Jeanne D'Arc

Loosely based on the story of the real Joan of Arc (though with many fantastical liberties), Jeanne D'Arc is Level 5's attempt at making a tactical RPG as well as getting a hit of their own on the PSP.  But does it effectively showcase their talents and provide a worthwhile experience for tactical RPG fans, or is it simply outclassed by its contemporaries?

As a big fan of tactical RPGs and Final Fantasy Tactics in particular, I... oddly missed this one when it launched on the PSP in 2007.  Even more odd considering it was developed by Level-5, a company that ranks among my favorite contemporary RPG developers; I quite enjoyed the Ni no Kuni games and a couple of the Professor Laytons, and Dragon Quest VIII and Dark Cloud 2 still rank among my favorite games of all time.  Odd, I know.

Having played it now, though, I found quite a fun experience.  The game has quite a bit of production value behind it for a PSP game with animated and fully voice-acted cutscenes (pretty well, at that), and Level-5's usual high-quality music and polished design are out in full force.  It makes good use of the PSP's limited control scheme too, utilizing the thumbstick for camera control and the d-pad for menuing and selection, though this does take a little getting used to if you're playing the emulated PS4 port like I am.

In terms of gameplay Jeanne D'Arc most closely resembles Fire Emblem than Final Fantasy Tactics, though Fire Emblem than FFT, though thankfully with FE's more annoying elements filed off - there are no permadeaths or breakable weapons or "Weapon triangle", though elemental affinities follow a similar pattern - Sol (Sun) is strong against Stella (Star), Stella is strong against Luna (Moon), and Luna is strong against Sol.  Some new gameplay elements are added though, like "Burning Aura" - striking an enemy creates one in the space behind them, and another character can then stand in it and attack for greater accuracy and damage.  They can also stack up to three times, allowing you to take down some particularly stubborn enemies with chained attacks.  If allies stay in close proximity (within 2 squares) they also get "Unified Guard" whenever an enemy attacks or counter-attacks, reducing their chance to be hit and taking less damage when they do - a good thing as enemies can generally take down characters in two or three blows.  Jeanne (and a couple other characters) also steadily build up points as turns pass, and once they have enough they can Transform into a substantially powered up form once per battle, gaining some quite powerful abilities - Jeanne herself gets Godspeed, which grants her another turn if she defeats an enemy (and can be chained multiple times in a single round as long as you keep getting kills).  It also surprisingly doesn't feel overpowered, particularly as each battle has a turn limit and some stages also end immediately if particular characters (or even any character) should be defeated, so utilizing any advantage you can quickly becomes key to victory.  As expected for a portable game, fights are fairly brisk - maps are generally fairly small and you can finish them in about 15-20 minutes on average, though they do get a bit more involved as the game progresses.

Equipment upgrades are found in shops (naturally), but you also find plenty in the course of completing story battles, and should your levels ever be lagging, you can take part in "free battle" maps to power up, so you shouldn't ever get stuck.  In addition to the usual complement of weapons, armor and shields, you also find plenty of "Skill Stones" that grant abilities for different types of weapons or simply change a character's elemental affinity, making them stronger against certain enemy types and weaker against others.  Skills are generally linked to using certain types of weapons (can't use a sword skill with a spear or a dagger, for example), but there is a surprising variety therein - one sword skills gives all nearby allies an attack boost, another spear skill grants a 7-space linear attack, while a particular dagger skill allows one to steal items from enemies mid-battle.  There are also generic spells that recover HP or equip elemental damage, and can be used with any type of weapon equipped.

All in all, Jeanne D'Arc is well made, quite enjoyable tactical RPG experience.  Maybe not one of the genre's defining classics, but it manages to hold its own on the PSP - a platform that gave it some stiff competition with games like Tactics Ogre, Valkyria Chronicles and Final Fantasy Tactics.  A worthwhile alternative from a company with a lot of passion and talent, particularly as you can get it for dirt cheap nowadays on the PlayStation 4.

 

Developer: Level-5, Japan Studio

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Released: 2007

Platforms: Playstation Portable, Playstation 4

Recommended Version:  As of July 2024 the game is available on the PlayStation 4/5 as a downloadable title, though it's simply an emulated port of the PSP version (with rewind and savestate functionality added).

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

Codeveloped by Level-5 and Square Enix, Dragon Quest IX is the first mainline game in the franchise released to implement online functionality and co-op play.  But does it still manage to be a fun time even as a single player experience, or is it an experiment gone wrong?

Dragon Quest IX was the first game in the franchise released exclusively for the Nintendo DS, and per series norms it was a massive success in Japan, selling over 4 million units.  It was something of a cultural phenomenon to boot, with its online component being widely used among its install base and even inspiring the Spotpass and Streetpass features on Nintendo's next handheld console, the 3DS.  It did relatively well outside of Japan too, selling another million units overseas and being lauded as one of the best RPGs on the Nintendo DS; no small feat considering how prolific the genre was on that platform.

Somewhat ironically, Dragon Quest IX began development after completion of the planning stages of what would later be come to known as Dragon Quest X and developed concurrently with it, with the two teams sharing ideas throughout.  As a result Dragon Quest IX feels a bit like an online game despite not being exclusively built as one; there's a character creator, item trading, a much heavier focus on item hunting and the crafting system introduced in VIII, and numerous short, quick-to-complete quests with incremental rewards throughout.  One can find (or have traded to them) numerous maps which unlock Grottos, which are semi-randomly-generated dungeons one can explore to fell foes and collect new equipment. Indeed this was a massively popular feature in Japan, especially with maps that contained valuable goods and/or large concentrations of Metal Slimes.  And of course, there's also a "Party Tricks" command, which works similar to Gestures in many other online games, having your character play a small animation and print out a short message to convey simple communication to other players.

The Vocation system from VI and VII returns here, though in a more restrained form that also works in elements from Dragon Quest VIII.  There are six vocations available at the start (with the player always beginning the story as a Minstrel) and 6 more are unlocked by completing quests as the game progresses.  Each vocation has a skillset unique to it, as well as access to four schools of weapon skills; by gaining levels you earn points to spend in these skillsets to unlock new abilities and stat bonuses.  One can of course change classes at their leisure once they reach Alltrades Abbey - class abilities do not carry over, but weapon skills can if you switch to another compatible class.  Investing 100 points into a weapon discipline will allow you to use that weapon (and associated skills) with any class, which allows for some fun mix-and-match combinations.  Maxing out your level in a given class and then reverting to level 1 grants a medal that, when equipped, grants a significant boost to a stat or other useful benefits (like being able to use gender-specific gear regardless of your starting choice), so while the system is designed to resemble a traditional single player RPG, there's still plenty there for the long-term powergaming intrinsic to online play.

Some other long-standing Dragon Quest design elements have been reworked too.  The equipment system in particular now has much more to it - there are now gloves, pants and boots in addition to the usual headgear, armor, weapons, shields, and accessories from earlier games, and equipped items do show up on your character's model, which is a nice touch.  Evasion is now a separate stat and operates as a flat percentage that can be increased by class abilities and certain types of gear, and there's now separate "Magical Mending" and "Magical Might" stats governing how effective healing and offensive spells are respectively.

The Tension mechanic also returns from Dragon Quest VIII and operates very similarly, though it's now a feature of certain vocations rather than being an ability for all characters to innately use.  The hero gets a unique ability (Egg On) that can be used to boost any character's Tension by one level, and being at maximum grants immunity to all status effects, giving it some added benefit beyond simply hitting harder or getting more mileage out of supportive spells.  Something slightly similar to XI's Pep is given form here with "Coup De Graces" - special abilities that have a small chance to become available each turn based on a number of factors.  These vary by Vocation and have quite a wide variety of effects, from getting guaranteed criticals to stealing items to restoring one's own MP to even gaining more experience after the current battle concludes.  If all four characters in your party enter this state at the same time, you can pull of a powerful combination move called a "Co-Op De Grace", with the choices you're given varying by the current party makeup.

Being built with a focus on the a multiplayer experience does have some downsides, though.  While there is still a main storyline in the game to follow (and it's a good one) and some well-written and memorable characters to take the journey with, your whole active party is comprised of generic characters - whether you create them yourself, ally with other players or pick some pre-fab ones out at the inn, only your protagonist has any active role in the narrative.  A definite downside after the last few Dragon Quests had such well-written and memorable casts integrated flawlessly into the storytelling.  There's also no voice acting this time around, though you do see some quite stylish and well-animated FMVs at key story points.  A bit of the magic is also lost with the discontinuation of the online component and the game being well past its heyday - the ability to connect to Nintendo Wi-Fi and exchange characters and items for one's player-populated inn, is no longer available, and while one can still trade items with other players while the system is in Sleep mode, you're not likely to run across them in the wild anymore.  Said features have also been a sticking point for a modern-day rerelease of the game as they were such a significant component of the core experience back in the early '10s, although developers at Square Enix have expressed interest in seeing the game return in some form.

Even though the game takes a step down to a handheld platform from its previous entry, Dragon Quest IX certainly doesn't skimp on its presentation.  The charming Toriyama character designs are expertly brought to life once again in 3D by Level-5 and Square Enix, and Koichi Sugiyama's soundtrack is once again fantastic, lending an epic mood to the game.  Perhaps as a means to make them easily identifiable, player characters (and major plot characters) are rendered in 3D models while minor NPCs are depicted with 2D sprites - a nice design touch and a clever nod to the older, less lavishly-produced Dragon Quests.

So, while Dragon Quest IX is a somewhat incomplete experience today and may not hold the same appeal as the strictly single-player games in the franchise, it's still a very worthy adventure to undertake.  It's well-presented, consistently charming and retains that timeless charm in its gameplay, retaining turn-based combat but spicing it up with plenty of clever mechanics, varied enemies and no shortage of granular character customization to experiment with.  I do hope Square Enix revives it in some form down the road, as I can imagine it being an exceptionally fun journey to undertake with friends.

Developer: Level-5, Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Released: 2010
Platforms: Nintendo DS

Recommended Version: N/A

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

Dragon Quest's first non-remake Playstation 2 entry was a surprisingly big event, going on to become the series' best-selling title outside of Japan (until XI broke the record years later) and garnering quite a bit of acclaim even among those who barely paid attention to the franchise beforehand.  But was this just because people were hoping Square Enix would prove their worth in the RPG arena again after several baffling missteps, or was there a genuinely good game to be found here as well? 

Dragon Quest as a franchise of course needs no introduction, especially for Japanese gamers - it's pretty much their bread-and-butter over there, selling millions of copies with each entry and most stores famously refusing to sell it on weekdays so kids don't cut class to go buy it. It never had quite the same impact in the west, though. While the original game was notable for having some 400,000 copies given away as an incentive to subscribe to Nintendo Power magazine, the franchise was mostly relegated to niche status throughout the NES era and got no western releases at all during the period when JRPGs started to get big. Yep, while games Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasies 6 through 9 and Breath of Fire were making bank, Dragon Quest was relegated to a few low-key releases on the Game Boy Color and saw no representation on consoles. Well, aside from a late and little-promoted release of VII on the Playstation 1, which did moderately well (selling about 200,000 copies) but wasn't enough to prevent Enix's North American branch from closing.

However, after Enix merged with Square, they would make another attempt at turning Dragon Quest into a household name in the west.  They commissioned Level-5 - a newcomer hot off their success with Dark Cloud 1 and 2 - to develop it, and under them the series saw a significant upgrade.  Formerly noted for its relatively low production budget and minimal animation that stuck with it even up to the Playstation 1, Dragon Quest VIII moved the series into true 3D, with colorful and lushly-detailed environments, well-animated and expressive character models, and a cel-shaded visual style very similar to Dark Cloud 2's that gives the game the look and feel of a well-produced anime. For the western release they went even further, adding CD-quality orchestral music and full voice-over for plot scenes - a major leap over the Japanese version which had comparatively dull synth music and didn't feature any voice acting at all. Dragon Quest VIII also reaped the benefit of a heavy promotional campaign, being released alongside a limited edition controller shaped like the series' iconic Slime enemies and having commercials aired on channels like Cartoon Network and Spike TV.  As a result, the game ultimately sold around 430,000 copies in North America and another 470,000 in Europe - small potatoes compared Japan's 4 million, but certainly not bad for a series that had been so niche in the west beforehand.

Dragon Quest's fundamental design remains relatively unchanged - turn based, random battles (though thankfully, the rate at which they appear is relatively subdued compared to some earlier titles), and a group of prefab characters on a journey to - what else - save the world from evil.  It doesn't have the clever narrative gimmicks of some earlier titles, like 4's chapters that follow different characters or 5 following several generations of a bloodline, but what's there is well-told and memorable thanks to its strongly-written characters and a solid sense of humor.  It also has a relatively small cast of four playable characters (with two more added in the 3DS version), though each is quite distinct and can be customized over the course of the game - a welcome fat-trimming after the two previous games became somewhat notorious for their rather bloated design and extremely overwrought class systems.  Each character can put points into one of four weapon skills, which will give passive bonuses when wielding them and unlock new techniques (spells for staves), and each also has one unique skill category, which generally adds new special abilities and passive bonuses.  For example, the hero can use swords, spears, boomerangs or fisticuffs, and his unique Courage skill gives him useful utility spells that let him instantly return to visited locations, cure negative statuses or reduce MP cost of all of his spells.  Some of these are humorously overpowered, too - Jessica's Twin Dragon Lash (in the Whips category) is famously one of them, hitting twice for 1.5 times the damage of a normal attack and costing only 3 MP (nerfed in the 3DS version to 0.9 times).  Points also cannot be recovered once spent, so one should consider carefully before committing to a particular build for a character.

 
A new mechanic for this entry is "Tension", which basically lets you save up energy for a turn (or several) to give your attacks or spells significantly more punch - great for dealing with enemies that have very high defense and would just absorb normal-powered blows, or getting more mileage out of MP used for healing magic.  Saving up for one turn will give your next one a 1.7x multiplier, and up to four will give you a whopping 5x effect, letting you deal devastating damage or heal your party very efficiently. Later in the game one unlocks the ability to randomly enter Super High Tension, where a character basically buffs up Dragon Ball Z style and gets a whopping 7.5x multiplier instead.  However, most later bosses have a move called "Disruption Wave" that will instantly dispel any stored tension, so relying solely on Tension-buffed attacks is a very poor strategy.

Dragon Quest VIII also features a crafting element in the form of the Alchemy Pot.  By speaking to King Trode after a certain point in the story, you can combine two or three items together to create a new one; everything from stronger medicine to weapons and armor (in fact, some of the best pieces of equipment in the game can only be created this way).  Experimenting with various items can sometimes yield good results, but your best bet is generally to explore towns, checking bookshelves whenever you can to learn new recipes.

But of course, no PS2 RPG is complete without side content.  The series' trademark game-spanning search for mini-medals is back once again, ensuring that you'll be searching every corner of dungeons for treasure chests and smashing every piece of pottery you can for them, as they can be turned in to unlock all sorts of useful rewards.  There is once again a casino where you can gamble for coins to trade for rare and useful treasures, and even a side dungeon or two to explore.  Probably the most substantial one overall is the Monster Arena - after a certain point in the story, you gain the ability to track down and defeat "Infamous monsters", which can then be pitted against progressively tougher fights in the arena to win rare prizes.  While not as deep as something like Pokémon (or even the spinoff series Dragon Quest Monsters), it's nonetheless a fun little diversion.

Dragon Quest VIII may not be the deepest RPG ever made, or even the deepest one within its own franchise.  However, what it lacks in originality it more than makes up for in presentation, taking the franchise into true 3D and utilizing a cartoony, fun visual style that makes its vast environments a joy to explore.  The characters themselves benefit from this as well, having very expressive animations and personalities that play off one another brilliantly throughout.  Dragon Quest's defining element - the impeccable level of polish in its mechanics - definitely does not suffer under Level-5's watch either, with a surprising amount of strategy and planning being required to overcome many of its challenges, and relatively few abilities that feel grotesquely overpowered or totally useless.  A charming, well-made adventure that easily ranks among the finest on both PS2 and 3DS, as well as one of Level-5's best games to date.

Developer: Level-5 (PS2), Square Enix (Mobile/3DS)

Publisher: Square Enix, Nintendo

Platform: Playstation 2, Android, iOS, Nintendo 3DS

Released: 2005, 2014, 2017

Recommended version: The 3DS port has some added content, including two new playable characters, and you can see dungeon maps at any time on the second screen, whereas you have to go to a separate screen for them on the PS2 version.  This version also features visible enemies instead of random encounters, and battles can be sped up to make mundane fights quicker.  It doesn't have quite as nice graphics (running at a lower resolution and missing some lighting effects) and it sadly loses the orchestral score of the US PS2 release, though it does at least feature a higher-quality synth soundtrack than the Japanese PS2 version.

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Ni no Kuni marked Level-5's return to the single-player console RPG experience after a long absence, and they brought Studio Ghibli along for good measure to provide plenty of charm and emotional impact.  But does Ni no Kuni stand up well as a game, or is this just one that only has an anime legend behind it but nothing else?

Level-5 made their debut with the Dark Cloud franchise and from there built a small empire, moving on to create a very successful puzzle game franchise (Professor Layton), bring the Dragon Quest games to a new generation with cel-shaded visuals, voiceover and traditional but challenging gameplay, and build a long-running tie-in franchise to the Inazuma Eleven anime series.  That was all well and good, but fans of traditional RPGs in the PS3 era were largely left out, with their only releases on the platform to that point being a lackluster online game called "White Knight Chronicles" and its sequel.  That, paired with a ton of other underwhelming RPGs in the era (Final Fantasy XIII and hordes of Idea Factory slop), left a lot of genre fans, myself included, high and dry.

Then out came Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch.  A reimagining of a Japan-only DS title called "Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn", it took advantage of the more powerful hardware in every way it could to truly deliver a Ghibli-like experience.  It succeeds admirably in this regard, playing up all of Ghibli's hallmarks - with imaginative monster designs, beautifully-animated, cel-shaded characters and models, gorgeous and intricately detailed towns, numerous animated cutscenes for story scenes and the protagonist undertaking a very personal and emotional journey, the presentation of the game is fantastic and quickly draws you into its world.  Even the in-game manual ties into this quite well, showing off huge amounts of world lore, spells, a monster bestiary and even a handful of short stories, all brimming with charm.

Helping with this is its old-school design, returning some long-absent genre elements (like a world map) to the game but making efforts to make them feel fresh in their own way.  The overworld, unlike many older games, is not just a flat and dull place full of enemies and little else, but has quite a lot of gameplay in itself - items to find, quests to complete and strange sights to see.  Enemies are also visible on the map and in dungeons at all times, giving the player a chance to avoid them and conserve resources or pick their battles with a particular enemy type they would like to capture.

Combat in the game is action-driven, with the player able to select and cast spells, attack enemies or use items in real-time, with the other two playable characters being computer-controlled.  The main characters have useful spells, though their abilities are somewhat limited and their physical attacks not particularly strong.  This is in large part to encourage the use of the game's Familiar system.  Somewhat similar to the Pokemon series, enemies can occasionally be tamed and added to one's party, and each has their own distinct movesets and stats.  Most also have fixed maximum levels, however, requiring that the player constantly keep an eye out for new creatures to capture to keep pace with the game's challenge.  The combat itself is simple overall but fun enough, though the lackluster party AI (tending to blow all of their MP on spells in very short order) leaves a few things to be desired.

As is standard for Level-5 games, Ni no Kuni offers quite a lot of side-content to keep the player occupied well beyond the main story.  One story-relevant but largely optional moment is the "Pieces of Heart" mechanic; not to be confused with Zelda, these have the player capture a particular emotion from a character with some to spare and give it to someone else who is lacking in it, usually earning a reward in the process.  Completing sidequests like monster hunts or errands earn Merit Stamps, which can be spent on character upgrades.  Some more traditional ones show up too, like a casino and an arena with progressively tougher combat challenges to overcome.

Ni no Kuni, while not my favorite Level-5 game, is certainly a welcome return to form for them after a long time away from grandiose JRPG experiences.  The presentation and atmosphere is full of charm, aided in no small part by the legendary studio Ghibli, and it's certainly not lacking for content, with a 40-hour main storyline and plenty of optional quests to undertake to keep you engaged even longer.  As a gameplay experience it's good but not great, but as a charming video game fairy tale it's unforgettable.  Very much worth a look for any serious RPG fan.

Developer: Level-5
Publisher: Level-5, Namco Bandai Games
Platform: Playstation 3, PC, Switch, Playstation 4
Released: 2013, 2019
Recommended Version: The 2019 ports feature no new content, but run at a higher resolution and framerate than the original PS3 release.  The Switch version runs at 720P and 30 FPS while the PS4 and PC ports run at 1080p and 60 FPS.

Rogue Galaxy

Level-5's last prominent release on the Playstation 2, Rogue Galaxy strays away from the fantasy setting of Dark Cloud 2 in favor of a science fantasy adventure with action combat.  But does this changeup result in a fun game, or is Rogue Galaxy's new direction a non-starter?

After the Dark Cloud games became hits on the Playstation 2, as did followup franchises like Professor Layton on the Nintendo DS platforms, people have long clamored about a Dark Cloud 3, piling on rumors to that effect for many years since.  Level-5 has yet to deliver on that, but what arguably came the closest for a long time was their last Playstation 2 release, Rogue Galaxy.

Rogue Galaxy's action on the whole feels similar to Dark Cloud 2's, allowing the player to attack, throw objects to stun enemies, and wield two weapons at once - generally a longer-ranged but weaker one and a slower melee weapon, though this varies a bit from character to character.  One new addition here, though, that each character gets a variety of spells to cast via a menu, running off the typical MP bar and ranging from weapon buffers to full-screen attacks that damage all enemies onscreen (though curiously there are no healing spells - you're still reliant on items for that).  Another odd change is that the player can only attack with a given character so many times in a row before they deplete a "stamina gauge", at which point they must either wait a short while or go on the defensive and block an enemy attack to restore it to full and continue fighting.

These in turn are governed by a Revelation Flow chart unique to each character.  Somewhat similar to the License Board system from Final Fantasy XII, the player progresses linearly from one "slot" on the board to the next, though they don't simply spend generic points to unlock new abilities; instead, various items found throughout the game, whether purchased or dropped from enemies, are used to fill in slots on the board and unlock new abilities.  While this does often work to prevent the player from getting overpowered skills early, it also has the unfortunate effect of stunting their growth at times, leaving their only recourse to deal with a difficult encounter to level up or just spam items.  The attempts at limiting power also aren't the best implemented; on both playthroughs I seemingly got Jasper's mid-tier fullscreen attack earlier than was intended, and its power was such that it could sweep all enemies out of the encounter in one hit, making the midpoint of the game a breeze.

Combat on the whole is also hampered by three other factors.  First is the fact that the game still uses random encounters; more than a bit outdated by 2007, and it gets to be annoying very quickly, particularly when fights seem to pop up every other step and the requisite encounter-limiting items last for barely a  minute before you're forced to use another one.  Rogue Galaxy, like the Dark Cloud games before it, still features no proper armor system (other than "costumes" that grant a miniscule resistance to one element), and unlike that game, there are no items that bolster a character's defense value or maximum HP.  This means that from the start of the game until the end, it only takes two or three good hits to take out your character, and in large-scale fights with many enemies, you can easily be seeing the game over screen before you realize it.  Not aiding this is the lackluster party AI, which, as in many games of this type, tends to get hung up on "gimmick" enemies that must be hit in the head or from behind, or simply flies out of their range for much of the fight.  To the developers' credit, though, they do at least bar them from spending MP and using items excessively, always prompting the player to confirm these actions by pressing one of the shoulder buttons instead, which helps to conserve resources in many situations.

Rogue Galaxy, like most Level-5 games, certainly is not lacking for content, either.  There are numerous hidden items to be found in every area of the game, and fully exploring the map of a given planet will place all chests on the map as icons, allowing the player to easily backtrack and pick up any they missed.  There are countless sidequests to undertake as well, mostly in the form of bounty hunts against powerful foes that only spawn in particular areas, with the player's ranking tracked via an in-game scoreboard and new rewards being unlocked every ten ranks they rise.  A Pokemon-esque monster raising minigame is present as well, allowing the player to capture bugs and pit them against opponents in an arena for bonus prizes, though I didn't bother much with this in either of my visits with the game.

Two different crafting systems are present as well, with one taking the form of "Toady", allowing the player to combine sufficiently leveled-up weapons together into a new ones with higher stats and abilities, which in turn can be leveled up again and combined into more powerful ones, slightly reminiscent of Dark Cloud's weapon crafting system.  The other, somewhat reminiscent of the Georama element, has the player building specific factory setups to craft new items out of blueprints and base components (generally found items and particular maxed-out weapon types), which is necessary to obtain many of the best weapons in the game.  However, I used this very little in both of my playthroughs, as many of the best weapons don't become available until the postgame anyway, at which point your only real remaining goal is to max out the in-game achievement tracker and possibly complete a bonus postgame dungeon in the form of a ghost ship full of difficult enemies.

That stuff's all well and good, but Rogue Galaxy, for me at least, hit the point of diminishing returns well before I was done with the main plot, leaving me little incentive to explore the side content to its fullest.  This isn't aided by a rather weak storyline and a cast that proves generic at every turn, having virtually nothing in the way of chemistry with one another and only the barest minimum of backstory (which all seem to fall into typical cliches at every turn).  When a game comes out over a decade after the SNES era had by and large ended, yet still features lackluster character writing on the same level as many games of that era, it doesn't really speak well of the writing staff behind the game, particularly when numerous other RPGs on the platform featured incredible character development and storytelling on par with a good film series or anime (Xenosaga, Final Fantasy XII, the Persona games) or at the very least, a solid sense of humor to fill in the gaps (Shadow Hearts).  It says a lot when I learned through the in-game skills menu that Jaster and Kisala were meant to be the love interests of the game, as they have literally zero scenes or lines of dialog to that effect at any point during the adventure.

In short, Rogue Galaxy, while a game not hurting for things to do, is severely hampered by its developers' intent on doing things in their own "unique" way, leaving it lacking several key elements of the genre and its overall design.  Similarly, the player is left with little in the way of variety or ways to grow their characters and little motivating factor to do so owing to its weak writing.  Its frantic combat is fun for a while in spite of its shortcomings, but it's not terribly long before it just becomes a chore to play.

Developer: Level-5
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform: Playstation 2, Playstation 4
Released: 2007, 2015
Recommended version: The Playstation 4 version is a direct port of the Playstation 2 game.

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

A sequel to a collaborative RPG project between Level-5 and Studio Ghibli, which takes its overall design philosophy and gameplay in a much different direction.  But does Ni no Kuni II manage to provide the same sense of wonder and fun as its predecessor, or does this shift drain the franchise of its magic?

2013's Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch was a treat for fans of classic JRPGs, combining a relatively straightforward storyline with the charm, gorgeous animation and child-like imagination of a good Ghibli film, and even restoring some long-neglected early elements of the genre like a dedicated "world map" to explore between major locales.  Its emphasis on monster-gathering and training also gave it a slight Pokemon vibe, introducing strategy in utilizing the right monsters in the right situations and quite a lot of depth as they attempted to, well, collect them all.

However, it was not without its problems.  The game's party AI was very lacking, with frequent instances of characters running headlong into enemy attacks or quickly wasting all of their MP, leaving them without the use of spells when they desperately needed them later (ie boss fights).  It also quickly got steeped in busywork, particularly in its postgame quests that were centered more on empty level grinding than anything else.  For that reason, while it was a game I enjoyed playing, it wasn't one I cared to get 100% completion on (and to date have still not revisited).

Its sequel, on the other hand, seemingly takes the opposite approach of its predecessor on almost every front.  The monster training aspect of the game is now greatly downplayed, with the wide variety of monsters being pared down to several variations on "Higgledies" which generally play a minor role in combat - providing party buffs, dealing minor damage to enemies, or healing characters as long as they remain within a small circle (or, on rare occasions, tossing the player a powerup that will boost their damage output and give them unlimited MP for a short time).  The main characters are now the primary combative force in the game, utilizing their own sets of skills and elemental affinities primarily granted by equipment.  A traditional spell system is also absent here, instead having the player build up their magic gauge through physical attacks, which they can then spend to utilize a powerful special move with their melee weapons (which also have their own charges that build up over time), or attack from afar with a ranged weapon.  Melee weapons have their own meters to charge as well, and once they are at 100%, that character's next special attack will get a "Zing", adding extra damage and an elemental effect.

Thankfully, this new emphasis also comes with game balance geared much more toward it.  Party AI is much less of a detriment this time as the player can freely switch between their three active characters on the fly, and inactive ones are rarely actively targeted by enemies (but can still be damaged, particularly by their larger spells).  They also will not spend magic or weapon charges without the player's input, keeping them available for later in the fight where they will be needed.

Not content with just one type of gameplay, though, Ni no Kuni II also works in elements of games like Suikoden, Dark Cloud and Diablo.  The latter is particularly evident in the game's equipment system; enemies frequently drop various types of weapons and armor with randomized elemental properties or resistances to certain status effects, with the most powerful ones generally appearing as either quest rewards or just especially lucky drops.  One of the primary quests in the game is to build up the player's own kingdom and staff its various facilities accordingly, which leads to a large number of sidequests to recruit various characters.  This in turn allows facilities to continually generate revenue and items, as well as do things like craft new weapons, armor and items of quality well beyond what can be purchased in shops or found at random.  This actually culls a bit of design from the real-time strategy (or, less auspiciously, mobile games) at times, as researching new technologies at your facilities is all governed by a clock that counts down in real time, subtly encouraging the player to turn their attention to other pursuits until it's finished.  Impatient players can spend more money to speed up this research, but as this quickly depletes your limited money reserves (particularly early on), it's generally better to undertake sidequests or advance the story whilst you wait.

This is not particularly hard to do, either; not only are there plenty of story and town-building quests to undertake, but there are a number of randomly-generated minor tasks to undertake as well, usually in the form of gathering X amount of a particular resource or defeating a number of minor enemies.  These grant the player special coins which can be exchanged for uncommon resources, or simply traded in to get clues for new characters to recruit for their kingdom.  This also never felt particularly chorish, as every time I checked in I had plenty of extra resources to trade from just fighting various battles around the world, which allowed me to quickly gather leads on characters and devote my game time to more productive pursuits than simple resource farming.

The Suikoden influence expands into Ni no Kuni II's combat as well, with a number of story scenes (as well as optional ones) taking place in full-fledged war battles.  These play out largely in real-time like the main combat system, though with a strategic bent somewhat reminiscent of the Fire Emblem games - melee units utilize a rock-paper-scissors styled system of weaknesses and strengths, with spearmen having an advantage over swordsmen, swordsmen strong against hammer-wielders and hammer-wielders strong against spearmen.  Other units appear as well, generally utilizing ranged atttacks that can deal heavy damage at a distance but are weak against all melee attacks, and shield-bearers, which are strong against all attacks and primarily serve to draw fire away from other units.  Throughout these fights, the player must manage a resource called "Military Might" which can be spent to replenish the ranks of weakened/defeated units, or spent in moderate quantities to utilize Battle Tactics that can give the player an edge - erecting cannons, providing a temporary attack boost or dropping a bomb barrage on distant enemies just to name a few examples.  Generals must be leveled up as well, which at times can mean fighting a few warm-up battles at respawning war battle points in order to get them up to speed; however, I didn't particularly mind this as, like most things in the game, war battles are well-paced and rarely take more than a few minutes to complete.

In the end, Ni no Kuni II is a definite oddball among RPG sequels.  While it keeps the fundamental feel of a Ghibli project quite well, its gameplay and premise is almost entirely overhauled from the first game.  Its focus on building up towns, funneling resources into more useful ventures and undertaking huge amounts of side-content is much more reminiscent of a modern western RPG than a traditional JRPG, and its focus on large-scale war battles is certainly unlike anything undertaken by either Ghibli or Level-5 to date.  However, it plays well to Level-5's strengths - providing plenty of content while remaining well-paced enough to be addictive rather than tedious - and as a result, I find it to be a much more fun game overall, if not as memorable on a storytelling front.

Developer: Level-5
Publisher: Bandai Namco Games
Platform: Playstation 4, PC
Released: 2018
Recommended version: While I have only played the PC version, the game seems to be almost identical on both platforms.  I've also encountered no major issues with the PC port - occasional minor framerate hitching in the more bustling towns is a nuisance, but not a deal-breaker by any means.

Dark Cloud 2

Released two years after the first Dark Cloud game, Dark Cloud 2 attempts to polish up its predecessors' weaknesses and provide a much more substantive experience overall.  But does Dark Cloud 2 succeed where its predecessor failed, or was this another game fated to be largely forgotten once the hype of its release blew over?

The original Dark Cloud, while a relatively successful game in terms of scores and sales (enough to get on Sony's Greatest Hits program, at least), was not a game built to last; its gameplay was somewhat clumsy and the hype of its marketing as a "Zelda killer" didn't hold up to close scrutiny, not least because they really don't resemble each other much at all.  But the experience did prove to be a valuable one for Level-5, launching their career as a big-name developer, and as is the case with virtually any successful game, a followup was inevitable.  So two years after the first, Dark Cloud 2 ("Dark Chronicle" outside of North America) was released, promising to add more to the formula that the first game established while polishing up its weaker elements.

This is evident right from the get-go, as the game's overall aesthetic has been drastically reworked.  While the first game was dark and moody with an art style to match, Dark Cloud 2 is very bright and colorful, utilizing lavishly detailed environments and soft cel-shading, as well as a more whimsical and cartoony world, to give the game a much lighter and friendlier feel.  Indeed, every area of the game seems geared to use this fact to its full advantage; very few areas in the game have drab interiors, giving the player plenty of fine details to look at as they explore the game and rebuild its world.

Dark Cloud 2 makes great strides in improving the original game's relatively minimal audio design.  From ambient sound in towns to give them a more alive feel to virtually every enemy the player encounters having unique complement of voice and sound clips accompanying them, there is definitely much more to hold your attention here.  The game also features voiceover of relatively high quality during its story scenes, featuring even a few big names like Paul Eiding, Cam Clarke and Jennifer Hale in supporting roles.

While the core format and design of the game remains relatively intact, there have been many improvements made to it in almost every facet.  Dark Cloud's cast of six playable characters (three melee fighters, three long-ranged) has now been pared down to just two, though they are much more versatile to compensate for this.  Max wields a slow but powerful wrench and a fast-firing but relatively weak gun, and can utilize the "Ridepod" (a steampunk mech with limited fuel) to defeat more powerful enemies.  Monica wields a sword, utilizes a magic bracelet which can be charged for extra damage and can transform into monsters, allowing her to avoid some fights or collect rare items by talking to them in dungeons.  A third character can also be recruited to the active party, taken from a large pool of reserve characters recruited from the first town; they bestow support effects like being able to make Premium Chicken that restores a large amount of HP or earning extra upgrade points for particular types of weapons.

Much improvement has been made to the game's weapon upgrading system as well.  The first and most welcome change is that weapons no longer vanish when their durability hits zero, causing you to lose a weapon you've invested countless hours and items into; instead, their attack power is simply reduced to 0 until they are repaired via a weapon powder.  Similarly, the player no longer has to manually swap between different elements on their weapons in order to accommodate different enemy types; the game will automatically apply these on hit.  This effectively eliminates instances of, for example, being unable to damage a fire-based enemy with a fire-element damage; as long as that weapon has a property they are vulnerable to, they will take some damage.

The game's overall feel is much more tight in Dark Cloud 2 as well.  While the original game had somewhat loose, floaty controls, as well as overlong attack animations that frequently left the player vulnerable until they completed, Dark Cloud 2's combat is much more tight and focused, allowing the player to easily block, counter and combo enemies as needed.  The superfluous "thirst" system is absent this time as well, taking a rather annoying management element out of the game.  Some new moves are even added to the player's repertoire, allowing them to pick up rocks (or other enemies) and throw them at foes to deal damage and stun them momentarily, setting them up for a combination attack.  Interestingly, however, the death system is very much the opposite of Dark Cloud 1's - if one character falls, the other can be immediately swapped in with no penalty (unlike the first game, where this required a "Stand-in Powder").  However, if both characters die, the game ends immediately and the player must reload from a previous save.  Thus, while the first Dark Cloud's characters were largely expendable, but their weapons were an invaluable resource, the opposite is largely true here.

Georama has been expanded upon too.  While the overall concept remains the same (having the player rebuild destroyed areas by finding components in the dungeons), there is much more to it here. Each object the player rebuilds costs raw materials (purchased or found in random chests), and some new layers are added to various requests as well, with houses being able to be painted different colors and populated by various NPCs recruited from the first town.  At times, some Georama goals are not even revealed until the player reaches a certain plot scene and returns later on, all but forcing them to exit an area and return to it later in order to reach 100% completion.  However, the rewards from completing each area tend to very much be worth the hassle, so I didn't particularly mind this change.

Of course, there is also much in the way of new content.  One of the most prominent additions is the Invention system, where the player is tasked with taking photographs of various objects in the environment and various enemy animations (referred to as "Scoops") and utilizing combinations of them to invent new items.  While most of these can be found as random treasures (or bought with money), many of the top-tier weapons and items cannot.  Thus, the player is heavily encouraged to, well, explore the environment and photograph virtually every object in it; even mundane things like the moon or medicine bottles can be an important crafting component.  One thing to note, however, is that Scoops exclusive to boss monsters are generally one-time deals; if you miss them, you won't get a rematch with that boss later, so be sure you check your scoops list before every boss and make sure you don't save your game until you've gotten what's being asked of you!

Other less plot-important, but still entertaining, diversions include fishing (both outside and inside of dungeons), Spheda (golf with a twist - one can only sink the ball if it is the opposite color as the cup, and it swaps each time it bounces off a wall) and even a bit of a monster-raising sim in the Fish Race.  As mentioned, these are almost entirely optional, but do allow the player to earn some rare items when they are successfully completed, as well as Medals that can be traded in for new costumes and the like.

In the end, Dark Cloud 2 very much accomplishes its goal, taking the memorable elements of the first game and giving its weaker elements a drastic upgrade, resulting in a lengthy, but polished and satisfying, game experience overall.  While it can be slightly buggy at times and 100% completion is a task I don't recommend undertaking (a large amount of its content is missable and some of its mechanics are not well explained, not to mention speedrunning every single dungeon floor and completing numerous side-tasks on each gets very tedious), it's nevertheless a game I've always enjoyed revisiting.

Developer: Level-5
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform: Playstation 2, Playstation 4
Released: 2003, 2016
Recommended version: The Playstation 4 port is a direct emulation of the Playstation 2 game.

Dark Cloud

Level-5's debut game as well as one of the first launch titles for the Playstation 2.  But does this experimental RPG stand the test of time, or is this one adventure that's destined to be forgotten?

Level-5 has become a beloved company among gamers, producing more than a few well-regarded games in their time.  Probably their best known and most successful franchise is the Professor Layton series of puzzle games for handheld systems, which has seen no less than five sequels and one crossover game.  However, they first made their mark in the world of gaming with Dark Cloud, an RPG from the Playstation 2's early days that Sony touted as their platform's "Zelda Killer".

A curious marketing choice to be sure, as Dark Cloud, while it resembles Zelda in some ways, provides an extremely different gameplay experience more reminiscent of a traditional dungeon crawler, with randomly generated floors to traverse and a heavy emphasis on upgrading one's characters and equipment.  Puzzle solving in the game is also considerably less involved, mainly revolving around the game's main subquest - reassembling towns destroyed by the game's villains in order to unlock an item that will grant access to the boss of a dungeon.  Other things that present themselves as obstacles - such as impassable barriers - are usually resolved by finding ain item via town-building or recruiting a new character, so there's not really a lot of the logical thinking that became a trademark of Zelda's puzzles.

Dark Cloud's most iconic feature is doubtlessly its town-building aspect - as one ventures through the dungeons, they'll recover parts for that area's respective town's buildings, landscape and citizens.  Once enough are recovered (and placed in their proper place), a scene will trigger with those townspeople that plays some humorous dialog and usually grants the player a reward; some necessary to advance the main story, others just nice bonuses.  As the town becomes more complete, more chests will also spawn around the buildings in the area; these usually contain items that upgrade the stats of one of your six characters; either Fruits of Eden (which raise maximum HP) or character-specific items that grant permanent boosts to defense.  These quickly prove essential to survival, as enemies can easily do enough damage to deplete the player's health in only a few hits.

The game's other most well-known feature is its intricate weapon upgrading tree.  Each character's weapons have a plethora of statistics - core stats, extra damage against specific enemy types, and elementals.  Each of these has respective upgrade items that can be attached to a weapon to grant it temporary boosts, and if equipped when the weapon levels up, those boosts will permanently become bound to it.  Once a weapon's stats reach certain levels, the weapon can also be upgraded to a new form with higher maximum stats and possibly some extra abilities (such as causing enemies to drop more cash, or granting more AP upon defeating an enemy).  This can be a very long process, but it also encourages the player to track donw the game's rarest items - gems which grant a substantial boost to many stats at once.  Unfortunately, this is also marred by a rather serious flaw, namely that once a weapon's WHP is depleted, the weapon breaks and all of the upgrades applied to it go to waste.  Keeping a hefty supply of weapon repair powder around is therefore an essential part of the game's strategy.

Combat in the game is also distinctly unbalanced.  As mentioned, most enemies will drop the player in only a few unblocked hits while the player may require several to put them down.  This can be a particular problem against large and armored enemies, who deplete several points of weapon durability with each hit the player lands, which in turn can quickly deplete the player's supply of weapon repair powder and leave them unable to combat later foes.  Some characters, particularly melee characters, are also at a great disadvantage due to their extremely slow attack animations; Goro in particular has a lengthy jumping animation before each of his attacks land, which enemies can easily hit him out of at any point prior to it landing.  Ranged characters generally have a much easier time in most battles, even if they are marrred by a curious flaw - their attacks get much weaker as the distance between them and their target grows, which all but requires them to stay within a few steps to deal decent damage.  Still, it's generally easy enough to launch attacks at an enemy from a safe distance with them, rendering your melee characters all but useless save for removing the occasional character-specific obstacle.

All in all, Dark Cloud is an interesting experiment that hasn't stood the test of time particularly well.  It has some interesting gameplay mechanics in its town-building and weapon upgrading, though these tend to get a bit tedious and frustrating, particularly with the breakable weapons and the sheer amount of grinding required for some of the top-tier weapons in the game.  The somewhat lackluster combat and overall design also hampers the experience, turning it into a lengthy game of hoarding healing items and spamming ranged attacks to make it through each dungeon.  It stands as a piece of history for being one of the first games on its platform, but there were much better RPG choices available even at the time, and it would be followed soon thereafter by a more polished (and more traditional) alternative in Shadow Hearts.

Developer: Level-5
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform: Playstation 2, Playstation 4
Released: 2001, 2015
Recommended version: The Playstation 4 version of the game is a direct port of the Playstation 2 one (complete with all the glitches and errors of the original release), and both it and the original release go for roughly the same price, so pick whichever fits your platform of choice.