Soul Blazer

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Soul Blazer
North American Boxart
Developer(s) Quintet
Publisher(s) Enix
Platform(s) Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Release date JP January 31, 1992
NA December 31, 1992
PAL January 27, 1994
Genre(s) Console role playing game
Mode(s) Single-player
Media 8-megabit cartridge

Soul Blazer, known in Japan as Soul Blader (ソウルブレイダー Sōru Bureidā?), is a Super Nintendo Entertainment System console role-playing game developed by Quintet and published by Enix (now Square Enix). Soul Blazer was released on January 31, 1992 in Japan, on December 31, 1992 in North America, and on January 27, 1994 in Europe. Similar to the company's previous game ActRaiser, the player takes the role of a divine angel, deity or lesser-deity, or avatar, sent by a divinity, called The Master (Gaia), to destroy monsters and release the captured souls of a world's inhabitants. Soul Blazer was scored by Yukihide Takekawa.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

The first stage of Soul Blazer
The first stage of Soul Blazer

As in ActRaiser, the player frees a series of towns by fighting monsters in traditional dungeon-crawl battles (Act Raiser was side-scrolling; Soul Blazer has a top-down perspective). However, Soul Blazer eschews the SimCity-like aspect of ActRaiser. Instead, the player frees the towns incrementally: destroying monster lairs in the dungeons causes a soul belonging to a former town occupant to be liberated and reincarnated. This is often a human, but it could be anything from a dolphin to a talking tulip. As souls are freed, the town is reconstructed around the people. The new town occupants give the player advice and items. When the player defeats the boss monster imprisoning the soul of the head of each town, the area is cleared and the player can continue. After the hero frees the first six villages, he is granted access to the "World of Evil", where the final villain awaits.

[edit] Plot

[edit] Setting

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The game's history concerns the Freil Empire, a kingdom ruled by King Magridd. Magridd learned of an inventor named Dr. Leo in his kingdom who could invent almost anything. He imprisoned Dr. Leo and forced him to create a machine that could be used to contact the evil spirit, Deathtoll (Dark Gaia). Deathtoll offered the king one gold piece for each soul from his kingdom and, under the counsel of his wife, Magridd agreed. As a result, the villages were destroyed, all living creatures became incarcerated souls in Deathtoll's monster lairs, and the world became empty. The Master of the world saw the devastation and sent one of his heavenly divine companions to the kingdom in the form of a human warrior to defeat the monsters and liberate the inhabitants. The hero defeated the monsters in each of six areas and gathered the six magic stones (which are brown, green, blue, silver, purple, and black, respectively) needed to open the path to Deathtoll in the "World of Evil", and along the way fell in love with Dr. Leo's daughter, Lisa. He also found the three sacred artifacts that he used to call upon the power of the phoenix to defeat Deathtoll. The kingdom was restored and King Magridd was horrified by his actions. The hero then returned to heaven, but one year later the Master realized that the hero missed life as a human. The Master sent the hero back to the Freil Empire, but under the condition that the hero would not have any memory of his past. The hero woke up in the first town, Grass Valley, where Lisa recognized him. Though he did not remember her, they left together and renewed their relationship.

[edit] Characters

  • The Hero (Blazer) is the protagonist, a divine angel, deity or lesser-deity, or avatar, sent by The Master (Gaia) to restore the world's creatures to life. Skilled with a sword and possessing the ability to speak with any living thing and be understood, he battles the hordes of Deathtoll with the assistance of his Soul helpers. In Illusion of Gaia, he is referred to as "Blazer" by the hidden boss, Solid Arm (Soul Blazer's Metal Mantis).
  • The Master (Gaia) is the chief deity in the Soul Blazer world. Townspeople close to death often report that they hear The Master "calling" them. The Master transports the hero between the regions on the overworld map. He also will save the game progress, and entering his temple will also restore the hero's health to full capacity.
  • Dr. Leo is a scientist who created the machinery by which King Magridd's pact with Deathtoll was executed. He also created a series of paintings and models so realistic that one could be drawn into them by touching them. He possesses an empath's level of closeness to nature despite his technological background.
  • Lisa is Leo's daughter and a resident of Grass Valley, where she lives alone on the edge of town. When the hero saves her, she harbors a gratefulness to him that gradually transforms into romantic interest.
  • Turbo the Dog, Lue the Dolphin, Nome the Snail, and Marie the Doll are pets of Dr. Leo and Lisa. A dog named Turbo also appears in the Enix games The Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma.
  • King Magridd is a misguided, easily manipulated king who felt a disconnection from his subjects. This dissatisfaction led him to coerce Dr. Leo into designing a machine to summon Deathtoll, bringing about the fall of the world and himself.
  • Queen Magridd was seduced by the potential that lurked underneath Dr. Leo's skills, and is the primary catalyst for causing the deal with Deathtoll to occur. She will do anything for power, even after she is betrayed by Deathtoll.

[edit] Music

Soul Blader
Soul Blader cover
Soundtrack by Yukihide Takekawa
Released February 21, 1992 (Japan)
Genre Video game music
Length 58:06
Label Apollon

The soundtrack of the game was composed by Yukihide Takekawa. It was published in Japan by the record label Apollon on February 21, 1992.



[edit] Reception

The online magazine Hardcore Gaming 101 (published by GameSpy) has referred to Soul Blazer and a few other Quintet games as the Soul Blazer series, pointing out a few common themes between the different titles.[1]

[edit] Trivia

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Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2007)

Soul Blazer also has the characteristics of being a spiritual sequel to ActRaiser, which was made by Quintet and published by Enix as well. In fact, The "Master" in both games may be the same character.[citation needed] In both games, a divine being comes down to the land to fight monsters and aid in rebuilding a civilization. Many sounds, including the grunts of the main character, are directly from ActRaiser.[citation needed] In contrast, ActRaiser's true sequel, ActRaiser 2, forgoes the town building aspects entirely and has a higher difficulty level.

Soul Blazer itself has been compared to the Dark Cloud series of games for the PlayStation 2. Both are dungeon-crawl adventures that involve releasing parts of a town as you explore.[citation needed]

Soul Blazer has more than a passing similarity to the Legend of Zelda series, with a top-down perspective, multiple dungeons, and sword-swinging main character. The game also has its version of popular Zelda characters, including Wizzrobes, Ropes, and Stalfos, all of which behave in much the same manner as their Zelda counterparts.

Soul Blazer is an unusual console game for its times due to its frank representation of existential topics such as death and reincarnation, which play an important role in the game's storyline.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Hardcore Gaming 101: Quintet

[edit] External links

v • d • e
List of Quintet games