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Soul Blazer Randomizer (SNES, Played on PocketSNES on RG350)
I last played Soul Blazer about a year and a half ago, but I wanted to try out RandoBlazer, a randomizer that looked cool.
Let me say from the start: I thought this was a really good randomizer! It randomized which enemies were in which lairs (including enemies from that area that normally aren’t in lairs) and also their number and spawn rate. It randomized the non-lair enemies, too. The NPCs released from each lair are randomized (from every area of the game!), and which items are in any chest, hidden spot or NPC gift are, too. (Within bounds that make the game winnable, of course.) You need to find the area leader to unlock the next area, but you don’t need to find the stones or beat the boss of each area…and probably won’t do either for a while. (You do need all six stones to enter the endgame; and you need the Soul Blade, Soul Armor, Phoenix and all three red-hot items to beat the game.)
They cull out a bunch of the routine dialogue and simplify a bunch of the cutscenes to make the game run faster; which makes sense, because if you’re playing the randomizer version of the game you are expected to know the original really well. Oh, but the randomizer also generates a spoiler text file in case you get stuck and need hints.
That said, it isn’t perfect for a bunch of reasons: 1. Those random spawn rates mean that you can end up with more enemies shooting more projectiles than the game was meant to handle and get massive slowdown. 2. The difficulty is highly variable depending on the luck of your seed (see below). 3. You need to really know the game well, because all of the item slots, including the really well-hidden bonus ones, are allowable for critical items. 4. This isn’t a “speedrun” hack; you’ll pretty much always need to clear 90%+ of the game to get all the items to finish, you’ll just have a different route to get there.
I got concerned about the difficulty when I first got to GreenWood and had no armor and only the basic sword; and died several times trying to clear the enemies from the marshes. Thankfully, I picked up the elemental armor and super bracelet shortly thereafter and the difficulty level dropped significantly. Then I found the Zantetsu Sword and Spirit Sword in quick succession, and I was able to go beat all the metal and spirit monsters to get well ahead of the XP curve. (You can’t swing a sword if your level is to low, but you can hold R to hold it out and let enemies run into it.) I spent a LOT of the game after that bouncing between areas, clearing out what I could and unlocking things to do in turn. I totally missed the mushroom shoes outside the Light Shrine and could have saved myself a lot of hassle later (I ended up needing to check the spoiler file to find them, because the VIP card was behind the sequence I needed them to unlock.) I actually missed a suit of armor, two spells and a couple of minor plot items (the door key and the pass), but could beat the game without them.
And I’d like to point out that I’ve played this game probably a dozen times through over the years and I’m pretty darn good at it. I can’t remember the last time I died in vanilla; and clearly the item spots I didn’t remember aren’t noteworthy in the main game.
I had long suspected that the Blester enemies could be beaten without the lightning bracelet if you got the Zantetsu Sword early, and not only was I correct, but the randomizer took advantage of that. I also had to eat the damage from some lava and hot floors, and find some invisible items without the souls that made them visible; both of which are possible but suboptimal in the base game.
Overall: As a longtime fan of this game I found a randomized version a really fun change of pace, but it wasn’t without complications. I would only recommend this if you have a solid knowledge of the base game. (And if you like action/rpgs and haven’t played the base game…you should!)
Let me say from the start: I thought this was a really good randomizer! It randomized which enemies were in which lairs (including enemies from that area that normally aren’t in lairs) and also their number and spawn rate. It randomized the non-lair enemies, too. The NPCs released from each lair are randomized (from every area of the game!), and which items are in any chest, hidden spot or NPC gift are, too. (Within bounds that make the game winnable, of course.) You need to find the area leader to unlock the next area, but you don’t need to find the stones or beat the boss of each area…and probably won’t do either for a while. (You do need all six stones to enter the endgame; and you need the Soul Blade, Soul Armor, Phoenix and all three red-hot items to beat the game.)
They cull out a bunch of the routine dialogue and simplify a bunch of the cutscenes to make the game run faster; which makes sense, because if you’re playing the randomizer version of the game you are expected to know the original really well. Oh, but the randomizer also generates a spoiler text file in case you get stuck and need hints.
That said, it isn’t perfect for a bunch of reasons: 1. Those random spawn rates mean that you can end up with more enemies shooting more projectiles than the game was meant to handle and get massive slowdown. 2. The difficulty is highly variable depending on the luck of your seed (see below). 3. You need to really know the game well, because all of the item slots, including the really well-hidden bonus ones, are allowable for critical items. 4. This isn’t a “speedrun” hack; you’ll pretty much always need to clear 90%+ of the game to get all the items to finish, you’ll just have a different route to get there.
I got concerned about the difficulty when I first got to GreenWood and had no armor and only the basic sword; and died several times trying to clear the enemies from the marshes. Thankfully, I picked up the elemental armor and super bracelet shortly thereafter and the difficulty level dropped significantly. Then I found the Zantetsu Sword and Spirit Sword in quick succession, and I was able to go beat all the metal and spirit monsters to get well ahead of the XP curve. (You can’t swing a sword if your level is to low, but you can hold R to hold it out and let enemies run into it.) I spent a LOT of the game after that bouncing between areas, clearing out what I could and unlocking things to do in turn. I totally missed the mushroom shoes outside the Light Shrine and could have saved myself a lot of hassle later (I ended up needing to check the spoiler file to find them, because the VIP card was behind the sequence I needed them to unlock.) I actually missed a suit of armor, two spells and a couple of minor plot items (the door key and the pass), but could beat the game without them.
And I’d like to point out that I’ve played this game probably a dozen times through over the years and I’m pretty darn good at it. I can’t remember the last time I died in vanilla; and clearly the item spots I didn’t remember aren’t noteworthy in the main game.
I had long suspected that the Blester enemies could be beaten without the lightning bracelet if you got the Zantetsu Sword early, and not only was I correct, but the randomizer took advantage of that. I also had to eat the damage from some lava and hot floors, and find some invisible items without the souls that made them visible; both of which are possible but suboptimal in the base game.
Overall: As a longtime fan of this game I found a randomized version a really fun change of pace, but it wasn’t without complications. I would only recommend this if you have a solid knowledge of the base game. (And if you like action/rpgs and haven’t played the base game…you should!)