Wrinkle River Story (SAT, 1996)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-7 Control-7.5 Challenge-6 Story-5.5
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-6 Fun-6.5 Originality-5
Overall Score-6.5
+
Teleport back to outside of the current dungeon or the beginning of the current area using the cape received near the beginning
Dash button (could run in Soleil - the spiritual predecessor - by "equipping" a certain animal sidekick)
Partial control config
Decent art direction (backgrounds look better than the sprites sometimes)
Buy/create and upgrade 7 kinds of weapons using the pearls found throughout the game combined with elemental seeds found here and there (four seeds in total - upgrade these by finding smaller seeds and this lets you level up the weapons tied to a seed as well, you do this via a venn diagram of sorts)
Regenerate MP by defeating enemies (encourages an aggressive approach, later used in Hollow Knight, kinda slow here though)
Ranged charge attack using Puchimuku the pink animal sidekick (its main use is stunning enemies but can also be used to grab armor off of certain enemies)
Some decent bosses (Cassie - two phases, spider queen, first machine head area mini-boss, the flying boss that clones itself - similar to a boss in Twinkle Tale, small shrine boss (jumping "cucumber"), )
Some decent puzzles (lure an stomping enemy to crush some rock obstacles, spatial awareness)
Some mini-bosses
Enemies have elemental weaknesses (generally you can tell by their color but it isn't always the case, having 4 quick slots for your main weapon makes this work pretty well)
Can reflect some enemy shots by spinning in place (can't hold a button to stay completely still but it still works ok)
Gain four magic spells (forward water shot burst, shield that damages enemies, speed boost, fire shockwave/smart bomb) - in addition these have an effect on Puchimuku when it's thrown (wind/lightning (yellow)=grab objects which can be used to grab thrown bombs (Soleil), )
Some nice visual effects
In-game epilogue
+/-
Somewhat non-linear structure (after the intro area and first dungeon (which is very linear) you get to pick between three different areas to explore for a potion making quest, after that the game gets linear again up until, several dungeons are pretty much linear)
Can't move between areas without going to the world map screen and can't visit areas that you can hover over on the world map (which is nearly all of them from the get go) without having learned about them through NPCs and progressing the story
Save on the world map (one slot per game) - the flashing symbols in the areas are checkpoints that save your current progress temporarily
HP refill when moving between areas via the world map
Rare health drops from enemies and early on you can't buy health items (some enemies never drop health)
Item magnet in the sidekick however it moves pretty slowly
Some very short areas
Kinda weird how you can't switch between weapons within one sub inventory (you gain up to four quick weapon slots from NPCs over the course of the game and within each one you can have 7 different weapons each with a different element attached that you can only switch between in the four seasons area where weapons area created). Would've been better if you could bring up these sub menus on the fly since you might want to switch to a long range one of the same element for a boss or enemy
No block or dodge moves makes combat simpler than in Zelda 3 for example
Reuses the "entering people's dreams" element from Soul Blazer but it feels underdeveloped besides the boss at the end
Pits barely hurt you (see Zelda 3)
Enemy drops disappear after a few seconds
No puzzle element to boss fights
Money is a non-issue after the early game
No separate weapon slots for the dark and light seed
-
Some control/interface issues (no dungeon maps - not a problem at first but eventually gets annoying, can't map attack to A and jump to B w/o emulation, somewhat glitchy hit detection/physics around some objects, automatically talk to NPCs by moving near them - sometimes you'll start talking when you didn't want to, kind of slippery running controls, can't jump over most short obstacles (can jump over short hazards), stop running when moving between screens, the game just refers you to the manual for how weapon creation and upgrading works, can't attack while jumping - some jumping enemies, no yes/no prompt when entering the world map via the whirlwinds - sometimes you can accidentally run into one)
Somewhat slow beginning (forced tutorial, going back and forth between NPCs)
Sometimes sloppy animation and sprite art (the attack animation lacks impact and snappiness), Sometimes color choices are a bit odd
Some trial & error (finding the lizard at rocky plaza the first time, the small trees with healing fruit on them aren't explained in-game - check the one in the beginning area and crown village (costs some pearls each time), one missable seed - sky island escape segment, water seed lvl 4, short teleporter maze in the small shrine dungeon)
Some arbitrary invisible walls (when trying to jump down from a higher platform for example)
Some tedious aspects (somewhat slow screen transitions (about 6 seconds), some dead space, chests take 3 hits to destroy, the first main boss (clock tower) - just produces a bunch of smoke that gets in your way, even just tapping the attack button repeatedly triggers the charge up sound of your animal sidekick, some enemies are a bit spongy, can't cancel creating a weapon, some slow in-game cutscenes - unskippable, kinda slow and very easy turtle escort segment, the final boss - basic and repetitive pattern and only one phase)
Some slowdown (gets kinda bad in the rocky plaza area and vs the rock boss)
Some plot oddities (why would chief go on a trip at a time like that without telling the player?, the mermaids in the cave still act like the boss is alive after killing it, weird how Apperly is a librarian but his dialogue never update past telling you about the cape in the beginning)
Pretty cliché story at its core
Sometimes overly easy bosses (machine head boss and sky island boss, caterpillar, thunder ruins and coral island bosses, )
Mostly missing the tool/ability gating of Soleil (the animal sidekick can be seen as one (sort of equivalent to the sword throw but can't bounce it nor curve it or control it in mid-air) but you gain it very early, start with abilities gained there like jumping and running, don't learn how to lift and throw objects here, no bridge/platform (rio) item, )
Missing some of the puzzle focus from Soleil (no block pushing puzzles for example)
No difficulty options
Notes:
-Spiritual successor to Soleil/Crusader of Centy
-The weapon quick slots also determine which spell you've equipped (after gaining the ring a few areas into the game, in-game you gain the slots as season-themed staffs with a spell attached)
-The seed pods found outside of the weapon creation area extend your lifebar
Bugs:
-In emulation I had to keep saving and restarting Mednafen before entering the world map or the game would freeze (couldn't use Retroarch). Mednaffe works better although it's slightly less smooth in overall performance
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-6 Fun-6.5 Originality-5
Overall Score-6.5
+
Teleport back to outside of the current dungeon or the beginning of the current area using the cape received near the beginning
Dash button (could run in Soleil - the spiritual predecessor - by "equipping" a certain animal sidekick)
Partial control config
Decent art direction (backgrounds look better than the sprites sometimes)
Buy/create and upgrade 7 kinds of weapons using the pearls found throughout the game combined with elemental seeds found here and there (four seeds in total - upgrade these by finding smaller seeds and this lets you level up the weapons tied to a seed as well, you do this via a venn diagram of sorts)
Regenerate MP by defeating enemies (encourages an aggressive approach, later used in Hollow Knight, kinda slow here though)
Ranged charge attack using Puchimuku the pink animal sidekick (its main use is stunning enemies but can also be used to grab armor off of certain enemies)
Some decent bosses (Cassie - two phases, spider queen, first machine head area mini-boss, the flying boss that clones itself - similar to a boss in Twinkle Tale, small shrine boss (jumping "cucumber"), )
Some decent puzzles (lure an stomping enemy to crush some rock obstacles, spatial awareness)
Some mini-bosses
Enemies have elemental weaknesses (generally you can tell by their color but it isn't always the case, having 4 quick slots for your main weapon makes this work pretty well)
Can reflect some enemy shots by spinning in place (can't hold a button to stay completely still but it still works ok)
Gain four magic spells (forward water shot burst, shield that damages enemies, speed boost, fire shockwave/smart bomb) - in addition these have an effect on Puchimuku when it's thrown (wind/lightning (yellow)=grab objects which can be used to grab thrown bombs (Soleil), )
Some nice visual effects
In-game epilogue
+/-
Somewhat non-linear structure (after the intro area and first dungeon (which is very linear) you get to pick between three different areas to explore for a potion making quest, after that the game gets linear again up until, several dungeons are pretty much linear)
Can't move between areas without going to the world map screen and can't visit areas that you can hover over on the world map (which is nearly all of them from the get go) without having learned about them through NPCs and progressing the story
Save on the world map (one slot per game) - the flashing symbols in the areas are checkpoints that save your current progress temporarily
HP refill when moving between areas via the world map
Rare health drops from enemies and early on you can't buy health items (some enemies never drop health)
Item magnet in the sidekick however it moves pretty slowly
Some very short areas
Kinda weird how you can't switch between weapons within one sub inventory (you gain up to four quick weapon slots from NPCs over the course of the game and within each one you can have 7 different weapons each with a different element attached that you can only switch between in the four seasons area where weapons area created). Would've been better if you could bring up these sub menus on the fly since you might want to switch to a long range one of the same element for a boss or enemy
No block or dodge moves makes combat simpler than in Zelda 3 for example
Reuses the "entering people's dreams" element from Soul Blazer but it feels underdeveloped besides the boss at the end
Pits barely hurt you (see Zelda 3)
Enemy drops disappear after a few seconds
No puzzle element to boss fights
Money is a non-issue after the early game
No separate weapon slots for the dark and light seed
-
Some control/interface issues (no dungeon maps - not a problem at first but eventually gets annoying, can't map attack to A and jump to B w/o emulation, somewhat glitchy hit detection/physics around some objects, automatically talk to NPCs by moving near them - sometimes you'll start talking when you didn't want to, kind of slippery running controls, can't jump over most short obstacles (can jump over short hazards), stop running when moving between screens, the game just refers you to the manual for how weapon creation and upgrading works, can't attack while jumping - some jumping enemies, no yes/no prompt when entering the world map via the whirlwinds - sometimes you can accidentally run into one)
Somewhat slow beginning (forced tutorial, going back and forth between NPCs)
Sometimes sloppy animation and sprite art (the attack animation lacks impact and snappiness), Sometimes color choices are a bit odd
Some trial & error (finding the lizard at rocky plaza the first time, the small trees with healing fruit on them aren't explained in-game - check the one in the beginning area and crown village (costs some pearls each time), one missable seed - sky island escape segment, water seed lvl 4, short teleporter maze in the small shrine dungeon)
Some arbitrary invisible walls (when trying to jump down from a higher platform for example)
Some tedious aspects (somewhat slow screen transitions (about 6 seconds), some dead space, chests take 3 hits to destroy, the first main boss (clock tower) - just produces a bunch of smoke that gets in your way, even just tapping the attack button repeatedly triggers the charge up sound of your animal sidekick, some enemies are a bit spongy, can't cancel creating a weapon, some slow in-game cutscenes - unskippable, kinda slow and very easy turtle escort segment, the final boss - basic and repetitive pattern and only one phase)
Some slowdown (gets kinda bad in the rocky plaza area and vs the rock boss)
Some plot oddities (why would chief go on a trip at a time like that without telling the player?, the mermaids in the cave still act like the boss is alive after killing it, weird how Apperly is a librarian but his dialogue never update past telling you about the cape in the beginning)
Pretty cliché story at its core
Sometimes overly easy bosses (machine head boss and sky island boss, caterpillar, thunder ruins and coral island bosses, )
Mostly missing the tool/ability gating of Soleil (the animal sidekick can be seen as one (sort of equivalent to the sword throw but can't bounce it nor curve it or control it in mid-air) but you gain it very early, start with abilities gained there like jumping and running, don't learn how to lift and throw objects here, no bridge/platform (rio) item, )
Missing some of the puzzle focus from Soleil (no block pushing puzzles for example)
No difficulty options
Notes:
-Spiritual successor to Soleil/Crusader of Centy
-The weapon quick slots also determine which spell you've equipped (after gaining the ring a few areas into the game, in-game you gain the slots as season-themed staffs with a spell attached)
-The seed pods found outside of the weapon creation area extend your lifebar
Bugs:
-In emulation I had to keep saving and restarting Mednafen before entering the world map or the game would freeze (couldn't use Retroarch). Mednaffe works better although it's slightly less smooth in overall performance