Rhapsody

Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
System: Nintendo DS (with an earlier PS1 release)
Release: 2008
Company: NIS America
Rating: E

It occurs to me that even though this is a writing blog, long posts might be slightly intimidating. Even as a writer and an avid reader, I too skip internet articles that are more then 2 pages long. So I'm going to try something a little different: I'm going to split my reviews up into sections. That way I can give a fuller analysis and you guys won't have to scroll down and drop your jaws at the length of my rambling. I would love feedback from you guys!






Kudos to NIS America for making a rare type of a game: a musical. How many games do you know that burst into song? Grant you, Rhapsody is a cheesy, light game, which makes the idea of a musical more appealing. But, hey, you know what? Let's make every game a musical. I'd love to watch Roman from GTA4 break into song about how great Liberty City is.


Plot 3/5
It was a little hard to give this game a rating, due to the fact that even though this plot isn't exceptionally deep and the characters aren't highly complex, it IS meant to be a light-hearted game. I would like to judge the game fairly based on what it is: a musical with puppets. You can't really judge that harshly, can you?

The premise of the game is that you are Cornet, your usual tomboy protagonist who talks to puppets. After being saved by the prince (the only prince in this game, despite the huge world. And no, the frog kingdom DOESN'T count.) Cornet enters a contest to become the prince's bride. And she wins. Ooo. Shocker there.

And as the two love birds are getting to know each other (and by "know each other" I mean have short, awkward conversations that lead absolutely no where), a mysterious sorceress bursts in, falls in love with the prince, and accidently turns him to stone.

So the rest of the game, you are trying to collect 5 elemental stones that will save the prince. Maybe. Kinda.

The purpose of the 5 stones eludes me. At first, they are mentioned as if they are needed to turn the prince back to human form. All right, I can go with that; magic to undo magic. That would explain why the antagonist wants them as badly as I do.

But in the end, they are used to open a portal to the antagonist's castle. My antagonist doesn't need a portal, so why does she need the stones.

And during this, there is another antagonist working in the background, that makes no real dent on the story other then the fact that he brings out the final boss.

Really? Aren't we tired of this whole boss-who's-not-REALLY-the-last-boss bit in RPG video games? (I'm talking to YOU, Final Fantasy.)

Overall, the story is entertaining, but I suppose I have to give the characters credit for that, not the actual plot. The plot has moments that make absolutely no sense,

Strengths:
--> Solid, basic plot. Nothing terribly complex, but it's consistent and has plenty of classic RPG elements.
--> Comedy. The game makes fun of itself at times, making it hard to hold a grudge against it for being so cheesy.
--> Musical numbers. Even though 1/3 of the songs is the same song rewritten, the idea of musical numbers within a video game is quite original.

Weaknesses:
--> Character development. I was entertained with Kokuru until I found out it was, in fact, Cornet's mother's spirit in a puppet. It completely confused me on why Cornet's mother's personality shifted so drastically while inside of a doll.
--> Antagonist Confustion. If Golonzo's creation is the final boss, why doesn't he appear more throughout the game? He hits on me and then runs away. (Just like in real life.)
--> Romance. The romance between the prince and Cornet. It's a little cliche and happens too fast. The prince saves Cornet, turns to stone, then declares his love for her for eternity. I think Cornet put it best when she said, "But we've barely talked for five minutes!"



Part 2: Characters
Coming Soon

Image (C) NIS America

Avalon Code

Platform: DS
Release Date: TBA

Have you noticed that more and more games are refusing to give release dates? Just pointing it out.

The game I'd like to bring attention to in this particular blog is Avalon Code. Not too much has been released about the game, but the concept is what I’d like to bring attention to.
I could go on about the gameplay features and cool graphics, but this is a writing blog so I’ll save that to your own research. (But on a side note, the battle system looks awesome!)

So, here’s the story: You play a character that has just been informed that the end of the world is coming. You cannot save it. Instead, you pick out the stuff you want to take with you to the new world that will be created after this one is destroyed.

Reasons why this concept rocks:

1) You get to choose how the story plays out. There are a lot of games out there in which you get to choose your own events, but it doesn’t really have anything to do with the actual storyline. It seems to be totally just for giggles. I am a total The Sims fanatic, but if I set Suzy on fire, the only thing that happens is Billy stops and cries every once in awhile. (The Sims was not made for storylines really, but I’m just using it as an example.)

2) There’s no evil dude trying to take over the universe. (As far as I know.) I’m really sick of this scenario. WHY do bad guys want to rule things for NO real reason? Half of them are so anti-social, it really doesn’t make sense that they’d want to rule and deal with people day in and day out. Most of them seem to want this “world as my slave” deal, which is an interesting goal, but I’m pretty sure that if there was someone trying to do that well placed TNT would do the trick. Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7 passes, mainly because it makes sense that he would think there’s a universe that belongs to him, because he’s bloody crazy. It’s a low grade, but a C- is still passing.

3) Personalization. Play as a boy or girl. Destroy things you hate. Keep things you like. Mess with the universe. I hate it when a game either goes half in or half out on the immersion. Take Dragon Quest 8. I’m a huge fan of the series, but removing the main character of dialogue to make you feel like you’re part of the game is lame. I’m not a mute. Why am I playing one? How am I supposed to identify to someone who doesn’t say anything?

I think Avalon Code has a cool new angle for a storyline and I’m excited to see whether or not it turns out to be a good game. Check out IGN for more info and screenshots!