Luvocious

Review

Luvocious is a RPG game from Syu-Syu where you travel across three different eras, and three different stories.

You start the game as a black puddy cat called Velvet, and from here you go and do the tutorial. Once done with the tutorial, you start in the “Land That Time Forgot.” Defeating the Jerk-O-Lantern will then give you access to three different eras: Modern, Fantasy and Futuristic. Which one you choose to play first is up to you; beating one era will help you to beat the next one. Beating all three eras will unlock a fourth; finish that and you’ve completed the game.

I chose to start on the Fantasy Era first, where you play as Princess Yuki of Castle Almachia.  She is about to get married, which she’s not totally happy about, but it’s her duty to her kingdom. You make your way around the town, searching for anything which may be of use, and talking to the people before you head to the castle. Here you’ll be greeted by your father, friends and your prince-to-be, all wishing you the best on this glorious day.

After a short dialogue you’ll be able to move around the castle, where you’ll come across the king and prince waiting for you by the throne.  After another short dialogue, you take charge of four characters, and are sent on an errand by the king.  Upon your return, you’re greeted by a faceless jester-type, who tells you to go away.  You’ll then go to battle, and afterwards, as you enter the castle, you find everyone dead or dying on the floor, including the king and the prince.  Those who are still breathing say it was Princess Yuki - but why would she do this to her family and friends on her wedding day? Is marriage really so bad that you’d kill to get out of it? (answers on a post card to PO Box - I’m Staying Single)

Now you must leave your home and find a way to reclaim your kingdom, clear your name and get revenge for what has just happened. You travel to Grenda, where you’ll make a couple of new friends who will help you on your quest. You have to become stronger than you are now in order to retake your kingdom, so you head out into the world in search of the four Slime Kings of each element (Fire, Ice, Wind and Lighting), defeat them and collect the elemental stones they have so that you can enter the portal, which will then take you to the Shundra Kingdom. The Shundra kingdom is where your prince-to-be was from, and the two of you getting married was to bring peace between the two warring kingdoms. Now you’re here to take your revenge for all the lives taken from you, and to free your kingdom.

There is all the usual stuff that you find in RPG’s like this, levelling up (which will also unlock new skills for you as you become stronger), and buying better weapons or armour etc to help you through the game. You can also change the camera angles, spinning around, up and down however you’d like, and you can even go in first person mode.  Using these different camera angles will help you find hidden chests, or ways through that you wouldn’t normally notice.

I have played through the Modern Era; you start in your home and after “dropping a bomb” (taking a dump) or two in the toilet and checking everything out, I went outside to be confronted by some unsavoury characters who look like “Agents” from the Matrix.  I was kind of expecting Neo and Morpheus to come to my aid, but I guess I took the blue pill. In this era, you’ll have to go to school, to work as a chef/waiter cooking meals and serving them to customers. There’s also the annual festival which you’ll have to attend, where you have to date three people. To do this you must chat with them and give them gifts; you get one point for each time you do this.  The first one who reaches three points will be your date; I got to date my teacher!

There is also an interdimensional arena where you can combat monsters and creatures, with characters from each of the arenas, talk to the panda for more information.

There are a few options, like BGM/Sound Effects volume, Message Speed, Cursor Position (Remember or Don’t), Reset Defaults. There are no graphics options and the game is played in a small window; using ALT + ENTER will put it in full screen.

A world map might have been helpful, as I was wandering about for a while trying to figure out where to go.  You can’t visit all the towns you come across, which would have been nice had this be so.

Review written by Piston Smashed™ for Zeepond.com!