Available digitally since last September, Voice of Cards: Beasts of Burden is the third installment of the saga of the same name co-directed by Yoko Tarōauthor of NieR. When it comes to role-playing games, be they Western or Japanese, it’s impossible not to mention the impact their origins as tabletop role-playing games, characterized by paper, pen, dice and a lot of wild imagination, had on the genre. Let’s think about it for a moment: without that now historic monolith that it is Dungeons & Dragonswe would never have had any of the video games that delight us today both in the West and in the East (ko himself FINAL FANTASY original was an 8-bit clone of both the gameplay and atmosphere conceptions of the original D&D, but I digress).
And obviously it certainly cannot be said that video games, in turn, have not come full circle with titles that in turn emulate the rules and atmosphere of tabletop RPGs. Leaving aside the games related to the brands of D&D and the like (the first that come to mind are games like Baldur’s Gate And Vampire: The Masquerade), we also have those games full of irony that try to make the player feel the same fun as when playing with your friends around a table with a GM, dice and intriguing and hilarious situations, especially in the indie scene, such as the brasilianissimo Knights of Pen’n Paper or the very recent and very creative (although decidedly too short) RPG Time! The Legend of Wright.
In this collection of video games that refer to tabletops, we find Voice of Cardsa very curious series of branded JRPGs SQUARE ENIX And supply and conceived by none other than that lovable lunatic named Yoko Tarō and its development team, who we’ve come to love with pearls like Drakengard And NieR. This peculiar series is in fact characterized by a decidedly “table” visual interface, where everything, from dialogues to dungeons to clashes with enemies, is shown through the skilful use of illustrated cards, boards and dice, and by a narrative voice that he will describe each situation as the most classic of dungeon masters. And it is precisely in September 2022 that we see a third chapter of this series come out, that is Beasts of Burden. But let’s proceed in order and keep our dice ready to see what result we will have in our new paper quest.
- Title: Voice of Cards: Beasts of Burden
- Platform: Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC (Steam)
- Analyzed version: Nintendo Switch (EU)
- Genre: RPG, card game
- Players: 1
- Publisher: Alim, SQUARE ENIX
- Developer: SQUARE ENIX
- Tongue: Italian (text), English or Japanese (dubbing)
- Exit date: September 13, 2022
- Availability: digital delivery
- DLCs: packages are available to change the board, background music and graphics of the player’s pawn
- Note: like every chapter in the series, it can easily be played on its own as a self-contained adventure
We reviewed Voice of Cards: Beasts of Burden with a Nintendo Switch code provided to us for free by SQUARE ENIX via PLAION.
Our story begins in a placid cave in the middle of a vast desert, where we meet a young girl with platinum hair, Alpha. This pretty girl is actually the only protector of the small underground community in which she lives together with her mother and the other, very few inhabitants of the village. On her fourteenth birthday, the little girl expresses on her puppet just received as a gift the wish to one day be able to leave her cave and finally see the starry sky. However, her wish ends up being fulfilled in the most tragic way when a swarm of monsters led by a huge black abomination penetrates the cave, breaking through the fences and completely exterminating the small village.
Thirsty for revenge, the girl will launch in pursuit of the abomination outside the cave from which she was born and raised, soon crossing paths with a mysterious boy who, like her, has dedicated his life to his own cause, and who from then on he will accompany her on her adventures both to avenge her village and to see the coveted stars. But how will they achieve this last goal in a hot and unforgiving world where night never falls? And how useful will her new powers that allow her to subjugate monsters and use their deadly attacks in battle? It’s up to the player to find out, letting himself be accompanied by the mysterious voice of the narrator.
How many cards in front of you
First, we need to point out: although the whole game is about using cards, don’t get it into your head that this is a conventional card game where you get different cards to build your deck (at least not in the conventional sense, but we’ll get to that). . It’s more of a classic turn-based RPG with a bird’s eye view, as the JRPG genre has always been from the very beginningwith the only difference that everything is structured through the cards: characters, dungeons, villages, NPCs, monsters, are all represented by their respective illustrated cards, and it’s really fun to move your pawn around the board and see as turn the dungeon cards over, revealing how the hostile game environments are structured.
When wandering outside inhabited settlements, it is possible that special events such as hidden objects or characters and/or clashes with enemies are activated in a completely random way (going to dig up a real relic of the golden years of JRPGs) . In the city, however, the field will be completely visible with lots of visible shops and NPCs to talk to and whose background story you can discover. As already seen in other chapters of the series, in addition to the classic inns, shops, armories and arcades in which to take part in a nice optional card game, we will have an unprecedented novelty of this Beasts of Burden: pet shops where we will be able to buy monsters to equip on our characters to give them additional skills.
“Give me an initiative roll…”
As already specified in the previous paragraph, the clashes will all be strictly random and turn-based, in a way that is now a classic for the JRPG genre. We will have a fixed party of four characters who will join as we progress through the story, each with their own stats and skills that will increase as they level up, and each one who can easily be equipped using the weapons that can be purchased at the armory or found in trunks. In addition to their standard skills, characters will be able to summon monsters obtained both from pet shops and obtainable as battle rewards to unleash further bonus abilities, from healing to physical buffs to real special attacks that ignore the defense parameter of enemies. It will be very important, in order to emerge victorious from the clashes, to keep in mind both the defense value and the elemental capabilities of one’s opponents, in order to do as much harm as possible in the shortest possible time. If necessary, we will also be able to use the precious object cards that will allow us to launch wound healers, antidotes, or special elemental devices to hurl at enemies.
However, there are a couple of things to say that could make people turn up their noses: the first is the total randomness of the rewards obtained after each battle, with the player only having the choice of one of three chests with no way of knowing if they will find gold, potions or a precious monster inside to add to their collection. The second is the overall ease of the title, which once fully understood will never give who knows what an exaggerated challenge to complete.
The Heart of Cards
As for the technical part, Beasts of Burden does not detach itself in the least from the canons imposed by the very first chapter of Voice of Cards, and that’s good because the series has its own simplistic yet artistic distinct edge that makes it a real pleasure to play. As with a visual novel, the lion’s share is played by the visual sector, thanks to the splendid designs of each individual card, whether these are the party members, the NPCs or the various creatures that populate the game world. Even the music is very atmospheric and suitable for a campaign feel of a paper RPG, even if a few more themes would certainly not have hurt… just as it would not have hurt, perhaps, if the narrator’s only almost monotonous narrating voice varied a bit ‘ more in tone, given that it often clashes with the ironic situations and dialogues that are narrated, would have made the idea of a campaign narrated by a dungeon master even more.
Who do we recommend Voice of Cards: Beasts of Burden to?
As already seen for the other two chapters of the series, this game will surely delight both tabletop RPG and more classic JRPG lovers, and if you are (like the writer) fans of both, then you should definitely take it into consideration, since the overall low price and the fact that it can easily be played on its own. Furthermore, it will also delight fans of the other titles by Yoko Taro, not only for the general atmosphere, but also (and this is something completely new compared to the other games in the series!) for small hooks to the universes of Drakengard And NieR. The only reasons why it might not be of interest would be if you weren’t used to turn-based titles or those with lots of text and where the action isn’t meticulously shown, but if that were the case, I really don’t know what to tell you: it’s certainly not the game itself. be shoddy.
- Great blend of classic JRPG and board game
- Gorgeous artistic sector
- Well written and full of irony
- Rewards rely too much on luck
- A little too short
- You will have to tolerate a high number of random encounters
Voice of Cards: Beasts of Burden
A third trump card
The whole series of Voice of Cardswas an incredibly pleasant surprise, and this third title, Beasts of Burden, looks good compared to the others, indeed. Thanks to its setting, the mechanics of using monsters and her characters, it manages to hold up as well as the other two, as well as giving us some nice winks at the now ever-widening universe born of that genius of Yoko Taro. It won’t be very long, and his relying heavily on luck for rewards might lead to some irritation, but then since when don’t tabletop RPGs rely heavily on luck? Absolutely to try, along with the rest of the trilogy.
#Voice #Cards #Beasts #Burden #Review