KAZE NO DENSETSU XANADU
I’ve been waiting for this. Awooo. Falcom’s first internally developed original console/PCEngine game after so many out-of-house ports. The ?? In the long running Eiyuu Densetsu series. Don’t think too hard about that series.
The intro is jaw-dropping. I can’t believe it’s PC Engine. Don’t worry the game never looks this good, until it does.
I looked into Japanese reviews and most of their complaints were playing this game. See this, pointing at the game, is where Falcom went full sicko and wanted you to talk to every NPC in the world constantly. Also there is a day-night cycle for some reason. So there can be timed meetings I guess.
Here’s just a sample of the English GameFAQ walkthrough:
The dialog never gives proper guidance on what the next flag is. I got most of the way through the first dungeon before finding out despite there being a crisis, I needed to go to the other side of the island and talk to a rich guy to Flag the dungeon as ready.
The game is 13 chapters, with each one ending with a side scrolling action stage that is janky and terrible and beautiful. This was after 2 hours of fetch talking. Thank Ys for that walkthrough. The game even stopped me dead in my tracks to let me know I had played for an hour and needed to take a break.
The menus feel like a DVD menu with a lot of Easter Eggs. The music was there, but I’ve never fell for Falcom music outside of a few instances. Also the status bar on the action screens flips side to side as you play to not obstruct your view but just made me feel cramped.
This is clearly what Falcom wanted to make and did. I sure do not like it though.