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It's no secret that the PSP has a serious lacking of quality RPGs. From the utterly disappointing Blade Dancer to the underwhelming U.S. debut of Popolocrois, fans looking for a good RPG on the go have been forced to look to either the DS or Nintendo's aging GBA. Like its predecessor, The Legend of Heroes II has done nothing to quell this trend. Held back by its own ambitions to be old-school and traditional, The Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch conforms to almost every RPG convention.
That doesn't mean that it's impossible to enjoying yourself with the game. It's a fairly safe, standard RPG romp reminiscent of the GBA's Golden Sun, and if you're absolutely starved for a mobile RPG, you might have a good time romping through the world's top-down environments. The game takes every possible Japanese RPG convention and rolls it into one, which isn't necessarily a bad thing (see: Dragon Quest VIII). However, nothing really shines as a result. The gameplay is hours upon hours of dullness sprinkled in with moments of true fun, and the top-down perspective impedes any sense of true adventure and wonder.
All is not lost, however. The graphics, while not necessarily extraordinary, look fantastic on the PSP's screen. Nothing appears stretched or outright awful (this was designed solely for the PSP, after all), and the characters and environments look sharp and colorful. Ghosting is almost a non-issue, unlike other PSP RPG fare (Valkyrie Profile, I'm looking at you), and the anime-styled art looks great as well. It still must be said again that the top-down perspective really limits this game's ability to showcase the PSP's graphical prowess. The music, on the other hand, does not fair as well as the visuals. It may occasionally feign greatness, but it'll mostly just make you want to chop your ears off. Like the storyline and the characters, it's standard RPG fare at its worst. I guess it's just a function of everything else being sub-par as a result of the game's traditional RPG trappings.
Thankfully, the developers didn't take this game for what it wasn't -- an epic console RPG. That being said, nearly every aspect of this game was created with the PSP in mind. You can save at almost any time, making the game especially portable friendly, and almost everything is decidedly simplistic. Also, in a move that is sure to please any gamer who has experienced bad RPG voice acting, Legend of Heroes II has none. Awesome.
While fairly lengthy and a good value, The Legend of Heroes II is just too uninspired to warrant a purchase. If you're in the hunt for a good PSP RPG, invest in a copy of Square's Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, or even import the U.K. version of Tales of Eternia for the same price. Although they're both PSone ports, they both provide more bang for your buck in addition to great, original gameplay.
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