EXILE - TOKI NO HAZAMA HE
( Exile )
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エグザイル 時の狭間へ
©Telenet Japan 1991
Release : 1991-03-29 (¥6780)
CDRom² TJCD1014
Action/Adventure game
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Released in America as
EXILE
( WTG990101 )
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Exile (also known as XZR) is a RPG/Action game by Renovation.
The game, despite being a fantasy, takes place in the time of the Crudades
(11th Century) and tells the story of a fearless warrior called Sadora (aka Sadler).
Exile starts in the small town of Assassin lost in the Syrian
desert. The cute and red-haired Rūmī, friend of Sadler, tells him that
spies have been spotted in the nearby desert. They both decide to join Kindi,
a strong militia leader and Fakīru (aka Fakhyle), a mage, to investigate the situation.
Quickly, they realize that their enemy, the Knight Templar Yūgu Do Pein (Hugues de Payens),
is looking for them and needs help. They obviously do not trust him at first but
decide to go to Jerusalem and meet him in person. Exile alternates
traditional RPG and action phases - a top-down view is usually used when Sadler
and his friends visit towns - there they can talk to people, gather information, buy
weapons and items. Once they get to an important location, the game switches to a
side-scrolling action phase where Sadler can attack with his sword and other
weapons or cast magic spells.
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Exile was first released for Japanese PC Computers (PC-8800,MSX) in
1988 and is known as XZR (pronounced "Eguzeiru" in Japanese) .
Its sequel, called XZR II - Toki No Hazama was released in 1989 for the
Japanese PC computer PC-8800 and MSX-2. Interestingly, the
PC Engine version tested here (and consequently the Sega Genesis edition)
is based on XZR II and is in reality the second episode of the series.
Even more confusing, a sequel was released for the PC Engine in 1992 and
called XZR 2 : Janen No Jishō (aka Exile 2 : Wicked Phenomenon in the west)
and was the actual third episode in the series.
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The American version of the game published by Working Designs shows noticeable differences
- several character names and locations were changed. For instance, Hugues de Payens
was called Yuug de Pane and the town of Jerusalem was called El-In.
It is hard to tell if the differences come from censorship, but it is unlikely as other
'censurable' parts of the game remained - such as the mutilated bodies seen in
Jerusalem and the various allusions to drugs such as Coca or Hashish.
It is most probably a translation flaw, for instance Yuug d'Pane is nearly a
straight translation of his original Katakana name 'Yūgu Do Pein'.
The layout of the different stages look fairly identical but some items found along the way
differ slightly - for instance, the Japanese game tends to give the player more gold than
its American counterpart.
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Interestingly, Exile is based on actual historic facts. The Knights Templar
were middle-ages soldiers of the Temple Of Solomon. It was created in the 11th century
after the first crusade and the conquest of Jerusalem. Knights Templar had a
distinctive white mantles with a red cross. Several characters from the game are actually
based on real knights - like Hugues de Payens, french veteran of the first Crusade.
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Click on picture to enlarge |
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LK
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Add your Pov here !
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Exile is the kind of game that grows on you. It didn't really impress me
at first - the RPG side of the game is lacking depth and the action scenes are
conventional and a bit repetitive. But as you progress deeper in the game you
realize that there's lot more to it, dungeons turn into intricate mazes and several
events spice up the otherwise linear story. The soundtrack is also really good and
often directly sampled from the CD. The greatest flaw of Exile is its lack of
challenge and rather simple difficulty level. It is also damn easy to level up,
thanks to a flaw in the game that automatically regenerate enemies at given spots
in every action stages - just stay put and keep slaying the endless flow of dumb
enemies and your levels will quickly rise way up ! This doesn't help the game's
short longevity... all in all Exile is a fun game despite a few drawbacks.
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