Thursday, May 22, 2014

Disk 9: Kuro no Ken (黒の剣)


Name: Kuro no Ken (黒の剣)
Type: Turn-Based RPG
Available Languages: Japanese

Today’s game is yet another one that I picked up entirely for the cover art. Kuro no Ken, subtitled in English as ‘Blade of the Darkness’, sports a very nice sketch of a man saving a damsel in distress from an unpleasant situation on the front cover. The back of the jewel case promises an excellent vocal cast paired with high quality graphics. From the pictures shown to illustrate this fact, those high quality graphics consist of nearly naked women, which doesn’t impress me much. The male lead is voiced by Koyasu Takehito, though, and that impresses me a great deal. Let’s see if Kuro no Ken can live up to its own hype!

Whether you hear it first from the game opening itself or have read it in the manual, it seems that the world in the game we are going to play has had some trouble with jet black dragons. I seem to be meeting up with a lot of dragons during the course of writing this blog, but considering that my medium is RPGs, that should be no surprise. Koyasu Takehito’s voice speaks for the first time as a ship in the midst of a storm appears in a mirror. A strange conversation ensues with a woman, during which we learn that the main male character, Kaiesu, is in the country of Kuraitsen training as a swordsman. It seems that he has come to ask the woman where he should go next. She is as vague and unhelpful as one would expect, and ends by telling him to choose for himself.


Shinobu realizes that she is in a game that subsists on fanservice.
We are suddenly taken from that strange scene to meet Shinobu, who is sitting up in her bed as though she has just awoken from a dream. Apparently she was sleeping naked, but is thoughtful enough to cover herself with a sheet despite her confusion. There is a scantily clad woman in the room with her (the lack of clothing seems to be a theme in this game) who asks her if she understands her, because Shinobu is a foreigner. She introduces herself as Enisu, the savior of Shinobu’s life. Apparently Shinobu has no idea where she is, but she does mention a ship. Enisu saved her from getting eaten by monsters, and bribes her into working for her in return for saving her life. Unfortunately, Shinobu only carries a sword with her as a good luck charm, so she will have to use magic to pay off her life debt. There is a noble’s manor to the south of the city where Enisu wants us to go, so I suppose we have no choice. She won’t tell Shinobu what she’ll be doing there, though, which is worrisome. We finally gain control of Shinobu, who can’t find her very important sword anywhere. Enisu won’t tell her where it is, but says she’ll remember after her work is finished. Great, first guilt, now extortion.

Shinobu trudges south to the manor, which is replete with fountains and potted flowers, and stately music plays in the background. After the player takes a moment to decide that the place is legitimately creepy in its outward cheerfulness, Shinobu heads down a marble hallway, past some surly guards, and into the mansion proper. As she wanders aimlessly about, Shinobu finds a pretty jewel which she believes Enisu sent her to the mansion with the intention for her to take. She isn’t too keen on the idea and so doesn’t steal the jewel, but as she’s leaving she gets attacked by the guards for being Enisu’s underling anyway. A fight ensues, which Shinobu wins without breaking a sweat. Those guards really should have listened to her.


 

Unfortunately, a youjinbou, Zefyu-doru, shows up next, but he actually listens to Shinobu. After making a rather perverted comment and letting us think that we’re going to get away, the other soldiers remind the youjinbou of what he’s being paid for, and the fight is on. As he has both voice acting and an accompanying facial avatar, I’m assuming that this won’t be so easy. I attacked him with Shinobu’s basic magic attack, Fu Chou Jin, but it did nothing, and after commenting on her magic’s strangeness, Zefyu-doru defeats her in one blow.

Shinobu is certain that he isn’t just an average youjinbou. She is searching for a swordsman who is going to be caught up in some complicated RPG destiny that the game hasn’t explained yet, and Zefyu-doru is as confused by Shinobu’s riddles as I am. He reminds her rather forcibly that she has just lost a fight to him, which is probably something that she should be more concerned about at the moment. Just as Zefyu-doru thinks that his amusement is about to begin, Shinobu shows him why she isn’t as concerned as he thought she should be by using her magic to disappear from the battle entirely.


Shinobu decides that it's time to leave Zefyu-doru and the manor behind.
Shinobu heads back to the port city of O-rubain to speak to Enisu, telling her that she has no intention of becoming a thief. Enisu has no problem with this, though, as Shinobu had only been sent in as a decoy. Lovely how she saved her life only to throw her into danger immediately after she healed. After joking about how she doesn’t remember where Shinobu’s sword is, Enisu finally returns it. Apparently Shinobu is looking for a swordsman that she can entrust it to. She tells Enisu that the sword is cursed, that its name is Kuro no Ken, and that it’s better if she knows no more about it than that. I have a feeling that we’re going to learn a lot more about it before the game is over though, given that the game is named after the sword.

The battle system in Kuro no Ken is your average turn-based RPG fare. When it is your character’s turn, you will be presented with a window with that character’s health, magic, and status, and there will be a long list of commands that appear in kanji on the screen. You can attack, use a special command that depends on which character you’re using, defend, use an item, change your equipped weapon, or retreat. It’s an incredibly basic battle system, but it looks very nice.

The major conversations in this game take place in anime-like images, much like visual novels. They are very nicely drawn, if a little voyeuristic at times. The rest of the game world looks rather average, a typical fantasy RPG world that you could see in half a dozen games picked at random. In fact, it looks more like a Super Famicom game world than a PlayStation one. The in battle sprites are where this game shines image wise, as the creators really put some love into their design. The music is bland, not bad in any sense, but certainly not memorable either.

While Kuro no Ken was a nice game overall, in spite of its gratuitous fan service, it certainly didn’t live up to the hype on the jewel case. I will admit that the game looked lovely in battle, and that the anime cut scene pictures were nice, but the rest of the game was average at best. While I wouldn’t recommend Kuro no Ken over many other major titles, it is a nice way to spend a few afternoons if you’re bored. I have certainly played games that were a lot worse.


If you feel like hearing more of my gaming prattle, feel free to follow me on Twitter. You can find me at @bejiita_buruma

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Cartridge 3: Eien No Filerna (永遠のフィレーナ)


Name: Eien No Filerna (永遠のフィレーナ)
Type: Fantasy RPG
Available Languages: Japanese

Today we take yet another jaunt down 16-bit memory lane. I found myself at a bit of a loss as to what to write after my last post’s dating sim rant and decided that it was time to return to the Super Famicom for a while. We are once again looking at a game that I have no previous knowledge of, which was chosen purely because the box art intrigued me. Eien No Filerna (Eternal Filerna), the game which I am prodding with a stick today, appears to have been based on a series of Japanese light novels and anime. We’ve seen this before, I believe. So after shaking off the dregs of inactivity, it’s once more into the breach!

After getting the usual scrolling bit of backstory text common to games of this era, we dive right into the game proper. You begin this game as the titular character Filerna (which is how I shall spell her name, as that is how she writes it on her diary), a young woman who, according to the accompanying manual, is masquerading as a man. She is a slave from the ocean country Firosera known as a Kurechia, who is forced to be a Battler for the entertainment of the empire Debisu. After being given a bit more backstory on the Battle Show that the empire is so fond of, Filerna, age six, is thrown into a training battle against a man named Zena. Apparently Filerna has no choice but to train to prepare for life as a Battler among the men, so it’s time for this little girl (and us) to grow stronger.

After some more background information on Battlers, whose lives sound about as miserable as you would expect, we find that ten years have passed. As Filerna is now old enough to become a Battler in truth, she faces one last training battle against Zena, and this time we’re at the controls. After a fight in which neither opponent does much in the way of damage to one another, Zena gives Filerna some last minute advice, as her debut is tomorrow. He then gives us some equipment to make our survival more likely, accompanied by a tutorial on weapons and armor. Zena then tells Filerna that he has trained her because she has an important mission, which is exactly what she needs to be discussing the night before her first gladiatorial battle, when she should be more concerned with her impending doom. He then shoos Filerna off without another word, telling her to rest. I’m sure she’ll be able to sleep wonderfully, given that she has no pressure on her or anything.


Filerna makes some new 'friends'.
Now that we are free to roam around, we can enter the menu proper. There, we can see that Filerna is most certainly too pretty to fool anyone into thinking that she is anything other than a sixteen year old girl. After seeing that Zena’s lovely new equipment is indeed set, it’s time to rest. After lying in bed for all of two seconds, Filerna gets up and is called before the imperial commander who is in charge of the Battle Show that we are to be a part of. It seems that he has brought all of the Battlers who are to take part in tomorrow’s fight before him so that they can survey one another before they try to commit murder for entertainment. There are no words. What follows is an exercise in posturing, during which all of your potential opponents tell you exactly how they intend to kill you. Then the commander calls in a bunch of women and offers them up to the Battlers. I repeat, there are no words.

Filerna has the taste and the sense to leave her companion for the evening behind. She returns to her room to rest. Unfortunately Rira, the girl in question, doesn’t seem to be able to take a hint. She walks right through the door and begs Filerna to have sex with her. Wow. Filerna’s reaction is much like mine, a long line of ellipses. It seems that Rira is so set on them sleeping together because it is her duty, and that something bad will happen to her if they don’t. I repeat, wow. Whatever Filerna’s plan is to take down the empire, I’m on board one hundred percent. Filerna tries to worm her way out of the situation as nicely as possible, but the inevitable happens and Rira loses her temper. After calming her down by complimenting her beauty and saying that she can sleep in her bed, they turn in for the night. Rira awakens Filerna with a scream and a hilarious bug-eyed animation as she realizes that her companion is a girl. Filerna tells Rira that she has been raised from birth as a boy, although she doesn’t know why. Poor Rira tells Filerna that she was raised from birth in preparation to sleep with men. So after another bizarre and awkward conversation, Rira agrees to keep quiet about Filerna being a girl and a friendship is formed. Being a Kurechia is quite possibly one of the most awful things I’ve run across in videogames in quite a while.

Rira discovers that Filerna is a bit more...er...top-heavy than she originally expected.
The next day the commander comes to collect Filerna and, when asked about Rira, he tells her she’ll find out if she lives. Thanks for nothing. Since there is no putting this off, Filerna allows herself to be escorted to the arena with the other Battlers. A priest comes out, babbles about how the Battlers have the courage to offer up their lives, and calls upon Debisu’s god for them. Because clearly being a Kurechia is a completely voluntary vocation, from what we’ve seen so far. Now it’s time to get this show on the road. Filerna’s first fight is against a Battler named Big Elephant, whose armor clearly gave him his nickname. The fight is quite easy, and while I take no pleasure in this particular victory, the announcer’s surprise at Filerna’s survival is rather offensive. Filerna passes out soon after winning and awakens in a nicely appointed room, where Rira awaits us. It seems that this is Filerna’s new house, which she will get to keep for as long as she remains breathing, and that Rira has taken up the mantle of Filerna’s wife. Nice cover. Now if only Zena had told Filerna more about this supposed mission of hers. You’ll just have to play the game to find out!


Rira decides that she and Filerna should pretend to be a couple, even though she thinks it's a bit perverted.
The game’s combat system is simple enough. You can have up to four characters in your party during battle. There is a gauge next to each of the character’s names, and when that gauge fills, it is your turn. A collection of four icons appears above your character’s head when it is that character’s turn. You have the option to attack, defend, use items, or run. Where it gets interesting is that when you attack, instead of using a simple offensive tactic, you are ushered into a stock menu. Here, you are shown the weapon that you possess and the special techniques that it is capable of. You can stock up to three different weapons and items, including healing items, making for some very interesting tactical planning.


I can’t say very many positive things about this game on the appearance front, though. The game looks rather average overall, which they had absolutely no excuse for with what the competition was able to produce in 1995. Your tiny sprites stare up at giant enemies in the classic format, but other than several interesting enemy designs, there isn’t much to write home about here. Some of the major rooms are decently accented, as you can see that some thought was put into making them look lived in, but that is certainly not consistent throughout the game. The music is neither good nor bad, made up of the kind of tunes of the era that you filter through your brain without really listening to them, but that you don’t dislike enough that they become repetitive. I wish that I could find something stellar in this game’s design to point out to make up for accusing it of being somewhat underwhelming, but if such a thing exists, I haven’t found it.

In the end, Eien No Filerna felt like a rollercoaster ride between greatness and mediocrity. The story was interesting and the battle system was innovative, and yet the music was dead in the water and the appearance of the game was occasionally lacking. This game has so much to offer and yet it will be overlooked by many wholly on its lack of flashy graphics and memorable music. It really is a shame, as I actually really like this game and hope that people will play it regardless of its flaws. There is a lot of amusement to be found playing Eien No Filerna if you’re willing to look for it.


If you feel like hearing more of my gaming prattle, feel free to follow me on Twitter. You can find me at @bejiita_buruma