“Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure” Ranks High On the Cheese-O-Meter, But I Still Love It

I saw it at a convention on sale for $30. It looked kinda cute, and since I’m not very good at resisting the urge to buy JRPGs, I went ahead and bought it. It was Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure, a game that stays true to its name. There is indeed lots of music, and it’s also very cheesy. And that’s why I love it.

Rhapsody was originally released for the Sony PlayStation in 2000 (in the US). While the game (and its entire series) has seen much success in Japan, the game hasn’t done so well overseas. This is mostly due to the large number of cutscenes, weak gameplay, and its perception as a “girl’s game.” Despite this, the Nintendo DS remake of the game managed to make its way overseas in 2008. There are notable differences between the two versions, of which I’ll go into more detail later on. Primarily, this review will focus on the PS1 version of the game, which is the version I played.

Rhapsody starts out with the opening number “Someday” and immediately tells you how much cheesiness you should expect from the game:

http://www.youtube.com/v/aylwLmpnCk4&hl=en_US&fs=1&

Wow! It’s like someone took a Disney movie and crammed it into an RPG (and I’m not talking about Kingdom Hearts). For one thing, I must say that Altus did a fantastic job dubbing the songs into English. The PS1 version of Rhapsody offers the option of having the songs in either Japanese or English. When I first started the game, I instinctively set the songs to Japanese because I just assumed that the English versions were downright awful. I was wrong. In fact, I soon switched it back to English and enjoyed the songs much more that way.

The heroine of the story, Cornet, is a young girl whose parents died in a tragic accident when she was very young, and thus she seeks comfort from her grandfather and her puppet friends (yes, she can talk to puppets). Cornet is madly in love with the kingdom’s prince Ferdinand, and she’s decided that she’s going to stalk him do whatever it takes in order to win him over. When Cornet finally gets her big chance, an evil witch shows up and turns the prince to stone! In order to restore Ferdinand to his former beauty, Cornet must collect five magical stones. With the help of her puppet friends and her musical talents, can Cornet save her dear prince?

The story is just about that. It’s the typical “girl in love with prince” story that you’ve heard so many times before. The characters are charming and cute, however, and there are even some very sad moments in the game. The dialogue can be entertaining, and some lines made me laugh quite a bit, such as “Cornet, it’s time to make like a sheep herder and get the flock outta here!” and “You found a mouse, but it won’t help you get through the game.”

There are a variety of great musical numbers throughout the game. From the silly tunes like “Amphibian Paradise” and “Mountainmen’s Song” to the more serious “Let’s Go On” and “True Courage,” all of the songs have a very Disney-esque feel to them. They’re all very “corny” and “cheesy,” but isn’t that what most people love about Disney? The same applies here. It’ll make you feel all “warm and fuzzy inside.” Vocal pieces aside, the game’s instrumental soundtracks are fairly well composed, particularly the battle themes.

The SRPG-style battle system is totally unnecessary for this type of game

Rhapsody is not without its issues, however, and there are many. Gameplay is where Rhapsody falls flat. While I cannot speak for the Nintendo DS remake (which has a different battle system), the battle system used in the original version is tedious and largely unnecessary. Battles are played out like the typical SRPG fashion, as seen in games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Disgaea. Your characters take turns moving across a grid and can only attack within a certain range. The system is very basic and insanely easy, as most battles consist simply of moving your characters up a bit and then attacking the enemy. Most enemies can be downed in one hit, and most enemy attacks against your characters will miss. Later on, you get some magic spells that deal mass damage to all enemies, making battles even easier. While the low difficulty can be refreshing to some, it gets boring fast. A typical battle can be won in 1-2 turns and without any of your characters taking damage. This even applies to some boss battles. As if this all doesn’t make the game easy enough, I will also add that at least one of your characters will gain a level after nearly every battle.

Dungeon design is another huge issue in this game. Nearly all of the dungeons use one of two templates – there’s the “cave template” and the “castle template.” All of the “cave template” dungeons look exactly the same except for some palette-swapping, and the same can be said for the “castle template” dungeons. There is no variety. The dungeons are huge, long, and confusing mazes, and it’s really easy to get lost. Get your pen and paper ready for some map-making, because you’ll need it. I’ve heard that the DS version of the game automatically maps the areas for you, however, so that’s a bit refreshing.

Clocking in at about 10 hours long, the game is very short, and can easily be played through in one day. If you’re bored on a Saturday afternoon with nothing to do and none of your friends are free to hang out, then this game is a good way to waste your time. Despite its immense flaws in gameplay, I would still recommend this game to anyone who likes a charming & heart-warming – albeit cheesy – musical story. If you can sit through that video I posted above without wanting to bang your head on the desk, then this might be a good game for you. Note, however, that the DS version of the game only contains the songs in Japanese. So, if you want the songs in English (which I whole-heartedly recommend), you’ll have to do a little searching and pick up the PS1 original.