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Little King's Story

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Little King's Story
European cover
European cover
Developer(s)Cing & Town Factory
Publisher(s)

Designer(s)Yasuhiro Wada (executive producer)
Yoshiro Kimura (producer / director)
Youichi Kawaguchi (lead programmer)
Artist(s)Kazuyuki Kurashima (monster design)
Composer(s)Yutaka Minobe
Platform(s)Wii
Genre(s)Role-playing game
Real-time strategy
Mode(s)Single-player

Template:Nihongo title is a simulation RPG co-developed by Town Factory and Cing for the Wii. The game will be published by Marvelous Entertainment (MMV) worldwide, MMV USA and XSEED will co-publish it in North America and MMV subsidiary Rising Star Games will publish the game in Europe. The game was released on April 24 2009 in Europe.

The player character is a timid boy (whom the player names) who has found a mysterious crown which gives him the power to charm people and make them follow orders. As king of the village, his goal is to expand the village and make his subjects happy. The design of the game will combine various simulation elements as well as real time and adventure elements. Yasuhiro Wada told CVG that the game will be a "single-player life-sim set in Europe".[2]

Gameplay

Building

In Little King's Story, players control the new king, Corobo. With his abilities of undeniable charm and control, he issues various orders to citizens. Though starting in what is essentially a cluttered field, players begin to upgrade the kingdom of Alpoko with activities such as treasure hunting and fighting. Within a few hours, players are able to purchase and institute various buildings, training facilities, and other castle commodities, while the population steadily grows. All important stats such as population and finances are tracked constantly through an easily accessible menu system.

When walking around, Corobo is able to select any citizen to follow him. Afterward, the player is able to issue commands to each citizen, including actions such as digging and fighting. While the player can have a group of people follow them, they can only issue commands to one citizen at a time. Later in the game, the kingdom gains a podium that allows the player to gather choice citizens without walking around and searching for them.

Corobo's followers are initially very limited and weak in capability; however, this is quickly corrected when training facilities are built. At that point, the player can send his citizens into the buildings and change them into a different type of worker. The game offers up different jobs for civilians, including but not limited to soldier, carpenter, peasant, farmer, and hunter. Each job allows citizens different capabilities and weaknesses. For example, a farmer is exceptional at field work and digging, but is a poor fighter, while soldiers are strong but lack the ability to traverse environmental obstacles. The king is also able to converse with his followers whenever he desires, though it usually only produces small talk.

Outside of the main story, side quests are widely available via a suggestion box in the town square. Courtesy of varied civilian complaints, the king can accept missions that range from fetch quests to hunting and fighting that allow him to keep his public satisfied and increase finances. On some days, players are actually unable to do much due to events such as celebrations. After conquering a rival land, for example, the next day a massive parade is held in Alpoko. During this day, commanding people is a futile effort as everyone is too busy enjoying themselves. Saving progress can only be done in the kingdom.

Adventuring

Along with building and fortifying the kingdom, adventuring and questing constitutes the bulk of Little King's Story. Alpoko is only a small portion of the world, which the players must explore in order to advance the plot, collect valuable treasures and bounty, and conquer the seven rival kingdoms. It is here where having variously classed citizens comes in useful, as the player will encounter various environmental obstacles, including things such as gaps in the land, caved in areas, and of course a wide slew of dangerous enemies, including boss battles.

Corobo attacks with his septre, but his attacks are extremely weak. Instead, he must have others do all fighting for him. All civilians and Corobo possess a set amount of life; should a civilian lose all of his he will die, while if the king dies it is game over. Scattered throughout the land are little hot springs that allow the player to replenish his life; however, in order to save and collect bounty, the player must travel back to Alpoko first.

Characters

  • King Corobo: A king who wants to be happy and spreads happiness. He stumbles upon a magic crown that gives him the ability to issue any command at all to his citizens, and decides to utilize it to bring together the ruined kingdom of Alpoko.
  • Princess Apricot: A princess who loves analysis and science. Her name is a sidekick to Nintendo's Princess Peach
  • Liam: A guy big in stature, but gentle. He can be a bit crass sometimes. He is the cabinet minister that handles all kind of cases.
  • Verde: An uptight girl who is somewhat rude. She is the record minister.
  • Howser: The king's adviser of Alpoko affairs, who also goads him on to conquer the world.

Civilian Classes

  • Carefree Adult - only good at digging holes
  • Carefree Child - same as Carefree Adult, but can climb trees
  • Soldier - Attacks well, but otherwise unskilled. Can undo the work of Carpenters
  • Farmer - Excelent diggers. Can open holes in the earth
  • Animal Hunter - Attack with bows to reach elevated enemies
  • Chef - their specialty is chicken, they are excellent at fighting Cockadoodles
  • Merchant - Increases chance of finding treasure. Can open the giant purses
  • Builder - Can build bridges and staircases
  • Carpenter - Can build more advanced things than the builder, such as transport cannons
  • Buff Lumberjack - Can work through fallen trees
  • Buff Miner - Can work through rock
  • Wizard - Casts spells

Development

Little King's Story began development under the title "Project O." The game was executively produced by Yasuhiro Wada, who is the creator of the Harvest Moon series. Wada contracted a developer in Fukuoka to create a new title for the Wii and asked Yoshirou Kimura to sign on as a producer.[3] As there was no other staff at that time, Kimura contacted Norikazu Yasunaga to aid in the game's design, Youichi Kawaguchi to direct[4] and Hideo Minaba and Kazuyuki Kurashima to design the characters and monsters respectively.[3]

Kimura had previously worked on cult titles such as Moon: Remix RPG Adventure and Chulip, and came up with the concept of Little King's Story. Kimura states that his inspiration for the game came from The Little Prince, a storybook he read as child.[5] His goal the first year in development was to create a real-time strategy game with easy controls, specifically one that used the Wii Remote.[3]

Little King's Story, as "Project O," was first shown at the Tokyo Game Show in 2007.[5] The official website held a "UMA" (Unidentified Mysterious Animal) contest, where people around the world were able to send a sketch of a monster they created themselves. The contest has ended. The first prize winner will have their "UMA" star as an in-game character, and 99 other winners will have the artwork displayed in the game. Six of the creatures that won were "Bruno", "Flummex", "Octoknight", "Pirabbit", "Ninjūn", and "Kabelle".

Audio

The game's music is composed and/or arranged by Yutaka Minobe. For the first two trailers of the game, Yoko Shimomura, famous for her music in the Kingdom Hearts series, arranged new versions of Boléro and Habanera from Carmen.[6][7] Sound and voice effects were handled by Vanpool.

Reception

Little King's Story has received critical acclaim by many reviewers so far. It received 92% from both NGamer UK and Official Nintendo Magazine,[11] and a 9/10 in Edge.[12][13] It also garnered an 8/10 from gamesTM, 8/10 from Eurogamer[14], a 91/100 from Games Master UK, an 8.5 from Gamespot UK, and a 9.1/10 from IGN Australia.

References

  1. ^ "Little King's Story to greet European Subjects first". Rising Star Games. February 19, 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  2. ^ Wii News: Harvest Moon dev reveals secret Wii game - ComputerAndVideoGames.com
  3. ^ a b c Sheffield, Brandon (April 16, 2008). "Q&A: Marvelous's Kimura Talks Chulip, King's Story". Gamasutra.com. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
  4. ^ Main "Project O" staff announced
  5. ^ a b Harris, Craid (September 21, 2007). "TGS 2007: Project O is On the Way". IGN.com. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
  6. ^ Project O TGS 07 Trailer
  7. ^ Little King's Story E3 2008 Trailer
  8. ^ "Review: Little King's Story". Edge. Retrieved 2009-05-25. {{cite web}}: Text "Edge Online" ignored (help)
  9. ^ "Little King's Story Review". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  10. ^ "Little King's Story (wii: 2009): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  11. ^ http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/article.php?id=8034
  12. ^ [1]
  13. ^ http://www.edge-online.com/magazine/review-little-king%E2%80%99s-story
  14. ^ http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/little-kings-story-review
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