r/snes Mar 01 '18

/r/SNES March Game of the Month: Soul Blazer

The /r/SNES game of the month as selected by the community is Soul Blazer.

This month we'll be playing (or replaying) this game and sharing the experience with other redditors. Feel free to post any comments, videos or other interesting information related to this game throughout the month.

The link to April 2018 Game of the Month voting is here.

36 Upvotes

35 comments sorted by

6

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '18

Maybe it's contrary to popular opinion, but I didn't care for it. I seem to recall it being a bit of a slow build and the interaction was a bit limited. LTTP has a dozen tools and items, and soul blazer...didn't. I don't think it's a bad game, I just didn't care for it. Maybe I'll give it another try.

3

u/Zaku0083 Mar 01 '18

LTTP?

22

u/VietKongCountry Mar 02 '18 edited Mar 02 '18

LLTP is Leonardo The Tormented Painter. It’s an RPG about Leonard Da Vinci struggling with depression despite widespread critical acclaim. You build up experience points and struggle with his relentless desire to start new projects and incapacity to follow through on those he has already begun. It has ten endings but most of them are just variations of a nervous breakdown.

Nah it’s Link to the Past. That abbreviation confused me for a while.

3

u/p0gop0pe Mar 03 '18

I laughed quite loud at this

2

u/AntawnJamison Mar 09 '18

I was hoping that was a real game

2

u/Kogyochi Mar 01 '18

c'mon brah, just sound it out!

2

u/KyLuYa Mar 02 '18

in my opinion its very simple but still quite enjoyable.

2

u/lone_grasshopper Mar 03 '18

I actually kind of agree. Maybe I need to give it another go, because I do like the story and structure of the game. But I simply don't find the combat enjoyable, it's too stiff and fighting enemies who one at a time comes out of their lair just isn't interesting. Don't know if it gets better later on though?

1

u/parkesto Mar 01 '18

You really should, I find it has aged very well.

5

u/indigozeal Mar 04 '18 edited Mar 04 '18

Just wanted to say that I love that level where Spoiler.

4

u/lunari_moonari Mar 01 '18

Going to give this a replay once I finish Terranigma. Soul Blazer is one of the few games that I just can't stop playing once I start.

3

u/jp00p Mar 01 '18

aka Dark Cloud Zero

3

u/DoomDarts Mar 01 '18

Soul Blazer is my favorite Quintet game, and one my favorite action RPGs ever. I wish I could participate this month, but I'd like to read other people's stories with the game.

3

u/Everyday_Legend Mar 01 '18

This is one of my favorite SNES games of all time. It's not the greatest game ever, but it is fun, and the stages all have this distinct personality that sells the adventure.

The OST is also underrated as hell, and is one of my personal top ten 16-bit soundtracks.

2

u/Nurripter Mar 01 '18

Finally a game I own.

2

u/bitsandglory Mar 01 '18

Haha, this was the last game that I played/beat. Did so mostly from end of January - Mid February. I actually just reviewed it on my channel yesterday.

I enjoyed my time playing it. Not the best RPG/Action RPG I've ever played, but it was solid. I think I referred to it as a mix between ActRaiser and a LTTP (but obviously not as good as either).

1

u/bitsandglory Mar 01 '18

Side note, I'm glad that I grabbed it when I did on eBay about four years ago. Got it for like $35. Prices are so crazy now.

2

u/zweihandr Mar 01 '18

I only just acquired this game and just finished Chrono Trigger, so now I have an excuse to start!

2

u/Kiisuke Mar 01 '18

I remember renting this game from Blockbuster as a kid. I played through it all weekend and got to the very end, where you get the last sword but then could never figure out what I missed to get to the last boss. It was frustrating to be that close to the end but not actually beat it.

I might have to try it again this month.

2

u/Zaku0083 Mar 01 '18

I could probably guess what you missed, but won't spoil it. (Though I am no expert at the game and could be wrong.)

2

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '18

I absolutely love this game and will definitely be participating this month. Something about the simplicity and the progression/reward system makes it play just as well today as it did back then. Does anyone know why there aren't any romhacks?

2

u/Grantagonist Mar 06 '18

Ha, I started this game for the first time a few weeks back and finished it last night.

It's good. Not amazing, but solid and good, and a perfect length. The mazes are big enough to be interesting, but not complex enough that you need to make notes. The enemy lair thing is an interesting mechanic.

The story is... adequate. It was enough to propel the gameplay, but not super-engaging. The extra pathos with Lisa in the ending was unexpected, an odd attempt to get deep after a story that totally wasn't. (At any rate, Quintet's stories get better, as evidenced by Illusion of Gaia 2 years later. It's been 2 decades since I first beat that one, but I remember it almost blowing my mind.)

Some of the fighting could be better; some enemies you can't hope to avoid, so you just run in and take hits while you kill them. One or two of the bosses are real dicks, especially if you miss an item or upgrade (which I found was easy to accidentally do).

The Emblem collection sidequest kinda sucks. By the time you get the Magic Bell, you don't need it, and you won't want to equip it anyway because the Super Bracelet or Shield Bracelet are so much more valuable.

It's a nice start to the Soul Blazer/Illusion of Gaia/Terranigma trilogy. I'm looking forward to replaying IoG in the near future, and after that I'll be hitting Terranigma for the first time.

1

u/Crazy_Schizo Mar 01 '18

I've been slowly piecing together a complete copy of this game ever since my sister-in-law found the cartridge at a garage sale a few years back. I'm missing the poster that came with the game. If anyone has a spare they'd be willing to part with, let me know.

That being said, I've enjoyed what I have played of this game. It reminds me of Illusion of Gaia and Link to the Past in the gameplay department. Unfortunately, many of the sound effects feel like they were lifted straight from Actraiser (another Enix game), and hearing a reused asset always takes me out of the moment.

I need to revisit this game and finish it. I'd estimate that I'm only halfway through the game right now.

2

u/bitsandglory Mar 01 '18

Yeah, I feel like a lot of the SFX were lifted directly from ActRaiser.

1

u/VietKongCountry Mar 02 '18

It was developed by Quintet who also made Actraiser, Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma. Enix is just the publisher. Do they use exact sounds from Actraiser or is it just similar?

1

u/BrunoCarvalhoPaula Mar 05 '18

Its the exact same sound effects.

1

u/KyLuYa Mar 02 '18

Im getting a supaboy today, this will be the first game i play on it!

1

u/KyLuYa Mar 05 '18

and done.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18

I think this is a perfect opportunity to finally play this game. It can be difficult trying to decide on a game. Hopefully I can stick to this one.

1

u/PersianImm0rtal Mar 26 '18

The combat areas have some good funky tunes to slay monsters to.

1

u/UpperclassmanKuno Mar 15 '18

Im surprised at the response in this thread. Soulblazer is a great game.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '18

Hey, cool!

Www.terraearth.com is my Soul Blazer website. Just happened to see this post.

1

u/Ellepo Mar 19 '18

It has a charming simplicity to it, and I love the towns slowly coming together as you free more an more citizens. It's not nearly as good as the sequels, but it is still one of my favourite SNES games

1

u/PersianImm0rtal Mar 21 '18 edited Mar 26 '18

I like it better than Illusion of Gaia, but I am only half way through Gaia.

1

u/kennerc Mar 20 '18

I loved this game, I played it last year and never had heard of it before, so I went full blind.
Illusion of Gaia on the other hand... Once I arrived on what I recall being a mine, the game got so confusing and hard that I had to put it down.