|
 Rhapsody:
A Musical Adventure from Atlus is a lighthearted quirky RPG that
the company is known for. Downright
silly at times, the game proves to be a pure joy to play if you can
get over the cheesiness factor.
Cornet
is a wannabe princess who enters a contest to marry the kingdom’s
prince. Through bizarre
circumstances, she wins his heart but at their moment of happiness,
the evil witch Marjoly turns him into stone and kidnaps him. Cornet,
determined to save her love, sets out on a quest to find a cure for
the spell and rescue her prince from Marjoly’s wicked intentions.
A refreshing reversal of the usual plot of the hero saving the
princess, the game’s story moves fast and is full of hilarious humor
that many may recognize as very anime style.
This is what I liked most about the game.
It doesn’t take itself too seriously and the jokes work well
to keep the theme from straying too far from the intentions of the
developers.
Rhapsody
has very vibrant and colorful graphics that sport some of the
prettiest scenery ever seen on the console.
Although there are no over the top CG sequences, the older
style works within the plot of the game.
Characters have decent expression and enemies move around of
the battlefield. Environments
range from towns, mountains, deserts, and snowfields which all connect
to an overworld map traversed from point to point as Cornet travels
the world in search of the pieces needed to fulfill her quest.
Considering this is a ‘musical’ adventure, music plays an
important part in the game. Many
times the characters simply burst into actual songs that -- even
though they can be annoying -- still fit the game’s mood.
Atlus even included the full song CD along with the game.
In game music is pleasant although not spectacular.
Sound effects also play their role during battles and travels
through the various dungeons.
 Gameplay
is definitely on the easy side. Basically,
Cornet can use her horn to control various puppets each having
elemental magic. Up to
three puppets can be on the battlefield at once.
Combat is random and occurs through a strategy-like playing
field. Each character can
move a certain space every turn and either attack, cast magic, item or
defend. Cornet can use
her horn during battle to increase her puppets’ attack power and get
reward points that allow her to use her own bizarre magic such as the
awe inspiring pancake attack. Most
enemies can be defeated with one hit or magic blast causing the fights
to move quickly. It’s also very easy to increase the puppet’s experience
to the maximum with all the spells learned from traversing just one
dungeon. The random
combat also doesn’t occur every other step like in many RPGs and
that again serves to move dungeon exploration along at a very fast
rate. Although on the
easy side, the gameplay is not dull because of the fun story.
The puppets have lots of variety to their elemental attacks
which makes developing their powers an intriguing part of the combat.
Rhapsody
may be targeted toward elementary school girls but that doesn’t mean
it’s not a good game. In
fact I think it’s a very refreshing game and is worth a purchase
just for its sheer quirkiness. It’s
encouraging to know that games that would never see the light of day
in the U.S. in the past are finally being translated for everyone to
enjoy. |
