Экзил: Садлердің саяхаты

the video game series by Telenet Japan

Exile (エグザイル) is an action role playing video game series developed by Telenet Japan. The first two games in the series, XZR and XZR II were both released in Japan in 1988, with versions available for the NEC PC 8801, NEC PC 9801, MSX2 and the X1 turbo (for the first game only). In 1991, a remake of XZR II simply titled Exile was released for the PC Engine and Mega Drive. These versions were both released in North America the following year, with Working Designs handling the localization for the TurboGrafx CD version, while Renovation Products published the Genesis version. A sequel exclusive to the Super CD ROM2 format, titled Exile: Wicked Phenomenon, was released in 1992, which was also localized by Working Designs for the North American market. The Exile series centers on Sadler, a Syrian Assassin, who is the main character of each game. The original computer versions were notorious for featuring various references to religious historical figures, modern political leaders, iconography, drugs, and time traveling assassins, although some of these aspects were considerably toned down or omitted in the later console games, with the English versions rewriting all the historical religious organizations into fictional groups.

XZR, the first game in the series, was originally released for the NEC PC 8801 in July 1988. It was subsequently released for the MSX2 and NEC PC 9801 on August and for the X1 turbo on September. The gameplay included action platform elements, switching between an overhead perspective and side scrolling sections. The soundtrack for the PC 8801 version was composed by Yujiroh, Shinobu Ogawa and Tenpei Sato. The game centers on Sadler, a Syrian Assassin (a Shia Islamic sect) who is on a journey to kill the Caliph. The intro sequence briefly covers the history of the Middle East from 622 CE, the first year of the Islamic calendar, including a brief description of the Hijra, up until 1104 CE, the year of Sadler's birth. The game then starts in Baghdad, where Sadler rescues Rumi, and follows Sadler to Persia and then Babylon, where he must defend the Euphrates River from pollution by an oil magnate, encounter the Assyrian queen Semiramis and Babylonian goddess Ishtar, and visit the Tower of Babel in search of unicorns, before heading to Alexandria, becoming baptised in a Jewish village, and searching for Ouroboros. Eventually, Sadler makes his way back to Baghdad and murders the Caliph. It is then revealed that the Caliph was his father and they were separated when Sadler was kidnapped as a baby by the Assassins. The game then switches focus and enters a subplot about a Mongol invasion before Sadler is warped to the 20th century, where he must assassinate Russia's General Secretary and America's President, ending the game. The soundtrack for the PC 8801 version was once again composed by Shinobu Ogawa and Tenpei Sato. XZR II depicts the further adventures of Sadler after the events of the previous game. Now living in the time of the Christian Crusades, Sadler makes an attempt to unite the world under one God and achieve world peace. Along the way, he performs a Masonic ritual in an attempt to revive Mani, and slaughters many Hindu and Buddhist deities. Sadler meets the head of the Knights Templar, Hugues de Payens, and helps him search for the Holimax, a holy artefact. Sadler travels to several different countries, including France (where Rumi is kidnapped), India, Cambodia, and Japan. In a Cambodian temple, Sadler resurrects the Manichaean prophet Mani. In Japan, Sadler rescues Ninkan, who in real life was head of Japanese sex cult Tachikawa ryu. Afterwards, Sadler travels back in time to Eden and meets Bacchus. Sadler also murders Hiram Abiff, a Masonic figure. After defeating Jubelum of the Three Ruffians, Sadler receives the Holimax.

Exile, While the previous games featured heavy religious elements, Sadler is now striving to defeat chaos and solve the mystery of an ancient tower. The game's cover art featured a photograph, a rarity for North America, of the game's final boss, handcrafted. Vic Ireland commented on it, saying that "the Exile 2 cover is polarizing. People love it or hate it. It's basically aping a style of diorama that was really popular to advertise games in Japan. NCS/MASAYA did quite a bit of it, and I wanted to bring that to the US as well. So, I chose Exile 2 as the game to try this on. The practical effects guy who did the little models on the set in the ad, had done FX work for movies like Tremors and has since done work for WETA in Australia. The smoke was a time exposure to give it a thickness and glow. When we ran the ad, EGM or Gamepro (I can't remember) sent us a survey they did months later with their readers that had that ad listed as the 'most remembered' ad from the whole magazine, which, I think, justified the experiment. We tried it again for Vasteel, but the results weren't that great, so we only used part of one of the space scenes on the back cover of the jewel case". It was later named one of "Renovation's Top 10 Games" on IGN. Levi Buchanan of IGN said that "the translation in the Genesis edition is pretty bad, but that has little effect on the breadth of the adventure itself". The game was also featured in a positive light in the book The 8 Bit Book – 1981 to 199x by Jerry Ellis. Exile: Wicked Phenomenon was given a decent review from John Huxley at defunctgames. com. He wrote that "Exile is a solid game that successfully marries action and role playing", but said that it was not as deep of an adventure as Ys I & II. He also mentioned that the voiceovers are "terrific", only complaining that the graphics in the cutscenes are "a little thin".