I remember playing this when I was a young teen, it seemed like the coolest thing ever. This replay has dulled some of the shine but it still goes hard.
The music is unmatched, the main theme is unforgettable even after all these years. The mech anime story is unreal, localisation is hilariously bad and the voice acting is really ropey, but given that script I don't blame them.
I still think ZoE has some special features to it that The Second Runner lacks, such as the ring world level selection map and the open exploration type gameplay which I found really immersive.
The Second Runner has an undeniable cool factor and a much more cinematic feel to it, with the anime cutscenes feeling a lot more dramatic.
Definitely play it, watch the opening trailer thing (though it's got spoilers all over the place, it's still amazing... reminds me of how good The Phantom Pain trailer was) all the anime cutscenes. It's fantastic.
The music is unmatched, the main theme is unforgettable even after all these years. The mech anime story is unreal, localisation is hilariously bad and the voice acting is really ropey, but given that script I don't blame them.
I still think ZoE has some special features to it that The Second Runner lacks, such as the ring world level selection map and the open exploration type gameplay which I found really immersive.
The Second Runner has an undeniable cool factor and a much more cinematic feel to it, with the anime cutscenes feeling a lot more dramatic.
Definitely play it, watch the opening trailer thing (though it's got spoilers all over the place, it's still amazing... reminds me of how good The Phantom Pain trailer was) all the anime cutscenes. It's fantastic.
1992
Finished Soul Blazer 🗡️
At one point in the final town, you find someone performing with a harp in the church. His sprite animates charmingly and the generic town theme music fades away as he begins to play. The music he plays is a powerful, profound composition that immediately strikes you from your ears to your heart.
Later, It was no surprise that, as the credits rolled, this beautiful piece began again. It was the conclusion to an epic journey and the theme seemed to encapsulate all those feelings of adventure, peril, love, sorrow, and occasionally a layer of absurd amusement.
I loved all the spiritual themes flowing through this game, lots of stuff about reincarnation and appreciating the little parts of life. Mixed in with all this was the charm of a slightly dodgy translation, and the joy of surreal moments like when the goat tells you that she used to be her owner's husband in a past life. You'll smile all the way through but you'll also pause a moment to consider the belief of reincarnation as you do.
This is a very fun action adventure RPG that is beautiful to behold and will stick around in your memory for a long time after playing thanks to its unique gameplay aspects. The game is developed by Quintet, who had also created ActRaiser, and would go on to create two (spiritual?) sequels to this game. Illusion of Gaia (known as Illusion of Time in Europe) and Terranigma continue on the path laid by Soul Blazer, and both are still today very highly regarded SNES Action RPGs.
I have not played those other games, so I can't comment on their quality, but while reading up about them, I discovered this game, Soul Blazer. I thought it was interesting that people didn't seem to mention it as much, but when they did it was usually in positive terms, so I decided to give it a go. And I'm glad I did. I will definitely play Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma some time in the future.
The game has a great sense of rhythm. Each world or "zone" was relatively short; some of the earlier ones could be completed in a single night. The character progression was paced well too, with a regular supply of level-ups, new weapons, armour and magic spells trickling in as you progress. Each new item brings its own unique perks.
There were some less polished aspects of the game, though they didnt mar the experience all that much. Sometimes, controlling the character was a bit difficult. Struggling to get him to point the direction you want him to when in the midst of a boss fight can cost you your life. Thankfully, the checkpoint and saving system is very generous and forgiving, so it's not the end of the world.
The graphics constantly impressed me, especially the backgrounds. At one stage, you get to look out over the horizon and see the Aurora Borealis glowing beyond the mountain tops. At another, you'll see the blue depths of the ocean shimmering beneath you.
The boss fights also feature superb illustrations and sprite work, with some huge, intricate bosses filling up large portions of the screen. These are also a lot of fun, gameplay wise. They generally require some trial and error and learning the boss's different attack patterns in order to effectively avoid damage while picking the right moment to strike and land a hit.
The game has a gentle difficulty curve which I thought was very pleasant. For example, in the first few worlds, you can often adjust your sword positioning in order to defeat a wave enemies without having to move a muscle - simply let them walk towards you and impale themselves on your sword! Some may think this is a negative, but I enjoyed it. It meant that playing the game could sometimes be very relaxing - less stressful, reaction-based battles and more slow-paced positioning puzzles. That being said, there is an enjoyable level of challenge to be found here, in the later levels.
I rate Soul Blazer a GGGg. That's a Great Good Game with garnish. I really enjoyed my time with it!
At one point in the final town, you find someone performing with a harp in the church. His sprite animates charmingly and the generic town theme music fades away as he begins to play. The music he plays is a powerful, profound composition that immediately strikes you from your ears to your heart.
Later, It was no surprise that, as the credits rolled, this beautiful piece began again. It was the conclusion to an epic journey and the theme seemed to encapsulate all those feelings of adventure, peril, love, sorrow, and occasionally a layer of absurd amusement.
I loved all the spiritual themes flowing through this game, lots of stuff about reincarnation and appreciating the little parts of life. Mixed in with all this was the charm of a slightly dodgy translation, and the joy of surreal moments like when the goat tells you that she used to be her owner's husband in a past life. You'll smile all the way through but you'll also pause a moment to consider the belief of reincarnation as you do.
This is a very fun action adventure RPG that is beautiful to behold and will stick around in your memory for a long time after playing thanks to its unique gameplay aspects. The game is developed by Quintet, who had also created ActRaiser, and would go on to create two (spiritual?) sequels to this game. Illusion of Gaia (known as Illusion of Time in Europe) and Terranigma continue on the path laid by Soul Blazer, and both are still today very highly regarded SNES Action RPGs.
I have not played those other games, so I can't comment on their quality, but while reading up about them, I discovered this game, Soul Blazer. I thought it was interesting that people didn't seem to mention it as much, but when they did it was usually in positive terms, so I decided to give it a go. And I'm glad I did. I will definitely play Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma some time in the future.
The game has a great sense of rhythm. Each world or "zone" was relatively short; some of the earlier ones could be completed in a single night. The character progression was paced well too, with a regular supply of level-ups, new weapons, armour and magic spells trickling in as you progress. Each new item brings its own unique perks.
There were some less polished aspects of the game, though they didnt mar the experience all that much. Sometimes, controlling the character was a bit difficult. Struggling to get him to point the direction you want him to when in the midst of a boss fight can cost you your life. Thankfully, the checkpoint and saving system is very generous and forgiving, so it's not the end of the world.
The graphics constantly impressed me, especially the backgrounds. At one stage, you get to look out over the horizon and see the Aurora Borealis glowing beyond the mountain tops. At another, you'll see the blue depths of the ocean shimmering beneath you.
The boss fights also feature superb illustrations and sprite work, with some huge, intricate bosses filling up large portions of the screen. These are also a lot of fun, gameplay wise. They generally require some trial and error and learning the boss's different attack patterns in order to effectively avoid damage while picking the right moment to strike and land a hit.
The game has a gentle difficulty curve which I thought was very pleasant. For example, in the first few worlds, you can often adjust your sword positioning in order to defeat a wave enemies without having to move a muscle - simply let them walk towards you and impale themselves on your sword! Some may think this is a negative, but I enjoyed it. It meant that playing the game could sometimes be very relaxing - less stressful, reaction-based battles and more slow-paced positioning puzzles. That being said, there is an enjoyable level of challenge to be found here, in the later levels.
I rate Soul Blazer a GGGg. That's a Great Good Game with garnish. I really enjoyed my time with it!
Absolutely loving it
2023
Kept having dreams I was lost in those dark corridors for hours on end, gave me insomnia and made me shit myself 10/10
1989
Book I: fantastic little adventure game for the PC Engine CD, the progression can sometimes become grindy but generally is paced well, and the dungeons are all huge and spooky.
Minor drawbacks were the sometimes obtuse puzzling (I am not sure if there was any clue to use the hammer on that specific pillar) and the slightly obnoxious backtracking (having to trek back down to the 11th floor of Darm Tower when I was on the 21st was quite the blow to my patience).
However, these were only small hitches in an otherwise extremely fun adventure with simple intuitive combat and a mysterious story unfolding in a beautiful fantasy world. Great RPG adventure.
Book II: I have an MP bar now! This was extremely fun, the puzzles were good and I barely had to look up a guide at all. The one thing I did look at guides for was some of the bosses. The last boss on the PC Engine CD version of the game is a total nightmare.
But the story, the cutscenes, the exploration, the art, the music, were all awesome. Everything was lovingly crafted and it's an extremely impressive game for the time it was released.
I found myself taking notes and writing them in character for this game, too. Roleplaying like this was really fun and helped me keep track of clues to puzzles and things like that which I highly recommend.
The way the story concluded arcs that began in Book I is also impressive. A great game.
Minor drawbacks were the sometimes obtuse puzzling (I am not sure if there was any clue to use the hammer on that specific pillar) and the slightly obnoxious backtracking (having to trek back down to the 11th floor of Darm Tower when I was on the 21st was quite the blow to my patience).
However, these were only small hitches in an otherwise extremely fun adventure with simple intuitive combat and a mysterious story unfolding in a beautiful fantasy world. Great RPG adventure.
Book II: I have an MP bar now! This was extremely fun, the puzzles were good and I barely had to look up a guide at all. The one thing I did look at guides for was some of the bosses. The last boss on the PC Engine CD version of the game is a total nightmare.
But the story, the cutscenes, the exploration, the art, the music, were all awesome. Everything was lovingly crafted and it's an extremely impressive game for the time it was released.
I found myself taking notes and writing them in character for this game, too. Roleplaying like this was really fun and helped me keep track of clues to puzzles and things like that which I highly recommend.
The way the story concluded arcs that began in Book I is also impressive. A great game.
It was okay, just not interesting enough for me to finish
2022
Good
2017
Forgot I played this
Free game that takes about an hour to beat, it has some really nice pixel art and the presentation all round is quite nice. The gameplay is extremely simple but solid enough. Ultimately feels quite lacking in substance.
1993
(Played on SNES Classic mini console)
This game would be a 5 if it weren't for the problems I had with the combat mechanics. You have to wait for your stamina to recharge after every attack, which would be okay on its own but then you also have a percentage chance to miss with every swing, making some battles feel like swinging a stick of butter underwater. Not very satisfying.
Aside from those gripes, I love everything about this game. The story was simple, classic JRPG fare but it worked extremely well, and after spending so many hours in the world with those characters, I felt a little emotional at the end. The ending screen hit me by surprise with its beautiful music and gorgeous pixel art. I was happy to have completed the game but sad to leave the world of Mana. The music is stellar, with so much emotion and quality being squeezed out of the SNES's audio hardware, it's miraculous. Every magic ability that you learn is varied and has its own quirks and uses, I found myself using pretty much all of them throughout the game. It helps that they're extremely overpowered, too.
I really enjoyed this game, and I can't wait to try the sequel, Trials of Mana.
This game would be a 5 if it weren't for the problems I had with the combat mechanics. You have to wait for your stamina to recharge after every attack, which would be okay on its own but then you also have a percentage chance to miss with every swing, making some battles feel like swinging a stick of butter underwater. Not very satisfying.
Aside from those gripes, I love everything about this game. The story was simple, classic JRPG fare but it worked extremely well, and after spending so many hours in the world with those characters, I felt a little emotional at the end. The ending screen hit me by surprise with its beautiful music and gorgeous pixel art. I was happy to have completed the game but sad to leave the world of Mana. The music is stellar, with so much emotion and quality being squeezed out of the SNES's audio hardware, it's miraculous. Every magic ability that you learn is varied and has its own quirks and uses, I found myself using pretty much all of them throughout the game. It helps that they're extremely overpowered, too.
I really enjoyed this game, and I can't wait to try the sequel, Trials of Mana.
2007
Good game, with some baffling gameplay moments and level design decisions. The battles go by very slowly but they can be really challenging and very fun. The main story is fun and full of silly yet earnest moments. On top of that, the side stories, presented as visual novels are some of the most efficiently told, poignant and well-written short stories I've ever experienced in a video game.
More scattered thorts:
- Really cool combat, fun story with silly yet earnest vibes, hijinks galore and surprising romantic pairings
- Suffered a lot from a pervading sense of badly designed levels and minigames
- For example, a section where you watch a quite boring chase sequence on repeat while you perform perfunctory quick-time-event segments overstayed its welcome
- Many, many more inane block pushing puzzles than there had any right to be
- A few sprawling, labyrinthine dungeons with high encounter rates, coupled with the extremely long battle animations
- On the plus side, the encounter rate in general is pretty low, and the world map navigation is streamlined in a very effective way that still maintains a sense of journeying across a vast land
- Really cool boss battles, there's usually a trick or knack to them that will be very effective and you'll feel pretty cool figuring it out or following a guide, defeating what previously seemed impossible
- AMAZING short stories presented as audio-visual novels, with music matching each scene's emotional intent and timed sound effects such as chickens clucking when a scene involving farmyard animals is read
- The writing in these stories is so good, it makes the main game's tone feel all the more ridiculous
- This isn't necessarily a bad thing; a ridiculous story can still be a fun and engaging one, as is the case here, but do be aware of it or else you may risk some serious tonal whiplash
- Every time I talk about this game I forget to mention the skill system, and the mechanical tension between mortal and immortal characters - but it's there, it's a big part of what makes the game so interesting and it's very fun to tinker with
- It also has a narrative purpose which effectively weaves elements of the story into the actual mechanics of leveling up, etc. and gives you a reason to use characters in battles that otherwise may have gone ignored
More scattered thorts:
- Really cool combat, fun story with silly yet earnest vibes, hijinks galore and surprising romantic pairings
- Suffered a lot from a pervading sense of badly designed levels and minigames
- For example, a section where you watch a quite boring chase sequence on repeat while you perform perfunctory quick-time-event segments overstayed its welcome
- Many, many more inane block pushing puzzles than there had any right to be
- A few sprawling, labyrinthine dungeons with high encounter rates, coupled with the extremely long battle animations
- On the plus side, the encounter rate in general is pretty low, and the world map navigation is streamlined in a very effective way that still maintains a sense of journeying across a vast land
- Really cool boss battles, there's usually a trick or knack to them that will be very effective and you'll feel pretty cool figuring it out or following a guide, defeating what previously seemed impossible
- AMAZING short stories presented as audio-visual novels, with music matching each scene's emotional intent and timed sound effects such as chickens clucking when a scene involving farmyard animals is read
- The writing in these stories is so good, it makes the main game's tone feel all the more ridiculous
- This isn't necessarily a bad thing; a ridiculous story can still be a fun and engaging one, as is the case here, but do be aware of it or else you may risk some serious tonal whiplash
- Every time I talk about this game I forget to mention the skill system, and the mechanical tension between mortal and immortal characters - but it's there, it's a big part of what makes the game so interesting and it's very fun to tinker with
- It also has a narrative purpose which effectively weaves elements of the story into the actual mechanics of leveling up, etc. and gives you a reason to use characters in battles that otherwise may have gone ignored
This game was cute and nice except for the moments where it made me want to bathe my entire brain in acid and die, which was quite a lot. I thought the reflex combat system was fine about halfway through, but when the difficulty ramped up it got extremely obnoxious, leading to me basically trying my best to avoid combat encounters at all costs. The fluffy, random af bean-themed storyline did not unfortunately make up for that frustration.
All in all, if you're looking for a kid-friendly JRPG, play a different game. I don't know what one, but definitely not this. Maybe Dragon Quest Treasures, people seem to love that.
All in all, if you're looking for a kid-friendly JRPG, play a different game. I don't know what one, but definitely not this. Maybe Dragon Quest Treasures, people seem to love that.