Like I promised, I downloaded Popolocrois for my Japanase 3DS last week when it was released in Japan, being very eager to give the title a try. It will be released in the West too next Winter, but I didn’t want to wait that long for the title that had me interested for months now.
Since then I’ve played for 5 hours, and I can say I like what I see. But first let me tell you a bit of the background of this game. Because this is not the first Popolocrois game, there have been six games in all on the Playstation or the PSP. And there has been a very popular anime series in Japan too. This is the first one however on the 3DS, and the first one too to make a link to Story of Seasons (formerly the Harvest Moon series).
PopoloCrois first came to life in a manga story by Yousuke Tamori in 1985. Later it became a storybook fantasy series centered around a young prince named Pietro Pakapuka who was born of a human and a dragon, and his three companions: a forest witch named Narcia who loves and respects nature, a White Knight always searching for a legendary sword, and a genius inventor who calls himself the “GamiGami Devil” and wants nothing more than to rule a kingdom of his own.
The new game once again revolves around Prince Pietro, who’s 13th birthday party is interrupted by a diplomat from Galariland, who informs Pietro about a dark beast that threatens the safety of the world. It is up to Pietro and many familiar faces to set out to save Popolocrois Kingdom, as well as the new country of Galariland. After the prologue, the game takes place in Galariland, where Pietro is transported to battle the black evil that has a hold over the land. His first companion to battle alongside him is the blue wolf, and after that, various characters help him in his quest. The RPG part is pretty easy to figure out, even with my severely limited knowledge of Japanese. Every time Pietro vanquishes a barricade of the black inky cloud, a new part of Galariland is available to explore, and to farm on. Because that’s where the game differs from any RPG: it has farming elements in it.
Galariland is split up into four different areas which, along with the inhabitants, take on the characteristics of each different season. Each of the four hubs have lots for you to do, for example the Summer region consists of two villages and two ranches that you will need to help overcome many obstacles including taking out monsters and harvesting crops. You free a part of the farmland by shrinking down to the size of ants and wandering through the farmland that’s been corrupted by darkness in order to seek out and destroy the dark parasites within it so crops can grow again.
It would seem that the farming isn’t as central to the game as the RPG story is, but it should be what makes the game enjoyable even after you’ve beaten the storyline. There are five farms: one central farm where Pietro takes up residence after being transported to Galariland, and then one outlying farm in each of the four regions of the overworld. Each farm has very specific produce that will only grow in that one farm, so you’ll be traveling to each of them often. I’m glad the game does feature fast-travel, because with the random enemy encounters it would take ages to travel from one to the other. Aside from the farming you can go mining, catching bugs and crafting, and even though it’s more limited then Story of Seasons when it comes to the farming and dating part, fans should be able to enjoy it nonetheless. You will be able to communicate with, and give gifts to, the girls of the towns and villages you come across during your adventure. In return you will obtain special items that will help both on your journey and on your farm. When passing other players with the StreetPass feature you will receive ‘Treasure Maps’ from them. By heading to the location marked on the map, you’ll be able to find items that will prove quite useful on your adventure. Of course I haven’t been able to try that out myself, as I’ve yet to encounter someone who is playing too.
Now for my thoughts on the game? It reminds me of Fantasy Life, and how Fantasy Life would have been even better if it had incorporated a farming element. The visuals are good, the music is nice and the RPG element is decent. This is the kind of game I truly love. I really miss being able to follow the storyline, it’s just too much to translate, and to me, that’s always a crucial part of enjoying a game. So you can be sure I will download the game again this winter, in English!
I love this kind of games too, in fact “Fantasy Life” is my favorite game. What I may don´t like in this one are the random battles; Anyway if this makes its way to Europe I´ll buy for sure,
Greetings from Spain.
Hi Carmen, great to see you here, bienvenido! As you had already gathered from my blogs, I like this kind of game too. The random battles can indeed be a pain, but you can set the game to auto battles: if you press Start when a battle starts, the game takes over for you. And from what I’ve seen, it does a pretty good job too. You have to keep an eye on the stats of the battlers of course, but otherwise it makes for easy leveling up!
I played the game that was released for the PSP here in the states. I loved it and could not put it down. It easily became my favourite game for the system. It was very fun and enjoyable. Even through this one has that certain twist in its gameplay, I will give it a try whenever it is released.
I’m really itching to understand more of the story in the game, it seems this could be a game that is a good combo of RPG and Sim. I’d heard lots of good things about the PSP version, how great that you used to play it and loved it!
I am so looking forward to this one! It’ll be my first Popolo Crois game, but the reference to Fantasy Life is heartening as I really like that game.