This game was kind of a strange find for me, because I generally love old school RPGs, but unlike a lot of the ones that I have greatly enjoyed, this one didn't exactly have a lot going for it in the personality department, in fact in terms of the richness of the wit, narrative and detail it was fairly bare-bones and is very much focused solely on you as an angel-like warrior in a fantasy world that's empty of living beings, and who must restore the population town by town as you directly 'play god' at the command of a mysterious deity of good known only as "The Master", to resurrect life and ultimately face an opposing force of ultimate darkness! All you have to do to progress and open up new areas is kill every monster, ghost and machine that you see in the enemy dungeons, and the villagers that you resurrect on your divine quest are quite varied, including an underwater mermaid palace, a cutesy animal forest village, and a weird mad scientist's laboratory that contains a miniature toy soldier village within it! As you do this you level up and are granted stronger weapons armour and spells that allow you to kill enemies that you weren't able to before, as well as solve a few complex secret side quests.. It's a noticeably simple and straightforward game but I found something very charming and addictive about its simplicity and world building mechanics and it was a very cool little game to recently discover, I never played it as a kid, I had a good time with it, I certainly couldn't leave it alone once it got going, so based on my personal experience I'd say it's well worth rediscovering and playing today if you enjoy older role playing games. A different kind of RPG gaming experience for sure, but definitely worth the trouble and satisfying and a lot of fun! 🕹
4 Reviews
Restore the world!
Aaron137530 August 2020
I played this game back in the day and really enjoyed it and played it again recently on an emulator and once again really enjoyed it. Brought to us by Enix before they joined with Square and somehow took numerous steps backwards, this is an action role playing game with a bit of a twist to it. Basically, you go into dungeons and kill monsters and as you do so, a town of some sort reforms. Very fun concept, a more recent game that this is a bit like is Dark Cloud on PS2, only you do not really get to customize how the town is going to look or where stuff goes.
The story in this one has a king who was incredibly greedy who made a deal with a dark being called Deathtoll; unfortunately, the deal he made is not a good one and comes with a price. Wow, if you cannot trust a demon named Deathtoll, who can you trust? Well, in exchange for one gold piece, the king had to give Deathtoll a creature of the world and suffice to say you are sort of an otherworldly being who must now restore the world thanks to the king literally exchanging the whole world away!
The game play is action based as you roam dungeons fighting monsters and when you defeat so many, a spot on the floor appears, you step on it and you restore a creature of the world. It is fun clearing dungeons and then going into town and seeing the people and animals you have revived. You also go through many areas as you start out in a mountain village, then a village in the forest inhabited by animals, an undersea kingdom, a cave kingdom, a futuristic house and the kingdom which is home to a certain greedy king!
Very fun and part of a trio of games by Enix that go together apparently, Illusion of Gaia being the next game and Terrigama being the last and the only one not released in North America. I don't really think they are interconnected by stories, but maybe the same creators or something? I enjoyed this one more than Gaia, though I did enjoy that one too, and I hope to one day play Terrigama as it is on an emulator I have, but you can never tell what you may get with games that were never released here. May not work at all or it may be in Japanese. This one though worked and it was fun reliving the adventure of the Soul Blazer!
The story in this one has a king who was incredibly greedy who made a deal with a dark being called Deathtoll; unfortunately, the deal he made is not a good one and comes with a price. Wow, if you cannot trust a demon named Deathtoll, who can you trust? Well, in exchange for one gold piece, the king had to give Deathtoll a creature of the world and suffice to say you are sort of an otherworldly being who must now restore the world thanks to the king literally exchanging the whole world away!
The game play is action based as you roam dungeons fighting monsters and when you defeat so many, a spot on the floor appears, you step on it and you restore a creature of the world. It is fun clearing dungeons and then going into town and seeing the people and animals you have revived. You also go through many areas as you start out in a mountain village, then a village in the forest inhabited by animals, an undersea kingdom, a cave kingdom, a futuristic house and the kingdom which is home to a certain greedy king!
Very fun and part of a trio of games by Enix that go together apparently, Illusion of Gaia being the next game and Terrigama being the last and the only one not released in North America. I don't really think they are interconnected by stories, but maybe the same creators or something? I enjoyed this one more than Gaia, though I did enjoy that one too, and I hope to one day play Terrigama as it is on an emulator I have, but you can never tell what you may get with games that were never released here. May not work at all or it may be in Japanese. This one though worked and it was fun reliving the adventure of the Soul Blazer!
A very solid game that's a great beginner's introduction to action RPGs
Metal_Robots28 December 2022
TOTAL SCORE 7.5 out of 10.
I just just finished this and enjoyed it a lot, it took me aproximately 15 hours to complete. It's solid in all areas: graphics, music, gameplay and adictiveness. It doesn't match or excell in any of those areas above the best of the SNES, but what still makes this a great game worth playing is the consistency and pacing, it never gets boring, and it maintains a good level in quality throughout the entire experience, with no significant low points or frustrations.
For anyone who's played a lot of top-down action-RPGs , this game will be an addictive but short experience as it's quite an easy game with very generous save points, which makes it a great title to try for any beginner who wants to get a taster of classic action-RPGs, as you will not be daunted by its scale or complexity. This would also make it a good re-introduction for someone like myself who hasn't played a 16-bit RPG for many years and wants to get into them again gently.
So this will be a short, but reliably entertaining RPG that I would gladly recommend to anyone, and a perfect introduction to Quintet's "Soul Blazer Trilogy" - with Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma to follow.
I just just finished this and enjoyed it a lot, it took me aproximately 15 hours to complete. It's solid in all areas: graphics, music, gameplay and adictiveness. It doesn't match or excell in any of those areas above the best of the SNES, but what still makes this a great game worth playing is the consistency and pacing, it never gets boring, and it maintains a good level in quality throughout the entire experience, with no significant low points or frustrations.
For anyone who's played a lot of top-down action-RPGs , this game will be an addictive but short experience as it's quite an easy game with very generous save points, which makes it a great title to try for any beginner who wants to get a taster of classic action-RPGs, as you will not be daunted by its scale or complexity. This would also make it a good re-introduction for someone like myself who hasn't played a 16-bit RPG for many years and wants to get into them again gently.
So this will be a short, but reliably entertaining RPG that I would gladly recommend to anyone, and a perfect introduction to Quintet's "Soul Blazer Trilogy" - with Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma to follow.
The Best rare expensive SNES Sword fighting Square Enix has released.
crosswalkx29 November 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I have played Soul Blazer growing up. Back in the day, I used to go to Hollywood Video and Blockbuster Video to rent this game and I enjoyed it. I couldn't finish it due to the 6th boss fight that was super hard to beat and I ended up buying it from mail. Good thing I got this game because it's now the rarest most expensive Super Nintendo game ever. With that said let me tell you about this game.
The best stuff about this game
The story goes like this, the weak king was tempted by the evil Deathtoll and was greedy for money he gave his people, animals and buildings to Deathtoll for money, the Master and the follower have to free the people and animals from imprisonment. This game is like Actraiser 1, the HP meter and the sound effects are the same there's also level grinding as well. You have to rescue Dr. Leo and his daughter later on in the game.
First of all, you start off in a training room and get the first short sword and you can either swing your sword or stab at enemies. This game reminds me of Legend of Zelda A Link to the past mixed with Gauntlet video game. Once you defeat enough monsters you can walk over to the glowing pad and it reveals a wizard who turns into a ball of light spinning around the player throughout the game. There are 6 towns you have to save including Grass Valley, GreenWood, Oceania, Mountain Of Souls, Leo's Lab, Magridd Castle, and finally World of Evil in outer space.
I like how you can fight like in Legend of Zelda and dodge enemies, and use magic spells which cost gems. including fireball which is okay, then you get Light Arrow which I like the best and makes fireball obsolete. I also like Rotator, and Tornado which damages enemies and the best one of all is the Phoenix which gives the player long range attack useful especially against Deathtoll boss.
I also like the items you equip including Medical Herb, and bracelets including Power Bracelet and Super Bracelet. I never bother using Magic Bell, Mushroom Shoes for walking on icy lakes.
I also like the armors including Iron Armor, Ice Armor protects against fire floors, Bubble Armor helps you breath underwater, Magic Armor, Mystic Armor, Light Armor Elemental Mail protects against spiky floors, Soul Armor helps you breath in outer space and protects against evil spirts.
I also like the swords including Sword of Life, Critical Sword which deals critical blows, Lucky Sword which gets you larger magic gems, Zantetsus Sword which can kill metal enemies, Spirit Sword which can kill spirit enemies, Recovery Sword my favorite sword that cures the player when they kill an enemy, Soul Blade which can kill inanimate objects and is the best sword of all.
This SNES game has the best soundtrack ever in the game, it's too bad it wasn't released on CD, however you can listen to the Soul Blazer soundtrack on youtube. Also this game has the best ending especially with the memorable song with Dr. Leos daughter in the cutscene.
The Worst stuff about this game
First of all some of the magic spells I totally avoid using includes Magic Flair which is hard to aim just right, I also don't like Spark Bomb which takes time to explode and isn't worth using, Flame pillar is the worst of them all because it costs 20 gems and it's hard to kill enemies so those are 3 magic spells I avoid casting. I don't like Psycho Sword because it only stuns metal monsters and I'm glad when I get a sword replacement like Critical Sword. I never bother with Magic Bell and Shield Bracelet becomes obsolete once you get the Super Bracelet.
I also don't like fighting the sixth boss Dragon Bird, I usually have to stab at the boss which is tricky since I have to run against the wind and dodge those annoying fireballs. I also don't like to level grind for a long time to get stronger which can be tedious but makes the game easier.
There's also a sad scene in the castle where Dr. Leo gets killed by the guards and his daughter is left orphaned. The dog Turbo also dies in the game as well. But there's reincarnation where the dead person or animal comes back to life in another form.
In conclusion this game is worth playing, sadly this Super Nintendo game is now very expensive just like Lufia 2 is. This game has never been released on Nintendo Virtual Console which I was very disappointed about when they at one point released Actraiser 1 before the Virtual Console was sadly shutdown. Also this game isn't included on the SNES mini which I think is disappointing. I hope this game gets released on Nintendo Switch as part of the Quintet collection or gets a Nintendo Switch Virtual Console channel release.
Since the English translated cartridge version is very expensive to buy online, there's a Super Famicom cartridge version called Soul Blader which is very cheap to get used online. You'll have to learn how to read Japanese text and there's some regional differences that were censored in the English version. Please don't let this Super Nintendo or Super Famicom game get forgotten.
The best stuff about this game
The story goes like this, the weak king was tempted by the evil Deathtoll and was greedy for money he gave his people, animals and buildings to Deathtoll for money, the Master and the follower have to free the people and animals from imprisonment. This game is like Actraiser 1, the HP meter and the sound effects are the same there's also level grinding as well. You have to rescue Dr. Leo and his daughter later on in the game.
First of all, you start off in a training room and get the first short sword and you can either swing your sword or stab at enemies. This game reminds me of Legend of Zelda A Link to the past mixed with Gauntlet video game. Once you defeat enough monsters you can walk over to the glowing pad and it reveals a wizard who turns into a ball of light spinning around the player throughout the game. There are 6 towns you have to save including Grass Valley, GreenWood, Oceania, Mountain Of Souls, Leo's Lab, Magridd Castle, and finally World of Evil in outer space.
I like how you can fight like in Legend of Zelda and dodge enemies, and use magic spells which cost gems. including fireball which is okay, then you get Light Arrow which I like the best and makes fireball obsolete. I also like Rotator, and Tornado which damages enemies and the best one of all is the Phoenix which gives the player long range attack useful especially against Deathtoll boss.
I also like the items you equip including Medical Herb, and bracelets including Power Bracelet and Super Bracelet. I never bother using Magic Bell, Mushroom Shoes for walking on icy lakes.
I also like the armors including Iron Armor, Ice Armor protects against fire floors, Bubble Armor helps you breath underwater, Magic Armor, Mystic Armor, Light Armor Elemental Mail protects against spiky floors, Soul Armor helps you breath in outer space and protects against evil spirts.
I also like the swords including Sword of Life, Critical Sword which deals critical blows, Lucky Sword which gets you larger magic gems, Zantetsus Sword which can kill metal enemies, Spirit Sword which can kill spirit enemies, Recovery Sword my favorite sword that cures the player when they kill an enemy, Soul Blade which can kill inanimate objects and is the best sword of all.
This SNES game has the best soundtrack ever in the game, it's too bad it wasn't released on CD, however you can listen to the Soul Blazer soundtrack on youtube. Also this game has the best ending especially with the memorable song with Dr. Leos daughter in the cutscene.
The Worst stuff about this game
First of all some of the magic spells I totally avoid using includes Magic Flair which is hard to aim just right, I also don't like Spark Bomb which takes time to explode and isn't worth using, Flame pillar is the worst of them all because it costs 20 gems and it's hard to kill enemies so those are 3 magic spells I avoid casting. I don't like Psycho Sword because it only stuns metal monsters and I'm glad when I get a sword replacement like Critical Sword. I never bother with Magic Bell and Shield Bracelet becomes obsolete once you get the Super Bracelet.
I also don't like fighting the sixth boss Dragon Bird, I usually have to stab at the boss which is tricky since I have to run against the wind and dodge those annoying fireballs. I also don't like to level grind for a long time to get stronger which can be tedious but makes the game easier.
There's also a sad scene in the castle where Dr. Leo gets killed by the guards and his daughter is left orphaned. The dog Turbo also dies in the game as well. But there's reincarnation where the dead person or animal comes back to life in another form.
In conclusion this game is worth playing, sadly this Super Nintendo game is now very expensive just like Lufia 2 is. This game has never been released on Nintendo Virtual Console which I was very disappointed about when they at one point released Actraiser 1 before the Virtual Console was sadly shutdown. Also this game isn't included on the SNES mini which I think is disappointing. I hope this game gets released on Nintendo Switch as part of the Quintet collection or gets a Nintendo Switch Virtual Console channel release.
Since the English translated cartridge version is very expensive to buy online, there's a Super Famicom cartridge version called Soul Blader which is very cheap to get used online. You'll have to learn how to read Japanese text and there's some regional differences that were censored in the English version. Please don't let this Super Nintendo or Super Famicom game get forgotten.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
