Terranigma

"Disappointing sequel to a deteriorating series, or: "Soul Blazer was Better.""

Everyone whose first played through it really does want to love Terranigma. Me included. I mean, I saw the opening cinematic and wanted to just hug this game (figuratively speaking) like I hugged Chrono Trigger, or Tales of Phantasia, or even (sheepish smile) Dragon Quest 6. Unfortunately, not only did this not happen with me, but I ended up breaking off the relationship midway through after losing interest, and only after pursuing the videogame marital self-help site known as GameFAQs was I able to continue. Unfortunately, instead of the usually-hoped-for event of solving the single problem that lets one just get on with the rest of one's in-game life on one's own, I needed that psychological reaffirmation repeatedly later on to keep the relationship with the game alive. And that's no way for even a repeatedly abusive company like Enix to treat me. It is thus with a heavy heart that I warn those looking for a fulfilling experience to stay away from Terranigma, no matter how much the beauty of the

GRAPhics compels you at first. For lo and behold, they were made only to be repeated endlessly in the grand tradition of palette swapping that should have been discontinued or at least minimized by the time this game came out(1995.) How many frikkin' abandoned ruined dungeons of a ruined castle do I have to go through here? How many identical caves? Forests? Deserts? There was some great artwork involved in the village locations, nevertheless, the tear-inducing uniformity of the large empty rooms/plateaus/caverns/forest clearings that you have to run and backtrack through eventually wear you down with blandness. Not like the enemies you'll repeatedly face will be anything to write home about. Three to four varieties for each locale is the ironclad rule, no more, no less. At least the bosses, backgrounds, cinema scenes, and your character sprite tend to be well-done. Overall, though, the visuals will be yawn-inducing when you're not talking to people, watching a cinematic, or fighting a boss. The

MUsic will most likely put you to sleep as well. Following the graphics, all the thoughtful or inspired tunes take place in villages or boss battles, and even those are nothing to make Oematsu or Mitsuda worry about his paycheck. There are times when the teensiest bit of atmosphere is injected into the locale, but how well do you really need to play to establish a somber and/or bleak mood onto a somber/bleak landscape? Other than the creative and brilliant Magishop tune (there's always gotta be ONE good silver vein in even the darkest of clouds) nothing stands the test of time, nothing makes me hum long after I play, and in the end, I end up saying things like: ''Where's Mystic Quest when you need it?'' While the

STOry in that one was minimal, it progressed quickly enough, didn't bog itself down in ''spiritual'' head trips that revealed little that wasn't already said, and didn't wait till the end to reveal most of what had been causing you to scratch your head previously. Terranigma's story isn't all THAT bad, but one can only take so much crypto-dualist philosophy for so long before hating the very sight of it. That said, it's nice to meet all the animals, plants and historical figures throughout game, though many of the characters seem to be thrown in merely as afterthoughts. Just like most of the ''features'' offered over the twisty and doubled-back course of the

GAmeplay. Despite the large number of towns, improving them offers little in the way of reward. Despite the large number of moves you can do with the spear, few come into play all that often except for the ones you do while running. (The little flip-slash you do while jumping straight up wins my vote for Most Useless Move Ever.) Despite the addition of magical abilities, the fact that you had to find a game-limited quantity of magirock in order to buy these spells put a big damper on the enthusiasm with which they were used. Despite the promise offered by all the special features, 90% of this game fell into the well-dug Enix rut of ''Smack thing 50-100 times for hopeful reward.'' Despite the promise of creative level design that Enix is quite often famous for, we ended up with big, boring, enemy-infested mazes that require graph paper to navigate perfectly( I hate the Black forest, people.) Despite the nice-looking gem box subscreen, the slow loading and cumbersome yes-no interface made even pausing to switch armor or weapons a chore. Despite the paucity of healing items outside of stores and the occasional treasure chest, nasty status-affecting attacks are practically unavoidable and come without warning. Despite the amount of hours spent making the bosses well-drawn and animated, surviving those fights meant having the sort of dodging skills usually reserved for shooter players and enough patience to stab something the required 50 times to kill it. (200, for those higher-level bosses that you forgot to level up for.) Hell, surviving the last boss is purely a matter of complete random chance, since he doesn't seem to like floating near you and can do repeated un-dodgeable damage to you and your sadly limited supply of healing herbs. In plain and simple terms, I have no lasting enthusiasm for this game. Zelda was better four years before. Soul Blazer was better three years before. Mystic Quest( though not really in the same category) will provide a hell of a lot more enjoyment. Terranigma is the culmination of a nasty slide for Quintet, and unless you do like playing games like this just for the sake of saying you HAVE played them, there is no enjoyment in this cart. Even the ending stinks. Emulate if you want, buy if you believe it may be worth something to a fanboy, but do not be fooled by the good press graphical SNES action-rpgs seem to automatically receive. This game is a sad disappointment that could have been a heck of a lot more, and writing its obituary is no fun at all.

Enix logic: Ehh, talk to the people in Neotokio. Although there are enough leaps of common sense in this game to clear the Empire State Building, they're too common to list them all here.

Okay, maybe just one. How could a 10 pound seagull carry a 120-pound boy? The answer to that question is, of course, ''Is the seagull African or European?'' but then you get into conversations about air-speed velocity, load bearing equations, and migratory habits...

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 10/01/02, Updated 10/01/02