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Popolawhat?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 31 / 34
Date: December 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

PSP gamers are hungrier for RPGs than Cookie Monster is for chocolate chips. With that said, even a traditional, generic RPG can make some noise. G-Artists’ PoPoLoCrois is that traditional, generic game that somehow manages to captivate while being a generally solid RPG. It’s cute, it’s relatively quick, and it’s simple enough that you won’t be reaching for a strategy guide. But it’s also very bland and the random battles simply have to go.

In case you haven’t heard of it (which wouldn’t surprise me at all), PoPoLoCrois is actually a moderately popular anime/RPG series overseas. It’s no Dragon Ball, but there is a fanbase and because of that, there were two PoPoLoCrois games released on the PlayStation. Those two games are the same games featured here, as PoPoLoCrois for the PSP is essentially a remake. Due to that, the story feels very clichéd. You play as a 10-year-old boy named Pietro, who is as generic a character as can be. His mother, secretly a powerful white dragon, was put into a deep and fatal sleep after saving the land of PoPoLoCrois from the evil Ice Demon. Its Pietro’s drive to save his mother that sends you across the land full of villages, futuristic castles, underground mines, and mountaintops in search of a legendary book that contains the secret needed to save his mother and the land of PoPoLoCrois. A few twists and turns along the way will keep Pietro’s quest interesting, but for the most part, it’s pretty generic.

There isn’t a single character in PoPoLoCrois that will grab your attention or rip your heart out like in other RPGs. They’re not as serious, even though Pietro is pretty upset about his mom’s situation. To their credit, everyone in PoPoLoCrois is, for the lack of a better word, cute. Pietro is a short, squat little boy with a ponytail. He wears a green tunic and carries around a small sword. His witch friend Narcia is a petite little character with a big and pointy pink hat. The bumbly White Knight reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy IX’s Steiner, as they’re both noble but relatively dim-witted and surprisingly outlandish characters. Last of all is the Gami Gami Devil, a sinister little man indeed, who begins the game as a nuisance and ends up lending a helping hand. The NPCs found in the game are charming as well, not to mention some of them are hilarious. I remember very early in the game running into a man standing next to an elevator. When I talked to him, he proclaimed his fascination with the elevator and ended by saying something like, “I like elevators. I think I’m a loser.” I don’t really know why, but it was the little stuff like this that made me laugh harder than I normally would. Also, the fact that one of the game’s means of transportation is a floating, flying, white whale has to catch some attention. So you won’t be crying over anyone here like you did with Aeris in Final Fantasy VII, but you can definitely find some entertainment.

With the story and characters aside, there’s a decent RPG here in terms of gameplay. It’s pretty plain—you’ll run from town to town, usually completing quests that have little to do with your actual goal. The random battle encounters in-between every level are endless and they can get pretty annoying, but they’re not bad to say the least. Much like the 25-hour story, at least they’re relatively quick—the enemies in PoPoLoCrois, for the first half of the game, can usually be defeated in a single attack or magic spell. It’s not until the second half when the battles start getting much tougher and you’re forced to think about the turn-based battles. Unlike most turn-based RPGs, PoPoLoCrois is played on a strategic grid rather than a solid, cemented line. I only wish that there was a little more variation in terms of battle strategy—for most of the game, my two battle plans were either to circle the enemy and relentlessly attack or pull back, use all of my magic points, and cast spells until the battle was over. I don’t think I even used a healing item until I was a good ten hours into the adventure, because the Inns found at every town heal you for such a cheap charge that it makes damage a pretty simple thing to deal with. Healing spells also replenish a huge percentage of health, so staying alive is much easier for most of the game than it should be. It erases some frustration found with other RPGs that feature random battles—at least you won’t be dying every five minutes—but it makes PoPoLoCrois feel too cheap and simple.

I’m not impressed by PoPoLoCrois in any way with the visuals. The art style and colorful scheme are both very nice touches that help to provide PoPoLoCrois’ charm. It looks unique and as a result the clichéd story is backed up with a little creativity from the style. But those two factors don’t really compensate for the fact that the game, overall, looks very dated. So dated, in fact, that I would say the GBA’s four-year-old classic Golden Sun looks much better. The only saving grace here are the anime cutscenes, which look fantastic and were a real treat when the story started picking up. The music is pretty catchy, at least—and the voice acting in the cutscenes is very true to the anime style. It’s a shame that there isn’t as much oomph with the visuals or the music. They both would have made this game a lot more exciting to play over an extended period of time. Rather than lavish spells and powerful-looking attacks that pound audio out of the PSP’s speakers, you’ll see ho-hum magic and quick sword chops that don’t sound very exciting at all.

It’s no surprise to me that PoPoLoCrois has never reached America until now. It’s a pretty bizarre, obscure little title. With a name like PoPoLoCrois, it’s not hard to see why people are scratching their heads and moving on to the other PSP RPG, Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion. After all, it sounds and looks more like an RPG from simply looking at the box. But give PoPoLoCrois a chance, it’s the best RPG you’re going to play on Sony’s little handheld for a while. Until a Final Fantasy game unleashes the Ultima spell on the PSP, you’re going to have to settle for less—and PoPoLoCrois makes the most out of its dated concept and random battle encounters with entertaining characters and a lot of charm.

(NOTE: This review is also posted on a website for which I write video game reviews on a regular basis.)

One of the 1st (hopefully) Great PSP RPGs

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: December 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

welcome to PoPoLoCrois, a PSone era RPG that we in the west have been denied the pleasure of enjoying...until now. far from a simple port, the visuals have received a slight upgrade, including a new PSP-friendly wide-screen presentation. fully animated and voice-acted anime cutscenes help to further the story along, but subtitles are included as well, and are easy to read. 2-D handrawn sprites make up the cast and world, and are animated rather well. the game can have some slight load-time issues, but nothing that really gets in the way. the battle system is a fun mix of traditional turn-based rpg and tactics-style strategy. you are given the opportunity to have either the AI handle the majority of the fighting for you, or you can take control yourself, which i found much more fun. you are given a grid-like area in which you make a choice as to where you will move, then you decide what type of attack you will use. you can, if within range, move to the side or even behind your enemies for greater damage and decreased chance of them blocking. of course, they can do the same to you.

i won't go into to much more detail, as you can get that from any of the plethora of gaming mags and websites out there. suffice it to say, until now, i really haven't been that excited about the PSP, aside from the hardware itself. not that this is the greatest game ever, but it is a lot of fun, and hopefully it's the beginning of a cycle of great software for the handheld.

The best old school RPG I've ever played...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: March 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

First of all, why is this game listed in the Fighting section of PSP? Anyway, I'd like to say that for a game that's 10 years old it holds up suprisingly well. Here's why...

Concept: Take two PS1 games of a cherished Japanese phenomenon, combine them and add a couple of extra fillers. Yes, the story is a bit on the typical cliche' RPG side but, it charmed the crap out of me. All of the characters are unique and they all play their part nicley. The flow of the story might seem a little odd considering they are two stories.
Another reason is that the first game is way shorter and way easier than the second. But it's a good way to ease you into the game. The length it says on the back of the game (over 30 hours) is kind of misleading depending on what kind of gamer you are. I lierally JUST finished the game and the hours it said I logged on it was a little over 49 hours! To be honest though, about 3 of those hours was just me leaving my game on while I had other business. But still, it's pretty lenghty. The first part of the game is 10-14 hours depending on the gamer. And you can pretty much tell where the first game ends (climax). So, you can imagine that the rest of the game felt like it was never going to end.
Yes, the story is kind of typical but it's charming and I began to feel myself becoming connected with the characters. Everyone says that the game is kiddy which is true...kind of. There are actually some pretty deep, sad, heartening elements to the story. But don't get me wrong-it's full of quirk and goofiness. I actually thought some of the parts were really funny. The Gami Gami Devil is funny and a lot of the towns poeple say funny things too. I guess this adds another layer to why the game was longer for me; the poeple in towns talk a lot. I love that.

Graphics: Ok. A lot of poeple don't like old school graphics. I admit that I've started to get tired of them. But this isn't like FFIV old school. I mean, these graphics are beautiful. It all looks like the classic hand-drawn fairy tales. All the buildings/towns look awesome and the anime cutscenes are great! At first, you won't get too many cutscenes. Be patient. You'll be rewarded.
Now, to give you the sad side of the graphics: whenever you run there is this type of blurring effect which looks terrible. However, if you hold down the x button while moving you'll walk instead of run and there is no blurring. But this might get on the nerves of impatient players. I admit, I never walked because I just got used to the blurring effect. In my opinion, as long as you're watching your character while you are running you won't really care(your character doesn't blur). This will probably just give a lot of people headaches.

Gameplay: The fighting/battle system (I think) is awesome. When running around in the open world you encounter random battles. Then, you get in a, sort of, turn-based grid. It brings up a menu letting you choose whether to attack, use your special skills (which you constantly learn new ones and level them all up), or flee from battle. What's cool though is that after you select your command you have to move your characters around in FF Tactics type grid and target your enemy. At first everything is real easy. After about 15-20 hours in the game things are a little challenging. I still didn't have to level up in the game though(new coming RPGers might want to level up a little once it gets harder).
One thing that might anger players is that they don't really tell you exactly where to go sometimes. But most of the time it's really obvious. Also, there's a little tip to when you don't know where to go that, I guess, every professional reviewer missed: if you don't know where to go just pull up your map and scroll through the towns and there will be a little red flag indicating where you're supposed to be. How did everybody miss that? On the flip side of this helpful hint is a VERY annoying glitch (I don't know if everyones' game has it): sometimes, later in the game, you'll try to pull up your map and your screen will go black. What!?! I know. The first time it happened I thought my game crapped out or my PSP battery was done. My solution: don't freak out. Just hit the "o" button to back out of the (invisible) map and move around till you find a spot that lets you pull it up. In the grand scheme of all things PoPoLoCrois this isn't a very big deal. I mean, you don't HAVE to look at your map.
Now for another flaw in gameplay. When in a battle the loading for spells is a couple of seconds long. Never more than 4 sec. It seems a little rediculous that the disc will take so much time to load these spells that (mostly) aren't very impressive. The samurai Kimendoji's spells are cool. (There are a total of 9 playable characters. You can can 4 in a party at a time).

Sound: The soundtrack for PoPoLoCrois is great! There are a lot of real instruments used in all the scores. Don't expect any grand orchestral scores. I was relieved. The music gives off the same feeling that story and graphics give you: a heart warming glimps into a fairy tale. All of the towns and dungeons have their own music and each town has its own sense of ethnicity. In Kimendoji's town there it's all beautiful Japanese music birds fluttering like you might here in a Japanese garden somewhere.
The sound effects are cool but, they stand out like the music. I thought the voice acting was well done. Also, it's cool at the beginning of every battle when hear the sound of Pietro's sword being unsheathed. It's not outstanding but, it does the job and I enjoyed it.

Finally, I'd just like to say that you're probably not going to play this game more than once. But who cares? There are so many great games that come out that I'll never have enough time to play any of the games I have more than once. But it's the moments that the game gave you when you DID play. If it's worthy enough of a game it'll stay in your collection. And this game will definitely stay in my collection. It has its flaws but to me it was a quality experience. One more thing (noboby'll read this anyway 'cause it's rediculously long) after the credits are done the game will ask if you want to save over your existing data or not. If you want to go back and just talk to anyone in the towns and what-not then create a new save file. When you save at the end of the credits there is a new file. Click on that new file(album) at the load screne. This new file contains every cutscene in the game in order! How cool is that!?!

If anyone stuck through this monstrosity. Thank you!

A good (not great) lasting game.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

You know, I weighed the pros and cons of buying this for about a week, but finally decided to... and im glad I did.

This game is actually pretty fun, and it's faults don't make it as bad as some make it sound. One big complaint I heard were the loading times, but let me tell you, they just aren't that bad! Yeah, it loads, but it's not so bad that you want to throw it down and walk away. Usually I found, when you're in a battle and do a special move, it loads for about 1 or 2 seconds, then the rest of the special moves don't load, so it doesn't really bother you anymore. The only really bad loading part I found was the map, which you eventually get used to.

Also, it is a bit annoying when you get attacked, but what else are they going to do? I mean, that's the game, take it or leave it... but I suggest you take it because there are a lot of pros. ;) The last con I could find so far was the map... It doesn't tell you where you are, and you have to find what map you're on. Kind of annoying, but I guess it's realistic.

Pro: The characters are cute. Whenever they say the name of a special attack, you just want to eat them up ^_^. Or when they combine to do a super attack, then they're really adorable :).

Also, the gameplay and story is interesting. It's fun to see what's going to happen next... and even though the Anime isn't a huge part of it, it's still awesome that it's in there.

If you want a game that will keep you entertained for hours, I would suggest PoPoLoCrois. I know I'll be playing it for a while.

cuuuute

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: February 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

and interesting. not too challenging, but very engaging. the game follows it's main characters from age 10 (and a very mature responsible age 10) into adulthood and maybe even involvement? (I dont know how it ends yet)

My only beef with this is that gameplay is too short for a $40 game. However, by the time I realised it, I had already played through the entire thing - something I rarely manage with RPG's (I get bored before I'm done with them). There's something to be said for a completed game-save on my shelf.

graphics are attractive. there are lots of beautiful cutscenes pretty but cute cartoon characters. equipment upgrades are frequent and keeping your characters supplied with support stuff is pretty easy. areas with monsters are relatively small so you wont have to plow your way through endless battles just to get from one end to the other. there's no real room for customization here - you dont get to select party characters and they dont change their appearance much.

anyway, it's a lot of fun and very engaging.

Great Game!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 31, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Excelent Game. (old school RPG).

- good graphics and audio. (the graphics are beautifull).
- good fighting/battle system. (old school).
- good story (typical, but not so bad).
- The spells are cool!!!.
- When you're in a battle and do a special move, it loads for
about 1 or 2 seconds, then the rest of the special moves don't
need to load. (it doesn't really bother)

The game is pretty fun.

Awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 8
Date: January 17, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I got it for Christmas and just finished it. I enjoyed it very much. I am a big fan of Zelda and Final Fantasy.

really cute and quick

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Must have for the RPG player. Even though it can be finished in one sitting. *i finished the game in the course of a day* battle system is simple, the story line is cute * a little boy going to search for his mommy*. the loading times and the battle system aren't half bad.

I Love Popolocrois!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I really love this game. I would highly recommend it to any RPG / Anime fan of any age. It has a good story line and awesome little movies here and there. I was a little skeptical at first. I thought it might be cheesy with not so great battle action, but I am very glad I gave it a try. The only thing I could see change is the random, pop-up battles out in the fields. But you get used to that after awhile and the quicker you move the less fighting you'll have to do between locations, so it's really not bad. I enjoyed this game very much and hope you will to!

Big stuff in a small package!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I began playing this game and at first thought, oh another final fantasy clone, but soon was completely engrossed in the story telling, the characters, the theater quality Anime cut-scenes, and couldn't put it down. And like a favorite book, you may just come back again and again, just to immerse yourself in the Popolocrois universe like I have. Great fun for the whole family. Enjoy!!

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