The Nightmare of Druaga: Fushigino Dungeon

Written by John Scalzo  on April 06, 2005

Review: I got nothing, no witicism, just read the review

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The Nightmare of Druaga: Fushigino Dungeon is a good old fashioned dungeon crawl RPG. Except it's not. Except it is. Based on Tower of Druaga, a popular arcade game from the 80s, The Nightmare of Druaga picks up the story three years later and naturally it involves a kidnapped princess (to-be), a murderous sorceress looking to unleash a dark power across the land, the reappearance of formerly dormant monsters and a heroic prince sporting some very shiny gold armor.

While it won't win any points for an original storyline, the game does have one very original gameplay mechanic: the battle system. Somehow, the battle system is a turn-based action RPG. Now any rational RPGer will be saying to themselves that the definition of an action RPG is one that's not turn-based. But The Nightmare of Druaga uses just such a system and here's how it works. You guide Prince Gil through various dungeons, all of which are set up in a grid pattern. Each step is a turn. Attacking a monster is considered a turn. Using an item is considered a turn. All of these actions and more can then be countered by monsters that literally spawn straight out of the floor. After you attack, a monster can attack. If a monster is surrounded by a red aura, he can move faster than you and can take his turn before you get a chance to attack. If a monster has their back to you, you can get the drop on them with two hits. It looks, and sometimes even feels, like an action RPG. But trust me, the action is very rigidly turn-based. I didn't know it at the time, but I'd later learn this type of RPG is known as a "roguelike".



Now, like many turn-based and action RPGs, multiple monsters will charge Prince Gil at the same time. In a normal turn-based game, a fight like that would be structured so that Prince Gil would still have a chance and the player would have time to think about what their next move should be. In an action RPG, you can just run away. In Nightmare of Druaga, you can't really do either. When you are surrounded by multiple monsters, they all take their turn at the same time. So it's very easy to lose a lot of Hit Points in a hurry because there's no real indicator that your health is low. Your health bar will flash red, but by the time you see it, it's usually too late. It's also impossible to run away because the monsters block every turn. Unlike an action RPG you can't push past the monsters.

This leads in to the sad reality that you will die in Nightmare of Druaga. You will die a lot. And when you die you will lose all of your items and half your gold. And you will die a lot. And it will be nerve-wracking because every time you collect a large cache of weapons and armor or get very deep into a particular dungeon, one monster you've never seen before can take it all away very easily. Because you will die a lot.

And if you're still not convinced that you'll die a lot, the game is littered with hordes of nigh-unkillable enemies that can take you out in one shot. And the first time you will find one is in the game's very first dungeon. It will kill you, a lot.

There is an Inscription system in place in the game that says if you take your weapons and armor to a Priestess and get her to sign the item with the symbol of Ishtar then you will not lose that item when you die. Of course that only works for the inscribed items, and you will still die, a lot.

After all that it's back to the good old fashioned RPG standards. You'll find a key and move deeper and deeper into the dungeon you are exploring. You'll fight slimes and bats and snakes and dark knights, just like you always do. You'll find treasure chests filled with gold, healing potions and more armor than you should be able to carry.

There is also a level grind. Lots of old fashioned RPGs had level grinds. A spot in the game where you just weren't strong enough to continue unless you went around randomly killing monsters and gaining Experience Points. The Nightmare of Druaga has a lot of level grind points. The very beginning of the game for example. You have to level grind as soon as you pick up the controller and realize a princess is missing. You then have to level grind at the beginning of every subsequent dungeon. And then you have to re-level grind everytime you agree to take up a side quest. Because, by agreeing to take up someone's side quest drops you back down to level one. The Prince must prove he is worthy of undertaking this side quest, so naturally let's take away all of the player's hard earned Experience and items and big powerful weaponry. Yeah, that's fair.

The game looks nice and sounds nice, but like any old fashioned RPG, you'll have to read pages and pages of text dialogue. I'm used to it, and actually prefer it in some cases, but lots of people won't be happy with that. But the dungeons each seem to have a slightly unique look to them. And I liked how changing Gil's armor would change his appearance in the game. The music features pretty basic 16-bit RPG standards and the sound effects are your basic footsteps, water drips and sword swings you've been hearing forever. The presentation is just so average that it almost turns into charming. Except, it's still just average.

For RPG junkies, the game has it's fair share of side quests, weapon combining and item combining mini-games to keep them happy. Of course none of it is necessary and the side quests are often just annoying. It's also annoying that before a side quest can begin you have to go through your inventory and, one and one, leave every item with your servant boy. And I really liked the idea of Protection in the game. As the light from the Goddess disappeared in the dungeon, Prince Gil would have to sacrifice an item to bring back the light. But which item do you sacrifice? It was a very interesting way to bring the normally "for show" Gods into an RPG.