Regardless of the differences in budget and presentation, however, both games provide a stellar experience to the dungeon crawling RPG genre that, while by no means revolutionary, stand out to provide an incredibly fun time that keeps the game consistently engaging. ![]() It's unfortunately further made apparent with its first impression as once the dual package is booted up, both Stranger of Sword City and Savior of Sapphire Wings have introductory menus that look like RPG Maker splash screens - the latter more so. Similar to titles like Operation Abyss, the party is always displayed at any given moment in the bottom 1/3rd portion of the screen, while the other 2/3rd are dedicated to backgrounds and character portraits. The enemies are mostly shared between the two titles, though there are some distinct differences in the more mechanical and design aspects that Savior of Sapphire Wings undoubtedly feels like it had a lot more of a lower budget compared to Stranger of Sword City Revisited before it, as there are no voice lines recorded outside of the usual grunts and yells to help amplify some of the strikes and certain messages, and other visual directions such as a huge lack of portraits compared to Stranger of Sword City, as well as the inability to fully hide the UI when a beautiful art piece is displayed to either get a better look or simply for screenshot purposes. Both contain an evil you're basically looking to rid of in their respective worlds, and in doing so the journey there will have you come across other warriors of all classes and backgrounds that you'll train up in more ways than one, as not only experience is needed, but bonds that further strengthen their capabilities and loyalty to the cause. ![]() Even with these similarities, however, and them being set in the same general universe, they remain completely standalone features that can be played in any order you see fit, so once the game is booted up there's no need to decide where to start first as if one is the prequel or sequel - you'll get a unique story and setting in each one to be enjoyed. The games share a lot of the same ideologies and design, so it'll be easy to get a feel for the other even after almost exclusively reviewing one. Stranger of Sword City Revisited has seen itself ported quite a few times with a few changes, primarily to the Xbox One version of the game that saw it get new art renderings, and while that game will be discussed over the course of this review, this will mostly focus on the title that remains new to all of us: Saviors of Sapphire Wings. It's far from being dungeon crawling excellency, but both Stranger of Sword City Revisited and its newly localized sequel rest on the side of the coin where dungeon RPGs are their strongest and with good company. Ever since its initial release in 2014 with an updated version to follow in 2016, Stranger of Sword City has seen a 'Revisited' enhancement as well as a sequel by the same team, Savior of Sapphire Wings, which never saw a release outside of Japan on the PlayStation Vita - where the games garnered a following - until now, giving old and new fans alike an extremely accessible yet deep enough experience for both newcomers and veterans to enjoy. On the other side of the coin, titles like Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey, Mary Skelter, Etrian Odyssey and The Lost Child that wonderfully create these unique dungeon environments with an actual set of mechanics, gameplay, and design to deliver a dynamic playthrough that can become borderline addicting, wanting to come back time and time again and actually have incentive to play through their 30+ hour experiences. Because of the growth of these games, however, it's hard to see them as any more than a challenge of "how far can you go" where story typically takes a huge backseat and the RPG nature of them - which naturally would require a lot of grinding - becomes even more tedious and arduous experience that ultimately feels like a test of patience than any reward of time spent on a particular game. ![]() Whether done in a first person or third person format, dungeon RPGs as of late tend to rely on rogue-like mechanics that further divide the userbase, so games like Omega Labyrinth, Vaporum, and Shiren the Wanderer are already targeting a very specific audience in a very specific niche. No matter how big of an RPG fan one may claim to be, there's no denying that Dungeon RPGs in particular where players find themselves moving in a grid-like format and usually visiting a plethora of underground and ancient areas typically finds itself divisive among fans for many reasons.
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