Cog's Game Reviews: Reviewing games no one knows or cares about
There have, admittedly, been better examples of box art.
Yes, my idea of an obscure game is a Square JRPG. Treasure of the Rudras is a game which has been left unheard for a good reason. In Japan... well, okay, in Japan, it never took off, probably for the same reason that it was never localised: it came at the end of the SNES's lifespan, just as the PS1 was taking over.
Now, let me say right off the bat that this is one of the best-looking SNES games in existence. Hardly surprising, given its age.
Imagine that, only in battle, sprites don't hold still, but instead move constantly and rather fluidly, with a number of joints - this shows on bosses most of all. It could certainly pass for one of the earlier PS1 RPGs, at least.
Sound hardly seems worth mentioning, with examples of the music above. Still, for what it's worth, the music for this game is made the same person as Mystic Quest, a game known for having few good things in it except music. The music seems rather good to me, but as ever, it's a matter of taste.
And then there's the gameplay. Which is, when all's said and done, rather tied to the story, to an extent. The story - a rather grim one, by all counts - is played from the point of view of three characters. Sion (the I-want-to-be-the-best swordsman), Riza (A druidess of sorts) and Surlent (who is essentially Indiana Jones as a wizard). Each one has their own storyline, their own party, their own take on what's going on, and so on. They even interact a few times.
To top it off, you don't have to play them in any order. In fact, you can even, say, play Sion's campaign up to day 5, then stop, play Surlent's to day 3, followed by Riza's, then get back to any of the above. Your timing can actually have some effect on the plot, if only minor aspects. Once you finish all three campaigns, a shorter fourth one wraps up the plot.
Now, at a glance towards earlier screenshots, you might say that gameplay resembles, say, Dragon Warrior. Glance harder. Or just read on.
For one, you know how so many turn-based RPGs become games of fine-tuning each character's speed so they act in the correct order? In one of its few charitable gestures, Rudras lets you change turn order as you see fit. It also has an elemental alignment system. Elements come in three pairs (if memory serves): Lightning-Wind, Fire-Water and Light-Shadow. Being aligned with one, often by means of equipment, makes you stronger both with and against that element, but weaker with/against its opposite.
And then here's the mantra system, the big difference here. Remember how you used to buy or learn spells in other, less weird RPGs? Pedestrian, I say. In Rudras, you have fourty slots for spells, and may delete spells at any time. Spells are acquired by making your own. You enter a name - six characters in Japanese, twelve in English - and your spell is created, with the exact effect depending on the name you gave it.
There are certain prefixes, suffixes and sets of characters (not going to say words, as many of them aren't) that have particular effects. Many NPCs will even give them to you... but really, the fun is in experimenting, stumbling through a mire of amusing mediocrity, spamming terrible spells named after yourself, and finally discovering the ludicrously broken uberspell that sounds like gobbledygook.
Incidentally, this system is why I have a massive amount of respect for the fans who translated this game. I can't imagine the effort it took.
I'm glossing over the story, since there's so very, very little I can say without tossing massive spoilers left and right. I'll just say that it's one of Square's best, and that while it may seem cliched at first, it has quite a few interesting twists and turns. Some of it even managed to make me think for a while.
There is, of course, the bad news. There's always the bad news.
For instance, murderous chairs.
First of all, the game requires good mantras, after a point. You can only scrape by on mediocrity for so long, unless you're ready for absurd amounts of grinding. In fact, I suggest a guide in general, given that there are a few things that can break your game, and an easily missable sidequest or two. That's not to say you should spoil yourself on mantras unless it becomes absolutely necessary, of course. Experimenting is fun.
That's another issue - this game is one of the hardest JRPGs out there, and certainly one of the hardest non-NES ones by Square. It's sensible most of the time, and chooses odd moments here and there to be astonishingly merciless. There's also a 30 level grind in the endgame, but at least that's made easy.
And then, the final problem. There may be a translation patch, but the only way to get a physical copy of the game involves importing it. A pity. Still, if you can play this game, do so. It's one of the best games the JRPG genre has to offer.
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Next time, a game everyone can get, and really easily at that: Iji.
Touhou Hisoutensoku [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.254339-Cogs-Game-Reviews-Touhou-Hisoutensoku]