That game was Soul Blazer, which, interestingly enough, was actually developed by Quintet, the same folks that did Actraiser. It should be noted that this particular game didn't so much go the city building route as it did the city reclamation route. There wasn't any hemming and hawing as to where one would place their item shop, grazing patch, or cottage. All that would happen was players would delve into a dungeon, and beat the tar out of monsters. When a particular spawning point was exhausted of evildoers to spew out at players' little on-screen adventurer, all one needed to do was walk over that point and presto, and new structure would appear on a parcel of land in what was once a bustling village. As players repeated this process the barren wasteland that greeted them at the start of each new area would slowly transform into a well-populated, friendly community.
I'm not entirely sure why, but I've always found that process to be incredibly satisfying. Any time that I've revisited Soul Blazer, this particular feature has been that part that I like the most about the game. Maybe it's sort of like getting a new armor set in an RPG. While the stats are nice, sometimes the best part is seeing how cool your character looks with all of the fancy, new gear on. In this case, though, it's not a brave hero dawning new equipment, but seeing how nice the town actually looks once all of its little areas are unlocked.
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| Help reclaim villages around the world. |
The combat itself is pretty standard fair as far as action RPGs go. Players run around slashing up monsters left and right, sometimes getting particularly bold and holding out their sword before them and charging (not usually recommended but it's doable). As the game progresses, more and more thought needs to go into how monsters should be dealt with. A lot of times there will be various obstacles nearby the baddies that are coming after your hero, so standing in one place and haphazardly swinging your sword isn't necessarily a good option. Staying mobile, as well as making smart use of magic is often the way to go. So while things start off feeling straightforward enough, Soul Blazer does force players to make clever use of the tools at their disposal.
About the only thing that I've never really warmed up to in the game is its aesthetic. The visuals get the job done, but don't really impress. The sprite work isn't all that detailed, and it isn't varied at all. One of the worst examples of this is some of the villagers. Some will apparently be old men, but they look exactly like the young men. About the only thing that I really like about Soul Blazer's graphics are the bosses, which look kind of nice. Music is even less interesting. I'm usually able to listen to it for the first few minutes, then I've had enough and mute the game so I can listen to my own tunes. It's not that I consider the soundtrack intrinsically bad, but it just doesn't grab me.
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| Combat starts off simple, but requires more thought later on. |
At least the story was alright. At the center of it players work for some omniscient being that sends you down to earth to free various villages that have been whisked away by an evil demon of sorts, hence all of the city reclamation stuff that I was talking about earlier. While this save the world aspect of Soul Blazers is common enough in RPGs, I've always liked the part about Dr. Leo and his buddies more. Throughout the game, players are trying to find him and his friends, and I like the little story that unfolds in regards to this, as it adds a little more color to the narrative, and helps the game feel like more than just another journey to fight some great evil and make the world a safer, happier place for all.
It's a shame that Soul Blazer hasn't enjoyed any sort of re-release since it originally came out over 20 years ago. I'd be happy if it came in a compilation with Quintet's other SNES action RPGs (Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma). Hell, get the thing on Nintendo's virtual console. Anything. However, that probably makes to much sense, and as such the game industry's overlords would never do it. As it stands, eBay seems to be the only way to go and prices on NTSC copies are getting a little silly ($100-ish dollars). On the plus side, Japanese versions of the game are really cheap, so if you don't mind not being able to read the language, it may be the way to go. In any case, Soul Blazer was a wonderful game, and makes me miss the Quintet of old.
