Castle: The Forbidden Divines
released on Nov 18, 2001
Castle: The Forbidden Divines is a prequel to the role-playing game Heaven and Earth Tribulation: Legend of Gods and Demons.
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This review contains spoilers
"幽寰证此约，七魄俱为凭。魂袅还无明，诸厉化纷英。吾心共天契，请凭神御临。"
Castle: The Forbidden Divines(天地劫序傳：幽城幻劍錄) is a hidden RPG treasure in China.
It was developed by a Taiwanese company called Dynasty International. This company specializes in fire-emblem-like turn-based tactics before this game came out. Actually this game itself is a prequel to a turn-based tactics title and the second game in the trilogy.
But you don't need to know that much. It's just a JRPG running on PC and you use the keyboard and mouse to play it.
Now then, Castle: The Forbidden Divines, what's special about it?
The answer is quite simple, it's just considered the best RPG developed in China and the only game that's as good or even better than any RPG masterpiece of its time.
It's not a joke. It's real. I was shocked by its quality when I first play, it quickly climbed to my RPG TOP List, and reached the same position as Xenogears.
I'll try to write something on this site, maybe this will draw some people to interest in making the English patch. (I understand that there was a fan-made English patch project ten years ago, but for some reason it wasn't finished)
I would start with the parts that should appeal to you.
Art style, it's awesome. It uses an already proven and effective way to build this beautiful world: Delicate spirited characters and splendid 2D background. I can say this is one of the best 2D graphics I've ever seen. The details are also elaborate, during the battle you can see the character's clothes swinging and beads rotating around them.
Next to the soundtrack, what can I say? The whole OST is the best thing in this world. This boss fight theme, normal encounter theme, and the final boss theme, GOD DAMN...who is the composer?
For the combat system, it's basically the final fantasy ATB combat, but there are two differences. The first difference, since it's a computer RPG, you select commands with the keyboard and confirm or cancel with the mouse. You can imagine the changes this brings. Press S to open the skill menu and then use the mouse to quickly select the command you want. It took me 1.5 seconds. It's sort of like Persona 5, every button corresponds to its function, a pretty good design for releasing the D-Pad. The second difference, it adds the formation system. There are front and back rows, the normal attack can't directly attack the back row, while group skills are distinguished horizontally and vertically. This adds a little strategy, not much but a good addition.
There are also some subsidiary systems. "炼化"——(A crafting system that you can synthesize any acquired items and equipment to get a stronger weapon or new material). "五内"——(The skill tree determines what types of skills you can learn when you level up). "兽魂石"——(Similar to the final fantasy summoned monsters)
I want to talk about combat animation separately. Meteor
what fuck is this shit, in 2001, CRPG fans got their all-time classic: Diablo 2 or Baldur's Gate 2 TOB, while Chinese players are watching this stuff.
And this death screen. It slapped me hard.
The sound effects are impressive. There are rumors that it's extracted directly from the KOF series. I don't certain if it's illegal but have you imagined fighting game sound effects used on a turn-based RPG?
Story is the only thing I don't want to reveal more. It's like a mix of Xenogears and Planescape Torment, but more than that, it has a unique Eastern fantasy and romance. Thousands of years of reincarnated love, the secret of the lost ancient country of Loulan, people with different wills and duties. The writing and dialogue in this game are also the peaks I've ever seen in an RPG. I love every scene and every character in it. The text has about 400 thousand words, more than any Playstation JRPG. It carries an epic story.
Almost forgot one thing: this game is very very very difficult. It's barely impossible to beat it without reading the guide. Have you experienced these: 1. You can't activate a side quest before talking with the NPC 5 times. 2. The key item is at a very inconspicuous angle on the screen and you have to click on every place in the scene to find it.
3. Each side quest has a time limit but will not tell you when to close. 4. The hint for the current puzzle comes from the scene you passed ten hours ago.
These are commonplace in this game. But there is a reason for all this. At that time, the piracy market in China was very rampant. To prevent it devs put as many tips as possible into the manual and the official guide, while the game itself had almost no guidance. My solution was to follow a detailed guide, which greatly eliminated the frustration and the only drawback this game bring me.
In conclusion, it is an excellent rpg in all aspects, everything is well-polished and extremely fun to play, with an amazing graphic and heartbreaking story. It spent me five days and nearly sixty hours to complete it. The only thing that makes sense to me these days is to play it. And this touching journey will remain in my heart forever.
Will you destroy the world for your beloved? I will.
Castle: The Forbidden Divines(天地劫序傳：幽城幻劍錄) is a hidden RPG treasure in China.
It was developed by a Taiwanese company called Dynasty International. This company specializes in fire-emblem-like turn-based tactics before this game came out. Actually this game itself is a prequel to a turn-based tactics title and the second game in the trilogy.
But you don't need to know that much. It's just a JRPG running on PC and you use the keyboard and mouse to play it.
Now then, Castle: The Forbidden Divines, what's special about it?
The answer is quite simple, it's just considered the best RPG developed in China and the only game that's as good or even better than any RPG masterpiece of its time.
It's not a joke. It's real. I was shocked by its quality when I first play, it quickly climbed to my RPG TOP List, and reached the same position as Xenogears.
I'll try to write something on this site, maybe this will draw some people to interest in making the English patch. (I understand that there was a fan-made English patch project ten years ago, but for some reason it wasn't finished)
I would start with the parts that should appeal to you.
Art style, it's awesome. It uses an already proven and effective way to build this beautiful world: Delicate spirited characters and splendid 2D background. I can say this is one of the best 2D graphics I've ever seen. The details are also elaborate, during the battle you can see the character's clothes swinging and beads rotating around them.
Next to the soundtrack, what can I say? The whole OST is the best thing in this world. This boss fight theme, normal encounter theme, and the final boss theme, GOD DAMN...who is the composer?
For the combat system, it's basically the final fantasy ATB combat, but there are two differences. The first difference, since it's a computer RPG, you select commands with the keyboard and confirm or cancel with the mouse. You can imagine the changes this brings. Press S to open the skill menu and then use the mouse to quickly select the command you want. It took me 1.5 seconds. It's sort of like Persona 5, every button corresponds to its function, a pretty good design for releasing the D-Pad. The second difference, it adds the formation system. There are front and back rows, the normal attack can't directly attack the back row, while group skills are distinguished horizontally and vertically. This adds a little strategy, not much but a good addition.
There are also some subsidiary systems. "炼化"——(A crafting system that you can synthesize any acquired items and equipment to get a stronger weapon or new material). "五内"——(The skill tree determines what types of skills you can learn when you level up). "兽魂石"——(Similar to the final fantasy summoned monsters)
I want to talk about combat animation separately. Meteor
what fuck is this shit, in 2001, CRPG fans got their all-time classic: Diablo 2 or Baldur's Gate 2 TOB, while Chinese players are watching this stuff.
And this death screen. It slapped me hard.
The sound effects are impressive. There are rumors that it's extracted directly from the KOF series. I don't certain if it's illegal but have you imagined fighting game sound effects used on a turn-based RPG?
Story is the only thing I don't want to reveal more. It's like a mix of Xenogears and Planescape Torment, but more than that, it has a unique Eastern fantasy and romance. Thousands of years of reincarnated love, the secret of the lost ancient country of Loulan, people with different wills and duties. The writing and dialogue in this game are also the peaks I've ever seen in an RPG. I love every scene and every character in it. The text has about 400 thousand words, more than any Playstation JRPG. It carries an epic story.
Almost forgot one thing: this game is very very very difficult. It's barely impossible to beat it without reading the guide. Have you experienced these: 1. You can't activate a side quest before talking with the NPC 5 times. 2. The key item is at a very inconspicuous angle on the screen and you have to click on every place in the scene to find it.
3. Each side quest has a time limit but will not tell you when to close. 4. The hint for the current puzzle comes from the scene you passed ten hours ago.
These are commonplace in this game. But there is a reason for all this. At that time, the piracy market in China was very rampant. To prevent it devs put as many tips as possible into the manual and the official guide, while the game itself had almost no guidance. My solution was to follow a detailed guide, which greatly eliminated the frustration and the only drawback this game bring me.
In conclusion, it is an excellent rpg in all aspects, everything is well-polished and extremely fun to play, with an amazing graphic and heartbreaking story. It spent me five days and nearly sixty hours to complete it. The only thing that makes sense to me these days is to play it. And this touching journey will remain in my heart forever.
Will you destroy the world for your beloved? I will.