(Review) For fans with memories of JRPGs from the 1990s… ‘Baek Yeong-woong’ – Game Y VRESP

‘Baek Heroes’, which classic JRPG fans have been waiting for, has been released.

As is well known, ‘White Heroes’ is a new work by the team that developed the ‘Fantasy Guardians’ series at Original Konami. This game has a similar atmosphere to ‘Fantasy Suikoden’, so much so that it can be said to be a spiritual successor to ‘Fantasy Suikoden’. For reference, ‘Phantom Suikoden’ is one of Konami’s representative RPGs. Konami created many masterpieces in the 1980s and 1990s, but did not have many games to represent the RPG genre. However, although a masterpiece RPG with a new personality was completed through ‘Fantasy Guardian War’, no official numbering title has been created since the 5th game. In addition, the spin-off title for PSP, ‘The Hundred Years of Fantasy Guardians’, received poor reviews, and no spin-offs have appeared since then. Meanwhile, the original developers have released a spiritual sequel through ‘The Battle of Baek Heroes’, so it would be natural for it to be welcomed by fans of the series.

‘The Tale of Baek Hero’ is set on the Orlan continent, where countries with diverse cultures and values ​​are gathered. Many ethnic groups, including humans, elves, and beastmen, are gathered together to cooperate or compete for supremacy, and among them, the Garodia Empire dispatches an exploration party to find a special rune lens… 100 heroes appear in the game, starting with the main character Noah. It presents a grand epic story through the conflict with the Guardia Empire as well as the national coalition made up of various races and the stories of countless people.

This game was reborn with 1990s-style dot graphics and modern graphics. The characters were developed with 2D dots and the background with 3D graphics, and thanks to the excellent art direction, there is no sense of heterogeneity. Games of this style are a 1990s-style JRPG reborn with a modern sensibility, and ‘Baek Hero Battle’ can be said to be a similar case.

The basic structure of the game is to move around the world map and fight in the form of a Rendam encounter. Battles are based on a turn-based approach, and battles take place in a separate battle field rather than on the world map. Up to 6 people can be in a party for battle. You can conduct strategic battles by placing characters at the front and rear. Each character has different muli and magic attributes, so the direction of the battle can change depending on how they are placed. Therefore, it is important to create an optimal party composition.

Since many battles occur while moving around the field or world map in this game, an automatic battle function was also added. Unless it is a battle of high importance, such as a boss battle, you can proceed without burden with the automatic battle. The presentation that occurs during battle is quite spectacular, and in particular, cooperative techniques such as hero combos and gimmick elements frequently seen in boss battles enhance the enjoyment of battle.

Because this game features 100 hero characters like ‘Fantasy Suikoden,’ each character has a different job and story. Additionally, full dubbing adds liveliness to the game. As the main character Noah progresses through the game, he meets numerous heroes, welcomes them as colleagues, and then part ways. The process of recruiting heroes can be said to be the core fun of this game. If you only progress through the main story, you won’t need to meet all the heroes, but meeting a variety of heroes can be said to be the best feature of this game. Each hero boasts a different personality, job, and narrative, which can complete a huge drama.

Overall, it is a work that allows you to truly feel the fun and nostalgia of the 1990s JRPG, but it also has some shortcomings. First of all, the character’s basic movement speed is slow, and the size of the bag to store items is too small. Also, you can always reorganize your party in the village. Also, if you do not properly indicate where to proceed next or what conditions you want to have as a colleague, you may end up in trouble if you skip the lines without reading them carefully. The boss battle is also too long. Certain bosses require about 20 minutes of battle, which feels quite long. If you get wiped out in a boss battle… Also, you can gain a lot of experience points by clearing the boss, but it becomes quite unfair if there are characters who are unable to fight.

While playing the game, I saw some shortcomings, but overall, ‘Baek Heroes’ is a fun JRPG. In addition to battles, there are various mini games such as fishing, cooking, and spinning tops, and you can enjoy not only regular battles but also event battles such as one-on-one battles and siege battles. So, I think it’s a good game for fans of the past ‘Fantasy Suikoden’ or JRPGs from the 1990s to enjoy. The game was released on PC, PlayStation 4, 5, Xbox, and Switch.