I have also been playing one of the most popular RPG “classics” of our recently departed generation: Final Fantasy X.  This, no doubt, will give me the internet equivalent of street cred and my blog will now overflow with posts debating whether Sephiroth is the best villain ever.  My review follows.Let me say, first, that this game does rank pretty well in the standard of PS2 Final Fantasy games.  This is not a great metric to go by, though; FFXII was only saved from “unmitigated disaster” on the character front by Balthier, and though the plot was entertaining enough, much of the rest of the game was bland.  The license grid was fun for a while, then got boring and pointless; meanwhile the sphere grid is pointless for a while, and then gets fun.  But as fun as it is to rag on FFXII, this post is about FFX.

Once I got past the first 7 hours, Tidus went out of “whiny Blitzball player” mode and got a little less dense.  This allowed cooler characters (everyone else) to take a bit more of the stage.  Although the others are at times annoying, aside from Auron, all of them are at least unique.  This is one of FFX’s strengths, although none of the characters are compelling.  Unfortunately only Wakka shows any significant growth, and that is mostly because he goes from religious bigot to a somewhat understanding guy with a terrible accent.  Tidus and Yuna improve a bit, but Tidus remains the outwardly-confident inwardly-sensitive JRPG stereotype while Yuna maintains the strength-in-the-face-of-despair bit from start to finish.  Voice-wise, both have either poorly translated lines or shoddy delivery; I’m not sure which, and it could be both.  Auron, Rikku, Lulu, and  Kimahri are the only characters who feel well-voiced, and if they couldn’t do “awesome veteran warrior”, “stereotypical bouncy girl”, “goth girl” and “guy who never talks” right, I would not have bothered playing the game.

The world is definitely FFX’s strongest point.  Spira has all kinds of crazy stuff going on, and the landscapes seem at some times almost Seussian, others something like in Skies of Arcadia; generally, they are fascinating and fantastic.  Unfortunately, the initial wonder the player might feel at seeing something like the Thunder Plains, where a constant thunderstorm roils the landscape and specially placed lightning rods allow moderately safe passage, is almost immediately offset by annoyance.  See, the player has to dodge these lightning bolts in an incredibly annoying fashion, while dealing with the crushingly high standard encounter rate (seriously, once every 10 steps or something).  Likewise, in the somewhat-cliche-though-cool forested area, the player can do an incredibly annoying butterfly catching minigame.  Though there are areas where stupid minigames do not interfere with the dreamy, fantastic feel of Spira, they are few and far between.

Likewise, Spira’s constant assualt by Sin makes for an interesting move.  Much like the post-apocalyptic fourth world of Final Fantasy Legend, full of ruined cities destroyed by a rampaging phoenix, Spira goes through 10-year cycles at the end of which Sin reappears and begins laying waste to the landscape.  Any attempts to stop it by conventional means meet with death on a grand scale.   Sin’s nature (i.e. biology, power, etc) is never fully explored, though it is far better without explanation; all you need to know is that it has a freaking lot of bug things and laser beams it can shoot at you, and that somehow your entire party always survives every assault intact.

It is this lack of follow-through where Final Fantasy X falls apart.  Spira is consistently described as being death-filled; and perhaps it is.  But none of the characters who die have faces.  There are two minor characters – potentially three – who are even remotely likeable and die in the course of the game.  They each have perhaps four lines before their death.  What FFX really needed was for a significant character (preferably Tidus) to die a horribly violent death.  Perhaps getting crushed by Sin’s left pinky-equivalent.  Then the message of death would get through; but no, we can’t have any main characters die, because that’s too cliche.  And before anyone calls me out on a certain character, you should re-read the exact wording in the paragraph.  I know at least one person reading hasn’t played the game yet (yes, I’m sure you are the only one in the world who hasn’t now), and I try to keep this place spoiler-free.

Tales of Symphonia reminds me of Growlanser: Heritage of War for several reasons.  First is that the characters seem horribly cliched at first glance.  Second is that combat is almost unbelievably smooth; very, very few RPGs get this right, and ToS has pretty much no down-time (no loading time, no gameplay freezes during battle over .5s, easy controls).  Third is that the ToS world is full of intrigue and certain NPCs switch sides at least three times – when they don’t actively admit they’re working towards three different goals.  Fourth is that, sadly, I may forget this game before too long because the experience is almost too smooth.

But it really surpasses G:HOW in many respects.  The characters are actually pretty deep, and I found myself liking all of them (except Zelos, of course; nobody likes Zelos.  I suppose Genis gets a “meh” as well).  ToS has the JRPG standard where you explore the entire world and solve everybody’s problems.  In this respect it’s cliche; in the way that sometimes people die, and they’re not always bad people, it is not.  ToS also has good music, more balanced combat, and a much more enjoyable story.

All in all, a good game with a few flaws.  Some of the puzzles in dungeons are really annoying – not in the “hard-to-solve” way but rather the “why did they force me to do the same sequence 5 times” way.  AI is occasionally sketchy, but generally at least decent.  Difficulty is fairly well-balanced.  I lost a few boss battles along the way, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a team reorganization and a bit more planning.

Tales of Symphonia is highly derivative of Tales of Destiny 2 (Tales of Eternia, for those “in the know”) plot-wise but does just about everything better.  I would particularly recommend it for someone who hasn’t played any of the Tales series before.  It’s a really polished Action RPG, even if it does everything you’d expect from a JRPG.

I’m looking forward to Dawn of the New World.

Suikoden 2: Graphics: 8.5/10 Sound: 8.5/10 Gameplay: 9/10 Story: 9.5/10 Translation: 6.5/10 Overall: 9.4/10

Suikoden 3: Graphics: 9/10 Sound: 6/10 Gameplay: 9/10 Story: 9.8/10 Translation: 9/10 Overall: 9/10

Suikoden 4: Graphics: 9/10 Sound: 8/10 Gameplay: 6/10 Story: 7/10 Translation: 8.5/10 Overall: 7/10

Suikoden 5: Graphics: 7/10 Sound: 9/10 Gameplay: 9.5/10 Story: 9.3/10 Translation: 10/10 Overall: 9.3/10

This is going to be an unusual review in that I’m looking at a whole series. I’ll mention briefly the overall themes, then describe each game in turn.

The Suikoden series is loosely based on the novel Outlaws of the Marsh, a Chinese novel written in the 13th/14th century AD. It takes its name from the Japanese name for the story, translating directly to “Water Border Legend”, but probably more appropriately “Marsh Legend”.

Briefly, the novel is about 108 men and women (corresponding to 108 Stars of Heaven and Earth) who, persecuted by a corrupt bureaucracy, form a closely-knit group of outlaws at Liangshan Marsh. They declare loyalty to the emperor, whom they believe has no idea about what is going on. After they defeat government troops several times, they are eventually pardoned by the emperor and go on to distinguish themselves in wars against invading “barbarians”.
The Suikoden series takes from that novel the concept of 108 Stars of Destiny. That is to say, each individual game has 108 characters, several dozen of which the player must find scattered throughout the realm and recruit. The games also take several recurring themes from the novel, including a single friendly strategist who is miraculously cunning and well-informed (except in the case of 3, but that’s for later) and several characters being “non-fighters” (in the novel, there was a doctor, a seal carver, a calligrapher, horse expert…). Not all characters are required to finish the game, but they are necessary to get the most plot and the “best” ending in all the games. The player obtains (usually halfway through the game) a castle which grows in size and utility based on how many and which characters have been recruited.
It’s also interesting to note that all of these games, unlike most RPG series, take place in the same world. For example, Suikoden 1 takes place in the Toran Empire (“Scarlet Moon”). Suikoden 2 takes place around 5 years later, somewhat Northeast of there, and one of the places you must go for military aid is the capital of the newly formed Toran Republic.

All of these characteristics make for stories that are altogether believable and well-done. Characterization is remarkably good considering over 100 characters (in fact, much better than the original novel) and I still don’t see why the Suikoden series doesn’t seem to be especially popular.

Suikoden 1 is, naturally, the first of the series, and as such is not especially well-polished. The sprites and portraits, though generally not bad quality, are fuzzy and it is sometimes difficult to tell what is going on. That said, music is quite good, carrying the theme of any given part of the game.

Battle mechanics are somewhat odd for the genre – you have a 6-person team with which to fight normal battles. Multiple enemies can be attacked (or attack) at the same time, so rounds go relatively quickly. The magic system is somewhat akin to that of Final Fantasy 1, but has several improvements to make it much nicer.

There are also “major battles”, which work like a gigantic rock-paper-scissors match, with enough quirks to make it relatively strategic.

The game, like Suikoden 2 and 4, has a ‘silent’ protagonist. The protagonist, that is, never says anything unless you are making a decision. These decisions range from relatively inane (whether or not you want to try and flirt with your female bodyguard) to more important (whether to execute an enemy general or try to recruit him), but the result is that characterization for the main character is pretty good despite him never really talking.

I won’t go into too much of the plot, but essentially ‘you’ are the son of a distinguished general, Tir McDohl. Your friend, Tim, who Tir adopted some years previous, has a disturbing secret which drags you into a rebellion against the empire, which by now you have realized is full of corruption. Eventually, you become leader of this rebellion, and gain the services of a strategist, a former teacher by the name of Mathiu Silverberg.

From there, the plot has several twists and turns, and I wouldn’t want to spoil anything. Suffice it to say, the story is good but not especially predictable.

Suikoden 2, the next entry of the series, is much better polished. Sprites are clear, portraits well-done, and the plot is well-written. Most music is better than in the first, but not all.

The battle mechanics are much the same, but since graphics are much clearer, you can get a much better idea of what is going on. Major battles are much better, but still play like a ‘lite’ strategy game (most like Warsong or a Shining Force / Fire Emblem game).

Plot is excellent. Since the game takes place only five years after the original, there is a good amount of room for overlap of characters, and instead of only having cameos, several of the major characters of the original work into the plot and are better characterized in this version.

There are so many good characters in this game that it is hard to think about beginning to describe them. A good portion of the way through the game, you’ll get Shu, a strategist who studied under Mathiu of the first game. Shu is by far my favorite of the strategists, mostly because he is well-informed and reminds me of Zhuge Liang of Three Kingdoms.

In fact, there are several references, minor and major, to Three Kingdoms. Whether it’s intentional or simply a side-effect of having a basis in Outlaws, it makes the game a bit more interesting if you’ve read the book or played the games.

This is not to say that you should avoid the game if you haven’t. Suikoden 2 is probably my second favorite RPG for the Playstation (after Lunar 2), and is well worth a play if you can track it down for less than $60.

The only major problem I have with this game is the translation, which ranges from a well-turned phrase to some of the most grammar-challenged stuff I’ve seen (a blacksmith says “I haven’t sharped in very long time”, for example). This generally doesn’t interfere with the plot, though.

Suikoden 3 was the major changing point for the series. While the second entry was a more polished version of the first, the third is a reimagining of the series – and what a reimagining it is.

The main difference is that KCET implemented what they call a “Trinity Sight” system, which in more plain words means that there are 3 main characters, each of whome has a unique perspective as to what is going on. The player will thus have a much larger view of the events in the game. This system is well-implemented, allowing you to choose which character’s chapter to play next each time one is finished. Chapters are between 1 and 4 hours long, and each character has 3, along with Chapters 4 and 5 where you select which character to become the ‘main’.

The world in Suikoden 3 is rich and colorful, but occasionally annoying. Environments are particularly nice-looking, with realistic-looking cliffs and forests. Characters themselves have very well-drawn portraits, as well as correspondingly nice models (done in an anime-esque style). Instead of modelling emotions as a shift in the polygons of the face, though, or not showing it at all, in Suikoden 3 the characters have drawn faces which change depending on the emotion conveyed. Although it can look rather odd, it usually has a nice effect. The only complaint I have with the graphics is that town environments range from very nice to drab and repetetive, but the nicer ones more than make up for the so-so ones.

Gameplay mechanics changed big time. The battle system is now location-based, which is to say it’s like the Lunar series, and honestly looks really nice. It’s very suitable for the series. In between battles, there is a skill system built atop the leveling system, allowing for some nice customization. If you like some number-crunching and optimization in your strategy-RPG games, you’ll probably enjoy this portion.

Music took a pretty big hit on this one. I’m not certain, since I haven’t checked the corresponding credits, but I think KCET lost their original composer for Suikoden games, which means that Suikoden 3 has music that is, while generally atmospheric, pretty repetetive and not especially inspiring. Some songs can be good (town music among them) but the main battle themes are short and not very suited to battle. Boss themes are somewhat better, but they’re even shorter.

Another slight gripe about this game is that sometimes it seems to take forever. It’s by far the longest of the series (my shortest game was 32 hours, while for 1, 2, and 4 I had 15, 20, and 15), which is mostly a good thing, but a goodly portion of that time was in running across the exact same field for the 10th time in a row. It becomes much easier to skip once you get the teleporting character and the Blinking Mirror, which takes you back to your base.

Plot-wise, this is the second best of the series. The three characters that can be chosen have different personalities, and each is well-characterized and pretty likeable. Two or three dozen minor characters are given good characterization as well. The strategist for this game, Caesar Silverberg, is interesting at first (being that he seems to be habitually lazy and unmotivated) but I got the impression he wasn’t really that skilled (and seems largely unnecessary as a character).

Throwbacks to Suikodens 1 & 2 can be found interspersed in the plot, but do not become a major issue. You can load in save data from Suikoden 2, but the only major perks are 2 scripts (1 if said Suikoden 2 data did not have loaded Suikoden 1 data) and the Suikoden 2 nation’s name (I forget the default) being changed to whatever you named it in-game. I’m glad that they allowed this because it’s always neat to see a country you named mentioned, even if only in passing. Some characters from earlier games reappear – Futch, Apple, Yuber, and Viki being the only ones from the first 2 and Tuta,being the only one from Suikoden 2 that I can recall. Several characters are referenced, though, such as Maximillian, Ronnie Bell, Freed Y… the end result is a slightly richer experience if you’ve played through the first two games.

All in all, this game is excellent. It is my second favorite PS2 RPG (though that might change with a new Valkyrie Profile) that I’ve played, and can still be found for a reasonable price (unlike 1 and 2!), though that price is going up. I highly recommend it. It is no wonder it has a successful manga series, even in the United States!

Suikoden 4 is another changing point for the series – namely, back to the old. Unfortunately, there is really nothing I can say about the game that is definitely better than in any other game.

The battle system is the same as Suikoden 1/2 – the only differences being only having 4 members in a party (and only one “row”, so no more back row for easy survival of caster characters). Well, with such a drastic reduction of complexity, you’d better hope the other feature is darned neat. Unfortunately, the “rush” feature is largely an empty add-on, allowing for a single attack before batle starts under certain situations.

Thankfully, the game is easy enough that it doesn’t really matter. In fact, very little about the battle system matters – it’s less complex than the first entry of the series, and is an easier game.

Graphics are, as in Suikoden 3, 3-dimensional and quite nice. Characters look much more realistic than they did before. Towns look a little more repetetive than in 3, but it’s no big deal.

Story is sort of questionable. KCET went back to a “passive hero” – that is, one who only is considered to be speaking when you, the player, is making a decision. In the first two, there were more decisions that didn’t matter, and enough characters that the hero cared about to bring about some real characterization. The only character this hero seems to care about is the pompous Snowe, a character who is so weak, whiny and all-around unlikable that he’s nearly unbelievable (nearly as bad as the main character of FFX, possibly worse), yet he is still friends with the main character after being a real jerk to just about everybody who isn’t evil. Thankfully, the strategist Elenor Silverberg (ahh, that last name again) is funny enough to make up for Snowe, but some of the plot just seems too convenient / contrived / “easy” for the main character.

Translation is, like the third entry, excellent. Although no Working Designs (which incidentally went out of business recently), the translation team seems to know what it’s doing.

A major departure for the series is (finally, in the eyes of some – unnecessary, to me) is that of voice acting. The same studio that did Star Ocean did this game, and they seem to have done an even better job. That is to say, this is some of the best voice acting this side of PC games (Jagged Alliance, Arcanum, etc). Some characters have annoying voices, but they are generally in-character and audible. The main character, of course, has no voice.

Only a couple throwbacks in this game. Suikoden 4 takes place in the Island Nations off the coast of the major continent in the Suikdoen series, 50-some years before Suikoden 1, so they could only have a few. One, at least, is guaranteed to delight players of Suikoden 1, however.

Taking place on island nations does bring a couple of interesting mechanics to the game. You are expected to find islands based on relatively vague directions, which starts out interesting but ends up being annoying. The ships are generally slow and difficult to maneuver, so you will likely run into a dozen random battles betwen towns The headquarters, too, is a giant ship – but the teleporter character can be gotten so early that it hardly matters that it can move at all. The new Strategy Battle system is generally uninteresting – a large game of rock-paper-scissors with a few more elements at best.

My final problem with the game is that recruitment is sometimes random. There was only one ‘star’ character in the past three games where you had to wander and have a random chance of getting them; there are something like 6 or 7 in number 4 alone. On my last play-through, I gave up because of this frustration.

Overall, a good game, but certainly doesn’t live up to 2 and 3 – if it were a sequel to Suikoden 1, it would be a pretty decent game, but when they take out a nicely done skill system and a decent, nice-looking battle system and replace it with a system that is less complex than the *first* game in the series, there’s really nothing to be said. This is a good game, but only a mediocre way to continue the series.

Suikoden 5 is, in some ways, like 4 in that it is a return to the roots of the series. In 4′s case, however, Konami seemed to regress too far back, while in 5, the best parts of the old games – with the possible exception of the graphics – are meshed into one great game. There are only a couple aspects of the game that truly need improvement. Suikoden 5 is easily the best PS2 RPG I have ever played.

In terms of gameplay, the combat system is most like Suikoden 1/2, but it manages to incorporate some aspects of 3 (a toned-down version of the skill system) to create an excellent experience. Outside of the combat, wandering around towns is also like it was in 1 and 2 (which is somewhat disappointing), with the view being either too far zoomed in or too far zoomed out (you pick between one of three zooms). Since you can’t rotate the camera, it’s occasionally very hard to see things.

One of the few aspects of Suikoden 4 that was good in terms of gameplay (or lack thereof) – namely, the cutscene system – has been greatly improved, and despite a few lackluster performances (and a few annoying, if accurate ones) the plot is well carried out. This is aided by the best translation I’ve seen of a PS2 game (“Isn’t it the most awesomest thing EVAR?!”) to make the plot as well as the characters both accessible and entertaining.

The game takes place shortly after Suikoden I, and a few years before Suikoden II. Only five familiar faces show up in this game – namely the two characters who are always there (Jeane & Viki), Georg Prime (who appeared in Suikoden II), Lorelai and Killey(I/II and II). That is to say, it’s the lowest number of recurring characters for the games that are within a century of each other – but despite this, Konami created 103 new characters, the vast majority of whom are likeable.

The main character (although somewhat scary-looking) comes across as a more interesting character than the one in 4. Not only is the plot more interesting, but instead of coming across as a passive, dull guy who happens to have a true rune (and a passably interesting backstory) the main character in this game comes across as a pretty competent, likeable guy who got the short end of the stick early on.

Supporting cast members are interesting and well-carried-out. The plot develops very nicely, although it is a little slow at first (over 5 hours – minimum – before you get to the really good part). Strategy mode is sort of real-time, and can get overwhelming but reminded me most of II’s – which is a good thing!

On the whole, a great successor to the series. I can only hope Suikoden 6 is as good.

The entire series, taken as a whole, is quite good. Even if Suikoden 4 doesn’t stack up well against the others, it is not a terrible game – simply a frustrating and sometimes overly simple one. I have now played number 5 and I know it lives up to the series’ greatness.

Although not many RPGs were released for the NES, this one’s a gem. Compared to the “traditionalist” games, it has several more features, including character portraits, over 100 recruitable characters, a variable party system, several dozen different ‘tactics’, most of which have different effects… the list goes on. Although translation can be a little shaky, and there are some frustrations in the game, it manages to be a rewarding – and perhaps educational – experience.

Sound is consistently good and based on the setting. The background music is usually complex, but it doesn’t “try too hard”. Battle themes are catchy, and there really isn’t much more to the sound. When a tactic succeeds, there’s a satisfying “bwoop”-like sound that is always nice to hear, and critical hits have a nice “ker-shack” to them as well. This game is one of the few NES games whose themes I actually listen to on my computer.

The setting is (of course) one of my favorite for a game. Three Kingdoms. But it isn’t Koei! Indeed, one of the better games with the setting and it wasn’t even made by Koei. Essentially, the setting is in an alternate history of the Three Kingdoms where Liu Bei (the “Good guys” from the novel) starts off with some major victories and becomes a major force early on (instead of wandering the land for 20+ years before gaining a foothold). You play as Liu Bei starting out, but pretty soon he has to manage his acquisitions and you take the part of his leading generals. It’s interesting to note that there are a lot of liberties taken with the original plot of TK, such as Liu Bei taking out Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao, Dong Zhuo and several other “big names” on his own. Although the translation gets a bit sketchy at times, it is generally pretty good. For example, one enemy general’s taunt is “Your imperial army seems obsessed with death. Do battle with me and I’ll give them a free lesson.”

Graphics are pretty darn nice for an NES game. Individual characters are depicted on the screen as sprites, and every single character in the game has a portrait. I’d imagine over 150 of them were randomized, but they still have a portrait! You get a good feeling for a main character’s personality from their portrait – Liu Bei is shown wearing a military helmet and looking upward, while Zhao Yun looks calm and collected. Although you don’t see the hundreds of soldiers fighting it out, you can get a pretty good idea of what’s going on from the ‘troop bars’ each character has.

Speaking of troops, the mechanics are a bit odd for an RPG. Although battles are done in a standard RPGish fashion, instead of monsters you are fighting generic Rebels, Bandits, Pirates… or, in some cases, a general. Each general (excepting the “Five Tigers”, Zhuge Liang, and a couple others) has a maximum amount of troops – roughly equivalent to HP. Once your troops are depleted enough, though, you will start to do less and less damage – until your general only has a dozen or so troops under him and no matter how strong he is he can only do a few troops in damage. For main characters, the maximum troop level goes up each “level” of the force. Generals have stats of their own – for example, Lu Bu, a character renowned for his great strength, has 255 Strength but only 50 or so Intelligence (making him a strong fighter but susceptible to tactics). Most of these stats are based on their deeds in the novel. The generals you can recruit on your own, however, usually have middling to low stats.

As far as generals themselves go, you can encounter most randomly in the field (just random battles). Once you have beaten their leader (and usually them at the same time), you can then attempt to recruit them if you encounter them randomly and defeat them. Sometimes they will join right away, sometimes they have a condition (gold or a good horse), and sometimes they will refuse outright. This makes it so that if you really can use a general with a high troop count for a while, you can recruit him and use him. These generals, however, are generally pretty bad in the long run since their troop count does not improve each level.

Another interesting mechanic is the Strategist system. Your army can only field a total of 7 generals (5 in a battle at a time). 1 of these generals is just backup (but can only be switched in outside of battles) and one is your strategist. The strategist should usually be a character with a high Int value, since their Int determines your Tactic points (sort of a global MP) and what tactics they can use. Strategists get better tactics at level up, and some stop growing after a while. When you want to use these tactics in battle, you can use them with any general, but a general with a high Int value should execute them (otherwise there is a good chance of failure, particularly if the target has high Int).

The actual effects of these tactics vary. Your “top 3″ are your Fire, Water and Healing tactics. These are consistently placed and named, so you can usually figure out what they do easily. The fire and water tactics do a high amount of damage and the more powerful versions do even more or affect the entire enemy force. Healing tactics work a similar way, but restore your soldiers. Other tactics will have various effects, whether they give your army resistance to certain effects or give a general extra attacks. Each strategist has 6 tactics they can use at any one time – if they gain more tactics, they replace old ones.

This is where the first major gripe I have comes in. The tactic names were named in Chinese and were only transcribed to English, not translated. So every time you use one, you either have to know what it does or be able to figure it out. The main tactics are always in the same place, so they are easy to keep track of – but I can’t recall how many times I had to try Jian Ce or An Sha before I remembered how they worked.

Another gripe with the system is that old tactics are replaced – so they can’t be accessed later. Some early tactics are pretty useful and (if I remember right) Zhuge Liang, the best strategist by Int, is missing some tactics that earlier strategists have, one of which is An Sha (instant death to an enemy if it succeeds), the most useful tactic in the game.

Translation is usually quite good – I am especially happy, in retrospect, that they actually gave the English equivalents of the Chinese names and not the Japanese equivalents. This means that the game uses the same names as the Koei games with the same theme, and current editions of the books. This game introduced me to Three Kingdoms, and did a fairly good job of giving me an overview. The translation has only a few typos or misplaced characters, and is usually clear and consistent… except occasionally when telling you where to go.

A special mention should go to the villains of the game. The villains are actually the characters that you get to know the best, since there is very little dialogue from characters that you actually control. Yuan Shu is made appropriately arrogant and overbearing, Liu Zhang is shown to be a weakling when it counts, Lu Bu is appropriately unpredictable (although reasons are never discussed) and Sima Yi is cunning and dangerous.

Another special feature of this game, which I think more modern games should include, is a lot of ways to quickly play. “Walk” speed is fast enough that movement in town is actually convenient rather than frustrating, and the “All Out” mode is an auto-attack mode that plays itself out quickly, but still gives a good idea of what’s going on.

It should also be noted that Destiny of an Emperor is the first RPG I have seen to let you override a supposed infinite loop of questions. You know, those things in games where you have a question, and if you answer wrong it keeps saying “Are you sure?” or “I need you to agree” or some such. Well, one villain of the game, upon being captured, tells you to let him go. If you refuse, he says the exact same thing before. Refuse again, he says the same thing. Refuse again and he is summarily executed by your men and you don’t have to deal with him again later. All in all, the game is a very satisfying experience which I highly recommend. It is far and away my favorite RPG on the NES (since Final Fantasy, in retrospect, was not especially great and the Dragon Warriors, while good, got bland quickly), and involves a bit more strategy than the average RPG. There are even some extras and side-quests to find!

There is a sequel, which was released in Japan and has several engine improvements (all generals level up, for example). It also follows the story a bit more closely. I don’t find it as entertaining to play, but it is still a good game if you can track it down. It has been translated, so it’s out there if you want to find it.

Capcom’s description of the game: “Characteristics of more than 180 warlords were simulated based on many historical documents, reproducing in detail the era of history described in the renowned text of Sanguozhi Yanyi. Travel back to that exciting period now in Capcom’s full-scale Role Playing Simulation of the ‘Destiny of an Emperor’”.

Once, a very long time ago, I rented a Sega Genesis game on a whim. I knew the system had some good games, and this one looked sort of neat. The name wasn’t especially inspiring, but then others weren’t much better. In any case, I rented it that time and tried out the game. I liked it enough that over the next year (until the store didn’t stock Genesis games) I probably spent more money renting the game than it would’ve taken to buy it.
Why is that? Simple strategic addictiveness. I’m a strategy nut, but I’m not particularly good at it – occasionally I can get a good strategy going, but it takes a great deal of time and I don’t look-ahead very quickly. Warsong was not just easy enough for me to start out, but it was hard enough that it kept me interested.
The primary thing that got me interested in the game was the graphics. Although this isn’t usual for me, this game had a very interesting way to do battles – it’s a standard tile-based system, think of Shining Force or Fire Emblem – in that when a conflict arises, the soldiers are shown fighting it out. The terrain is usually pretty basic, but advantages are clearly shown in the scenes. The player can watch as his cavalry ride down a hill to take out infantry, or his archers defend a forest against incoming troops. In any case, the cutscenes are fun to watch, not to mention the fact that they load seamlessly (the longest battle you’ll see may take 8 seconds). They can also be turned off if you’re crazy enough to want that increase in speed.
Music in this game is excellent. Credit for the composition is given to Noriyuki Iwadare, who is probably more famous for the excellent soundtracks of the Lunar games, Grandia, and most recently Radiata Stories. Battle themes are catchy and appropriate to the fantasy-medieval setting of the game. Battle sounds are good, much better than those in later games of the series (in that they sound marginally realistic).
The setting, as noted before, is a fantasy medieval one. It’s just about the most over-the-top setting I’ve ever seen, complete with German-esque names everywhere. Although Treco, the translation company, changed most names the feeling is the same. This theme is pretty common, and is continued in some CareerSoft games (such as Growlanser, which took it to the extreme by having “Grandzenschtraum” in a game). Although this is pretty standard, some parts of the story aren’t. The game manages to have quite a bit of depth for such a standard setting.
Actual gameplay is as near to strategy bliss as I have seen. I have never found a system quite as nice as this one. It’s a turn-based game (with allied / enemy turns trading off). Your characters are heroes – you start with two of them. They hire soldiers each round of varying types, and each individual general gives a certain bonus to troops under his command. Not only that, the heroes themselves will participate in battle. There are few things quite so cool as watching a character in one scenario keep defending to the last man, and keep on fighting after his own men have been taken out. Once a general reaches a certain level they can upgrade to the next class – increasing not only physical strength, but also the command bonuses given their troops, and usually giving them another type of troop to recruit.
This is all well and good, but the replay factor comes in where you see branching paths. There are some paths which are definitely better than others, but by and large they are balanced enough to merit taking a look at most of them.
AI is a standard “mini-max” system – that is, it does the best possible move that it sees in the immediate future. Although this lends itself to really bad long-term strategy, the scenarios are difficult enough that this rarely matters.
All in all, the game is among the best I’ve ever played. This game took a long time to find, but once I did I was glad I was able to. It’s definitely worth a play if you’re at all interested, and it’s listed at Home of the Underdogs as well.
There is also a translation of the Japanese-only Der Langrisser (a sequel to this game) in the works. Although DL is somewhat easier and sometimes annoying, it is certainly a game well worth playing, as with this one.

(Originally posted: long ago)

First, I’d like to note that this game came out before Final Fantasy 7, so if you are looking for incredible 3-d animations, you’re out of luck. However, the hand-drawn graphics of the majority of the game are quite nice. Characters have well-drawn portraits, and the “personae” that can be summoned in the game are also quite nice. Demons are vibrant and varied in size and shape, from toilet-inhabiting ghosts to succubi.

The mechanics of the game differ a bit from the standard for the genre. The main difference in the game, for which the game is named, is the “persona”. Persona are assigned to an individual character, and work as a sort of temporary set of abilities and stat bonuses/immunities. For example, some personae grant immunity to certain types of magic. Each persona you create starts at level 1, and as they are used they grow in both stat bonuses they give and the types of magic they can use. Another interesting battle mechanic that deserves a mention is that each character has a gun as well as a “sword” (or axe, or bow…), so there are two different types of physical attack. The only caveat is that some enemies reflect bullets, so some caution is recommended.

Another main difference in the mechanics lies in demon negotiation. When you encounter a non-boss, demonic set of enemies you are allowed to negotiate with them. Generally, the most useful emotion you can try to evoke in the demons is interest, although you can also try to make them especially happy or afraid if you just want to avoid battle. If you are successful in getting them interested in you, it is possible to get their “spell card” if you are a high enough level. To make new personae, you need to combine two compatible spell cards. There are several dozen personae you can create through combining the spell cards.

Most RPGs have a fairly standard setting – usually in a medieval-themed past, or a spacefaring future, or a sometimes incongruent combination of the two. Persona, however, takes place in modern-day America, or so it claims; apparently the translators (or Atlus) felt that RPG gamers in the United States wouldn’t be able to sympathize with a plot that takes place in Japan. They didn’t want to do too much extra work, so even a casual observer will notice that, for example, there are shoe-racks in the entrance area of the school, or that there is a Shinto shrine that figures into the plot. One of the characters was also changed to an African-American. In any case, the game takes place in an “American” city called Lunarvale. You (there is no default name for the main character) are a junior at St. Hermelin High School. One day, while playing an odd game called “Persona”, you see an apparition and are struck by lightning. After having an odd dream where you saw a masked man named Philemon, you wake up in the infirmary and are told to go to the hospital for a check-up. Before long, you find yourself trapped in a demon-filled Lunarvale, with only the persona and your friends to assist you. The game also has two different endings, a “good” ending with about 30 hours of gameplay and a “bad” ending that takes place around the 20-hour mark along the same path (apparently the original had a full “other” path to it, which involved staying in the High School at a certain point, which was not translated, giving the Japanese version a total of 3 endings), depending on how you answer certain questions in the game. Unfortunately, the game never really lets you know what you should say, but most of the time it’s pretty obvious.

Speaking of friends, the characterization of the cast in the game is pretty well-done, despite the occasionally questionable translation. The ability to talk to your party members inside any “room” gave the writers the ability to flesh them out and make them believable characters. Even the villain for the first half of the game is made believable when you finally get a chance to talk to him face-to-face.

The sound in the game is so-so, but some of the music is really good. Even though the battle theme sounds like it came out of Mortal Kombat, several themes are very original (The theme for the Deva Yuga dungeon, for example, has talking over the music which actually fits into the music very well, and the Pharmacy theme is quirky Japanese karaoke). Voice acting is pretty sparse (usually amounts to characters in battle saying “Take this!” or “Persona!”), but what is there is pretty good, especially for the time it was made (and the fact that only one voice actor did every single male character’s battle voices).

My main complaint about the game is that there are either too few encounters or too little experience. There was some sort of conversion from the Japanese version, and the U.S. version has fewer battles, but they give more experience – unfortunately, unless you level on your own quite a bit, or get lost in dungeons easily, you may end up like me – 10 levels lower than you should be, in the final dungeon. Another frustration linked with this is that characters gain experience based on what they do – so a character that doesn’t do much damage or heal much will get very little experience. There’s a big balancing factor involved if you want levels to be roughly equal.

Persona is filled with some philosophical themes that usually fall flat on their face due to the translation. The main themes seem to come from Daoism (a quote from Zhuang Zi is featured in the intro), but it seems to be more a general “we live to learn” philosophy.

All in all, I recommend playing this game at least once, even if it’s only to try it out. There are some frustrations involved, but you will also find a very different experience from the standard and a lot of mechanics that aren’t used that often.

(Originally posted: Long ago)