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IGN Review of Nostalgia
The title Nostalgia has twin meanings in Ignition's new DS Japanese RPG. It describes the gorgeous alternate 19th Century Earth you explore, full of familiar settings like London, Cairo, Tokyo, and Easter Island. But instead of robber barons and tuberculosis, this is a world of airships and monsters. Nostalgia also is an apt descriptor for the game itself which is a throwback to classic RPGs, complete with random battles, simple dungeons, and paper-thin characters. It treads little new territory, but its safeness will only be comfort food to gamers that grew up loving early Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior games.
Nostalgia is the story of Edward Brown, son of the famed mustachioed adventurer Gilbert Brown. Gilbert goes missing after a brave rescue in the Tower of Babel. A cult-ish group called the Cabal is trying to steal away a collection of powerful artifacts, but they can only be seized by a mysterious young woman who is with the Cabal against her own will. In the escape, Gilbert is lost as his airship carries off the young mage. When young Edward hears that is father has disappeared, he wants to go after him, damn the dangers that he will face in the skies above the world as well as the dungeons below it.
Nostalgia wastes little time with set-up Рand that narrative breeziness pervades the rest of the adventure. After a very brief set-up, Eddie is ready to run out and find his father, piece together the stereotypical ragtag group of adventurers (each member constructed of an RPG archetype like the dainty white mage and a roguish sidekick), and take on the Cabal. Now, I do not necessarily mind an accelerated story. One of my biggest complaints with the genre JRPGs is their narratives. They are often cumbersome and collapse under their own weight. But Nostalgia has little interest in giving you anything beyond clich̩. This world is too fascinating on the surface to serve as only a backdrop and it deserves better heroes.
Once you're off to the first proper dungeon in Cairo, Nostalgia settles further into a familiar pace. The alternating system of town-dungeon is rarely broken. You explore a town, buy up goods like weapons and items, and then dive into a multi-tiered dungeon to battle monsters and eventually a boss. As you explore the world, you pick up additional party members. The dungeons are pretty straightforward, such as the Nirvana Palace or Acropolis. You have to work to get lost. I admit a soft spot for this simple design because it moves things forward like a constant drumbeat -- it reminds of many RPGs I played as a kid. But I also recognize that the genre itself has evolved and Nostalgia has zero interest in taking the next step – or five steps to catch up.
What is irritating, though, is the reliance on random battles. Don't give me that "it's supposed to be that way" nonsense. Random battles are tiresome. They are old. Let me see an incoming Acid Jelly or Tomb Guard. Let me plan for these. When the screen starts to shift because I stepped into a random battle, I just grimaced. The battle system is easy-to-use -- classic turn-based, of course -- and thing move fast. But it's just annoying that my little heroes cannot seemingly see four feet in front of their faces. However, I did like how battles are graded. The smarter you fight, the more experience you gain thanks to grade multipliers.
An airship carts Edward and his team around the world, just like the airships in Skies of Arcadia (which is Nostalgia's obvious inspiration). The airship overworld scenes are cool. You fly around the world, looking for new cities and landmarks while pushing back the fog of discovery. There is a real drive to expose the entire map. You need to upgrade your airship with different cores to get more altitude and see the entire planet, though. I like the sense of scale in the overworld. It really gives the place a sense of "big," even if you are just flying from A to B.
Sadly, though, random battles extend to the skies. Your ship often runs into flying creatures and rival airships. These battles are infinitely more interesting than dungeon encounters thanks to the way the game splits up the ever-growing crew on the ship to man different weapons. Edward, for example, controls the ship's massive sword. (Yes, there is a huge blade mounted on the bow. And yes, that is awesome.) Enemies surround your ship, so you must strategize to take out flanking foes as well as those floating right in front of you. As you push deeper into the game, you upgrade the airship much like a character either by attaching new weapons or improving the airship-specific skills of your heroes. This is essential because the higher you fly, the harder your enemies becomes.
Although I have complained about how absolutely retro the formula and mechanics make Nostalgia feel, the production values are anything but. This is an exceedingly attractive game. The monster designs are clever and colorful. The airship battles occupy real 3D space as you swivel around your vessel to scope out flanking enemies. I do wish the attack animations – although good – were a bit faster. But I have no complaints about the score, which is appropriately soaring for this fantasy-Age of Industry mash-up.
©2009-10-27, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Nostalgia is the story of Edward Brown, son of the famed mustachioed adventurer Gilbert Brown. Gilbert goes missing after a brave rescue in the Tower of Babel. A cult-ish group called the Cabal is trying to steal away a collection of powerful artifacts, but they can only be seized by a mysterious young woman who is with the Cabal against her own will. In the escape, Gilbert is lost as his airship carries off the young mage. When young Edward hears that is father has disappeared, he wants to go after him, damn the dangers that he will face in the skies above the world as well as the dungeons below it.
Nostalgia wastes little time with set-up Рand that narrative breeziness pervades the rest of the adventure. After a very brief set-up, Eddie is ready to run out and find his father, piece together the stereotypical ragtag group of adventurers (each member constructed of an RPG archetype like the dainty white mage and a roguish sidekick), and take on the Cabal. Now, I do not necessarily mind an accelerated story. One of my biggest complaints with the genre JRPGs is their narratives. They are often cumbersome and collapse under their own weight. But Nostalgia has little interest in giving you anything beyond clich̩. This world is too fascinating on the surface to serve as only a backdrop and it deserves better heroes.
Once you're off to the first proper dungeon in Cairo, Nostalgia settles further into a familiar pace. The alternating system of town-dungeon is rarely broken. You explore a town, buy up goods like weapons and items, and then dive into a multi-tiered dungeon to battle monsters and eventually a boss. As you explore the world, you pick up additional party members. The dungeons are pretty straightforward, such as the Nirvana Palace or Acropolis. You have to work to get lost. I admit a soft spot for this simple design because it moves things forward like a constant drumbeat -- it reminds of many RPGs I played as a kid. But I also recognize that the genre itself has evolved and Nostalgia has zero interest in taking the next step – or five steps to catch up.
What is irritating, though, is the reliance on random battles. Don't give me that "it's supposed to be that way" nonsense. Random battles are tiresome. They are old. Let me see an incoming Acid Jelly or Tomb Guard. Let me plan for these. When the screen starts to shift because I stepped into a random battle, I just grimaced. The battle system is easy-to-use -- classic turn-based, of course -- and thing move fast. But it's just annoying that my little heroes cannot seemingly see four feet in front of their faces. However, I did like how battles are graded. The smarter you fight, the more experience you gain thanks to grade multipliers.
An airship carts Edward and his team around the world, just like the airships in Skies of Arcadia (which is Nostalgia's obvious inspiration). The airship overworld scenes are cool. You fly around the world, looking for new cities and landmarks while pushing back the fog of discovery. There is a real drive to expose the entire map. You need to upgrade your airship with different cores to get more altitude and see the entire planet, though. I like the sense of scale in the overworld. It really gives the place a sense of "big," even if you are just flying from A to B.
Sadly, though, random battles extend to the skies. Your ship often runs into flying creatures and rival airships. These battles are infinitely more interesting than dungeon encounters thanks to the way the game splits up the ever-growing crew on the ship to man different weapons. Edward, for example, controls the ship's massive sword. (Yes, there is a huge blade mounted on the bow. And yes, that is awesome.) Enemies surround your ship, so you must strategize to take out flanking foes as well as those floating right in front of you. As you push deeper into the game, you upgrade the airship much like a character either by attaching new weapons or improving the airship-specific skills of your heroes. This is essential because the higher you fly, the harder your enemies becomes.
Although I have complained about how absolutely retro the formula and mechanics make Nostalgia feel, the production values are anything but. This is an exceedingly attractive game. The monster designs are clever and colorful. The airship battles occupy real 3D space as you swivel around your vessel to scope out flanking enemies. I do wish the attack animations – although good – were a bit faster. But I have no complaints about the score, which is appropriately soaring for this fantasy-Age of Industry mash-up.
©2009-10-27, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved