Customer Reviews

Dokapon Kingdom

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is my first review so bear with me...

Objective
I have been playing this game for several weeks now and I find it incredibly fun. You start off playing the game by choosing your gender then choosing one of the three starting job classes; warrior, thief, or mage. Then you begin to progress through the story line, fighting monsters and players, rescuing towns, and performing random tasks for the king. The whole point of the game is to have the highest net worth by the end of it, which is a combination of the amount of towns you control, you end amount of pocket change, and how much the king gives you for giving him gifts. It's a fairly simple idea for a party game, and it is very similar to Mario Party's collection of stars in order to determine a winner. At the end of a week, seven rounds of turns, it gives a summary of who is winning, so there is no guess work to see how you are standing up to the competition.

Game play
The biggest part of this game is the fighting. You can fight monster, bosses and even players if you land on their space. The fights are tremendously fun and are simple of enough to pick up immediately yet have enough depth in order to not become boring as the game progresses. This game also displays both characters stats right next to each other so complete disclosure is possible. This helps the player to try and predict their opponent's reaction, as well as to find their greatest weakness.

Audio/Visual
Nothing spectacular, all of it pretty forgettable. The models aren't the greatest; the sound is tolerable but definitely not inspiring. For me, the thing that sold me was the game play, a combination of rpg/party action.

To sum it all up, this game is really fun if you like rpgs and party games. Another person who reviewed this game complained that nothing was random and that it was all mapped out. However, unless you are trying to cheat by restarting enough times so that you can get your intended result, then this fact will have bearing on you whatsoever. The only other thing that I should mention is that this game is better played with other people (I think that this is true with most games :-)). There is no deep story line to speak of and the computer can be hard, but when you beat you friend in a fight and take all their money, it can be very satisfying.

Dokapon Kingdom can best be described as a Mario Party/RPG hybrid. The idea itself is quite interesting and even has some good execution. There are only a couple of things that really hamper Dokapon Kingdom in the long run. It's not a game that will appeal to a lot of people, however. For those who enjoy RPGs, though, they might very well be taken in by the games initial charm.

It combines the best of what it can with RPG elements. You begin by selecting classes (you begin with a Magician, Thief and Warrior but more classes can be unlocked later on), naming your characters etc. Once this is all done, you begin on a game board. Much like Mario Party, you take turns. Each turn begins with a character spinning the spinner and then moving the number of spaces that it lands on. The map is pretty big, though, and you're allowed to choose where you go. It won't move you across automatically.

Dokapon Kingdom is a pretty complex game, however. On the boards you'll notice several things. The first is that you can land on item bags and spell books, which will bring up another wheel that spins and lands on a specific item or spell for you to use in combat. You'll also notice that throughout the game there are several towns that have been taken over by monsters that you'll have to vanquish. And this is ultimately what the main goal of the game is. To rescue towns and in turn, save them. Each town has worth, which can be invested in throughout the game. The more towns you save, the more your net worth is. The goal is to end with as much net worth as you can.

Of course, that's easier said than done. Especially when playing with friends. You'll rescue towns, but friends can take your towns, along with the value. Likewise, you'll be in for a long game. A very long game.

Combat is simple to pick up on, and yet can be strangely addictive. Whenever you land on certain spaces, you'll be thrust into a battle. In each battle, you'll be put on two different fronts, both with different options. When on offense you can choose different ways to strike your opponent. Attacking normally, using special abilities or performing powerful strikes. When defending, you can either opt to defend or counter. The game works out like Rock, Paper, Scissors. There is an upside and downside. For example, while Strike is a very powerful command, if the opponent selects counter it will fail. So Counter beats strike. Defend will lower damage from normal attacks. When someone uses magic, M Guard is the way to go. And in the process, you'll be kept guessing in many cases.

As you might expect, if two players land on the same blank space, they'll battle each other. The victor has the option of robbing a character of items and equipment (or even taking towns), inflicting statuses or even just playing pranks (such as changing names or drawing graffiti on them).

Of course, at the heart of it, it's still an RPG, and there are many RPG elements. Such as leveling up. You can increase class levels to unlock more classes, and you'll also have to worry about your level. This is especially important when saving towns. But beyond that, there are also plenty of shops for you to go to. Even the shops have their own charm, however. When going to a shop, you do have a chance of robbing it. It's not exactly attacking the shop keeper, however. Instead you'll end up playing a game of Roshambo (Rock-Paper-Scissors). If you win you'll get some spoils. Lose, however, and you'll be wanted, with a bounty on your head as well (given to whoever defeats you). It's actually quite unique and fun.

There is a bit more, however. From time to time when landing on spaces you might run into other types of events. For example, you might find a girl who wants you to deliver a certain item to a specific town, or a bandit who will gladly rob the other players provided you pay him. Of course, not everything works out for you. You might run into characters who will give you items with negative consequences or characters who will take more of your gold from you (and you can fall into debt). It's interesting, and there's actually quite a bit of variety.

In real RPG fashion, it probably also comes as no shock to find out that the game can last for hours. You'll find yourself having to level up a lot and save many towns to progress through the story. Much of it seems left up to chance, but even more of it is dependent upon who you're playing with. There's a joke about Dokapon Kingdom that it is "friendship destroying," and in some ways you might find yourself wanting to "destroy" your friends in combat when they take your towns, or rob you of a precious piece of a equipment that you need so desperately (or your money). The main story will take several hours.

This brings about Dokapon Kingdom's big problem. The fact that the story is pretty long for a game like this. It's a fantastic idea, but after a while, especially when you start dying and having to wait turns to be revived, you might find that it can become really repetitive after playing for a while. It's fun, that's for sure, but just the same, it will also become very tedious after a few hours of going at it. Luckily, you can save your game whenever you want. But just the same, you'll die a lot. Either by monsters or friends. And gameplay can become really stale after a while.

Visually, the game has charm, but it's not really an eye opening game. It isn't bad looking by any means. Just rather plain and simple. Artistically it isn't so bad. It's definitely got a look and feel about it that works great. The music, while not so bad, will become repetitive after a while as well. Yet some of the tunes, for what they're worth, are quite fun to listen to. The soundtrack just needed to be a bit bigger for how long the game can last.

Up to four players can play, and they can all even play off the same Wii Remote if need be. You'll hold it like a control pad. So no, there are no motion sensor controls within the game. You can also use a Gamecube controller if you've got one. In short, it doesn't really take advantage of the Wii capabilities (if you got a hold of the PS2 version you're not getting much of a different game). At the very least, however, it's fun.

You'll need to pace yourself when playing through the game with friends. It can be repetitive at times, but being able to break and save whenever you want is a pretty helpful thing when it comes to Dokapon Kingdom. RPG fans might like quite a bit, but it probably won't appeal to anyone outside of that core audience. Nevertheless, if you do fall into that audience, the game is worth a try.

Pros:
+Innovative gameplay (you move around a board and game levels, basically a cross between board games and RPG)
+Enjoyable for gamers and non-gamers (I have non-gamer friends that can't wait to come over again to play this game)
+Enjoyable class/party leveling system
+Easy for players in last to catch up by becoming evil for a few turns
+Events in game are enjoyable and fun (like having to fight in a Coliseum and be the last one to survive)
+Story mode can be played with you and three other friends
+Options allow starting characters at higher levels, changing game mode, and allow saving of game
+Random in most aspects (I've redone turns before and have different outcomes)

Cons:
-Graphics are fairly basic most of the time
-Hard to find the game to buy in Stores
-Some enemies will always counter when you try to strike them (which usually ends up killing you, although you resurrect after a few turns)
-Turns are taken sequentially (I would prefer simultaneous turn option)
-Computer players are not that random (I recommend never playing with a computer player)
-No Online GamePlay

My daughter (14) has enjoyed this game quite a bit. She loves to 'steal' and change hairstyles wearing a fish on her head for fun. My husband and I aren't gamers and we totally stink at the game but we're making progress. It has lots to do and we've only scratched the surface. I love the fact that it's family friendly and when friends come over older kids can play and younger kids can play or just have fun watching all the action.

Now if I can only figure out all the stuff maybe I'll stand a chance against my kid ;-)

Dokapon Kingdom is Mario Party meets Final Fantasy with the attitude of Munchkin. If you are not a fan at least one of these then, playing alone, you might enjoy the irreverent humor while exploring the large cartoon world, but sure enough, the feeling of a tediously long game of monopoly will begin to creep in and sap away the fun. Luckily, the strength of the game is playing with friends (like Mario Party). What sets this game apart is the RPG gameplay (distribute stat points, collect equipment and items, play as varios classes, fight monsters for xp, etc) and the playful backstabbing competition it encourages (when you defeat another player you can change their hair, draw on them, change their name, etc). A single game could last for days (you can save and resume later, luckily) but 3-4 of hours is more typical.

For people who are already fans of Dokapon's influences, this game will be addictive. For everyone else, Dokapon will get old after a while, but there's still a lot of fun to be had with friends in this quirky adventure. I'm in the former category, but I've seen plenty of people in the latter fully enjoy Dokapon as well. Highly recommended!

This game is a great way for people, young and old, who play rpgs to come together and have a mario party like time. There is a great balance of skill and luck, and the more you're losing by, the more the game helps you. I really enjoyed the simplicity of the story line and character emotions, but that may be a turn off to some. A great game if you don't take it to seriously.

A great board game / RPG combo. The game creators had a great sense of humor and the art is really fun. You work your way around the world to save it from evil, bashing each other all the way to try to stay on top. The game uses rock-paper-scissors as it's base and all contests seem to be some form of this game.

The game is balanced to be rather easy to play, expect to kill a lot of the bad guys in one hit. To balance this the creators threw in tons of ways to curse and hinder each other. It make cooperating almost impossible, the best you can do is avoid hurting each other, but even that is inevitable sometimes.

The game is also rigged to boot, I imagine to prevent players from reloading and cheating. Also many of the monsters will automatically choose the best way to counter your attacks so be careful on what you choose, avoid using "strike" bosses for sure!

The game also seems to like to pick favorites to help and curse, but there's enough you can do to counter this that it doesn't matter too much. Be sure to check online for information to fill out the stuff they didn't explain in the game.

This game is EXTREMELY addicting! My two daughters (ages 10, 14) and I cannot get enough of it, and it has pushed games like Mario Galaxy 2 and World of Warcraft right out the window as we spend our winter break trying to capture towns and battle monsters in the world of Dokapon Kingdom. The game's strengths are 1) the simple yet mentally challenging combat system, which is like rock-paper-scissors but with character stats factoring in, so that you need to use what you know about your character and your opponent to make intelligent guesses about what to do each round of combat, 2) the open ability to switch "jobs" (i.e. character classes like warrior, thief, etc.) any time you want, so if you don't like the way your game it going, you can try something different, 3) the turn based nature of the game allows you to pause and think, but also has you caught in that "just one more turn" loop that makes the game so addictive, and 4) from my daughters' perspective, the cute anime-style characters are fun to have as your avatar, especially with the option to change your hairstyle. Who wouldn't want to look adorable while blasting monsters into oblivion?
The game has two drawbacks: 1) the computer AI players are just too good / lucky even at the lowest setting, so that the fun can quickly be sucked right out of a game as you are hopelessly losing in the early part of the game, but this can be solved easily - don't play against the computer, and 2) the economy is very out of whack - most items cost in the hundreds to thousands of gold to buy, but rewards for major events can be in the hundreds of thousands making you insanely rich, while extremely random penalties can cost you hundreds of thousands, making you insanely poor (you can go into debt!), so that you can stuck without money for many, many turns. There might also be a significant advantage to starting out as a warrior, but I haven't played enough yet to be sure. Right now the best game I have going is one where everybody started out with the same job, making the playing field even.
The bottom line is this: if you are looking for an RPG-style, multiplayer game to play with your children, this is the one. A final warning, though... the other parts of your life may whither from neglect, so be sure not to start unless you have some free time to kill!

I picked this up on a whim for Christmas when it was first released and my family is still playing it. Usually after a few months we get tired of a game and trade it in.
It's a great multiplayer game, that is unique in that it offers a lot of content, creative design and cute art for a very low price. Even my little girl loves it and is able to hold her own against the adults.

It's more fun than Mario Party.

I don't have much to say. Games take days and multiple sessions to finish, and you need to have human opponents, as the computer is annoying and, at least for beginners, frustratingly good at the game. But, if you have people to play with, you get a game that's fair in it's unfairness (you'll be left defenseless in the wilderness at least once) and a blast to play. The random elements really keep the game exciting to the end, but knowing what you're doing is a big advantage, even then. The art style is fairly divisive in my experience; I've had friends refuse to play because of the big-headed, smiling character art. Also, this game requires grinding for levels, but it's exciting due to the fast pace of battles (they usually end in one turn) and the challenge provided by said battles (they can and will end in one turn to the player's loss).

If you can deal with the occasional sucker-punch and have friends (even one) to play with regularly, then this is a great game. If you think you'll be stuck playing against computers, then your experience won't be very pleasant.