Japanese-style role-playing games continue to revive old laurels. And they do it thanks to the monthly arrival of a good handful of titles in the same category, works like the one just signed by the Lancarse studio, which is made up of former staff members of that great franchise that is Shin Megami Tensei.
Thanks to the latest installments, which are especially good in my opinion, the Atlus franchises Shin Megami Tensei and Persona (the spin-off of the first) have managed to capture the attention of many fans of this kind of JRPG adventure. A group of users that should try this new work from the Lancarse studio, Monark. And because? Well, because it has been conceived by former members who participated in the creation of SMT, and that can be seen in various elements. Of course, I must also anticipate that the game in question does not reach (in fact, it does not even come close) to the perfection achieved in both Persona 5 (and Persona 5 Royal) and Shin Megami Tensei V, two of the best JRPGs of the appeared in recent years. But despite that, it’s still a title quite enjoyable and very extensive.
The story takes us to the Japanese center Shin Mikado Academy, a school in which a strange and supernatural phenomenon that gives rise to everything that has to do with the narrative. A fog has taken over practically the entire campus, and a strange barrier prevents entry and exit to the facilities, so all the students have been held inside… and that includes the protagonist. Using a very common cliché in this type of work, said character (whom we can baptize with the name we wish) has lost his memory, so we have to accompany him on his odyssey to get him to recover his memory… among many others other goals.
As in other titles of the same style, Monark’s gameplay encompasses all the traditional elements of the genre. The interaction with dozens of characters that parade throughout the adventure is one of our primary tasks, since it is a game that accumulates a large number of dialogues. And at this point it is necessary to note that these talks have not been translated to our language, being only in English, a fact that will surely not be well received by those users who do not master that language.
A journey between two worlds
The adventure takes place inside the aforementioned Shin Mikado school, being able to move from one area to another as we progress. Funds that, honestly, are sometimes difficult to distinguish from one another. And to speed things up, we can use fast travel from certain points to others that we have previously visited. But one of the most interesting aspects has to do with the possibility of ending up in a alternate reality (and rather sinister) called Otherworld. This world is inhabited by monsters called Daemons (there are all kinds of them), some beings commanded by the so-called Pactbearers, the main responsible for the mess and whom we must eliminate over the almost countless hours (more than 50 or 60) that it is necessary to invest to reach one of the various endings that the game houses.
In addition to this long duration, it is a work very replayable. And it is that depending on the characters that we decide to accompany us, we will take some different “routes”. For this reason, if you want to make the most of everything that this production offers us, you can now clear your agenda for several weeks.
The main character suffers from amnesia, something quite common in many JRPGs. What will have happened to him?
Phone calls are what allow us to visit the aforementioned Otherworld, a place where it is necessary to face the corresponding battles, including the classic fights against final bosses. These clashes take place in turns and they are quite tactical, being able to carry out numerous actions during them. We enjoy a certain movement capacity determined by the mobility of each character, and their placement (as well as that of the opponents) on the battlefield becomes quite relevant. The problem is that as the adventure progresses, the contests lose freshness, and in some cases they end up being mere formalities.
During fights it is possible to perform special actions which are called Arts and Authorities. The first are more powerful attacks that, as currency, cost us part of our life points. And for its part, the Authorities skills allow us to use magic to enhance our attacks, recover health and other actions in exchange for increasing our character’s madness meter. This curious feature adds more sauce to the game as a whole, since when one of the protagonists (or enemies) goes crazy, he loses control for several turns in which his power is enhanced while attacking like a headless chicken… to , then kiss the canvas. A mechanic that brings personality to the title but that, as happens with the fighting itself, ends up losing grace after hours.
Our main goal is to kill some monsters called Daemons, very numerous creatures.
Monark gameplay is dense and quite slow, especially during the first hoursThere is also room for small puzzles, although more than the puzzles themselves, they are small obstacles that need to be solved from time to time in order to reach a new area of the scenarios. Finding a code, accessing an email account, getting a character to let us pass and other tasks are some examples of this, being necessary research the funds well to find objects or characters that provide us with key information. And in some cases, the solution to these problems are quite complicated to elucidate…
The skills improvement of the characters is tied to a very specific resource, the spirit, which also acts as the currency of the game. As we eliminate demons, we hoard more spirit, which allows us to learn new skills in the corresponding skill tree and, also, boosting the characters’ statistics. In other words, as the protagonists assimilate new actions, they also become more powerful, a rather original touch.
The setting is quite good, although technically it is a very humble title.
The gameplay offered by Monark is dense and quite slow, especially during the first hours, which can be too “heavy” for those who are not used to this type of JRPGs. The design of each of the “dungeons” is not the best I have ever experienced in a title of these characteristics, but the fact of being able to visit them in the order that the player wishes is a point in its favor. The battles are quite tactical and, at first, they become quite entertaining, but in the long run they tire a bit and become repetitive… and quite complicated at times, given that at certain times I have encountered quite pronounced difficulty spikes. But despite not being perfect, it is an enjoyable adventure if you know what it offers and, of course, if you are fluent in English, since as I have already mentioned, a lot of text appears in the game in that language.
To finish and focusing on its technical side, the truth is that there is not much to highlight. We are facing a fairly humble work, and that is especially noticeable in its visual finish. Although its aesthetic line is quite successful and the appearance shown by the monsters is not bad, the feeling that Monark transmits in that sense is that of being in front of a game belonging to past generations of consoles. Textures, polygonal load, special effects, animations and other elements are clearly outdated, although fortunately none of them affect the playable side in the least.
In contrast, the sound is much more elaborate in general, highlighting both the dual dubbing of the voices of the characters (english and japanese) as the soundtrack, which bears the signature of Tsukasa Masuko (Macco).