Finished Alshark, a 1991 PC98 RPG from Right Stuff (same developer as Chilam Balam).
Main character is a young man called Shion Asman (Assman?). The childhood friend/girl next door is called Shouko Penrose.
The setting is a sci-fi universe with three major players: the Mars Federation, Zolius Empire and Willian Kingdom. Mars Federation are basically humans, Zolius the Klingon knockoffs and Willian are Vulcan like.
The game looks a bit more primitive than Chilam Balam (not to mention previous game I played was Illusion City from the same year). However cutscenes look very good.
It is possible to not only dual wield melee weapons but also wield a gun in one hand and a melee weapon in the other (heck, one character can dual wield bazookas). On planets it’s possible to travel in hover crafts/tanks and such in order to cross water or simply to survive the enemies.
In the beginning of the game a meteor drops on the planet Shion lives on and he and Shouko go off to investigate even though they were forbidden to do so. Both their fathers are at the scene researching it.
Oddly in the starting town there are zero shops, so it’s necessary to make do with the weapons and little items you can scrounge around. In a couple of towns it’s possible to take on some small jobs for money.
During combat only Shion can be controlled, other joinables are AI controlled (they’ll also use spells on their own). However they have some unique skills that can be used in the field, e.g. Shouko has healing/teleport & Joe has repair/analysis skills.
AI is generally competent but of course there are moments when AI won’t heal when they need to. There is no numerical feedback about damage inflicted, but enemies will become red when near death.
When Shion and Shoko arrive at the meteor scene a ship of the Zolius empire is also at the scene and their fathers are taken away. However, their fathers resist and in the following cafuffle somehow when Shoko’s father touches a Zolius gun something wakes up and he seems to turn evil, killing Shion’s father. He mentions the word “Alshark” before flying off with the Zolius ship.
Returning to his hometown, strangely enough Shion’s mother left without saying something. Next task is to find her with the help of Scrap Joe, former acquaintance of Shion and Shouko’s fathers. Scrap Joe can upgrade the robot that doesn’t level automatically.
Turns out Shion’s mother left the planet, luckily Scrap Joe got a self-built spaceship to chase after her. The ship can be equipped with various weapons and armour; Scrap Joe can craft armour, weapons and engine/frame/turrets for spaceship.
Once you hit space there are rather annoying space battle random encounters. On planet surfaces it’s possible to use hovercrafts, tanks, etc. which are sometimes the only way to reach certain locations.
Not shortly after leaving the first planet Mamon shows up again, robobro gets scrapped (though an improved version of him later joins the party) but a new party member is gained, > 2m high warrior womyn called Welda. She’s half-Zolius and cyborg (but without a full cyborg body).
At this point there a couple of mission for the Mars Federation, like investigating a drug from the Zolius Empire that acts on junk DNA and causes either rapid evolution or rapid degeneration.
Once you gain access to the spaceship the game becomes somewhat freeform; it’s possible to visit planets in whichever order but enemies might be much too strong. The spaceship can be upgraded – especially upgrading engine is important in order to be able to do “hyperspace jump” and travel to star systems instantly rather than do everything manually.
Eventually when Shion finds his mother it turns out when the meteor fell she merged with a primordial pure energy being from inside the meteor and became “Alshark”. Shouko’s father merged with Alshark’s enemy. Since Shouko’s father joined up with the Zolius Empire and threatens to conquer the galaxy, Alshark’s mission is to prevent this.
Of course Shion as the main character as the “chosen one” receives the hidden power and Alshark mainly serves as a guide. At this point Shion & Co break away from the Mars Federation, steal their spaceship back and become free agents.
Around halfway through the game Alshark’s enemy is defeated and Shouko’s father saved; however Shion loses his mother in the process. The rest of the game basically comes down to taking down the Zolius empire.
Final dungeon is quite annoying to get through, enemies are very strong even with best equipment. Final boss though is a complete walk-over (other bosses in the game have millions of HP and take ages to kill).
And oh yeah, it ends on a cliffhanger.
Plot and character wise there are definitely some parallels with Libros de Chilam Balam; in particular main character having a red-headed girlfriend who is kidnapped at one point early in the game. Not to mention, the smack-talking older bearded dude and a focus on parental issues.
Difficulty wise I found the game about as challenging as early Phantasy Star games.
Regarding the music, peculiarly enough the main theme that plays inside towns is VERY familiar to the main theme of the Russian game Farewell to Dragons. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence
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