Opoona

"Something weird, something alien... something magical."

So, Opoona. I'll get this out of the way from the start: this is not a game for everyone. The vast majority of gamers - even niche gamers - would not appreciate what it has to offer, and would likely regard it as anywhere from a mediocre to a genuinely bad game. It's designed with a very specific audience in mind, and if you fall outside of that niche's niche, then chances are you'll want to avoid this game at all costs.

So let's get right to it. Here's a question, to start us out: If a game were to create its own unique alien world, and ask you, as a player, to simulate living and working within it - and have that represent the bulk of the game - what would it take for you to enjoy that? If your answer is "an immense attention to detail and atmosphere", then you, my friend, might just want to pick yourself up a copy of Opoona. Without a doubt, the strong point of this game is the rich and meticulously detailed alien world in which it's set. Law, education, travel, leisure, history, technology, economy, customs and traditions, and other general inner workings of a completely alien society are what will make or break this game for the player.

The one factor I generally use when trying to convince my friends to play this game is that its world is the only one I've ever known to have its own art history, complete with famous artists, popular and influencial paintings and sculptures (all of which are dated, and have their own rich histories that detail how and why they were made), and even its own highly-debated, culturally significant artistic movements, such as revolvism, layerism, and standardism. These works of art are scattered in museums and courtyards throughout the game, and each of them is quite legitimately artistic and beautiful, perfectly illustrating the movement to which it belongs, as well as the temperament and unique style of the famous artist who crafted it. You may find yourself killing many an hour just walking through the museum in Artiela, looking at paintings and sculptures, and reading all about how they came to be.

In other words, there are times when you'll act as something of a tourist within the game world.

Personally, I find the mere idea of this to be impressive beyond belief. That level of detail in any game is virtually unheard of. Creating a history for your world is pretty standard practice when making an RPG, but creating an art history? Like, a real, honest-to-goodness art history, with enough depth to fill a textbook? That's pretty hardcore, right there!

But, let's take a step back, and start this review at the beginning. Opoona tells the story of... well... Opoona! Opoona is a young boy from a world called Tizia, traveling to the planet Landroll with his family for vacation. Landroll is an odd planet that suddenly stopped rotating after a meteor impact (or, to be more specific, began rotating in direct proportion to its revolution), causing one side to remain in perpetual day, and the other to remain in perpetual night. This wrought havoc upon the planet's ecosystem, and essentially made the outside world all but uninhabitable, causing the Landrollians to build a series of environmentally-controlled biodomes in which to live their lives. Each biodome has been assigned a specific purpose - one for education, one for the arts, one for big business, etc. - and travel between and outside of them is heavily restricted, largely due to the increase in "rogue" activity (rogues being the generic term used for mutated creatures that suddenly emerged from the dark side of the planet).

One may wonder why any self-respecting family would choose such a world as a vacation destination, but in actuality, Landroll's biodomes are completely self-contained, and really quite beautiful. Every amenity one can imagine is provided within at least one of Landroll's domes, and tourism is actually encouraged, with the planet boasting not one but two poshly-furnished and architecturally gorgeous luxury hotels, numerous art museums and sports arenas, and a very active intergalactic airport.

The family's ultimate goal, however - this being the underlying excuse for going on vacation in the first place - is to meet up with Roidman, an unfortunately-named relative who lives on Landroll and summoned them all there to discuss a matter of great importance.

Joining Opoona on his father's mighty starship is his brother Copoona, their sister Poleena, their parents Dadeena and Mameena, a handful of crew members to manage the various ship's systems, and no less than eight dogs. And that last part is your first clue as to just how strange this game will be, since the initial tutorial consists of control-related messages written on each of these puppies' dog-tags. Certainly not your standard tutorial, and it seems very odd at first, but it's used to great effect later in the game - or it would've been, if Koei had done a better job with the translation. More on that in a bit.

Anyway, a sudden attack from an unknown source causes the ship to spin in for a crash landing. Opoona, Copoona, and Poleena are each sent off to the surface of the planet in escape pods, and find their way to safety in three very different places, where they suffer only minor injuries. As for Dadeena, Mameena, the dogs, and the rest of the crew, they go down with the ship... and while they (mostly) survive the impact, Dadeena and Mameena are quite grievously injured, and won't be regaining consciousness for quite some time - or possibly at all, if there's not enough money to fund their recoveries (not necessarily out of greed, mind you, but because the currency on Landroll also happens to be a source of great energy, and a lot of energy is required to heal injuries of this severity).

That's where the Tizian children come in. As parentless castaways on a foreign planet, they're each forced to adapt to their respective environments, learning the cultures and customs of Landroll, attending classes, and ultimately getting jobs so they can earn money not only for their own survival, but to help fund their parents' medical bills as well. Since they each crash-landed in different parts of the world, they begin their journies separately, with the player controlling Opoona alone at the game's outset. Eventually, the three children will reunite and combine their respective skills toward an even greater good than simply saving their parents - but there's a long road ahead of them before anything like that happens.

One of the more interesting aspects of the game is its completely alien setting. Not only is the planet of Landroll entirely foreign to the player, but so are the three little Tizians who take center stage on this adventure. In fact, Landroll is perhaps a bit more familiar to the player than Tizia would be, given its vague similarities to Earth (and possible implications that it is Earth, far in the future)... as opposed to Tizia, which is a planet of creatures who look very much like Miis with round balls of energy, or "bonbons", floating above their heads (or beneath their torsos). As you soon discover, Tizia is a planet known for its guardians - a police planet, of sorts - and the weapon of choice for Tizians is, in fact, the aforementioned energy bonbon.

This makes fighting rather unique, with Opoona sporting a real-time battle system more reminiscent of baseball than Final Fantasy. You don't purchase weapons, you purchase coatings and add-ons for your bonbon; instead of armor, there are bonbon cores designed to "save your balls", as it were. And when you attack, you typically do so by choosing a target, charging up your pitch, setting an angle of propulsion, and launching your bonbon at the enemy. If you don't aim carefully, you might hit something else along the way (which has less of an impact, since that wasn't your chosen target) - though eventually, you'll be able to equip an item which allows your bonbon to cut through foes, letting you arc your pitch in such a way that it hits a whole row of enemies at once.

And that's just one of many ways to customize your bonbon. Others include the addition of spikes or tentacles, coatings of ice, fire, or electricity, and more extreme abilities like teleportation and explosion.

While not especially difficult most of the time, Opoona's battle system does keep you on your toes. There's a wide variety of enemies with unique strengths and weaknesses - some enemies that can only be damaged from the side or top, some enemies that serve only as decoys and will explode with massive blowback when struck, some that will catch your bonbon and render you helpless until someone else sets it free, etc. - and sometimes, you'll be facing a whole army of foes at once, forcing you to use every trick in the book to stay alive. Careful planning and adaptability will keep you safe at almost all times, but you definitely can't just "pull a Final Fantasy" and spam the attack button to win every battle, which is a rather refreshing change of pace, and makes each fight far more novel and interesting than those featured in most other turn-based RPGs.

With such a unique battle system, though, the question of control will invariably pop up, especially given this game's exclusivity to the Wii. And the best advice I can offer any prospective player is to completely disregard every control-related piece of information the game gives you, and just use the classic controller instead. One of Opoona's advertised features is the ability to play it one-handed, using only the nunchuck - but while that may sound great on paper, this method is frankly rather terrible! The Wiimote and nunchuck combination is slightly better, and it does allow you to use the Wii's motion controls to target enemies, but it still feels a bit too inexact and cumbersome. Ultimately, using the classic controller is the absolute best way to play this game, with the left analog stick used for movement outside of battle, the right analog stick used to aim and shoot your bonbon in battle, and the D-pad used for targeting enemies the old-fashioned way: by cycling through them!

Really, though, battles in Opoona are not at all the game's focus. Fighting enemies plays second fiddle to exploration, socialization, and good old-fashioned bread-winning. Opoona is a game that's more about developing its world and creating an alien atmosphere than throwing villains at you, and it succeeds admirably at that task. And strangely, it accomplishes this largely through virtual red tape!

See, Landroll society is extraordinarily bureaucratic, requiring licenses for just about everything, and advancing those licenses to higher grades upon successful completion of commissioned tasks issued by a licensing bureau. But before you can even qualify to begin work in a given job, you need to acquire a trainee license, which basically equates to getting hired. And the first and most important job you're hired to perform - one of many, believe me! - is that of the Landroll Ranger.

Essentially, the Rangers are the police and rescue brigade for the entire planet, and the only ones given express permission to leave the various biodomes and wander the outside world. They also have the freedom to kill rogues, which is where the game's battles come in. With Tizians known as natural-born guardians, equipped with a unique and powerful weapon as part of their very anatomy, the Landrollians who found Opoona's crashed escape pod naturally felt this to be the job most suited to his talents, and immediately enrolled him in Ranger classes upon his awakening. This provided the "in" Opoona needed to get his long and interesting career started.

Other jobs also present themselves as the game progresses, however, and many of these are just as important to the plot and overall atmosphere of the game as Opoona's Ranger job. Some of the standouts include a service job (which sees Opoona working the counter at a fast food restaurant, delivering room service at one of the planet's most exclusive resort hotels, and even addressing customer concerns and recommending outfits at a ritzy fashion boutique), janitorial work (presented in a rather futuristic manner, since it involves the combination of a hoverboard and vacuum), fortune-telling (using Opoona's energy bonbon as a crystal ball), mining, farming, fishing, delivering packaged goods, performing criminal and other investigations, managing a pop idol, becoming a pop idol, and even - believe it or not! - playing the ukulele, professionally. Each of these jobs must be "found" and accepted (by making friends with the right people, and acquiring an appropriate trainee license), then enacted and advanced via minigames, exploration, and/or social interaction with the game's colorful cast of characters.

But even if you find yourself growing weary of the game's many jobs, there are numerous other things you can do to entertain yourself as well. For starters, you can always watch TV! Landroll's television studio in the Artiela dome offers a wide variety of programs that show new episodes each game day, and even have their own unique broadcast ranges - so some shows can only be picked up in open areas, some shows can only be picked up outside the domes entirely, and different parts of the world get different reception altogether. Keeping up with certain TV programs can help strengthen your friendship with side characters, teach you new aspects of Landrollian culture and art, or even help you brush up on your dance moves for that all-important pop idol debut.

Bored of TV? Well, there's plenty to find for the avid explorer, too. The biodomes in this game - particularly the first one you visit, Tokione - are absolutely massive, roughly equal to the size of entire college campuses, and offering just as diverse and interesting a variety of places to go, people to see, and things to do. If these domes were real, you would almost certainly want to visit them, as they each feature a truly impressive attention to detail, with gorgeous scenery, brilliant architecture, wonderful artistic decor, and a flair for the extravagant. Tokione alone houses an enormous library, a race track, tennis courts, a swimming pool, an art museum, a clothing boutique, a snooty high-end restaurant, an interplanetary airport, a five-star hotel, a nursery, classrooms, student dorms, a chemistry lab, a cafeteria, an indoor park (complete with an art-deco glass maze, a kiddy pool, and large sandboxes), a prison, and numerous executive and governmental offices. Other domes include a similar variety of locales, custom-tailored for their purposes within the Landroll economy.

Want more focus to your exploration? Well, there are plenty of things to find, if you're willing to scope out every nook and cranny. From a game-wide scavenger hunt for secret code words affixed to out-of-the-way walls and corners (which can be exchanged for items), to a dangerous island rumored to be inhabited by villainous pirates, to a legendary fish that haunts the deep waters of the Intelligent Sea, Opoona is a game that truly rewards the curious. And it's the little details that really stand out, too - like finding giant carefully-positioned picture frames out in the middle of nowhere, which were used by the world's most famous artist to frame his extraordinarily detailed nature paintings (one of which included a mysterious girl, painted with extreme detail and obvious emotional intensity, whose identity and origins are unknown to the art world, and have been the subject of much debate amongst the more learned Landrollians).

Of course, no well-developed game world would be complete without a charming and well-developed cast of characters to inhabit it - and once again, Opoona does not disappoint. Throughout the game, you'll be meeting quite a few side characters, some of whom decide to become "friends" with you. Like everything else on Landroll, there's a certain bureaucracy involved with friendship, such that you're only able to call someone a true friend if you're listed on his/her "friends list". The qualifications for being added to a character's friends list vary from person to person, but it's by making friends in this fashion, and then increasing your friendship level through actions or kind words as the game progresses, that you're able to unlock new jobs, receive rare items, and gain access to some of the game's most memorable cutscenes. Yes, a lot of times, your only reward for maxing out a character's friendship level (aside from something plot-related I won't describe, for spoiler purposes) is a mere cutscene... but in all honesty, that's usually reward enough, given how attached you'll become to some of these lovely people. From Ted, the mischievous boy with a mysterious illness, to Mussoltus, the melancholy musician who seeks more out of life; from Angie, the aspiring idol with a pure heart but no self-confidence, to Nikita, the slightly twisted and charmingly selfish actress, you'll find yourself really looking forward to each forthcoming interaction with Landroll's decidedly unusual cast of miscreants.

The real turning point, which made me realize just how attached I'd become to this game world, was when Opoona - an outsider from another planet, and a mere child, to boot - had been granted Landroll citizenship, and given his own condo at the Lifeborn biodome in recognition of all his hard work. From the standpoint of a player, receiving citizenship to a fake world and a virtual condo shouldn't really be all that exciting... but it was. It really was! I felt like Opoona - like I - had been truly accepted into Landrollian society. I had become a true citizen. And that actually meant something to me. I actually cared.

And really, now that I've done everything I wanted to do in the game, and shelved it in favor of other games... I have to admit, I actually miss it! As a gamer, I tend to take a "fire and forget" attitude toward most of the RPGs I play these days. I rave about them as I play them, but once I finish, I completely move on, rarely thinking about my conquested adventure ever again. But with Opoona, I'm not sure I can do that! I keep on listening to the soundtrack, and reminiscing about my time spent tooling around on a hoverboard in the Blue Desert, or fixing malfunctioning equipment in the Intelligent Sea, or wandering the fairy-filled woods with Poleena. I'm actually nostalgic for Opoona, despite how recently I finished it! And I really don't think that's happened to me since the days of Final Fantasy VII. That's how highly I regard this game!

The music being not only listenable, but breathtakingly beautiful does help matters, though, to be sure. Composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto (known for his orchestral scores in Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, Odin Sphere, and about a billion other things!), arranged by members of his music studio Basiscape, and performed by his Eminence Orchestra, Opoona's soundtrack is not the ear-splitting noise other reviewers inexplicably seem to think it is. In fact, outside of reviews of the actual game, video game music afficianados tend to regard Opoona's music quite highly, some even calling it Sakimoto's best work (a compliment not to be taken lightly!) - and frankly, I agree.

Although Sakimoto himself created the original melodies for each of these songs, Opoona's music is really a showcase for the compositional skills of the other Basiscape members. With a dozen or fewer recurring melodies, arranged so many times that the total soundtrack fills four whole CDs, there's still somehow never any real repetition to speak of. Each version of each song is so uniquely different from every other version that it manages to stand on its own with no effort whatsoever. In fact, with most tracks, you probably won't even notice the presence of a recurring melody until you've listened to them four or five times. And despite a limited palette of instruments, a definite tendency toward techno, a heaping helping of fluttery flute solos, and generally whimsical sounds overall, there's really a pretty enormous variety of music to be found within the game - from the mournful to the cheerful, from the eerie to the peppy, anything and everything is somewhere to be found. Even if you can't call it his best work, it's almost irrefutably Sakimoto's most varied work, and Basiscape is largely to thank for that.

Of course, even the best video game music in the world means nothing if it seems disconnected from or otherwise inappropriate for its source material. In Opoona's case, however, the exact opposite is true: every single track, without exception, fits its role in the game perfectly. From the happy-go-lucky techno sounds of the main theme played throughout Tokione, to the sterile and melancholy piano and acoustic guitar of the Intelligent Sea waterway; from the indescribably gorgeous Blue Desert Hotel theme with its atmosphere of posh luxury and flights of fancy, to the main battle theme with its combination of Sabre Dance aesthetics and Danny Elfman-like whimsy, each song perfectly augments the game's mystical sci-fi atmosphere with a beautifully innocent childlike sense of wonder. Sound effects fit the game equally as well, creating an overall package of awe-inspiring audio, to complement the game's many other awe-inspiring qualities.

Nothing's perfect, though, and I'd be lying if I said this is a game without flaws. For many, the art direction alone is a game-breaking issue, with protagonists whom many of my friends and coworkers have identified as some of the ugliest, most unplayably unattractive they've ever seen. This is obviously a matter of taste, but it's understandable: as previously stated, Tizians essentially look like Miis with big rubber balls floating around them. If this doesn't bother you, great; it didn't bother me, either. If it does bother you, though... well, all I can do is assure you that you'll get used to it, and may even come to appreciate it by game's end. Though smooth-textured and weird-looking, the Tizian children are extraordinarily expressive, and - dare I say - actually kind of cute! If that's of no comfort to you, though... well, then let me assure you that the meticulously-detailed backgrounds and overall immersive atmosphere more than make up for the unusual character art.

Besides, there are plenty of humans to be found in this game, too!

Another flaw, though, that I absolutely cannot deny is the game's spotty camera. Always zoomed in a little too close, always tilted a little too far down, and randomly frozen with no ability to adjust it whatsoever when exploring the game's overworld, you'll be in a constant battle with camera angles throughout the game's course. Like the character art, you'll get used to this very quickly - as tends to happen in most 3D games that have spotty cameras - but it's still a flaw, and one that you'd best prepare for going in.

By far the worst problem, though - which has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the game itself - is Koei's half-hearted localization. Though not game-breakingly bad, there's a lot to dislike about frequent awkward-sounding English phrases, semi-regular typos and bad grammar, occasional mistranslations, and far too many occurrences of one thing being referred to by two or more different names. One of the more noticeable examples of this comes from an art fixture in the Lifeborn dome's courtyard, which is referenced as "Octo Ballet" in one spot (an accurate translation), and "Taco Volley" in another (a grievous mistranslation that should have anyone who knows basic Japanese headdesking right about now).

Then there are the dogs. Throughout his adventure, Opoona comes across survivors from the ship crash, including his many four-legged friends whose dog-tags made for great control tutorials at the game's outset. There's a sort of running joke with this, where the Landrollians who found and adopted these stranded puppies all gave them names based on what was left of their broken dog-tags, ultimately resulting in each puppy being named after some aspect of the game's tutorial. For example, one pup's name is "Fulbar", taken from what was left of a dog-tag describing the various meters and bars that appear on the screen.

At least, I think that's a recurring joke. There are enough traces of it left in the English version of the game that I'm about 70% certain I'm supposed to laugh at some of these names. The problem is, I can't quite bring that number to 100%, since the translation halfway obliterated these references, leaving me wondering if they really are meant to be silly and cute, or if Koei just kind of... made them sound that way by accident.

There are also several instances where yes/no questions are asked, but the answers are reversed due to the sloppy translation, meaning you'll sometimes greatly offend a side character by answering a question with appropriate sensitivity, or make someone's day by trying to be a snarky jerk.

It's not all bad, though. This isn't a Legend of Heroes-grade translation snafu. It's bad, sure, but it's still serviceable, and even quite good on occasion (almost every line spoken by the actress character Nikita, for example, is translated flawlessly!). But the game might've been taken a little more seriously by fans and reviewers if its localization were handled with a bit more care. It really does feel like a soulless rush-job in some places, which conflicts quite a bit with the obvious labor of love that the source material represents.

So what's the bottom line? Well, as I said, Opoona is not a game for everyone. If you demand intense action, hate talking to villagers, insist upon angst, dislike child protagonists, and/or feel that any RPG not presenting an intricately-woven tale of political intrigue is simply not worth your time, then you should very definitely not play this game. If the idea of simulating work in an RPG is a major turn-off for you, too, then you should probably not even look at this game.

If, however, you're a fan of games like Rune Factory, Innocent Life, Chulip, Chibi-Robo, Shenmue, or other titles that involve "life simulation" in one form or another, you might want to consider giving this oft-overlooked gem a much-deserved chance. And if all that stuff I said earlier about this game having its own art history really, truly sounded impressive to you, then this is exactly the game you want. Seriously, that's what I'd consider to be the true selling point here, odd as it may sound. It's indicative of the kind of game this is, and the kind of experience you'll have with it.

In short, Opoona is a game for people who want to completely immerse themselves in a sweet, innocent, highly detailed alien world. It's the ultimate escapist's game, and at only $20 new in the U.S., it's also an amazingly cheap gamble. Don't let the mediocre reviews fool you: if you're in this game's target audience, you will love it. Opoona is the very definition of a labor of love, with the developers' blood, sweat, and tears oozing forth from every last pixel.

In a market of marketable games, this is the odd man out: an entirely wholesome, breathtakingly gorgeous, memorable, unique, yet completely unmarketable title. It's nothing short of amazing, but it targets the niches within niches, ignoring the mainstream and sub-mainstream RPG crowds altogether. And it needs your help to survive! So won't you lend Opoona, Copoona, and Poleena a hand? Show them that you care, and they'll show you that they care, too. It's sure to be the start of a truly beautiful relationship.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/04/09

Game Release: Opoona (US, 03/25/08)