Laplace no Ma

"Sadly, Cthulu does NOT make a cameo appearance"

NewCam, Massachusetts, 1920

It was one of those nights - rain fell upon silent streets with nary a sign of life to be seen. It seemed as if even the rats stayed in their festering sewers. A tall, dark and brooding man made his way towards the Manor...

Ah yes, the Manor.

It sat upon a lonely hill, overlooking the city as if some vulture waiting for its prey to expire before feasting upon its remains. Didn't help that the place was haunted...

Thus begins our adventure in Vic Tokai's answer to Sweet Home, Diable de LaPlace (LaPlace no Ma).

The above describes the lovely (and very, very moody) cinematic introduction to the game, but it also announces the crippling flaw of the story as whole... it's one big cliché.

The haunted manor on top of the hill...
The dark and mysterious stranger walking alone in the rain...
The spooky background music...

If for some reason you can honestly claim to have never encountered this exact scene somewhere else, then may I suggest you crawl out from under your rock once in awhile and watch a few movies.

I'll grant you that this particular scene was quite a sight for the time (this is the SNES we're talking about here, not a freakin' Gamecube) and made me even more eager to tackle this intriguing game.

Story

I've already outlined the basic elements of the plot: a haunted manor, a sleepy American town in the 1920's and a dark stranger.

First things first, you'll be disappointed to hear that you are not the brooding, mysterious stranger (bms for short), in fact, your initial character is made from scratch and might even be a female (and a cute one at that).

Whatever your class/sex, you are investigating - wait for it - the mysterious case of the haunted Weathercrop Manor. I said this game was heavy on the clichés, see what you get when you don't listen to Uncle Asp?

Your character soon learns that this Manor was once owned by a rich and powerful family, yet no one has seen the last remaining member of this clan, Benedict, in quite some time. Members of search parties vanish once they enter the confines of the Weathercrop Manor leaving some to speculate on the nature of what it is that could be lurking within the ancient abode.

You must choose three fellow investigators from a selection of five (at the start of the game): a gruff looking Detective, sombre Medium, snobby Dilettante, perky junior Journalist and glasses wearing Scientist. What did I say about clichés again?

Having selected your members, the game leaves you hints in the way of a mysterious gypsy fortune teller and the various folks in the city's fine drinking establishment. Otherwise, you're left free to uncover the story behind the disappearances and the Weathercrop family.

The game has its twists and turns, but you'll soon see that its nothing you haven't seen before.

Gameplay

Obviously, if you've ever played Sweet Home for the Famicom (via emulation of course) then you're likely to be familiar with this type of game. For those who've never encountered the highly acclaimed Famicom game, call them lightweight RPG with a horror movie theme added for purposes of plot and mood.

While it's certainly not ''survival horror'' per se, it does have some resemblances to the loved/maligned genre made popular by Resident Evil. However, those are merely skin deep as both Sweet Home and Diable de LaPlace are far more RPG in nature than the aforementioned Resident Evil (which is really an adventure/action title).

As I said before, you build a main character from scratch by choosing his/her sex as well his/her class. There are five classes to choose from: the powerhouse Detective, magic fighter Dilettante, spirit specialist Medium, photo taking Journalist and machine using Scientist.

Sadly, the game uses these fancy names to hide a fairly standard system of classes (fighter, magic user, machine/tool user). Even then, they aren't really that different from one another outside of their individual specialty (only the journalist can take photos, dilettante uses magic etc.).

Things do get better once you reach the experience/skills system. The experience you gain along the way does not bring about instant changes within your respective skill levels, instead you must use this experience as if money in order to ''buy'' higher skill levels. This said, it is impossible to buy a new type of skill and levels only add to your HP/MP scores. As for your stats, only special items can increase them.

Speaking of levels, the standard ''kill monsters - gain experience - go up in levels'' logic prevalent in every good RPG is rendered almost useless here. Casual foes relinquish only precious few experience points which are then split amongst your active party members leaving you with a very meagre bounty. Your little 80 experience point giving Zombie ends up offering a measly 20 points to each individual character.

Bosses, while seemingly generous with gains reaching upwards of 100 individual experience points per head and more, seem much cheaper once you need 12,000 experience points to rise to a new level. Needless to say that going past level 6 is uncommon for the first time player (unless you found the special trick outlined in my FAQ/Walkthrough).

On the other hand, quest experience points are given to each character without being divided meaning they become the sole means of practical ''leveling up'' as RPG gamers like to call it.

For the casual RPG gamer this would prove to be a very negative point - especially amongst the power gamers who revel in insane level gains. Even the more tolerant gamer might find battles to be rather useless and needlessly time consuming for what little they offer in return. Add to this the repetitiveness and drabness of the battle scenes and you have yourself a fairly tedious game to play at times.

Graphics

Seeing as I made a mention of the boring battles, I might as well talk about the graphics now.

The overhead mode is nothing to write home about but it is fairly effective during the exploration of the Manor - well during your first visit anyhow. The Manor has a certain eeriness about it, although the graphics are relatively small and perhaps too non-descript to reach the desired effect. Compared to say, Clock Tower, it really shows its limitations. But still, the first time you see it you'll be somewhat impressed by its atmosphere. Same goes for the town of NewCam which also bears a distinctive 1920's feel mixed in with the grim je ne sais quoi of the SNES version of Shadowrun.

You should put a heavy emphasis on ''at first'', seeing as most of the game's graphics themselves become repetitive after a while. First, the character themselves are very small in the game's overhead mode (the main view) and while the portraits are certainly nice (dig the P.I.'s cool 5 o'clock shadow!) they hardly make up for the lack of character graphics during the game. Worst of all, it seems as if the portraits never change in terms of expression - your P.I. is always grinning even during the most difficult of situations! I'm sure he's seen plenty of horrid scenes in his lifetime, but give me a break!

Nothing to worry about, you say, after all wasn't the Wizardry series devoid of actual character art? True and the monster art made up (in part) for that loss and it might have been the same case with this game, problem is, the monster art has its own problems! Granted some monsters look nice enough (the giant landworm for one as well as the succubi and demons), too many are palette/model swaps or lack imagination/detail. In fact, many monsters seem somewhat out of focus, lacking facial traits or looking distant. The shading is nice enough and the colours are dark and well suited or the game's atmosphere though, you have to give them that much.

So thumbs up on the actual environment's design, but not for the character/monster graphics - simple enough.

Sounds

How does the sound figure into the equation? If anything a horror themed game needs not only a strong soundtrack/bgm, but also a series of spooky sound effects utilised with good judgement. Silence also has its place and he balance between silence and noise is crucial to proper atmosphere.

Sadly, while Diable de LaPlace has a rather eerie and even catchy tune to guide you through most of the game, it might get on your nerves sooner or later. It's hard to describe it really, but its main problem is the same old one I've been pointing out for some time: repetition. Seeing as you'll be spending quite a bit of time in the Manor (and another place which appears later on) doing some exploration and hunting for clues and such you might think of turning the volume down for a while lest you get a little crazy...

The sound effects aren't spectacular either, but what little there is works just fine (the door slamming shut upon your first trip to the Manor was very appropriate). However, don't expect much as these sounds are quite scarce and often completely absent. A bad mistake in my opinion as the designers obviously overlooked the importance of sound in horror theme games. Again, take Clock Tower as an example of a game where sound is used for full effect and compare it to this bland soundless universe.

Challenge

Is it tough? It might seem rather harsh at times - especially if you try to tackle a certain mini-boss before you're ready - but soon you'll find out that the real challenge is dealing with the tediousness of the game itself. The puzzles aren't difficult, they simply require a lot of mindless exploration and searching. Most clues are rather obvious and the actual playing field itself is limited in scope.

Obviously your activities will be that much simpler if you found a level map and bought a compass. So, once you figure out how to get around, you need but to explore every room and search everything until you find what you're looking for. The battles being fairly easy once your party is properly equipped, they become more of a nuissance than a challenge.

Speaking of which, the battles themselves require precious little strategy. Most of them can be ended with hacking and slashing; magic/psychic powers find little use outside of healing and protection so you're better off sticking to your guns (and swords). After yet another dull battle, you'll quickly recognise the wisdom of my words when I warned you about them.

Conclusion

The game isn't really challenging, offers a tedious explore and search-based gameplay and fruitless battles - so why the Hell should you play it?

Strange as it may sound, despite the clichés, standard story and numerous flaws, it manages to worm its way into your heart and begs you to complete it.

Yeah, you'll probably curse as you rummage through various beds looking for that Bible or whatever quest item you need this time. Heck, just finding a level map (to make your life easier) is a a lot of trouble in of itself! You have to ask yourself why anyone would bother with such pointless running around, but then you'd realise that most videogames are every bit as repetitive and mindless as this one.

There's an outside chance you might dig the Lovecraftian style weird fantasy vibe, I know I did. The setting was pretty moody and made you anxious to go exploring again, so despite the doldrums, you can't hate this game for very long. Of course, don't expect to play it two or three times unless you feel like uncovering every bit of dialogue and every sub-quest (without the help of my complete award winning guide). Be forewarned that in doing so you may start to hate the game for multiple playthroughs hurt it tremendously.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go summon a Great Old One.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/18/03, Updated 01/18/03