I liked this review a lot. Looks like you had a lot of the same "yeah, it was great back in the day, but a bit of a pain now" vibes, with yours being more about the grinding and mine being more about the constant sword-switching. With the added bonus of yours being really witty -- loved the Clyde the Impaler line. In the last paragraph, you did misspell the game's name -- had the "r" and "y" reversed.
For me, the worst game of this era for grinding was Willow on the NES. Like Crystalis, you could advance up to L16 and it was hell getting those final couple levels. And to beat the final boss, you needed L15 in order to have enough magic and you really should get L16 to have some margin for error in the event you miss with a spell. I recall it taking forever to get XP because foes didn't really give much AND there was a bit of the old RPG random encounter thing going on where you might enter a screen and find enemies to battle or there might be nothing that time.
For me, the worst game of this era for grinding was Willow on the NES. Like Crystalis, you could advance up to L16 and it was hell getting those final couple levels. And to beat the final boss, you needed L15 in order to have enough magic and you really should get L16 to have some margin for error in the event you miss with a spell. I recall it taking forever to get XP because foes didn't really give much AND there was a bit of the old RPG random encounter thing going on where you might enter a screen and find enemies to battle or there might be nothing that time.
I'm not afraid to die because I am invincible
Viva la muerte, that's my goddamn principle
Viva la muerte, that's my goddamn principle
