It is destiny...it is fate! Let's Play The Adventures Of Alundra

Developed by Matrix Software in Japan, Alundra is basically a Zelda clone, but in my opinion one of the better ones. It was one of the first PS1 titles I ever bought, and I've found myself coming back to it several times, due to it's winning combination of a surprisingly dark storyline, a memorable cast of characters and very good English script courtesy of Working Designs. It's not without it's irritations, however, which we'll come to in time. One of these is the unfortunate way Working Designs decided to "improve" the game by making it harder than the original Japanese version, mainly by increasing the hit points of some monsters to an absurd degree.

As in Link's Awakening, the action in Alundra centres largely around the inhabitants of a single village. And this is a good thing, as it helps give the game's cast a little more definition, rather than just being another bunch of faceless NPCs who exist solely to tell you where to go next. One of the things I like about the game is it actually makes you care about what happens to these insignificant bystanders, which is more than can be said for most RPGs.

The UK version comes with some nice free stuff - a walkthrough for the early stages of the game, and this fold-out map showing the areas we'll initially be able to explore:



Too bad they managed to mispell the name of the island, twice! Iona is actually an island off the coast of Scotland, and that's definitely not where we're going.

Flip the map over. and there's a closeup of Iona, sorry, Inoa village and brief character descriptions of the inhabitants.



Oops, my scanner cut off the very bottom of the page. The missing word from Kline's entry is "archer".

As this game is rather cavalier in it's treatment of the supporting cast, I'll be including a death count for these poor folks as we go on. I also might be enlisting the good folks of Talking Time to help solve some of the trickier puzzles(and there are quite a few).

You may've noticed a certain similarity between Alundra and Nigel, the hero of Climax Entertainment's Landstalker:



Following a little research, it seems both games share some creative talent, including character designer Yoshitaka Tamaki, best known for his work on the Shining Force series, and director/writer Kenji Orimo. So was Alundra intended to be an unofficial sequel to Landstalker? Who knows! Who cares!

Anyway, enough of this idle speculation, the game is afoot!

I love this game! Unfortunately I never finished it, and I was just thinking about picking it up from home over Christmas break. This gives me an excuse to motivate myself to finally finish, so maybe I'll play along with you as you go.

I rented this game once and liked it!

I remember that the villain looked a lot like Pyron from Darkstalkers... but that's all I remember.

Actually, no! They reduced some of the boss' hit points (notably the final boss) and boosted their attack power. I remember Ireland complaining about how the final boss of the Japanese version was pretty much impossible to lose to, but it took aaaaages to defeat. That is a rebalancing I can actually get behind.

hmmm, this looks interesting. I don't suppose there is any easy way to get ahold of this? I doubt it's on PSN.

This was the game I was going to play next after I beat Suikoden... well this or Valkyrie Profile! Now I don't have to figure things out on my own!

Hmm, okay. Guess I was misinformed. I seem to remember that the final boss does take a particularly long time to die, that is unless you have the Legendary Sword.

I think this game's on the PSN network in Japan only. That probably doesn't help much, I know.

I got bored of this game about 3/4 of the way through, so thanks for finishing it for me. It's just too.. same-y, even if it has some good ideas. I did kind of want to see how it ends!

The Alundra LP's underway? Sweet! I friggin' loved Alundra, and regret that I don't have it any longer, so I'm looking forward to this. Heck, this game's what got me to learn about its predecessor Landstalker, which currently resides in my cache of Virtual Console games.

I would have liked Landstalker more if the controls weren't so dang hard to get a handle of, and the isometric camera wasn't so hard to work with.

I wanted to love you, Landstalker. WHY WON'T YOU LET ME!

The lengthy opening movie consists of gameplay footage intercut with memorable scenes from the game rendered in anime form, accompanied by some rockin' synth guitar music(added for the US version, apparently). That black space in the lower half of the screen isn't supposed to be a glitch, as far as I'm aware.



And here we at the title screen. Yay. I really like the flamenco style theme that plays here. As you can see, our choices are rather limited at this point - "Start" it is.



The opening scene finds our hero, Alundra, aboard a ship bound for the distant isle of Inoa, following the mysterious call of a voice he heard in a dream. Heroic, upbeat "start of the adventure" music plays. Better enjoy it while it lasts kiddo, this the happiest things are going to get for a while.

As it stands currently, Alundra doesn't have a hell of a lot going for him in the hero stakes. He can't jump very high, has only a rather pathetic short sword to defend himself and could easily be knocked out by a stiff breeze. Some of these things will be improved as the game goes on, apart from the jumping, unfortunately.





Our fellow passengers are something of a cold and distant bunch. I like the idea that Alundra has been continuously pestering this guy about where his cabin is, even though there's only one possible place it could be.



And here's a smattering of low-brow humour, just so we don't forget this is a Working Designs script...

I remember 2 things well about this game.

1. Dieing a lot thanks to the insane amount of damage some enemies seemed to do.

2. Those ice puzzles to get that one secret item. I wasted so much time before giving up and looking it up in the game guide.


Do it! You have to play something in between speed runs of Super Metroid and Link to the Past. I can also lend you the guide if you want (and if I can find it in my spare bedroom.)

They named a prophetic female character "Sybill"? How... subtle.

I love this guy. His art is just adorable.

I am with Kishi. His art defined what anime in a game was supposed to look like, at least for me.

This is one of my favorite games that I never finished (Although I own it now, I just need the time). This should be a good LP. Do it justice Pheel; I believe in you!

@McClain: It's still a relatively cheap game to get ahold of, so a quick ebay search should do you well.

Lookin' forward to this! I got up to the final dungeon, but didn't get much further for some reason.

I've been interested in this game for over a decade now, and seeing it in action is gonna be great.

I watched my college roommate beat this over a Thanksgiving vacation back in the day. To my knowledge, he considered it the hardest game he ever beat.

And the bodycount!

Rented this game once, and I keep regretting not buying it. This awesome track keeps mocking me for my decision.

Once you're bored of antagonising the passengers and crew, it's time to go and bother the captain. Luckily, this results in some helpful exposition!

(It's worth noting that only significant characters get their own portrait, like Merrick here. If someone's got one it's pretty obvious they're going to play an important part in the story. But you can probably guess that)



Nothing else to do at the moment, so we might as well check out Alundra's cabin. Wow, sparsely furnished or what. And hang on, what's that? I think we've just discovered what sexually frustrated crewmen on this ship use to get through the long lonely nights. The dirty peepers.



The crew are somewhat less than helpful when confronted about the hole in the wall situation. In fact, these guys are pretty much just a couple of drunken jerks. Still, it's good to know the work ethic is so strong aboard this ship. Breach in the hull? Eh, someone else will fix it! Mast on fire? Yeah, whatever. Maybe the Captain will be more responsive to criticism...



Merrick is understandably a bit freaked-out by my constant stream of questions and suggests I go for a lie down and stop bothering him.



That's not a bad idea, actually. If nothing else, a nap will help pass the ti...



...Whaaa?



"...am bound once more..."

Now we find out why Alundra's been having sleeping issues - turns out he can't shut his eyes without some mysterious otherworldly being materialising and demanding his assistance to battle ancient evil.



Why do I suddenly feel rather apprehensive about where this discussion is going?

Bumping the thread in the hopes Pheel will return to it!

Sorry about the extended break, I promised myself I wouldn't let this one slip.

Previously on Alundra:
Our hero took a trip on a magic swirling ship, was insulted by some alcoholic sailors and had a bad dream. Now, Lars, the Guardian Of The Seal, is delivering some important exposition...



The demon lord Melzas, everyone! Yes, he might sound like a third-rate children's entertainer, but this guy means business. Some discussion follows:






"...Admit your cowardice, foul fiend!"
"I am not so cruel as to steal away..."



"...Believe what you will, Lars."




Melzaz departs at this point, but it seems this exchange of mild insults has been too much for Lars.





Phew. So, the upshot of all this is I get to go where I was going anyway, but now I have to save the world once I get there? Great.

Lars shuffles off to wherever it is wizards go when they die, leaving Melzas to get the last word in:



"It is destiny...it is fate."

And that's the end of our first dream sequence. And we still haven't got to the actual start of the game yet!

Alundra awakes with a start to find the ship is now caught up in a tremendous storm represented(although you can't see it here) by the screen shaking violently from side to side. The door is also jammed. Uh-oh...



But remember that crack in the wall we noticed earlier? All we have to do is get past this clumsily stacked piles of crates and can make our escape via the next cabin. Hooray for shoddy workmanship!




Up on deck, things aren't looking too great, despite the captain's reassurances. A crewman cries out a desperate warning of oncoming danger, but it's already too late...




The mast crashes onto the deck as the ship itself is torn asunder! FADE TO WHITE...




Sometime later, Alundra is washed up unconscious on a nearby beach. But who is this mysterious stranger approaching, and what can his intervention mean to us? Find out, next time...

Apologies, updates all thrown out of whack by christmas and post-christmas illness misery. Here's a mini-update to get back into the swing of things.

Previously: bad dreams, shipwreck, washed up on beach, etc.



Jess, everyone! He's just your average comedy jewish blacksmith with a good heart and a tragic backstory. Plus he lets us stay at his place for free, so you can't really complain.

Jess's theme





Jesus, I've just got here and he's already guilt-tripping me about leaving!




Diaries like these serve as convenient save points throughout the game. Not much else to say about that, so lets head downstairs...

Now we can control Alundra again, a quick note about the controls. It's all pretty straightforward as you might expect in this kind of game. Square button for a sword swing, triangle to dash, circle to use selected menu items, and X to execute one of those slightly pathetic jumps. Start opens the menu:



As you can see, we're not carrying a great deal yet. Pressing any of the shoulder buttons opens a second screen displaying any crests or other special items we may've recovered and also our current equipment. Nowt but a jockstrap and a pair of boots at the moment, it seems. New armour is automatically equipped whenever you acquire it.



Good idea, lets go for a stroll...

That jockstrap's actually the bit of armour Alundra wear over his heart on the sprite and in the opening movie. (You can't see it on the box.)

Really that just makes him weird for wearing a jockstrap over his heart.

I always love these LPs of old games I never got to play.

Keep up the good work, sir!

I'd be surprised if that's not a WD addition. And that "You ain't one of them freak boys" line is completely retarded. I mean, what the hell does that mean? How does it follow? It seemed like things had gone on without a anachronistic, non-sequitur outburst for longer than WD could stand. Also, thumbs down on the random mash up of dialects from disparate times and places in a tiny, medieval backwater.

Still, the game itself is fun and challenging.

Holy Hell, I was in Alundra?

Okay, I have to play this.