[Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure] I though the "Atelier" games were relentlessly cute.

[David J Prokopetz]

... and then I played Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure.

It's almost hard to believe that this game comes from the same folks as the Disgaea series. It's aggressively cute - I can now see where the "Nippon Ichi stuff is for girls" reputation came from back in the day. Of course, back then, "for girls" was seen as a serious criticism in video gaming circles (I'd like to think things have changed), but looking at this thing, I have to believe that they really were going for a target audience comprised of uncommonly literate preteen girls.

Not that this is going to stop me from playing it, mind. :D

The dual-language audio tracks for the song lyrics are a nice touch - I can't think of any other game before or since that's done that.

We have any other fans of the older NIS stuff around here?

(For reference, I'm playing the original Playstation localisation that came out back in 2000, not the Nintendo DS port - I don't think the latter is coming out until September, anyway.)

[Ralph Dula]

Any uncomfortable warmth on your skin is my burning jealousy that you have the game. I remember seeing it in an EB when it first came out, being curious about it, but someone else picked up the lone copy the store had before I could decide on buying it. I never thought much about it, until X-Play had a show with excerpts of the music, and since then I've wanted to add it to the collection.

[David J Prokopetz]

Any uncomfortable warmth on your skin is my burning jealousy that you have the game. I remember seeing it in an EB when it first came out, being curious about it, but someone else picked up the lone copy the store had before I could decide on buying it. I never thought much about it, until X-Play had a show with excerpts of the music, and since then I've wanted to add it to the collection.You might try Amazon.com - that's where I got my copy. Granted, it was via a reseller, but they claim it was a new copy; the "original factory shrink-wrap" can be faked, of course, but it didn't appear to have been opened before.

(Grab the two-disc set, if they have it - the second disc is a soundtrack CD.)

[lordcomte]

Man it is aggressivly cute you're right. I really do love this game though. There is just something about it that makes me stupid giddy happy. There are TONS of little random touches all throughout the game too. Like in some of the houses certasin objects can be interacted with. One house in paticular had the main charecter going around wondering what was up with all the fake oranges the guy had.

Its stupid awesome fun. And I laughed out loud whe Majorly couldn't undo her own spell I thought that was fantastic.

I actually got my copy at an EB a couple of years ago. That was the magical EB of joy they had at various points and time, SMT: Nocturn, Disgaea, Persona, Persona 2, Rhapshody, Xenogears, and La Pucil Tactics, along with other stupid rare games. I don't know what that store's deal was but I nearly cried when I had to move away.

[Tehana]

OMFG I thought I was the only one that remembered that game!


I actually really enjoyed it! I wish I still had it around here!


ETA: I got it when it first came out. Can I get a cool point for that? :p

[David J Prokopetz]

ETA: I got it when it first came out. Can I get a cool point for that? :pSomehow, this does not surprise me in the least. ;)

[David J Prokopetz]

Random bump:

They really went all-out in terms of feminising the standard CRPG tropes, didn't they? Plucky peasant lad on an epic quest to rescue a beautiful princess who's been imprisoned/put to sleep/turned to stone/etc. by an evil spell? Flip the genders and you have your premise. Standard issue "Team Villain" consisting of a lecherous old wizard, a vain swordmaster and a crude brawler with an ambiguously homoerotic rivalry, and some sort of obnoxious talking beast with magical powers? Present and accounted for - they just happen to be women (with an irritating catgirl taking the "talking beast" slot).

I'm almost afraid to find out what's next. :D

[David J Prokopetz]

Another random observation: I had very nearly forgotten that this game came out nearly ten years ago, but the later dungeons have forcibly reminded me.

Nothing says "old school" like a maze of visually identical ten-foot by ten-foot rooms. :p

I think I'm going to need more grid paper.

[PSXfile]

I'm currently in the process of playing Eternal Mana. The characters are charming and the music is some of the best I've heard in awhile. Highly recommended.


B-B-Barrel! ;)

[Elkatas]

Port of this is coming for DS, and has already lock-on for US release.

[David J Prokopetz]

B-B-Barrel! ;)Yeah, NIS - or, at least, the team responsible for the Atelier games - has this... thing about barrels. Don't ask me to explain it. :p

Port of this is coming for DS, and has already lock-on for US release.Mentioned in the topic post, yes. :)

(I'd recommend the original Playstation version, tho', as the handheld versions apparently have reduced sound quality - which is sort of a problem for a game whose major draw is the music. The PS version comes with a soundtrack CD, too.)

[Tehana]

Soooo.... Guess what Arist and I found today :D

My copy of Rhapsody! We've been playing it for a few hours. I guess 9 or so years ago when I first got it I didn't recognize all of the funny commentary in it. Too funny!


Either way, did you ever finish it David?

[David J Prokopetz]

Either way, did you ever finish it David?Yep. I got stuck a couple of times, as the game often expects you to just wander about at random until you find something to do, then do it even if it seemingly has no bearing upon your quest simply because it's there - did I mention the "old school" thing? - but I managed to slog through. A couple of the late-game developments really come out of left field, and the ending is a bit abrupt, but it's no worse in this respect than most games of its era.

I was rather impressed at the lack of obvious bowdlerisation in the localisation, tho'. Real violence happens on-screen, there's no sugar-coating or skirting the issue when someone dies, and the dirty jokes get through more or less intact - and that last is something that really amazes me, specially with the "gay soldier" bit. Most localised games of that era weren't even permitted to depict smoking of drinking; I recall one title from the same developer in which a character has the cigarette edited out of his hand, but retains all of the same poses, resulting in inexplicable moments where he takes a drag on thin air. I can't imagine how half of this stuff slipped past the censors, especially in a game so obviously targeted at preteens.

That's not to say I disapprove; I'm just surprised they got away with it. :p

As a random aside, some time after finishing the game, I realised that if you put the references together, Homard from La Pucelle is one of Cornet and Ferdinand's descendants. It's a nice touch, but it raises some interesting questions - like how the heck did Marjoly's lackies end up hooking up with the royal family?

(I will say that Yattanya is way more badass than his ancestors. :D )

[Varkias]

This reminds me... I picked up this game when it first came out, and it's one of the (many) games I never actually got around to playing... :(