Gaia no Monshō (also known as the 'Crest of Gaia') is a fantasy round-based strategy game by NCS and conversion of a game originally released for the NEC PC-8801 in 1987. Gaia no Monshō is a turn-based strategy game at heart - the player moves troops around a battlefield and attacks nearby enemy units. An Auto Battle mode is also available and gives the option to let the AI figure out of the player's next move. The game offers several play modes - the first one (Scenario Mode) gives the player the chance to jump straight into battle using predefined troops. The second (Construction Mode) allows him to build his own army using unit points. The last one (Campaign Mode) conveys story plot elements and starts in the siege town of Dirl, where king Sieghart battles the fierce Böser. This mode requires more complex strategy and the player must assemble his own troops using unit points and units lost in battle don't come back during the campaign. Unlike the other two modes, it offers a password system to save the player's progress through the game.
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Crest of Gaia has to be THE most generic strategy RPG I’ve ever played. Seriously. I guess if you’re into the whole SRPG thing, you might derive some enjoyment from this game, but I sure as hell can’t. Unlike more contemporary games in the genre like say, Shining Force and Dark Wizard, Crest of Gaia doesn’t bother to do anything to spice up the experience in terms of presentation, making the whole thing agonizingly boring. While the previously mentioned games have nice things like animated cutscenes, character development, not-unacceptably-horrible graphics, and…you know, fun, Crest of Gaia does away with these frivolities and delivers an experience that can be best described as being both bare-bones and dull. Dull as all get out, for reals. About the only reason I can see anyone playing this is because it apparently has some tie-in with the Langrisser series. Otherwise, there doesn’t seem to be anything in this game that would warrant you spending your time on.
Then again, maybe I’m just bitter because of the game’s intentionally misleading intro, which shows a knight in full armor riding on a dolphin’s back. Imagine how crushingly disappointed I was to find out that there is, in fact, no dolphin riding to be found in this game. Don’t be fooled!
Update: Apparently, according to the big D himself, you CAN ride dolphins in this game! This completely nullifies any negative opinions I may have expressed above - Crest of Gaia is awesome.
Also the game’s more like a strategy/board game sort of thing than a strategy RPG but whatever. Dolphin riding knights, man. Who ride dolphins. Seriously!