Out of all the Saturn RPGs, this is easily the worst one. Heck, I might
even say this is worse than Quest 64, actually I know it is. This game
is generic in every sense of the word. Not only was there no story, the
controls were terrible and the graphics were nauseating. I'm not just
saying "nauseating" to be cute, try spinning your character around or
running between some trees, you'll want to puke.
The only
redeeming qualities of this game is the small load times, and the
similarities to Zelda, but even then, it's still a crappy Zelda clone.
----------Battle System----------
Virtual Hydlide is a 3rd Person hack and slasher. Your hero can block
with the A button, attack with the B button and have a high slashing
attack with the C button. If you combine the B and the C button will
create a special attack depending on the weapon he is holding at the
time. Some swords will create a fencing like stab at an enemy, while
others will shoot out fireballs.
There's no experience in the
game, but the hero does gain points after killing enemies, finishing
quests or picking up gold. If you find a special red crystal on the
world map, then you can buy stuff with these points, but you can't sell
stuff back. One of the few cool things within this game is how you can
drop an item on the ground and it will ALWAYS be there no matter what.
This is kinda useful since the game features a "weight limit" on items
that your character can carry. If you carry to much then you'll
eventually have to drop some stuff.
There's only about 4 boss
battles in the game (Vampire, Dragon, Mage and Final boss). You'll have
the re-fight some towards the end though.
There's barely any
monsters on the world map, and the ones that are on it can easily be
disposed of. You can run across the world in about 2 minutes without
getting hurt. The dungeons can give you trouble though because some
require a certain piece of armor or weapon or just alot of
healing/restoring items to get through with ease.
After you
have completed a task, then you gain a level (kinda like Zelda). Your
hero's max HP will go up 100 points, and his strength and defense will
go up 10 points. Quests are easy to find and do if you follow the map
on the easy setting.
----------Characters / Story----------
The game starts off with a FMV of a princess and some magic bubble that
splits her into some fairies, and then the game starts. It makes no
sense at all. There's no dialog in the game, the only text you'll read
is signs scattered on the world map and in some dungeons. We never see
the face of the main character either, just the back of his head or
maybe his side. The game ends are abruptly and absurdly as it started.
----------Graphics----------
The graphics are very rough 3D game for the Saturn. The game starts and
ends with a full motion video of an actress "acting" in front of a
green screen with the graphics added behind her. The main character is
a digital real life character similar to those of Mortal Kombat or
Street Fighter the Movie the Game, but much much worse (considering
it's 3D). Not exactly on a King's Field, Descent or Doom level of
graphics here, which is saying alot. The only positive thing I can
think of is the loading times, they're very short.
----------Sound----------
Ok, the music was actually good, it wasn't great, but actually good.
The voice work in this game is hilarious though. The only time you get
any voice work is before a boss fight with a humanoid character, they
just mumble random gibberish.
----------World Map----------
The game randomly generates a world map, or you can type in a code to
generate it yourself, but it's still pretty random. The dungeons are
also randomly generated but you have to fight through the dungeons in
the same order and all the main points inside of the dungeons are the
same each time. So what's the point of randomly generating the world
map and dungeons? I have no idea.
If you play the game on
easy, like I did, then the game will point out each quest right on the
map with a large X and a line directing you to the fast direction. If
you play it on hard then you have no hints on what to do next.
----------Time to Complete Game----------
2:33:32
The game was short, the ending was stupid, the end.
