Arcana for SNES - A Review | hungrygoriya 

"Watching somebody shuffle into the room" Excellent pun there.

Man, the Bintel Castle music from the last act of this game always chokes me up with just how rich and heady it sounds.

Always great to see more people talking about this beauty of a game, especially with its amazing soundtrack and spritework.

I loved this game so much when I was younger that when we got an iguana I named her Salah after the character from this game. Thanks for the fantastic review.

The music and art style of this game is so amazing, I was having euphoric memories of my rpg 90s childhood during the whole video!

Hey. Its me me again. I noticed you are reviewing my childhood again. Another great one. The music has been stuck in my head for decades at this point.

Okay, this game comes with some background. So like, back at the start of 1998 or the end of 97, I went over to my sister’s friend’s house across the street to watch them play Final Fantasy VII, but she was my big sister, and it was her big sister friend, I could not be there. So when I wouldn’t leave they got the friends mom, who was cool, and me and her son hung out all the time, so I for sure got him out of her hair a lot, and she was nice to me. Told me I could borrow one of her video games, and this game was the one I wanted because the cards looked pretty cool to 10 year old me, but she wouldn’t let me because she was playing it, so I switched systems from SNES to Sega, and borrowed Phantasy Star III. I never cared for that one, but I did make it to the end of the second generation, I think, and because she saw how far I got in an RPG, a game I don’t think she thought 10 year old me could actually sit down and play, she gave me a copy of Dragon Warrior III. The cover art on this game is like a suggestion that their would be witches in this game about magic. If all I saw for that game was the art, I don’t know if I would have guessed anime rpg card game. No shade, just that cover is a pile of filthy lies. That was pretty good feels, however, I’ve never tried playing it, still looks like fun.

I loved hearing your thoughts on Arcana! It's certainly a flawed game, but i think that adds to its charm. The four element system fascinated me and drew me into RPGs as a kid. Oh, I'm the author of Arcana: Seal of Rimsala (the improvement patch). There's redrawn maps for a new challenge, and it speeds up the game and makes things less frustrating. And theres lots of secrets to find. I hope you play it too!

This and the Jason Graves Phantasy Star IV review is gonna be an awesome night.

I sorta get the feeling that the people-as-cards thing was a non-literal framing device, but this really got me interested in the game, gonna keep it on my to-play list

its been a few years since i played this but i remember really liking it for a good simple dungeon crawler. also the music is fire as to be expected from Jun Ishikawa the Kirby composer

I freaking _love_ this game! I mean… the vanilla version has some problems - some of which are touched upon in this review. But! The enhancement patch (yes… me, too) made this already good game practically _perfect!_ I really love the story and especially the characters like Teefa and Axs. It's good stuff!

There is a certain melancholy feeling I get when I lose touch with a channel that I used to watch often and then find them again. Glad to have happened to see this on my homepage so I can start binging content again

Ah, Arcana. I played this game a lot as a kid. I love the music and could listen to the Bintel Castle theme for hours. Also, did you really see Petrify and Paralysis outside of cutscenes? I was under the impression that they were not implemented. That's probably why formation seems to be irrelevant, and why there's an empty equipment slot line on the screen which was apparently for magic rings or something (these can apparently be found in the game data, but they all do nothing if equipped). A couple of things I have gathered over my various runs through the game: In chapter 1, Teefa's eyes are red. Later on in chapter 5, they're brown. For reasons. It's so far apart that I always thought it was my imagination, but the difference is there. You can ignore all armor and shields entirely during chapter 1 and 2 at least, and probably even chapter 3. It doesn't seem to really protect you much, and the money can be saved for weapons or late game honeys. A short sword (only) will suffice for Rooks in chapter 1, which can then be saved and handed to Darwin in chapter 2 for the brief time he's with you in the Forest of Doubt. Giving HP and MP honeys to Rooks is vital for the final boss so that you can have more shots of Heal 3 and more turns between heals. All the other honeys can be sold. I once saved up all the Strength honeys you find during the game and gave them to Rooks at the very end, and his attack power rose by only a few points. You get a lot of points in your attributes, but they largely seem to be worth little, which is unfortunately kind of counterintuitive. Those raw HP and MP totals really are the most important thing. If you are desperate and don't mind being a little bit of a cheater, you can stand on a tile with a treasure box and spin around in circles to recharge your spirit's MP pool. You'll never run into a random encounter on those tiles, and Efrite and Marid both get healing magic.

Man, this takes me back. I remember picking this up from a flea market or something when I was a kid. Never did manage to finish the game, but I had a blast with it all the same. Pretty rare to hear anyone talking about it. At the time, I was pretty sure I was the only person who ever played the game, aside from whoever sold it lol...

This game was so amazing!!! I'm happy you got to play it! The music is next level lol

The music, the mellow narration, I found this video incredibly soothing.

OMG this is the type of game my brother loved. I was always the copilot, navigator, or 'map reader'. He would play, I would have the guide open. I hated it then but the memories are fond.

It's rare to see someone who knows and love Arcana. I played this game A LOT with my big brother and one of his best friend. We didn't had the manual so we had to bought them and see for ourselves what they do and wrote them on a list we made ! I really need to play it again with the patch, the retranslation is litterally night and day if we compared it to what we originally got ! Big thanks for this nostalgia trip and as a Falcom fan I REALLY love your Faxanadu jingle ! :) +1 sub

As someone who generally cannot play Dungeon Crawlers, this was a wonderful exception; I might not be able to handle Wizardry, but if I have Arcana and Shining in the Darkness, I can live with that. I think the EXCELLENT soundtrack played a big part in that, but the elemental system was a breath of fresh air (I love how it's a circle, rather than just another tug-of-war between earth/wind and fire/water), and the character portraits and enemies just look so cool! I'd like to recommend Tangledeep, or at least the OST, since it has a very similar sound to it; that one plays a little more like Castle of the Winds, but it's one of the rare games that lives up to its claims of, "Inspired by the 16-bit era". Also, something you can't unsee: this is Kirby's first appearance; you can see him in the crowds in the intro while the screen is red. It's visible at about 50 seconds into this video.

I remember reading about Arcana in Nintendo Power and it making a big fuss about the concept of NPCs, along the lines of "People who aren't Rooks might lie, steal, or even go away!" It's pretty amusing in hindsight how they had to gently introduce these concepts to kids in the early 90s.

for a long time, when I first played this game in the 90s, I always thought Rooks had blue hair. only when i saw the game on emulation on higher res screens, did I realize thats a blue hat.

It's interesting to know that the same developer who made the Kirby games and Earthbound also made Arcana.

What a weird mechanic, but kinda charming too. It's weird to think these characters will just appear to you naked, hang around, and then bail again. Making sure they are naked again before they leave! That auto mapping feature is a must for me! And that first person perspective looks pretty crisp! I'm defintley going to have to hunt for this one!

0:50 - I dunno if anyone else pointed it out, but you can see Kirby among the monsters in the Galneon picture. Arcana was done by HAL who also created the Kirby Franchise.

I rented this game as a kid, and a couple years later bought it used when a local video rental place closed down. Even as a kid I noticed the translation issue, but loved the visuals and soundtrack. I liked beating challenging games, and Arcana took a LOT of figuring out when I was 11 or 12. For some reason, this game seems to mostly get crapped on by modern reviewers that probably don’t realize RPG’s were still pretty new to American kids at the time. All the kids I knew that played this game enjoyed it and most of the aspects of the game that seem out of place today weren’t really noticed back then.

One of the few channels I know I can like the video before I watch it.

This was a great review. I can't bring myself to call Arcana a "good" game, but I still find myself playing it a lot. The music is definitely a highlight of the game. You can even press L + R + B on the title screen for a sound test and listen to the miniboss theme as much as you want (it's #80). This is also the only RPG I can think of that has chapter select codes. When an ally joins or rejoins you, their current level seems to be based on the current level of Rooks. Darwin joins at +3, Axs and Teefa join at +0, and Salah joins at -3. They have no experience points towards the next level, and their stats do not include any boosts from honey, even if you gave them a bunch before they left the party. I ran a bunch of tests by reloading saves, and tracking Rooks' level, honey used on Axs and Salah, etc. (The creator of the "Seal of Rimsala" patch says "There is a formula used to determine what level they will join your party at, more than likely dependent upon the level of Rooks.") There is also one more thing to note about levels. The level cap is level 60, and the stat gain from 59 to 60 is massive. Many of the gains to strength and other stats are over 10 points, some are more than 20. Several characters gain about 150HP on the last level, and the level up is displayed with a weird symbol because it's limited to two digits (it's like having Triangle9 Rare Candies after fighting MissingNo in Pokemon). It's always cool seeing appreciation for this game. I bought it used when SNES games were being phased out at the local video store, but I've never seen the manual before. That's an amazing find.

Arcana was one of my top 5 growing up! I loved the storyline, dialogue quirks and all (one of my favorites was from the tower- chapter 4, I think?- where Rooks mildly proclaims, "If it is a trap, then I will walk into the trap!"). The artwork was beautiful. As far as the soundtrack goes, I used to go into the secret sound menu and record each sound to tape- I enjoyed it that much! I loved how each chapter felt unique, even though they kept to the same dungeon-crawling theme throughout. I thought using cards to represent characters added a pleasantly unique way to set the scenes on each of the cutscenes. I thought Ariel was one of the coolest foes, even if he would always run away and sick his apprentices on Rooks. I would LOVE to play through this game again one day!

Excellent review! I owned an SNES as a kid and my best friend owned a Genesis. I always played Shining in the Darkness at his place and loved it! I bought Arcana because it was the closest game I could find to Shining on the SNES. I ended up loving it and it holds a lot of nostalgia for me. Glad to see you review this as not many people talk about it. Your points were so spot on. Those surprise party members having no equipment was always the worst.

I don't think the party order has any effect at all. If it does, it's so minimal that it's unnoticeable. The need to completely fill out the map? Yeah, I felt that. Blowing out the entire Ice Mine gives me a lot of satisfaction, for some reason. Here's a neat trick: you can't have encounters on a treasure chest square, so you can just turn in circles to fully charge up your spirit friends. Once they get healing spells, it's a convenient way to recover in a dungeon. Spin to win!

Back to back Hungry Goriya videos, Christmas came early :D

I did a run of this a while back with the patch and honestly I think that was the absolute best way to experience it. I know the OG is the version we got but from what I heard I think people didnt care too much on this project when it came to translation stuff. I would feel pretty ripped off playing a game that was translated without caring. Plus the patch fixes bugs in the game so thats all good too. About the video though, great video! I dont think people are literally cards in this world, I think the cards are a type of window into the world. Plus having smaller card sprites on the screen must have taken up less space. A smart way of doing that IMO. When I rated this game on my site I gave it a 6/6 with the fan patch because I just had an absolute blast from start to end. I only recall like a few parts of "eh"ness that barely dented my fun. Mostly from the ice cave haha. Thanks for this, and letting more people discover it! Again, huge recommendation with the patch but even without it your in for a good time.

Literally, LITERALLY just installed a romhack for this and put it on an RG552, just about to start playing, I guess I gotta now :D

I bought this for my sister back in '93 (i think, maybe 92) and she played the heck out of it. It seemed pretty cool. I've tried to play through it a few times but then get distracted and forget to go on lol.

You, ma’am, are a legend for playing this game on original hardware. Even when emulating with an uncapped framerate, the battles and dungeon crawling felt too long. Otherwise, I thought the gameplay was decent and had a good grind. I played it without the manual and so had to check the status screen between each equip. I might’ve bought weaker equipment a few times. And although the card aesthetic is never explained; boy, oh boy, that last boss. Edit: I wasn’t tracking formation since I didn’t read the manual, but I wonder if they pulled a Final Fantasy and made the order affect the chance of being hit. I believe the party fills up-left, up-right, bottom left, bottom right. I’ll check it out if I get some free time.

Time to discover another game before bedtime , thank you.

If anybody remembers the twinion network or the yserbius series, that is the pedigree and timing of the dungeon difficulty layout where the obstacle or checkpoint to cross is a sudden difficulty hurdle battle. You die there, remember it, and come back a little later stronger as a reward for being "I think I can go there now" strong. Not ideal in this case, as like she said, you go back to the title screen instead of reviving in town with your map retained.

Arcana never made it over herr in Europe, but the Shining in the Darkness games did! They taught my young self a lot about the dangers of overestimating yourself and taking the time to save and grinding... still, the quick exchange of party members and sudden difficulty spikes here make it sound like it wouldn't be as fun to play this as playing Shining was. Funny to hear that Hal Laboratories made it, however. Now I kinda hope that it could be released for NSO, since Hal and Nintendo are as close as they are. It might not be a big name, but it could still be fun to experience... even if it doesn't have the patch.

This was made by Hal America!? Man that explains the small touches

I miss the days when games came with detailed manuals.

Glad to see you talk about Arcana! I was never too into dungeon crawlers, but Arcana was one I really enjoyed the first time through and still replay from time to time. The best thing is definitely the music, its so so good. I've also yet to play the enhancement patch, so I'll definitely try that for a new playthrough. The translation always felt flat to me, so it'll be nice to finally see how the writing was given justice.

I used to play this all the time as a kid and beat it twice, it was my fave RPG at the time. Sadly, I lost the manual on a family trip. I was devastated for months lol :( And yes, you needed the manual, it was a TOUGH game. I love the design of the characters and monsters, and the game story intro was always so cool and intriguing. I still think to this day that the music is one of the best game soundtracks, it just sets the tone and atmosphere perfectly. Thank you for showing the images of the manual, it brought back so many memories of me as a little kid playing the game and looking through the manual to find the best gear and info. Great review!

I have this weirdly specific memory of this game. I've never played it, but I remember looking at it over and over and over in one particular issue of Nintendo Power magazine because whatever article came right after it was of extreme importance to me. It's just really ironic that today I can't remember what that important article was, yet I still vividly remember this weird card game next to it that I never played.

I tend to like the idea of first person dungeon crawlers more than I enjoy actually playing them I did have some fun with the time spent with this one. The 90s SNES rpg with goofy translations, great music, and the JRPG take on western fantasy style has a lasting appeal and charm.

I remember enjoying this game and in particular liking how the attacks showed up on the cards. And also making maps on grid paper

I have always loved Arcana. I remember wishing they'd set more games in the universe because the style was so unique.

I remember renting this game back in the early 90s. I did finish it once back then, and I remember how hard it was. It was the music that helped carry me through it though. None of the story stuck with me, I just liked the battles and the music mostly. It was a challenging and fun play through, but was a one and done play through in my mind. Unlike other RPGs like the Breath of Fire games, the Final Fantasy games, etc., this one didn't have a lot of replay value. I should try it again with the enhancement patch someday. I want to listen to all the music again in game.

I played this game when it was new. The high encounter rate and the difficulty curve around Chapter 3 originally made me put it down and move on to other RPGs on the SNES. I always liked the story and did want to complete it. I am glad I kept the manual, especially since this game has appeared to be forgotten by time and online resources can be limited.

Fuck yeah hungrygoriya!

I like how enemy sprite cards are moving, making you feel like fighting a real monster.

Wow I've never heard about this game before. I appreciate they went for it with the animations. There's a lot of cheap RPGs on current consoles, but I really like classic ones like these that look original in their design and art.

Arcana is a good game, and your speech about risk vs reward and how it relates to player psychology in dungeon crawlers makes me think you will really enjoy playing Wizardry games on SNES or PS1, or even the later Elminage: Original and Elminage: Gothic games on PC (made by ex-Wizardry Empire devs). I highly recommend all of those, and I think you will like them. For Wizardry, I recommend the SNES remakes for Wizardry 1 to 3, and the PS1 remakes for entries 4 and 5. The Elminage games are on Steam/PC, though Elminage: Original is also on PSP.

Somehow I've never even heard of this. Looks interesting

Had a friend that owned this one and I remember being at his house in high school trying it out. He had this, Actraiser, Sim City and Prince of Persia and of all of them, I liked Actraiser the best. Based on your review, feels like the post release fan improvements are the best way to play the game, which always has me torn because I prefer playing games the original way the devs intended. But either way, I think at the end of the day, this one still isn't for me. Great video as always!

I've never played a first-person dungeon crawler (unless you count Phantasy Star 1) but this looks pretty polished for a 16-bit game. HAL made some great games.

18:39 Unwavering Bravery in the Tower of Stavery

I gotta say, I absolutely love the character art and a lot of the visual design in this game. The story seems really cool, too! This really feels like it's the type of game that would have gotten a remake on say, PSP or 3DS, but surprisingly no, it hasn't seen any kind of rerelease at all from what I can find. A surprising fact is this seems to be put together by HAL, as in the company behind Kirby and Smash Bros. I could see this as being a game that, if someone had it growing up, likely would have been a huge creative influence, and they'd probably be someone who knows the game inside and out xD

I never did question why some people were cards and some were normal people, that is interesting. I had a chance to play this one back in the 90s and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I love how you can abuse the gameplay and level up and even use items later on to build stats like you mentioned. I just love this 90s SNES ascetic and how those graphics show card type effects like rips and tears. Also your coverage of the game is very well done and even brought up more things I had not considered. As usual thank you for the very well done review.

1:08 I spy Brain Lord! 😍. Awesome review Hungry.

I always enjoy your videos. Keep it up!

As a european I am no stranger to weird or confusing translation choices. Back in the 8- and 16-bit era it was downright common for localizers to invent their own character traits and plotpoints by fiddling with the dialogue. "Fluffy" and "Hollerö" in Terranigma come to mind. That aside this sounds like a really interesting title. I will probably have a look at that translation patch you highlighted.

Oh man, loved this one when I was a kid. Brought back some great memories with this review, thank you!

Man I am really loving your content! I love how you seem to cover most of the more obscure titles that I either passed over or didn't get a chance to play back in my younger days, & watching your reviews is really making me want to go back & check them out! Your reviews are just so well done & your opinions & tastes very much mirror my own. I truly hope your channel blows up one day & gets promoted by someone to give you a boost! You absolutely deserve it!

Ooooo can’t wait to watch when I’m off. Three day weekend!!🖖🏻🤘🏻

Love your channel! You have such a positive and explorative attitude and your voice is so pleasant. Thank you.

The best part of this game is that it doesnt over-stay it's welcome. Sure there was a bunch of backtracking, grinding and random encounters but at the end of the day it's a 10ish hour game. Love it!

Always great to see a new video from you. You're one of my favorite retro video games channels on RU-vid 🥰

So good to see this show up here! LOVE THIS GAME!

I love this channel so much, when I am working I enjoy listening and watching these videos. Quite a bit of gems to be found that I admittedly didn't know about as a kid. We had a kind-of bad rental store so I didn't have a great selection. I look forward to playing some of these titles for the first time!

The music does wonders for this game, smoothing over the rough translation and difficulty jumps. Nice review!

Your experience with the harsh death penalty in this game very much reminds me of my experience with the older tough as nails Fire Emblem games on Hard Mode! Dunno if you've played any of them, but they have perma-death. If one of your characters dies, they are gone forever! I lost hours of progress during some of the long, teeth gritting battles in Fire Emblem 7 when I would lose a character right near the end to an unlucky Critical Hit. I wasn't about to let that happen, so I would have to restart the battle from the beginning. I absolutely agree that there's a special feeling of both extreme suspense and accomplishment that comes with it, & I absolutely loved it! I honestly hate how the newer Fire Emblem games even give the option to turn off Perma-Death, as I feel the game loses a lot of what makes it special without it. This Arcana game REALLY sounds like it would be up my alley! The more I watch of your video the better it sounds. I definitely have to give it a try sometime.

Gotta love your patience for this kinda game, great video 🙌🙌

It's funny that you mentioned the music, cus even early on in this review I was thinking to myself "Man this music sounds really good!". Music in video games is a BIG part of the experience for me & I've always been a big fan of video game tunes, so I definitely look forward to hearing more of this games music when I check it out.

Glad to see a new video from you keep it up I really enjoy yours content

Thanks! Cant wait to see what's next!

I remember liking this one back in the day but never got very far in it. I didn't own the game, never even saw it for sale anywhere. As you can guess, making much progress in these old RPGs with a weekend rental was nigh impossible. And so this game, beyond it's first couple dungeons, always remained unknown to me. Maybe someday I'll finally get to finish it.

Great deep dive into Arcana; it was pure magic to play as a kid.

I love Dungeon Crawler rpgs; whether it's Shining the Holy Ark, Shining In the Darkness or Etrian Odyssey. Arcana is one of my favorites on SNES. I love to fill out the map completely. Finally someone giving Arcana some love ❤️ ❤❤

Very good video as usual. You are definitely in the "deserves more subs" group of youtubers, but im sure you've heard that a lot already. I particularly enjoyed the final boss fight in this game.

The risk / reward suspense you mentioned reminded me of Shining In the Darkness. That kind of dread at the pit in my stomach is the reason why I stopped playing Shinning the Darkness. Proof that you're pro and why I like watching streamers like you. Props. Always excited when I see your youtube content pop up in my feed.

Amazing Review I definetely going to check this game. Thanks from Brazil.

Great to hear your take on this game! I remember trading this one to a friend right after I finished the story since there wasn't much left to see or do on a second playthrough, but the visual style and music really did make that first experience a good one despite the weak spots.

Love this game so much, I'm making a game inspired by this using similar mechanics.

First played this here in the UK in 1993 when I was 13 (my schoofriend's mum was a huge gamer and had this and Soul Blazer and had bought them from a shop that sold imported SNES games) and I was spellbound by it. Never finished it as I seem to remember it getting VERY difficult 😅

Love this game.

I remember seeing an ad in magazines for this game and eventually rented this back in the days. I certainly loved the soundtrack. Done by the same guy who did the Kirby games. With it's flaws though, I enjoyed this game. Never beaten it though...(as of this post). But good video as usual! I don't see this game talked about very often.

Great review as always! Glad I got a copy of this game a little while back, definitely looking forward to playing through it when my console stuff is not packed up in storage. Some modern first person dungeon crawlers in a relatively classic style that I really enjoyed playing recently were Potato Flowers in Full Bloom and Touhou Artificial Dream in Arcadia (I played both of Steam but I'm not sure if they might be available on other platforms). I only played a demo of Artificial Dream so far (it just came out), but I see a lot of potential for that one and just bought the full game to play the rest. Played through all of Potato Flowers and had a blast with that one, so I think both of those titles should be worth checking out for old school first person dungeon crawler fans.

I spent hours and days on this as a rental from our grocery store as a youngling; I probably rented it 6 different times, but never finished it until years later on an emulator. The soundtrack is incredible, as are most of the card animations. I had a page full of notes about the attributes, as I used them quite often, but didn't have the instruction manual. Fortunately the colors of the attack magic helped me figure them out. Wonderful choice for a review, I have rarely ever seen anyone else talk about this flawed treasure, regarding some of the frustrations you mentioned.

Yeaaa, the translation was NOT the best, but I still have mostly happy memories of this game. I enjoyed the dungeon crawling as it reminded me of Shining In The Darkness (and Phantasy Star), just like you pointed out, and I adored that game's cartoony graphics, music, sound effects, etc. But sadly enough, the biggest memory I have of this game was my TV suddenly and permanently losing half it's color in the middle of playing, like someone had just turned the color knob to it's most alien looking setting LOL. I cracked up on your line "Money is the key to winning" as that seems to be most AAA games anymore. Makes me miss all the games on systems pre-internet. Nes, SNES, Genesis, Saturn, PS1, PS2, even Dreamcast had some decent to God tier RPGs on them, and you didn't have to spend a few hundred dollars in microtransactions to get anywhere 😁. Happy memories! Fully agree on the "human dies, RIP" of this game. Reminds me of TOO many games I've seen where if your MC dies, it's instant game over, and that's a mechanic that will always SUUUUCK. Shining Force was big for that one. If your main guy got ganked, you were just done. Hated that T.T. Gotta say, I loved the graphics and music in this game as well, was happy you enjoyed it too 💖. All in all, this was a "I beat it once, no need to replay" for me LOL. Thanks again for your vids, I always get excited for when a new one drops, even if I don't get to watch it right away. Stay awesome!

Another great review, hungry! I never played this game when I was a kid, but I always liked the box art, and I would look at it whenever I was in the video store. Thanks for showing the manual, too! I had no idea this game was made by Hal Laboratories! Air Fortress on the NES was another great one by them, as well as the Adventures of Lolo series, not to mention Kabuki Quantum Fighter, and of course, Kirby! My research turned up that Satoru Iwata himself worked on this game as a technical advisor!

One of the most intriguing SNES RPGs I have't played. Nice timely review with Baten Kaitos remaster coming out soon!

I always enjoy how you give such a detailed breakdown of how the game mechanics affected your process of playing the game. It's the kind of well-considered response that would undoubtedly have helped the game designers evaluate and revise their work.

Remember the cover art from my local video store growing up. Arcana, alongside Hey Punk Are You Tuff Enuff, and Skuljagger were always available...common quotient are those covers. 😅

I don't think anything in-world is *ACTUALLY* a card, I think its just an art style, kinda like the Voice of Cards trilogy. That being said, I like how the protag can use cards to fight (Maybe including the elemental spirits? Not sure), tho from what you've described, it's a shame they're not better, especially since that's kinda a big part of his identity. "There's also a part of me that compulsively needs to fill in every square of my maps." This was my experience with what I've played so far of Etrian Odyssey 4 (Especially since filling out the map is part of the series' identity), so I definitely understand that. Lmao.

Played this alot! Love the music :)

Hi Hungry Goriya. Arcana is not a ge I'm familiar with, but wow those card animations did work well for SNES game. I'd love to see the original Japanese (I'm assuming) related content just to get my fill of that amazing art. Great review, as always. You have an incredible gift to see games positives and reflect on their negatives with some interesting thoughts. Having a character join with no equipment or warning they are ill equipped seems prankish at best, cold and course at worse. Happy day when I see a first person dungeon crawler like Phantasy Star. Very interesting direction the developer took making your heroes cards. It's not Culcept, it's really something else.

My only real experience with this title was seeing it in Nintendo Power back in 1992 and thinking it had a very pretty aesthetic. At the time I was only just finally figuring out how to play RPGs and lacked a SNES so aside from a minor fascination never really looked too deeply at it. Very cool to see you covering it.

Though there some issues I also encounter is that enemies can hit you twice. The turned based system here is brutal. Enemies mostly come in hordes, I came upon a a horde of mages...it was nasty I barely survived. Spells cost a ton of mana so good luck casting offensive spells cause you'll be dead if you don't heal yourself constantly, Potent mana and healing potions are expensive so you have to spend wisely. Believe me, you don't want to get broke here. Don't get me started with their Dps cause these monsters hit like a truck. It gets really worst if you got ambush by a horde cause they can hit twice or thrice. Mages are the worst cause they can spam you with AOE spells fighting a horde of them is truly a nightmare. Encounter rate varies. You're either lucky or unlucky. Word of advice: Don't rely on your elemental sprites too much. Don't walk backwards.

Oh man! I literally just gave this one a replay last month, and had fun. I love the uniqueness of the elemental spirits and how the MC is a pet class. I find that once the elemental spirits get a few of the more powerful spells under their belt, especially the level 3 spells and the hp restore spells, the game becomes a lot easier. I find that the hardest section of the game is the ice area, by far. After that, the rest of the game seems to go by a lot quicker. Having a full party for most of the rest of the game probably helps too.