Madou Monogatari 1-2-3
A three-chapter first person RPG that chronicles the adventures of the young
apprentice sorceress Arle Nadja with all three chapters made as independent
games but released under a single package. The first game starts as the little
Arle attempts to graduate from her magic school by conquering the evil Satan
tower. The second game jumps forward in time to a 16-year old Arle, now an
accomplished magician, who must escape a dungeon and defeat those that
imprisoned her. The third and final game in the package faces Arle off against
an evil sorceress that aims to avenge the deeds Arle did on Satan tower back
in the first game. She must now escape a dungeon and defeat the evil minotaur
that has been sent to destroy her.
All three games share the same engine and gameplay mechanics, playing as
first-person RPGs in which your main view is composed of a 2.5D view of the
dungeons you are trapped in, and the rest of the interface is used to give
graphic feedback to the player instead of relying on stats and numbers (for
instance, a picture of Arle serves as the means of telling how damaged she is,
and a group of gems that encircle the screen show how closer you are to
advancing a level). Combat is turn-based and involves selecting and casting
spells to obliterate the many baddies in the dungeon. There’s also a fair
amount of puzzle solving and plenty of NPCs to run across in each dungeon, all
being characters from the Puyo Puyo series.
Madou Monogatari 1-2-3