Today's look is aimed at Psikyo's oft-neglected Sol Divide. Choose a hero (or heroine) and embark on a fantastical journey filled with magic and monsters. What sets this apart from every other fantastical journey is that it's a hack & shmup. Imagine the Vic Viper growing arms and swiping at Bacterium with a sword. Picture Rastan soaring through the air as orange pellets whizz past his small hurtbox. Mentally process a giant Golden Axe DNA-filled needle getting stuck in something else. Even if it wasn't the greatest idea at the time, I have to think that it laid the groundwork for Cannon Spike, and everyone loves that game (I think?). Anyway, Sol Divide was ported to both 32-bit consoles, with the big addition being a Roguelike mode. This is, sadly, the actual reason why you're reading today's article. I need semi-constant +1s to various stats in order to feel a crumb of emotion.
Before getting to that barrel of laughs, let's talk the Arcade game. Typical of Psikyo, each stage consists of 30 to 45 seconds of minion-blasting, after which the big boss-fight ensues. Minions have two to four legs and require either a prolonged series of bullets to the face, or a good solid combo. Generally, the winning strategy is to go with the flow of combat. No matter their size and shape, baddies will fire projectiles from afar, then rush in to land some devastating melee attack. Dodge whatever flies out of them, cut off their approach with hacks & slashes, then grab the power-up they leave behind.
Among the spoils of the recently-deceased are magic scrolls. These bequeath spells to the chosen hero (or heroine). Meter management is another aspect of Sol Divide's identity, as magic will provide both damage and respite, but can't be used frivolously. The most basic fire spell casts a stream of flame that extends the length of the screen. Its main purpose is to push foes into an ideal location. Players will quickly realize that true to hack & slash nature, positioning and manipulation are everything. The more foes that get clumped together, the easier it becomes to crush them with a combo. Advanced spells carry heavier costs, with the heaviest being one-time use grand magics that do boss-annihilating damage. Since mana potions aren't common enough to really matter, replenishing meter often requires laying into foes with a series of thwacks or slashes. This is, naturally, a huge risk, especially against bosses that can erase health-bars with their own melee attack. However, it has to be done in order to use magic with any consistency. The magic meter tends to be the most affected by which difficulty setting the player is on. "Children" and "Monkeys" can effectively trap bosses in spell-loops. Cast Frost or Slow magic, pummel the boss, repeat. The non-disparagingly named difficulty settings throw this strategy out the window, so don't hang onto it for long.
A mechanic of the game that all players will have to respect is interruption. Basically, an enemy's attack can be interrupted with the swing of a weapon. This won't work all of the time but is a huge part of dictating the flow of battle. Keep in mind however that the hero (or heroine) can be interrupted as well. They can't swing their weapon if they're busily wincing from the projectile they ate an instant ago. Just to be clear, there's no "powering through" anything. If the player tries to maintain an offensive after taking damage, then they're just going to get beaten down further. Retreat and reassess or fall over and die. This mechanic contributes to Sol Divide's long-term depth. Players will continually take bigger risks in order to obtain the meter necessary to unleash boss-wiping spells. The importance of learning patterns and striking at optimal moments are effectively communicated.
My biggest problem with the game is how truncated it feels. Even by Psikyo standards, this is one short shooter. There's maybe seven minutes of adventure followed by a three-minute finale. Also, the finale's huge difficulty spike almost guarantees either a Game Over or a maddening series of failed attempts. I eventually start feeling like the only stage that really exists is the last. Everything else could very well fade away and disappear.
Luckily for me, there's the Roguelike mode. In order to save the kingdom, players must traverse 15 floors of danger. Quite unlike the Arcade mode, these floors feature several minion encounters, wave after wave, until a boss finally makes their appearance. On the player's side is all the RPG trappings they could ask for. Defeated baddies award experience and will occasionally drop a treasure chest. These contain a wide swath of items, or keys to unlock silver & gold chests. Since the magic meter is nowhere to be found, scrolls have become usables. Save them for a desperate situation.
Since conquering the entire dungeon in one attempt is out of the question, players can expect to spend the majority of their time building a hero (or heroine) up with stat-improving items. I can't lie. This makes for a very addictive gameplay loop. Building strength, revisiting stages with a guy who can erase dragons with a couple of combos, it's all quite compelling. Kashon - the winged guy with the spear - also has the strongest melee capabilities. Hacking through a school of monsters with one big combo causes pleasurable jolts to penetrate my skull. Inventory management is a mild annoyance at times. Having tons of chests but no keys (and vice-versa) can happen.
However, though the game tries to incorporate some "lite" elements in their Rogue, the fact remains that death is cataclysmic. If someone falls in battle, then not only is their entire inventory cleaned out, but their attack and defense power is dropped by half. Level isn't affected, but woop-dee-freaking-doo. In order to return to the sanctuary and save the game with everything intact, I need a magic gem. These are the rarest of rare items. Getting two in a single dungeon attempt felt like something I could brag about to lottery winners.
Magic gems being both the rarest and most essential turns this mode into a chore. The monsters receive a significant power boost every few floors, hence the need for multiple attempts the dungeon. If I don't find a magic gem during an attempt, then any and all upgrades aren't going to matter. The rarity is likely intentional, as it encourages players to use what they have to push further into the depths. Maybe they'll overcome both the odds and their limits. It's a neat idea, until reality hits like a massive axe. I don't like to have my playtime arbitrarily extended by failed attempts, but I can only blame myself. Fuckin' roguelikes, I'll never understand why I keep playing them. "Just one more.", "This attempt will be better than the last one.", "You might get lucky!", all things I've told myself over and over, game after game. Yet I'm always back at the beginning, slipping further into a hole that has no bottom.
So yeah, Sol Divide. It's a funky game.
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