Crystalis
One
of SNK's rare fantasy jaunts was the hallowed action RPG, Crystalis.
I loved it well as a lad. It almost rivalled The Guardian Legend, which
was most probably my favorite game of the whole NES library.
I
wasn't wild about RPG's back then, since my experience had mainly been
with the original Dragon Warrior. I realize I must seem horribly uncultured
to you 'hardcore' roleplayers, but keep in mind that 1) being 'hardcore'
at roleplaying is like being an EXTREME speed reader, and 2) I WAS
TEN. Text-based battle scenes with goofy looking Drakees couldn't
hold my attention back then. Crystalis was different, though. It, like
Zelda, gave me direct control over my character, but had that 'leveling
up' thing I'd heard my friends with longer attention spans talk about.
I'm
going to assume at least someone out there is unfamiliar with this game.
The rest of you, smile warmly and nod like you're greeting an old friend
coming off a plane. In the year 1997 (our old future,) the axis of the
earth shifted unexpectedly, causing floods and mutations and well, armageddon.
Then some of the smarter survivors built a floating tower (the prerequisite
'hi-tech' city) to 'oppress evil forever.'
Flash
forward a few decades or so. People are being oppressed. Mutants roam
the countryside. Good job, ancient smart guys. A capsule sealed in the
depths of the mountainside near the town opens, releasing our... well,
very purple hero. He busts out of the mountain and scares the crap out
of some hippie, which is always a good thing to throw in. After getting
a wind sword and some traveling money, he embarks on his quest to, I
dunno, save the world or something.
The
simple nature of the gameplay is what makes it pretty fun, even now.
The hero (whose name defaults as "S N K") is a lot more agile
than Link was in those days, and could move diagonally. You had the
usual sword stab, and could power up to various levels of power shots
by collecting orbs. You could even use magic. Special abilities ran
from the typical healing spells, to learning how to polymorph and communicate
with rabbits. Which is more useful than it sounds.
So,
you wander around, doing the usual RPG things. There were just a couple
drawbacks- the levelling aspect slowed the game down a bit. Some bosses
just CAN'T be touched unless you're at a certain level, and I never
bothered setting foot in the caves until I had hit at least level 2
(which, since every enemy in the starting area is worth exactly 1 experience,
takes a little while.) The hit detection seems a little off at times
as well, especially in close combat. Since your character is about two
tiles high, it can take a couple of test pokes to actually hit a smaller
foe. Still, an overall solid effort. There was a re-release on Game
Boy, which I understand has some new items and missions.