Class is in session. Pay attention!
To combat these if you have the right party members, you can create formations that allow you to use combination magic that will outright destroy an enemy party if executed on the right team. The flip side is that your formation might leave you vulnerable as well. I think this might have been the first RPG that had combo magic that I came across. Formations and squads can be learned of at the Magic Universities scattered throughout every chapter. You can pay to take one of the courses offered and learn about multiple facets of the game. They are also your source for weapon upgrades, as you are awarded them for completing the courses.
There are no attack animations necessarily but there is a little window that shows animation for spells or certain attacks being cast. My only criticism of the random battles is that the pace is a bit slow which is endemic of the time. Other than that, the encounter rate is very low and you’ll more than likely look forward to them as a change of pace.
The game is split up into 5 chapters and each follows the same general structure. One of Sabaron’s demons is ravaging the populace of that “world” and you’ll need 1 or more particular allies to reach their palace and defeat them. Each chapter will send you forward or backward 500 years in time to find your party members. Almost all party members are important to the story and have their moment in the spotlight and are necessary for the bosses that cap the chapters. The bosses literally steal the show; all are enormous and if you are not properly prepared will murder you.
The time travel element of the game is handled decently enough, although there are some funny instances where people in the present refer to things you haven’t done yet. Once again, another example of the game’s forward thinking. Not too many games bothered with time travel as an element, let alone RPGS. Something else I found extremely cool, if you screw up while entering a password enough times the game will allow you to start the chapter you left off with the minimum stats and items to continue.
Innovative basically sums up the entire game. It’s astounding to me that a company that was more or less average turned out such a fantastic game. It’s definitely a shame that the game wasn’t more popular back in its day but with the internet maybe it will get its just due. This is one of the best games for the NES and my personal favorite, which is really the highest compliment I can give considering the amount of classics available for the system.
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