The Legend of Eldean tells of a trio of powerful magic-wielding siblings from the ancient kingdom of Fargasta: Radoria, Estan and their sister Cirrus. As they and their powers grew, the Black Dragon Vlag, hungry to devour this power and make it his own, began a campaign of assault against the siblings and their kingdom. Together, the Eldean clan was able to defeat Vlag, and with the killing strike were showered in his vile blood and imbibed with immortality. Fargasta ascended into a prosperous age under the leadership of their fabled heroes, but this period of revelry was soon cut short as Radoria began to descend into a madness that stemmed from his claiming of the foul sword Madriker, crafted from the soul of the vanquished Black Dragon. As his madness, and power, grew, he claimed the title of “Immortal Emperor” and set about imposing his will upon the lands, destroying all that was pure and crushing any who opposed him and his fiend-sword Madriker. The black tide that had swallowed his soul soon threatened to swallow everything. In a final act of desperation, Cirrus called upon the one power she had hidden from her brothers and transformed herself into the Holy Sword of Eldean, equipping to Estan and allowing him to cast a mighty blow towards Radoria, causing a blast that sent tremors throughout the lands entire. As the dust settled on the battleground, there was to be no trace of any of the Eldean clan; all had vanished, and all the people believed the Legend of Eldean had come to its tragic conclusion.
Generations of relative peace passed following the fateful battle between the Eldean siblings, but with time the ancient truces that united the land during Radoria’s scourge began to unravel. War and unrest began to take root, new agents of evil began to take power and the violence spread out to all corners of the world. Pike, a young boy whose parents were murdered at the outset of this new unrest, while he was still just an infant, awakes one morning in his home in the Harpy Village, where he was taken by Laia, the harpy that found him after his parents’ demise. The Harpy Village had managed to remain isolated from the troubles brewing elsewhere until this morning, when it is attacked by a dark, dragon-mounted warrior named Belnard on a ruinous quest to collect all the Power Crystals in the land, one of which is housed in the Harpy Village. During the attack, Laia is petrified by Belnard, forcing Pike to gather his courage and venture forth from the Village. Armed with his father’s old magical, talking sword, Cirrus, Pike sets out on a quest to save Laia and all that he holds dear; soon taking up allies that join him on his quest to stop the evil Belnard and the dark forces he works for from conquering the world.
Players assume the role of Pike as he travels the land, gaining 4 comrades to help in his quest, fighting menu-driven battles and exploring towns and dungeons. The player controls their inventory and party by use of items and magic, equipping of weapons and armor and monitoring the status of party characters. While traveling from town to town or exploring dungeons, the player will be engaged in random encounters by enemies unseen on the screen or overworld. Each character’s agility skill determines the order of turns during combat. Battles reach their conclusion when either all of the enemies or all of Pike’s party have been depleted of their hit points. Winning a battle nets the player experience points, gold and occasionally an item. Running from a battle is also an option, though this results in nothing gained. If all of the player’s party is slain during the battle, the game will be over. The player will come across shops selling items and equipment in each town they come across, at which the player can use gold earned from winning battles or selling outdated equipment to purchase new wares. Magic and skills play a large role in battles, with characters calling upon their stores of MP to utilize them in lieu of standard attacks during battle.
Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean is a standard Japanese-style Turn-Based RPG. Though released on the 32-bit Sega Saturn, it is visually reminiscent of other classic top-down 16-bit SNES RPGs. The extra graphical horsepower is used to make things just a bit crisper, clearer and more vibrant than its predecessors. It also utilizes its fifth-generation capabilities in the form of CD-quality audio for the thoroughly composed soundtrack, and the occasional voiceover, most prominently in the opening intro. Players will take their party of 5 characters through several cities and dungeons, traversing to and from each on a minimal overworld map rife with random encounters. Each character gains experience and levels up independently, with stats gained and spells learned automatically with progression. Combat occurs in typical Turn-Based fashion, with options for each character to attack, use magic, use an item, defend or run. Though power-leveling is easy due to the frequent random encounters, it is not greatly needed thanks to the abundance of boss battles and the high amount of experience gained from winning each one. Through the majority of the game, the highest-caliber weapons and armor are bought from the cities’ shops, but the most powerful of these items are found in longer, more complex endgame dungeons. The game is split into 2 chapters, the 2nd taking place a few years after the 1st and building upon a plot thread started in it.
Legend of Eldean is part of the Albert Odyssey series, with 2 previous Japan-only releases on SNES, although there is no continuation of storyline established in the first 2 Albert Odyssey’s in Legend of Eldean, save for a few reference to Albert, the main character of the original, and some of his exploits. Legend of Eldean also differs from the previous entries through its Turn-Based combat, where the first 2 employed a Tactical style. It is not fully known to what extent the translation team at Working Designs stuck to the original Japanese script. Their conversion brings with it many pop-culture references (some timeless, some definitely rooted in the time of release), 4th wall-breaking allusions and humorous punchlines and non-sequiturs; mostly through the brief interactions the player can engage in with NPC townsfolk, but even interjected into the more plot-crucial conversations and events taking place with the fairly large cast of important characters involved, breaking mold with what would have been an otherwise standard fantasy-fare storyline and setting.
