[quote name='TronB']I think I remember when it was on sale at Amazon, but at the time I didn't have any other items I wanted to make the order over $39 so shipping would have ruined the deal for me.
I haven't played it yet, but all I know is that it's a dungeon crawler...a genre I don't like too much with the exception of some really great games (P3:FES/P4, etc). But because I'm a huge Pokemon fan I bought the games, and know I would enjoy them. Since you're not a fan though, I doubt they would do much, if anything for you. Reviews for the Mystery Dungeon series aren't the greatest, so take that into consideration as well.[/QUOTE]
My full impressions for the game goes as follows:
They're elementary rogue-likes or to be more precise, Chunsoft's (the developer) Shiren the Wanderer (which btw, is 10 bucks at Walmart if you can find a copy). The story is pretty much throwaway with poor usage of the silent protagonist (your lead character doesn't say anything out loud but you read what they're thinking, which imo defeats the purpose of the silent protagonist).
Like all Shiren games, the dungeons are randomly generated and no two dungeons are the same (the meat and potatoes). However, dungeons can be small and the variations between two dungeons can end up being too similar if you play the game long enough.
The game, unlike Shiren games, is very forgiving not only because you retain your levels, gear and items after you die, but also you can have up to three partners with you which are controlled by AI (with only a few small settings to adjust the AI). You can either have them follow you, thus making your lead monster that much stronger or they can go on their own and start tearing other monsters apart (or another possibility, have themselves torn apart). You can also give direct commands to your allies but it's only on an individual move basis and if they're within view.
All the moves in the game are the same as the mainline games except you can throw stuff, like in Shiren games. Most move effects differ in the game compared to the mainline games where moves that should have a field effect will probably have one (like Earthquake will effect all monsters around the user, Dig only works on dirt while Dive only works on water, etc). All monsters are as customisable as the mainline games, sans breeding but since the game is not designed to be competitive, there's little point.
And while it's a dungeon crawler like Persona 3 or 4, they're not really comparable in that sense. P3/4 eventually has an end to the giant dungeon where PMD after you beat the main game, you have the entire catalogue of mainline monsters to collect as well as more dungeons to unlock (many from trading codes from the other version of the game) and 100 floor dungeons as well as specialised dungeons (like dungeon/s where you're forced to start at level 1 and without any items or allies).
