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A lousy Game.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 13
Date: July 19, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The graphics are terrible. The story just plain stinks. I bet that it was ment for people who had trouble sleeping and were desperate enough to try and bore them selves to sleep. You'd have to be an old man Brian like me to like this. I bought 4 copies of this because I thought that it would be a hit like Prunes are. I'm 65 years old and I still play video games. I have to admit that it is better than Pin Ball, it's not worth a penny.

An interesting departure from standard RPG fare!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

When we had a Sega Genesis, I never was into a lot of Role-Playing videogames until I found a game called `Landstalker'. It was a modest RPG by today's standards, but it still ranks as one of my favorites to this very day, so when we upgraded to a Sony Playstation, I searched to see if the game was available for that platform, but with no luck. However, I did turn up a game called `Alundra' that was similar - even the insert booklet paid homage to Landstalker. And though it lacks a bit of the charm, wit, and the renegade free spirit of it's predecessor, it is a fine RPG nonetheless.

This game features an old-school 2D view of gameplay (it's biggest departure from `Landstalker'). The graphics are pretty well detailed, but quite cluttered. On a Sega Genesis these graphics may be impressive, but for a Playstation game they seem a bit archaic. I'm not usually hung up on graphics, but being a bit nearsighted, there are some spots where I didn't even see stairways or spot objects in a room. The sprites are pretty much as you would expect to see them on most SNES or Genesis RPG's.

The storyline is a step up from Landstalker, which had the main character Nigel as a treasure hunter seeking a nice payday. Alundra has a slightly more concrete (yet ordinary) backdrop of him becoming a reluctant hero for the townspeople of a village that is plagued by nightmares. I say `backdrop' because it's not so much a story, but more of a unifying theme by which the collection of adventures (each one is a separate dream) are tied together. And in a major departure from standard RPG protocol, a good portion of Alundra takes place in and around a single town, so there is no globetrotting over all the map. (Not to worry though, it's not nearly as claustrophobic as it sounds).

The biggest advantage to games like Alundra over many conventional RPG's is that it uses a real-time battle sequences. Rather than being whisked away to a separate screen and programming a bunch of battle commands, then watching it unfold, this game features simple battles on the spot by reflexively using your weapon when you encounter an enemy, making them a creative mix of an action game and RPG. Seeing that you only control one character instead of a party, this method plays very nicely. Yeah, it may sound archaic, but it really adds to the game because you have no `down time' during the battles.

Another great aspect to this game is the puzzles that you must solve to progress past certain points. You may have to trip switches, move items, or defeat enemies in a certain order, but there are lots of little puzzles throughout the game. Some are a bit too easy, some are hard, and some require time and patience, but they are all challenging and fun. There are also a few hidden bonuses here and there. If you're intent on speeding through the game you might miss them, but if you take your time, it's usually worth your trouble to search every area that you can. What you find may be of benefit to you during the later stages of the game.

I'd always had trouble persevering to the end of an RPG video game, and this was only the second one that I made it all the way through (Suikoden was the first). The ending sequences and resolution of Alundra were a bit of a disappointment, though the puzzles and battles leading up to it were not.

To summarize, some die-hard RPG purists may miss the multi-character interplay or the strategic battle sequences that are the norm for RPG's. But Alundra is a fine game in its' own right, and a pretty distinctive one too. Its' cast, story (oops, I mean `backdrop'), and action are all centered on keeping the player involved and interested, rather than being flashy. If you're an RPG fan and would like a break from mega-monster bosses, casts of 6 to 100 playable characters and long, tiresome battles that only serve to obscure the story, then Alundra is one of the most refreshing departures that you'll ever find.

Great game, if you can keep your sanity, that is.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: July 20, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game fun and highly addictive, but OH LORD IT'S SO FRUSTRATING!! At times, anyway. Don't plan on finishing this game quickly. It's a lot like Zelda as far as the gameplay goes. The story goes like this : You're a little elf boy named Alundra who has the ability to enter people's dreams and control them. You are on a journey in the beginning, on a ship to some place or other, when a storm comes up and the ship sinks. You wash up on the beach near a town called Inoa, where there seems to be an epidemic of nightmares that are killing off the villagers. Your job is to enter their dreams and confront the demon (or whatever he is) Melzas and his various minions. The gameplay is pretty fun, the enemies and bosses are pretty easy so far. I've only had the game a couple of weeks, so I haven't finished it yet. There are some puzzles that are extremely difficult, so you will find yourself online looking for a walkthrough so you can know what the heck to do. That's not so bad. The part of the game that really ...[stinks] is the jumping. You can spend thirty minutes trying to jump from one ledge to another so you can progress in the game. The distance from one ledge to another is sometimes just a little bit farther away than it should be, or else you have to take time to carefully jump from one pedestal to another without some big iron ball knocking you off. The jump button is very sluggish and sometimes doesn't respond at all, so after trying to make the same jump 50 times you will probably need to go to another room and smoke a cigarette or something and count to 100 so you don't end up destroying your Playstation. Oddly, in spite of this the game is highly addictive. I would recommend it only if you're a very determined soul, however, or if you're a masochist.

Great Fun..

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: August 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I bought and finished this game about 3 years ago. And it still stands out in my mind as one of the best RPG's ever. I only give it 4 strz because i'm strict. You might have read this game is tough, because of the puzzles. I didn't find it hard at all. Because i cheated. I had the hint book. I used it every time i got stuck with a tough puzzle. The boss battles are easy, not too easy. Theyre long but fun. If you stink at games, like me, get the hintbook and only use it when you are stuck. That way you can just relax and enjoy the great story and gameplay. Don't worry about being a cheater(Smelly videogame geeks always say that it's wrong to cheat and play the game how it was meant to be played. The Story and the way the game handles it is great. The game places you shipwrecked on a strange island-town. And you feel apart of this little village, like your really living there. You become very familiar with the towns-people and shops, it's great.

A pretty good game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: September 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I really liked the part of the game that I got to play. I dont own the game, my brother does, and so I got to play it when he came to visit awhile ago. Anyway, I thought it was a pretty good game, it can be hard in parts, but thats not a bad thing, at least this game gets you to think. Its not a good game for people who dont like puzzles though.

Great game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: April 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game but, kinda confusing. You'll need the players guide for this game. It looks like the super nintendo graphics but it's still awesome.

Pretty good game, but it is frustrating.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I really enjoyed Alundra. It has a good story, characters, graphics, and the music is pretty good too. However, there were two emotions that seemed to remain in my mind as I played the game: anger and frustration. I think I went through about four stress relievers before I finally ended up pawning it off. It's been a few years since and I just bought it again. The game has held up over the years, it's still as good as it was before. As I play now, I do get the urge to break the disk in two, but I think that as long as you've got plenty of patience and time you might want to find a used copy of it. This game will be especially enjoyable to those who remember the old 2D Zelda games.

Really challenging game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Never have I been so tested and challenged since the old Genesis adventure title, LandStalker. And Climax has made Alundra twice as hard, twice as challenging, and twice as good as its LandStalker counterpart. Play the part of Alundra, a young boy who possesses the power to venture through people's dreams. He's like one of those dream warrior chaps from Nightmare On Elm Street, but instead of fighting Freddy Krueger, Alundra instead faces difficult mazes, challenging puzzles, and nasty monsters. Maybe not the best analogy, but you get the picture. Not only does this game possess a really cool story, but it also has some great music and graphics that totally suit the game, like Wild Arms. Sure, it's no Final Fantasy VII, but Alundra has that classic, more traditional RPG feel that has literally faded away since the introduction of polygonal graphics. I'm not saying that evolution is bad, but I honestly miss these types of games.
The game may look outdated, but Alundra does in fact possess a level of gameplay that doesn't appear much in today's role-playing games. I mean, am I the only one who's tired of turn-based RPG titles? Alundra shares the same gameplay elements found in the classic NES version of Zelda: A Link to the Past and, like I mentioned before, LandStalker. Staged in a pseudo-3D environment, Alundra builds on the basic fundamentals of those old console adventure titles and simply makes them better. With improved character animation, better level design and more puzzles, Climax has turned this fizzled genre into a game that most, if not all RPG fans will enjoy. Because of Alundra, I now own three busted controllers and have two holes in my wall -- I'm kidding. However, I will warn you that there are some levels in Alundra that were so dang difficult, I literally broke down and cried. And get this -- when you die, may it be by the hand of a skeleton or a slight miscalculation of a jump, you have to start all the way back at the last save point. When this happens, and you can bet it will, you can do one of two things. You can either give Climax the middle finger, or a thumbs up for making the game challenging. Hey, I gave them a thumbs up... most of the time. Besides my gaming integrity being slightly scarred by near impossible obstacles, and I use the word "near" really loosely, I do have to admit that this game is awesome. If you really enjoyed games like Ys, Zelda, and/or LandStalker, you'll especially dig Alundra.

Ten times superior to its sad, decrepid sequel

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Rpg's throughout the ages of cmputer and video gaming have come and gone. Many have silently slipped through almost unoticed however this is one of those that manages to remain in the memories of the people involved in the world of gaming oncomputers of all kinds.

When you say the word RPG games such as Zelda, Final fantasy and Breath of fire fly through the air. However this is one game that easily stands up to the challenge that these rpg classics set.

The game takes place in around a village named Inoa, where you play an elf-like character who shares the same name as the game's title. Taking the game mechanics you would find in an RPG like the Zelda series and coupling it with a plot as dramatic as a Final Fantasy Psygnosis and dream matrix made an all time classic here. The story is that Alundra was on board a ship named "the Clark" and it sunk during a storm, washing up on Inoa beach he is nursed back to health and is drawn into a saga that has been plaguing the village inhabitants for some time.

Within this village numerous people are falling ill and dying as a result of dreams being turned into nightmares by a demon named Melzas. The player finds themselves summoned by a guardian named "Lars" (no connection to the Metallica drummer!) to stop this demon. Sounds cliched? In a way I suppose you are correct however the dreams idea is turned into a beauty of its own when you find that Alundra has the power to enter dreams and change their outcome. Thus you find yourself treated to numerous psychadelic images before winding in a usually dark rpg type dungeon where the dreams prisoner must be saved.

Of course this would be of no use to the gamer if there was no gameplay and naturally for an RPG there is tons buried beneath the surface. At first you feel that is a basic and simple rpg, yet later on it is that fact that makes this game such a well crafted piece of genius. The difficulty in this game comes commonly from the difficulty of the puzzles. Expect to have to decipher lock codes, organise a makeshift stairway from nothing amongst the obligatory demon slaying.

The game also boasts some fabulous variation in locale, whether it is the aforementioned dark dungeons, volcanoes and of course large castles expect to find lots to do. What makes this game even better is that it is between the plains of linear and non-linear. While like all other rpgs you are guided by information passed on by the usually passive characters in the village, you find that there are tons of secret locations to uncover within the mammoth quest that is available. If you like the idea of unlocking portals, uncovering life extending gems or new gear expect plenty of variety within the quest ahead.

Of course the game is not perfect. The main flaw with this game is that commonly you find puzzles being basic ones where you have to jump onto switches or simply time the throwing of a barrel and jump into a room. This may sound unchallenging yet it does prove difficult quite often when you find the time limits being incredibly tight. This is plus point in that you have to work at it, yet it is a negative point as you can sometimes fall from these jumps and wind up right at the very start of the puzzle or worse the dungeon.

This is one game that only the patient should try, if you have a low flashpoint then you may wish to give this a miss unless you can stop the urge to snap the disc! Persevere though and you find in this game a true classic that was slated for being a mere clone, however this is a foolish analogy to follow and is a joy to play from start to finish. Highly recommended.

Just like Zelda

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: January 04, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The formula for this game is simple - Solve one mind-numbingly hard puzzle after another until you beat the game - Simple!

Unlike any of the Final Fantasy, Suikoden, Breath of Fire, Wild Arms, etc..., there is no:

()Random monster battles every 20 seconds.

()Experience points.

()A bevy of party-members to mix n' match and constantly upgrade.

()Complicated and numerous menus to learn and navigate.

The Legend of Zelda of the super Nintendo era is the only game that plays like this one. Why do they not make more games like this one? The game is hard, yet the formula is simple.
You will most assuredly need the cheatbook to get through to the end - it is that hard.
Though the graphics are simplistic by most any standard, they are still well-done and convey what they are intended to; a fantasy world populated by friendly villagers and homey houses. The story is well thought out and interesting, also.
The monsters and bosses are mostly easy - it is the puzzles that will impede your progress.

This game is fun because it really makes you think. The pure unmitigated joy of solving 3 or 4 puzzles in a row w/out using the cheatbook is fantastic! And when finally admitting defeat while stuck at a particulary vexing puzzle, you will read the solution in the cheatbook and then shake your head in annoyance at the simplicity of the answer, and ask yourself 'why didn't I figure that out myself...the answer was so obvious.'

High kudos for this obscure little game and a wish that more RPG's followed Alundra's winning formula of less is more.

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