The land of monsters is a place for creatures of all shapes and sizes to live separate from the humans, going about their monstery lives in a surprisingly normal way. Humans live in their section of the world, monsters live apart, and the two factions are much better off separated from each other. Except for Yuu, the adorable adopted daughter of the Dragon King. Like everyone everywhere her story began before she was born, the daughter of a great hero who befriended the Dragon King and asked him to raise Yuu when he was wounded beyond recovery. The Dragon King took in Yuu and raised her with love, and as the years passed Yuu trained to become a hero in her own right. She’s still a young girl but filled with energy and good intentions, and has finally reached an age where she can set out on her own to help those who need it.
Or rather, mostly on her own. The Dragon King is a protective father so he shadows along in the background, hiding in the woods and behind the scenes to make sure Yuu comes to no harm. With a pot on her head and stick in hand, Yuu is armed just barely well enough to handle the cute little beasties wandering the forest outside home, beginning her classic RPG rise from ambitious and confident young girl into the hero she knows she’ll become.
The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a classically-styled turn-based RPG adventure told in a cute and utterly charming storybook fashion. The beautiful art is all hand-drawn in with ink outlines and watercolors, bursting with details and always worth stopping the game for a moment to look at. Battles start with a flipping of pages and the cutscenes are narrated in Japanese with a voice worth slowing down and listening to for the tone even if you can’t understand the language. It’s RPG as bedtime story, and that extends to the cutscenes between each chapter as Yuu comes home for the day and her Dragon King father tells a new piece of her great hero father’s history. Each day is a new chapter and new adventure for Yuu, and as the story goes on the tale of her original father and the Dragon King slowly reveals its truths as well.
As for the gaming part of The Cruel King and the Great Hero, it’s basically a My First RPG complete with a tutorial that explains attacking and HP. That’s not to say it doesn’t have some good wrinkles, of course, especially in regards to magic and the way it makes defense an actual viable tactic rather than a sad and lonely command that’s 99.9% useless. Yuu starts off the adventure alone but quickly gains a companion, and from that point on it’s a two-person group doing the fighting with Yuu as a constant and a rotating group of friends. The basic Attack command is always going to be the most used, but special skills that are close enough to magic to make no difference also get a good workout. Every character has a tiny little handful of skill points and gains abilities to take advantage of them as they level up, and it doesn’t take long to realize that they’re meant to be used regularly.
Combat is the standard turn-based affair, where you choose the moves for Yuu and her companion then sit back and watch it play out. After each round both adventurers earn back a single skill point or two if they’re defending. Seeing as skills tend to cost three to four points to use it means they’re always an option, with no need to go all stingy on the magic in case it’s not there when you need it. The total skill point pool per character is low, generally in the single digits, but it refills quickly and that means even minor debuff skills can be worth the turn to cast. A big problem a lot of RPGs have is that they’re loaded with abilities that are nowhere near as effective as simply punching a monster in the face with a pointy chunk of metal, so it’s refreshing to be able to use all the skills for once.
One skill in particular needs a little extra attention, and that’s Yuu’s starting ability of Flame Slash. At the start Yuu simply isn’t as strong as she thinks she is and needs her guardian Dragon King helping out. The Flame Slash has the description “Imbue your sword with the power of fire!” and yeah, that’s technically correct except it’s the Dragon King sending out a burst of flame from his hiding spot in the background of the fight. As Yuu levels up, though, the amount of assistance she needs from the Dragon King lessens and her abilities reflect this, becoming something she can do herself rather than needing help with. It’s a small and subtle detail in her growth, but it speaks to the heart put into the design.
Closing Comments:
The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a pure charmer of an RPG. The playful storybook art and lovely soundtrack strike an adventurous tone, and all the characters from Yuu and the Dragon King down to the random monsters are adorably designed. The RPG action is easy overall so long as you don’t forget about the occasional healing potion, and the only real knock against it is the battles are too frequent for their own good. The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a perfect game to use as an introduction to the RPG genre for the younger crowd, and great for an adult who knows their way around and can enjoy themselves with a story of a kind hero and the Dragon King who loves his adopted daughter.
