Review huskey 4/5 · Jun 27, 2021
An alternative history of the retro RPG
This class Chinese turn-based RPG was never officially localized in the US, so I played a fan translation of the Windows 95 version. (The game was originally released on DOS.)
The isometric angle and non-Chibi sprites make for an interesting contrast to contemporaneous JRPGs in the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest sagas. This lacks the explore-the-entire-world grandeur of those franchises …
This class Chinese turn-based RPG was never officially localized in the US, so I played a fan translation of the Windows 95 version. (The game was originally released on DOS.)
The isometric angle and non-Chibi sprites make for an interesting contrast to contemporaneous JRPGs in the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest sagas. This lacks the explore-the-entire-world grandeur of those franchises (there is no world map or airships) but in a way it feels bigger because of the sheer number of environments the characters pass through on their epic journey.
Battles are engaged by enemies who can be seen in each environment (as opposed to random battles) but once they begin they are strictly turn-based. There are standard HP/MP gauges, but an emphasis on using in-battle items, though I never found the difficulty to be high enough to really need them that much. In the version of the game I played, at least, the characters regain some HP and MP after each battle. The 5 elements are very important and most enemies have elemental weaknesses.
The game is well-known for its extremely labyrinthine dungeons. They are absurdly large and twisty, expansive levels with routes that all look very similar, so that it's difficult to know exactly where you are at any point. I just sort of rolled with it. There's plenty of loot in this game so it's not terrible if you miss any, save for the second to last dungeon, where you can load up on the elemental God summons.
Relative to the Japanese franchises I mentioned, there is much more emphasis in this game on the drama that plays out between the core cast of characters, as there are only 4 party members you'll find throughout the game. There aren't any mind-bending plot twists, so by the time you reach the end of the game, the final boss and scene feel anticlimactic.
I have also been playing Final Fantasy VI, which came out around the same time, and it's funny because as I was playing Sword and Fairy (also known as Chinese Paladin) I kept remembering Final Fantasy as being much more complex than it actually is. Sword and Fairy presents an alternative history of the retro RPG that you probably didn't know, a classic in its own right.
Played fan-translated digital copy of the Windows 95 version on PC.