[Playing…] Equinox – Solstice II

In 1990 a game called Solstice for NES where we controlled a sorcerer named Shadax, who ran through endless rooms full of traps from an isometric perspective (something quite popular at the time, because it gave the sensation of being three-dimensional).

Solstice had a sequel in 1993 that came to SNES under the name Equinox (although in Japan it was called Solstice II and in fact in the Western versions the title is also referred to Solstice II within the game). As a curious detail, it is worth mentioning that this game was developed by the Pickford Brothers, two brothers who built their careers in different small companies, leaving a small trail of memorable games, such as the curious PLOK or the difficult Spider-man Maximum Carnage on 16-bit consoles. Today they are still dedicated to this, but from their own (and small) company: Zee-3.

The story of Equinox tells us that the hero of the first part, Shadax, has been betrayed and captured by Sonia, one of his disciples. To prevent anyone from daring to challenge her, Sonia has released countless monsters such as trolls or giant bats, wreaking havoc on the world. Surely the evil sorceress forgot about Glendaal, the son of Shadax and the only one with enough courage and control over magic to face all the necessary dangers in order to rescue his father and return peace to his world.

This It is one of those games where they throw you on an adventure and you have to find your life. It is true that we can only access one dungeon, and that the path to these is unlocked as soon as we finish the previous one, so that we will not have several fronts open at the same time, but in everything else, we will have to find our way.

Under other circumstances I would have left the game after exploring the first dungeon for a bit and dying a few times, but since I had time I decided to spend a few hours to see how far it went and that's when I got hooked. I've never been good at isometric games, especially when it comes to jumping, so I had a harder time adjusting to isometric movement than anything else, especially since our character can only walk in a straight line.

The main map of the game (which curiously you can rotate with the L and R buttons) is divided into islands and the bridges that lead to the next one are protected by the spirits of the dungeon bosses, Until we eliminate the boss inside the dungeon we will not be able to cross the bridge and access the next island.

On each island the decoration changes, but there are common elements such as the pits (where small enemies will come from and give us magic potions if we defeat them) or a kind of cabins?, which turn out to be the entrance to the dungeon. Each dungeon has several entrances, so if you reach a dead end or have explored all the rooms and can't go any further, it is best to leave the dungeon and choose another entrance.

Once inside the dungeon we will have to get 12 spheres that will be distributed throughout its rooms and in some cases the enemies will give them to us when they are eliminated. In each dungeon we will also find a more powerful weapon, a new spell and a bunch of keys that we will need to fully explore it.

In the first dungeon the spheres are in plain sight and you only have to explore a little to get them all. From the second, the game begins to tighten the screws slightly by adding puzzles where we will have to use our ingenuity or try all the crazy ideas that occur to us, such as trying to move scenery elements that do not seem like they can be moved or searching the walls for secret entrances with invisible doors. It is worth clarifying that the dungeons do not have a map, so you will have to memorize or write down how to get to each part, especially in the last ones, which are much larger than the first ones. The enemies will become increasingly tougher (they can withstand many hits) and faster (you will have to abuse the SLOW spell a little to slow them down) but once you have eliminated them, they will remain dead and you will be able to explore the dungeon alone.

When you have been playing for a while you realize that this is the prevailing feeling, that you are totally alone. Although it may seem strange, this is not because there are enemies or not, but because the dungeon music conveys that loneliness and sometimes a bit of nervousness (sometimes reminiscent of Metroid music). During the fight with the bosses the soundtrack takes a drastic turn and on the map we will hear a calming theme. In general the soundtrack works very well in this game, but it is a little strange because some parts of the themes within the dungeons are heard too softly, but others are heard at the appropriate volume. I understand they did it on purpose, but it's still a bit of a weird decision. I got curious and looked up who was the author of the music and it turned out to be Tim Follin, responsible for other excellent soundtracks such as that of PLOK either Spider-man and the X-Men.

As you do the dungeons one by one and the game records games, you can take Equinox very calmly and factually You must take it very calmly, because it is a difficult game because it is a bit tricky and because it is designed so that our protagonist dies at the first mistake (you will hear the noise he makes when he dies a million times, I assure you).

This game is complicated but it also tempts the player a lot, constantly challenging him to see if he is able to solve its dungeons.

However, this addiction can become cornered by frustration, with the corresponding anger and abandonment of the game. It's quite sad because many of Equinox's flaws are easily correctable and it's hard to understand why its developers (the Pickford Brothers) decided to design it that way.

I'll give some examples:

• Our character dies at the slightest contact, in fact In many cases it dies before coming into contact with enemies or spikes.. This is because our character, the enemies and the spikes are considered to be the total size they would be. if instead of a sprite with shapes they were a cube. In other words, if we put the protagonist in a square square in the first dungeons, that is the size of our character. If an enemy touches a corner of that square we will die, even if our character's body is two centimeters away. This means that we can even die walking calmly down a hallway and passing a millimeter too close to some spikes. Our character will not touch the spikes, but his “imaginary cube” will.

• Los puntos de vida de nuestro personaje no funcionan como en cualquier otro juego, si nos toca un enemigo morimos, perdemos medio punto y reaparecemos al principio de la habitación donde hemos muerto. De manera que si tenemos 5 puntos de vida, podemos morir 10 veces antes de ver el mensaje que nos pregunta si queremos continuar (en caso de hacerlo, sí volveremos al principio de la mazmorra). Teniendo en cuenta que las mazmorras están llenas de pinchos, trampas y enemigos esto significa que podemos morir decenas de veces para salir de una habitación que tenga un par de saltos complejos o enemigos rápidos. Si la vida funcionase como en los otros juegos y cada enemigo nos quitase un punto de vida sería mucho más saludable, menos repetitivo y seguiría siendo un reto.

• Trampas con la perspectiva. Los diseñadores del juego usaron la perspectiva para desorientarnos y aumentar la dificultad del juego en todo lo posible, de manera que muchas veces entraremos a una habitación y veremos un montón de plataformas que parece que están unas encima de otras y resulta que no es así que están a diferentes alturas y diferente posición sobre el terreno, pero el efecto óptico de la perspectiva hace que parezcan un montón de plataformas apiladas. Esto se habría solucionado si las plataformas tuviesen sombra (pues la veríamos proyectada en el suelo y así descubriríamos donde están realmente) pero no es así, ningún elemento tiene sombra de manera que muchas veces saltaremos hacia donde creemos que están las plataformas esperando acertar. Un detalle curioso es que incluso nuestro protagonista pierde su sombra cuando salta, de manera que tampoco podemos asegurar el sitio de caída.

• Otra cosa que es bastante tramposa y puede alimentar la frustración es que en algunas habitaciones concretas hay puertas invisibles, o lo que es lo mismo, podemos acceder a otras habitaciones traspasando una pared. No hay ninguna marca que nos indique donde hay puertas de estas, de manera que cuando hayamos recorrido una mazmorra unas cuantas veces y haya algo que no nos cuadre nos tocara ir pegándonos por las paredes a ver si tenemos suerte. Esto no es tan frustrante como lo anteriormente comentado, pero sin duda puede ser puntualmente desesperante.

Luego hay otras cosas que pueden ser molestas (solo se puede andar en línea recta, los enemigos comunes aguantan muchos golpes antes de morir, algunos puzles son tremendamente tramposos o rebuscados y nos dan elementos que no necesitamos para confundirnos…) pero esas no son tan frustrantes debido a que ponen a prueba nuestra habilidad o ingenio y una vez llevamos un par de mazmorras ya hemos adoptado esos hechos como algo normal.

Esos fallos incomprensibles (especialmente el de la vida) estropean la experiencia que ofrece este juego, pero aun así puede llegar a disfrutarse. Simplemente puede pasar que llevéis media mazmorra resuelta y de golpe lleguéis a una parte final que combine todo lo malo del juego y empecéis a hartaros al veros morir constantemente o simplemente no sepáis como continuar.

Sin embargo tengo que admitir que pese a todo ello Equinox es un juego que me atrae y me gusta ir avanzando poco a poco, es una aventura sencilla de inicio pero que te va atrapando y retando a ser superada. Obviamente mi paciencia se ha agotado varias veces, pero cuando eso sucede, me tomo un descanso para volver luego con más ganas.

Equinox no es un juego para todo el mundo, es un juego para los amantes de los juegos isométricos, los puzles y las aventuras que te dejan a tu aire. Por supuesto, también es un juego para todos aquellos que disfrutaron de su primera parte.