Who would have thought that something so simple and so lighthearted would be so appealing. Probably the flashy colours.
The story begins quite openly. You are walking down some little path and enter a city, where you horribly mutated king is scowled at and feared because of his gruesome appearance. He then never enters another town until he reaches a town just as mutated as he. The horse was actually a human and you get hitched with that horse human at the end of the story (spoiler alert… too late). The horse is Medea, king Trode's daughter. Anyways, you're tracking down some freaky-looking jester called Dhoulmagus. Yes. He has a British Accent. He is freaky and he goes around the world trying to kill the heirs of the seven great sages. He stole a scepter from your castle, cursed your castle and the king and the horse-girl and the majority of the game contains your tracking him down. Along the way, you meet up the many crazy British people and there are tons of sidequests for you to do as well. The story itself echoes the game's simplicity. It's very lighthearted and if you actually feel a rush of energy of any kind when you beat this game, then you're obviously extremely over-stimulated. Lay off the coffee, mkay?
The gameplay in this game wins. It has the usual RPG random battle elements, as well as being able to get a ship and later on a… certain form of flying. This is similar to the older Final Fantasy games as you are able to travel the entire world from a third-person perspective and then, once you get a ship, from an overworld perspective. For so long have a longed for another game with this capability. Final Fantasy 12 completely discarded the concept and besides, that whole game was located in a desert situation. What the hey? But it was still fun, I guess. There are casinos in this game as well. You can gamble and cheat and gamble and finally get Jessica's ultimate weapon that attacks all member of the party and not just a single group with the whip. The random battles themselves are quite challenging but are very easy as well. The array of attacks and abilities and magics you learn is quite impressive and you also have the option of "psyching up". This means that your next attack intensifies in strength. If you're truly lucky, your main character (which I will call Gohan, for obvious reasons) will be able to psyche up to 100% and go all super saiyan, which is supremely awesome, even if you only get to see it once. Everyone else can also max out their psyche up, although their hair doesn't glow and be all shiny and whatnot. It's quite the rare occurrence. Anyways that's why the gameplay of the game is really cool and really fun. Sidequests galore but don't get too distracted, man. Do not, my young one!
The graphics are quite nice as well. They're not over-the-top shiny, but they're simple and very colourful, which obviously meets the demands of a very simple, lighthearted game. There aren't any wicked in-game cutscenes with better graphics, although the better graphics are not usually needed, really. It would have been nice, but the graphics are more cel-shaded by the famous… guy who did Dragonball Z. So it's nice to spot the similarities of people who look the same. There's Bulma lookalike, and a lot of others. Gohan, for one. Even Hercule has a thinner wannabe. There's even a nifty little character with South African characteristics! He goes around saying "Howzit" and "bru"! That's a strike-up for South African pride. YAY! Anyways, besides his wicked accent, everyone else has a crappy British accent. And by everyone, I mean EVERYONE!!!!!
The sound in the game is quite alright, I guess. There's nothing revolutionary. There's nothing too catchy although it is quite peaceful at times. The sound itself adds to the simplicity of the game but if you listen closely you can see just how much effort has been put into the making of just the sounds, so, just, appreciate it, I guess.
As you can see, this review itself is lighthearted to echo the lightheartedness of the game itself. You can't talk seriously about this game, no matter how hard you try! So just sit back, relax and enjoy this wholesome tale of some people who save the world and later joke about it (later being just after they save the world).