I’ve been a fan of NIS America’s work for a very long time. Most people know them for their large tactical RPGs, games like the Disgaea franchise, or things such as Phantom Brave. However, every so often NIS America (or rather, Nippon Ichi Software in general) will release a one-off game that tends to be a hidden gem. The Cruel King and the Great Hero is one of these quirky, different little one-offs.

In The Cruel King and the Great Hero, you play Yuu, a young girl who is raised by a dragon. Yuu is the daughter of a great hero and seeks to become a hero herself. Her loving “Dad” does his best to help her achieve her goals, and thus you set about helping monster-kind and humankind in turn. The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a Turn-Based JRPG that also has side-scrolling exploration. Imagine if Valkyrie Profile’s exploration system was merged with a typical Final Fantasy game.

Each character in battle has HP and Energy. Energy powers skills, while HP is your life. You can save anywhere outside of battle, and the combat is strategic and easy to understand. Traversal can be somewhat annoying though. If Yuu is at the same or a lower level than the enemies in an area, she will only walk at a slow speed. If she is at a higher level, she will run slightly faster. Combining this with random encounters means you’ll be fighting a lot.

However, there are a lot of quests and side quests to enjoy. A lot of them involve returning to previous areas, which helps considering new party members (similarly to Paper Mario) give you new exploration abilities. One character might be able to dig, while another might be able to fly. Backtracking sometimes gets annoying though, especially if you don’t have a warp point nearby. The warp points are handy, but I almost feel like there aren’t enough of them, what with how time-consuming the exploration can be.

I don’t find the combat to be particularly special, and the exploration can be somewhat annoying. Where The Cruel King and the Great Hero really shines is in its story and visuals. Everything has a sort of fairy tale theme to it, and to some degree, the game itself looks and feels like a storybook. I love the characters and the whimsy of it all.

I wouldn’t say that The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a particularly sophisticated or groundbreaking RPG. However, if you like old-school JRPGs, or just want to play something a little on the whimsical and cute side, then I think it will scratch the itch well. The only issue I really had with the performance of the game itself, is that it would occasionally lag or stutter. A few times I worried that the game was going to crash, but it would catch up eventually and then run fine.

I probably had 3 stuttering issues in about six hours of play, but they weren’t evenly spaced and I don’t think they’re really that much of an issue. Considering you can save anywhere, as long as you save frequently, or even semi-frequently you should be fine. So if you want a JRPG that’s just fun and cute, then give The Cruel King and the Great Hero a try. It may have a few old-school rough edges, but it has its own charm.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of The Cruel King and the Great Hero was provided by NIS America for this review.

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The Cruel King and the Great Hero

$29.99 USD

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Cute Characters
• Lighthearted Story
• Solid RPG Gameplay

Cons

• The Occasional Lag/Stutter
• Movement is Slow
• Random Encounters are Obnoxious