Tengai Makyou: Ziria

RED/Hudson Soft - 1989/1992 - Japan
CD-ROM/Super CD-ROM

This game is old, old, old. That’ll probably be your first thought upon playing Ziria.

When I told my brother and RPG veteran IvaNEC that I was going to get into the Tengai Makyou series he recommended I start with Kabuki Den and work my way backwards through the episodes. Being the stubborn fool that I am, I ignored his recommendation and started off with Ziria, intending to play through the series in the “proper” order.

Despite its “slow” start, I managed to have fun with Ziria right from the beginning. It wasn’t until late in the journey that mixed feelings began to tread on my fun. First, though, the good stuff.

Battle backgrounds and cinematic “moments” are great hand-painted fare (ala Beyond Shadowgate). The manual for the game has a piece at the end (in Japanese) that shows the process the artists used to digitize these paintings, which I found really cool. It seems like a totally different team must have been responsible for enemy design and background art vs. the “overhead” graphics. Enemy design is also great, with all sorts of cool looking and detailed creatures to fend off during your quest. Music is pretty good too, excellent in some places. Also, during the first two thirds of the adventure your party is accompanied by a friendly frog who will randomly assist during battles. You’ll free all sorts of animal spirits that give you helpful items and spells as you venture towards your final goal.

Now for the not-so-good stuff.... Well, the overhead landscape visuals are awful. Poor color choices combined with grainy graphics makes for an extremely “blah” visual experience as you traverse the lands. What’s worse, however, is that the landscape doesn’t change at all from the beginning right through the end of the game save for a dungeon here and a pyramid there, which in truth are few and far between. The last town in the game looks exactly the same (size aside) as the first town in the game, and everything in between. More variety in this area would’ve gone a long way. The user interface is also extremely antiquated, however this didn’t bother me much. I’m pretty easy going when it comes to this sort of thing as long as the controls aren’t atrocious, and they aren’t.

By the time I reached the final quarter of the journey, my interest was waning. It got to a point during the final dungeon where I just wanted to get the whole thing over with so I could move on to something else. As it turns out, IvaNEC was right on in his recommendation I not make Ziria my introduction to the series. Ziria is a dated game that shows its age, despite some strengths. Its worth a look for the hardcore RPG crowd, but don’t make it your first Japanese RPG.

Valis Visual Collection

~ VALIS VISUAL COLLECTION ~

Laser Soft / Telenet

CD-ROM

1993

This is basically just a collection of cinemas from the second, third, and fourth PC Engine Valis chapters, but it makes for a pretty nice collectible, as it's fairly hard to find and it features a hot-looking Rena on its cover. People make a big stink about the absence of scenes from the PCE rendition of the first Valis, but at least we get more here (relatively speaking) than we do with the Cosmic Fantasy Visual Collection, which offers cinematics from only the first two CFs.

The few who are thinking about bothering with this non-game are probably Valis fans who've already hacked their way through all four adventures, and those folks won't find much new material here. Watching the cinemas from II and III with Japanese voice work might prove interesting for those who have experienced only the English versions of those chapters. But while it's nice to be able to view said cinemas sans goofy English voices, it seems like the Japanese actors "underacted" a bit, ironically enough.

One neat thing about the collection is that it grants you a look at how PCE CD intermission artistry evolved (while sticking with a core group of characters throughout the string of images). Watch as the series progresses from tiny-window-enclosed blockiness to polished, full-screen glory.

This is a legitimately rare disc, but demand for it is very low, so once you do find it, you probably won't have to pay an outlandish sum to acquire it ($50-60 was once the going rate, but $30 seems a common enough asking price these days). It really has no practical purpose, but Valis fans will reap enjoyment enough just from welcoming it into their collections.

Valis IV

~ VALIS IV ~

Laser Soft / Telenet

CD-ROM

1991

Valis IV is the final PC Engine chapter (though the first was released subsequently) in a series that prides itself on tough Castlevania-style action and cute-girl cinematics. It doesn't feature the same caliber of level design as III's most ingeniously constructed stages, nor does it star characters as cool as III's, and its music is disappointing. But it definitely sports the finest graphics of the PCE Valis bunch, and it's long and consistently challenging, whereas its brethren are either short and easy (the first and second episodes) or wildly erratic (III). It should be no surprise to Valis veterans that the controls aren't quite perfect, but with practice and careful observation of enemy patterns, you can indeed devise plans to complete each stage in perfect fashion, making the whole experience very rewarding--if frustrating at times. In this regard, the game and its immediate predecessor are kind of like the action-platformer equivalents of R-Type.

The stages look good and feature cool, robust enemies; and for the most part, they challenge you consistently rather than alternating between easy and incredibly difficult segments like III's do.

Some of IV's toughest challenges, like the fourth-stage cathedral ascent, can be tedious and irritating without feeling as rewarding or as cleverly conceived as III's most demanding trials. The level-draining fetuses that appear towards the end make real nuisances of themselves.

Rough it all out and you'll be treated to lots of nice cinemas.

There are lots of bosses, too. Battles with them can be long and exhausting. You'll face a few unexpected opponents before all is said and done.

Having to bid farewell to a good series is always saddening, but Valis goes out with its head held high.

Valis III

~ VALIS III ~

Laser Soft / Telenet / NEC

CD-ROM

1992

Valis III is a truly fantastic action-platformer in the vein of 8-bit Castlevania. It features the finest set of playable characters in the series, a trio of heroines who rate as superior to the stars of Valis IV due to both their usefulness and their intangible "cool" factor. It also boasts great music; good graphics; controls that are much smoother than II's and give it a familiar old-school-Castlevania feel; and sophisticated, ingenious level design. While Valis II prides itself on its soundtrack and story and IV impresses players with its visuals and high level of challenge, III finds a way to succeed in just about every area, making it the strongest chapter in the series.

It's clear right from the get-go that this is a high-quality hack-and-slash title with appealing visuals.

Some of the later areas, especially the inundated temple (where you have to freeze enemies and leap atop and from their frozen forms to proceed from one water-enclosed slab of stone to the next) and the ice cavern (with its slippery surfaces and tricky platforming), pose extreme challenges; you'll feel great when you finally get through them. They're tough-but-rewarding stretches that you'll always remember.

Between those dreaded segments are "breathers" in the forms of graveyard and wasteland jaunts. The desert-stage tune is quite catchy and evokes fond memories of Valis II's legendary soundtrack.

Most of the other musical numbers are also very good, as are the cinemas. No more of that "tiny windows" bullshit here... well, not much of it, at least.

Many of the boss battles are conceptually interesting; you'll go from serpent slaying to bell battering.

Ascend through the final tower and take on the skilled combatant who awaits you at the top...

...and then witness Yuko's heroic fate.

Mugen Senshi Valis

~ VALIS ~

Riot / Telenet

Super CD-ROM

1992

Valis' opening episode was actually the last to be brought to the PC Engine and is by far the most forgettable of the bunch. A fairly straightforward hack-and-dash title, it's short, easy, and basically just okay in every respect. Among the PCE Valis games, it's most comparable to II in that it places much more emphasis on combat than on platforming, and its level design isn't as advanced as III's or IV's. Its decidedly unmemorable soundtrack doesn't even come close to II's; but its gameplay is a little more enjoyable, as it isn't as sloppy. Main-character Yuko "runs" quite slowly, but this becomes less of a pain as you get used to it.

I dig the visual style in this game; everything seems kind of small, but the animation is smooth, and the colors are appealing.

I've read some negative commentary on the cinemas, but aside from the "small windows" issue and Yuko's face looking a little weird here and there, they are actually pretty nice and feature some fairly dramatic moments.

The boss designs are interesting, and while the beasts here generally aren't as large as the lumbering heavyweights in II, they're definitely better fighters.

In fact, the last guy can be a bit of a challenge at first and is certainly a hardier warrior than the chump at the end of II (thank goodness).

Valis II

~ VALIS II ~

Laser Soft / Telenet / NEC

CD-ROM

1990

What I remember most about acquiring Valis II is that, well, I didn't really want to acquire it. It became a part of my collection simply because it was the only Turbo CD title that my local game shop happened to have in stock that day. Predictably, I didn't care much for it. I did love its music, and over the years, I've come to appreciate its story; but I must warn all prospective buyers that--though this isn't necessarily reflective of the game's worth to me--it is the worst of the PC Engine Valis episodes, an action-platformer that rates as acceptable--but just barely.

V2's levels are quite straightforward in design. There isn't much platforming or many tricky obstacles to deal with; subsequent Valis episodes demand far more in the ways of skill and strategy. II places its focus on hack-and-shoot action, and the little challenge it offers comes from enemies who take lots of hits or attack from advantageous positions. You need to figure out when it's best to combat your adversaries and when it's best to flee from them, and making those determinations isn't particularly difficult. The game is short, easy, and very generous: it doesn't penalize you much with its checkpoints or make you begin a whole new battle when you lose a life to a boss--both of which are fine with me.

Valis II disappoints when it comes to gameplay, graphics, and challenge, but its soundtrack is a rather compelling draw. Fast-paced tunes and sinister dirges keep the player motivated and alert when the action itself gets a little bland... which happens quite often.

You'll wind up in difficult situations like this only if you charge ahead recklessly. Proceed patiently and you'll be able to obliterate your foes with little hardship. Utilizing a stop-and-start approach really nullifies any feelings of intensity that the game begins to generate, but it's necessary in light of the clunky controls and Yuko's inflexibility.

The fourth zone, with its blob-and-dragon army, and the fifth, with its deadly obstacle courses, seemed quite difficult to me when I was younger. Now I realize I was just an awful player back then.

Zone 3 is my favorite due to its nice colors, strange enemies, and incredibly sweet music.

The in-game visuals are crude for the most part, and the cinemas are typically of the miniature-window variety.

The plot those cinemas relay, however, has some surprising depth to it and concludes in brilliant fashion. Unfortunately, if you aren't familiar with the preceding episode's story, you'll find yourself baffled by the tale that's told here. I had no idea what the hell was going on back when I first played the game, and it really pissed me off.

Don't worry; this is no Gogan-vs.-the-Punjabbis sort of spectacle. The bosses are large and look pretty cool but put up little resistance.

The platform ride in the final zone can make for a challenging sequence, but you can make life very easy on yourself by holding on to the powered-up wave weapon. The multiform Megas at the end is a pushover, easier to defeat than the third-stage boss in Valis IV (to put matters in perspective).