@Play 69: Review of Shiren the Wanderer for the Wii

@Play 69

The Wii entry in the Shiren series is a game I really wanted to like, but ultimately it tries to hedge its bets too much with lame JRPG-isms. There were times when I was actually shouting at the screen for the cutscene to end. And we're not talking about cinematic Final Fantasy cutscenes, we're talking about those in which 3D models move artificially around their little stage and have an obnoxious little drama. In 2D it was possible to get away with this, but in 3D it hasn't aged well.

Some of the awesome gameplay from past entries in the series is back, but most reports say that the game doesn't really pick up until you've finished the main quest. 24 hours of play time into it, and I'm still not there.

Shiren for Wii Initial Impressions

I'm going to save a full review for the @Play article but so far after three and a half hours....

It's rather easy. I completed the trainer dungeon and the first four "real" dungeons and have yet to die. Maybe I'm playing extra carefully because I'm used to the SNES and DS games, but I have had relatively little difficulty so far. My ally got knocked down to 2 hit points in a boss fight once, but I had plenty of healing herbs by that point. And Recovery Staves, which heal for about 30 damage, are extremely common in the early game, although they have the drawback that you can't use one on yourself, you must hit an ally with it.

Hopefully the challenge will kick in soon, but the whole reason I gave up on Pokemon Rescue Team was that it was dreadfully boring in the early game. At least I know that building up a character isn't required up to this point; I have entered no dungeon more than the first time I entered it, and I haven't used the grind "portal" dungeon for item enhancement at all.

Shiren the Wanderer for Wii is out!

It is, and I have ordered my copy off of Amazon. I'm planning to write a review of this as an extra @Play this month, so keep an eye out for it!