Customer Reviews

Dungeon Explorer: Warrior of Ancient Arts

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Anyone wanting to know how good game design is done should look at Dungeon Explorer.

The game is balanced perfectly to keep you progressing through. There are no points in this game where you are not making progress. But that is not to say you are not punished for your deaths.

Basically, if you are on a quest and you die in the depths of the dungeon, you get to keep all your loot and experience, but you are punished by being placed back in the city. You also have to pay again to get the quest. If you do not have enough gold, you will need to go in the dungeon and work for some.

If you are not on a quest, however, you will die AND lose all your loot and experience. This perfect balance keeps the game moving at a great pace and never leaves you feeling that you are not making progress.

The graphics are suitable dark and gothic and each dungeon looks unique with a great deal of detail in the surroundings. The animations are also very well done and everything looks fluid and realistic.

Imagine an old school RPG game with multiple levels of depth and strategy in the statistic, complete with several party members that you must also manage, weapon crafting, coop magic, etc... Now imagine the old school arcade game Gauntlet. Dungeon Explorer is a beautiful collision between the two.

I love RPGs, but not necessarily the cutesy whimsical style that appears often on the PSP. Dungeon Explorer is darker, rich, and well worth your time if you share similar tastes.

I purchased this game based on the decent looking graphics on the back of the box and the fact that I like hack and slash games. This is a typical dungeon crawler game. You fight monster, find loot, level up, buy better stuff and repeat. The problem with the game is the repetition. My first 10 quests all involved traveling along the same plain to the same dungeons fighting exactly the same monsters in the same location each time. It got boring. The town is basically the castle, your quarts, the guild, the armorer, the item shop and the alchemist. About a dozen or so people inhabit the town that you can talk to. It just got boring to me. The game wasn't hard, and it was fun for a little bit, but then it became tedious. This one is going to be traded in.

Although the game starts off very slow, it turns out to be a decent game. Throughout the story, you will have to visit the same dungeons over and over, but as the game progresses, you will have the chance to visit new and harder ones, making the game a little less monotone. The "hub" for each level contains shops for anything you will need as well as the guild where you get your missions. The hub towns could have had a lot more to them, such as sub missions, or just a more interactive environment. It's a good game and worth the money. If you like fantasy games, you must grab this one.

Having just bought a PSP, I looked for games that were like those I had played on PC. Having played dungeon games before, I latched onto this one right away. I was sorely disappointed. I felt the graphics were rather low-key and the story was boring. I felt I was ALWAYS waiting as the dialoque scrolled and scrolled (with no actual speaking involved). The fight scenes were too easy. I barely broke a sweat against "difficult" monsters. I had to finally turn it off and stop playing. If your hard core into dungeon games, I don't recommend this one.

Not a bad game, but nothing new here. You are sent on various quests which basically come down to hack-and-slash throughout dungeons. The main objective in these areas is to destroy a set number of"monster generators" so that you may move to the next dungeon level. There are job arts and skills that give you greater attack power, but nothing special here. It has all been done before.
The graphic are not bad, the music simple but repetitive, and the monsters "screams" can get on your nerves from time to time. I am about half way through, and although one can level up quickly, it is a bit of a grind through similiar missions and quests.
It is okay for what it is. Weapons and armor systems can be upgraded.
Arts can be learned. Various supplies can be packed along for the quest. You may also change job classes at points in the game, but did not really see the benefit in that since you take up to 3 party members to assist you in battle.
Nothing new for this real-time RPG. So break out your sword and start hacking away!!!

Love the game and the characters, easy to learn controls and wide array of weaponry and spells.