Disk 3: Alundra (アランドラ)

Name: Alundra (アランドラ)
Type: Action RPG
Available Languages: Japanese, English

After the strangeness of our last venture, I thought that it might be nice to move back into slightly more familiar territory for a little while. We’re going to take a quick venture into one of my favorite action RPGs this time around, a marvelous game called Alundra. Whether you’re a fan of the Landstalker series or someone who loves the Legend of Zelda games, this is a game that should be played by everyone who loves action RPGs. Dark, difficult, and moving, Alundra is a game that is a pleasure to write about.

This is another game that I have played both in English and in Japanese. As always, I will recommend that you play the game in the original language if you can get it, but this one more so than usual. The company that released Alundra in the United States was often responsible for subpar translations, and this shows particularly glaringly in Alundra. In a game that is supposed to be dark and sometimes disturbing, a bad translation can be extremely jarring. So we will ignore that version entirely.

You begin the game as Alundra, the titular character and classic silent protagonist of the game. He is on a ship, being led toward his destination by a series of dreams that are calling him toward a village in trouble. You can tell this by a cut-scene of the village itself, which looks peaceful enough, but the music belies that. Creepy in the extreme, and accompanied by a disembodied scream, the dream leaves you in no doubt that something is seriously wrong there. You are soon after confronted by Meruzasu, your foe, who has no interest in seeing you meddle in his business. You awaken to the ship that you’re on being caught up in a terrible storm. It crashes, and you are thrown into the ocean. You are rescued by a man, and awaken in the village of Inoa, your original destination. The man is Anzesu, and he will be a big help to you throughout the game.

Alundra’s arrival unfortunately coincides with problems in the village. Disturbing dreams are provoking the villagers and, unlike regular nightmares, these dreams can and do kill. As the game progresses, and more and more people fall, villagers who once welcomed our hero begin to look at him with suspicion. Some support him, others point to him as being an agent of evil. Of course this isn’t enough trouble for Alundra. Another person from Erena, the clan of people who can enter dreams, arrives and begins belittling Alundra’s abilities to the locals. Then there’s the clan of murderous apes that live in the forest to the northwest that want nothing more than to wipe out the village of Inoa entirely. And they aren’t they only group of vicious creatures that want to cause trouble for the humans, either. Poor Alundra has more on his plate than your average hero.

Alundra is typical of its genre in that it offers plenty of hack and slash action and dangerous dungeons to explore. You can collect life vessels and magic seeds to improve your health and magical stats. There are many types of weapons available to you: swords, a huge ball on a chain that can break blocks and cause massive damage, bow and arrows, and several different types of magical staffs. There are multiple types of spells available for you to use as well, in four different elements: earth, water, fire, and wind, with two for each type.

This game opens up to the player rather quickly after Alundra is allowed to leave Inoa. While you may always have some destination or other in mind, you can wander all over the map, as long as you have the items available to proceed forward. Death is quite literally around every corner in this game, but exploration is the key to success in Alundra. Much like the Legend of Zelda series, much of Alundra’s stat boosting is done through items found during exploration. While some might want to try a low health run through this game, I am not one of those brave souls. I know my gaming limitations. So as you progress through the game, it would behoove you to take a look around, carefully, each time you get a new item. You never know what interesting and useful things that you might stumble across. It bears repeating that in this game, every little bit helps.

Alundra is known particularly for its wickedly difficult puzzles. Those who make it to the final dungeon will know what I mean when I say that there is a jumping puzzle there that made me want to throw my controller. I really do believe that Alundra could have benefited from the use of the analog stick, but unfortunately it was released a short time before upgraded controllers were introduced to the PlayStation. As such, you’ll be gritting your teeth and mashing the directional pad with reckless abandon throughout most of the game.

 
I find Alundra’s in game appearance and character designs to be charming, and sometimes downright cheerful looking, which in a way seems to be an almost mocking contrast to the despair that pervades the plot of the game. The music is at one moment upbeat, and at the next moment you will be rattled by a complete change of theme, always accompanied by a disturbing disembodied scream. It is an unnerving plot device that is masterfully done, and even though I have beaten this game multiple times, it never fails to make my skin crawl.

Even if you are normally not drawn toward action RPGs, I can’t recommend Alundra enough. The plot is one of the most dark and fascinating that I have ever had the pleasure of running across. It is most certainly not for children, as it pulls no punches, but it is worth a play through by an adult who likes a good story. I admit that I was rather upset by Alundra’s plight the first time that I played through this game. Characters that you have grown fond of will suddenly end up turning their backs on you, or worse, viciously murdered. No matter how hard you work, it never seems to be good enough for some of the villagers. It says a lot about a game that a player can get indignant on a character’s behalf, particularly one who never has a word to say for himself. Maybe I take my games way too seriously. Or maybe, Alundra is just that good.

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