Game 11: Phantasy Star II (Genesis) - As if Millions of Voices Suddenly Cried Out

And so, it came to pass; that the space station Gaila, prison colony for those against Mother Brain, crashed into the planet Palm, which joined the company of Alderaan.

What was on that station to cause the destruction of an entire planet?

Before we get to the update proper, I apologize for the long delay. A combination of factors we'll just call life hindered my progress. The past two play sessions have been early in the morning as the only opportunity to grab some gaming time. I'm sorry to anyone who tries to catch my stream in the evening.

Back on track, I left Kyle reeling from the news of a world-wide flood, and that he was the only hope to stop this catastrophe. All he needed to do was find four key cards to close four dams. Simple enough; too bad no one remembers where they put their keys.

Game logic to the rescue! Piata, being the only town where a story event hasn't occurred, is the ideal place to start looking for the secret control tower. Here I find a path only accessible from the top area of the town, going along the bottom causes the group to leave town.

Too far to the left, you must leave town

Such areas were common in console RPGs; I remember skirting the edge of every town hoping to find a secret area, especially in Dragon Warrior games. Do these still exist in games today; if so, why? Why hide areas accessible only through trial and error where the point seems to annoy and frustrate the player just because they don't know which magic tile or area transports them out of town, and which ones keep them safely within its borders?

At least the dungeon is easy (the music "puzzle" didn't trip me up thanks to comments), and I begin my attack on the dams; however, one of the reasons I hesitated to play again cropped up: I'm bored with combat. The constant beating of the attack button gives no opportunity for any sort of strategy. Item selection is minimal (healing only), and using skills would only take away from my stock of healing. All of my tech points are saved for heal spells. After every battle I need to heal at least one party member to stave off death. I hoped this would change with the wrecker, but I get through about four fights before I get through all his tech and revert back to basic attacks.

Touch = return to town

I continue my trudge through yellow, then green, then I wipe out, game over. This was the end of my first session. It wasn't a big loss, I had just saved, but it stung because it was right before I planned to return (just one more battle!), and I failed to run 8 times in a row.

Game over screen confuses Algo with a planet

During my next session I was told by a viewer that I had missed the Laser Sword, which was superior to the double knives I was using. At the same time, it dawned on me that I had gained some new equipment from various treasure chests. I remembered from the manual that equipment had uses in battle, and while I had tried all the equipment purchased from shops, I imagined only items found later on would prove useful.

So, I went about trying the new items and found two cast Gires, the moderately powerful heal spell. By the third dam I obtained many more pieces, another item to cast heal, two helpful damaging spells, one agility buff, one that has an odd effect that hasn't worked yet, and lastly a mysterious reflective shield placed on my party.

Anyone know what a Crystal "nish" is? It casts lightning if that helps ;)

Once I discovered each of these uses I found myself enjoying the combat, even if the only thing to break up the monotony of attacking was casting indefinite heal spells. The less physically inclined members now had damaging spells available to cast at will, which made them much more useful, combat was shorter, progress through a dungeon was steadier.

Opening up the last dam alerted some robot guards. Even though I was at full combat ability, and threw everything at them, none seemed to be going down. After a number of rounds I was told I'd been captured.

Army Eye used "End Combat," it was super effective

I found myself on a space station, held in bondage, somehow depleted of tech points and items. I wondered out of my holding area, not really a cell; with no hope of fending off the enemies I had to run from each encounter. The place is devoid of any interest.

Suddenly, an alarm started blaring. It warned of the impending disaster. My only hope was to reach the controls and get the station back in orbit. From far off I saw them, but they were still out of reach. Making my way through damaging tiles and continued encounters, I found myself in front of them unable to alter our course. Then I blacked out.

Someone forgot to style check this image (Parma and Motabia?)

I received visions of Alis fighting Dark Force. Kyle doesn't know what these mean, and I wouldn't either if I hadn't played through the first game. It's a bit confusing as to why he's having these visions in the first place.

What's with the hair?

I woke to find myself on a pirate ship. I thank Tyler for saving me, a space pirate who left Palm many years ago happened to return at this moment. He informs me I was lucky to be alive given the space station I had been on collided with Palm in a rather epic explosion. Seeing as how my roster is already full, I bid him farewell; he deposits me on Mota after making some vague comments that I was heading for the planet Dezo.

I confront the commander, and he tells me to take the space ship on top of his tower to visit the only other surviving planet, Dezo. Wait... take the what? Why didn't you tell me about this space ship before?


Edit: On a side note, I've decided to inject some challenge and role-playing into the game. For those that have played this through, let me know if this is a completely crazy idea.

I'm thinking of taking Rolf, and the three level 1 character as my final party through the rest of the game. Story-wise, instead of going with the line that everyone escaped from Gaila, I'm going with only Rolf/Kyle did. I think it'll make things more interesting, although I might have to grind for a bit to get the rest up to snuff.


Session Time: 5h38m (Total Time: 19h31m)

Game 11: Phantasy Star II (Genesis) - Go Do Something, Somewhere

I have in my possession a stick of gum that allows everyone in my party to breathe underwater. As nonsensical as that sounds, my next statement will make even less sense. I cannot figure out how to go underwater. Why isn't this more straightforward? Plenty of water everywhere, there's one continent surrounded by the stuff yet the buoyancy is such that everything floats.

Based on this gum existing, I know my next step is to find a way to use it to explore the ocean depths. Skirting the coastline doesn't provide any notable features offshore, and trying to use the gum at random points provides little insight.

With no other leads I headed back to the town where the gum was created. One lone, random NPC mentions different colored water comes from the lake. I assume the Climatrol center is spilling lake water somewhere in the ocean, which is noticeably different. I search again, this time expanding my net to include areas of the ocean not visible from the shore.

How does the color of the water change?

The whole expedition is hampered by the game's rubbery display that only moves as I approach the edge, but centers once again after combat. Combat occurs quite frequently. Maybe there's a better hint to follow, but I'm determined to find it, there are only so many places to look. I'm rewarded by locating a small whirlpool, an hour into playing... I suppose the levels were worth the time.

Certainly... (the game gives no more dialogue after this message)

Here, I used the gum and found myself transported into a watery tunnel, complete with parallax scrolling ocean sheen. Did no one complain during play-testing?

Let's blind the player as much as possible!

This and the next few areas were linear, with only a couple branching dead ends. The false sense of security set in nicely and I was woefully unprepared when I entered the main floors of Climatrol. Paths branching everywhere, floor teleporters, loops, redundant paths, and dead ends all made an appearance and threatened my progress.

My next foray into the tower went a bit better, as I broke down and brought out my trusty paper and pencil. I drafted the layout of the floors, not too concerned with proper dimensions, collected treasure chests, and found a blue figure. She looked somehow familiar. As soon as I spoke to her, the comparison was obvious.

Nei? Does she remind you of anyone?

Neifirst explained, humans tried to kill her when she was first created. In turn she wanted to kill everyone, so she turned the biolab into a breeding ground for degenerate monsters. Nei split off from Neifirst during this time, disgusted. Meeting here like this again, Nei is overcome with rage and rushes to the fight, alone. I'm forced to fight, one character down.

Nei didn't last long, and would die anyway

This is the first boss, and what a challenge. I was trounced, even with what I considered over-leveling from extended exploration. Having gained some wealth, I used it to upgrade Luke's weapon (Cannon -> Laser Cannon) and give a weapon to Fera; I stocked up on healing items as well. The second attempt went much smoother, yet Fera still died.

Arriving back in Paseo, I headed straight to the cloning lab. The news wasn't positive; Nei can't be revived because the lab can only clone humans. (If Nei dies from a normal battle, is there an issue cloning her?) The game adds a nice touch by recognizing Fera died in the battle, and seamlessly offers to revive her. I'm told there's a plateau nearby to place Nei's body, never found it.

I returned to the command center and informed the commander/mayor of what transpired. He relayed that Climatrol was now flooding the world due to the spike back in power, and I am now wanted by robot guards in conjunction with this event. Our only hope is to open the dams; the attendant tells me I need an access card for each, red, yellow, blue, green.

Of course you hide emergency dam cards in a secret control tower!

Where do I get them? I don't get to ask that question. My next step? Speak with random NPCs again, and see if one has a hint. Maybe I'll run across some robot guards with the first card. In preparation, I've added Meta (the wrecker) to my group. His machine destroying abilities will prove useful if there's a robot boss.

Where were these robot guards when I was fighting Neifirst?

Session Time: 3h27m (Total Time: 13h52m)

How about an update for the blog instead?

Well, I ended up not playing all week. Sorry for the lack of updates, I'll definitely get some playing in this weekend and get a game related post up on Monday latest.

In the meantime, the poll is over, and it seems most of you finding your way here (and bothering to vote) know what you're getting yourselves into. A couple people seem to have stumbled upon here by mistake, so I apologize to those if anything misled you here.

Not much of an update, but I wanted to get a poll up for Final Fantasy. Help me fill out my party of four by selecting your favorite character (Fighter, Black Belt, Thief, Red Mage, White Mage, or Black Mage). If there's an overwhelming favorite, then that character may get multiples in the party. Hopefully there's a good mix and not everyone picks the same character (single class parties are harder I hear). So, vote away!


A side note, I've started another blog (Side Quest Saga) dedicated to playing some games on the side. Mainly I'll be playing games at the same time as CRPG Addict (Chet) or The Adventure Gamer (Trickster), and what better way to do that than also blog about it; however, there are also some computer games I want to play that aren't on their lists. First game up is Star Saga: One - Beyond the Boundry.

Rather than dump such out of place content here, I figured it'd be better to separate it. There's no ordered list (although I have a short list of games I might cover) as I'm going to leave it open for scheduling. The console RPG blog is still my main blog though, so no worries about it dropping off. I really just haven't had any chance to play on my consoles.

Game 11: Phantasy Star II (Genesis) - Annoying Habits

I don't expect games to have perfect stories or interface, but there are times when certain aspects are plainly illogical or completely annoying.

Two years? Only level 1 after two years?

Phantasy Star II began with Kyle (Rolf is the default name) reporting to his commander for an important mission. Kyle being a level 1 Agent is given the important assignment of discovering the origin of the strange biomonsters roaming the land. It's a little hard to believe such an important mission is entrusted to someone as apparently green as Kyle. Where are all of the senior agents? If Kyle is their best at level 1, then they're truly in a sorry state. He must have been incredibly lucky and not fought any biomonsters during his two years.

Everyone else seems to be level one, so why is Darum so powerful?

Nei's story makes about as much sense. Her origin is a mystery, but at some point Kyle found her and took her in. With her insisting to come, I have little choice in bringing her. North of town is a bridge where a man named Darum playing bridge troll. With no visible law enforcement, I suppose I'll have to deal with him; however, when I attempt to approach him I get warned that this is the man that attacked Nei and we should avoid him. There's no other explanation so far about Nei, but Darum is important since he's blocking our way.

I almost called him Odin

We learn from the town of Arima that Darum has a daughter, Teim. She was kidnapped by a gang of scoundrels (the game's name for them). At this point I returned home to find Rudo (short for Rudolf, renamed to Luke) waiting for me. With his assistance  manage to fully explore the nearby tower of Shure. Inside I find what Kyle assumes (somehow) are three bodies of the scoundrels, mysteriously slain.

Did the game forget to called them biomonsters?

One had a letter addressed to Darum for the ransom of his daughter Teim. It reads:

"'Darum! I have your daugher Teim locked in Nido tower. Pay 50,000 meseta in one month if you ever want to see her again.' To get the money, Darum turned to crime."

This letter doesn't make any sense. It was meant for Darum. It gives the motivation for his crimes. So, shouldn't Darum have it? This still doesn't explain why Darum, a strong burly man who can steal from anyone unmatched, is resorting to crime in order to rescue his daughter instead of... rescuing his daughter. Also, the letter gives 1 month, but Nei was attacked 7 months ago!

With the letter in hand Kyle muses that we should be able to convince Teim to come with us. I'm not sure how a letter showing she's being ransomed gives her a reason to escape her kidnappers, as if freedom itself wasn't enough. I found Teim in Nido where there was a definite lack of scoundrels. She was waiting patiently on the third floor in an open area. The only locked door was right at the beginning. Why is she here--at the farthest point from the entrance--unguarded?

Why defend her ourselves when we can pretend she's someone else?

Common sense lacking, Kyle decides he must hide Teim's identity from people who might seek revenge against her for the actions of Darum; he places a veil over her head. So, we bring Teim back to Darum so they can have their happy ending. The game doesn't see it that way though, here's a video of the exchange:

What I want to know is, where's all the money Darum's been hoarding to pay the ransom? Based on the music, I'm guessing the game wants us to empathize with this crazy exchange, but the moment is completely dulled by the absurdity of the situation. Did Teim want to die? Darum can't recognize his own daughter's voice? The whole event is over so quickly I almost missed it.

The next town is Oputa (shortened to Opta). Located here is a musician who teaches piano. Apparently not to me though, as he's merely a sound test implemented inside the game (no bardic skills for me). Finally, I find someone that tells me where the biosystems lab is located, in the southern part of town. Bad translation aside, I find the lab south of the town.

I want to learn piano, not just listen to you play

Before heading out, I stock up on equipment and return home in hopes of getting a fourth member; I recruit Fera (originally Amy). She's a doctor; it's always good to have another healer in the group. Figuring out equipment what I need took--and continues to take--some trial and error. The only way to tell if a character can use something is by buying it. The same is true for comparing power levels. Adding to the complexity is multiple weapon choices, and the possibility of dual wielding, two-handed weapons, or shields.

Inside the biosystems lab the enemy difficulty continues to rise at a rate where upgrading equipment is necessary to stand a chance. It feels like I'm barely maintaining an equal footing with the enemies in each area, and leveling up hardly makes a difference to attack and defensive powers.

On the lower floor, hazardous material will harm the party

On the very bottom floor of the lab I found the recorder inside a still active computer. Finally completing my first task I returned to the commander, who's apparently been promoted to Mayor. The cause of the biomonsters is determined to be a power surge in the lab. Power is being diverted from Climatrol (the weather system), causing leaps in evolution not seen previously. Evolution makes creatures deadly and aggressive apparently. Since my last mission was so successful, I'm sent to find the cause of the power fluctuations. I receive a key to unlock the tunnel south of the lab.

See, I drew a graph. Sure it doesn't line up exactly, but it's close enough

Beyond the tunnel I find Zema, a mostly uninspired town where maybe of the residents don't know what's going on. Once again I upgrade my equipment. Not 10 minutes later I find Kueri, with better upgrades that I can no longer afford.

A garbage dump is the only other location I can access. Rumors of water traveling vehicles leads to me to believe I'll find one here; however, it turns out other people are rummaging through the junk as well. At the bottom I find two people discussing a jet scooter, but there's no way to ask for it. Making sure I've explored everywhere I made my way back up wondering where to go next as I exit.

I almost left before fully exploring this part of the dump

Outside I find the jet scooter waiting for me. Turns out they've had their fun with it, but digging through garbage is so much more enjoyable. Therefore, I'm free to take it. Well that's nice of them.

Able to travel the seas I decide to search the overland before following my only other lead of an island that's home to a tree whose leaves allow me to breathe underwater after being turned into gum. There are colored dams, which need colored key cards to access according to the manual. The only other location of interest is Piata. Here I find even better armor, at a most premium price.

Damn dams blocking my passage

During my travels I managed to stop by home to welcome various guests. Sean (Hugh) is a biologist and believes even the biomonsters have a right to life, but doesn't regret defending humans. Cana (Anna) is a hunter of hunters. (Where was she when we were dealing with Darum?) Meta (Kain) is an engineer, or tried to be until he realized he destroys every machine he touches. Shir (would have been Kili) is a thief that steals things for fun. As an agent of the law, why don't I turn her in right away?

[Note: I say Shir would have been Kili because I had planned to name her that; however, there's a bug in the game that doesn't allow you to change her name. This was one of the most annoying moments I had in this game, reloading multiple times to ensure I was selecting the correct option. Sorry Killias, I tried.]

Except for the things you steal

It seems the last place to look is island mountain with the tree I need to pick. It turns out the island is home to many different trees that all look alike. I don't know which tree I need to find, but somehow Kyle knows.

Overall the dungeons have been increasing in size and complexity, and this mountain is yet another step up. There are caves to travel through with no clear indication of where they exit. Luckily the tried and true left hand rule overcomes the immensity of the mountain, and I find the tree at last. There's no other features to the mountain, no treasure to find, and the other trees are useless.

I can't tell if that's the sky or water

With the leaves in hand I return to Kueri, and give them to someone that can turn them into gum. The gum, I'm guessing, will allow me to search the bottom of the ocean. I'm not sure what for, as I'm still looking for Climatrol, but it's my only lead.

Sorry Mario, but your princess lies in another castle

To make a long post even longer there are a few things that need some discussion to really understand some of the less obvious annoyances. First up is the cast of characters. I have a full roster now, but I've only used the first four. The main reason is that all characters are level 1.

Why would I take the time to bring them up to an "equal" level with the rest of the group? I can't think of anything unless I'm forced to use them at some point. The extra time to level and cost of equipment is preventative. Currently the party is stuck with Kyle and Nei, so the choice of one or two more members means that Kyle and Nei will always have more experience. I'm not sure there's any reason to have a hunter, thief, or biologist in the group? The wrecker might prove helpful if I'm facing off against a lot of machinery, but techs are a pain to use in battle.

Overall, combat is pretty simple. Most of the time you'll be just attacking. If you want to do anything else, then you're in for a cumbersome experience. The combat menu first presents two options, Fight and Strategy. Strategy leads to Order and Run. Order is used to assign specific instructions to a party member: Attack, Use Tech, Use Item, or Defend. Attack allows you to choose which group of biomonsters to attack (default is the left one). Use Tech brings up a menu of combat magic. Use Item gives the option to select an inventory item for that character. Defend increases the defense of the character.

Selecting Nafoi is a short six button presses away, at least it destroys most things

Attack and Defend remain the standing order for that character between battles. Magic and items are one time orders, and revert to attack in subsequent turns even if defend was the prior action. As soon as fight is selected, the auto-battle takes over for each turn until a button is pressed to interrupt it. It's a very clunky interface, and giving orders to every character each turn takes more time than letting the auto-attack handle it in most cases.

One of the biggest annoyances outside of battle has recently been healing after battle. With increased HP, and increasing damage per fight, healing is a real drain. To heal, I have to open the menu, select tech, select the character, select the spell, select the character to use it on, then all the menus close.

I've been trying to move faster while healing, which has led to another issue... selecting the wrong spell. Both Nei and Fera have Res (basic healing) as their first spell; Kyle has Ryuka (Return to town). Going too fast has caused me to go back to town on more than one occasion.

Healing, only four menus to navigate

Two last pain points have to do with exploration. Instead of keeping the characters locked at the center of the screen, the party has to near the edge before the viewing area moves. I'm not sure why this decision was made, but I hope they correct it in the next game. After a battle, the screen will again be centered on the party, which is the way it should be. Adding to the fault of exploration, most dungeons have a parallax scrolling foreground that often blocks the view. 

There are some good points to the game, so don't take this mostly negative post to mean I'm not enjoying it. I haven't had to go out of my way to grind, as exploring seems to have been sufficient thus far. So far, the way forward hasn't been hard to find, and I'm still anticipating the mysteries to be uncovered.

Session Time: 6h03m (Total Time: 10h25m)

Game 11: Phantasy Star II (Genesis) - Bad Habits

Game 11

Title: Phantasy Star II
Year: 1990 (1989 JP)
Platform: Genesis
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
Genre: RPG
Exploration - Top-down (w/ layering)
Combat - Turn-based (random order)



"I had the same dream. A nightmarish vision of a giant demon and a woman warrior locked in combat. I'm but an observer to this, unable to act in any way. The horror releases a flurry of blows, and I awake with a start. I am alone in my room, the early dawn showing through the window. I'm Kyle, an agent of Paseo, capital of Mota. Shaking off the dream, I rise for the day ahead. I've been called into the commander's office to report for a special assignment first thing this morning.

Static scenes show the introduction above

The commander confides in me that he is having reservations now about the trust we've placed in the hands of Mother Brain to plan and control our future. Born of the biosystems lab, many monsters have invaded the surrounding countryside. Controlled by Mother Brain, this should never have happened, but it has. We must recover a data recorder at the lab that will tell us how the monsters were created. I say 'we' because while preparing for the journey, Nei insisted on accompanying me. I took her in some months back; I'm not really sure where she came from, but she didn't deserve the scorn and ridicule every laid on her just because she's a halfbreed of humans and the bio monsters from the lab."

*Plop*

I forgot to mention the release of the Sega Genesis back in 1989, a full two year head start on the competition, it was hoping to out do Nintendo by offering arcade ports of many popular games. It was also competing with the TurboGrafx-16 at the time, and had a price point $10 lower at release in the US. It usually takes 2 - 3 years to see anything other than ports or first-party RPGs come to console, so we'll have to wait to pass judgement on the console. I do hope it offers more than the SMS (hint, it does).

(Source: Wikipedia)

Phantasy Star II is the first RPG on the Sega Genesis (Mega Drive to the rest of the world), and a direct sequel to Phantasy Star. Direct probably isn't the best word to use since it picks up the story some 1000 years later after the events of the first.

The Algo (shortened from Algol) Star System is now run by a giant computer named Mother Brain. (With both this game and Metroid mentioning Mother Brain, I wonder if this is a cultural reference of some kind.)

All of the planet names have been shortened as well. Alis' home planet of Palma is now Palm, the previously dry desert world of Motavia is now a lush fertile world called Mota thanks to the biolab, and finally, the icy and desolate Dezoris has become the mysterious and mostly unknown planet Dezo.

My first task was to name the lead character. Not giving it much thought, the first four letter name that came to mind was Kyle (default name is Rolf). The game offers the option of renaming each character as they join the party, except for Nei. I'm going to take full advantage of this, and name them all differently, to protect their true identity.

Before venturing too far, I explored Paseo and gathered as much information as I could from the library and townspeople. Not much was really of note, but the manual mentions any tidbit of info could prove helpful later on. I have a bad habit of not taking notes, and not mapping, especially when there's no grid. I really should correct this: map everything, note everything, and not worry about taking my time.

'Room', nice descriptive text

I noticed right away in the first combat that Nei didn't come with a weapon (actually I noticed in the equip menu, but figured she'd fight with fists... she doesn't). I'd definitely have to take care of that. Luckily Kyle had Foi, an offensive spell, that could take out an enemy with a single hit. I used this to get some extra cash (Mesetas again) to buy her a weapon. Our combined forces got us as far as the first town, Arima.

Arima had been hit hard by a band of scoundrels. Using dynamite, they blew open most of the houses, leaving them in heaps of rumble devoid of valuables. Once here, I headed back home to find Rudo (short for Rudolf) offering to join my cause. I renamed him Luke and accepted his offer.

I feel like if I ask "where is Shure?" that I'm starting a joke I don't want to get into...

The next couple hours were a blur of grinding through the first dungeon, finding the key item to get into the second dungeon, and a run in with bad luck. I realized that I hadn't saved for a good while at the exact same moment my party was wiped during the last fight before heading back to town. My save is about an hour into the evening, looking at my party, I did manage to save after purchasing a shotgun for Luke, which is where the tide in battles really started to turn. I've since learned I can dual wield hand weapons, so that's what I'll be doing for Nei and Kyle.

If you couldn't tell, my second bad habit is not saving regularly when visiting towns. Unlike the first Phantasy Star, there's no save anywhere system. Granted the port I'm playing offers save states, but I'm not going to take advantage of them. I'm forcing myself to only save in towns with the memory bank (save point). It was a hard lesson to learn, but 2 hours lost will hopefully teach me to save at every opportunity.

This seemed like a battle I could win. In two rounds I'm facing the title screen

One other change of note is the lack of first person dungeons. The technology that was so praised in Phantasy Star on the SMS was dropped for Phantasy Star II (and possibly the rest of the series). Battles are also now in a slightly third person over the shoulder perspective from the party. I'll get more into combat in a future post, but there are quite a number of changes to the system.

Even though the world seems small--and so far there's no mention of traveling between planets--I have hope things will open up. There are after all more party members that will join my merry company than can fight in the four person expedition. I can only guess they decide to move in with me because that's where party management occurs.

Session Time: 3h10m (Total Time: 3h10m)

Extra Edition:

Since having written up the above, I decided to put the time in to get back to about where I was last night. It only took an hour to make the same game progress, although I'm short a couple of levels, and some extra gold. I've had a much easier time thanks to dual wielding bars on Nei and knives on Kyle. I hope my previous encounter with the Blasters was a fluke, and I can find a way to up my defenses or something before facing them again.

I also want to mention that there was a hint book, and maps that came with the original game. It's hard to tell what originally came with the game and what didn't though from the online resources I've found, so I won't be using any maps. The fact that they call it a hint book dissuades me from using it, so I'll refrain from either resource. The manual is my only reference material.

Session Time: 1h12m (Total Time: 4h22m)

Below the Cut: Wonder Boy in Monster World (Genesis)

(Source: Wikipedia)

Wonder Boy in Monster World - Rating(8 RPP)
1) 1 - Character Advancement: practice/experience based advancement, stat or level increases, multiple classes or characters, customize characters
2) 1 - Combat: character stats used for combat, additional combat options, turn based
3) 2 - Items and Equipment: store to buy and sell, equipment decisions, item decisions
4) 2 - Story: main story at the forefront; world full of hints and lore; descriptions for objects, people, and places
5) 1 - Exploration: open world from the beginning, visited locations remain open
6) 1 - Quests and Puzzles: side quests not related to the main quest, puzzles and riddles to solve

Wonder Boy in Monster World, strangely the only Wonder Boy found on the SeedyGamer's list, is an action platformer where precise jumping, waving a sword, and dodging are necessary skills. It could be accurately compared to Faxanadu, except for the one difference that drops it below the 10 point threshold: no character development through experience or practice. Instead, the abilities and stats are built into equipment upgrades and life containers. It's fun being able to run and jump around while swinging a sword, and I'd probably play the game if I could get a compilation of Wonder Boy games, but I can't honestly include it among other RPGs.

I believe there are also limited puzzles, quests, exploration, and world lore built into the game. If I'm wrong on this, then it may be enough to get it back on the list, so let me know if this isn't completely accurate. The series lasted through a number of games, 5 - 7 at least, so if there are other Wonder Boy games I should check out, then let me know that as well.

Below the Cut: Golden Axe Warrior (SMS)

(Source: Neoseeker)

Golden Axe Warrior - Rating(8 RPP)
1) 1 - Character Advancement: practice/experience based advancement, stat or level increases, multiple classes or characters, customize characters
2) 1 - Combat: character stats used for combat, additional combat options, turn based
3) 1 - Items and Equipment: store to buy and sell, equipment decisions, item decisions
4) 2 - Story: main story at the forefront; world full of hints and lore; descriptions for objects, people, and places
5) 2 - Exploration: open world from the beginning, visited locations remain open
6) 1 - Quests and Puzzles: side quests not related to the main quest, puzzles and riddles to solve

Golden Axe Warrior is yet another Zelda clone. There's a deeper story here than the first Zelda game (at least there are NPCs to talk to), but not as much inventory management due to having only a single action button. I didn't play very long, so I didn't confirm there are puzzles, but if it's anything like a Zelda game then it should.

If I've missed anything, let me know so I can add it in. For now I think I can safely say the game isn't going to reach 10 points.