Review: Mimana Iyar Chronicles (PSP)

Mimana Iyar Chronicles is a JRPG for the Playstation Portable that was developed by Kogado Studio and Premium agency. The North American version was released by Aksys Games on March 30, 2010.

The story of Mimana Iyar Chronicles is a generic one. The main character, Crais Sewell, is hired by a girl named Sophie Rothorn to help collect seven magical gems. These gems are necessary to gain entrance to the Temple of Water where great power resides. The two of them are soon joined by a very curious sorceress, a glaive toting warrior, and a talented magic shop owner. Of course, there is also the evil wizard and his emotionless homunculus that intermittently pops up to ruin your day.

The battle system in Mimana Iyar Chronicles is very similar to the one used by the Tales of series. You control the main character and hack and slash your enemies while casting the occasional heal spell. The three other party members that join you in battle are controlled by AI. You can manage their actions by setting how often they should attack, use offensive magic, or use healing spells. Overall, the battle system works, but ends up being very bland and repetitive. None of the spells are very exciting, and the main character only gets about 2 skills you actually want to use (neither of which are fun or cool to look at).

Unlike recent Tales of titles, the game employs random encounters with no monsters shown on the map. The encounter rate is quite reasonable, but you end up fighting a countless number of enemies anyway. This is because every single dungeon that you go to is like a maze. There are multiple paths and dead ends in each dungeon, and you often find yourself getting lost if you just run around and explore. By the time you get to the end of a dungeon, you'll have fought the same boring enemies a million times. This makes it very likely for you to be over-leveled when you fight the boss. The bosses tend to be plain and unimaginative to begin with and being overpowered doesn't make the battle any more exciting.

I told you the enemies are boring...

Yes, this game recolors monster sprites and isn't afraid to admit it.

The battle system, bosses, and dungeons leave much to be desired, but Mimana Iyar Chronicles does have some redeeming qualities. The voice acting for every character is quite well done and even minor characters are voiced during important story sequences. For some of the most important scenes, the game will show an animated cutscene. These scenes add to the overall gaming experience and allow the player to see the anime-version of each of the main characters. On that note, it is a bit strange that the characters in the anime scenes do not look exactly like their in-game character portraits.

Please, dark knight! Make this game more interesting.

These two are the same guy?

So, the voice acting is quite good and the anime scenes make the game more interesting. Unfortunately, the dialogue itself is quite boring.  Like with many other JRPGs, you'll find yourself skipping through most of the dialogue. Luckily, pressing "square" at any point in the game will bring up a small dialogue between the characters that reminds you what you're doing and where you should be going next.

Even the writers admit it. They're lazy.

Mimana Iyar Chronicles does have one more redeeming quality that I should mention - sidequests. Now, if sidequests are a redeeming quality, you know the game isn't too good. Regardless, the sidequests in Mimana Iyar do add depth to the game because they help determine which ending you get. The game's ending will slightly change depending on which girl's sidequests you fully complete and who you decide to visit during your nights at the inn (no, nothing interesting happens). The dating simulation element of Mimana Iyar Chronicle is quite underwhelming. Once in a while, the game prompts you to choose who you want to talk to or hang out with. A lot of times, these encounters with your female companions end with you hurting their feelings because Crais is a jerk. Oh, did I not mention that Crais is a total jerk? He is. Throughout the entire game. No, it doesn't really get better towards the end.

Anything good that Mimana Iyar Chronicles has to offer has to do with its visual appeal and character voices. The cover of the game promises a JRPG with cute anime chicks. It does not promise a good story, fun gameplay, or interesting dialogue. Mimana Iyar don't tell no lies.

Overview:

Score: 4 out of 10 - Bad

Console: PSP  Released: 03/30/2010

Game Length: Less than 20 Hours.

Rating: T for alcohol references, language, mild blood, mild fantasy violence, and sexual themes.

Pros:

+Pretty character design.

+Good voice acting.

+Multiple possible endings.

Cons:

-Very generic story.

-Monotonous battles with boring enemies.

-Plain dungeons that are hard to navigate.

-Bland dialogue throughout.

-Main character is a jerk.

How much I would be willing to pay for this game: $10