A Home Far Away

Today's victim... ahem classic game reviewed is Strangeluv's "A place called home". Ok, sure, everyone says that his masterwork is Leo & Leah, but I wanted to try his other games too.

APCH is a strange Jrpg because we play two main characters, a boy and his older sister (both mages) that live a lighthearted adventure. So no more old wizards, predestined heroes, hordes of orcs and dragons. No. This is almost a sort of fairy tale, a small scale adventure of two unlikely heroes.

Setting and mapping of course really embrace this theme: you will visit towns, forests and other countryside locations, do not expect to visit torture chambers and cursed manors! Mapping is ok, locations are coherent and well done for the most part. Charsets incorporate well with the different scenarios and are cute! (In the end I liked very much art and music used, and mapping was ok)


The band is in town!

Ok, the fact that this is a lighthearted game does not mean that there aren't conflicts: you will fight a lot of animals and bandits and for the most part I liked how combat works.
The battlegrounds are isometric (and look great in my opinion), with ripped sprites (Ff Tactics for the sprites, Suikoden for the facesets) that look very good. The protagonista can learn spells from books like elemental attacks and healing, that work as special abilities (and they have a mana cost). BUT they can also spend a round to charge the base attack: one charge makes it stronger, Two charges instead create an area attack that hits every opponent! These are quite powerful so that you probably won't need to use the elemental spells, in fact I suggest to spare mana for healing.

Opponents are always visible on the maps, as the healing spots. These things lets you restore both Life and Mana but they deactivate after use. And this is not a good thing, luckily you can find or buy healing potions.

There's a lot besides combat: you will find little puzzles, minigames (fishing, for example) and little subquests. There's a lot of variety but I was also impressed by the details and some little unusual touches: bandita that steal your gold instead of attacking, the shops that visually place on the counter the items that you can buy...these little things are really particular and while they do not impact much the gameplay, they were really welcomed.


Fighting a golem with some help!

Ok, now the hard part: this game is not bad but it's not without some flaws (that unfortunately sometimes ruin the fun). For example I found some activities and minigames a bit too hard and tedious. An example? The part in which you have to escape the bandit swimming in the river was difficult because the exit of one of the last maps was not indicated precisely so that final sections was hard and unfair. Also the second half of the game has lots of subquests and no one is optional. It's a pity since this make the first part really better, entertaining and more pleasant to play. But it's ok, this is the creator's choice, not an error or a problem.

APCH is a nice game full of many interesting and original ideas, unfortunately a bit marred by some odd choices. But the first half is really good and I did not encounter any problem or issue. So 3.5 is well earned!