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May be the Best of the Randoms

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: March 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have played a number of good random-dungeon games, from Sega Master System's Dragon Crystal, through Dragon Warrior Monsters 1 and 2, through the Game Boy Lufia's Ancient Cave, and this may be the best of the lot (though the Ancient Cave is also excellent). It is certainly addictive! What makes it stand out is:

1. Interesting floor layouts, especially from Level 8 onward.
2. A huge variety of weapons and objects, levels of CPU generosity in distributing same, and combat situations. Many narrow escapes from total destruction.
3. A number of gaming ideas not present in previous random-dungeon games: e.g., enemies leveling up, enemies (and jars) that can change objects, warehouses for storing objects from game to game, etc., etc.
4. Fay's puzzle challenge house at the beginning, whose 50 gradated puzzles (and random rewards) test logic and knowledge of the game.

Highly recommended for any RPG fans!

A challenging, absorbing, misunderstood game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: April 07, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The thing about Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer is that you will die, and you will die a lot. You will be killed by monsters that travel through walls. You will be transformed into a helpless, harmless rice ball and then killed. You will walk unsuspectingly into an open, cavernous "monster house" and know there's nothing you can do because you traded your only Blastwave Scroll for an armband that provides a gigantic XP boost - XP that you will now never have a chance to earn. And once you die, you lose all your items and all your money, and you're back to being a Level 1 weakling at the beginning of the game.

This is all by design, though, and it isn't nearly as frustrating as it sounds. (Players familiar with the ASCII game Rogue will know what to expect, as Shiren is a Roguelike - a niche genre without much mainstream representation outside the far more forgiving Pokemon Mystery Dungeon titles.) All those deaths are valuable to you. In fact, they're necessary. While Shiren himself restarts at the beginning, the world around him does not. If you've left any items in warehouses along the way, they will still be there for a future Shiren to use. Find an especially powerful weapon but have a bad feeling about the upcoming levels? Stash it for a "serious" summit attempt when things are going more your way. Also, characters you meet during your journey will remember you, and may eventually join your party, giving invaluable combat assistance (or acting as decoys, sacrificing themselves in battle while you bolt for the exit with 2 HP remaining).

This is a demanding game, but almost every time you die, you'll know what you could have done to prevent it. While the level layouts are randomly generated, you get a feel for the enemies and what they can do, and you start to make smarter, safer decisions. As you play, you'll start to recognize good and bad situations, and you'll understand how to deal with them. If nothing else, each run can in some way help make the next one a little bit easier.

If all that dying and learning sounds like it might be too much for you to handle, this may not be the game for you. But if you like a game that doesn't hold your hand - a game that you really need to master on your own - then you'll start obsessing over strategies and working out ways to improve your odds. And if you have friends (real-world or the online kind) who are also playing, you'll share some classic stories about your often-hilarious defeats and immensely satisfying victories.

I don't think this game had a very large print run. If you're interested, I'd recommend grabbing a copy as soon as you can before you realize your mistake and have to cough up big bucks for a secondhand copy. If you go in with the right mindset and are willing to get knocked around a little, you might find your new favorite game.

Best roguelike (dungeon crawl) ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

If you've ever wished for a port of Rogue or Hack or Angband on your Nintendo DS, this is the game for you. Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (Shiren for short) is a classic "roguelike". As such, it will never be a popular breakaway hit, but it is definitely a cult classic. Some gamers will love this game and find it to be one of the best in years; most will simply ignore it or not give it much of a chance. I've personally played and solved dozens of roguelikes over the past two decades so can say with authority: Shiren is the best roguelike I've ever played. And, after hundreds of hours of gameplay, it's also earned the distinction of being the most fun per dollar of any retail video game I've ever played.

No question about it, you'd have to pry this game out of my cold, dead fingers. The real question is: should YOU buy it? It depends. Read on.

Like other roguelikes, games are fast and brutal. You level quickly then you die, losing all your equipment and experience. Then you play it again. It's turn-based strategy and you can take all the time you want to think about every single turn, but in most cases you tend to take many turns quickly, e.g. running down a hallway. Unlike other roguelikes, there's also a brilliant meta-game dimension. You can make progress in the over-arching adventure even though you die in the main game, and it is precisely this extra dimension that makes Shiren so compelling. For example, you can unlock dozens of additional opportunities in the various towns, such as finding partners who will assist you on future dungeon dives, improving the shops available in town, or opening access to new dungeons. But most importantly, the game provides a mechanism whereby you can save some of your equipment from game to game and enhance it over time. Eventually, over the course of several games, you can construct powerful equipment that makes formerly difficult or impassable areas now more manageable and exploitable.

Shiren also maintains the old-school iron-man spirit of roguelikes while still allowing you a (high friction) method of continuing your game after death should there ever be sufficient need. When you die, you can call to other players to revive your dead body, either over the internet, over the local DS wireless system, or offline via a system of secure passwords. You have access to limited features of the game while your rescuer(s) travel from home to your location without rest and defeat the monsters guarding you. The hardest part of being rescued is not being able to play the main game while you wait -- it's that addictive. But the designers were very careful to provide proper incentives to encourage community assistance. For example, the rarest and most valuable items can only be obtained by rescuing others from dangerous locations. But let me also be very clear on this point: Shiren is *hard*. If/when you beat it, you get a very gratifying sense of accomplishment.

One truly bizarre aspect is how true Shiren is to the original classics, esp. Rogue and Hack. You can still quaff a potion of healing while fully healed to gain +1 to max HP, and, you can still eat dead monsters to gain special abilities. Who would have ever thought my most useless trivia from ASCII gaming circa 1980 would be useful again in a game in 2008? BTW, those 2 tips used to be secrets; now, they're advertised features of the items in question, documented in the online help. (In my day, we didn't have no fancy pants online help. You learned your secrets the hard way, by dying over and over again to test your theories, like real men. And you didn't have no fancy internet to Google a FAQ. You actually had to talk to other human beings, and you had to get off your backside and walk to meet them. In the snow.) But fear not: Shiren is absolutely overflowing with cool secrets to tease out of it. Even after hundreds of hours of gameplay, and even after scouring message boards and authoring documents to help other players (did I mention that I adore this game?), I continue to be surprised by new secrets and tricks in this game to this day.

Assuming you can cope with the iron-man design ethic, you still have to cope with Shiren's warts. Graphics and sound are mediocre, and control systems are designed for efficient play so are somewhat awkward at first. Then there's the fact that you have to hit the "Quit" button to save your game (gee, that's intuitive), and if you don't do this before turning off your DS, your game is corrupt and discarded. (As it's iron-man, Shiren doesn't allow you to reload and try again; take all the time you want to weigh your options, but when you take a turn, it's permanent.) At least you can save anywhere you want, or just close the lid to suspend play. Plus, if your game is discarded, the progress you've made on your over-arching adventure is still intact.

So back to the main question: should YOU buy this game? If you're a fan of roguelikes, definitely yes. If you're a fan of RPGs or fantasy adventure games of any type, and you don't mind a challenge, definitely yes. If you like your adventure games to be very linear and easy, probably not. If you're looking for an easier and less rewarding introduction to roguelikes, many folks recommend the Pokemon mystery dungeon games by the same company, but I personally haven't tried them. Also, if you do decide to take the plunge, participate in an online gaming forum of some sort (I like [...] but there are many others). The game was truly designed with community cooperation in mind, e.g. to learn and teach secrets of the game.

Now will someone please come rescue me? I've got a Katana+9 with rust resistance I don't want to lose! :^)

Surprisingly fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 18 / 18
Date: March 25, 2008
Author: Amazon User

For those with appropriate expectations, Shiren the Wanderer provides a long lasting, challenging experience. However, those who are looking for an RPG along the lines of current offerings by Square Enix and others will likely be frustrated by its inherrently risky nature.

Death in the game results in a complete loss of all your possessions, with the exception of any items placed in a rare jar or those previously stowed in the few scattered warehouses. Additionally, you may ask for help from a friend or stranger online who can then retrace your steps and then revive you at that spot. You may only receive three such revivals in a row before you are forced to start over, and it doesn't solve the problem of getting items back to a warehouse if you don't have the special jar and you are far enough along in the game where you can't head back.

Modern RPGs are made to be easily beatable given the proper length of time. The main quest of Shiren can be beaten relatively easily once you figure out how to upgrade and store weapons and shields, and familiarize yourself with the other assorted items at your disposal. Even so, the ideal player will learn to appreciate failed runs for the strategies learned and the often humorous or ironic deaths.

I highly recommend Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer to those who can appreciate the lateral thinking required and the extensive replayability, and to those who aren't afraid of video game death.

Oh, I'd also be happy to address any issues people may have with the game in the comments, as I believe that most people would be a lot more appreciative once they understand the roguelike mentality.

Light roguelike fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: May 20, 2008
Author: Amazon User

It's a classic Roguelike on the Nintendo DS. What more needs to be said? If you are not familiar with Roguelike games, just know the following things:

(1) They are completely unforgiving
(2) They teach and reward patience and experimentation
(3) They are not everyone's cup of tea

If you're not sure, try one of the free PC games out there -- NetHack, Angband, Moria, or the original Rogue.

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