The story revolves around a hero who awakens in a field, without any memories of who he is or where he comes from. After befriending a magician named Darus and rescuing Princess Lefis of Ark from her crashed airship, he learns that the nations of Samara and Ark have been conquered by tyrants named Nova and Gadiss respectively. The hero is launched into a quest to protect the Princess, free the people from the villains' reign, and discover his identity.
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I think this was a victim of being released too late into the Famicom's life to make an impact (same fate as Terranigma on SFC/SNES). It has a similar action/RPG set-up like Star Ocean. Kinda makes me think of what was originally intended for Zelda 3, as you have party members that attack on their own.
Game Review - originally written by Spinner 8
I love this game! It’s one of those games that really should have been brought over here. (editor's note: it almost did, as Tower of Radia! there's a pretty finished prototype floating around since this was written) But it doesn’t matter now, does it? Hahahaha! Anyway this here’s an action-RPG-type thing. It’s kind of hard to explain.. Which is why we have screenshots! It’s really fun, and innovative in a lot of ways. It has an overall excellent plot, and is in my opinion one of the best NES games out there. Well, it would be if it weren’t for one small detail. If you’ve played it before you know exactly what I’m talking about. That’s right, the AI. Since this is an action RPG thing, you only control one character, and the game’s AI takes control of the others (up to four). And those guys do really really stupid things. I could write an entire page about how incredibly bad this game’s AI is, but I won’t. I’m too sleepy. Anyway, go play dammit!
I love this game! It’s one of those games that really should have been brought over here. (editor's note: it almost did, as Tower of Radia! there's a pretty finished prototype floating around since this was written) But it doesn’t matter now, does it? Hahahaha! Anyway this here’s an action-RPG-type thing. It’s kind of hard to explain.. Which is why we have screenshots! It’s really fun, and innovative in a lot of ways. It has an overall excellent plot, and is in my opinion one of the best NES games out there. Well, it would be if it weren’t for one small detail. If you’ve played it before you know exactly what I’m talking about. That’s right, the AI. Since this is an action RPG thing, you only control one character, and the game’s AI takes control of the others (up to four). And those guys do really really stupid things. I could write an entire page about how incredibly bad this game’s AI is, but I won’t. I’m too sleepy. Anyway, go play dammit!
kinda just setting this one aside for now since i'm, uh, playing way too many other things... as usual. it's pretty good, though! '91 is pretty late for a famicom rpg, and it shows — it's a brisk, breezy game with better qol than games just a year or two older. the battle system is a light mix of real-time combat and menu-driven, sort of like an 8-bit precursor to star ocean and similar. i never had to grind and always knew exactly where to go in the several hours i played! the music also jams! as expected, with the key composer being keiji yamagishi of ninja gaiden and tecmo bowl fame. it's definitely worth a look if you're into this era of jrpgs (might even be more of a 3.5), and i think i'm likely to return to it once i have a bit less on my plate.