Sometimes, an RPG veteran just craves a quick and easy treat; something that can be polished off in a single evening, while still delivering a healthy dose of grinding and a sense of accomplishment at the end of the run. And lo and behold, the two Kemco offerings mentioned above provide exactly that.
I’m lumping these two games under the same post, because they boast the exact same structure, only with different sprites, skills and story. That structure goes as such:
— An average playtime of 3 hours for full completion, i.e. reaching Lv. 99 and beating the final boss.
— Five chapters with a progression bar, and automatic save after each random fight and menu opening.
— First-person turn-based combat à la Dragon Quest, with a common HP and stat pool for all allies and another for all foes.
— A boss rush at chapter 5, complete with mandatory grinding before the final boss.
— No postgame or side quests whatsoever, but the possibility to start a New Game + with your level and money from the previous run.
And that’s the gist of it. Somehow, these two games manage to tick all classic RPG boxes under three hours, and that’s quite a feat; cherry on the cake, they boast lovely nostalgia-inducing 8-bit-ish graphics and theme tracks, and they offer simple yet engaging stories. Combat is neatly balanced, and each title sports its own unique party dynamic, which leads to game-specific strategies. I’d say that Everdark Tower is easy in the beginning and tougher in the late stages, while Archlion Saga is the opposite. At any rate, both games are totally worth playing, as they provide different experiences under a similar visual and aural coating.
I had a lovely time playing that pair, and I’ll certainly play them again when I crave a grindy quickie. Trust Kemco to provide the very essence of RPG in a pint-sized package! Talking about this, I finally caved in and purchased all digital Kemco RPGs currently available on the Switch. That makes a whopping 20 titles, which will certainly be joined by others before the end of the Switch’s tenure; they’re all safely nested on a dedicated SD card, ready to be played at leisure. With that said, I’ll see you soon with my gaming instinct’s next pick; in the meantime, dear fellow gamers, keep playing and take care!
Ahhh, Kemco...how nice that their games can go from 120 hours (what I spent on Asdivine Hearts) to less than five hours. I miss them dearly, but I'm stuck trying to go through my required games of the year list, and I've spent more than a month on SMTIV already! One hour a day just isn't enough for JRPGs but I have other hobbies I like and a job...
ReplyDeleteIf I'm able to return to them later in the year, I'm dying to play Liege Dragon, Crystal Ortha, Chroma Quaternion (when they port it to consoles) and then polish off Asdivine Hearts II.
You spend 120 hours on Asdivine Hearts? Now I'm curious; I'd never have expected a Kemco RPG to sustain that many hours of play. That being said, Asdivine seems to be a massive IP indeed, with several Kemco offerings bearing the name.
DeleteAnyway, that makes me even more eager to play Asdivine Hearts — and mind you, my interest was already quite piqued after learning that you could romance the cat mascot character. 😜
I honestly don't remember spending that much time on it, but that's what the savefile told me. Guess the hours just flew by! It's mostly because I not only grinded to level 999 (and unlike Miden Tower, the super grinding spot is located at almost end-game), but I also did the most difficult side quests, and that also required me to grind for rare drops so I could trade for the most duper-super awesome weapons.
DeleteIf you play your cards right, you can save before the end point and get all romance endings in one go! It's what I did, which means I probably had more than 120 hours in it, since the file doesn't account for all that reloading.
Level 999 and getting all romantic endings in one go makes me drool in anticipation. Should I start Asdivine Hearts right this minute? I had other plans; but heck, the gaming instinct wants what it wants. ^^
DeleteHmm, you'll likely not be able to finish in one week, but if you like it, you can always keep it in the back burner for either when you finish your weekly game ahead of schedule, or the one you're playing is terrible but you already wasted a day or two and don't want to penalize another game. Playing Asdivine Hearts during those bursts could be a good plan.
DeleteI'm playing Soul Blazer for the first time BTW. At first I was unimpressed because all the praise people give this Quintet trilogy had set my expectations too high, but I'm fully enjoying it now (I'm just starting St.Elle's) and can see how unique it was to the people playing it back then, and even today the basic gameplay loop stands out. I'm glad my 'must play a game from each console per year' plan is forcing me to go through my huge emulation backlog somewhat.
Gee, I see you understand the OWOG system perfectly! This is exactly the way I'm planning to deal with long RPGs: to gorge on them for one week and extract their essence, and then to play them again occasionally — and then to finish them one day, if my gaming instinct is willing. ^^
DeleteI have yet to finish Illusion of Gaia, and to play Soul Blazer at all. As for Terranigma, it's firmly nested in my Top 5 Favourite 16-bit RPGs, for now and for all eternity. Such a unique and haunting RPG, with stellar physics to boot. Gee, writing about it makes me wanna play it again! ^^