Review of “The Cruel King and the Great Hero” – JRPG in the form of a picture book

You might think that I am sometimes slightly biased towards my favorite things. Well, very biased. Unfortunately, the Japanese studio Nippon Ichi Software with its characteristic handwriting is one of them / unfortunately (delete the necessary). Although they have plenty of dungeons and JRPGs (Criminal Girls, Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk, or Void Terrarium), their new venture is more like a game with an unusual artistic performance (Yomawari, A Rose in the Twillight, or The Liar Princess). and the Blind Prince). The perfect combination of all of the above is their new magical game “Cruel King and Great Hero”, deservedly compared to a picture book.

• Platform: Nintendo Switch (peer-reviewed version), PlayStation 4
• Publication date: March 11, 2022
• Producer: Japanese Ichi Software
• Distribution: NIS America
• Genre: japanese role playing game
• Czech location: Not
• Multiplayer: Not
• Data to download: 1.3 GB
• Game time: 20 hours
• Availability: 7+
• Sales version: box / digital
• Price: 1,599 CZK

Cute but rude

The Cruel King and the Great Hero combine several different things, and despite the childishly naive art style, this is a cute dark story that might remind you of the Liar Princess and the Blind Prince. But don’t be fooled, because Blind Prince was an action platformer and Great Hero sticks to RPG principles. And although some game principles are repeated to the smallest detail, the game of this genre offers a relatively short playing time.

As you embark on a journey to become a hero, Cruel King and Great Hero will show you the best it has to offer.

The main character is a girl named Yuu, whose father was a really great hero who saved the whole country and who is legendary. Unfortunately, he is no longer alive, so the Dragon King took over the upbringing of the girl, saying that Yuu would one day raise the same big hero, exactly in the image of his father. And to really become one in the game, you have to communicate with various animal beasts and help them solve their problems. You are doing all this so that one day you will become strong enough to resist the Demon King, whose shadow still spreads over the empire.

As you embark on a journey to become a hero, Cruel King and Great Hero will show you the best it has to offer. So, your appearance. It is in the style of a fairy tale book with an incredibly detailed world, and it doesn’t matter if you are in a dense forest, in an ice or honey (yes, honey) cave, or in a dreamy fluffy cloudy world. In addition, the characters are slightly naive and sweet, even if they want to kill you.

Repetition of the mother of wisdom?

Unfortunately, most JRPGs have a combat system, but here we are served the most traditional, and it is fair to say that the battles in The Cruel King and Great Hero are very tedious and nerve-wracking at first. . It takes Yui a long time to reach a level where she can use some special moves and moves. Until then, the battles are very easy and the only thing you can attack is over and over until a dead enemy or you appears. In the end, however, you will unlock several special abilities, so now you can choose between a stronger or faster attack, which, however, consumes special points.

It takes Yui a long time to reach a level where she can use some special moves and moves.

The new ability battles will continue to evolve a bit, but to be honest, if you’ve played any of this JRPG before, you won’t be surprised. Here you will find various buffs, status effects, temporary partner management and a lot of upgrades. Various accessories will help to customize the character a little, but I especially liked the restoration of health and the increase in attack and defense power. While the other items had interesting abilities, I didn’t find their effect as useful in combat. I had much better abilities, which appeared from time to time with a new level. Especially the ability to hit all enemies in a horizontal or vertical (even oblique) line.

Look at the quantity (non-)

But there are a lot of enemies and you will face them at every turn. In addition, with each change of partner, new very strong enemies stand in your way, and although the leveling of characters is quite fast, the battles are really depressing for some time. It’s even more frustrating when you see the immensity of the map, which is not comparable to any dungeon crawler, which is especially evident during certain tasks, when you constantly run from one end of the map to the other. But the tipping point, when pesky enemies become mere flies, is a beautiful satisfaction.

The old-school boss duel offers an incredibly difficult challenge despite its fabulous appearance. In addition to yourself, you must master the skills of your partner and use various accessories and items. Sometimes you will feel like your opponent has the upper hand and the game throws a whole battle of sticks at your feet, with gradual practice and proper planning, even the strongest opponents can be defeated. The map view will then provide you with vastly improved combat items and equipment.

Sometimes you will feel like your opponent has the upper hand and the game will throw a whole batch of sticks at your feet.

Probably the thing that bothered me the most was the lack of the possibility of automatic battles, when it would be possible to skip simple battles, which is already the standard. Overall, however, the positives outweigh the negatives. The fairy-tale look, beautiful music and the voice of the narrator make “The Cruel King and the Great Hero” worthy of play.

Thanks to NIS America for providing the game for review. You can buy Cruel King and Great Hero in the Xzone.cz shop.