Nostalgia (DS game): Where's the popularity?

[Fiery Diamond]

Nostalgia is a DS game that came out a few years back. I first discovered it by stumbling across the promotional website before it was released. I was captivated by the music, some of which is reminiscent of the stellar music of the Final Fantasy and Golden Sun series (especially the title screen music - amazing stuff). The concept of the game was simple, and pretty clearly spelled out in the title: it was to be an amalgamation of various beloved cliches into one neat nostalgic package. The alternate-world Earth, which is a steampunk + magic setting involving airship travel, Indiana Jones-like exploration of ancient ruins and searches for artifacts (including famous locations like the Pyramids and Atlantis, as well as less well-known or novel places), adventuring in search of a missing parent, a mage girl from a final fantasy-esque mage village, a girl with a mysterious past capable of healing magic who is tied to the mystery of the main story, beginning your first adventure killing rats in the sewers -- it was really rather entertaining in its embracing of all the various cliches.

All in all, a fabulous game.

Now, don't get me wrong, there were some less-than-amazing aspects. While the particular style of the turn-based battles was one of the more interesting, there is no where to auto-attack your way through battles that aren't a challenge to you, making battles get rather repetitive after a while. Additionally, the airship battles could definitely use some rebalancing, especially in terms of difficulty-vs-reward. And while the story is entertaining and there are a few twists, it isn't the unpredictable on-the-edge-of-your-seat type of creative masterpiece: which is only to be expected given the intentional reliance on cliches.

But here's what I don't understand: the game is not only not well-known and appreciated, but the majority of reviews and ratings judge it to be mediocre and "last choice" material. This is something that makes absolutely no sense to me at all. I've read a few of them and they say some pretty bizarre things, such as "reeks of cliche" (:smallconfused:huh? the reliance on cliche is intentional and a pretty big part of the POINT of the game) or "unmemorable music" (say Whaaat?!:smallconfused::smalleek::smallfurious:).


So, forumites who have played the game: if you liked it, join me in talking about it and its good points. If you didn't, explain to me the dislike.

[Mx.Silver]

But here's what I don't understand: the game is not only not well-known and appreciated, but the majority of reviews and ratings judge it to be mediocre and "last choice" material. This is something that makes absolutely no sense to me at all.
It's a JRPG. Western reviewers - and gamers - tend to be harsh on the genre.

[Zevox]

It's a JRPG. Western reviewers - and gamers - tend to be harsh on the genre.
In this case, I think it's warranted. Even speaking as a fan of the genre, I did not like this game.

The combat system is ridiculously easy to break. For example: the first two powers that your main character gets are one that boost his attack power and one that let him do multiple attacks in one round, and you can boost the effect of both of these due to how the game's skill system works. Put a few ranks in each and you can pretty much slice up bosses in just a few moves after applying the attack power boost. And that's just the main character - once you get good powers on your teammates in addition to him, the combat becomes a joke all around.

There are serious problems with the air battles' balance of difficulty, as I frequently found that entering a new area (that you were supposed to go to mind you, not because I was exploring off the intended path or anything) suddenly jumped the challenge of air battles from pathetic to almost unwinnably difficult. The characters may as well not exist for all the personality they have, and the whole thing mostly just boils down to a lot of cliches.

It just wasn't interesting or entertaining in any way. It's one of the very few JRPGs that I left unfinished and have no intention of ever going back to (I believe the only game that shares that distinction with it is Final Fantasy 8, though I will give it that it is better than that game, if only because boring is better than stupid).

Zevox

[Lord Seth]

It's a JRPG. Western reviewers - and gamers - tend to be harsh on the genre.Which is why, according to GameRankings.com, 3 of the top 10 games for the DS are JRPGs? (Chrono Trigger is #2, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is #4, and Pokemon SoulSilver is #10). Heck, if you expand it a little more, then 6 of the top 13 (nearly half!) are JRPGs; Pokemon White is #11, The World Ends With You is #12, and Dragon Quest IX is #13.

[Fri]

I thought the setting and premise (and the cliches) are amazing myself. I do thought that there's some problem with the crunch of the gameplay, but I never notice of it much. I never thought about those much anyway. I guess this is kinda like what people say about the original earthbound?