Rhapsody II: Ballad of the Little Princess

Hello Friends, Today I will review the game Rhapsody 2 : Ballad of the Little Princess. This is a direct sequel to Rhapsody 1. So if a player is interested in playing them, it is very RECOMMENDED to play the first game in the series first, as there are many characters from the first game in this game. In fact almost all the puppets from the original game can be found in the second game, if a player can find them. They tend to be usually hidden in areas off the beaten path. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1866430/Rhapsody_A_Musical_Adventure/ As for the characters, these are the children of the main characters from the original game. Kururu is the child of Coronet and Ferdinand. And Creature is the child for Etolie. If you want to learn about their families more, there are hidden quests you can find that explain more about their backstories. The fighting in the game is now pure turn based rpg. This means that unlike the first game, it has been changed to be more difficult. For example, to use puppets require money, which is called Irodium in this game. Each move done by the puppet requires money to use. So if the player does not have enough money, it makes the game even more challenging. Another change from the first game is that the game is done in chapters. This means some things found in one chapter can not be there later. For example, locations need to be told to the main characters to be found, and if missed in one chapter, the players will be locked out of that area for the rest of the game. Easy thing to do to prevent this is to visit all places all over in each chapter, and talk to every npc character in even chapter. This also prevents missing certain puppets. The music is back from the original game, but now it is untranslated. Although there are subtitles, they will be sung in Japanese language only. There are no English versions of the songs like the original game. Unsure why the developer went this way, but perhaps they ran out of budget to make the games, or could not find the right voices to do the English versions of the songs in this game. Anyways, here is the pro and con lists: PROS: - A direct sequel to the original Rhapsody game. If players want to truly enjoy this game, it is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED to play the original game in the series, also available on steam. - More world building of area's and histories of the world. This makes the world feel more flushed out. - Make sure to find the missible items and entries for the observation data and diary entries. These add more world building and can be funny if players go thru the entries and read them. They add more world building and fun to the game. There is a decent guide that explains the missing items per chapter here. It is generic enough it is pretty spoiler free. You can find the guide here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3029966046 - Leveling up is more important in this game than the previous game. It is needed to help out in the later chapters. This makes it more dynamic when fighting, especially using money to use certain moves. The stronger the move, the more money it requires to use. This requires strategy if you want to save to buy xxx equipment or item, or use a puppet move to finish a fight easier. - Hidden quests that add more depth to the character backstories. - Works on windows 11 OS. - Works with controllers. I used a Zen Pro switch controller. CONS: - The songs are not translated into English. I thought perhaps since the original game had English versions of the songs, this one will too. Apparently they did not either have the time to do English versions of the songs, or ran out of budget doing it. The voice lines for characters are at least in English. Note that the music does have subtitles in English. - The method of how fighting is done has changed since the first game. No longer a "lite" tactical rpg. The game is now fully a turn based rpg. This might upset some players as the playstyle has changed from each game. Do I recommend the game? Yea, it is not a too hard rpg. Although several things were changed from the original game, this game is a direct sequel to the original game. The children of the main heroes are the main characters now. On their own adventure, they explore the same places the original heroes did, with some areas showing changes. The fighting battle type has changed from lite tactical fighting, to full time turn based rpg fighting. The music is also untranslated in English except for subtitles, and is only voice sung in Japanese. At least the normal voice lines are done in English for the characters though. It can be hard near the end, so players need to level up their characters and puppet levels.

Сказка продолжается. ГГ по традиции из [url=https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198084019881/recommended/1866430/]первой части[/url] хочет выйти замуж (в 12 лет), но будущий муж теперь не стоит каменным столбом, а активничает. Так же поднимается тема семьи и что это вообще за зверь такой. [h1]Abstract[/h1] The fairy tale 2.0. The main character at the age of 12 wants to get married, but her future husband is no longer a stone pillar. It is also raised the topic of family. Windows port works fine on [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3143450724]Steam Deck[/url] out of the box (Proton 9.0-4) with external FHD (1920x1080) monitor, keyboard and mouse. [h1]Страшное мурло изначальной сказки[/h1] так и торчит здесь не особо то и маскируясь. Хотя конечно прямого людоедства, как это было в [url=https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198084019881/recommended/1866430/]первой части[/url], тут не артикулируется. Но те же кошки-миньёны без особых затей накормили окружающих кошачьими экскрементами так, что эти самые окружающие рассыпаясь в благодарностях ещё за это и денег заплатили. Всё в соответствии с «Историческими корнями волшебной сказки» Проппа. Это прямой сиквел и без освоения предыдущей серии значительная часть «сказочной магии» утеряется ибо множество явлений и диалогов сказанных в первой части здесь имеют продолжение. [h1]Сюжет[/h1] Дочь пошла вся в мать, то есть хочет выйти замуж за пр[i]ы[/i]нца. Стартовые возможности само собой сильно различаются: в отличии от своей матери она самая натуральная принцесса 12 лет, которая не хочет учится. Единственные два предмета по которым она хоть как-то успевает: физкультура и музыка. Первое чтобы вдарить по супостату сильнее, а второе, так как бьёт она противников хоть и железным, но всё же музыкальным инструментом. Довольно быстро станет понятно кто тут избранник. Никакой интриги, никаких разночтений: «пр[i]ы[/i]нц» появится и порубит напавшего на ГГ дракона в капусту. В отличии от [url=https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198084019881/recommended/1866430/]первой части[/url], где принца буквально превратили в камень, чтобы он не мешался в сюжете, здесь последний принимает в повествовании гораздо более активное участие. Так же в отличии от первой части это не история одинокой (там ГГ всегда бьётся на арене одна исключительно в окружении своих кукол), хоть и сильной героини. Идеи girls power само собой никуда не делись, но теперь ГГ не одна, а с друзьями и семьёй. Тема семьи и дружбы в сюжете поставлена если и не на первое, то точно на второе место. Сделано это без затей, прямо в лоб, но не сказать что плохо. Для целей сюжета и противопоставления в дополнение к женской банде из первой части тут завелась банда вторая, полученная с помощью зеркального отражения из первой. Ближе к концу становится понятно зачем так было сделано. [h1]Романтика[/h1] ГГ на время игры 12 лет. Первый поцелуй случится в 16. Такая вот романтика. [h1]Визуал[/h1] Ээээ, как в 1999 году. В смысле ремастер многое исправил, но жуткому виду однообразных подземелий это не помогло. То, что можно было сделать с пиксельными героями и их анимациями, здесь сделано на хорошем уровне, но не более. [h1]Игровая механика[/h1] Тактику, которая расцветёт в [url=https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198084019881/recommended/405900/]Disgaea[/url], в этой части выставили на мороз и перед нами в плане механики проявляются механизмы типичной JRPG. Роль кукол теперь сведена до активации спецприёмов и увеличению статов. Куклы (до трёх штук) де факто надеваются на героиню как какие-то аксессуары. Особой разницы между куклами нет. Нет необходимости выращивать в уровнях все куклы поголовно — только нужные для надевания. Единственной, пожалуй, особенностью по сравнению с типичными классическими JRPG здесь следует отметить, что кукольные спецприёмы выполняются за деньги. Поэтому, если вы банкрот, то и боец из вас так себе. Особых проблем это не привносит, но учитывать стоит. [h1]Японская игра для японцев[/h1] В отличии от [url=https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198084019881/recommended/1866430/]Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure[/url] игра официально не выходила за пределы Японского рынка и соответственно вплоть до 2023 года (с задержкой на 24 года от дня релиза) официально не была локализована даже на английском. А жаль, так как IMHO в отсутствии перевода песен на английский, игра сильно потеряла в антураже. Несмотря на это в плане сюжета и музыкального оформления Rhapsody II: Ballad of the Little Princess превосходит Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure почти во всём. [h1]Пара советов[/h1] ✔ Говорите со всеми. Доставайте [i]каждого[/i] NPC. Чтение их коротких реплик расширяет окружающий мир, приносит удовольствие, а так же в ряде моментов способствует движению по сюжету. Реплики со временем меняются. ✔ Гринд тут неизбежен, так что запаситесь терпением. Найдите что-нибудь, чтобы во время гринда слушать в фоне. ✔ Деньги не экономьте. Их легко можно заработать, ага, ага, с помощью гринда. [h1]Локализация[/h1] Официально только английская, включая субтитры к не переведённым здесь на английский песням. Текст не сильно сложный, особо экзистенциальных проблем тут не решается, так что со словарём сюжет осилит каждый. Сказка ­— она и есть сказка. Там где можно было это сделать шрифты были изменены на векторные без пикселей, так что читать тексты в дневнике, описания живности и тому подобное можно с удовольствием. Диалоги так же можно читать без проблем в FHD разрешении, хоть пиксельность и осталась. [h1]🐧 GNU/Linux[/h1] Во второй раз выполнил мечту милой девушки или скорее подростка-хулиганки в среде [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3143450724]Steam Deck[/url] + выносной FHD монитор и клавиатура с мышкой. Игра через Proton 9.0-4 отработала без нареканий. [b]P.S.[/b] Этот и [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3606020893]другие мои обзоры[/url] можно глянуть у куратора [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35831383/]Записки линуксоида[/url].

I waited for YEARS for this game to be released somewhere I could play it and I was so very let down. The game picks up a bit towards the middle but I had to REAAAALLY push through to reach that point because of all the downsides I saw straight from the start: - One of the ideas I liked the most about Rhapsody was the importance your puppet friends had for you and their little stories. In this release, puppets are equipped like items or weapons you can use instead of being on their own. It killed me a bit to feel like they were just "expendable" objects. - [i]THe FU**ING "DUNGEONS"[/i]! They've changed the already easy dungeons from the previous game to straight hallways. HALLWAYS. They were excruciatingly boring and maybe the #1 reason I don't want to ever replay this game (There is, I think, only 1 or maybe 2 dungeons that break this rule). Mind-numbing experience. - The battle system changed from a tactical RPG where positioning was at least a bit important to the most plain and boring "tell your party members what to do this turn and then let it all play out" style. - When members leave your party, their items are automatically unequipped. It's a pain in the ass having to re-equip them when the leaving-joining your party happens so often. It sucks! - You don't have MP anymore, you use MONEY or HP to cast spells. If it's your first run it will discourage you from buying equipment and other important/useful items and it makes playing less enjoyable. Moreover, even when I got used to those changes, there were other things that worsened my experience: - As someone mentioned in other review, the weird se*ual japanese "humour" was stepped up a notch and it feels weird when you encounter it randomly ingrained in the story or in so many NPCs' dialogues. - Appearently, about 85% of ALL the NPCs' lives revolve around wanting a bf/gf or something to do with romantic partners.... Bruh. - Kururu is dumb as f*ck, mentally and emotionally. I understand she's 12, but it plays to me like she's a 6 y/o. Maybe because she's royalty and has never experienced the world? There's character development as the game progresses (it's not like Rhapsody has a deep story or complex characters---), but... - During battle there are voice queues for each action and it's irritating to listen to them ALL the time. It's also weird that elingers have audio as if they were pokemon in battle. - Speaking of battles, I found not being able to escape some random battles in the 1st game thrilling. Apart from the boss and chest fights, IME, you can escape 100% of the battles in this game. Meh. - The songs are not dubbed, only text translated (the talked parts of the songs didn't even make it to text, and they DO add to the mood of the songs!). It ended up being a good thing because most of the dub work sounds like a school project someone made over the summer. I found Etoile's voice too weird; it did not suit an adult at all. (I dislike most english dubs, tbf.) - There is missable content and there's no warning for when you're gonna be unable to keep exploring. Considering how much I want to avoid playing this game ever again, I find this extremely unfortunate. I missed 3 out of 34223 items/encounters and it irks me to think I have to go through the WHOLE game again to get those achievements. NOPE! - [spoiler] The equippable jewels to get the ultimate spells from your puppets are somewhat random and I hate that the spells are not just learnt by leveling up. I don't want to spend hours trying on each equippable stone and figuring out what works with each element :/ [/spoiler] . - Lastly but not less important to me, I love the continuity of the puppets' stories so it's a bit of a let down that I found one discrepancy: [spoiler]In Rhapsody I Michael reincarnated as an amphibian baby in Frogburg. Caroline reincarnated as a human baby in Mothergreen. In this game Michael is a human too :/ [/spoiler] . Even when I've written so much about all the aspects I found awful about this game, there ARE a few things I did like: - Monsters join your party WAY more often than in Rhapsody I. - I liked seeing most of the monsters again; the few new additions are nice too. - Monsters fight a bit better than in Rhapsody I, so that's nice. - LGBT representation (??) [spoiler] (Even when it didn't feel forced, why are only lesbians portrayed having "normal" (as in... same as straight people in the game) interactions and the only appearently gay man is used as laughing material and sees being called gay as an insult? Japan's extremely sexist views make me think all the lesbian "representation" is there just for the pervy men's enjoyment. Just like the p*do stuff.)[/spoiler] I'd give this game maybe a 4 out of 10 :C

Rhapsody 2 improves on the first game in almost every way. You play as the daughter of Cornet from the first game; her goal is to adventure out in the world and find her own prince. On the way, you slowly get involved in foiling the plans of another evil witch. The story this time has more characters and a few twists. It’s still as funny as the first (the cat ice-cream section being a highlight) The combat has changed from a strategy rpg to a traditional turn-based jrpg. It has some strange systems (special attacks cost HP & magic costs money to cast), but the game is built around these systems so it’s really not a big deal. There is a monster capturing mechanic like the first game, but this time you equip them as ‘partners’ and can use their spells in combat. It’s harder than the first game but still not a big challenge. Monster capturing can take a lot of battles to do, so you will over level yourself if you try to be a completionist. Dungeons are improved from the first game. The visuals still repeat themselves a lot, but they have got rid of those horrible single screens. They are much easier to navigate. If you like older jrpgs then definitely play it but play the previous game first.

Pretty good game, but with some really bad gameplay decisons. Story: This story follows Cornet's daughter Kururu, who at first set out to find her Prince. Though, it ends up being a learning experience for her. With it getting into the Shadow of Beauty, the fallen Ancient Civilization, and more into Cherie's life. The characters, and stories were done much better than the first game. Though, I still felt like they were trying to force the love thing too hard here. System: It is a turn based, but unlike the first, it is not a grid based game. Your characters can equip puppets to get boosts, and equipment themselves. It is also divided into Specials and Puppet. Using the Puppet costs Inotium, which is also your currency. When winning a battle, there is a chance to recruit an enemy as a puppet. Songs: Really good,. Art Style: Really Good. Problems: This game has a lot of problems. Starting off, Kururu is not good on offense or support. She is essentially a dead slot unless you get Duke in Act 3, which makes her more manageable. Her specials are also useless, one cost 1 HP and does like barely any damage to all enemies. The other cost 30 HP to revive a character on 1 HP. Just buy Brandy. Another issue is missable puppets, there are a lot that can be missed. The three knights are necessary to have, so that on Act 7, close to the end of the game. Kururu goes from useless, to a pretty broken character. Inotium is another problem. Sharing the cost with your currency is a very stupid idea. Most of the game, it is Kururu and Crea. Characters leave a lot, and to make it worse, they are unequipped each and every time. Monster Catching Mechanic, is probably the worst thing. You just get one equipment that makes barely any difference, and that's it. It is a lot of annoying battles over and over again. It was clearly a half-baked attempt at it. Overall, The game's story and music are great. The gameplay itself can be good, but is sorta bad really.

How do you follow-up a really unique and interesting JRPG that blends traditional menu-based combat with elements of a strategy RPG and the ability to summon puppet allies as units to fight alongside you? If your answer is to make a generic menu-based RPG without any of the SRPG elements or having the puppets fight with you any longer, you must have worked for Nippon Ichi Software. The original Rhapsody was one of the coolest games we'd ever experienced. A cute little adventure that was innovative. So why then was its sequel stripped of all that charm? They neutered the game to something that's barely more original than your run-of-the-mill JRPG. There's no positioning strategy. You just line up on opposite sides as your enemy and select commands from a menu to be fired off. The puppets are just used to cast spells like some sort of budget Persona. And for that matter, your MP is also your currency? It really discouraged me from buying anything since I didn't know if I'd need to save my money to do attacks. Maybe the worst part of the game is that it screws with your party worse than Final Fantasy 4. Every 5 minutes, a character gets added or taken away. While the devs at least don't make them steal equipment when they leave, this does mean that you're constantly having to equip your party members due to the frequency of the changes. It slows down gameplay of an already slow game. The battles are kind of an insult, too. They lack any sort of challenge. If you want to enjoy this a little, put it on the highest difficulty. I almost fell asleep on Normal. It does have some good characters (except Randy. Randy is useless), so that's one thing going for it. It still is a cute game, but not one worth its full price tag by any means. The plot is… mostly contrived as an excuse to move itself along, but this isn't really anything new for a NIS title. They tend to have writing that doesn't take itself seriously. That's not a point against it, that's just the style. There are some good bits to the story that can get you invested at times, and some of the characters are charming, or at least hilarious.

Better than the first one in every way. Really fun.

harder than the first one, also act 7 and 8 are peak imo.

It'll make you cry, meow.

So I came to play this right after I beat the first Rhapsody and it's been interesting, instead of grid based combat it turned into turn based and for a PS1 game of that era which probably didn't have a huge budget as far as I'm aware it did a lot of great stuff with some real improvements to the first game, that said also some stuff that could have been done better too or sort of worse but not in a bad way exactly, the full review will cover that below, what I will say though is the game was a super great time to play and a reminder of a much better era where games were being creative and putting fun effort into things rather than just sticking to a formula and trying to make it edgy and agenda pushy and I loved every moment of it dood. Okay the full review of Rhapsody II! So let's see, the game takes place in the future of the Marl kingdom as Cornets daughter, despite that though it's very much it's own story rather than a continuation so you could technically play it without playing the first, you'd really just miss out on character lores and be a little spoiled for the first story if you ever wanted to play it which I do suggest you do dood. The game unlike the first as I stated plays as a turn based game, dolls are no longer combat units and replaced with a kind of variety of characters, (you'll see as you play) instead dolls are now equips that not only grant passive stat boosts which increase as they level but also have various skills and spells to them, not only that a big improvement is that catching monsters is now just something that happens with luck rather than needing the protag to hit the monster and on top they turn into dolls if you get them and will never disappear wew for that dood! Combat also has character specials now too, these cost health to use which I've never been fond of in games personally and some can be really powerful skills or handy in the right situation or some can just be really silly lol, you also have the Reward spells like cornet had in the first game as you use Doll spells/skills and finally talking about doll skills/spell, they cost Inotium (money) to cast which honestly? I rather like, it's negligible later on in the game but to start off it really makes you think about what attacks to use, especially with how pricey some items can be dood. Equipment is much more varied this time around and even extends to the dolls having unique equips with some basic or even varied effects to them, it makes for some crazy varied combat at times depending on how you want to play, especially considering monsters and dolls have a large variety of spells and skills to use that can compliment the style you're going for dood. The story is much more fleshed out this time around with English VA's which was a fun surprise! The sad thing though is no English VA singing this time around though T-T do note I enjoy Japanese voices in games but especially when they have so much actually going on as the song plays on screen, I know many can read and see what's going on but there are people like me who can't XD or at least not very well which makes it frustrating, on top of that we miss out on witty banter that has no subtitles spoken in Japanese before the song starts as it has no subtitles, despite that though the songs are great and so much fun, I honestly wish modern games did fun stuff like this again dood. Dungeons are a looot nicer this time around, they can still have a rather basic layout granted but much more visually appealing than the first game and way less jarring to keep a track of, even without a guide you're not gonna get anywhere near as lost due to the overly similar rooms and multiple staircase choices on the same floor <_> another great improvement dood. Can I also just state I have a high appreciation of some of the details the game has with sprites both in and out of combat, they can be so expressive and funny at times or even react to certain attacks during certain fights or one of my favourites have something rather hilarious show in the background, you'll know it when you see it and it's just...beautiful dood XD There is no NG+ this is sad and honestly kind of a big problem in a ways because there's certain things you just can't get until literally end game, especially with certain monsters too if you want them in your team so you basically end up seeing them in the very last dungeon for like a few fights at most, I know it was possibly a limitation of the era being a PS1 game and all but this game really could have done with one for sure, although it does oddly keep track of completion so you can get a super powerful doll at least really early on which could be fun for a hard run which I am currently doing because I enjoyed the game enough to have a quick run through dood XD And that's it really, it's a fun times game for sure and it just keeps making me the older NIS titles really had so much heart and creativity to it compared to these days and I'm crazy looking forward to playing the third game so if you've read these first two reviews then first off thank you <3 and secondly look forward to the third one because it's coming!...eventually lol hope you enjoy the game if you buy it dood! ^-^7