SNES - Drakkhen

Haiku-Review:

to what end I seek -
Hordkhen, Nakkhtkha, Hazhulkhen
and with Tears, I win?

Additional Comments:
(Spoilers: it's a lengthy read)

Drakkhen is by far the strangest game I've ever come across. I first encountered it a couple of years ago. A friend of mine attempted it out of curiosity but quickly grew frustrated with the controls and found himself trapped in a vicious cycle regarding the island's center barrier. About a week later, I decided to experiment with the game myself, and after spending a good bit of time trying to get a handle on the game's abstract control, I finally made some decent headway - although that goddamn barrier in the island's center still stumped the hell out of me. After some fumbling around, I apparently accomplished something of worth as the adjoining regions were finally unlocked and I was free to roam the entirety of the rectangular continent. However, I still found myself incredibly confused and embittered over the HUD (which the in-game tutorial did not help with, honestly), how to use magic, what the various staves and rings did, what the hell anyone was saying when I would seek advice, or why large, truncated Doberman heads kept eviscerating me with their endless death lasers every time I accidentally bumped into a tombstone because of the lurid OW control!! Seriously, what the hell, man!?

Anyways, for reasons unknown, I put the game down and soon forgot about it. Well, with Beat All Games, I decided to give it a go once again. Immediately, I began to recognize why I might have stopped playing this to begin with. Already my back was against the wall as I tried my damnedest to figure everything out all over again - and I still don't know what some of that stuff on the HUD represents. I really hope this game came with a novel-sized instruction manual, because there's a lot of explaining to be had, and seriously, without one, you're casting fate to the wind. And that's my biggest problem with this game: this feeling of blindly stumbling around in the dark. Every other RPG I've ever played, I can easily pick up and understand what's going on quickly and to a pretty fair degree of gaming necessity. Yea, there may be something here or there that I don't fully comprehend, but not like this. Two of my biggest gripes directly related to this include the overworld and those who offer advice. Due to it's incredibly simplistic nature, it is damn near impossible to keep your bearings on the overworld. Yea, eventually you come to recognize particular segments of road, and the sun appears to rise in the east and set in the west - at least I think it does, but come on, couldn't they have put the compass on the main screen? And as far as seeking advice - what the fuck are these people talking about? It's all just a bunch of austere and incongruous Confucianism bullshit - er, I mean Drakkhenism bullshit. It's great to have characters recite historical backdrop to enliven the plot and create some interesting depth, but here its just needless garbage that neither helps me on my quest nor piques my interest in further learning the political strife that has plagued the world of Drakkhen. Ok, there was that tidbit about morning dew that was helpful, but that's about it. And whatever the heck Whickhen was talking about in the Fire Area's Anak (or was it the Ice Area?) - come again? If there's any game where advice could actually be useful, it's this game - and they totally missed the ball.

Now, I suppose I should take everything with a grain of salt. After all, the game was originally designed for the Amiga and Atari ST, being ported to the SNES some two years later. And from what I understand, a number of revisions ensued, supposedly resulting in enhanced gameplay. Well, I'd hate to play the original if that's the case, but I digress. Whatever the case, despite being passed through various programming teams, it seems that the idea of having an RPG that plays nothing at all like an RPG was never an issue. It's almost as if Drakkhen is some sort of strange Leary-esque interpretation, the number one culprit being the battle system. And I thought Final Fantasy's turn-based system annoyed me when I was first introduced to it, or that Morrowind's battle system was a piece of crap. Wow, neither of those games can hold a finger to Drakkhen's innovative system, or lack thereof. All you do is nothing. That's right, nothing - literally nothing. You might as well just put the controller down and watch the excitement unfold - or better yet, do something else like write a pissy little rant about how much the battle system sucks. Heck, there were a couple battles where I probably could have left and made a sandwich. Ok, so you can use potions or magic or even move your selected character around the battlefield, but for the most part, there's no need to do any of that. Besides, once you reach level 5, outside of the Fire Area, it's pretty much impossible to lose a fight (if you have the proper tools to do the job).

As far as other RPG aspects, I'm still uncertain how experience works. I know I'm getting experience - I can see how much experience I have, but how the heck is it divided up. I can't even tell who's making blows during battle and who's not. There's so much sprite flickering happening, that I don't know what's going on. And speaking of sprites, what are up with some of these creatures - most notably that amorphous red humanoid that likes to dance around. What is that? With the already odd mix of a fragmented, vector-based polygon overworld and Super VGA-inspired dungeons, these Dadaist representations of otherworldly beasts should only be expected. And here I thought 7th Saga had some strange creatures.

Good grief! It seems this game has made me aware of how much easier it is to throw blows than offer praise, but I've got more. I suppose my final punch covers the length and overall difficulty of the game. When I first played this game, a couple years back, I genuinely believed I was making some serious inroads on the game. After visiting various castles and battling some seriously tough opponents, I figured I had to be near the end. Nope. I hadn't even started the Tear collecting. This time around, with the effort I had to put in to rescue Princess Hordkha before I could even start amassing the Tears, I figured each Tear would require approximately the same amount of work. Next thing I know, I have three Tears, and then six, and all at the drop of a hat. Admittedly, I had to swap out some stave usage to survive the necessary battles to acquire these Tears, but then I come to Hazhulkhen and kill him in mere seconds with shitty armor and weaponry. Talk about a letdown. But what's this, the game's not over? What the hell do I do now? Yea, you need to battle a bunch of overworld peons as you make your way to the Center of the Island and create the Ninth Tear. This game is the sheer definition of anticlimactic.

Ok, ok, I know I've got to represent its redeeming elements as well. Despite all its pitfalls, I did enjoy playing it. I have to say first and foremost that its highly unique nature does make the game an intriguing play. I admit that as strange and convoluted as it was at times, it was that feeling of wanting to know what lies around the next bend that kept me playing - how can it get any weirder than this? And somehow it continued to up the ante. Secondly, the game was blessed with an unbelievable soundtrack. I cannot stress enough how amazing the music is in this game, from the demonic Title to the serene Water Area (Day), or from the dour reflections of Haagghka's Castle to the completely out of place but incredibly catchy Earth Area (Day) - hmm, why am I thinking Out Run here? Seriously, go and check out the entire soundtrack, or better yet, see if you can find a download.

But yea, all the uniqueness in the world couldn't save this game. I really wanted to like this game, and I tried, but there was nothing to hold on to. I tried overlooking its petty "battle" system or its iniquitous and archaic scripture spat out by the denizens of the world. But the further I got in the game, the further my affections for the game strayed, eventually realizing that it was nothing more than a bothersome chore lacking any gratifying sense of accomplishment, like that of peeling potatoes, except this chore came with a badass soundtrack.

Nano-rant:

So, I have no problem with ridiculous fantasy names, but did they all have to be so similar looking? It's already bad enough not having a compass on the main screen. You know how hard it is to keep track of where Naakhtkha's castle is or Haagghka's or Naakhtkhen's? Who is Hazhulkha again? Am I supposed to kill Haggekhen? Goddamn!!

Rating: 2 Jackson Warriors out of 5