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Pasokon Retro is our regular look back at the early years of Japanese PC gaming, encompassing everything from specialist ’80s computers to the happy days of Windows XP.
Monster Hunter Wilds has got everyone all fired up and eager to swing swords at giant bugs, fill weird oversized creatures full of arrows, and tactically execute stylish weapon combos as they trudge through dark caves and lush forests. It’s brilliant—when it works.
Now imagine being able to have all that fun without the frustrating crashes and temperamental performance dips. Imagine an incredible monster-slaying action game that’ll run without any trouble on anything from modern PCs to hardware that’s not just old, but might literally need dusting off before it’s turned on.
Capcom can’t make that dream a reality, but developer French-Bread (known for Melty Blood and Under Night In-Birth) can and did, with a 2004 doujin wonder called Ragnarok Battle Offline.
This cooperative side-scrolling beat ’em up is based on Gravity’s ancient yet apparently unstoppable MMO Ragnarok Online. Despite being a fan game, it was so well received at the time it was not only able to support three expansions (with the latter two serving up nods to classic RPG Sorcerian), but was even repackaged as an officially licenced product in some countries.
It’s easy to see why it proved so popular with fans of its online inspiration, whether they were lapsed casual players or people who skipped college to spend a little more time grinding in and around Rune-Midgarts. Porings, the series’ adorable slime-like mascots, are the first enemy encountered and show up often, sometimes even wearing cute Santa hats, and many bosses and locations are sure to trigger happy memories of times gone by. Background characters have lines that will feel familiar to any seasoned MMO gamer, from “rez pls” style comments to identical bots mindlessly farming a spot for XP and other players unkindly lol-ing at another’s misfortune.
Few games love their subject matter as wholly as this one does; every new scene proves over and over again that it’s been made by people who’ve been there, done that, and soloed the boss.
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That’s all good and lovely. But what makes Offline so special is that it’s just as much fun for people who have never lost a summer or year of their life grinding in Morroc or Prontera. This colourful brawler can go toe-to-toe with anything from Streets of Rage 4 and Shredder’s Revenge to classics like Guardian Heroes, entirely on its own merits. It’s a highlight of the genre, perfectly balancing the raw sugar rush of simple pleasures with the satisfaction that only comes from refining my technique over repeated runs.
I can run out into the thick of it and hit lots of things really hard with pointy objects if I like, and not instantly drop dead if I choose to play with this straightforward sort of enthusiasm. But I can also deftly execute air recoveries and high-speed combos, unleash special moves using fighting game style commands, and turn devastating attacks into mild annoyances if I can anticipate an incoming assault and then guard at exactly the right moment.
There are six basic classes to master, covering Online’s starter specialisms (Novice can be unlocked later, as a chaotic treat). Every class scratches a unique itch, ranging from the glass cannon caution of magician to thief’s entertaining acrobatic assaults. These are then split further into male and female types, all just different enough to give them their own character.
Some of these differences are obvious—a special move unique to female archers, for example—but many are more subtle, and not truly appreciated until I’ve invested hours into one particular character. For example a male swordsman’s forward+B attack sweeps upwards in a circular motion without much horizontal reach, whereas his female counterpart performs a leaning forward slash which covers a large area ahead but lacks the aerial counter capabilities of the former.
My class also determines what sort of buffs and debuffs, from welcome heals to deadly poisons, I can inflict on myself and those around me. These abilities and more are unlocked by investing skill points in my character, which are of course earned by whacking bunny-like Lunatics to bits and clearing stages until they’ve gathered enough XP to level up. Passing certain (unseen) thresholds unlocks extra hits in combos, helpful passive abilities, and a long list of new offensive skills and even powerful spells. How and when I spend the points I earn is entirely up to me.
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It’s not a great idea to seriously beef up a magician’s strength stat, especially as respecs aren’t possible (although this does mean character building becomes a game-long reward, something to fuss over and fully engage with), but on the other hand the game is flexible enough that if I want to go for that weird sort of challenge then there’s absolutely nothing stopping me from doing so.
The stages I farm my XP in are just as well thought out. Ragnarok Online always had a vibrant world, and here that translates into a buffet of fantastic locations to fight my way through. A sandy stage is an opportunity for small dunes to sometimes obscure my view or for the stage to suck me down into the depths. Creepy dungeons filled with the undead are actually dark, my field of view far more restricted than usual at times. They’re packed with boss battles too—the first stage alone has five unique encounters, including musical insects and an aggro’d train of Porings—each one testing me in some new way.
It’s worth learning how to master them as every segment of every stage records my fastest clear time and automatically compares my current run against it, pushing me to not just win, but to improve. Was it my technique? My build? Did I not destroy a weak point fast enough?
Every question is another happy excuse to play it all over again, and the extensive arena mode offers an unlockable gauntlet of fresh challenges to work with if I need a change of pace. There’s always something new to reach for, whether this is my tenth run or my hundredth.
So if you’ll excuse me: I’d better get back to monster hunting. And I won’t even have to cook my graphics card to do it.
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Kurt Indovina
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