[QUOTE="Jag85"]
Alundra (PlayStation) - Released in 1997, it remains one of the finest action RPGs ever made.
logicalfrank
I have been meaning to replay this one forever. It's one of my favorite games ever. Love the puzzle solving, which is typically my favorite part of RPGs of any stripe.
Alundra was nothing short of a masterpiece. From the creative mature storytelling to the challenging varied gameplay, it was a game that was masterfully crafted in nearly every way.Long before dream-walking movies like Paprika and Inception, Alundra had a dream-walking narrative that was every bit as interesting, and perhaps even darker because of its downright ruthlessness. The game's large cast of characters were also just as interesting and well-written, which only made the narrative that much darker when so many of these characters would be killed off... And this was at a time when gamers thought Aerith's death was a huge leap for video games!
The dungeons and especially the puzzles were some of the most challenging I'd ever seen in a game, surpassing even The Legend of Zelda. Alundra also had some of the challenging platforming segments I'd ever seen in an action RPG. Much like its ruthless story, the gameplay was equally ruthless, punishing players unwilling to perservere through the difficult, but very well-designed, dungeons. No doubt this may have put off a lot of players, but it made the game all the more rewarding when you overcame every puzzle and every dungeon.
Even the 2D graphics, the reason it was overlooked at the time, has aged considerably better than most 3D games of that era. Not to mention the wonderful varied soundtrack, which ranged from the dark and eery to the epic and adventurous, matching the mood at every moment.
Overall, Alundra was just a damn fine game in nearly every way!
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