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Fushigi Dungeon was the last
“real” RPG to be released on the Dreamcast in 2002 (Those adventure RPG’s
don’t really count). It surprised me that it was even released since by
the time it was released Sega had already stated that support for the
Dreamcast would be dropped. They probably spent that much time developing
it that they though, “What the hell, let’s release it” Which was a good
move in my opinion since the Dreamcast is still getting new releases even
now in 2005. How ever, Fushigi Dungeon does seem to be produced on a low
budget resulting in no speech what so ever yet it does have a very nice CG
introduction. It looks as if the team had lots of cash when the project
started but soon realized that their budget would be cut. This is a real
shame because voices would have really suited this game.
The game looks beautiful with extremely detailed backgrounds and
characters (even if there does seem to be about 4 or 5 people who look
identical in each village.) I do have one grumble about the graphics
though and that is when two characters come together for a chat the screen
zoom in. I have no idea why companies do this because it always makes the
game look ugly. Luckily the zoom on Fushigi Dungeon is only pixilated a
little. Sound is also a strong point of the game providing us with
wonderful fitting tunes through out which really add to the atmosphere
plus a few decent sound effects.
Our main hereon is Asuka or アスカ in Japanese who must travel around the
maze like areas solving puzzles and killing baddies, sort of like any
other action RPG really. Fights are also in real time which will please
those who hate having to wait for the computer to make their move. Like
any good RPG or even the crappy ones, you must buy items to help you on
your quest as well as finding them along the way. Make sure you equip the
right combination though otherwise you could find yourself dieing very
fast. Controlling the game is pretty straight forward with all menus being
quite easy to navigate. There is however a very strange option which lets
you “run” very fast through the maze areas. The odd thing is though that
your character will suddenly stop at what seems to be certain check points
throughout the area. I’m not too sure what the meaning of this is but it
can be quite annoying having your character stop every few seconds.
Overall Fushigi Dungeon Is a very nice RPG that may even be playable for
those without Japanese language abilities as long as they are willing to
stick with it. |
