The claim that the game is straightforward because the dungeons have a linear order ignores how NOT straightforward it can be within each dungeon. What with doors transporting you back and forth between toroidal scrolling areas, doors that take you to part of the next dungeon, beating a boss and having to find the next town in the next dungeon, towns that have two doors into different parts of the same dungeon, shoes that let you reach new parts of the dungeon, keys, and mandatory backtracking near the end of the game.
If you've got your maps, it is a bit more straightforward, but I remember getting to the fire levels and having to figure out how to deal with the heat currents and one way passages. It was rather crazy. And yeah, it was awesome getting those items that allowed you to skip basically the entire level once you got to the next town. It didn't make the fighting harder, but it did give a sense of progress.
I was already thinking the game sounded kind of Souls-y with the "drop stuff when you die" business. Now I wonder if Miyazaki played this back in the day.
Caverns of "Peligro", Caverns of "Malicia", "Muralla", "Almas". It has a mixture of english with spanish. Peligro = Danger, Malicia = Malice, Muralla = wall, almas = soul. Maybe it's the same in portuguese
@JeisonRS I do now! I was informed of that a couple of times very soon after I uploaded this. It makes sense, now that I know. And thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying!
"It will run on any computer's with 640k RAM" No kidding, I've played it a lot in my PC-XT with a CGA card, a green monochrome monitor and a PC speaker. When I got my friend with a 386 with VGA and Sound Blaster 16 to install it on his computer, my mind was blown.
I cant believe that the original box of the game included the maps!!!! hahaha...I passed the game with my friend playing it over a period of years....drawing our own maps to find the solution! I even feel prouder now :D very hard game to finish...
As nice as the MCGA graphics are, I feel running in EGA mode with Adlib sound/music is the most authentic to the PC-8801 experience. No matter how you play it, the game us awesome. To think later they would later grace us with awesome stuff like Grandia and Lunar..
Thanks, Clint! I don't know how I missed this review back when it was first posted, but I am glad it came up in my recommendations. I've been trying to find this game for years but couldn't remember the title. Now I know!
Zeliard! I played the crap out of this game on my PC XT in CGA. I remember it being insanely slow to load. I also remember how amazed I was when I brought this game to my Mom's office back then and played it on her work computer, I think it had EGA and an actual sound card! Seeing the box artwork is really nostolgic too, awesome review!
The fact that the game is Japanese explains the cover art, and the viking even though the protagonist looks more like Sir Graham from King's Quest. White Washing was the name of the game, when it came to porting anything non-western to a western audience in the '80s and '90s.
Every time I really old LGR vid like this pops up in my feed I realize just how long this channel has been going for, and how different the old style was. I should set this up on my Steam Deck for another play through.....
@dave4shmups Yes! The Tandy 1000 series is almost 100% IBM PC compatible, as well as compatible with the PCjr and Tandy games, for enhanced graphics and sound. Amazing machines, hope to review it soonish.
@MrMinecrafterEXTreme I said "practically any computer", and was referring to MS-DOS IBM PC-compatibles. So no, the PCjr won't run it that I know of. It would need 640k RAM and a Tandy mod, and in that case you may as well just use a Tandy.
@dave4shmups Indeed they do, and depending on what your preference is (or amount of certain types of floppies you own) your machine preference may vary. There will be a Tandy 1000-series review sometime in the coming month or so.
@phreakindee Awesome to hear you haven't played it, you'll be surprised by the quality especially for the trademark. For the time it was awesome, it was fun because the game played differently everytime played. I don't know, selfishly I just want to see you review as I think you would show deserved appreciation. Thanks man
@Xbox360Rulesz I hope to at some point, as soon as I get the games! I know they're free, but I love reviewing them in their original form and showing the packaging/extras.
Oh boy, did I spend months on this game when I was a kid. Off course I had an illegal copy and therefore no maps of the labyrinths, so I had to find my way on my own.
That cover was deliberately changed for the west for marketing purposes, but when you look at Duke Garland in the cut-scenes, he looked great compared to that trashy viking on the front cover. You can also tell there was no communication between the western box cover artist and whoever commissioned them. They took one look at the game and interpreted the Dukes Winged helmet as a horned helmet and just decided he was a viking. Glad I didn't see the cover in my childhood, all I knew was what I had seen in game. Played on and off, but I couldn't end up beating it until I was maybe 15 as I got lost in the fire cavern, but after playing dungeons and dragons a little bit I realised I could map the cavern out! Finally beating that game was amazing.
Wow. Blast from the past! My dad bought Zeliard a long ass time ago and I thought it was about the coolest thing I'd ever seen. I almost thought it was a figment of my imagination until I saw this clip. Thanks!
Silpheed and Firehawk II : The Second Contact also had beautiful Tandy music. oh, and Grandia on the playstation was incredible -- music, gameplay, humor, originality. Game Arts did some good stuff!
Zachery Hysong Really outside of Ys 3: Wanders of Ys, I don't see much of a resemblance I personally think it shares more in common with the Dragon Slayer series mainly Dragon Slayer 2: Xanadu to Dragon Slayer 5: Sorcian and maybe a bit of Cadash.
Looks pretty similar to Faxanadu for NES. Also a sidescroller/RPG/Metroidvania. It was released a month before Zeliard in Japan. Even starts the same way in front of castle walls and talking to people in town.
I'm a big fan of fantasy themed games & this one seems like a really good one. Review was great. It was nicely done and had enough information about this game. Keep up the good work. Golds!
This was my childhood!!!!! That cave music was amazing. I came here because my sister was like "Hey remember that game like Zelda, what was it called?" and instantly I was like "Zeliard". I used to play this game all the time. I loved it. I wish we had more games like this. :D
@Ubersnuber It's pretty big, around a dozen labyrinths and about as many towns, each with new enemies, things to find and buy. You could really spend hours getting into Zeliard, it's one of those you really might need to make your own maps for as you go along (or just download some). The Roland cards work with the game too, though I still prefer Tandy and Adlib modes personally!
Maybe this makes me a bit of a dork, but old school game soundtracks/scores like this really get me pumped. I could listen to loops of some of these levels and those of games similar to this for hours.
Well you're correct, but this doesn't scroll, it moves in chunks. If you look carefully, the screen moves block by block, it's not a true smooth scroll.
+DUC DOAN Same here! We owned the original floppy disc and I would play it ALL the time, along with the original Duke Nukam and Biomenace.... we got a box set of games during a sale.
Can't you hold up and down at the same time so you can do the 360° sword attack that's normally used when jumping even while standing still or running? I feel like I used this attack more than almost anything else, but never see you execute it in the video. 😕
Nice, I didn't know about this game and it actually looks pretty fun. It looks like how I wish Zelda II would've been, ha ha. I really enjoy your older game reviews, LGR. Especially the MS-Dos games from the 90's. I remember so many of them from my childhood. Have you ever played Zone 66, Space Chase (fun, but pretty annoying sounds), Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure, Block Man (unique puzzle game; simple to play but not simple to beat), or Gate World (kind of flawed but has a unique atmosphere)? I didn't see any reviews for those, so just throwing them out there if you aren't aware of them. I noticed you like Jazz Jackrabbit, which is also one of my all time favorites.
Played the heck out of this game in 1996 on a 286 in monochrome - even without a decent sound card the audio was really neat. I got to the end - found the lava map the toughest tbh.
Today I did something extra geeky. I fired up Zeliard on a Pentium machine with the game configured for VGA and Adlib, and on a Tandy 1000 TL/2 with an EGA card/monitor and, of course, Tandy sound chosen in the game config. I synchronized the music once the game started (took a bit of pausing a few times) and listened to both simultaneously. I have yet to pick a winner. The developers and music composers showed off how a well written soundtrack can be great regardless of sound hardware!
This game reminds me of _Ys 3: Wanderers From Ys_ for the SNES (and other systems but I know the the SNES version.) Side-scrolling action RPG. The fantasy-themed border around the game screen. Your life bar and the enemy's life bar at the bottom which are even placed the same. Great tunes.
This is the first time I've actually really wanted to try out the game you're reviewing. Is the world big? When it comes to soundcards, I fell in love with the Roland cards you presented in that Monkey Island thing ^_^
I played this a lot as a kid. We had the map and everything. Fantastic game but the section in the forest trying to find the hidden item in the tree was hell.
Almost seems like this game was translated into Spanish first, then into English using the Spanish translation. There's a lot of clues in the Spanish words everywhere... Alma is soul, muralla is wall, malicia is malice, peligro is danger, and the bosses have Spanish names (cangrejo just means crab). How curious!
Couldn't agree more, this game was one of the first games I've ever played. And what's funny, even my mom played it through once, although she had that map where my dad had marked all the secrets and stuff. Still I don't believe it was an easy task for 60's girl. Zeliard, it's just an awesome game. I think it still holds up very well compared to many modern games when it comes down to gameplay, difficulty, variety and looks. When I first played darksouls I was probably two or three hours in when I had to take up Zeliard, cause in it's own way it reminds me of it. Both being great games with annoyingly challenging parts and all the originality. I have to come back for this game soon.
q306005 Grandia was amazing for ps1 Game arts was very very underated game was fun wish it was a little bit more challenging my second fave working designs game was popful mail the game play was meh but the interactions with the Characters is what kept me playing it and the funny storyline for its time it was great what they did with the sega cd anyways happy retro gaming :)
I'm happy to see you review this game. I enjoy all your vids cause it takes me back to my younger years. I played this game like crazy and I think more should try to enjoy this game. For the time it was awesome. Anyway, I want to suggest Dick Tracy for pc. I know its a known trademark but it was surprisingly good. Just a thought.
Young Clint forgetting to mention Game Arts :p Most if not all of their games were of pretty high production quality, the programmers they had knew the hardware and made good use of it, see also their console games.
@Foxhack Yup. Malicia means wickedness, muralla means wall, peligro means danger... I´m pretty sure that there are much more. Nice review BTW! The game reminds me a lot of Ys III
This is one of my favorite videos of your channel. Every time you review or play any old classic fantasy themed games I almoust scream in joy. I'm a huge fantasy nerd & I love to watch videos of different fantasy games, old or new. RPG, Strategy, Platformer, FPS, anything goes for me with sword & sorcery. Hopefully you'll show us more from your collection someday. I'll be there to enjoy it.
Have you ever played Sorcerian? That was my first PC game (which unfortunately didn't play properly on a 486 - had to play it on a 386). Also published in the US by Sierra, but was originally from Falcom, who make the incredible Ys series of games. Sorcerian was, and is still, one of the most unique RPGs ever made, as your characters aged and you could eventually replace them with descendants. Great game and very much worthy of a look if you haven't given it one already.
Classic game. I had no clue what to do when i was young and played it (english not my native language, nor did others of my family have the ablity to read/speak it). Got as far as the 3rd or 4th boss and then couldn't progress for some reason. Not sure. Was given save games by older family members, but still never finished. Have fond memories of it though!
oh man i spent hours playing this game as a kid, i got it several years after it's initial release in a gameing five pack with slipheed, which never worked, and two of the firehawk games and thexder. it was really rad but seeing as how i got it much later i had no useful map and wandered around for days before finally giving up.
