Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome

"Makai Kingdom... The first RPG with NO playable main characters."

...To begin with at least.

This game is a lot like Disgaea, but combines components from Phantom Brave as well. While I didn't see any similarities to La Pucelle Tactics, this game combines elements of all of NipponIchi's wonderful RPG series. That being said, on to the game.

Much like it's predecessors, Makai Kingdom gives the player a wide range of characters to select from; Warriors and Mages to monsters and beasts. It also provides unlockable monsters and human classes, which add to the player's motivation to continue playing the game.

HOWEVER; Makai Kingdom, while showing the Overlords in story sequences and even having the main character on the field WITH you (but being unusable except to invite the rest of your party...) does NOT have any playable main characters to begin with. To get these "secret characters", one must play through difficult extra maps and level like crazy. Now, leveling your characters isn't the easiest task in this game, so having to have a level 3000 character to have main characters in your party isn't very appealing. While the "secret characters" add more motivation to continue playing the game, it is also very frustrating and difficult. But, hey. 100+ hours of my life? They can go to NipponIchi any day.

In short....
Graphics: 7/10- The graphics are generic Final Fantasy/old school, having little chibi characters come out for you. Not one of my favorite styles, but the backdrops and artwork shown in the game make up for that.

Story: 8/10- Compelling enough to keep me interested, but not so compelling that I NEED to beat a stage to see what's going to happen next.

Music: 6/10- Oh, geez... When you have a headache, do NOT play this game. Loud screechy noises accompany loud techno beats and combined with the loud attack noises made by your characters... Well, not good.

Controls/Gameplay: 7/10- Obnoxious to try and get your character in attack position. No more little square movements that we saw in Disgaea and La Pucelle. But as a bonus, your main character gets to jump on other characters heads and cause them damage. Yay!

Overall: 7/10- If you're familiar with NipponIchi's other RPG games, you may not like this one. If you're a diehard fan like me, its hard NOT to like this game. Makai Kingdom is an interesting experience and has more secret characters and endings than you could shake a stick at. Takes a lot of time and effort if the player wants to get everything, but not very hard to just beat the storyline. If you're not sure if this is your kind of game, rent first buy later. If you REALLY want to play something like it but it seems to hard, play Disgaea. Disgaea was probably the best (and easiest) of the four games I have played. I bought Makai Kingdom and am still enjoying the fruits of Zetta's torture.
"More like a sucky...Dumb...Thing!..." ~Zetta, main character~

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/17/05