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Hello everyone! How are those sorcery and witchcraft lessons going? For this new entry I bring you a title that will surely please all the fans of classic JRPG games, for the game follows one by one all the rules established in the genre during its golden era in the 16/32-bit generations. To many this will be just but a fossil from past generations that refuses to disappear, but to many others it will be another proof that there is still space (and need) for classics titles in the game industry, and if not you can ask the guys from Shovel Knight. The game itself is called Crimson Gem Saga. Let’s see what this small gaming gem inspired on the titans of the genre that once ruled the videogame industry has to offer.
Crimson Gem Saga was released in 2008 exclusively for Sony’s PSP, although some time later it received also an iOS version. However, the iOS version was removed from the Apple Store some time ago, making the title to remain a PSP exclusive again since then. Despite being a pure JRPG to its core, Crimson Gem Saga was developed by Korean Ironnos, best known for developing the Astonishia series. In fact, Crimson Gem Saga is the “second part” of Astonishia Story, a Tactic JRPG for PC that received a remake for the PSP in 2005. However, just like in the Final Fantasy series, the episodes in the series are independent, therefore is not necessary to play Astonishia Story in order to be able to understand the story of Crimson Gem Saga. Rumor has it that the game was going to be called actually Astonishia Story 2, but developer decided to change the name in order to avoid any connection between the two titles given the bad results Astonishia Story got during its release. Despite not being a bad game, the truth is that Crimson Gem Saga is a far superior game in every single aspect, on top of belonging to a completely different genre. The story of Crimson Gem Saga puts us in the role of Killian von Rohcoff, a young aspiring knight. The story begins one morning one Killian wakes up with a hell of a hangover, causing him to almost being late to his own graduation ceremony. When he arrives the ceremony, he has to watch powerless how his arrogant “classmate” and rival Herbert von Guterrian is chosen as the best of their promotion, something Herbert does not hesitate to brag about, pushing good Killian out of the picture and getting all the glory for himself. But that will be the least of Killiam’s problem, as soon after joining a group of soldiers to start his new life as a knight, his whole unit gets wiped out and Killian himself is left half dead, just to recover and find himself trapped in a dangerous adventure in which the destiny of the whole world will depend on him and his companions. Though the story itself is not the next big thing, actually is pretty much the typical “lets save the world”, it does a good job brining the development of the adventure forwards with its humor sense and little twists here and there. The main protagonists will be:
Killian Spinel
Lahduk Henson
Gelts Acelora
As for the gameplay itself, as I was saying at the beginning, Crimson Gem Saga is a pure JRPG experience just like the ones we could find in the golden era of the genre, so all those who are looking for something new, might as well look somewhere else. However, if what you are looking for is an experience that plays and feels just like the classics, look no further, for Crimson Gem Saga does just that, and it does it really well. As the good classic JRPG game it is, Crimson Gem Saga follows the typical town/map/dungeon pattern, and holds onto it till the very end of the adventure. Just like we could see in most classic JRPG games, Crimson Gem Saga will allow us to explore the towns freely and talk to the people to gather info about our mission and the world and purchase the goods we will need for our adventures. After we gear up ourselves properly, we will explore the world map and head to the next dungeon, which we will have to explore and in which we will have to defeat the corresponding boss in order to be able to advance through the adventure. Like I said, pretty straight forward JRPG stuff. Crimson Gem Saga also includes several secondary missions that we will be able to undertake and that will reward us with useful items. As for the game’s combat system, it will be no less classic, as the game makes uses of the “archaic” (or so some many say) turn-based system. However, there are good news for the haters of the system, for this time around at least the encounters won’t be random. Instead of that, we will see the enemies moving across the screen at all time, and we won’t battle them unless we enter in contact with them. We will be able to launch a surprise attack if we enter in contact with them from the rear, allowing us to carry an extra turn at the beginning of the combat in which we will be able to unleash hell at our enemies at will. However, if the enemies are the ones that catch us off guard, then it will be us who will get punished with no mercy for one turn. One important thing to keep in mind is that the enemies will always move faster than us, so once detected, perhaps is a good idea not leaving our rear too exposed (no double meaning intended) while we are trying to run away. As I was saying before, the combats use the same turn-based system we can see in other classics such a Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, thus we have that when we enter in contact with an enemy, we will be taken to the combat screen. There we will be able to choose among the typical options of attack, defense, items, skills and escape in order to deal with our enemies. And that’s about it. Forget about complicated combos or about screens with all kind of data flying around. Just pure 16/32-bit style JRPG. However, the team did add a couple of small twists here and there to “spicy up” the things a little bit. For example, when we try to escape, selecting the option won´t be enough to do so. Instead of that, we will have to follow the onscreen prompts and press the right buttons at the right moment in order to be able to escape. The game also includes the option to perform combined attacks ala Chrono Trigger. Two characters will be able to join their forces in order to unleash a powerful combined attack provided they both can take an action and that both have learned the necessary special skill. Of course, when we defeat our enemies will obtain the typical rewards, such as gold and experience points. On top of this, the characters will also learn Skill Points, which we will be able to use to unlock a wide variety of special skills for our characters via the skill tree of each of them. This option adds an extra complexity layer to Crimson Gem Saga’s system that helps to keep the game from becoming just too simple or repetitive. The list of available skills for each character will be rather extensive, allowing us to customize each character for very specific roles, so while some players could have modified a character to fulfill an offensive role, other player could modify that same character for a more supportive role, proving how flexible this system is.
Lastly we have the graphic part of the game, and I can already tell you that, if you love pixels, you are in for a real feast. Crimson Gem Saga is a GORGEOUS game that will make you fall in love with it right from the starts due to its charming and detailed graphic presentation. All the characters and stages boost all kind of details that make the game come to live in our screens. But where Crimson Gem Saga really shines is in the impressive amount of animations available for each characters and the, again, huge amount of details of these. In fact, the level of obsession of the team with the animations goes to the point where each skill with have its own animation. Crimson Gem Saga is indeed a true eye-popper, one of those games that are no longer made, and one more solid proof that pixel art, when used right, has a something that the almighty polygons don’t have.
All in all, Crimsom Gem Saga is definitely a great game that had the potential to do better, but it had the bad luck of being released in the wrong times, and in a platform that was many times ignored by many editors due to problems like the high developing costs (for a portable game) and the high levels of piracy, especially in the western market. However, Crimson Gem Saga is a game that manages to shine inside Sony’s handheld catalogue, and I’m absolutely convinced that, had the game been released during the 16/32-bit era, we would be talking about a classic of which many fans of the genre would have many fond memories of. In fact, I’m completely convinced that all those lovers of the genre that give a chance to Crimson Gem Saga will fall in love with it, for despite no offering anything really new or being a master piece, the game always know what its aiming for, and what it does, it does it really well. However, as it always happens with this kind of games, the rather limited release the title had makes it quite hard to come by (even in this the title is similar to the classics!), and therefore it can be quite pricy for today’s standards, but those who are looking for a classic flavor experience should definitely give a chance to Crimson Gem Saga, for I’m sure the game won’t disappoint them. Enjoy!
GAMEPLAY VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkinIXurtGQ
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