Sure, it heavily leans into the easy side of the difficulty spectrum (despite certain monster gates where the monsters come out all at once), but I don’t mind it as there’s at least a gradual progression when it comes to its challenge value up to the point you face Deathtoll at the end. The gameplay’s also very intuitive and fun with the soul attributes; I really liked how the armor and swords you collect not only increase your defense and offense respective but have their own unique special qualities (like the Zantetsu sword which defeats any and all metallic enemies, the bubble armor which helps you breathe underwater, and the ice armor which ensures that you don’t lose your health upon stepping on molten hot lava, et al), the music by Yukihide Takekawa, Kazuhiko Toyama, and You Himeno of AMENITY Co. greatly complement the various locations while matching the lighthearted tone (whether it be the purely soulful dream theme that I could listen to all day, the wondrous awe of the underwater theme, the mysterious theme of the pyramids, the triumphantly jovial theme upon defeating the present area’s big bad–contrasting with the aptly lonely quality that’s there at first–and the theme for when you trek in the Mountain of Lost Souls; also, Lisa’s Song), and it’s such a pleasant game to look (especially with the wavy water filter underwater, the passing clouds in some of the villages, the Aurora Borealis and the looming icy stalactite, a sense of warmth and comfort inside the cave in the Mountain of Lost Souls despite the otherwise cold setting, and let’s not forget the final area which is visually mesmerizing) =)

There is a wonderful sense of world-building as you liberate more souls, explore the ins and outs of villages, and even participate in certain events; it really makes up the heart of SoulBlader/SoulBlazer. The overall writing by Tomoyoshi Miyazaki is very good, I love the sense of tone and pacing as well as how delicately he explores the game’s plethora of themes in such a respectfully tactful manner and how there is hopeful feeling in the end; but then, Miyazaki’s a great scenario writer anyway, having also done Nihon Falcom’s Ancient Ys Vanished diptych, Quintet’s Actraiser/ActRaiser and it’s in-name only sequel as well as the company’s Magnum Opus Tenchi Sōzō/Terranigma, and Shade’s underrated inaugural title Granstream Denki: The Granstream Saga/The Granstream Saga (most of its writing, anyway, I still find it endearing). And since Quintet was formed up of former Nihon Falcom employees, there are moments when this game almost feels like an Ys game but in name appropriately enough (the main character, with blue hair, walking at a swift pace and in a square pattern; only being allowed to have one of the same item; the inventory system is quite similar too; and spinning around when you lose all your health and have no medical herb equipped) but SoulBlader/SoulBlazer does plenty of things different to make it its own self-contained entity (like swinging your sword at a diagonal angle which can prove advantageous during certain situations, conjuring magic with the soul that circles around you and if you walk towards an edge have the soul spiral its way ahead should you hold down the direction, being required to reach a certain level in order to equip something, and saving at a shrine as opposed to any non-boss room you wish, and doing the crabwalk and/or have the blade of your sword magnetically pull the gold towards you by holding the shoulder buttons)

Poor Robert L. Jerauld, this game’s translator, though. I love this game, but the translation *is* pretty spotty in areas (so many “recieved”s as opposed to “received”s and misplaced “its” and “it’s” moments), but I found the proceedings to be so engrossing and the adventure very fun and soulful that I could forgive it (aiding that was that his heart was in the right place). One would think that Jerauld would improve as a translator after SoulBlazer… one would think . Produce’s The 7th Saga, Elnard compromised version, is his best translation in terms of grammar structure and spelling (lazy enemy naming scheme, lazy simplified dialogue compared to the Japanese version, and peculiar equipment abbreviations not withstanding) with nary an Engrish error though I did find it to feel disingenuous in places compared to the original Japanese (the extraneous difficulty imposed in The 7th Saga doesn’t aid it, but never mind); Quintet’s Illusion of Gaia is a case of compromise AGAIN, only this time it was his second attempt (whereas the first was in the beta SoulBlazer: Illusion of Gaia which stuck closer to the story and difficulty in Gaia Gensōki before Nintendo of America told him, “Scrap it, do it all again!” once they hovered over the entire localization as a Western distributor simply because they wanted another A Link to the Past to their name… which is an impossibly high bar given that classic’s permanent impact on the gaming industry, and when you compound that with the fact that there was no Google or Bing translate during the ’90s and it takes a long time to translate from Japanese to English with what little resource was available back then it kinda screwed over any chance for Produce’s Brain Lord and Quintet and Ancient’s co-developed Slapstick/Robotrek to have a solid or passable translation–both Enix releases came out in America exactly one month after Illusion of Gaia… just a little something to think about) where the newer translation felt a bit watered down, forced, awkwardly tone deaf in spots, and uncharacteristically meanspirited at one point or two that it puts a bad taste in my mouth (when speaking to a person in the process of grieving: DO! NOT!! SHAME!!! THEM!!!! UGGGGGGHHHHH, SO WRONG!!!! DX)

I do like that this game’s first boss Solid Arm makes an appearance in Gaia (even though it doesn’t really affect that game’s overall plot one iota, but it’s a nice bonus upon collecting all fifty red jewels) albeit as an optional boss, and there is a neat little Easter egg involving Teddy, the name of the boy from Bloodpool who ended up being sacrificed in Actraiser, being the shopkeeper’s son in SoulBlader/SoulBlazer, I quite liked that. And y’know how in Actraiser it was your duty to protect the people? Well, as an ingeniously clever reversal here (as well as giving as Gulliver vibe) when you venture inside Dr. Leo(nardo da Vinci)’s model towns in his laboratory you are forced to combat against the miniaturized people, OH, I so love this devious twist! XD … Well, given that both titles share a similar visual aesthetic and use a similar graphic engine, it’s an apt observation, I feel

Ever since I first played this game I’ve always liked this game more than Actraiser/ActRaiser (which has got to be THE most schadenfreude Nintendo 16-bit game ever… I’m probably using the wrong terminology, but I don’t care; I just wish to clarify that I like the game, I think it’s solidly well-made, I understand its importance in history as one of the very first games for the console and is the most approachable God game there is–even if it’s during the location’s central Act–but its popularity, hype, special treatment, and excruciatingly overbearing sense of overexposure honestly all make me feel emotional and exhaustive burnout it soured my appreciation for Actraiser/ActRaiser considerably which it shouldn’t be the case, but it did; it wouldn’t be such a problem for me if the license holder gave as much attention and special treatment to the Gaia trilogy and ActRaiser 2, but obviously those games weren’t as important to Enix and subsequently Square-Enix as Quintet’s inaugural title by never giving them their second lease of life like they all deserved; I could never rank the “spoiled child of the six Quintet titles” higher than all the five other games knowing that they were never given a fair share in terms of rerelease, in that they never GOT rereleased, and I’m tired of feeling guilty for feeling like I’m one of the only people acknowledging all six Quintet games’ existence when it feels like it’s the only game certain people know of that were done by this developer; without it, though, none of Quintet’s other games would exist, but since Actraiser/ActRaiser DOES exist it’s as if those other games DON’T exist because of frequently shoved into the foreground it is; and not everyone can afford the luxury to own the system to play these games which is the only way they CAN be played… including Actraiser/ActRaiser since the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console shut down in 2019 so it’s back to square one for that one……… *sigh*
I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be mean, I just feel constantly tired of Actraiser/ActRaiser’s popularity, the game is good and reasonably fun, but I can’t with its popularity status anymore, I wish I could just ignore it completely, it’s not good for my head)

SoulBlader/SoulBlazer is an enjoyably lighthearted and soulful experience every time I play it, and I personally lump it up there with Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Quintet’s Terranigma as among the best Nintendo 16-bit action/adventure games ever! =D Short and easy as it is, it never outstays its welcome, and the delicate handling of its themes make the proceedings feel meaningful and deep

To each their own