Game:

Arcana Strikes (1997)

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Arcana Strikes is an interesting card game with minor RPG/Strat elements, developed by RED Company and published by Takara in 1997. The game is story-lite and focuses primarily around the concept of travelling to different realms challenging different enemies while collecting cards to utilize in battle. Navigation within the game is English-Friendly as access to most areas is a click-and-pick affair, though understanding the rules of the game require basic Japanese to fully understand, though it is not at all required to complete the game. Here's a translation of the narrative of the first two pages of the manual/intro and general understanding of the player character and goal.

The boy was looking at the sky, watching the the clouds drift by slowly changing their shape as he always does when he decides to head to the marketplace as usual. As he was walking around the market looking for food, he decided there was nothing he wanted when an old lady showed up in front of him as he tried to leave. He tried to analyze the suspicious woman's face but it was hidden beneath her deep hood, preventing him from seeing clearly. The woman commented to the boy, complimenting him on his beautiful eyes, and unveils a deck of old tarot cards, slightly worn and battered by the sands of time. Softly and slowly, the old woman clasped the boy's hand and says "You should listen to the voice of the cards... if you rub them, God can hear the wishes of its master and answer their call. I can stare straight into your heart and see your importance...". Before the boy could even inquire as to the meaning of the old woman's words, she disappeared, almost as if she was a phantom or dream... only the Tarot Cards were left.

Later that night, before retiring for the day while sitting beneath the shining full moon, he was looking at the individual cards he recieved from the old woman. Various pictures and people were drawn on the cards, and they were both mysterious and beautiful. The next day, the boy was anxious about the old woman's words as they echoed through his mind... "You should listen to the voice of the cards... if you rub them, God can hear the wishes of its master and answer their call...", and thought he would consider her words. The boy rubbed various cards, but they did not talk back to him no matter how hard he strained his ears to listen. However, he then noticed one final card with nothing drawn on it. As he stared, the old woman's voice seemed to come out of thin air, reverberating in his mind. "I've stared straight into your heart, believing in your importance, your purpose..." At this point, he quietly concentrated on the blank card. Suddenly, dazzling light began to overflow from the mysterious tarot and the boy lost consciousness. When he awoke, he discovers he was led to "Arcana", the world of the cards.

The player (Estar by default) is a 17-year-old boy who's always dreamed of adventure (looks very effeminate due to his slender frame). Easily elated by praise or flattery, usually moved to tears by the sight of pretty girls, and a bit of a scatter-brain, he is nevertheless brave and capable of intelligently ascertaining his circumstances and sensing danger. He is transported to Arcana by the mysterious old woman's magic cards and is tasked by "Titan the Guardian Spirit" to travel in search of the other souls who possess almighty "Arcana Cards", the most powerful cards in this world, which allow him to reconstruct the world which is in danger as well as see premonitions of things to come. The hero and NPCs really don't say too much outside of providing gameplay tips or allude to secrets, some of which require passwords to access rare cards by a sage called "Wolf Man-Fu" (one for example is of Hiroi Ouji, the RED Company supervisor of AS).

The game has decent 2D graphics with many small FMV clips used to illustrate special attacks, which are pretty nice for a game like this. The music is also pretty good, though the main battle theme is not particularly interesting. Gameplay is fairly slow, but slightly addicting. The game has many cards to collect (almost 300) that belong to a variety of categories from support to offense, defense, and more. The most important cards however are Monster cards, which can be summoned to attack each turn. Monster cards, like the hero, gain experience based on where they are, the number of enemies defeated and the fashion in which they're defeated (0% for death, 50% exp if in your active deck, 100% when in an active fight, and 200% for defeating a leader), and evolve at level 15 and 35. They also can have up to four skills that can aid you. Monsters can attack leaders, but only if there are no foes in the same rank as them (similar to games like Koto Battle). The game has six elements as well as a neutral element that generally adheres to simple rules (weakness deals more damage). While there is more, this is the basics. We are uploading an intro and basic gameplay. Enjoy.