Posted October 17, 2016
Jade Cocoon, the PS1 game, on my PS3.
It's an interesting JRPG. For one thing, it's not all that long. I hear you get around 10-12 hours of gameplay out of it, and indeed, I get the feeling that I'm nearing the end at the 9 hour mark. It's a very rigidly structured game that doesn't really reward retreading your steps - it basically consists of a menu-driven village, a hub world and four separate areas to which you teleport, none of which are particularly large. Once you've finished doing your deeds in each area, there's no reason to go back. The game area is (deliberately) kept very small, comprising said village and the surrounding woodland, and it's a very intimate, and in places very sad story. Combat is basically a poor Pokémon knockoff, but it works and looks good, even if you can't listen to that battle music anymore after a while. And the German voice actor for the Yamu creatures makes you want to strangle someone nearby.
For a one-disc game, there's a heckuva lot of voice acting (of a quality debatable even relative to late 90s gaming standards) and FMV, and it's worth mentioning that the game is the first with Studio Ghibli's involvement. Even the 3D bears some of the hallmarks of Ghibli's style, which for a PS1 is impressive.
It's an interesting JRPG. For one thing, it's not all that long. I hear you get around 10-12 hours of gameplay out of it, and indeed, I get the feeling that I'm nearing the end at the 9 hour mark. It's a very rigidly structured game that doesn't really reward retreading your steps - it basically consists of a menu-driven village, a hub world and four separate areas to which you teleport, none of which are particularly large. Once you've finished doing your deeds in each area, there's no reason to go back. The game area is (deliberately) kept very small, comprising said village and the surrounding woodland, and it's a very intimate, and in places very sad story. Combat is basically a poor Pokémon knockoff, but it works and looks good, even if you can't listen to that battle music anymore after a while. And the German voice actor for the Yamu creatures makes you want to strangle someone nearby.
For a one-disc game, there's a heckuva lot of voice acting (of a quality debatable even relative to late 90s gaming standards) and FMV, and it's worth mentioning that the game is the first with Studio Ghibli's involvement. Even the 3D bears some of the hallmarks of Ghibli's style, which for a PS1 is impressive.