Guardian’s Crusade (PlayStation)
The PlayStation was chock full of quality and popular RPG’s, so it’s not surprising to see that some of them were overshadowed by the juggernaut titles. Guardian’s Crusade happened to be one of them. It features a simple premise: a boy named Knight and his friend, a fairy named Nehani, are surprised one day when an odd, pink creature falls from the sky nearby, which they simply name Baby. They quickly set off to return it to its home, a place called God’s Tower. Is that foreshadowing a change in the simple storyline or is it a delightfully ironic name for a nursery? You’ll have to play to find out. Along with the standard role-playing conventions that’s expected of a role-playing game, Guardian’s Crusade took several chances to differentiate itself from the standard RPG’s that gamers were used to playing.
While traveling from town to town, players will notice that there are no random battles, but rather ghosts that represent these battles that can be taken head on or avoided like the plague. These ghosts differ in size and color to give the player an idea of how tough that battle may be if they choose to fight. Weaker enemies would actually run away from Knight and give the player a visual indication of their power that few RPG’s to this day provide. This certainly opened up the game to give players the ability to pick their battles. Another notable feature is that the towns that inhabit the overworld are not just a miniature icon that acts as a gateway to the town itself, but are appropriately scaled to give the world a sense of scope.
With the battle system, the developers seemed to have taken a bit of inspiration from a popular Japanese RPG that was set to take the world by storm, Pokemon. During battles, these living toys could be summoned to help fight, heal, cast spells, and do more to help Knight and friends defeat the enemies they encountered. Around 70 of these living toys can be collected to aid Knight and his friends on their journey.
The fad in kids toys at the time were virtual pet simulators like Tamagotchi that required the owner to take care and influence the virtual pet as they progress into adulthood. Guardian’s Crusade includes a similar mechanic that allows Knight to take care and instruct Baby on their adventure. If Knight didn’t keep Baby happy, he would start disobeying Knight’s orders and would eventually turn into a hideous, mean creature. This mechanic added to the “buddy picture” vibe that the story heavily relied upon.
Guardian’s Crusade is definitely not a serious, epic game that often plagued the genre at the time, which is echoed throughout with the graphical style, musical soundtrack, story, gameplay, and more. The graphics are simple, but effective. The music is light, cheerful, and keeps the game feeling upbeat and fresh. The developers described the story as resembling that of a buddy picture and it’s apparent at every turn in the story. With that in mind, Guardian’s Crusade isn’t going to require dozens of hours to complete, just a sweet spot of around twenty hours of your time at most. If you’re looking for an RPG that’s enjoyable with no strings attached, you’ve found it.
Following the release and commercial success of Final Fantasy VII, the PlayStation become the de facto console for RPGs and between 1998 and 2000. The sheer quantity overwhelmed, and many great games such as Guardian's Crusade were lost in the mix.
While traveling from town to town, players will notice that there are no random battles, but rather ghosts that represent these battles that can be taken head on or avoided like the plague. These ghosts differ in size and color to give the player an idea of how tough that battle may be if they choose to fight. Weaker enemies would actually run away from Knight and give the player a visual indication of their power that few RPG’s to this day provide. This certainly opened up the game to give players the ability to pick their battles. Another notable feature is that the towns that inhabit the overworld are not just a miniature icon that acts as a gateway to the town itself, but are appropriately scaled to give the world a sense of scope.
With the battle system, the developers seemed to have taken a bit of inspiration from a popular Japanese RPG that was set to take the world by storm, Pokemon. During battles, these living toys could be summoned to help fight, heal, cast spells, and do more to help Knight and friends defeat the enemies they encountered. Around 70 of these living toys can be collected to aid Knight and his friends on their journey.
The fad in kids toys at the time were virtual pet simulators like Tamagotchi that required the owner to take care and influence the virtual pet as they progress into adulthood. Guardian’s Crusade includes a similar mechanic that allows Knight to take care and instruct Baby on their adventure. If Knight didn’t keep Baby happy, he would start disobeying Knight’s orders and would eventually turn into a hideous, mean creature. This mechanic added to the “buddy picture” vibe that the story heavily relied upon.
Guardian’s Crusade is definitely not a serious, epic game that often plagued the genre at the time, which is echoed throughout with the graphical style, musical soundtrack, story, gameplay, and more. The graphics are simple, but effective. The music is light, cheerful, and keeps the game feeling upbeat and fresh. The developers described the story as resembling that of a buddy picture and it’s apparent at every turn in the story. With that in mind, Guardian’s Crusade isn’t going to require dozens of hours to complete, just a sweet spot of around twenty hours of your time at most. If you’re looking for an RPG that’s enjoyable with no strings attached, you’ve found it.
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