Super FamiComplete #62: Soul Blazer (Redux)

 

Title: Soul Blazer (NA) Soul Blader (JP)

Release Date: 1/31/92

Developer: Quintet

Publisher: Enix

This is a game that I have been waiting to cover for quite some time on this blog. It is the start of what is known as the "Quintet Trilogy" which is followed up by Illusion of Gaia and finished by Terranigma. Each game follows similar themes and has a very similar action-RPG play style. While I am a big fan of Quintet's first game for the SNES, Actraiser, and do enjoy this games unofficial sequel, I never played Soul Blazer. I certainly knew of its existence, as it was featured in the old player's guide compilations that used to be released way back in the day, and I was always charmed by its boss design. From what I have heard about the game before I started researching, it is a bare-bones but charming experience with a very simple gameplay loop. Let's see for ourselves. 

Being a nerd in the 90s had its perks.

Background

With Soul Blazer, Quintet seems to lift generously from Actraiser for its story. The hero is, once again, the servant of a deity known as "The Master." Now the Master can not directly impact the events of the world, so he requires you, his Soul Blazer, to enact his will for him. Apparently some great evil, known as Deathtoll, has taken over a realm known as the Freilian Empire, and has left the land barren and devoid of life. In fact, he has taken the souls of all the living beings, and imprisoned them in Monster Lairs. As the Soul Blazer slays monsters and clears out Monster Lairs, the world is slowly returned to life, with houses, animals, humans, etc. returning to being once freed. There is some other interesting stuff going on narrative-wise, with a heavy theme being reincarnation; people will return to being as animals or flowers instead of as people.

 

Development wise, the game was headlined by some of the developers of Ys III (which makes a lot of sense when you play the game), who jumped ship mid production from Falcom to join Enix for Actraiser. Shortly after that released, they began to work on Soul Blazer. You can tell this game was made right after Actraiser, in fact, because much of the sounds and even the style of the music seems to be lifted right from the game. Your character makes the same "gasp" sound when he is struck by an enemy, and the music has that synth choir sound and gothic organ sound that made up Actraiser's OST.

Gameplay

Now the aforementioned gameplay loop goes like this: you enter a new area that is barren and empty, and then travel underground to confront the local monster population. Each area in the underground has a set of monster lairs that must be destroyed. You work your way through the monster lairs, which in turn opens up more of the local town. The town will then have some sort of "central crisis" that must be solved before you can continue with the dungeon. You use items gathered in the town and dungeon to solve this crisis, and then you can enter the final portion of the dungeon and confront the boss, who will then open up the next world area. Rinse and repeat five times and then confront the final boss. 

The gameplay loop is oddly satisfying. There are some occasional bumps, but the game moves on a good clip and it doesn't dwell on its rougher oddities too long. Each area is filled with monster lairs, where the souls of the denizens of that area will be trapped. To clear a monster lair, you need to kill all the monsters that pop out of it, and then walk over the lair to collect the soul. This will cause a soul to return to your town and open up another part of the hub. It might release a building, a townsperson, or a plant or animal. It is very satisfying to slowly unlock more of an area and watch it spring to life; I delighted in seeing the barren seabed of the third area spring into a vibrant undersea palace full of sea life and mermaids. The game then hops between managing your town and then clearing your dungeons; when you get stuck and can't seem to progress, you usually know it is time to head back to town, or to clear one of the other monster lairs. Even at the points where I would kind of groan, i.e. where I am in the middle of the dungeon and I am forced to jump back to town, I usually am amazed by all I have unlocked, and I enjoy the little puzzles that I had to work through back at the town. None were really tricky, but they were nice diversions from monster slaying.

The slight repetitiveness of the gameplay loop is buoyed by the fact that the game is pretty charming for an early SNES action RPG. You can tell the localizers were having some fun when translating this game. Animals in the sylvan Greenwood will joke about eating you (complete with the music stopping when they say it), you will enter the dreams of stumps who want to be birds, and overall, the game has a playfully dark sense of humor. 

The visual design is really really basic. The enemies are typical fantasy monsters and usually are more basic than even that (some monsters are just apes, seahorses, jellyfish, lizards, etc). Your main character looks modeled after the 80's anime style with more realistic proportions and structures, and that translates into the game in a rather awkward way. His sprite is just a little too big; he stands taller than Link does in Link to the Past, which increases your hit-box. His face, as well, is not expressive at all, which just makes it look more lazy than well designed.

The areas are sparely designed too: simple color palettes, simple textures, no new or innovative environments really. Each level is your normal fantasy fare: swamps, forests, islands, caves, etc. Probably one of the neatest dungeons is one of the first: you enter a painting that has been possessed by the monsters, and have to save the mayor of the first town who is trapped inside. This, though, translates to a building that is somehow flying in the sky...a neat idea but it still could have been executed better.

While the visual style is very simple and spartan overall, one area where the game excels is in the design of the bosses. While the boss battles themselves can be taxing, they look very striking compared to the rest of the game. The first boss, in particular, is kind of iconic in his design, and was even brought back for a repeat fight in Illusion of Gaia. You can tell that the developers were proud of this themselves, as they even did a big no-no in putting the very visually striking final boss on the back cover of their case. 

As far as challenge, it is not a harsh game with death, as it only takes away all your currency for magic and sends you back to the last save point, yet keeps all the progress in the dungeon and hub town. The combat, as well, is based off of pattern recognition than sheer skill, so it encourages you to jump right back in and fight after a loss. 

The programming of the enemy AI is also just really simple and easily manipulated. Each enemy moves in a set and simple pattern and rigidly sticks to that pattern. Some enemies will track you and your movement, while other enemies will walk in random directions, and others will just hop out, shoot a projectile in front of them, and then retreat. What this leads to is you are easily able to counter or "cheese" your way through a lot of encounters. The second boss, for example, is a set of three statues, each with their own unique attack and movement pattern. The first statue moves in a set box pattern, and then shoots lightning along an X and Y axis. You can easily move around this and just wail on the statues. The second statue chases you actively and will temporarily stop to shoot a projectile, and then will move towards the direction you are relative to him. This, though, can be countered if you just stand near where he spawns, as his platform blocks his movement so that he can't collide with you. The final statue is the trickiest as his projectile tracks you too, but you can just kite him and his fire breath around the platform he spawns on. This is pretty much the case with most every boss. Now I am not really complaining about it, but it did make me cock my eyebrow and break my immersion in the game. 

One thing I love about this game, especially after the very long Romancing Saga, is that it is an exceptionally short action RPG. It is so nice to play an epic RPG in less than 10 hours. It is just the right amount of game play. I also went through this game, except for one part, without a walkthrough. That speaks to a lot for the game world and gameplay loop if the game is intuitive enough that you can puzzle your way through the game without help. There is one part ,at the end, where you have to gather the sacred parts of the final sword to challenge the final boss, and you have to revisit the previous areas and kill previously invincible monsters; this took a peek at the walkthrough to gather where the parts were, and why I kept dying on the final screen before the boss. 

 

Favorite Area
There was one area that made me go "Oh cool," and that was in the 5th world, Dr. Leo's Lab. I thought, at first, that it was going to be a simple robot themed dungeon. Part of this world, though, takes place in small model villages that Dr. Leo has in his house. There are demons infesting this model world, and you have to defeat the little models that make up these model villages. It is a neat little world that feels inspired for a classic RPG.

Music

The music was composed by Yukihide Takekawa, who is a general composed and author who has worked a lot in Japanese tv and film (not many other well-known video games, though). This soundtrack, though, is really quite superb. 

Thoughts

As an action RPG, this game is a progenitor for much of the staple mechanics that you saw in titles such as the Soulsborne series: death is a temporary setback followed by a grind back to the next goal, a central hub that leads out into the "dungeon" areas, and the linking and unearthing of smaller story elements to tell a larger more theme driven story. Even the boss battles, when stumbled upon, have the large lifebars that stretch across the screen, and can be tense affairs similar to the Souls games. I hate to be the person who says that something is the Souls of something, but this game is definitely somewhere in the DNA of the Souls series.

 

Art, Ads, and Supplementary Material

 

 

Verdict

This was a very enjoyable experience. It was a game that made me happy to continue with this blog, as it really is a gem. It has aged very well, and I give this game my full recommendation. For collectors, this game costs quite the pretty penny (upwards of $60-80 dollars last I checked), so it can be a tough find on a budget. 

 

Super FamiComplete #61: Romancing Saga (Redux)

 

Title: Romancing Saga

Release Date: 01/28/1992

Developer: Squaresoft

Publisher: Squaresoft

Finally, the Super Famicom RPG that I just chose to quietly ignore the first round through this blog. This entry was one of the big reasons for this whole "redux" run through this blog. It has taken a while to slog through, but I have finally beat the mad god Saruin and defeated this game. My apologies on the lateness of this post, and just updating the blog in general; 2020 has been a horrendous slog for us all, I know, and it seems this game is just one I want to avoid writing about. Anywho, without further ado, let's get started on this late entry into the blog. 

Background

Romancing Saga is a Japan only Squaresoft original which sits within the Final Fantasy Legend and SaGa series, created by Squaresoft veteran Akitoshi Kawazu. The SaGa series is an incredibly long running RPG series that most normal video game enthusiasts probably haven't heard of, either due to their limited release outside of Japan, or the fact that many of the games' mechanics are rather inscrutable. Due to these factors, many of the games in this series have been panned by critics. This series does have its ardent defenders, though, due to its ornate sprite art (which in later entrants turned into a beautiful watercolor aesthetic), difficult gameplay, and steep learning curve. I can see some of the appeal. I have played some of the later entries in the series, such as Saga Frontier and Unlimited Saga, and while these games certainly aren't for everyone (Unlimited Saga is like a punishing board game more than a video game) I certainly had some memorable gaming moments with each entrant. 

This is technically the fourth game in the series, with the first three being turn based RPGs on the Game Boy (Final Fantasy Legend 1-III), and is also the first of three RPGs in this series on the Super Famicom. The series continued on the PS1 with Saga Frontier 1 and 2, and then on the PS2 with Unlimited Saga. After that the series remained dormant for a while until 2018 with Saga: Scarlet Grace which saw releases on the current console generation (and is apparently pretty good!). The series is known for its multiple protagonists (with some games, this one included, having up to eight characters), non-standard narrative and character progression, and complex battle systems. It also should be noted that this game has a rerelease on the PS2, with updated 3D exploration and graphics, while still remaining pretty loyal to the key story and gameplay (it is known as Romancing Saga: Minsrel's Song); the character models in it look very similar to Bravely Default. 

I must also mention that the reproduction of this game and translation is kind of buggy and spotty. I bought a cart, tried playing this on an emulator, and several other methods, but consistently the translation would glitch out into random symbols instead of characters. Online, it is noted that there is no consistent translation, and only certain campaigns have been thoroughly completed. With this in mind, it does hurt the full recommendation just because it is a bear to play through completely in a coherent manner (unless of course you can read the untranslated script). 

Now this game looks like a traditional Square RPG, and looks very similar to the sprites and graphics of Final Fantasy IV and V specifically. The story, as well, is quite stock standard for a fantasy JRPG: it takes place in the world of Mardias, a world that was rocked by a 1000 year old cataclysm caused by a war between three evil gods and one good god. Two of the evil gods, Death and Schirach, were stripped of power (though you of course encounter both in the game and can choose to fight them), and the third evil god, Saruin, is sealed away by ten fatestones and the sacrifice of a great hero, Mirsa. Of course, now evil forces are trying to collect fatestones to revive Saruin and restore him to power, so you, as whatever protagonist you choose, must stop his revival (you don't) or destroy him.

What is unique about this game is that it is completely non-linear. Each of the main protagonists, of which there are eight, starts in a different part of the open world, and you can tackle the main quests of the game in any order that you are able. If you learn the location of Saruin, which you can get by talking to Death (if you can find him), you can challenge him as soon as you are able. This "create your own adventure" goes into the gameplay as well; for example, you can feed Saruin the fatestones at one point, and the more you give him the more powerful a final boss he will be. It is a pretty novel idea for an RPG of this vintage. 

Gameplay

Exploration and combat are at the forefront of this JRPG. When you start the game, you pick one of your eight protagonists: Albert, the noble lord who is tasked with avenging his family against monsters, Aisha, a tribeswoman searching for her missing nomadic tribe, Barbara, a dancer whose only goal is to explore and entertain, Claudia, a forest ranger who was raised with animals, Gray, a mercenary only out to make his fortune, Hawke, a pirate out for revenge, Jamil, a thief from the slums, and Sif, a valkyrie style warrior looking to become the top warrior in the world. I chose, for this playthrough, Hawke at first, but the playthrough script was bugged as all get-out, so I settled on vanilla old Albert. 

The neat thing is that, since the game is open world, you can move around the map and Roomba up the other party members and work on their quests too. Some characters will more readily join you on your quest than others, but you can, theoretically, complete every characters quest in one playthrough. Eventually, though, every characters' individual quest becomes tied to the main narrative of finding the Fatestones to seal Saruin away once again. 

This game harkens more closely to older school RPGs, where the writing is more matter of fact and stilted. Many NPCs only have one bark, and they immediately tell you important information. There is no kooky dialects, ways of speaking, or artistic license. The game, in Albert's campaign, immediately opens with your castle being attacked with monsters, and you being told to hoof it out the back door. Enemies, it should be noted, appear on the screen before you attack them, and how you make contact with enemies impacts the battle system. 

The battle system adheres to a 3 by 3 grid, and you can set up your squad into certain formations going into the battle. If your characters are up front, they are your tanks who take the most damage but deal damage too; your second row is your DPS row, and you back row is your healers. You can play with this to tinker with the battle system and your party make up, but the annoying thing is that if an enemy sprite so much as brushes your side or back, your party formation is immediately thrown into disarray and all your characters are left exposed. This can lead to some very quick and unfortunate wipes later in the game. 

This game, as well, starts using the HP/MP/LP system that becomes the staple of this series. MP is pretty self-explanatory and a trope for RPGs; these are your "magic points" which you use for special attacks. The more interesting mechanic is the HP/LP system. Your character has the standard "Hit Points" but when they are drained they merely become unconscious, and they will lose one LP or "Life Point." If they are further hit when unconscious, they will lose another LP. If they lose all of their LP, that character is permanently dead, and can only be brought back through very specific ways (one of which is making a deal with Death). 

Another unique mechanic is that this game doesn't have levels, but instead attributes random stat boosts after successful battles. The only thing that does level up is a character's proficiency with certain weapons, which get increased after continued use. So if a character uses a greatsword continually, they will eventually do more damage and learn new greatsword abilities. It reminds me of the system from Final Fantasy II in terms of the stat focused progression system in that game. 

The sprite art is quite nice if a little rudimentary compared to some later Square titles. They use a slightly muted color palette too, which makes it stand apart from Final Fantasy IV and other RPGs from this era which generally relied more on primary colors. The monster design, too, is quite nice. Some designs are really quite imaginative, even if the game suffers from initially fighting a retinue of zombies, feral dogs, and the like. 

Overall, as much as this game does have quite a bit of innovation to its design, the main issue is that the game is quite grind heavy and the narrative is dull. Enemies will mob you in huge groups, usually forcing you into battle after battle and breaking your formation at the same time. The narrative/quest writing is very basic, though they do play around with player choice. For example, when you meet Death, you can choose to sacrifice a character in your party to Death to get a powerful weapon. 

The Music

The music is quite excellent. It was composed by Kenji Ito, and the focus seems to be more on synth rock than the typical Square soundtracks. It has even been used in the Theatrhythm series of games. Here are some good examples...

Art

Being a Square game, we have some quality concept art behind this title. 

Final Verdict

There is some amazing novelty to this title which I recommend checking out, but this one is for RPG purists only. As well, the difficulty in attaining a working copy or emulation makes this an annoying investment for your time. I would check out its sequels, which make some really interesting choices, but if you are dead set on checking out this title, I would recommend playing the PS2 port of Romancing Saga instead.