| Wachenröder (バッケンローダー) |
|
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Sega |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Designer(s) | Yasuyuki Ueda |
| Artist(s) | Range Murata Yasushi Yamaguchi Yoshitoshi ABe |
| Composer(s) | Satoshi Miyashita Ian McDonald |
| Platform(s) | Sega Saturn |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Tactical role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Media/distribution | 1 CD-ROM |
Wachenröder (バッケンローダー Bakkenrōdā) is a tactical role-playing game for the Sega Saturn developed by Sega and released on August 6, 1998. It was only released in Japan.
Contents |
The story takes place in a dark future on the island Edoald, which is ruled by the noble and magnanimous King Wizar (who is imprisoned by the evil prime minister Vlad at the time which the game begins). In this alternate history, steam power is very sophisticated and the people hold it dear: vehicles, gadgetry or weapons driven by vapor in place of electricity. This links Wachenröder, based on its contents and its overall design, to the steampunk genre.
Since the building of several wastewater treatment plants for the rich upper class, the citizens of Edoalds suffer more and more from diseases caused by hazardous waste and contaminated drinking water.
The gamer assumes the role of Lucian Taylor, who is in search of Imperator Duran, to avenge the illness-caused death of his younger sister, which he holds him responsible for.
Most of the time the game is presented in an isometric perspective, similar the genrelike games Vandal Hearts, Front Mission or Final Fantasy Tactics, and consist of several turn-based fights separated by cutscenes. Some cutscenes are preceded by the playable character Bellebete narrating the story. As a result of its linearity and the existence of fan translations for both the script and manual[2][3], it's also playable by non-Japanese speaking people. Most main functions are also either written in English or pictured as small pictograms.
The events of the game mainly centre around the following characters:
On several occasions, Wachenröder is bilingual. The little artbook that comes packed with the game, for example, begins with a longer German text that tells the background story in lyric poetry. The names of the chapters and some items are also written in German. Some of the characters bear German names ("Walter", "Georg"), a smeltery bears the name "Falkenhof" (mean: hawk courtyard), and so on.
The game's name is made up from the words Wache (mean: guard) and Röder, whereas the latter descends from the German word roden (mean: "to stub"), which in its original sense means "clearing trees". Thus a "Wachenröder" is a person, who basically "eliminates guards".
Also worthy of mention is the usage of the Wiener Werkstätte logo that is printed on the game's cover, the CD-ROM, and used in the actual game itself.
Wachenröder features a main theme composed by King Crimson and Foreigner musician Ian McDonald. In reference to this, the Imperial City includes an area called Crimson King.