Fall is upon us (at least in the United States). This is the season for RPGs. In the world of RPGs, there is a ton of options to choose from. You have a JRPG, Western RPG, Dungeon Crawler RPG, Real Time RPG, Strategy RPG, and within those types you have subtypes. To truly stand out, you need to do something unique. Idea Factory and Compile Heart, know for some of their amazing games as Fairy Fencer and the Neptunia franchise, attempt to take another stab at greatness with MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death for the Playstation Vita. Do they strike gold once again, or will this game get washed away in the sea of other RPGs? Let’s take a closer look.
MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death
Platform: PlayStation Vita/PlayStation TV
Genre: Dungeon-crawling RPG
Voiceover options: English & Japanese
Language format: English subtitles
Release Dates: NA – September 13, 2016; EU – September 16, 2016
Developer: Idea Factory/Compile Heart
Publisher: Idea Factory
Intro/Story:
This game has an interesting cast. The story of the game goes that the world (or rather celestial body) has ceased to rotate. This is an indication that doom is incoming to the world. This is not the first time this has occurred. According to tradition and legends, a Machina Mage needs to visit the towers fo the world to retrieve the keys and restart the world. Otherwise, the world will face its doom!
My take: the story is delivered by means of keeping me interested. It has the classic humor that IFI games have and delivers to keep me interested. The story has its twist and turns. It does enough to keep the player interested in making it through the game. Is it stand out in the sea of other RPGs? Probably not, but its enough to keep me engaged and interested to see it through. I enjoyed it, along with its wonderful cast of characters (pictured above).
Intro/Story score: 8/10 (good)
Gameplay:
Gameplay is typical Dungeon Crawling RPG. You are in the first-person view, exploring the dungeon. Combat is more or less the same.
With the exception of your guardian and other party members, this is the view you typically see in battle. With all IFI/Compile Heart games, you get heavy tutorials, so I won’t break down how to do it. The Game itself does a good job explaining what to do.
In the relevance to RPG, you have RPG elements incorporated into gameplay. You choose the best party to your situation and you level up as you progress through the game and battles.
One good though I loved about this, though, is the game gauges your progress as you go. By this, I mean that when you get to a boss, you will get a message from the other game AI if they feel you are ready for the boss or if you are not ready, or if they feel you have zero chance. It is something I have never seen this before in this type of game so it was a welcome change of things. Although, it is a bit handholding at times. The game can tell you that you have zero chance turn back, and it does occur several times. You can ignore it, but it is an interesting edition.
My take: The gameplay is a basic Dungeon Crawler RPG. Nothing more, nothing less. That is not necessarily a bad thing. It follows the fashion of any Dungeon Crawler RPG that comes before it. There is nothing unique in terms of gameplay that has it stand out from the rest. The only interest aspect is the game gauges how you are progressing and tells you in game fashion to go level up or if you are ready for the next boss or room ahead. It is interesting, if not a bit handholding.
Gameplay score: 8/10 (good)
Audio/Visual:
Visually the story is delivered in typical IFI style. If you are new to IFI games, I will briefly go over it. You will get images like above, which are still images with dialogue (English or Japanese) with English subtitles. They are completely voiced over.
*Hey white machina mage, I am mgs2master2, how are you doing?*
In addition, you will get images like this where they are slightly animated in terms of the character, but still fully voiced over. This will present itself in several different manners. Main ones though are story delivery and other optional in-game stuff, like quests and shops
*Oh my, wait a minute. You only give me quests? Say what?*
All and all, it’s visually nice. You do get the eye candy like other IFI games, but maybe not as most as other games.
Visual score: 8/10 (good)
Audio wise, game sounds pretty well too. In any RPG type game, the music can make or break it for me. I am happy to report this game has a good soundtrack with great voice acting.
Above is the opening movie which is a small taste of the game’s soundtrack.
Audio score: 9/10
Replay value:
The replay value of MeiQ is … well… not really existent. If there is a replay value it is to just replay the game itself. Otherwise, it lacks content. I couldn’t find anything else to do after I beat the game. It is kind of weird considering most IFI games have different endings and other post game content. It just doesn’t really exist here. I beat the game twice, and honestly, do not think I will replay it again. Not much content besides story and dungeons. There is optional stuff, but that’s minor. If there is other content, I probably completely missed it in my two playthroughs, but I am sure I covered it all.
Replay Value score: 6/10 (bad)
Fun Factor:
Is the game fun? Well, I am to report that probably the first half of the game is fun. However, you will be backtracking quite a bit at times, and probably get bored as you play as well. Personally, I got bored about the 50% mark of the game, but I was determined to finish the game. I did so twice. MeiQ is technically not that long either. The difficulty curve of the game starts towards the end of dungeon one and goes for a bit, but if you level up as you play, the difficulty curve becomes near non-existant. I did have fun for what it was worth for about 80% of my first playthrough. The second time around, not much more fun was had.
Fun Factor Score: 7.5/10 (good to so-so)
Overall/Closing thoughts:
MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death is just a typical Dungeon Crawler RPG. While it may have fun elements, it does nothing to stand out in the sea of the multiple RPGs that are out on the current market. It is not a bad game by any means. It is just… well… a game that is out there. I do hope people give it a try and give me feedback on their experiences with the game. Otherwise, for a 40 dollar title, it will be a game that may get overshadowed by other RPGs out and about for the Playstation Vita. As the weeks go by, we will see if this game can outshine the rest of the September releases. Until the next installment of RPG goodness, Mgs2master2 out!
Intro/Story: 8/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Visuals: 8/10
Audio: 8/10
Replay Value: 6.5/10
Fun Factor: 7.5/10
Final Score: 7.6/10 (Good to So-So)
It has the good elements to make a good game, and is not necessarily a bad game, but MeiQ is just a game that’s out there. It does nothing new or-or different. While it is not a bad game it is not also a good game. It is just there. Give it a go if you want, but it is not anything new or unique.