Guardian's Crusade Retrospective Review
By: Nik S
Developer: Tamsoft
Publishers: Tamsoft (Japan), Activision (North America and PAL)
Platform: PlayStation
Release: September 23, 1998 (Japan); January 31, 1999 (NA); March 26, 1999 (PAL)
Back in the late 90's there was a small video rental store called Family Video my parents used to go to every other weekend. As my parents perused the latest releases, I would dart towards the game room. My mother was one of those parents that cared about the ESRB ratings on the front, so normally I was limited to E (Everyone) with a few limited exceptions. Normally I would judge a game by its cover: did it have something exciting happening on the cover? Was there a cute/exciting animal mascot? Which is why I normally just passed on Guardian's Crusade, until one day I decided to gamble on it. Young me was certainly not disappointed, and I was introduced to the world of role-playing games (RPG).
Guardian's Crusade, or as it's known in Japan as Knight and Baby, is a turn-based role-playing game developed by Tamsoft and was released for the classic PlayStation. The was picked up by Activision (yes, the guys known for pushing out Call of Duty every year) for publication outside of Japan. The localization team originally titled the game Guardian Legends; realizing the game's name was too similar to a shoot 'em up called The Guardian Legend they changed it.
Other than the name change, not much is different from the Japanese and the North American versions. The biggest differences can be found in the intro and title screens, with different music and opening cinematic. One Living Toy, a wind-up animatronic used in battle, was removed due to its spell called "Russian Roulette". The toy would point a gun at any character in the battle, then fire.
The game describes its plot as: "Guard Destiny With Your Life. The Gold Tower...a majestic symbol of hope to the world. But behind its walls lurks a being that could destroy all. Evil Forces are already in motion as the tower cries out for a hero. Now destiny calls on you--a young knight charged with the care of a magical baby creature of mysterious origins. Prepare to face fantastic foes in a quest that leads to the cradle of all evil." Now, what nine year old isn't going to want to play a game like that?
Inside the crystal case you'll find a bright pink disc and a 29 page instruction manual. Inside the instruction manual you'll find a console set up guide, controller guide, map, quick start, mechanics, and character descriptions.
The game's title screen only has one option to choose from if you don't have a save file, "New Game". The game starts off with an old-school-style prerendered cutscene of a stork, carrying something in its mouth, being chased by monsters then struck by lightning. The bird drops whatever is in its mouth, and we watch it tumble down towards a small island. Cut to the next morning where we are introduced to our hero, Knight (or whatever you choose to name him), and his fairy companion, Nehani, who informs him the mayor wants to chat with him.
Graphics in this game aren't exactly ground breaking compared to other games that came out for the PlayStation the same year, like Final Fantasy VIII and Chrono Cross. Though comparing this to Square Soft (now Square Enix) titles is a little unfair. The battle graphics are a little more fleshed out than the rest of the playable game's graphics and it actually looks pretty decent. However, with that being said, the graphics were one of the biggest reasons why this game didn't sell well. Everything looked jagged and rough, while other games at the time were starting to look a little more smooth and detailed.
Here's where we can finally take control of Knight (which I will be calling him for the rest of the review), about two or three minutes into the game. Hitting the Start or Circle button brings up our main menu which has three primary boxes we can look at. In the top left you have your character options like items and equipment, the Nehani option which gives you a hint as to what to do next (you can also hit Square as well), and settings. In settings you can turn on analog controls, DUAL SHOCK, fast battle mode, an auto camera, map rotation, and controller configuration.
Below that box we have our party information, health and power points. The box which takes up most of the screen is our main hero's status which covers all the basics from HP (health points) to Experience.
Controls are your standard affair, the directional buttons (D-Pad) and left analog stick (if the option is turned on) move your character. If you're using the D-Pad your hero will do a normal walk and you'll have to hold the Triangle button in order for him to run--which is standard on analog stick. The camera is controlled by the L1/L2 and R1/R2 buttons by turning it clockwise or counter-clockwise respectively. The right analog stick is basically useless as it doesn't control anything. As you could imagine X is your action button, which allows you to speak, open doors, and select from option menus.
Moving Knight can sometimes be a little awkward. For example when you want to leave a house you need to be close to the door to press X on it. If you get too close to the door, or any physical object, Knight will turn slightly which will no longer register you're trying to open the door.
As you explore and talk to people you'll learn that Knight is the silent type and Nehani does all the talking. Since this is an old school JRPG you'll want to press X on almost everything to see if it holds a secret item for you, like a Living Toy or a health item.
After searching around and finding the mayor, you learn your town's vegetable crop isn't harvesting and bad things are happening to nearby towns. He wants you to deliver a letter to one adjacent town and hands you an Angel's Tear (poison antidote) as compensation.
On your way to the next town you'll finally be able to encounter monsters. Battles are non-random encounters, meaning your enemies are walking around on the overworld map.
Once you run into an enemy, or vice-versa, the battle begins. Early on your options are limited to fight, items, defend, and run. Later on you can have the option to summon Living Toys and have Baby aid you in battle. After defeating your enemies you'll be rewarded with experience, rubies (currency), and items.
Living Toys are essentially your magic and skills, and you have to find them scattered throughout the land. Each toy has a different ability to help you in battle. It's your typical RPG skill set with elemental attacks, heavy hits, status effect, or healing. Depending on the toy's icon depends on its action, like an arrow means they do their spell or attack and immediately return to your inventory. A spiked ball means they can only be used once per battle, and a symbol that looks like a LEGO peg means it will stay out for a few turns until it's received enough damage. You can have three toys out at a time, and each toy requires power points (PP) to summon. There's roughly 70 toys that you can collect, and their usefulness varies.
When you're finally able to have baby in your party, sometime after the introduction of the game, it becomes one part monster raising and one part RPG. As you adventure with Baby, a polymorphic pink creature, you must take care of it in order for it to really help you out in battle. Baby has basic commands with attack, defend, help, and run. While baby has regular stats such as strength, defense, and speed, he also has unlisted stats such as affection and discipline (which is touched on in the instruction manual). The higher Baby's discipline the more he'll listen to your commands, and the higher his affection the harder he'll fight. If his affection is too low, ignoring his needs and neglect him, the more he will turn on you.
The game by no means is the greatest RPG on the PS1 classic line-up. However, there's enough in here to have a great nostalgia trip. The music is one of the better sound tracks I've heard from a video game, as it's always upbeat and funky to match the cartoony focus of the game. The game encourages exploration about midway through the game and you're able to search practically the entire map (even areas you're not supposed to be in quite yet). The battle system is very easy to grasp and is fun to enjoy for long periods of time. The story starts off pretty basic, but as it goes on you actually start to care for your characters and the situation they have gotten into. The game is rather cheap to find online, and if you're looking for a cult classic to add to your collection I'd recommend this gem.
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Developer: Tamsoft
Publishers: Tamsoft (Japan), Activision (North America and PAL)
Platform: PlayStation
Release: September 23, 1998 (Japan); January 31, 1999 (NA); March 26, 1999 (PAL)
Back in the late 90's there was a small video rental store called Family Video my parents used to go to every other weekend. As my parents perused the latest releases, I would dart towards the game room. My mother was one of those parents that cared about the ESRB ratings on the front, so normally I was limited to E (Everyone) with a few limited exceptions. Normally I would judge a game by its cover: did it have something exciting happening on the cover? Was there a cute/exciting animal mascot? Which is why I normally just passed on Guardian's Crusade, until one day I decided to gamble on it. Young me was certainly not disappointed, and I was introduced to the world of role-playing games (RPG).
Guardian's Crusade, or as it's known in Japan as Knight and Baby, is a turn-based role-playing game developed by Tamsoft and was released for the classic PlayStation. The was picked up by Activision (yes, the guys known for pushing out Call of Duty every year) for publication outside of Japan. The localization team originally titled the game Guardian Legends; realizing the game's name was too similar to a shoot 'em up called The Guardian Legend they changed it.
Other than the name change, not much is different from the Japanese and the North American versions. The biggest differences can be found in the intro and title screens, with different music and opening cinematic. One Living Toy, a wind-up animatronic used in battle, was removed due to its spell called "Russian Roulette". The toy would point a gun at any character in the battle, then fire.
Inside the crystal case you'll find a bright pink disc and a 29 page instruction manual. Inside the instruction manual you'll find a console set up guide, controller guide, map, quick start, mechanics, and character descriptions.
Graphics in this game aren't exactly ground breaking compared to other games that came out for the PlayStation the same year, like Final Fantasy VIII and Chrono Cross. Though comparing this to Square Soft (now Square Enix) titles is a little unfair. The battle graphics are a little more fleshed out than the rest of the playable game's graphics and it actually looks pretty decent. However, with that being said, the graphics were one of the biggest reasons why this game didn't sell well. Everything looked jagged and rough, while other games at the time were starting to look a little more smooth and detailed.
Here's where we can finally take control of Knight (which I will be calling him for the rest of the review), about two or three minutes into the game. Hitting the Start or Circle button brings up our main menu which has three primary boxes we can look at. In the top left you have your character options like items and equipment, the Nehani option which gives you a hint as to what to do next (you can also hit Square as well), and settings. In settings you can turn on analog controls, DUAL SHOCK, fast battle mode, an auto camera, map rotation, and controller configuration.
Below that box we have our party information, health and power points. The box which takes up most of the screen is our main hero's status which covers all the basics from HP (health points) to Experience.
Controls are your standard affair, the directional buttons (D-Pad) and left analog stick (if the option is turned on) move your character. If you're using the D-Pad your hero will do a normal walk and you'll have to hold the Triangle button in order for him to run--which is standard on analog stick. The camera is controlled by the L1/L2 and R1/R2 buttons by turning it clockwise or counter-clockwise respectively. The right analog stick is basically useless as it doesn't control anything. As you could imagine X is your action button, which allows you to speak, open doors, and select from option menus.
Moving Knight can sometimes be a little awkward. For example when you want to leave a house you need to be close to the door to press X on it. If you get too close to the door, or any physical object, Knight will turn slightly which will no longer register you're trying to open the door.
As you explore and talk to people you'll learn that Knight is the silent type and Nehani does all the talking. Since this is an old school JRPG you'll want to press X on almost everything to see if it holds a secret item for you, like a Living Toy or a health item.
After searching around and finding the mayor, you learn your town's vegetable crop isn't harvesting and bad things are happening to nearby towns. He wants you to deliver a letter to one adjacent town and hands you an Angel's Tear (poison antidote) as compensation.
On your way to the next town you'll finally be able to encounter monsters. Battles are non-random encounters, meaning your enemies are walking around on the overworld map.
Once you run into an enemy, or vice-versa, the battle begins. Early on your options are limited to fight, items, defend, and run. Later on you can have the option to summon Living Toys and have Baby aid you in battle. After defeating your enemies you'll be rewarded with experience, rubies (currency), and items.
Living Toys are essentially your magic and skills, and you have to find them scattered throughout the land. Each toy has a different ability to help you in battle. It's your typical RPG skill set with elemental attacks, heavy hits, status effect, or healing. Depending on the toy's icon depends on its action, like an arrow means they do their spell or attack and immediately return to your inventory. A spiked ball means they can only be used once per battle, and a symbol that looks like a LEGO peg means it will stay out for a few turns until it's received enough damage. You can have three toys out at a time, and each toy requires power points (PP) to summon. There's roughly 70 toys that you can collect, and their usefulness varies.
When you're finally able to have baby in your party, sometime after the introduction of the game, it becomes one part monster raising and one part RPG. As you adventure with Baby, a polymorphic pink creature, you must take care of it in order for it to really help you out in battle. Baby has basic commands with attack, defend, help, and run. While baby has regular stats such as strength, defense, and speed, he also has unlisted stats such as affection and discipline (which is touched on in the instruction manual). The higher Baby's discipline the more he'll listen to your commands, and the higher his affection the harder he'll fight. If his affection is too low, ignoring his needs and neglect him, the more he will turn on you.
Liked This Review? Check Out These Other Great Ones:
Deadpool 2 Spoiler Free Review
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom Review
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (DVD/Blu-Ray) Review
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