For starters, I'm doing so because I've been a big fan of Giger's work since I first encountered it while watching what has become one of my favorite films, Aliens. (Giger was responsible for the design of the eponymous creature that has been the focus of all four Alien movies.)
Another reason I'm noting and commemorating Giger's death here: his surreal designs were utilized in a handful of games over the years--Cyberdreams' spooky, point-and-click PC games, Dark Seed and Dark Seed II, as well as Hudson's Jaseiken Necromancer, a gory (for its time) PC Engine RPG, among them.
I've actually owned a copy of Jaseiken Necromancer for some time now (the photo above is of my own HuCard), but I've yet to play it because of the language barrier.
Maybe I'll finally pull it and my PC Engine Core Grafx II out soon and give them a go in honor of Giger's life. And, who knows, maybe I'll even use the experience as an excuse to re-start my Japanese studies?
2 comments:
I finished Necromancer, but beware, it is terribly unbalanced, you can choose party members but some are worse than bad. You must have to get always the best equipment because monsters scale abruptly. Also, you can get a very good sword early on, but no clue at all in the game, it is in a random point in the map. Most of the time your companions will do pitiful damage, getting the necromancer requires traversing a false wall (no clues).
Also it is in katakana, so it is not very recomendable to learn japanese and the passwords are lovecraftian, even being able nowadays to just take a photo.
There are some very well commented lets plays in niconico douga, but they call their hero "Homo" you are warned.
The first part of the video (you must be registered). http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm20127316
It does some things for amusement, like getting killed to save time, and so on, but it will give you an idea of how brutal is this RPG.
To complete it you MUST be able to read a guide in Japanese, at least to know how to use the spells for the last 4 boss sprint.
Funnily Takahashi Meijin of Hudson's fame had to complete this with all party combinations, there were doubts you could do it with Baron and Romina. I guess poor Takahasi lost some hair with that XD.
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