The game in question is Princess Crown, a lovely action-RPG in the vein of Sword of Vermilion (or so I've been told, I've never played that game).
But unlike other games of the same genre, like Legend of Oasis for example, the gameplay of Princess Crown is a bit different. Instead of going from a scenario to another, killing the countless monsters you see in the way, here the battles are way more scarce but each one is much more intense because it all happens in a way that reminds me of a 2D fighter, making for a really unique game in that aspect.
Another highlight of the game are the gorgeous graphics. Believe me, you've never seen anything like this. It's not just the big detailed sprites, it's also the fluid animation and the backgrounds that seem to be hand-painted. Overall Princess Crown's graphics are a sheer example of what the Saturn was capable of in the 2D department. Let a picture demonstrate:
There's one big downside to this game, though. All the text is written in Japanese and since this game as a lot more text than your average action-RPG (it seems almost like a traditional oriental RPG in this aspect, for there is tons of dialogue) it's really difficult for a non-japanese reader to make the most out of this game. Hell, it's even hard to know what to do or where to go next! Of course there are a couple of walkthroughs on the web and there's even a translation page I found (which at some point uses this beautiful expression: "she thinks she's all-that-and-a-sack-of-dreamcasts"), but it's just no the same thing.
Even as it is, if you really like this kind of game s you should definitely pick this game up and in case you don't want to waste your whole bank account on the original Saturn version there's always the more accessible PSP port. And in case you didn't know, there's also some kind of spiritual sequel on the PS2 called Odin Sphere (I'm yet to try this one).
Since I've played little of this game, mainly because I hate when I can't understand what the characters are saying and I hate even more when I have to check my pc for the walkthrough every 5 minutes, here's a better review.
