Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida was a good concept, but a terse title. The UMD disc felt more like a PlayStaton Network game with only a single kingdom’s 8 bit warriors brave enough to enter the Lord of Destruction’s lair. I understand the arcade focus, you’re supposed to play Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida over and over to increase your score. A secret hard mode increases replay value too, but Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida is still short.
Sony doesn’t even bother tweaking Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida’s formula for Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida Or 2. The sequel is about volume of content and not refreshing the concept. At this point Acquire doesn’t need to. There isn’t anything else like Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida currently on the market. Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida Or 2 expands on the first game with multiple kingdoms to terrorize with the Devil King, new heroes to fight, and more monsters.
You still control a pickaxe, not the Devil King, and mine away to make him a lair. Hitting mossy green blocks release slimes that can spread nutrients. When the slimes change other mossy green blocks into blocks with white spots you can mine them to get a basic insect monster, the Gajigajimushi. These beasts eat slimes and evolve into more formidable flying insects. While you’re mining and managing a monster food chain an unseen timer counts down and suddenly a brazen hero dares to enter your lair. Insects and slimes are enough to whittle down an early level hero, but later you need to breed tougher monsters. If you want to go the brute route you need to make narrow corridors for your slimes to walk in and with any luck they will saturate a square with nutrients so it looks like a wood block. Mine one of these and you get a lizard warrior. These beasts eat your bony insects as food (the food chain is a cruel…), but lizardmen are significantly stronger than your average insect. Lizardmen also dig a holes, hatch eggs, and make more lizardmen. When your army of lizardmen grows you have to keep mining slimes and raising insects to feed them.
Alternatively, you can go the magic route. When a hero dies or uses magic spells soil blocks shimmer with blue stars. Mine one of these to release a blue flame being called an element. These creatures are like the slimes of the magic tree and can infuse magic blocks with magical energy to make Lilliths, fairies beings that shoot web, and at the top tier fire breathing dragons. Unlike Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida magic creatures are easier to obtain thanks to blue mushrooms that sprout in dungeon paths. Hit one of these and the adjacent blocks turn to magic sparks so you can mine elements. Some levels start out with magic squares in the soil too so you can mine elements and make Lilliths right away.
If you played Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida this should sound awfully familiar. Even though Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida Or 2 has “more” monsters you follow the same food chain with six kinds of monsters in a dungeon. Instead of breaking the existing food chain model Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida Or 2 just replaces monsters. In one level your basic insect monster might be the Gajigajimushi. In another world it might be the worm-like Gajirongu (Gaji Long). Or you might have the poisonous scorpion-like Dokugajigaji (doku is Japanese for poison). The other “trick” you need to know when playing the game is how to make demons and golems. These extremely powerful creatures can’t replicate and you can create one by making a nutrient or magic rich spot of soil not connected to any other square. This can be done easily by getting a nutrient rich square through normal means and mining the adjacent soil squares it so the nutrient rich square isn’t touching anything else. Your regular monsters can also evolve depending on the conditions in the dungeon and get more aggressive with abilities like sleep spells. Having monster variety is nice, but it doesn’t change Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida Or 2 much. You still mine narrow paths so slimes/elements can touch walls and make monsters.
Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida Or 2 does keep players on their toes more by introducing two hero classes. The hunter drops items in the dungeon like food which he can pick up later to recover HP and (gasp) save points. If you kill the hunter and he has a an active save point he respawns. You need to hit save points and food with your pickaxe to get rid of them. As a neat touch the save point flag changes from “save” to “delete”. Be careful because the hunter can plant another one. The alchemist is another dangerous foe since he can wipe out slimes waiting for him in a narrow corridor with a wave of spikes. The alchemist can also summon monsters like golems and demons. You’re going to meet these guys along with the classes from the previous game: knights, barbarians, and mages. Each world has multiple heroes to kill before you take over the kingdom. Up to three heroes can attack you at a time and each level the heroes get a bit tougher. Beat up all of the heroes and you can move on to the next world. If one of the heroes touches the Devil King you’ll be dragged out of the dungeon. The game is over if the hero brings you to the entrance. Once you’re caught all you can do is furiously chip away at the soil and hope your remaining monsters can kill the hero to save you.
There are way more stages to play than Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida and Acquire has a few modes to expand gameplay beyond the story mode. In the Devil’s Room you can practice making a dungeon and beckon heroes at your will to enter. This is a free mode where you get to pick the types of monsters you want, level of difficulty, and other settings before creating your dungeon. Another option in the story mode is to play downloaded story data. I haven’t seen Sony release any data yet so I’m not sure what this does, but I presume downloadable content is coming. This content might be free, but since the PlayStation Store for PSP is live they could be sold too.
Now I see why Sony passed on localizing Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida. Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida Or 2 is more meaty, bigger, and better. In other words it’s a full game. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that Sony Computer Entertainment America deems Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida Or 2 worthy of localization. I sure think it is!
Images courtesy of Sony.
Second part of the Badman voucher: FXB6
