Whilst Dungeon crawlers have a long tradition, they have become a niche market. They eschew what many would consider necessary elements of a good game, character development and plot, for an experience based on the acquisition of objects and experience.

Engage in a journey through Lloyd's dreams.

Mon-Yu: Defeat Monsters and Gain Strong Weapons and Armor. You May be Defeated, But Don’t Give Up. Become Stronger. I Believe there Will be a Day When The Heroes Defeat The Devil King, is probably the longest game title I have ever come across.

The basic premise is that you and your companions have been called upon by the ruler of the land to rescue treasure, which once kept the peace from a corrupted tower, controlled by the seven Devil Kings. Suit up and ship out, as that’s as far as the plot goes.

The game has three play styles to choose from, which really translates as easy normal and hard, though the choice also determines your level growth caps and map functions. This does not change how your group is rated after each fight, so does not really affect the loot available.

The game starts with you waking up in a tavern, represented by a rather nice static backdrop and a 2D pig, who turns out to be the Master of the Hero Guild. Seems you’ve woken in time to go and meet the queen of the Fae village, Einheim. It is at this point that you get to create your party of heroes.

Engage in a journey through Lloyd's dreams.

The game gives you a great deal of control over the construction of your party of six, from choosing the name of each character, their race and one of eight jobs, which also determines their starting stats. You can also play around with their colour scheme. Once created you can assign them to the front or back line, depending on their roles and strength and whether they will be mostly attacking, defending or healing.

A quick meeting with the queen who reassures you that should you die, she will revive you.

The game then consists of various dungeons filled with demons for you to slay and treasure to loot. You quickly discover that you are pretty much no match for any creature that you find.

Engage in a journey through Lloyd's dreams.

The point of the game is to enter the dungeon, kill a few demons, lose after a few fights, where you did gain some new stuff and some money, only to be returned by the Queen who will reward you for your effort by slightly increasing your HP and XP. This enables you to be a little stronger, last for a little longer before your inevitable death and upgrade from the queen.

The actual dungeons are built on a grid, something I thought was strange for a modern game. This means you can only move in straight line, so if you are slightly perpendicular to a door you must turn move forward turn again towards the door and then move forward again. This aspect of the game I liked the least.

Engage in a journey through Lloyd's dreams.

Winning fights gains you experience and skill points, this is also true of your equipment. If you accumulate enough wealth, you can pop back to the Heroes Guild to see if there is anything worth buying.

The strange thing about my experience is that normally I love this aspect of RPG’s especially when you have your arse kicked by a particularly egregious boss, to go away and farm for a bit only to return and dole out some righteous justice, but this is normally against a background of a story.

Ultimately the game is all grind, which means you repeat many sections many times, only to be strong enough to go to the next level to rinse and repeat the experience.

7

Charles Packer