Disk 11: Alshark (アルシャーク)

Name: Alshark (アルシャーク)
Type: Sci-Fi RPG
Available Languages: Japanese

Today we’re taking a step in an entirely new direction by looking at an RPG that is played on the PC Engine. The game in question is called Alshark, and while the version I’m playing is for the Super CD Rom, it appears on several other platforms. Alshark’s jewel case bills the game as a space opera RPG, which is a bit different than this blog’s usual fare, which I’m pretty excited about. The front cover has an attractively drawn cast of humans and aliens who look primed for intergalactic warfare, so here’s hoping that I’m not disappointed. As usual, I’ll be spelling the names with the anglicized names given in the accompanying booklet for ease of reading.

The game opens with a rather interesting background story sequence, followed by an animation showing the main party members. So far, so good! Once you are able to start the game proper, you will be on the planet Home. The game begins in the city of Kosuma with the protagonist, Sion, being awoken by Kal, his robot friend. If I could set Kal’s voice to my alarm clock, I would. It is truly terrifying. After being literally forced out of bed, Sion drags his way out to see his parents. It appears that a meteorite crashed into Home not far from Kosuma the night before, and his father, Jido, is going to investigate it. Sion wants to accompany him, but since his father is going for work, he refuses, promising to take his son after the investigation is finished.


If Kal's hyper warbling is to be believed, it is, in fact, morning.

After this disappointing setback, we get control of Sion. He immediately goes off to find Shoko, daughter of another of the surveyors and resident pretty girl. She decides to help him hightail it to the Zakusen Canyon, site of the meteorite crash, and offers Sion a handgun to protect himself from the local giant insects. I’m sure her dad won’t mind her stealing his hidden weaponry to blatantly disobey him! It’s for the sake of the universe…probably.

After equipping Sion with his shiny new weapon and cringing at his and Shoko’s level one statuses, it’s time to go out and level grind. Luckily the enemies here are ludicrously weak, and a villager in Kosuma is more than happy to help you on your quest for glory by giving you unlimited healing items. When imminent death seems far less likely, Sion and Shoko head out for Zakusen Canyon to peek at their fathers’ progressing investigation.

Zakusen Canyon is to the north of Kosuma and looks exactly like the world map, save for the fact that your characters have to wend their way through a labyrinthine wall of mountains in order to find their way to the site of the meteorite crash. There are quite a few dead ends and tougher enemy groups further in, which makes the dungeon more interesting and more frustrating in equal measure. Now is about the time that I feel that I should mention that I would love to have control of more party members than just Sion. Thankfully this dungeon is quite short by Alshark standards, and my party reached the crash site unscathed.

That's the strangest looking meteorite our heroes have ever seen.

Shoko hurries Sion along, and they hide behind a conveniently placed rock formation. The ‘meteorite’ that their dads went to investigate certainly looks a lot more like a spaceship to me, but what do I know? A cut scene ensues, in which Shoko asks the million dollar question: what is that? They quickly place it as a warship from the Zoriasu Empire, of a type that they don’t recognize. I do believe that we’ve hit upon the intergalactic warfare portion of the game! Their discussion of the reasoning for the empire being there is cut short as someone exits the ship and a fight ensues. Mamon, Shoko’s father, grabs his head in pain and screams, and when he recovers, it is clear that he is possessed. He proceeds to slaughter everyone, leaving with a few cryptic words about something called ‘Alshark’. Given that that’s the name of the game, I would say that we should make note of it.

Your party manages to make it to Jido in time to hear his last words. He charges us with finding a man named Scrap Joe, who is actually way more useful than his name implies. Jido is certain that something has happened to Mamon, and dies with the word Alshark on his lips. You would think that it was important or something. Sion seems pretty set on getting back at the Zoriasu soldiers that he holds responsible for his father’s death. Shoko begs him not to hate her father, as she is certain that something has happened to him. Sion agrees, laying all the blame on the Zoriasu soldiers, and vows to save Mamon. So much for a seemingly innocent adventure.

Alshark’s battle system is pretty basic. You control the main character, Sion, who is given a list of commands to choose from. He can attack, use special techniques, use items, change any party member’s equipment, check any party member’s status, or run. The other characters move freely, attacking and healing at will. Depending on what weapon or weapons the character has equipped, they will attack one or multiple enemies. While human characters can level up via battle, a robot like Kal can only be leveled up by a talented mechanic like your party member Joe.

 

 

Alshark, unfortunately, doesn’t look like much. The world map is huge and rather bland, and the sprites are tiny and unremarkable. The in battle sprites are more of the same, and are really nothing to write home about. The music in places is rather catchy, though, and kept my toes tapping as I worked my way through the bland, labyrinthine dungeons. The cut scenes, however, are quite impressively drawn, and the voice acting throughout the game ranges from comical to excellent.

Overall, I truly like Alshark. While it is a very basic game, the setting is different enough to set it apart from other RPGs of its ilk. I do admit to comparing every space based RPG to Phantasy Star: Sennenki No Owari Ni, and Alshark is certainly not even close to touching that game’s greatness, but that should not keep an RPG devotee from killing a few hours with an amusing game. It’s not Phantasy Star, it’s not Star Ocean, but it is fun.

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