An interesting mix between an RPG, a 2D side-scroller and a city sim is one way to describe ActRaiser. Due to that, it may not be to everyone's taste, but it piqued my interest enough to play through it.
If you've played any of the games from the Quintet trilogy (Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia or Terranigma), you'll find some familiar things here. This makes the game a sort of spiritual prequel to those games.
Despite the game's mix of genres, the overall mechanics aren't very complex. The side scrolling stages are pretty much what you'd expect from any side-scroller released around that time, so you only have a jump, a normal attack and a magic attack. Go through a stage, fight some monsters, do some platforming and fight a boss at the end. Very minimalistic, but above all, it encourages learning enemy patterns and making the most of the little you have.
Although simple in nature as well, the city sim element is the spice of this game. You have to guide a location to prosperity by using your powers over nature to free up space and give people orders where to expand.
Of course, their expansion isn't something to ignore, as people in this game are the equivalent of XP, so it's better to have more than less. Also, you receive some nice items (as as they're called in-game - offerings) in return.
There will be monsters that will try to sabotage this progress, so you'll have to protect the people while they expand. The entire thing is like a pretty basic 2D shooter.
Once people expand enough in a certain direction, they can seal a monster spawning point (lair) so it doesn't bother you again. You can't command people to build specific things which is a shame.
Regardless, it's satisfying to watch a place grow and see the progress of slowly intertwining these separate locations with each other.
Overall, despite its simplicity, ActRaiser has a nice flow to it, which binds it together pretty well and makes it a solid game. It's also around 6 hours long, so it doesn't overstay its welcome.
If you've played any of the games from the Quintet trilogy (Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia or Terranigma), you'll find some familiar things here. This makes the game a sort of spiritual prequel to those games.
Despite the game's mix of genres, the overall mechanics aren't very complex. The side scrolling stages are pretty much what you'd expect from any side-scroller released around that time, so you only have a jump, a normal attack and a magic attack. Go through a stage, fight some monsters, do some platforming and fight a boss at the end. Very minimalistic, but above all, it encourages learning enemy patterns and making the most of the little you have.
Although simple in nature as well, the city sim element is the spice of this game. You have to guide a location to prosperity by using your powers over nature to free up space and give people orders where to expand.
Of course, their expansion isn't something to ignore, as people in this game are the equivalent of XP, so it's better to have more than less. Also, you receive some nice items (as as they're called in-game - offerings) in return.
There will be monsters that will try to sabotage this progress, so you'll have to protect the people while they expand. The entire thing is like a pretty basic 2D shooter.
Once people expand enough in a certain direction, they can seal a monster spawning point (lair) so it doesn't bother you again. You can't command people to build specific things which is a shame.
Regardless, it's satisfying to watch a place grow and see the progress of slowly intertwining these separate locations with each other.
Overall, despite its simplicity, ActRaiser has a nice flow to it, which binds it together pretty well and makes it a solid game. It's also around 6 hours long, so it doesn't overstay its welcome.
3 Comments
@C_F
Yeah, I got max stats, although I admittedly had to use a guide since I had a hard time figuring out how to max each town's population on my own. At first, I thought I didn't need to, but the final part of the game with the boss rush and fight against Tanzra was tough and convinced me to do it.
Yeah, I got max stats, although I admittedly had to use a guide since I had a hard time figuring out how to max each town's population on my own. At first, I thought I didn't need to, but the final part of the game with the boss rush and fight against Tanzra was tough and convinced me to do it.
Would you believe it's even harder in the Japanese version? One of the very few English localizations to be made easier.
C_F
10 months ago
Also thanks for bringing up the Quintet trilogy, always thought the thematic connections (IE the god VS devil conflict) were really interesting