Guardian's Crusade (Playstation, 1999)

North American cover artwork

Release: 1999
Developer: Tamsoft
Publisher: Activision
Genres: rpg, j-rpg, role playing, turn based combat, virtual pet

Here's yet another Playstation title I've wanted to mention, and now I'm finally getting around to it. Three years later. Better late than never I suppose. 

If there was one (1) genre the Playstation is known for, back in the day and in retrospect, it's definitely rpg's. Specifically Japanese rpg's. With Nintendo and Sega dropping the ball with their respective consoles, pretty much all big developers hopped on board the Playstation train. Squaresoft's Final Fantasy VII was a massive success and became many people's first exposure to j-rpg's. It sold millions of copies and naturally, other companies wanted to cash in on this craze. We saw a glut of rpg's get brought over, like Suikoden, Saga Frontier, Front Mission, and King's Field, just to name a few. Basically every big developer under the sun tried their own take on the genre to different levels of success.  

Which brings us to Guardian's Crusade. Published by Activision and developed by Tamsoft, who are pretty much known for just the Battle Arena Toshinden fighters and nowadays Senran Kagura, it was developed with the intention of being a "beginner rpg" for children, but it's adult friendly also. This is a pretty accurate description of the game, but it's got a few twists. 

The story involves the player character, named Knight, who must deliver a letter to another town, shortly after being woken up. Pretty typical stuff so far. Upon venturing out, he runs across a cute, pink, pig looking creature named Baby. An ominous voice tells the hero that Baby must be brought to a faraway landmark called God's Tower, and that begins the main quest of the game. Don't let the God reference get you, this is not a religious game whatsoever. 

Baby, in all his late 90's FMV glory. 

The 2 main members of your party will be Knight, and Baby. You are also joined by a fairy type character named Nehani, who acts as a sort of Na'vi from LoZ, except much less annoying. Battles play in traditional turn-based combat, however there are no random encounters. Like in Chrono Trigger, enemies are seen on the field screen and can be avoided by moving around them. Combat begins when you touch them. You can use items, attack, defend, and run. Again, very typical. There isn't necessarily magic or spells to learn, but in place of this is "Living Toys". These are basically familiars that can be found throughout the game, and each have different effects. They are summoned in battle, and you can usually have up to 3 LT's out during battle. Some act as healers, attackers to provide additional damage, or can play buffs or de-buffs during combat. Some aren't usable in battle, such as a map toy that you find, and as it might sound, provides you with a world map. With around 70 toys to find in the game, a "gotta catch em all" theme is present, so be sure to check every nook and cranny in the game. The toys are a nice little substitution for traditional magic, and it certainly adds to the kid friendly image the game is going for. 

Yes, GC has Comic Sans in it, but only during combat. Long before it ever became a meme.

Likely capitalizing on the Tamagotchi craze of the late 90's, there is another gameplay element to this, and that's taking care of Baby. Yes, there is a virtual pet to take care of. For the most part, this entire portion is really down played. Baby must be fed regularly, and must be given attention and praise for finding items or obeying you. If this is ignored, Baby will not function well during battles; Baby might attack you instead of an enemy, or ignore your commands completely! Sometimes he might even flee from battle! What an asshole! However, this is only if you don't treat him well. As long as you feed him every once and a while and give him some praise, you should be fine. Baby also features a power to morph mid-battle to do extra damage. As he levels up, he can morph into more powerful creatures. The whole virtual pet aspect is neat to see in a game like this, but there isn't much depth to it and it doesn't seem to have much impact on the main game. 

The presentation is actually quite impressive for the time. When travelling along the world map and entering a town and vice versa, it is completely seemless, without any load times at all. Everything stays scaled the same, and without a single loading time to be seen. The only time it loads is when you enter a dungeon or house. Other rpgs at the time would use a miniature version of towns and characters when travelling on a world map, and upon entering a dungeon or town would have to load. The graphics are quite colourful and clean, and the characters, npcs, and enemies all have a cute look to them. The camera is always placed above Knight, and can be rotated 360 degrees with the shoulder buttons. However, it's zoomed in slightly so it leads to the screen feeling cramped, as if there is always something just outside of view. The game has a ton of flavor texts. If you don't know what those are, it's those text boxes that pop up when you search stuff in games. Every little thing can be "searched", and you always get a unique text for each house, item, or thing you check out. Nehani even comments on this at one point, saying something along the lines of "Do you really have to search every corner in this game?" The texts are a small touch, but it's fun to see. The dialogue in general is pretty funny and light-hearted. The game doesn't take itself too seriously.

The music is alright. It's mostly traditional rpg music. Sappy upbeat songs, but with a kiddy feel to them. The final boss music is pretty badass, and some of the town themes are catchy. The soundtrack isn't bad at all but it's nothing that you're going to want to download. 

There isn't much difficulty with the game, which shouldn't be surprising. During my entire playthrough, I think I died only 2 or 3 times, and these were all towards the end of the game. If you're looking for a challenging game you won't find it here. It will be about a 20 hour game, which is short for rpgs on Playstation, but works well in the context of being a introduction to the genre. 

Because of it's simplicity and it's kiddy look, it's a bit hard to recommend this game. If you are an experienced, hardcore rpg player, you'll probably think this game is a giant piece of shit. But if you're a little more open, I think you will get something out of this game. The way you approach this game will probably determine how much you like it.  It feels nice to play an rpg where there is no  "angsty, quiet teenage boy and group must team up to save the world from evil" trope. 

It's unique and a bit quirky, nowhere near as much as something like Earthbound. It's certainly not the best rpg on Playstation, it's certainly not the worst. It's intended goal was achieved, it's very suitable for beginners and kids; it has an easy to follow plot, the combat and mechanics are easy to understand, and it doesn't drag on too long. If you're looking for something different from traditional j-rpgs, it's at least worth a try. 

Guardian's Crusade sold poorly upon release, perhaps because of it's cutesy kid look on the cover, or getting overshadowed by bigger releases at the time. Naturally it entered obscurity soon after. The only recognition it ever got since then was being released on the Japanese PSN store in 2009 (under it's Japanese title, Knight and Baby, an objectively inferior name) The game disc is a hot pink colour which makes it stand out a bit. Because of it's poor sales, it's very uncommon, but can be found anywhere from $20-$40. Check it out if you want a very simple rpg.