Treasure of Rudra sucks.

The writing has been on the wall with this, but I've been trying to power through it. I have not been enjoying Treasure of Rudra. At the same time, I don't think it's a bad game. It's a generic, basic JRPG story that's biggest draws don't work for me.

The cast of characters is thirteen people on the SNES. Only two of them have really shown anything to make them cool in my eyes, which is always a problem with games from this era. I'm about sixty percent through the game, but I have no reason to care about most of them. Worst still? I don't think they'll get a time to shine.

The pacing of the game may be the worst part. Everything comes at you fast and doesn't get time to set it. It's a massive database of proper nouns and phrases that my brain doesn't want to connect. I don't know if it's Square's fault or the translators, but I can't get into it. I keep forgetting everything that's told to me.

I wonder if it's because there are three scenarios telling me it all. Should I have played one character at a time? It might have made it easier to keep everything together. The downside is, would I have as many mantras?

The mantras are cool, but they're kinda inconsistent and cluttered. You can't learn everything in one scenario, so, assuming I didn't cheat, would I have the necessary ones to advance?

What IS the worst part of ToR, though, is how repetitive it is. Characters don't get skills outside of mantras. You don't need spells with the common mobs, so you're gonna be mashing B for every battle. And you'll be visiting the same dungeons time after time. The mobs aren't different, nor are they varied, so it's extra boring. And when you're not learning new terms or mashing attack, you're in a menu. The mantras take a long time to write out, and you'll never have everything you need at the ready. Get used to the same sights on your screen. Why can't chests just give us the entire word!? And the absolute need to talk to every NOC for new spells and clues on how to combat the upcoming dungeon was annoying. I suppose it's a way to slow the game down, but I found it boring.

I enjoyed the music, though, and it's definitely the best part. I'm also a fan of the animations. Every character has their unique attack movement; many get two. Even enemies get fun dodge and casting animations. Sprites are also very unique and intricate. At least the bosses are. They didn't steal anything from Final Fantasy!

Because of how large this is, the world feels massive. There are so many cities and people, many of whom know everything about the last 20000 years. It is odd that there's no secondary stuff, though. No civil wars about the end of the world, no star crossed lovers, no depressed man wondering if he should bother with life at the end of time...

The story can also be a good thing. I didn't like it, but it's very expansive. Just...too much so. It's too adventurous for its own good. The mantra system could be something really rad if it were done differently from that SNES on screen keyboard. I like talking to NPC, but if they're not telling you new mantras of varying use, they're not helpful. There should more ways to do damage than either spells or basic attacks.

I ran into a wall with Riza's day eight. A boss with over 5000 HP and no weakness, a rarity in ToR. But it has plenty of attack power. I didn't want to frustrate myself with my lack of spells anymore for a game I'm not enjoying. Maybe Treasure of Rudra is a good game? I see the possibility. But it's not for me.