Legend of Xanadu II

~ THE LEGEND OF XANADU II ~

Falcom

Super CD-ROM

1995

I've played through this magnificent action-RPG five or six times now. It's a grand, beautiful adventure that is far too easy and criminally short; it doesn't come anywhere close to its predecessor in terms of challenge or scope. However, that might not be a negative for people who don't feel like contending with a daunting language barrier. This episode is quite easy to get into and enjoy, and judging by my own experiences, it has fantastic replay value.

The action is still primarily bump-and-run Ys-style fare, but combat comes off as being much cooler now thanks to actual attack animations. You still send Areios crashing into his foes as if he's a speedy, insane linebacker, but here he hacks away with his sword as you do it. Your computer-controlled allies get attack styles of their own: while you're doing your slashing, Lykos may be tossing knives, Pyrra hurling fireballs, and Media shooting arrows, with loads of enemies facing the group at once. Field excursions feel extremely exciting and chaotic with all that action going on, even though the gameplay is still a matter of bumping at heart.

While the first game places much of its focus on puzzles and fetch-quest-type tasks, this one concentrates on combat along with exploration. It plops you down in these vast, beautiful locations and has you hack your way across the land, enjoying the amazing scenery as you go. Let me emphasize that "beautiful" part, as these are amazing visuals that set the standard for PCE action-RPGs.

The music, although mostly not red book just as before, is also brilliant, especially the final-dungeon track. I usually don't turn up the volume very high while I'm playing video games, as I'm a mild-mannered fellow and all, but I definitely cranked it for some of these tunes.

Now, the lack of puzzles is disappointing, especially after there were so many clever ones in the first game. Here, the most puzzling conundrum is how exactly Pyrra suddenly became hot. (Even Areios seems baffled by this.)

Also a little disappointing is the omission of full-length side-view stages, as only the boss fights are played from such a perspective. The artwork on display during these fights actually does not live up to the visual standards set by the action strips in the first LoX, but there's a fantastic gauntlet at the very end here.

Most of what I'm citing as disappointments are things that bother me only because I'm comparing this game to its predecessor; if you haven't played the first one, you'll judge this entry on its own strong merits.

Among those merits is town design. These are some gorgeous, enormous towns, very atypical in design for 16-bit metropolises. Now, milling around these gargantuan villages might prove to be a little annoying for folks who want to get right to the action, but if you're the type who likes a leisurely pace as you stroll about fantasy towns and take in the amazing sights, you'll love this for sure, as everything, from humble huts in the woods to giant urban seaports, looks wonderful.

I'm kind of fickle when it comes to my view on how the two LoXs compare. When I've played them back-to-back, I've found the first to be the more impressive game, as it's so much more challenging and rewarding. But over the years I've generally held LoX2 in higher regard because I'm a sucker for those visuals and tunes, not to mention the sweet combat, and I've been enticed to return to it twice as frequently. But now more than ever I realize that it's pointless to compare the two. They both absolutely rule and constitute a significant reason the Duo is undoubtedly the best system ever for action-RPGs. Buy them both, unless you really don't want to deal with the language issue in the first one, in which case you should still acquire the second.