Game #38: Shining in the Darkness (Genesis) - The Four Trials of the Ancients

No title screen when loading... how strange

Game 38

Title: Shining in the Darkness
Released: Auguest 1991 (March 1991 JPN)
Platform: Genesis
Developer: Climax Entertainment and Camelot Software Planning
Publisher: Sega
Genre: RPG
Exploration - First-person
Combat - Turn based
Series - Shining

This is the closest the game gets to a title screen

Compared to most RPGs that is an impressive localization time. I think most people are familiar with the Shining series, but many are probably more so with the Shining Force games. This however was the first, and Camelot was not the lead developer even though they would take over full-time development of the series after the first Shining Force. Climax is the company responsible for the loosely related Stalker series of games--LandStalker, Lady Stalker, and Time Stalkers--of which I'll review only two since Lady Stalker wasn't released in the US. This all makes sense now since I've heard Pyra, one of the characters here, makes a cameo appearance in Time Stalkers.

Of course I am, and don't forget modest, extremely modest

The kingdom of Thornwood is facing a crisis. The king has misplaced his daughter, last seen with the hero's father, and desires to find her. Seeking the princess, the hero hopes to find the whereabouts of his father as well. The king fears some dark deed has whisked them away. I received 200 gold and instructions to equip myself for the task.

*Plop*

I wasn't quite sure what to buy. Zenic, what I named the hero, had a basic weapon and armor, but lacked a shield and helmet. Helmets were quite expensive, so I settled for a gauntlet, an antidote (called depoison), some healing herbs, and an Angel Feather that returns the party to town. At the tavern the local riffraff were discussing the disappearance of the princess and Mortred, Zenic's father. When I returned to the castle, the local labyrinth was pointed out as potential launching off point for the investigation, and confirmed with the sudden appearance of the antagonist.

Oh good, she's safe with Dark Sol (aka Mephisto in the Japanese version)

Dark Sol, not to be confused with DarkSol from Shining Force, requested the kingdom in exchange for the safe return of princess Jessa. The king instead decided to depend on Zenic to rescue the princess from Dark Sol's clutches. With that, the game opens up most of what it has to offer.

The first of many battles: like other RPGs this one begins with slimes

The problem with describing the play-by-play is eventually I get to dungeon crawlers where the story slows to a crawl. Most of the game centers on combat. Combat that occurs erratically. Available commands are limited to attack, magic, items, and running. Actually, only the first character, Zenic, the hero, has the ability to run; both other characters, which come later, are able to use their turns to defend. So far this resembles how Dragon Warrior II's battle system worked, with about as many options. Since the hero doesn't have magic attack and item use are the only choices. Glad I picked up those herbs.

Freedom!

I tend to enjoy making my own maps for these type of games. Actually, I've noticed that it's rather the most enjoyable part of the game. Combat is so simplistic and the story so sparse that the minute to minute game I'm happiest about is marking my progress down by hand. In the end, once the game is done, if I weren't writing these blog posts, I'd have the maps as a tangible reminder of my days playing this game. Back in town the tavern owner spoke of friends looking for me, but they were nowhere to be found. A brother and sister were split apart when Dai was summoned to the castle to assist in the search of the princess. The tavern doubles as the standard inn to replenish HP, and eventually MP, for the party (currently of one).

I listened to this bard's song once, and never saw him again; hopefully he went to practice

I continued, as is the case in these games, to fight many battles, gain a few levels, and refresh myself back in town. I bought myself a sword called Sword and a helmet. Eventually I delved deep enough to find a steel door, a solemn statue, and fight a Kaiser Krab. The latter of which had a Royal Tiara in its possession. Back at the castle I presented my finding to the king, confirmation that the princess was inside the labyrinth. If she was in the Labyrinth Proper though, she was currently beyond my reach. First I had to form a party, after which I would learn from Melvyl and Theos, the king's advisers, that I needed to pass the four trials of the ancients to be accepted into the Labyrinth Proper.

I probably could have gotten more at the store for it you know...

Back at the tavern I met up with Pyra, a magician from a fine line of magic-users (her own words). After picking her up I ran into Gila, a mercenary hired to search for the princess. It's rare for a game to have a cast of NPCs on the same quest, even if I know they won't make any progress. Milo was waiting for me at the shrine, which acts as the sole save point and place to restore ailments, remove curses, and revive characters. Milo takes on the role of the main party healer and defensive caster, while Pyra specializes in aggressive magic. Both are fairly capable melee fighters though, and magic is often better used for healing (like most games).

Party assembled for the first time

At the castle once more, this time with my friends to back me up, I was told I needed to face the four trials: Strength, Wisdom, Courage, and Truth. I received the Dwarf Key, and was told the first trial began beyond the door it opened. Apparently there was no record of any knight that actually succeeded in passing this test. Best to send their youngest knight, and his two childhood friends.

1 / 24 inventory slots permanently used

Instead of doing the sensible thing and grinding up a few levels for Pyra and Milo I took them on a small tour of the corridor behind the Krab boss, and then delved right into the trials. The Krab boss was now a random encounter that could appear around any corner. The game has a few of these types of monsters. They are random encounters, but with set limitations such as corners, pools of water, or holes in the ceiling. In addition to random encounters, there are treasures scattered throughout the dungeon, and some are even home to monsters. Enemies encountered outside normal random battles are a bit more difficult to handle, especially during this first trial. Pyra wiped out a number of times until I raised her level to about 10.

I have a better question, how did you get past the door without the dwarf's key?

Gila, pictured above, tipped me off that the Orb of Truth was located in the Cave of Courage. Well, strangely enough, I was in the middle of the Cave of Strength when I found him, and with no idea that I even needed the orb. The Trial of Strength ended with a red wall bleeding into an angelic mural of steel. It announced that I had completed the trial, and opened up the pathway to the Cave of Courage. Passing the Trial of Courage was the same as the previous trial. Explore a 30 x 30 square map enough to find the red wall that marked the end. There wasn't any sort of boss other than the slightly more difficult enemies that appeared randomly.

It introduced these MP sapping tiles as well

Even though I'd passed two trials I couldn't proceed to the next without that orb. So, I explored the sections I had failed to map before reaching the end marker, and found another boss-like encounter. By that time Pyra had learned the Boost spell, which doubled a character's attack power. That combined with Zenic's high attack made short work of the boss. In fact most bosses seemed to fall within 3 rounds of action. Turn order is based on a speed attribute, but between my characters it's set with Pyra, Milo, then Zenic acting. This makes buffing before an attack simple. I recovered the orb, and moved on to the next trial. The orb is used to reveal hidden demons inside certain walls.

Who knew you could put a wall to sleep

In the Cave of Truth the game introduced spinners. Those anti-navigational devices aren't too bad in this game as they always spin to the same direction, facing 90 degrees counter-clockwise (true when entering backwards as well). Monsters were getting progressively more difficult. One type of enemy would strike as a group for more damage than an individual, and ghosts would appear from treasure chests to cast Desoul, which had a chance to kill a party member outright. With no revive capability at the time that meant a trip back to the shrine in town. Characters don't gain experience while dead. Another section had walls that would appear from the ceiling if I dared an attempt to enter their square.

The rare falling ceiling caught in mid-descent

The Trial of Truth ended once again with a red wall that announced I passed; however, I had bypassed an imprisoned Jessa that requested I release her with a False Idol found somewhere in the labyrinth. I actually had the item, but suspected a trap. It was a trap, but a necessary one. The prisoner turned into something called a Doppler, and a Rune Key was my reward for defeating the beast. That key unlocked the final trial, Wisdom. The Cave of Wisdom was littered with hidden pits. Two maps contained in chests showed where most of them were, so I avoided most of the time wasting backtracking. Yet, I still had the urge to complete my auto-map as much as possible. I also found Dai hiding behind a series of one-way blue doors.

It took longer than I care to admit to figure out that all I needed to do in order to open these was to push on them

Rescuing Dai, while nice, didn't reveal anything crucial, but I now have the gratitude of Dyan and Edward back at the tavern. Once again the end of the trial came rather unexpectedly and without any build-up. With the Trial of Wisdom complete I returned to the castle to announce my success in passing all four. Now I could enter the Labyrinth Proper and start the actual task of rescuing the princess. With five above ground levels I'm probably only half way through the game at this point. The last message before wishing me luck was that I needed to find the Arms of Light to vanquish the darkness. Back at the tavern I ran into my companion's parents. Apparently, they were kept in the dark about the whole rescue the princess operation.

I wonder what would have happened if I told them Pyra and Milo weren't integral to the party

Making it this far into the game unlocks the trader, a small tent between the weapon shop and the tavern. Inside was a new assortment of armor, helms, shields, and weapons. I was beginning to think the game forgot I had all this money piling up and nothing to spend it on. I had already purchased the best of what the other stores had to offer. I found some dark blocks and mithril ore during my adventure; its use was finally revealed here as I could now craft equipment. Creating items requires me to choose the material, the person, and then the type of equipment without any way of knowing what it will produce, or how it compares to my current inventory. Shooting in the dark seems to be how this game rolls.

Oh, and payment in advance, no refunds

I tested the waters a bit by purchasing a helm for Zenic, a shield for Milo, and--using the dark block-- some armor for Pyra. The helm worked best on Milo, the shield on Pyra, and the armor was cursed. I thought, how bad could the curse be since the the defensive improvement was huge. Turned out it makes Pyra heal the enemy after a random number of turns after the first round of battle. Forget those dark blocks. Knowing that I'm only half way through the game is a little off-putting. Combat hasn't been terribly difficult, although I tend to run out of resources multiple times in each cave. Getting into the Labyrinth Proper is easy enough as there's a red wall on the first floor that's been waiting for me since the beginning of the game, so I haven't been lost yet, and am actually nearing the end of the game in real-time. Wish me luck.

Elapsed Time: 13h39m (Total Time: 13h39m)

Game #36: Fatal Labyrinth (Genesis) - Is It Still a Rogue-like If I Only Play Once? (Finished)

Game 36

Title: Fatal Labyrinth
Released: August 1991 (November 1990 JPN)
Platform: Genesis
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
Genre: RPG (Dungeon Crawler)
Exploration - Top-down
Combat - Turn based
Series - Standalone (Although Dragon Crystal is a close cousin)

Already?

Well this was unexpected. I had fun with it, but I'm a bit glad I didn't have to repeat the entire game more than once. Fatal Labyrinth was first released on Sega's Meganet, a networked dial-up service that allowed people to play games by connecting their Mega Drive to a telephone line. The game inspired a similar title on the Sega Master System, Dragon Crystal, later ported to the Game Gear (which we'll get to soon). I assume positive feedback for the game prompted the release of Fatal Labyrinth on the Genesis. With that, we have our first rogue-like, or what I assume is one as I haven't played it through more than once.

*Plop*

The game begins almost immediately after the title screen, but instead of diving right into the castle the player needs to speak with everyone in town to gather some information. I walked away knowing that I should be careful when using items, and weapons have a trade off between hit rate and damage depending on the type. A dragon living in the nearby castle of Dragonia had his ghouls steal the Holy Goblet. In doing so, the land was plunged into darkness, and the call for a hero to step forward to defeat dragon was answered by a nameless warrior. Armed with only a knife, he entered the mysterious castle.

This is where the game really starts

For those that aren't familiar with rogue-likes, Rogue was a simple dungeon crawler game that randomized items, equipment, and floor layouts every game. The real charm of this genre is the sheer depth of actions available any given turn. For every action the player takes the enemies take one as well. While that's true in this game, the number actions are more limited. The player can move into or attack an adjacent square, search, or use an item from the menu. Equipping items is a free action; however, you can also throw equipment at enemies for extra ranged damage at the expense of the equipment. In this first room I didn't have much faith in my knife, so I maneuvered myself to the axe and used that. Axes are the least accurate, but at this level have three times the damage.

I'll take your car sir

The display shows the current floor, food level, and gold in addition to the player's rank, HP, and combat stats. It didn't dawn on me until the end of the game that the L01 in the above picture was the current floor level, and not the player's level. The first few floors went by quickly with my trusty axe. I felt confident enough to equip every ring, taste every potion, and read every scroll. I was very lucky not to suffer from any ill effects during this experimental phase. I decided to try out all my items because I thought I was stuck. Items come in the form of staffs, rings, potions, scrolls. Each one begins with only a color description; the only way to discover their true nature is to use the staff, equip the ring, quaff the potion, or read the scroll. Equipment on the other hand have set names, and their abilities are probably not random.

Not stuck, just needed to search every wall

Running through all the items, I identified a lot of anti-magic staffs, the healing potion, a permanent power-up potion, and rings of healing, armor, and fire. I wasn't sure what the fire ring did while equipped, but when I hurled it at an enemy it caused fire damage. The only scroll I had was monster confusion. For those looking for hints on beating this game, my biggest suggestion is to test items after clearing out all monsters and with some food nearby to pick up. Running out of food causes HP to slowly drain, and removes the natural healing that happens every 8 steps or so. The healing ring halves that number, so I had to keep switching between armor and healing rings. Even more annoying are bows, which require selecting use from the menu each time to attack.

This is the main reason I didn't use a bow more than once

I'm pretty sure this could have been simplified by combining the look button 'C' that allows me to face the character in a direction without moving them, and the search button. Bows aren't all that useful in the first place though as most enemies have some kind of range attack, they're prone to missing, and the damage is low. I flipped between my starting hand axe, to a silver sword, and then to a trident. The ability to actually hit the enemies more often outweighed the extra damage of the axe.

Level 10 was a large open room that would have killed me without a confusion scroll

Floor 10 was when the game got serious. At the time I didn't know there were only 30 levels to the castle, but I noticed the tile change. Without a confusion scroll to use on level 10, I'm fairly certain all the enemies would have line of sight and head straight for me. Confusion makes their movement random, except if they have an attack that can reach me. When moving while in range of a monster's attack, they get to take an attack of opportunity. On the very next level I ran into a ghost that outclassed other monsters. I think my armor was lagging a bit behind because I had to burn through 2 healing potions just to survive. Floor 12 provided a good number of armor upgrades along with a Shinobi Sword, which just about doubled by weapon power.

Trying to grind didn't work out very well

The blue jelly enemies split randomly, but I'm not sure how experience points and rank work as I killed over 40 of them without gaining any more levels. There may be a cap for each floor. The red tile illustrates a trap. There are only two types of traps: the alarm alerts all enemies to the trapped room, and a pit trap that drops down to the previous floor. I'm thankful the layouts don't change between visits as an endless series of random pits would be a nightmare. A hidden timer ticks in the background, and will respawn the enemies once reached. The respawned enemies will auto-target, and they are also much stronger. Not a big deal in the early stages, but quite deadly on later levels.

Dancing randomizes movement, another enemy confusion scroll saved me here

At level 20 the floor tiles changed once again, this time to yellow and grey. The levels breezed by until I ran into a couple cursed items. I wasn't cautious enough with them. Even though I had potions and scrolls to remove curses, they didn't restore my food, which dropped to zero due to the curse. At one point I had to rush through a level hoping to find food. Once I found the food I was surrounded by enemies. Luckily I had a teleport scroll and ended up in a defensible location.

While still low on food I rushed through the last two levels. Once again I lucked out that I had exactly two confuse scrolls left, so I didn't have to worry too much about the monsters. I found a Masamune, which I used through the end of the game. On level 30, I found what I assumed was the dragon, and blew through all my magic rings. It wasn't the right dragon, and found I could instead walk right up to the holy goblet. I claimed it for my own.

I missed picking up that sword as it disappeared with all the enemies when I grabbed the goblet

Blinding light emitted from the goblet destroyed the enemies and illuminated stairs to the roof. On top of the castle, the dragon lord was waiting for me. The goblet had fully healed me, and brought my food to 50. With that it's hard to imagine losing. The dragon is easily dodged, and it's possible to regain all HP. He casts teleport and dance randomly, and it can't be suppressed with an anti-magic staff, but it relies on line of sight. The dragon dropped armor that allowed me to fly back to the town.

I can fly, I can fly, I can fly~~

With that, the game is over. It would definitely have grown old after a while, and I know I would have run into bad luck on subsequent attempts. As a rogue-like(lite?) it's fairly easy and forgiving to allow as many strategic mistakes as I made during my run. Also, there's no save system, so I needed to beat it all in a single session. There are apparently continues at every 5th level had I died, but I'm not sure what it saves. On to the rating!

Elapsed Time: 3h52m (Final Time: 3h52m)

Next adventure?

Combatant - Combat is challenging all the way through, although the final boss is a bit of a pushover. The options throughout the game kept things interesting, and the enemies are varied well throughout. Battle prowess centered around the armor and power stats of the character. Rewards for battle are limited to experience towards the next rank, but since it's hidden it's hard to say how things are balanced; I never felt overpowered.
Rating: 6

I really don't

Admirer - Rank is advanced by defeating enemies, but there aren't any options for how to build up the character. He never gains any abilities, and magic is limited to one-time use items. One nice thing is that the character's appearance changes based on equipment, but the number of graphics to represent each piece is limited to the type of equipment. Controls are smooth considering the game runs on a series of turns of movement.
Rating: 3

Puzzler - There aren't any puzzles, although I suppose the random items offer some strategy to minimize negative effects. The main quest is laid out in the beginning, and nothing really changes. I gave an extra point here for the multiple ways items can interact throughout each game.
Rating: 2

Sounds cursed... let's equip it anyway!

Instigator - The story is just a framework for the dungeon crawl. Nothing happens between the intro and ending scenes. There isn't much to be immersed in, and there's no influence on the story throughout the game. Still, the additional descriptions for items help quite a bit, so I gave an extra point here for that.
Rating: 2

That's quite a mouthful

Collector - There's a large number of items in the game. So many in fact that I still had some ???? items in my inventory at the end. However, inventory is limited to 8 of each type. There were many instances where I had to skip over additional rings and potions. It's only possible to place items on the ground, but all those are lost after ascending to the next floor. There's no stairs down. The strength of each item is revealed once equipped or once an identify scroll is used. There's gold too, but I have no idea if it's actually used for anything (maybe for buying continues).
Rating: 4

So many potions that I just started using them to make room

Explorer - What exactly is there to see in dungeon after dungeon. At least the tile-set changed every 10 levels. The music was pretty good, but nothing amazing. Graphics were decent too. There's nothing to really discover though, no points of interest, and the atmosphere is bland. The only other positive aspect is that there's nothing really preventing a player from ascending to the top and killing the dragon except for having the proper equipment and levels.
Rating: 2

Final Rating: 19 [32%]

Let's fly home

Up next is Drakkhen. I've beaten the game before, so it's infamy doesn't phase me. I expect it to be rather short, and then it's on to a Shining in the Darkness. That's a game I played while very young when someone brought over a Genesis, and didn't have a chance to play again until I joined a game service called GameTap. I was on the beta team for quite a while and tried out many of their titles.

Game 32: Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom (Genesis) - Who's First

Game 32

Title: Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
Released: July 1991 (April 1990 JPN)
Platform: Genesis
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
Genre: RPG
Exploration - Top-down
Combat - Turn based
Series - Phantasy Star

All great stories happen every 1,000 years

Phantasy Star has been on the decline overall since the second game, and this--according to some--continued that trend. The third game in as many years, and the lack of polish is starting to show in significant areas. Turned out, this wasn't a terrible game, but merely a terrible Phantasy Star. The music was great, but everything else was a bit underwhelming. I didn't have the manual, so I had to figure out who could use what equipment and what certain techniques affected, but I don't think adversely influenced my opinion.

This is later described as a seemingly minor event; I'm not sure someone washing up on the beach is minor

The main hook for this title was the ability to play through three generations. The game always begins with Rhys, a descendant of the great Orakio who fought against the witch Laya. Many were killed in that war 1,000 years ago, but the final whereabouts of Orakio and Laya were never confirmed (pretty sure they're dead by now). At the end of the Rhys' adventures he has to decide between two women to select as his wife. His son will then have the same choice (different women), and again have a son that will lead the final attack against Dark Force. Yes, Dark Force is back.

Who thought yellow text on a white flare would be easy to read?

A mysterious woman washed up on the shore near the kingdom of Landen, home to Rhys. Within two months, Rhys decided he would marry this woman who can't remember anything prior to her arrival in Landen (except her name was Maia). The game began with Maia waiting in the castle for Rhys on their wedding day. There's actually a bit of an Easter egg at the beginning: if you sell Rhys' armor to buy an escapipe and use it in the first dungeon, the game gets locked in an unplayable state. The king comments on how the player made a mistake, and needs to restart the game.

*Plop*

Rhys started in town with little purpose. An NPC blocked the exit, and without any funds (called  meseta) the only option was to head north towards the castle. I explored anyway, and found the peasants were too excited about the wedding to talk. They rushed me off to the castle.

It might even be today when you're kidnapped by a monster

At the castle, Rhys spoke to Maia briefly about the excitement of their wedding day, and how strange it was that she mysteriously appeared just two months ago. Rhys escorted her to in front of the king, and the ceremony began promptly.

After Rhys said his vows, the traditional kidnapping of the bride took place

Isn't it strange that Maia couldn't remember anything about herself, but everyone knew her name? During the ceremony, a monster identified as one from the Layan kingdom kidnapped Maia. Rhys proclaimed he would search to no end to recover Maia, and he'd mobilize the army to wage war on a people not seen for 1,000 years. The king thought Rhys foolhardy, so he imprisoned him in the dungeon to cool off.

It's not a very well guarded dungeon

Cooling off in the dungeon really meant collecting the treasure chests  scattered in the cell before being released by a benevolent stranger. I followed a secret passage that led back to town. The castle was now sealed off due to mourning the loss of Maia. Lena didn't join the party however. Instead Rhys quested alone at this point. I bought a second knife (the first was in a chest), and some armor with the meseta I'd found in the chests. The town shops were full of equipment Rhys couldn't even use, and I had to figure out through trial and error what was worth the purchase.

Making small talk with the townsfolk

I gathered from everyone that I should seek the Sapphire that was taken by a monster to a cave to the south. That gem would allow me passage to an eastern cave. A city named Yaata was the south as well. I picked up a monitor in the dungeon, which worked as a map, and showed three globes. Unlike previous Phantasy Star games, the maps didn't wrap back on themselves. Instead, each area seemed contained by an impassable circle of mountains.

Got it... monsters don't really live, do they?

The town had a fortune teller, which I opted not to use for 10 meseta. In fact, I didn't use him all game, and don't really know what he'd say. There was also a technique shop that wasn't helpful at this point. Rhys had no techs. With nothing left to explore, I headed south to Yaata. Outside I had my first taste of combat.

I swear I'm only going to subdue you with these dual knives

So, that's the combat menu. It took a bit to decipher, but it's not too difficult (even without a manual). The left two advance through a combat rounds with auto on top (until interrupted) or a single turn on the bottom. Escaping is managed by the lower right icon, and a sub menu for individual commands is accessed through the top right. In there is the ability to target an attack, choose a tech to use, pick an item, or defend. Only attack and defend commands are continuously selected on subsequent rounds, the other two default back to attack. The majority of combat is easily managed by just attacking. Attack techniques aren't really worth it, but I'll cover that a bit more later.

Oh good, a boat

In the town of Yaata I met an old man who owned a boat. Apparently the cave I sought was on an island, but the boat's owner would only sail with a cyborg in the party. You'd think he would have one by now. Someone told me of the town of Ilan, so I stopped there next. Towns were mainly hubs for specific information, one maybe two pieces, and shops of course. In Ilan, I was told there was an odd woman that never blinked near a lake to the east.

Well fancy that, guess who I'm descended from

With the cyborg Mieu in tow, I took the ship to the island cave. The monsters there were bit overwhelming, and it took a couple of excursions to reach the end: mainly I had forgone healing items the first time, which come in the form of monomate, dimate, and trimate. Mieu had some healing power techniques, but very little tech points (TP) to spend on them. Each time I traveled to the island, the boat's captain thought it was good to point out a temple at the bottom of the lake said to seal a power called Dark Force trapped by Orakio's sword.

Uh... that was easy

After having the strangest conversation (in lieu of a fight) with a Layan named Lyle, I received the sapphire. With all the build up I received of a monster in this cave, I was expecting some kind of struggle. My way through the eastern cave was opened with the sapphire. On the way I found an old airstrip, which didn't allow me to enter, and an old temple with a scary booming voice that chastised me for entering Laya's palace. Noted for later.

Pretty cave... wait, somethings different

Rhys didn't blink at the sight of the technological marvel inside the cave, but I suppose when you have a cyborg next to you this stuff doesn't look very advanced. On the other side of the cave was a land driven into a deep winter. I found only a single town, Rysel, with everyone begging I set things right with the weather. Someone mentioned that a tower in Aridia held the key to correcting it, but no clue where that lay. A minstrel told of a legend that the people here were the last of a race that escaped Dark Force by sailing through the stars. That's nice, now where's Aridia?

Maybe my map will... Ah, there it is; now how do I get there?

I explored all that I could through the cold wasteland. I even went back to Landen, but still couldn't find a way to the southern circle. Turned out I missed a single character in Rysel on the second floor of the armor shop. Many of the buildings in town were empty, so thoroughly looking in each room became tedious. Seems it's necessary though to gather all the clues. This random man told me of a factory Orakio built to the south, and a hidden gate rumored to reside near the ruins.

It's actually slightly to the southwest of here, can't you see it?

Through another hi-tech cave I arrived in Aridia. Following the edge clockwise I came upon a tower I was much too weak to deal with. Rhys died in the first combat. Luckily Mieu escaped, and I found the Rever tech revived fallen comrades.

That was scary

Hazatak was the only town in this arid land of Aridia. The same shop owners lived here (or their relatives), but the rest of the town was populated by cyborgs. An old cyborg was said to wander the desert to the north, but my current destination was a cave to the west. There, I was to find Wren, and he would repair the weather control station.

So many caves to test

Wren was another cyborg, this time programmed as a technical systems and combat specialist. Again, getting through the cave took some time, but after gaining a few levels I managed to recruit Wren. I'm not sure why he was hiding in that cave that looked strangely like the one on Landen. I was told I could then repair the weather system in the tower; however, before I went to my death again, I checked out the combat techniques to find any that might be useful.

Between Wren and Mieu, they have all the techs in the game

Will any of these be useful outside of healing?

Fanbi and Shu were buffs, which might have helpful, but it was hard to tell. Nasak killed the Mieu and fully healed everyone else, a completely useless spell in my opinion. Forsa had a chance to banish 1 enemy, but honestly it's probably better for Mieu to just attack with dual claws. Foi, Zan, Gra, and Tsu are attack spells that vary in number of targets, but usually it's better to just attack since they are so weak, even after adjusting my tech power. Rimit, Shiza, and Deban are a bit cryptic, but probably not worth it either. Ner buffs speed, but again, I'm not sure how effective it was. In the end, it seemed best to always get in attacks rather than buff a single character.

The menu system is a bit basic

I picked up Lyle inside the tower, and as it turned out, he was on the same mission to fix the weather control system. He joined my party to thank me in advance for helping restore the proper weather back home. Fixing the system was as simple as speaking to it with Wren in my party. There's a switch option in the menu that reorders the party, but it only seems to affect the visual order while moving the party around, and wholly unnecessary. Battle order and how they appear in the menu never change. After fixing the weather, Lyle told me of a boat near Rysel, and he invited me to visit his homeland.

With four party members the tower was much easier, so I continued to explore and found a satellite system

Back in town I was told two stones were removed from the satellite control system. The Moon Tear, which Lyle had in his possession, and the Moon Stone, current location unknown. That caused two moons to drift apart. Returning the stones to the system would cause the moons to drift back. I'm not really sure why I needed to do that, but it was something to do, right? I made my way back to Rysel and found the boat nearby.

Landing in Lyle's homeland, his town was just north of here

The towns of Agoe and Shusoran have been at war. Seems Shusoran was a Layan town, and the Orakians of Agoe have been battling them for 1,000 years. The people of each nation use surrogates though; Layans have monsters, and Orakians use cyborgs and robots. The purpose of Agoe seemed to be to clue me in on a hidden passage through a fountain in Shusoran, and a young woman that was taken to the castle.

Yes, but we haven't in years because we lost the recipe

In Shusoran the Layan people looked exactly like Orakians, so my party fit in without any trouble. I learned of the town of Cille to the north that has been unreachable for 1,000 years because the sandbar that connected them disappeared with the moon. There's my reason for returning the moon. While the castle was sealed, I found a secret entrance in the town's fountain. It was a rather long dungeon with many monsters, so again it took a couple of excursions. At the end was the castle, which had even more monsters. As I rounded the corner of one long hallway, I saw a lone woman standing in the throne room; Rhys exclaimed, "It's her! How did she get here?"

No, this game doesn't really explain anything

Lyle said he found her and brought her there. He then left the party and stood by her side, or slightly in front of her, and challenged Rhys to duel to prove his strength. So, who was this woman I was fighting over? Lena. "Who's Lena?" I said audibly while playing.

Look, I hardly know her, I don't even remember her, so you can keep her

Which was... when? Oh wait, random girl from the dungeon!

It just so happened Shusoran was Lyle's castle, and when I proved myself, the monsters were removed. Lena held the Moon Stone, and I returned to Aridia to put the moons back in place. Maia was being held in Cille, which I could only get to by returning the land bridge. This complicated scenario was only possible because the boat I took to Agoe was not under my control, so sailing it north was out of the question.

The purple moon Dahlia returns... wait, I thought there were two moons

With the moon in place, the land bridge appeared (actually I had to investigate the right spot for it to suddenly appear). The people of Cille were very vocal about their distaste at the thought of Maia marrying an Orakian. I'm really not sure how they even knew when the people of Landen hadn't had any contact in over 1,000 years.

No! That's Orakio's last message

As you can see, Cille had more fountains. Eight in total, but only one led to the correct path into the castle. Exploring dungeon and castle was mostly uneventful aside from the constant barrage of monsters that sure seemed like they wanted to kill me. The king Cille denied my request to take back Maia (it may have been a demand), and attacked.

This fight was really simple, just attack

With the fight out of the way, I finally found Maia and could now take her back to Landen to wed. Actually, the king said I now had a choice between Maia and Lena. What? What!? If I chose Maia I'd rule Cille, but if I chose Lena, then I'd return to Landen.

Shining earring, or mysterious blue hair?

It was at this point that I realized the greatest weakness of this game. There's very little character depth. I felt so disconnected from every single character that I honestly didn't care which one Rhys married. Maia, a woman he'd known for two months, or Lena, a woman he'd known of all of maybe a day. Honestly, I felt a deeper connection to Mieu or the female shop owners.

Having a good night at the inn

Hello~~ nurse!

In the end, I had to choose someone, so I picked the woman that I'd spent the most time with during my adventure. Lena seemed strong, and I felt I didn't want to stir any bad blood if the people really didn't want an Orakian to taint the Layan line. It kind of made the whole adventure pointless, but the heart wants what the heart wants (or in this case, the randomness of chat polls). The union of Lena and Rhys united Satera and Landen, and resulted in the birth of a son named Nial.

18? Must be time to start my adventure

While standing around the throne room one day, king Rhys received a message from Lena's homeland, Satera. Monsters had invaded. Lena's father was dead. Rhys commanded Nial to investigate. Nial, who starts at level 1 was accompanied by Wren and Mieu, who retained their levels. Rhys' equipment was passed on, but all the levels I gained for Rhys, Lena, and Lyle were all for naught. I was afraid this might happen, and really didn't see a point in grinding if I was going to have to do it all over again.

Some foreshadowing

The rumor-mill churned out the name of Lune and his armies as the menace threatening the land. A bridge had been made to connect Landen with Satera, and I took it to the castle. It'd been devastated by an attack, but the main force was nowhere to be found. The only survivor mentioned a cave to the south as the source of the infestation.

The map had changed quite a bit, I guess I didn't have access to the Layans anymore

I made my way through the southern cave of technology, and found myself in the land on the left side of the map. To the south of the cave was the town of Divisia: cut in half by the castle, which held captive Lune's sister, Alair. Lune and Alair were in cryostasis for 1,000 years. Moving their home, the moon Dahlia, seemed to have awakened them.

Yeah, pretty cool huh; wanna get married?

I found it strange that the "cell" Alair was "held" in was completely unlocked, but who am I to argue with the master plan of those who thought it'd be good to kidnap the sister of a crazed lunatic. Alair ran back to her brother to try to convince him to stop, and that's the last I saw of her. I exited the castle and found the other half of the town. The next step was to visit a rebel army to the west.

Someone telling me what I should do after I found the rebels

This seems like a good place to cut. Again posts are falling behind, and I've already managed to complete this game... and the next (Tombs & Treasure). I'm considering taking some time off from playing to catch up with the blog a bit, and relax until next year. With the rate I've been posting though there shouldn't be an obvious gap. I hope everyone has a good end of the year. Also, another thank you to the fine folks that put together Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection.

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