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Published: 2015-11-15 05:59:37 +0000 UTC; Views: 2814; Favourites: 20; Downloads: 5
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Description
I'm sure this game needs no introduction among hardcore Capcom fans. But for those who don't know, Demon's Crest is the Third and Final Installment in the Gargoyle's Quest Series - a spin-off of the Ghosts 'n Goblins series. The series follows Firebrand - the Red Arremer, (Or Red Devil as some call him) enemy from the Ghosts n Goblins games - as he goes on his own adventures in the Demon Realm of the Ghosts 'n Goblins universe.It's a unique idea. His character in Ghosts 'n Goblins is so pronounced that he sometimes feels like a miniboss, or rival character for Arthur. Giving him his own series where he's the focus seemed natural. And I find it ironic considering that he's a badguy from Ghost 'n Goblins, that the overall theme of his own games is where he's liberating the Demon World from tyranny.
Ultimately however, Demon's Crest doesn't have much to do with Gargoyle's Quest I and II other than the main character; which is kind of disappointing. I think I'll just sum-up the previous game's story.
Firebrand is a Fire-Gargoyle who is the reincarnation of the Legendary Red Blaze - a powerful mutant gargoyle that once saved all of the Demon Realm from Destruction. And in the Gargoyle's Quest games, he defeated two evil demon-kings.
Demon's Crest however is a different story; you don't get the sense that Firebrand is anything - not a Hero, or a Villain of the game.
The plot is simple; the Human and Demon Worlds exist separated from each other. But one day, Six Stones fell from the sky, emblazoned with the Crests of the Elements of Fire, Earth, Air, Water, Time, and Heaven. The crests give power to whoever wields them. ALL in the opening narration, Firebrand gains five of the six crests, and goes after the Dragon-Demon to get the last one. He gets it, only to have all of them stolen by Phalanx, the main antagonist of the game. Phalanx wants all the crests...for some reason...to do...something. Literally all the detail in the exposition stops there.
So for some reason, Firebrand goes on a quest to get the crests back and become the Ultimate Demon, yet again; I think probably due to matters of pride. Or maybe something about whoever has the crests will gain the power to rule both worlds. And there's something about Firebrand being imprisoned in a Colosseum that you don't ever get told about directly. (You have to figure it out.) And I should also mention that Firebrand technically has the Crest of Fire, but for some reason, it got broken into six pieces.
But enough about the plot, let's move onto the Gameplay.
It's completely different from Ghosts n Goblins; Firebrand can only jump once. And it has one of the things that annoy me most; the height of the jump is dependent on holding down the jump button. My thoughts are, why can't you just press the damn button and jump as high as you can? This concept lead to too many deaths on the first opponent.
Firebrand has one advantage over his rival Arthur, as pressing the jump button again causes him to begin hovering with his wings. He can hover endlessly and move left and right; this is good for bypassing superfluous opponents. Unfortunately (for now) Firebrand can only hover at the height you jump to, and can't move up or down. This also makes having to hold the jump button to reach your top height annoying, because sometimes the second-button press doesn't register. But sometimes it DOES and you think it's not going to - so you press again, only right after you begin hovering, you immediately drop.
But jumping and hovering aren't the only ways Firebrand can reach new heights. As a Gargoyle, he has the ability to cling to certain walls. Using the jump button you can scale to the top of whatever respective wall you can cling to.
Right now, Firebrand has only one attack, spitting a dainty fireball. And what's even more unfortunate is, you can only shoot one at a time. And by that I mean, when you shoot a fireball, you have to wait until it either hits something, or flies to the other end of the screen, before you can shoot another one. THAT is some bullshit attacking right there.
If you'll play around with the controls, you'll find that Firebrand has another move called "headbutt" where he turns away from the screen and bashes his head against something in the background. This is NOT an attack; despite what form you might be in, this move does NO damage. Do NOT use this on an opponent. This move is meant to open pathways, discover treasures or remove obstacles.
Now that we've covered Firebrand's initial controls, we can move onto the enemies. Did I happen to mention the first enemy in this game is ACTUALLY the first boss? Yeah, it's the Dragon Demon you beat and got the Crest of Heaven from; he wants it back.
You'll quickly realize that with your dainty fireball and limited jumping ability, you can't hurt this thing. So run until you get to the end of the chamber. Now you have to wait for him to attack and then you quickly jump and shoot at his head. If you're lucky, he'll be stopped from attacking. But you'll quickly find out just how bad the jumping control is.
Once you defeat him outside, you'll realize this game has something Ghosts 'n Goblins never did; a LIFE BAR! But despite this, you'll realize how quickly it is to die. You start out with three hits, and gain a fourth after defeating the dragon. However, most opponents in the game do TWO hits of damage per attack. Now the game begins for real, and you'll realize how slow firebrand is. At times you'll realize you're the slowest thing in the game. The stage enemies are on the whole really easy.
The bosses are a different sort. Because getting used to the control is difficult, you'll find the first few bosses to be rather hard, and a bit monotonous. I remember my first time playing I had trouble against the first Hippogriff and General Arza (Firebrand's rival for the game).
Fortunately, you're able to improve your character by finding various items like health-upgrades, vials for carrying potions, scrolls for inscribing magic spells that you can buy from a wizard, and certain talismans that effect certain types of gameplay.
Considering buying Spells and Potions are not only necessary but very expensive - collecting Money - represented as G.P. - is essential. The Crown Talisman - which increases money-drop probability - helps this.
Other talisman's like the Hand Talisman increase your fire rate from 1 to 2, and the Armor Talisman increases Defense.
Better yet, throughout the game, you recover the other Demon Crests and pieces of the Fire Crests you can increase Firebrand's fighting ability.
Shards of the Fire Crests give Firebrand a new unique ability. The Buster Shard allows Firebrand's fireblasts to destroy breakable walls that reveal more treasures and hidden areas. You'll find this is the only one that's actually useful despite the overall strength of the final one called "Demon".
For example, one crest allows you to shoot tornadoes that you can stand on. Another one called "Claw" claims that you can use it to climb walls. After jumping on every wall I could think of during the game, and trying every button I could to use this ability, I find that it does...Nothing. It does absolute nothing; it's completely useless. As is the Shard that says - Headbutt; it doesn't give Firebrand a new attack OR increase his headbutt power at all. Another irritating thing is the fact that you can only select one shard at a time, despite the fact they're all pieces of the same crest.
Speaking of which, the other Elemental Crests actually transform Firebrand into a different form of Gargoyle. The Ground Gargoyle allows you to rush through breakable obstacles, the Tidal Gargoyle allows you to swim through water. The most useful out of the crests you get normally throughout the game is the Crest of Air, allowing you to transform into the Aerial Gargoyle; he has the ability to increase the level he flies at. You'll find this to be useful in order to dodge obstacles and enemies, and outmaneuver some bosses. However you'll quickly find it's hard to control like everything else; climbing higher requires you to tap the action button instead of rising endlessly while holding it. And the only way to come back down is to tap the jump button and drop - hopefully catching yourself at the desired height.
The last crest you'll get legitimately in the game is the Crest of Time, which transforms you into the Legendary Gargoyle. His special ability is a much-welcomed defense increase. But don't overestimate yourself, you can still get fucked over.
One thing I actually found myself enjoying - despite the light RPG elements of the game - was, it's probably the first non-linear game outside of the Zelda series that I've played. You'd be surprised how many forks in the road there are in each level and the varying ways you can play the game. For example, once you leave the Colosseum, you go to a map screen where you can freely fly to the available areas you have access to. The animation here is really fun to play around with.
More than that, each level has at least two distinct paths to follow, which increases each level's replay value to track down all of the bosses to gain all of the Crests, Talismans, and Health Increases. The bosses are all beautifully sprited and really unique looking. But man are they absolutely challenging.
Bottom line, even with the Defense Upgrades of the Armor AND Time Crest -
Ultimate Phalanx is a fucking Bitch,
And the Dark Demon (secret boss) is near impossible.
Beating the game is a satisfying feeling; but it all depends on what ending you get. Like I said, due to the many forks and paths in the game, you have the ability to beat the game at different intervals of readiness to get one of three endings; Bad, Incomplete, and Good (True). I only got two of the three endings -
You get Incomplete by beating Phalanx without all of the items collected. You don't face Ultimate Phalanx, and instead, Phalanx corrupts the Heaven Crest by permanently fusing his essence inside of it. As such, Firebrand decides to scatter the crests across the world again, until another warrior is ready to collect them, and face him in battle.
You get the Good Ending by collecting all of the Crests, Shards, Urns, Scrolls, and Talismans and defeat Phalanx. He'll reveal you just fought his shadow, and then accesses the power of Infinity to become Ultimate Phalanx. If you defeat him then (easier said than done), Phalanx is permanently destroyed, and Firebrand takes possession of all Six Crests. Phalanx's tower crumbles and Firebrand ascends toward the highest cliff overlooking both worlds. He decides that instead of using them to rule, he tosses them off of the cliff to be scattered once more.
However, the game alludes to something called the Crest of Infinity that is said to appear once all six are brought together. But it's a red herring; the crest doesn't exist in the game.
HOWEVER, if you watch all the credits, the roll will end with a new Password. Reset the game, go to Continue and Open the Password Screen. The password should be loaded in there ready to use, hit end, and you can replay the entire game with all your items AND have access to the Sixth and Final Crest - the Crest of Heaven, transforming Firebrand into the Ultimate Gargoyle.
This Gargoyle is the strongest of them all, with the ability of all the others including the ability to fly like Aerial Gargoyle. He can also charge his fire attack to make it stronger.
The only thing I was disappointed on was his coloration. Sorry but when I thought about the Crest of Heaven, I expected it to turn Firebrand into some white-ish, silver and gold like demon; something more akin to heaven. Instead, it makes you a purple and blue recolor of Legendary Demon.
With this power, the game is much easier and all the levels are accessible; however, I won't lie when I say that Ultimate Phalanx is still difficult even in this form. I still haven't beaten him with it yet. However, Phalanx isn't the main attraction here.
You'll notice on the Map-screen that in addition to Phalanx's tower, an Eighth area is now available. If you fly toward it and pass through a short underwater area, you'll face the final challenge...The Dark Demon; a beast who existed dormant in the Human World, who has now emerged to take the Crests from Firebrand and possess the power of Infinity. At least that's the headcanon I make up, there's literally no intro to this fight at all; you walk in, and the battle begins.
I'm going to say right now that the Dark Demon is one of the hardest bosses I've ever faced. And unlike every other boss in the game, he doesn't turn red when close to death, so it creates the illusion that your efforts are futile. Even with the defense upgrade and power of Ultimate Gargoyle, you can still easily die to this thing. It has no discernable pattern, and spends most of it's time in its invincible stage.
Destroying this beast legitimately, without cheating was an accomplishment that I will hold onto forever with the utmost pride and joy.
The story ends with basically a repeat of the Good ending, with Firebrand realizing that his true power is not derived from the crests, but from something deep inside himself. He again tosses them away and sets off for home, hoping to find another warrior to challenge him.
The credits roll, this time showing all of Firebrand's Elemental Gargoyle forms in addition to the Bosses. It makes you feel really proud to see all your crests in action one last time, and look back on all the bosses who maddened you with irritation and know that you got here because you conquered them. The last screen is that full body shot of Firebrand; his story is complete.
--
In summation, I really enjoyed Demon's Crest despite it's flaws. It's one of the most unique games I've played in a long time. It has such appeal from being part of the Ghost's 'n Goblins' universe, but coming from one of the villain's perspectives. And it shows the niceties of the Demon World, how despite how monstrous they are, most of them are just people, trying to live in their own civilization. Firebrand kind of does come off as a Hero, despite how his motives are never quite clear. The one thing you can depend on from him, is a will to fight.
The difficulty of this game adds a true challenge to the experience. You truly feel accomplished for having defeated a boss that you spent hours of endless concentration to try and destroy. For what little story the game has, you do get a heavy dramatic feel for it. It honestly would make a great movie, if some plot points were smoothed out, touched up and expanded upon a bit.
The controls can be maddeningly frustrating, but not impossible to get the hang of.
And personally, considering that Ultimate Phenomena forms of BOTH Gamma Ghidorah from "Spunky" and Delta from the original came from this game - in the forms of Ultimate Phalanx and the Dark Demon, it becomes all the more satisfying when I think that, "I really did destroy Gamma and Delta."
I'd give Demon's Crest for the Super Nintendo...8/10.
--
This is what I hope to be the first of a series of video game reviews I'd like to start doing. Not gonna lie folks; I'm NOT a game. It takes a LOT to get me interested in playing a video game now a days. Demon's Crest is one game I didn't expect to like as much as I did; took me about a day and a half to beat it. I'm almost upset that the Gargoyle's Quest series has ended, and not still gaining sequels. I would really enjoy seeing a modern version of this game released, hopefully tweaking some of the problems with it.
If you guys would be interested in my take on other video games, please let me know and I'll make reviews a priority.
Please join me next time, as I take on Demon Crest's merciless, ruthless, relentless, Bad-ass, Big-Brother.
SUPER Ghouls 'n Ghosts!!!
Demon's Crest is copyright
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Comments: 3
GIGAN05 [2015-11-15 19:11:16 +0000 UTC]
Pretty informative review! You have a knack for this.
Time to put those writing skills to use, this is your calling.
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Geedra [2015-11-15 14:44:29 +0000 UTC]
Nice review. Always wanted to play this game, think I might now
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
SpaceG92 [2015-11-15 09:15:33 +0000 UTC]
Comment for Linkzilla for easy access, because he asked about it.
PS: Comment coming soon!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0