This is the 15th game for Eggconsole and we not only got our 2nd MSX2 game but we also get our first Compile game. This is really cool to see as Compile made some really cool computer games. It makes me hopeful we’ll see more this year. Never really played a Golvellius game, not even the Mark III/Master System entry. I went into this one completely blind. Here’s how it went.

This game reminds me a lot of Zelda though it’s categorized as an action RPG which I don’t really get as unlike something like Ys, you’re not gaining EXP for beating enemies or bosses. You go around the various areas of the land defeating enemies to acquire FIND as you buy potions to upgrade your POWER and bibles to upgrade your max amount of FIND. Why is it even called FIND? The world is divided into many areas and you’ll mostly go through them in a linear way unless you need to backtrack to find a Bible or Potion or for the late game that requires it. Surprisingly you can move in 8 directions like it’s the SFC Zelda game. The sword is also weird, it’s a stab but it has a lasting hitbox if you hold it. Though I found mashing it like crazy is better. While in the overworld, you’ll also be getting various items found by talking to NPCs. Almost all of them are underground where you must find holes through defeating enemies or stabbing a specific area. There’s also statues to give hints if you have enough FIND.

Eventually you can find side scrolling or vertical auto scrolling areas to find the area to the boss of the place. The side scrolling ones are pretty basic as you move left or right and attack with one of the buttons. You also can jump by holding up. These aren’t really all that challenging and they start to blend together after a while. They also do this evil thing where if you scroll too far or can’t make a jump, you have to move backwards to the left and reset the whole area which is a bit annoying. Otherwise they’re inoffensive. The vertical ones though can be obnoxious as they auto scroll and the movement on them is a bit weird and it’s easy to get too far behind and be forced to retry the whole section. Even worse, there are dead ends making you retry once again. It’s so bad that even the description for this game provided by D4 can’t deny this is a dumb design choice.

Once you get to the boss, they start off pretty interesting but later down the game when you get more health it becomes more of a mash attack strat. You just have too much health for most of them to have much thought. It’s even made more apparent by the very end where you do a boss rush where none of the bosses are a threat. Even the final one requires zero effort to win at and it’s a shame because I like how the game provides hints for them if you look around and get FIND to talk to statues.

Speaking of FIND, get ready to grind a lot for it. For some reason you need to use FIND to pay for stuff like said Bibles, potions, and even the occasional item. Now it won’t take long to grind out to max every time but it does feel unnecessary and feels a bit unfulfilling. It seems like this was done for this entry specifically but I can’t say for sure. It’s not too bad depending on the enemy type and spawn but this could drive some players a bit annoyed by how many times you have to do it.

The game does look pretty nice for the MSX2 and the music is pretty good too. I don’t know why but stuff like this is just what makes me appreciate Compile, their work just feels so unique in ways like this. Also shoutouts to the art on the title screen, intro, and ending. It’s some amazing stuff and it kind of blew my mind seeing it on the MSX of all places. I’m actually not sure how much all of the art and music shares in something like the Mark III entry but this is still good stuff regardless.

As per usual with these releases, there’s some nice stuff to see. The game has a good how to play section that even helps you begin the game and guides you through the town to get to the beginning of actual gameplay. This release also includes the promotional trailer that was included in the 2nd issue of Disc Station. I hope more of those get shown off on Eggconsole in the future. The manual scan is also really nice as the manual itself has a lot of amazing art. The scene select is pretty nice but it feels like it could have used one more for the middlish area of the game. It’s still nice that you can at least easily see the opening or ending for the game.

I find this game to be kind of a mixed bag. It’s not amazing but I wouldn’t call it close to being bad. I think it having that Compile flair helps me appreciate this one a bit but I think some ideas could have been executed better. It’s also hard to fully recommend this release as there is a fan translation and it’s hard to play through this without a guide in Japanese. I still think it’s nice to support the official thing as there is effort here and it’s pretty cheap but just be warned that you probably won’t beat the game blindly playing it without knowing the language. I know that’s just the usual but I feel it should always be said. This is still a good release and I can’t wait for more Compile, I really hope someday the Madou Monogatari games show up on this service. The last thing I have left to say is, the copyright screen is bugged in this release. There’s just nothing there if you press X on the main menu. Why does that even happen?