Opinions on poorly documented imports

[celerystalker]

Hi, I'm new as a member to this forum, but I've been gawking at StealthLurkers awesome stuff for years as well as having enjoyed Steven's RVGfanatic site for quite some time as well. That said, I'd like to wholesale rip Steven off and post some opinions on some import games I have that don't have a lot of documentation online. I own several hundred imports and a couple of thousand games, and I got to a point where I tend to buy games more because they seem different than because they're rarities or collector's items, as I like to play what I buy and try new stuff.

So, first off, Blade of the Darkness, or Kuro no Ken, for PS1. It's a traditional JRPG with a somewhat cliche anime style, but some unique twists to the combat system that made it fun.

The game seems like standard turn-based fare in line with the likes of earlier Final Fantasies, but the way special techniques and Magic are used is the biggest twist. Your party regenerates Magic and Technique points every single round of combat, and hit points/MP with every step in the overworld/in dungeons. These techniques aren't particularly overpowered, but this system does a lot to actively encourage the player to use your full range of combat options in every encounter. This makes the random encounters considerably more fulfilling than in other games such as Paladin's Quest, in which you feel like every battle is costing you resources more than testing your thinking ability. As such, battles revolve more around deciding when and how to use your abilities instead of grinding for resources to sit on healing items and restoratives.

The pacing is fairly quick, and the game is modestly linear, which in the case of an untranslated import to an English speaker is somewhat of a blessing; it limits the trial and error and keeps the story progressing.

The menus aren't overly cumbersome, and I was able to figure all the basics of the combat and status menus without much effort. The enjoyable combat, dark fantasy theme, and pacing kept me enjoying it quite a bit. I'd really recommend it to anyone who is wanting to test the waters on untranslated RPGs and see if they can take them on. It's a great starting point for that purpose and an enjoyable game with nice 2D sprites, average music, and good cutscenes, and it costs next to nothing. I don't have a capture card, but I'll try to post some pictures of the case/etc. if anyone wants to see them.