Ningyo no Rakuin (人魚の烙印), launched 8/3/2000, developed by Freeway Star and printed by NEC
It is a brief (20 stage) sport that takes place on a creepy island and is impressed by H.P. Lovecraft. It doesn’t truly happen on the earth of HP Lovecraft’s tales, though the plot is impressed by The Shadow over Innsmouth, and there are a couple of nods to his mythos (like one of many characters coming from Miskatonic College).
The title means “Model of the Merfolk” — the ningyo of the title is extra like a monster than the extra Disney-fied affiliation of Mermaids. There’s an English translation patch within the works, however sadly the folks doing the mission are the “we all know higher than the unique writers” kind. They modified the title to one thing that sounds extra Lovecraftian, making the weird declare that the unique title has no relevance to the sport. They’ve additionally rewritten a number of the prose to make it sound extra like Lovecraft’s prose. I suppose it’s not that massive of a deal however I believe this was pointless; the Lovecraft themes are inspiration, not a direct try to position this in Lovecraft’s mythos.
The sport begins with a airplane crash on an island. The primary character and his girlfriend are there, together with Reiji (a machine gun fighter) and Howard (a medic), who’ve crashed on this island as soon as earlier than. Later your get together is expanded by Stacy, a researcher who has come to the island (regardless of it not showing on any map or GPS), and a number of other folks from the natives of the island. They appear to be divided into two teams, one in every of whom is against you.
The “Mermaid model” of the title refers back to the means of a number of the folks on the island to show into fish-monster kind folks, and when MC’s girlfriend will get contaminated by one thing that begins turning her right into a merperson, the aim adjustments from escaping the island to curing the girlfriend.
The ambiance is creepy; the choice to not use the same old anime-style characters matches the setting. Sadly not one of the dialogue is voiced.
The story takes place over 20 phases, with no free battles. There are a couple of locations the place you possibly can select one in every of two phases (I believe there are 25 complete phases?) This does imply that it’s a must to make my least favourite choice in SRPGs — is the sport going to punish me for not levelling everybody, or punish me for not specializing in a couple of characters? On this sport I’m unsure it issues an excessive amount of. There are some pressured deploys right here and there however I don’t assume there are any locations the place you’re utterly screwed in case you didn’t stage a specific individual. On stability I might say it’s higher to not let anybody lag too far behind nevertheless it’s OK in case you focus totally on one get together.
Since we’re on an island there isn’t any cash or retailers, so all of the tools you get comes from treasure chests on the stage, stage-end bonuses, or (ugh) hidden gadgets on tiles. I don’t know who began this sport characteristic or why it’s lasted this lengthy, nevertheless it needs to be one of many dumbest issues that designers embody in video games. It’s one factor if there’s some means that lets you determine the place they’re, or possibly even when the hidden gadgets solely seem in conspicuous spots. However when it’s a sport like this the place there’s completely no option to inform the place the gadgets are on the board, it’s simply annoying. I believe that you would get sufficient respectable tools to beat the sport with out the hidden gadgets, although.
The system is fairly typical SRPG. There are two most important issues peculiar to this sport. The primary is that each transfer prices MP. Characters study extra strikes as they stage up, however even a primary assault takes MP. However you possibly can restore both MP or HP with a command. This additionally offers XP to the consumer, so this can be a good option to achieve additional ranges — if you’re ever in a state of affairs the place the enemies usually are not transferring and you don’t have any cause to rush, it is best to use this till everyone seems to be healed to full.
The characters have completely different assault varieties; the MC makes use of a handgun that has a protracted vary however can’t hearth shut. Reiji has a machine gun, which assaults a number of squares however doesn’t have a fantastic hit charge. Howard punches, so his punches can’t kill the enemies, solely deliver them to 1 HP (though some monster enemies had been capable of be killed). Along with the assaults, everybody has strategies they will use as properly, which are usually buffs or heals.
Total the sport is comparatively straightforward. Defeated characters simply go away the battle. The ultimate boss will be defeated by taking pictures it from outdoors its vary with the principle character so it by no means will get an assault.
Whenever you win the sport you possibly can play New Recreation+, which lets you discover everybody’s strongest weapons…..as hidden gadgets on the map.
In the long run this sport is completely playable and a pleasant change from the same old setting and ambiance of SRPGs. It’s a bit amateurish in its design in locations, but when the interpretation patch ever comes out it’s value a play regardless of the translator’s questionable localization selections.
