The king's daughter is seriously ill, and the kingdom is plagued by monsters. The king needs you, the offspring of the brave warrior Mars, to go on a journey and to investigate the matter. During this investigation, you uncover a much more sinister plot and must face the dark forces of the world. "Chaos World" allows you to customize your character by choosing one of the several classes, gender, and statistics (you can allocate available skill points at your wish in the beginning of the game). Up to fourteen characters can join your party, and you can recruit people in adventurer guilds. The game also features a day/night cycle.
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Game Review - originally written by (wraith)
Chaos World is one of those old-school RPG's. You know the one's I'm sure. Tiled maps, crude graphics, menu driven combat, the Dragon Warrior font. If you've been exposed to emulation, you surely must know the genre. And if you were reared under the playstation, you probably hate it. If you were fortunate enough to be among the ‘Nes Generation', then you probably love it.
Chaos World doesn't have Full Motion Video. It doesn't have busty anime chicks. It doesn't have summon spells with cinema that's longer than Braveheart. But you know what? It doesn't need it. Why? Because it's damn fun just the way it is. It does what an RPG should do. It creates a realistic setting, makes you the hero, allows you to interact with setting, and throws random monsters at you while you do so. What more do you need? If you're a PSX kiddie, you'll probably hate this game, because it has no FMV, and leaves you to do a lot of the imagining yourself. If you're from the now-antiquated ‘Nes Generation,’ You'll love it, in all likelihood. (editor's note: this was written 20 years ago, note how they mention the PSX as if it's contemporary) This is 8-bit RPG Gold.
Chaos World is one of those old-school RPG's. You know the one's I'm sure. Tiled maps, crude graphics, menu driven combat, the Dragon Warrior font. If you've been exposed to emulation, you surely must know the genre. And if you were reared under the playstation, you probably hate it. If you were fortunate enough to be among the ‘Nes Generation', then you probably love it.
Chaos World doesn't have Full Motion Video. It doesn't have busty anime chicks. It doesn't have summon spells with cinema that's longer than Braveheart. But you know what? It doesn't need it. Why? Because it's damn fun just the way it is. It does what an RPG should do. It creates a realistic setting, makes you the hero, allows you to interact with setting, and throws random monsters at you while you do so. What more do you need? If you're a PSX kiddie, you'll probably hate this game, because it has no FMV, and leaves you to do a lot of the imagining yourself. If you're from the now-antiquated ‘Nes Generation,’ You'll love it, in all likelihood. (editor's note: this was written 20 years ago, note how they mention the PSX as if it's contemporary) This is 8-bit RPG Gold.
Modern Gamers' Guide to 8-Bit RPGs #5 - Chaos World
I bumped up my rating of Lagrange Point after playing this because, to me, Chaos World is the very definition of mediocrity.
There's very little separating this from the likes of Dragon Quest I or Final Fantasy I. High encounter rate turn-based battles (actually, it's not even really turn based. You press "Fight" and the game auto battles based on your chosen strategy preset), an overworld map that gradually opens up, a few maze-like dungeons . . . Your party is even referred to as the Warriors of Light and the big bad is named Chaos, for crying out loud!
Perhaps the only worthwhile difference to mention is that you have a total of 16 recruitable party members--most of whom will spend the remainder of their days getting plastered in the bar you leave them in. Once you have a party of 4 there's very little reason to change them out. There's a replayability factor thanks to the 8 different classes your party can be comprised of, but the Thief and Shaman classes are woefully lacking in late-game weapons and, let's be honest here, you're unlikely to want to replay this anyways.
My Enjoyment - 4/8 Bits. Chaos World is a mundane RPG that came out 5 years after Dragon Quest I and did little to evolve that game's formula. If fast-forwarding wasn't available to me I highly doubt I would have finished it.
Difficulty - 3/8 Bits. Grind up around a town with a cheap inn every once in awhile and you'll be fine.
Modern Accessibility - 3/8 Bits. Your mileage will vary depending on how much you can stomach random battles that, in this case literally, play themselves. There are also no in-game maps so you'll be relying on memory or shuffling through various maps online.
Final Verdict - Modern gamers need not apply. While I didn't outright hate my time with this game, I didn't really enjoy it either. It's a very safe entry in the JRPG timeline by developer Natsume. I love quite a few of Natsume's later games but this one ain't it chief.
I bumped up my rating of Lagrange Point after playing this because, to me, Chaos World is the very definition of mediocrity.
There's very little separating this from the likes of Dragon Quest I or Final Fantasy I. High encounter rate turn-based battles (actually, it's not even really turn based. You press "Fight" and the game auto battles based on your chosen strategy preset), an overworld map that gradually opens up, a few maze-like dungeons . . . Your party is even referred to as the Warriors of Light and the big bad is named Chaos, for crying out loud!
Perhaps the only worthwhile difference to mention is that you have a total of 16 recruitable party members--most of whom will spend the remainder of their days getting plastered in the bar you leave them in. Once you have a party of 4 there's very little reason to change them out. There's a replayability factor thanks to the 8 different classes your party can be comprised of, but the Thief and Shaman classes are woefully lacking in late-game weapons and, let's be honest here, you're unlikely to want to replay this anyways.
My Enjoyment - 4/8 Bits. Chaos World is a mundane RPG that came out 5 years after Dragon Quest I and did little to evolve that game's formula. If fast-forwarding wasn't available to me I highly doubt I would have finished it.
Difficulty - 3/8 Bits. Grind up around a town with a cheap inn every once in awhile and you'll be fine.
Modern Accessibility - 3/8 Bits. Your mileage will vary depending on how much you can stomach random battles that, in this case literally, play themselves. There are also no in-game maps so you'll be relying on memory or shuffling through various maps online.
Final Verdict - Modern gamers need not apply. While I didn't outright hate my time with this game, I didn't really enjoy it either. It's a very safe entry in the JRPG timeline by developer Natsume. I love quite a few of Natsume's later games but this one ain't it chief.
JRPG released late in the NES' life that has an automated battle system where you can assign a sort of plan to follow but otherwise just watch fights play out. You can have a part of four out of 14 characters with a male and female version of each class where each gender will have some stat differences or be able to use strong mage or priest spells. Classes are fighters, knights, priests, bishops, shamans, wizards, and thieves giving you some varied options though many share the same item types and each spellcasting class and gender is only giving you access to more or less of two spell types. The characters that you don't choose as your main at the start of the game show up in guilds to be recruited later. Guilds can also offer job for certain classes or genders that might give a character some XP or money for completing them or they might be required to advance the plot. Unless you swap in a new character you meet you aren't too likely to go back to someone else as they will be under leveled.
Good character and enemy art and music for the system though not among its best for such a late release. An early game with a day and night cycle, that thankfully does not require a Castlevania 2 load at each change. Plot and town dialogue is fine for the system, but party conversations are left to someone maybe getting a few lines about the current situation when you rest at an inn and a line at recruitment. Very high encounter rate, as was common in a lot of NES and SNES JRPGs but the battles tend to be over faster with this game's style of combat (especially if you use an emulator and hit the button to boost the speed 1000+%), which also makes it faster if you need to grind for a few levels. An item that allows you to choose different towns to warp to saves time spent walking back and forth.
Alternates between being great and terrible at letting you know what you are supposed to do or where you are supposed to go. A few horrible earlier game dungeons that are more like mazes that take you to previous areas with no explanation if you go the wrong way. No item or spell descriptions, as is a problem with a lot of older JRPGs (less of an issue if you look up published guides for spell descriptions or use save states to check what items do).
Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1592272085778563072
Good character and enemy art and music for the system though not among its best for such a late release. An early game with a day and night cycle, that thankfully does not require a Castlevania 2 load at each change. Plot and town dialogue is fine for the system, but party conversations are left to someone maybe getting a few lines about the current situation when you rest at an inn and a line at recruitment. Very high encounter rate, as was common in a lot of NES and SNES JRPGs but the battles tend to be over faster with this game's style of combat (especially if you use an emulator and hit the button to boost the speed 1000+%), which also makes it faster if you need to grind for a few levels. An item that allows you to choose different towns to warp to saves time spent walking back and forth.
Alternates between being great and terrible at letting you know what you are supposed to do or where you are supposed to go. A few horrible earlier game dungeons that are more like mazes that take you to previous areas with no explanation if you go the wrong way. No item or spell descriptions, as is a problem with a lot of older JRPGs (less of an issue if you look up published guides for spell descriptions or use save states to check what items do).
Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1592272085778563072