The Nightmare of Druaga: Fushigino Dungeon

by Namco

Product Features

• strategy of a turn-based RPG and the rapid-fire pace of real-time battle
• turn-by-turn command input while weaving every attack and spell into seamless on-screen action
• golden armor to shine purifying light deep into labyrinthine dungeon passageways and dispel the shadows dwelling within
• Multiple side-missions and trade-specific mini-quests to build up your characters

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002Y67RO
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches ; 1 pounds
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: March 24, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,630 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Based on the classic 1984 arcade game known as The Tower of Druaga, The Nightmare of Druaga: Fushigino Dungeon continues the story of Gilgamesh and the kingdom of Babylim. Arranged to marry Princess Ki (the woman he saved in the original game), Gil is forced to change his ambitions of becoming King when a group of mysterious monsters attack the country. While he is gone, a mysterious enchantress captures Ki and Gil must now arm himself with the finest weapons and armor in order to get her back.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for Everyone, Incredible for Some, August 17, 2006

By 

Robbway "Robb" (Forest Hill, MD USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: The Nightmare of Druaga: Fushigino Dungeon (Video Game)

The item description is fairly accurate. This is an old school RPG. The game is really an overworld universe with access to the dungeon levels. In this overworld, you may take on quests, or tackle the main game by talking to the goddess Ishtar. Your character has stats that carry over from game to game, even when you die. All items in the storage chest will remain from game to game. All of your items in hand are lost if you die, with the exception of those marked by Ishtar.

Now here's where it gets a little odd. In the quests, your level starts over at 1 and you have to collect a group of rare objects to finish the quest. They are like mini-games. The main object, and this goes for the quests, is to level up in each dungeon, collect wealth, sell stuff, and level up your best weapons. You must be very careful not to die, because you lose your belongings, including half of your coin. To save money, you have to convert it to gold, silver, and platinum bars and store in your chest.

The gameplay goes like this. You enter the dungeon. You move and the monsters move simultaneously. Some monsters move and attack faster than you. Because of this, you have to strategize and attack the squares the faster monsters will move into and take a hit. You also should attack from higher ground, tactics style. When you reach a goal floor, you usually advance the main plot and can warp directly to the next floor.

The gameplay rewards repeated and obsessive play. You have to discover what weird things you must do to make the silver and gold chests appear that contain rare items. Like the original Tower of Druaga, you will end up discovering that things like reaching certain squares, trying to open a door, killing X number of enemies, or even breaking down 20 walls.

It gets more obsessive when you "break down" the doors to enter the expert dungeons with nice loot in them. These extra dungeons don't let you warp out, so you must be very sure you can survive the level!

The game also has an unusual plot and sense of humor. What looks like the main goal of the game is quickly achieved, while another goal takes its place. As for humor, if you die and try to cheat by resetting the PS2, Ishtar will chastise you! The first time, you can lie and be repentant to suffer only minor penalties, but do it again and worse things will happen.

The game keeps stats for every level, including which secret chests you found and how many turns you took. That's in case you want to get the "lowest" score. That kind of dedication is very Japanese, and it is really what separates those that love the game to those that hate it.

I believe if turn-based strategy isn't your thing, or if you expect deep TBS, or you don't like dungeon crawls, you should avoid this game. Otherwise, if you're like me and like all of that stuff, you must get this game.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hardcore Old School Dungeon Crawl, October 12, 2006

By 

Judah (Terre Haute In USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: The Nightmare of Druaga: Fushigino Dungeon (Video Game)

I picked this up at a used game section in Electronics Botique for $8, and I wasn't expecting much. The good role-playing games aren't usually there. While I can understand why the game found itself tossed into the 'bad games' section, I don't believe it belongs there.

A lot of people might think the auto-saving implemenation is a flaw. I don't. Basically, you only save when you want to stop playing. Why? Because if you die, you lose all your carried equipment, items, and gold, unless you paid to have the equipment inscribed. If you try and cheat the system, the in-game Goddess Ishtar will lecture you for about 7 minutes before you are able to resume play.

That's why the game is no mercy hardcore. If you make a mistake, you are stuck with it. Accepting that in the beginning adds to the game difficulty level.

I can imagine how the 'modern' RPG players who are used to resetting for the 'best' random item hated that. Accept the challenge.

As for the rest of the game, the music is about par for an RPG (fading into the background) and there is no voice acting (all text). Very retro, especially the sound of Gil's armor clanking as he moves.

The turn system is a combination of SRPG and mild action; it is not a true SRPG. After playing for 4 hours, you should have that aspect mastered easily. It may become tedious searching for the silver/gold chests, but if you get stumped search around gamefaqs for a complete list. Where the game becomes harder is the optional quests (start the quest at level 1, don't keep what you find, rewards worth it though) and trying to estimate when you can take on bonus dungeons without dying.

Overall, the game is about medium difficulty. You have to think about taking on certain challenges blindly. If you die a lot, then it is too hard for you and you may become frustrated. It is better to use the feather to escape than try and fight it out only to die.

This game is more directed at hardcore RPG fans looking for an interesting challenge (single player hardcore mode on Diablo II comes to mind); if you don't like dungeon crawls or are a fan of reseting RPGs to fix something, you won't like this.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good old game, too much grinding though, January 20, 2010

By 

Kevin O. Berger - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Nightmare of Druaga: Fushigino Dungeon (Video Game)

This is a fun old game, but WAY too much grinding... the game would be more fun if were more balanced. I enjoy grinding if I feel the payout is worth it, such as; enjoying the graphics and story progression without worrying about dying (that's the whole point of grinding). But the game ensures that you will have very little story progression and you will enjoy very little of the art direction if you don't first spend 20+ hours grinding before each level.

It has a solid formula ripped from rogue, called rogue-like dungeon crawler. Essentially it's a simple turn-based tile movement game, almost like a board game. If you're a masochistic gamer, this is good, I consider myself an RPG fan, therefore a masochist, but it's a little overboard with grinding.

The challenge is not that high, despite some peoples reviews of this game, if you're an intelligent person you'll make use of escape feathers etc... but anyway, I recommend this game as a fun rental before you buy. If I wanted to waste a lot more time, with little payout, I'd play it... maybe when it was released I'd sing a different song, but in the modern gaming world, this lags.