Treasure Hunter G, for SNES

Rating: 8.2/10: Great

Highly recommended for RPG fans

This game is a JRPG by Square that features a tactical combat system. The first thing noticeable about this game is its amazing graphics, because it looks more like a game for a next gen system, rather than the SNES. The second thing noticeable is the great combat system. Enemies appear on screen, and running into them starts a battle (though there is no effect for touching or getting touched from different directions, so no ambushes or pre-emptive attacks). Battles take place in a grid system approximation of the type of area you are in. There was even one place where you open coffins, and the battle area looks like it reflects which ones you opened (it does not actually, it is just very creatively made). Battle areas can include obstacles and choke points.

Each character gets a number of action points each turn (turn order is decided by speed stat), which can be spent on any combination of movement, attacks, spells and item use. You are even able to change your equipment to attack with different weapons in the same turn. Enemies have a type of zone of control around them, which makes all actions cost more action points and thus severely restricts how much you can move and attack. These zones can overlap, making multiple enemies even more difficult to defeat. As enemies are slain, their zones are removed, so the battle gets progressively easier and you are encouraged to focus down enemies. However, the high cost of movement may make it more tactically viable for your team to take down targets separately if they are not right next to each other.

There are a large number of things that can affect battle. You can keep weak characters away from enemies or behind other characters to protect them. There are knockbacks, which can make direction of attack very important, and make it useful to have your back to a wall or someone behind you. Speaking of direction, higher damage is done for flanking, though you have to consider if it is worth the movement. There are ranged attacks and weapons, attacks that hit multiple targets, and larger area effects, plus friendly fire. On top of all this are status effects, elements, traps and unique monster abilities.

The combat is definitely the shining part of this game. The other aspects are not quite as good, but are still amazing for the most part. The story, characters and dialogue are good. There are lots of little character interactions and development; even the monkey character is interesting. I did not like the second character (blue) though because he looks and acts like a child; seriously he is probably around 8-12 while the other 2 are probably at least 17, if not older. Character advancement is interesting because xp is gained per action in battle, as well as for winning the battle. Also, new abilities are learned during the story or from little side quests, rather than being purchased or unlocked with levels.

Health (but not mana) is partially restored after combat, and there is an interesting feature where you have to donate to the church to raise your max mana (it is not automatically gained by leveling). However, health/mana restore stations are common and too easy to abuse because of lack of random battles or respawning enemies. There are some puzzles and mini games which are not too difficult.

The worst part of the game comes from inventory management. Each character can only carry a limited number of items, which includes equipped items. There is no way to sort this to put all of your equipment at the top (for example). Moving items between characters involves selecting the person and item, and then rotating them until they face the appropriate recipient of the item. Items also do not stack (such as potions), so the entire game is spent struggling with carrying capacity; what to keep and what to throw away. You also need this space to make money, because the only way to get money is to sell items dropped by enemies.

Treasure Hunter G is a little on the short side for an RPG, but it is fun, challenging and well made. The combat system is much better than the typical Final Fantasy type because of the tactical options inherent in including position in battle as a thing. The annoying and unfriendly inventory system is the main thing which brings the game down (other than one game breaking glitch I had), though really the inventory is only a slight problem if you try to be greedy/stingy.

Pro

• Tactical combat
• Attacking empty space does not use action points (helps if you are not sure you are facing the correct direction)
• Interesting combat abilities (including positional traps, knock back, friendly fire, etc)
• Good variety of weapons with combat effects (such as range and hitting multiple targets)
• Magic shows area of effect before confirming the cast
• Good characters, story and dialogue
• Money is not dropped by enemies, which makes it more valuable and the early game more challenging
• Shop mechanics: items to buy are on the floor, go pick them up then talk to the shopkeeper to pay. No menus
• Shop equipment shows stats and who can equip (similar is shown in inventory screen, but not quite as detailed for who can use)
• Puzzles and other environmental features that give variety
• Ending allows you to walk around and visit towns while choosing when to do the actual end
• Items dropped by enemies are awarded after battle without having to go pick them up (though you can pick up and use them before the end of battle if you want)
• Can interact with environment (smashing bushes and barrels for example) for loot, and sometimes npcs will complain

Con

• Limited inventory, which cannot be sorted
• Moving items between characters is a little awkward
• Save points
• Health/mana restore stations make inns redundant and ruin the concept of dungeon crawling because you can easily go back to them between every battle
• There are no weapons with longer range than 2 spaces (such as bows)
• Moving diagonal in battle is hard, and there is no way to undo moves
• Game breaking glitch at one point. You were supposed to read the dad’s notebook, then go to a dungeon and use the book at a specific spot. I skipped reading it first because dialogue told me where to go. This caused an infinite loop; the game was not locked up but it was unplayable and I had to reload. Took a few attempts to figure out I had to read the book away from that spot first
• Mountain climbing part where there are infinite falling boulders to dodge. This was not fun and made no sense
• Small escort quest where the king says he hates pain so much that if you let an enemy hit him once, he will kill himself and the entire party with a bomb. This is wrong on so many levels