A look back at: Silva Saga II

It seems really strange for a JRPG, but to really beat the crap out of this game you have to abuse the petrify spell. So Silva Saga II, it's quite an interesting game in its own right if you don't count the other two games in the franchise, but for someone like me that plays franchises from the ground up, I took easy notice of what I saw. The game in turn has the exact same world, town, and dungeon layouts of the original Silva Saga for the NES. The storyline is adapted slightly differently in that you start somewhere different and you play a different character, but also completely retcons the original hero of the first Silva Saga. Don't know why they would do that, but whatever. The improvements to the mercenary and idol systems are noticeable, but you can just full-on Dragon Quest-style the gameplay with your normal characters. The swaps still exist, and you do have to go through basically all the same places that the previous game did, fight the same bosses, all of that. They just look nicer in the SNES for some reason.

But my first sentence for this look back is that the petrify spell flat out destroys this game. They didn't have that spell or status effect in the previous game, but your spellcasters get it early, and most enemies are not immune to it. Hit them with it and you essentially win since they are completely defenseless. You'll only have trouble if they are immune to that magic, OR if they can cast it too, since the Relax item is a rare find in certain nooks in towns until the very last town of the game, luckily the Meta Mahal spell exists to fully resist all magic including the status ones. Crazy how the petrify spell makes the game a cakewalk so long as you know what you're up against (so it doesn't work on bosses for instance).

What other things to look back on? Those damn crystals that float around are basically annoying bonus bosses that have way too much health and are absolutely insane to challenge. Compared to the final boss, who even in three phases wasn't as hard as those crystals. And for the towns, you basically want to look at everything, windmills, bridges, signs, tables, beds, flowerpots, fireplaces, firewood, liquor barrels, pantries, cupboards, all to get those items you may or may not need. There was a bit of grinding for money, but I bet low-level players can still go through this without that much in trouble. I say it's a little better than the NES game overall, and there's a map you can use, something I'm definitely glad to have.