Cards Back on the Table: Let’s Play Arcana - Seal of Rimsala

Arcana is a 1992 role-playing video game for the SNES by HAL Laboratory. (Yes, the folks who brought us Kirby.) “Seal of Rimsala” is a recent hack that modernizes it a bit, including a FastROM patch, an edited translation (which removes some of the standard Nintendo censorship), and a bunch of tweaks to various systems.

I haven’t actually played this through in twenty years, since the last time I played my actual cart. So this is not going to be a full catalog of differences or changes, and it can’t be a super in-depth exploration because I don’t know all of the tiny hidden secrets. This is a play through for the sake of playing and experiencing the hack as if it were the original game.



Which is not to say I’m playing blind. The automap in this is not great, and only accessible by diving through menus. And Nintendo Power had some excellent coverage of this back in the day, including a fold-out poster of maps. So, basically, you’re going to get to see how a Beowulf play-through of this game goes in all its realistic glory.

Without further ado, let’s boot this bad boy up:





I start a new game. The addition of a subtitle to the title screen is clearly part of the hack. The original Japanese name of the game was “Card Master: Rimsalia no Fuuin”, so the subtitle isn’t coming from nowhere. (For that matter, using “Arcana” as the title of a game about magic cards is actually pretty sensible, given that it refers directly to Tarot decks and the magic cards in those.)


I don’t have a good explanation why it isn’t “Seal of Elemen” right at this moment, though.




So we’re picking up ten years after Galneon took over Lexford in a bloody coup. We’re definitely meeting some princesses on this journey and we’ll definitely end up in a battle with Galneon before the game is done.


There are five chapters to this game. That much Nintendo Power warned me about.




Rooks has a tragic backstory, getting the “doomed hometown” and “dead parents” tropes out of the way early.


That single magic card is Sylph, the wind spirit who’s also in our party.

On this particular day, Rooks is visited by Alan, an old…not quite friend. (Alan’s name is changed by the hack.)






Alan is like that guy you went to high school with who you are Facebook friends with but haven’t had a conversation with in ten years. Then he appears out of nowhere because he needs something. Also, his dad got your parents killed.






Rooks is either very duty-bound or just a sucker.

I like the cut of Alan's jib.

That's a face you can trust.

And my metaphor holds as Alan flits off to do something completely unrelated, leaving Rooks to handle this monster problem himself and also babysit this woman he's never met before.


Okay, so, we have Rooks, Teefa and the card spirit Sylph. Everybody’s level one. We start with 500 GP, no equipment and no magic


Nintendo Power gives the synopsis of what we just saw.




Around the town there’s an inn where we can heal and save, a card shop that will sell elemental cards and heal our spirits (if Rooks is the last remaining Card Master, why is a card shop still in business?), an equipment shop, and a bar.




Per their advice, I opt to jump straight to a short sword for Rooks, leaving Teefa under-equipped. Then I buy a few healing herbs before heading out.


Next time: An actual dungeon!

I like that Rooks has the "Man" attribute.

I never played this game, but I happen to know that it has extremely good battle music and really strange spell names. (Maybe the spell names are better in this patch, but the spell effects are also a little... arcane.) Anyway, I'm looking forward to this; I always admired the Nintendo Power features on this game, so I'm not sure why I never tried it. Maybe the local rentals didn't carry it?

I don't think it had a very big print run; I managed to collect most of the RPGs released for the SNES in the US as a teenager and I never saw a copy in the flesh, and I still managed to get a copy of BoF 2 (farewell, summer job money) used.

Princess Teefa? Spoilers, Nintendo Power! Spoilers!

Welcome back!

In case you weren’t paying attention, here’s the manual recapping a bunch of details we just saw.


Welcome to Balnia Temple, our first dungeon.


Combat works like you’d expect: Random encounters, turn-based battles, XP and Gold for winning.


Sylph (and the other elemental spirits we’ll find) don’t have their own XP totals; they get stronger as Rooks does. Elemental Spirits also regenerate HP as you walk around. Human characters require healing magic and inns, as usual.


Chests in this game can’t be seen from a distance, only from the square they’re in. So you need to walk all the way to the ends of corridors to check for prizes.


The enemies are all very much in the “just attack a lot” first-level stage. The two human characters massively out-damage Sylph because they have actual weapons, but even Sylph can one-shot wimpy Slimes and Dogs.


Teefa (who, to be fair, is one-shotting enemies with her whip), decides to leave to be useful and learns Heal 1.


Rooks, apparently jealous of Teefa’s newfound ability, immediately proceeds to one-up her by learning Heal 2.


Other chests on the first floor provide Herbs, which restore HP, and a Silver Flask, which restores MP.


With all of that under my belt, I head back to town and spend my 500 GP on a shield for Rooks and Hard Leather for Teefa.



The game doesn’t give you indications of whether a weapon is stronger than what you currently have when you’re looking in the shop, mind you. Instead, you need to consult the manual for the attack and defense power associated with each item.


Nintendo Power also suggested I needed a Return Ring, so I snagged one of those, just in case.

By the way, apparently one of the things this hack does is remove the “Man” attribute. Rooks has “None” as his attribute here.


Pickpockets are moderately stronger that other first floor enemies.


As are green dogs, aka Wolfs.


I find a couple more chests on this floor. The cash will be handy when I get back to town.


When we approach the stairs up, there’s a boss battle.


The only strategy here is that he’s weak to wind, so we can use Slyph’s magic to change our team’s attribute to wind. Then just attack for a couple of rounds.


The manual actually explains how the elements interact, even if the game itself doesn’t. It’s kind of the critical point of strategy. There’s some wobble, but basically Wind -> Earth -> Water -> Fire -> Wind (doing 160% damage), and also Wind -> Water and Water -> Wind; Earth -> Fire and Fire -> Earth (doing 120% damage). Elementals do only 80% damage to their own element, and 40% damage to the element that’s strong against them.


The elemental affinities of monsters will matter more later, as we have more characters and more ability to deal magical damage.


The rewards are pretty decent, but I’ve already been back to town once, so I press on.


The second floor has some new enemies, but only in the “they hit a little harder and have more HP” sense.


You need to loop to the left when you come upstairs, but all the treasures are on the east side of the floor, in this back-and-forth set of cul-de-sacs.




It’s a decent haul.


Saurians also appear on the 1st floor. They’re on the level with Wolfs. Chimeras are a little strong than that.

And I gain a few levels and learn some new magic along the way.


The second boss of the temple is a recolor of the first. Stronger, but with the same weakness and no real special attacks.


I attempted to impair his attack, but it didn’t work.


Just switch to wind and take turns punching until you win.


Here’s the full map of the temple we’ve just explored.


Hmm…how very mysterious.


In the final room, there’s a priest and a dwarf named Axs. They’re guarding some sort of magic sword.




Teefa starts a battle out of nowhere, and successfully gets Paralyze to work on two enemies in one casting, for the first and last time ever in a jrpg.

And then our favorite Facebook Friend comes back; turns out he wasn’t too busy to come along after all.








As everyone could have predicted, Alan followed in his father's footsteps and joined the side of evil. Also, now we have any idea about the Seal of Rimsala in the subtitle.


There's no way Rooks would help this jerk.


Or maybe it's because you're helping the guy who killed my parents, dumbass!

Shock! Betrayal! Happiness that I never bothered to equip Teefa with that Mage Staff we found!


Alan and Teefa will take turns attacking. The first attack wipes out Sylph. The rest each deal half of Rooks’ remaining HP, so it won’t actually kill him.






The priest manages to get free from being paralyzed and comes to our aid, driving off Alan and Teefa, though they keep the sword.

And so ends Chapter 1! We’ll pick up with Chapter 2 next time.

I love that this game is going in super hard on the cards aesthetic and rendering almost everything as a card of some sort.

Also greatly appreciating the Nintendo Power scans! They add a lot of flavor that it seems like is missing from the game itself.

Alan is a perennially angry-looking dude.

Meanwhile, Axs is such an awkward and unimaginative name for a dwarf that I can't help but completely love it.

Teefa went from anime princess eyes to "I am cursed to be the strongest" eyes awfully fast. And Alan is proving that you can shout while making a catface :3
This always felt like a really early betrayal, but from what I recall the game doesn't really have slow story scenes. As if they accounted for all the time spent in dungeons and only put in juicy scenes like this one.

This game is a kind of quiet favourite, thanks for LP'ing it!

If we don’t meet at least one Reynold in this chapter, I’m going to be irritated.


We wake up in the Dwarf Town with a strange woman looking over us.




Rooks apparently got looped into some major messes by Alan’s machinations! A princess playing nursemaid to…well, the last remaining Card Master, so I suppose he ranks.


Dwarf naming culture is very straightforward.


More heroes, upon waking up from getting the snot beaten out of them, should say this.




Axs was on the right side of history from the start. Definitely more trustworthy than Alan.


No guessing who the final boss is going to be.

Upon reflection, this is one of the game’s biggest mysteries and biggest plot holes: The magic cards seem really critical to the functioning of the world, and everyone seems to have heard of the Card Masters and Zahan. Nobody else learned this skill? Nobody?




…Yeah, let’s not talk about Alan’s dad.




Perhaps bringing the crown princess on a dangerous mission when our overall success depends on her being alive to take the throne isn’t a great idea…?




Well, okay, if you really think that’s the best plan. (It’s a bad plan.)


The manual has some comments on the folks we’ve met so far.

First stop is to the card seller’s tent to revive Sylph.


I spend some time poring over the manual and the relative strength of various equipment pieces, and eventually settle on buying Rooks the best sword and shield available for him, and giving him Teefa’s Hard Leather (which she kindly stripped off before betraying us). Sarah gets that Mage Staff I found, Rooks’ old Soft Leather, and also a shield. I’ll come back for better mail for both of them when I have some more ready cash.


We head to the forest via the Dwarf Pass.


The enemies here are a mix. The Goblin is an easy encounter from the last dungeon.


Bees are more appropriate as an upgrade for this area, though with a Broad Sword, Rooks can one-shot them. The Chimera can cast the attack spell Attribute 1, which I had hoped would get renamed by this hack. (Fortunately, Attribute 1 isn’t very effective on Sylph. Still hurts the humans quite a bit.)



Let’s stop for a second and talk about spells: The single-element spells all have logical names. The multi-element spells, though, apparently just got lumped together as “Attribute” spells. Attribute 1, for example, is a Wind-Water spell and is effective against Earth and Water.

I feel like there’s a bounty of multi-element spell names they could have used here. Of course, coming up with a spell that uses wind and water, and is somehow effective against earth and water but not fire is tricky. My best idea is “Desertification”, but I’ll welcome other suggestions!


The first couple of chests have healing items.


Slyph learns an attack spell on my next level-up. Lightning doesn’t do amazing damage, but it hits all enemies.


Puddings aren’t terribly noteworthy.


This little nook has some better finds.


Speaking of attack magic, Sarah learns Attribute 3 All. Checking our chart, that’s an Earth-Water spell that is effective against Water and Fire. How about “Drowning Mud”?


Immediately after, I meet a group of five enemies, so I have her cast it. It decimates her MP, but one-shots everything in the battle.


In general, magic is expensive at this point in the game. Rooks can only manage to Heal 2 castings before his MP is exhausted. Also, having your best attacker also be your primary healer is an issue mid-battle.

We meet this mysterious elf, who’s clearly strong but also kind of a jerk. At least he warns us about a Fire giant we’re likely to run into.


This is Nintendo Power’s map of the Dwarven Pass.


In the forest proper.


The enemies get an upgrade here. I suspect I’ll be using my Return Ring soon, but I want to grab a few more treasures first.


I end up having Sylph cast Lightning a lot, because it softens these guys up and is cheap to cast.


I snag a couple of level-ups. Sarah learns another expensive attack spell, and Rooks learns another handy utility spell.

Attribute 6 is a Water-Fire spell that’s effective against Fire and Wind. I vote for calling it “Scalding Flood.”

There’s a cul-de-sac over on the east end of the first forest path with some handy treasures.

(If the details of some of those screenshots look weird, it’s because I borked a save-state and had to re-fight a bunch of battles.)




Honey gives permanent stat increases. As Nintendo Power suggested, I’m using them all on Rooks. The collection I found gives him bonuses to basically everything.


The Blood Card is a renamed item in the hack. Only Rooks can use it, and it attempts to cause instant death.


Water Cards are one of the four elemental type cards Rooks can use in lieu of attack magic. I suspect I’ll want these when we meet that fire giant.


Then, my resources thoroughly exhausted, I Return Ring back to town.


Rooks gets a suit of Chain Mail (the Breast Mail is only a minor upgrade), and Sarah gets the Hard Leather.

And that’s it for now. No doubt I’ll push further into the forest next week. Well, some doubt. 'Cause it's the forest of doubt. I'll...yeah, I'll try again next week.

One other random note: Does anyone have a way of getting hack author Sarah Shinespark's attention? I'd kinda like for her to see this, but the readme and such don't have any contact info.

Once you start getting the other card summons, I think the general idea is that you use them for their magic more than anything else since you can't give them equipment (borne out by their relatively massive MP pools). The human party members seem to be mostly there for coverage and picking up the slack your chosen cards don't handle.

Post #4 – The Forest of Doubt


We need to hike through the Dwarven Pass again, but that’s pretty quick. I think I ran into three battles just charging through.


Then we’re back in the Forest of Doubt, but it’s also a fairly fast run because I already checked all of the nooks and emptied the chests.


At the halfway point, there’s a Cyclops. Note that he’s fire elemental (red border), so Sylph isn’t going to be terribly helpful here.


This seems like a decent time to show off the Cards command. You can use up to three cards of an element at a time, so I’ll hit him with all three Water cards.


Cards cost 10 GP each, which means they’ll become more economical as the game goes on.


Given that his next hit smashes Sarah for 59 HP, ending this battle quickly is clearly a good plan. Sarah’s two spells are also effective against fire creatures.

After the battle, we run into Darwin the elf warrior again.


This line really needs the exasperated tone of “What do you want now?”


Well, this is definitely better than Alan sending me off to do his dirty work. You’re probably more trustworthy. Any chance your dad betrayed, I don’t know, my grandfather or something?


Rooks is a lot more eager than I think I want to be. But let’s move on.


Darwin joins at level 12, which implies my characters are a little under-leveled. On the other hand, he isn’t wearing anything and apparently broke his sword. I’m going to push a little farther, then go back and buy him some pants. (Honestly, right now he hits as hard as Sarah does even without any equipment, so I think we can manage for a bit.)


The Dryad enemies (those tree-guys) are both some of the strongest here and also provide the best rewards by far.


There’s a Return Ring off in this corner, which is nice if you don’t have an extra.


We learn a few more spells as we catch up our levels.


Nintendo Power map of the forest.


Passing through the forest takes us to the Crimson Valley, the third and last area in this chapter. The valley is oddly set up, with a series of furrows and a lot of treasure chests.


Great Lizards are Dryad-level strength, but also fire elemental. I end up needing to burn a bunch of Rooks’ MP on healing. Dryad is basically just a damage sponge here, because she regenerates but can barely scratch the enemies.

Treasure chests give us cash money, which is useful now.


Assassins are water-elemental, and cast Water 1, which hits everyone in my party for single-digit damage. And sometimes misses. They still give decent rewards. I suspect there’s something odd in the way the game calculates damage, but Darwin can barely scratch these guys specifically.




We’ve been collecting a chest from the end of each of these furrows. Cash in every one.


The northmost furrow has a chest…that’s a trap! I think the hacker added that; I don’t remember those existing in the base game.


The second furrow from the top is the way through, then there’s another set. More cash to be had here.


And those are some lovely cash totals. Gonna get Darwin some fancy pants.


This spell actually isn’t in the manual. I wonder if it’s actually a changed effect, or just a renamed spell?


When an enemy catches you off guard, you actually spin on the map screen. It can make a mess of your navigation, even ignoring the free hit the enemy gets.


There’s a Return Ring among the second chest set, which is likely a hint that we should go back to town soon.

I push on to the third set anyway, because I'm foolhardy.




We find another full collection of honey. I’ll be using these on Rooks.


A set of nasty Great Lizard encounters saps my resources after that. I snag one more chest and use all my honey.


Then I Return Ring back to town.


Sarah gets an armor upgrade, Darwin gets a full set of gear.


I hadn’t noticed this until now, but you can actually buy honey. (I wonder if the hacker added that, too?) In theory, this means you could grind money and pump your stats. In actuality, I don’t see a reason to do that.


I also buy some more cards for Rooks. There’s another fire monster coming.


And that’s it for this week. I should be able to push through to the end of the chapter next time.

I've always been a fan of this game's aesthetic. Maybe I should try actually playing it sometime.

"Avoidance Impair All" sounds suspiciously like "Accuracy Increase All." Possibly the hacker renamed the spell to better reflect what it does.

I love how Sarah has a separate hat-less sprite.

I wonder if the attribute spells were any more intuitive in the original Japanese? They may just have each literally been pairs of kanji representing the specific elements?

Is this a "But thou must." situation?

Darwin has quite a lot more HP for only being a few levels higher. (Does that mean he's the fittest?)