Strahl · Scour

Power Stone(s)

Developer(s): Data East (LaserActive), Media Entertainment (3DO and Saturn versions)
Publishers: Sega (LaserActive), Media Entertainment (3DO and Saturn), Panasonic (3DO)
Available On: LaserActive, 3DO, Sega Saturn, Arcade (unreleased)
Release Dates: 1994 (LaserActive, North America), March 25th, 1994 (LaserActive, Japan), December 2nd, 1994 (3DO, Japan), 1995 (3DO, North America), November 24th, 1995 (Sega Saturn)
Genre(s): Interactive Movie, Fantasy
Also Known As: Chantze’s Stone, Triad Stone

Evaluating interactive movie games is tricky business. Do you focus on the quality of the animation? The st…

Power Stone(s)

Developer(s): Data East (LaserActive), Media Entertainment (3DO and Saturn versions)
Publishers: Sega (LaserActive), Media Entertainment (3DO and Saturn), Panasonic (3DO)
Available On: LaserActive, 3DO, Sega Saturn, Arcade (unreleased)
Release Dates: 1994 (LaserActive, North America), March 25th, 1994 (LaserActive, Japan), December 2nd, 1994 (3DO, Japan), 1995 (3DO, North America), November 24th, 1995 (Sega Saturn)
Genre(s): Interactive Movie, Fantasy
Also Known As: Chantze’s Stone, Triad Stone

Evaluating interactive movie games is tricky business. Do you focus on the quality of the animation? The story being told? How difficult the gameplay is? If the gameplay does anything beyond what Dragon’s Lair did? My gut says to look at it holistically like anything else I cover and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do with Strahl here, but I still think it’s an interesting question to ponder. Dragon’s Lair became a sensation because it was a playable animated cartoon that was mind-blowing for a 1983 video game, but whenever you hear anyone talk about it, no one seems to like actually playing it. The same thing applies to good ol’ Wirehead as well, if you want another example. It’s a very silly spectacle of a game, so much so that it has something of a cult following brewing nowadays, but as you’ll find if you read my blog post on it that I linked to seconds ago (wink wink), actually playing it sucks! The friction of the play can be mitigated through the use of a guide, but is that a positive thing or a damning statement? The rise of easily accessible guides and videos was a “problem” for this genre in general to be sure, but I think Strahl has an interesting approach to the problem as it was in the 90s. What if… you just made an interactive movie game that wasn’t a huge pain to play? Wild concept, huh? The other beloved (I think?) games in this genre like Time Gal and Night Trap get by on humor and other things- the former’s protagonist and the latter’s historical importance specifically- but to me, Strahl has a valuable niche as the game that’s the most approachable option for anyone who actually wants to tackle this fascinating genre with genuine curiosity and sincerity.

You know exactly what kind of game this is as soon as you see that arrow

Strahl’s spread of console appearances hint at an interesting little story. I mean, it’s not often you see a game that’s only on the 3DO, Sega Saturn, and LaserActive! It’s not often you see *any *LaserActive game, really! My cousin had one of those when we were growing up and I was always very envious of it because it’s really cool… but anyway! Initially, Strahl was meant to be a LaserDisc arcade game called Chantze’s Stone and released in 1985, which would have made way more sense for an interactive movie game wanting to succeed the way Dragon’s Lair did. However, for reasons I can’t find a concrete answer for, the game was shelved for about a decade and then resurrected as either Triad Stone or Strahl depending on where you look. You can actually find footage of that unreleased version out there, which is nice to see! The name Triad Stone makes sense, as we’ll get into, but I honestly have no idea why they called it Strahl. There isn’t anyone or anything named Strahl in the game! The word “Strahl” has various meanings, such as “ray” or “beam” in German, but that doesn’t seem like a good fit for what happens in the game. There are some rays of light when you pick up the stones and stuff, sure, and you do have to fight reflections of yourself at the end, but that’s not, like, “name your game after it” territory, you know? Anyway, the LaserActive and Saturn versions came out in ‘94 and the English 3DO version was ‘95, so they sure did make up for lost time by putting it out there three times over two years. Whether or not that did it any favors, releasing years after the peak of Dragon’s Lair’s popularity but during a period where Sega was pushing FMV games pretty hard, is hard to say, but I suppose I can see the logic of the latter. The story doesn’t end there, though, because there’s plenty left to talk about when it comes to this game!

Alex has some good faces throughout

The game’s story begins with a guy named Alex who happens to encounter an old man in need. After helping the guy out, it turns out that he’s actually a god and because of Alex’s generosity, he offers Alex the chance to become a king and change the world as he sees fit. To do this, Alex needs to go out and collect seven crystal stones (yes, I know that’s more than three, trust me that Triad Stone makes sense!), all of which are hidden past various trials and tribulations. It’s a simple plot, but they do a lot with it as we’ll go into, and I just really like the premise and setup of it all. It’s so rare that you get an adventure with no villain, just a goal, and Strahl actually commits to that in full. Alex gets into a bunch of fights because it’s a video game, but none of the characters he encounters are more than just guardians of the stones and you could even make an argument that Alex is the aggressor in almost if not every situation. Alex is the only character with greater ambitions in general, something that can be good or bad for the world depending on how the player performs, and that dynamic makes for a story that punches above its weight.

Depending on the path you take, the world will develop in different ways, which is a compelling method of worldbuilding

It’s also worth mentioning that there are some pretty notable differences between the versions as well. The LaserActive version has you playing as Ash instead of Alex (they’re the same person, just a different name) and while it features all the same levels (you can see your score in the LaserActive version while in each level, neat!), it provides some text in between stages that gives more context to the specifics of what you’re doing and why. Most of this isn’t technically necessary to grasp things, but it does give certain levels more gravitas. In one stage, you fight against a warrior who emerges from the shadows that has real “recurring antagonist” energy and fights with a sword the same way Alex does. Despite that, you encounter and defeat him within that one stage and it only takes a few inputs to do so, making it the shortest level in the entire game. In the 3DO and Saturn versions, this makes for a weird anticlimax where the killer music going on makes you think it’s going to be something bigger than it is (seriously, it sounds like Motoi Sakuraba took over or something!), but it ends up being a weirdly simple breeze for some reason. In the LaserActive version, you actually get a name for this guy (Faless) and learn that he stole one of the stones, which is why he even shows up in the first place. This is also the final level in the LaserActive version, which feels like a better fit than the one that’s forced upon you in the other versions. While the 3DO version is the one most people know (and the one I played for this post), I think, I’d actually recommend playing both that and the LaserActive versions if you can because they’re fairly different experiences. Once I get LaserActive emulation going (stoked that it’s doable now!), I’d be down to run through Triad Stone to get a full perspective on its surprisingly captivating little world.

I love the character designs on display here and the 80s/90s anime energy this game utilizes is extremely my jam. I’m not normally much of an FMV game kind of guy, but Strahl clicked with me faster than any other one I’ve played and I think the visuals and music are a big reason why. Alex feels like the kind of protagonist that would star in an 80s action RPG (a shame he never got one!) and he reminds me of the Shining Force protagonists and especially Ys’s Adol. Both characters have an adventurous approach to life and Alex comes packing a sword and red/silver armor scheme for good measure, though Alex has a wild kinda pompadour thing going on in some scenes, which Adol would definitely benefit from. I’m a sucker for playing as a cool sword guy going on adventures, what can I say? The art director, Toshikazu Sekikawa, and all four set decorators (Masao Mitsuhashi, Kiho Saga, Matsuyuki Kashiwagi, and Takuya Yamaguchi) only have a credit for this game on Mobygames, which seems like a shocking underutilization of their skillsets! Illustrator Shin Yamanouchi has a much more storied career in the industry, though, and one that really fits what I said before about Alex’s design. Strahl was the first game he worked on, but he would go on to join Camelot and do some character designs for games like Shining Force III and Golden Sun as well as illustrations and animations for games like Beyond the Beyond and the other Saturn Shining games. All of the Saturn Shining games and most of Camelot’s RPG output, really, are very near and dear to my heart, so it feels like fate that I was naturally drawn to this game’s character designs before I did this research!

Each of the three initial stages offers different hazards to deal with. Strangely enough, the Golem route is considered the sky route, the weird whip guy is the water route, and the river raft ride is considered the land route!

Right away, the 3DO and Saturn versions of Strahl do something pretty neat. After the intro, you’re given the opportunity to choose which of three levels you start with. See, I told you “Triad Stone” makes sense! Each level is associated with one of three things- Land, Sky, and Water- and that bit of flavor has more meaning than you might expect. You’ll have to do all three levels eventually to beat the game (the ones you save for later actually get their inputs slightly adjusted compared to when you do them first!), but the one you choose first determines how Alex forges the evolutionary path of humanity as he ascends to kinghood. If you’re on the Sky path, humanity will focus on developing wind-based solutions like windmills and airships. A land-based society domesticates animals and establishes the groundwork for capitalism, which means you might want to think twice about choosing it. The water path obviously prioritizes aquatic solutions and emphasizes ways that water can improve human life. All of this is ultimately just three different flavors of the same general outcome, but I think this is a really cool idea that emphasizes the interactivity of the medium better than most games in this genre. Rather than the game just being an “obstacle” to seeing whatever movie the developers made, Strahl becomes a game where you both earn the movie and get to direct it in your image. And trust me, as someone who creates, things have a lot more meaning when they have your personal touch all over ‘em!

Before we continue, here’s an interesting tidbit. According to the game’s manual, there are supposedly 48 endings. I am not sure how they got that number because I only got three! Well, even though this seems like one of those dubious claims made for marketing purposes (reminds me of Galerians claiming that it has 50 hours of gameplay on the case only for it to take me five to finish it), it actually is real! You see, Strahl not only cares about which level you play first, but also how well you do over the course of the game. Depending on how many lives you lose, you’ll get a different ending on your chosen route. Whether or not you die on the final level also affects the ending in a different way compared to dying on previous levels, so it’s technically weighted to a higher degree than everything else. Weird system, but definitely an interesting one! Not that there were lots of people running around with a 3DO and a copy of Strahl even when they were new, but I do like the idea of multiple people booting it up, playing through it, and getting a totally different ending from someone else. The endings are short, but do vary wildly in their outcomes. If you perfect the game, you’ll naturally get a really nice ending, whereas shakier playthroughs might contribute to Alex doing a poor job as king or foregoing the role entirely. It’s a subtle but welcome fusion of gameplay and storytelling; Alex seems uncertain of his abilities at the start of the journey and if you perform poorly, the fact that he quietly comes to the realization that he’s not cut out to be a king actually makes a lot of sense. While I don’t see myself ever grinding out all 48 endings, BagOfMagicFood on Youtube managed to pull it off, so I thank them kindly for their service!

Things can turn out very differently for Alex depending on how you play

Getting back to things, once you’ve picked your path, you gain access to the rest of the levels. You’ll have to deal with an evil spirit that has a cool spinny club weapon, navigate the trickery and illusions of a vampire-esque woman, deal with orcs and other things in a dark ruin, and do that battle with Faless that I mentioned before. Once you’ve cleared those out and the three starter levels, your final battle has you fighting shadow clones of yourself as you work your way to the final stone. Each level is pretty short, but offers some legitimately very nice animation. This really does feel like a high end 80s anime and the action makes for a good watch through and through. The video quality is also quite solid, way better than the Sega CD FMV games I’ve played and indicative of the 3DO’s strengths, I’d say! Strahl doesn’t have the comedy of its peers, but it manages to be evocative through its presentation of fantastical environments and focus on expressive character animation. The illusion stage has some really great moments that involve Alex traveling through what looks like a pool of blood and then having to deal with an army of tiny creatures that climb atop him like that one episode of Futurama where Bender becomes a god floating through space. The battles are intense but easy to follow and Alex’s resourcefulness shines through in every single one. When fighting against that club-wielding spirit, getting to watch him steal the weapon and use its odd bounciness to leverage himself around the pillars of the area as he falls is really stylish!

Better mash if you don’t want to fall in that lava!

As you might expect, there’s not a ton to say about the literal play of Strahl, but I think the game’s approachability does it a lot of favors. Like any other game like this, you tap a direction based on the game’s demands, but unlike some other games, Strahl straight up shows you which direction to press with a big ol’ arrow! You also get an incredibly generous amount of time to press what you need to and pressing the wrong button doesn’t cause you to fail, so clearing the game on your first attempt is actually very feasible. Maybe not a good thing if you bought it at the time, but pretty dang good if you’re on a self-imposed time crunch to write a blog post, eh? Beyond directions, you also have to press the attack button where appropriate or mash the “power-up” button to fill up a meter whenever it appears. Generally speaking, the inputs you do in these games are supposed to relate to what you’re seeing on screen, but Strahl doesn’t seem to care about that at all! You’ll be asked to press directions that Alex isn’t going in, attack when nothing’s on screen, and even put in seemingly random commands at the end of a level when Alex is claiming his prize and very clearly not in danger. I’m starting to wonder if maybe the game doesn’t emulate correctly or something! Still, if this is more than just an emulation bug, they at least did the right thing by making the inputs so forgiving. I can only imagine how much more annoying this would be if the inputs were strict and unclear!

Not sure why I’m being told to attack as Alex is running away from a giant pillar, but ok, I guess!

With the way it is now, Strahl is an incredibly chill time. It reminds me of the days where anime was a new novelty and my friends and I would scrounge up whatever VHSes and DVDs we could find of shows we had never heard of just to get our fix in. It didn’t have to be the best time, it just had to be a good time! Strahl isn’t a revolutionary title in the slightest and there’s certainly better out there depending on your criteria, but it’s the comfiest and most welcoming an interactive movie game of this era has ever felt, which I think is a feat worth commending. It’s not completely free to clear, but it’s also not like Wirehead where you’ll be writing down the entire game if you want to get through it. You can just kick back and enjoy a pretty cool little anime with pretty cool music and I think that’s really what you want in this genre. I know I look at things holistically, but there are cases where specializing has its benefits and interactive movies are one such case, I think. It’s hard to do much of anything with their gameplay without it becoming a pain or just a different genre, so focusing on the presentation and approachability is how you bring out their strengths. Make ‘em look real nice, come up with some great character designs, stick ‘em in some cool action scenes, get your best composer on the job and you’ve got a stew cooking! Strahl also fits really well with the 3DO multimedia vision being a game that blends watching with playing so seamlessly, so it feels like an experience any 3DO lover should check out to get a feel for what could have been if the console dominated the market. The 3DO is at its most interesting when it’s not just doing what other consoles were doing and Strahl is interesting because it sticks out a bit from other interactive movies for the choices it makes, so even if it’s not the original experience, it feels like a match made in heaven.

One more thing before we end this post since I’m not sure where else to put it: On Reddit, someone claims to have gotten animation cels off of Yahoo Auctions for a character that was meant to be in Chantze’s Stone but didn’t end up in that or any version of Strahl. How neat is that? When it comes to mysteries and unexpected depth, Strahl’s got the juice!

More Screenshots

Sources:

italiandoh. “Chantze’s Stone.” YouTube, 9 Aug. 2015, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgPGA30YkPQ.
LAPProject. “Triad Stone (LaserActive Mega LD, 1994) – Full Playthrough.” YouTube, 12 Feb. 2016, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSdfj5O-N1Q.
BagOfMagicFood. “The Many Endings of Strahl.” YouTube, 9 Sept. 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5g3rGllEMg.

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