Lost King (Lost Kingdoms)

Member Name: Dringostarr

Product:	Lost Kingdoms
Date:	01/04/03 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: combines multiple ideas, premier RPG on the Gamecube, good fun.

Disadvantages: Graphically poor, Short, low level of interaction

Lost Kingdoms is different, a japanese experience like no other, and the low price point is all due to this being one of those underatted titles, a good game that nobody knows about. A lost king shall we say. Lost Kingdom’s is no run-of-the-mill RPG, it successfully combines several elements to create a surprisingly deep yet underrated classic. It is like Pokémon but more adult, uses cards and includes a more desperate storyline (to use a reductive but accurate description). The story won’t win anything; a black fog is engulfing the world and the king has gone to rally support to fight it. Katia (you) has decided to join her father in his quest. Aided by a wise yet mysterious hunchback called Gurd she learns to use the cards to fight her way through the fog and find her father.

The concept of the fog goes along way to explaining the most negative graphical aspects. Fogging is used in games when the creators don’t wish to spend time in producing a backdrop and cuts off the draw distance with fog. The storyline means that this poor graphical element is forgivable yet it does not make the graphics any nicer. The character models are nice and the scenery is detailed. The graphical style looks very familiar to that used in Castlevania 64. The sound incorporates traditional RPG sounds and enchanting or eerie music depending on the setting. It isn’t anything special but it all helps draw you into a remarkable title.

The gameplay is based around training and collecting… something Pokémon used to phenomenal success. You collect and battle with cards, you also have the ability to capture enemies in cards and it is the cards, not the main character, which gains the experience to grow and evolve. You maybe forgiven into thinking this is a Pokémon wannabe, throwing cards to unleash a monster, capturing monsters and selecting which ones go in to your deck. You can even 'transform' your monster with enough experience…
yet Pokémon is a new RPG in itself, Activision have taken elements from Pokemon and placed it into a traditional RPG. Battles work in a different way for example, not only are they real time not all cards work the same. Some cards are cast and a monster will appear fighting to its death, other cards are cast, a monster appears, strikes, and disappears. You can only use cards if you have enough power as well; nevertheless many elements such as certain types of cards being stronger than others have been borrowed from the legendary Nintendo title. Collecting cards is not all about capturing; you can find them, exchange fairies for them and even buy them.

These gameplay elements are different from traditional RPG’s as is the structure, short levels are present as opposed to a world in which you travel and this breaks away from the norm. This isn't necessarily good; the ability to transgress through an interactive world is one of the main attractions to an RPG. It means Lost Kingdoms is hardly the worlds longest RPG (although far from short) and interactivity is decreased, making your connection with the world and inhabitants smaller. Still, it is the premier RPG on the Gamecube that, with a few tweaks, could well be bigger than Final Fantasy… someday.

Summary: