When I heard that Atlas is creating an RPG based board game, I could hardly contain myself. I became a huge fan of Atlas after playing Personna 3 which can easily be considered the most fun RPG game ever. After getting the game on Tuesday and waiting for the chance to play it with my brother, I am finally ready to give this game the rating it deserves - A strong 7, maybe a 8.
The warning label on the game is of utmost importance. Play this game with your friends or don't play it at all.
Despite inital disappointment from the graphics which seemed right out of something in the late 90s and its soundtrack being childish and corny, the game does grow on you.
Throughout the adventure, you engage in battles, level up and improve your attributes with accumulated experience. There will be creatures and guardians ambushing you along the way, but more importantly, you can challenge your friends to a duel. If you beat your friend, you can steal his items, money and even humiliate him. Defeating a guardian will gain you control of a castle which you can invest, tax and receive income from. In the world of battles, you will sometimes die and you will lose turns plus some items/money/land. You can return to the castle to change jobs, hairstyle and suck up to the King. I have uncovered about 8 jobs in total.
There will be random little quests which will reward you with attributes, items or cash. There will also be surprises along the way, both good and bad. Take for example, if you are in the last place, the Devil will find you and offer you a contract which will make you the most powerful being for 15 turns. During the 15 turns, you can put monsters all over the land and kill your opponents, taking their money and leveling up to their level immediately. Sounds like fun yet? You really do have to play it to appreciate how much fun it can be.
However, while the gameplay is entertaining, the outdated graphics and sounds really can use some work. Not to mention they must have forgot to design the AI with any level of intelligence because when you play solo, everything including the roll of the dice you will get is pre-ordered. I am compelled to think that this may be their evil strategy to encourage people to play as a party. If so, why do you even bother putting a 1 player mode?
All in all, Dokapon Kingdoms is well-suited to Wii which is a party system. There will be people who can't stand the game's imperfections or its time consumption but at least the idea the game builds on is original and fun. It should keep me occupied until Personna 4 comes out in December.
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