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Hardcore Old School Dungeon Crawl

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: October 12, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I picked this up at a used game section in Electronics Botique for $8, and I wasn't expecting much. The good role-playing games aren't usually there. While I can understand why the game found itself tossed into the 'bad games' section, I don't believe it belongs there.

A lot of people might think the auto-saving implemenation is a flaw. I don't. Basically, you only save when you want to stop playing. Why? Because if you die, you lose all your carried equipment, items, and gold, unless you paid to have the equipment inscribed. If you try and cheat the system, the in-game Goddess Ishtar will lecture you for about 7 minutes before you are able to resume play.

That's why the game is no mercy hardcore. If you make a mistake, you are stuck with it. Accepting that in the beginning adds to the game difficulty level.

I can imagine how the 'modern' RPG players who are used to resetting for the 'best' random item hated that. Accept the challenge.

As for the rest of the game, the music is about par for an RPG (fading into the background) and there is no voice acting (all text). Very retro, especially the sound of Gil's armor clanking as he moves.

The turn system is a combination of SRPG and mild action; it is not a true SRPG. After playing for 4 hours, you should have that aspect mastered easily. It may become tedious searching for the silver/gold chests, but if you get stumped search around gamefaqs for a complete list. Where the game becomes harder is the optional quests (start the quest at level 1, don't keep what you find, rewards worth it though) and trying to estimate when you can take on bonus dungeons without dying.

Overall, the game is about medium difficulty. You have to think about taking on certain challenges blindly. If you die a lot, then it is too hard for you and you may become frustrated. It is better to use the feather to escape than try and fight it out only to die.

This game is more directed at hardcore RPG fans looking for an interesting challenge (single player hardcore mode on Diablo II comes to mind); if you don't like dungeon crawls or are a fan of reseting RPGs to fix something, you won't like this.

Not for Everyone, Incredible for Some

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: August 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The item description is fairly accurate. This is an old school RPG. The game is really an overworld universe with access to the dungeon levels. In this overworld, you may take on quests, or tackle the main game by talking to the goddess Ishtar. Your character has stats that carry over from game to game, even when you die. All items in the storage chest will remain from game to game. All of your items in hand are lost if you die, with the exception of those marked by Ishtar.

Now here's where it gets a little odd. In the quests, your level starts over at 1 and you have to collect a group of rare objects to finish the quest. They are like mini-games. The main object, and this goes for the quests, is to level up in each dungeon, collect wealth, sell stuff, and level up your best weapons. You must be very careful not to die, because you lose your belongings, including half of your coin. To save money, you have to convert it to gold, silver, and platinum bars and store in your chest.

The gameplay goes like this. You enter the dungeon. You move and the monsters move simultaneously. Some monsters move and attack faster than you. Because of this, you have to strategize and attack the squares the faster monsters will move into and take a hit. You also should attack from higher ground, tactics style. When you reach a goal floor, you usually advance the main plot and can warp directly to the next floor.

The gameplay rewards repeated and obsessive play. You have to discover what weird things you must do to make the silver and gold chests appear that contain rare items. Like the original Tower of Druaga, you will end up discovering that things like reaching certain squares, trying to open a door, killing X number of enemies, or even breaking down 20 walls.

It gets more obsessive when you "break down" the doors to enter the expert dungeons with nice loot in them. These extra dungeons don't let you warp out, so you must be very sure you can survive the level!

The game also has an unusual plot and sense of humor. What looks like the main goal of the game is quickly achieved, while another goal takes its place. As for humor, if you die and try to cheat by resetting the PS2, Ishtar will chastise you! The first time, you can lie and be repentant to suffer only minor penalties, but do it again and worse things will happen.

The game keeps stats for every level, including which secret chests you found and how many turns you took. That's in case you want to get the "lowest" score. That kind of dedication is very Japanese, and it is really what separates those that love the game to those that hate it.

I believe if turn-based strategy isn't your thing, or if you expect deep TBS, or you don't like dungeon crawls, you should avoid this game. Otherwise, if you're like me and like all of that stuff, you must get this game.

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