Finished Rhapsody A Musical Adventure at just 9 and a half hours. It's easily the shortest RPG I've ever played in my life. The story is cute and something you would see in a Disney princess movie. Not to mention it's filled with musical scores (as the name implies) it's nothing wow or amazing and the story isn't written super deeply but it's charming and it had a lot of funny dialogue too to keep things lighthearted and entertaining for the most part. Not to mention near the end of the game surprisingly have some really emotional tear-jerking moments. My only real complaint is due to the length of the game and there are only a few songs, it hardly felt like a musical most of the time.
However, the gameplay was just not that enjoyable. Rhapsody supposes to be an SRPG but it's so simple and easy, it just felt like a turn-based game with a grid slapped into it. The game is just so easy it's actually boring to play through. From my experience, I just one-shot all non-bosses most of the time. Not to mention the dungeons aren't good at all. It just basically the same dungeon design but in a different color for nearly all of them and some of them are really confusing to navigate. Not to mention, I just don't like how the game tells you nothing about what to do next but that is just standard for pre-PS2 RPGs. Also, there is a monster collecting element but it just feels like really tackled without much thought, considering you can easily get by the game by just using the same 3 puppets if you wanted to.
Overall, I just think Rhapsody would work better if it was just a 12-episode anime back in 1998. I have no real complaints about the story, it's cutesy, fun, funny, and told the tale it wanted to tell straight through without being convoluted. I just think the gameplay elements are just not really good if I have to be completely honest.
However, the gameplay was just not that enjoyable. Rhapsody supposes to be an SRPG but it's so simple and easy, it just felt like a turn-based game with a grid slapped into it. The game is just so easy it's actually boring to play through. From my experience, I just one-shot all non-bosses most of the time. Not to mention the dungeons aren't good at all. It just basically the same dungeon design but in a different color for nearly all of them and some of them are really confusing to navigate. Not to mention, I just don't like how the game tells you nothing about what to do next but that is just standard for pre-PS2 RPGs. Also, there is a monster collecting element but it just feels like really tackled without much thought, considering you can easily get by the game by just using the same 3 puppets if you wanted to.
Overall, I just think Rhapsody would work better if it was just a 12-episode anime back in 1998. I have no real complaints about the story, it's cutesy, fun, funny, and told the tale it wanted to tell straight through without being convoluted. I just think the gameplay elements are just not really good if I have to be completely honest.