|
The Lowdown
Pros: Free moving combat, a large number of character classes plus a good
story makes this a top notch s-RPG.
Cons: Interface and control issues makes this title less accessible.
 Purchase
at Play-Asia
 Purchase
at Lik-Sang
      |
NIS America is making a smart move bringing over Makai Kingdom:
Chronicles of the Sacred Tome (also known as Phantom Kingdom in Japan).
The game which is feels like a spiritual successor to Disgaea also features the
artwork of Nippon Ichi's main artist Takehito Harada. Makai Kingdom
takes place in the netherworld. Lord Zetta, an overlord of the
netherworld seeks a sacred tome that has all of history written in it.
Upon reading it he finds that the last page mocks him saying that he's
stupid and will destroy the netherworld. In a fit of rage, Zetta does
exactly that. He burns the sacred tome, which burns his precious
netherworld too. Before he is marked for death, Zetta seals himself to
the sacred tome. This allows him to live, but at the price of being
bound to the book.Zetta is mocked by an oracle called Pram about his
fate. Yet he manages to convince her and another overlord with three
personalities named Mickey to build him a new netherworld. The wacky
characters you would expect in a Nippon Ichi game are around in Makai
Kingdom. Zetta comes off as arrogant. He'll even make snide remarks at
the player saying stuff like fight you combat monkey. Unlike the gallant
heroes featured in other games Zetta is a lot more like Disgaea's hero
Lahari. Players will be happy to help Zetta reclaim the netherworld and
his body. In regards to this Makai Kingdom doesn't come across with a
serious storyline. Instead it's humorous and silly, a change compared to
other s-RPGs. It certainly separates Makai Kingdom from the crowd.
At the heart of every good strategy RPG is a solid battle system.
Genre fans are familiar with the standard isometric battlefield and menu
commands. Although instead of setting the map up like a game board with
set spaces to walk on, Makai Kingdom gives players the freedom to move
where ever they want. You're still limited to a certain amount of
movement points, but this time you can position yourself anywhere the
red circle appears. Here's another interesting tidbit about the movement
system, you can even straight past enemy characters. No more using your
apprentice to block your healer. Players and enemies can even walk on
the heads of another character to attack. There are no "safe" spots in
battle. After you move around your attacks have a three dimensional area
of damage. Precision with the Dual Shock analog stick can easily lead to
hitting multiple enemies with a single spell. However, the control
sticks high sensitivity makes perfect placement a real challenge. Some
attacks like spear techniques have a wide area of attack, nearly
guaranteeing to hit multiple foes. Other attacks, like spells have a
small circle that you need to have touching as many enemies as possible.
Often players will spend too much time on trying to find the best place
to put the sphere instead of moving along with the battle. Of course,
the CPU controlled enemies will always hit the maximum number of
characters.
Defeating enemies on the battlefield leads gives the player points.
Not just experience points, but points to clear the stage. Each enemy is
assigned a point value. After reaching the set number of points you'll
win the match. You can choose to keep playing and defeat all of the
enemies or simply call it a day. There is an advantage of continuing the
battle, you'll get more points. More than being a mere quota points don
bonuses on players like extra experience and better items. While the
point system does offer some strategy, like going for characters with a
high point total it is flawed. Weaker enemies can be worth
more points than a powerful one. In fact the point distribution is often
so skewed one or two enemies are worth hundreds of points while other
enemies are worth a mere ten. Even in animate objects like rocks and
trees have a point value. In one battle I managed to clear it by beating
one CPU controlled pumpkin head and destroying a lot of rocks.
Most levels aren't complete either. You'll need to seek out enemies or
other scenery that carry area keys. Either dealing blows with the key
holder or stealing it with a thief will open up new areas on the field.
Once you have more space to move you can match swords with a new set of
enemies.
The whole procedure could be routine, but with so many character
classes Makai Kingdom continues to be interesting. You still have the
basic classes of warrior, healer, thief and mage. Even with these
general classes you have different abilities to learn if you're a witch
or say a warlock. Even unique monster classes like Pumpkin head means
your party will be different in every battle. Weapon proficiencies give
each class, even though they're all fighters, a use in battle. Some
classes can use a weapon to up to 200% efficiency, which will make
players want to dust off that ronin when you get a new katana. A blend
of weapons that includes spears to books to flamethrowers means there
are plenty of reasons to rotate your characters into battle. If you
haven't been convinced yet there are some new classes that can only be
unlocked when a couple of different classes have reached a high enough
level. If you want an officer in your party you need to level up cook,
professor and female swordmaster. It's a lot of work to unlock some of
the classes, but these small unlocks keeps Makai Kingdom fresh.
Besides inviting members of your party to the battlefield, you can
invite buildings to join in on the action. Buildings have two purposes,
mainly there around for giving bonuses to your characters. If you have a
party member step into a facility like the hospital you'll be granted
some HP regeneration. Bringing a player into the dog house will boost
their attack. Buildings can also house future troops. If you stock team
members into buildings before battle you can spring them out for a
surprise attack.
Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome caters to the hardcore
strategy RPG audience and fans of Nippon Ichi titles. The game offers so
many options for players to customize their characters and a solid story
throughout the game. However, many gamers, those who aren't
into s-rpgs won't enjoy spending hours prepping their characters for
battle. If you're looking for a thinking person's summer title, Makai
Kingdom is up your alley.
Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome is the US version of
Phantom Brave. The game is entirely in English with an English voiceover
track along with the original Japanese track.
US Bound?
Set of a late July release date you can pick up Makai Kingdom very
soon.
Overall
Makai Kingdom has a lot going for it. After some time with the
battle system strategy RPG gamers will really get a kick out of the
game. Now if it was less menu dependant it would be a title that anyone
could pick up.
|
|
