Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage - Every Nintendo 64 RPG Part 2 - Casp
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage. You've probably never heard of it, and if you've heard of it, you've likely never played it. That's probably for the best.
That is not Donald Trump in the thumbnail, but he said something about making Gwernia great again.
Take me back to the Paper Mario times:
• Paper Mario - Every Ni...
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Games featured in this video in order of appearance:
Paper Mario (N64, Wii, Wii U)
Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage (N64)
Breath of Fire IV (PS1/PSN/PC)
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Music used in this video in order of appearance:
Out for Lunch - Grandia 2 OST
Airily - Breath of Fire IV OST
The Country of Laws Santhaim - Grandia 2 OST
Watch Your Step! - Breath of Fire IV OST
Light of the Town - Legend of Legaia OST
Momomoke Forest - Alundra 2 OST
Come On, Let's Travel - Grandia 2 OST
Rogueport, Town of Thieves - Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door OST
FIGHT!! Ver 2 - Grandia 2 OST
Name Entry - Suikoden 2 OST
(I have no idea what the real names of the songs are, but this is what they're listed as, and they're all magical.)
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More of my videos -
Breath of Fire 6 Sucks:
• Breath of Fire 6 Sucks...
Examining Interviews with Suikoden Creator Yoshitaka Murayama:
• Video
Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen Review:
• Ogre Battle: The March...
All works used are for educational, review, or analytical purposes, and are protected under the FAIR USE act.
#N64RPGs
#Nintendo
#AidynChronicles
One of the Aidyn Chronicles developers was actually my teacher at game design school. From what he's told me, the game's lack of quality probably came down to business shenanigans more than anything else. For example, there are random bits of foliage that you can only see in the game if you have the expansion pack - which were added in so that they could get money from nintendo for using the expansion pack.
poor management can take a lot of man hours from talented people who care a lot about a project and turn it all into garbage.
Yeah, they jumped aboard the resolution bump of the expansion pack at the time too. Plenty of games started doing the whole "ULTRA RESOLUTION" which would typically bump it a noticeable amount. Aidyn Chronicles seems to increase it a bit, but I couldn't tell a difference. I didn't test it thoroughly, but I might go back and see what extra shit it adds. The world felt so empty, and I'd say that'd have to do with the constraints of the N64 more than anything, but even a few more shrubs or whatever would've gone a long way.
I did reach out to a few of the devs I could track down, a few programmers, art guys, etc, and I got an email back from the lead programmer saying he'd be happy to answer some questions, but then I never got a reply. RIP.
There's valuable information out there that 2 people give a fuck about, and I'd love to have it.
Casp O'saurus hey man, what's the email address of the lead programmer? If you don't mind
Mother's Basement what was his name? And can I contact him? Just interested
I'd love to help, but it's not my place to give out a private email address. Something about that doesn't sit right with me.
mmk
I have a wierd soft spot for this game, I think largely owning to the fact that it was the first game I personally played that had such a large world or featured things like changing weather and moon cycles so it just felt huge and mysterious.
This game is great. It had some issues, but the difficulty is perfect. There is a charm there.
This was one of the few games I had growing up, and genuinely enjoyed. I was poor as shit, bullied mercilessly, and my home life sucked, but my n64 and this game provided an escape.
It's honestly not a horrible game to lose yourself in, it's expansive and full of enough customization and variables to keep a kid going. I'm glad it provided you an important escape. Hope you're doing better now, buddy.
@@Caspicum I am man, thanks!
This was very informative about this game... it's amazing that the huge, 3d overworld without loading was done back then.
i honestly spent about 100 hours playing this game as a kid. and idk why but this game was super fun for me and made me like games like Morrowind,
get your dexterity up tho..
You NEED that Dexterity or you're looking for constant reloads.
Same here man
Same, this was the only game my dad would let me play as "At least this one makes you think".
Wow same over here, i dont know why but i loved it. i think Aidyn got me to love RPG games.
@Jay R That might be true, but it's still an unfinished, sloppy game that barely runs :^)
Nostalgia might be fogging my judgment, but I absolutely adore this game. It's a hidden gem for the N64 in my opinion. 💖
It is, indeed. It's a very ambitious game, but not many people know that it exists.
Man I actually loved Aidyn chronicals as an 8th grader. Lol. Id love to see someone take it and give it a thorough update, hammer out flaws and make a really good RPG out of it.
I played this game as a kid and it blew my mind. It has a lot of redeeming qualities. Not enough to play it through, but the story was completely original and it had unique stats and abilities. Cool cool game. ...tedious though.
All they had to fix was the rampant crashing, and then make all warps interconnected, and it'd be significantly better.
Oh I forgot about those warps. That WAS frustrating!
Honestly I loved this game. It has a more traditional RPG feel and its kind of dungeons and dragony. Definitely not the high octane adrenaline rush most "gamers" are looking for but certainly something you can relax with on a quiet evening.
One of my favorite games on the N64! A true diamond in the rough that was in need of more polish. I hope someday there will be a remake.
I'd love a proper, fixed up version. There's a lot here to work with tbh.
I played this as a kid and absolutely loved it, but it was actually my first turn based RPG so maybe that's why. The lore is actually amazing if you read everything. I never had all the glitches or crashes though, in fact I beat the game several times and don't ever remember getting stuck on a mushroom.
I'm playing it right now, and for a n64 rpg to have readable books with so much lore, it was really a surprise. It's such a deep game to have on the n64.
So, appearantly nearly half of the budget of this game was spent on the cutscenes alone, e.g Castle Search, Spirit Merge and the True Name. So if they could've had a more simpler approach to cutscenes, the game would be a lot better.
By the way, I do enjoy this game quite a bit. It's lore and story is nothing like I have seen before, and the atmosphere was exellent.
I just wished that the developers got along better, from what I understand, they had to cut a lot probably due to N64 capibilities and the dev's not getting along.
There were only 30 people who worked on the game, and the Vancouver, Canada offices are still for sale, speaking of that they had to move offices from San Francisco, US to Vancouver, Canada midway in development so that would've played a factor.
If THQ didn't force them to rush the game, and they would've delayed the game to come out on the Gamcube or PC, that would be a smart move.
I can tell that they wanted to do more but they couldn't, but considering I hold the game close to my heart, I would've loved even more if some of the negative factors didn't happen.
look bro i don't know how you know this but we can't let these tidbits get out.
Legitimately though, I love comments like this. I did some fairly decent research (as far as I can remember) and found bugger-all, so insights into anything surrounding development are a blessing. Appreciate it, my gamer.
@@Caspicum Update: Found the MEL Scripts online with the adress to the old offices: ewertb.mayasound.com/H2O_MEL_Scripts/start.html
Also, if you go on google maps, you can look inside the building where they developed Aidyn Chronicles, now turned into some college instittue or something.
I don't honestly know how I know that stuff, but I like searching of what I can find about mysterious media. I suggest taking a look at the youtube channel "The Chronicling Of Aidyn" if you are intrested. They have a couple videos of intersting things in Aidyn. There was also a AMA on the Aidyn subreddit with Christopher Klug, he says he was planning on a sequel, but THQ didn't like the idea
Huh, I remember having played this game as a kid.
All I can remember, though, was walking up to a castle and hearing some old runescape sounding music.
Honestly, that's probably for the best.
More people need to know about this game, its great.
Dude - i thought i fever-dreamed this game. Christ, way to nail it with this video.
Why am I still interested in this game?????
That's your inner-hipster coming out. You need to fight it. FIGHT IT.
Avalanche Reviews it's an n64 d&d campaign
Give it a shot, it's actually quite good.
Same, I can't get over it, right now I'm at my 4th play through.
Must be because you have an N64 and want to play some old-school RPG's but you have already played Paper Mario and Quest. I gave up on this game when I heard about the in-game crashing. I will just stick with my Gamecube for Retro RPG's.
Really appreciate your review of the game! I'm messing around with the beta and pre-alpha versions of the game on my RUclips channel currently and to say they are half baked would be an understatement haha!! I really wish that they had more time to finish this game because I believe it could have been a gem on the N64.
Also, going full physical fighter team is definitely a good option but there are even more broken spells in this game that make it super easy mode :)
It seems like it shipped in a late alpha form, so earlier versions are surely going to be whacky. You know I'm checkin' that out when I get some time. Thanks for letting me know!
Ayy.
‘Sup spike!
@@SlyHikari03 You found me :)
Greetings SlyHikari!
This was the N64 Witcher before the Witcher.
I actually liked the game but I do see all your points. never had the game crash though. It has been a long time but as a kid I remember the reason why I was so interested in it was his story. The squire is actually an orphan from a village who was attacked by goblins and since the king was ruling the province, felt duty bound to take him in. *IF YOU DONT WANT SPOILERS STOP HERE* The attack is later revealed to be intentional as the protagonist is the first mage. The whole world is built on a day/night reality. Characters born under the sun or moon perform better at night or day depending on birth and is represented with a sun or moon in the character screen. the will also suffer a penalty during the opposing time (such as a moon character like the alchemist fighting during the day). Also in the world people can only learn a particular school of magic and this is the reason for your attempted assassination. The main character was born with no school afflation and can learn ALL schools of magic and I cant remember why, but makes him dangerous to the forces of evil in this game. The assassination attempt also prevented his name from being given which caused him to separate from his own soul which is the other half of his power essentially but is also why the poison he received affected him so badly. I know its all far fetched but that was part of its charm for me. It also led to my fascination to games like morrowind and dark souls. I know the game could have been much better but I still had a great time with it. Funny too because I liked playing Quest 64!! so im off to check what you think about that video. Im sure you and I will agree on that one because I remember simply falling asleep while playing. SUBBED!
Matthew Garcia
Thanks for the details. Makes me interested enough to consider playing this. The day-night system, as you describe it, is hella unexpected.
Questioning Especialy yeah it has it moments. Its somewhat linear but things change based on who is in your party or some events are optional and can be missed entirely. I will admit that the game requires you to imagine more to retain immersion but overall, the game was interesting. I’ve played games that were way worse. 😂. Oh and you find out these details in the in game world. Some books contain information about game progression and how to level up certain skills. It was kinda like elder scrolls in that aspect.
I actually really enjoy aidyn chronicles. It has an amazing combat system and a good story.
I don't know why RUclips filtered this comment. It truly is going to hell. Also, if you can enjoy Aidyn Chronicles, more power to you my friend. If you're desperate for an RPG on the N64, it could be worse.
Casp O'saurus I see it's flaws, but rose colored glasses and all. I truly believe if it was remade that it could compete with rpgs if today.
Absolutely. If it were developed for the PS1, or the PC, I reckon it would've been a much better game, and possibly an extremely popular gem that we look back on in awe.
Then one year later Summoner was released by THQ as I remember, and I still play it on Steam version today xD
"When you're out in the world listening to a bunch of crickets fuckin'..." LOL
It's pretty hot.
Great video. This game and Vagrant Story both stand out to me as truly ambitious for their time. Also for both being unbearable to play through. While having that one trait of amazing quality.
For this game it was the world and lore, for VS the style and cinematic direction.
As much as I adore the way the mysterious world of Aidyn was presented. In a way I wouldn't feel again until The Witcher or Dark Souls.
But I'd be lying that if I didn't spam Wall of Bones as soon as it was available. Gawd the thumb pain from taking an hour to get anywhere is unforgettable.
I never trained Wall of Bones or my magicks properly because they took too long to cast, so I brute-force melee'd that bitch. Not the greatest idea, but once you get some of the beefier blokes, it's not too bad.
Another run through would 100% use the stupidly OP magicks though.
I loved this game.
Serious? MAAAAAAAAAAAN you've got a lot of patience.
Oh, Casp. I think I like you more with each progressing video.
And thank you for playing and covering games I've never heard of that, after watching, I am glad I've never played, so I don't have to waste my own time. >_>
Much like watching your streams, seeing you suffer for videos makes me feel better.
I suffer for the people. My next video is going to bore the shit out of me as well, but hopefully we won't see any crashing :^)
“When you’re out in the world listening to all the crickets fuckin”
Beautiful put
I don't remember writing or saying that, but hot damn what a line.
The storyline, and characters of this game are great. Personally, I had no issues with spells. The beastiary was good.. the only issue it had was that it was ugly. It's something that someone could remake as a mod for skyrim and really really nail. It was such a good game imo
The game is really ambicious, has a lot of locations, a confusing but not so bad story and an unpolished yet, not so bad battle System. I just wish someone remakes this tweaking the battles and graphics a little.
Another thing about this game: Aidyn was the ONLY Western rpg (WRPGs) to be released on the N64 and one of the very few to be released on a console at that time. The vast majority, if not all, of rpgs released on consoles up to that point were Japanese rpgs (JRPGs) as PC was considered the realm of WRPGs at that time. I believe that, in addition to the bugs and unpolished nature of the game, this lead to the backlash people at the time had against it. I have heard many people at that time and later told me that they were expecting an rpg in the vain of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Fire Emblem, etc., but all of those are examples of JRPGS.
When Aidyn was released, it must have felt like whiplash to many console gamers since it follows a formula completely different from what you would see in Final Fantasy or any other JRPG. It had much more in common with the Elder Scrolls, Ultima, The Bard's Tale, etc. and those are all examples of WRPGs that were exclusive to the PC at the time.
I remember playing it after going through a lot of other JRPGs, shit like FF9, Breath of Fires 3 and 4, Legend of Dragoon, and you're right, there was severe whiplash. I wasn't put off by the style of game, I still think fondly of the perma death mechanics and how you can just recruit guys to join you. The freedom was something that I was super interested in, but the state of the game overall made it hard to get in to. I imagine if I could've afforded a good PC as a kid, my tastes would be more Western-oriented. Damn shame consoles never got more of this until much, much later.
Thx for reviewing this.
I got this game for Christmas back when it was new. Like Quest 64, people were pretty damn hyped for it due to the N64 being almost completely devoid of RPG's. Sadly, and again much like Quest 64, it was rushed and not completely finished. This game really should have been an incredible experience and highly renowned by all fans of RPG's. It's a shame that it didn't get the extra development time it desperately needed to make that happen, but if it had, it would have ended up selling even worse. When this game came out, the N64 was already on it's last legs. Most had probably already moved on to the Dreamcast or PS2.
Yeah, this could've been an amazing experience if they'd had the foresight to develop it for Gamecube or PS2, but the N64's limitations definitely killed it. It did do some really interesting stuff though.
@@Caspicum It wouldn't have been as impressive on those consoles though. I think it's awesome that they made it on the N64, they just waited too long to do it. They should have started developing it in 4th quarter 98 at the latest, then they would have had plenty of time to finish it, polish it up, and release it before the N64 started dying down in mid to late 00.
this game is amazing... worth picking up and completing several times.
Alundra 2 music in the background bro? Nice.
Uh oh, we got a good taste guy in here.
I could never get further than the first major town in this game
There is a woman in a Green Dress you have to get to join you as part of the quest
Whenever she joins me my game crashes to an error screen
I tried restarting the entire game several times over the years and just encountered this problem every single time
Ah man, that legend of legaia sound track in the review just blind shot me with nostalgia
Should I call an ambulance?
It kicks the shit out of the Aidyn Chronicles soundtrack, that's for sure.
I remember this getting quite a lot of coverage in the UK Official Nintendo Magazine; probably because it was one of about 8 games released for the N64 that year!
There was a good chance all 8 of those games were trash too. Poor bloody N64, it never had a chance.
@@Caspicum Well, thankfully in 2001 we did get paper mario and conkers bad fur day so it wasn't all bad haha. And a pretty decent port of THPS2 (minus about half the licensed music though).
@@whatamalike well in the UK you also got Banjo Tooie, Pokémon Stadium 2, Kirby 64, Excitebike 64, Mario Party 3, Pokémon Puzzle League and Star Wars : Battle for Naboo on top of Paper Mario and Conker.
So in Pal Regions the year 2001 actually was a great final year of the N64 in terms of games.
The only mediocre /bad games in 2001 were Rugrats in Paris, Tigers Honey Hunt, Batman of the Future, Scooby Doo and Aidyn Chronicles which were basically the only other N64 games in Pal regions that year
I... I Genuinely enjoyed the worldbuilding, the Miari and the... Star people.. were different from things I'd encountered in fantasy, and some of the characters were quite charming, including a few of the npcs, and Most of all I found Directly Investing your Experience Points to be interesting and rewarding.. and those things, combined with the fact that as a 12 year old I had looked at the box in a wall mart and decided it was gonna be my next Lufia ((a game I genuinely love that most people haven't heard of)).. I have played through Aidyn Chronicles multiple times
For the Record the ending is abrubt and has you going "Wait what happened" even if you are paying attention to the story
So partly due to me spending hours and hours trying desperately to convince my adolescent mind that I liked playing this game more than I really did, and partly because I didn't have access to any contemporary RPGs at the time, and partly due to some things the game does genuinely right (especially the Experience thing) I tend to rate this game as a D+, I have absolutely played worse games
3:19 Jesus Christ this guy will haunt my dreams for the remainder of my life!
A friend of mine in high school had this game. He loved it. I was way into RPGs at the time and couldn't get enough of them, but watching him play it for just a few minutes made me never, ever want to touch it. Seems I was justified.
Imagine having an unquestioned nostalgia for this fuckin' game of all the games you could have raw nostalgia for. You'd hate yourself.
Casp O'saurus I have nostalgia for it lmfao it's one of the few games I played
If you ever need anyone to talk to, I am here for you bb
Casp O'saurus hi BB :) I really loved swords and fantasy as a smol child and my brother had bought this game before I was born LOL, I always played this game, I'm guessing I've started this game hundreds of times, I really love it. It's massive map really teased my curiosity lol, I just love it... I still haven't beaten it and I still own my childhood n64 and cartridge copy of this game, sometimes I'll play it, but I have never beaten it, I have a save game about 80% done, with around 80 hours... what a waste of time lol
I remember this! I did not hate this game but I also found it quite overwhelming.
If you went back now, I'm sure you'd be extremely disappointed. It's unfortunate, because it could've been fantastic.
That's fair, I was like 14 years old max. Probably less. It looks clunky but man this series brought me back. I never played Paper Mario, but spent a little bit of time with Quest 64. However my dad loved Ogre Battle on the SNES, so I was really familiar with that series when I picked it up on the 64. I put soooooo many hours into Ogre Battle 64. Printed out this guide to upgrading characters. Good time.s
Also really cool you answered me. A lot of folk don't do that.
Im shocked you didnt talk about the solar cycles (some characters are night, some are day) and it DRASTICALLY affects combat. If you're fighting outside yours, youre screwed
Yeah, considering how this game was released one month after Paper Mario, it's especially underwhelming. It really does go to show how many top-notch JRPG franchises that had started on the NES and SNES left Nintendo in favor of Sony at this point, as most of the few definitive RPGs that are on the N64 leave a lot to be desired. Quest seems to have been the only developer that stayed at least somewhat loyal to Nintendo, as they had developed Ogre Battle games for both the SNES and N64.
To give it an even more damned perspective, it only came out a year before the original Kingdom Hearts.
Paper Mario holds up. Aidyn Chronicles was definitely a product of its time, if it were ever a product of any time.
As for Quest, I don't think they were particularly fussed where their Ogre Battle series ended up. With Sony platforms eventually getting ports of their fantastic games, I think they were just happy to be continuing the Ogre Battle Saga.
OB64 is coming baby OH YEAH.
Who owns the rights to the IP now? Would it be THQ Nordic? Because I know they pretty much grabbed all the assets no one else wanted from the THQ liquidation and I know that when H2O went belly up they were absorbed by two other studios both owned by THQ at the time.
Even though it’s nowhere near a perfect game it’ll always be my favorite n64 game. When I was 7 my brother introduced me to it and gave me the basics and just let me run loose. I remember getting upset when my favorite characters would die after a tough fight only for my brother to tell me they were completely gone unless I reloaded a save. While tedious and really frustrating especially if your last save was hours ago it taught me to take things more serious and carefully plan out what I would do before getting into a fight. It may just be nostalgia and the memory of playing with my brother that holds this game so dear to my heart but I don’t regret it one bit . It’s a unique game with a amazing storyline and lots of character depth and fun exploits if you understand the mechanics I recommend anyone to download a emulator and give this game a try.
Despite how hard I shat on it, it'll always hold a special place in my heart. It was one of the first sorta 'CRPGs' I'd ever played. I can't remember if it was the first, or if I'd played a few Final Fantasies and Dragoon by this point, but in terms of an experience that unapologetically kicked your arse, I still think it's a really special game. I just wish it worked a little better, and was more refined. Hard agree about trying it for yourself, I can't recommend it enough as a "Holy shit this kind of game actually exists."
Like a lot of people in the comments, I have so much nostalgia for this game. I was 8 or 9 when I got this game, and it was nothing like anything I'd ever played before. At the time I hadn't really developed a critical eye for jank, so I was completely enamored with the world and all its implied lore and depth. I've gone back and played it as an adult, and yeah, it's pretty bad, but I can't help but still be charmed by it. I would love for there to be a remake or fan recreation, but I know that will never happen.
Dark Souls and Elden Rings are basically revision and remakes of these kinds of games...
It's a damn shame this game didn't turn out better cuz it actually has some neat ideas
This is a really awesome series you're doing :)
That's a penis which has been through a pencil sharpener and I'm not sure why I posted it. I've let you down.
This game sounds like it could have been great, especially for the time, with some more time and polish. Since Nintendo was seriously struggling on the RPG front at that time, especially with Square and Sony pumping out classic JRPG titles, this could have been Nintendo’s “Skyrim”, or at least another exclusive that the N64 desperately needed at that time.
Legit, this could've been something magical. There's a 10/10 game stuck under all the technical issues.
If youre into morrowind type games, youll probly like this game. Its slow, but if that doesnt bother you, theres alot that this game has to offer.People often bash this game, but its a great game despite some flaws. Ive played it 100s of times. Give it a shot yourseld and dont listen to yt reviewers who get more views from puttin down games rather than focusing on their high points.
I play a lot of games people don't like, and am generally pretty receptive to them. Quest 64, for example, isn't that bad. That said Aidyn Chronicles is an effort in absolute tedious insanity. I would've liked to have seen it on PC or PS1, because I think the devs had something amazing under the hood, but didn't have the horse power to get it moving. also, if I wanted views, I'd make the video even more clickbait and put a Digimon in there.
Funny story ... Twelve Tales: Conker 64 would have completely changed the tone of Conker's Bad Fur Day from a mature oriented videogame title to a preteen videogame title. Hmmm, are there any cartridges that have an actual pre-release demon of said unfinished videogame title; those cartridges would probably cost : 400 - 800 USD, or at least 200 USD.
That's one of the few games I'd love more development info on, tbh.
I remember reading a review of this game in Game Informer where they basically said it was a piece of crap. I went out and bought it anyway because I was so desperate for an RPG on the N64. I never got very far into it but it looked promising enough based on the few hours I played of it. I mean it looked really nice and was in full 3d which was rare for 5th generation RPG's. Good times.
I remembering renting it once, before I really knew what an 'RPG' was and that was one of the first times I've felt regret and dread over a decision. It's a special game to me because it woke me up to the harsh realities of life.
Aidyn Chronicles is one of the weirdest games on the n64 , its very resolution AND good framerate AND this huge open world that rivals newer open world games ? Whats with the 60 FPS for the intro ? I mean thats a real time cutscene you can't do FMV on the n64 so hows that 60 fps and the rest of the game isn't ? This is so bizarre , it actually looks like a game I would weirdly like .
Oh nevermind this game would give me a headache .
Gottem.
Love the use of Grandia II music in the background at times.
I love how the video is just the reviewer savaging the game unfairly and is even wrong sometimes, and the entire comment section is basically all the A Few People who played it correcting him about how awesome this game is. This game to me oozes charm, the intense cutscenes, the whacky and charming characters, the music. The love story with some branching paths.
I don't think I was unfair. It's probably not a good video by my modern standards, but even 7 years later I look back and think "Nah I pulled my punches." Most of the comments are people saying that they like it, alluding to how flawed it is. I like it too, it's quirky, got a lot going on. Unfortunately that lot has the depth of the puddle and the implementation of a first game project.
Does this soft lock occur only in emulation? I'm honestly thinking of buying this game to give it a whirl but if the crashes and soft locks are present on the console version, I'd rather just emulate it to save myself a migraine.
I've seen screenshots of it spitting actual error codes on the N64, so if you're investing physically for any other reason than collecting, I'd say be careful.
Number 1 thing I remember from this game, a really OP companion you can get, Dougal. He had extremely high stats and many skills kind of like the Jester, but Dougal was supposed to betray you. The game is so poorly programmed its easy to completely circumvent his betrayal and keep Dougal through the end of the game.
I think this was one of the first RPG games, if not the first RPG, that I played that wasn't final fantasy. I remember it being hard and kind of weird but entertaining to play nonetheless
This is actually my brother's favorite RPG.
Slap him silly and give him a copy of Breath of Fire 4 RIGHT NOW!
This game was my first introduction to the kinds of settings like this, where things are flat out fantasy but with a lot of dark elements. There was a lot that made an impression on me in my childhood. The N64 was my childhood console, and I appreciated every RPG I played on it. However, I had gripes about things that ironically, are not the things I would have gripes about today.
Namely due to my limited attention span, it made it hard to get through the huge world and I struggled with the fact that the game overcomplicates something as simple as 'hit points'. It took me a while to realize that there's actually three different sources of HP -- one of which is also used to fuel your spells (exclusively), and another of which actually penalizes your stats when you start to cut into it.
(To explain, your total HP is like... Endurance + Stamina + Level. These hit point totals are tracked separately. Casting spells consumes your stamina HP. Any time you take damage, you lose HP first from your Level HP, then your Stamina HP, then your Endurance HP finally once the other two sources are depleted. Several of your stats suffer increasing penalties as you burn through your Endurance HP.)
The way the HP system is laid out makes things frustrating for anyone who wants to use magic for a couple of reasons. Number one being that you can't easily tell how much HP you have in each specific pool, and trying to cast a spell without enough stamina HP just wastes your turn. There's also the fact that taking a hit from any source might just wipe out most of your magic reserves.
I don't really remember running into crashes or that mushroom thing so much, but maybe that was just me being forgetful. It's been like a couple decades, anyhow, so...
Perhaps I should go back and take a look at this one again, re-evaluate it in a new light.
That's an interesting information. I didn't know about this. I really like this game because it has very ambitious elements unseen in the N64 but even though i started a new game numerous times i never finished It .
Dark Souls and Elden Rings are basically revision and remakes of these kinds of games.
*witty comment about RPGs that crash a lot, coughSkyrimcough*
>most Western RPGs
Seriously though who allows a game to be released like that?
Terrible people.
It's funny because bethesda games are so broken-- even postpatch-- that people can call it charming and they basically get away with release a broken game scot free. Not that it can't be charming but the outcry to it is relatively minimal, and I feel like that's setting bad precedent.
Where did you get that thumbnail art? You wouldn't still happen to have it would you?
I grabbed it from a Nintendo Power mag from around 2000-2001. I don't still have it, unfortunately, but I don't think it'd be that hard to find.
All of that Grandia music goodness in this video.
YOU KNOW IT BABY
Great vid love your content
You got a great avatar, boyo.
Thanks drew it myself even if it was a straight copy of the original haha , keep up the good content
I love my Xbox One, PS4, PC and others etc, but I just recently started digging out my old Nintendo 64 games and I'm enjoying them all over again. I can't believe I left it sitting there for so long. I might actually check this one out as I remember it back in the day but never got around to trying it out. Shadowgate 64 is another one I really want to get my hands on but it's going for silly money online now for quite a while, and people are selling the foreign language versions as if they are the English PAL version (which is by FAR the rarest one to get hold of) but hopefully I'll get one sometime.
Good luck! The retro hunt is tough, but rewarding! Shadowgate is the first-person point and click right?
@@Caspicum That's the one. The remake of the game came out just a few days ago on Xbox One and Playstation 4 and it's great, but I really want to get my hands on the Nintendo 64 version also, which is more of a 3D world view and atmospheric as hell. It came out on the Nintendo NES and Game Boy also.
@@Ireland1229 I remember getting really excited about playing one of those, thinking it was a full-blown RPG, and being very disappoint. But I am a sucker for atmosphere, so I might have to give it a crack at some point!
Yes indeed, it will be well worth it. I'm going to buy a Super Nintendo soon also, we had one originally when they came out but don't know what happened to it, and I'm super fussy about the condition of stuff and only buy old games boxed with manuals etc, I even have an original Atari 2600 console boxed with games and a few are still sealed in the original shrink wrap!
holy shit I played this game as a kid but forgot all about it. I found it really cool as it was the only game i owned in a black n64 cartridge.
That wasn't a development cart was it? Was the retail cartridge black? How bizarre.
@@Caspicum Yeah I know it was black and I bought it from a games store a very long time ago back when the n64 was really big. Here is a picture of what it looked like as I don't know if i still own the game anymore www.micro-64.com/database/cartpics/aidyncart.JPG .
I loved this game as a kid, Couldn't get past the forest until I grew up and went through it with a guide. I still love it, Although its impossible to play for more than an hour at a time. Game is very hard to beat however. If you want to beat the last boss I remember needing to back-track the entire map to get some materials for special armor.
You understimated magic, a single fireball can wipe 4 enemies at once, or, you if you have a high level int and cast stupidity or weakness that will make the monster's INT or END stat 0 rendering him unable to move and essentially dead.
I think my issue was that the only person I had who could even use magic to that degree was the dual melee/mage bloke you get near the end. (Could be misremembering this, it's been a long time.)
So whenever I was on combat, I'd just slide him up and slap the boys instead of doing any casting. Also I had the issue of casting spells hanging my game at a certain point, so I tried to avoid that.
Oh, man... This game. I actually love this game, though I completely understand why it's so despised. It's ugly to look at, the sound design is jarring at best (nothing like hearing those bandit death screams when the rest of the sound is a bunch of white noise), spells have long ass animations and no noticeable effect on combat, and some of the items in the game do nothing (I read info about the game prior to its release and there was mention of items to resurrect dead party members but they never made it into the final product).
I still love it for what it is: an rpg with a large cast of characters with which to form your party, almost complete customization over said characters, an expansive world to (slowly) walk around, and lots of useful treasures hidden in said world. However, I cannot argue against anything you said in this video.
It's a shame that the game never truly got finished. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the release we got was just an alpha build.
I think it was definitely an early build, probably a bit more developed than an Alpha. I like the approach you take to this game. I've always been of the opinion that if you love a game, you should love all of the good and the bad. It's nice to see comments like this.
td B 5 hours in, and it seems like a decent d&d campaign on the N64
Two years late to this comment, but as a piece of trivia: The life gems that resurrect party members ~did~ make it into the game, sort of, as Sapphire Gems. They don't actually resurrect party members or do anything at all, but they are worth a fair bit of gold still.
I liked this game as a kid.
I was fascinated by it as a kid, but I never understood it. Some say I still don't.
Story time? I played this game a lot when i was younger. We had to rent it though and I didn't have a memory pack until years later. So basically I would rent this game for the weekend and I would NEVER TURN MY CONSOLE OFF, because if I did, or the power went out or something I'd basically be relegated to the beginning of the game. (we lived out in the countryside so this was always a possibility) I never could get passed the mountain zone the because by the time I had gotten that far the weekend would be up and I'd begrudgingly have to return the copy. And then years later when I discovered emulators I gave it another go. And all things considered I was getting close to the mountain zone. Super exciting right?
Well the port I was using would hard crash at a very particular road every time with out fail. I never did get to find out what happened next as later my pc would die thus dashing my hopes again. Oh and then Nintendo did their crack down of Emulator companies and they were all taken down. Further deleting my hopes of finding a different hopefully better port once i finally saved up enough money for a new pc.
Honestly It is rough on the edges; combat is terrible for example, but all in all I found a lot of charming things about the game. It was one of the first RPG's on the 64 to feature any change in character model at all when you would equip a new weapon, and yeah it was pretty close to an open world game for it's time. The story was alright if you follow it too.
I remember the first, and last, time I played Aidyn Chronicles. I sat down, ready for that sweet, sweet N64 RPG I'd been waiting for (I liked Quest 64, but it was essentially a great NES game that accidentally got released as a mediocre N64 game ten years late). I fired up AC and witnessed the title screen in all its glory! I started a new game and... crash. Uh oh, said I. My N64 must be throwing a fit again (they did that after a few years). Tried again, game worked, huzzah! I carried through until I fought my first battle. Upon my horrible defeat, the game froze. I set the controller down gently. Turned off the N64. Praised the Gods I only spent ten bucks on this game used. Booted up Final Fantasy IX on my Playstation, and never touched AC again.
$10 for AC ain't bad though. That said, RRP for FF9 is an infinitely better purchase.
This was a great game that wasn't ALLOWED to be great. The developers worked very hard on this project, but PROFIT was all their bosses cared about. They were shoved and pushed into releasing it before it was ready so the company could get it's Next Big RPG rolled out, even though it wasn't FINISHED!! it's an interesting read that the author above doesn't really cover in depth. They tried so hard to make it what they dreamed it would be as a finished game, but finally, the profit margins won and the game was released, with MULTITUDES of map areas utterly truncated and left empty of enemies for battle, empty caves and ledges designed to hold battles and objects. Even the sound effects were not completely finished, leaving them no choice but to use the SAME sounds for many characters death screams, etc. This game needs to be brought back and finished as it was meant to be, because the RPG story was great and the hero interactions told different stories based on choices made. But most of all, the turn based battles were truly innovative and if you play Age Of Magic, a game app at Google Playstore, those heroes and battle scenes, although not free range during battles, remind me very much of this game.
The issue is that money isn't infinite, and you can't just give a team unlimited time, resources, and funds to get a project done. I don't doubt that the higher-ups were unfair, they usually are, but when you sign on to publishers and projects, you're typically given strict constraints, and you have to follow them.
Another issue is that, even given the amount of time and funding it needed, it released very late in to the N64's life cycle, so assuming it could've been the stand-out game which it definitely had the potential to become, the longer it was sat on, the less it would've sold. Like, the PS2 was out by the time this thing released, and the Gamecube was only months from release. Lots of games under-perform as a console nears the end of its life cycle unless they have a gimmick. Conker was 2edgy4me, Banjo Tooie rode on the brand of its predecessor, and there's probably other great examples but I don't know them.
I'd love a remake of it, I think it'd be a really solid experience, but sometimes reality kicks your arse, and you make a terrible product. Trust me, I understand this more than anyone, most of my videos are horse shit.
@@Caspicum I appreciate your viewpoint, but that wasn't the long story I read when I was researching Aidyn years ago. I'm sure there are plenty of developing teams who don't do what they are supposed to do fast enough, I'm sure there are plenty of corporate suits who suddenly want to rush the job. I'm pretty sure the story I read is the true one here, the corporates decided to rush the job.
@@TinTin-gq8tv Yeah, I'm not saying anything definitive, for all I know, the devs were dicked over by the publisher, and it was THQ so... It's probably the case. But the N64 life was ending, so without moving development to another system, they were on borrowed time regardless of the publisher interference.
I just popped this in my N64 a few minutes ago... Aaaaand its off now!
May it never be on again.
* watches as the only current router for the game speedrun 2 years later* Damn, If I Only Had made my discoveries sooner I could have saved this man so much time.
I would've taken any time saves, tbh. Do you do single segments, or are you more focused on routing? And if you have an archive channel, I'd love to see how this game goes in a run, even if it's segmented. Given how broken it is, there's gotta be some amazing tech.
@@Caspicum my RUclips channel has a lot of the earlier game routing and Tech that said it's up towards late game. I had issues as of late recording beyond Terminor I do two random crashes, as well as a very active three-year-old that keeps me pretty active.
I also have multiple topics on GameFAQs that are archived at the moment detailing a lot of the strategies I've used in the past as well as some of my current strategies. That said I will share what the final battle should look like with a little luck. The main character should have 30 intelligence, 30 dexterity, a wizard level of 10, as well as the spell Wall of Bones maxed out at level 10 as well. Ideally Kiko's First cast wall of Bones, it connects, and you win. Hopefully some of what I have archived will be a little cathartic for everything you went through reviewing this game..
@@ridleykiller93 This is sick, I'll be checking these out over the next couple weeks. Thanks for dropping a comment, I never would've found this otherwise, and I love delving into speed tech for games barely anyone runs.
I'd say good luck with the crashes, but I'm sure the 3 year old makes dealing with crashes a walk in the park. Maybe it'd be more appropriate to say good luck with the 3 year old!
One of my favorite games
This dude just badmouthed my childhood...
I'm sorry :(
@@Caspicum Hey now @Cameran Scott I post content every so often on my channel about this game because it was my childhood too and I love it but we gotta give to get here in all honest Aidyn is far from perfect and I think what Casp said was far.
I love this game actually and it's pretty open world
Your channel is amazing!!
I actually really, really enjoyed this title. It was super difficult, and the graphics were....nauseating. Still, holds a very special place in my heart
lol I pimped my World Lore skill out. I ate that shit up as a kid
@@rudeboyjohn3483 I should've been on that World Lore grind, hey. It seems like I missed a lot, and I didn't really *care* about the world, but maybe with access to more lore, I would've, you know?
@@Caspicum I can only vaguely remember bits and pieces. I think I played this right around my early teens. What I did enjoy most was the backstories and development of the companions. There was some pretty nice intrigue with the bard guy, with the troubadour skill...if I remember correctly.
Anyhoo, I appreciate the content. I subscribed after this episode and look forward to that Quest 64 vid after I get some free time
I love AIDYN CHRONICLES THE FIRST MAGE & this game is only as hard as u make it
That might be true, but you've gotta know a game to make it easier :^) A repeat playthrough would defo be easier knowing what I know now though. Apparently spells with insta-kill properties are actually OP when they don't lock your game.
@@Caspicum IKR WALL OF BONE REALLY FUCKED MY FIRST PLAY THROUGH UP BADLY but i learned web of star light & wall of bone which made the final boss so sad i cryed a little after i completed the game
great video. I haven't played this one and am curious what I'd be getting myself into. speaking of glitches, I remember playing lots of Morrowind on the Xbox, and it would randomly cease up from time to time just like this game. Although in Morrowind's case it was well worth restarting your game right away because it was so damn good! lol
Seems like they've got a history of buggering up their console ports. Just look at the PS3 version of Skyrim. Shit ain't right!
like why the fuck did they put that mushroom there? I can't imagine that mushroom in that spot is CRUCIAL to the game lol
You need to understand that mushrooms don't give a damn flipping fuck what you humans think. They will grow in your path and you will teleport and glitch all around them, and you'll like it.
This was a great game
Aidyn Chronicles stream on dumbdickeez when?
This game looks absolutely tedious. That walking speed is far too slow, is there a fast travel option? Because fuck that if not.
So much potential. Would you, The Casposaurus, advocate for a HD remake of Aidyn Chronicles?
There are portals you can activate, but there's only about 10 in the whole game, and they're paired, so one at the starting area will be linked to one in a town, and you can only travel between those two points.
It's super fucking gay dude.
I would love a remake of Aidyn Chronicles so I could *suffer* all over again.
Thanks for the reply.
I remember playing this as a kid and feeling so sophisticated and mature 😅. Looking back, the game really feels like a missed opportunity. Kind of nice to see a well made video explaining why it feels this way though. Oh and yeah.. the instability of this game can be ridiculous lol.
Look, 'well made' might be a bit of an over-shoot, but I do appreciate it. I wish I could conceptualize sophistication as a kid, I just felt confused and ashamed. Went back to anime shit like Legend of Dragoon pretty quickly tbh. Definitely a missed opportunity though, it's strange that after all these years no fan modders have taken the goal of fixing it to task, but I guess for that, you've gotta have fans.
What the hell does he mean by Aidan Chronicles is generically named? That's a less generic name than Elder Scrolls or Final Fantasy. Is there any possible name for game that he wouldn't call generic? If I came out with a game called Blade of Roses or another game called The Soul Meridian with those also be generic?
Yes. idk what part of Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage is original. Maybe the "y"
Hey man, just asking what did you think of the necromancers tower?
Was that the dungeon where every room was its own abstract art piece, and they hid room transitions in stupid places? Because that was infuriating.
Casp O'saurus yes lmfao, that is my favorite part of the game, I was wondering if you appreciated the unique atmosphere and music that the area had, i think the developers creativity reached a peak at that point, really beautiful art and an overwhelming sense of mystery , jeez they should've made me their salesman 😂😂 but really, portals on the walls? Imagine not having a guide and trying to make your way around, holy shit.
I would've enjoyed it if my game didn't bloody crash in there several times. It was a welcome shift from the plains/fields/caves that we'd really only seen up until that point. For a game with permadeath and whatnot, it should've been much clearer in explaining to you that once you go in, you're in it to win it.
If it weren't for save states, my game would've stopped there, I think.
Casp O'saurus holy shit yeah man, the fact that you can't leave that tower is pretty depressing... but it is a really welcome change of scenery, and a lot of new challenging enemy's to fight besides the goblins and bears and whatnot lol, the fact that you can't beat this game without a guide is really stupid, new rooms hidden in paintings? Like wtf
Even tho the game has it's flaws, I really do love it.
Been digging your reviews, just found your channel. Been digging the Legend of Legaia music creeping up in different vids even more
Legend of Legaia is great. I need to play it again.
Also, thanks for watching!
Casp O'saurus if you're ever looking for more forgotten rpgs that are in the not so great department, check out Shadow Madness for the ps1. I played it as a kid and I'm the only person I've ever met who's heard of it. You can find stuff on it here on RUclips though
I actually played it a lot as a kid, and still have a physical copy. I've been planning on doing a video on it for ages, and featured it in a video I've long since deleted. I want to do more PS1 RPGs after this N64 series, so it might pop up sooner than you think :^)
It looks janky now, but I loved it when I was a kid. I sank hella hours into it.
Yeah this game had issues. I still loved it and admire its originality which you'll rarely find in an RPGs nowadays. Heck I'm playing bravely default 2 right now but I'd take a polished up Aidyn chronicles type game over that any day
Hard agree, Bravely Default 2 is so paint by numbers it hurts. I stopped playing because the jobs suck so much dick and they're not fun at all to synergise like in the first game. How it's getting praise is beyond me, big shill push I guess.
'Here's all this cool stuff you can do in the game. Oh btw, the games bad'.
I'm sure you're right, but you didn't really make a good argument for that conclusion. It honestly looks worth checking out - on an emulator, with save states and a speedup.
I would say that a game like that probably would have seen a bit more success had it been developed on any other system. The N64 simply was not ideal for big RPG epics. But really, the lack of bug testing is evidence that the production of this game hit more than a few icebergs regardless of what it was developed to play on.
it sounds like your save file was corrupted and caused the crashes and such
That could be possible. That said, I did use the save for 50 or so hours, and never had any issue saving or loading. It's anyone's guess as to what the problem was though.
Casp O'saurus I had constant crashes when I first got the game and it got to the point of the error message popping up when loading the save but I started a new game and haven’t had problems sense but I’ve never seen soft locks in combat
Casp O'saurus did you have a expansion pack? It makes a big difference in a way that the music changes if you do or don’t
Just remember this game corrupted my main N64 memory card! My real one! not that mad cats 4X crap I was so mad!
That's wild. I didn't even know that was possible!
I remember I had this game because I think my dad picked it up in a bargain bin. I fucking despised it. I was like 7 and considered Mario a fucking challenge at this point. I always wanted to progress in the story to discover some form of meaning or enjoyment from it but for some reason I always had to restart each time I played. It was like a fucking fever dream.
That genuinely sounds horrific. I think I first played it when I was a similar age, possibly a bit older, and I thought it dreamt it all up. "Remember that Nintendo 64 RPG with permadeath?"
Okay and yeah, this game has a bunch of spells that sound cool, but a lot of them don't fucking work
thought id point out the bonus from standing behind monsters 11:03 is only for characters with thief
That's only bonus damage/crit rate, right? I thought positioning affected all characters, regardless of skill.
Casp O'saurus i have recently replayed the game and I used to think the same thing but as of replaying right now I have seen no mention of melee positioning mattering in any way unless you have thief
What does the background track at the beginning come from?
In the description, matey! All the songs are there, in order.
Thanks! I knew it was from Grandia!
Such a fantastic sound track.