In all of the world, few issues are as highly effective as language. We use it to speak all our hopes and fears and inside ideas to one another. Phrases have an influence all their very own, which is why Shujinkou struck me as such an fascinating idea; a JRPG that goals to show gamers the basics of Japanese. Whereas I applaud the ambition behind that lofty aim, the Change port of Rice’s dungeon-crawling-focused RPG held some technical missteps that maintain it from really shining.
Like many JRPG followers who do not converse Japanese, I’ve at all times had an ambition to study. After two years of classes, I may rely myself as conversational; I used to be capable of make my method round Japan on a number of journeys with out embarrassing myself, however couldn’t name myself anyplace close to fluent. Shujinkou doesn’t seem to be it’s going to assist anybody attain fluency — the dearth of voice appearing so you possibly can hear the phrases and symbols you’re studying prevents that — however the intention right here is to hammer residence the fundamentals, and that’s one thing the sport does remarkably nicely.
Fight in Shujinkou centres round Japanese phrases. Creatures pop up at semi-random intervals and assault your social gathering. You’ll be able to battle them along with your swords, however early on, you unlock the facility of Kanakae Orbs, every of which comprises a logo from one in every of two Japanese syllabaries, hiragana and katakana. Every character can equip as much as 5 of those Kanakae Orbs and select one per flip to assault with. If the image you assault with is within the enemy’s identify, you’ll do additional injury.
This can be a enjoyable mechanic, and it’ll assist you to study the names of the animals you come throughout. The primary dungeon, for instance, is full of cats (neko), canines (inu), birds (tori), and demons (oni). Remembering the Japanese phrase for these widespread creatures is important to getting by the numerous battles you’ll face within the sport. The sport additionally throws in some vocabulary within the menu and in dialogue, supplying you with the choice to have a translation of sure phrases as they’re dropped into dialog.
I’ll notice that a few of these translations are much less useful than others. Whereas it’s helpful to know that ‘chizu’ means map, it’s considerably baffling that it provides a translation of ‘shogun’ as merely shogun or ‘daimyo’ as daimyo, with no effort to clarify the English equal of these phrases. It was a small element that struck me as humorous, contemplating how a lot effort went into making the language classes a core a part of the gameplay.
Battles happen in dungeons scattered across the map. Followers of the Etrian Odyssey collection will instantly spot the affect right here. Whereas cities really feel like one thing out of a point-and-click journey like Monkey Island, dungeons swap to a first-person perspective. A map is given and have to be stuffed in as you journey by it, full with one-way passages and doorways. Most monsters seem randomly, with a logo within the decrease proper nook supplying you with a sign of how probably you’re to be attacked as you discover.
These battles might be troublesome sufficient, with some lethal enemies popping out of nowhere, even within the first one, to ship a devastating social gathering wipe, however the true hazard comes from the bigger enemies that roam the map.
In Shujinkou, these are referred to as Yaiuu, however Etrian Odyssey followers will recognise these as reskins of the enduring Subject On Enemies (FOEs) from that collection. They pursue you across the map and are considerably extra highly effective than the usual enemies you run into. While you first encounter them, it is best to keep away from them in any respect prices, although you’ll in all probability wish to grind in every dungeon till you possibly can comfortably take them on. I spent lots of time operating by the dungeon, leaping again to city to heal and improve my tools earlier than setting off to attempt my luck once more.
The fight in Shujinkou is best than the remainder of it, sadly. The characters and surroundings are all flat, standing there doing the mild swaying that I normally affiliate with a Flash sport. The graphics are easy, however they work through the also-simple cutscenes; the place I struggled with them was in navigating by the cities. As a result of every thing is 2D, cities change into awkward to maneuver round in. Making an attempt to recollect the place something is turns into a chore, particularly in areas bigger than the beginning city.
The precise enemies look higher, with an virtually watercolour really feel to them that matches with the world Shujinkou is constructing. Equally, the music could be very Japanese-inspired, with a high-pitched whistle in the beginning of fight that feels straight out of a samurai movie. It’s a little predictable however, once more, it really works throughout the world.
Some small questionable narrative selections — we’re anticipated to imagine that Shu retired as a samurai on the age of 24, for instance — are overshadowed by the distinctive fight system that centres language-learning with out making it really feel like an academic sport.
My greatest complaints from my time with Shujinkou are issues that I count on are solely current within the Change port. The non-combat inputs aren’t intuitive, so I discovered myself opening the social gathering menu after I meant to shut the map continually, and I’d have given something for a fast save characteristic. There are additionally lengthy load instances which might be fortunately rare however nonetheless irritating.
Language is on the coronary heart of Shujinkou, however it’s far more than an academic sport. There’s a stable, distinctive dungeon crawler in right here, which is refreshing contemplating how underrepresented the style has been in recent times. A singular fight system overshadows the fundamental artwork, counterintuitive controls, and irritating city navigation.
Conclusion
You received’t change into fluent in Japanese by enjoying Shujinkou, however it’s going to introduce the fundamentals of each hiragana and katakana to you in a sport that options one of the best bits of the Etrian Odyssey collection in a really intelligent method. The fight system is stable sufficient that not even the counterintuitive menus may maintain me from diving again in for extra.
