Review: Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled

Let’s clear the slate here and stand eye-to-eye with this one. This isn’t the game game of 2009, of course that renowned title has already been awarded to Damnation. It’s also not the Brad Pitt or even the Fiddy Cent of retro-styled RPG wannabes who continuously struggle to be the great and the wonderful that we have already had the blessings of partaking in. No, Black Sigil is more like the Adrien Brody [Replace with Pee Wee Herman is you are not familiar with him] of the genre: fatally unattractive as a man so he should really just play the role of “the ugly chick.” Yeah, that sounds about fair. Black Sigil is that “man who plays the ugly chick” of 16-bit “Wish I were good” RPGs. You heard it here first. Now allow me to tell you why…

Now I say the man who plays the ugly chick because it so desperately wishes to emulate the true love and emotions that the RPGs of yesteryear evoke in all of us, as well as the classy, current 16-bit titles that are gladly welcomed into this genre’s family. For some less than amusing reason, Dark Sigil shares a number of relations that uncannily come off as Chrono Trigger in sheep’s clothing. Only the “sheep” only had foodstamps and bought the clothing from the 99 cents store. If you’re going to make a knock off at least make it fun and emulate what the respected title did well. So I’m not reiewing the the charm that Chrono Trigger graced players with once upon a time (and time again with the sweet portable port we received), I am reviewing Dark Sigil, a horribly unplayable RPG that has stripped me of all patience I have ever possessed when trudging and forcing my way through an awful game.

The story is mediocre at best, and that is its… well, high point, I suppose. The main role is that of a young one named Kairu who — insert innovative plot device here! — lost both of his parents once upon a time. Black Sigil takes place in a kingdom called Bel Lenora where all are blessed with the possession of magic, oh, except Kairu. Long, long ago, there was a knight named Vai who, like Kairu, also could not wield the wondrous power. He brought upon the kingdom a heinous tragedy in which he was exiled far away from the kingdom. The people of Bel Lenora now worry that events will repeat themselves with Kairu. So the story really isn’t a complete failure, the characters would also be charming if they didn’t constantly remind me of Chrono Trigger. The music is average and fitting for the 16-bit look and feel of the game.

There are just so many hindrances that may seem minor, but in reality cripples the game to a heavy degree. For example, the encounter rate is the foremost and most frustrating quirk to foil this game’s core gameplay from succeeding. If every baby step I took on the world map did not result in a random encounter, this game would be much more playable, but it completely erases the possibility of playing this game for (realisticly) 2 hours, for the incredibly patient (which I tried to be) perhaps 10 hours. Luckily for you all though, there are an intricate and explosive 50 hours of gameplay to enjoy! It feels like progressing is an impossibility though with the amount of random encounters. Now I love RPGs just as much as the next Chrono and Marle lover, so naturally leveling up and training is an important and (usually) enjoyable element in the mix. Not here, the random encounters are so frequent it is unbearable and the battles are not even smooth or gratifying. Battles take an ATB approach with the load bar present as you wait your turn, only it’s a bit muddled. You have to be able to “reach” your enemies otherwise you cannot attack them, and if your partners are hidden behind you in any way, they are rendered utterly useless in battle since they will not be able to attack, which happens more often than you’d hope, unfortunately. Battles make use of one positive element though, which are combo attacks between partners, in the style of, well, Chrono Trigger.

Even the hardcore training folk will find it a hindrance to proceed with the amount of random encounters, which actually just pop up with no sort of sound effect warning or anything, it’s rather odd. They just suddenly appear on screen: As you’re walking (and not running) on the map, it’ll just fade to black, nothing more. No music to move you into the battle realm, something that is unheard of in an RPG where battles take place in another screen! For some reason unbeknownst to me, as I mentioned a moment ago about running, you can only run in small towns, but not on the monumental world map. Ironic, much?

I can’t say I would recommend this to anyone, be it a casual RPG player or the dedicated grinders, it is an exhausting task to find an interest in this game, and trekking through the countless hours I did just for the sake of this review, are hours I can never have returned no matter how much I call the Customer Service for time poorly spent. My recommendation is to stay away, for I cannot find an audience that this could possibly be appealing to.