Post by Falcom Director of Fanservice on May 17, 2007 3:01:04 GMT -5
This was just released today, well yesterday if you wanna be technical, for the DS. Essentially, this game plays like Wizardy. You make characters from nine different classes, pick a status portrait for them (each class has 4 to choose from), and march them out to die horribly in a first-person dungeon, or get rich and prosper. I am fairly sure, if your party dies, then you get to create a new one and possibly go out to seek the corpses. =]
Plotwise, the game takes place in and about the city of Etria, where a rather unusual phenomena has been found: an underground forest. This has broguth several waves of adventurers to Etria, in hopes of figuring out what is going on, and also to get stinking rich. When your character arrives, the guilds have established themselves, and the majority of them are excluding newbies. Thus, you go to form your own guild, accepting only new people to give them an opportunity; and also because they're desperate enough for assistance they they won't attach strings to your joining.
I've not encountered much plot yet, still being on the game's introductory mission to gain legitimacy for my guild. But, I do know that it has at least some, which is more than what Wizardy ever gave us. Gameplay is much like Wizardry, with random encounters that simply do not play around. It is very unwise to just try to autobattle past things that are scaled for your level; unless you like getting beat up. Also, monsters do not drop gold, they drop various bits that you sell to the local shop. The shop then uses these bits to make new gear available, so everybody wins!
Another interesting aspect is that ther are quests to be done, both given by the government and picked up from the local tavern. As such, there is a bit more to this game than simply getting to the bottom of the dungeon. I've not had time to sample much in the way of quests, but my current one is to map out a section of the first floor and prove that I can handle myself.
One of the particularly amusing aspects of this game is that you have to make your own map using the touchscreen and stylus. You can place the walls, fill them in (places you walk to get auto-filled, but who wants to auto-fill a 20x20 room?). Then you may decorate it with a number of appropriate icons, denoting where treasure, events, and the like are hiding, and essentially personalize your ingame map.
The background graphics are rather nicely done, but not quite earthshattering. They do have a lot of fun with light shining through thing, in particular. The character and NPC portraits are akin to Disgaea/Phantom Brave/Makai Kingdom/bacon; sort of a love it or not thing. Monsters are akin to Dragon Warrior 7 in detail and coloring, but not Toriyama-looking.
In general, this is the Scion of Wizardy. It has a bit more plot, at least, and flashier graphics. It's made to be mean-spirited and cruel, with harsh encounters and the like. Essentially, it's old school RPG funtimes. =]
Edit: This official comic explains it in short.
And this is the official site, which at least gives a mild idea of what the game looks like.
Plotwise, the game takes place in and about the city of Etria, where a rather unusual phenomena has been found: an underground forest. This has broguth several waves of adventurers to Etria, in hopes of figuring out what is going on, and also to get stinking rich. When your character arrives, the guilds have established themselves, and the majority of them are excluding newbies. Thus, you go to form your own guild, accepting only new people to give them an opportunity; and also because they're desperate enough for assistance they they won't attach strings to your joining.
I've not encountered much plot yet, still being on the game's introductory mission to gain legitimacy for my guild. But, I do know that it has at least some, which is more than what Wizardy ever gave us. Gameplay is much like Wizardry, with random encounters that simply do not play around. It is very unwise to just try to autobattle past things that are scaled for your level; unless you like getting beat up. Also, monsters do not drop gold, they drop various bits that you sell to the local shop. The shop then uses these bits to make new gear available, so everybody wins!
Another interesting aspect is that ther are quests to be done, both given by the government and picked up from the local tavern. As such, there is a bit more to this game than simply getting to the bottom of the dungeon. I've not had time to sample much in the way of quests, but my current one is to map out a section of the first floor and prove that I can handle myself.
One of the particularly amusing aspects of this game is that you have to make your own map using the touchscreen and stylus. You can place the walls, fill them in (places you walk to get auto-filled, but who wants to auto-fill a 20x20 room?). Then you may decorate it with a number of appropriate icons, denoting where treasure, events, and the like are hiding, and essentially personalize your ingame map.
The background graphics are rather nicely done, but not quite earthshattering. They do have a lot of fun with light shining through thing, in particular. The character and NPC portraits are akin to Disgaea/Phantom Brave/Makai Kingdom/bacon; sort of a love it or not thing. Monsters are akin to Dragon Warrior 7 in detail and coloring, but not Toriyama-looking.
In general, this is the Scion of Wizardy. It has a bit more plot, at least, and flashier graphics. It's made to be mean-spirited and cruel, with harsh encounters and the like. Essentially, it's old school RPG funtimes. =]
Edit: This official comic explains it in short.
And this is the official site, which at least gives a mild idea of what the game looks like.
