Radia Senki: Reimeihen (Chronicle of the Radia War)/Tower of Radia (NES, 1991)
Graphics-8 Sound-8 Control-7 Challenge-6 Story-6.5
Level Design-6 Frustration-7 Fun-6 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6
+
Up to 4 CPU Allies which you can give a few orders to during battle (move to spot, defend/avoid, rush, fight/attack freely; can also give the whole party one of three orders: fight, regroup (gather at spot), trick (play dead - essentially the same thing as an escape command))
Can manually talk amongst the party for hints/directions (dialogue portraits during these)
Can speed up dialogue (however if you hold the button it keeps going to the next sentence/paragraph)
Pretty good shop and menu interfaces in some ways (can buy and sell up to 9 of most consumable items, basic tool and spell+battle command descriptions in the inventory menu, area names are shown in the GUI)
Can sell items
Teleport out of dungeons item (travel bell, escape spell; can't teleport to visited towns though), Some fast travel via ship from the mid-game onwards (between guandias, elfas and fubart)
Some nice background animation (beach, fire cave) and cutscenes (in-game+artwork stills and text), Pretty expressive main char sprite
Can save a char from death by using a restorative item during the killing blow
Some interesting spells (Swapra: Target party member switches places with Darus, Panmum: Stuns all enemies, Escape: Escape from the dungeon (same as Travel Bell), ) and status inflicting items (basically single use spells; tusk=poison one enemy, DonGameFt=slow, sleep jar, silence herb, surprise=stun) in that it can hit from anywhere
Minor party banter
The game sometimes blurs the line between town and hostile area and has story events happen while exploring dungeons
Some decent bosses (final boss, giant spider, Veg - repeatedly summons enemies however he's a bit too easy, nova),
Some unexpected twists (the spy, ruji, the samaran revolution, the hero's identity), can knock enemies into pits in one dungeon (sadly it's the only example of an environmental gimmick used during combat), auto-teleport to where you were on the screen after winning a battle, pretty good foreshadowing of the final area, pretty nice ending cutscene showing cute/funny scenes from around the world
+/-
Linear structure (one minor optional area w/ pretty harsh level gating that you can visit earlier (rema desert - northwestern area near grasslands), )
Stamina bar/cooldown timer for spell casting
Frequent save points at beds (pretty much any bed you find which is a bit odd; 3 slots, shows current lvl only, free and fast resting)
Can only move one full tile at a time outside of battle
Automatic stat gains on level up
Learn techniques/spells automatically by using scrolls found throughout the game on your chars (set classes for chars, for some reason the player char gains no techs) - can control who learns their next spell and when
Very easy early on
Huge knockback from some enemies
Can't use spells or attack items in real-time (same as in Secret of Mana)
Can generally keep hitting an enemy as it moves towards you without getting hit
Flicker but little slowdown (slows down the overall speed during battle a bit instead)
No elemental spells or attacks
Automatic ship travel via a hub map of sorts which is unlocked in the mid-game (the game briefly shows a zoomed out view of the world and the ship moving between locations), can't block or dodge, can't use anything other than healing spells during boss fights (not even swapra) - means there's no point in saving them while exploring, some party members suddenly leave the party (taking whatever they carried with them though only the "item" items and gear are carried individually while the rest is in a shared pool), some enemies can cast undodgeable smart bomb-style spells, meat prize is OP in that you can use it over and over while the game is paused and it's easy to come by (free healing), can't fall into pits during battle, can't use Escape or a travel bell while in battle, a few spell charges rather than each char having an MP bar - rest or use miracle/elixir to restore them, limited item inventory, story ends up going off the rails towards the end and reveals the current world to be a parallel dream world made up of the hero's imagination (or the villain's which the hero is apparently a clone of?)? then he leaves it in the end for some reason
-
Overly frequent random encounters after reaching the first dungeon (can use Bone to make them run but it's rare and doesn't always work - can also use a code to have infinite Bones but it still takes ~8-10+ seconds to get out of battle each time, escaping/playing dead doesn't work at all against some enemies)
Some control/interface issues (no run button and kind of slow walking speed (could've been used outside of combat at least), can't push or walk through your allies during battle - gets pretty annoying with a party of 4+ people and could've been fixed by letting the player char equip either ranged or longer range melee weapons like spears, AI pathfinding near walls and corners isn't that good, somewhat slow attacks in battle, can't see if a piece of gear is better or worse than what you have equipped or how many of it you already own while browsing a shop, no item descriptions in shops, medical items and prizes/loot are described in the inventory menu but other non-combat gear items are not, no diagonal movement, no auto-equip option while shopping, no quest log, can't check what a tech does in the menu, can't see enemy HP and status, pointer goes back to the player char after using restorative items (but not prize/loot ones like meat for example), no in-between regroup or fight freely order for the party - they don't attack at all if you use regroup to a spot, restorative items used on a fully healed char are wasted, have to unequip a piece of gear to switch to another of the same category, shop menu goes back to its first menu after selling something instead of staying in the same sub menu, can't drop items, can't see a char's tech points when using a miracle or elixir item)
No hostile area or dungeon maps (some maze areas)
Some tedious aspects (backtracking (selfrone grasslands after taking haman to see the princess back in the first town, back to elfas castle after the first boss and then back to zenobia, back to kreps' mansion after the cave of flame, back to mt. bernard via elfas castle, etc.), some dead space and many empty pots and drawers in towns, the party and the enemies sometimes end up on opposite ends of the screen in encounters - the slower game speed during battle+lack of running means it takes a few seconds to reach them each time, can encounter enemies on a screen with a river between you and them and then have to wait for them to move to you, can only play dead to escape at the beginning of battles and it becomes less reliable once you reach the first dungeon, knockback when hitting enemies doesn't work if they're up against a wall or another enemy - since they don't telegraph their moves and you can't block or dodge you end up just trading blows and healing if fighting in narrow paths, bats and other flying enemies sometimes just fly into walls or above trees randomly making battles take much longer, a few seconds of delay after using a spell attack, some delay with certain enemies after using Bone to make them run, no separate inventory for the quest items - shared with the "item" items)
Boring dugeons and hostile areas (no puzzles, no interesting gimmicks or hazards, no ability/tool gating - special items are used like keys)
Some trial & error (looping maze in the shrine of samara, gadorathorn and tusk items+"item" items are wasted when used in any boss fights (including vs small enemies during them), sometimes vague directions ("take this to Nyuta" - OK is that an NPC or a town? sometimes your party gives no advice in these situations, "let's go watch the meeting" - OK where is it?, "go to kreps' mansion" - apparently you have to go back to the tower north of Guandia), the cave of flame "riddles" you need to pass to get through a small maze besides the third and last hint (the first hint (draw your sword)=take the right path - makes sense only after seeing the next one (now draw your shield)),
Can't switch between party chars to control each one manually
Kinda repetitive overall (repeats some backgrounds, various enemies behave pretty much the same, color swapped enemies, no attack combos or charge attacks, various enemies behave pretty much the same way, re-uses the airship layout once)
Most spells just hit all enemies on screen (13/24 spells - 4 per char which are picked by the game, only one status inflicting spell)
Some grinding in the early game if you want to keep all your gear up to date as you progress (can skip it with a GG code) and at one point in the late game - in the mid-game you have a lot of money
Slightly choppy scrolling
Pretty cliché story with one-sided characters and mostly rushed scenes (last villain kinda comes out of nowhere shortly before the finale and is killed by a monster before the final fight)
Some plot oddities (the Fairwinds still live underground after the two tribes in Fubart unite, new party members tend to not give much of a reason for joining, funny how the part is surprised by the airship in Guandia when they could see it from outside the town), some NPCs say the same thing, easy bosses overall, gadiss is easy
Notes:
-Some missable items: first airship visit at tower - can eventually buy scrolls and most gear though
Level Design-6 Frustration-7 Fun-6 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6
+
Up to 4 CPU Allies which you can give a few orders to during battle (move to spot, defend/avoid, rush, fight/attack freely; can also give the whole party one of three orders: fight, regroup (gather at spot), trick (play dead - essentially the same thing as an escape command))
Can manually talk amongst the party for hints/directions (dialogue portraits during these)
Can speed up dialogue (however if you hold the button it keeps going to the next sentence/paragraph)
Pretty good shop and menu interfaces in some ways (can buy and sell up to 9 of most consumable items, basic tool and spell+battle command descriptions in the inventory menu, area names are shown in the GUI)
Can sell items
Teleport out of dungeons item (travel bell, escape spell; can't teleport to visited towns though), Some fast travel via ship from the mid-game onwards (between guandias, elfas and fubart)
Some nice background animation (beach, fire cave) and cutscenes (in-game+artwork stills and text), Pretty expressive main char sprite
Can save a char from death by using a restorative item during the killing blow
Some interesting spells (Swapra: Target party member switches places with Darus, Panmum: Stuns all enemies, Escape: Escape from the dungeon (same as Travel Bell), ) and status inflicting items (basically single use spells; tusk=poison one enemy, DonGameFt=slow, sleep jar, silence herb, surprise=stun) in that it can hit from anywhere
Minor party banter
The game sometimes blurs the line between town and hostile area and has story events happen while exploring dungeons
Some decent bosses (final boss, giant spider, Veg - repeatedly summons enemies however he's a bit too easy, nova),
Some unexpected twists (the spy, ruji, the samaran revolution, the hero's identity), can knock enemies into pits in one dungeon (sadly it's the only example of an environmental gimmick used during combat), auto-teleport to where you were on the screen after winning a battle, pretty good foreshadowing of the final area, pretty nice ending cutscene showing cute/funny scenes from around the world
+/-
Linear structure (one minor optional area w/ pretty harsh level gating that you can visit earlier (rema desert - northwestern area near grasslands), )
Stamina bar/cooldown timer for spell casting
Frequent save points at beds (pretty much any bed you find which is a bit odd; 3 slots, shows current lvl only, free and fast resting)
Can only move one full tile at a time outside of battle
Automatic stat gains on level up
Learn techniques/spells automatically by using scrolls found throughout the game on your chars (set classes for chars, for some reason the player char gains no techs) - can control who learns their next spell and when
Very easy early on
Huge knockback from some enemies
Can't use spells or attack items in real-time (same as in Secret of Mana)
Can generally keep hitting an enemy as it moves towards you without getting hit
Flicker but little slowdown (slows down the overall speed during battle a bit instead)
No elemental spells or attacks
Automatic ship travel via a hub map of sorts which is unlocked in the mid-game (the game briefly shows a zoomed out view of the world and the ship moving between locations), can't block or dodge, can't use anything other than healing spells during boss fights (not even swapra) - means there's no point in saving them while exploring, some party members suddenly leave the party (taking whatever they carried with them though only the "item" items and gear are carried individually while the rest is in a shared pool), some enemies can cast undodgeable smart bomb-style spells, meat prize is OP in that you can use it over and over while the game is paused and it's easy to come by (free healing), can't fall into pits during battle, can't use Escape or a travel bell while in battle, a few spell charges rather than each char having an MP bar - rest or use miracle/elixir to restore them, limited item inventory, story ends up going off the rails towards the end and reveals the current world to be a parallel dream world made up of the hero's imagination (or the villain's which the hero is apparently a clone of?)? then he leaves it in the end for some reason
-
Overly frequent random encounters after reaching the first dungeon (can use Bone to make them run but it's rare and doesn't always work - can also use a code to have infinite Bones but it still takes ~8-10+ seconds to get out of battle each time, escaping/playing dead doesn't work at all against some enemies)
Some control/interface issues (no run button and kind of slow walking speed (could've been used outside of combat at least), can't push or walk through your allies during battle - gets pretty annoying with a party of 4+ people and could've been fixed by letting the player char equip either ranged or longer range melee weapons like spears, AI pathfinding near walls and corners isn't that good, somewhat slow attacks in battle, can't see if a piece of gear is better or worse than what you have equipped or how many of it you already own while browsing a shop, no item descriptions in shops, medical items and prizes/loot are described in the inventory menu but other non-combat gear items are not, no diagonal movement, no auto-equip option while shopping, no quest log, can't check what a tech does in the menu, can't see enemy HP and status, pointer goes back to the player char after using restorative items (but not prize/loot ones like meat for example), no in-between regroup or fight freely order for the party - they don't attack at all if you use regroup to a spot, restorative items used on a fully healed char are wasted, have to unequip a piece of gear to switch to another of the same category, shop menu goes back to its first menu after selling something instead of staying in the same sub menu, can't drop items, can't see a char's tech points when using a miracle or elixir item)
No hostile area or dungeon maps (some maze areas)
Some tedious aspects (backtracking (selfrone grasslands after taking haman to see the princess back in the first town, back to elfas castle after the first boss and then back to zenobia, back to kreps' mansion after the cave of flame, back to mt. bernard via elfas castle, etc.), some dead space and many empty pots and drawers in towns, the party and the enemies sometimes end up on opposite ends of the screen in encounters - the slower game speed during battle+lack of running means it takes a few seconds to reach them each time, can encounter enemies on a screen with a river between you and them and then have to wait for them to move to you, can only play dead to escape at the beginning of battles and it becomes less reliable once you reach the first dungeon, knockback when hitting enemies doesn't work if they're up against a wall or another enemy - since they don't telegraph their moves and you can't block or dodge you end up just trading blows and healing if fighting in narrow paths, bats and other flying enemies sometimes just fly into walls or above trees randomly making battles take much longer, a few seconds of delay after using a spell attack, some delay with certain enemies after using Bone to make them run, no separate inventory for the quest items - shared with the "item" items)
Boring dugeons and hostile areas (no puzzles, no interesting gimmicks or hazards, no ability/tool gating - special items are used like keys)
Some trial & error (looping maze in the shrine of samara, gadorathorn and tusk items+"item" items are wasted when used in any boss fights (including vs small enemies during them), sometimes vague directions ("take this to Nyuta" - OK is that an NPC or a town? sometimes your party gives no advice in these situations, "let's go watch the meeting" - OK where is it?, "go to kreps' mansion" - apparently you have to go back to the tower north of Guandia), the cave of flame "riddles" you need to pass to get through a small maze besides the third and last hint (the first hint (draw your sword)=take the right path - makes sense only after seeing the next one (now draw your shield)),
Can't switch between party chars to control each one manually
Kinda repetitive overall (repeats some backgrounds, various enemies behave pretty much the same, color swapped enemies, no attack combos or charge attacks, various enemies behave pretty much the same way, re-uses the airship layout once)
Most spells just hit all enemies on screen (13/24 spells - 4 per char which are picked by the game, only one status inflicting spell)
Some grinding in the early game if you want to keep all your gear up to date as you progress (can skip it with a GG code) and at one point in the late game - in the mid-game you have a lot of money
Slightly choppy scrolling
Pretty cliché story with one-sided characters and mostly rushed scenes (last villain kinda comes out of nowhere shortly before the finale and is killed by a monster before the final fight)
Some plot oddities (the Fairwinds still live underground after the two tribes in Fubart unite, new party members tend to not give much of a reason for joining, funny how the part is surprised by the airship in Guandia when they could see it from outside the town), some NPCs say the same thing, easy bosses overall, gadiss is easy
Notes:
-Some missable items: first airship visit at tower - can eventually buy scrolls and most gear though