May '23 Monthly Game Club - Crystalis

mindleftbody

treefroggy

Anyone playing the gameboy color version?
When I get around to playing this game again, I’m going to use the recent-ish delocalization patch that makes it GOD SLAYER again.

tomjonjon

kyleprocrastinations

slugpaste

I recently (okay, 2019, but it feels recent) replayed Crystalis for the first time since I was a kid, when it was pretty much my favorite NES game. This was the SNK 40th version on PS4. The rewind feature was helpful and I used a guide in a couple spots. I had no guide the first time around, of course, and I remember getting stuck on a boss near the end for a long time because I didn’t have the right item to do any damage.

One annoyance with the SNK 40th version is that the sound emulation isn’t perfect. The music cuts out or doesn’t loop at times. I also had minor issues with movement controls occasionally, but it’s otherwise fine. Still one of the best games out there.

Kez

kyleprocrastinations When the game doesn’t provide a name I usually try to look up if a canonical one exists. For this one, I found the name “Simea” online and went with that.

I don’t really like to use my own name and always find it super annoying/jarring when I do, and making up names is tough too cause it’s the start of the game and I have no idea what sort of names people have in it yet!

Gaagaagiins

Bad News: I started a play session of Crystalis a little bit ago, and got as far as the forest with the little funny guys. Unfortunately, then my silly little doggy ran up to me with her ball in her mouth, and somehow in her craziness I slapped the wrong key on my keyboard, and it closed the emulator… unfortunately I was also zoned right in for that play session and hadn’t saved my state. And, well, that kind of thing really kills my motivation to play a game, unfortunately.

I like the game, though, for all its archaic clunkiness. You gotta love that snappy movement.

The more weird thing I have to share is that I am quite certain I read and re-read some kind of guide for this game (specifically the apparently butchered GBC version) in what was probably a Nintendo Power years and years ago, because certain aspects of it seem weirdly familiar for reasons I can’t explain otherwise. Is there some kind of ultimate/rainbow sword that you can get at some point? There being multiple elemental swords is what really stands out in my very hazy memories of the game.

I wonder if I were to track down the Nintendo Power guides for this game, I would remember it…

Kez

Gaagaagiins Is there some kind of ultimate/rainbow sword that you can get at some point? There being multiple elemental swords is what really stands out in my very hazy memories of the game.

To answer this question.. full spoilers: Yes, sort of. There are 4 elemental swords you gather throughout the course of the game, each sword has two power ups which allows you to charge them up longer for bigger attacks. Right at the end of the game, you merge all the swords into one sword: Crystalis. You only use it for the final fight, and it doesn’t have any particularly cool powers compared to the others. Just one charge level and it shoots a sort of orb projectile at the final boss.

kyleprocrastinations

I finished Crystalis a little while ago and had a great time doing it. I wanted to write up a little post about it, but I got maximally distracted by Zelda. I put down my plate of tater totks long enough to write this. So here’s some stuff I liked:

The intro predicts a world destroying war will happen only 7 years after the release of the game. I just think that’s funny. And hey, what a timely game to play right before TotK. A swordsman and scientist gal wake from a 100 year cryo sleep to save the world

The sound design deserves some praise. When charging your sword, there’s a very clear ding when each stage is ready to fire. This is good for when you’re surrounded by enemies or fighting a boss, you can keep your eyes on the screen instead of the meter on the bottom. There’s also a high pitched ping to tell you when your equiped element won’t damage a given enemy, indicating quickly that you need to swap.

When you die fighting a boss, selecting continue will start you right before that boss room. I find this surprisingly generous for the time. Other similar games start you at the beginning of the dungeon after death, and others might kick you back to your last save.

Last few things, character movement is quick and responsive. I think it’s neat that the character sprite changes depending on whether you have armor and/or a shield equipped. And I like the clunky/quirky menus. It felt like they were really stretching to get them to do what they wanted, I respect that.

This was a really great pick for a game club game. I don’t know if I would have picked it up again otherwise and I’m really glad I did. Slaying God is dope.

Kez

Okay I just finished this game today:

I have never really noticed it until today, but I guess it’s a bit of a trope for the end screen of games to be the hero(es) watching on from a convenient nearby cliff as a castle or whatever gets destroyed. I wonder where it originated?? Might be fun to compile a list of games that end this way. Off the top of my head.. Castlevania, Super Mario RPG maybe? I’m sure there are many others.

I thought this was fantastic. I don’t have a ton of experience with NES RPGs but it surprised me how modern Crystalis felt in many areas. The story was great in an understated way - it established quite a few characters with different personalities, and some of the plot beats actually made me feel sad! Combat is good throughout. I felt palpably stronger as I leveled up and got new items, yet the overall challenge still managed to increase. The variety of items and abilities is very cool, and the most of the secrets felt eminently findable with all the hints from the villagers.

This game has one of my favourite soundtracks from the era so far, right up there with any of the classics. I have found myself humming various tunes from it several times this month. Even the dungeon music that I heard a whole bunch throughout never got old at all. Here’s a couple of my faves:

As @kyleprocrastinations mentions above, the continue system is surprisingly generous and refreshing. The first time I died to a boss, I was racking my brain trying to remember when I last saved.. but when I hit continue I was right there outside again!

I wish the game had better item descriptions. I eventually did do a little reading outside of the game, but every source I found ended up giving stuff away I think I would have enjoyed discovering for myself. However some pieces of information just don’t seem to appear in the game at all, like certain shields and armors make you immune to particular statuses. At one point I was in an area getting paralyzed every few seconds, it was infuriating but it turns out I had access to a shield that completely nullifies it. It would have been nice if the shop showed a little description to that effect!

The dungeons also got a little bit too mazelike toward the end, and I referred to maps for the last couple. I would have liked a map screen that autopopulates where you have visited to make navigation a bit easier, but I can understand the technical challenges that may have prevented that from happening!

Still, I think with just a few minor QOL tweaks like that (item descriptions, map, and probably faster weapon switching) this game would be surprisingly palatable from a modern perspective. Another excellent pick! A game I doubt I would have gotten around to playing if it weren’t for this, and I’m glad I did so thanks very much!

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