Alundra

"BY FAR the hardest RPG ever...but still great"

I played this game when it first came out and it was incredibly addictive. My memory is a little fuzzy but Alundra is a great game now that it is available at a cheaper price. Here's the game in a nutshell:

Story-9/10:
I thought the story was original and quite interesting at times.

Graphics-7/10:
Graphics are good old 2D stuff. Alundra (as people will tell you) does add an extra shade of brown or ''pea green'' to everything though.

Characters-10/10:
I think that Alundra has a great cast of characters. I actually felt for all those village people. It was always sad when someone died.

Music-7/10:
Though I can really only remember a couple standout tracks, the music was alright. For some reason, I really liked the town music.

Difficulty (w/o strategy guide of FAQ)-(12-1)/10:
This is the big think about Alundra. Maybe you've played games where you thought the puzzles were hard (i.e. Lufia 2). But at least they were doable, because Alundra's are impossible. Not only do you have to figure out how to do a puzzle (I'm talking about there's a certain area of the dungeon about 4 screens large with a chasm in the middle. You're supposed to manuever the blocks around the chasm and place them in a certain formation to press a switch to open a door. I'm not talking about that easy final fantasy X ice block stuff - in fact if you thought that was hard, you will probably commit suicide over these puzzles). Many times you must often do it within a certain time limit, put your platforming skills to the test by hopping on small platforms over a chasm(falling would result in you having to try the puzzle all over again) and finally push some damn blocks or light some damn torches (also keep in mind that the fire that you were carrying could of burnt out by the time you do this) to open a door. Alundra is BY FAR the hardest RPG ever and not because of hard bosses (FFT to some extent, Legend of Legalia) which you can just level up to beat. In fact, Alundra's enemies are (for the most part) pretty easy which is why I deducted 1 point from the difficulty.

Overall: 9.5/10
Alundra isn't perfect but everything comes together so well. I definetely recommend a FAQ, so you don't spoil the story for yourself (which is often the case with strategy guides). There may not be too many ''twists'' but there are some emotional points that you may not want to know about before they happen.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/04/02, Updated 06/04/02