Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean - Saturn (1997)

Why was the Saturn not really known for third party RPGs? Well, looking at this short clip, you wouldn't understand that. It doesn't make sense. This looks great and it has class and polish to it. The best way that I could explain it is that it presents like the best of the Sega CD and SNES. You get that very Sega RPG styling, but minus the blockiness that you usually see. Since this was originally developed for the SNES, all of that makes a lot of sense.

I also have to give credit to the story. The game, so far, presents a very adaptable script. It moves from serious and somber to lively and joking, all while getting the words and tone correct. It isn't afraid to deal with tough issues and it isn't afraid of being goofy every now and then. It treats you like an adult and not a 12 year old that needs the simplest words possible.

However.

This game is a SLOG and I'm not sticking around til the end to find out if all of my impressions were right. I straight up cut the opening narration out. When you start the game, it goes into a nearly 10 minute slideshow narration...which is fine if it were contained, but it's NOT contained. Everything in this game takes forever. Transitions are not quick. Battles take a moment to begin, and every single turn has you paused for a few seconds and there's really no reason for it. 2 mook battles in FF6 can take, what...30 seconds to a minute depending on a couple things? In this game, it could take you 5 minutes to end 2 random, easy battles. There is a dungeon in the early game that offers you passage into a town. The enemies are not scary. The boss is not scary. What is scary is accidentally taking a wrong turn because you will take 10 minutes just getting back on the right path.

This game desperately needs patching. About the only thing that makes it tolerable is the fast forward function on emulators. If you're going to play this. DO NOT play it on original hardware.