Popolocrois makes for a refreshing RPG experience with plenty of charm and style.
Popolocrois is a peaceful kingdom in the land of Ice where dragons roam and monsters go about. You control Prince Pietro who has his 10th birthday as the game starts. Pietro's father does not want him leaving for a quest after he finds out that his mother is and has been in a deep sleep for many years. The prince suddenly wants to go on an adventure to break the curse on his mother. His father eventually lets him go on the quest and so the game begins.
The world in Popolocrois is extremely well done. You feel like apart of the land and it is always fun exploring the different places and paths you find during the adventure. The game world is designed brilliantly and it is always easy to find your way around. Pietro meets mnay interesting people along the way and most of them join his party. You progress through the game by completing chapters. The cut-scenes in the game are in anime fashion which is great and it really helps tell the story in a neat way.
Popolocrois mainly consists of running around the world battling enemies, searching for items, getting equipment, and solving problems. Each party member can wear armor and weapons purchased at shops and there are inn's for healing. Leveling up is automatic so there is no way to customize how you want to progress your characters in terms of qualities and powers. Each party member gains skills for use in battle.
Popolocrois has a simple turn-based battle system with a strategic twist. Each character moves on a grid and takes up a 2x2 space. You can move up to enemies in the grid and attack them depending on where you are and if there are any obstacles in the way. The grid is transparent and on the terrain you ran into the enemy on. Each party member can do a basic melee attack, perform a magic skill, move around the grid, use items, charge up strength, and run away from battle. The battle system is extremely fun and almost never gets tedious. The strategy involved makes it refreshing and interesting.
Prince Pietro moves extremely fast which may be great for some people and annoying for others. Luckily you can hold down the X button to make Pietro move slow but that can get quite straining after a while. The controls are sufficient and easy to learn. You almost never get stuck and your movement can be handled with both the analog nub and the D-pad.
Because of the 2d style of the game, there are no camera problems.
Popolocrois can sure be fun but it has a few problems in the gameplay department. First off is the high encounter rate. Sadly, the game has random enemy encounters meaning you dont see the enemies in the world and you get into battle by just running around. Almost all the time, you are running into enemies and when you have no patience for fighting and need to get to a certain place quickly this can be annoying. The last problem with the gameplay are the loading times.
Popolocrois is almost constantly loading. It loads before a battle, when entering and exiting places, through the menus, in battle during special magic skill presentations, and when saving and loading data. The load times can take up to 10 seconds and when it takes about 8 seconds to even load up a battle animation, you know you have problems.
Popolocrois has a unique art style. It uses a storybook presentation with cute 2d drawings and sketches. The environments are colorful and full of vibrant detail. The animations are neat and interesting as are the cool anime cut-scenes. It's very hard not to like the presentation Popolocrois has even if it is not 3d and super detailed. The only problem with the graphics is the framerate. The framerate stutters when there are lots of effects and objects on-screen. This is an even bigger problem because when the framerate is bad in a dungeon, it becomes bad when your fighting enemies in that dungeon. It's surprising that a 2d game can have such a bad framerate but it certainly does not kill the whole fun experience.
Popolocrois has good audio. The sound effects are all well done and sound crisp and clear. The voice acting in the cut-scenes is surprisingly well done for a japanese RPG. The dialogue can be a little weird at times and the game has a couple pronounciation errors. The best part about the audio is definately the music. All of the music is very catchy and fits the game perfectly. The tunes are all very addictive and easy to hear. Each surrounding in the game has it's own matching music which is great.
Popolocrois can take from 20 hours all the way to 50 hours to complete depending on your RPG skill level. Once you beat the game, there is not much more to keep you entertained. Some side-quests and mini-games would have made the game have much more lasting value. Even though the first time playing Popolocrois is fun, the second time just is not all that captivating and fun.
Those looking for refreshing, unique, and fun RPG experience on the PSP should look no further than Popolocrois. It is easily better than the other RPG's on the system and it is pretty hard to find so if you see it in a store, do not leave it there and just give it a try. You will not be disappointed.