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| Pollyanna 1248th Post
 
Red Carpet Executive Member
  
    
    
    
|  "Re(1):So anyone play Makai Kingdom yet?" , posted Thu 21 Jul 01:42
quote:
Well it's coming out in the US in about a week so I thought I'd ask if any has seen the Japanese version. I want to love Nippon Ichi games because of the character designs, but other than Disgaea, I just can't.
This game looks neat with all the character classes, vehicles and houses. Plus the characters are a step up from the unlikable losers that were in Phantom Brave. However I've heard that this is like PB where the fights end up just being a mess of troops in the center of the map trading hits. Also apparently the plot is crummy and focuses on the boring and one dimensional main character.
I don't really want to waste my money on this like I did with Phantom Brave, so I was wondering if these impressions I've heard are true and this is just more of the same. In my experience Nippon Ichi just hides boring gameplay underneath power leveling and needlessly complicated stat systems. It was tolerable in Disgaea because of the goofy stuff going on, Atlus’s voice acting and PRINNIES (yes I know this game has them too).
I had a lot to say about this game months ago when it came out, but I suppose that you've forgotten it all by now (which is perfectly reasonable). The bottom line is, it's better than Phantom Brave in every aspect except the music. The soundtrack, excluding perhaps 2 or 3 songs, is rather poor.
The characters, despite being one-dimensional, are quite enjoyable, and you've already had enough laughs by the time the plot goes to hell.
I found the system, on the whole, more enjoyable and less convoluted than Phantom Brave. Actually, I can say the same for Disgaea.
But the thing is, if you think Nippon Ichi games have bad systems and you're only interested in the plot/characters, then don't touch the game. I enjoyed the plot scenes for about 2/3 of Phantom Kingdom, but that is no reason to buy the game.
If your opinion of Disgaea's plot and characters is THAT high, though, then my opinion doesn't really apply. I found every character in Disgaea to be irritating, even detestable, by the end. The game had definite charm at the beginning, but gave it all up for cheap drama and idiotic writing.
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| Mosquiton 1661th Post
Tailored Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
 
 
| "Re(2):So anyone play Makai Kingdom yet?" , posted Thu 21 Jul 04:58:
quote:
Pass on MK and hunt down a copy of La Pucelle instead. I think you'll like it better, and it happens to be a better game, imo. Makai Kingdom is a mess in every sense of the word. I've had a pre-release copy of the english version even before E3 and I've barely touched it... and I've put a 100 hours into LP, Dis, and Phantom Brave each.
At least in Phantom Brave I was using story characters and I had a goal of making the ultimate weapon. MK there's no point to play unless you want to invest a lot of time to finally unlock the non-created characters.
La Pucelle is actually my least-favorite Nippon Ichi title. I'm not claiming I'm a Nippon Ichi expert or anythingm, I've maybe put maybe 100 hours into all their games combined (and I never played Phantom Brave anyway), but though LP is quite cool in principle I found it pretty damn tedious.
Makai Kingdom is fun but sloppy, and has all the same hang-ups as past N1 games. The actual battle strategy is basically attack first and kill in one hit, but I'd also say it's not really that time consuming unless you want it to be.
If I were to recommend one N1 game to someone who'd never played them... well, I'd probably pick Makai Kingdom just because it seems to require the least effort to get into... even though it kind of assumes familiarity with some of their past titles.
Edit!: But for Radish, I'd say don't bother. I got a few laughs, but Prinny's have a very minor role and big dramatic 180 at the end that is really hard to appreciate.
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[this message was edited by Mosquiton on Thu 21 Jul 05:04] |
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