The sad part is Hydlide didn't even reach the U.S until 1989, after console gamers have already experienced Zelda, Phantasy Star, Ultima, and other more refined quests.
For some reason, this is the only RPG on the Famicom I ever had the patience to finish, and I did do it on real hardware. (I have to use my bragging rights where I can 😝) Not sure why, I think I found the bump based combat to be quicker and more palatable than the turn-based combat of many others, and being able to save to RAM anywhere helps a lot because dying feels like less of a punishment than it does in many other 8-bit games. The grind still makes up about 90% of the game, mind you.
If you liked Hydlide, check out Sword of Kalis on the disk system. The gameplay feels similar, but grinding is faster and there’s more to explore. I’m not that far in it yet but I’m enjoying it so far
Actually, if you're playing Hydlide well, you'd get the Fairy in the tree, just below your starting spot, before beginning the initial grind-- it doubles your healing rate. Each of the fairies increases your healing rate by 1, and makes you immune to 1 type of damaging terrain.
This game seemed so cool when I read about it in How to Win At Nintendo Games vol 3, but was so underwhelming when I finally got to play it in the age of emulation.
I remember renting this one, don't think I got very far. if it weren't for the grind I'd be tempted to revisit it, but yeah that sounds like a real slog.
So despite all I've read for decades how the game is just awful with no redeeming value, it actually is a good game, given you play with some realistic expectations. It's just an Ys like poke check type action RPG with a small scope of area to move about in and easily killed too (far more than Ys, which isn't hard to die in either being stupid with it.) It's no Ys by a mile, but it's not utterly garbage. I'm tempted to try out the US release a bit.
I’ve always wondered how it compared to the original version for whatever computer the first one got. So how does it compare and what are the differences?
The sad part is Hydlide didn't even reach the U.S until 1989, after console gamers have already experienced Zelda, Phantasy Star, Ultima, and other more refined quests.
For some reason, this is the only RPG on the Famicom I ever had the patience to finish, and I did do it on real hardware. (I have to use my bragging rights where I can 😝) Not sure why, I think I found the bump based combat to be quicker and more palatable than the turn-based combat of many others, and being able to save to RAM anywhere helps a lot because dying feels like less of a punishment than it does in many other 8-bit games. The grind still makes up about 90% of the game, mind you.
If you liked Hydlide, check out Sword of Kalis on the disk system. The gameplay feels similar, but grinding is faster and there’s more to explore. I’m not that far in it yet but I’m enjoying it so far
Actually, if you're playing Hydlide well, you'd get the Fairy in the tree, just below your starting spot, before beginning the initial grind-- it doubles your healing rate.
Each of the fairies increases your healing rate by 1, and makes you immune to 1 type of damaging terrain.
I bought this off a classmate for a dollar, mainly for the humor value
This game seemed so cool when I read about it in How to Win At Nintendo Games vol 3, but was so underwhelming when I finally got to play it in the age of emulation.
That "save" feature is amazing considering they didn't have batteries yet
Definitely going to be playing this one.
I remember renting this one, don't think I got very far. if it weren't for the grind I'd be tempted to revisit it, but yeah that sounds like a real slog.
So despite all I've read for decades how the game is just awful with no redeeming value, it actually is a good game, given you play with some realistic expectations. It's just an Ys like poke check type action RPG with a small scope of area to move about in and easily killed too (far more than Ys, which isn't hard to die in either being stupid with it.) It's no Ys by a mile, but it's not utterly garbage. I'm tempted to try out the US release a bit.
Did you play the original or the Famicom?
I’ve always wondered how it compared to the original version for whatever computer the first one got. So how does it compare and what are the differences?