Tengai Makyou: Ziria (contrary to the name listed here, this game is not called "Far East of Eden: Ziria", as the English patch's readme file explains) is a really neat RPG that has a lot going for it - and that's in addition to its notability for being the first ever RPG released on CD-ROM.

Structurally, this has a lot in common with games like Dragon Quest or Phantasy Star, so if you're familiar with that style of RPG, then you should feel right at home with what's on offer here. Some things that help Tengai Makyou: Ziria stand out from them include its setting (which is basically several meta layers of "silly fantasy Japan, as perceived by foreigners who misunderstand Japan"), the fairly brisk pace (my understanding is that the English patch helps contribute to this to some extent... but even so, stuff like auto-battle was present in the base game, which is very appreciated), and the incorporation of a decent amount of voice-acting, as well as a handful of redbook audio music tracks. I really enjoyed adventuring through the land of Jipang, and learning how to utilize the combat system to my advantage - this is one game where you have a very real incentive to cast magic that doesn't necessarily deal direct damage! Using sleep or paralysis on the enemy, or debuffing enemy stats, or buffing ally stats... those all can play a key part in success here, including during boss battles! Definitely make use of them as you get the chance.

This game isn't necessarily perfect - the encounter rate is very high... tremendously so. Granted, as mentioned, this game has a brisk pace, and text can be easy to pass through, which means that individual battles themselves really don't drag out, which is appreciated. And because the encounter rate is so high... funnily enough, that means that there's very little grinding that you actually need to do in this game, since usually you'll be powerful enough to take on the boss fights once you reach them. There's also certain aspects of the game's humor that don't quite hold up, as well as an odd quirk in the combat, in which if one person falls during battle (who isn't the protagonist, at least), you can still continue the fight... but after the fight ends, the game treats you as if you had a full party wipe, and sends you to your last save point with half your money taken. This can happen even after boss fights, and there's no way at all to revive a party member mid-battle, so this game really incentivizes you to keep your party healthy at all times. Kind of annoying, but at least the standard Dragon Quest treatment for losing battles is pretty forgiving.

All in all, I'm really happy I was able to experience this! The English patch is very well done, and this made me a fan of the Tengai Makyou series now. I hope someday we can get an English patch for the later games in the series too - particularly the immediate sequel to this, Tengai Makyou II: Manjimaru, as Manjimaru is often regarded in Japan as one of the best games ever released for the PC-Engine CD!