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Dec 13 2005
PoPoLoCrois Review
PSP Game Review | RPG
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 Joytron PSP Sli...
 Pelican for Son...
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 DiGi iNVaDeRS
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| Summary: Great!
78
This first game is the tale of a young prince named Pietro who is searching for a way to wake up his mother that has been sleeping for 10 years after a battle with an Ice Demon. When I first loaded up the game I was instantly pleased with the old school graphics. Overall, the game has excellent 2D graphics that reminds you of a cross between the old Zelda and Breath of Fire styles. The only bad thing is that sometimes the camera zooms in and instead of remaining smooth and crisp, the graphics suddenly change into blocky and grainy images that make you want to turn your head. Also there is a pointless feature that allows you to hold the are shoulder button down and it zooms in manually, I reccomend ignoring this feature.
The controls are standard, they aren't difficult to learn. The battle system works well, it's sort of a cross between your standard turn based and turn based strategy. It's easy to use and a lot more fun than Legend of Heroes battle set up. There is no world map, instead you just run through forests and fields inbetween towns, think Secret of Mana. Although at first it seems confusing where to go sometimes it actually becomes quite simple and not much of a hassle at all. The only annoying thing about traveling is having to go back through and fight the old weak monsters from earlier parts in the game.
The story is what it is, it's not bad, but it's not nearly the best, if you are wanting some Final Fantasy style plot twisting, this isn't the game for you. It's more like playing through a story book, with its linear gameplay and story telling cutscenes. There are also plenty of anime cuts. Once I finished this first game, I was pleased.
The music is no award winning preformance. Some of the tracks are great, but there are a few others that sound so bizzare it almost leaves a sour taste in your mouth. Another thing that I thought was kind of odd, whenever you preform a special attack in battle all the music gets silent. I would have preferred the battle music to keep going. There is plenty of voice acting in the story tellings and anime scenes, and it's not too bad.
Overall it's a great RPG for the PSP, although you play as a 10 year old kid, it's a journey that will leave you satisfied untill the next RPG comes out for PSP. And it's worth mentioning that this series is ranked number 1 by females gamers in Japan!
The sequel takes place 2 years after the first game.
I've covered graphics and music in the first part, and also playability. This doesn't change at all in the second game. In fact, nothing changes at all. They do an excellent job of making you think that the two games are actually one. This is a good thing because if they would have released them seperately, you could have beaten the game in about 10-15 hours. Thus, doing so allowed the game to seem about a normal length of an RPG.
Load times in the game aren't long, but sometimes load at strange times. For instance, when you use a special attack in battle it takes about 3 seconds because it loads the attack. This didn't really bother me, but some gamers may not be as patient.
As you may know, this was actually two games for the PS1 back in 1997. It never made it out to America because of a horrible called Beyond the Beyond, the success of which (or lack thereof) halted other RPG's from coming overseas. Something that dissapoints me is that there are a lot of features that are taken out of our new American version of the game. In the original game you could use the dragon statues in town to teleport to places you have already been. In the US version they look sad or happy, and that's it. Also in the Japanese version characters that don't appear untill the second game in ours, are in the first game in theirs. A lot of events were also left out of our release, therefore shortening the games. In the original game you also can get Naguro the miner as a playable character as soon as you rescue him from the orcs. A lot of RPG fans and myself have always wished we could get games without them being edited for the US.
Popolocrois 2 is an excellent RPG, I give it an 8.5 out of 10. I reccomend buying this if you need an RPG. If you are having a hard time deciding between this and Legend of Heroes. Definately go with Popolocrois! It's also worth noting I would have probably given this game a higer rating if the story would have been just a bit stronger!
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Comments
I wait days for a review for this game and then two come along at once! (this and gamespot) typical! nice review! gonna have to import it 
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Great review! I've put a/b 10 hrs. into PoPo so far and I feel the exact same way that you do (what is up with that weird zoomed-in mode?). Nothing really to add, but I did want to reiterate that the battle system in PoPo is so much better than it was in Legend of Heroes. All the battles take place on whatever terrain the characters encounter the monsters (think Breath of Fire 3) and flanking is highly encouraged. This makes for some great strategical maneuvers around obstacles and the like during battle.
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Thanks for the review...gonna pick this one up today prolly!
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I actually reviewed the first game before I played the second one, and then reviewed the second one when I played it. I would have have just done it all at once if I would have known that they were going to make it just seem like one game. That's the main reason I decided to throw in the bonus info at the end about the game.
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is the battle system like final fantasy VIII (eight)? if not how does it differ?
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aww man, a 2-d psp game
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The battle system is sorta like FF8 in the fact that it is turn-based and every character has a timer bar that dictates who acts when. However, aside from that, the battles are pretty different. The game encourages tactical moves like flanking and pincer attacks more (kinda like FF:Tactics). Also, unlike FF8, you need to pay attention to the terrain around you because often battles break out in narrow corridors where maneuverability is tight.
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Thanks weatherman; i never finnished FF8 but its by far one of the best games ive ever played on! never played FF:tactics. hope popolocrois lives up to my expectations
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ok...you are all witness! I am sitting in my car outside Gamestop using Breadco's wi-fi on my PSP.. I will shortly walk inside Gamestop and purchase this game.......OK GO!
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SluGGo said: "ok...you are all witness! I am sitting in my car outside Gamestop using Breadco's wi-fi on my PSP.. I will shortly walk inside Gamestop and purchase this game.......OK GO!"
Ha ha ha ha
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