Retronomicon 01.11.12: Alundra

Posted by Lee Price on 01.11.2012

This week the Retronomicon ventures back to the PlayStation era to take a look at a title that some unfairly dismiss as a generic Zelda clone. Join 411’s Lee Price as he takes a look at Alundra.

Hello my fellow retroheads and welcome to yet another edition of 411's weekly dose of old school goodness, the Retronomicon. As ever I am your intrepid host Lee Price and I'm here to wax lyrical about games I liked when I was a nipper. I've had a fairly uneventful week this week. Games wise I've been playing more Fallout 3 in addition to getting addicted to a Facebook game. I feel immense shame over this but it doesn't stop me from playing it, which I think pretty much makes me the definition of an addict. I also celebrated both my uncle and my mother's birthdays by eating far too much food, a decision that I regretted later thanks to a healthy dose of heartburn. Finally I rounded out my weekend by consuming far too much alcohol on a night out that just kind of happened. Apparently going round to women and pointing at my friend whilst going "Yes or No" is not the best idea for a pulling technique. Who knew? Anyway enough of all of that babbling nonsense because it's about time that we got to…





Comments

The comment section saw a return to form last week, but I do hope that people didn't take me seriously when I was complaining last week. The number of apologies gave me the impression that people may have…

Anyway lets kick things off with eh_steve!_v1;

They use to have the original arcade version in a machine at the murrey valley resort. I've been going there since my mum was pregnant with me.

The spider boss was the best because you just had to sit in the bottom right corner of the screen and spam rainbows and he couldn't hit you.

Now that is some dedication to gaming. Starting the habit when you were still a fetus is something that should be commended! I assume this rather than drawing the natural conclusion that you couldn't possibly play video games from inside the womb.

Next up we have Retronomicon regular n00b;

sup? been a while...

I played the original one for the NES never got a chance to play this sequel but it seems similar in many ways, if the first one had tons of secrets I cant imagine how awesome getting the 100% of this one must have felt, besides the power ups gave it a plus. This sort of games have great replay value
there was this sneaker power up that made u go faster but it was kinda tricky cuz it busted the boubles when u jumped on them. perhaps someday i get to play this one.

I would definitely recommend getting your hands on it if possible. Strangely the NES version of Rainbow Islands is one of those that weren't exactly accurate to the original arcade game.

Jimmy Chavez makes his glorious return;

I suck more than usual on this one since I never played this. I just wanted to make sure you got more than 2 comments this week Lee. The Retronomicon deserves at least that many per week.

Why thank you my good sir. Rainbow Islands is perhaps a tad more popular in the UK and Japan than it was in the States, but I would definitely say give it a crack if you get the chance.

APrince66 explains his no-show last week;

I didn't comment last week because I had no recollection of the game. Much like this weeks, but I thought that as a fan of the column, I'll throw in my 2 cents anyway.

Have you ever done a retro look at such NES classics as Rygar (NES and arcade), Trojan, Kid Icarus, Faxanadu, Russian Attack or Contra?

Don't worry about it my good sir, I wasn't intending on anybody taking my complaining seriously. As for the games you've mentioned, I have actually yet to look at any of them, though both Contra and Kid Icarus are on my list. It's a very long list though so who knows when I'll actually get round to looking at any of those games.

Steve B reminisces about the brilliance of old gaming magazines;

"Specifically the cartoonish version of Count Dracula can be an absolute killer for many players who are unfamiliar with him"

This! As familiar as I got with him, he was still an absolute killer (especially if you died fighting him and lost fully upgraded rainbows).

This game holds a special place in my heart as I won a free copy from an old UK mag called 'Amstrad Action' when I got a letter published on the cheat/solution page. Ahh memories.

You lucky sod! I have yet to win pretty much anything beyond a tenner on the lottery in my life. Do you still have a copy of the magazine lying about by any chance?

Rasher used to be an Amstrad Action fan as well;

I used to get Amstrad Action too - I wish I still had some just to see how excited they were by all those old (and mostly terrible) games. I haven't fired up my old Amstrad CPC 6128 for maybe 10 years, I bet it still works though.

Loved this game and bubble bobble. I saw an interview with the creator of Bubble bobble (and this) and he said that these two games were an attempt to allow boyfriends and girlfriends to play together. He'd seen boys at the arcades playing with their girlfriends getting irritated at being made to wait for them so he created games that would not only appeal to both genders but where you could play cooperatively so as to give the couple a shared experience.

I'd doubt there have been many other games designed specifically to allow partners to improve their relationships.

All that aside, a great game, total classic and while it looks "cutesy" to us these days, when your alternative was an egg called Dizzy then a rainbow shooting dungareed child wasn't all that ridiculous.

My research didn't turn up any mention of the boyfriends and girlfriends aspect of the game's design, but that wouldn't surprise me. The title is cute enough to appeal to everybody and the game is certainly addictive enough to hook people in. I can't think of any other games designed under the same concept in all fairness, though I'm sure someone else may be able to.

poffo316 is up next;

LOVE this game. I didn't realize until this article that they're supposed to be the dinos from Bubble Bobble.. what a mindfuck

Indeed, it was a slightly odd decision to morph them into kids. Still it all works out, even if there isn't any real explanation for it.

We round things off with the incomparable AG Awesome

Never played this, it seems like it could be a good PSP mini though.

And sorry for not commenting last week. I never played that game but it looked very sweet. I actually had the three magical quest games on the Game Boy advance but was ultimately disappointed rather than nostalgic :(

I would actually go along with that line of thinking. Rainbow Islands would make a great portable game as part of a Taito collection or something. I believe this already happened for home consoles, but not for handhelds.

Anyway I think we have all talked enough so let's get to some gaming shall we? Strap on those rose-tinted specs because this week the Retronomicon takes a look at Alundra.



Music to Read Your Retro to

Alundra had some very good music, making it stand out as having one of the best soundtracks of the PlayStation era. Here it is in its entirety;



Fun Facts

• Alundra is considered by some to be the spiritual sequel to the Genesis classic Landstalker.


• Metacritic lists the game as the 73rd best PlayStation game of all time.


• The game was published by the now defunct Working Designs in the United States. The company also published a range of other great Japanese titles, including the superb Shining Wisdom.


• The game's development team contained a lot of former members of Climax Entertainment, who developed the previously mentioned Landstalker.

The Background

Back in 1998 the PlayStation had pretty much established itself as the dominant console in the 32/64 Bit console race. The Saturn was seriously lagging behind by this point and the N64, whilst still doing well, just wasn't matching up to the amazing success that Sony's console had experienced.

Much of this success can be placed down to the wide array of varied titles that were available for the console. The Saturn's multi-processor system made it difficult to develop for and the Nintendo 64 was still very much reliant on first and second party games thanks to third party developers being kept on a tight leash. The PlayStation, on the other hand, was almost entirely reliant on those same third party developers and thus gave them much more freedom to develop for the console.

Whilst a host of classic games had already turned up on the PlayStation by 1998, it could be argued that there wasn't anything in the Action-RPG genre that was really worth talking about on the console. Nintendo, of course, had the Legend of Zelda series to cover that base, whilst the Saturn also had a number of decent titles, such as Shining Wisdom and Beyond Oasis 2. The PlayStation, on the other hand, seemed to deal more in traditional JRPGs as Final Fantasy VII had led to an explosion in popularity for the genre on the console.

Matrix Software didn't see things quite that way though. Despite all of the lovely new bells and whistles offered by the power of the PlayStation, they settled down to create a very traditional Action-RPG game, which would offer an enhancement on the 16 Bit experience that gamers had previously enjoyed, whilst also containing many of the traditional elements of the genre. This led to the development of the game that many believe to be the PlayStation's major contender to the Legend of Zelda; Alundra.



The Game

When playing Alundra, the comparisons to the older Zelda games come at you thick and fast. A similar graphical style and gameplay mechanic does little to dispel the initial impression that the game is simply a decently accomplished Zelda clone. However that does the title a great disservice, as treating it as such means that the player completely ignores the superb plot of the game and the smoothness of the gameplay itself as a result.

Alundra had a much darker plot than most traditional Action-RPGs of the period. This wasn't your typical ‘Rescue the Princess' storyline, as the plot was much more detailed and complex than any game with a silent protagonist really has any right to be.

The game sees the player take control of the titular Alundra, an elf belonging to the Elna clan who are colloquially known as the Dreamwalkers. He decides to journey to the small village of Inoa after having a recurring dream in which a mystical being named Lars calls him ‘The Releaser' and warns him that an ancient demon is soon to awaken just north of the village. However whilst on a ship that is ferrying him to the village, Alundra falls asleep and has another occurrence of the dream, only this type another being called Melzas appears to tell him that his efforts will be futile. Alundra then wakes up to find the ship embroiled in a storm that leads to it eventually becoming wrecked.

Luckily for our hero he washes up on the village coastline, only to discover that the village seems to be in the grip of a strange plague that is slowly killing its citizens by placing them in a deep coma from which they never awaken. Alundra manages to utilize his abilities to enter other people's dreams in an effort to save the citizens, who are each trapped in their own personal nightmares, however circumstances lead to some of the villagers not trusting Alundra, as they believe that his arrival has something to do with the problem.

Along the way Alundra must also investigate the resurrection of the demon Melzas and prevent him from retrieving the seven seals from the village which can be used to send him back to where he came from, whilst he deals with a constant wave of superstition and misplaced religious fervor from the villagers.

It is quite an involved plot line, especially for a game with a silent protagonist, and the theme of death and imminent doom that pervades throughout is much darker than most Action-RPGs manage, with the villagers' insecurities and fears being superbly played up throughout the game to add an extra layer of complexity.

When it comes to the game itself, we begin to enter slightly more traditional territory as Alundra is one of the best examples of an old-school Action-RPG since Link to the Past. Everything about the design of this game screams quality, from the detailed and impressive dungeons right through to the complex and mind-bending puzzles. The game is challenging without ever being unfair and the difficulty curve is excellently judged to ensure that the player is never unduly overwhelmed as long as they keep their mind sharp.

The game is also fairly open ended, with a large world map outside of the village of Inoa encouraging exploration and more areas open up as the player attains new items and equipment. This exploration will take up a large portion of the gameplay time, with the portions of the game set in Inoa often doing more to add to the story.



So far it all sounds very Zelda-esque and, in all fairness, it is. Gameplay wise Alundra doesn't do a whole lot to be revolutionary, however what it does do is take the existing standards of the genre and buffs them up a little bit before bringing them into the PlayStation era. The game has very traditional design, however it is so well executed that it become immensely enjoyable and the puzzles are much more difficult than those present in most games of the genre.

The real break in gameplay comes during the ‘Dreamwalking' segments of the title. Whilst the dreams of the residents of Inoa essentially act as dungeons in their own right, the whole idea is something that is remarkably fresh and adds a layer of characterization to the various residents of the village. The game does a superb job of flipping the players attention throughout, with Alundra's efforts to save the world from a pervading evil being interrupted multiple times by the much more personal task of saving individual people in the village that has taken him in. It is a great mix of overall plot and detailed characterization that allows the player to build sympathy for the plight of the villagers and their families, whilst also melding their plight into the overall storyline.

Outside of this, however, traditional Action-RPG tropes are in effect here. Alundra has a life bar that is extended throughout the course of the game and he will also receive a range of new items, often from the blacksmith Jess, who took him in. These items can then be used in the dungeons and whilst he is exploring. Spells are also made available to him, to be used when traditional combat tactics just won't do.

The game also features a number of secrets, including some that become inaccessible after a certain amount of progression is made through the game. Collectibles, including the Golden Falchions, are available for the avid explorer and there are plenty of things to discover in the overworld if the player is willing to have a bit of a look around.

Graphically the game is absolutely gorgeous. Alundra didn't make use of the power the PlayStation had in the same way as many other titles of the era, however the game did contain a stunningly detailed 2D world which has maintained a timeless quality that many of its 3D peers simply can't quite match up to.

Matrix Software focused on creating a great traditional Action-RPG, without attempting to mesh it into a graphical style that wouldn't fit it. As such they had plenty of power to play around with to ensure that the game they did create looked great in the traditional sense and they more than achieved their goal with Alundra.

Musically the game is also near the top of the PlayStation heap. The soundtrack suits the gloomy atmosphere that pervades in the game perfectly and actually manages to enhance the experience because of this. If you don't manage to pick up on the dire situation Inoa finds itself in from the narrative, the music is more than happy to subtly jab at you and create an atmosphere of doom when it is most needed for the game.

Alundra still stands as one of the best traditional Action-RPGs around. The game was released at a time when the genre was making its shift into the realm of 3D with the spectacular Ocarina of Time, meaning it provided something that was a little bit different than the trend of the time and allowed players to reminisce on the qualities of the genre as others looked to move it forwards. Couple that with a great plot line and some of the best gameplay ever seen in the genre and you have a title that deserves much more than to be known as a cult classic.



The Aftermath

Alundra was released to wide-reaching critical claim, as many reviewers recognized the title as both a tribute to and expansion of the traditional Action-RPG genre. However the game was seemingly destined to become a cult classic simply thanks to the attitudes of the era in which it was released. The transition to 3D was in full effect and, especially on the PlayStation, and much of the audience would simply not be interested in a game that still espoused many of the tropes that were utilized in the previous generation.

Despite this, the game did manage to achieve classic status amongst a sub-section of fans and this, coupled with the favorable critical reviews, led to a sequel being released. Unfortunately Matrix seemed to completely miss the point on what made the original Alundra so popular amongst these fans as the sequel ended up becoming a poor man's Ocarina of Time, moving the series into 3D and making it completely unrelated to the superb original. Needless to say, fans of Alundra responded in a less than positive fashion and the game is pretty much consigned to the dustbins of history.

As for Alundra, that sequel seemed to kill off any potential of turning the game into a regular series or franchise, but the title itself is not completely dead and buried. A fairly recent release on the PSN means that PS3 and PSP owners are able to get their hands on a copy of the game. There would be many far worse investments that a gamer could make than buying Alundra.

Conversion Corner

Well this section is going to be pretty much non-existent because the game was a Sony exclusive and, as such, has only seen re-release on the PSN. So…yeah. Move along now.

The Guy Who Can do it Better than You

We are back to the Lets Play guys this week;



Enjoy and see you next week.