Currying favour
CurseoftheGreatCurryGod is as ridiculous as its name implies, yet it serves a big portion of fun, accessible roguelike gameplay.
Today we’re doing a review on a Japanese roguelike game called Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God. Why?
Because look at that title! Tell us you read it and weren’t curious what it’s all about. Is this a game about magical cooking girls in a magical cooking academy? Will there be plenty of food-related sorcery and foodthemed monsters? and most importantly, how on earth does curry factor into a fantasy adventure story?
We had a burning desire (100,000 units on the Scoville scale, to be exact) to find out more about this PlayStation Vita game, so now we can share all the crazy things we’ve learnt about it.
Magicurry
Sorcery Saga begins with our heroine, Pupuru, taking her final exam at the Magic academy. While this sounds like a setup for a Harry Potter-esque “magical school shenanigans” scenario, things quickly go off the rails.
It goes something like this: Pupuru promptly fails her exam then gets suspended, befriends a cute yet gluttonous magical creature called Kuu, accidentally discovers the recipe for The Ultimate Curry, befriends a ditzy worshipper of the God of Curry and accidentally sparks a war between two curry shops, forcing her on an epic quest to make the most delicious curry anybody has ever tasted.
obviously, she does this by delving into dangerous (but tasty) dungeons and beating up several food-themed monsters (including homicidal meat buns) using magical forks and enchanted spoons.
Gameplay spice
If you’re familiar with anime and manga, then we’d compare the story and tone of Sorcery Saga to Shinryaku Ika Musume, except this game’s firmly set in an extremely unorthodox (yet delicious) fantasy setting.
Like Shinryaku Ika Musume, the story starts off with a “big story” concept (magic academy for Sorcery Saga, planetary invasion for Ika Musume) before settling into a very happygo-lucky comedy focusing on the interaction between zany/colourful/utterly insane characters. ( roguelike game for PS Vita
www.aksysgames.com/ sorcery-saga
uS$39.99 (rM130)
The humour is very much character-driven here, since most of the hilarious exchanges/ comic love triangles/crazy misundertandings are done via the magic of dialogue-boxwith-character-portraits common to many Japanese games.
However, if you’re not familiar with anime and manga, we’re not sure we can recommend that you play this game. one of the biggest appeals of Sorcery Saga is its hilarious Japanese anime-flavoured story, so if this is your first taste of the genre, it’ll feel like being thrown into the deep end of the pool. and the pool is filled with eye-stinging curry.
Flavourful story
on the flipside, Sorcery Saga is a really good introduction to the usually merciless roguelike genre. (or “mystery dungeons,” if you prefer the equivalent Japanese term.)
It uses the same basic template as most roguelikes: you’re sent to explore randomlycreated dungeons, and every time you play your character level is reset to one. Thus, your success is determined partly by luck and partly by your skills in utilising whatever random resources you can scrounge up.
The action is turn-based, so you’re given plenty of time to plan your next move on the grid-based map. Which is important, because if you die, you lose everything — money, items, precious upgraded equipment, all gone. Better luck next life!
That said, what differentiates Sorcery Saga is its accessibility. Unlike the early Shiren the Wanderer series (which we played on the Nintendo dS), Sorcery Saga isn’t exceedingly cruel, and unlike the recent Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series, the game isn’t too easy. It’s medium-flavoured curry, if you will.
allow us to elaborate. In games like Shiren the Wanderer, there’s a “hunger meter” that’s