♦ Livestream of the MegaZeux world “Engine” by djtiesto (1996) [https://www.digitalmzx.com/show.php?id=2804] ♦
♦ Stream Contents ♦
• (2:00) “Engine”
Fighting ninjas at the Shinto Shrine, venturing into an undersea kingdom, and awakening the bird Ramia so we can save the world from evil!
The game continues doing what it's been doing, giving players a dungeon level revolving around MZX's basic enemies with a few puzzles sprinkled in. I've begun to enjoy it for how much the gameplay _isn't_ what you'd expect from an RPG, instead combining what the author can do for gameplay with the grand RPG storyline they want to tell. It's an adorable effort that sees cool things in console RPGs and finds ways to make it happen here.
This one features some creative settings too! The shrine has you going through a sprawling home filled with furniture and enemies. I really enjoyed how different that was compared to the previous forest and volcano.
The many puzzles aren't so bad. Some go on a little longer than necessary, and one or two could really do with a checkpoint so you can save before attempting, but they add some much needed variety to the otherwise generic shooting.
The boss fights can be tough until you get them cornered and can basically hold down the button until you win.
There's a lot of romance here because there has to be romance. It's amusing seeing all these people fall for each other and propose marriage a day or two after meeting someone. That's true love!
When you do collect the orbs and awaken Ramia, you are treated to an incredible scene of the phoenix springing to life, with some wonderful and unintentionally goofy animations. While they aren't so impressive these days, it's still quite a surprise as to what this game can do and was likely a lot more mind-blowing back when the game was new.
And it ends with an actual RPG engine, at least, one of those ones where you mash attacks to do in hopes of whittling them down before they defeat you, with no real concept of "turns". But hey, it's a big dragony ultimate evil to do battle with, and that's another RPG requirement.
This was a really fun game that definitely was not what I expected. Early MZX games like this aren't as far off from ZZT as I thought. You get big improvements in audio, and the custom palettes and charsets do more with the graphics, but this game is still very low-tech, with ZZT games like Warlord's Temple being more grounded and console RPG-like. I expected deadly serious and got utterly silly, but I can't deny that I didn't have a great time with this odd adventure that throws in everything it can in hopes of impressing. I can't say it doesn't work.
♦ Originally streamed on May 23rd, 2025 ♦
