I loved Brandish for being so different back then but could not solve the Dark Zone. Watching such a well made commentary on a speed run of was a pleasure. Thank you very much PJ for going the extra mile and creating this experience.
I stumbled on this game by playing random games in my complete SNES ROM collection Usually I play them for like 5mins each just to see what they're like, but I played this for a solid 5 hours. Really enjoyed this, and I'd never heard of it, so here I am looking stuff up. Thanks!
That was awesome! First 5 minutes I absolutely hated watching the game but once my brain wrapped itself around the 90º orientation thing, it ended up being a really cool game to watch! Cheers!
I was always attracted to this game since my cousin gave it to me as a kid. I couldn't leave the first area for a few years. Later I picked it up again and got stuck on the SE room in tower. Years later I played it on an emulator with guides but didn't finish it for some reason. I am playing it again and I will finish it. It's a fantastic game even though it made me so confused before. It's brutal, the exploration is really fun and rewarding and it's so mysterious. The music is amazing, especially ruins and tower. The theme of the game goes really well with the gameplay. You feel completely lost in this maze and feel will actually be able to come out. I know I didn't, not without help from the internet. But it seems I am still trapped to it's magic, cause I keep coming back. I'll probably make out this time... Hopefully.
I found this at Game Stop back in 2002...I spent many hours playing through and got eternally stumped at the first puzzle in the fortress...Never could figure out how to do it form the really dumb clue they give you. This was greta through. Thank you! :D
This game has mixed to good reviews and is probably someone's favorite game ever, but I just stumbled upon it and felt like it's movement and camera controls are extremely cursed. Will never play it to the end, but I'm sure glad to know it exists.
I actually watched this video because I had a friend in high school who loved this franchise lol. i dunno if it was his favorite game ever but it definitely seemed up there
I like how the game has enough of a learning curve with the facing and other stuff that they also made the colors for Health and Mana reverse of the norm just to fuck with people more.
No matter how often i see this game being run, im still bewildered why they chose such a "camera" system. Its not even done via Mode7, which would be understandable. They basically redraw the entire floor based on your characters X/Y coordinates every time you turn around, reposition every entity accordingly etc... Talk about "going the extra mile"... I tried playing it myself and even then its hard to grasp. Kudos, i can't even imagine how hard it must have been to get a mental map of the game for a speedrun.
It's really not too bad if you're the one playing, especially when you know the overall layout of the maps. It's MUCH harder to watch than it is to play. I'm not sure why they ultimately decided on this camera/presentation style for the Brandish series, but it certainly makes it stand out!
Absolutely amazing run of a long-forgotten gem, PJ! Quick question for curiosity's sake: is there some secret advantage to choosing Varik/Ares's "I" color palette or is that just a personal preference?
Oh, and as someone who's been casually playing this game through recently, I can confirm, those Chimera in Cave B1 are an absolutely terrifying set of creatures. They drained nearly half my life in the mid-30s. I just hate that they don't respawn, cause that made grinding arm strength a pain in my ass. I ended up grinding on the bats in that one room in B1, cause they respawn FAST if you stand in the door and as long as you keep swinging, you won't get hurt by them before you kill them.
@@TheSuperSNES Ah, gotcha. Yeah, I noticed the menuing for that took an extremely short time, now that you mention it. XD I just finished this for the first time (I casually played before as mentioned above, but have never made it too far until now), and I gotta say, beating it was a hell of a rush. It was also just... kind of a technical marvel. I don't personally know any other games that put as much effort into designing the same map from four different viewpoints. Hell, I don't know any other games that HAD four different viewpoints for their maps, at least back in the ol' SNES days.
For those that want an easier time with this game, change the controls to Rotate, this way when you move left and right you will stay facing the same direction and you have to use L/R to turn. Makes it much easier to get started.
I think the only thing that bothers me with the camera is really that there's no transition to indicate which way you turn, plus the compass ought to be centered somewhere so you can just flick your gaze that way, instead of being tucked up there out of the way. I'd have put the compass between the health and magic bars just because that's where your gaze will be most of the time it's not on the character. Otherwise it's not really different from old school first person dungeon crawlers, it's just a bird's eye view instead and it lets you jump.
Hey, you might consider the PSP version for a casual play through! I think it was a remake of this game, more importantly, it might be fun to see everything in 3d.
Alexis didn't die. She was just sleeping it off. She comes back to give you more snark in the sequel. Have you played that? You obviously love the first one, so I figured I should let you know that there was a sequel that was translated and it's even better than the first game in case you didn't know. Great run.
![[Commentary] ActRaiser 2 "Difficulty 202" speedrun in 1:00:12](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dinYWgf00ic/mqdefault.jpg)
![[Commentary] ActRaiser 2 "Difficulty 202" speedrun in 1:00:12](/img/tr.png)
![[Commentary] Brain Lord any% speedrun in 1:01:58](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GzIl-L2uNFk/mqdefault.jpg)
I loved Brandish for being so different back then but could not solve the Dark Zone. Watching such a well made commentary on a speed run of was a pleasure. Thank you very much PJ for going the extra mile and creating this experience.
I stumbled on this game by playing random games in my complete SNES ROM collection
Usually I play them for like 5mins each just to see what they're like, but I played this for a solid 5 hours.
Really enjoyed this, and I'd never heard of it, so here I am looking stuff up.
Thanks!
That was awesome! First 5 minutes I absolutely hated watching the game but once my brain wrapped itself around the 90º orientation thing, it ended up being a really cool game to watch! Cheers!
Awesome! Thanks for posting a commentary for this! I've never been able to get into this game purely because of the bizarre camera insta-shift.
We all love your commentaries. You're a very charming person. Please do more when you feel like it.
The most necessary commentary I've ever seen for a game speedrun. Thanks for this, PJ! Very entertaining.
I have watched this speedrun so many times that the camera doesn't confuse me anymore.
I was always attracted to this game since my cousin gave it to me as a kid. I couldn't leave the first area for a few years. Later I picked it up again and got stuck on the SE room in tower. Years later I played it on an emulator with guides but didn't finish it for some reason. I am playing it again and I will finish it.
It's a fantastic game even though it made me so confused before.
It's brutal, the exploration is really fun and rewarding and it's so mysterious. The music is amazing, especially ruins and tower.
The theme of the game goes really well with the gameplay. You feel completely lost in this maze and feel will actually be able to come out. I know I didn't, not without help from the internet. But it seems I am still trapped to it's magic, cause I keep coming back. I'll probably make out this time... Hopefully.
This is so good. Thanks for the commentary.
I found this at Game Stop back in 2002...I spent many hours playing through and got eternally stumped at the first puzzle in the fortress...Never could figure out how to do it form the really dumb clue they give you. This was greta through. Thank you! :D
This game has mixed to good reviews and is probably someone's favorite game ever, but I just stumbled upon it and felt like it's movement and camera controls are extremely cursed. Will never play it to the end, but I'm sure glad to know it exists.
I actually watched this video because I had a friend in high school who loved this franchise lol. i dunno if it was his favorite game ever but it definitely seemed up there
My two favorite things in speedrunning are post commentary and PJ
I like how the game has enough of a learning curve with the facing and other stuff that they also made the colors for Health and Mana reverse of the norm just to fuck with people more.
Awesome run and great Commentary on a unique game!
Love the commentaries!
Man... *Dragon View & Brandish?*
Both are such underrated games!
No matter how often i see this game being run, im still bewildered why they chose such a "camera" system. Its not even done via Mode7, which would be understandable.
They basically redraw the entire floor based on your characters X/Y coordinates every time you turn around, reposition every entity accordingly etc...
Talk about "going the extra mile"...
I tried playing it myself and even then its hard to grasp. Kudos, i can't even imagine how hard it must have been to get a mental map of the game for a speedrun.
It's really not too bad if you're the one playing, especially when you know the overall layout of the maps. It's MUCH harder to watch than it is to play. I'm not sure why they ultimately decided on this camera/presentation style for the Brandish series, but it certainly makes it stand out!
Absolutely amazing run of a long-forgotten gem, PJ! Quick question for curiosity's sake: is there some secret advantage to choosing Varik/Ares's "I" color palette or is that just a personal preference?
Oh, and as someone who's been casually playing this game through recently, I can confirm, those Chimera in Cave B1 are an absolutely terrifying set of creatures. They drained nearly half my life in the mid-30s. I just hate that they don't respawn, cause that made grinding arm strength a pain in my ass. I ended up grinding on the bats in that one room in B1, cause they respawn FAST if you stand in the door and as long as you keep swinging, you won't get hurt by them before you kill them.
Nope, no secret! I just like it more than the all-blue suit, and it is only one menu input to change it. :P
@@TheSuperSNES Ah, gotcha. Yeah, I noticed the menuing for that took an extremely short time, now that you mention it. XD
I just finished this for the first time (I casually played before as mentioned above, but have never made it too far until now), and I gotta say, beating it was a hell of a rush. It was also just... kind of a technical marvel. I don't personally know any other games that put as much effort into designing the same map from four different viewpoints. Hell, I don't know any other games that HAD four different viewpoints for their maps, at least back in the ol' SNES days.
For those that want an easier time with this game, change the controls to Rotate, this way when you move left and right you will stay facing the same direction and you have to use L/R to turn. Makes it much easier to get started.
This was a joy to watch.
I had a blast rewatching this run! Lots of good memories with this game.
Brandish in an hour? Jeez... An hour in I'm still punching enemies in the first few floors with broken swords to level the strength up.
It makes sense to me, in a way, as early "over the shoulder" gaming, as if Dark Souls or Oblivion were on the SNES.
Man, the caves are hard on the eyes. Definitely prefer the Towers like you said.
Interesting game though!
Have you looked or played Brandish 2 at all?
I think the only thing that bothers me with the camera is really that there's no transition to indicate which way you turn, plus the compass ought to be centered somewhere so you can just flick your gaze that way, instead of being tucked up there out of the way. I'd have put the compass between the health and magic bars just because that's where your gaze will be most of the time it's not on the character.
Otherwise it's not really different from old school first person dungeon crawlers, it's just a bird's eye view instead and it lets you jump.
Hey, you might consider the PSP version for a casual play through! I think it was a remake of this game, more importantly, it might be fun to see everything in 3d.
20:51 Kinda funny how this looks like its straight up ripped out of Link to the Past, and the music even kinda sounds like the Hyrule field theme lol.
Wow!
0:53 joke's on you. I did see that room on my first playthrough lol. Got there by complete accident but yea..
Alexis didn't die. She was just sleeping it off. She comes back to give you more snark in the sequel. Have you played that? You obviously love the first one, so I figured I should let you know that there was a sequel that was translated and it's even better than the first game in case you didn't know. Great run.
Yikes, this game seems like a chore..