An interesting NES title. A sort-of a very soft action RPG with grid movement and Zelda-like real time attack. Very strange title, feels like a prototype and not like a finished experience.
When thinking about Dragon Quest or Zelda you usually think of grand adventures, but Arkista's Ring is a stage-based affair where you shoot all the enemies on the level and one of them makes a key spawn which is how you exit to the next level.
This could've been a cool game, but it's just too basic. Enemies can drop items of which there are plenty, and most only work on some enemies, and there's some kind of upgrade system. Now, granted, I only learned about this thanks to Retro Achievements, as they kept saying I got a new bow or a new arrow when in reality I barely felt an upgrade. Restarting the game proves that apparently I at the very least had a bunch of range upgrades, but nowhere in the game do your stats track that.
There are no shops, no anything, it's just level after level of, granted, varying baddies that you shoot. I was wondering if it perhaps was an arcade title brought to NES late, but nope, 1990 NES game.
So whatever, a neat little game. I'd be pretty annoyed if I bought it but experiencing it now, it's innoffensive. Or is it?..
There's an air of unfinishedness to it all, and I feel like it's not just my feelings, as the game pulls a Ghosts and Goblins on you. Yep. Beating the last what can charitably called a Boss reveals that the game continues, starting anew. Enemies can now shoot through walls, but your layers of armor also regenerate so "NG+" isn't even interesting. But whatever, I've decided to humor the game. Again 30 stages, only a couple of them annoying, and the game is over.
Still, fun little time, very simplistic but maybe a 2.5/5? Wait, I'm just getting a letter. It's all bloody and just says "FUCK YOU." Faster enemies now.
So there's the kicker. Here I open up Retro Achievements. You have to beat the game FOUR TIMES. Checking Youtube reveals what you might've thought: all changes throughout all playthroughs are just ratcheting up some numbers. No final final boss. Nothing. Only a very basic ending sequence.
I'm dumbfounded. I have beaten games from around the same period that took about the same time to "complete" and were about as easy as the first run through this game so I can't even pretend to understand what the hell was going on with the devs here.
When thinking about Dragon Quest or Zelda you usually think of grand adventures, but Arkista's Ring is a stage-based affair where you shoot all the enemies on the level and one of them makes a key spawn which is how you exit to the next level.
This could've been a cool game, but it's just too basic. Enemies can drop items of which there are plenty, and most only work on some enemies, and there's some kind of upgrade system. Now, granted, I only learned about this thanks to Retro Achievements, as they kept saying I got a new bow or a new arrow when in reality I barely felt an upgrade. Restarting the game proves that apparently I at the very least had a bunch of range upgrades, but nowhere in the game do your stats track that.
There are no shops, no anything, it's just level after level of, granted, varying baddies that you shoot. I was wondering if it perhaps was an arcade title brought to NES late, but nope, 1990 NES game.
So whatever, a neat little game. I'd be pretty annoyed if I bought it but experiencing it now, it's innoffensive. Or is it?..
There's an air of unfinishedness to it all, and I feel like it's not just my feelings, as the game pulls a Ghosts and Goblins on you. Yep. Beating the last what can charitably called a Boss reveals that the game continues, starting anew. Enemies can now shoot through walls, but your layers of armor also regenerate so "NG+" isn't even interesting. But whatever, I've decided to humor the game. Again 30 stages, only a couple of them annoying, and the game is over.
Still, fun little time, very simplistic but maybe a 2.5/5? Wait, I'm just getting a letter. It's all bloody and just says "FUCK YOU." Faster enemies now.
So there's the kicker. Here I open up Retro Achievements. You have to beat the game FOUR TIMES. Checking Youtube reveals what you might've thought: all changes throughout all playthroughs are just ratcheting up some numbers. No final final boss. Nothing. Only a very basic ending sequence.
I'm dumbfounded. I have beaten games from around the same period that took about the same time to "complete" and were about as easy as the first run through this game so I can't even pretend to understand what the hell was going on with the devs here.