Old/obscure/underrated JRPGs

[abnaxus]

Played Lodoss for PC Engine (1992).

The Sega CD version from 1994 was a good game but it was basically a collection of set pieces where you leveled up in arena in between. Plus the story ended very prematurely.

The PC Engine version is a more proper rpg with overland travel, random encounters and sidequests.

There are more spells and much higher enemy variety. You level to 16 at the end.

Combat is fairly challenging as most of the time you’ll be fighting big mobs of tough enemies (chimeras, manticores, dark elves and ogres, etc.). At the end there are mobs of greater demons but at that point Deedlit and Slayne have instant death spells at their disposal.

The story ends with Karla’s defeat, Gim doesn’t even die. But that’s fine as you already defeat Pirotess, Ashram and Vagnard before facing Karla.

P.S. I don’t know whether the stats used for the characters are official, Parn has 9 INT which makes sense but Deedlit only 13 PB (personal beauty) lower than Slayne even.

Spoiler

 

[abnaxus]

Played Lodoss II for PC Engine (1994).

Because the Lodoss II animu is forgettable (at least Ashram is good in it) I had low expectations but it’s a better game than the first.

The new characters are way better than in the animu. At least I’ll be able to remember their names now.

Combat is now more like the Sega Lodoss. Storywise it deals with the rest of the Lodoss I animu story where Vagnard is trying to revive Kardis and needs Deedlit’s body for it.

Parn & Deedlit are intermittent party members and even Shiris & Orson join for a while.

P.S.: lel @ the gurls' PB scores

Spoiler

 

[abnaxus]

For comparison this is how the intro looks on Sega CD:

So I played the Mega CD version.

Cool opening movie aside, it’s a p. crappy port. Feels sluggish throughout the entire game, especially final boss is a pain in the ass because of this. The game should’ve gone on PC Engine instead (Emerald Dragon and Alshark were better than the originals) . Fuck Sega.

Still Illusion City is a gud game. I’d love a modern remake, something in the style of the recent Yakuza game. Or a straight sequel , there’s still enough material to work with.

Spoiler

 

[abnaxus]

Deedlit has proper beauty stat in PC version

 

[Ysaye]

Deedlit has proper beauty stat in PC version

Is the game generally consistent with the original Sword World system rules?

 

[abnaxus]

The game actually came out before Sword World 1st edition. It has a completely different system.

 

[abnaxus]

I played the first Lodoss game on PC98.

The console version is the remake of this game and came out after the animu so uses the animu song and visuals. But the PC version actually came out in 1988 before the animu, before Deedlit became renowned waifu. That’s probably why you get to see her nekkid in PC version.

There’s no sign of Ashram and Pirotess, which is just as well. In the console version you kick both their asses as a way of fan service, when the two of them are supposed to be stronger than Parn and Deedlit.

This is a much more in-depth rpg with more spells, mostly utility spells that need to be used often. You can create your own party in this game, but if you don’t you play with the iconic party. Dungeons are first person and need to be mapped.

Combat is fun but most of the leveling is still done by performing sidequests and advancing through the main quest.

Spoiler

 

[abnaxus]

Played Lodoss II PC98 version (1991).

You can create new characters or import your custom Lodoss I characters into this game rather than play with the iconic party.

In the console version you have Spark as the clear main character, running errands in the beginning and assembling his party (you get Leaf rather late in that game), in PC version Spark’s party mostly do stuff on their own and meet Spark later. They’re even thrown in the thick of it immediately, being sent into dragon dens and facing off with potentially very powerful enemies in these dungeons. But it means that at least you level up quickly.

A bit later challenge goes out of the window completely as level 25 guest NPCs will periodically join who can spam very powerful spells every turn (Slayne, Deedlit).

Gameplay wise and structure wise the game is very similar to Sword World PC which came out a year later. Dungeons are much more simplified compared to the first game, the game as a whole is p. short.

Also in this game Deedlit’s beauty score gets lowered from 19 to 13. This is likely because the creator made Leaf his new waifu (of course she’s 15 years old).

Final boss (Kardis) is tough as nails. Without using Ashram’s cursed sword it is not possible to win. Level 25 Parn is completely useless at the end.

Spoiler

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

What's going on here? For jap illiterate it leaves a little boinky-boink to the imagination. I'll take it she's dying.

spank that ass you smug valkryrie looking chick.

 

[abnaxus]

Played Alnam no Kiba on PC Engine (1994).

It’s one of those games I should’ve played much earlier.

The game’s by Right Stuff (ex-Glodia) who made Alshark, Libros de Chilam Balam and Emerald Dragon PC Engine version.

In this game the main character and (ten) party members all belong to a tribe of shapeshifters: main character can change into wolf, others change into horse, tiger, bunny, etc. Basically the animals from the Chinese zodiac except for the dragon who don’t appear until near the end.

Shapeshifters are despised by mankind and forced to live in chitty villages away from human cities. However the human empress (blue-haired Tamryn) convinces them to fight for mankind against monsters attacking humans. You get her special token but even then you’re treated like trash: still getting insulted at shops, inns, etc.

In combat you can shapeshift at the cost of mana to do a stronger than normal attack. There are also various unite attacks.

Encounter rate is ridiculous but usually over immediately unless you are stuck with melee only characters.

Final boss looks p. cool and I like that you need to beat it as a team. Ending is some Evangelion level chit.

And oh yeah, main character ends up with the bunny gurl whose fiancée conveniently dies off screen but best girl was clearly the horse gurl.

All Right Stuff games have a rather peculiar story pacing. You don’t even know the real villain until the final 5% of the game.

Game was gud enough but wouldn’t really recommend it overall, there are many annoying bugs, some even gamebreaking.

Spoiler

 

[infidel]

Now that's some mad tiling skillz. With 256x239 resolution, some crazy Japanese had boatloads of fun cutting that into 16x16 tiles, unless I'm mistaken and they've had a way of outputting a full pixel art image. But vertical brick tiling seems way too regular for that.

P.S. Bruh, use upscaled PNG pls. JPGs mess up the pixel art way too much.

Spoiler

 

[abnaxus]

Played Tenshi no Uta on PC Engine (1991).

This game has the same premise as Phantasy Star III: your blue-haired waifu with mysterious past is taken away by a monster right before marriage and you need to chase after her. In fact, combat is p. similar to Phantasy Star as well.

The game starts in olde Ireland but soon you need to head to Britannia where your waifu was taken.

I appreciate some of the Celtic inspired enemy design (and there’s a party member named Enya ). Towns have some nice detail that make the world feel alive.

It’s a charming, light-hearted* adventure like they don’t make them anymore (except maybe Dragon Quest撤). Music also top notch.

*Though you do lose your waifu at the end in spite of saving humanity.

Spoiler

 

[abnaxus]

Played Tenshi no Uta II (1993)

This time you find (angelic) waifu in tower who lost her memory and you must help her remember.

First half of the game you spend in a more generic Final Faggetry like game world rather than the charming Britannia. You might even wonder how exactly this is a sequel to the first game (it takes place a hundred years later). But then in the second half of the game you end up in Britannia and meet some characters from the first game again. The game then becomes brilliant.

Despite being a love story with happy end it feels overall p. dark as it is your waifu who must decide whether to remove humanity from premises or not.

I’ve yet to be disappointed by PC Engine rpg game.

Spoiler

 

[abnaxus]

Played Babel on PC Engine (1992)

This is another game that starts with blue-haired waifu in distress rescued by chad protagonist (you have a female partner who’s the typical big sister). But this time the setting is kinda post-apocalyptic or “science fantasy”. The crux of the story is that humanity first warp system fukked up the space time continuum and created the world of Babel.

You don’t get xp from combat, only money. There’s some minor resource management as you have a very limited inventory and need to lug around bullets, grenades/dynamite, food and recovery items.

Towns are big with a lot of ppl to talk to and hidden stuff to find.

Leveling happens only by advancing the story; the story is episodic in nature but with an overarching plot.

The first three chapters are great but the entire fourth chapter is narrated (similar to Xenogears second disk) which is a disappointment and a great disservice to the game. Chapters 5 and 6 still have gameplay at least.

It’s a neat little game, structure wise kinda reminds me of London Seirei Tanteidan.

Spoiler

 

[lightbane]

Post-apocalyptic JRPG with guns and vehicles? Reminds me of Metal Max, another obscure series from Japan whose translated entries can be counted in one hand.

 

[abnaxus]

Played Far the Earth no Jakotei: NEO METAL FANTASY on PC Engine (1992)

This is rpg game by Clock Tower developer.

It is another science fantasy game. The main character is an ancient hero who is awakened by red-haired magic gurl. He was split into four parts so starts the game as basically a toddler.

The setting is p. dark tbh (with a p. cool soundtrack), feels a bit like Shadowrun. Only the Wapanese can put naieve cute gurl in such a setting and somehow make it work. Party members are quite exotic , one of them is a (hilarious) purple blob who initially spends most of the time sleeping in combat – like Waking rune in Suikoden. You need to feed seeds to give him special skills.

Like in some other PC Engine rpg games there’s a button to trigger banter which is nice.

Encounter rate is high but combat is dynamic enough so that it never becomes annoying. You need to visit guilds and such to upgrade magic and armour. There is no mana, instead you use items called “akashic” to cast magic. Magic is very powerful so you need to consider when it’s best to use but it’s not really very likely to run out of akashics.

Spoiler

 

[lightbane]

The style reminds me of Phantasy Star 2 somewhat.

 

[MRY]

The style reminds me of Phantasy Star 2 somewhat.

I would say Phantasy Star III map sprites and to a lesser extent combat, Phantasy Star IV cinematic sequences and dialogues.

But yeah, it is an intensely PS vibe.

 

[abnaxus]

Played Shadowrun Wapan on Mega Drive (1996)

It’s good for what it is, a visual novel with intermittent combat.

You can buy new equipment, cyberware and spells, mod weapons, but in the end combat is 90% reliant on dice rolls of which there are many. In fact it’s easy to lose with bad rolls. Of course with emulator you can always have the dice roll the way you want.

There is a fixed party consisting of a human samurai, a human ex-corp, a human (cat totem) shaman and an Elven decker. The game consists of a number of seemingly unrelated missions but the game plot consists of an Aztechnology (the second biggest megacorporation in the world) mage’s plot to fulfill an ancient Mayan prophecy. He literally wants to destroy Tokyo by triggering a huge earthquake by means of a magic ritual fueled by the sacrifice of many Orks. But he himself was manipulated the entire time by a mysterious being in the body of a little boy called Trinity.

Spoiler

 

[Falksi]

Not long finished playing this quaint little number. Had potential, but ultimately tripped over it's own feet trying to get there.........

Eternal Filena (Eien no Firēna) - SNES

An intriguing little title originally only available in Japan, the first time I heard about Eternal Filena was only the other week as one of those "games which were so ace they should have got an English translation". It has, so I was curious to give it a go in the hope I might unearth a Final Fantasy-esq gem, and Eternal Filena may become an eternal flame.

Story wise I was actually quite gripped at the outset. It introduces a lot of elements that have a lot of potential to go places and, whilst some are cliched, the down-to-earth setting & grounded + morally grey political tones all worked really nicely together to reel me in. Alongside the great pixelart, and initially simple but fun battle system I was having a good time with it. All of this is executed very basically of course, but done very well none-the less and seemed promising. But sadly that promise never really delivers, and as the game wears on bad design choices begin to bog the whole thing down.

Firstly, there's my big JRPG bugbear - a lack of secrets in towns and dungeons. Yes there are the odd few here and there, but nowhere near enough or significant enough to warrant wasting your time searching around for. Also 80% of townsfolk are completely pointless, which isn't uncommon, but they don't even really help set the scene or build the world either. By the time you've spoken to the 5th townsperson you're hearing the same point 4 times over, and again you find yourself searching for a way to plough ahead. It's not long before you've worked out that there's little fun or point in doing anything other than moving the story forward asap.

Some of the design choices totally hinder everything else which is occurring too. For example, early on the game decides to impede the players eyesight as part of the story, which then leads to exploring a dungeon & town with a blurry "blind" effect hampering you all the way through. I get what they're going for, but in practice it's just a pain in the arse, and doesn't really add anything to the game other than annoyance. This lasts for a good amount of time too, and the whole time I was just thinking "FFS, just get rid of this effect". Again, I found myself just wanting to get to the next section. And that was starting to become a common theme throughout.

I was having a decent time with the battle system initially too. It's the standard turn based affair, and it starts out fairly well balanced, again promising to go places. But yet again it all starts to fall apart as it starts expanding. You can equip up to 3 weapons, and this offers some scope on your strategies. However, this not only fails to deliver due to the fact that you end up relying on the same few attacks anyway (making all those extra options pretty pointless), but weapon management & trading at shops can often turn into a very laboured affair, as you have to find the balance between 12 weapons in total with a full squad (not to mention each players defensive equipment too). This is made even worse by the fact that you can only compare stats after purchasing equipment, and turned shopping into a right ballache.

Battles also move really quickly too, but not in a good way. It's just too quick at times, and I often found myself just trying to get some of the support characters moves out the way. Between all the weapon options & battle speed itself, it's easy to just think "fuck it" and drop onto a standard formula of attack. It further negates the point of having so many options to carefully consider, and overall it just feels very rushed, and blended a bit like Cheese & Piss Twang crisp flavouring. Odd & also fighting itself. Random battle frequency is high even for a game of that era too, and before you know it all the game's potential is turning into a real chore all round.

You need to put a lot of work in to this to get to the meat and potatoes Eternal Filena offers. Even for game of that era, there's a lot of busy-work and bullshit to work around to be able to enjoy the game's very interesting and enjoyable story. Some may be able to endure it, but not me. I'd had enough a significant amount of time before completion.

A game which has some really nice individual aspects, but which are choked by the game's overall setup. Shame.

I'd definitely say it's worth investing a few hours in just to sample it though.

 

[abnaxus]

and here I was wondering who the green hair on the cover (the actual shaman) was supposed to be

fuck Sega

 

[Ysaye]

abnaxus I hope sincerely you have been asked to contribute to Bitmap Book's upcoming book A Guide to Japanese Role-playing Games?

https://www.bitmapbooks.co.uk/products/a-guide-to-japanese-role-playing-games

 

[Falksi]

So for you JRPG experts out there, which would you say are the "must play" English translation JRPGs of the 8 & 16-bit era?

Including all these more obscure titles obviously. Any hidden gems in there which are often missed?

 

[abnaxus]

Played PS2 version of Rhapsody of Zephyr (2004).

Originally a Kwarean PC game from 1998, part of War of Genesis series* and localized by Falcom. Thanks to the Arcturus thread for bringing this game to my attention.

It is based on Count of Monte Cristo but main character is not Edmond Dantès but Cyrano (Bernstein), actually the grandson of a character from earlier game. During his 14 years in jail he literally turns into a mix of Elric of Melniboné Anomander Rake and Dark Schneider. There are also some 15th century characters around like de Medici and Cesare Borgia (the main villain, Mercedes’ father).

Plot wise it is a revenge story with the backdrop of a rebellion. The game is part of (legendary) War of Genesis series of which majority of games are not translated so there’s likely a lot of references missed. For instance, Cyrano is trained by an old woman who was a main character in previous game). Not to mention the heroes of previous games are mentioned in conversation quite a few times.

Falcom changed the original Kwarean art which is unfortunate. I don’t dislike the art but the original art just perfectly fits the dark theme of the game.

Here’s a comparison:

Spoiler

de Medici

Cyrano pre-prison

Cyrano post-prison

Mercedes

Borgia

Esmeralda

Silverna

Kanna

Isabel

Chris

Klauzevich

P. sure Falcom didn’t mess with the story as it’s light-years beyond anything they’ve managed to come up with.

There’s a scene where two children are gunned down right after their parents are killed; I don’t think I’ve ever seen something like that in any game. Nowadays that would definitely be cut, regardless of plot necessity.

Combat is p. fun. There are 116 weapons in total in the game each with their own strengths and weaknesses. There are weapons with high attack but low defense and vice versa. Weapons can break quickly if you’re not careful, you need to switch depending on circumstances.

But in essence this is a highly prestigious story-driven game and combat isn’t really that plentiful. I liked that there are some optional areas where you can find unique weapons and items. I also really appreciated the music.

The game has four endings depending on certain important choices near the end of the game. The most dramatic “true” end happens after you choose to return to Mercedes, which I didn’t even consider. In the book though Dantès ultimately decides to move on and enjoy life with his new waifu; I went this route in the game (then you actually end up with your three waifus**). Ultimately it's a story about letting go.

Spoiler

*War of Genesis 4 is supposed to be a MMO and has been in development for over ten years. War of Genesis 3 (1999) is apparently considered a timeless classic but never left Kwarea (maybe China?).

War of Genesis 4 MMO is seemingly taking place during the same time. Here’s how’s the main characters look in the MMO:

Spoiler

Cyrano

Silverna

Esmeralda

Kanna

Isabel

Chris

**The pirate gurl is best by far. She never leaves your side.

P.S.: I recommend reading the article on Softmax on HG101

P.P.S.: using the latest version of PCSX2 at some point I ran into a bug when the emulator would freeze every time I used a certain special attack/spell. I didn’t have this problem with older version of PCSX2.

 

[Ysaye]

Wonder if this will ever be available in the Western World (Not holding to hopes that it will be translated)?

Record of Lodoss War Chronicle Announced, to Release in Spring 2022 (siliconera.com)