The latest of the DS' many many RPGs... and I think this one is a bit of a stinker.
The best description in terms of plot and styling is probably Disgaea meets Rhapsody. You play a self centred witch who wants to become the strongest witch there is and in doing so releases a sealed evil witch (who you naturally will have to eventually defeat).
The dialogue has a slight bit of humour to it but nowhere near as funny as Disgaea or as charming as Rhapsody. It feels more functional than involving, concentrating mostly on moving the story and game along.
The battle system is horribly simplistic with you fighting alongside dolls you find (much like Rhapsody). It's turn based and standard 'attack, use magic or use an item' fare, it's one gimmick being that you're forced to use the stylus to drag an attack onto an enemy (although randomly you get to draw the outline of a spell but I've no idea how that appears). The battles suffer from the three worst attributes an RPG battle system can have : they're incredibly slow, they're so easy you don't have to think (but you can't button bash because of stylus controls) and they're random encounters.
The dungeons and towns seem to blend in together with little distinction, you're not quite sure where you should be going (NPC's offer such helpful directions as "over there" on a screen with 4 exits). The dungeons themselves are extremely maze like with lots of locked doors and keys hidden in chests. With lots of dead ends, unhelpful maps and a door system that requires backtracking, it's not fun exploring (especially with the battles)
The graphics are fairly nice initially, the settings are well drawn and detailed but they're also tiled to the extreme, making them repetitive.
Harsh initial impressions but I'm only 90 minutes in and have no real desire to play any more. Possibly picks up but I expect the rest of the game to be like this which saps my will to continue. Yes this is an RPG aimed at small children but Rhapsody (which is aimed at little girls) still managed to be fun and engaging, despite it being simplistic.
The best description in terms of plot and styling is probably Disgaea meets Rhapsody. You play a self centred witch who wants to become the strongest witch there is and in doing so releases a sealed evil witch (who you naturally will have to eventually defeat).
The dialogue has a slight bit of humour to it but nowhere near as funny as Disgaea or as charming as Rhapsody. It feels more functional than involving, concentrating mostly on moving the story and game along.
The battle system is horribly simplistic with you fighting alongside dolls you find (much like Rhapsody). It's turn based and standard 'attack, use magic or use an item' fare, it's one gimmick being that you're forced to use the stylus to drag an attack onto an enemy (although randomly you get to draw the outline of a spell but I've no idea how that appears). The battles suffer from the three worst attributes an RPG battle system can have : they're incredibly slow, they're so easy you don't have to think (but you can't button bash because of stylus controls) and they're random encounters.
The dungeons and towns seem to blend in together with little distinction, you're not quite sure where you should be going (NPC's offer such helpful directions as "over there" on a screen with 4 exits). The dungeons themselves are extremely maze like with lots of locked doors and keys hidden in chests. With lots of dead ends, unhelpful maps and a door system that requires backtracking, it's not fun exploring (especially with the battles)
The graphics are fairly nice initially, the settings are well drawn and detailed but they're also tiled to the extreme, making them repetitive.
Harsh initial impressions but I'm only 90 minutes in and have no real desire to play any more. Possibly picks up but I expect the rest of the game to be like this which saps my will to continue. Yes this is an RPG aimed at small children but Rhapsody (which is aimed at little girls) still managed to be fun and engaging, despite it being simplistic.
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