What a classic RPG should be...
Dawn of Souls, for starters, offers two unique titles for the price of one, and both are equally fun and interesting to play. As of right now, I favor Final Fantasy I over II simply because it came earlier, and has outstandingly adorable (am I really saying that?) graphics and dialogue. After years of slaughtering demons and alien swarms, am I really falling for a game consisting of chibified japanese anime characters?! The answer is, of course, yes. But as I digress, I've said little about the aspects of the game itself.
Dawn of Souls features very good graphics for a primarily two dimensional game, and does well with animations when spells are cast to make them pleasant and fun without bogging down my poor Advance SP (as I've seen Golden Sun do at regular intervals). Characters are easily recognizable and oddly cute to boot, resulting in a fun and fancy-free game world that really does satisfy.
As with any Final Fantasy game, the sound is decent, battle noises being the primary thing you'll ever hear, as well as the ocassional animal noise all MIDI'ed to high heaven. Again, as always, the battle music plays often and early as the random battles consume hours of your time. Nevertheless, the music doesn't seem to get old unless you attempt an all-nighter.
Gameplay is equally enjoyable, and fairly open to your discretion. There are plenty of dungeons and secret areas to enjoy, and special items are scattered through the game world for you to venture after and collect. The item, magic, and equipment systems are simple enough for children to figure out, so the average teenage to young adult gamer should find it absolutely simple. At times, however, I have to note that the gameplay can be mostly dominated by blind wandering through the continents of the game world searching for new places to go to or looking for missed key items. NPCs often hold important information, but tracking them down, not to mention sifting through the useless banter, can be a bit time consuming. However, this often helps to add to the fantasy-world immersion of this place (it's a tad hard to describe, innit?) and often simply increases the joy one feels when you collect, say, a Levistone for your airship, and so on.
All in all, this game is possibly one of the most relaxing and fun I've played in some time, and definately takes some of the stress out of Mid-terms week. If you've got some time to throw around, and want a good RPG experience on your Advance or DS, Dawn of Souls has plenty to offer.
Recommended.