Glowing Feather (スパークリングフェザー), launched 4/25/1997, developed and revealed by NEC

That is the second recreation on this weblog for the ill-fated PC-FX. I’ve 4 video games whole for the system on my listing however three of them are remakes; that is the one authentic SRPG for the system. Given how poorly the system was acquired it’s not a shock that this recreation was dealt with by NEC themselves. On the entire it’s much like the opposite video games in that it performs to the strengths of the system by having quite a lot of anime sequences and absolutely voiced story dialogue, however the remainder of the graphics are Tremendous Famicom degree or beneath.

As with the opposite PC-FX video games, this one was too costly for me to purchase, and it’s so obscure there’s little details about it past a couple of quick opinions and a full playthrough on Nicovideo. There are facets of the system I don’t absolutely perceive, and so it’s doable that my views in direction of the sport are unfair in that respect. However, with that in thoughts that is the second SRPG in a row I’m stopping after a couple of phases.

The essential setting is that the world is being attacked by Steen, some form of monster. It was onerous for me to inform whether or not this was alleged to be happening in the true world or not; if it’s not Earth it’s a modern-day setting on an Earth-like place. The principle character is Shinguji Aoi, a highschool pupil.

Aoi is visited in a dream by somebody calling themselves Diamond Feather, telling Aoi he is likely one of the Feathers who remodel to combat the Steen. Aoi refuses to pay attention however then is visited by Coral Feather.

Coral Feather is a part of a rival group that’s utilizing their Feather energy for their very own greed and ambition somewhat than to combat the Steen. Ultimately Aoi powers up into Ruby Feather and we’ve the primary combat.

You start with a workforce of seven characters (all completely different Feathers). All fight on this recreation is completed by way of AI directions — together with even your major character.

A part of my challenge with this recreation is that the that means of the AI instructions was not clear with out the instruction guide. The final three choices within the menu above are Assault Transfer, Comply with-up Assault, and Ambush. The that means of the phrases is evident sufficient (I assume) however what they really do in another way was onerous to interpret.

Extra problematic is the “belief” system. Every character has a belief worth from 1 to five stars. The decrease the belief is, the much less possible they’re to observe your orders. This is unnecessary from a narrative perspective as a result of Ruby Feather isn’t the chief of the group; he simply joined. However greater than that, it’s annoying to attempt to be issuing orders and half the characters refuse — typically they’ll simply sit there and do nothing for the entire battle whilst you repeatedly attempt to get them to do one thing.

Once they do assault, there appears to be no method to management whether or not they’ll use a standard assault or a particular transfer (possibly this has to do with the AI command). Even Ruby, who has a 5 star belief and by no means refuses, can’t be instantly managed like this.

So principally it is a lot like Seikon no Joka in that many of the recreation is simply spent watching the characters combat. I discovered from a evaluate that in the event you depart the sport lengthy sufficient the orders part will finish by itself, so you possibly can actually do the battle half simply by setting down the controller and leaving (since characters will act with out orders). The one factor you should press a button for is to clear the message if somebody ranges up.

The one factor you possibly can management is making the characters use area-effect magic like buffs and heals.

Even after they ostensibly observe your orders they usually get caught behind different characters or buildings, or attempt to discover one other method to attain the vacation spot that doesn’t exist. Additionally if the characters die in battle they lose a belief star, which additionally doesn’t make sense — if a personality refuses your orders, goes off by themselves and dies, why ought to they be much less more likely to observe your orders later?

Between phases there’s a relationship system that allows you to improve the belief, nevertheless it’s as opaque as the remainder of the sport. Who you spend time with is decided by a roulette wheel and a wierd sliding puzzle system. Then you definately get 3 decisions — on this case “What do you consider me?” “What have you ever been doing to date?” “Train me some sword methods.” A few of these will elevate belief, others decrease, nevertheless it’s onerous to inform which one goes to do which.

After the primary stage Ruby joins the workforce and sees the flying ship the Feathers have.

Within the second stage we attempt to go to a live performance however Tourmaline Feather assaults; it seems the singer for the live performance is definitely a feather as nicely (Sapphire Feather).

The third stage is a four-way combat between us, the Coral Feather faction, Steen, and the SCAT Earth protection pressure tanks. Coral Feather decides to workforce up a minimum of for now to combat the Steen. Afterwards, the pinnacle of the SCAT forces tries to arrest us however Ruby makes use of his energy to bend her gun and we escape.

At this level I used to be somewhat irritated by probably not with the ability to do something within the phases, so I regarded for Japanese opinions. It didn’t seem like there was something main I used to be lacking; the opinions I noticed had been largely detrimental. The story was additionally criticized as probably not going anyplace, having a foul ending, and never growing any of the characters.

So that is the place I ended. As I mentioned, that is one other recreation the place it’s doable that my opinion is decrease than it might be if I had the instruction guide. It could be that sure characters usually tend to observe sure orders, or that if I had a greater understanding of what every order did I’d have extra management. Nonetheless, primarily based on what I’ve seen from the Japanese websites, it’s unlikely that even with this data this is able to turn out to be a very good recreation. I did discover one quick evaluate from somebody who favored it loads, nevertheless it wasn’t particular sufficient to inform why; it appeared prefer it was extra from the lovable women than from the sport itself.

In order that’s it for the PC-FX — that is the fourth system I’ve “accomplished” after PC Engine, Recreation Gear, and Famicom (I’ve another Mega Drive recreation that I missed on the preliminary listing and must get to in some unspecified time in the future, and naturally another Tremendous Famicom recreation which continues to be on the far horizon).