Lucienne’s Quest is the only Japanese console style role playing game to make it to the 3DO platform in the United States. With the exception of the Sega CD it may well be the only console style role playing to reach the states among the failed consoles that cropped up in the early 90’s (CDI, Jaguar, Virtual Boy, Neo Geo, 3Dfx). It is unfortunately very difficult to find, coming out near the end of the 3DO’s production. Having fond memories of the 3DO from my Junior High days I decided to revisit the system and some of the games that I missed out on the first time around. Lucienne’s Quest was on the top of my list. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------First impressions were not good as the low polygon 3D world looks downright ugly at first. They grew much more tolerable and I even started to think that the battle graphics are pretty good. For those of you that are used to the graphical splendors of modern games, the 2D on 3D graphics make it tough to slog through the first couple of hours. A purely 2D graphic system would have aged much better in my opinion. If you were able to play Dragon Warrior VII though, I think that you could tolerate the graphics just fine. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Gameplay is great; Lucienne’s Quest uses a pseudo-tactical battle system that is easy to get into, yet allows more strategy that your average turn based RPG. You place your characters in one of two rows opposite of the enemy. Characters can hide behind obstacles or other characters. Larger more powerful weapons can destroy obstacles to reach someone hiding behind them. Certain weapons, like bows, can attack characters hidden behind another character or even hurt both the one standing in front and the back, such as a lance. Other weapons hurt characters standing to ether side of the target and so on. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lucienne is the only controllable magic user, but from the outset she is able to use several spells, each at five power levels in increasing magic point cost and effect. Some magic allows variation in damage done to enemies while other magic varies in the size of the effect area. There are also summons that you obtain which allow any character to use magic. These eventually are much less useful than Lucienne’s spells once she becomes more powerful. A few of the summons are quite unique such as a merchant who sells rare, expensive, items and one whom will loan you money.
Each character you obtain has special attacks, such a throwing heavy objects (such as part of the scenery), to creating earthquakes or breathing fire. Each of these has certain points in battle in which they are useful adding to the tactical nature of the game.
All in all one Lucienne’s Quest has of the very best combat systems I’ve seen in a JRPG. From what I’ve heard, similar to the Suikoden series (but I cannot be sure because I have not played those games). Modern JRPGs of the turn based variety would do good to learn from this game (hello developers of Lunar: Dragon Song).
The story of Lucienne’s Quest follows Ago, a man that turns into a Junin (warewolf) at night, attempting to bring the man that inflicted his disease to justice. He runs into Lucienne while seeking a cure from her master who is off on his own travels. Lucienne, a fifteen year old girl, tricks Ago into taking her along on his journey. Several more distinct characters are picked up along the way. After finding out that being a Junin isn’t so bad, the focus of the story changes to tracking down Death Shadow, a being of pure evil.
The story is quite simple and the game is very linear but moves at a good pace. All the characters, while lacking depth, are quite enjoyable and often humorous. Lucienne herself, is always having to be reminded of the task at hand and constantly uses her pouty charm to get her way., while Ago is always trying to keep the others on track and is not always successful.
The game took me 20 hours to complete and with virtually no side quests I don’t feel as though I missed much. However, those that are interested in an enjoyable and light hearted JRPG would be good to find a way to play this game.
Lucienne’s Quest, also known as Sword & Sorcery on the Saturn in Japan, is the only traditional turn-based RPG for the 3DO. The story is simple: A master mage, who lives and teaches magic to a group of youngste... Read Full Review
