Since the days of the PlayStation, time-bending Japanese RPGs have been the genre I would say is my absolute favorite if I had to pick just one. It’s a genre that doesn’t lack for adventure, and it’s also a genre whose content is often a bit inconsistent. Many games are pure mammoth projects and often take a lot of time to complete. Elrentaro’s Wanderings ranks first, far from crowded cutscenes or huge open worlds. But it still offers most of the things you’d expect there.
As the adventure begins in a small town, everything seems very cozy and pretty, and I quickly realize that I appreciate something as simple as the clean graphics, so I decide to play through the portable adventure. It’s something I often try to do when I get the chance on the Nintendo Switch, and given the smaller form factor and screen, it’s very fitting. Beautiful, quite simple, and crystal clear at all times, although some of the informative text requires a lot of concentration to understand what it says. When I pick up various items and the text appears, there are several times when I don’t even see what I’ve found due to the minimal text.
I choose to name my hero by the default name after deciding to play as a girl or a boy. Narumi visits a charming little town and is quickly tasked with rescuing a person from a nearby cave. The visual effects that accompany the cuteness are quite charming, aside from some boring character portraits in dialogue sequences that look like templates from some RPG maker. But otherwise, the colors are nice and, as I said, clear, and fit the format well.
Visiting the first of the game’s many caves, it’s a bit like ‘Hades’ Lite, but with very simple controls, the ability to refill lives whenever a counter is used again, and then racing through the environments until the end, where a boss awaits you. The difficulty of the caves is indicated by a ‘build level’ which relates to the equipment you carry, which is good to have at the recommended level to make it a little easier. After that, it’s just a matter of fighting your way to the boss, and of course taking him down too. It’s a breeze the first time, but on repeat visits it quickly gets significantly harder and you realize that my equipment level really has to match the difficulty level the dungeons offer.
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The story itself isn’t exactly memorable. A fun concept with the main character in two worlds, one in the present day in a school setting where the characters resemble those you know from the fantasy equivalent. You can build relationships with other characters and give them little gifts to strengthen relationships. It all feels pretty typically Japanese and in many ways typically RPG.
Elrentaro’s Wanderings doesn’t really have any major problems, other than it’s a fairly simple adventure patterned after a template we’ve seen before. Mix in some relationship simulation with dungeon crawling and lots of dialogue sequences between rather anonymous characters and it progresses reasonably nicely without being outright fascinating. I won’t be nitpicking and say it lacks ambition, because some of the environments are beautiful, the battles through caves with little items that give you temporary power-ups certainly feel fast-paced, but hey… it’s not much more than that, just keep going. It looks cozy, the music backs it up quite well and yes, in a way you follow the game without hating it or outright loving it. It’s just the way it is.
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Along the way you find new objects to plant in the field outside the village and over time a story unfolds that you can use and this concept of two worlds is really fun. It’s hard to describe its concept and content without feeling like you need a lot of words to flesh it all out. As satisfying as it can be when something is easily accessible and easy to play, it is of course a limitation. In the end it will mostly be the perfect average rating for a nice little adventure.
