An entertaining board game RPG that'll bring out the ugly in everyone playing.
The game is quite simple, be the richest at the end whatever it takes. Thankfully, you determine the length of the game before even playing by selecting how many weeks you wish to play. 10 weeks averages about 1.5-2.5 hours depending on the # of players. The maximum length is 999. It'd be a miracle to accomplish that in one sitting, but you can save your game and resume later. There's also a battle mode with different victory conditions such as being the first to slay a specific monster, or being the first to rescue a specific town. Whichever mode of play, you do get the choice of what starting level the players will have.
Being an RPG, you choose a job/class for your character which determines the sort of abilities you'll have. You can purchase equipment and items to buff your character and also harm and/or hinder your opponents.
At the start of game, you choose what colour you are, gender, and have a tiny selection of faces with which to customize your character. In game, you'll be able to purchase new hairstyles to further customize your character. It's all very basic.
The most of what you'll be doing, other than moving around the board, is battles. They occur fighting bosses when rescuing a town, randomly on empty spaces, and landing on an opponent's space. Won battles reap the same rewards - experience, gold, and hopefully something useful. Lost battles cause you to miss 1 or 3 turns, and lose some item or equipment, or the possibility of being humiliated.
The battles are not like your typical RPG. No. These battles are a guessing game. If you guess wrong, you more than likely will lose and be frustrated beyond belief. The mechanics are, however, simple. If you're the attacker, select our attack and hope the defender picked the wrong defense. As the defender, pick your defense and hope it's the one that'll block your opponent's attack. If you're wrong, the results could be disastrous, especially if you're fighting something strong. There have also been times when my Level 8 character has died from a level 1 character from having just sheer bad luck.
Your choice of actions can vary, but there are two that never change. Attack, strike, defend, and counter. Defend only blocks attack, and counter only counters a strike. Mix these up and things get ugly. The beginning of frustration.
You're mostly battling monsters, but if you land on an opponent's square, you'll be battling each other in the exact same fashion. To the winner the spoils. You can steal money or equipment from the loser, forgive them and do nothing, or humiliate them by writing on their face and sometimes doing awful things to his/her hair. It is hilarious, but not when it happens to you.
In terms of customization other than that before play, when you gain levels, your stats increase, you also gain 2 points to distribute among your stats. When achieve a new level of mastery for your class, you have the option of replacing your currently ability with a new one. It is also good to note, that if you change class, which you can do anytime by visiting the king in Dokapon, your level doesn't change, but some of your stats will. When you return to your previous class, you return with the same mastery you had before you left. Also, to unlock new classes, you'll have to master other classes.
Being a board game, of course there are squares that are good to land on, and squares that are not. You may not always encounter a monster on a blank space, but an NPC that may give you a quest, offer items or other services, or simply do something nasty to you. A prime example is the doctor whom after his babbling, will charge you 50,000 for his visit. If you don't have that much, it's okay. You'll be suffering a massive debt that instantly makes you hate this game and everyone else that's beating you. And when you've lost battles and all your equipment, these feelings only worsen. There is also a girl that will want to play rock-paper-scissors with you. If you lose, she'll take a fair chunk of change from you. If you win.... you get nothing.
The board is huge and the game can last as long as you wish or can stand. Being able to save reallys is a feature so you can continue the brutality later after showing that wobbleline in the basement whose boss.
In terms of aesthetics, this game has a vibrant chibi anime theme that works well enough. The graphics are very simple with little detail, but it works. Sure, it probably could stand to look a bit better, but as you begin to win or lose, you really don't care. The same goes for the magic effects and such. Pretty basic.
The sound effects are typical and nice enough, the little voice acting present leaves much to be desired. Very typical of bad anime dubs. People don't talk like that, really. And if they died, I'd kill myself.
Really, this is a good game. It's a nice change from the usual party mold like Mario Party or even the Rayman stuff. The RPG elements really add a nice layer of complexity to the typical board game adding more chance. It's not about how well you roll, but how lucky you are in your predictions. Even though you're doing well, the tables can turn dramatically if you happen to encounter the wrong beastie or land on the wrong space. yes, it's aggravating and not necessarily something fun to play alone, but throw your friends into the mix, and you'll have lots of fun hating this game with ever fiber of your being.