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Hail fellow, well met! Our Guild seeks
to catalog genres Fantasy, Strategy,
& Role-Playing. From swordplay to
tactics, the Guild shall be your
mighty castlegrounds. Stay awhile.


Emerald Dragon
Glodia & Alfa System * SNES * 24 MEG * Now Available JPN

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Created by smaller Japanese studio named Glodia, Emerald Dragon is a fantasy-laded RPG brought over to the Super Famicom from the NEC PC-8801. Its story centers on a young shipwreck survivor called Tamryn raised by a tribe of dragons in their mythical realm. Years passed and Tamyrn was returned to the human world, but now, fearing she may be in trouble, a eager dragon kid named Atrushan rushes off to adventure. Beyond this, much of the storyline is standard fare with a strong focus on character relationships and banter. On the graphical side, Emerald Dragon does have its charm, signified by anime-like sprite animations and in-game scenes. Otherwise, at least visually, it does not do much to entice the player over more flashy entries from the likes of Square Soft.

This title breaks from the pack with regard to its battle system. Once an encounter takes place, the enemy will appear atop all party members as you can see in the included screen. Each battle participant has their own gauge that determines the number of actions available each turn - made weaker upon character movement and offensive strikes. It's a fresh system, indeed, only held back by Glodia's odd choice to allow direct control only over Atrushan. All others are controlled by the computer. As far as difficulty goes, Emerald Dragon can quickly become very easy. The player will have a limitless inventory, constant HP increases, and plenty of powerful weapons to be discovered in caves across the land. We found it exceptionally enjoyable and a respectable RPG.


Printed in Issue #33, January 1996
Romancing SaGa 3
Square * SNES * 24 MEG * Now Available JPN

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From the masterful engineers at Square comes Romancing SaGa 3, the latest entry in a series thus far landlocked to the Japan. We previously covered RS 2, similarly a Square-developed SNES title, and 3 is a wholly competent follow-up. Prepare for a non-conventional RPG with open, non-linear gameplay which will allow the player to experience a high degree of freedom and control. Players can pick among eight starting characters, all with an entirely customized scenario. Once you choose your own adventure, you can explore a spacious world with tons of dungeons, towns, and quests to delve into. Albeit an exciting concept, the open-endedness can also leave one feeling a touch aimless, too. And alas, the typical trope of stopping an evil force set on conquering the world does eventually unearth itself.

Battles are emphasized far more than in the Final Fantasy universe. Five party members may engage in combat at once, each with a multitude of abilities and weapons to be equipped. Your characters do not gain EXP or levels in this RPG, however. Square instead programmed SaGa to focus on fighter stats. Your crew will gain random increments in their stats after each victory, as well as learn new techniques and, potentially, entirely new classes. Techs can also be taught to other party members, which is a helpful feature in boosting some of the weaker groupies present on the road. Visual design is most certainly not a high point in SaGa 3, though a handful of spells do exhibit a cool appearance once cast. Overall, not too shabby, though far from Square's finest work on SNES.


Printed in Issue #33, January 1996