Eiyuu Densetsu Gagharv Trilogy: Shiroki Majo Import Preview

Once upon a time, when the role-playing game genre was still just a niche, Japanese developer Falcom served up some of the games that a generation of players cut their teeth on in the late 80s and early 90s. As the console market changed, the veteran developer shifted its focus and moved the bulk of its work to the PC in Japan. However, it appears that 2005 will find the respected developer revisiting its console RPG roots. Eiyuu Densetsu Gagharv Trilogy: Shiroki Majo is based on one of its popular Japanese PC RPGs for the PSP and it's the very first entry in the RPG genre for the system. The game was released late last year by Bandai and we picked up a copy to see what to expect from the game.

Gagharv Trilogy is a PSP conversion of Falcom's Japanese PC RPG of the same name. You'll be cast in the role of a young boy named Jurio and you'll set off on an adventure with your friend Chris, a red-haired girl who you've grown up with. Your adventure will have a modest beginning, as these adventures usually do, and it will initially revolve around the village where you live. The first segment of the game is essentially a prologue that sets up events for the proper adventure. You'll be introduced to the main members of the cast and filled in on the basic gameplay mechanics. Once you get under way in the first chapter, you'll head out on an adventure that spans eight distinct countries as you follow the footsteps of a great witch. Your quest takes place on a continent called Tirasweel, and the Gagharv from the title is the name of an enormous chasm that separates the continent from the rest of the world.

The gameplay mechanics in Gagharv Trilogy cover the old-school bases you'd expect out of an RPG. You won't find many of the newfangled conventions seen in Gagharv Trilogy's systems. The action will unfold from an overhead view that will help keep you aware of your surroundings. Your time will be split between exploration, puzzle-solving, and combat. Exploration will send you talking to various non-player characters to get information on where to go and what to do. You'll also be given the option to visit the local shops to buy better items for your crew or stock up on items to use in battle. You'll also be able to look for items you can use in your adventures.

The puzzle-solving aspects we've seen aren't too hard at the moment. You'll use the information you've gleaned from talking to folks to find items or learn the answers to questions when asked. Combat is a turn-based and real-time hybrid. Your enemies are visible onscreen, and thought bubbles that appear above their heads will clue you in on their states of aggression (you initiate combat by walking into them). When a fight starts, you are given the choice to either have the members of your party attack or have them wait. Once you've made your choice, the battle will play out automatically before your eyes as the members of your party attack or hang back. You can choose to hop in at any time and modify your decision by having a party member perform a power attack (if his or her meter is charged up), cast a spell, or use an item. Once that member has performed the action, he or she will return to attacking until your enemy goes down.

You'll earn experience and cash, and you'll find items at the end of each fight. Your characters will become more powerful as they level up, thanks to increased stats and the chance to access new abilities. If you've played RPGs before, then you'll learn that you won't find anything radically different from the norm here, which helps the game stay accessible. Best of all, the game's flexible save feature and the PSP's sleep mode ensure that the days of racing to an inn or a save point may be coming to an end.

The graphics in the game are a cool blending of polygons and prerendered sprites that call to mind some of the polygon and sprite hybrids from the PlayStation and Saturn eras. The big perk to Gagharv Trilogy's visuals, however, is the lack of pixelization and an eye-popping resolution that's showcased to good effect on the PSP's widescreen. The in-game character sprites are a good size and the still art used during dialogue screens takes up a good amount of real estate. The still images are given some variety to show off a good range of emotion for the speaker, and they look great. The enemy sprites are equally good and animate with personality. Game art aficionados may be pleased to hear that Gagharv's in-game illustrations have been redrawn by ex-Falcom artist Minako Iwasaki. The polygonal aspects of the graphics, mainly the environments, are nicely done and feature 2D elements mixed in as well. You'll also notice small touches, like lens flare and an impressively hi-res collection of textures on hand to bring the game to life.

The audio in Gagharv Trilogy stays true to the retro look of its graphics and it features a modest sound offering across the board. You'll hear a solid musical score that sounds great on the PSP. The soundtrack is complemented by a low-key set of sound effects that get the job done during combat. The game is fairly silent outside of battle, with only a smattering of effects being used for walking and interacting with objects. Voice is sadly absent from the game, which is a little disappointing considering the potential of the PSP's UMD media, but nonetheless, it works with the game's retro presentation.

While all of the above sounds good, there are a few rough spots to the adventure. First and foremost are the game's load times. Although, the pause as you shift maps when exploring is fine, because it manages to give an old-school feel to the adventure. However, we're less than thrilled with the loads for combat. Unfortunately, the loading takes place in between every battle you'll encounter. Even though the load isn't terrible when you look at it on its own, it does become very frustrating if you factor in how many fights you'll be getting into over the course of the adventure. Besides the load time, our only other gripe is the game's oh-so-linear structure.

As is often the case with launch software for any platform, Gagharv Trilogy isn't perfect. However, despite some rough spots, the game does manage to pack quite a bit of charm. The graphics are well done and the adventure is involving once you get going. If you're looking to import the game, know that there isn't a lick of English to be seen. So if you're not familiar with Japanese, odds are that you should pass on picking it up. While Gagharv Trilogy has hit Japan, there's no official word on the game's US release (if there is one). We'll bring you word on whether Bandai or some other publisher opts to bring it out, and until then, check out some new media from the game.