Nostalgia

Most RPGs these days are all about trying to do something unique and daring – something new to the genre.  Whether the uniqueness be a new way to do quests, an uncommon party system or some other gimmick having to do with the battles, the one thing that many RPGs coming out recently have in common is that they all try to do something completely different from the others.  Nostalgia, well, it is not one of those games.

Nostalgia is a good old fashioned, traditional JRPG for the Nintendo DS, from the static party, to the cliche story, down to the standard menu driven battle systems.  But this is not at all a bad thing, for Nostalgia does it all pretty well and feels, what’s the word… Nostalgic (come on, you knew it was coming).

You take control of Eddie, a young adventurer looking for his father who is, of course, the most well known adventurer on Earth.  Eddie’s father goes missing after a run-in with some sky pirates.  His airship makes it home and Eddie takes it on his quest.  Of course, before you can do that, you have to be accepted to the Adventurers’ Association.  To do that, you have to prove yourself by clearing out a sewer of, what else, rats.  As I said, cliche.  Of course you get some help along the way from your standard fare party members.  The “black mage,” the “white mage” and the tough guy with the guns.  It all feels really familiar, but throw in all of the “sky pirate goodness,” and the game gets that little bit of “different” that’s needed.

The story itself will take around 15 to 20 hours to play out, but there’s more gameplay available.  Once you join the Adventures’ Association, you can accept side quests that will further the life of the game.  Though, chances are you’ll end up doing some them just so it doesn’t feel like such a grind to get to a level where you can comfortably continue the main campaign.  These side quests can also get a little tedious at times since you don’t open up a side quest in a particular location until AFTER you’ve finished that location in the main campaign.  Not to mention you can only have one side mission at a time.  Great for grinding, but for efficiency, not so much since you will be visiting the same location for multiple side quests. As you complete quests, you will earn adventurer’s points and rank up. The higher your rank, the more quests you have to choose from. The side quests are a welcome addition to the game since the grinding is necessary at times and they at least make grinding a little easier to handle.

Now I keep mentioning how traditional Nostalgia is, but the game does throw in some pieces of gameplay that make it stand on it’s own a bit. The skill system for example. It may not be anything remarkably new, but it does throw in a little bit of customization to your characters.

Each member of your party will learn new skills as they level up, but that’s not the only way for them to learn skills.  As you win battles, you will earn not only XP and Gold, but SP, which are Skill points used to level up your skills. Leveling your skills will not only make them more powerful, but can change them as well. For instance, Eddie’s main attack skill, “Combo Attack,” starts out as a very helpful 3 hit combo. After you level it up some, it becomes a 4 hit combo attack. So not only are you making each hit stronger with each level, but now you’re throwing the additional damage of a forth attack. Leveling up your skills can also open up new skills on each characters skill tree.  Trees, actually, since each character has one for each of the games two separate battle systems.

The first type of battle you’re introduced to are on the ground. Here, you have your standard turn based battles where you can tell your party members to attack, defend, run or use skills or items.  You see all the action on the top screen of your DS.  On the bottom screen you see your party members’ stats, as well as an “initiative” order that tells you what order your party members AND the enemies you’re fighting will attack in.  This makes the fights much more strategic when you’re facing groups of tougher enemies. May not sound like it, but give it a shot and you’ll see what I mean.

As I mentioned earlier, Eddie takes his father’s airship, the Maverick, and, of course, you’ll end up fighting stuff (Sky pirates! Whoohoo!). In the air, battles are completely different.  Each of your party members takes control of one of the Maverick’s weapons.  For example, Eddie uses the blade in the front whereas Pad uses the guns.  Each character has separate skills that pertain to their weapon on the ship, which can also be upgraded using skill points.  During an air ship battle, each character will have the ability to perform his or her weapons standard attack or its secondary attack which will usually have some sort of drawback.  Eddie’s blade has an “Assault” attack that does more damage to enemies, but also does damage to the Maverick.

Now the first game most RPG fans think of when I mention airship battles is always Skies of Arcadia.  Why wouldn’t you? The airship battles in Skies were the best part. It was the first game I thought of, too.  Definitely not a bad thing.  After all, Skies is my favorite RPG of all time, so I was looking forward to a game that would remind me of it.  However, once I started playing it, Nostalgia didn’t do that.  It actually reminded me more of Panzer Dragoon Saga.  When you get into a battle in the airship, enemies can attack you from the left or the right as well as the front, just like in Panzer Dragoon Saga.  Again, not a bad thing. During the battles, you still have all the action on the top screen and the initiative order and your party member’s stats on the bottom, but there’s a little additional item to take into account.  There are three arrows next to each of your party members’ MP.  These arrows indicate which direction(s) his or her weapon is strongest.  The redder the arrow, the stronger the attack.  Just another element of strategy to make the battles a little more interesting and less monotonous.

Visually, the game looks as good as a 3D game on DS can look, so not great, but not horrible either.  Chances are players will get a few “wow” moments from the environments and scenery.  There are, also, little touches in the presentation of the game that make it more interesting.  For instance, it may not seem like much, but the weapons on your party members and on the Maverick change as you buy and find new ones.  Small touch that many gamers appreciate, including this one.  This is especially with the Maverick since the changes are pretty obvious. You can buy new weapons and new shielding for the Maverick and it can significantly alter the look of the ship. As you progress through the story, you’ll level up your flight core on the ship. This will allow you to fly up to higher altitudes. Be careful though. Tougher enemies reside in the higher altitudes. Even with doing the side quests, once in a while you’ll run into the random airship battle that has baddies that seem like the should be at a higher altitude, and they beat the ever-living snot out of you. So be sure to save every chance you get, especially when you’re about to jump in the Maverick.

Overall, Nostalgia was built for gamers that enjoyed the traditional JRPGs of old and are looking for something similar with some extra flair.  For that, the game definitely delivers.  Whereas the story seems cliche at first, it does have some twists and turns that will keep you interested.  The two different battle systems in the game will break up the monotony of the random encounters.  The side quest system will stretch the game a bit for those looking for more, or just looking for a way to steer clear of the dreaded grind.  Put it all together, and the package is an enjoyable experience.

Thanks to Ignition for sending us a copy of Nostalgia for review!

About your reviewer:
Chris has always been into RPGs all the way back to the original Dragon Warrior on the NES.  RPGs, traditional or otherwise, are right up his alley and that should be considered when reading this review.