Developer: Telenet Publisher: Renovation Release: 1992 Genre: Action RPG
From the day I saw screenshots of the Turbo CD version of Exile in Gamepro I wanted it. It had everything I possibly wanted: a cool protagonist, a unique setting and action. I was also young and dumb enough to think the entire game looked like its cutscenes but that came down to deceptive marketing from publishers. I am sure I am not the only one that thought Cosmic Fantasy 2 was the ultimate RPG only to find out it was generic garbage but I digress. Seeing as I did not have $400 (!) for a Turbo Grafx CD back in the day I had to settle for the Genesis port. While it is not as good the Sega version of Exile is still a good game overall.
Although Exile is the second in the XZR trilogy you need little information to jump right in. The intro gives a brief recap of the first title too. After defeating the Caliph Sadler returns to his hometown. Apparently mysterious men have been spotted near the city and people are going missing. Soon enough Sadler and his party run afoul of the Klispin Crusaders and take part in events much bigger than a missing persons case.
While the two versions are near identical gameplay wise the Genesis edition of Exile has a shoddy localization. Shoddy is being polite; the Engrish is damn near indecipherable at times. The problem is the translation is too literal with no work done to make it sound natural. Both versions have some censorship to an extent but the Sega game is more egregious. Sadler took drugs to heal himself; these have been renamed and are confusing. Any reference to Sadler being a Muslim assassin has been removed and the Roman Catholic Church is now the Luciel Empire. An entire town in which people were burned at the stake is missing and the naked drunken festival near the end of the game has been covered up. Obviously none of these changes break the game but as I mentioned before if you have the choice the Duo game is the one to get.
Exile is an action RPG with two gameplay modes. When you are in town you speak to villagers, buy items, and search for clues like a RPG. While you have a traveling party the other characters are there to offer vague hints or play the damsel in distress which is waste. There is no overworld. You select locations from a map and only areas the game deems relevant currently. The lack of backtracking may seem limiting but it is unnecessary. Exile moves at a brisk pace and is short. The little bits of padding at the end are annoying as it is.
Once you enter a cave or dungeon Exile becomes an action game. The console versions are a significant improvement over the computer originals with tighter gameplay. The maps are very large to the point that you use teleporters to get around. Navigation can be tricky and you might even need to draw maps to avoid confusion. Once you see an actual map of each dungeon you will realize how short they are. I do wish they were longer and at times straightforward as action component of the game is enjoyable despite its simplicity. The complexity of the level design almost compensates for the simple gameplay. Your attacks are few and magic near worthless. Even if magic were useful it would not be necessary since you can become overpowered in short order.
Overall Exile is incredibly easy. Every dungeon has points where enemies respawn infinitely. You can easily sit in one spot and grind levels to make the game trivial. While that may sound enticing there were only one or two points that I found it necessary to grind. And that grinding was about ten minutes each time. Even the boss battles pose little challenge. If you are an appropriate level or a level or two above they go down fast, to say nothing of their simple patterns. That ease of difficulty is also why the game feels short. Aside from its rapid pace there were entire parts of the game removed in the conversion from Japanese PCs. While out of place the future portion of the game is more content which is almost never a bad thing. Despite that the game still feels complete.
Although this version is on a cartridge Telenet have done an admirable job of keeping pace with the CD edition. In terms of graphics both versions are near identical. Unless they were side by side it would be hard to tell the difference. The font in Working Designs US localization is larger to say nothing of its readability. Where the CD game wins out is in the music and cutscenes. These are still present in the Genesis game but are shorter and lack voice acting. The soundtrack is also pretty good but does not hold a candle to CD audio.
In Closing
The Genesis version of Exile is a respectable game. But if you have the choice go with the Turbo Duo title. The extra presentation flourishes help that game shine and the decent localization allows you to enjoy the story as well.
