This is a game that I am actually currently playing through, so this one be in parts as I play through it. This way I'm hoping it will turn out more "in-depth" as opposed to the one-and-done dump of quick info that I did with Secret of Mana.
Metal Max Returns is a game by Data East, and was released in Japan for the Super Nintendo in 1995. Thanks to the totally awesome translation group Aeon Genesis, ( http://agtp.romhack.net/ ), we now have the ability to play this gem in English. I am playing the game on a PC using the emulator Higan, ( http://byuu.org/ ), which is the best SNES emulator ever.
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| Yup. |
The game is an "open world" JRPG with turn-based combat, and seems to take place in a post-apocalyptic world. It feels like someone took the game Wasteland, some things from Monster Hunter, and tanks and threw them all into a blender for a pretty unique experience. I have to say, I haven't played many JRPGs that are comparable to this one (yet). I have heard from others that the game is either a prequel to, or is related in some way to the PS2 game "Metal Saga". I'll probably get to that one down the road.
It opens up in the town of Leorad with your character basically chilling at home, eating dinner with your sister and dad. At the table you have a very deep conversation with your father that goes something like this:
You: Man, when I grow up I want to be a famous monster hunter!
Dad: You're outta here!
And so it begins, you're kicked out of your house and are off to... do something. Despite the fact that your father has kicked you out of the house for having aspirations, this does not hinder you from going back into the house, talking to your sister, and even sleeping in the house. In any case, you are now free to explore the town and surrounding area.
Right off I had to get used to the menu system. It's pretty expansive, and only gets bigger once you acquire a tank. (More on that in a bit.) That being said, it's not really that difficult to deal with, so it does not detract from the gameplay. It helps with local maps, your stuff, and your arms/armor, leaving you to focus more on the ever-constant task of grinding away to level up.
The beginning of the game is all on foot, with you exploring the town of Leorad and gleaning from the local NPCs a direction to take. It seems as though there's a famous monster hunter in town, along with others, that are all clamoring about a nearby cave that is rumored to have an abandoned tank in it. The cave was nearby, so it wasn't hard to find, but I did have to grind a bit to get good gear so that I wouldn't die 50 times. This involved a lot of walking in circles, fighting stuff like...
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| A depressed gas tank. |
After getting to the point where I could deal with the cave, and making my way into said cave, I started to become sort of put off by the amount of times I was being attacked. It seems like you cant walk 10 feet without something else getting in your face. While I realize it's a necessary evil, it just sort of wears thin, especially later on when you're somewhat strong and you're being harassed by ants. Literally.
Once you navigate through the cave you are then greeted by the first "boss" character, which, no shit, happens to be a dog with a rocket launcher on his back. He's pretty strong too. If you happen to survive one round of combat with him, the "famous" monster hunter from town shows up in his spiffy red tank and helps you out, only to be all condescending afterwards and leave you with the tank because "it's junk".
In any case I now had gotten the tank, and felt all cool. The tanks are pretty powerful, and do help quite a bit, as expected. As I had said before about the menu system, you have more options once you obtain a tank. You can now access things about the tank such as its loadout, weight and armor. It's kind of cool as you get to customize the tanks with better weapons, armor, and even the engine. With this though you do have to pay attention to the weight. Different weapons have different weights to them, and different engines will allow you to haul more. You also need to make adjustments to make sure your tank has a good amount of armor plates. It sounded like a hassle at first, but it's really not that bad.
After getting the tank and taking it back into town to fix, reload, etc, you'll start to get other info from the NPCs. After doing more grinding, and buying better gear, as well as buying some sort of upgrade to my menu system, I was ready to monster hunt. Around the town there are wanted posters, as well as a "hunter center" where some guy will give you bounties, tell you want is the monster of the week to kill, and then reward you for said kills. The games plot seems to revolve around these wanted posters, with you having to kill each bad guy, and then grinding away in between them to make sure you're able to kill the next one on the list.
Traveling north of town to another cave, I got to the next monster to kill, which was literally a pair of monkeys with flamethrowers called the "Salmonella Gang". I actually beat them pretty easily, mainly thanks to the tank, as without it I would have been toast pretty quickly. After dispatching them I headed back to town to do the whole restock and reload thing (The tank's man weapon has limited ammo, and must be restocked), and also got my reward from the hunter center. I also got to bother my dad...
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| I'm adopted?... |
Now I was able to deck my gear out pretty well, and was able to travel further up north to a huge wall that I guess was sectioning off the lower level adventurer from the areas of the game where you'll be killed in one hit. Once you talk to the NPCs there you'll be able to have a gate opened so you can see the world.
I'm going to stress at this point that there's a lot of grinding to be done here. A lot. The point of the game seems to be just to kill stuff, and in any order that you're able to. Doing so raises a "rank" that your character has, which at the start is "disowned son". I think mine is still at that point.
Over time spent exploring, I had traveled to 2 other towns, Negi, and Pobre Obre. In Pobre Obre I had not only found a place where I could rent other tanks from, (which takes half your gold from looting for the duration you have it), but I found an NPC to join me. (I think you can have 2 NPCs join you.) I wasn't able to change his name, (it's random), which was a bummer because his name is "Humf". Oh well. At least I get 2 attacks now.
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| Lets rock! |
That's sort of where I'm at now. I've been able to upgrade my tank more, with both a new engine, and an auxiliary weapon. In this case, a machine gun, which has unlimited ammo. This helps a ton when dealing with weaker enemies so I'm not constantly heading back to town to restock. I've grinded a lot more now too, mainly to get my new recruit up to my level, and to get him good gear. Once I grind a bit more, and explore, I can then take on my next monster bounty, which happens to be large flower with tentacles adorned with machinery. He's also got a doctorate in something, or at least I assume since his name's "Dr. Rafflesia". Can't wait.
HuckleCat
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