Developed by Nippon Ichi Software, the people famous for the Disgaea series, ‘Warui Ousama to Rippa na Yuusha’ was released for the Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch consoles in Japan on June 24, 2021. There are plans to localize it from Nippon Ichi’s American division early in 2022. This review is based on the original Japanese release.
How the tale came to be
This is translated by me from the homepage of the game….
“The world was ruled by the very powerful Dragon King. However, a single brave young Hero crushed said rule. ‘I don’t exactly want to kill you,’ the hero said to the Dragon King. The hero clipped one of its horns which was the source of its power and let it go. Afterwards, the hero later goes to speak with the isolated Dragon King who was left to heal its own wounds. While spending several days with the Dragon King, of which had a terrifying disposition, it slowly became friendly. The Hero and the Dragon King became good friends before they knew it. One day, the Hero was gravely injured and went to visit the Dragon King. ‘Before I die, I want you to raise my daughter into a fine person in my stead.’ In his hands, he was holding a small baby.“
The free-spirited protagonist of the story, Yuu
Yuu is a free-spirited girl who is the daughter of the Hero who died and is being raised by the Dragon King. She refers to the dragon as ‘Father’ and her biological father as ‘Papa.’ She wields a wooden stick (later a carved sword of wood) and has a saucepan as helmet. Although not always possible like in dungeons and some other places, run when you can by holding the joystick the way you want to go to speed up travel.
Basics for non-Japanese speakers
Allow me to break down and translate some of the menus to possibly help those who want to play the Japanese version without wanting to wait for the full English version which should be out early 2022. Since this is an RPG, you would be missing out on story so it is completely understandable for those who want to wait.
The main menu
On the left is Yuu’s level, hit points, attack, defense, and speed. All of which are pretty self-explanatory. Let’s look at the main menu from top to bottom in order: Items, equipment, adventure tales (quests / next objective), see belongings, see skills, collection, trophies, bestiary. Shells are the currency in the game for buying and selling.
System menu
Bringing up the system menu will present you with the options of in order: Quick save (the game does this periodically but you can do it manually if you want as well), save, load, option, manual, back to main title menu.
Map
Maps in this game are laid out pretty basic as there is a lot of side to side movement areas. The icons listed to the right are in order: Current location, next objective, special device, treasure chest, helping others (side-quests, etc.), peddler (buy/sell).
Battling
Yuu’s health and skill points are indicated by stars is on the far left. She can attack, do skills, defend, run, and use an item. For enemies, health is indicated by a heart bar with each heart not corresponding to said damage. So, three hearts does not necessarily mean the enemy has 3 hit points. Before you fully commit to an action a dialogue will appear across the screen while the action begins which will let you change it last minute should you need to.Here is Yuu doing the special skill ‘Flame slash’ with some help from the Dragon King in the background. The Dragon King always seems to keep a close eye on Yuu keeping his promise with the Hero. Skill points recover by some each turn.
What’s a hero without some backup
[As Yuu was heading toward the exit of the village, she heard a yelp off in the distance.] This game is a storybook RPG with soothing voiced narration that features many different creatures. Yuu will encounter many who require assistance as well as those who will assist Yuu along the way, some of which help her as fighters in battle.
Quests and more quests
While it may seem daunting without knowing the language, bringing up the adventure tales menu will give you information on you current objective and possible side-quests as well as more detailed information.
A game filled with little moments like these
“Hehehe, this is the result of my training.” Yuu proclaims as she swings her stick at a rock coincidentally as the Dragon King breathes fire on simultaneously unbeknownst to her.
