Provides some fun and entertainment, but Ragnarok DS is not for every fan of the online version of Ragnarok.
The story of Ales starts out with his mother passing away. After his father disappeared long ago, his mother was forced to work harder than ever to look after herself as well as her son, Ales. As a result, Ales' mother passed away and he had developed a resentment towards his father for apparently abandoning them when he was young, eventually causing his mother's death. Ales decides to become an adventurer and create his own guild to prove to his father what a real adventurer and a real man should be doing with his life, not abandoning his family and friends to help others all the time. In the beginning Ales meets a young girl named Sierra who can't remember where she came from, why she's there, or what she was doing before she woke up. Ales allows Sierra to join him and become an adventurer with him, but claims it's for the reason that she's useful.
Along the way Ales and Sierra meet new friends, Lucifi, Viselc, and Lisir. Each have their different professions and each character has their own personality -- you'll soon learn and realize which characters you like most and which ones you can become annoyed with (or find useless). As you travel with your new companions, meeting each one as you progress further into the story, you uncover more information about Sierra and each character. Who is Sierra really and how did she end up where Ales was to begin with? You'll have to play to find out.
Ragnarok DS is often looked down upon for the things that it's not, instead of being appreciated for the things that it actually is. While Ragnarok DS is by no means a full-on copy of the original online MMORPG, it's still a bit of fun and it's something to do when you don't feel like delving into RPG's with heavier storylines that require you to play for many hours. While Ragnarok DS has it's differences from the online original, it should not be given a thumbs down simply because of that. If you're willing to look past the faults and enjoy the game, you will find it is quite enjoyable.
In terms of gameplay and how your actions are executed, everything is done with the stylus. There are VERY few commands within the game that make use of the directional pad, and the X, Y, A, and B buttons. While you're able to move your character around in a map using the directional pad, the X, Y, A, and B buttons are reserved only for quick access to specific menus. When setting up shortcuts for your character, equipping new gear and improving stats/skills you will be forced to use the stylus on the touchscreen. While this may seem tedious, response time is actually very fast and you won't spend very long in each screen or menu, which is an added plus to a game that is mainly stylus-oriented. The only downside to this however is that you will have to double tap on some items in menus, to either sell them, buy them, or just plain select where you want to go in town. Which brings me to my next part:
Towns are not explored, you can not walk through them and talk to different townspeople. You are given a menu and each menu item must be double-tapped in order to have it go through. While this isn't too much of an issue, it does mean tapping the screen more to get to where you want to go or which shop you want to enter. When it comes to shopping you will be able to walk up to the counter and talk to the salesperson, but then it's back to the menu situation. A downside to shopping for items in Ragnarok DS is that for items you equip, which include arrows, you're only able to buy them ONE at a time. Now this seems like a silly thing to do when you go into the item shops and you're given the option of buying a maximum of 20 of each item (potions and status healers) without having to constantly buy one of the same item over and over again. But if you don't mind and you aren't doing a lot of gear shopping, the whole one at a time ordeal doesn't seem like such a huge fault.
Making money in Ragnarok DS is fairly easy. You can make cash by completing sidequests and also by selling off 'tokens' from monsters, which are essentially the etc. drops you get from an enemy when it's defeated. Depending on what type of token it is, it can sell for a lot or a little, but you'll have to watch and make sure you don't sell the wrong ones because certain sidequests require you gather such tokens up and turn them into clients. Speaking of clients -- you can only have ONE active quest (does not include the current scenario quest you're working on) going on at a time. This seems tedious and nearly doubles the amount of times you may have to travel to a particular map to collect items. This could have been something the creators could have easily fixed in my opinion, but they didn't, which can make sidequesting seem almost too tedious to do. Speaking of travel -- you'll be doing a LOT of walking in Ragnarok DS if you don't invest in Fly Wings and Butterfly Wings (the first warps you out of a dungeon and the second warps you to any town you've visited once out of a dungeon).
Traveling should be interesting and fun in Ragnarok but sadly there isn't much fun or variety to be found once you've traversed the same map a good 5-10 times trying to make it to a dungeon or to get to a town, and Fly Wings/Butterfly Wings are NOT cheap in-game so you may not always have the opportunity to use one when you feel like it. Also, some maps seem like they shouldn't be so long, regardless whether they're trying to copy off the actual game or not. Another downside to traveling in this game is the fact that you are NOT given maps for each new area you enter. This not only adds to your frustration as it is a pain to sometimes navigate maps as it is, you really don't need the hassle of searching for ONE treasure chest containing a map of the area when some chests are not even near the entrance of a new area. Sure, this adds to the whole "explore new areas" idea but it also annoys you when you're simply trying to avoid enemies and get through.
Moving on to leveling and the job system. Ragnarok DS includes all the jobs that the original game has EXCEPT for the inclusion of 2-3 jobs. By 2-3 jobs I mean, if you're a magician and you're at job level 30 and are ready to advance to wizard, you will NOT be advancing to any other class. This seems silly and also takes away from the game as well. To "make up" for this they allow you to perform a 'Limit Break' once you hit job level 30 or higher while being a wizard or any other 2-2 job. This returns you to a level 1 novice but it also gives you the bonus of having stat points, the number depending on how high your base level is when you perform the Limit Break. Another thing to note is the exclusion of the bard and dancer classes. Normally you may advance to a hunter or something else when you reach job level 30 as an archer, but they don't allow that in this version, which is also another letdown. Another thing they did to "make up" for this was to include 2 new classes: Dark Knight and Shaman. You might be thinking "yay!" but you have to complete the game at least once before you are allowed access to these classes.. And being a Shaman may sound fun but Sierra (a main character) is already one, so it defeats the purpose of becoming one in a way. Also note that there is NO Super Novice or Gunslinger class, either.
However, the job system and level system remains the same. Leveling is quite easy and you won't be grinding very much unless you absolutely refuse to move onto a new area which may contain higher leveled enemies with more EXP to be had. Skills and items may be placed in a "shortcut bar" in the upper right side of the lower DS window, which gives you access to the skills you want to use as well as any extra items you may need to use in a pinch, such as potions. This was actually one of the nice things about the gameplay, and the added bonus that you get 3 "shortcut bars" instead of just one, so you have PLENTY of room to place your skills. Attacking and fleeing is pretty easy as well and you will rarely ever find yourself dying to an enemy or boss unless you aren't properly leveled up (which, even if you die to a boss you just go back to town, your game is not reverted to your save file in case you hadn't saved in a long time). Another thing to keep in mind, which I forgot to mention at the beginning was the game is progressed through SCENARIO QUESTS. These are just like sidequests except they are related to the main storyline, and aren't hard to figure out.
In the end, yes, Ragnarok DS is still a pretty decent game and it offers fun for those fans of Ragnarok who love the graphics and the job/skill system within the online game. If you're interested in this game, or you're already a fan of the online game, please, PLEASE keep this in mind: Ragnarok DS is NOT an exact copy of the online MMORPG! So many people go into this game thinking it's going to be exactly like the online game and it is not. Obviously because it's a handheld console version, certain aspects and elements of the online game have to be modified so they work well with the DS and are able to incorporate the stylus controls, not just button controls. If you don't like that, I can't say I suggest this game for you since you will end up disliking it for not being like the online game. If you don't care and are able to appreciate Ragnarok DS for what it is, not what it isn't, then you will most likely enjoy it to some extent.
The final word on this game: Buy it if you're a huge fan of Ragnarok's graphics and job/skill system. If you're not, and are looking for a handheld, exact-copy of the online game, then I don't buy it. You will only end up disappointed and wishing the game was more worth your money.