Morandal Blade

"The Sun and Moon Strike"
Morandal Blade is a hack-n-slash action adventure game released in 2003 and is the first game developed by Morandal Games. Unlike other games this genre, this game revolves around pure skill, which means the character will never get any upgrades or gameplay changes at all; the stats are fixed for statement.
==Gameplay==
Morandal Blade is a hack-n-slash game that plays like Devil May Cry, except the attacks are much faster. You play as a light sword swordsman named Chaz who carries a heavy jagged blade and dual broad swords. Unlike Devil May Cry which has you fight monsters and demons, the enemies would consist of "medieval" style of enemies; ranging from knights, troops and wizards.
Chaz's jagged blade, Metallist, is slower but does 250% as the broad swords Moonmin and Sunmin, and you can charge phials which increase your damage.
Chaz's broad sword, Moonmin and Sunmin, is faster than Metallist and does speedy combos, but can't smash through shields without the help of phials.
Phials are charged via fighting enemies with style and combos. Once you've got enough, you can press L1 to fill up the phial gauge by 5, which can be used for special moves and special attacks.
Each of the 10 chapters take around 10 to 20 minutes to finish, excluding cutscenes.
Unlike other games like God of War or Devil May Cry, there is no currency in the game, and Chaz never receives any increased damage or health extensions, meaning the only way to get better in the game is to learn combos and learn how to perform special moves. Unlike other games like this, Chaz has a numeral health HUD instead of bars. Chaz has 1000 HP. If the player were to pause the game, they get four settings. Resume, which returns to the gameplay, Options, which changes the settings for the screen, Help, which tells you about various combos, Exit, which exits to the gameplay and if the player were to start again they would be back at the latest checkpoint they were in. This was allegedly done, to give the hardcore players a more "spartan" approach to the game. 
==Plot==
Morandal City is taken over by Oberon, the Dark Queen. An rook swordsman, named Chaz is given by Oberon the Metallist, the heavy jagged blade, and the Sunmin and Moonmin dual blades. While on the journey against the queen Oberon, he fight sacross warriors and aims to plan a siege against Oberon. As a response, Oberon started the war as meas of testing King Jonathan's skills, Chaz and Oberon get into a showdown, with Chaz doing the final blow. After 
==Chapters==
#The Investigation: Chaz is called to investigate Oberon's first attacks. (19 battles)
#The War: The war between Morandal and Teranin starts (15 battles)
#Plan B: King Jonathan schemes a plan to get into Oberon's base. Chaz follows the plan. (14 battles)
#Testament: Oberon launches a counter-attack toward Chaz as she knows that he's trying to stop her (15 battles)
#The Entrance: Chaz has to make an entrance into Oberon's fortress. (16 battles)
#The Fortress: Chaz has to find Oberon's castle entrance. (13 battles)
#The Castle: Chaz reaches Oberon's Castle and starts the climb. (12 battles)
#The Quartet of Legends: Oberon calls for her quartet of crusaders to stop Chaz's plan. (10 battles)
#The Ascent: Chaz is almost there to reaching Oberon's throne. (14 battles)
#Oberon: Chaz finally starts the final battle against Oberon. (5 battles)
==Difficulty Settings==
As a Morandal Games hack-n-slash game, this is expected. This shows the differences, and what the highest damage Chaz can take from enemies.
*Easy: Enemies have 50% stats.  Highest is 80.
*Normal: Enemies have 100% stats. Highest is 160.
*Hard: Enemies have 175% stats. Highest is 280.
*Legendary: Unlocked after beating Hard, enemies are faster and have 250% stats. Highest is 400
==Special Moves==
Combos and Special Attacks
Combo Name 	Description 	Damage 	How to Perform
Spin Attack 	Unleash a spin attack that hits enemies everywhere	75% x5 	Spin the D-Stick and unleash an light attack.
Explosive Blast 	Unleash your jagged blade to make magic explosions	250% x2 	Press both Light and Heavy Attack Buttons while using the jagged blade
Ultimate Discharge	Unleash your jagged sword to make an earth blast. 	500% 50% x7	With full blade phials, unleash a discharge attack but hold Heavy attack. Chaz will spin and crash his sword into the ground.
Lunar Wave 	Unleash Moonmin to summon navy colored blasts. 	250% 	With a phial, use Moonmin to charge up a attack, and then press Heavy Attack to summon the blast.
Sun Starfall 	Unleash Sunmin to summon lasers from above. 	150% x3 	With a phial, use Sunmin to charge up a attack, and then press Heavy Attack to cast the starfall.
Armageddon Blade 	Unleash Metallist to unleash a sword extension. 	150% damage	With a phial, use Metallist to charge up a heavy attack, and then press Light Attack to extend your sword and increase your damage for 30 seconds.
Phantom Chaz 	Summon a phantom to assist you 	n/a 	With full phials, press both shoulder buttons and summon a phantom that will attack monsters. The phantom will be active for 45 seconds.
==Reception==
Morandal Blade received mixed to positive reviews, gaining around 60's to 70's on Metacritic.
*Gamefaqs Difficulty:
*Tough: 62%
*Just Right: 21%
*Unforgiving: 16%
*Easy: 0.8%
*Simple: 0.2%
*Rating: 3.93
*Hours: 25
==Achievements==
(TBA)
==Trivia==
*The term of going for an "spartan" approach of difficulty would later be referenced in RoboBlitz as an achievement for beating the game without any upgrades, and NieR: Syren for the fixed stats difficulty. The term of an "spartan" approach of difficulty is where the only thing you've got is your own wits.
Category:2003
Category:Hack and Slash Games
Category:Action Adventure Games
Category:Nintendo GameCube Games
Category:Xbox Games
Category:PlayStation 2 Games
Category:Beat 'em Up Games