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About the Game
Energy Breaker is an isometric strategy RPG developed by Neverland Co. and released by Taito Corporation in 1996. Set on the idyllic Zamlia Island, you play as Myra, an amnesiac young woman with a thirst for adventure. The story begins with Myra being visited in a dream by a mysterious woman calling herself Selphia, only to meet her in real life the next day. On the advice of Selphia, Myra heads to Eltois, the Wind Forest, hoping to catch up with a man who may know about her past. Shortly after arriving at the Wind Forest, Myra joins up with Lenardo, an old scientist who's hunting for the Reincarnation, a legendary flower whose scent is said to have the power to bring the dead back to life...
Gameplay
Though Energy Breaker is a strategy RPG, unlike most SRPGs, you can freely explore your surroundings and talk to characters between battles. In fact, it's more like a normal JRPG with an SRPG-style battle system. The basics of battle have much in common with other SRPGs, but some additional stats, Balance and Energy, will give you something to think about. You need Balance points to perform actions, like moving or attacking, and you need to develop and manage your characters Energy levels for each element to unlock or use different skills. You'll also need to keep a close eye on your characters' life as well - the more damage they've sustained, the slower they'll regain Balance.
The game rewards exploration: most maps have hidden paths and treasure, and searching every inch of the environment often turns up useful items and occasionally, items or events that flesh out the story. If you're the kind of player that likes hugging walls and hammering the A Button, this is the game for you!
Released at the end of the SNES's life, the game has a beautiful presentation marred only by Yasuhiro Nightow's crappy art. Scroll down for screenshots!
The soundtrack is pretty rad too - here are some samples (track names from the patch):
Main Characters
Myra: The heroine of this game. She's kind of a dreamer and has a bit of a reputation for being unreliable. She uses her talent with "string-whips" to fight...elegantly?
Dr Lenardo: An old man who has mastered both science and medicine. Something of a mad scientist with a mysterious past. Fights as a team with Gulliver, his robot assistant.
Star: He might look like a weedy, fresh-faced youth, but in actual fact, he's an immortal with another personality lurking deep within. He uses the powers of his other self in combat.
Dorothy: An unfortunate orphan. Perhaps as a result of this, she acts rather precociously. She's not very strong, so she relies on Pygma, the baby dragon that accompanies her, for support.
Leon: Known as The Whirlwind General, Leon is surrounded by mystery. He's a specialist at fighting with a sword in each hand, and makes use of a range of swordplay skills in combat.
About the Patch/Getting the Patch
12 years in the making, this unofficial translation makes Energy Breaker available in English for the first time. It includes extensive reprogramming to allow for features such as proportional fonts, bugfixes and improvements on the original code, and a lovingly translated and polished script that puts it head and shoulders above most official translations of contemporary games. For more background on the translation, see the readme included with the patch!
You should be able to get the latest version of the patch at http://eb.yuudachi.net/.
If you are reading this in the future and the site no longer exists, try http://www.romhacking.net/.
Sample Screenshots
Preview Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yos5wcO-KDE
(Note: This was taken before release and includes a couple of bugs not present in the final version.)
Thread posted on behalf of cultureculture.
I love the PS2 Growlanser games, though.