This will be immediately recognizable to fans of the early Final Fantasies with the exception that combat in Monster RPG 2 is streamlined in terms of speed, so no agonizing waits for ATB guages to fill - the player is always commanding a character or receiving the brunt of enemy aggression. The battle system itself revolves around random encounters and consists of classic RPG fare, with basic attack, defense, item, retreat and magic commands (the latter available only to certain characters). It should be noted that the player can switch from “Tap and Go” to a virtual button scheme via the main menu, but I would definitely recommend sticking with the superior “Tap and Go.” Other than a lack of touch sensitivity I experienced on “OK” buttons from time to time, I feel Nooskewl has really mastered the essence of how a traditional RPG should play on the iPhone. Monster RPG 2‘s tutorial encourages the player to go through a “slashing” motion across targets to complete offensive commands, but this can get messy when you’re trying to pick one foe out of a tightly packed group luckily you can also complete battle commands by tapping on a menu if you prefer. Purchasing and equipping items on menu screens are handled through an intuitive drag-and-drop process, and the player can get more details on items by tapping the item names and holding until a new window pops up with the desired info.īattle works as you might expect of a well-designed iPhone RPG, with commands and targets selected by being directly tapped on the touchscreen. Tap on an object (whether it be a treasure chest, NPC, shopkeeper, or a plant that might yield up some hidden goodies) and Eny interacts with it appropriately. While exploring, the player just taps where he or she wants to go and Eny travels there the screen can be drug around Eny to expand the player’s view of the environment when she’s stationary. Monster RPG 2‘s “Tap and Go” control system handles like a dream in Version 1.3. Only when focusing on the game’s skeletal plot did I feel I was really back in 1987 playing the first Final Fantasy. What’s so frustrating about Monster RPG 2‘s story is that, in every other category, Nooskewl introduces something that brings the game out of its retro shell and gives it an appealing modern edge. To be sure, it’s possible the simplistic nature of Monster RPG 2‘s scenario results from an intentional decision on the developer’s part in maintaining a retro feel the earliest Final Fantasies weren’t exactly known for their superb plotwork and characterization after all. The burning village, the oblivious king, the friend-turned-foe and foe-turned-friend…these elements could have added up to some rich cerebral stuff had the plot been treated as if it were anything more than superfluous. Eny’s reasons for going from place to place are easily understood but there’s only the barest dialogue beyond what’s needed to establish that, and precious little reflection on what the comings and goings of her party members mean to her on a personal level. However, Monster RPG 2 stops there, failing to develop its characters to any appreciable degree or explore their relationships with one another despite the fact that they’ll be spending 15 to 20 hours of gameplay time cooped up together. The game’s text is clean its plot well organized with twists and foreshadowing its characters assigned basic motivation.
By force of habit the first thing I always examine in an RPG is how much its story draws in and motivates the player, and unfortunately that means I’ll have to address Monster RPG 2‘s weaknesses before I address its strengths.
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