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ソルスティスII
©1993 Sony Music Entertainment
Release: 1993-11-12 (¥9500)
Cartridge SHVC-EX (ESPG48)
Action/Adventure/Puzzle Game
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Released in America as
Equinox
( SNS-EX-USA )
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Released in Europe as
Equinox
( SNSP-EX-XXX )
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Solstice 2 is an action/puzzle/adventure game by Software Creations
and published by Sony Imagesoft, and it is also the sequel of Solstice
released for the Famicom system in 1990. The young Glendaal is on a
mission to deliver his father Shadax, powerful wizard (and hero of the first game)
kidnapped by his apprentice, the evil sorceress Sonia.
Each of the seven visited worlds hides vast underground dungeons and
Glendaal must collect twelve magic blue orbs hidden within
their walls. Like with Solstice, the first game of the series,
Solstice 2 uses cleverly designed 3D-isometric graphics. But unlike
the first opus, the world-map can also rotate using the neat Super Famicom's
hardware deformation effects. Our hero starts his journey empty handed, and his
first task is to collect weapons and magic spells. Each dungeon contains one hidden
weapon (dagger, shuriken, axe etc...) and one hidden spell (unlike weapons, some
spells are essential to complete the game). Once all the orbs are collected,
the area's guardian can be summoned and be (hopefully) defeated. Upon victory,
Glendaal increases his health and magic powers, and also collect one of
the five strings for his magic harp. But the secret of the music instrument
has been long lost and who knows what will happen to Glendaal
when he first uses it...
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Teaser text from the American version:
As Glendaal, you wake to a horrifying scene.
Evil forces have reduced the town of Galedonia to
rubble and turned the villagers into mutant zombies
and demons. Your father, the wizard Shadax, must
be found, for only he has the magical powers to
challenge the evil Sonia. The search for Shadax
takes you through overworld and underworld battle
zones, from strategic attack positions high in the
clouds to eight mysterious dungeons below - loaded with ghosts,
wind demons and traps galore. Moving from dungeon to dungeon,
you'll search for the hidden mystical tokens which must be found to
complete a game so real that it's hard to believe it's really a game!
Equinox, new from Some Imagesoft.
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Add your Pov here !
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Solstice 2 amazes at first glance - the visuals are incredible and the
3D-isometric graphics and the overall feel of the game is rather nice (the bosses
are literally jaw-dropping). Same for the sound effects and music tracks which nicely
contribute to the ambiance of the various locations. Controls can be tricky at first
(which is often the case for 3D-isometric games), Glendaal can only move at a 45°
angle along four directions and the collision detection is rather 'hit' and 'miss', but
things get better as the game progresses. To get the only other criticism out of the way,
the character designs is a bit weak - several monsters look a bit uninspired and somewhat
out of place (such as the ghosts), and there's only a handful of them with various color
variations. All in all, Solstice 2 is a fun, unusual, yet frustrating action/puzzle
game with an unbalanced difficulty curve and occasionally unfair (and tricky) situations.
This game is definitively not for everyone.
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