I farted, heh heh sorry.   I WILL EAT BOAT!!!   I like fairies.   Barren deserts on the other hand...

First Look Preview 09/17/08 Neal Chandran

Blossomsoft is a small independent game developer with big ambitions. As with any small developer, they wish to develop for platforms such as Nintendo's popular DS handheld. Blossomsoft has quietly been in operation since the days of the Game Boy Advance and ongoing projects, such as the cowboy themed Western Lords and the closely guarded Mimic Book, promise something fresh to RPG fans. Their debut title for public consumption is a Japanese style RPG called Eternal Eden for the PC. RPGFan had a chance to sit down with a prerelease demo of Eternal Eden and here is what gamers can look forward to when the game releases in the next few weeks or so.

Eternal Eden introduces gamers to a utopian land where nobody ages, nobody dies, and the Tower of Eden takes full and complete care of the peoples' every need or want. The tower was bestowed upon the people by an entity known as Father and the people could reap the benefits of the tower so long as they follow Father's one stipulation: anything can be taken from the tower except the fruits of wisdom. Our hero in this tale is a sprightly young man named Noah who, along with his eccentric neighbor Dogan, is starting to question aspects about life that nobody has ever dared to question.

The story begins with Noah waking up from a horrible nightmare. Not sure what to make of it, he goes to his friend Downey's house to wake him up for the princess's 400th birthday party. Every year the boys of the village go to the Tower of Eden to make a special pie for the princess's birthday and the boy with the best tasting pie gets a kiss from her. Downey having not made a pie and not wishing to look foolish to his arrogant rival Jean, decides at the last minute, with a reluctant Noah, to make a pie using some wisdom fruits. Upon eating the pie, the princess has a vision, turns into a beast, and runs off. Torrential rain and monsters now descend onto the village and the people start experiencing fear, aging, uncertainty, and other unpleasant aspects of life for the first time. A portal to a parallel world opens up and Noah, Downey, and Jean go through it in hopes of finding the princess. Though the tale starts off with a "rescue the princess" premise, it promises to be a more human journey about redemption and the search for self rather than a more typical RPG story about overthrowing a megalomaniacal evil empire. Parallel worlds will be an integral aspect to Eternal Eden's tale, pleasing gamers who have enjoyed television shows such as Sliders and RPGs such as the Chrono games.

Eternal Eden's graphics, sound, and gameplay harken back to the 16-bit era of RPGs, which many JRPG fans consider the Golden Age. The bright and colorful 2D sprites and tile visuals are reminiscent of classic SNES RPGs such as the Lufia series, albeit with higher resolution and a glossier sheen. In place of the chunky pixilated fonts normally seen in vintage RPGs is a legible modern font. Environments tend to be brightly colored and houses are filled with sundry details inside. The battle graphics show heroes and enemies atop a swirling vortex background colored to complement the dungeon's dominant color scheme. These vortex graphics are akin to the kinds of trippy battle backdrops seen in Earthbound or Revelations: Persona. The character art is presented in a glossy anime style often seen in fantasy anime and JRPGs with wide-eyed heroes and sinister-looking villains. Whether windowed or in full-screen mode, the game manages to look smooth and never blurry or pixilated.

The synthesized MIDI music is also reminiscent of classic RPGs, but with greater clarity. The compositions are generally deliberately paced in keeping with the mood of the game yet also quite melodic. The music definitely has influences from the 16-bit compositions of games such as Tales of Phantasia, Final Fantasy IV-VI and the Lufia series.

The gameplay consists of the classic town, overland, and dungeon paradigm that RPG players find very intuitive, and the easily navigable menus are second nature to anyone who has played a Final Fantasy title. Saving is handled at save points, which appear at good intervals, and the battle engine is a traditional turn-based one. A nice touch to the usual formula is a system of non-random encounters; you can see your enemies on the field as clouds of smoke before engaging them. They also do not respawn, encouraging thorough exploration of dungeons without fear of inopportune battles. In fact, clearing out all the enemy smoke clouds in one area of a dungeon can grant bonuses in another area of that dungeon. The dungeons also contain many puzzles such as those found in Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals or Wild Arms, so be prepared for lots of blocks, levers, and even some timing puzzles. Exploration is greatly rewarded as areas are often chock full of hidden items, so pay attention to the exclamation point above the character's head indicating a hidden item. The game thus far is challenging so finding hidden items in the nooks and crannies of dungeons is a good idea.

Eternal Eden is currently in the final stages of its beta testing phase and a playable demo should be available to the public in the coming weeks. The game was to be released this summer, but Blossomsoft wanted to put in the extra time to refine the game, not rush it out, and ultimately make it a high quality product for consumers. System specs for the game are pretty low so anyone who enjoys 2D Japanese style RPGs should certainly keep an eye out for it. It will be available for download from both Blossomsoft themselves and via other gaming portals.