Saiyuki (西遊記), launched 11/11/1999, developed and revealed by Koei
This sport is one thing of a non secular successor to Houshin Engi which I performed final 12 months. They each are based mostly on traditional Chinese language novels however primarily inform a brand new story. Saiyuki (Journey to the West) is likely one of the most well-known novels within the Chinese language custom and is well-known in Japan; its affect extends to tons of media, together with Dragon Ball. As you may see from the picture above, this was truly launched in English.
The essential story of the novel (which I truly learn in English translation final 12 months), is that the monk Xuanzang takes a protracted journey from China to India to carry again Buddhist scriptures. He’s accompanied by a number of supernatural companions, most notably Solar Wukong, the Monkey King. The novel is mainly a sequence of episodes: often it begins with Xuanzang being captured by demons, after which the opposite companions need to rescue him and defeat the demons.
Quite than comply with this episodic construction, the Koei sport primarily rewrites your entire storyline. You begin by selecting a male or feminine Xuanzang. She then receives the mission to go to India by Guanyin (identical because the novel), however the goal of her going is unclear. She gathers most of the identical companions as within the novel, however there are some extra ones (I feel they might come from the novel as properly, they simply aren’t main companions).
Xuanzong’s mission is to choose up these divine spirits alongside the way in which and put them in her employees, after which carry them to the Thunder Temple (which is the place Xuanzang will get the scriptures within the authentic ebook). Alongside the way in which, they’re opposed by Demon Spirits which need to get the employees for their very own functions. Their motives are additionally unclear at first however ultimately the antagonist is revealed, and the standard world-destroying plans.
The storyline is serviceable however nothing distinctive. The characters get some growth, however principally the primary characters fairly than among the optionally available characters you will get.
The sport is split into 4 chapters. As soon as you progress on to a brand new chapter you may’t return to the earlier areas.
While you’re in a chapter, you may transfer round to the assorted cities and locations. You gained’t discover any random battles except you’re taking a job within the pub which has you delivering objects to varied locations for cash. If you happen to do this, there’s a probability you may get attacked by monsters or bandits. It’s also possible to battle in dojo in every city.
So there are alternatives to boost ranges and cash, besides within the ultimate chapter. As soon as you progress to chapter 4 you may now not entry any retailers or grinding alternatives, which is irritating.
The battles are pace based mostly (though every particular person will get one flip earlier than one other one will get two). Top and dealing with rely, and there’s elemental compatibility as properly. One very nice characteristic is that while you select an assault, it’s going to present the anticipated injury that each unit on the board will take from that transfer. Nonetheless, that anticipated injury doesn’t embody any modifiers from elemental/top/and many others so there’s some uncertainty.
If Sanzou (Xuanzeng) goes to 0 hp you get a sport over. For probably the most half this isn’t an enormous deal since there’s so much she will do with out partaking the enemies. Her foremost energy is to summon the spirits you acquire throughout the sport, which keep for 3 turns. They have an effect on the stats of everybody (or restore HP, and many others) and so they additionally give Sanzou herself a 0 mp assault transfer she will use. The opposite characters are merely faraway from the battle in the event that they attain 0, and can return afterwards.
Excluding Sanzou, each character may flip into an enormous beast kind. They get much more HP and may use some very highly effective assaults, however as soon as they dissipate a sure variety of factors of assault they return to common kind. You get extra whole factors by levelling up a basic “beast degree” after every battle.
Every character has the standard armor slots. Their weapons are fastened and may solely be upgraded by paying cash at blacksmith retailers within the city. Moreover there are 8 slots for magic spells and equipment. The spells depend upon the basic ranges of every character, which enhance with degree ups in addition to from utilizing the identical spell again and again. I’m unsure whether or not the basic ranges have an effect on the injury or basic use of the spells themselves.
Visually the sport is ok. The character portraits are massive and detailed, and the map sprites are high-quality. The 3D maps may be rotated and the angle modified. From time to time it turns into a bit troublesome to see the place characters are however more often than not it’s OK.
The problem of the sport for probably the most half is comparatively low. I did need to grind some on the finish of chapter 2 — there’s a 3 half battle on the finish and my ranges had been a bit too low to take care of it.
Chapter 4 (the final one) is annoying as a result of there isn’t any store, so in the event you enter there and it seems you might be low on gear/objects or your ranges or too low, you simply need to restart a save from chapter 3. Due to this I did a good quantity of grinding earlier than I went in. I assumed I used to be high-quality as a result of it turned out the battles in chapter 4 had been comparatively simple — notably as soon as I discovered how good the Stone magic is (it’s mainly on the spot dying).
The ultimate battle is a distinct story although.
Numerous evaluations of the sport name it “ridiculous” and “unfair” and I can’t disagree with that. You could have the central head and 6 surrounding arms. All of them can use AoE spells. The primary drawback is that it turns into very troublesome to maintain Sanzou alive as a result of there’s nowhere protected to go. Generally it’s onerous to maintain tempo with the injury the boss does. I attempted a bunch of occasions, each ignoring the arms and going solely for the pinnacle, and likewise attempting to take out the arms first. I couldn’t beat it, and so that is one more SRPG that I ended enjoying on the ultimate boss.
From taking a look at some walkthroughs and movies, I missed an optionally available spirit that’s highly effective and likewise some good hidden gear. My ranges didn’t appear that a lot decrease than among the others however I’m not fully certain what the difficulty was. It’s attainable that if I simply saved attempting I might beat it — you can also make saves at any level in a battle so I assume you may simply consistently save till every little thing goes proper. However I made a decision to only transfer on as an alternative.
Aside from that ultimate battle it is a first rate sport however ensure you have the perfect gear attainable on your 6 main guys and sufficient objects earlier than you go into chapter 4.
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Subsequent up is Growlanser, however I gained’t be enjoying that till after new 12 months’s. I’m going to queue up some Famicom sport posts for December and I’ll most definitely play Dragon Quest IX over the christmas vacation.
