Saiyuki: Journey West

"A tactical game with a nice helping of Chinese Legend."

Saiyuki: Journey West is quite often overlooked. I'm sure the name Saiyuki doesn't help much, considering people will have typically never heard of such a thing. Saiyuki is a TRPG (Tactical Role Playing Game) with less of an emphasis on Tactics, but it is still fun.

The story is based off a Chinese legend actually. You first meet Sanzo (your friendly hero of the game) when a magical staff calls to him. He has to journey west and along the way find spirits that will forge his staff with power. Clearly, this has the typical RPG formula of "Go to all these places to gain power to kill a final boss" but the game DOES evolve beyond this trust me. In fact, the same legend this game is based off of is the same game that the Dragon Ball series was based off of!

The gameplay stays true to the standard formula of TRPG with a few exceptions. You move your characters around a map with a grid of squares your characters can stand on. When it is their turn, you can move them, then have them perform an action. Your goal is to clear the map of your opponents.

The differences between Saiyuki and other TRPGs are what truly make it fun. First off, the maps on which you do the fighting have some interactivity unlike most games. There may be a log you can cross a ledge with, then you can drop it down so people can't follow you. There are often rocks on high ledges you can push upon the people below. Saiyuki also has very varied terrains; rocky mountains, flat plains, towns, and rivers are all places you should expect to visit.

The other, more significant difference is that all your characters (Besides Sanzo) are "Weres." Weres are more than human, while they have a human form they can transform into much more vicious creatures. However, only one character in your team can be transformed at a time, and they all share a Were Meter. This depletes as you use your Were attacks, so you can't always rely on your Weres to win each fight. Since only one character can transform, you have to be careful on who you pick to change. Many maps force you to divide your team, so if you make the weaker side use the Were-Change you can have them hold fast until your reinforcements arrive.

Even though Sanzo can't Were-Change, he has summons instead. Summons aren't the powerhouses most RPGs have taught us to be, in Saiyuki they power-up your team instead. While a summon is out, a different stat is usually powered up. There are HP restorative summons, attack boosting summons, and so on, but the closer your team is to Sanzo the more effective the summon is. The catch is that if Sanzo ever dies you lose, so you have to decide if it is worth helping your allies on the front lines by endangering precious Sanzo.

Characters only have one Weapon throughout the game, but the weapon can be reinforced during the game. ALL characters can use magic, but some are stronger at certain aspects than others. There are 5 elements (Fire, Earth, Wind, Water, Ice) that certain characters are more powerful than others, and each element has properties too. Ice is great at lowering stats of your enemies, and Wind is the best healer.

Sadly, the game does lack customability. Your bow user will always be a bow user, and all you can really do is make them deal more damage. Giving Warriors spells is often pointless since their weapons deal so much damage, but it does allow them to attack from a range. Weres are impossible to customize, and instead have set abilities they learn at certain levels.

The graphics in Saiyuki are all (seemingly) hand-drawn. Animation is horribly lackluster (about 3 walking frames and such, but it IS sprite based so not too much is expected) but spell effects are nice. Unfortunately, spell effects are so long you will probably turn them off. What I did like though is when characters are talking their face in the speech window changes depending on the situation, so your characters aren't smiling when they see someone get murdered. Still, in a TRPG for PSX these aren't that subpar.

The sound is clearly Chinese influenced, but it is very inappropriate. Epic battles met with a cheery tone is amusing, but not in a good way. There are also few music tracks, so that battle theme will be driven into your head with a chisel. Sounds are typical, a smack sounds like a smack, bows have a little twing when fired.

Saiyuki is quite a fun game, though it doesn't have power performance wise, the story and gameplay are shocking and will please you greatly. Weres give battles an unique strategical aspect that you won't find in another game. There are better TRPGs out there, but this one isn't bad at all.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/22/05