jman2050
05-15-2008, 04:11 PM
What do you get when you cross a Final Fantasy RPG with a building simulation game with all the boring RPG grinding taken out? You get this game.
It's certainly not an RPG in any sort of traditional sense, but the game does a pretty good job putting you in control of an RPG game world. At first glance, it seems like the whole game is basically just you building a small city with houses and stuff ala Sim City. But the whole idea of "building a kingdom" extends far beyond being a simple city planner. To build your city using the architek magic given to your character, you need elementile, which is basically the raw materials for architek to work. To do this, you need to hire adventurers and have them explore several dungeons around the kingdom.
Each adventurer is essentially your typical Final Fantasy RPG character, complete with their own set of stats, class designation, abilities, battle/exploration tendencies, equipment, etc. As king, you control the infrastructure of your town, funding research to weapon and armor shops so they can build new equipment for your adventurers to use, adding buildings that allow your adventurers to form parties, etc. Keeping the motivation of your adventurers up is key, as some of them have a harder time living the life of an RPG character than others. You will usually direct your adventurers' actions by means of behests (missions), but in cases where they're left to act on their own, they'll go through the typical Final Fantasy grind so that you don't have to!
What makes the adventuring aspect more interesting is the reports you get after each daily excursion. What isn't immediately obvious when you first play is that you've basically got an entire Final Fantasy exploration/battle system being simulated in the background. Parties will encounter enemies and fight them, and battle logs containing each and every turn of each battle is available for your perusal, giving you the chance to figure out not only where your party got wiped out, but what strategies they attempted to use and what did and did not work against those particular enemies. Of course, it'll also log any other activity of your adventurers, including any items/spells/abilities they purchase in town, any shortcuts, treasure chests, or "Fountains of Restoration" they find in dungeons, and any rare item drops and gold drops they get from enemies. It's really quite extensive.
Of course, the town itself requires your attention as well. Building houses to recall citizens and to receive tithes (ie taxes) from them to fill the Royal coffers, building bakeries and Emporiums to raise the morale of said citizens, and talking with citizens to raise morale. It really is like a living, breathing world, and though it can get repetitive at points, it's the type of gameplay that keeps you playing for hours on end, with you swearing to yourself the whole way through that you'll only play "one more day." There's a lot more involved, but this should give a general idea.
If you are at all a fan of simulation games, you should get this from Wii Ware. The $15 price is definitely worth it.
It's certainly not an RPG in any sort of traditional sense, but the game does a pretty good job putting you in control of an RPG game world. At first glance, it seems like the whole game is basically just you building a small city with houses and stuff ala Sim City. But the whole idea of "building a kingdom" extends far beyond being a simple city planner. To build your city using the architek magic given to your character, you need elementile, which is basically the raw materials for architek to work. To do this, you need to hire adventurers and have them explore several dungeons around the kingdom.
Each adventurer is essentially your typical Final Fantasy RPG character, complete with their own set of stats, class designation, abilities, battle/exploration tendencies, equipment, etc. As king, you control the infrastructure of your town, funding research to weapon and armor shops so they can build new equipment for your adventurers to use, adding buildings that allow your adventurers to form parties, etc. Keeping the motivation of your adventurers up is key, as some of them have a harder time living the life of an RPG character than others. You will usually direct your adventurers' actions by means of behests (missions), but in cases where they're left to act on their own, they'll go through the typical Final Fantasy grind so that you don't have to!
What makes the adventuring aspect more interesting is the reports you get after each daily excursion. What isn't immediately obvious when you first play is that you've basically got an entire Final Fantasy exploration/battle system being simulated in the background. Parties will encounter enemies and fight them, and battle logs containing each and every turn of each battle is available for your perusal, giving you the chance to figure out not only where your party got wiped out, but what strategies they attempted to use and what did and did not work against those particular enemies. Of course, it'll also log any other activity of your adventurers, including any items/spells/abilities they purchase in town, any shortcuts, treasure chests, or "Fountains of Restoration" they find in dungeons, and any rare item drops and gold drops they get from enemies. It's really quite extensive.
Of course, the town itself requires your attention as well. Building houses to recall citizens and to receive tithes (ie taxes) from them to fill the Royal coffers, building bakeries and Emporiums to raise the morale of said citizens, and talking with citizens to raise morale. It really is like a living, breathing world, and though it can get repetitive at points, it's the type of gameplay that keeps you playing for hours on end, with you swearing to yourself the whole way through that you'll only play "one more day." There's a lot more involved, but this should give a general idea.
If you are at all a fan of simulation games, you should get this from Wii Ware. The $15 price is definitely worth it.