Xenon - Commodore Amiga & Atari ST - 1988

Where the elusive Stamper brothers at Ultimate were content to let their games do the talking, the next group of British programmers to have an effect on me couldn't have been more different.  The Bitmap Brothers burst onto the scene in 1987 promoting themselves as 'rock star' developers and appeared in arty black and white promo photos in their trademark dark glasses.  Fortunately Mike Montgomery, Eric Matthews and Steve Kelly had the talent to back up the hype.  They produced games over several genres with most being very well received.

Early in the days of the 16-bit computers (in the UK at least), a lot of offerings were 8-bit games with tarted up graphics.  The Bitmap's début game was Xenon and was created on the 16-bit machines first.  It was ported less successfully to the PC, Sinclair Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC.  Xenon was also one of a handful of games to appear on the Arcadia Arcade System, an ill-fated coin-op based on Amiga hardware.

The game initially looks like a rather sedate vertically scrolling shoot 'em.  The first thing to strike you are the crisp, metallic looking graphics of the first level - this was to become the Bitmap Brothers trademark look for their first few games.  To leave you in no doubt who programmed the game, and possibly to massage their egos (indeed the game was originally going to be called Kelly-X), Eric Matthews appears to announce 'Sector One'.

You start the game controlling a ground vehicle that can move and shoot in 8 directions.  Pressing the space bar or a swift wiggle of the joystick morphs the tank it into an aircraft.  The aircraft is more traditional - it moves relentlessly up the screen and can only fire forward.  A lot of the time you are forced into using a certain mode.  Additionally, certain targets can only be destroyed from the ground and vice versa.

You are initially armed with a puny forward firing gun.  Destroyed enemies can release power-up cannisters to enable you to upgrade your ship and it's weapons.  The power-ups have letters on them so you have a choice of what to pick up or what to leave behind. Some of the weapon upgrades are time limited and some, such as the laser, only work when in the air.  Capsules denoted with the letter 'F' replenish some of your fuel supply which diminishes when you are hit.  When your fuel supply runs out you lose one of your three lives.

They forgot the annoying 'G' that turns lasers back in to normal bullets.

In total there are four levels and each one features a mid and end of level boss.  Each boss takes a lot of shots to uncover a weak spot, followed by some carefully placed shots to finally destroy it.

Both the ST and Amiga versions sport identical graphics and gameplay.  There is music that plays throughout and it's here that the Amiga's superior sound reveals itself. The chiptune rendition on the ST has it's own charm and almost matches the Amiga for quality so I have included this version on the list.  The graphics are generally good with smooth scrolling and well defined (if formulaic) enemies.  If I had to nitpick, the shadow of the spacecaft slightly spoils the look.  Overall it's a polished and challenging shooter.

A glimpse of the second level

 Example gameplay from the Amiga

Super Mario Bros. 2 - NES - 1988

When a game is successful it comes as no surprise when a sequel appears.  Super Mario Bros. spawned two.  The first Super Mario Bros. 2 utilised the same sprites and tiles as Super Mario Bros. but cranked up the difficulty to 11.  It was released in Japan in 1986 and was deemed too challenging for overseas gamers so that's where it stayed.  The second Super Mario Bros. 2 was launched in the West in 1988.  Gone were the Goombas and Koopas.  Gone was the coin collecting.  Gone was Bowser.  You could no longer dispatch enemies by jumping on their heads.  In fact, Super Mario Bros. 2 didn't feel like a Super Mario Bros. game at all.  That's because it wasn't. 

Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic came out in 1987 for the Famicom Disk System.  It was a platform game with an Arabian theme and featured four protagonists of differing carrying, running and jumping abilities.  Their goal was to save two children who are pulled into a story book by jumping into the book after them.  Imajin is the 'all-rounder' character.  Remove his turban, stick on a silly cap, a moustache and put him in some blue dungarees and, hey presto, you have Mario.  Give the other characters a similar makeover, call the game Super Mario Bros. 2 and you have a guaranteed hit.

 

Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic and Super Mario Bros. 2 are virtually identical

The aim of the game is to free Subcon, the Land of Dreams from an antagonist called Wart.  The game is made up of 7 worlds divided into 20 stages.  At the beginning of each stage you can choose to play one of the four characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.  Mario is the the best all round character.  Luigi is the highest jumper.  Toad has the least jumping power but his speed and jumping power do not decrease when carrying items.  Princess Toadstool is the slowest and doesn't have much jumping power, but can be made to float in the air for a short while.

Your main means of dispatching enemies is by lobbing root vegetables at them.  These can be plucked out of the ground where you can see them above the surface.  Pulling at these plants may reveal special items such as bombs, koopa turtle shells, potions and extra lives. If you happen to land on top of an enemy they can also be picked up and thrown.

When you throw a potion a door appears which leads to the sub space.  You will normally find a mushroom which restores 1 point of health.  Any plants you pull up will reveal coins that are used in an end of level slot machine game.  After a short while you are thrust back into the main world.
 

Picking up a coin in the sub space.

Scattered throughout levels are cherries.  Collect enough of these fruits and Starman will appear and make your character invincible for short while if picked up.  Likewise, killing enough enemies will produce a heart which can be collected to restore some health.

Overall, Super Mario Bros. 2 is a great game that I actually prefer it to its predecessor. So successful was it that it was re-released in Japan as Super Mario USA.  I didn't make it very far into the game - I kept getting stuck at a giant mouse that throws bombs and it will take bit of practice to get past -  but what I did see I really enjoyed.  The graphics and sound are as good as can be expected on the NES and the controls are very tight.  It feels bit weird as some of the Arabian themes from Doki Doki Power remain (such as the magic carpet) but as this game takes place in a different world I suppose this can be forgiven.  The only thing lacking from my point of view is some kind of points system.

This is as far as I could get without more practice.

Example gameplay......

Salamander - Sharp X68000 - 1988

 

Level 4 has a lot of enemies from the first level in Gradius (including the volcanoes).

Salamander is another cracking coin-op conversion for the Sharp X68000 computer.  The arcade version of Salamander was released in 1986 as a spin off of Gradius.  Gradius is one of my favourite shoot 'em up franchises, so comes as no surprise to see this game on my list.

Once again you take control of your dependable Vic Viper in single player mode.  There is a two player co-operative mode where the second player takes control of a ship called the Lord British.   I'm not 100% certain but I believe the ultimate goal of the game is to fight your way to and destroy the eponymous Salamander which, judging by the striking artwork, is some kind of giant snake.

Salamander was also released in 1988 for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and Sinclair Spectrum all of which had levels and/or features removed (such as two-player mode).  The closest rival at the time was the NES version, renamed as Life Force in the US and Life Force Salamander in Europe.  It retained the two-player mode but differed by having a Gradius-style power-up meter. Nevertheless, it couldn't hope to match the sound or graphics of the mighty X68000.  A conversion for the PC Engine followed three years later in 1991 which I will review when (if) I get there.

Life Force on the NES (left) is better than most conversions but can't compete against Salamander on the Sharp (right).

Rather than picking up pods and selecting a power-up from a meter as in Gradius, you have to collect icons representing each power-up.   These comprise Speed Up, Missile, Laser, Ripple Laser, Force Field and Multiple.  Personally, I prefer the former method which allows for more customisation of your spacecraft.

Even the attract screen is present.

The major departure from Gradius is that Salamander has alternate vertical and horizontal scrolling levels.  The vertical scrolling sections are more frantic with increased numbers of enemies, bullets and objects to avoid.

The vertically scrolling stages tend to get busy.

One thing I am glad of is that when you lose a life you continue from where you died rather than at the beginning of the stage.  You will lose all your power-ups but with quick reflexes you can gather up any Multiples you were carrying.

I haven't played the original coin-op for many years, but if this game is anything like the X68K conversion of Gradius it will be hard to tell apart.  The sound effects and music are good - including some clear speech (remember this is 25 years old).  The controls are responsive and the graphics are well drawn and smooth with some nods to Gradius.  Salamander is an excellent conversion of an excellent arcade game.

This is similar to a level in Gradius 2.  Normally the flares come towards you giving a fraction of a second  warning.

 

A couple of the bosses.  Once you work out a weakness in their movement pattern they go down quickly.

Pool of Radiance - PC (MS-DOS) (1988) & Commodore Amiga (1990)

Graphics card issues, a holiday and a long spell of gorgeous Summer weather have been conspiring to keep me away from my PC but I have finally got my next review up....

Pool of Radiance is the first game in the acclaimed Gold Box series of RPGs published by SSI in the late '80s and early '90s.  The Gold Box games share the same engine and use the Advanced Dungeon & Dragons rulesets.  Pool of Radiance was released in 1988 for the PC, Commodore 64 and Apple II.  Further conversions include the Commodore Amiga in 1990 and NES in 1992.  I am including both the PC (the pick of the initial releases) and the later Amiga versions on my list.  I will be playing on the Amiga which has the best graphics (at least for the portraits) and has nice snippets of music at key points.  An Atari ST version was announced but unfortunately not released so I missed out on this game first time round.

Rather than an epic journey to best a threat to an entire planet (or planets as in my previous game), Pool of Radiance takes place within the environs of a single city.  Phlan, a once mighty city, has fallen into wrack and ruin and been overrun by evil creatures. The only civilised district left is a heavily defended area around the docks.  The council of 'New Phlan' has decided it wants to reclaim the old city and has appealed for mercenaries and adventurers to clear out the hostile regions.... 

Back in school, a group of my friends used to get together regularly to play AD&D.  I only joined in about three or four times (it was too nerdy for me back then) but I got a handle on the basic rules and character creation. These were reinforced over the years by various AD&D computer games and like every other AD&D game you begin by rolling out your party.  Sitting back with a steaming mug of tea and a packet of chocolate hobnobs, the familiar rules give a nice, comfortable feeling.  Or maybe that's just the tea and biscuits.

You begin by creating a party of six characters.  You have a choice of four character classes (magic user, fighter, cleric, thief) and six races.  Apart from the thief class, all non-human characters have a limit on the level they can reach.  There is also an overall cap on the level for each class.  As I have not played this game before and not wanting to be hobbled by having a party I can't develop, I erred on the side of caution and made all bar one of my characters human.  To that end I created Bustopher and Mungojerrie as male fighters to provide the muscle.  These were backed up Skimbleshanks, a female half-elf fighter/thief.  Macavity was the token cleric to provide the healing.  Finally I created Mistoffelees and Rumpelteazer as male and female magic users to soften up the enemy from behind the front line.  

It doesn't take long to roll a half-decent PC.

The dice rolls in Pool of Radiance seem quite generous and before long you can have a decent party up and running.  After creating a character you have the option to 'modify' their stats (ie cheat).  I used this to bump up Macavity's wisdom to 18 as I could only get a maximum of 17 after countless rolls (I did compensate by reducing another attribute). 

Once you have a full party it's time to begin the game and get used to the interface.  The main screen is split into four parts.  The top left hand corner shows a rudimentary first person view of the area in front of the party or a portrait if you are in a conversation. To the right you can see your party members, their armour class and their hit points.  Below this is a space for any pertinent messages to be displayed.  At the very bottom is a list of available actions.  Movement is by mouse or cursor keys. 

On your arrival in Phlan you are met at the docks by Rolf, who gives you a brief guided tour.  You are then on your own.  I decided firstly to explore and map the immediate surroundings.  The civilised area (as are all the zones) comprises a block of 16 x 16 squares.  It contains three temples for curing and healing.  There are various shops, taverns and inns.  The docks provide passage to Sokal Keep.  To the north is an academy where you can level up your characters and recruit henchmen.  The largest building is the City Hall.  Outside the City Hall is posted a list of proclamations that are described in detail in the Adventurer's Journal.  Most of the initial proclamations seem to involve the Valhingen Graveyard.  Residing behind the only unguarded door within the building is the city clerk who hands out commissions and rewards for completed quests.  In the western wall of the civilised area is the ominous gateway to the slums.

I forgot to take a screen shot at the beginning of the game.

After kitting out the party, I saved the game, turned on 'search' and warily stepped through the gateway.  After just one step I was confronted by a group of kobolds.  You are given the options for Combat, Wait, Flee or Parlay.  As our job is to clear out the slums there was only one option.  The turn-based combat is the standout feature in this game.  The screen switches to a skewed third person perspective showing the combatants and an approximation of the local area including walls that can be used to hide behind or give cover.  After defeating the kobolds I then had another encounter which left two characters unconscious.  I headed back to civilisation to get healed.  The early encounters only give up meagre amounts of loot and XP and before long I ran out of money.  I also discovered that leaving on 'search' drastically increases the number of random encounters.

It was time to rethink my starting tactics.  I decided to map and search one area at a time and turn off search for areas I had already covered.  Once I had collected the equivalent of one platinum coin (the price for staying at an inn) I would return to the civilised district to sell my loot and rest.  This worked a treat and I soon won two or three fixed encounters.  Shortly after, random encounters stopped completely and I was able to map the slums unimpeded apart from the southwest corner of the Old Rope Guild where I was soundly beaten by some trolls and ogres.  I retrieved a potion for a man in one room, found several stashes of treasure through searching, had my palm read and found a secret treasure room after overhearing a rumour in the Hemp Market.

It was worth checking out for the experience alone.

Presently I am ready to enter Kotal's Well after mapping the third district.  Before this I will return to the academy as my magic users now have sufficient XP to reach third level.  I will also attempt to defeat the trolls in the slums to finally complete that area.  It looks like other districts will be more of the same so I will continue onwards and note my experiences below.  Despite the creaky interface I am thoroughly enjoying playing and mapping this game and will definitely see it through to completion.  My map so far....

• The main issues I have with Pool of Radiance concern the interface.  Understandably the 1988 versions of the game will be keyboard driven but I would have liked the Amiga version to have been tweaked to make more use of the mouse. Coming 3 years after the slick Dungeon Master it feels cumbersome and awkward, making the simplest tasks very long-winded.  There is a long list of things I would change.
• I am greatly enjoying the tactical combat.  Some battles can become tiresome while waiting for each opponent in a large enemy contingent to make their move.  Chasing down 'turned' undead or fleeing enemies can be a pain too, but overall it's by far the most satisfying system I have seen. The CRGP Addict has a great description here.

Battles like this become a lot quicker once you can cast fireballs.

• After an epic (and long) battle at Sokal Keep the boat from New Phlan docks had new destinations to open up more of the map.
• Also, is it Sokal or Sokol Keep?  In-game it's Sokal Keep, in an atlas you find, which is printed in the journal, it's Sokol Keep.
• While it's essential early on, money soon becomes irrelevant.  After gaining magic weapons and the best armour, there is little left to buy apart from the expendable and cheap missile weapons.  It is then only needed for healing and training and even training becomes less frequent the further you progress.  It didn't take long before I gave up collecting random encounter loot altogether.
• Thank goodness for the internet.  How else would I know what a Cloak of Displacement does or what a Manual of Bodily Health is for?
• Overheard gossip and letters found during the game give the impression that someone or something called 'The Boss' is the main threat in the game.  After clearing the Temple of Bane I found a note saying he is also concerned about the goings on at Valhigen Graveyard and had asked the priests of Bane to investigate.  It seems he may not be the only antagonist in this game after all.
• Initially I wasn't aware of this, but there is also a large area outside Phlan.  This has a traditional top down view and contains monster and wild animal encounters not found inside the City.  

Hog Roast is on the menu tonight. 

• My plan of creating single class characters backfired when Macavity reached level 6 which is the maximum for a cleric. This happened, I guess, about two thirds of the way through the game.  I didn't mind too much as the character continues to gain XP which will be carried forward to the next game in the series.
• Likewise, my magic users maxed out soon after going through the tricky-to-map pyramid which handed out lots of XP and magic items.  Fortunately, fighters and thieves can attain higher levels than the cleric and magic user classes.
• Spells taken directly from pen and paper AD&D don't necessarily translate very well into a CRPG.  This is the case here and I came to rely on about half a dozen spells at most.
• I left Valhingen Graveyard until near the end as I'd heard it was the toughest area.  Most of the enemies went down easily with turning and fireballs and I didn't have any levels drained on the way to the main boss (I got 'diseased' by mummies but that was easily cured at a temple).  The main boss was a vampire who was taken down with a fireball, a hit from Mungojerrie and finished off with a magic missile.  He took a swipe at Mungojerrie and missed, and his 'Gaze' at Rumpelteazer was ineffective.  The only injuries to my party was collateral damage from the fireball.  The vampire then returned to his coffin where he was weaker, going down with one melee hit and a magic missile. I felt the Kobold Cave was harder going. 

I expected the vampire to put up more of a challenge.

Clunky interface aside,  Pool of Radiance certainly lives up to it's classic status.  The game is largely non linear and the story unfolds at a good pace with snippets of information being picked up throughout the adventure.  I loved how you discover more than one malevolent force at work, and how the graveyard also concerns your main adversary.  Graphically the game hasn't aged at all well.  The first person view is very primitive and can only really be used for navigation - you don't see any of the details described in the text.... 

Despite what the text says, all rooms look empty.

Likewise there are only a small selection of basic sound effects (though there is a nice scream when someone dies).  There are a couple of atmospheric musical interludes when combat starts and when camping but that's your lot.  Underneath all this lies a fantastic game and I'm already looking forward to reacquainting myself with my party in Curse of the Azure Bonds...




The End (Spoilers)

Just before entering Tyranthraxus' lair you can recruit someone called Genheeris who offers to join you in your fight.  I hadn't long saved so thought I would give him a chance. In his lair, Tyranthraxus appears in the form of a bronze dragon.  

You are first forced into a fight with several level 8 fighters.  These were defeated with the help of stinking cloud and hold person spells.  Genheeris had a wand of lightning which proved useful.  Once the fighters were killed, Tyranthraxus asks you to join him.

If you refuse, you have to take him on in battle.  The first fight didn't go well as every magic spell I tried had no effect.  I was soon defeated as Tyranthraxus can do 80hp damage with each attack.  On the second attempt I just used melee attacks.  Genheeris still insisted on using lightning but went down early on - rather him than one of my characters.  I managed to win with only three members of the party left standing.

Tyranthraxus boasts he cannot be defeated and threatens to possess one of my characters.  However, it seems Bane has other ideas as Tyranthraxus fades out and the pool of radiance drains away.

I then head back to civilised district, heal my characters and collect my reward.  A satisfying ending indeed. 

I made a rough map of the wilderness to make sure I hit every single square.

My completed map of New Phlan

Phantasy Star - Sega Master System - 1988

Phantasy Star is the first in a long running and highly regarded series of Japanese RPGs (which also includes several spin-off games and an MMORPG).  It was released in Japan in 1987 and in the US and Europe in 1988.  It was one of the first JRPGs available in the west preceding the English language versions of both Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest/Warrior.  The series was originally a Sega franchise but remakes were released for other companies when Sega opted out of the console business.

Phantasy Star takes place in the Algol solar system which consists of three planets - Palma is a green planet (much like Earth), Dezoris is a world of ice, and Motavia is a desert world.  The planets prospered under the democratic rule of King Lassic.  Later, rumours started of a new religion coming from another galaxy which promised immortality to those who joined. This appealed to King Lassic, but after he joined he turned into a tyrant burdening the populous with massive tax rises, shutting down businesses, limiting travel and placing the towns under martial law. Soon after, evil creatures started stalking the land and Robotcops patrolled the towns hunting down anyone who dared to stand up for the citizens.

I like the varied graphics for the different planets.

The game starts on Palma in the town of Camineet.  The scene is set with Nero being fatally wounded by Robotcops while trying to uncover Lassic's evil plans.  This is witnessed by his sister Alis who vows revenge.  With his dying breath he tells her to seek out Odin who can help her on her quest....

Phantasy Star is a nice blend of fantasy RPG elements (melee weapons, armour, magic) and science fiction (interplanetary travel, laser guns, robots).  The game starts in the town of Camineet with you in charge of Alis.  The town is viewed top down and contains various dwellings, shops, a church (you wouldn't find that in a Nintendo game) and a short dungeon.  There are Robotcops preventing you from accessing the walkway to the Spaceport.

The shops consist of an armoury, a first food (sic) establishment and a second-hand shop.  "First" food shops sell burgers and cola which restore health.  The second-hand shops sell various useful items such as flashlights for use in dark dungeons or a pass to get to the spaceport.  Each armoury sells three types of (often unique) armour and/or weapons.  The dungeon in Camineet contains a chest which holds a small amount of mesetas (the local currency) to get you started.  Dead characters can be resurrected in the church and you are told how many experience points are required to level up.  The other buildings are houses which contain NPCs. The NPCs give stock comments when you speak to them, often giving useful background information and quest hints.  In one house you can rest for free which restores all your magic and health points (otherwise you would need to seek out a hospital for this).

No censorship in Sega games it seems.

Alis starts the game very weak.  I began the game by leaving town to grind out a few levels.  At first she can only survive one fight against the relatively easy insect sworms (sic) or scorpions before having to return to town to heal.  

Combat in Phantasy Star is very simple and not at all satisfying.  The combat screen depicts the type creature you face and the top right corner lists the number of enemies and their hit points.  Basically combat involves choosing the attack or magic option from a menu and that's it.  You can't target which creature you want to attack or do much else.  Defeated creatures drop chests (even ones who have no way of carrying them) containing mesetas and you are awarded set experience points depending on the type and number of enemies.

After gaining a few levels and acquiring a healing spell Alis travelled to nearby Scion where it was hinted that Odin was. There I was told he had headed off to a dungeon and had not returned.  I found the dungeon south of Camineet and discovered Odin had been turned to stone.  Dungeons are viewed in first person and can be quite confusing so need to be mapped.  This one was easy enough as I just kept turning left but others contain 'islands' where this tactic won't work.  Also, you can only see doors when directly facing them - you can walk down a corridor and be completely oblivious to any doors on your left or right.

Clues lead you to your first party member - a talking cat-like creature called Myau who carries medicine to cure Odin.  Your final companion is another female called Noah, who can be found in the bottom of a dungeon on Motavia.  I have listed my thoughts and impressions below....

• I was impressed by the music and graphics quality in Phantasy Star.  The graphics are much more colourful and detailed than those in the two Final Fantasy games I have played.  The music also sounded richer to me.  I assume this is down to hardware differences rather than programming talent.

• It has to be said that the text is a bit dodgy in places with some spelling mistakes (sworm, inprisoned), mistranslations (First Food shop), and some unfortunate abbreviations....

 

• The abbreviations also meant referring to the manual quite a lot to find out what certain weapons, spells and armour were actually called.  For example, the misleadingly named FLY spell takes you back to the church you last visited.

• As I said above I didn't like the combat.  99% of the time it involved mashing the button until all the enemies were killed and maybe casting the occasional healing spell.  The random encounters became downright irritating when travelling long distances on foot.  However, I did like the variety of weird and wonderful opponents.

 

• The currency is quite well balanced.  You just about have enough money to buy what you need but there are always some nice-to-have items that seem to stay tantalisingly out of reach, such as the diamond armour at 15,000 mesetas. After I got this it was no longer worth opening chests as trapped ones can cause a lot of damage.

• I did have to cheat and consult a walkthrough a couple of times.  An NPC asks if you have ever heard of the Hovercraft and only tells you where it is if you answer 'Yes'.  I answered 'No' because I hadn't.  Also information on how to progress the plot gets very vague in places and I was unsure where to go next.

• Some games can get away with breaking the fourth wall.  Phantasy Star is not one of them.

Select 'NO' and she asks why have you been playing for so long.

In all I enjoyed Phantasy Star.  The plot is good but gets a bit nonsensical in places - there is a cake shop at the bottom of a dungeon; said cakes cost slightly less than a spaceship; how did I even know I needed a spaceship unless the plot forced me to buy one?  Also, in the Final Fantasy games it's easy to work out where to go, why you have to go there and what you have to do when you get there.  In Phantasy Star the NPCs only give vague hints such as "There is a magic sword in a tower on a forgotten island" or "Long ago I saw a giant rock float through the sky".  They make working out what to do next the main challenge in this game.  Other weak aspects are the previously mentioned combat and and lack of character development - apart from HP and MP increasing with each level there are no other stats to speak of.  Overall the good points outweigh the bad and I would have lapped this up back in 1988.  Nowadays, I couldn't spare the time to give it the attention it deserves.

The End (spoilers).....

At the top of Baya Malay tower where Lassic is supposed to reside, an air castle appears.  As hinted in the game feeding the Laerma nut to Myau causes it to sprout wings.  I did try this earlier in the game as he said he wasn't hungry even though he would happily munch on burgers.  Here it works so he can carry us to the castle.....

Unsurprisingly we find Lassic at the bottom of a dungeon.  We kill him.  The End....

Oh no it's not!  Even more unsurprisingly we get the usual JRPG plot twist.  We have to hurry to the governor.  Why?  Because the plot tells us to.  We find the governor is missing and immediately fall down a hole into yet another dungeon....

At the end of this dungeon we find Darkfalz.  After defeating Darkfalz the governor reappears.  I sped through the text here but I think the governor was turned into Darkfalz by Lassic for whatever reason.  Anyhow, the governor announces that Alis has royal blood and asks if she wants to become Queen of the Universe.  Hell, yeah!

I did find the ending left more questions than answers.  What were King Lassic's evil plans?  What was this new religion, where did it come from and why wasn't it mentioned again?  How did Alis and Nero not know they had royal blood?  Why did everyone important live at the bottom of a dungeon?  Will we find out in the sequel?  Probably not.

 

Our hero, heroines and cat thing.

Gradius II - NES - 1988

After the trials and tribulations of Final Fantasy II it was good to have a bit light relief playing some scrolling shoot 'em ups from my shortlist.  Of the four or five I sampled from F-G,  Gradius II alone made it on the blog.  It was a Japan-only release and came out on the Famicom at the tail end of 1988.

Obviously a sequel to Gradius, it's once again just you and your trusty Vic Viper protecting the planet Gradius from the evil Bacterians.

One of my rare forays into level 3.  It's very reminiscent of level 1 in Gradius.

I don't recall playing the arcade version of Gradius II (titled Vulcan Venture in Europe) so I'm not able to see how it compares, but it is a good game in its own right.  Game play is much the same as Gradius so I won't go into any detail here.  The music and sound effects are great for the NES and there is even some speech when selecting a power up.  The graphics are  impressive with some big sprites, but they can flicker quite badly when the action hots up.

Big, bold graphics are the order of the day.

The main difference you'll notice when starting the game is that you now have a choice of power up meters.  The original is there along with three others featuring different weapon configurations.  All four meters contain the 'speed up', 'option' and 'force field' choices.  Additionally, when playing the game you can now have a full compliment of four 'options' rather than the two you were limited to on the NES version of Gradius.  If you select 'option' again when you have all four they start rotating around your ship.

Your choice of power up meters.  I stick with the classic one.

My main criticism of the original game was the harsh difficulty level.  Here at has been turned up several notches and for me it's a struggle just to get past the first stage.  Despite much gnashing of teeth, Gradius II has enough going for it to get onto the blog.  I just need a lot more practice....

The bosses are quite impressive in this game.  I found the first level boss on the left harder to take down than the skull on the second level.

Final Fantasy II - NES - 1988

A rebel ship carrying a Princess about to captured by an imperial vessel captained by a Dark Knight. Hmmm...

 
Much to my surprise I really enjoyed Final Fantasy so was looking forward to playing Final Fantasy II.  This is Final Fantasy II on the NES which was released only in Japan, not the Final Fantasy II released on the SNES which in reality is Final Fantasy IV.  The original Final Fantasy II later became available in the West with subsequent remakes on newer consoles and smart phones.

Anyhow, Final Fantasy II is set in a different world to the previous game and has a new set of protagonists.  As I can't understand a word of Japanese I installed a translation patch by Neo Demiforce and am utilising the Final Fantasy Origins manual.  

You start the game by naming your party of four friends but don't get to choose their character class.  In Final Fantasy Origins they are already given names which I decided to use.  Firion was adopted as a child by Leon and Maria's parents and grew up as part of their family.  Leon is Firion's adopted brother and best friend.  Maria is Leon's sister.  Finally, Gus is not given a background but the manual says he possesses great strength is able to communicate with small hairy critters (beavers as it turned out).

These svelte individuals are a far cry from the chubby sprites.

The story so far is that the Emporer of Paramekia has summoned fiends from another dimension in bid to take over the world.  A rebel force was formed in the kingdom of Phin but in the ensuing battle the kingdom was lost.  The rebel force retreated to the town of Altea but the four protagonists were left orphaned and homeless.

The games kicks off with a similar looking battle screen to Final Fantasy where your characters are promptly defeated by a band of Dark Knights.  

Your first taste of the game is an unwinnable battle.

The party is found by Princess Hilda who takes three of them to Altea, but Leon has disappeared.  As you are too inexperienced, Princess Hilda won't let you join the rebellion but you are advised to head back towards Phin to search for Leon.

When you speak to NPCs they again give stock answers.  Occasionally key words are highlighted that can be memorised for use in conversations with other characters.  Completing quests changes the dialogue for major NPCs so it is good idea to revisit them. For the majority of quests NPCs are temporarily added to the fourth party slot.

On they way back to Phin random encounters rear their head again.  The battle system looks very similar to the first game but ranged weapons have been introduced and your party can be formed into two ranks.  Only party members in the front rank can successfully attack with melee weapons.  Characters at the rear are protected from physical attacks but can be harmed by ranged weapons and magic.  Combat is turn-based and if a party member targets a monster that is destroyed or flees then that attack is wasted.  I have all my party in the front row - I want them to get hit so they gain HP....

Character development has been completely overhauled and at this early stage I am confused as to which direction to take. Character classes have been done away with and attributes are increased depending on how each character behaves in combat. For example, if a character uses a lot of spells their Intelligence and maximum MP may increase. If they use physical attacks Power may increase.  If they keep taking a beating maximum HP may increase.  Characters can also become adept at using a particular type of weapon and they level up in weapon skills the more they use it.  Not having played this game before I'm unsure of the best way to go.  At the moment my plan is for Maria to focus on using a bow and magic, for Gus to concentrate on the axe he started with (I've since found he can dual wield so added a sword), and for Firion to become a bit of an all-rounder.  The flip side of all this is that attributes can also decrease which looks like developing a well rounded character quite difficult.  Intelligence decreases when Power increases.  Vitality decreases when Intelligence increases.  When Soul increases it depletes your Power.  Sod it, I'll make Firion a fighter too.

The stats screen from early on. Firion is not the sharpest tool in the box to begin with and can't afford to lose much intelligence.

Magic is another area that has been changed.  Each character is now given a pool of mana which depletes when casting a spell. Spells can again be bought in Magic Shops or can be found as treasure and any character is able to learn them.  As with weapon skills,  spells start at level 1 and increase in level the more you use them.  As spells reach higher levels they get more powerful, but use more mana when they are cast.

Back to the story - I found Phin was overrun with imperial forces but discovered Hilda's dying fiancé hidden in the basement of a pub.  He gave me a ring which he said will help me on my journey.  On returning to Altea with the news, I was allowed to join the rebels and then sent on my first mission to find some mithril.  I will not be writing a walk through (I can recommend Shen Nung's hugely entertaining Inconsolable blog for that)  but I will gather my thoughts and experiences below.....
                              

• Despite the world map looking more open than the original Final Fantasy, you are still herded along the main quest path. Wander too far off the beaten track early on and you will encounter monsters than can take down a character with a single hit.
• You can save the game as many times as you like outside of towns and dungeons, but you won't regain any mana and health without a shelter.  MP and HP can still be fully replenished by staying at an Inn.
• In the first dungeon I found a FIRE spell and started encountering slimes that can't be hurt by normal weapons.  Further down I found an EXIT spell and immediately a powerful tortoise-like creature appeared. I lost half my party in the ensuing battle and had to use the spell to escape to the overworld.  Although I had already purchased both these spells, it's little things like this that shows the thought that has gone into the game progression.
• I really like the story though some of it seems a bit forced in places in order to include all the plot points.  In the Snow Cave it mysteriously wouldn't let me use the EXIT spell to leave.  This was obviously scripted as when I got back to the entrance a boulder started rolling Indiana Jones style down the stairs and Josef, who was already dead, miraculously came back to life before sacrificing himself for the party.
• Another point regarding the plot is you feel you are fighting the empire all alone.  Apart from the quest characters who temporarily join you, where are the rest of the rebel forces?

When you say 'we'.....                                                               Yeah, just as I thought!

• Once I was getting used the the game I didn't mind the levelling system too much.  This changed when I entered Dist Cave and started encountering Gigases.  These not so jolly green giants are very resistant to both spells and weapons. I had to spend a lot of time grinding out SLEEP, SAFE and BLINK spells before I was able to defeat them on a regular basis.  Even then it took quite a few EXITs and returns to the nearest inn before I was able to fully explore the dungeon.

Bastards!

• Another annoyance is that quest items can't be dropped or sold even though you no longer have use for them.  Items picked up early such as the ring and the ice sled have to be lugged around through the entire game taking up valuable space in your inventory.

I can see why the character progression system is divisive but I didn't mind it at first and got used to it quite quickly.  It became tiresome when I had to start prolonging random encounters and keep using the same spells over to level them up.  Thankfully levelling up weapons skills was easier.  In the end I developed Firion as a fighter and Gus as an unarmed ninja, both with useful spells to back up Maria who was the main spellcaster.  Having well developed characters was easier than I initially thought - even though certain stats can decrease, the net effect is an overall increase, although Firion ended the game as a simpleton.  I found the game much harder than Final Fantasy with more full party deaths - getting through the Empire's airship and Dist Cave during the game were particularly tough, as was Jade Passage/Pandemonium at the end.  

I must mention the bestiary here as the developers did away with most of the enemies from the previous game.  The few that have returned have different artwork. Lot's of other developers I can think of would re-use graphics and monsters when doing a sequel. The game world is a different story with a lot of the tiles carried over from the previous game, however the graphics still look good for the NES so I have no complaints there.  Most of the music in Final Fantasy II is quite pleasant and varied too - only the battle screen tune, which returned from the first game, really started to grate.  I found the plot thoroughly enjoyable, though there was a lot of back-tracking to pick up the next quest.  I have to admit that towards the end I was willing the game to be over as it was starting to get repetitive.  Nearly all the quests involve travelling to a dungeon, retrieving the quest item therein, and returning to Altea or Phin to find out where to go next. Random combats were also getting annoying and monotonous.  That said, Final Fantasy II is still a great game and was worth playing.  I'll be interested to see if Square can come up with something fresh for the third and final title on the NES.  Hopefully the quest and levelling system will be given a major overhaul or Final Fantasy III might not appear on this blog.




Other highlights (includes spoilers)....

I don't mind a game that doesn't take itself too seriously....

Getting eaten by a Leviathan was an excuse to add yet another 'dungeon'.  Obviously linear, at least you could only head toward the mouth....

After defeating the Emperor for the first time, celebrations were cut short when a messenger  announced the Dark Knight had taken his place.  As was hinted at earlier in the game, the Dark Knight was Leon.  As it turned out his reign was rather short....

 

The End.  The final round of combat against the Emporer and the ending scenes.  "Gwaaaahhhh!!" indeed....