Silva Saga II: The Legend of Light and Darkness
The Three Party ProblemGenre: rpg - japanese
Publisher: SETA
Year: 1993
System: SFC
Gameplay Score: 4
Gameplay Notes:
Well here's a pleasant surprise. In 1993 this is the first game that has a lot of the QoL features I expect from a modern retro (is that a thing?) JRPG. Namely, auto battle by holding the A button, an option to remember the last selection, fast movement, an "optimal" equip features, and item and magic descriptions. Well done. Another feature, which I'm torn about, is the ability to create three parties - your playable characters, a set of mercenaries, and a set of magical creatures called idols. During a fight you can turn over the battle to one of these parties, but you lose all control of the fight. Also that party gets the EXP, which means that you'll need to do 3X the grinding as you'd expect. Aften an hour I was pleasantly surprised at how little grinding I needed, but then I discovered this 3 party system. Its novel, but I would've preferred that everyone gets EXP.
Level Design Score: 4
Level Design Notes:
Pretty standard, linear stuff. The world is very small with short distances between towns and dungeons. I didn't play it for long enough to see everything, of course, but it seems pretty simplistic. Not bad, by any stretch. I like that you get a party very quickly.
Theme Score: 4
Theme Notes:
You're an amnesia patient who is destined to save the world from an evil presence. So yeah, it's FFVI, but without the prologue.
Art Style Score: 3
Art Style Notes:
Uses a Dragon Quest battle view. Enemies are well drawn but small sprites. They're animated and it's clear who is attacking and being attacked. The overview sprites are nothing to write home about although there are a couple of fun effects like reflections in the water. I could be convinced to bump this up, but honestly there's nothing special.
Audio Score: 4
Audio Notes:
I really enjoyed the tunes, especially the battle theme. It's not something I'll be humming later, but this has a good soundtrack and no annoying sounds.
Overall Score: 78
Review ID: 1838
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