2025 Special - Record of Lodoss War

Eons ago, I wrote a nothing-review for Record of Lodoss War. This Action-RPG for the Dreamcast deserves at least a semi-close look. It's a maniacal yet oddly satisfying grind. Crushing adversity under the sheer weight of huge numbers refuses to go out of style. Whatever sauce Neverland cooked up here was enough to pull me away from dozens of other games. Shoot. I've got a copy of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 that still hasn't been unwrapped! Imagine, putting off one of the best games of the year just to follow the adventures of The World's Least Interesting Person.

See that rough fellow? That's going to be you for the 15 to 20 hours. Also, your name is Larx... or Larz, or something else, I forget exactly. Never mind, it's a useless detail. The important thing is that you're on a quest to rescue Marmo from the Evil Goddess Kardis. Also, you were brought back from the dead, but don't expect any cool undead powers. If you die again, it's back to loading that last save to try again. The bulk of your early game deaths are the result of going to the wrong place and getting immediately clobbered. Indeed, you can explore a large chunk of the world shortly after the introductory dungeon, just don't expect to get far. Marmo is packed with all manner of creeps, cluttering the largely mundane & dreary locales with monstrous visages and fireball-throwing mayhem. 

Early on, the best you can do is to simply follow the directions you're given. If Wart the wizard tells you to head north, then you should do so without giving a moment's thought to anything else. Larz is frail and a bit useless early on. However, given enough effort - and enough mythril - he'll become strong enough to take down a divine being singlehandedly. Actually, strike that. I meant to say, "a divine being, their closest allies, and a dozen friends singlehandedly". The odds are explicitly designed to be overwhelming, and that's fine. It just means more corpses underneath your boots... provided you get those numbers pumped up.

It won't take long to realize that levelling in Record of Lodoss War doesn't do a whole lot. An extra 20 HP and a +1 to attack isn't going to cut it. This is where the mythril comes in. Well, the game calls it "mithrill", but let's try and ignore that. Whether you're carving it out of monsters or off of the walls, this shiny blue ore is the currency that helps you become like a God. Early on, you'll meet a blacksmith who hammers rune words into your equipment. Explore the world to find rune words, then teleport back to base and spend the mythril on upgrades. I can't emphasize enough that this process is a massive grind, but the results are worth it. All those monsters you had to run past or away from will eventually be squashed like pitiful insects. The word eventually is doing some heavy lifting here. Some players could find themselves in a rut where they can't seem to make progress in either the story or the optional content. 

I'll admit, I took advantage of a couple exploits. There's an easy source of mythril involving a boss that can't seem to stay dead. Adversaries are generally decent at pathfinding, but it's still possible for them to get stuck on something. Consider it a perfect chance to spam walls of fire. Clever usage of a "raise the dead" spell could even the odds in a tough battle. Well, perhaps that isn't an exploit, but considering how much of the game is usually spent running up and smacking something with a sword... thinking is almost like cheating. Besides being few and far between, these moments that require strategizing will fall by the wayside once the protagonist's power level starts jumping exponentially. 

This big silver dude will keep respawning if you revisit his lair. Easy mythril.

Now rune words are usually basic upgrades like +3 Strength or whatever. Take the time to wipe out the optional lairs and you'll discover special rune words. Only one can be equipped at a time, but the right combination can turn Larz from zero to hero in a second. For example. I equipped a couple of special runes that caused my hit-points to reach an astonishing 15,000+. Another doubled my armor, so even bulky foes could only tickle me with their gigantic hammers. The grind gets intense, but the results are plain as day and very satisfying to achieve. Also, while some might view it as a negative, I really appreciate that mythril rarely drops from normal monsters. It incentivizes me to focus on the next objective and avoid unnecessary battles, particularly in the overworld. 

A philosophical question I've often run into with RPGs, whether they be action or turn-based, is what does the hero do with their unfathomable amounts of power? There are multiple points in this very game where power corrupts individuals until they become psychotic monsters hellbent on annihilating all life. I can't imagine even the most virtuous of heroes settling for field-tilling or sleeping on the couch after they had just toppled Gods. 

Though this game is 25 years old, I'm still putting up a SPOILER WARNING here and now.

Got it? 

...

Okay... let's get on with the spoiling.

Neverland answers this quandary in a manner that's blunt yet appreciable. The protagonist dies. Yeah, turns out that the whole "brought back from the dead" deal was only temporary. He stopped Kardis, completed his mission, and fell over dead after a second's worth of celebrating. Now, there is a post-game, but it's one of those post-games where you're probably better off just staying dead. The Cold Cave is a nightmare. No matter where you step, dozens of rapidly spawning monsters hound you. They might start off a bit weak, but their numbers never drop below overwhelming. The nastiest fiends become increasingly frequent with every step. It's important to note that being turned to stone is the #1 cause of death in the post-game. Given enough time, you can recover from this ailment, but the chances of being tag-teamed into oblivion by two Medusa are shockingly high. There are handful of super-bosses to pit your ungodly strength against as well. Basically, you can stick to the ending where Larz takes a well-deserved eternal rest or the extended ending where he struggles futilely through increasingly absurd situations (and dies anyway because LOL). 

Once you're eyebrows-deep in a realm of madness that only the gaming maniacs of the world can appreciate, the fact that this is a Record of Lodoss War game becomes increasingly irrelevant. Oh sure, Parm, Deedlit, and some of the other characters of the classic series, make an appearance. They'll even lend a hand for a dungeon or boss-battle. Their justifications for why they're at this otherwise abandoned island are well-reasoned. It's just... their contributions to both the story and gameplay eventually become so distant that I'd almost forgotten they were ever there to begin with. I suppose they can't get too attached to someone who is literally a dead man walking, so fair enough. 

While Neverland is perhaps best known for their Lufia games, I believe they had a clear understanding of what makes for compelling Action RPGs. Their Dreamcast effort is rough in a number of ways. The slowdown when facing a massive swath of foes is particularly outrageous. Still, there weren't any crashes in my 15+ hours of playtime. A few QOL features like equipment transformation & duplication ensure powerful gear is never lost. It's a good time and unbelievably addictive.

2025 Special - Sword of Mana

Fair warning. There will be spoilers.

Thank the goddess! Unlike the last game I reviewed, Sword of Mana doesn't go by half-a-dozen different names. Well, unless you count its original Japanese title Shin'yaku: Seiken Densetsu aka A New Testament: The Legend of the Sacred Sword. Wow. That actually sounds much cooler than what we got here in the West. Anyway, this 2003 title for the Game Boy Advance is a significant remake. The plot is roughly the same, but every other aspect has been reimagined. There are now subsystems on top of subsystems, numerous side-quests, and a handful of secrets that practically require a guide to discover. It's a layered Action RPG, and perhaps not everyone's cup of tea. 

Allow me to just come right out and say that I actually think pretty highly of this game. What stuck out to me is its approach to character development. Sure, the plot is the same, but the way characters struggle with its many setbacks and tragic events creates a melodramatic tone that I find really enjoyable. Not too long ago, I kicked around an idea for an RPG story, one where despite the protagonist's best efforts, they'd lose their friends and loved ones. Not an uncommon idea, even the greatest heroes can't save everyone. My idea was a bit different though. These relationships weren't torn apart by death, but were victim to a lack of communication, a growing disinterest in each other, words or actions that at the time didn't seem like much, but created a divide that not even saving the world would repair. 

While Sword of Mana doesn't have friendships crumbling like so many card-houses, there were multiple times where I felt emptiness. A noble sacrifice goes underappreciated. A protagonist's virtues are tested. It hurts the most when a supposedly just cause ends with what could be considered petty revenge. This is one of the darkest E-rated games I've played. There is no more death than in Final Fantasy Adventure, but every loss hits much harder, almost to the point where it loops around and becomes hilarious. Consider the story of Amanda. Shortly before dying, she begs the male lead to use her blood to rescue everyone who was turned into birds by Devius. The player can opt not to do this, since returning to the castle where everyone is imprisoned is entirely optional. However, if they decide to change everyone back, they'll quickly discover that at least a few people preferred the bird life. Like I said, noble sacrifice goes underappreciated. 

The funny thing is, I can't blame anyone who wishes they could remain a bird. Saving the world doesn't guarantee everyone a happy ending. This game doesn't often dwell on it, but there several NPCs that can't be helped. Sure, you can slay a thousand beasts, but you can't cure sickness or aging, let alone bring anyone back from the dead. It's a melancholy adventure, where sometimes the best you can do is to simply acknowledge and move on. Still, that doesn't mean you should ignore everyone, especially if they ask you for help. There are a lot of side-quests to complete. Bear in mind that the significance of the rewards is liable to be lost on anyone who isn't questing a lot. In other words, expect to receive a lot of dudbear coins. Their usefulness isn't made apparent until you've collected a large number of them. The benefit of this is that if you choose to ignore the plights of others, it isn't detrimental to your chances of finishing the game. 

Much like Legend of Mana, this adventure offers an extremely fluid approach to difficulty. There are a lot of features to engage with. If you choose to avoid them and just rush through the plot, then that's perfectly valid. You'll struggle a bit more with enemies & bosses, but that's the extent of the consequences of speedrunning. Players who decide to grind level-ups and skill-levels will have an exponentially easier time. The same can be said if they learn the class-system to get the best possible stat-boosts. The same can also be said if they master crafting. Those who take the time to obtain the best gear, explore the world with the finest comb, and learn all those guide-necessitating subsystems, then the difficulty becomes nonexistent. The developer expected most players to only mildly experiment with everything available to them but left the door wide-open for the maniacs to crush the game into the tiniest fragments. Speaking as someone who barely scratched the surface, I still ended up with a lance that was slaying bosses in three to five hits. 

Perhaps breaking the combat system is the fastest way to make it tolerable. I'll admit, I wasn't too fond of it. Somehow fighting is less refined than previous entries like Trials of Mana. Regular attacks can only hit one enemy at a time, which is awfully odd for a 2003 release. Many foes are strong or weak against various types of damage. This means a lot of switching between weapons. The menu isn't as efficient as I would've liked. Some sort of quick-select would have been wonderful. Alas, the GBA control pad lacks the extra button necessary for such a feature. After a long enough time, I learned to run past enemies that were immune to physical attacks. Learning to use spells outside of puzzles often isn't worth the trouble. Heals and buffs are all you really need. Surprisingly, the one title that kept coming to mind was Vagrant Story. I mean, there's undoubtedly a lot less friction to deal with, but the basic aspects are familiar enough. Switching weapons to deal with different enemies, sitting still for extended periods of time to replenish MP. Shoot, there are even some minor jumping puzzles. No crate pushing though. That's a damn shame (I'm joking! Please don't remake this game to add crates!)

Did I mention that bosses were dying in three to five hits? Yeah, so I'm afraid there's not a lot to discuss there. I guess it's cool that not every fight is just some big slug bug thingamathing that just has to be stabbed repeatedly. There are often environmental hazards like a spinning floor or health-depleting lava. Enough for me to say "oh that's something" the moment before the boss itself is obliterated. Hey! That's another Vagrant Story commonality right there! I don't think I fought a single boss that had more than 750 HP. I figure this was all designed that even players who didn't choose optimal weapons or leveling strategies didn't fall victim to HP inflation, and that's fine. though now I'm left wondering if I could've had a more fulfilling experience if my lance wasn't so gosh darn strong. Oh well.

Shame there's not much that can be done to make your allies anything but useless. I don't want to dwell on this feature for too long, because picking on something this half-baked simply isn't fair. I'll consider it a nod to the original, where the AI partner just wandered every which way and maybe chucked a fireball towards a monster. Still, it couldn't hurt to upgrade your partner's armor, because seeing their ghost follow you around for extended periods of time might wear upon your soul.

Sword of Mana's early 2000s localization is one of the highlights. Everyone is a total corndog. The male lead is always yelling "Whoooooaaaaaaaa!" and at one point drops an honest-to-goodness "Say WHAT?" The female lead can also be endearingly dorky. Everybody else they run into is probably, eventually going to say something quirky. It never gets overwhelming or cringe*, and I think that's what kept me looking forward to whatever someone has to say. However, since the plot is relatively unchanged from a 1991 Game Boy release, there will be an excess of unnecessary words.

All in all, this game tries for the same uniqueness that made Legend of Mana so appealing. It doesn't quite capture its flavor and richness, but I admire the effort. The developers put a lot of love into this adventure. They made some bold decisions that I might've slammed other games for. Did you know that there are hidden geodes that are impossible to see but are required for a side-quest? I stumbled onto one by wandering into an inconspicuous corner. Chances of acquiring any of the others without a guide are less than 1%, but whatever. When I think "artistic expression in a video game", that's exactly what comes to mind. 

*I'm guessing people don't say cringe anymore.