Despite what the looks make you think, No. This is not PlayStation emulation. This is an actual PC port of the Net Yaroze original that we Europeans always fondly remember playing on those OPM demo discs we had back in the day, including myself when I first played it via Euro Demo 05/98, my first ever OPM disc, and was thus my first ever Net Yaroze game I've played. It was released in 2000, just three years after the Net Yaroze original was made. It is based on the enhanced International edition that was released a year later and was featured on those aforementioned European OPM demo discs.
And while this port (played via DOSBOX-Pure mind you) is more or less a direct port of the Net Yaroze original, it feels rather watered-down: The port is very unoptimized as it jumps between normal and fast speeds from time to time (Either it is DOSBOX-Pure emulation or the port simply behaived that way) and that it has way different music than how it was in the Net Yaroze original, which from my research happen to be the two MIDI tracks Canyon (for most of the game) and Passport (when you enter the temple to fight the boss and retrieve the artefact), both of which were composed by Passport Designs (Damn, I miss the original music that was in the Net Yaroze original, even though this was pre-made music done by none-other than someone at SCEI him/-herself). I certainly cannot recommend it.
Strangely enough, the original PlayStation button icons are kept in there, even though this is PC. Controls in the PC version though are very awkward: You press the Left Shift to jump, Left Ctrl to attack and read signboards, Left Alt to heal with the healing item(s) you have and you use the Insert, Delete, Page Up and Page Down keys to adjust the camera. I had to use DOSBOX-Pure's internal mapper to map the keyboard keys to the various buttons on the controller to make it play like the Net Yaroze original. The ESC key simply quits the game as, like in the Net Yaroze original, there is no Pause function.
The premise of the game is basically the same as it was in the Net Yaroze original: You are an unnamed adventurer travelling to an equally-unnamed island that hosts of what the (rather poor) English translation (still) calls it (in the PC version), the "Golden Pedestal" that you have to retreive before sunset, but not without defeating the "horrible monster" guarding it. You and your also-unnamed friend who sails the ship you and him are on travel to the island and you only have an hour total to finish the game before it is sunset and it's, you guessed it.... Game Over.
The game was the brainchild of one Mitsuru Kamiyama who developed the game with a three-man team he formed under the name of Team Fatal, which also made the hilarious Fatal Fantasy VII demo. He went on to join Square Enix as it was his dream to work there, and create one of the Final Fantasy games for the Gamecube.
3 ноя 2023
