Blazing Heroes

"A Quality Strategy/RPG for Sega Saturn"

Blazing Heroes is a Strategy/RPG game for Sega Saturn that was released in 1995. It's about the story of a prince named Aragon, who's mother (The Queen) has fallen victim to an evil wizard's reincarnation named Lord Bane. With the help of his friends, he vows to overthrow Lord Bane and restore peace to Queensland. The plot progresses as Aragon learns more of what he must endure to defeat Bane.
The battle system is standard Strategy/RPG Fare, reminiscant of Shining Force/Final Fantasy Tactics. However, Blazing Heroes has one new innovative feature, the use of energy. If one of your characters has to walk a long way in order to make an attack/cast a spell, it will be less effective, whereas if they don't have to move at all, you will more than likely get a critical hit. You must let the enemies come to you. The Battle system is almost perfect, except for the fact that due to the shortened names of the attacks, (Slashing Spear is now just SLA SPR) sometimes I found myself confused as to just what command did what. The graphics are revolutionary for 1995, and don't detract from the gameplay at all. Spell animations are a bit cheesy, but in the heat of battle, it's hard to notice.
Speaking of battles, Blazing Heroes favors long, epic, drawn out battles rather a lot of short ones. Thankfully, you get the Raise Dead spell rather early, and MP restoring items are abundant. Blazing Heroes also has Arenas where you can choose one character to fight an enemy you choose to win Gold. This is one of the best ways to earn money. The presentation is grand, you'll almost never see a dull moment in Blazing Heroes. Blazing Heroes has a nice soundtrack that always fits the game perfectly. Replay Value would be high, I imagine, since there are so many different paths to take. Gameplay gets very non-linear as the game progresses.
So what is preventing this game from getting a perfect 10? The difficulty. After the third battle, Blazing Heroes gets insanely difficult. You'll find yourself in battles where you only have 5 allies to face about 30 enemies. There are some points where if you choose the wrong path, you'll be stuck in an insanely hard battle. All you can do is fight until you level up enough to win the battle. Enemies love to gang up on one character until they die. In battles against the undead, you're doomed unless everyone in your party is equipped with a certian type of weapon that is effective against ghosts. In addition to that, I have searched far and wide for a FAQ or a walkthrough on this game to no avail. It takes a true hero to beat Blazing Heroes.
If you're a fan of the Strategy/RPG genre, and you like a challenge, try to find Blazing Heroes. You won't be dissapointed by this game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/15/00, Updated 07/15/00