Platform: PSP
Developer: GAE
Publisher: Natsume
# of Players: 1
Rating: E10+
Official Site
Score: B+
As dungeon hacks go, Natsume's PSP sleeper
Adventures to Go is a solid bit of portable gaming JRPG fans should take to like ducks to water. The game also has just enough appeal in its pick up and play mechanics and user-generated random maps that RPG-ers not accustomed to spiky haired, oddly costumed characters and wacky humor may want to take a peek at what's here. If you're in the mood for some sort of benchmark in gaming innovation, you won't find it here. Things start out and stay fairly generic, but there's a nicely done (and pretty funny) twist a few hours in that really freshens up the remainder of the game's running time. Actually, how long you're diving into these dungeons is completely up to you, as clever players will want to experiment with a near endless mixing of level and creature types as they reap in the gold and treasures.
As Finn Courtland, a young would-be treasure hunter extraordinaire, you'll set out more or less down the road from your house to the titular agency, a guild of sorts where adventurers set out for fun and profit in dungeons they create. You're is joined by three other party members as the game continues - Alina, a young witch who forces you into taking her along as your partner, Garron, a burly knight type and "Cat", a shadowy thief with speed and skills that make her a value to the team. Each character is quite useful in battle in a few key areas such as the number of spells they can carry to whether or not they're good at reading magic glyphs or opening trapped chests. Expect to do a lot of stat checking as your adventure goes on, as new gear becomes available as soon as a new plot point opens up.
How and when you run into your teammates is based on how far you've advanced the plot by completing certain fetch or personal quests. This allows players to stretch things out a bit or even greatly by avoiding main quests and simply creating random maps to explore for as long as you like. Creating maps is a cinch - all you do is boogie on up to the ATG counter, select a few terrain and creature options, choose an Event if you have an Event (or other type of) Ticket, pay for your choices and head into the field. Initially, you can play a bunch of free or relatively inexpensive maps, but as the game goes on, new terrain, creature and Ticket types will expand the fun as they lighten your wallet.
If you find yourself advancing the plot too quickly or running low on funds, there's an easy to locate Quest Reset switch in each dungeon. This allows all the previous quests you've completed for the villagers to be reset so you can earn extra money. Redoing most of these missions is fairly easy, as your team is going to be a lot more powerful and you'll know which types of terrain you'll require from your previous attempts. For the most part, it's hard to become stuck in a mission thanks to a few handy hints you'll get in town from the village scholar or one of the handful of NPC's in the game. There are a few later quests that seem vague even with hints, but that's where your memory of previous dungeon and creature types will come in handy.
On the field, combat is all turn-based random battles, taking place on the field using a grid format where faster allies and enemies get to do their thing first. The game swipes and enhances a nice bit from classics such ar Nethack and Rogue, where movement, attacking, using a spell or item counts as an action in combat. In ATG, however, you expend Action Points while fighting, so doing too many moves can leave you defenseless. You quickly learn to streamline your actions early on, saving up at least two points for defense or automatically attacking an enemy that comes into your range. Alina and Cat can use ranged weapons (bows and boomerangs, respectively) and Garron has access to spears and pikes that extend his reach up to three squares. Finn uses swords of differing strengths as well as attack types and each character can equip a main and backup weapon, switching them out in combat with a tap of the L trigger.
Each of the party members is skilled with specific weapons, but everyone can carry and use spell crystals, a good thing against the game's tough mid and main bosses. Obviously, Alina can carry the most spells (eight), so she's going to be the go-to gal and magic heavy hitter, but don't neglect your other members, especially when it comes to healing and status relief. Unlike most JRPGs, you don't have magic points to expend at all. You mix spells by combining crystals and assign the spells to your party members. Up to nine crystals for each spell can be held, but Garron is limited to two spells, Cat can carry five, and Finn makes do with four. As you play, you'll discover new spell recipes, so you;ll need to cook those up and replace older spells as the game continues.
While the no MP thing might tick off some gamers, it's a fun system once you start finding and using recipes. You can make magic crystals any time except during combat, but newly created and equipped crystals aren't charged until you go home and rest for the night You'll generally need all the crystals you can buy or find, but selling off useless or extra gear is as easy as visiting ATG HQ and hitting the four shops there. One slight quirk for those who prefer long, long dungeon dives is once you leave a dungeon, it becomes night and you need to go home and rest. This forces you to come back and set up a new dungeon each time you want to get your treasure hunting thing on. It's not that bad, as killing lots of monsters rewards you with stat-boosting medals every so often, sometimes while you're in a map, other times when you return home from an adventure.
Visually, things are really nice looking overall, with excellent character art and some cool looking bosses. Some of the normal creatures you'll come across are pretty comical-looking and yes, there are the occasional palette swapped monsters here and there. While you never see your team in new armor, the weapons each have a different look, a very nice touch. The game has fun with enemy and item descriptions, making ATG more lighthearted than much of today's JRPG fare. The music is really nicely done, with the different terrain types getting their own themes. The battle music is fine, which is a good thing as you'll be hearing it quite frequently. Don't expect any voice acting here, but you'll get a few chuckles from the writing, particularly Finn's and Alina's jabs at each other and a bit of humorous stuff when the plot twist pops in later on.
The game constantly pokes fun at itself every chance it gets. A few Event Ticket events are boss battles dramatically set up at times before Finn or someone off camera makes a joke about the pre or post-battle elements. Finn's meetings with the Scholar start off with the old guy saying how long it's been since he's dropped by and Finn commenting on his just being their not too long ago. And in case you're trying to fit your mind around the rationale for a guild that makes adventures to go with monsters, treasure and other goodies that can be called up at will, the game even pokes fun at that. You'll have to see where this particular part goes as the game progresses, but trust me, it's a pretty darn amusing take on random dungeon diving and its effects on just where all those things come from..
In terms of longevity, if you barrel straight through, stopping only to level up accordingly (most of the bosses past the third hour or so are pretty brutal if you're under prepared), the game can be completed in about 15-20 hours or so. On the other hand, between the myriad of level types, "rare" monsters to track down the occasional Poker game in the random Casino that pops up as an event and other diversions, you can easily double or triple the time spent. For a game with one town and a paltry for locations, ATG has a way of keeping you grinding 'til the wee hours and then some. While I'm fine with this being a solely single-player experience, it would have been nice to see some sort of multiplayer option or the ability to trade items and/or magic crystals with fellow ATG'ers.
On the other hand, as this game is only a GameStop exclusive and currently not available as a PSN Store download, it would be a bit tricky to track down someone else who has a copy of this game to trade with. Nevertheless, if you can dig up a copy, Adventures to Go is a great little game with no epic delusions about it at all. It's just pure fun, breezy dungeon-scented goodness from start to finish.
