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Anyone ever play this game?

It's an obscure tactical RPG by Taito, and even includes a few references to their more famous Lufia series (I think; I know for sure that there is a "Priphea Flowers" track, which is the name for what's often called "Lufia's theme").

I started playing it earlier today. It's got a very curious, intriguing story so far. The main character does not remember who she is, and is on a journey to find out, with only the events that happen to her and her own dreams to guide her. Meanwhile, all sorts of strange things are happening around her, from a mysterious fortune-teller with an uncanny accuracy, to an elusive blue-haired man who knows more than he lets on, and more...

It's got a pretty in-depth gameplay system, and even gives control scheme options where you can change the control scheme for moving your character around the isometric grid. Unlike Final Fantasy Tactics or Fire Emblem, you actually get to wander around the world environments between battles, like in a standard JRPG. The gameplay is a little on the slow side, though tolerable (especially with the turbo feature of an SNES emulator). Thanks in part to its isometric perspective, the game looks a bit like Super Mario RPG. And I think it really needs more buttons...a PC remake would benefit it greatly.

One curious feature is that your second character comes with a playable unit that has no attacks on its own but is capable of blocking enemy movement. Occasionally, temporary allies will join you, and you may be able to use them as meatshields or even to attack things. (And the capacity to change your characters' names shows up very early in the game, for what it's worth.)

It was only released for the Super Famicom in Japan, but the fan-translation was fully completed in September 2012, and that's how I'm playing it.

It's got several very interesting features and innovations, including the following:
* Lp ("life points", basically HP), determine whether and how much each unit can act in a turn. A unit's current Lp determines how much Bal ("balance") it has, which is the number of balance points that it can use each turn to do stuff. As you lose Lp, you also start off each turn with less Bal, meaning you can do less stuff each turn.
* It costs 5 Bal to move any distance (within range), 3 to attack anything, varying amounts for specific skills, etc. So depending on how you spend your turn (and how many balance points you have), you might be able to move and/or attack more than once!
* Shops seem to keep all the items you sell them. (Some items may be exceptions, though.) Additionally, lower-power items are infinitely available while higher-power items are limited in number.
* Skills are enabled by your having the right combination of elemental energies for them. For example, in order to use the Shot skill, you need +3 red and -1 green, which means you need four energy points (Pp) to put three into the top side of red and one into the bottom side of green in order for Shot to be usable. I haven't quite figured out how to learn skills yet; anyone know?

(cross-posted to It Just Bugs Me!)

Edit: This might be a clue: http://yuudachi.net/bbs/kareha.pl/1348493034/l50

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 13th June 2013 22:51

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Sorry to double-post, but I found the answer: you have to have the right combination of elements (as stated in the grimoire) active, and then set up a situation in battle where there's a viable target for the new spell after you attack an enemy. Your character will then randomly have a realization of some sort and use the new spell against said target.

That's how this works for three (of four?) characters, but not the third character I just picked up. Apparently, this one's different, and has to land the final blow on enemies.

Edit

You don't necessarily need a viable target for the new spell, it turns out. However, your character will use the spell if possible when you get it.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 14th June 2013 18:07

--------------------

Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Sorry to triple-post, but just an update: I've just finished the game. (And I totally understand that probably no one else here has played this game so it'll be forever before someone else posts here...)

Here's a quick rundown of the pros and cons, for those maybe one or two of you who are curious about this game:

Pros:
* engaging plot mixing mystery with save-the-world story, including lots of well-done plot twists
* has many plot threads, and actually addresses them all
* tactical JRPG with the ability to roam freely around the dungeons and towns
* very interesting and intriguing battle system with distinctive features
* * an action budget that is dependent on the character's life points
* * Dexterity score used to calculate "rollup"/"rolldown" from base damage
* * lots of interesting attack patterns represented in the choices of skills
* * semi-random battle system updates battles in early-game areas, to contain late-game enemies eventually
* well-written script (in the fan-translated English version, at least) that uses humor and drama well
* no "battle theme" except for bosses; uses area theme as battle theme (well, it makes sense given that battles are conducted right on the terrain of dungeon rooms, though YMMV as to whether you like this)
* pretty good music, with some highlights such as:
* * "The Prayer Bells Do Not Toll" / "Bell of Prayer Rangs No More" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmzHvQRbo1o (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRmgdVd2dA fan remake)
* * "Newly-Settled Town" / "Town of the Beginning" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4p4lcEcupU
* * "The Future Century Approaching Dusk" / "Twilight Next Century"
* * "Young Prodigies" / "Young Leader"
* * "Thoughts Unarrived" / "Distant Memories" (the music box theme) (not to be confused with a piece from the anime School Days, of the same name) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31-j_lNPrDc is the best video I can find of it, but it's sped up and has a vocaloid track added to it)
* * "Berserker" / "Insane Warrior" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcwfTeDIwWs
(The OST hasn't been uploaded to youtube in full yet, unfortunately.)

Cons:
* elemental energy and spell-learning system is a bit complex (and ended up with me keeping track of things in an external document) and not very intuitive (though this may have been explained in the manual)
* doesn't explain some main setting details too well (though it's good enough to have given me my feels so I am satisfied)
* music is occasionally repetitive
* the sprites could use a bit more detail, especially alternate "expression" sprites (e.g. a sad face downward-looking sprite for when the character is sad), and they don't quite match the character portraits (but then again the portraits are very 90s-anime and YMMV on them)

My current rating: 4 stars out of 5

Idea for the future: I'd love to see this game remade for PC, where there are more buttons to do the various things in the menu. I can just imagine a mouse making the menus and the tactical battle system much more convenient.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 2nd July 2013 13:17

--------------------

Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )