My Life as a King is about just that: the tasks a ruler must undertake in order to build up his kingdom. Upon your arrival, there's nothing but walls and a castle, and it's up to you to create neighborhoods, train warriors, and master the surrounding terrain, all from the comfort of your cobblestone streets.
And yes, that means you don't fight a single battle. My Life as a King isn't an RPG and there isn't any action. This is strictly a city-building-and-managing sim. You've got a wide-open area, though you can only build in certain glowing areas. At the beginning, you'll wonder how you'll ever fill all that space. A few hours in, you'll be wishing you had more.
The story here is simple: you are the young king Leo (or whatever you choose to name him), and as you learn how to master your new power, architek, to construct buildings, your city grows as well. As you build houses, new inhabitants appear. Build a Gaming Hall and start turning your fledgling warriors into thieves. Your adventurers go out, discover new areas, and you direct them to kill bosses and collect the loot. All the while, the looming mystery of your father's fate unfolds. It's not much, but it's deep enough for several hours' worth of gameplay, and that's without touching the DLC.
But is it good gameplay? For the most part, yes, it is -- if you like city building and management. But there are some issues that must be addressed.
Normally, I wouldn't be so nitpicky about menus in a game, but since you spend so much of your time in My Life as a King navigating menus (to select various command and tasks), even the smallest issues here bear some weight. There's very little consistency across the menus; sometimes you can back right out of an option, and other times, there's an extra confirmation screen, and sometimes, you can select something without the confirmation screen, while other times you can't. This doesn't seem contingent on whether or not you've actually done anything, either; the menus are just different, for no immediately apparent reason. Why is this an issue? Hit the wrong button and sometimes it doesn't matter. Do it at the wrong moment, however, and you send your strongest warrior off to be a black mage.
The only other nitpicky problem is the command to summon your advisor, Chime. To call her up, you shake the Wii remote ... which means if you shift on the sofa, she's probably going to show up, and you're going to navigate a menu to get rid of her.
Unfortunately, these aren't the only issues with this latest Crystal Chronicles, and the last one is a bit bigger. The gameplay seems all over the place here; in the beginning, you have nothing in the way of resources and are forced to wait around, while later on, you've got a glut of elementite for building and nothing to use it for. If you buy the extra race packs, you have to unlock them, and that takes effort. That means you have a choice: keep only a few adventurers in the beginning and unlock the extra races very slowly, or expand as quickly as you can to get them faster, and be limited in the number of adventurers you can hire from the Yukes, Selkies, and/or Lilties. The number of adventurers you can control caps at 16, and while you gain some extra later through another building, you don't have any choice with them. You can't decommission adventurers once they're hired, either. If you end up unhappy with those you selected, well, too bad. Later on, you can form parties, but then if the whole party completes a task, you reward only the party leader, rather than everyone (or even just choosing someone who needs the boost). My Life as a King is filled with these little balance issues that combine into one big gameplay issue. The result isn't a huge annoyance -- you adapt -- but it did make me somewhat wistful for the game this could have been, but just isn't.
Despite all of this, I felt compelled to play My Life as a King more than most games I've picked up lately. The days are so short, and you can accomplish everything so quickly, that it's easy to become glued to the screen, muttering "just one more day, then I'll stop." Part of this is probably due to the auto save system. At the end of each day, the game saves. That's when you stop, right? Here's the problem: right after the save is complete, you're thrust into your morning reports of the kingdom's goings-on. You could turn the game off, or you could just go ahead and look at those reports. And after you've done that, you might as well issue some behests to your adventurers and see what they can do ... and then go donate money to the White Mage Temple's research fund ... and two hours later, you finally convince yourself not to look at that next report. But the thing everyone wants to know about is the DLC. First, it's not as expensive as some have said, because you can either buy the extra races separately, or as a pack, and some "totals" seem to be including both of these. Buying all of the DLC currently available will cost you either 1600 or 1700 Wii points, depending on whether or not you buy that three-in-one pack. So, game plus all DLC is, at most, $32. My Life as a King is a full experience, and one that's meant to be repeated in different ways, so that isn't a bad price for a game. Further, none of those packs are essential at all, and two of them are just horse armor outfits for the king and Chime. Definitely don't buy any immediately, unless you are completely sure you'll love the game and will want the extra races; you'll have your hands full enough with the first few hours of gameplay, and other than the races, you won't be able to use any of the non-outfit DLC in the early stages of the game.
The DLC here doesn't feel like a ripoff (except for the outfits), either; you can have a short, simple game similar to ActRaiser or the more recent MySims for not-much-money, or you can have a deeper game for more money. Both are beautiful, both have their issues, and either way, the extra content is only ever an option.
Final verdict: 7/10 -- I desperately wanted to score My Life as a King higher, because it's certainly enjoyable and more than worth the price, but there are some flaws that simply can't be ignored.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-19-2008 @ 10:32AM
Big Eared Monkey said...
Thanks for an honest and thoughtful review. May the FF-Fanboys not take your head due to giving a FF game less than a 10 out of 10!
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5-19-2008 @ 12:36PM
Alisha Karabinus said...
Man, I AM a FF fanboy (girl), so it hurt me to acknowledge the issues here. I frankly expected better, especially since I'm the kind of person who is likely to buy whatever add-ons they throw at me, because I DO enjoy the game. I just wish they'd spend a little more time working out these kinks.
So often, it seems games have one or two problems that are only really apparent after several hours of play, and it makes me wonder if they're really testing things as fully as they should be.
5-19-2008 @ 10:51AM
CJC said...
Good review. Sounds about right to me. Flawed and certainly not for everyone, but surprisingly addictive for some of us.
I downloaded it, and just as I was thinking "This is pretty good, but not great." I realized that three hours had passed since I started.
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5-19-2008 @ 11:04AM
SoshiKitai said...
I usually despise FF games... except for Crystal Chronicles games (and FFV and FFX), but that's usually due to the fact that FF-fans hated Crystal Chronicles. *laughs*
This game: Beyond addictively awesome.
Since I started playing the game, I've joined so many forums that have threads about it. Just so I could talk about how awesome it really was.
Oh, and for extra dungeons: If you beat the game and enter New Game+, more dungeons are unlocked (rumors say: which ones, depend on your rank.. yeah, you get a rank in the end)... which makes me wonder: Are these the same dungeons that you unlock by buying the Dungeon DLC?
I guess I'll never know, since I JUST bought all the DLC... now there's no way I can compare.
At first, I was REALLY INTO Culdcept... but then I got distracted by GTAIV... then I got distracted by WiiWares such as Pop and Lost Winds... now I'm completely distracted by FFCC: My Life As A King.
And I can't find the anti-drug... I mean, there's WiiFit (which we'll be getting today, hopefully).
But... you don't understand: This game is so "Okay, just one more day then I'll sleep.... no wait, just one more day... wait, one more day... oooh, that dungeon can get me a black mage academy! One more day! Oh wait, one more day... Crap, one more day"-addictive, you can't stop... You just can't.
Not to mention reading people's adventures... now that's humorously fun:
Charles attacks.
Ice Goblin blocks and receives 23 damage.
Ice Goblin attacks.
Charles takes 187 damage.
Ice Goblin has defeated Charles.
"OWNED! That's what you get Charles, you should've bought those armors like I told ya'!"
Not to mention getting to know your characters... each character that's randomly created gets their own unique personality. They prefer certain things, they like and dislike, the work hard or laze-off... they love gaming or getting punch-drunk before an adventure... yeah, the dramas will ensue.
Oh, and influencing them!
Seriously, the day I moved my drunk adventurer's house next to a White Mage Temple, he stopped drinking. O_O
It was kinda' funny.
Yeah, for me, I ignore the problems and see them as "Obstacles that add a bit more strategy"...
So for me the game gets a 9.5...
the -0.5 is for it being so darn addictive... the game is so simple, but it's not, and you can't put it down...
Not to mention one thing: No one gets what you're talking about when you're telling them about the game. -_- *sigh*
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5-19-2008 @ 11:57AM
James said...
I've heard so many easily-remedied complaints about this game (like not being able to dismiss adventurers, ever, or the menu design thing) that it makes me hesitate to buy it. I'm kind of a prick about interaction design (it's an important part of my real-life job) and I worry I would get so hung up on the little things I'd fail to enjoy the big picture.
I really want to try to get my wife hooked on this -- one of her favorite PC games was Majesty, and sadly that one tanked and was never really imitated again. This looks kind of similar (build a city, send minions out to do your bidding) and I'd love to see her enjoy a game that much again.
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5-27-2008 @ 5:33PM
Otty said...
They have just announced Majesty 2 for PC coming in 2009. Majesty was a great game. I played the heck out of it over the years...
As for FFCC: MLAK... it IS addicitive. even with its flaws, it is one of the those insidious games that makes you want to do one more day, kind of like Civilization etc. Whether you like the game or not, you just keep playing it until you've been sitting there for hours and your eyes are about to shut...
5-19-2008 @ 11:59AM
Roto13 said...
"My Life as a King is a full experience, and one that's meant to be repeated in different ways, so that isn't a bad price for a game."
$32 isn't a bad price for a WiiWare game? Really? Considering just the base price of $15 is already 1.5 times that of the most expensive thing on the Shop Channel you can buy besides this game, that sounds like a lot. Lump in the fact that the DLC doesn't end here and your game still isn't complete after the $32, and you're being thoroughly assraped by Squenix.
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5-19-2008 @ 12:22PM
SoshiKitai said...
Considering you can actually UNLOCK lots of the current DLC through finishing the game: YES, it is a bargain.
Not to mention, the game has more content than DS game, yet it's cheaper. Consider that.
Oh, and future DLC will be added as well.
5-19-2008 @ 12:24PM
SoshiKitai said...
Oh, and PS: You only unlock the DLC slowly after beating the game... you need to beat it several times to get everything (which it being really addicting, isn't too hard)...
Well, you can get everything EXCEPT the costumes. But that's a given... ( why do you think the costumes take 3 blocks and the rest only take 1 block? It's because that's not part of the original game. )
5-19-2008 @ 12:02PM
Erwos said...
One thing the review didn't mention: the game doesn't support progressive scan. That's absolutely inane in this day and age, and I'm stunned that Nintendo didn't require it for all their games. (Actually, I'm not - VC titles don't have columns for letterboxing, either, even when your Wii is in widescreen mode.)
Otherwise, I basically agree with the review and score. There are pacing problems, there are balance issues, and there are some weird design choices. But the fact that it's so damn hard to put down the controller is just total proof that there's something excellent underneath it all.
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5-19-2008 @ 2:36PM
SImpression said...
Apparently all Nintendo requires is an ESRB rating and that the games are bug-free. Everything else is in the hands of the developer. So if there is no progressive scan, begin your attack on S-E!
5-19-2008 @ 1:14PM
guttertalk said...
Another problem with the adventurers is that, if you have more than one behest board, you have no way of controlling which characters go to which board. So, if you significantly different levels of characters, you might not see any of your level 10 characters for that level 10 behest you posted.
And the adventurers do not go to the same board.
FWIW, I translated a building planning tool that was created on a Japanese wiki for the game (which is a big wiki, btw) : http://fromthegutter.org/?p=800
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5-19-2008 @ 2:51PM
SoshiKitai said...
Well if you COULD control which one they went to... then that would make you a tyrant-king, eh? Not letting your people choose for themselves...
Hell, I have a guy who's a softy for his teammates... he constantly goes to a weaker dungeon if he has a low-leveled teammate... but goes to a tough one when he has strong teammates...
...which is the opposite of one of my other adventurers... who could give a rat's @$$ about his teammates... always charging into the toughest battles.
5-19-2008 @ 2:03PM
Jeremy said...
Honestly I love this game. I can even look past the few menu flaws and I have grown to enjoy this more than most build a city sims. My only complaint is that in your kingdom their is a large area that doesn't allow you to build in, so I am guessing that I haven't got far enough to build there or this area has no real use. Also I have noticed that while playing my first game that I should have place shops closer together since a lot of my adventures don't actually leave till right before dark. I do know now that when I play through a second time I will use a better strategy of were I place buildings. I am also hoping that I have less free space soon because I have no more options to build and plenty of space.
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5-19-2008 @ 2:49PM
bc said...
"...but the baby teeth, they do nothing!"
OMG.
I'd like to see a good guide to precisely what DLC gets unlocked by beating the game/how many times you must beat it, etc. If it's a "pay b/c you can't wait" proposition, that's different than "if you want it, you must buy it."
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5-19-2008 @ 2:55PM
SoshiKitai said...
PSPS: Confused ranting... some people claim YOU CAN get the other races by beating the game enough times... others say YOU CAN'T. No proof on this yet.
But overall, everyone's saying that you can obtain other dungeons by beating the game enough times.
Though, IMO, I don't care much for the other races... I prefer class-style humans. But the other races are pretty cool too... except they can't learn other classes.
BUT if you want to just get the other races' skills, but don't mind not getting the race itself: Get the shrine, it allows for your adventurers to learn skills that are only found in other races.
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5-27-2008 @ 6:51PM
SoshiKitai said...
Sorry, that last part was incorrect. The shrine just gives you the ability to learn "Lightning" and "Protect"... sorry for the confusion guys!
5-19-2008 @ 3:48PM
gojsse said...
That fps/processing slowdown when building buildings in a mostly-filled city is terrible.
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5-19-2008 @ 4:53PM
Deozaan said...
Yeah I can't believe this wasn't mentioned in the review. It's my biggest complaint! Anytime Chime appears or a building is being constructed the framerate drops to an ubelieveably low amount.
Also, if you can unlock the DLC just by beating the game, I'm going to be very mad, because I just spent $$$ buying a lot of it.
5-19-2008 @ 5:44PM
Phil said...
The DLC is charge for a reason.
The buildings are connected with dungeons that you have to complete in order to unlock them. The race pack and sacred shrine earns you 6 extra dungeons, with the luxurious house getting you a high level 40 dungeon, then there's the dungeon pack which grants you multiples of other buildings like weapon, armor and item shops.
There's no accessing these UNLESS you pay for it and I can guarantee the extra content is worth it. It deepens the game and adds more playtime as well.
Not to mention, the reworking of the city can go on forever depending on how much you wanna play around with it. It can be as simple as seeing how much you can squeeze into the city or setting up districts or basing it around having your adventurers living near the specific job buildings, there's a LOT of customization options.
5-19-2008 @ 5:39PM
Phil said...
This is a very spot on review and about the same rating I would give it.
Regardless, it's a game with a 7 rating that I'm willing to keep playing. You have to admit that if there is one thing that they did that is perfect, it's the addictive factor. The game is so easy with a nice touch of strategy for simulator fans that virtually ANYONE could play this game if they work at it.
I'm glad it got a 7 and that's as low as I'd give it... MAYBE a 6.5 but there needs to be a recognition that the game is at least GOOD.
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5-27-2008 @ 6:37PM
SoshiKitai said...
Oh, just so you know Phil: You CAN access the other stores without ever downloading the DLC. The DLC literally is a "unlock early"-feature (except for costumes, races, and shrine). So suck it.
5-19-2008 @ 5:54PM
Shugotheripper said...
Meh
-fun yes
-short yes
-must restart city after you win= Fail!!!!
6/10
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6-18-2008 @ 3:06PM
stephen Evans said...
Yeah i think out of all The FFs this is the poorest it have nothing to do with anything you don't get to see the monsters or weapons or anything and all you do is build a city i could have bought sims if i wanted that and why is is so easy to complete????
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8-01-2008 @ 11:11PM
Maxwell said...
ehem...you forgot the biggest issue here...in gameplay even when the town is organized and the adventurer shops are close together it still takes them about half the day to get ready to leave...sometimes more (parties on one hand are evil) and this just annoys me...but otherwise yeah the game is acually pretty good!!!!
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