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IGN Review of Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
Back before NIS was known for the turn-based strategy Disgaea games, the developer made a traditional Japanese role-playing game for the PlayStation called Rhapsody. It received mixed reviews in 2000, including a 7.3 from IGN. Now, this little known musical is back and enhanced for the Nintendo DS. It's a pretty conservative affair that sticks with old fashioned JRPG conventions. While it does have charm and personality, the gameplay just feels stuck in a rut.
Rhapsody is perhaps less testosterone-driven than many RPGs in that you play as a young girl, Cornet, who likes to break into song and your entire objective is to win the affections of the local prince dashing. It looks like the developers might have been aiming for the female, RPG-playing demographic, which is great. I found the musical numbers to be pretty cheesy and unnecessary, though. Thankfully, they can be skipped past.
Cornet's other personality quirk is that she can talk to dolls. Her best friend, Kururu, is a doll who follows her everywhere, and all around the game world are dolls that only Cornet can speak to. But this feature comes across as more random than anything as it doesn't really affect the gameplay and you don't get anything for talking to these things. Some puppets do join your party, but these are scripted events that you don't have any control over. Four adventurers can take part in battle at once, but you'll soon have more than four dolls in your party. The thing is, there isn't much incentive to switch out old characters for new ones, so you'll probably end up sticking with whoever you find first because they'll already be leveled up.
Kururu was an NPC in the first game but here she's playable, so that might be one reason fans of the original would want to check out this DS port. Once you beat the main game, you will also unlock a new scenario that takes place before Rhapsody's story. I'm not sure if the ability to save at any time was part of the first game, but it's available here and quite welcome.
The game is imbued with a kind of wistful, innocent charm found in a lot of anime. Cornet is the underdog peasant girl competing for the prince's hand against richer, more beautiful girls, and you can't help but root for her. The world of Rhapsody is full of vibrant characters and scenery -- but it's missing the gameplay.
Battles are encountered randomly -- an almost unforgivable sin for a modern RPG, but, of course, this is a port of a game from eight years ago. Even then, though, this mechanic had long outstayed its welcome. Random battles weren't originally designed as some cool gameplay feature; they were a way of working around the limited memory restrictions of early consoles. They discourage exploration, which is terrible because the player wants to explore this large world presented to them. Once you're in a battle, you still won't find any innovative features -- you can attack, use a spell or an item, or escape. I will say that some of the monster designs are pretty cool and the sprites are generally well-animated. The game looks very good on the DS with detailed environments and layered scenery.
The original Rhapsody actually had a more inventive combat system presented on a grid like many turn-based strategy games. That has been replaced with the same heroes-on-the-right-monsters-on-the-left presentation you've been playing since the first Final Fantasy.
Rhapsody is definitely on the easy side of RPGs. Monsters don't put up much of a fight. Leveling up replenishes your health and magic points, and you level up often enough that you will rarely have to heal yourself. Again, the low difficulty makes combat a monotonous affair rather than an engaging challenge.
©2008-09-25, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Rhapsody is perhaps less testosterone-driven than many RPGs in that you play as a young girl, Cornet, who likes to break into song and your entire objective is to win the affections of the local prince dashing. It looks like the developers might have been aiming for the female, RPG-playing demographic, which is great. I found the musical numbers to be pretty cheesy and unnecessary, though. Thankfully, they can be skipped past.
Cornet's other personality quirk is that she can talk to dolls. Her best friend, Kururu, is a doll who follows her everywhere, and all around the game world are dolls that only Cornet can speak to. But this feature comes across as more random than anything as it doesn't really affect the gameplay and you don't get anything for talking to these things. Some puppets do join your party, but these are scripted events that you don't have any control over. Four adventurers can take part in battle at once, but you'll soon have more than four dolls in your party. The thing is, there isn't much incentive to switch out old characters for new ones, so you'll probably end up sticking with whoever you find first because they'll already be leveled up.
Kururu was an NPC in the first game but here she's playable, so that might be one reason fans of the original would want to check out this DS port. Once you beat the main game, you will also unlock a new scenario that takes place before Rhapsody's story. I'm not sure if the ability to save at any time was part of the first game, but it's available here and quite welcome.
The game is imbued with a kind of wistful, innocent charm found in a lot of anime. Cornet is the underdog peasant girl competing for the prince's hand against richer, more beautiful girls, and you can't help but root for her. The world of Rhapsody is full of vibrant characters and scenery -- but it's missing the gameplay.
Battles are encountered randomly -- an almost unforgivable sin for a modern RPG, but, of course, this is a port of a game from eight years ago. Even then, though, this mechanic had long outstayed its welcome. Random battles weren't originally designed as some cool gameplay feature; they were a way of working around the limited memory restrictions of early consoles. They discourage exploration, which is terrible because the player wants to explore this large world presented to them. Once you're in a battle, you still won't find any innovative features -- you can attack, use a spell or an item, or escape. I will say that some of the monster designs are pretty cool and the sprites are generally well-animated. The game looks very good on the DS with detailed environments and layered scenery.
The original Rhapsody actually had a more inventive combat system presented on a grid like many turn-based strategy games. That has been replaced with the same heroes-on-the-right-monsters-on-the-left presentation you've been playing since the first Final Fantasy.
Rhapsody is definitely on the easy side of RPGs. Monsters don't put up much of a fight. Leveling up replenishes your health and magic points, and you level up often enough that you will rarely have to heal yourself. Again, the low difficulty makes combat a monotonous affair rather than an engaging challenge.
©2008-09-25, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved