Game 2: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES) - Introduction

The Legend of Zelda was a seminal title for the NES, so it's no surprise that its sequel sold very well. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link was released around December 1, 1988 according to Wikipedia. Development was once again led by Shigeru Miyamoto, but the bulk of the team was changed up. Takashi Tezuka also comes back to lend a hand in creating the story.

Link from the original game, now sixteen, discovers a mark on the back of his hand in the shape of the Triforce. He visits Impa, and she begins to tell him a story long forgotten. The Trifoce was once owned by a good king. On his death, it was split into three pieces. His son the prince received one, and the other two disappeared. A magician close to the king suggested to the prince (who was searching for the other pieces) that the princess received one. After confronting her, the magician cast a spell that put her into an eternal sleep where she didn't age, but the power of the spell killed the magician. Fraught with guilt, the prince decreed that all females of royal blood shall forever be named Zelda (this is the Legend of Zelda). Hoping one day his sister would wake, he locked her away on a comfy bed.

Six gems and a scroll are given to Link, and although he's never seen the strange writing, he's able to read it. Long ago, the Triforce was broken into Power, Wisdom, and Courage. The first two we saw in the first Zelda, but the last one is necessary to release the full power. Using this power should awaken the sleeping princess. The crest on Link's hand indicates he is the only person able to handle the Triforce of Courage. The scroll details it is hidden in the Great Palace, but to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands there is a binding force that is broken by placing a gem in each of six statues in the palaces around Hyrule. There are guardians to overcome, put there to protect the statues from enemies of the realm.

We also learn that even after the defeat of Ganon his minions are still causing havoc and chaos in the land. Link's blood is the key to resurrecting their leader Volde... I mean Ganon, so if Link loses all his lives, then Ganon is resurrected once more.

Scrolling text at the title screen gives a summary of the story.

Zelda II is a departure from the purely top down experience of the first. While the overland view remains this way, random monsters, caves, towns, and castles have Link exploring a side-scrolling adventure. In addition to heart containers, and now magic containers, Link will gain experience points for killing monsters and completing castles.

This level system is unique to this game and the series. With this pool of experience points you can choose to increase attack power, reduce magic cost, or add defense; attributes level individually with each one having a different experience point requirement. It's possible to customize Link in different ways if you choose to save for the most expensive level (usually attack power).

Even with good sales, many fans view it as the black sheep of the series. This reaction seems very similar to the one received by Castlevania II. It's a careful juggling act to follow a hit game; developers need to keep what makes it great, fix things that didn't work, and add new aspects that build on what did.

All set for tomorrow.

There's a debate over the Zelda games, with some counting them as RPGs, and others discounting them from the genre. Even though these claims persist, the most RPG-like of the series is often shunned. Even with dropping the experience system many aspects became staples for the series: magic, NPCs, and a detailed story. I don't expect to put this argument to rest, that's really not my goal, but I do fall on to the side that claim these are not true RPGs.

I believe the debate continues because having a game or series called an RPG has become some sort of prestige classification. Like a badge of honor, nearly every game scrambles to include inventories, experience points, and leveling, as well as storylines, exploration, and dialogue. Personally, I see parallels between claims that "games are art," and "my favorite game/series is an RPG." It dilutes the classification, and makes it meaningless when more outliers are added into a definition.

In my quick check on the RPG scale, Zelda II got 11, but that's from a fuzzy memory, so we'll see how it stands up in the end. I have beaten this game on multiple occasions when I was younger, but it's been at least 20 years since I last played it. Let's see how much I remember, and maybe I can get through it in a couple of play sessions.

Game 1: Phantasy Star (SMS) - Final Ratings

To start, now that I've finally come to the end, I'll weigh the RPG factors a final time, and then give my final review:

Phantasy Star (SMS) - Rating(15 RPP)
1) 4 - Character advancement: practice/experience based advancement, stat or level increases, multiple classes or characters, customize characters
2) 4 - 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 lore; descriptions for objects, people, and places
5) 2 - Exploration: open world, visited locations remain open
6) 1 - Quests and Puzzles: side quests not related to the main quest, puzzles and riddles to solve

It's interesting to note that the game lost some points from my initial estimate. I guess after getting a thorough understanding, it's now obvious that there aren't any equipment or item decision. Everything is pretty obviously better, and equally viable options don't exist.

What did the heroes do? I don't know, but they were great weren't they?

So, on to my first use of the full rating system. I try to give a complete understanding with many examples. That's why I think it's fitting to ask, CAPICE?

Combatant
Like most RPGs there's a good amount of fighting in this game, and like most the fighting gets repetitive. There are spells and some items that break up mashing attack, but with magic points so scarce (and no way to recover them in the field) I often found myself saving them for boss fights. They are interesting to watch with colorful graphics and animations for each monster. Don't get too excited though, these animations usually consist of a single arm moved in a slashing motion while the rest of the sprite is still. For the time, this was very impressive, as its peers maintained static images for some time.

However, some animations draw out way too long (looking at you flying eyes and zombies), and some sounds were equally annoying (again flying eyes, and my own laser gun top this chart). Consistency is lacking: one fight has monsters with 180 HP and the next will have some with 30, and damage ranges from 1 - 60; it's hard to judge how well I was doing or if I was able to take on a boss. In the end the only real challenges are the length of the dungeons and the final bosses, as well as the beginning of the game where a single bad encounter with an Owl Bear can lead to a 1-hit dead, game over scenario.
Rating: 5

It's done, you failed! Back to the title screen with you! Game over screens were harsh back then.

Admirer
Some of the most detailed graphics are shown in cut-scenes introducing each character. These are memorable, and give a good impression of what your guys look like. It's a guess most often what someone can use. I've already mentioned the Glove on Myau, but how am I supposed to guess that the Laser Shield is equippable by Noah when every other shield is not? Also hidden are spell costs, but it doesn't change, so I created my own list (if I only I remembered to refer to it more often). Maneuvering the party is very smooth looking, especially the dungeons with. Each step transitions seamlessly into the next.

Unfortunately, there's no way to visually customize the characters, and they aren't seen in battle. Leveling up comes only from battle experience, and the benefits taper off at about level 20; I started to get only 1 or 2 HP for each level instead of 10 - 15. This seemed worse than just capping the level at 20, and with 10 levels of no spells and minimal stats, it seemed these last levels helped the enemies more as their stats increase as the party levels.
Rating: 4

This is the only time you get to fully see your characters.

Puzzler
All quests have one solution, which is unfortunate, as this is a missed opportunity for another first in the genre (at least on consoles). For instance, normally you can talk to dragons, but all chatting or telepathy seem to provide are small hints and a way out of battle. Why not have the Casba Dragon depart and leave the gem behind after talking to him? There's not a lot offered here beyond combat solutions. Some items are discovered by searching, but only after you've learned about them. A treasure chest containing the Dungeon Key doesn't appear until the appropriate plot flag is triggered. Other solutions are talking to someone three times, or using an item.

There are hints, and they're easy to follow, so I never felt lost for what to do (although I did find myself unable to find where things were a couple of times). How everything fits together isn't well explained though, and the flow from one thing to the next is often obscure or downright confusing. (The only cake shop in two worlds is at the bottom of a dungeon... really?) There are optional quests to take on, but without knowing what the main quest requires it's difficult to know the difference.
Rating: 2

Guess which house has the right pile of junk to find Hapsby...

Instigator
Alis watches her brother die, swears revenge on Lassic, and then spends the rest of the game hoping to stumble over him. The story quickly loses steam and cohesion after getting the spaceship. At this point there's no clear direction to take, and all mention of Lassic disappears in the next few towns. Nothing changes in the story, and NPCs continue to give the same hints no matter how many times I spoke to them.

There is some background, but mostly it's related to completing the game and little to do with enriching the world. We learn nothing more about Lassic either, and only at the very end do we get a hint of background for Alis. Noah gets one side quest from his thus far unknown master, Myau gets to transform for a short while (not really explained), but Odin has no further interaction in the story (even after confronting and killing Medusa).

The story boils down to saving the world from an all powerful evil with no other concerns. I suppose I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the female heroine, which was rare for the time (or now even), but honestly, I don't see what would change if Alis were a man. (A side note: if Alis is killed during the last battle, but you still win, she will be resurrected by her brother's spirit for the epilogue. 1 point for keeping continuity.)
Rating: 4

Sadly, the Alsulin used to save Odin causes him to lose his ability to speak after this

Collector
Probably the least fulfilling aspect, the number of items are very limited and inconsistent in power level. A large gap exists between the best and second best, with some equipment available so quickly that the previous ones are obsoleted at the next town. Searching for treasure is an exercise in futility as many of the chests are empty with traps, or contain such a pittance that winning 1 fight gives more reward. (What is the use in finding starting equipment in the final dungeon?) With a limited inventory there's no way to have everything at once. A hovercraft takes up as much room as a burger. There's no way to unequip things. Only two healing items exist and inventory management becomes a pain when enemies start throwing flashers around like they're going out of style. In fact they did when I got a magic lamp. I was never hurting for money. I had just about enough to purchase most things as I came across or needed them.

There's no way to know if you've done everything. With secret doors, the completely obsessive can spend hours searching every wall of every dungeon. Another hidden feature is the wand; it is the only piece of equipment that has a use in combat (it'll act as an escaper: a 100% chance to run unless physically impossible). No hints, and no other equipment have an ability. Aside from blindly trying to use items in battle it's unlikely I would ever run across this. However, now that I know, I'm definitely going to make sure I try using equipment in combat in future games. I remember some Final Fantasy games had this as well.
Rating: 3

Why can't I leave Hapsby on the ship?

Explorer
The best part of the game is the graphics, animation, cut-scenes, and smooth dungeon crawling. Exploring dungeons are a bit of a slog with the identical corridors; helpfully most dungeons have a different color. The planets themselves are unique and easily identifiable. Motavia (the desert planet) has ant lion pits, Dezoris (the ice planet) has... well ice, and Palma (Alis' home planet) has grass, forests, and an ocean. Yet, the size of these planets seem very small with the maps wrapping around quickly. Honestly, they could just as well have been 2 continents and an island cluster without much loss in continuity. I can only imagine multiple planets were used to fit the futuristic motif, but it led to illogical aspects like spaceships that can't reach a floating cloud fortress.

The sounds and music are rough. Boss music isn't menacing, some sound effects are grating, and nearly everything else is forgettable (the title music is the only memorable track). It's obvious that Star Wars had an influence, from guards in the guise of Storm Troopers to farmers in the desert that look like Jawas (not to mention light sabers). There's a mention of Sega Games that I found amusing at first, but its only purpose seemed to remind me that I'm playing a game, and the NPC actually questioned me as to "why did I play this far..."
Rating: 6

If I could control the space flight, maybe it'd feel like I was playing on different worlds.

Final Rating: 24 (40%)

Overall, I'm happy with this rating, and it does well to reflect my enjoyment of the game. Playing it now the game feels average, but I recognize a lot of historical significance. I'd really only recommend it for those interested in discovering the roots of Phantasy Star or CRPGs in general; for others, find a recap and move on to save yourself 20 hours. I know there are better games out there. I think it's less interesting to see a score for a single game, so onward and forward, and let's get some more up for comparison.

Next up is Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. A controversial series when considering what games are RPGs, this one should prove as close as possible though, and give me a nice break before getting into another heavy game with Ultima: Exodus coming up. I'm taking the night off for Valentine's day, but we'll pick this up on Thursday. I'll make the intro post tomorrow.


Lastly, as an aside, I participate in a speedrunning community; we take it upon ourselves to time-attack all types of games, even ones without timers. Phantasy Star happens to have a run completed many years ago. While it took me a good 20+ hours to get through on my first try, someone named Brightstar was able to beat the game (after much practice and planning) in just 5 hours and 40 minutes (direct link to video). That being the GBA version, walking is slower in dungeons, so the same luck and strategies would mean a much lower time. It amazes me that a game this long boils down to a quarter of the time when going straight for the goal.

Game 1: Phantasy Star (SMS) - Finished!

My plan to quickly finish this up in a couple of hours by quickly locating the Laerma Nut, and dashing on over to Lassic to tromp him spiraled into another 8 hours of play time.

First thing first, I knew I needed to find this nut. It was said to reach Lassic's castle in the clouds is beyond the reach of spaceships, and a Laerma Nut could cause some cats to fly. The nut eluded me during my search with the Ice Digger, so I traversed the dungeons once more in search of an exit I missed that would take me to an unexplored area. This trend was halted near the end thanks to a viewer mentioning that the tree was truly found with the Ice Digger, and hinted at its location. It must have been the only area I didn't search.

The ever elusive Laerma Tree. I thought it'd be more of a puzzle, but no, just use torch & get nuts.

Nuts in tow, I quickly run off, kill Lassic, and win. Again, this plan failed as I underestimated the size of the final dungeons. It turned into a test of patience as I stumbled across the crystal from the soothsayer, and found no other way through. I swore (once again) that I searched everywhere in Baya Malay without a clue to finding Lassic. I took a break for dinner, had a second look at my video (this time mapping it thoroughly), and noticed a small section I hadn't explored. So, I loaded up the game only to be met with a dead end. A second break, and I consulted the instruction manual for any hints.

I found it! In the description for the TRAP spell: "...disarm traps in Treasure Chests and dungeons." With the hint of an armor on the far side of a pit, I realized crossing pits safely is possible, and this is how it's done. Too spent to go back for the armor I pressed on. With this last piece of the puzzle, it was only a matter of attrition before I reached the end. At the top of Baya Malay, it's an easy matter of using the Prism to see Lassic's getaway, use the Nuts to have Myau fly, and reach Lassic.

The view was worth the climb...

Of course, it's not that easy. There's no way to heal in the middle of all this, and there's another full dungeon before getting to Lassic. Being greatly over-leveled, I imagined it going a different way than it did. Lassic's power was surprising: his attack damages everyone for a about 40 HP. First attempt met with disaster. Second attempt went a little better, having actually defeated Lassic, but everyone died except Alis. I'd spent all my MP, and with throwing away my only Transer, I was stuck on his floating city. With no way out, I reloaded the game, went back to town, and stocked up on healing items in order to save MP. This time he went down easily.

Rejoice! Back to the Governor to tell him the good news! Well, bad news, the Governor is missing and we fall into a pit trap as soon as we enter his house. This final dungeon is a simple affair compared to the previous labyrinth of Baya Malay. On the final floor, there are no obvious doors. Searching for a secret door, I'm lucky enough to locate one that leads to the very last fight: an enemy called Dark Falz. His HP doesn't show, and he attacks twice for 60 HP each hit. Forgetting to save just outside his door on my second attempt at this fight, I decide to save at the beginning for this collection's save state capability, and only reloaded if I was wiped. There's not much difference I think, and on my third try he goes down.

We free the Governor who tells us all is well again. In fact, he's discovered Alis has royal lineage, and offers us the crown for the galaxy. I accepted and Alis became queen of the Algol System. The end. Not too bad a way to wrap up the adventure (if a little strange), but that may explain why Lassic killed Nero as an heir to the throne. Rather than the more mundane "sniffing around" business. In fact, we never really knew what Lassic was "really up to," but at this point it doesn't much matter.

Was Lassic Alis' father? The Star Wars tropes continue...

Having beaten the game, I wrote up a list of questions I was curious about, and set off in search of answers inside walkthroughs and FAQs. Below are those questions, and answers I found:

1. How do I use the Crystal against Lassic, it wouldn't work? This works automatically. Without it, Lassic's attack instantly kills the party.
2. Is the Mirror Shield actually useful for Medusa, she seemed like a pushover? Yes, without it, her attacks instantly kill one member. With it, she is indeed a pushover.
3. What happens if I let Dr. Mad have Myau? He instantly kills Myau, and the battle starts anyway.
4. Is there a use for the empty building in Gothic? None that I could find.
5. In the prison is someone who mentions having a friend in Bortevo I should visit, is there a use for this? None that I could find.
6. Is there a point in giving Cola to the man in Sopia? None that I could find.

Tight... what? Is this an insult?

Some other notes I found interesting:

• Max Mesetas is 65535. I find it funny whenever I see this; less funny when it rolls over to 0. Overflow caused many glitches in games (and still does); it seems it's guarded against in this game, but still funny to think the party gets to a certain point and say, "no thanks, we have enough gold now."
• Monster ATK and DEF will rise with character level (HP remains the same), which explains why even beginning enemies were hitting me for 10 - 15 HP. I'm guessing this was a first, as the only other game I know of that did this was Oblivion.
• The compass, in addition to allowing access to Eppi, is useful in dungeons for finding the cardinal direction the party is facing. I hadn't thought of this, although there's not much use in knowing, as there's no spinner traps or any ways to become disoriented (knowing which way is north in a dungeon isn't much help if you don't know which way is out).
• Running away is not possible if your back is against a wall, door, or stairs, and there's no path to the sides. This is something I inferred after a while, but it's interesting to see the game take this into account.

This last session really drained my enthusiasm for this game; while technically innovative with animated attacks and pseudo-3D dungeons, the game itself was very basic, and getting lost drained hours away in monotony. The story and hints help you figure out fairly easily what you should do next, but it's not always explained how. Without the instruction manual, this game would go on for a long time until I broke down and tried everything I could on the pit trap. As a first game to set the bar though, I probably couldn't have picked a better title. It's very middle of the road and a good measuring stick for now.

Game Updates and Choices

While doing a bit of research on upcoming games I discovered a couple things that required some changes to the list. These would go probably without notice, but in case someone does and wonders why, I'm pointing it out in advance.

First, the next games after Zelda II were two TurboGrafx-16 games, but I discovered the TG-16 wasn't released until August. So, I've pushed these two back to then. This brought Ultima: Exodus closer, so I started a poll (more on that below).

Second, I've been mentioning Dragon Crystal for the Sega Master System, and have come to the conclusion that it wasn't released in the US. I can't find a single copy anywhere; and the rom appears to have a EU (U) designation, as do all SMS games since they're region-free. Luckily this doesn't exclude the game because during the same investigation, I learned it was released for the Game Gear in the US, which brings me to my last point regarding the games list.

Sega had a hand-held? (Source: Wikipedia.org)

I forgot all about the Game Gear. I'm not sure how, but I managed to completely exclude the device. Maybe I thought it too out there to have any RPGs, but whatever the reason, we now have 5 games added to the list. The only one that failed to make the RPG scale is Ax Battler, so all-in-all that's 4 more games to play.

Lastly, I've added two polls up now: emulation poll and Ultima character poll.

The first is the emulation poll. It was pointed out that maybe I've been too draconian in my rule making, and I shouldn't exclude emulation entirely. With the addition of the Game Gear, the issue of taking screen shots is brought to the forefront. Where previously I thought I could ignore the problem until we reached the DS (and hope Nintendo allowed this in some way by then), the Game Gear games are coming up much sooner (estimated in 2 years).

Even though 2 years seems quite a far way away, the matter of emulation is already at hand as I've had to skip one game so far while I try to locate a reasonably priced copy of the Sega Master System. Personally, I'd like to get the physical systems, games, and benefit the developers/publishers that made then all at the same time, but it's just not possible. Getting these used games benefits only second-hand dealers that sometimes double or triple retail prices. So, please express your thoughts; I'm leaving that poll up for a little over a month.

So this is why arcades took such a hit to sales... (Source: Flickr - Doctor Popular)

The last poll is a question of character. I'm really divided between having a Lark and a Thief in my beginning party for Ultima: Exodus. If I get the Thief, I want to supplement his magical inability with the Ranger, who can cast both types of spells. Having the Lark would mean I'd like more healing magic, so the Paladin is an obvious pick. In case anyone cares, the Wizard will be a Fuzzy, the Cleric a Bobbit, the Paladin a Dwarf, the Lark or Thief an Elf, and the Ranger a Human.

What does everyone think about having polls up for character choices? I think I'll try posting more without being overwhelming. I mean with 5 races and 11 professions across 4 characters, we'd have a list of choices as long as this blog posting. So, I'll try to keep it simple while keeping everyone involved.

I figure I'll need to get a final tally to Ultima by next Saturday, so that's when the poll ends. Tonight's session is going to start late, but I'll play later as well. I'd really like to finish up Phantasy Star soon, so if tonight fails to accomplish that, then I'll play tomorrow as well.

Game 1: Phantasy Star (SMS) - Coming to a Close

The hints are finally starting to align. I sense the end is nigh. Things are wrapping up: the Amber Eye, the point of the Laerma trees, the Laconian Pot, and the one seemingly random line about some nuts can make cats huge and fly are all revealing their truth. After wondering the lonely road of many paths without an end in sight, I believe I can safely say I'm almost done.

When did Medusa start having a serpent's body?

Last night I loaded outside Medusa's tower, but thought it best to find the shield mentioned before. I had been to the island, but didn't search every square. Silly me for thinking the game wouldn't make me do that. With the Mirror shield on Odin I felt better prepared for my fight with Medusa. I also picked up a Laser Shield for Alis. The fight with Medusa went by without incident; I now have the axe, but I'm still reluctant to forgo the laser gun. I wonder if Medusa actually stones people.

Next stop was to get the Diamond Armor. At 15,000 mesetas it was nearly everything I had, and well worth it; Odin was in need of a boost to armor, and 30 more points seems like a lot (now 163). It's a little strange there's no interim choice between this and the 1,000 cost armor, but with this I am well equipped to head back to Dezoris. I hope I find the Laconian Armor; otherwise I'll have to save up another 15K for Alis. Traveling between all these places was getting a little annoying, so I found a small town in the mountains with the Ice Digger for sale to call home for a bit.

12,000?! I just spent 15,000 on armor...

The Laconian Shield was in a cave I thought would lead me to the top of the mountain. I explored a temple and found someone that wanted a dragon gem in exchange for a sacred flame. Pretty sure I got the better end of this deal. I accepted the trade because I had started hearing about the Laerma trees, their nuts and berries, and how I'd need a heat source as well as a Laconian Pot to hold them. Nuts? That reminded me of the nuts fed to cats. I had been hearing Lassic lived in the sky, and that there were places in the sky even a space ship couldn't reach. Ignoring the illogical (game logic right?) nature of that last statement, I figure I need the nut to feed to Myau in order to reach Lassic's last stronghold.

After getting those two items I had enough money from battles to buy the Ice Digger; however, I can't figure a use for it. I heard there were soft spots in the ice I couldn't walk on, but I haven't found such places. There's also one last dungeon that looks like a prison that I haven't found a use for. Most dungeons have a single item or a helpful NPC to talk to; I've found neither in this place.

Gauron Morgue, where the dead walk again! (Plus my new Ice Digger)

My hope to finish tomorrow night has diminished, as I seem to have hit a wall here. I cut last night 30 minutes short because of this. Hopefully a fresher mind enables me to tackle the clues once more and find a way to the Laerma trees, which will unlock the way to Lassic, and the end. Of course, there's also a magic crystal that some soothsayer has, and I'm not sure I have anything left to trade for that or where I'll find him.

Not knowing what else to do, I tried to find a secret door again in one of the dungeons. I looked at every wall, but nothing. Granted I didn't try the search command because that adds more time than I'm comfortable with. If that's the key to finding these hidden areas, then I'd rather not bother. I just hope this isn't preventing me from finding something in the (so far) empty dungeon.

Game 1: Phantasy Star (SMS) - Do It Because I Tell You

As I started up the game and reviewed my notes last night, I realized there's no clear direction to get to the end of the game. I felt lost. True, I did have a list of things I've been told I can do, visit, or get, but I did't know why I needed them. Here's my list:

• Get the Amber Eye from the Casba dragon [x]
• Find the Hovercraft in Bortevo[x]
• Buy the Land Rover for 5200 mesetas [x]
• Find the four Laconian items (Sword [x], Shield, Armor, Axe)
• Find a way to cross the poison swamp [x]
• Find the Frad Fiber Mantle [x]
• Buy the Glove for 3300 mesetas [x]
• Buy a Laser Shield for 4800 mesetas
• Buy Silver Fangs for 1600 mesetas [x]
• Buy Diamond Armor for 15000 mesetas
• Find a way into Baya Malay [x]
• Explore Dezoris, and reach the Altiplano plateau to find the Laerma trees
• Kill Medusa
• Find Lassic
• Find the Ice Digger

Those marked with an [x] I completed last night; however, it all felt kind of hollow. Getting the Hovercraft and Land Rover were obvious choices as they would open up more areas. Better equipment would follow from more fighting as I explored, so I wasn't going out of my way for that. But, I wasn't sure how any of this led to Lassic, and had to take it on faith that following the hints would lead to him.

Rocking the Cas... what? Too obvious?

I got the Amber Eye from the dragon near Casba because someone told me about it. I have no clue what it does, or what it's used for. The Hovercraft was simple enough to find, and I only hoped it would lead to places unexplored, but couldn't be sure since I had never heard of anything existing beyond the shores I could see. Why am I trying to climb Baya Malay... because it's there.

Who? Ah, I guess I'll figure it out...

So, I explore to mask the grind for equipment, entering random dungeons to find what I find. I learned of a monk named Tajim in a cave to the south of the town in the poison swamp. Who is he? What does he do? Why should I seek him out? I don't know, but the last person I was pointed to in a dungeon joined my party, so why not seek him out. Turns out he had the Frad Mantle I was told about previously. I'm kind of jumping out of order, but at some point I noticed I had some cash again and go off to buy the Silver Fangs (much better than the iron ones). I also buy the Glove... oh the Glove... I bet you can't guess what it's used for.

It turns out it is equipped into the "shield" slot, or I guess the alt. armor slot. I purchase one, try it on Alis... not able to equip, try it on Odin... not able to equip, try it on Myau... equipped; really?! The cat puts on the glove... okay. That's fine. I'm glad Myau has more armor. However, I now have a problem. There's no option to take off equipment, and I never tried it on Noah. He doesn't have the alt. armor slot filled either, so I buy another Glove. Try it on Noah... not able to equip. Truly aggravating that I couldn't take the Glove off Myau to learn that Noah couldn't use it, so I was forced to buy another one, now useless. I'm sticking to the rule that I don't reload unless I'm wiped, so I sucked up the loss and moved forward.

Am I the only one that thinks Mittens would make more sense?

I continue to explore: find a temple on an island that happens to hold the Laconian sword, find a town in the middle of the ocean that sells me a Poison Shield for the swamp gas, learn the spell Open to open the door in Baya Malay where I learn Lassic is stationed. Finally I know where to go for Lassic. I also know where to get the Laconian Shield (theoretically) and Axe (with Medusa). I tried to get through the ice fields, but there are some caves to explore that I didn't have enough HP/MP to get through.

I was thrown a bit of a curve ball the other night when a friend on chat suggested there were walls that weren't really walls. Secret passages in dungeons... I think on how many dungeons I had already gone through. I had not heard of this, nor seen any, so I thought maybe he was pulling my leg after I searched one dungeon for a bit. Well, it turns out that the only way to learn about this is by talking to monsters, which I started doing more often to avoid fights with random dragons. Also, this was confirmed when I was thrown in "jail" while exploring Baya Malay. It turns out that some of the walls I pass by are actually doors if only I turn to face them directly. I wonder how many I may have missed. How long it would take to thoroughly explore every dungeon? Are the rewards truly worth it? I'm thinking no, but the completionist in me is curious.

Secret door! (Trust me, it is.)

So, what next? My plan is to kill Medusa (Odin has waited long enough for his redemption), get a Laser Shield, search for the Laconian Shield (might do the shields before Medusa), finish exploring Dezoris and reach the Laerma trees on the Altiplano plateau , find the Ice Digger, figure out where the Laconian Armor is, and then kill Lassic. If all goes well, then I might be able to finish this game up tomorrow night.

Phantasy Star Impressions: Real Logic vs. Game Logic

I've spent a lot of time describing the story and what I've done in the game, but I feel like I haven't said anything about the game itself. There are basically four or five different screens in the game, a field or world view, a town view (both of which are seen from a top down perspective), the dungeon view, battle view, and a menu view. The battle and menu are very similar, as is the view used when speaking to NPCs; the last three are all a first-person perspective, with commands on the left side and quick character stats along the bottom. Dungeons have a 3D effect when moving through them, which is noted as the most technically impressive part of the game along with the enemy animations for each attack.

Not impressed? You should see it action.

Like most games of this time there's no tutorial; a player during this era is lucky to get any kind of back story in the game itself before given control. Here we get some reason for going out to explore, and a short term goal, but no explanation on what the menu options are used for. This is all explained in the manual to a point; however, a lot is left to player to discover through trial and error.

An example is the talk command, which isn't used to talk to people in town; it's used to try to talk to enemies in battle (the option is only available in battle). However, this command is useful so infrequently that I had completely forgotten about it during my fight with Dr. Mad where it might have actually worked. Even with that in mind at the time, I probably would not have used it because it takes up the entire party's turn for that round. There are spells that Myau and Noah get to communicate with a wider variety of enemies (Chat and Tele respectively), but they also take a full turn away from everyone. With no way to recover MP in the field, I'm not about to use these spells loosely.

Ooo~! New spell! Tele... port?

Most random encounters will end by mashing the button to select attack. Spells are limited (so far only 2 damage spells and two defense spells), and with few magic points to cast them I find it best to save them all for healing or boss fights. Each character has a set number of MP, and each spells takes a certain amount. That amount isn't displayed anywhere though, so how do we know how much a spell costs? Cast it, and then write it down.

I've run across this before in other games. Trial and error is the norm, and back in the day I would play following these steps: save, try something, and reload if I didn't like it. It's how these games trained me to play. This brings me to a point about learning a game because as players we need to put real world logic aside, and re-learn how things work using the game's logic. Reading about it in the manual is one way (not that much fun), a tutorial that explains it all is another (tiny bit more fun than a manual, or boring if we already know), and trial and error (fun or frustrating) is the fallback. The problem is game developers expected players to have the manual, which wasn't always the case.

I've always wanted a Laser Sled!

A good example of game logic is determining if a sword in the shop is better than the axe I have in my hand. In most simple games one can assume that the more expensive item is better. However, to truly know, we'd need to buy it and try it. This goes for items that have no (or a confusing) description in the shop as well. What does it do? Let's buy it and see. Why do the actions save, buy, try, reload seem like a reasonable solution for designers of this time? I can only think of two reasons: increasing time spent in the game (spent all your money on an item that you don't need, go grind more money), or an attempt to infuse a sense of mystery and discovery. Either way, lingering questions are left unanswered.

In Phantasy Star, it follows the logic that more expensive things have a higher attack or defense, and this is confirmed if we check character stats when equipping each weapon and armor. The abbreviations can make this difficult when I'm looking at the type of thing an item is, but it mostly works. However, there's only way to tell who can use a piece of equipment, try to equip it. A perfect example is a Glove in the weapon shop. Who can use this? I'm not entirely sure, and the only way to find out is for me to buy it and see. Possibly it's a studded glove for Odin to attack with, or replaces his shield, or maybe it's for Noah, or it's an item I need for a later quest, or... who knows. At 3000 mesetas, it's not exactly an easy buy at this point without knowing more.

Just one?

It's inevitable that games are a learning experience. There's ultimately no way around this; I don't believe there should be one. The experience is what makes the game fun, and the game showing that we've learned something is positive reinforcement that our actions are correct. Making uninformed decisions is not fun for me, and trial & error aspects of games aren't much better. As a player, I look forward to decisions where I know the expected outcome; even if it's a rogue-like game where every item is random each time, I'd like to know there's a possibility that I'm holding a scroll of character death or invulnerability. Text is at a premium with older games, so I understand how descriptions get truncated, but with random NPCs telling me useless facts, I'm less forgiving when spells don't list the MP cost or equipment use is left up to the imagination. I guess it comes down to if the decision has risks (will set me back in some way) I'd like to know what the risk is, and the rewards.