Soul Blazer Gameplay Journal
Title: Soul Blazer Publisher: Enix
Year: 1992 ESRB Rating: n/a (since ESRB was founded in 1994)
Platform: SNES Genre: Action Role-Playing
Story: The king of the region forced the best inventor in the land, Dr. Leo, to make a machine so the king could communicate with the evil entity known as Deathtoll. In exchange for the souls of his citizens the king would be granted power and wealth. Of course, being an evil entity, Deathtoll took the kings soul as well, and the kingdom fell silent. You are a warrior companion of a god-like entity known as Master. You are tasked with releasing the souls from Deathtolls grasp by unsealing monster lairs, collecting 6 gems needed to open the way to Deathtoll, and defeating Deathtoll once and for all. It's kinda a stereotypical format for a story, but that never stopped me from playing an rpg before.
Characters: The main character, as for as personality goes, is a nameless, silent soldier. He follows the orders of his master, pushing forward toward his primary objective. Even the other primary characters, Dr. Leo and his daughter, Lisa, the king and queen of the kingdom, while providing something of a story-pusher, don't provide too much emotional investment, even though there is a silent love interest between Lisa and the hero
Graphics: For its day and age, the graphics are great. Polished pixel art, fluid animations for both entities and backgrounds alike. There are unique color palettes between the different levels that keep each world unique and fresh.
Audio: This, for me at least, is this games greatest strength: It has some of the best retro music I've ever heard. Jovial music in towns, and adrenaline pumping beats I could kill to all day for the 'dungeon' areas. That being said, every town has the same BGM, as well as every major boss fight, but I personally find that a moot point.
Level Design: The game is separated into 7 different worlds, including the final boss level. Each level has a unique theme and feel, from woods to snowy mountains to underwater civilizations of mermaids. The towns don't feel too large, and although they start out empty, as you unlock lairs and free civilians the town can feel like it has somewhat of a lively feel about them. The dungeon areas are fairly linear, they have side paths you can go down, usually containing secrets or lairs you can't quite clear yet, but I never find myself getting lost in the dungeons.
Controls: The D pad allows you to move in the 4 cardinal directions, however there is no diagonal movement. You can 'crab-walk', which we call strafing these days, with L and R. B is your primary action button, allowing you to swing your sword in an arc in dungeons and talking to townsfolk in towns. The Y button allows you to fire your selected magic spell, which costs gems, which you get from killing enemies, to cast. You can select which item / spell / equipment to use in the main menu by pressing select.
Learning Curve: While the 4 directional movement may at first feel restrictive, it eventually becomes second nature to work around, and acts as part of the games difficulty. While over half of the games enemies you can trap with their 'meh-ish' pathing system and safely whack away with your sward, not having that diagonal movement means you have to be mindful of your placement before you spam that B button. The beginning enemies feel rather throw-away in terms of difficulty, and once you complete the first primary dungeon the enemies get a bit more difficult, while not impossible. Oddly enough, the first boss is the hardest in the game, and I attribute that primarily to the fact you have a smaller health pool and none of your awesome tools you get in the later levels, as mechanically the boss does one of 3 simple moves depending on your placement. All in all, after you get past the first boss the game is pretty much yours to claim victory.
Fun Factor: As a child I've gone through and beaten this game twice. These days I doubt I can stay committed enough to do a full play through. The game doesn't have a long play time, around 5-7 hours, but if you've gone through it multiple times and know what's coming it gets kinda same-y after a while. I'd give it a 7 out of 10.
Changes: Keep in mind some of these changes would either be game breaking or impossible for the times this game came out.
I would've liked different music for the towns and bosses, just to add to the game feel. Oddly enough I like the 4 directional movement component, as I feel if the player and enemies could move in 8 directions the game would be a bit simple. However I would like better control of where I can cast my magic. You have this blue ball that circles around you, acting as the epicenter for your spells, making it tricky in a fast-ish paced action game to get the spells off when it counts. I have no idea how you would've done this with a SNES controller though. Finally, I think they could go back and make the pathing of the enemies a little bit smarter, as sometimes they fire at you when you clearly aren't in the path of the attack, and, as stated above, sometimes they get stuck on wall corners, making 'cheaty' kills possible. Different models for the swards and armor would be a nice touch too.
Recommendation: Although this game may not be a classic such as Final Fantasy 7, This game will always hold a special place in my heart. I would definitely recommend this game to anyone looking for a retro action rpg experience. Even with its 4 directional movement restriction the combat is fluid and fast-paced enough to hold fresh faces interest to slash their way to the end.
Year: 1992 ESRB Rating: n/a (since ESRB was founded in 1994)
Platform: SNES Genre: Action Role-Playing
Story: The king of the region forced the best inventor in the land, Dr. Leo, to make a machine so the king could communicate with the evil entity known as Deathtoll. In exchange for the souls of his citizens the king would be granted power and wealth. Of course, being an evil entity, Deathtoll took the kings soul as well, and the kingdom fell silent. You are a warrior companion of a god-like entity known as Master. You are tasked with releasing the souls from Deathtolls grasp by unsealing monster lairs, collecting 6 gems needed to open the way to Deathtoll, and defeating Deathtoll once and for all. It's kinda a stereotypical format for a story, but that never stopped me from playing an rpg before.
Characters: The main character, as for as personality goes, is a nameless, silent soldier. He follows the orders of his master, pushing forward toward his primary objective. Even the other primary characters, Dr. Leo and his daughter, Lisa, the king and queen of the kingdom, while providing something of a story-pusher, don't provide too much emotional investment, even though there is a silent love interest between Lisa and the hero
Graphics: For its day and age, the graphics are great. Polished pixel art, fluid animations for both entities and backgrounds alike. There are unique color palettes between the different levels that keep each world unique and fresh.
Audio: This, for me at least, is this games greatest strength: It has some of the best retro music I've ever heard. Jovial music in towns, and adrenaline pumping beats I could kill to all day for the 'dungeon' areas. That being said, every town has the same BGM, as well as every major boss fight, but I personally find that a moot point.
Level Design: The game is separated into 7 different worlds, including the final boss level. Each level has a unique theme and feel, from woods to snowy mountains to underwater civilizations of mermaids. The towns don't feel too large, and although they start out empty, as you unlock lairs and free civilians the town can feel like it has somewhat of a lively feel about them. The dungeon areas are fairly linear, they have side paths you can go down, usually containing secrets or lairs you can't quite clear yet, but I never find myself getting lost in the dungeons.
Controls: The D pad allows you to move in the 4 cardinal directions, however there is no diagonal movement. You can 'crab-walk', which we call strafing these days, with L and R. B is your primary action button, allowing you to swing your sword in an arc in dungeons and talking to townsfolk in towns. The Y button allows you to fire your selected magic spell, which costs gems, which you get from killing enemies, to cast. You can select which item / spell / equipment to use in the main menu by pressing select.
Learning Curve: While the 4 directional movement may at first feel restrictive, it eventually becomes second nature to work around, and acts as part of the games difficulty. While over half of the games enemies you can trap with their 'meh-ish' pathing system and safely whack away with your sward, not having that diagonal movement means you have to be mindful of your placement before you spam that B button. The beginning enemies feel rather throw-away in terms of difficulty, and once you complete the first primary dungeon the enemies get a bit more difficult, while not impossible. Oddly enough, the first boss is the hardest in the game, and I attribute that primarily to the fact you have a smaller health pool and none of your awesome tools you get in the later levels, as mechanically the boss does one of 3 simple moves depending on your placement. All in all, after you get past the first boss the game is pretty much yours to claim victory.
Fun Factor: As a child I've gone through and beaten this game twice. These days I doubt I can stay committed enough to do a full play through. The game doesn't have a long play time, around 5-7 hours, but if you've gone through it multiple times and know what's coming it gets kinda same-y after a while. I'd give it a 7 out of 10.
Changes: Keep in mind some of these changes would either be game breaking or impossible for the times this game came out.
I would've liked different music for the towns and bosses, just to add to the game feel. Oddly enough I like the 4 directional movement component, as I feel if the player and enemies could move in 8 directions the game would be a bit simple. However I would like better control of where I can cast my magic. You have this blue ball that circles around you, acting as the epicenter for your spells, making it tricky in a fast-ish paced action game to get the spells off when it counts. I have no idea how you would've done this with a SNES controller though. Finally, I think they could go back and make the pathing of the enemies a little bit smarter, as sometimes they fire at you when you clearly aren't in the path of the attack, and, as stated above, sometimes they get stuck on wall corners, making 'cheaty' kills possible. Different models for the swards and armor would be a nice touch too.
Recommendation: Although this game may not be a classic such as Final Fantasy 7, This game will always hold a special place in my heart. I would definitely recommend this game to anyone looking for a retro action rpg experience. Even with its 4 directional movement restriction the combat is fluid and fast-paced enough to hold fresh faces interest to slash their way to the end.
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