WaterStone Productions

Title: Dual Orb 2
Platform: Super Nintendo
Link: http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/data/563052.html

Was this game enjoyable to play?
Despite it's simplicity in terms of the gameplay, I really did have a great time playing this game.  I'm so glad I got a chance to play this game translated, as it never came to the states (though it should have been).  The story is pretty good, the graphics are great (at least I thought so), and the weapon system I found very interesting.  Basically, instead of having a ton of weapons that do different things, they have a system where just a few different types of weapons can be upgraded.  When at level 20, they are usable in battle to cast spells that can really help out.  So, while it is technically something where you only have one potential technique at a time, you can easily store in your inventory all the weapon types levelled to 20 and have a nice arsenal of techniques.  Also, you get magic for some characters as well.  It's a short game, and certainly has some bugs in it that either frustrate or make you laugh.  Overall, I really liked it.

Was this game easy to get into and begin playing, or were there hurdles to overcome before playing?
Definitely easy to get into playing, there were no major hurdles to get over in understanding the mechanics.  It's a standard RPG in a lot of ways except the weapon system.  You advance the storyline and explore towns and areas.  In order to be able to see the techniques of your weapons though, you have to do a lot of grinding to get the money.

Was this game what you thought it was going to be, and how did it meet your expectations?
I didn't know what to expect, since I had just found this game translated on an RPG website and decided to try it out.  All I knew was that it was a more standard RPG with some interesting features, and it wasn't a super long game to play at the time.  Most of the time I played it on my flash cart, so it felt much more natural to play that way.

How would you rate the graphical quality of the game - characters, objects, environments, menu systems, etc.?
Pretty standard graphics for the time it was released I think.  Definitely not subpar really.  I loved the graphics for the spells and the towns were nice to look at.  The character sprites were also detailed as well.

How would you rate the controls of the game (intuitive, smooth, overly-complex, clunky, etc.)?
Controls were fine, as they are in most RPGs I think.  There's isn't much difficulty in turn based RPG gameplay for controls.  They were pretty easy to understand and get used to, nothing clunky really that I remember.

How would you rate the character design and the story, and the immersive value of the game?
I actually thought the characterizations were decently written here, with some interesting twists in the story.  It starts off as two best friends who go adventuring together, but one gets engulfed in vengeance and another in saving him.  I did get immersed in the gameplay and generally I couldn't keep myself away from it.  Though there were some bugs that made things frustrating, like a random nearly ultra powerful boss with no real explanation why she was more dangerous than the last boss.

How would you rate the game audio (score, sound effects, voice-overs, etc.)?
While the game music isn't on the level as Uematsu, it certainly does the job very well, and everything in the game had pretty nice sounding effects.  There were no voice overs, but honestly it would take away from the feel of the game, since similar games on the SegaCD or so at the time had terrible voice acting.

What things would you have done differently with this game to make it better?
Certainly, fix some of the bugs (but probably leave at least a couple).  One bug that I mentioned is that there is one boss who gets an insane difficulty during the game, and you have to really be strategic and lucky to win, no matter what the level.  Other bugs aren't so bad, but can take away from the challenge.  The last boss (or 3 bosses) can be downright simple to beat if you constantly increase your defenses.  There is no cap on this, so you can do it over and over again so that even the final boss hits you for 1-3 points of damage.  It's certainly funny though   Also, I guess I would have added in a better inventory system, and maybe more techniques instead of just ones at level 20.

What elements of this game would you say are worth remembering and reusing again in another game/context?
The weapon system is certainly an interesting one I'd like to see in more games.  Instead of overburdening the character with hundreds of items and hidden items, using a system where you get different stats for a sword based on its level seems realistic almost.  They could expand this by making more levels and having other status effects that could be added.

What games did this remind you of (if any)?
It's a lot like other early snes RPGs at the time, so there's a lot to remind you of, but in terms of the weapons, I'd say Star Ocean, though it's much easier to customize a weapon than in SO (which is much more difficult).