This is a game I’d been told was worth checking out way back when I first got my PC Engine Mini, and it’s a game I’ve been meaning to check out for just as long. Back when I first got the Mini and was playing through a ton of stuff on it, I very briefly booted this up, but decided I just wasn’t in the mood for something like this at the moment. I actually did that once again a couple weeks back after I hooked the PCE Mini back up to play through Ys I & II XD. However, while I still had the PCE Mini all hooked up, I resolved to finally give a genuine attempt to get through this clunky old RPG, and this Golden Week weekend I finally did it~. It took me around 30 to 40 hours (neither the game nor the Mini keep any kind of record of play time, so that’s my best guess) to beat the Japanese version of the game via emulated hardware only abusing save states a little bit (for reasons that will soon become very clear).
The war between gods and demons has raged since the dawn of time. In the endless eons since their battle began, the gods in their desperation created a weapon powerful enough to fight with the strength of a demon to fight back against those demons: The Necromancer. Eventually, worlds between the heavenly realm and demonic realm formed, with the Makai forming closer to the demons, and the overworld (where humans live) forming closer to the heavens. In that overworld where you dwell, things have slowly been getting more and more dire. Monsters increase in number every day, kings and knights have done nothing but get slain trying to contain it, and the world cries out for a hero to stop the madness. That hero is YOU, fair player, and the story begins as you set out to be the hero the world needs to save it from destruction.
As you probably gathered from me relating the contents of the game’s opening text crawl in the previous paragraph, the story is an extremely typical “save the world” fantasy story for early 1988 when this game came out. The game marketed itself as a horror experience, with commercials warning players against playing it too late at night and such, but that stuff is largely contained in the game’s aesthetics. HudsonSoft and NEC clearly knew that they needed a Dragon Quest for their console coming out in late ’87, and this was the Dragon Quest equivalent they created for their new console (and DQIII actually released a whole month after this, in fact). They’re not trying anything too daring in the narrative, and it works just fine for what it is. While it may’ve been entertainingly novel for them to have tried a horror narrative alongside their scary monsters, the story is more than competent enough to stand comfortably among its contemporaries, even if it’s certainly nothing impressive now.
The gameplay is similarly very Dragon Quest for both better and worse in a lot of ways. It’s a turn-based RPG with an overworld and dungeons, you level up as you kill enemies, etc. I’m not encyclopedic enough on the full breadth of Japanese RPGs by late ’87 to say for certain how actually innovative much of this is, and it’s otherwise so derivative I’ve basically assumed just about nothing truly is. That said, there are a few important things that differentiate it from its contemporaries in ways that I feel are worth mentioning (particularly compared to DQI and II, the games that this begs the most obvious comparisons to).
You have a party of three including your main hero, but you actually get to pick your other two companions from a group of five right at the start. Whom you choose is a very big decision, as you’ll never get to take back that choice, and some party members are sadly much worse than others. I went for Maito the black mage and Romina the female warrior, as the guide I used quite heavily recommended them as two of the best choices. While this is cool, I certainly have trouble calling it an outright benefit, as some characters like Kaosu the white mage are simply downgrades from others, and some like Baron the male warrior are just awful choices, full stop. While it’s certainly different from several other big games at the time, it’s hard to praise it that much because it’s just so clumsily handled.
The game’s balance is also quite interesting, albeit far from atypical of the time. It has very little in the way of dungeons, for starters. Most dungeons are just caves with only a couple floors, and the only reason they’re difficult is due to the strength of the monsters inside as well as how dark they are, so your visibility is very limited. Additionally, as I’m sure will be a surprise to no one, this very DQ-inspired game has a crap ton of grinding in it, and frankly grinding makes up around 70%+ of your playtime by the end of it (provided you’re using a guide to tell you where to go next, because if not, you very well may end up spending a lot more time wandering around trying to wade through hordes of enemies trying to find out where to go next). It’s certainly something that makes the game more difficult to play these days, but it’s also extremely common for the time, so I can’t bash the game too heavily for it, ultimately.
I also can’t be too harsh on the game for that stuff because it does have some pretty nice quality of life features as well. Much like many games of the time, certain characters can only use certain magic and spells (you buy spells Final Fantasy-style instead of learning them with level ups like Dragon Quest). However, unlike a lot of games up until that point, going into a magic or equipment shop actually tells you which things can be used by which party members! It’s a really nice quality of life features that makes the game just that much easier to play, even if the weapon limitations for some characters will still probably be quite annoying regardless x3.
Additionally, just like Dragon Quest, if you die, it’s not a game over. You’re just sent back to town with half your money. The money grind in this game is pretty damn brutal, so that’s still quite the penalty, but at least it’s a reason to keep grinding for levels, which you’ll always need anyhow XD. This is also something of a necessity as well, really, as this is a HuCard game. HuCards can’t fit a button battery for saves inside them, and the CD add-on for the PCE didn’t exist yet, so no saving using that thing’s save battery either. This game, therefore, arrives at the same conclusion that early Famicom RPGs (such as DQI & II) did, and saves progress the only way it possibly could have: Passwords. Going to an inn gives you a 45(!!!) character password composed of hiragana, katakana, and alphabet characters that you’ll need to write down if you want to restart from that point after you turn off the console. Thankfully, modern conveniences make it so you can just use save states instead, but this is a REALLY big pain in the butt compared to contemporary Famicom games which at least would’ve had save features. It’s hard to get too terribly upset at the game for doing this, as it was literally the only choice the developers had, but it’s still a monstrous obstacle for anyone planning to play this game these days if you’re trying to do it on original hardware.
All that said, I really do have to praise the game’s balance for the time. There were many times I felt like I was just really stuck, and while it was difficult, braving the journey to the next town to grind at instead and buy better equipment was always a worthwhile investment. Bosses are also quite fair and reasonable (what few there are) and having enemies that you can go up against and beat without needing to just pray to the RNG gods is a really nice an unexpected feature for 1988. The biggest part of this, frankly, is due to the handling of one very important mechanic: Instant death magic.
Anyone familiar with the subject will be very keenly aware that RPGs of this era (from Japan or otherwise) LOVE instant death. Dragon Quest II, in particular (which would’ve been the most recent DQ when this came out) has lots of end game enemies AND bosses that will fling instant death spells at you, and your only real solution is to just pray you get lucky enough to survive them. Necromancer, on the other hand, while it DOES have an instant death spell, it has zero enemies OR bosses that know or use it. This was frankly shocking to me, and I was waiting the whole game for some new wretched enemy or late game boss to start hurling instant death magic at me, but the moment never came. More than anything else it does, I think that resisting the temptation to follow contemporary convention and pack itself with RNG-based fun-killing mechanics like this is something that Necromancer deserves a lot of praise and respect for, as it’s something that certainly makes it an appealing alternative to most other 80’s RPGs for me, at least (despite its hell-password system XD).
The aesthetics of Necromancer are certainly nothing impressive compared to later 16-bit offerings, of course, but they’re nonetheless quite nice looking, especially the monsters. Sure, the overworld and such are nothing special, and the few music tracks the game has are all pretty forgettable. That said, they clearly put all their focus on making the monsters, and the game has some pretty stellar and very creepy monster designs. Even right outside the first town your first two enemies are some pretty inoffensive giant moths alongside the much creepier looking vaguely humanoid figures being pulled around by their intestines. The Special Thanks part of the credits has a special cut out to thank H.R. Giger, and it’s frankly not hard to see why XD. While I do stand by my earlier statement that the game marketing itself as a “horror RPG” feels a bit dishonest (especially by modern standards), the horror content it does have is easily one of the coolest and most memorable aspects of its design.
Verdict: Not Recommended. While I spilled a lot more ink here talking about how the game is actually quite good for the time than I did actively complaining about it, this is in no way a game I think anyone should be playing these days. I really do stand by my opinion that, for the time, this was a very competent RPG that (other than its password system) stands very comfortably next to what the Famicom was boasting. That said, as is the case with nearly any 8-bit or 80’s RPG I’ve played, gameplay sensibilities have changed a LOT since back then, and even a well-executed game like this is still an absolutely brutal slog of grinding and roughly signposted puzzles. If you’re a super-duper-ultra fan of the Famicom Dragon Quest games, then you might have a lot of fun with Necromancer, but for anyone who doesn’t like their RPGs as grinding-focused time-wasting machines, Necromancer is a game you should stay far, far away from XD.
The war between gods and demons has raged since the dawn of time. In the endless eons since their battle began, the gods in their desperation created a weapon powerful enough to fight with the strength of a demon to fight back against those demons: The Necromancer. Eventually, worlds between the heavenly realm and demonic realm formed, with the Makai forming closer to the demons, and the overworld (where humans live) forming closer to the heavens. In that overworld where you dwell, things have slowly been getting more and more dire. Monsters increase in number every day, kings and knights have done nothing but get slain trying to contain it, and the world cries out for a hero to stop the madness. That hero is YOU, fair player, and the story begins as you set out to be the hero the world needs to save it from destruction.
As you probably gathered from me relating the contents of the game’s opening text crawl in the previous paragraph, the story is an extremely typical “save the world” fantasy story for early 1988 when this game came out. The game marketed itself as a horror experience, with commercials warning players against playing it too late at night and such, but that stuff is largely contained in the game’s aesthetics. HudsonSoft and NEC clearly knew that they needed a Dragon Quest for their console coming out in late ’87, and this was the Dragon Quest equivalent they created for their new console (and DQIII actually released a whole month after this, in fact). They’re not trying anything too daring in the narrative, and it works just fine for what it is. While it may’ve been entertainingly novel for them to have tried a horror narrative alongside their scary monsters, the story is more than competent enough to stand comfortably among its contemporaries, even if it’s certainly nothing impressive now.
The gameplay is similarly very Dragon Quest for both better and worse in a lot of ways. It’s a turn-based RPG with an overworld and dungeons, you level up as you kill enemies, etc. I’m not encyclopedic enough on the full breadth of Japanese RPGs by late ’87 to say for certain how actually innovative much of this is, and it’s otherwise so derivative I’ve basically assumed just about nothing truly is. That said, there are a few important things that differentiate it from its contemporaries in ways that I feel are worth mentioning (particularly compared to DQI and II, the games that this begs the most obvious comparisons to).
You have a party of three including your main hero, but you actually get to pick your other two companions from a group of five right at the start. Whom you choose is a very big decision, as you’ll never get to take back that choice, and some party members are sadly much worse than others. I went for Maito the black mage and Romina the female warrior, as the guide I used quite heavily recommended them as two of the best choices. While this is cool, I certainly have trouble calling it an outright benefit, as some characters like Kaosu the white mage are simply downgrades from others, and some like Baron the male warrior are just awful choices, full stop. While it’s certainly different from several other big games at the time, it’s hard to praise it that much because it’s just so clumsily handled.
The game’s balance is also quite interesting, albeit far from atypical of the time. It has very little in the way of dungeons, for starters. Most dungeons are just caves with only a couple floors, and the only reason they’re difficult is due to the strength of the monsters inside as well as how dark they are, so your visibility is very limited. Additionally, as I’m sure will be a surprise to no one, this very DQ-inspired game has a crap ton of grinding in it, and frankly grinding makes up around 70%+ of your playtime by the end of it (provided you’re using a guide to tell you where to go next, because if not, you very well may end up spending a lot more time wandering around trying to wade through hordes of enemies trying to find out where to go next). It’s certainly something that makes the game more difficult to play these days, but it’s also extremely common for the time, so I can’t bash the game too heavily for it, ultimately.
I also can’t be too harsh on the game for that stuff because it does have some pretty nice quality of life features as well. Much like many games of the time, certain characters can only use certain magic and spells (you buy spells Final Fantasy-style instead of learning them with level ups like Dragon Quest). However, unlike a lot of games up until that point, going into a magic or equipment shop actually tells you which things can be used by which party members! It’s a really nice quality of life features that makes the game just that much easier to play, even if the weapon limitations for some characters will still probably be quite annoying regardless x3.
Additionally, just like Dragon Quest, if you die, it’s not a game over. You’re just sent back to town with half your money. The money grind in this game is pretty damn brutal, so that’s still quite the penalty, but at least it’s a reason to keep grinding for levels, which you’ll always need anyhow XD. This is also something of a necessity as well, really, as this is a HuCard game. HuCards can’t fit a button battery for saves inside them, and the CD add-on for the PCE didn’t exist yet, so no saving using that thing’s save battery either. This game, therefore, arrives at the same conclusion that early Famicom RPGs (such as DQI & II) did, and saves progress the only way it possibly could have: Passwords. Going to an inn gives you a 45(!!!) character password composed of hiragana, katakana, and alphabet characters that you’ll need to write down if you want to restart from that point after you turn off the console. Thankfully, modern conveniences make it so you can just use save states instead, but this is a REALLY big pain in the butt compared to contemporary Famicom games which at least would’ve had save features. It’s hard to get too terribly upset at the game for doing this, as it was literally the only choice the developers had, but it’s still a monstrous obstacle for anyone planning to play this game these days if you’re trying to do it on original hardware.
All that said, I really do have to praise the game’s balance for the time. There were many times I felt like I was just really stuck, and while it was difficult, braving the journey to the next town to grind at instead and buy better equipment was always a worthwhile investment. Bosses are also quite fair and reasonable (what few there are) and having enemies that you can go up against and beat without needing to just pray to the RNG gods is a really nice an unexpected feature for 1988. The biggest part of this, frankly, is due to the handling of one very important mechanic: Instant death magic.
Anyone familiar with the subject will be very keenly aware that RPGs of this era (from Japan or otherwise) LOVE instant death. Dragon Quest II, in particular (which would’ve been the most recent DQ when this came out) has lots of end game enemies AND bosses that will fling instant death spells at you, and your only real solution is to just pray you get lucky enough to survive them. Necromancer, on the other hand, while it DOES have an instant death spell, it has zero enemies OR bosses that know or use it. This was frankly shocking to me, and I was waiting the whole game for some new wretched enemy or late game boss to start hurling instant death magic at me, but the moment never came. More than anything else it does, I think that resisting the temptation to follow contemporary convention and pack itself with RNG-based fun-killing mechanics like this is something that Necromancer deserves a lot of praise and respect for, as it’s something that certainly makes it an appealing alternative to most other 80’s RPGs for me, at least (despite its hell-password system XD).
The aesthetics of Necromancer are certainly nothing impressive compared to later 16-bit offerings, of course, but they’re nonetheless quite nice looking, especially the monsters. Sure, the overworld and such are nothing special, and the few music tracks the game has are all pretty forgettable. That said, they clearly put all their focus on making the monsters, and the game has some pretty stellar and very creepy monster designs. Even right outside the first town your first two enemies are some pretty inoffensive giant moths alongside the much creepier looking vaguely humanoid figures being pulled around by their intestines. The Special Thanks part of the credits has a special cut out to thank H.R. Giger, and it’s frankly not hard to see why XD. While I do stand by my earlier statement that the game marketing itself as a “horror RPG” feels a bit dishonest (especially by modern standards), the horror content it does have is easily one of the coolest and most memorable aspects of its design.
Verdict: Not Recommended. While I spilled a lot more ink here talking about how the game is actually quite good for the time than I did actively complaining about it, this is in no way a game I think anyone should be playing these days. I really do stand by my opinion that, for the time, this was a very competent RPG that (other than its password system) stands very comfortably next to what the Famicom was boasting. That said, as is the case with nearly any 8-bit or 80’s RPG I’ve played, gameplay sensibilities have changed a LOT since back then, and even a well-executed game like this is still an absolutely brutal slog of grinding and roughly signposted puzzles. If you’re a super-duper-ultra fan of the Famicom Dragon Quest games, then you might have a lot of fun with Necromancer, but for anyone who doesn’t like their RPGs as grinding-focused time-wasting machines, Necromancer is a game you should stay far, far away from XD.
WELL. Thank god for save states because this sure is a 1988-ass RPG. I've been playing it in like 15 minute chunks for well over a year, and I have effectively nothing to say about it at all. It's bland hard-tack. Without save states and the frankly wonderful guide on GameFAQS (huge, enormous shoutouts to that guy, holy smokes) I wouldn't have gotten anywhere at all
I wish I had something more insightful or interesting to say except to say that it feels impossible that the Linda^3 people didn't play this, because those monsters are straight up Linda^3 monsters
I wish I had something more insightful or interesting to say except to say that it feels impossible that the Linda^3 people didn't play this, because those monsters are straight up Linda^3 monsters