The Legend of Heroes II: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch
Score: 80% ESRB: Everyone 10+ Publisher: BANDAI NAMCO Games America, Inc. Developer: BEC Media: UMD/1 Players: 1 Genre: RPG/ Adventure/ Classic/Retro
Graphics & Sound: I think the time has come for all but the hardest of hardcore RPG fans to question how much time and effort should be spent promoting old-school, 2D, RPG titles. Before you break a bottle over my head, let me remind you that on PSP at least, we have the rough equivalent of a PS2, or at least a PS1.5. Why we can't have snazzy graphics in our RPG? - the kind of visual snap that we saw in Final Fantasy (> 8), Shadow Hearts, Xenosaga and Wild Arms. Sure, for every flashy 3D or 2.5D title on PS2, we have redux galore, like Arc the Lad and Dragon Quest. So why, with all the innovation and power under the hood in our beloved PSP, are we back in the "retro rut?" I'll step down from my soapbox long enough to say that The Legend of Heroes II is an entertaining and consistent sequel to the game I played last year. The visuals are not overhauled, but there are much nicer details present in every screen. Little touches, like moving waves over water and dark shadows in a cave, add flavor to the scenery. As the story plays out, you'll make your way across a huge amount of territory, with plenty of variety from town to town. The monsters are not incredibly creative, and I wish that the battle scenes zoomed in more to show detailed action in spells and attacks. The magic spells are usually just flashing lights and some disco-ball dazzle, plus summons complete with sexy, elemental nymphs. The music is excellent, probably the highlight of the game for me. You know something has been done right when the themes pop out to you later, and you find yourself humming one of the The Legend of Heroes II tunes walking down the hall at work. I wish there were more battle sounds and voice acting, but you know what they say about wishes...what do they say?
Gameplay: As with the first title, The Legend of Heroes II feels a bit "phoned in" to me. As someone who played his share of RPGs on any and all platforms, The Legend of Heroes II had me reaching for familiar elements and not finding them. Variable speed battles, or group A.I.: not here. Job systems or character customization: not here. Sub-quests or NPC-driven gameplay: not here. Non-linear gameplay of any kind: not here. Some silver lining is certainly present, though. Good graphics and music, dependable story and character background, huge world to explore, and freedom to save anywhere. The positives may outweigh the negatives for those who just want to play old-school, 2D games. I may be guilty of missing the forest for the trees, but I don't think so. There's some questing in the story-line, when two kids set out on a pilgrimage that involves traipsing around their world in search of sacred visions. If it sounds a little "turn on, drop out" to you, just wait until you see the visions! Between the towns where Jurio (boy) and Chris (girl) visit their sacred shrines, they fight monsters and earn points, and pick up some other adventurers along the way. They also hear stories about the Moonlight Witch and her prophecy, and it does appear that events are unfolding as she predicted. If there were more meat on these bones in terms of gameplay, The Legend of Heroes II would be much more engaging. Battles can be avoided when you see that monsters are approaching outside of towns or in dungeons. Once you level up, some monsters will actually run away. It sounds good, but then you don't get the experience points. Turns out the experience points aren't really necessary to proceed in the game, as they would be in a more strategic RPG. My sense of this game is that it is intended to appeal to the retro-minded folks who are happy to play through an interactive storybook. The level of challenge here is minimal, and the "pet" feature doesn't go a long way once your inventory is full, since your pet is constantly bringing you things after you've run out of room.
Difficulty: When monsters get you down - and that is rarely - it is usually because you've become lazy or bored or both. A combination of spells and items will keep away all but the worst attacks, and it's easy to coast through hours and hours of The Legend of Heroes II without feeling that you've been pushed. There's part of me that thinks this may be a strategy to target a younger set, but I don't see what younger gamers care about retro, 2D gaming. My position on 2D, 3D or whatever-D is that the game has to be challenging and fun first, before anything in the graphics become a concern. Good graphics have sucked us into more than a few bad games, but it's not cool to have 2D sprites on a next-gen system unless you plan to offset graphic simplicity with inventive gameplay or challenge.
Game Mechanics: There is no question that The Legend of Heroes II is "pick up and play" but there were times when "pick up and watch" or "pick up and press X" would have been more appropriate. Much like Hollywood, this series is mistaking length for value, thinking that people won't care as much about the content if there's a hell of a lot of content. Bizarre, I know. There isn't any "action" component of The Legend of Heroes II and the only times you'll press something other than the X button are when you feed your pet or save the game. Managing inventory is easy, and there isn't real spell management of any type. There aren't complex controls, and you'll spend most of your button-finger time paging through reams of dialogue. Props to The Legend of Heroes II for becoming a slicker looking game, but the playing piece hasn't noticeably improved. Kudos also for pumping out another huge game, and the CG or animated cut scenes were a great improvement over the first title. The Legend of Heroes II still lingers in mediocrity, and I'm voting for Industry to leave retro gaming to eBay and get on with our next-gen RPGs. Where are they?
-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock
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