Wizard of Oz
11/8/2009
Title:The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road
Platform:Nintendo DS
Genre:RPG
Don't laugh, asshole!
I will freely admit that this one caught my sights the moment it dropped on to the radar. I love Oz, and I love RPGs, and I especially loved seeing how Japan would butcher it. Surprisingly, the Japanification isn't as bad as I thought it would be; I dare say the designs and graphics are quite charming. The music is great, too; there's no voice acting, but that would likely have been a travesty anyway. So, aesthetically, so far so good.
The game itself has two quirks that add to its appeal. First is a simulated trackball on the touch screen, which looks completely nerve-wracking on paper, but in practice it works extremely well. In no time, you'll be able to spin it just right to deftly dodge enemies in the way. Secondly, the battle system feels like a simplified Dragon Quest at first, but there's a catch. You get four action points for your round, and some characters take up different amounts; in addition, some enemies are more susceptible to certain characters' attacks (which are easily highlighted), so there's actually an element of strategy involved in an otherwise kiddy-looking game.
Did I say "kiddy"? Because, and I risk emasculation for this, but this game is hard as fuck. The tutorial area is almost 2 hours long, with narry a save point in sight. Money is extremely hard to come by, and outfitting all your characters is nigh-impossible. Dungeons are rather long, and while there are no random encounters, enemies do respawn rather quickly. Lastly, the bosses are fucking ridiculous. The boss of the spring world can one-shot your entire party with the wrong combination, which is a rather nasty wake-up call. Yes, grinding is a necessary evil in this game, despite its breezy nature.
All in all, it's cute and clever (the writing is surprisingly funny at times), but it's an absolute grindfest that doesn't let up. This turned me away, sadly, but with a little tweaking this could have been an experiment worth saving.
Platform:Nintendo DS
Genre:RPG
Don't laugh, asshole!
I will freely admit that this one caught my sights the moment it dropped on to the radar. I love Oz, and I love RPGs, and I especially loved seeing how Japan would butcher it. Surprisingly, the Japanification isn't as bad as I thought it would be; I dare say the designs and graphics are quite charming. The music is great, too; there's no voice acting, but that would likely have been a travesty anyway. So, aesthetically, so far so good.
The game itself has two quirks that add to its appeal. First is a simulated trackball on the touch screen, which looks completely nerve-wracking on paper, but in practice it works extremely well. In no time, you'll be able to spin it just right to deftly dodge enemies in the way. Secondly, the battle system feels like a simplified Dragon Quest at first, but there's a catch. You get four action points for your round, and some characters take up different amounts; in addition, some enemies are more susceptible to certain characters' attacks (which are easily highlighted), so there's actually an element of strategy involved in an otherwise kiddy-looking game.
Did I say "kiddy"? Because, and I risk emasculation for this, but this game is hard as fuck. The tutorial area is almost 2 hours long, with narry a save point in sight. Money is extremely hard to come by, and outfitting all your characters is nigh-impossible. Dungeons are rather long, and while there are no random encounters, enemies do respawn rather quickly. Lastly, the bosses are fucking ridiculous. The boss of the spring world can one-shot your entire party with the wrong combination, which is a rather nasty wake-up call. Yes, grinding is a necessary evil in this game, despite its breezy nature.
All in all, it's cute and clever (the writing is surprisingly funny at times), but it's an absolute grindfest that doesn't let up. This turned me away, sadly, but with a little tweaking this could have been an experiment worth saving.