Arcana
My first review for the snes is a game that never was very popular, but really was a pretty decent game. Arcana was also one of the snes' earliest games and is quite impressive when that's taken into consideration. Well hey what do you usually think of when you hear the word walkthrough? I think of locations of every treasure, strategies to beat the bosses and information on every item in the game etc. I bet you probably do too! You are in for a surprise though! In this walkthrough you will learn no strategies on how to defeat the bosses nor will I tell you where the chests are or anything like that! So what is exactly the point of this walkthrough? Well nothing really, but you get to follow along as I progress though this game while I make funny and maybe sometimes not so funny comments. I have also included lots of screenshots as well. I found this to be a new and different way to play this game. One thing you should know is that I used something called creativity (*gasp* yes!) to add some new events at the beginning of the game as the beginning is very much under-developed. Also since this game is basically just a dungeon sprawler with some short stops in town even I don't think even I could come up witty things to constantly say about the game's events, so the later chapters didn't get as much attention devoted to them. Still I think it all worked out, but you the viewers are the final judges. I guess I'll warn you that my walkthrough does contain spoilers and well let's just get to the game.
Here's our background story and yes it's of course very important to know that ten years have passed, hell it does get its own screen! Thus the adventure now begins.
Yes the days did pass by peacefully in his home town of Galia. There really wasn't much to do though. The town had a inn, a weapon shop, a tavern and a gypsy
tent. Those are also the only places where Rooks could interact with people as elsewhere around the town there is no one to talk with. The problem is that the people in those houses were only interested in talking to Rooks if he had money otherwise they couldn't give a damn about what he had to say. Maybe instead of peaceful the game meant to tell us boring. Infact I think the game should of started with the dialogue box to the lower right.
There really is nothing at all entertaing to do in this town. Anyways Rooks had learned sometime ago that his parents were betrayed and killed in a forest one day waiting for reinforcements for their army. Rooks then remebered that his father was a cardmaster and often had cards around. Maybe this could be a fun diversion, Rooks looked through his father's room (even though it doesn't appear that Rooks even has a house himself) and found a single card, the Sylph elemental spirit card. Rooks had heard how his father was a great cardmaster and then decided he would train to become one himself. This may have been how his father stayed sane when he was in the town. Maybe this would also prove to be beneficial later as well. More days had passed and things finally started to get really interesting one particular day when Rooks met Ariel at the town gates. Infact Rooks was going to head out of the damned boring town anyways, but bumped into Ariel before he left. Rooks hadn't seen Ariel since he was a boy. Ariel had come to ask a request of Rooks as he realized that Rooks was becoming very competent as a cardmaster. Ariel went on talking about the temple of Balnia and how the monsters in there were causing trouble. Ariel then asked Rooks if he could go there and defeat the monsters.
He then introduces us to his first (but far from last) apprentice, Teefa and he says that she will assist Rooks on his mission. Ariel departs and Rooks is pretty excited that he actually has something to do now. Rooks figured if he was going to leave the town maybe he should actually buy something. He went back to his nonexistant house and took some of the money he had been saving up. His father paid him allowance money and Rooks had been saving it up for ten years. It's not like there was anything fun to spend the money on anyways. Rooks had saved up 500 gold and decided maybe he should go to the weapons shop. As soon as Rooks walked in the shopkeeper was about to kick him out when Rooks said that he actually had money on him this time and didn't come in here to try and strike up a conversation. As soon as the shopkeeper heard the word money he then became very talkative and showed Rooks what he had. Rooks looked at the swords and the shop keeper told him that the Long Sword was the sword most often used by knights and fighters. Rooks liked the description of that one and liked to consider himself a fighter. He then purchased the Long Sword. He was out of money, but he had a sword! Teefa than mentioned to Rooks how Ariel never supplied her with any equipment. Rooks didn't do much other than shrug and say hey "well shit, that's just too bad then huh?!" Rooks never had a weapon before, he never had a need for one. His father told him to not leave the village for any reason, but Rooks had a reason to leave the village this time and his father was dead anyways. This sword seemed to instill a new sense of confidence in Rooks as well. It was time to leave the village.
How dramatic eh? Rooks and Teefa are off to Balnia temple.
This first battle holds some very special sentimental value to me. Teefa even lays the smack down without a weapon! Yes it looks like she's holding a staff, but she really isn't.
Rooks and Teefa got into many battles against various numbers of monsters. Infact sometimes they would only just turn and there were hordes of monsters ready to try and attempt to kill them! Where did they come from anyways? After a few battles Rooks level increased. What this means to you RPG newbies is that Rooks skills increase by a various amount of points. In short, Rooks now kicks ass even more than he already did! Sometimes the party would even get ambushed from behind without warning, but Rooks just destroyed everything.
Navigating through the temple proved to be rather challenging at times. Yes the hordes of monsters sometimes could be a problem, but 
whoever made this temple was extremely evil as some paths just lead to dead ends and they weren't just look right and you can tell it was a dead end. Some of these paths were long and winding and Rooks would then realize it was a just dead end and have to follow the path all the way back fighting monsters. This game (though it came out in 1992) gives a new meaning to random encounters as well! Rooks and Teefa can take say seven steps and run into monsters on six of them. Other times they can take some twenty steps or more and not encounter any monsters! Sylph can fight in battle, but is mostly useless right now as her attack is only slightly better than Teefa's. After stumbling around the temple Rooks' party encounters the Stone Guardian which is sort of a mini boss kind of thing, but it falls pretty quickly. Rooks has learned a few spells by this time as well, Heal 2 and Attack Impair. Teefa learned Heal 1 which is especially funny because Rooks had already learned Heal 2. Rooks is just far too superior to learn the inferior Heal 1 and skips right to 2, you gotta love that pride. Rooks' party then ascends to floor two of the temple. A nice thing about some of the dead ends is that there are treasure chests at the end of them. Making them somewhat worthwhile sometimes, but the funny thing about that though is that Rooks can not see the treasure chest until he is right against the wall. The chests must have some sort of high tech cloaking device as they can not be seen from a distance. Some wanderings lead to a chest with a sleeping bag inside it. That sounds pretty good and will probably heal one of my party members. I was in for a surprise though. When Rooks was starting to get low on hp and mp I figured it would be a good time to use it. To my surprise Teefa recovered health and mp too! Wow I guess they both shared that sleeping bag eh? How erotic! heh well moving on...
Still battling and Sylph becomes much more useful when she learns Lightning 1 though it is more effective on some monsters than others.
On this level Rooks' party has the sheer honor and privelage to fight the Iron Guardian, the Stone Guardian's meaner uglier cousin. This guardian isn't really any tougher though as it goes down just as fast as the other one. A little more attempted navigation and Rooks' party comes upon a door! That has to be good right? Well right before Rooks enters something stings him. Teefa than says that's very strange since there's nothing here that could sting him. I guess she is right there are tons of monsters, dead ends and some treasure chests, but surely no one here that would try and sting him. Inside Rooks sees a dwarf and a sorceror guarding a sword. They then ask if they are with Galneon. Before Rooks can say anything though Teefa starts a battle and casts lightning. Which I don't recall her ever learning nor was it even a option for me to use, so that impressed me quite a lot. Teefa than takes the sword and Ariel appears and says to let him explain. You damn right I went a explanation! Ariel talks about how he wants to create a peaceful land though he is using violence to achieve that goal. Don't you love that? He then asks Rooks if he's with them two on this. Rooks has a choice here he can either say yes or no and I'm actually given the opportunity to make this choice! I'm unbelievably excited about the interaction here. I select yes, but apparently Ariel didn't hear him or was soo shocked that Rooks agreed with this backwards assed logic that he just went off on his rant if Rooks was to refuse him anyways.
Rooks is now thrown into a battle against the two, but before Rooks can attack he feels the sting again and now he can't move. Teefa then informs Rooks that she was the one who stung him. Damn! I should of saw that coming since she did learn the spell paralyze, she still can't explain that lightning attack earlier though. I then get to watch Ariel and Teefa thoroughly kick my ass. Teefa seemed to have gotten a stronger attack as well somehow. Right before Ariel gets to deliver the death blow though the sorceror gets up and summons the fire spirit. Ariel and Teefa then run away.
This event brings the chapter to a close. It was quite a eventful chapter. Rooks buys a Long Sword, meets Ariel & Teefa, goes to Balnia Temple and then gets his assed kicked by Ariel and Teefa. I could of just simply said that acually, but what fun would of that been?
Rooks awakes in a house and is met by Axs and Salah. Axs was one of the people guarding the sword at Balnia temple and Salah we find out is the daughter of the slain King. They all have a discussion about Galneon and Rimsala. It is then decided that Rooks is going to meet Reinoll to see what he should do about all of this. Reinoll lives past the Forest of Doubt so that's going to be Rooks' next mission. Salah asks Axs if she can accompany Rooks on his journey. Axs says no at first, but Salah convinces him eventually by saying that she has been training and knows some spells. So Salah joins the party. After leaving Axs' place with Salah. Rooks realizes he is in the town of Doraf now. He then decides to head over to the weapons shop as Salah seems to not have anything despite the fact she's been training. The mace looks like a good weapon for her and it actually makes her attack a little higher than Rooks! That's amazing considering how much of a monster Rooks is, but her base strength still can't compare. After reviving Sylph it's time to head into the forest, but first Rooks must go through Draven Pass it seems.
All hail "the man!" Or not it's really your choice. Also notice the spanking new color for the text box! oooh how pretty!
A little into the pass Rooks come upon "the man" (yep not a man 'the' man) up ahead kicking some monster ass! He doesn't even need our help! Infact he feels it's proper to insult Rooks and Salah by calling them children. After that comment he runs off. Rooks continues on and the entrance to the Forest of Doubt is ahead and there are battles waiting for Rooks there as well of course! In the forest Rooks meets up with yet another mini boss. This time it's the Cyclops and he can dish out some pretty decent damage, but it's not too long before he becomes just another victim heh heh Later ahead we meet up with the infamous man again. He just like joins the party this time instead of teasing Rooks and Salah like before. Hey well after seeing that impressive performance before I definitely want him as a part of my party. So Darwin joins up (yes he has a name now) and I go to his abilities screen to check out how good of a fighter he is. Ironically he has no equipment and in battle he can only do 1 damage! How odd, Darwin must have lost his equipment along the way and that's why he wants to join my party now. I guess he just thinks he can leech off Rooks and Salah, oh well I suppose Darwin can tag along.
Oh so now you just invite yourself into my party huh? I didn't agree to this!
I had accumalated quite a lot of money at the end of the first chapter and well took a walk into the gypsy's tent in the town. There Rooks purchased several different types of elementals cards that can be used in battle to create different spell effects of varying power. I buy them with the intention of using them as a last resort, but most of the time though I just use them to speed up battles. Well eventually my wanderings in the forest have led Rooks to a return ring! How fortunate is that! Just what I wanted and now I can go back to town.
Staying at the inn would help as well. and let's also revive Slyph. I'll also buy Salah some armor since she doesn't have any, the scale mail should do and I'll buy Darwin a weapon of course. Hopefully Darwin doesn't run off when I make it back to the Forest of Doubt since I bought him a new weapon. Well that is one of the reasons why I only bought him a long sword and not a broad sword like the one Rooks has. Yea I bought Rooks a broad sword at the beginning of the chapter.
Alright now let's head back to the forest and give it another go. This time Darwin can be a active party member since he has a weapon and hasn't left my party, yet. A little further down is a chest with some strength honey! Rooks gets to enjoy the taste of the honey and increase his strength at the same time! What a great deal, but there's more! Three other chests yield endurance honey, intelligence honey and agility honey! What a meal Rooks is having today! Despite what was said in the village Rooks has led his party through the Forest of Doubt! So that calls for a celebration and while my party is carrying a silver flask I don't think it contains any alcohol, it just seems to recover my mp. That's really disapointing to me and my party. Oh well let's continue on through Crimson Valley! I'm going to take another look at the map first though. Yes the map is really useful in this game and if I didn't use it I'd find myself going in circles, wasting time and generally getting more frustrated.
Rooks heals himself while Darwin talks some shit to some gels for missing him. The action is never ending!
Rooks finds another chest containing yet more honey! MP honey being one of my favorites because you can never have too much MP. Salah needs to heal herself again and well hopefully we are nearing the end of this valley because the layout of this one is quite annoying though it gets much worse later. Well I seem to be stopping off and going to all dead ends to get treasure chests which is something I didn't do back when the game came out. I spent most of my time running from battles trying to find my way through. That strategy never worked very well. My new strategy of killing everything and exploring the whole maze (sometimes if I feel like it) works a lot better! Higher levels and treasure are the results of that strategy. Darwin's HP is actually pretty low for once (it seems the enemies like to focus their attacks on mainly Rooks as he is more so "the man" than Darwin could ever hope to be!) 
Rooks now encounters Efrite the boss of the area! He caught me a little by surprise as Salah's HP is on the lower end, but we'll see if Rooks' party can take him out anyways. Offense impair failed to work, but defense impair does! Sylph takes a beating as a flame 2 does the most to her and Efrite delivers a standard attack to her as well. Darwin keeps hacking away when he isn't healing himself and now it's time to send Rooks in on the attack after casting those impairs. Salah has already been whacking away. Sylph isn't much use in this battle as she seems to be weak to fire. Darwin heals up Rooks (aww how thoughful of him!!) and after another shot from Rooks, Efrite is defeated!! Looks like the fire spirit has joined my party! Alright!
As I expected Darwin does decide to run off, but after I bought him the long sword he was a good party member. He actually left the sword with me by the way. I guess he felt kinda guilty leeching off of me afterall. Well maybe I'll see him again if he survives. Since Sylph is low on hp Rooks calls Efrite and they leave the valley. Only to enter into the Forest of Doubt again! I thought I was finished with this damn place oh well I guess it's another round in the forest. In the next battle I realize Efrite doesn't seem to know how to cast Flame 2 anymore...somehow I'm not that surprised. Everyone seems to be ganging up on Salah now, but I can't really blame them she is quite a heavy hitter for knowing mainly support spells. Maybe that training did pay off after all, but it's probably just the incredibly poweful mace she is using. Anyways it didn't take long to get through this part of the forest and now have appeared at what appears to be a tree house and meet Reinoll.
Meeting Reinoll and finding out what we need to do next.
He knows Rooks and ask who the girl is. He then makes a remark that the slain king had a daughter named Salah. He then realizes how dumb he is being as she is obviously the daugther of the slain king. Hey thanks for making Salah feel better! At least he apologizes twice, so I guess I can find it in my heart to forgive him. Inside Rooks asks about the evil empress and he tells us we need the four spirits and three treasures. In the middle of the conversation that bastard Ariel busts in and kidnapps Salah! He then takes off and outside we meet up with his first apprentice Zerel or so he says, I always thought Teefa was Ariel's first apprentice.
Ariel's kidnapping and the alleged first apprentice Zerel.
Seriously though the battle has started and Zerel gets a cheap shot in and Rooks is already low. He didn't even start with full HP. Rooks casts Defense Impair and that works nicely. Zerel then gets two attacks, but only connects with one on Rooks thankfully! Rooks uses three of every card he has and they do considerable damage! Zerel smashes Efrite and he is down to about nothing. Efrite was working out really well as the attack absorber. Slyph has regenerated some HP so I call her in and whack away. Zerel is defeated, I honestly thought Rooks might have a chance at losing this one, but then again it's Rooks! He is unstoppable and that ends the second chapter. Well check out chapter three and find out what happens next since I know you are at the edge of your seat in excitement over this compelling story!
Arcana: Chapter Three and Beyond
Rooks is back at Doraf, but Axs doesn't seem to be home. Rooks looks around and finds a note from Axs that says he has left for the Ice Mines. The note also tells him not to do anything until he gets there. Well since all of the game's event take place on that one screen, I'm sure Axs is there by now. I think Rooks might as well head towards the Ice Mines as there is nothing to in Dofaf much like Galnia, but first he'll stop off at the equipment shop to see if there are any new swords there. Rooks notices that they do have a new selection and purchases the Ice Blade. Rooks also stocks up on some cards and this time buys some fog cards which are very useful as they immediately take you out of the battle. I also buy them with the intention of using them in emergencies, but again often use them to escape those battles with large groups of monsters that can actually inflict some damage on my party. Well one thing Rooks notices is that he's basically going to have to do this one alone, but the ice mine sounds rather challenging according to the way Salah described it back at Reinoll's place. So going it alone might not have been advisable for Axs, at least Rooks here has two spirits. Rooks still having a reasonable sum of money picks up a Spiked Shield which the shop keepers claims also raises attack power and the seamed mail and some medicine. I think Rooks is ready to tackle the Ice Mines and look for this enchanted jewel. After a few battles Efrite is already quite low on HP so Rooks will have to call in Sylph and yes the Ice Mines are as hard as I remember even with Rooks' new armor he is taking damage in the range of 20 HP a hit! I personally don't think armor does a whole lot to reduce the damage received. You can't be armorless, but it really doesn't seem to matter what armor you have as they all provide generally the same protection in battle it seems. At least Rooks is dishing out 50 with his new sword on some monsters, but after stumbling around the Ice Mines trying to find the way something tragic happens. Even Rooks can't survive this ambush with already low health and the fact that three fire cards oddly missed everyone.
A ambush by some mantecos that all cast Lightning 2 (twice mind you) causes Rooks to meet with death early. His life has a purpose now so he'll be back.
Yes the Ice Mines are definitely the hardest things Rooks has to conquer yet. Not only does he have to do it alone, but the monsters that inhabit the mines know some pretty powerful spells and they are not shy about using them. So my personal challenge to you is if you can make it through Arcana's Ice Mines without dying well you are just a better player than me I suppose. Of course knowing the layout of the mines would be extremely helpful as when you enter there are four ways to go and three of them lead to really long dead ends! It just seems like the makers of these dungeons get even more sadistic. Well back into the mines and after a few more battles Rooks levels up and Sylph learns Lightning 2 now I can give them all the pain and suffering from that spell that I felt. Wow another really long path that leads into a dead end! Rooks doesn't even get a freaking treasure chest. Yes this place isn't trying to make any friends that's for sure I can't even say how much hatred I have for these damn mines. One of the problems is the stairways switch between the mines, the Polar Dungeon and the Icicle Dungeon 
so it's really hard to tell if you are making any sort of forward progress again I thank the wonderful designer. Alright I finally found Axs and he was down a path that I seemed to have missed, but he's been turned to stone! Luckily Rooks has learned a unpetrify spell and this seems to be the only time in the game it has any use! After casting the spell Axs tells us what he was doing in broken english and then joins and he comes equipped with, you guessed it nothing!! Geez people in the land of Elemen aren't the most intelligent people I've met for sure. I had a mace and ring mail in my inventory so I let Axs use them definitely better than nothing and I can continue on instead of going back to town. Rooks and Axs are still plodding through the mines, but do find three return rings! Rooks really doesn't need them anymore since he now posseses the skills and knowledge as well as the determination to cast the spell Home. Rooks also has learned Heal 3 which restores 999HP! Eventually Rooks and Axs encounter a Hydra, but it's three on one and the hydra just can't keep up with the onslaught for very long. At this point Axs informs Rooks that he is carrying the Water Spirit Marid and gives it to Rooks because he thinks he's man enough now to have it. Hmmm Rooks saved your life and then you question his manhood? Axs, I really don't know what's wrong with you. A little further we reach the room where the enchanted jewel is being held, but it's too late that bastard Ariel is already there and has used the princess to get at the jewel he then as you probably all expected runs off and leaves yet another freaking apprentice to fight. Is there a limit on the number of apprentices you can have? I thought it was only like one or at most two, but I guess this game breaks all the rules. In a fit of rage and anger on my part Sauza goes down fast. Axs decided to not participate in this fight and attend to Salah. I definitely didn't need his help but, I dunno I thought maybe he could of checked on Salah after this supposed threat was gone. Well this ends the chapter.
Rooks in the room with the enchanted jewel and wait is that fire in the freaking ice mines?! Also shown is Sauza another damned apprentice.
Chapter 4
This chapter begins in the village back where Rooks met Reinoll. Rooks and Axs talk about preventing this reign of evil by going to Stavery Tower. So that's where Rooks and Axs are off to and they are going to have do it without Salah as she is asleep and I guess can't be woken up. It is nice to be back in a place like Stavery Tower because it has floor numbers unlike the Ice Mine which was just one huge maze mainly. Well not too far in we come upon a rather stupid monster, yes that's it on the right. Apparently Galneon thought this would put a end to Rooks' journey, but this monster is just so incompetent there is no way that would happen. After easily defeating it Rooks gets Dao, the earth elemental and the last spirit he needed. Rooks continues on and finds a door that can not be opened and there is no other way to go so about the only option is to go back to town. 
At town Salah seems to be awake now (that was one of the speediest recoveries I've ever seen) and she joins the party. Back at the door Salah mentions something about needing Royal Tears and the door opens yay we can continue onward! On the fourth floor the earth elemental Dao turns out to just be that damn stupid monster again, but this time he brought a friend and I feel sorry for that guy. Infact I think Darama is laughing only because he knows how pathetic he is. His friend isn't anything special and they both die despite the fact Darama claimed they were invulnerable. Annoying yes, but using invulnerable is just a insult to the word. Rooks' party recieves the earth elemental again and hopefully Darama doesn't try to do a three-peat on me because that would just be shameful as he has already pulled off the worst planned ambush in the history of gaming!
The long awaited, but certainly disapointing confrontation with Ariel and Galneon chooses to make his presence felt.
On floor seven there is a door and you know by now those are always big parts of the dungeons. Through the door is that bastard Ariel, but it seems like he is going to stick around this time. Salah asks where Teefa (her sister) is and apparently she's with Galneon. Rooks asks to fight this battle alone so Salah and Axs abide by his wishes and stay back. The long awaited rematch between Ariel and Rooks begins, but it certainly failed to live up to my expectations! Ariel is a huge pushover and not long after the battle begins Ariel is on the ground hurt. He then rambles about how bad this resurrection is going to be and really just sorta deameaned the image the story spent creating for him like the entire game. Here we have Ariel this pretty bad assed character that tries to make Rooks' life a living hell by kidnapping Salah and then precedes to unleash apprentice after apprentice on Rooks.
He even petrifies Axs somehow, a skill I've never seen in the game anywhere else and now he's crying like a baby! Thankfully Galneon ends this little emotional outburst by casting a very high level attribute spell on him and he's dead. After this happens Rooks just takes off after Galneon! He runs up to floor eight leaving behind Axs and Salah. Yes I had no control over this pretty foolish act by Rooks, but hey whatever. On floor eight though Rooks runs into Darwin again and yes you know it. I didn't have any weaponery for Darwin though as he wasn't able to use some of the swords I already had. I tried to continue on, but the battles were pretty hard. One thing I never mentioned is that if any human party member dies it's game over! So that sorta sucks and was mainly the reason why I went back to town because Darwin was getting his ass kicked. Anyways after a stop in town where I purchased Darwin some equipment and a lot of honeys for Rooks (yes now you can purchase a unlimited amount of them at the shops) I made my way back up to floor eight. On level eleven Rooks finally catches up with Galneon and he is with Teefa who seems to be under his spell as after Galneon takes off Rooks and Darwin are put into a battle against Teefa. This wasn't a challenging battle, but I for once wasn't expecting a hard fought battle. Darwin stays behind and Rooks is left alone again. I wonder why Axs and Salah haven't caught up to Rooks yet. Well he ascends up to floor twelve and the monsters definitely are getting hard now. Rooks has to put his skills to the test against different colored Dragons! After many battles (the encounter rate seemed to go all out for me) Rooks comes upon a door and inside is Galneon. At this point Salah and Axs finally catch up to Rooks. They sure took their time as far as I'm concerned. Axs pushes Rooks and Salah out of the room and then a lot of shaking goes on behind the door. There are lights going off and bolts of lightning this can only be appreciated by the image below. The drama is unbelievable and thus ends Chapter 4.
One thing Arcana gets right is sticking in some challenging battles against Dragons and I guess the other pic is not that impressive after all. Sorry for letting you down.
Chapter 5
This is it! The final chapter of the game. Yea the game really isn't that long, but I was still playing this game for a little while. I actually took some time off halfway through chapter four to pursue other things. Chapter five begins at Bintel Castle and Rooks is joined by Darwin and Teefa this game. I guess Rooks and Teefa have no hard feelings for each other, but I personally still didn't buy her anything. I had some armor for her that Salah was using, but that was it. The shop did have some nice things for Rooks and Darwin, but it's too bad Axs is the only one who can use the demon equipment I found. The main problem though is that some of it sells for like two gold! What a rip off that is oh well let's head into the actual castle. Rooks' party encounters more Dragons here and those battles are always fun. I was actually pretty thrilled when I came upon the Spirit Staff. A weapon for Teefa that was sold in town and it cost a whole lot! So Teefa got a weapon and Rooks didn't have to spend money on her ass. Everybody wins, but what happens next is something beyond phenomenal. Yes we know Ariel is dead but, he is still sending apprentices to Rooks' from the grave! I was in utter disbelief and even was starting to twitch when I saw that word 'apprentice' appear on the screen again! I then snapped out of it and attacked him with more rage than Sauza ever faced. Upon his (this stupid apprentice doesn't even deserve a name or a picture) defeat Rooks gets the Crystal Sword. Eventualy Rooks' party comes upon a entrance to a tunnel. Yes it's simply called 'a tunnel' I wish I had that kind of creativity. In the tunnel Rooks' party meets up with...
Yep finally now a battle against Galneon and he refuses to stay down the first time.
Yep it's Galneon and he surprised me I was just walking around the tunnel and all of a sudden without warning there's Galneon. I was still more than prepared to fight him and he went down quick. I think for the first time in like ever I was happy to see a second form because the first form was just too easy. The second form was definitely more challenging, but you all expected Rooks' party to defeat him right? I certainly hope they wouldn't get this far and then choose to give up and welcome this reign of evil with arms wide open (oh how I hate that song).
With Galneon defeated and the spirit sword given to Rooks the second time he falls the only thing left to do is to prevent Rimsala's resurrection. So my party continues on with a frentic pace and come upon the entrance to Stavery Tower, but this isn't the same exact tower though as there are new monsters. I'd personally like to introduce you to the Minotaur Twins! No they aren't bosses just regular enemies, but I still think they would of made a much better and cooler boss than that bumbling idiot Darama. I still haven't gotten over that very unpleasant encounter. After climbing all the way up to floor the the party runs into two of those guardians. I was about to began the thrashing, but Salah & Axs appeared and offered to take them on and told Rooks to hurry to Rimsala. That was really cool actually and much appreciated. On the eleventh floor though Rooks runs into a Tiamat and Darwin & Teefa stay to take this one on as they send Rooks off to continue to Rimsala, but this time alone. On floor twelve is the door to Rimsala and so the final battle begins...
Rooks battles Rimsala alone. After a little while into the battle Rooks tries to chant this sealing spell but it appears to fail...
The first form wasn't too difficult to beat, but after the spell fails Rimsala regains full conciousness and then delivers a near death blow to Rooks in one shot. Rooks' then has like some divine intervention from some hero named Fanas. He recovers Rooks' HP and combines the three items into one. Another thing he does is screw over the elementals which seemed to have all lost HP for some odd reason. Hey man thanks a lot, some hero you are. Well now the real battle begins. Rimsala often casts Attribute 11 which does a little more than 200 to Rooks and around 170 to the elementals. This is particulary nasty when Rimsala gets two turns in a row and casts it twice!! Even Rooks with full HP gets knocked down to pretty low health! Rimsala definitely is pretty terrfying at least and having to fight her with Rooks alone is quite the challenge, but quite different for a RPG too. What game other than the original Dragon Warrior has you fight the last boss with basically one party member? This battle can definitely be easier or harder depending how mean Rimsala wants to be. She's been casting Attribute 11 a lot, that's been 85% of her gameplan so far. Her attacks do like thirty eight damage to Rooks after Wall All and I'd definitely like to see that more often. At the very least Rimsala definitely if unleashed I know could conquer everything. All she would have to do is use several attributes 11's and nothing would be left. In basically a pure 100% miracle I managed to defeat Rimsala though she seemd to repeatedly cast attribute 11 on me. I was down to three hp (yes three no BS) with no magic left so I was just like I'm screwed, but I kept whacking away at her and well I got three attacks in a row!! One of them being a critcal hit and then Rooks goes off on his chant and manages to seal Rimsala this time. I'm still quite astonished at the outcome, but then again the ending seriously sucked bad. I'm serious when I say this game has a terrible ending. Most of the time I think games have endings that are good enough, but this game's ending is a serious disgrace and a insult to everyone who beats it. It's a spit in the face, a kick in the ass and a slap across the cheek kinda ending that I never want to experience ever again haha let's wrap this one.
See I wasn't lying, three HP! Rimsala is defeated in a dazzling display of lightning and now we can find out what happened to Rooks and co. right?
Arcana: The Ending and Review
Yes that is the entire ending! I can't believe they had the audacity to do it in just text. At the very least they could of told us what happened to Rooks and Salah or what about Darwin and Teefa? We of course can't forget Axs, but all we get is ten years have passed and peace has returned, the end. At least Rooks got referred to as gallant that's kinda cool, but certainly nowhere near enough. Ah well. Anyone still with me? So ya made it through the walkthrough eh. Well was it fun or enjoyable? If the answers to the questions are 'no' than well hey I tried heh can't fault me for that. As far as the gameplay would go it's alright. As I've often stated the random encounters are just too random so often times I get frustrated when I get into battles with lots of enemies with every step. The actual battles though don't seem to go in any pattern or order. We see how Rooks got three attacks against Rimsala in a row for no real good reason when the battle was primarily I attack, Rimsala would attack and sometimes we would get a chance to attack once more. In party battles sometimes Rooks would get two attacks, but then it would just skip over say Axs turn. Enemies also attacked whenever and how often they felt like. It seems like this game was kinda just thrown together, but I heard that the translation is at fault for some of that problem. As it seems the japanese version of the game called 'Cardmaster' seemed to have a more fluid and flowing dialogue though I couldn't tell you how much so since I don't know Japanese. This game has the characters and elements of a epic quest, but it just never quite feels like one. However I did really like Rooks as the lead character. I really couldn't say why, but I just liked him. He was a powerhouse from the beginning and could use all those cards.Well let's go into the other aspects of the game.
Graphics: I think the graphics are good especially for a first generation Super Nintendo game. One thing is that the game I think has very good animation though you can't really tell that from the pictures. The enemies are animated in battle and animate when they attack. Rooks and his party have a animation attack as well. Also walking through the dungeons looks smooth especially when you turn. The dungeons do really look all the same with just different colors, but I think most people don't expect a completely new look when it comes to this kinda game. Since the game is about a card master everything is basically shown as a card as you had seen which is pretty cool. As far as graphics go I liked them.
Music and Sounds: I think the music in this game was great for the most part. The town music was kinda lame, but everything else was good at least. I really liked the music in Dwaven Pass as well as the music in battle against Rimsala's true form. Another good song was the standard battle theme, that was great and I never got sick of it actually. That's a really good thing when you realize just how many battles you had gotten into throughout the game. I think a soundtrack for this game should have been made because I know it would have went Gold at least maybe it would have.The sound effects were generally your standard RPG sounds as usual, but they were all done well and I liked them.
Challenge: This game wasn't as challenging as I rememberd, but it still is mostly a challenge due to the fact that you have to try and navigate your way through all the dungeons that have designs made specifically to annoy the player. Especially near the top of Stavery Tower where one of the levels was just one big square and you had to keep turning and just generally wander around with no aim whatsoever until you stumble upon the stairs that take you up to the next level. I don't even want to get started on the Ice mines again. The random encounters were much harder than the majority of the boss battles and Zerel back in Chapter two was the only hard apprentice. By the time Rooks gets to Sauza though he is just too powerful. Rimsala was hard though at least it's a game with a hard last boss.
Fun and replayability: Playing through this game was pretty fun though at times some of the dungeon layouts were really annoying and the encounter rate can turn anyone's good day into a particualry bad one. I still had fun though and well I think you can see that in my walkthrough. This was probably the third time or so that I've played the game, but the first time I ever beat it so I don't think I'll want to play it ever again after that terrible ending heh the replayability is more on the low side, but it's still a good play through once.
The Bottom Line: I did enjoy the game and it was released way back in 1992 so taking that into consideration I think it was pretty impressive. There are flashes of greatness that show a epic story could have been there (I especially like the final ascent of Stavery Tower where everyone is climbing it just not all at the same time), but often times the dialogue seems very poorly done and doesn't have a really driving factor behind it. Even if the ending was disapointing Rimsala wasn't and it was neat that Rooks had to fight her one on one. I'd say this game had lots of potential, but the execution was off a little bit. It's still better than average though and I think was worth my time to write all of this and worth your time to read it.
Overall Rating:
6.5/10
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