Light Fantasy (1992, SNES/SFC English Gameplay 2023)
4Light Fantasy is a Tactical RPG game for the Super NIntendo/Famicom. It was release in 1992, Developed by Advanced Communication Company, and Published by Tonkin House. The game was never released outside of Japan, this English translated version was completed and released in 2023 by Zarby89.
STORY: 8/20
Evil masters of darkness are invading the world and it's left to a single boy and his band of merry men to save the world and the missing Princess and once again bring the world the light of the Goddess.
GRAPHICS: 10/20
Okay, the graphics are a bit of a sore point, they are very reminiscent of the NES Dragon Quest graphics but a bit more colorful, which is surprising for a SNES/SFC game in 1992. Spells don't look that great, characters kinda remind me a mix of Mystic Quest and Dragon Quest, which I liked. Towns are very plain and very basic looking,. The World Map is quite highly decorated in terms of graphically and it looks real nice the further you travel.
SOUND: 16/20
This games sound effects are okay, nothing to rave about but they are present and very clearly do what their intended use is. I didn't get confused by any sound effect or left wondering what the heck I just heard so that's a bonus. The game's music is really light, fun, and hearty, with each track doing well in it's intended place.
I didn't want to turn the music off so that's a pretty good thing for a game made in 1992, so I really liked the OST. All together, it's not a bad category for Light Fantasy, very charming sounds and tracks but you can certainly tell it's age.
GAMEPLAY: 12/20
So, this is a pretty standard Dragon Quest clone in terms of functionality of menus, talking, etc. You can recruit your party from a TON of different NPCs around the world, that is entirely unique for a SNES/SFC game of the time, or at least I can't think of any that uses that mechanic and have so many party members to choose from.
You can mix and match spells to characters that can use magic giving you the freedom to create your party the way YOU want to, but it seems they won#.t use spells if you Auto Battle. Battles are done on a single screen where they take turns in a tactical/strategy style. There's a World Map to roam around and find dungeons, caves, etc to explore.
The game's difficulty is quite high, you can easily venture into a part of the map that has tough monsters that will wipe you in 1 hit so it's quite a grindy game also too counter that difficulty, forcing you to grind levels.
For those of you who like the grind and dont mind older graphics then you'll feel right at home playing this game, is it fun though..? Not as much!
TRANSLATION: 10/20
Oh man, where do I start..? Okay, yes the game is 100% playable but it's by far not 100% translated, as you can see in the video above, text left untranslated, some weird secret menu I dont know how I unlocked had sections untranslated, poor story text translations and more. People are getting lazy and relying MORE on AI, ChatGPT, and such for help in translating and as it stands it's still really bad at doing it.
The translator says they've gone through it manually also but obviously English is not their first language 'cos a lot of it just don't make sense and flows badly. Whilst I appreciate the attempt on the translation and another SNES RPG to play, I really wish people would stop releasing half-baked crappy transaltions in hopes someone will then translate it properly.. 'cos 9 times out of 10 no one will once it has an English patch released.
I really hope someone will pick up this script and go through it properly and give it a real translation that it deserves.
OVER ALL: 56/100
It's not a bad game, it's just tough and requires a lot of grinding. It's a shame the translation isn't 100% and a REAL worthy translation 'cos all these people using Google, Chat GPT, and other AI are just down-right lazy and are ruining the fun for those who actively translate things properly in the hacking community.
DO I recommend this game..? ONLY if you HAVE to play it, otherwise i'd stay clear of it until someone comes along and gives it a much better translation 'cos this is not good and an isult to the game, the original developers and publisher.
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