Radia Senki: Reimeihen

"This my friends, is truly what gaming is all about..."

I just recently heard about this game. Me being the old-school fan that I am, I looked around and found a copy. I started to play it. And I continued to play it... and play it... and play it... I cannot put it down!

Gameplay: I've played so many games in my lifetime and I always assumed that the first real-time battle system in a console RPG was in Final Fantasy IV. That is not the case. Chronicle of the Radia War (CotRW) has the earliest Real-time system I've seen! I would compare the gameplay to Star Ocean: Second Story. You control the main character and the other characters run free. You can tell the non-player characters (NPCs) to attack anything, avoid the enemy, attack a specific enemy, move to a specific spot and await instruction, etc. Characters have 4 tech moves. Most of these are attack techs. You learn techs by finding Scrolls. A Scroll can be used on any character you want. That means you can have Sari learn Healus or have Haman learn Ganbor. A Scroll is not for a specific spell, its for any spell! When you use a Tech you must wait for the Tech gauge to fill up (Reminds me of ATB from many Squaresoft titles). The Tech gauge shares its space with your HP bar. As you level up and gain HP, the Tech gauge has less area to fill!

Story: I was rather shocked to see elements like Characterization on an NES game. The story starts with a man who has lost his memory. A small village takes him in. From there the story builds. There are actually a few shocking moments! At times it came actually become emotional! The story is unforgettable in many aspects. I was quite shocked by the characters. They have personalities. Haman is the strong warrior trying to defend his country, Saria is an escapee from a village controlled by an evil villain hell bent on taking over the world! I won't post any spoilers here, but this is definitely a good story!

Graphics: The graphics as far as characters and environments is about the best that the good old NES can handle. There is only one problem I have with graphics and that is that you do not see the effect of spells, you hear a sound, damage occurs to the enemy, but you don't really see the attack. That may be because I am playing a patched version though.

Music: The music is rather catchy. I find myself tapping my foot ever once and awhile. Nothing to really complain about. The music does the best it can do with the NES sound engine.

Replay Value: This isn't a lengthy RPG and its not too terribly difficult if you know what you are doing. However, it is still fun to play again. Its a lot like Star Ocean: Second Story, you just can't put it done!

Overall: This is the game that time forgot. It has a real-time and involving battle system, a deep story and realistic characters. I recommend this game to anyone. If you are old-school, a Squaresoft ''fan-boy'', or if you've never even played an RPG, this is a great game overall!

Final Reviewer's Score: 10/10 (Simply put, the greatest NES RPG ever made!)

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/27/01, Updated 06/27/01