There’s something magical about childhood creativity, especially when it comes to video games. At the risk of sounding like an old person, children didn’t have nearly as much access to games when I was growing up as I do now. And unless you have someone to teach you, you can forget about learning how do surname. Kids these days have comprehensive YouTube tutorials on coding basics, foundation courses, tutors, mentors – you can name that. It’s a great development and gives kids the tools they need to achieve their creative vision.
But what if you don’t have those?
RPG Time: The Legend of Wright Ask this very question and solve it the way many children have for generations: By using your imagination. In Time RPG, you are the classmate of Kenta, an elementary school student and aspiring game developer. After school, Kenta invites you to play his new home-made RPG: “The Legend of Wright”. His notebook is filled with detailed sketches of imaginary monsters, landscapes, and occasional doodles that all seem to come to life by the power of imagination. You control Wright, the famous hero whose mission is to take him on an epic journey to rescue Lay, the Princess of Light.
It should be pointed out that Time RPG To be Not a role-playing game in the traditional sense. Gameplay-wise, it plays like a point and click adventure game, in the circuit of Monkey island or King’s Quest series. But that’s no reason to write it down. What makes Time RPG unique is its presentation – the game takes place almost entirely inside the pages of Kenta’s notebooks, through animated drawings. In true childlike style, each of these pages is filled with doodles, many of which can be examined to uncover more unique dialogue. There are hidden items, side quests and mini-games. Furthermore, most of this content is also completely optional.
Although optional, this content is the real core of Time RPGcalling. The text completely creates a sense of cute kid-like humor and excitement. You can really tell that every line, every character, and every location is made with love and appreciation for RPGs. Wright can climb down the well a la Dragon Questand enter a room with a top-down view reminiscent of some Legend of Zelda titles. Every character is narrated through Kenta, who wears a hat that resembles the character he plays. Sometimes things can go awry – a storm can cut the power and turn the classroom black – but does Kenta care? No. Like many kids who don’t want to, Kenta will improvise, incorporating elements into the story and adding another layer of immersion to the scene. However, if you don’t like reading text, the game can get a bit “on the rails”.
However, I want to emphasize that Time RPG filled with some of the most ingenious uses of props I’ve ever seen in a video game. In addition to notebooks, the game uses stationery commonly found in Japanese schools. For example, Wright’s sword is a sharpened pencil sharpener that is actually an old-fashioned manual pencil sharpener. The options menu is a tower made of Lego-like bricks. Wright’s health bar is represented by a tape measure that can be stretched and contracted. The props are made of cardboard, attacking enemies leave pencil marks on the page, and consumables are represented by real-life snacks. There are probably dozens of details that I’ve overlooked, and each detail never makes me think “How did they come up with this?”
Furthermore, many of these details may have been lost in the translation. As someone who attended a Japanese elementary school, this is an aspect that worries me about Time RPGlocalization of. However, I can say with confidence that the localization team has managed to translate many of these aspects to near perfection. It’s not just a direct translation; The same level of care and attention to detail is also put into the game’s English fonts, symbols, and wordplay. As a result, even culturally unconventional concepts feel natural and understandable.
Of course, there are a few notable flaws. For one, the control scheme is a bit awkward at times. The player must control Wright with the directional pad, but use the joystick to control the cursor. And while most items can be interacted with using the action button (“A” on the Switch), in test mode you interact with the objects using the right button. This leads to a lot of situations where I would go into test mode, only to accidentally go back because I pressed the “A” button which, for some strange reason, is the one that takes you back to the adventure . Furthermore, Wright was constantly walking at a slow pace. Including a run button would be much appreciated, especially when you consider the large number of things that you can interact with.
Though, RPG Time: The Legend of Wright is a sure and captivating adventure game. It is sure to appeal to point-and-click adventure games as well as JRPG fans. Its relaxed, easy-to-pick nature makes it the perfect game to play with kids or alone. Most of all, it reminds players of the true meaning of outside thinking. If you’ve been daydreaming about entire worlds, scenarios, and characters during class, why not help Kenta do the same?
RPG Time: The Legend of Wright available on Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Xbox one, Xbox Series X | S and PC via Windows. The Steam version will release on September 13, 2022.
