Pier Solar and the Great Architects (Genesis)

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nesfan1
Posts: 995
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Pier Solar and the Great Architects (Genesis)

Postby nesfan1 » March 20th, 2015, 5:13 pm

I preordered the reprint a little over a year ago and it finally arrived last week. After waiting so long, I gotta say it was totally worth the wait. I didn't have a Sega Genesis growing up, so opening up a brand new Genesis game for the first time ever was an awesome feeling. As for the game itself, it's a turn-based RPG so of course I love it. The battle system is really fun. It uses this mechanic called "gather" where you gather energy to perform stronger attacks. You can also give and receive gather from other party members. It adds some strategy to boss fights. The battles tend to last a good deal longer than most RPG battles. The monsters can take a few hits but they're not unmanageable. The encounter rate feels just right. I've played for about 15 hours now and I have not run into a situation where I'm thrown into a random battle immediately after finishing a previous battle. I've actually walked through 2 or 3 screens without even encountering anything. The dialogue is pretty good and sometimes it can be funny. The good kind of funny, like it was intentional. I don't really have anything bad to say about it aside from a few nitpicks. For instance, the inventory. It's pretty cumbersome. There's not a whole lot of room and items only stack up to 19 before they take up another slot. And then there are keys. Optional keys are no problem but story-related keys are annoying. They unlock one door or activate a switch or something and then I have no further use for them. But I can't sell them or even drop them. They're stuck in my already limited inventory. Another nitpick I have is levelling up. It's fine for when you make it to an even-numbered level but for some reason when you make it to an odd-numbered level, your character's HP, MP, and other stats don't go up. What's the point of levelling up to an odd number? It seems like it's just a tease before you actually level up. On the bright side, I haven't had to grind all that much but it's still disappointing to level up and not have it benefit your characters.
But it's still a great game so far and I'm amazed it even exists in the first place. I totally recommend buying this game from Watermelon's website while you still can. Or you could preorder the Dreamcast version. Or download it on one of the modern consoles or Steam if you'd rather go that route.  

Gilly1
Posts: 133
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Pier Solar and the Great Architects (Genesis)

Postby Gilly1 » March 23rd, 2015, 11:22 pm

I'm on the fence about this game. On one hand it's so cool to have a new Genesis game, or Dreamcast when available. On the other, it's only $14.99 on XBone with 1080p visuals.

ActRaiser1
Posts: 2726
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Pier Solar and the Great Architects (Genesis)

Postby ActRaiser1 » March 28th, 2015, 6:14 pm

I think I played about 5 hours or so on the PS4.  It's pretty good.  I think I lost one of my teammates and wasn't quite sure what to do next.  I should just look at an FAQ and pick it back up as it was fun while I played it.

You can select the graphics to look like they are 16-bit in the menu or you can keep the game in HD.  

nesfan1
Posts: 995
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Pier Solar and the Great Architects (Genesis)

Postby nesfan1 » April 5th, 2015, 12:59 am

@Gilly - Yeah, it all comes down to your preference. I'm the kind of person that has to have a physical copy of a game in it's original form so downloads won't cut it for me. Although if you do decide you want a Genesis reprint, I'd suggest you grab it up while you can. Who knows how long it will still be available in their store or if they'll even do another reprint?

@ActRaiser - What do you mean you lost one of your teammates? Did someone leave your party or did someone die? If it's the latter, they should just come back after the battle is over. At least that's how it works in the Genesis version. I don't know if that was changed in the HD versions. There also two items that I've found so far that bring your characters back in a battle: pepper powder and electrodes.


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