Faxanadu (1987)

Preliminary: Wow, even tho there seem to be very few differences, a fan actually translated the original Japanese version. I was going to be content playing the NA release, even tho it came out in 1989, because the differences were primarily no Christian symbols, priests called gurus, etc. (That's a very common theme in late 80s/90s localization.) I'm super excited for this though! Seems linear enough but metroidvania enough that I may reference the strategywiki or google. I'm weird and enjoy that haha.

Yessss, great intense intro music, then autumnal opening scene. The graphics and jingle of the action part/actual game isn't great at the start, reminding me of the type of NES music I usually mute, but here goes nothing.

Play: 7/10 As tacky as it has been so far, and a bit unclear, I do like the Castlevania-style jumps and seemingly the attacks, but apparently without a weapon, I can't do any damage? Or I'm doing something wrong? Either way, dying at the start healed me so it worked out lol. Boo no duck and the combat did not turn out great, it also wasn't terrible tho. The collision masks were quite awful.

Indeed, on my 2nd play session, as much as I noticed myself sticking to it anyway, I can't help but notice the many cheap situations, like unavoidable damage (having to go down a ladder to a bunch of enemies that are jumping in a way you simply can't avoid it, etc.). Then again, the first Zelda and other games I respect have a lot of cheap shots and frustrating elements too, so here I am, continuing on anyway.

3rd play session. Yep, combat still quite awful. Unavoidable damage (why have an enemy spawn right where you come in on a ladder?). So many bugs, like how does the Pendant actually lower your offensive stats smh. And uff, when I found out the Full Plate can be gotten for free after I already spent so much lol look at my gold amount

Look: 7/10 (This was going to get a 6 but I like the face sprites and the equipment/status screen) I like the face sprites for dialogue.

The way the ladders blend in with the background is quite poorly done, and all the enemy sprites etc were quite boring

Lol wait, the vaguely tower-esque sprites can be jumped through? I jumped to the left from here and was fine. Makes no sense... look at that mess it looks like someone's cat walked across their RPG Maker

Sound: 6/10 At first I was not vibing with the Sound, but the inside jingles are nice like in the Tool Store and in the Cathedral. (Nope, it got old still. Didn't get factored in tho)

Feel: 7/10 Already even just leaving the first town I was getting that class NES Play feel like Castlevania where I love the precise jumping (Anybody else do that with NES games where you just jump while moving just because it feels good to? And like landing at a precise spot you planned to? I dunno) I hope the combat pans out, the Magic is a nice touch. Seems very well-developed and planned out.

Attachment: 7/10 Well, at the end of my first play session, I am still not enjoying the combat. I almost dropped the game but remembered that I don't love the first 2 Zeldas' combat nor Metroid's yet I pushed through. Might as well give this a chance, especially since it has metroidvania style get-item-to-go-back-to-a-spot and a type of game that I get hooked to (grinding, etc.). If only the experience actually raised your health bar or strength, it seems it only affects how you start after dying? Anyway yay that I ended my first play session at a good money grinding spot so I can return for that Magic Shield I was irked I couldn't afford! Love when there are good grind spots built into games!

Welp on my 2nd play session, I grinded quite a bit longer and got to just over 11k gold! At the Trunk Tower. Now I can buy a Magic Shield :) I could grind for Death too, which would be very me of me but meh. Oooo I love the inclusion of rare drops from normal enemies, not quite in the Final Fantasy and Earthbound style, but still awesome touch. At the end of this play session, I still find the combat bad, yet here I am.

It's a long game for sure. 4 play sessions in and not much more to say. Frustrating combat and platforming, yet very addictive adventure and RPG elements. Imaginative locations. Love the Zelda and Metroidvania style collect-item-and-be-told-where-to-use-it gameplay. I kept considering dropping it due to tacky combat mechanics, but a) that's to be expected with NES action-adventures and b) there was something oddly addictive about it. I almost really really really quit the time I got all the way to Tower of Mist before realizing I don't have a King Key.... how much longer... and should I keep playing... why do I do these things to myself

Welp it was officially at this point that I dropped the game. I had gone back for a King Key, did the Tower, then was heading to the next area. I'm glad I had StrategyWiki to inform me that I would need more King Keys, but those are only available at Victim town (silly name lol). It wasn't far away but I had no desire to go back. And then I entered a room, killed an enemy skillfully, and had no choice but to run into the Poison that it spawned. Literally no way to jump around it because of the mechanics. That's when I officially decided to stop lol. So it goes. There goes several hours of my life :-p

Completion: Got the Black Onyx and was heading to the Branches (near endgame) Playtime: 3h 45m

History:
First game on the list that I've legitimately never heard of in my life!

Expectation:
I don't have any, and that's half the reason for this project! I'm pretty excited to be playing this game I've never heard of because strangers on the internet told me it was fun. Remember going to the video store and making your game rental choices based purely on the cover art, and having no idea what you were going to be playing when you got home? Yeah, that's how I feel.

Pre-Game Thoughts:
Fanadaxu... Faxanadudu... Fananadaxamundu... SHAZAM!

Night 1:

For some reason this game invoked a lot of nostalgia despite never having played it. It just felt like the quintessential NES RPG platformer. I tried playing earlier in the night while my kids were running around, and that made it hard to give it full attention. In addition, the game offered very little direction on what to do when it started. At first I was frustrated, but slowly I started remembering how to learn to play games without hand-holding, and I was able to figure things out. That said, I had to turn it off pretty quickly...

Later in the night I spent more time with it, about 45 minutes or so. That was all the attention I could afford, but I actually had a lot of fun. The game is a bit grindy, not like an MMO or anything but I found that I definitely NEEDED to go back and forth to get enemies to spawn to farm either XP or golds. It didn't feel too bad though. I was able to clear the first short dungeon, cheese a boss, and move on to a new area of the game!

Night 2:

Well, day two. I've started getting the hang of the game and I'm actually having a lot of fun.. .mostly. The lack of direction at first welcome but now I'm getting frustrated having just cleared the second dungeon. "Go see the fountain sage to get your ring of rock moving", they say. Well I did see him and he didn't give me a ring of anything! The way the game handles death is also a pain. I'll figure it out...

Later...

I couldn't stay away, which I guess is a good sign. Figured out what to do (stupid hidden door) and played for another hour or so, making it to the next dungeon!

Even later...

Back to it! Well long story short is that I ended up paying until 1:30 in the morning. Made it all the way to the Castle of the Fraternal, henceforth known as Brosiph Castle, made my way to the giant dragon boss to obtain my Dragon Slayer and... died horribly.

The game put me back in town which is good because now I can stock up on potions, and bad because holy crap that was a long dungeon! I think I'm just about done with the game. Once I get my new sword I think I just use it to kill the final boss and roll credits. We'll see tomorrow I guess!

As a relevant side note, this game is only getting more fun the more I play it. I guess to make up for R.B.I. Baseball...

Night 3:

It's a little uncomfortable how well I've already memorized this stupid dungeon... For those playing at home I've reached the Tower/Castle of the Fraternal. It's like a dungeon within a dungeon... An inception dungeon, that ends with a big angry dragon thing. Anyway, I was able to rush straight to the dragon, who proceeded to eat me again...

Back in town again, but undeterred. This time I decide to farm a bit and purchase the most powerful spell in the shop. Turns out, dragons don't like holy magic to the face, and so...

Loving it. My new sword tears through the dungeon as I backtrack to town, stock up on potions and prepare for the final encounter against the Evil One.

The final dungeon is like the last castle from Mario Bros... I think... Where you have to take the correct route through the different rooms in order to proceed or it sends you back to the beginning. Either that or I just got really disoriented. Either way, with some help from the spousal unit I was eventually able to reach the final boss!

Not gonna lie... After all these elves and dwarfs and dragons, this was not what I was expecting. Even more surprising was how quickly he fell. I mean really, the fight lasted a good 15 seconds TOPS!

And with that, the world was saved, the elves had clean drinking water, the dwarfs stopped looking like dragons, and I still don't know who or what Faxanadu is. Huzzah!

Post-Game Thoughts:
It feels really good to actually be beating games again, and this one actually lasted longer than I expected. I think all in all I spent about 6-7 hours playing through this one. When I first turned it on I was a bit skeptical to be honest, but the more I played the more fun I had, all the way up to the end! I stayed up late playing, and looked forward to playing again the following day. That's good!

I think this game, more than anything, makes for a really interesting look at the ARPG genre at the time, and GamesRadar made a similar statement. It's easy to think of hundreds of ways for this game to have been streamlined, namely in transportation options, but I also think seeing how they decided to handle certain aspects of the game. Like, how rather than you getting more HP as you leveled and having to buy better potions, they just kept your HP and potion effectiveness the same but increased the price of potions in each town to compensate. There was a real illusion of progress, and the game managed to feel much longer than it actually was. It was cool!

Conclusion:
It's hard to say anything really bad about this game when you look at it for what it was, when it was. I feel like, had I played back when I was a kid, I wouldn't have ever finished the game, let alone been able to appreciate it. I'm glad I got to experience it, as it's definitely one of the more unique entries on my shelf now. As for when and if I'll play it again, it definitely feels like a game I'd want to learn how to speed run, as I feel I've seen all there is to see in it.

Personal Score: