Lucienne's Quest Game Sample - 3DO
49I talked about this title a few weeks ago, now here's plenty of accompanying footage. One would take a quick look at this game and not think much: the low framerate which borders on a smooth 90s Flash animation, the rough early 3D presentation, the overly simplistic U.I., ecetera, but Lucienne's Quest was a rather ambitious title back in the day not just for the 3DO, but for a home console game in general. The 90s were an interesting transitional period for programmers as there were a lot of options and platforms to choose from and games were rapidly evolving, gradually making room for 3D games to become the norm. Here's my write-up from the community:
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What is perhaps the second rarest commercial release for the 3DO (behind DinoPark Tycoon, though that game has more common alternatives) and the number one holy grail for the platform, LQ is a fairly simple roleplaying game by most accounts, but it was the only "traditional" JRPG on offer for the system and was by the fine folks at Micro Cabin (who also released one of the few other RPG-esque games for the system, Guardian War / Powers Kingdom, as well as titles like Riglord Saga / Mystaria, Xak, etc.). The fact that it was released in incredibly low quantities and was doomed to not get an English release outside of the 3DO has created a small but dedicated fan base and a rather steep price tag. Known originally as "Sword & Sorcery" and released in 1995, a Japan-only port was released for the Sega Saturn about a year later, but it was rushed to market and is missing a lot of effects from the 3DO version as well as having worse textures and other issues (but they added some spiffy anime cutscenes).
As if the game's name wasn't simple enough (and the U.S. version actually has a less generic name, imo), the game stars the titular character, Lucienne, an apprentice sorceress who travels the land mostly doing random good deeds out of boredom while helping a young man she runs into, Ago, who is looking for her master (Kokindo) as he is cursed with lycanthropy and seeking a cure. Along the way, she becomes allies with other creatures who help her in her ultimate quest to defeat Death Shadow. The game's presentation is an odd mix of sprite-based characters and polygonal maps with mostly static enemies who are fought on isometric battlefields in a mild tactical fashion and the game has an underrated musical score with each track suiting your respective situations.
Combat is slightly unique as characters can be moved around on a 9x2 grid on the first two rows. Core attacks are of a linear nature (though items and spells are different), so enemies and players can take advantage of the terrain and obstacles to avoid being easy targets or to defend Lucienne (who is, as you can guess, the frail resident spellcaster of the group). Conversely, some obstacles can also be destroyed if they become a hindrance, and different characters have different proficiency in removing these obstacles (a "Destroy" rating which is also influenced by weapon type). Allies can use talismans or special equipment to utilize different magical abilities as well and each comes with a unique ability or certain quirks. Lucienne's magic can be powered up or its area of effect increased by using more MP as well. There's some cool alpha effects and even a day/night cycle (which affects Ago as he becomes stronger at night).
The game's characterization was changed when released in English, but the most notable change is Lucienne herself; in the original Japanese game, she was somewhat haughty and arrogant, but in the English game, she is portrayed as well-to-do but absent-minded and fairly childish. Outside of that, the game was a competent mid 90s RPG that was testing the waters of 3D gaming and offered 3DO gamers starved for a Japanese-style roleplaying game something to do for about a dozen hours or so. Hideyuki Yanagishima who worked on the Xak and Fray titles came up with the game concept with notable designers including Hiroaki Kubo (who later worked on the Shenmue series). If you've got a few hundred dollars lying around, this game can be yours, but I wager it's not worth that kind of money for most. If you really want to play it though and have a 3DO lying around (and don't want to use an emulator), the system has no copy protection and only a handful of games required a Japanese system to play due to the language library.
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I spent a lot of time on this game, writing a rough quick guide along the way as I couldn't find a complete guide. While the game is extremely linear with a spotty translation, there are a few secrets and enemies even have rare drops to take advantage of, but it's a short game overall. This video shows various locales from the beginning to near the end of the game. Enjoy.
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