Game Review: Rudra no Hiho "Treasure of Rudras" (SNES)

[DimensionT]

Platform: SNES
Publisher: Squaresoft
Developer: Squaresoft
Genre: RPG
Players: 1

Overview :Quote from the WIKI:

"The story of Rudra no Hiho is divided into three major scenarios, each with a different main character: the soldier Sion, the priestess Riza, and the sorcerer Surlent. As the player enters new areas and accomplishes different tasks, the human race's final 15 days slowly ebb away in a predetermined day/night cycle. The player is free to play the scenarios in any order, and may even leave one storyline to follow that of another character for a time. The actions of the characters in one location and time may have an effect on the others, as well, both in the general story and in gameplay. For example, if one group of characters leaves a sacred relic somewhere, another character may come and find it on a later day in his own part of the game. After successfully completing all three scenarios, players must take on a fourth, featuring the roving thief Dune and the heroes from the previous three chapters in their final confrontation with the game's major villains."

Gameplay : 5/5
I'm going to give this one a 5 just for it's innovation. The fact that there's 3 different character stories that completely effect one another is awesome.

You're given 15 days before the "cleansing", and each character's story starts on the first. Say one you play one character's story for a while, and on the third day you do something that effects the world (helping out someone which in turn gets him to open up a shop... Just an example). If you play another character's story, on the third day the shop will be opened. If you hadn't helped that person, the shop would not be there.



That's cool and all, but if you ask anyone that's played Treasure Of Rudras what stood out to them I bet you 100 bucks they'll say "the mantra system".

The mantra system is this game' way of handling spells. You go to the mantra menu and type in names for spells much like you would the hero's name. Then the spell bases it's element and it's strength/attributes on what was entered. Each character can then use all of the spells in "the mantra pool".



This can be both fun and funny. Trying out random words can be very pleasing. For instance, I typed in "Queef" and got a wind damage to all enemies spell. If you type a word that has no element, it will spell out the word in battle when you use it (dealing physical damage). This can be funny in that you can type in an insult, and it seems that you're calling the enemy names. Or, you can take the serious approach and learn mantras from talking to certain people. You can also get spells from enemies, as they say the mantra when they use them. As long as you can remember it long enough.



The only bad thing about this, is that every single spell is available from the beginning (though you're not gonna have enough MP to cast the good ones). This can lead to some huge spoilers easily, as the desire to look them up online can be great.

Graphics : 4.5/5
The graphics in this game have a lot of similarities with Bahamut Lagoon. The enemies look freakin' awesome, AND they're animated... But if you ask me, this game pulls it off a bit better. The animations are much more smooth, and there's more of them to go around.



However, some of the battle backgrounds and level maps seem a bit empty and inconsistent. You'll be one place and think "These, are some majorly sweet graphics", then you'll get to the next level and say "Oh, maybe I was wrong... A little".



But, I'll give it credit. The good graphics more then make up for the mediocre ones. I have a feeling that the graphics were done by Brown & Brown (most well known for the Secret Of Mana series and the Magical Vacation games for the GBA/DS). Though I can't find any info to confirm/dismiss this theory.



Sound : 5/5

Yes, a perfect score. Because, well... This game has a perfect "score" (HAHAHA, I made a funny). Only thing bad I can say about it is "I wish this game's music sucked just a little, for the sake of having something bad to say".

Honestly, the soundtrack is by far my favorite on the SNES... Even beating out Chrono Trigger. The music is so diverse, and fits what's happening so well. It's hard to think about how they pulled of making such epic songs on the SNES' SPU.

Which, is why I posted 3 songs. It was just too damned hard to pick one. Trust me, I would post more if I didn't have to worry about the load times.

Replay Value : 4/5
I'd say that the replay value for this game is higher then most other RPGs, if only for the fact that you may want to go back and mess with the spell system a bit. Having knowledge of higher level skills at the beginning can make for an interesting play through. Learn some crazy strong attacks and see how fast you can beat down some of the enemies that gave you trouble before!

Conclusion : 4.5/5
This by far is one of the greater games that came about at the end of the SNES' life. Being the last true turn based RPG that Squaresoft produced, it's a must play. The only games I would suggest over this are Terranigma (my next review), Star Ocean and Tales Of Phantasia.

Just be warned... This game is DAMNED HARD!!!

Score: