“Mimana Iyar Chronicle” is an action JRPG developed by GungHo (Lunar Silver Star Harmony, Ragnarok DS, and Heroes Saga) and localized by Aksys Games (Blazblue, Guilty Gear, and Record of the Agarest War) released on the PSP.
“Mimana Iyar Chronicle” stars Crais, a hot headed sword for hire. Crais has a horrible temper and hates to be called names or look down upon and seems more like an anti-hero as the story begins. He receives a job while gambling, and instantly loses his down payment only after realizing he was cheated. Crais is already stuck has to take the job given to him and meets Sophie. Immediately Crais shows Sophie his discontent with working with her because Crais hates kids. Crais still has no choice but to follow Sophie’s orders or face the wrath of the guild. Already taking the retainer fee so Crais begins taking Sophie to area’s she requests, fighting off monsters, and reaching rock monuments that contain crystals Sophie is collecting but won’t reveal to Crais why. As the quest continues Crais and Sophie are joined by: Melrose, a weird and quirky mage who wants to cut open anything and everything that intrigues her, Patty, Crais’ cousin he hasn’t seen in years, and Tinon, a warrior who Crais accidently stumbled upon when she was taking a bath in a lake and she then decides to marry Crais because she thinks she has been violated.
Each character has their own personality that grows as the game progresses, but mainly focuses on Crais and why he is such a jerk who blows up on his teammates at any given time. Crais finally confronts his past demons which eventually have him grow more mature.
The battle system is a nice change of pace from most PSP RPG games; the game is an action RPG where you control Crais who can move around the screen to attack an opponent(s) while protecting his team. It consists of a team of 4 (out of 6 characters) you can customize and give orders to keep the assault on your opponents. For the most part the game is reminiscent of a Tales of fighting style attacking with the X button and casting spells via menu or quick select you customize on the control pad. When attacking with Crais timing is very important as you will constantly miss attacks a lot, even when right in front of an enemy but with the right timing Crais shines gold which is similar to a 100% critical attack which creates a 3 hit combo.
“Mimana Iyar Chronicle” seems to borrow a lot of traits from other RPGS, Tales of Fighting style, Sophie is like Luna from Lunar as she heals and sings to cast spells. I can go on but it seems to take some great aspects but lacks when it comes to play time. The game lasts roughly 15 hours, including the 2 incredibly tough dungeons I got lost in and frustrated with constantly. Once the game is complete you have the option to start a new game with the new game + option like most RPGs. It rewards you with extra item and codes to play the game through, and character’s side quests are available during New Game + which add a few more hours of game play, but overall the game is very easy only giving you trouble at the beginning and against a very cheap final boss.
The game has quite a few faults but has a great story, and voice acting (Johnny Yong Bosch plays as Crais, Yuri Lowenthall appears as a rival of Crais early on in the game, and a few others you should be able to recognize of you are an anime fan) but the lack of hours only leads in to more questions as the game finishes as note leading into a possible sequel. At $39.99, the price is a bit much for such a great game, it’s a game anime fans should all collect but for a 15 some hr game it feels lacking.
B
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