I’m not the biggest fan of JRPG’s, I barely play them or have interest in them whatsoever, or have time to play them properly. HOWEVER the moment someone told me about a game where i could put a Testarrosa engine on a AWD, Group C 240z, and race it against a bus and steal their entire frame, i was fully in.
Racing Lagoon was a game released all way back in ‘99 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙮 on Japan (So… we had to wait a LONG time for someone to translate it, thanks to Hilltop for that)
So, what’s Racing Lagoon, to keep it clear, it’s a JRPG with Racing Games elements (A very janky and weird racing game) i won't go on FULL IN DEPTH on what’s the history is about (Trust me, i don’t want to ruin it) but, i’ll keep it simple
- You’re 𝗦𝗵𝗼 𝗔𝗸𝗮𝘀𝗮𝗸𝗶 (or however you want to call the protagonist, it’s up to you), a Street Racing driver, part of the Team Bay Lagoon crew, and on the entire plot, you’ll see some shenanigans through the whole 12 nights the plot is divided, you’ll meet other crews and characters to race and chat with (All narrated with the most janky and weirdly chapped 3D models you could see…), and beat other drivers to level up your car, parts and more.
I want to make emphasis on the “UPGRADING your car” part, cuz that was the key selling point for me, so… Here's the thing, the way you tune your car it’s similar to how you level up your party on a RPG, each night you can go around through all the city (from an aerial and simplified view) to scout around on point of interest to advance the plot, OR to beam your lights to ANY car you see, to challenge it on a one-to-one race (that doesn’t take more than 1 minute sometimes) beat it you win RP and 1 experience point for each MAIN part of your car (Engine, Chassis and Body) and the chance to pick one part of the opponent you have beaten (If you have enough RP - Really, it’s important to farm some RP for the really good and spicy parts) but if you lose, pray if the other driver doesn’t take one of yours
Each time you level up on of you MAIN parts, you can put more parts of your cars, for example, on your Engine you can put Turbos, ECU’s system and all the car nerd stuff that makes the car have more Horsepower, then the Chassis is mostly on how the car handles, the engine position, and the traction of it (If is Front Wheel Drive, All Wheel Drive, if it has the engine on the middle, you get the drill) and you can put Weight Reductions or Ballasts, Tieres, etc. And lastly the Body, basically how the car looks and the downforce of it and some simple cosmetics, and all parts (well… most of them) will have a significant part of how the car weights, fells, drives and all that (This is the impressive part, we’re talking about a 1999 game, and the only racing game from that time that has a decent tuning system it’s Gran Turismo 2, but Racing Lagoon REALLY takes the spot for it) and you can go through the game with some crazy builds, and you don’t even have to know too much about cars to make something decent (Well, i lied a bit here, you might need a 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘵 of basic knowledge of cars if you want something extremely OP and don’t ruin the build in the process)
Now with the physics (And well… it hit or miss) if you played Ridge Racer Type 4 or Rage Racer, you might feel at home, but it’s janky, the game it’s heavily “drift focused” so, sometimes you can take a corner easily OR, you could slam the handbrake and go for a drift and gain a speed light speed boost (idk why, but, it’s cool). if you crash into another car the game pushes you, and if you hit a wall, say goodbye to all your momentum, so now you know why i said it was more of a JRPG with Racing Game elements, rather than a Racing Game with JRPG elements, but i don’t deny it’s quite fun and pretty much friendly to everyone.
And just on a light note, the soundtrack it’s really good, few songs but they’re pretty good
To summarize, you should play it? YES, please, don’t care if you don’t know about cars, it’s a really unique experience (that, let’s be honest, it’s not gonna be for everyone) but for some people who are looking for something different (From the fans of RPG’s or the ones who loves racing games) it’s not a NFS High Stakes, Gran Turismo 2 or Ridge Racer Type 4, but damn it was a good run. Give it a shot if you have a spare 20 hours (People who plays RPG’s tell me this is a short one… so, go ahead)
Racing Lagoon was a game released all way back in ‘99 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙮 on Japan (So… we had to wait a LONG time for someone to translate it, thanks to Hilltop for that)
So, what’s Racing Lagoon, to keep it clear, it’s a JRPG with Racing Games elements (A very janky and weird racing game) i won't go on FULL IN DEPTH on what’s the history is about (Trust me, i don’t want to ruin it) but, i’ll keep it simple
- You’re 𝗦𝗵𝗼 𝗔𝗸𝗮𝘀𝗮𝗸𝗶 (or however you want to call the protagonist, it’s up to you), a Street Racing driver, part of the Team Bay Lagoon crew, and on the entire plot, you’ll see some shenanigans through the whole 12 nights the plot is divided, you’ll meet other crews and characters to race and chat with (All narrated with the most janky and weirdly chapped 3D models you could see…), and beat other drivers to level up your car, parts and more.
I want to make emphasis on the “UPGRADING your car” part, cuz that was the key selling point for me, so… Here's the thing, the way you tune your car it’s similar to how you level up your party on a RPG, each night you can go around through all the city (from an aerial and simplified view) to scout around on point of interest to advance the plot, OR to beam your lights to ANY car you see, to challenge it on a one-to-one race (that doesn’t take more than 1 minute sometimes) beat it you win RP and 1 experience point for each MAIN part of your car (Engine, Chassis and Body) and the chance to pick one part of the opponent you have beaten (If you have enough RP - Really, it’s important to farm some RP for the really good and spicy parts) but if you lose, pray if the other driver doesn’t take one of yours
Each time you level up on of you MAIN parts, you can put more parts of your cars, for example, on your Engine you can put Turbos, ECU’s system and all the car nerd stuff that makes the car have more Horsepower, then the Chassis is mostly on how the car handles, the engine position, and the traction of it (If is Front Wheel Drive, All Wheel Drive, if it has the engine on the middle, you get the drill) and you can put Weight Reductions or Ballasts, Tieres, etc. And lastly the Body, basically how the car looks and the downforce of it and some simple cosmetics, and all parts (well… most of them) will have a significant part of how the car weights, fells, drives and all that (This is the impressive part, we’re talking about a 1999 game, and the only racing game from that time that has a decent tuning system it’s Gran Turismo 2, but Racing Lagoon REALLY takes the spot for it) and you can go through the game with some crazy builds, and you don’t even have to know too much about cars to make something decent (Well, i lied a bit here, you might need a 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘵 of basic knowledge of cars if you want something extremely OP and don’t ruin the build in the process)
Now with the physics (And well… it hit or miss) if you played Ridge Racer Type 4 or Rage Racer, you might feel at home, but it’s janky, the game it’s heavily “drift focused” so, sometimes you can take a corner easily OR, you could slam the handbrake and go for a drift and gain a speed light speed boost (idk why, but, it’s cool). if you crash into another car the game pushes you, and if you hit a wall, say goodbye to all your momentum, so now you know why i said it was more of a JRPG with Racing Game elements, rather than a Racing Game with JRPG elements, but i don’t deny it’s quite fun and pretty much friendly to everyone.
And just on a light note, the soundtrack it’s really good, few songs but they’re pretty good
To summarize, you should play it? YES, please, don’t care if you don’t know about cars, it’s a really unique experience (that, let’s be honest, it’s not gonna be for everyone) but for some people who are looking for something different (From the fans of RPG’s or the ones who loves racing games) it’s not a NFS High Stakes, Gran Turismo 2 or Ridge Racer Type 4, but damn it was a good run. Give it a shot if you have a spare 20 hours (People who plays RPG’s tell me this is a short one… so, go ahead)