Soul Blazer first playthrough, part 1

Channel:

CnEY

Subscribers:

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Published on February 15, 2023 3:31:03 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAr0qI5q6_E

Game:

Soul Blazer (1992)

Duration: 2:49:53

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1

I've played Actraiser, but never played Quintet's "Heaven and Earth trilogy" aside from the very beginning of Terranigma. After originally contemplating these over a year ago, I'm finally starting up the first of the trilogy, Soul Blazer.

I knew going in that Soul Blazer is easily the most simply-designed of the three (and also happens to borrow tons of sound effects previously heard in Actraiser). What I didn't realize is that it is surprisingly akin to the earliest Ys games in some ways: it may not have bump combat, but it can be extremely punishing (especially in boss fights), and at times conveyance can be an issue.

I spent quite a bit of time in this first session being confused, at one point due to a mechanic with absolutely no conveyance (for what I thought would be required progression but ended up just being an optional item), and then ultimately due to a boss that I thought the game was telling me I couldn't fight yet when I was actually fully expected to fight it.

That first boss fight in particular was extremely tedious, but so is combat in general, unfortunately - since destroying monster lairs involves killing all of the monsters that spawn from them, most instances are reduced to finding an acceptable camping spot where you can easily dispatch the monsters as they approach, which can feel rather dull.

I'm still curious to see how the environments in the game evolve, and to see what amount of backtracking there might be, since the game has already hinted at some. Hopefully I'll be less likely to get confused now that I understand the game's expectations better.

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