Soul Blazer

 After completing my pilgrimage for Lufia SNES title, I am sticking around on SNES platform to search any 16-bit RPG game that are worth visiting. As a result, my endeavor leads to Action RPG series called Quintet Trilogy which are series of Top Down action game with RPG element made by the Actraiser Dev consisting of Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma. Since I am doing the playthrough for this Trilogy in Chronological order, obviously Soul Blazer become my first destination.

For a game that is already over 30 Years old, Soul Blazer still able to hold its candle and surprisingly got plenty to offer which is why I am writing an article for this series.

 Soul Blazer is a Top Down action game in which you play as a Human Champion of Lawful Good Deity sent to various places and tasked to free Living creatures from the grasp of evil being called Deathtoll by vanquishing the lairs of their Evil Minions. What sets Soul Blazer apart from other similar Action games is that every locations that the player are sent to initially start as empty desolate place but started to be filled up as the players diligently clear out Monster Lairs in the dungeon. It is up to the player's effort to have every location fully restored to its glory which do give an uncommon sense of accomplishment that not many game able to offer. 

Just like many games of its time, Soul Blazer is predominantly Action game with some light RPG element sprinkled on it which includes some secret unlockables from Side Quest. Some side quest can get rather tricky without guide due to vague clues such as some of the 8 Magic Emblem locations and Monster Statue Lair on the Forest location. In terms of difficulty, the regular mobs are quite reasonable to deal with but the Boss Fights can do get brutal at times due to the attack pattern such as the first boss. In any case the difficulty is still not as brutal as Actraiser which was the spiritual prequel for the Quintet Trilogy.

 When it comes to Storyline, Soul Blazer has rather straightforward Good vs Evil narrative which the Champion of the Good will ultimately triumph after overcoming many hardship. Apparently Soul Blazer's story can get dark at times like the Lab and Castle stage but I would say that Quintet didn't go full Grimdark on this one which could have been something else.

 For a product of its time, Soul Blazer offers an interesting gaming experience through its Simple Gameplay yet somewhat Deep mechanics underneath. Seriously seeing your monsterslaying effort manifest into tangible change that you can witness directly do give you some sense of satisfaction. It is such a shame that not many game are interesting to offer similar experience because there are obviously demand from JRPG fans. And apparently Soul Blazer along with the rest of Quintet Trilogy did have some BS Legal issue that prevents their remake in near future. In any case I will be definitely looking forward to continue my journey on Quintet trilogy as the part of my experience of 16-bit JRPG era.