Name the Game - Part 7

[CapTVK]

Paper Mario?

[Buck Birdseed]

Clue #3: The game's strong point is instead something else entirely, namely the rather underrated skill of great dungeon design. Whereas Squaresoft's games tended to be RPG/adventure crossovers or RPG/action/adventure crossovers, Natsume's finest hour is very definately an RPG/Puzzle crossover, with dungeon tasks ranging from rock-sliding puzzles to incredibly complex move/shoot/turn puzzles (via bomb puzzles, musical puzzles...). Each, brilliantly, of good challenge and clever conception.

[Buck Birdseed]

No guesses all weekend? Bah, I should stick to obscure eighties Amstrad demos instead of well-liked console classics.

Clue #4: Estpolis Densetsu II (original japanese title) is a prequel to the events that occur in the less good original game. This explains the game's English subtitle, which refers to a "rise" which has de facto already occured at the game's start. The game's English main title is also slightly cryptic to those of us who haven't played the original, being one of the side characters in that game being elevated to title character presumably for the human interest aspect.

[DrSpike]

I've exhausted my console knowledge by guessing some of the previous console games.

[duke o' york]

I googled it because I was bored, and had never heard of it before. Even the English name is pretty weird.

[Spaced Cowboy]

sorry Buck, I've never owned a console until I bought an Xbox a couple of months ago. It now sits collecting dust.

[Adagio]

I've never owned any consoles (and probably never will)... only used one at some of my friends house (many years ago)

[CapTVK]

My RPG console knowledge is nearly exhausted as well. It´s Chronotrigger or bust for me...

[Buck Birdseed]

I've never owned a console either but I do use emulators. I last played this game a matter of weeks ago.

Anyway, not having owned a machine is no excuse for not knowing its classic games. I've never had an Amiga and my Spectrum experience was brief to say the least. Nevertheless I've got a good idea of the well-known games for both platforms. This game is usually mentioned in the same breath as Squaresoft classics Sword of Mana, Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI when the best console RPGs of all time are named.

SnowFire would know it if heventured into this thread...

[ZargonX]

Cripes... I played SNES rpgs all the time and I'm stumped! It sounds so familiar, but I just can't place it...

I'm going to say Earthbound, even though I know that's not it. I just like talking about Earthbound :mrsaturn:

[Buck Birdseed]

Oooh, a SNES RPG player! Okay, I'll give some more clues then.

Clue #5: The year-long cutscene I discussed earlier plays out after you've defeated the first of the main enemies of the game. At the end of the previous dungeon you were left alone, and now you arrive in town to be warmly greeted by one of your other party members. Too warmly, thinks your girlfriend from your home village, who realises her love is futile and leaves, never to be seen again. Instead you marry your party member and settle down to a quiet town life, shown through four short scenes representing the seasons. Your wife grows pregnant, you have a child with her, but one day when you've gone off to fight monsters the child is kidnapped by a henchman of one of the other main enemies. This is where you resume control. It's pretty surreal...

A third of the four main enemies actually helps you throughout most of the game. However, this "mysterious helper" is not particularly mysterious to you since her identity is revealed in the pre-loading-screen intro.

[ZargonX]

Ohhh man... this is soooo right on the edge of my brain and I just can't think of the name! Grrr... must... keep... thinking...

[Buck Birdseed]

Clue #6: Three of the more popular features of the game is a fully-featured casino, a system with pokemon-like "capsule monsters" that fight alongside your party and that grow when you feed them old weapons, and finally the "ancient cave", a randomly generated, 99-level dungeon that you start "from scratch".

[Buck Birdseed]

dp

[Arnelos]

Good luck, ZargonX. I don't have a friggin' clue, having never been a console gamer.