It's a bit of a mess.

It's hard to say how much RPGolf Legends is trying to ape Golf Story. On the surface, I can see why it would seem that way, as you've got a chibi golfer protagonist exploring a pixelated island on a golf-centric adventure, doing wacky sidequests along the way. However, in execution, the two games are different enough that I didn't find myself actively comparing the two while playing, and not just for quality reasons.

RPGolf isn't just a bait title, they go hard on the RPG elements here, but twist them in the most aggravating ways possible. You walk everywhere to explore the overworld, but that even includes walking to your ball after every stroke. When you have a 1v1 golf competition, it's turn-based (obviously), but you also have to watch the NPC slowly meander across the course to their ball, while the screen reminds you to wait your turn before hitting again. There are LOADS of violent wild animals outside of the confines of towns and villages, and beating them up with your driver is a novel enough concept, but there's a cooldown on the use of any healing items (if you get poisoned by the omnipresent snakes and use an antidote, you can't use another antidote or ANY other healing items for 30 seconds) and the combat is wonky enough that I never felt like I could consistently avoid damage. When you die and respawn, you're left with a fraction of a single heart as well, which means you have to find a way to heal up before you try again. There are dungeons, which is pretty cool, but nothing inside them was compelling. The same goes for side quests, which are usually simple fetch quests or "do this thing 5-10 times" checklists, and have insignificant rewards.

But the absolute worst thing that the game does is its magic energy meter. Essentially, every hole in the game has a magical barrier around it, and you need your meter at full charge to unlock a single hole. You recharge this meter by getting par or better on any hole, and then going through a slot machine minigame, trying to land on a 25%, 50%, or 100% recharge of your meter. This forces you to replay the same holes over and over just so you can progress to the next hole. If the minigame always had a shot at 100%, that would be fine, but there were quite a few times where I had to beat a hole 4 times in a row, getting 25% at a time for my magic meter. It makes progression more tedious than anything else, especially since the actual golf mechanics aren't that fun or engaging.

My favorite thing the game does, however, is boss fights. You have a monster on a specific golf hole, and you have to beat it into submission repeatedly so you can finish the hole, as the game only lets you strike the ball when you're out of Battle Mode. It's a fun concept and was the clear highlight.

All in all, RPGolf Legends is an amateurish effort filled with bizarre choices (the same triumphant jingle plays when you get a birdie or a triple bogey) that reminded me more of RPG Maker 2003 games than anything from the past decade. Wouldn't recommend, especially not at the $29.99 asking price.

After nearly two decades, I picked this one up again. Surprisingly, I was impressed by how competent the story mode is as a recap of the Saiyan-Cell Sagas, with a lot more cutscenes than I remembered. The combat is good but not great, and there's a decent amount to get out of the game through the World Tournament mode and unlocking everything, but I didn't have to motivation to do it all 20 years ago, and I sure don't now!

Either way, it's a completely fine DBZ game, and it's a lot better than most of its predecessors from the previous console generation. It's very simple, but I was having enough fun that I finished the story mode and did a handful of World Tournaments. The weird inconsistencies that really irritated me as a 13-year-old (yellow Spirit Bomb and Kamehameha, Cell's voice doesn't change mid-fight when he changes forms, etc.) felt more charming than annoying now, but that's probably because I've played better DBZ games since, and at the time this was the best we had. I wouldn't recommend anyone go out of their way to play this unless they're trying to go through every Dragonball game. It's fine!

Was this game marketed as a VN? It probably should have been.

The illusion of choice strikes again!! This is the most a point-and-click styled game has ever held my hand, to the point where it felt like I had no say in anything that happened. Dordogne is one of those games that happens to you, rather than allowing you to be an active participant. It's not a standard walking simulator, but it's about as interactive as a guided tour of a local museum.

Despite the dull gameplay, it is stunningly beautiful. The way the watercolor-painted textures are mapped to 3D models is often breathtaking, and was the key reason I played the game. The voice performances are quite good as well, but what really surprised me (having come to the game after seeing the reveal trailer, expecting a cozy happy game) was how SAD the game is. The story revolves around a broken family, alternating between glimpses of the protagonist's childhood and their present. And sure, it's about overcoming the issues that have affected the family, but I've been through plenty of those IRL, this is way too stressful for recreation!

Anyhow, this game is beautiful enough that some people will be able to enjoy it for the visuals alone. It does paint a nice picture of a summer in youth spent at a relative's house (Sort of a French Boku no Natsuyasumi without any of the freedom), and that may have enough appeal for people as well. The bottom line is the setting and story's appeal is about as YMMV as it gets, the visuals are stunning, and the gameplay may as well not be there at all.

The most interactive segment was a bizarre minigame about brushing your teeth. Not for me!