So I shuffle through my stack of RPGs (in a fit of anal retentive dorkism, I arranged all of my games by genre a few years ago), and all of a sudden, I come upon a game that I have fond memories of:
Yes, the OTHER game Yasumi Matsuno served as designer on that takes a bit of a flippant attitude towards churches. So, I put it in, and after a lovely tutorial sequence which I accidentally skip, I am struck by something my nostalgia filter had protected me from all of these years:
This game is HARD as FUCK. Oh, sure, the first boss is manageable, and the stone golem fellow tested my nerves, but by the time the wyvern rolled around, I was getting my ass handed to me by regular enemies, and this pattern continued up until the boss fight, where I was unceremoniously roasted many, many, many times. Over the years, my memory of how to craft things had disappeared, and my knowledge of bassackwards weaponry and proton-shifting metallurgy had since faded, because nobody has that much specialization in any video game and keeps it for long (my knowledge of FFT notwithstanding). Certainly, the story is still fantastic, and I actually enjoy the reflex system, because it keeps things firmly rooted in the RPG camp while still allowing me to feel like I'm doing more than just guiding a very slow moving missile. The controls are a little unforgiving, as is the impossibly steep difficulty curve, but at the same time, it's got its own sort of charm.
And by charm, I mean massive homoeroticism.
Assless leather chaps.
That just kind of speaks for itself.
Still, the game's quite an experience, and I still enjoyed the atmosphere even after my hapless Riskbreaker responded to the impossible odds in exactly the way one would expect: getting his face shoved into dirt, cobblestone, and any other matter of ground.
And by a total coincidence, Hitoshi Sakimoto is probably one of my favorite composers as far as video games go, and he's probably the most talented Square soundtrack alumni that I can think of. Yes, I like him better that Nobuo.
