave, or
help stop a war between two rivaling city-states. You will eventually take a
flying contraption across the sea to another country. While traveling towns here,
you will be curses and lose the ability to loose magic. You will then have to
defeat a boss without the use of magic. If you have 2 magic users, you will
have a very difficult time here. Then you will go after Gorsia, and after
defeating him you will gain the 7th run... only be transported back in time
5,000 years and find yourself waking up in a bed in a small town. You quickly
learn that Gorsia came back from the furture, beat Saro and is sitting high in
his castle. While this is happening, the current civilization of Melanam is
alive and well and working on a scientific/dark magical method to defeat
Gorsia. As you investigate Melenam, their machine goes haywire and you defeat
the machine which brings about the ultimate destruction of civilization and
resulting in stranding you and a group of Melanam survivors on a continent where
Gorsia is located. You then find Saro, learn some back story, re-receive the
seven runes, travel to Gorsia’s castle and finally defeat him. There is only
one ending, regardless of which apprentice or companion you have chosen. There
is a slight twist at the end, but I will not spoil that part for you. That is
what YouTube is for haha.

Music: This game’s music, like the graphics, are bland to
average at best. The music does change in the over world when you arrive on a
new plane or section of the game which is nice. The dungeon theme is actually pretty
good and a modern fan remake or heavy metal remake would sound awesome. I have
notice the town music being used by certain internet shows such as the Game Theorist,
Angry Video Game Nerd (I think), and The Game Overthinker. Needless to say, I
think people have made better use of the music outside of the game, then the
developers did inside of the game.

Difficulty: This game can be pretty unforgiving and even brutal
at times. You will learn to save the game even before speaking to any other
apprentice. When fighting the other apprentices, you will note that they are
vastly stronger than you at the same level.

I must divulge some information about the general difficulty
of the game and about the difficulty of the apprentices. From my research,
there are actually two versions of this game. The Japanese version and the American
version of the game. The Japanese version is actually easier, whilst the
American version is much more difficult. In the Japanese version, the
characters gain more stat points per level and it is easier to level up. For some
reason the game was made much harder in the American version. In the American
version, you gain the American stats, but the apprentices you fight or accept
as companions gain levels according to the Japanese version. You cannot out
level the other apprentices. They will always be around the same level as you
are.  This is the reason they will always
seem super powerful compared to you at the same level.

When you die in this game (and if you are new to this game,
YOU WILL DIE), you will find that this does not result in a game over. You just
start over in the last inn you save at with half your money. The game does have
a unique jewel system which helps alleviate money loses. There are jewels
called opal, rubies, emeralds, sapphires etc. that can be bought and sold at
the same price. The in-game explanation is that when you die, the monsters
steal your money, but they do not like jewels so they leave them alone.

Depth: Depth from this game can come from which apprentice
you decide to play, and which apprentice, if any, you decide to accept as a
traveling companion. The higher level you are , the stronger they will be when
you accept them as a companion.

Fellow apprentices and runes: This section is a combination
of depth and difficulty. If you have a rune, and fight another apprentice AND
lose, that apprentice will take ALL your runes. Depending on what section of
the game you are in, this can make hunting down that apprentice and defeating
him/her can be VERY difficult. Hence, as stated above, you will learn to save
the game before talking to any other apprentice, and then reset after you lose.

Thank you for the advice. I just started writing reviews and am still developing my own style and outline. Happy gaming!!!