> When I call Crusader of Centy a true Action/RPG, by that I mean "old-school" Action/RPG; it contains a nice balance of combat, puzzles, platform hopping (which is basically leaping from one platform to another while trying to avoid falling to your death), talking and exploration. Most modern-day Action/RPGs focus too much on hacking and slashing through endless armies of fanged monsters drooling at the mouth for my liking. That's not to say that such games can't be fun (they can be very fun), but any true Action/RPG shouldn't revolve entirely around combat in my book, otherwise whether or not they are deserving of the name is open for debate. Thanks to Diablo's rise to fame and fortune, an army of clones (in which hacking and slashing your way through one army of evil after another is the name of the game) have descended upon us all, reshaping this RPG sub-genre into what it has become today (perhaps the term Action/RPG should be redefined as "hack 'n' slash", because that's what it has become synonymous with in this day and age).

     > As for the story, you play the role of a boy who has just turned fourteen. Refusing to break away from tradition, your mother gives you your father's sword on your fourteenth birthday to signify the transition from boyhood to manhood. Your next step is to pay a visit to the king before proving yourself in combat training in the perilous monster-infested areas outside the kingdom. Despite the simple premise, a twist early in the story sees your character's ability to speak with humans taken away from him (human speech becomes incomprehensible to him), and replaced with the ability to speak with animals... and monsters.

     > You travel from one location to the next via an overworld map as a miniature version of yourself. When your path is blocked, navigating and fighting your way through a location or finding another way around it is the only way to go to reach new destinations. Large shiny golden apples cleverly hidden in areas permanently raise your health, and smaller apples help restore it. Your health also increases whenever a boss guardian (usually guarding the way out of an area or way forward to wherever you have to go next) is defeated, so searching for extra health is optional. Gold coins are earned by killing the enemies that constantly respawn everywhere (naturally) and are sometimes even hidden beneath grass (along with restorative apples), which can be trimmed down to size by swinging your sword.

     > It seems that there are a few subtle differences between the American and European versions of this game. The name for Heaven in the European English version, "Saint Heaven", was renamed "Place of Peace" in its American counterpart. I can't understand what motivated the American publisher (Atlus) to change the name for the American version; the different name isn't fooling anyone. Spoiler warning: there's also a puzzle in Heaven requiring the presence of an animal ally to open up a passage whose name is spelled out on invisible tiles that have to be walked over in mid-air (above a very long drop) to reveal. MAC is the name of this animal companion spelled out in the American version (your dog's name), and DOG is the name spelled out in the European version, which when reversed is GOD. Again I ask, why did Atlus feel that it was necessary to change the name when it would have been more than welcome?