Fairytale-like JRPG whose boundless charm makes up for its many small flaws.
+ large and lived-in setting that contains medieval and futuristic regions, countless optional areas with hidden secrets, and even evolves throughout the story
+ genuinely lovable main cast with memorable designs and funny personalities who come and go frequently
+ wonderful pixel art style that shows an insane amount of detail and unique assets everywhere
+ thematically uplifting narrative that sees the protagonist grow up both physically and mentally
+ numerous endearing NPCs who frequently change dialogue and have their own little stories
+ impressive amount of expressive animations everywhere
+ robust inventory and saving mechanics
+ decent cutscenes for all major events
+ enjoyable if unexceptional soundtrack
- rudimentary turn-based combat system with focus on positioning and stats
- random encounters and slow attacks wasting a lot of time (which can be negated by an early spell and emulation speed up, respectively)
- sometimes frustrating progression (hard-to-see doors, confusing map, companions disappearing)
- abrupt changes in plot direction and significantly lower quality in the first part due to the game being a stitched-together version of two full games

PoPoLoCrois is considered a bit of a RPG hidden gem and while I personally might not completely agree with that label after playing it, I do see some very positive things about this somewhat obscure PSP game.

You play as a young prince named Pietro whose mother has fallen into a deep, unwakeable sleep. The journey begins this way but PoPoLoCrois' story is a bit different from the typical RPG.

The main story that starts the game is not the only "main" story that unfolds in this game. Once you figure out the reason behind your mother's sleep, the characters and area are returned in game a few years later with a new conflict popping up around the kingdom.

An over-arcing story does start to emerge as you progress through a few of these stories but the general setup is pretty interesting. Being able to see minor improvements around the cities, like an Inn going through renovations or a forest losing trees as the town chops more down are very minor but very great additions that really make the world and cities feel real and organic. That applies to Pietro and the various party members you'll meet in this game as well, though because of the graphics these changes are fairly minor.

Because of this multi-story format that takes place over the course of multiple years though, the party members you get for each of these chapters will vary. Since the party members you can use aren't just living in the main city of PoPoLoCrois, they won't always be free or aware of the conflict going on. Characters you can control almost always return at some point so you won't really lose anyone forever but it's another minor touch to help introduce new playable characters that changes up strategy in battle, which is needed.

The game's biggest flaw really is its battle system and overall gameplay and because the story and characters are so good, this makes these flaws that much more disappointing.

The actual battling isn't bad on its own, it's just incredibly bland and fairly basic no matter whose in the party. The game uses some turn based things and some tactics things for its battle system. Each character has a meter that charges up, the more agile your character is, the faster it charges. Once that meter charges, that character's turn starts. All battles take place on a grid map though that you have to move around on. So, once your turn begins, you'll have some options in terms of where your character moves, who they attack, or what you setup for them to do.

The biggest downside to this system is because battles just pop up at random, they begin wherever your character was on the map when the battle begins, so you really can't plan that much in advance to help make character movement easier/quicker. So if you have a slower knight that can't move around as fast but is a prominent attacker, you'll be wasting time getting them up to the heat of battle. This extends these bland battles out longer than they probably should be.

On top of that, the random encounters happen way too frequently. It felt like every five-six seconds I was running into another battle. That many battles over and over and over and over of a fairly bland battle system just makes it a chore the more I played, especially if I played over long periods.

Luckily you can run away without issue. Unfortunately, if you decide to run away from any battle, you are punished by having your gold go down. Given the frequency of battles, this can quickly add up. It just adds to the tiresome nature of the battles in this game since it kinda forces you to do it or risk losing out on money for upgrades/items.

Overall, PoPoLoCrois does some really interesting things with its storytelling and has some great characters and world to explore. Unfortunately, it just gets bogged down in some very bland fighting mechanics that pop up far too frequently and take away from the big positives this game possesses. I'd still recommend playing this since the story is so good. It's not too long by RPG standards and maybe the fighting won't bother you as much as it did for me.

La meccanica rpg ovviamente non permette di creare una distinzione particolare da tanti altri titoli del filone, ma lo ricorderò comunque in maniera atipica per la difficoltà non indifferente di diversi boss. Oltre a ciò sottolineo lo stile fiabesco estremamente gradevole e la narrazione che per quanto sia la solita avventura del bene vs male è comunque ben scritta.
Se da una parte comunque enfatizzo la difficoltà di alcuni boss devo allo stesso tempo dire quanto il gioco sia molto basato sul grinding rendendo il gioco a tratti molto pesante. Con l'emulatore questa cosa la senti meno perchè metti il combattimento automatico e velocizzi il tutto ma senza questa meccanica metà del gioco purtroppo rimane rinchiuso in questa dinamica. A ragione di ciò non posso considerarlo un capolavoro, peccato perchè per tutto il resto è memorabile