Ghost Lion

"Comparable, yet also not............"

I'm going to attempt to sound smart on this review. Forgive me!

There are a good number of RPGs for the NES. Most of them play off of the ever-popular Dragon Warrior or Final Fantasy universe. So, in a time when such games were commonplace, a few people got together and decided to release a game along those lines, but wanted to add a few quirks that would prevent the same game from being released again and again.

The Legend of the Ghost Lion is a lesser-known RPG title that stands to the side of the Dragon Warrior / Final Fantasy series. It's in the same league as those two, but is home to many differences that really should be examined before being compared to either of the series'. That's what this review is going to do for you.

Concept: 6
At first glance, it's a typical RPG. Open with several still panels of storyline, then jump into the game, where is found the likenesses of Dragon Warrior. Your menu options are very similar: SPEAK, GOODS, LOOK, and VIGOR. The overworld exploration is quite replicate. But then there are two systems with a few differences: the battle system and the level system. In battle, Maria (your main character) has a mere three options: use items (be they weapons or helpful tools), run away, or summon a spirit to help her. These spirits are the key to conquering this massive adventure, as their skills are many and far beyond Maria's. The levelling system is also a bit different, seeing as with every victory in battle, all you gain is money. No, levels come with exploration. Scattered throughout various caves and towers are treasure chests. Some contain items or money, and some contain a "fragment of hope". The fragments are Maria's levels. Every time you come across one, your level is increased. Thus the game provides more reward for exploration than endless fighting, something which is honorable in its own right.

Story: 5
It seems a bit traditional at first, somewhat of a "vengeance for a girl" story. But I was interested by it, and even began rewriting the tale as my own creation, thus I'm giving the story a few points for that.

Graphics: 6
"..........". There's not much that can be said for RPGs of this class. The overworld is pretty well detailed, trees look like trees, mushrooms like mushrooms (albeit giant mushrooms). The towns look pretty nice, and the characters aren't half-bad (it's hysterical to see a Red Mage from Final Fantasy hanging out in the town of Davis!). I liked the monster designs, they all look like something from a D&D handbook or something like that. However, the colors clash pretty loudly, thus it's not entirely a good thing.

Sound: 2
Very little score here. The overworld theme works well for an adventurous girl going solo, and the theme played in towns is...................interesting. I did enjoy the dungeon music, it seemed to simulate intrigue, frustration, and little bit of fear, giving it an edge. However, the score comes to a screaming halt when the battle tune is hit. Two alternating notes that climb in pitch a few times, then come back down, repeat ad infinitum. And you'll be hearing this theme more often than not, so it's best to play a muted game.

Playability: 7
Only-so-good. You know how Dragon Warrior games are, you go through a bunch of menus before the action commences, and you're used to that. But it's especially annoying in this game to have the most recently-used item jump to the top of the list. This same list carries over to battles, and any item you acquire (storyline-related or not) can be used it battle, most with no effects whatsoever. Thus, if you use the Brooms to warp to another town, and enter a battle, Brooms will be the first item on the list. In battle, you need to select the weapon you'll attack with, and so many times we grow accustomed to mashing the A button to fly through command windows without thinking that we end up selecting Use Brooms instead of Use Sword. I guess it's not all that big a problem, but it was enough of one to bother me.

Challenge: 8
This is not a very easy game, you will recognize that at about the fourth or fifth town in the game. The sudden leap in difficulty of the random encounters takes the gamer by surprise, and usually ends up in a death or two before further progress is made. Thus less-advanced RPG-ers will want to start elsewhere.

Replay: 3
Since there's alot to explore, you may find yourself coming back to this game again after some time apart. After all, we all could use some variation now and then. But, one also needs to recall how difficult and long this quest is. I don't find myself playing this title very often.

Overall: 6/10
It has its originalities. It has its similarities. Overall, of course, only you can be the judge, but since you are reading this, you obviously wanted to know what I thought. And I guess I found an interesting game with just enough quality to make me want to finish it. Now go with this newly-acquired knowledge and, um..............put it to use?

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/30/04